Sam Edwards

            On Friday morning I did a shortened song practice and finished half an hour early. 

            I posted my journals. 

            I weighed 88.7 kilos before breakfast. 

            I weighed 89.1 kilos before lunch. 

            I worked on my passage analysis assignment and was finished at around 15:30. I uploaded my document to Grammarly for a spell check, but it was a hassle. I've got to find a spell check app for my desk top. I uploaded my assignment. I think it turned out okay for something I only started thinking about on Wednesday night but one never knows how a new TA will mark a paper. I might be disappointed and angry or pleasantly surprised: 

            I put a spell on you because you're mine – Screamin' Jay Hawkins 

           Emersonian Ownership in Ralph Waldo Emerson's “Self Reliance” 

            In Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self Reliance" he argues for everyone to claim and maintain their own internal and external property without depending on that of others. In paragraph seven he erects several specific language signposts relating to property to drive his point home. His first reference to property in this passage is when he says that nothing is more "sacred" than the integrity of one's "own" mind (1162). The mind one owns then is like a house that one possesses which must have "integrity" or soundness in construction. Such responsible ownership of mind causes one to "have" or possess the approval of others (1162). He refers to that which his first-person speaker owns as "sacred" twice in this passage when he talks of his "own" mind and "my" nature and says that the only right thing is "my" constitution (1162). He ties sacredness and rightness to that which he owns but when the possessor is being addressed in the second person he uses no such pleasant qualifiers: "Your goodness" is nothing without sensible boundaries (1162). With these word choices, he seems to be saying, "What I have is sacred while what you have is only potentially something." 

           Emerson's ideas of property are particularly illustrated in his example of charity. His speaker refers to the donation that he gives as "the" dollar but never calls it "my" dollar (1163). The dollar that he gives is spoken of as if it were the objective singular dollar of United States currency as it might be presented in a stock market report when "the dollar is down." When he says "I give the dollar" he implies that it is not his dollar even before he gives it (1163). In his memory of giving the dollar, he distances himself from the money before the act of giving, thereby denying ownership. The dollar is further distanced by being diminished to the singular monetary atom of "the dollar (1163)." He does not own the dollar because he does not own those to whom he is giving it as they are not "my poor (1163)." He does not possess the dollar but he does possess "my poor (1163)." This investment of funds in those that are not his property inflicts him with shame that echoes the dishonourable humiliation that he expresses in the first paragraph of the essay over not possessing an idea before someone else has staked their claim upon it (1160). The poor that he implies that he possesses is a collective that he says he is "bought and sold for (1163)." His poor cannot possibly buy and sell him and so he must rely on an outside party that could hypothetically buy and sell him for his poor. But he leaves it a mystery just who could transact the buying and selling of himself. In speaking of himself as being "bought and sold" in an era when enslaving others is still legal in the United States of America, he is comparing himself to a slave on an auction block and thereby putting himself in a position he could not possibly own.

            Emerson's speaker does not want to give the dollar to the poor that do not belong to him. He says that when giving the dollar to the wrong poor he is not a man (1163). To not be a man is presented as a negative here but it is also to be a child, which in paragraphs 4-5 he admires and praises for being superior in consciousness to adults (1161-1162). 

            In the end, Emerson's speaker does give the dollar but he is ashamed because it is "a wicked dollar." As the action of giving something begins in the person of the giver, the dollar is therefore wicked before it even leaves his pocket (1163). The Oxford English Dictionary says that the word "wicked" probably comes from "wicca" to form "witch-ed." If the dollar that he gives but implies that he does not possess can be "witch-ed" it is then bewitched and therefore possessed. 

Works Cited 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self Reliance.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume B. 6th              Edition, edited by Nina Baym, Norton, 2002, pp. 1160-1163. 

"Wicked, origin." Concise Oxford English Dictionary. 11th Edition, edited by Catherine Soanes and                  Angus Stevenson, Oxford University Press, 2003. 

