Measure for Measure

I have decided to attempt to watch all of Shakespeare's plays by the end of the year so today and yesterday I watched Measure for Measure. I didn't know anything about the plot going in. It was all pretty standard Shakespeare at first. A Duke pretends to go away on a trip and disguises himself as a priest to see what's going to go down in his absence. His deputy takes up his duty with zeal and has Claudio arrested for getting Juliet pregnant. Claudio's sister Isabella is called in to beg for her brothers life and this is where things started to get crazy.

The deputy has a creepy soliloquy about how he's attracted to Isabella and when she comes to beg again he offers her a deal. She sleeps with him and in exchange he pardons her brother. When she refuses he turns violent. I was not expecting this in a play from five hundred years ago. This is something we see so often today with professors, Commanding officers, and even spiritual leaders using their power to have their way with some one under them.

I felt intense pity for Isabella, If it were my brother I honestly think I would have chosen differently but at the same time she was played and used by almost every man in the  play. Angelo wants to use her to satisfy his appetites. Claudio wants to use her to get himself pardoned. And the Duke played at his own game. Possibly to see whether she was worth marrying perhaps just for his own amusement. A word from him and she would have known that her brother was alive but instead he watched her beg for the man who wanted to rape her, who thought he had, and then killed her brother despite it.

 I honestly hope she didn't marry the Duke, that she went back to her nunnery and stayed far away from these ruthless powerful men. Because in the end I truly liked Isabella. She was willing to stand alone for what she thought was right against a person who had absolute power over her and her family and against her own brother. But it was her intersession for Marian that was what really stuck me. That she was willing to do that and put aside her own desire for vengeance was extremely selfless.

Speaking of Marian I really didn't understand why she still wanted to marry Angelo. Even ignoring his moral problems why would want to be married to some one who had been forced to marry her? And she wasn't materialistically going after a rich husband either. She could have had all his possessions as his widow but she begs for his life instead. I suppose it has to do with it being a completely different culture but I certainly did not understand her love.

Now on to my favorite/most thought provoking quotes:

"Our doubts are traitors, 

And make us lose the good we oft might win,

By fearing to attempt"

"O, it is excellent 

to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous

To use it like a giant!"

"Go to your bosom;

Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know"

"Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves;

Which are as easily broken as they make forms,

Women! Help heaven! men their creation mar

In profiting by them. Nay call us ten times frail,

for we are soft as our complexions are,

And credulous to false prints."

"O, what a man within him hide, 

Though angel on the outward side!"

"Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;

Like doth quit like and Measure still for Measure."

Crafts

I wanted to share a few things I've been working on lately.

First one I actually finished! I used the instructions here to make it and it turned out great. I learned about eyelets which I had never used before and I used  some of the multitude of old jeans I have lying around. This is a chalk bag for rock climbing which is one of my favorite things to do and I've been doing it weekly now that the gym is right next to my work.

 I have been working on my t-shirt quilt for more than a year now but I am finally nearing completion! There are only six squares left to quilt and it will be ready in time for winter.

 I'm knitting a hat too. This book has some pretty cool patterns and I'm trying out the "Pine Needle Toque". I was going to do a different pattern but alas I realized that I need to find some one who can teach me the dark art of cabling.

World Quilt show Part 2: a few more of my favorites

In my previous post I put some photos of Japanese quilts at quiltfest. There were a lot more cool ones so I'm doing another post with a few more of my favorites. 

I loved the way this one looked like stained glass. 

This was part of a tribute to the Beetles. It reminded me of a story my dad told me about being at camp only a few miles away from Woodstock. A van of hippies tried to camp out there and the Camp manager had to ask them to leave.

This one popped out at me right away

I had a friend once who told me that she thought of red birds as a sign from God.

 This quilt made me think of her.

I loved the way this one made you feel like you were in the jungle.

I really like green and pink together for some reason.

This one reminded me of the Book of Kells I saw in Dublin this summer.

This was part of an exhibition on the "spice route". I loved the tropical colors and the volcano in the background

This last one was pretty amazing. When you can make something that beautiful with only one color....

Over all I had a great time looking at these quilts. It was weird to be the youngest one there by a long shot. Most of the people were middle aged to elderly women and a few older men. At the same time I don't think quilting is a dying art. I know several young quilters but none of them would have the time or money at this point in their lives to travel to a quilt festival. Serious quilting is probably something most people don't get into until their lives have slowed down. 

Those who wrestle with life

This weekend some one told me he couldn't stand people who didn't wrestle with life. He felt like most people weren't thinking, weren't read, weren't trying, were just "doing the netflix thing". He also talked about how in New York City everyone materialism was everything and status was based on how many things you have. This was in the context of talking about how he met his  potential girlfriend, a epic saga which took an hour to tell even though they had not been on their second date yet.

He bothered me. I can think of several reasons why. First, that I realized I didn't measure up to what he wanted in a girlfriend. I had and have no desire for that position but something in me always wants to measure up to everyone's standards. Second because he, after living there a year, spoke with such authority on a city I spent eighteen years practically next to but never really knew. I don't like to feel so inexperienced about things I really should know about and meeting someone who knew so much more annoys me even though it shouldn't.
I think, however, the real reason his words troubled me was the boxes he but people in. He was constantly contrasting those who think and those who don't, those who are materialistic and those who aren't, those who are from the Midwest and those who are from the east coast. In fact he mentioned how glad he was that she was from the midwest and was therefore much less driven by materialism and was much kinder than some one raised around NYC. I have a hard time classifying people like that. Perhaps it is because I have a father who in many ways choose to be as different as possible from those he grew up with and a mother who grew up as a "gaijin" in a country that worships racial purity. I grew up home schooled in a place where that was extremely rate. My friends where those who likewise didn't fit with the suburban culture. I have difficulty classifying people based on where they are from.

I've wondered since then if I "wrestle with life". I do read, theology, fiction, fantasy, poetry, but I don't think I truly wrestle with what I read. So often I am looking for comfort rather than thought, easy answers rather than hard problems. Perhaps we just have different personalities and gifts or perhaps I am missing out on what God had for a life I'd wrestle with.

Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vayishlach

World Quilt Show: Japanese quilts

Last week During my lunch break I happened to walk past a little cupcake shop with a sign in its window proudly declaring "Quilters Welcome!"  Not being an especially accomplished quilter (I will post about my T-shirt quilt at some point) I did not feel that this particularly welcome and hence did not buy myself a cupcake. But upon closer inspection the sign revealed that it owed it's presence to the World quilt show going on during the next few days. Back at the safety of my cubical I searched this world quilt festival. I soon learned that many very cool quilts were now on display only a few blocks from my work. Once I finished work I walked over to the convention center, paid my entry fee, and proceeded to explore the quilts. In this post I'm adding pictures of my favorite quilts from Japan. More from other countries will come.

I loved the sea turtles and the corral in this one. Also the way the waves were triangles

This once was so precise and the colors were extremely well thought out.

pretty much all of these quilts had me in awe of how people could have the skill and the time to make these. In some ways it gave me a different perspective on art.

This was my favorite from Japan. I love the way it combines traditional quilting with Japanese fabric and themes.

Who doesn't like mt. Fuji and cranes?

Starting Out

When I find new blogs I sometime jump back to the first post to figure out who they are and why there are here. So perhaps that is why you are here. Currently I am an engineer just starting my first job. I'm a Christian who seeks to serve God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind. I love rock climbing, knitting, reading, and many other things. I recently moved to New England and will be exploring this beautiful part of the country.

I am here because I have always loved to write. Ever since I told my siblings stories as a small child I have wanted to tell stories and this is a chance to tell my story.