Keeping Things Whole- POL

To start things off, I am reading the poem "Keeping Things Whole" by Mark Strand. When choosing our poems for the Poetry Out Loud competition, I was instantly drawn to this poem due to its title. When I read  it, it made a lot of sense to me. Although there were very few stanzas, I felt like it had quality and more meaning than the others. Due to its shortness I continued to keep searching for something that seemed more "complex". When I searched, everything seemed to have useless words and phrases which really did not help me see what they were truly about. I felt like "Keeping Things Whole" would be the best choice because it is simplistic yet has a strong meaning.

In the idea of relevance to my life, there isn't a really definite comparison. I felt that this poem is somewhat relative to the idea that the narrator's life is lacking purpose. He understands that he must keep moving and going on with his life even though he is interrupting the existence and paths of others. This can compare with my life because I often ponder over the idea of waking up everyday and going through this scheduled routine. After reading this, the ideal thought that came to my mind was "Why do I keep moving?'.

How will I convey this in my performance? I'm definitely thinking of a sort of sad voice, but also in a wondering/questionable to show that I'm not sure about life. At the end I will draw more sadness or somewhat monotone to convey that I have accepted life being this way and I just need to keep moving. With facial gestures, I will obviously express the facial gestures that go along with my tone. Hand gestures, on the other hand (pun), are a different story. I'm not going to use anything very dramatic but more subtle such as a tap on my leg or a finger tapping my head/lip to show that I am pondering. Hopefully all goes well in my performance!

The "Urgent! Extra Credit Blog" on 5 Part Paragraph Skills

Going over my old blog post helped me a lot. Even though I wrote it, I kind of completely forgot about those skills which would enrich my paper. These skills helped develop my new paper in many ways. One being, that I chose stronger transitions. I made sure to have strong transitions so they they did not flow in with everything else and were recognizable. That was helpful because it is so important to make sure it is clear when you are trying to make a new point. Another way being that I made sure my commentary was well written. I did not just restate and restate everything but instead I made it my own. The commentary written in my new paper was my actual thoughts on what I thought the quote meant and what the author was trying to  get across. Thanks to Mrs. Gilman for posting this so that I could rethink and improve the quality of my paper.

Poetry Out Loud

EATING POETRY

QUEENS CEMETERY, SETTING SUN

CARMEL HIGHLANDS

GOOD PEOPLE

I DREAMED THAT I WAS OLD

Of these five poems, I most enjoyed "Eating Poetry". I thought it was humorous and although it had a small message that this man absorbed poetry and was a better man for it. Would I want to recite this poem? Probably not, I feel as if it would be on the side newspaper column for one's small self enjoyment.

I did not like "I Dreamed That I Was Old". This poem was very sad and depressing to me. I do not like thinking about my death and longing for my youth.

Of these six poems, I am most interested "Good People". Although I'm not confident this is the poem I will be further studying.

I personally connected with "Good People" because it talks about parents and children. Obviously I can relate being that I am a child and I have parents.

The criteria that will be easiest is to make a connection with the audience. I feel like this will be easiest because I find it very simple to generally scan and make somewhat of eye contact with the audience as I am reading.

The criteria that will be hardest for me will be to "relax and act natural". This will be a problem because when reading I will want to get into a character.

Another criteria I will struggle with is to "not say rhyming poems in a sing-song manner". That will be difficult because I find myself wanting to just kind of let it flow instead of breaking it up so that it does not sound like a song.

Videos:
I watched "I am Waiting" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. This was a successful performance to me because the way the girl recited it made me think that she was actually thinking those words and that she was a part of it. Her small hand gestures fit great while she was speaking and were not too big so that it was not distracting.

I also watched "Man-Moth" by Elizabeth Bishop. This was successful because the guy reciting it was very well paced and his pauses in between words gave a dramatic effect. His gestures and flow through the poem were great.

I feel like this competition will be very competitive and there will be kids who are very serious about winning. I think I will do fine, I'm not expecting to win obviously. I have not yet decided the poem I want to memorize yet but I will in due time. I think this is a great website if you are studying or learning about poetry. It very resourceful to say the least.

