Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Both her work and how she works inspires the minds of many who wish to become an improvement upon society but also reaches out to those who have yet to realize their faults and dreams as well. Jonathan Yardley’s “In a Time of Posturing, Didion Dared ‘Slouching’” praises Joan Didion through his own experiences in reading her work. Yardley describes her as “a clear-eyed observer who declined to be roped in by fads” (Yardley 3) which allows Didion to comment on society from a broader perspective. In her “On Keeping a Notebook,” Didion discusses her own experiences in recordkeeping from a young age. She uses her own narrative to establish a collective understanding of people and notes that she is able to define an identity for herself and the people around her. This is her motivation in commenting on society from an observant lens that still remains subjective and fairly critical. Didion understands that “we are brought up in the ethic that others [...] are by definition more interesting than ourselves”…

The Didache is a collection of early Christian teachings that outlines a variety of Christian practices. It was written as a result of Christianity’s urge to establish and differentiate itself amongst other popular and threatening religious groups such as Gnosticism and Marcionism during the second century. The purpose of the Didache is to guide in the process of standardizing and regulating church leadership and methods of worship. Subsequently after Jesus’ crucifixion, the prevalent notion…

“Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, is an essay by an author named Joan Didion, she talked about the changes in her hometown Sacramento, and the history throughout California. To Didion, the Sacramento Valley was a place full of history and family. She writes about the changes of the land, water, city life’s, her childhood memories. And she also included narratives of a time, a place and gave another person perspectives. It is important to know about the background on where and how the place you grew…

he Future is determined by one’s action in the present, So when given a chance to look at the future, people will want to come back to the present, and change their actions for a better future. In the novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Scrooge, the main character, is a wicked and grumpy man to start with. As four ghost visits him, with the ghost of future as the most influential, Scrooge becomes a caring, joyful man. While the all the ghosts are important in the development of…

fallen into a tumultuous state of ignoble virtues since the days in which God had sent his many unsuccessful Judges to the holy land. These days are sometimes regarded as dark, gloomy, and like a “winter” for the salvation of humanity. The description of “ways deep” and “weather sharp” conveys the sense of desolation and bitterness occurring in the holy land prior to the coming of Jesus. Eliot’s description of “such a long Journey” is symbolic through the fact that God had sent so many…

For this final lab, I decided to interview my mother. I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn a little more about the Latino and Salvadorian culture. I asked my mother about traditions that are celebrated in El Salvador, the types foods that are served, housing, and more. Through the things that I would learn through the interview, I was able to point out differences between the Salvadoran and American cultures. This final lab also allowed me to analyze how I will use my Spanish and…

Every Monday and Wednesday, my afternoons are spent on the 900 block of West Union Blvd in West Bethlehem, PA. However, to be more specific the location of my field experience is Nitschmann Middle School. The school is located in the westside of the city of Bethlehem which tends to be a little more suburban in comparison to the rest of the Bethlehem Area School District. Certainly, after school there are some students that do not travel far to get to school, some houses are seconds away from the…

The revelation that the dream was teaching the dreamers how to live… Dreamers come to California because it is the last stop for all those who come from somewhere else. However, is it a right place for dreamers? Slouching Toward Bethlehem is a 1968 collection of essays by Joan Didion that mainly describes her experiences in California during the 1960s. The New York Times referred to it as “a rich display of some of the best prose written today in this country”. Also, “The Center Will Not Hold”…

he says, “Surely the Second Coming is at hand [...] When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi troubles my sight[…]Its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born” (Yeats, 1920). Yeats introduces the idea of the Sphinx to offer his prediction of the future of the world and of humanity which would be flux of sheer anarchy accompanied by absence of religion. He argues that pre-Christian religion has come over again when he says the darkness drops again (Yeats, 1920). Yeats’ mention…

hippies contributed to their identification as a Lost Generation. In the 1960s, one prominent writer of this decade, Joan Didion, observed hippies in the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco, California, and later shared her observations with the world in her essay, “Slouching Toward Bethlehem.” In the latter part of her essay, Didion attended one of the hippie protests, where she saw an awkward movement to argue for African American rights. As the protesters, known as the Mime Troupers, were in…