            After posting my blog it was almost 16:30. I could have gone for a bike ride but I hadn't taken a siesta and I felt I needed sleep more than exercise, so I went to bed for ninety minutes. When I got up it was raining so I probably made the right decision for another reason as well. 

            I did a search and finally figured out how to make spellcheck work in Open Office. There was a strange address to paste into any folder address page, then I got “user”. I had to change that to “user_old” and I got the registration window. I had to re-register and it just took a second. The next time I opened a document the proper spell check appeared. 

            I weighed 88.5 kilos at 18:45. I read 1.1 of The Winter's Tale by Shakespeare. 

            I read chapter 1 of Incidents In The Life of A Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. It's really a striking contrast in the beginning to Frederick Douglas's narrative. His life as a slave was pretty much harsh from the beginning, plus his father was probably his master and assumed no parental role. Harriet had a a father and a fairly happy early childhood despite being a slave and actually loved and felt loved by her owner. But her so called “loving” owner who had promised to set her free died and left her to a relative in her will. 

            I read some of 1.2 of The Winter's Tale. Leontes and Hermione, the king and queen of Sicily are hosting Polixenes the king of Bohemia who is a childhood friend of Leontes. He is about to leave and they are trying to persuade him to stay longer. It's Hermione's flirtatious argument that sways him to linger and it starts to make Leontes a bit jealous. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of the roast beef I made yesterday. The beef is delicious and I think I didn't notice how good it was last night because I was too occupied with my writing assignment. I had dinner while watching an episode of Gomer Pyle. 

            This story begins with Lou Ann cancelling a date with Gomer because she has to work. Sergeant Carter overhears the phone conversation and suggests that “working late” is just a likely story. But the fact is that Lou Ann's original boss Mr Engelhart has sold the record store to a new owner Fred Hawkins and they are all working late taking inventory. The handsome Fred feels bad about Lou Ann having to cancel her date and he also wants to reward her for working overtime and so he invites her out to dinner. The restaurant where they go to eat happens to be the same one where Carter has taken Bunny for supper. When they see Lou Ann with another guy Bunny tells Carter not to jump to conclusions and not to say anything to Gomer. But Carter can't help himself and he does tell Gomer. Gomer doesn't believe it and so the next night Carter practically orders Gomer to go and spy on Bunny at work. Gomer reluctantly does so and is relieved to see Lou Ann at work. But when Gomer tells Carter this Carter then he drags Gomer to the steak house where he'd seen Lou Ann the night before so that the waiter can confirm that Lou Ann had been there. While they are there they see Lou Ann sitting at a table with another man. The next night Carter arranges for a double date and forces Gomer to go out with a woman he doesn't know to the same place where Lou Ann is dining with Fred. Lou Ann is shocked to see Gomer with another girl and the next day she calls Gomer to inquire about it. Carter tells Gomer what to say to Lou Ann and after he hesitatingly tells her he's not a one woman man anymore she hangs up. The next night Carter makes Gomer approach their table to confront Lou Ann's boss. But Fred is very glad to meet Gomer and apologizes for taking up Lou Ann's time while he's waiting for his wife and children to arrive from another town. Gomer realizes the big mistake and Lou Ann is unreasonably, immediately and happily forgiving after having been mistrusted by Gomer. I sure wouldn't be after someone thought I'd been deceiving them. Carter disappears and Lou Ann suggests he has gone to the kitchen to eat crow. The end result is that Bunny has found out about the date with the other girls and Carter is now in the dog house. 

            Mr Engelhart was played by Sam Edwards, whose parents were stage and radio actors. He first acted as a child on his parents' radio show “The Edwards Family” and on “The Adventures of Sunny and Buddy.” He was an early cast member on one of the first radio soap operas, “One Man's Family.” He played Chuck Ramsay on the “Captain Midnight” serials. He provided the voice of the adult Thumper in “Bambi.” He is most remembered as the banker Bill Anderson on “Little House on the Prairie.”