Responses to the Presentations

Jodie, I didnt get your email until just now. These posting were ontime I promise! :)

Group 2: Ken Smith, Bryce Brentlinger, Cvijeta Stojanovic, Lorenz Nierves

I found it very interesting how Ken thought that rather than the main theme of Hey Nostradamus being faith and doubt, it is hope. Throughout the novel we see so many characters change and need to ask ourselves whether or not they are genuine changes. Douglas Coupland leaves us to make our own decision on whether or not we think so. Do the parents of Cheryl really change their thoughts of Jason like they claim? Or is Cheryl's brother right, and are they faking it? What about Reg? Does he really change? Who killed Jason? Is it Barb? Does her character change? As readers, we so badly hope for a happy ending and hope for characters to change, but whether they really do is up to us. Coupland leaves it to his readers to figure out our own ending and I think that is unique.

Group 4: Clayton Ng, Jamie Masaro, Wilfred Tsang, Roy Ma

You mentioned how you thought that Douglas Coupland constantly reminds us of how we live our lives in fear, but is that really a bad thing? I think that if we live life boasting about tomorrow, sure that what we have today will be there forever, we're in for a big surprise. We will fall hard when something unexpected happens. I think too many people have the mind set of "it will never happen to me". Too many people are thinking about the present instead of looking into the future. I think this is a big problem because the consequences of the unexplainable events that catch us off guard, can be minimized if we're only aware of what can happen. It's important not to get too comfortable with our lives but to be prepared to shift. It's kind of like when we're playing tennis. If we stand on our feet with our knees locked, when the ball doesn't come directly to us, we won't be prepared, and we'll miss it. If however, we have our knees bent, and the ball curves to the left or to the right, we'll have been prepared and be able to hit it back. So in response to Clayton, I don't think that living in fear is a bad thing, but a way of preventing unfortunate events from becoming disastrous.

Group 5: Melissa Yeaman, Lauren Brown

I found it interesting how when speaking about the novel Hey Nostradamus, you said that "each of these characters are fragments because there is no unity with one another. There is no unity due to a loss of a unifying idea and in this story, the unifying idea is religion". Religion is supposed to bring people together, but instead distances and alienates people from others. It is supposed to enhance love and relationships, but instead creates hate and arguments. So many people today are frusterated with religion because of this common outcome. Religion initiates judgement and it is for this reason that people think they are better off without it. Ironically, religion was created for our own betterment, but in the end people choose to stay away from religion in order to have a better life. Why has religion become like this? Why have people twisted and distorted the concept of religion and turned it into something horrible? I wonder if its reputation will ever morph back to the way was intended to be, an idea of a loving, selfless, peaceful life.