Magda's Literary Moments

Dead Poets Society [Cinematic Literary Experience]
I had read Henry David Thoreau's work before, but it never meant as much to me as it did when I first watched Dead Poets Society. It touched me in the same way that it touched the boys in the movie. As the boys in that movie began to take risks, pursue passions, and "seize the day", I began to see what Thoreau really meant when he said that we should "suck all the marrow out of life". I realized that we can live as fully as we want to live; the only thing stopping us is our own fear.

A Ragtag Team [Theatrical Experience]
Performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of my fondest memories of high school. We had to put it on for a mandatory theater class, so the cast and crew were made up of people from all different backgrounds and interests. Many of them didn't particularly have any interest in literature or theater. Our star football player played Lysander, our valedictorian played Oberon, the class clown played Puck, and so on. And everyone had an absolute blast. What amazed me about this experience was how this play brought all these different people together and allowed us to work together so seamlessly. This play has stuck with me not because of the content, but because it proved to me that theater and literature have a power to connect people to one another.

My Father's Philosophy [Discussing Literature]
My father has read to me from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" ever since I was little. Since then, I have discussed the book with him many times. Every time I discuss it with him, he seems to send me off with a new nugget of wisdom or a different layer to the story that I had never noticed before. The nugget that has stuck with me the most is what Glinda says to Dorothy at the end of the book: "You had the power in you all along, my dear". My dad uses that phrase often to remind me that I have to power within me to do whatever I want to do. There is nothing stopping me from becoming whoever I want to be or living whatever kind of life I want to live.

Radar [Reading Literature Privately]
In the book "Paper Towns", there's a relatively unimportant part that I feel is often overlooked but had a profound impact on me. When Q gets frustrated with his two best friends for being obsessed with things that are too trivial, his friend Radar cuts back with some amazing lines about tolerance and friendship. He tells Q that all people will have things about them that might seem annoying or frustrating to us, but that's what makes them, them, and we shouldn't expect people to be anything other than themselves. It made me think about what kind of things I expect from the people I care about, or what I look for when I form relationships. Radar's advice has helped me keep up meaningful relationships to this day.

A Little Prince [Theatrical Experience]
I had never cried at the end of "The Little Prince" until I saw it performed. To watch a little boy learn about love and friendship and trust and then watch him fall apart when he learned about grief and loss was absolutely heartbreaking. I was going through a time when I was very lonely and so the snake's argument in the end that "it's lonely when you're among people, too" actually made a lot of sense to me. I understood that the little prince believed life to be meaningless without important people to share it with.

Contradictions [Literary Within Musical Experience]
"I'm sad and happy, why should I choose? Life is full of contradictions- every inch a mile. At the moment we start weeping, that's when we should smile." The song "Happy/Sad" from Addams Family: The Musical almost brings me to tears every time I listen to it because the concept of "bittersweet" is just so beautiful to me. It reminds me that nothing in this world is black and white. Sometimes we tend to want to box in something as complicated as emotions and we get stressed or confused when we can't. But this song reminds me that it's okay if we can't. It's okay if we don't quite understand how we feel or if we don't have to words to express exactly what we want to say. It's okay to just feel, and it's okay to just think, and there's nothing wrong with things that don't make sense.