Hi, I'm Sara Lippman and I'm a freshman this year. Kutztown was the only college I applied to and I am majoring in Studio Art. I come from Catasauqua where I live with my dad, who is a pilot, my mom, and my brother, who is starting high school this year.
Raymond Williams looks at the culture of where he lived as "ordinary", just as anyone else in any other society would look at their culture. That common culture Williams knew in the country will keep growing and finding more directions to grow in. Raymond Williams' grandfather and father had to adapt to changes set upon them, or changes they set into motion, just as society as a whole does. That is ordinary.
Williams insisted that culture is both a way of life and the process of discovery and creative effort. In life, you discover and learn. The arts around you are also a form of culture in society that makes a common area "ordinary", depending on your relationship to the area, or your knowledge of the area.
When I first read the assignment, I wasn't quite sure where Williams was going with the first paragraph, in context to the rest of the reading. But when I looked back at it, I noticed that he described the bus trip as a "journey that in one form we have all made". All the stages they passed through - from the city, through the fields and mountains, up through valleys - were all culturally "ordinary" to the people who dwell there. This "journey", I believe, is our reflection upon our own culture and heritage.
I look forward to the discussion of the assignment in class on Tuesday!
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2 comments:
The way you looked at the opening paragraph of Williams' essay is interesting to me. When i read it, i took it as a means of describing the changes which culture undergoes and the variations which it achieves, yet it is just as ordinary as anything else. I liked the way that you read the piece as a way of showing the different cultures just as they are, with their own meaning of 'ordinary' to those who live within them. I looked at it in a more historical context i guess, focusing more on how culture changes, whereas you looked at it in its present form. i enjoyed your post.
Along with what Amber said, I think we can all agree that the first paragraph was confusing in its context. But, after analyzing it the second time around, we saw how relative it was to his topic. This was a very interesting piece be a very original scholar. Great job interpreting the article. See you in class!
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