Why Read Shakespeare

 The characters and the story are complex so the reader does not fully understand what is happening. Mack says that to understand Shakespeare we must read the plays over and over until we get it.

2. Mack says when you fully understand Shakespeare you start to realize things about yourself through his stories and you learn more things about the world around you. Also, that trying to understand Shakespeare will prepare you for the struggles you will face later in life.

3. Learning about yourself- You can reflect your feelings through characters in Shakespeare in characters like Macbeth and Hamlet and that many of our own ideas originated from Shakespeare's writings.

.A time for exploring- you can use Shakespeare as a way to find yourself. Also, as you are able to understand the complicated characters of Shakespeare you will be able to understand the complicated people in your own life with more clarity. It can also prepare you for when you go out on your own in the world later in life.

A different take on skills-He argues that while you need your specific job skills for your job you will probably not stay in the same job throughout your whole life, so throughout life you will need these basic skills that can transfer from job to job that you can learn from  reading Shakespeare.

Their is knowledge and their is knowledge- through reading Shakespeare your heart and mind will become closer to each other and become closer to a cohesive unit. This is because through reading Shakespeare you will be able to understand more things about the heart.

A time for developing interests-Through reading Shakespeare you will slowly adapt to liking it. He compared it to listening to new music you might not like it at first but after a while you could enjoy it. While at the same the same time he understands Shakespeare is hard to understand at first.

4. Out all of his arguments the one I aligned  myself the most with was the basic skills because I do learn important themes about life through Shakespeare's plays. For example in Macbeth I get a good look in how bad being greedy can be and how it can ruin whole nations. As well as the power of love through plays like Romeo and Juliet.

Benefits of Keeping a Diary

In Virginia Woolf's diary the one thing I take away from them is not her battle with old age but how she tested new writing styles and idea's in her diary entries. If no one else sees what you write their is no harm in trying something new and maybe you will like that new style in the end. If you are not being graded or being critiqued by an outside source you have no limitations on what to try and this is why they are so important to writers. Writing in a diary can also be beneficial to keeping your skills honed. Last week we were introduced to a illustrator of children's books and one thing that caught my interest   was the fact that he said if he did not draw everyday he would have a hard time getting back into the groove of writing. If you write in a diary everyday even if it is a silly entry that makes no sense at all you will keep yours skills honed. Another benefit of keeping a diary is using it as a form of therapy. A diary could be used as a way to just release all your fears and other troubles without being judged. In conclusion while I do not own a diary I do see the many benefits a writer could have from owning one.

The Art of Reading

 In Lewis Carolls Four Rules of Digesting Information and Mastering the Art of  Reading, two of the four main points really caught my attention and caused me to dwell on the subject even more. The first point was do not skip around a book looking for spoilers. This point is very relevant in todays time of t.v shows and movies. Take the movie the Sixth Sense if you knew the whole time that Bruce Willis was dead it would of ruined the sense of mystery and the shock of that final scene. I am very guilty of this, many times I have read the last few pages of the book very early on. They may seem totally out of context when I first read them, but by the end of the novel I start to realize what I just read and it ruins the ending for me. The other point that stuck out to me was do not read the next chapter with out understanding the last one. I am very guilty of this. In my rush to finish the book i will totally miss major plot points or even get the characters mixed around leaving me dumbfound later in the novel as the story progresses.