After my first initial negative reaction to Snap Shot Day at Macaulay, I have calmed down. I was upset because I felt the event was organized poorly. I also felt as though they just wanted us to use our flip cams and Mac lab top applications rather then use our real creativity. I for one am not particularly creative on a Sunday morning. Since I work all day Saturdays, I love sleeping in on Sundays. So I suppose most of my disappointment came from the fact that I had to wake up so early.

      Meryl Streep's appearance at House of Dead did not prove to be the only thrill of the performance. Before I detail what I enjoyed, our class discussion helped me appreciate the Opera much more. Thank you, Professor Bergman! To begin, I thought the set was incredible. Arguably it was drab and captured the atmosphere of prison life, but the depth and color really inspired more in the performance.  I could see how the set had the essence of a Stalinist gulag, but I felt otherwise. The set resonated to me as a futuristic interpretation of a barrack.

       House of the Dead by Dostoevsky explores remorse. Observing the condition of his cell mates, Alexander Petrovich states, "I never once saw among these men the slightest sign of remorse, the least gnawing of conscience, and that the majority of them believed themselves to have done nothing wrong," (16).  Petrovich's observation separates him from the other prisoners. Not only does it suggest that he alone is remorseful, but that he is morally superior.