Kirsten Lodge

Kirsten Lodge

Associate Professor of Humanities and Literature

Location Midwestern State University

Activity

  • When I think of masquerade parties, I think of elegant nineteenth-century parties with an element of disguise, but not necessarily of imitation. If there is any influence from popular culture, I have the general impression (and I may be wrong) that it may be from the Italian commedia dell'arte. In cosplay, on the other hand, one usually dresses up like a...

  • In general, I agree with those who say that the relationship is more distant than in Japan. I don't really know what it's like today because it's been so long since I was a teenager, but I recall that my girlfriend and I were completely obsessed with a certain band, and it was indeed like a unilateral romantic relationship. We fantasized about the band...

  • H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds, which is considered by many to be the first work of science fiction, established the trope of the giant machine manipulated by an intelligent living creature from the inside--although in this case the living creature was a Martian rather than a human being. Given the popularity of this novella, the motif became established in...

  • The theme of the robot with a heart goes back to R.U.R., the play by Karel Capek that gave the world the word "robot," and culminates in Blade Runner. It is a very common motif, probably because we are afraid that our robots will cross that line and become human, and we will no longer be superior to them. However, I can't think of any other example of a...

  • My first thought is that many Japanese horror movies focus on young schoolgirls of about this age. They are always wearing short, revealing skirts and have beautiful long hair, yet they are still "virginal." Perhaps the terrible things that happen to them represent some aspect of their sexual maturation.

  • I am coming from a study of "high" culture, especially contemporary Japanese literature, which in my opinion includes some of the best writing in the world. I am also a great fan of Japanese auteurs such as Kurosawa. I decided to take this course in order to see another side of Japanese culture. Therefore, I had never thought of it as "infantile" before.

  • My first experience with immersion in Japanese anime was when two of my college students invited me to join the Anime Club for a trip to a huge annual anime convention in Dallas. There were so many costumes, events, products for sale, etc., and the general enthusiasm was so palpable, I was amazed. It was these two students who introduced me to my first anime...

  • I am really into A-horror, and Japanese horror films are my favorite. I know they are not part of a subculture, but I would say they fit into the category of pop culture. I also enjoy some anime; my favorite is Princess Mononoke, which I have watched at least four times. In addition, I adore Miffy the rabbit--in fact, I am wearing my Miffy socks right now. ...

  • Personally, I don't say many aspirational images on my Facebook page.

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    I have created several memes using pictures of my rabbits. I wanted to learn how to create memes, so I took a MOOC on it. I used my rabbits' pictures so my memes would be unique and because I didn't like most of the available images used for memes.

  • Our society in the US is deeply divided. My friends on Facebook post a lot of political articles, and so do I. Most of us share the same views, although I do have a few FB friends who do not. As an educator, I have also been posting a lot about policies for the opening of schools. To lighten things up, I also post pictures of my bunnies and funny memes.

  • Somewhat similarly, I use FaceBook to promote the understanding of migraine. I also belong to several groups (both support and information groups), which have helped me to accept my condition and even request accommodations at work.

  • I use it to follow the news, but I rarely post anything. I'm sure it's simple but I actually find it difficult to understand. I'm not even sure what I would post there.

  • Personally, I know I have to be very careful what I post on FaceBook, particularly because I am "friends" with a lot of my colleagues and even some students.

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    I am a professor and I would like to learn more about social media in large part because I want to understand my students better. I mostly use FaceBook.

  • I use BunSpace, which is like social media for rabbit lovers. You can post a lot more than on the other platforms, though. You can be serious or play games, or a bit of both. I used to use Instagram, but I don't use it anymore because you can post pictures and say a lot more about them on FaceBook.

  • I figured they were all partially correct, but I chose the first answer because it was the most neutral.

  • How did they come up with that?

  • My example is the votives that appear to be wombs. Are they really wombs, or something else? They look very strange for wombs.

  • It's interesting that Venus (or men in general) know about dittany from mountain goats, as several ancient sources confirm. The goats seem to know instinctively what to use it for.

  • Achilles possessed medical knowledge because he had been trained by the centaur Chiron, famed for his knowledge of healing.

  • Oedipus's foot was permanently damaged because it was pierced when they carried him out to the hills to abandon him.

  • Laocoon, with its dynamism and sense of movement and drama, influenced Baroque sculptors such as Bernini (cf. his sculpture of David).

    http://totallyhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/David_Bernini_1623.jpg

  • I found each project fascinating and learned a lot about both art and contemporary China. I've been thinking about potential socially engaged art projects that I might be able to suggest and help organize with students at my university.

  • I love the videos, especially "Nonexistent Existences."

  • Wow, it looks almost like a war zone. I've seen photos from the former Yugoslavia and from Chechnya and it was nearly as bad as those, but in all cases the people went on with their lives as best they could.

