Divisions

On Saturday, September 9^th I traveled to a culture-enriched area in Baltimore- Hampden! Hampden is an adorable little town; one I had only traveled to once before; For Christmas lights, of course! This event, “Hampdenfest,” is an annual all-day festival filled with music, food, vendors, and more! Out of this day-trip, I came to realize just how many divisions and separations exist within a closed circle- yet, despite the divides, there is coexistence. In the poem “Learning to Read,” the readers can feel the division between the author and those above her. She is denied the right to learn and denied access to knowledge under the basis that reading would make her “too wise.” In each reading I felt a different type of division which I hope to connect to the apparent differences between generations and a divide between ideals I noticed at Hampdenfest. As I applied this observation to our class discussions and readings, the connection was even more prevalent.

As for Robert Frosts’ poem, “Mending Wall”- truthfully, it took me a few times reading it- I noticed a similar divide at the base of the plot. In this case, there was a divide over tradition- to uphold it or not. The two neighbors have been rebuilding the fence between their properties for years, only to be broken by nature continuously. At this point, the author questions why they must have the wall. In response, the neighbor is quoted saying ‘good fences make good neighbors.’ Despite the efforts of nature and this time the author, the two neighbors will rebuild the fence as tradition follows. In Hampden, this divide over the tradition was widely visible. While some of the festival attendees came simply attired in jeans and a t-shirt (me!), others wore their cultural attire or even dressed in Halloween-seeming costumes! It was truly a sight to see how the tradition of dressing-up had just been lost throughout the years when people decided to stop doing so.

To transition to Jill McDonoughs’ poem “Accident, Mass Ave.” we also transition to a more ideological divide- of expectations versus reality. In this poem, the author places himself in an unprecedented situation. The author takes us through his ‘car accident’ and proceeds to tell us about how the reactions chained from what he expected and what was the ‘norm.’ However, in reality- the situation did not abide by normal car accident standards. With screaming, cursing, and fluttering about- there was no stopping to check and examine any damage on the car! The author helps share the message to evaluate the situation before we react. We must consider how to respond in light of what actually happened, the reality. Similarly, when I got on the bus to Hampdenfest, I already held preconceptions of what the event was going to be like and acted accordingly. If I had been more open to the reality of what the festival was like, I would have found a deeper appreciation for the hidden messages about our culture here in Baltimore. I found myself glaring at the people eating the traditional foods or dressed abstractly. In almost all aspects of life, religion, beliefs, cultures- there exists a divide among expectations and reality, and this poem strongly shared it.

As described, in the midst of my work I was able to connect the divide within those poems with an area right in Baltimore. But in the grander scheme of things- These Divisions exist in all aspects of our world- our economy, our families, our education levels, etc.  Our reading by Kolvenbach asks us to respond to this- as students of Loyola University Maryland, a devout Jesuit Institution. Our beliefs and our school ask us to fight against these divisions if they prohibit others. We are men and women “for others”; therefore, we must break down the barriers between us. Similarly, we must not divide our education from the reality of the world. To grow in our Jesuit beliefs- we must integrate service with our education. The school we attend is not solely a University, but a Jesuit University; there must be no divide.