Master of Two Worlds

The first experience I’ve had with the stage master of two worlds is going from elementary school to high school.  I had mastered the world of being in elementary school, at first that world had been a little scary, but I got used to it and mastered it.  Then when I crossed over the threshold into the high school world it was really scary! I really never thought I would be able to master the world of high school.  But then when I got to my senior year I finally realized that I had mastered it and that I would actually be graduating!

Another way I mastered two worlds was I mastered a world where I wasn’t part of a high school bowling team.  Then while in high school I spent four years on the bowling team.  During those years I kept getting better and better at the sport.  Then my senior year I was a varsity starter, which was the peak of my bowling journey.  Then when my senior year ended I realized that I had mastered the world of bowling.

Another good example of mastering two worlds is in the movie Peter Pan.  Wendy had mastered her normal world.  Then she went away to never never land with Peter Pan.  While there she learned many new things about life.  Then when she realized that her journey was over in Never Never Land she returned to her world.  When she returned she was a master of both worlds.

The Rescue

The rescue is when a hero is on his/her way home and they recieve help once more to keep them moving.  The hero may have fallen on hard times, or maybe likes where he/she is.  Something causes the hero to forget about returning home. 

During the rescue stage someone/something is present to help the hero.  It’s job is to help remind the hero that they need to leave where they are and finish their journey home.  Also if the hero is having issues they are there to help the hero get out of trouble.  Or any danger that the hero may have fallen into.

In my life there has been a time where I needed to be rescued and let know that I had to cross the threshold again.  When I graduated high school, it was really hard for me to realize that I couldn’t still be in high school activities.  I went to everything I possibly could as an outsider.  But the thing was that I hadn’t mentaly crossed over the threshold at that point.  It wasn’t until my FFA adviser told me that I wouldn’t be able to go to the one competition that I really relized that I had to mentally cross back over the threshold. 

Refusal to Return

Everyone has their own journeys that they were on and their own times when they refused to return.  For me when I graduated high school I refused to return to a world where I didn’t go to school.  So I decided to come to college, so I wouldn’t have to go back to a world without school.  Then when I’m done with college I’ll be a teacher, so I’ll never have to go back to a world without school.

Another refusal I had, which is what my poem is about, is I refused to go back to my one ex-boyfriend.  He thought that I would just come crawling back into his arms and everything would be okay.  But my reasons for leaving were greater than my reasons for staying.  To this day I have held strong to that refusal!  No one wants to go back to something that makes them feel bad about themselves, or makes them feel like nothing they do is ever good enough!

One other refusal to return I can think of is when my high school bowling career was over.  I never wanted to hear that I couldn’t bowl for my team! and I really didn’t ever wanna stop bowling.  I had to eventually relize this was one refusal that didn’t matter what I wanted.  I had to return to a world where I couldn’t bowl with my team anymore!

Leadership

After completing my Fair Queen Journey, there are many things that I learned that I share with others.  One of the main things is I try to find girls from my area that have all of the qualifications to run for fair queen, and I try to talk them into competing.  Because being fair queen was one of the greatest things I’ve done and I wouldn’t have done it if my FFA adviser hadn’t pushed me into it.  So I’m just trying to be the push some girls might need to try out for it.

Another thing that I learned through fair queen is that it don’t matter if you’ve never been in a pageant before and it’s nothing like a beauty contest.  There are many girls I know that have the skills needed to become fair queen, they just need a confidence booster, so they believe in themselves.  Being fair queen there were many new people that I got to meet.  This is one of the best parts about it and one that could be the most helpful that people need to know about.  In my area different things a person tries to do all depends on who they know. 

Because I was fair queen many people in my home town know me and trust me, so it makes it easier for me to get into some things that may be harder for others to get into.  For example during fair week if I have an issue with my animals I can go to a fair board member and they are more than happy to help me get the problem resolved, because they know me.

There are many times that I have shared this information, during my journey and after my journey.  During my journey I gave countless speeches to different groups and organizations.  I also went through parades and spoke to individuals at local events.  Just because I don’t still have my crown doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped trying to educate people about the benefits of being fair queen.  Another topic that I learned more about as fair queen was local fairs.  I also spend my time trying to explain to people how important our local fairs are and how important it is for people to come out and support them!

My Apotheosis in FFA

The definition of apotheosis that I found is a little unclear and different from the way we talked about it in class.  The way the definition I found explains it is just by saying that apotheosis is a perfect example.  In class we said that apotheosis is basically when someone gets to the top level of something.  That definition is like the one I found in that they both mean that something is basically the best it can ever be.

My apotheosis in FFA came on January 15th 2007.  At the Pennsylvania State Farm Show that was held in Harrisburg Pa.  To start I’m sure most everyone who reads this is going to be like what in the world is FFA, well for those people read some of my other entries.  But there is a little more background needed to understand why this day was my apotheosis in FFA.  There is one degrees in FFA that every member strives to get from their state, in Pa that degree is called the Keystone Degree, it is the highest honor that an FFA member can receive from their state.  A little more about this degree, when a member gets it they receive it in front of about three thousand people at the Mid-Winter Convention that takes place during the Farm Show. 

The reason this degree is held as such a high honor is because there are so many qualifications that an FFA member must have before they can even think about applying for it.  Then once they apply its around 1 out of every 100 applicants that actually get awarded the degree.  Plus when an member gets this degree they also get a gold chain with a pin on it to hang from their jackets.  So that day was MY DAY… the day that I got my Keystone Degree.  That day I was the 1 out of the 100 members who received my award, I knew how much of an honor it really was and I wasn’t hiding how proud of myself I really was!  I know that may sound conceded, but if any of you ever get such an award I’m sure you would definitely understand how I felt.   