Important Skills: Extra Credit

Although I'm not positive if this is considered a skill, I feel that learning to annotate literature has defintiely been one of the most important things I have learned thus far. When asked to annotate our outside reading book I wasn't confident on what was being asked of me. Later on I grasped the idea and was annotating as I read. I felt as if I gained so much while annotating because each word I was reading I was saying to myslef "Okay, does this have a sybolic/literal meaning?" or "What is the author trying to say behind this?". Typically when I read a novel before I would understand the obvious meaning while running past the deeper meaning and figuratve language to where parts of the book became a massive blur. By annotating I literally study every page to comprehend farther than the average person would see. Not only do I now gain a deeper understanding for novels including their authors but I can also gain a new perspective on life itself.

(TWIST was a great way to do this)

Something Interesting

During the "Lobsters" fishbowl discussion I learned a lot about what the piece could be and what it means. Some ideas I had already thought about and others were semi-new. One comment that really gave me a new perspective on the poem was the idea of slave trade. Way back when people picked and chose their slaves relates to how in the story we pick and chose our lobsters. It was sort of the idea that we were the superior looking down upon someone or something. It also went along with the idea of when you take something out of its place it probably won't be the same. Such as taking the slaves out of the South, and taking lobsters out of the ocean for us to go out and buy/eat.

 I learned that some may fit in and are beautiful where they belong but when taken somewhere else they may be insignificant or looked down upon. Rather than thinking about the typical suggestions, I'm now thinking about historical references to times such as slave trade and even the Holocaust. Hearing that one of Mrs. Gilman's previous students researched that the author was involved in the war really geared my direction towards those kinds of ideas. I feel like this helped me see beyond then what I have been thinking this week about the poem and I have gained a new perspective on this piece of literature.

So many paragraphs, so many skills

For the third period class of Mrs. Gilman, none of the papers read would be considered horrible. Most people did did good jobs while others did fantastic and semi-okay jobs. The flaws of papers that were consistently pointed out would be that the transitions were too attached with the quote embedment so they were hard to find. This would be a problem because now you can't really tell when they are trying to "transition" into a new topic rather that just jumping from thing to thing. Another weakness about papers was that the commentary was more plot summary. This was really annoying to me because I didn't get to hear about their opinions on what they thought it meant and I got yet another recap on this book we've been analyzing forever. Other than those two main the things, most of the papers were pretty decent. Our class was somewhat brutal when it came to negative things about the paper. People were pointing out things as small as the page number should lye by itself such as (98) not (p.98). To me those types of things don't matter as long as the quality of writing is up to par. So overall I would  say transitions and commentary were some of the most frequent problems in the papers read. 

My paragraph, I thought was not bad. I mean obviously it has lots of flaws but I felt I got "hated on", if you will, when my negative critique's came around. The issue's in my paper were mainly transitions. My transitions flowed too much into my quote embedment and were hard to find. I definitely will make sure that they are clear next time so that the viewers can understand the point I am trying to make. Reading over the checklist multiple times is a for sure thing to do when writing my next paper. I know fully understand how helpful it will be the next time around.

Extra Credit "Writing about Writing"

Looking at the title you might ask yourself if I'm only posting this for extra credit. Of course not, its for you guys....

One of my favorite pieces of writing that I have done myself has to definitely be my "whale wars" paper (catchy title? yeah I know). Writing this paper took about a week or so in the computer lab with Mr. Haefer's class in 7th grade. A rough idea of the topic was if you agree that these Indian people can kill whales or not (for no reason of course). Some key arguments on the side that they should be able to were "It's their tradition so why not?" and I believe it was Dan Mongovin (in our class!) who said "They are just a waste of space in the ocean" (personally I thought this was hilarious and mean at the same time.) Anyway, my side (who did not want the whales killed) was very small and consisted of about 5 people out of a class of 30 or so. So we worked on this paper and made rough drafts, edits, redo's and finally turned it in. 

