Right ~ How has Mr. Bradbury been of late, jkt?

(5 minutes ago) We finished reading Fahrenheit 451 (orally) in our Lit 12 classes. My students asked questions from page 3 to page 165. They loved Guy Montag's metamorphosis. Several have asked if they could send letters to Mr. B. I will, of course, assist them in this. They graduate in two weeks!

Then, off they go, along the tracks, down the river, into the city-countryside-world... "To everything there is a season!"

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Knox:
...Bradbury is all about religion...

You might as well say "Bradbury is all about dinosaurs", or "Bradbury is all about Mars". He is many things to many people. Religion is a part of it, but it's certainly not all there is to his work.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Knox:
...Bradbury is all about religion...

Religion is a part of it, but it's certainly not all there is to his work.

Well, you can say that if you want. But take away the religious part of Ray's works, and you have enough of nothing. If you are thinking Church and God and Jesus is all there is about religion, those words and terms mean nothing without the understanding of what they mean. Without that meaning of religion in Ray's works, what you have left are meager droppings of expressions anyone could write, even a fifth grader.

Thankyou for that insightful analysis, Mr Knox. You have reminded me why I usually ignore your posts.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
Thankyou for that insightful analysis, Mr Knox. You have reminded me why I usually ignore your posts.

Well, that goes to show how the other side detests some people's views on the matter. Ultimately, you drain the spiritual essence of any writer and you are left with drab. I know England has become very anti-religious in the last couple decades, which is an utter shame to the great expanse of religious institutions founded in England. (Once great Christian places of learning, like Cambridge University, University of Bedfordshire, even Oxford). You sound like a product of your region, at least in your view of how spiritual matters work thru a writer's soul. Bradbury will always be an inspiration to those on spiritual journeys because of his enormous style, talent overflowing, the writer aware or not.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Knox:
...Once great Christian places of learning, like Cambridge University, University of Bedfordshire...

Ah, the University of Bedfordshire. Founded in 2006. My, how standards have declined in three years.

http://www.beds.ac.uk/aboutus/history

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:


Ah, the University of Bedfordshire. Founded in 2006. My, how standards have declined in three years.

http://www.beds.ac.uk/aboutus/history

Your right! Trying to figure out which one I was thinking of. I'll look over your link.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Knox:
(Once great Christian places of learning, like Cambridge University, University of Bedfordshire, even Oxford)

Mr Knox, you've made my day!

If North Korea goes on saying they will wipe the United States of the map, don't you think this will definitely infuriate a whole lot of people?

For instance, consider Mexico, which will undoubtedly be infused with radiation fallout and a lot of debris entering over the borders. Not to say all kinds of other messy stuff. And then just think of all the Mexicans living in the United States, like South Central Los Angeles for instance. There'll be a whole lot of angry people in Guadalajara and other places. Then there are the Canadians, who will also experience a lot of junk falling over onto their side of the borders. This won't go well with all the relatives living in places like France and jolly ol' England and other parts of the world. And if this ain't enough, just think of all those Koreans that live in the United States, as well as Chinese, and Iranians and those of the Muslim faith; Russians, Italians, Lithuanians, Polish! You think the Irish won't get mad over this? Think of the largest population of Jews outside of Israel, just beyond the city limits of Chicago going north. How would that affect those in Israel in regard to their feelings about North Korea? Well, the list can go on and on. You think all these countries are just going to stand by and say, Hey, those family members don't mean anything to me? Naw. I don't think so.

So, North Korea, think again when you say that you'll wipe the United States off the map. It's one thing to get a few people made at you. But...everyone?

Does Kim Jong-il really read these messages? I had no idea!

What's their problem anyway? Are they mad because Obama has connections in South Korea?

This is the problem with isolated dictators. They live in their own little fantasy worlds where rights and life mean nothing at all. As to whether No Korea will bug anyone, the modern western world has become unbeleivably complacent in the face of threats and attacks by luntatic dictators--whether religious or military. We just wait, wait, wait, and hope their indigestion goes away. Meanwhile, Palestinians launch thousands of missles a year into Isreal, Iran hangs people publicly in the streets, and the western world can apparently think of nothing to say . . .

How is this so? Global warming doesn't exist. Does it?

In order to accept global warming, one must define it, first. The name is now morphing to global climate change because, unfortunately, temperatures in some areas of the globe are setting records for cold temperatures. North America was a glacier once. The glacier receded LONG before man had a global footprint. What caused that? Over geological time, earth's temperatures have fluctuated. Why is this fluctuation caused by man but the earlier ones were not?

On the philnic/Phil Knox discussion above, I think religion and spirituality underlie all kinds of things--regardless of whether a God is or is not invoked. Bradbury's writing deals with religious issues and questions of meaning and happiness with great regularity. I think there is a "spiritual" core there that is what first drew me (and many others) to his writing. Then you see the social criticism, the poetic style, the masterful use of metaphor, etc., etc., etc.