REMEMBER THIS, REMEMBER THAT

"I have always thought that the goal of college courses was not necessarily to learn rote lists of things but to develop my skills as a writer, reader, and thinker" (Copious Kyle). 



I could not agree more with this sentiment. Between the three different majors I have switched between over the course of my college career, I always find myself coming away from each semester not necessarily with an abundance of newfound knowledge, but a greater expansion of my mental abilities. In many ways, the human brain is similar to an automobile; different parts can be swapped out, new parts can be brought in, all with the same goal of making the car faster. Eventually however, all cars  end up in the junk yard. The brain differs in that its potential for expansion and improvement is endless. While some people may have more enhanced skills in certain ways of thinking, everyone has the potential to improve.


I have always thought of myself to have a poor memory. I used to have difficulty remembering information for exams, phone numbers, names, etc. What this class has taught me is that any memory can be improved with the proper type of training. The visuality and spatial awareness that is so crucial to our mental programming, that all of the authors we have read elaborate on, is truly enlightening. The first things I memorized for this class were Foer's 15 items, and I was blown away by how quickly it was accomplished by using the beautiful simplicity of the memory theater. At first constructing imagery to place in theaters was difficult and time consuming, but similar to any skill I found that it got exponentially easier with practice. I found that even poetry can be easily mastered using mnemonic techniques. Foer and many others claim that poetry is most easily mastered by rote, but I strongly disagree. It does not take exceptional intelligence to create imagery for verse, but simply the ability to be flexible and creative. When constructing  imagery around lines of poetry, the biggest challenge I faced was that I got too hung up on  trying to match the perfect image with every line. This is simply not realistic. To efficiently use a memory theater for this purpose, I discovered that I had to allow myself to adapt quickly during the mental walk-throughs of my theaters. In Kubla Kahn for example, I did not have time to stray from the route I was visualizing to find something perfectly suitable for the line "So twice five miles of fertile ground, with walls and towers were girdled round", so I made something work. In my mind I was in my parents house in front of the pool table at that point in the poem, so I imagined the top of the pool table piled high with dark, rich, recently plowed soil. As for the walls and towers, the cue stand next to the table was transformed into a classical Greek tower with the cues serving as the pillars. I could go on and on explaining the inner workings of my various palaces, but I'm afraid that it would consume dozens of pages.


When I was brainstorming concepts for my musey room, I had trouble coming up with an idea that would effectively encompass what I have learned from this course. I realized that it would be impossible to give anyone a visual glimpse into my newfound memory systems, due to their grotesquely abstract complexities that make them so uniquely memorable. The reason that they cannot be explained to another person is that they are so incredibly visual. This is largely a result of the practicality of rehearsing poetry aloud. Due to people thinking you're crazy, and limited alone time, I had to be able to utilize silence during the construction of my memory theaters. This is a difficulty I ran into while learning Kubla Kahn. To accommodate for the restraints presented, I created imagery for the entire poem without speaking a single word. Before I ever practiced the poem in length for the first time, I had detailed images constructed in my mind. I did almost all of my memory training this semester on the third floor of the library, in the quiet section, in total silence. This is only possible when using places so familiar to me, that it is second nature to walk through them in my mind, and remember every minute detail.



 For some time now I have thought about the similarities between the Globe Theater and Camillo's memory palace. While Camillo intended his building to be a tool used to enhance individual memory, I see no reason why this could not be utilized by performers. Who knows, maybe Renaissance actors practiced their lines in the the empty globe, using the segregated sections of seating as loci for storing multiple memory palaces. The model I presented to the class is a hybrid of these two structures. It is a design in which the orator can utilize the spatial nature of his memory to trigger multiple sections of dialogue from different, emotionally charged core images he/she has placed around the theater. While I doubt that my design will be published in any groundbreaking architecture journals, I do think that the concept could be effectively utilized by any type of performance oriented structure.



It has been my experience that college is a give and take relationship. For every bit of effort that you put in, you take out a much larger reward. Nowhere is this more evident than in the study of literature. As Megan Mother of the Muses says in her blog, people frequently question the validity of what we study, and are completely out of the loop as to what benefits could possibly be reaped from an English degree. Jennifer of the Falling Waters believes that the study of literature is a process of discovery and personal growth. As a convert to the program, I like to think of myself as evidence to this theory. In my previous studies, I treated school as secondary to first tracks and tight lines. Midway through my university career, I basically stumbled into literature. A broken collar bone and newly found free time fostered a fervor to expand my knowledge that I had never previously experienced. People often ask how horrible my two clavicle surgeries were, and I startle them by replying that it was the best thing that ever happened to me. While I still cherish my time in the mountains, two trips to the ER in the span of 3 months served as a serious reality check. Your body can only go so hard for so long, but the mind is limitless. It was not  the literature itself that served as the catalyst for the growth I experienced, but it is the skills I gained, the people I have met, and the discoveries I have made about myself along the way that make me so grateful for my shoulder's violent clash with terra firma. If I ever lose motivation in my studies, all I have to do is reach up and feel the screws lining the top of the metal plate that sits just beneath the surface my skin, and I am reminded to stay focused. 

If I were to walk into the Hauf Brau 30 years from now, and run into Copious Kyle, it would take a minute for us to recognize each other. The aging effects of time would have weathered our faces, we would no longer have the energy of youth about us, but eventually we would recognize one another. We might not recall who Joshua Foer was, or what Giordano Bruno theorized about; but I would imagine that we would remember our epithets, perhaps a few funny stories from that class we had long ago back in our college days. I know for certain however, that we would remember Michael Sexson.

If there were such a thing as a wizard of the English department, Dr. Sexson would fill that role. I have never met someone that can so effortlessly recall passages of poetry, literature, and song at the drop of a hat. He has never directly said so, but I think he would agree with my give and take theory. To me anyways, that is how his classes work. If you so desire, you can simply coast through them and get by with minimal effort. On the other hand, you can challenge yourself to become truly absorbed in the material, and come out on the other side an improved scholar. We have excellent examples of that within our class; from Jenny's novel, to Nick's sock-knocking off blog entries, to Cameron's fascination with learning the details of scripture, there are people leading the charge of self-powered learning right amongst our midst.

Thank you Dr. Sexson, for fostering the growth of your students in yet another unforgettable class.