  • This project is interesting to me because I live in a town in Texas that was also once thriving due to the oil business. Now the business is all but gone, and the railroad has closed. The population has declined (though certainly not as much as in Yumen), and the downtown area is almost a dead zone. Maybe an artist should try something similar here.

  • "Burst forth down along her flank without swelling"? What does that refer to?

  • A psychiatrist once told me that I was depressed because I didn't have children. And I mean we weren't even talking about children; that was just his theory.

  • What about putting olive oil in its eyes?

  • Why would it lead to divorce?

  • In Bohumil Hrabal's I Served the King of England, the main character (male) is forced to make Aryan children in a special institution in Germany where the pregnant women are required to listen to classical music and look at beautiful works of art in order to ensure that their children will be beautiful. I know about Lebensborn institutions, but I don't know...

  • Castor and Pollux, and sometimes Helen and Clytemnestra, the children of Leda, were often depicted as hatching from eggs. Of course, this relates to Leda's seduction by Zeus in the form of a swan, although only two of the children were considered to be his. Here is a famous later image by Leonardo da...

  • And the horses cry! It's so wonderful!

  • The myth of Erichthonios was meant to show that the Athenians were autochthonous--that is, they were indigenous to their land, and therefore had a special "right" to it. They were not invaders taking over other people's land, or even uninhabited land. Many Greek city-states and kingdoms had similar local myths (for instance, famously, Thebes).

  • Apparently the Chinese may also have used bits of ceramic.

  • Here is a Han Dynasty model of an outhouse (c. 100 CE). It was found in a tomb, so I guess it was thought that even dead people would need to use an outhouse.

  • And later--Voltaire mentions it in Candide, and Gogol in "The Overcoat."

  • But isn't FutureLearn planning to institute obligatory fees for its courses soon?

    Never mind, I just read the discussion below.

  • Oh, yes, when we were in Uzbekistan my husband was treated to ox testicles to supposedly make him more potent.

  • It just made me think more clearly about the similarities and differences. And what I read was similar to what I had written, though of course not the same.

  • I wonder if there could be anything similar for the poor migrant workers in the US?

  • Bread and circuses!

  • Then there is the myth of the vomitoria used for purging so one could consume even more. Apparently they did not actually exist.

  • And Socrates was in his seventies, and he didn't even die a natural death.

  • It struck me that the exotic foods mentioned were all body parts or organs of exotic animals. The Roman emperors displayed their power by watching exotic animals imported from faraway parts of the Empire kill each other and human beings in extravagant shows. This was a way of symbolically asserting imperial dominance over these distant parts of the world. I...

  • I was unable to participate in the recent protests in Washington, D.C., around the U.S., and throughout the world, but it was exhilarating to watch them. My friends who were able to participate also posted pictures and videos on Facebook. All I could do was take part in a student protest, but it was still interesting to see how involved the students were. ...

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    This discussion of arousing emotion in the audience brought to mind another radical artist, Sergei Eisenstein. He wrote about the importance of manipulating emotion and of pathos in his theoretical works. Just think of the famous Odessa staircase scene in The Battleship Potemkin, especially the part when the mother confronts the Cossacks holding her wounded...

  • And interestingly, Brecht was a Marxist. Even before him, the Russian Futurists, who also supported socialism before the Bolshevik Revolution, broke down the barrier between performers and artists. Radical form for radical content.

  • The post-performance discussion reminds me of ancient Greece: after plays were performed all of the citizens discussed their contemporary relevance.

  • No, I remember now, it was Alhazen.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Haytham

  • That's a great resource! Thanks!

  • That's a wonderful documentary! And how about Emily Dickinson?

  • The Russians like to take credit for preventing the Mongol advance into Europe.

  • Which one of the mystery novels do you recommend beginning with?

  • What distinguishes Neo-Confucianism from Confucianism?

  • I just read a fascinating book entitled Ghost Bridge by Yangsze Choo, in which paper money is burned for the deceased to spend in the afterworld. She presents a brilliant and imaginative narrative about how people might live and spend money in the afterworld.

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    Here are some from the Temple of Aclepius in Corinth.

    https://thevotivesproject.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/asclepius-temple.jpg

  • Yes, I teach this in my Ancient World course. Ancient statues were usually painted. Check out the reconstructions of the Egyptian ones!

  • Do you happen to know what recent research refers to this? I would be interested to learn more.

  • I can hear sounds as being dark or light, for example, especially in poetry. Stephane Mallarme once remarked that the words for day and night in French seem to be backwards, because "nuit" (night) sounds bright and "jour" (day) sounds dark. This kind of thing is important in writing and reading poetry.

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    People with a squint or cross eyes in particular may have been suspected of having the "evil eye."

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    It shouldn't be that hard to see an advanced cataract without even having a medical examination.

  • I've read about this in the context of the history of belief in witches in New England.

  • Are you saying that it is untrue?

  • I learned from living in Russia that there are all kinds of honeys with greater or lesser antibiotic properties. I don't believe it's just an "old wives' tale."