Everyone in my group got pretty decent grades, mostly A's. We were not finished though. Now we had to decide who's paper was the best out of our group and read it to the class. The other group also chose their best paper in their group to read to the class. I was chosen! I was somewhat confident on reading aloud because I worked really hard on this paper. It's something I enjoyed writing about because it was my own opinion. The only thing I remember specifically was my ending sentence which was something like "The Indians stopped hunting whales before due to population decrease, so why can't they do it again?" I thought I was so clever for writing that. I was like "Oh yeah, this last sentence is just going to blow up right in there faces." Anyway, I was pretty proud of it because I felt like it was my own and I put a lot of time into it.

I also added a picture of a whale at the top and printed in blue ink to go with the whole whale theme. (Impressive? I think so.) I might still have the paper saved in my documents so if for some odd reason you want to read it, that can be arranged. Not that anyone would actually want to.

Hopefully you enjoyed!

Wuthering Heights

Hello again!

I am currently reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and I'm so far enjoying it (It's actually kind of unappealing to me and very boring at the moment but I find its better to lie). On the down side, it's very difficult to understand exactly what they are talking about. There are many characters and the relationships they share are still somewhat vague to me. Luckily I have a "special edition" copy of the book which provides me with some definitions to the complex vocabulary used. I can kind of assume what the word means just by the placing of it in the sentence though. For example if something said "He was thoroughly upset, he cried all of the time and had a "jakfloricmanicforce" mood. So obviously you could piece that together and assume its a dull or sad mood (not a real word by the way, or "btw"...I know the lingo). In Wuthering Heights, I try to assume what words mean due to the complexity of the writing style. 

I'm still not that far in the book so I guess I can't really critique it (I will be reading it up over the weekend because I've been busy lately). Hopefully its a good book, I'm not doubting that it won't be considering its in the "classics" section at Barnes and Nobles. Classics are always fun. I feel like I would try to reflect on theme in the novel because one theme is "money over love". This is used in many scenarios and was quite typical "back in the day" to marry for security and wealth over someone your in love with. For example, a movie set in the olden days: The Notebook. Allie ended up having to choose between Noah (the one she's deeply in love with) or Lon (the wealthy man who will provide her with a status and security). If you haven't seen the movie then I apologize. Anyway, this theme of "money over love" would be something I believe would be a good idea to reflect on during our creative projects.

An idea for a creative project would probably be a video. I feel like this would be the most effective and fun way to get a point or central theme across. I've always wanted to make documentaries so I feel like I could throw that style in there. I could maybe do a skit on film and then have separate interviews on what we thought the book was about so that we could all contribute ideas. So a movie of some sort is definitely in my field of vision. If that doesn't turn out then an art project would always be a nice option.

Extending the Theme

There are so many things you can learn by reading the book To Kill a Mockingbird. From growing up to life lessons to strong morals about that time period and many more. Harper Lee puts so many different situations into the novel that intentionally relate to the theme and overall send an important message about life to the reader. Reading this book brought up a few life experiences of my own. I would actually be shocked if someone read this book and could not in any way personally relate to the story somehow.

The book really spoke to me mainly because of Atticus. Atticus has to be one of my favorite father figures I have ever read about. He is such a strong character and is willing to stand up for what he believes in, which I admire very much. Most importantly, he represents a phenomenally important role model for Scout. A lot of the time he is considered "bad parent" by most of Maycomb simply because of the way he raises his children. The people of Maycomb obviously do not dig beneath the surface to see if there is a reason behind what he does, which usually there is. He has taught Scout and Jem many life lessons and morals that will later on help them become thoughtful, honest, strong and kind people.

 For example when he says, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it". This quote spoke to me because I often, unconsciously, judge people before I really get to know them, I know a lot of the people reading this have too, I mean really, who hasn't? It has almost come natural in our society to judge people simply on how they look, talk, or the way they do things. This was such a good thing for Scout to hear, especially at a young age, because it is so important to get to know people before you decide who they are on your own. To me, Atticus has been an absolutely outstanding friend, father, and role model to his children. 

