Akiko Busch's The Uncommon Life Of Common Objects

Alexander Von Humboldt was a Prussian naturalist whose work has helped shape and define our modern understanding of nature. He used enlightenment rationalism to navigate his way through life and his deep connection to his natural environment inspired a visionary movement in ushering out the monotheistic creationist worldview. “Humboldt’s books, diaries and letters reveal a visionary, a thinker far ahead of his time. He invented isotherms...discovered the magnetic equator...came up with the idea of vegetation and climate zones that snake across the globe…and revolutionized the way we see the natural world.” (Invention of Nature, 5). Although his work was extensive, author of ‘The Invention of Nature, Andrea Wulf suggests that his work has largely been forgotten due to his polymath approach of including art, history, poetry and politics that made him unfavorable. While Humboldt gave us our concept of nature itself, “the irony is that Humboldt’s views have become so self-evident that we have largely forgotten the man behind them.” However, although his work individual work may be overlooked, Humboldt’s success in making science more accessible work and as a result, his legacy lives on as the source of inspiration for many influential thinkers throughout history.

This is a wonderful monograph by Melissa Archer with a comprehensive study of the theme of “worship in the Apocalypse”. It illustrates various aspects of worship and the role of worship in the Apocalypse. The language of the book and different approaches to the theme are appreciated, because those are simple and clear to understand the theme.

People hold on to pieces of jewelry, furniture, and other symbolic collectables that is passed through generations. These things can remind a person of a loved one that is seen as being priceless.

This week focused on corporate power and how this power has influenced our government as well as us the consumers. This day and age we’ve become obsessed with “keeping up with the Joneses,” to the point where the average house has doubled in size and we throw out 4.5 pounds of garbage a day. It’s no wonder we create so much trash since we tend to throw away 99 percent of the “stuff” we’ve purchased every 6 months. How did we get to this place? In the story “ The Story of Stuff,” we saw how corporations and the government along with the media bombard us every day, about 3,000 times a day, with commercials and advertisements to buy, buy, and buy some more. Raymond J. Saulnier, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, was quoted

Every person has on object in their life that is very precious to the, for me, it is my pearl necklace. They are small and round and a lustrous cream color with a pink sheen. They have a tiny gold clasp that holds the necklace together. My pearls tell a story than no other personal artifact can: my heritage. The pearls symbolized tradition and womanhood in my family’s life, and they were to be worn with dignity and pride. Every holiday, the girls of the family accessorized their outfits with the pearls given by our grandmother. They were something we all had in common: the thread that linked our generations together. I recall looking down at my Nana’s casket and I could almost hear her voice whispering

Objects can prove to be the cause of some of the most impactful features or events in someone’s life. “Once he finished work on the Prospector and we struck it rich, he’d start work on our Glass Castle.” (Walls 25). The Prospector was a symbol of aspiration, she wanted to have a more exciting and fulfilling life. Although it also represents lies and distrustfulness because her father never actually worked on the Prospector. Instead, he went out and got drunk. The Glass Castle is quite impactful in Jeannette’s life, it gave her hope for a better life. However it’s not just that, it’s confidence in her father. That he will provide for her and create a good life for her, despite the drinking and other horrible habits he has developed. Jeannette

There’s always more significant to an object than we think. All it takes is the right individual to see the value of an object. An object changes throughout time; not only physical but spiritually. What has no meaning today, could have some meaning in the future. For example, a pair of shoes one hundred years ago had no significance to anyone. Fast forward today, a pair of shoes has significance to many people. There are still some people that think shoes have no meaning and are worthless. They’re wrong, shoes have meaning and impact lives. Shoes can be important to an individual for a variety reasons. Whether it brought friendship or it was worn by a historic figure. That brings me to my object: Micheal Jordan’s 6th signature shoe. Also known by many as “Jordan 6’s”. These pair of sneakers have a lot of history. It all begins with the

This speaks on a very deep level, in regards to the genuine warmth the author implied toward the mother in his piece. There is a subliminal truth of sentimental “value”, because the reality of this world is that all material wealth can be lost in a moment, but real wealth is not some slice of pie one luckily stumbles upon in the world, real wealth is first found in the human being, and the human becomes the reflective producer of these

Everything has an intrinsic value, and that is how I started viewing life after reading Le Petit Prince. Just like me, the little prince from the story realizes that everything has idiosyncratic qualities and

Around the world, values are expressed differently. Some people think that life is about the little things that make them happy. Others feel the opposite way and that expenses are the way to live. In Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, he develops a character, Madame Loisel, who illustrates her different style of assessments. Madame Loisel, a beautiful woman, lives in a wonderful home with all the necessary supplies needed to live. However, she is very unhappy with her life. She feels she deserves a much more expensive and materialistic life than what she has. After pitying herself for not being the richest of her friends, she goes out and borrows a beautiful necklace from an ally. But as she

Ordinary Objects explores the ambiguities between objects and puppetry with an absurd theater performance using the anthropomorphic nature of innate objects depicting ideas expressed by surrealist, Rene’ Magritte. Drawing on humorous and bawdy comic clichés, and dislocated repetitions with an underlying message of metaphysical distress in paying tribute to filmmakers, surrealist, existentialists who extrapolate meaning from the world of object theatre.

“She so much longed to please, be envied, be fascinating and sought after” (de Maupassant 67). The main character desires to be at the center of attention, she wants to be coveted by others. In his fictional short story titled, “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant writes about how the lusting for more may cause people to be blinded and unable to see/value the treasures they already have. The story begins with an introduction of a lady who daydreams about the happiness that materialistic yearnings can bring her, forgetting her situation and social class. After taking her husband’s recommendation to borrow jewelry, specifically a diamond necklace, from her close friend Madame Forestier to wear alongside her dress at the evening reception, the main character later discovers that she had lost the necklace. Following their failure to find the necklace, Madame and Monsieur Loisel devise a plan to borrow money to replace the necklace with another and in doing so, fall into years of debt. Moreover, Maupassant uses direct characterization, imagery and situational irony to further depict why you should be grateful for what you already have before it’s too late.

In the first section of the journal, Belk proves that possessions are important to sense of self by offering various evidences. First of all, the limited research of possessions in self-perception shows that possessions follow body part and mind in their centrality to self . In terms of the concept ‘extended self’, possessions include not only external objects and personal possessions but also persons, places, group possessions as well as body parts and vital organ. According to McClelland(1951), those objects could be seen as

Throughout our lifetime, us as people decide to admire different objects, ideas, and people due to what pleases their thoughts and actions. The infinite examples of things we could’ve valued could’ve been toys, friends, book, etc.. But then we began to mature and begin to come out of our little shells to discover new products, views of the world, and new ways to advance in our technology and therefore influencing what we value today. And as I matured in my lifetime, I established a novel value to my parents the greatest.

Objects don’t respond to attention but they allow one to develop an attachment to them. People often find themselves using the same cup for their coffee, or passing along a piece of jewelry for generations to cherish the memories that it evokes. Our lives become richer as one makes connections with their environment. In the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry [1943] it is emphasized through the "taming of the fox”, that people fail to realize the emotions attached to a particular material and solely base an account of it. In this novella, the reader is forced to think about what it means to form a relationship with another; the process allows a special bond to form between the tamer and the tamed, it cannot be compared or equated with anything else as it is unique to the two individuals that partake in the taming.