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.