"As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it-whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash."-Atticus (Lee 233)

This is another important quote, from Atticus, that again shows me what type of person he is. This is bringing to light that Atticus is such a tolerant (for the time period) and benevolent man. He sees one man just like he sees the next man, no matter what color skin they have. This is another reason why I love Atticus and his way of thinking. Of course I already know to treat everyone equally (which I normally do) but by reading this book Atticus has sort of renewed my thoughts and given me a new perspective on life itself. I see Atticus as a role model for myself (I know he is not real). I mean what better character to choose than Atticus Finch? 

I also love my own dad, hopefully he's not "offended" if he reads this.

Hopefully you enjoyed.

My Boo Radley

Personally, I am both scared and intimidated by the general concept of Earth and outer space. I know the basic idea but it's hard for me to grasp that millions and millions of people live on one planet not knowing if other life exists somewhere else. Could I go out and buy "Earth/Outer space for Dummies"? Yes I could. Would this help me? No it would not. I could study up on the subject and would probably learn a lot but in the end I would still be wondering if there is life somewhere else. You don't realize that this idea is strange until you really think about it. We live on a sphere with millions of other humans and species not knowing if another planet is like ours or once was like ours.

Thinking about outer space freaks me out. The major motion picture films fabricating this topic do not help at all. Green aliens flying down from saucers in the sky? To think that people could be a little more creative. I will admit that E.T. was a great movie though. I saw E.T at a young age and this was a partial influence on what made me start to wonder about these kinds of things.

Visual aid of E.T. (extra terrestrial) 

It amazes me that there is a massive galaxy far beyond from where I am. I would be shocked if someone did not find this somewhat intimidating. Not knowing what is out there and what's going on scares me. Although it is always nice to wonder about things and believe that there are places undiscovered that may be far greater than where we are now. The number one absolute idea that completely blows my mind are crop circles. Oh yes we have all seen pictures, videos, documentaries, etc. and we have all "ooooh'd and ahhhh'd" in fascination. Imagine if you woke up to find some obscure inscription or somewhat of a symbol on your lawn, I would die. I'm not talking about someone doing a horrible job mowing your lawn and it vaguely looking like a smiley face. Absolutely not. Think extremely large intricate designs that would have no way of being done overnight. There are actually crop circles and this has happened, which makes me slightly paranoid.

Crop circle

My experience relates to Scout's experience with Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird because we are both scared and intimidated about something we initially do not understand. Scout was scared of Boo Radley and did not know much about him other than what people have told her. This applies to my situation because I find Earth and outer space mysterious and somewhat ominous. In the end of the story, Scout was able to see Boo as a nice person, having met him and seeing what he was like for herself. On the contrary, I have not overcome this anxiety and fascination of mine. Hopefully in the near future I will.

Introduction to my blog

Welcome to my blog. Here you will see my opinions on various topics posted for the world to see. Why should you read this blog? I will throw enthusiasm into some of the dullest topics on earth. A lot of the time I will read a blog or a review that is completely over analyzed or it's just simply boring. If you enjoy blatant facts listed out from one to ten then I suggest that you read a different blog. Often I will put humor into what I'm writing about so if you are a tedious or dull person then I'm sorry. I would like to think that both my opinion and commentary will enrich the reader's knowledge and will give them a new perspective on things.

English is such an important subject and class because you gain great communication, reading, and writing skills. All three of those things are important in becoming successful career wise, and also as a person. English class to me is the part of the day where I gain the most knowledge. Yes, I learn things in math and science but for some reason I feel that English is something that is actually going to help me succeed both personally and academically in life. Am I trying to be a suck up by saying English is my favorite class, knowing that my English teacher can read my blog? No I am not, I truly believe that it is very important to be knowledgeable in the subject of English.

Hopefully this blog will enlighten the online world and my readers will walk away with a new point of view.
Enjoy!