Last week the plp 9 class started to learn about wonder. We pondered about what wonder really was and tried to understand how wonder was a feeling.

First our teacher (Mr. Featherstone) had us (the students) make a “writing prompt”. Basically he shows us a picture and we can wright about anything that comes into our minds. This is mine…

I have mixed feelings about seafood. I mean it’s either really good, for instance sushi, or it’s that smelly “fishy” stuff you get from the supermarket. I used to like seafood, like a lot, but ever since I passed the age of 10 I seemed to never really enjoy when my mom served us fish.

Whenever I go to a sushi restaurant with my family or friends I always order the same thing, Crispy Teriyaki Chicken Roll and a California roll. Some times if I have a little more money than usual I may order some tofu, and/or a miso soup. I never really enjoyed the plain raw fish as I find that it has a lot less flavour than many other things on the menu.

I think growing up really changed my thoughts on seafood. I used to hate California rolls; the first time my dad gave me some I gagged on them. But now I love them! It’s really weird how growing up changes how you receive certain tastes.

My mom always says that when I grow up I will like Brussel sprouts. But I’m starting to believe that that’s just one of those things parents say to make you eat healthy food.

For some bizarre reason looking at a rabbit whole makes think of seafood..

Then he made us make a mind map that showed what we already knew about what wonder was.

“what is wonder?”

Then the class read a essay about wonder and we where given questions to answer about it.

Q.1:  How was Prinz’s experience with the “ Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus” different from his parents? why?

My answer –

1. Prinz was a very young boy when he saw the circus, when you are a child like that your mind tends to wonder about a lot more magical things than if you were an adult. As it says in the article when your are an adult you wonder about things that are more material than the nonexistent things that children can wonder about. For example children wonder about magical creatures  and weather you will be able to fly or not whereas adults would wonder about history and wars.

Q.2:  What are the three bodily symptoms Prinza postulates as components of wonder?

My answer –

The three bodily symptoms Prinz talks about are sensory, cognitive, and spiritual.

Sensory: “wondrous things engage our senses”. Wonder would be nothing if we couldn’t see the event, or thing.

Cognitive: suspension of breath, sacred, startled. This may happen when you’re watching a movie, and you’re scared to see what comes next.

Spiritual: “we look upwards in veneration”, “Heart swells”.

Q.3: How does Francis Bacon consider wonder?

My answer – Wonder to Francis Bacon was a broken knowledge and a incomprehension that only science could cure.

Q.4: Describe one moment in your life when you experienced wonder.

My answer:  When I was little I would always look up to the sky and wonder what all those millions of sparkling droplets of light where. They amazed me and I always used to ponder if there could be any sort of life up there. Then I saw a sort of a lightning bolt fly across the sky. I imagined that it was some sort of spacecraft zooming through the misty night sky. I thought of space as a book. I could read it for hours and still be fascinated to see what come next. My favorite thing was when the sky made faces back to me, I thought of it like that some higher being was peering back at me. It made my heart swell in wonder and imagination. The sky is a piece of art.

Thanks for reading.