Thanks For The Memories

      Graham Greene is without a doubt, now my favorite author. The unihibited, brash brilliance that Greene inserts into his novels and short stories is innovative, ironic, comical and admittedly cynical, but that's what makes Graham Greene the most interesting man in the world.

       Starting with his short stories was not only a practical, but also appropriate introduction to the most compelling course I have ever experienced. In "The Destructors," Greene takes the audience back to a very strange and impactful time in a person's life: their childhood. We get a view of a small gang of young punks, just looking for something to do. Their only worry is making plans that will be entertaining and adventurous. The conclusion to this dilemma is something quite common that all children should try before the age of ten: strategically dismantle a lonely adult's house while he is away. While the story itself is seemingly ludicrous, Greene offers that "Destruction is just a form of creation." That quote spun my mind in circles and it is so paradoxical, but true, that it can be called nothing short of genius. Greene is one of those authors that offers so many mind-blowing insights that I actually had to re-evaluate everything I thought was complete fact and prepare myself for Greene to cause me to doubt them all. I admit that I may seem to view Greene just as Pyle views York Harding, but Greene has yet to convince me that killing innocents is an acceptable behavior, so keep calm (and carry on).

    I would love to sit here and go through each and every incredible page, paragraph, sentence, word, and semi-colon that Greene wrote, but I would be doing those who have not read his works a disservice. Instead, let me take a moment to explain why Graham Greene is the most interesting man to never appear in a beer commercial. How many authors predicted the Vietnam War in frighteningly vivid detail? Greene did. How many authors can say that they believe "Hate is just a lack of imagination?" Greene can. Finally, how many authors can be compared to Batman, Casablanca, AND Assassins Creed? I think you see where this is going. Greene's unique perspective, political commentary, permanence, and similarity to pop culture beyond his time is remarkable. Graham Greene is...

...
...
...

Note: I just want to take a second to thank Mr. Kiczek for offering this course and for introducing us all to Graham Greene. Although I took the time to constantly badger Mr. Kiczek about keeping up with the blog and various other shenanigans, it was all in good fun and I want to thank him for all he does as a teacher and for making this course my most memorable one at Regis.

For various reasons, I thought that to say on this one night and one more blog post,