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I'm still scratching my head from the first class - trying to compartmentalize not only the material presented but the way in which it was presented. I came into this class with a preconceived notion about what would be taught. Was I ever wrong! I need to disregard all my prior notions and come to class with an open mind. However, I do have a few comments to make.

I think the reference of linking Obama and Lincoln or Obama and J.F.K. are absurd. Doing so is unfair to him and also sets him up for failure. My personal fear is that people are seeing him as the new Messiah called upon to deliver us from evil and fail to understand that he is an unseasoned short-termed senator who got lucky and made it to the White House. This could be very dangerous for the United States on many fronts.

O Captain! My Captain! was a beautiful reflection of an individual's mourning process. I never read this in school or if I had it certainly was too long ago to remember. Nevertheless, the fact that some referenced this as a poem about Lincoln did not alter my personal emotional response. That info just became additional data to store.

I am enjoying reading Darwin. The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia featured the Darwin traveling exhibit a couple of months ago. I was able to see his original field notes as well as some of the differing species he collected and wrote about. All very interesting.

Linking science and literature is a very new concept for me. It will certainly take some time for me to internalize this concept. Many people think, myself included, that if someone has a bent for the sciences they don't for literature and vice versa.