Samsara

Samsara is basically like and mixture of trial and error and moving through stages.  Samsara comes for Buddhism, and it is the way the Buddhists feel a person moves through their lives.  In my opinion a person never completes Samsara, because our whole lives we are still doing and trying things.

In the book Siddartha is a really good example of Samsara.  He starts out as trying to find inner piece.  Then when he feels he has learned all he can about that he moves on.  To try to live with the Samana and learn their ways of life.  Next he moves on and meets the guy by the river.  From there he moves into the city and learns all he can about city life.  After many years there he goes back to the man at the river.  It seems like he has completed Samsara at this point in the book, but then the reader realized that he hasn’t.  Because things change in his life again and he finds out he has a daughter and it is a major trial and error trying to take care of her. 

In my own life I have moved through many stages like that.  For example college was a major trial and error.  No matter how prepared I thought I was for a test or quiz my grade always seemed to show that I didn’t know as much as I thought I did.  Me learning how to study was a trial and error.  Even now that I realize how I need to study there are still plenty of other things in college life that show I am still moving through Samsara.

Limen

A “limen”, using the information that I found, is a physiological threshold.  This word has a lot to do with this class in many ways.   There are some points in this class where part of the definition of this word is used.  There are other parts where the full definition of the word works in this class.

In this class we talked about the hero’s journey.  So far we have talked about the first part of a hero’s journey.  This is the part where the hero receives a call to go do something.  They may/may not want to take the call.  Then they have to cross over a threshold into a different world than what they are used to.  The word “limen” comes into play here in this part of a hero’s journey.  Because it means to cross a threshold,  but not just any threshold but one that is mainly in the hero’s mind. 

When the hero gets to the belly of the whale part, they are down in the dumps and need to pick themselves back up.  At this point the word “limen” really comes into play.  Because the hero must cross a threshold in their mind.  To get over feeling depressed and move on to being the hero they are.

The Belly of the Whale

A definition for this stage in my words is, when the hero figure reaches a point in his journey where he feels like he cant go on anymore.  Something bad happens and puts him/her in a depressed state, and they feel that everything they have worked for is lost.  In my own life I have had a few of these experiences.  The one I’m going to talk about is when I had to move three hours away from my home town to go to college.  At frist I was excited about the move, but then as I started to think about it more, the thought of moving just depressed me.  All of my friends and family kept telling me that it wasn’t going to be that bad and that I would love it when I got here.  But to me all I could think about was all the things and people that I would be leaving behind me and all the activities I would no longer be a part of.  Then finally one day I was helping my one teacher in her room and we just started talking.  She had attended IUP and actually used to live out here.  She explained to me how things went and that if I ever needed to get off campus her brother said he would gladly come get me.  After having that talk with her I knew that what I was doing was the right thing and I was ready to move on with my life!  

An example of the Belly of the Whale archetype that we talked about in class is like in the Odyssey when all of the soilders were at Troy trying to break into the city.  They were at a stand still and thought they were all going to be killed and that all their hard work was not going to amount to anything.  Then someone had a good idea to make the Trojan Horse, and this helped them to get into the city and take it over.     

All About ME

There are many different things that I have learned about myself in this course.  First of all I learned that I have been very fortunate with having so many people in my life who care about me.  Not everyone has over 5 people in their lives who know how great they can be and are constantly pushing them to show the world how good they really are.  Yeah most parents always tell their kids how good they are at things, and yes my parents did that too.  But I listened more to my teachers than my parents when it came to people pushing me to do things.  Its just a lot more meaningful when an educator sees you can do great things with your life and encourages you to go after your dreams. 

When I started this class I knew that a hero could be anyone, not just a superhero.  But what I didn’t realize was how many hero’s I have had in my life!  There have been so many and I’m really grateful, because of this class I finally realized how many hero’s I really had in my life.  That also showed me that I am a hero figure in a few people’s lives.  When I was fair queen I didn’t realize how much people looked up to me.  Also with me having a little sister and a few younger female cousins.  This class helped me to see how much they really look up to me and that no matter where I am or what I’m doing I need to remember that I’m setting examples for many people.  Even though I’m not the fair queen anymore that is still how many people know me and they will always see me as the fair queen.  So I need to make sure I don’t do anything stupid to make them think less of me as a person.

Supernatural Aid

Well this is a hard one to write, because unlike the Cinderella movie and The Lord of the Rings I haven’t ever received supernatural aid quite like that.  My supernatural aid was more natural, if that makes any sense.  To me this step in a hero’s journey is the step where he/she receives help from someone/anyone.

My supernatural aid came from my FFA adviser.  He didn’t have a wand or anything like that, that he could just say a few words and my record books would magically win.  Or that I would magically understand Parliamentary Procedure, and nail my Public Speaking.  But he did all he could for me without having magical powers.

He took time out of his life to help me perfect my record books so I could have the best book in our region.  He forced me to pratice and memorize my speeches as much as I possibly could without over doing it and sounding fake.  He also during our summer time off school would come to my house to check on my animals and give me suggestions on how to make them gain more weight for fair. 

So yeah he may not have had some magical wand and just said a few words and all my work became perfect.  But he went above and beyond his job as a teacher and helped me to achieve greatness in the FFA.  I know I’ve said this before and I seem to talk about the FFA in everything that I write about, but hey the FFA was a major part of my life and still is.  With out my “supernatural aid” there is now way that I would have come so far in my own journey.