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 “Life on Earth has been generated over billions of years in a single branching tree- the Tree of Life- by one algorithmic process or another” (Dennett, 51).

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           Throughout the ages fairytales have existed, teaching children and guiding them through the difficult process of growing up. The fairytale, the story told to children to make them behave, or learn some valuable lesson or value, or even simply to keep them busy, might be considered a staple for many (if not most) cultures. However, despite this inherent similarity between every single fairytale, this genre is by nature incredibly fluid, easily changing in form and content from culture to culture, and time period to time period.

"When ideas fail, words come in very handy"

-Anonymous

In my last paper for this class, I focused on the importance of defining language in certain academic contexts. In the general course of my life, however, I find myself more celebrating the ambiguity and mutability of language, particularly that “peculiar kind of vagabond language, always hanging on the outskirts of legitimate speech, but continually straying or forcing its way into the most respectable company”1 -- slang. When I began thinking about this paper, I was sitting in the Lusty Cup, an on-campus café, and picked up a book that was serendipitously lying around.

 Memetic Revolution: Agency and Cultural Evolution in the Middle East and North Africa Protests of 2011

A scene from Euripides' classic play Trojan Women, which consists almost entirely of female characters and questions the ethics of the Peloponnesian War.  

              Throughout the ages, the topic of homosexuality has ranged from socially acceptable to taboo. Even in modern day society, while some people have tolerant views of it, there are those who find homosexuality to be immoral and unnatural. But is it fair to call homosexuality unnatural when it is a phenomenon that not only consistently reoccurs in humans, but also in other animals such as bison, penguins, dolphins, and apes?

 Hillary Godwin

March 3, 2011

GIST

 Emily Balch in the 21st Century:
The Influence of Facebook in a New Era