Wedding Fanatic

This last spring and summer, I received enough wedding invitations to cover my entire refrigerator. This is not an exaggeration one bit. For two months, every single weekend was booked with wedding receptions.  And get this.  There were even weekends where I attended multiple receptions, just to make sure that I could congratulate my newly married friends.  I’m sure many of you can relate to this, especially those of you who are in my same stage of life.  What were your thoughts going to the mailbox day after day and seeing another one “bite the dust?”  Now, you might think I am crazy for how I felt about it, but I’m not going to hold back. Each time I opened another invitation, my heart did a little jump.

"What a Piece of Work is Man"

One of the greatest movements of the Renaissance is summed up in the words of William Shakespeare.  "What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and in moving, how express and admirable, in action, how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a God.” This idea encompasses the idea of humanism that sprung up during the early Italian Renaissance.  The worth of individuals and their accomplishments became of a greater value than they had ever been before.  In addition to this new idea, the focus of these accomplishments shifted to this life, rather than focusing on the next life.  

The idea of individualization is something that sets this time period apart from any other time.  Rather than accrediting accomplishments, talents, and gifts elsewhere, individuals began to take credit.  A very good example of this is when artists began to sign their works.  This was a way in which others were able to recognize and celebrate not only the work, but the individual as well.  Signing artistic works moved away from the “communal mentality of the middle ages” which Drogin recognizes in “Spare Me the Details.”  In short, this new focus on the individual is recognized today as a defining characteristic for the Renaissance, which did allow individuals to be liberated from dogma.