EX Class Day 4: To Boldly Go Where No Group Has Gone Before

So Monday was the first group's presentation.  As much as I dislike being the second group to go, I'm even happier that I wasn't in this first group.  Not that they weren't great people or anything, but it was just that I didn't want to go in not knowing what to expect.  So as I entered into class, knowing that my group would be next, I looked at the presentation in 2 ways. In one way, I was a normal student trying to get his opinion into the discussion.  In another, I was a student looking to see how I could improve on their presentation when it came time for my own group to go.  I got a lot from the discussion, including some ideas that I used in my own slides for the second half of the text.  But I also got some interesting ideas on how to format the presentation.  For example, the first group hardly used their slides, so I made sure that we got the slides out of the way first.  They also used a part from the book as a skit, which was fine, but I wanted our group to do something a little different.  So instead of using the book, we expanded upon what the book had already said.  Overall, they did a great job, and I was really surprised at how easy it looked to stand up their and give the presentation.  Of course, I had no idea the prep work was gonna be so difficult.

Ex Class Day 3: Group Meetings

I have to say that I always dread meeting my groups, mostly due to the fact that I always find myself with a mixed bag.  I always get some people who wanna work, some who don't, and others who couldn't care less. I seem to have gotten a pretty good group so far, although we did find it odd that our fifth member showed up for class and yet left as soon as the class broke into groups.  The rest of Group 2 sat down and started discussing how we were going to tackle this skit and presentation.  To be honest, I hadn't finished the section we were presenting on yet, and relied on the others in my group to fill me in.  Having now finished the paper, I can still say that I have no idea what we are going to talk about.  As I said in my last blog, the characters in the book seem very stereotypically French. I find that while I have an easier time reading this book compared to others like Kant.  I really found myself having a hard time caring about the characters in the book, seeing as they didn't really seem to care about the world around them.  And that was the problem for our group.  It really didn't seem philosophical at all.  Most of the book was about a dude getting up, having a smoke, and going to his mother's funeral.  So our group got together and made some notes using the notes we had from the teacher, and made some preliminary conclusions about the book and about our skit.  I felt we did well, but could have done more with all the group members.  I hope that this next week will be more productive and that we can tackle our assignment with a better frame of mind.

EX Class Day 2: Short Days and Boring Protagonists

Wednesday was fairly uneventful.  As I entered class, I had just come from sitting in Coor's Computing Commons for about 2 hours, and I was dying for something to do.  Of course, when I entered class and sat down, I didn't realize that I would be there for only a total of maybe 30 minutes.  We got together in our groups, and my first thought was, "What should these people call me?"  When I looked at the list of people in the class, I noticed that there were at least 4 other people with the name "Benjamin", the same name as mine.  So in a split second decision, I chose to have my fellow classmates call me "Artie".  That means that when they see the name of this blog, they'll instantly link it to me because no one else in the class has the same name as me.  I also have always wanted someone to call me Artie in a real life setting.  So two birds with one stone there.

My group seemed nice enough, and we exchanged nervous pleasantries as we introduced ourselves.  I must admit that even now I have a hard time remembering any of the names of the people in my group.  But of course I only spoke for them for less time than an average bus ride.  So as we shuffled along to stand in line to get our photo taken, I began to try and figure out exactly what I wanted to be for my group.  Was I going to be the joker that gave everyone the energy to push through the tough assignments?  Was I the guy who was going to buckle down and do the work, or was I the guy who was going to sit back and do nothing. Figuring that doing nothing would get me an F in the class, I figured that trying to help the group with whatever needed to be done seemed like the best option.  So that's what I plan to do.

For the reading assigned to our group, I'm starting at the beginning of the book, The Stranger, and I find myself feeling rather annoyed by the main character.  While I have very little idea where he is from and what language he is speaking in the books initial translation, I imagine him as a stereotypical French man.  And I don't want people thinking I believe this stereotype is true, indeed my views are far from it, but I can't help but see him this way.  He seems very disinterested with everything, and I see him standing over his mother's coffin, cigarette in hand, and having a very boring facial expression.  It annoys me that this character can seem so unlikable, and yet we are supposed to care for him.

Overall, Wednesday's class was short, and I got very little from it unfortunatley.  And due to a scheduling error on my part, I had 4 hours to wait around before my next class, leading me to sit at the MU and watch "Days of Our Lives", which suprisingly I got even less from.

Simply,

Ben "Artie" Belisle

Exstitentialism Class Day 1: Opening Thoughts

Most people:

What the actual fuck, how am I going to pass this class?  I hate groups, I hate writing, and the teacher said he wasn't actually going to be teaching the course! Besides, this tall gangley freak sitting next to me is starting to creep me out.  I think I'll drop this one and go for an easier A.

Me (the tall gangley freak) :

Damn this is gonna be fun.

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My name is Ben Belisle, although most people on the internet know me as Artie, hence the name of the blog, "Existential Artie".  I'm a sophmore here at ASU, and this is the first philosophy class I have taken.  Well actually that's not true.  This is the first philosophy class I've taken in college. My other experiences with philosophy come from my days in high school when I went to a school known as Chandler Preparatory Academy (CPA for short).  The school was centered around teaching kids how to be prepared for college by enabling them to have a love of learning and giving them a handle on what was going to be expected of them at the university.  I actually noticed a few others I knew from the school in this class, but that's to be expected when your graduating class is only 69 students.

But back to philosophy.

I've loved philosophy for a few reasons:
1. There are never any clear cut answers, and almost everything has an antithesis associated with it.
2. It allows me to express myself through the writings of others, and gives me a chance to read through the thoughts and memories of another individual who, more than likely, had a much firmer grasp on reality that I do.
3.  I get those awesome moments of "Holy shit, he/she is totally right."

So when I got into this class and I got 4 separate emails from the teacher, I knew that either the class was going to rock because we had a zany teacher, or that the class was going to suck because the teacher was obviously not very bright.  And personally I'm glad we got the former and not the latter.

As for the reading and what we discussed in class, I found myself sticking to a singular idea: existentialism seems to be the "loner's philosophy" according to Solomon.  He talks multiple times about how it's an individual's perspective on a world that doesn't make sense to them.  I've felt this way before, and have written story ideas on the premise of "not fitting in".  But existentialism seems to be much more than that, it's a movement inspired by the ideas of one lone individual.  Like the man sitting in the same row as me today said, "There's an almost neurosis that comes with existentialism.  I don't sit up at night thinking about bills or girlfriend problems or stuff, this is the stuff that keeps me awake at night."  And I agree, there's a sort of crisis that occurs in oneself when confronted with the idea that he may be alone in the world.  The mind begins to tear down any notions of self worth and self definition, and you have to start from scratch and ask yourself, "Who am I?"  Overall, I got a lot of notes from this reading including questions like "If existentialism can never be fully bottled and documented, does that mean that we should then not try to bottle it at all?  Does a painter never paint a river because he knows that the river will not stop while he paints?"

I leave you with an idea that I've been tossing around in my head for a while and really comes to light with this reading.  Say you tear down all self image and self prejudice and go meet someone.  Say you get stuck in an elevator with a pretty girl or a cute guy.  You get to talking.  If you, as a person without any judgments or self predjudices can talk to that person, get to know them, form a bond with them, and have them accept you for who you are, then there is nothing in this world that is beyond your grasp.  It is not the ideals that are imposed upon us, nor the ideals that we impose upon ourselves that push us forward on the path to glory, but rather the acceptance and personal affirmation of who we are that bring us to greatness.

Simply,

Ben "Artie" Belisle