Edgar Allen Poe Collage

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Superstition in Colombia

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For today’s blog post I will be exploring superstition and ritual in Colombian culture. Presently, our class is analyzing the novella “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by the legendary Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. The novella is set in a small Colombian town called Sucre. In this town, superstition and ritual hold a meaningful role in the life of its inhabitants. The cultural diversity of African slaves, Spanish con querors, Arabic immigrants, and indigenous tribe makes Colombia home to a vibrant culture of myths, legends, and superstition. Let’s look at some examples of these superstitions.  Among the most common superstitions in Colombia is “the curse of the black butterfly”. This superstition states that if a large butterfly that is either black or brown enters one’s home, then a family member will soon pass away. In Colombia this butterfly is called the “Mariposa Negra”; however, the scientific name for the butterfly is “Ascalapha Odorata”. Althou...
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Edgar Allan Poe's struggle with substance abuse

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Alcohol played a significant and rather unfortunate part in the life of Edgar Allan Poe. Riddled with misfortune, Poe was often in a state of emotional turmoil. From the deaths of his young wife to being shunned by his father, Poe’s life is almost as dark and ill-fated as his stories (which is likely because he portrayed himself in his writing). To deal with the endless tragedies, Poe was said to have fallen into both alcohol and drug abuse. His first experience with alcohol is estimated to be around the age of 17; during this period of his life, he began accumulating large debts from gambling. One of his peers said: "He would always seize the tempting glass, generally unmixed with sugar or water - in fact, perfectly straight - and without the least apparent pleasure, swallow the contents, never pausing until the last drop had passed his lips.”. After his father heard of his behavior, he was sent to the military. But the downward spiral into alcoholism had already begun....
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Memories and Primary School

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Duffy and Primary School Hey y’all. Our literature class recently finished the play No Exit and we are moving on to poetry by Carol Ann Duffy. One recurring theme in Duffy’s literature is the universal experience of progressing through childhood. After reading the poems “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” and “Originally”, we began discussing memories from our childhood. As I searched through my memories of primary school a few memories stood out to me. One of which was when I was a Second grader in California. Our class was given a short assignment to draw a picture of what we wanted to work as when we grew older. I decided I wanted to run a factory, so I drew a building with a chimney, a few windows, and just to be a little imaginative I added the sounds coming out of the factory. Unfortunately, little Amir wasn’t entirely sure of how to spell the onomatopoeic sounds of a factory. I had seen the word “bomb” before and felt intelligent for knowing that the last ‘b’ was silent. Therefore, it mus...
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