  • In Sparta children with physical problems would just be killed.

  • I also know that Aristotle wrote a lot about vision which was proven to be wrong by some really famous Islamic scientist whose name I can't quite remember right now.

  • Yes, there's one at the beginning who sings for the suitors at Odysseus's home, and there is one at the Phaeacians' as well.

  • Yes--of course Semele was entirely destroyed when she looked at Zeus. It's an extreme example of hubris. The Christian God was also, in many stories, not supposed to be looked at.

  • Homer's bards were among the most respected men in that society.

  • Argos had many eyes so he could see in every direction at once, so it was not considered to be a problem. That's why Hera put him in charge of guarding Io. Vergil's monstrous Rumor also had lots of eyes all over her feathers so she could see everything that was going on around her. Both are associated with peacocks (especially Argos).

  • We actually know absolutely nothing about "Homer." Many bards were portrayed in mythology and, for instance, Homer's epics as blind because true sight was supposed to be internal (as in the case of Teiresias, the most famous and powerful prophet).

  • Yes, offhand I can think of Teiresias, Homer, Oedipus, Medusa, and the Cyclopes.

  • It's usually some kind of unrequited or unattainable love.

  • I was going to say the same thing! And there was a protest at our university where the students were provided with paper and markers to make their own banners. There were some creative slogans.

  • A lot of contemporary artists actually want their work to be, or at least seem, "ephemeral," as opposed to the kind of art that is hung in museums.

  • What is the significance of the yak's milk in the shoes?

  • Yes, Anna K. is a good example. My friend wrote a book on love sickness in Russian literature.

  • I completely agree. I have chronic daily migraine, and I often have to work and teach classes when I'm in pain, yet few people notice--only people who know me well.

  • Both water and soil are important. Hippocrates implies that some people do not have access to good water, but apparently they get used to the bad water they drink. He also implies that people get used to the foods that are grown in their region. Thus people with good soil for agriculture might get sick in a place where the diet is different due to...

  • So can I!

  • Have you published these poems, or are you planning to?

  • Ovid has a whole collection of poems about curing oneself from lovesickness.

  • There are many descriptions of physician debates in Russian literature. One of the most famous is in Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Ilyich. In the end, no one agrees on the diagnosis.

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    The changes proposed for the healthcare/insurance system in the U.S. are disastrous. They want to eliminate "Obamacare" and make substantial cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. I know people who would be personally affected to such an extent that they are likely to die for lack of insurance.

  • I believe that medical professionals in the U.S. think they just have to give you some kind of medication, no matter what your problem, and usually it's the latest medication that some company is paying them to offer. They often don't tell you what you can do for it other than take medication. Also, they do not accept many holistic forms of medicine, even...

  • It certainly looks useful, but I checked out some works I know well, such as the Aeneid, and the translations were not particularly good.

  • In traditional Chinese medicine health "is based on a concept of balanced qi (pronounced "chee"), or vital energy, that is believed to flow throughout the body. Qi is proposed to regulate a person's spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical balance and to be influenced by the opposing forces of yin (negative energy) and yang (positive energy). Disease is...

  • From what I found on the Internet, it seems that Xenophon defined health in terms of Aristotle's golden mean. In a dialogue he has Cyrus say, "I endeavor not to overfill myself...and then what I take down I work off by exercise." His interlocutor says that the health or wellbeing of the army must be maintained analogously; most importantly, an army should...

  • Yes, my mom had that, from stress.

  • I just look at my Apple watch! But really, I learned how to take my pulse decades ago in aerobics class.

  • Mens sana in corpere sano.

  • Kirsten Lodge made a comment

    I am a professor of Humanities in the US. I teach very basic (survey) Chinese history, and in the fall I'm going to teach Introduction to Chinese Culture for the first time. I started learning about China about four years ago.

  • I think I liked the photographs from "Moving Rainbow" and "Beijing Besieged by Waste" best. They are similar in that many had small areas of bright color against dreary background. In the former project, I liked the way the landscape made the human activity seem so insignificant, as in classical Chinese art. I also liked the film documenting the latter...

  • I'm a big fan of Ai Weiwei. I hope to discover more artists like him.

  • I haven't seen that one, but I love The Gospel According to St. Matthew.

  • Leaf Storm ends as the dead man's coffin is being carried out the door; we do not find out what the reaction of the townspeople will be. Will they attempt to stop the burial, or will they let it go on peacefully? In In Evil Hour, we learn at the end that the authorities are again looking for clandestine fliers and arresting people, and shooting has started...

  • Corruption is the illicit use of power for personal gain. In the novel, Don Sabas uses his power to increase his herd of cattle illegally, branding the widow Montiel's cattle as his own. The mayor, in turn, uses his own power not to enforce justice, but to announce that Montiel's cattle are now "under the protection of the town government." Of course, this...