Mary Treen

            On Wednesday morning I worked out the chords the first verse of “Lucette et Lucie" by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I’m thinking of changing the name of my daily song practice to “tuning failure". After the first four songs I couldn’t get the guitar back in tune and just wrestled with that until finally giving up at around 8:35. Maybe I need a new tuner. I once put both tuners on the guitar at the same time and they do register the notes slightly differently. The Fender hits the note sooner and it also jumps around the high E more. It may just be the guitar not being set up right that it won't stay in tune. There are very expensive guitars designed to adjust for the problems with the B string. 

            At around 10:00 I logged on to my British Literature tutorial but for the first time I didn’t really participate. There is only this one and one more left and I’m pretty sure I've already earned a good participation mark. But I don't feel like engaging with a TA like Alexandra who gives me a D minus on a well written essay. 

            Paradise Lost explores different character perspectives than usual such as Satan’s point of view. Satan was favoured and a leader before the fall. Achilles was a prince. Envy plays a big part in this poem and in other literatures like Beowulf. Envy is tied with loss. The description of Eden can be compared to the Country House poems. 

            I was thinking that Milton’s rebellion against rhyme parallel's Satan's opposition to god. 

            There were only seven or eight of us. We were put into two groups to discuss Eden. I said that I wonder why Eden had a wall when there was nobody to invade it. No one responded or spoke at all in my group. The other group had a discussion. 

            Eden is described as both delicious and grotesque but in those days “grotesque" described thickly grown wild foliage. Wildness works as a form of defence. Satan sneaking into the garden is like paid priests sneaking into the church. The Biblical characters are interwoven with Greek and Roman classical characters. 

            Milton seems to be saying that women are self obsessed with appearance, but her own reflection is the first human being she saw and so she might have just felt social. 

            Eden has other negative potentials besides the forbidden fruit. Eden is not black and white. 

            For lunch I had cheddar on crackers and a bran muffin.

            I spent the afternoon working on my British Literature essay. 

            I checked and found that my Canadian Literature "Ask the Author" grade had been posted and I only got another B. I can’t seem to win with either of these second year courses that I'm taking this term. It's just so weird because I've done quite well in third and fourth year courses. It's as if having learned to dance I've failed the walking test. It’s as if having learned to fly a plane I’ve failed a driving test. It's as if having learned to build cathedrals I’ve failed the cabin building test. It’s very discouraging to be working on final essays and knowing that they won't be marked as highly as I'm accustomed. 

            I put the pasta and sauce that had been leftover from Sunday in a casserole dish and topped it with cheese, then I baked it in the oven. I had it with a beer while watching the first episode of The Andy Griffith Show. 

            This story begins with Andy’s long time housekeeper Rose getting married. Since Andy, in addition to being the sheriff of Mayberry is also the justice of the peace, he performs the ceremony. When he says, “If anyone can show just cause why this couple cannot lawfully be joined together in matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace," Opie speaks up. Since Rose has raised him he doesn’t want her to go. Opie is told that his Aunt Bea, who raised Andy, is coming to take Rose's place but he has never met Bea and doesn’t think he will like her. When Bea comes he doesn't make her feel at home and resents the fact that Bea doesn't know how to do the things Rose did like catch frogs, play baseball and go fishing. Meanwhile the new deputy, Andy’s cousin Barney is trying too hard at his job and he busts the elderly Emma Brand for jaywalking before Andy intervenes. Barney warns Andy that letting this slip could turn Mayberry into sin city. When Aunt Bea accidentally leaves the cage of Opie’s bird open and Dickie goes missing, it looks like the chances of winning Opie over are shot and so Bea decides to leave. But at the last minute Opie tells her not to go. He explains that she’ll be lost if she doesn't stay so he can teach her to catch frogs, play baseball and fish. In the end Dickie comes back and Andy plays “The Crawdad Song" on guitar. I’d forgotten what a good guitarist Andy Griffith was.

            I hadn’t realized that this show was a spin-off of the Danny Thomas show Make Room for Daddy. Danny gets stopped by Andy for running a stop sign and when Danny gives him a lot of big city arrogance Andy gets the better of him. Griffith was a Broadway and film star before this show, playing similar characters to Andy Taylor. 

            Aunt Bea was played by Frances Bavier. 

There are a few cheesecake photos circulating with the claim that they are a young Bavier, but they aren’t. 

            Rose was played by Mary Treen who had been a Vaudeville star before doing movies. She played Tilly the secretary in It’s A Wonderful Life. 

            Emma was played by Cheerio Meredith