Train of Thought

 When my parents named me, the main thing they thought about is that they wanted it to be both German and English to reflect my heritage. With everyone having a different idea of how to pronounce it, Stefan sounds foreign even to my own ears; sometimes it's Stef-ON, other times Stephen, with the rare Steven thrown in. Most often my name reminds people of twilight or an exotic real estate agent, but to me Stefan most often means school. Stefan means studying hard, getting called on, taking tests - all things intellectual. To me, Lemke references the athlete. Lemke is someone calling me over in the gym, or when I used to get in the starting block at a track meet. Plastered on the back of my jersey or hoodie, Lemke is a more comfortable name in the outside world, with Stefan reserved for school and my parents calling me down to dinner. My name sounds more familiar to me in German, as especially recently that's all I've been hearing. Like my name itself, my connotation of it is

After the first day of watching Godot, I decided to do a little more digging in an attempt to find meaning. What I found was not deeper understanding, but rather disappointment at the various missed opportunities for genuine commentary. In an interview, Samuel Beckett himself states that Godot is not meant to be a play on words to represent God, despite the various pronunciations Pozzo stabs at all sounding as such. Theatre of the Absurd plays on religious commentary to highlight absurdism of life, yet Waiting for Godot somehow lacks. Godot reminds me of a bad joke where no one laughs, and the joke teller digs themselves a deeper and deeper hole by explaining it's not meant to be funny. Supporters of the play explain how it's not meant to be enjoyed, but when so many of the opportunities to make a point are missed, I find it hard to even appreciate the attempts. Everything is interconnected, such as discussions of hanging leading to Pozzo appearing with Lucky on a noose. Simila