Since today is Easter I thought it appropriate to mention something about it in relation to class. I guess this works because I've been thinking about this comparison for weeks. One of the reasons  I really like the Library of Babel idea is because it reminds me of an easter egg hunt. One in which you do not know how many eggs have been hidden or how much ground they cover. When I was little my parents would always forget how many eggs they had hidden and we would always end up finding a nasty smelly egg in July or so. But it was fun and exciting to find an easter egg so late, I'm not sure why.

This week we will be hosting your final presentations about what-and-how you have been learning in this course. If you are performing alone, please plan a 5-minute presentation. If you are performing in a group, please plan something that will take less than 10 minutes.

Here's the schedule:
Tuesday
ewashburn
Lethologia
jhercher
poppyflower & alexandrakg
SarahSchnellbacher & vlopez
AnnaP & cr88
katlittrell, ashley, bee27
eleman, rachelr, Hope, skindeep & hannahgisele

Thursday
mindyhuskins
the.believer

 In the past, all of my class projects have involved PowerPoint and nervous stuttering. I don't have a nice history with presentations, and I don't yet have a good idea for the presentation next week. 

Almost this entire semester, I've been going back and forth about some aspects of this course. I came into EvoLit something of an existentialist, and I feel (mostly) certain that that has remained constant, but these past few lectures in particular have made me unsure how comfortable I am with that existentialism. I'm not going to argue whether randomness implies a meaningless universe - I believe that it does, and for the purpose of this post (this ramble, really), my belief is the important thing. I accept that evolution is random; thus, I believe that our world is essentially meaningless; thus, my existentialism is also my last vestige of purpose.

While thinking about evolutionary forms of literature, one of the ideas which came to me was choose your own adventure. This got me thinking about the concept of the Library of Babel - is the Library of Babel more like a choose-your-own adventure where, despite the title, all choices have been pre-conceived and written, or more like a write-your-own adventure, where the reader eventually becomes the author and writes the next segment?

Having met with my group to discuss what shape our presentation would take form, I chuckled at the evolution that took place even within our generating ideas. The progression that occurred until landing on an idea that we all liked and agreed on was a journey in and of itself. The evolution I saw was in regards to the way in which we started from one prompt, with one possible answer to that prompt, and from there spiraling into a variety of options. The majority built off of a previous idea, either to a large extent or with only an inkling of resemblance. For a second I even considered that that could be a presentation, the jumping from possibility to possibility and how the ideas evolve.

There's thousands of people in Boston, currently celebrating at the Hynes Convention Center for this year's annual Anime Convention. I instantly thought of sharing this with you all in light of our recent discussions and panel presentations. Recognize any characters?