Quarterly - Dante's Inferno

Dante’s Inferno is a very interesting poem, composed of extremely descriptive cantos, telling a story of a man’s journey through the nine different levels of hell. In this story, the reader meets people from every period of time and learns the different reasons for each person “earning” their spot in the forsaken place called Hell. The various sins described in this story all deserve different consequences. For example, the people who allowed lust, known in this story as “the flesh”, ruin their lives are carried around recklessly by the wind. The consequences given are nowhere near merciful.

          While reading this poem though, I realized that it can be used for self-improvement. Being a Christian (Baptist) personally, I don’t think of hell in this manner. A person who believes this poem though might watch what they say and do, not only to themselves but to others as well. The people in Canto V, who let their lust get the best of them, took down the ones who participated. This includes the lady, Francesca, who slept with her brother-in-law. The brother-in-law was being punished right along with her. The believing reader might “play it safe” and make sure not to let “the flesh” play a role in their decision making process.

          In hell, there is also a place for the individuals who commit the sin of “avarice and extravagance”, as Dante calls it. These people spend excessive amounts of money with no particularly good cause. Their punishment is to push boulders back and forth in a circle. Once they reach one side, they turn around and go the other way. A reader might think about spending their money wisely after this part of the canto. Dante goes on to tell about the individuals who “submit to anger.” These people are kept in a river of muck, called Styx, and are continuously fighting each other.

          With these many different sins in mind, one might decide to do a self-reflection. Creating a better life based on Dante’s Inferno might be the way to go.

"Closing the Achievement Gap With Baby Talk"

It has been proven that children will succeed better in school and in life if they're talked to more at a young age. A graduate student by the name of Betty Hart, who works at a preschool decided to do an experiment following and analyzing 40 different families of all different ethnic backgrounds and economic situations. They followed these families for the first three years of their children's lives. The experiment started in 1983 and every month, trained observers went and recorded the families who were willing to participate.These observers catalog every bit of conversation the families had. The tapes took 10 years to decipher and duplicate to be fed into a computer for analysis. It turned out that the quality of the speech was not the major factor, but it was the quantity. "According to their research, the average child in a welfare home heard about 600 words an hour while a child in a professional home heard 2,100." With this information, programs have sprung up all over the country created to teach low-income parents how to talk to their children from birth. They provide coaching sessions when the mothers aren't sent to the pediatrician, recorded playing with their children, and told how to improve this. A researcher at the Brookings institute by the name of Russ Whitehurst says, "If that's not followed with good stimulation in school with continued positive parent interactions, if that experience is not built on, it's not likely to have an enduring effect,"

While reading/listening to this article, I learned a lot about parenting and talking to children. I always believed that what was said to a child mattered more than how much is said to a child. I also didn't know that this talking should start right after birth. Most people use "baby talk" when talking to infants. I would live to be a part of one of the programs, teaching mothers how to talk to their baby and contributing to a baby's success in life. This whole article was very interesting to me and I would love to learn more about it.

A link to the website is on my link list as "Baby Talk :)"
Also, my picture wouldn't work. I did try to put one up though. :(

Corbis Images :)

I found this picture on the second link given to us by the amazing Mr. Abrams. On the website, there's a section called "Urban Living". The artist took pictures of random things in the city that showed how the attitudes of the people living there is different and creates a better society. Under this picture, there was a caption: "They missed the ice-cream truck, but found another way to cool off." Most kids now a days, well the ones that live in my apartment complex, always get discouraged when they miss the ice-cream truck. They often just go back inside. These kids found another way to keep themselves cool and have fun at the same time. Stay open-minded, people. Don't let the little things affect your mood.

Playing A Lot is Actually A Good Thing :)

This article, on the link list as "Playing Around", described the importance of children's play. Now a days, children are growing up just learning. It's actually very good for them to use their imagination. Games that require them to create things, dressing up, and playing with other children at the playground are all activities that allow the children to create their own world, not entirely ruled by adults. This is what they need.With teaching kids how to do certain things, like what exactly a board game piece is for, they lose their imagination and the ability to use their own minds creatively.

More on Dante's Inferno (Cantos 1+2)

This image is from the very beginning of Canto 1. Dante has gone astray, onto a path "in a gloomy wood." This is described in the first two lines of his Inferno. It is also the First Circle of Hell, Limbo. Limbo is a place of solitude and sorrow without torment.

Here Dante is with the leopard on the hill. The leopard wouldn't let him pass to travel up the hill, but continuously made him turn to travel back down.

After the leopard, Dante is greeted by a lion. He's even more afraid at this time than he was with the leopard.

Dante is next met by a "grim she-wolf" that is "roaring with hunger." As Dante started to run away, down the hill, "someone appeared - one who seemed nearly to fade..." This "someone" went by the name of Virgil and was sent by Beatrice, Dante's lost love, to guide Dante on a journey.

This image just shows Dante following Virgil through the woods. This begins their journey with Virgil as the guide.

The Mind of a Child :)

I thought this video was really interesting. The little boy didn't understand that even though the water was in a different glass, it was still the same amount of water. I would love to do experiments like these for a living. It's really interesting. Just watch.

Dante's Inferno

Dante Alighieri

with Virgil (the angel that leads him through Hell)

watching the souls dwell in Hell

the second level of Hell



More on Dante's Inferno

Kids Must Make Friends :)

I found the following article in the New York Times. This article tells how important it is for young children, mostly in elementary school, to make friends. If they're too shy, they become social outcasts and later turn to a depression stage. The friend doesn't have to be very close, either. The article, obviously goes into more detail about it. I thought it was very interesting.

Children's Friendships