Kelsey McKinney brings up the idea that a commonplace book can help trace a person’s growth from entry one to their final entry. This is certainly true with my commonplace book as well. My commonplace book, in the beginning, didn’t have a structure. It tended to be all over the place, as it was a medium I was not familiar with. The first book we read was Frankenstein and the slow burn of the book I think also reflects why the first entry of my commonplace book was lacking structure. After all, it was the first one. One entry that stands out to me is commonplace entry number nine, titled The Mummy Problem. This is one of my favorites because this commonplace book entry goes perfectly hand in hand with one of my 2Q-S-Q which will be later explained further on in this reflection. The final entry I chose was our last commonplace entry which is when we read Dracula.
I chose this book to put the cherry on top of Kelsey Mckinney’s idea of a traceable form of progression/growth. In this final entry, you can see that I ask questions like, “Can science be without superstition/tradition.” This is again another question I pose. Not to spoil too much of the final entry but there is more interaction with the book. For example, I say, “Nosferatu is now referenced (222) and his powers are explained…the team does not seem confident to defeat him.” interacting with the novel is key. When I looked at Christopher Wies’s site, I loved his formatting as his website/commonplace book is very minimalistic. This format he chose works because he grabs images to help him get context for the stories that we are reading. It also helped when he broke it down during our small conversations as he likes to focus on the unknown and things that interest him. It felt like he had a plan even if he didn’t know it. It was very interesting to see how his is completely different from mine, both work perfectly for what the author is trying to portray.
Just like I mentioned before, Kelsey McKinney’s idea of progress and random planning turning into a plan makes sense for my first entry. The first thing I sort of breakdown is just random historical knowledge to add to the context of my reading of Frankenstein. For example, I mention, “traveling by sea was popular…letters, notes, and formal invitations are the way to get the word on the street.” I put this down because it is true that traveling by sea was very popular at the time.
I didn’t have anything else to add as to me, Frankenstein was a slow burn. However, I did like the book. Though barebones, it does connect to our first 2Q-S-Q as when we read J.J. Cohen’s Monster Theory, the idea of what makes a monster becomes prevalent. I pose the question, “What fears were common at the time? Why would monsters such as Frankenstein be popular?? And do we have monsters today, personal or not???” The ideas of physical and non-consumptive appearances were fears that people had and going against the grain was seen as monstrous. Though a first entry, there is some groundwork for the next entries.
Titled The Mummy Problem, this one is my favorite as you can fully see the interaction between the book and the historical context of the time. I beg the question that, “curses and mysticism are still carried out when stories are told about the Middle East, Africa, and specifically Egypt…but why?”
This commonplace book entry goes hand in hand with 2Q-S-Q because I ask similar questions about why mummies are mystified and used as a focal point throughout media. Essentially during the reading of The Bettle, I was interested in the romanticism of Egypt during this time both politically and socially as there is a lot of commentary on this topic. As the commonplace book entries move forward and the 2Q-SQ’s come to an end there is for sure a trend between the two. Thus making McKinny’s point of personal growth even more valid.
Coming to my final choice, I chose this one because it is the last entry in our commonplace book which shows the final amounts or progress to demonstrate growth. I think this demonstrates a more final growth stage because there is more interaction with the book and asking more questions. For example, I pose the question, “Why do all evil villains have liars, especially evil ones?” Though this is sort of a joke question, most of the monsters we have been reading about have some form of opposite dwelling from their counterparts or just have liars, like Dracula’s castle.
Connecting with our final 2Q-S-Q with this final entry, the ideas of understanding evil and its motives are present. I ask if “sleepwalking was considered demonic or spooky to society?” I chose to highlight that because of a case of Lucy’s sleepwalking as well as Dracula having control over her while being in his lair/castle.
