Although during the time that this play was written (it’s estimated to be around 1596-1599) women were treated as the lesser gender, I believe that Portia has the upper hand in the majority of the play. At the time, it was valued for men to be wealthy and have high social status. Portia, even though she is a woman, is shown to have both of these assets. Before Bassanio begins courting Portia he asks for a loan of money from Antonio, as this will make him seem like a better suitor. Portia also has a lot of suitors, and is very pretty. Bassanio is less lucky as he cannot court another woman if he doesn’t win Portia’s hand. Throughout the course of the play, we see Portia controlling and manipulating most of the situations while the men seem unbeknownst to it all. In the end, the men’s power is somewhat restored as Gratiano takes a protective stance over Nerissa, stating that he will take care of her.

“Well, while I live I’ll fear no other thing,

So sore as keeping safe Nerissa’s ring.”

Hidden Figures And Thursday Jan 19th- Rene Jatoi

 Today we started of he morning by talking about Neil deGrasse Tyson, we talked about this because Dr Ott had recently watched his show.  We talked about how on the tree of life we are placed right next to mice. We continued our day with short meditation intervals, we did about four. This was different to anything I had ever done because we usually do one long meditation session, which I prefer because I can get in the zone. To finish of the first half of class we listened to Carly's presentation on music therapy. I found it quite entertaining and informative, I had no idea that music had such an impact on helping people recover. Music can help with things like a studder, people in prison and people unable to speak. After our lunch break we headed out to watch a movie at Edwards Theatre. The movie was about three colored women working in NASA. As you can imagine back in the day that was pretty unheard of. The main character was named Catherine Goble and she was a math genius. The whole story is about her and two other women and their fight to freedom. Catherine in particular was assigned to help the big dogs with launching the first rocket into space and making it orbit around the world. You can imagin being the only colored women working with a bunch of white men at the time would be pretty intimidating. Although she had faced her obstacles in the end she persevered through everything and made her name in history. This movie related to positive phycology in many ways like choosing your real friends and cancelling out all th unnecessary noise in your life.

Hidden Figures- Persi Boyd-Fossi

Today after lunch we decided to go on a field trip and see the movie Hidden Figures. The story follows three African American women as they hold different high level jobs at NASA. We chose this movie because even though these women were met with great adversity, they persevered with positive attitudes. Not only was it difficult to be a woman at the time, it was even more difficult to be an African American woman. This was made obvious throughout the movie, but the women put on smiles and kept positive attitudes. They each had found a purpose in their lives and jobs to look forward to, along with having fun.

The movie on Thursday - 1/19/17

          On Thursday afternoon, we went to see the 12:00 showing of Hidden Figures at the Movie Theater. It was a lot of fun, and we thought it really related to our course, because the women that the movie was about displayed a lot of the positive traits that we are learning about. They all kept going when people tried to shove them down, and they stayed positive and hopeful for the future. They were all very supportive of each other, and they were all happy with what they had. They also each had a loving and supportive other, along with the support of their friends and community, keeping them happy, and willing to stand up for what they believed in. Overall, we had a great experience at the movie.

Tuesday - 1/17/17

          On Tuesday morning, we started by meditating for 15 minutes to some music. Then we discussed how our feelings about meditation have changed over this course so far. After that, Dr. Ott told us about the Lifebook Quest she is currently taking. Jon Butcher created the course, which discusses how you should think, plan, and take action in 12 different categories of your life which include health and fitness, intellectual life, social life, etc. We then discussed how it relates to our class, and how we should try to incorporate in in our lives. Then we discussed the noise in our lives and how we can try to cut it out. Then we discussed the chapter of Before Happiness that we just read, which talks about how to spread positivity and happiness in your community.
          After lunch we worked to finalize our individual projects and presentations for the rest of the day.

Friday the 13th

          On Friday morning, we started our class by discussing energy fields and auras. This was very interesting, and Dr. Ott had lots of stories to tell that related to the subject. After our discussion, we meditated for 12 minutes. During this meditation, we were trying to send positive thoughts to the people around us. After our meditation we did a aura cleansing exercise, and then we worked on our vision boards and individual research projects for the rest of the morning.

          After lunch Dr. Herb Agan came to talk to us about Egocentric masks. It was very interesting, and we learned about Fritz Kunkel's four main types: Star, Clinging Vine, Tyrant, and Turtle. We also learned about what they mean, and how people are brought up to be them. We also learned about the conscious mind and the subconscious mind, and how they change as you grow. After he left, and we had a short break to celebrate Dr. Ott's birthday, we worked on our individual research projects for the rest of the day. 

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday

I would have to say, that Wednesday was one of the best J-Term days so far. We started off the day with meditating in silence. I sat on the floor for a different perspective and it was unfortunately uncomfortable. We worked on research for our research projects, but after we became restless we went outside for a walk. We went through the neighborhood and just enjoyed the nice weather and cool breezes.

We decided to go on a field trip after lunch, to Smither Park and The Orange Show. The Orange show was sadly closed, but next to it is a park abundant with intricate mosaics and folk art. While we were there we struck up a conversation with some of the mosaic artists, who work every Wednesday and Saturday. One of them took us into a back warehouse that kept donated ceramics, tiles, and other really odd things that the artists can use for their art. It was huge and so cool! They even had an art car. We have agreed to go back to the park next Wednesday morning to volunteer and help with the art. After our excursion, we were thoroughly famished, so we decided ice cream was the answer. We went to a Mexican candy store. I got melon and mango ice cream, homemade. We took our time savouring the fantastic flavors of real homemade ice cream. We came back with full stomachs and an amazing experience.

Thursday

Thursday was a research day, so we headed out in the morning to Fondren Library. The ride was beautiful and driving through the campus felt so nice. It was warm and gorgeous outside, finally! We got to the library and immediately started looking for books on the online database. I found quite a few, and was quite lucky to find they were all on the same floor. After scanning the most vital information and returning the books, we set out for a nice lunch at the Black Walnut. We practiced savoring the food, and it was pretty good. When we came back, we discussed chapter 4 of Shawn Achor’s book, Before Happiness. The chapter talked about Noise. Noise is “Any information that is negative, false, or unnecessary or that prevents you from perceiving a world in which success is possible.” This means news that doesn’t have a direct affect on you or that you cannot fix. It also entails negative feedback and even just background noise.