"Put this moisturizer on…it feels like a slime gleeched on your face."
My sister Lauren likes to make up words sometimes and this was her description of what a really powerful moisturizer felt like to her. If someone could explain what gleeching is...that would be fantastic.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Calisthenic Entry 1 (Week 3)
So. No cliches. Awesome.
We held hands and let the breeze dance in the air, while the ocean waves tickled our feet.
Bewildered tourists flooded the George Town streets snapping pictures left and right of the chickens running amok in the sidewalk forests. My fingertips lingered against his as the Caribbean spray raked at the tight spirals of my hair. We burrowed our tanned feet in Seven Mile Beach and watched the stingrays ride the waves that carried my sandal out to sea.
The moon was beautifully full, and the stars shone like diamonds in the sky.
Becky walked down Sherwood Pass and squinted at the moon, reflecting what seemed like every ray of the morning sun. Even at midnight, the lights of the Bengochea house and the Wood house couldn't drown out the spotlights in the sky.
So I know that the "spotlights in the sky" isn't the best replacement for "diamonds in the sky"... but i couldn't come up with anything, so if you can help... it would be appreciated!
We held hands and let the breeze dance in the air, while the ocean waves tickled our feet.
Bewildered tourists flooded the George Town streets snapping pictures left and right of the chickens running amok in the sidewalk forests. My fingertips lingered against his as the Caribbean spray raked at the tight spirals of my hair. We burrowed our tanned feet in Seven Mile Beach and watched the stingrays ride the waves that carried my sandal out to sea.
The moon was beautifully full, and the stars shone like diamonds in the sky.
Becky walked down Sherwood Pass and squinted at the moon, reflecting what seemed like every ray of the morning sun. Even at midnight, the lights of the Bengochea house and the Wood house couldn't drown out the spotlights in the sky.
So I know that the "spotlights in the sky" isn't the best replacement for "diamonds in the sky"... but i couldn't come up with anything, so if you can help... it would be appreciated!
Junkyard Quote Entry 1 (Week 3)
"Always be a bad song…don't be a good song because all the good songs get played over and over."
-Conversation with my friend Lennox
-Conversation with my friend Lennox
Monday, January 30, 2012
Improv/ Imitation Entry 1 (Week 2)
This week I want to imitate a section of the Rattlesnake poem by Richard Hugo.
"I found him sleepy in the heat
And dust of a gopher burrow.
Coiled in loose folds upon silence
In a pit of the noonday hillside."
(here is one about the snow burrowing dogs.)
"She found her awake in the cold
and snow of the white hole.
Wrapped in a ball in the walled
in early morning mountain."
(here is one about the prairie dog)
"He saw him hiding in the dry
and straw of the grassy colony.
Lumped in the short hair upon fear
in a hole on the midday field."
So these are just two terrible examples. I wanted to try and imitate the specific place and the language but I am not sure if I did that accurately.
"I found him sleepy in the heat
And dust of a gopher burrow.
Coiled in loose folds upon silence
In a pit of the noonday hillside."
(here is one about the snow burrowing dogs.)
"She found her awake in the cold
and snow of the white hole.
Wrapped in a ball in the walled
in early morning mountain."
(here is one about the prairie dog)
"He saw him hiding in the dry
and straw of the grassy colony.
Lumped in the short hair upon fear
in a hole on the midday field."
So these are just two terrible examples. I wanted to try and imitate the specific place and the language but I am not sure if I did that accurately.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Reading Response Entry 1 (Week 2)
So, today I read "I am 21" by Mary Robinson. I know this is for class on Tuesday, but I wanted to read something other than Abducted by Circumstance. What I wanted to do for this Entry was to go through the piece and use some of the concepts that we had worked on in class:
Showing Not Telling:
"writing clockwise in the left, top and right had margins of page one in my exam booklet." I like this one because it makes me wonder what was so special about the margins? Why didn't they just write in the middle? But I also like the specificity of where they were writing.
"Some guy whose hair I could've ripped out was finished with his exam." I like this because she didn't say "some guy I was annoyed with." It was a hatred you could see.
"The plaster walls were a nothing oatmeal color, which was okay. But not okay was that some earlier renter had gooped orange-unbelievably- paint on the moldings and window frames." I like this showing because of the words she used. You can see oatmeal and you can see gooped.
"This was #2 graphite and gushy-gummy." I like the word gushy-gummy. It really describes the graphite of some pencils.
Specificity:
"probably from overdoing it with diet pills or from the green tea all last night and from reading too much all the time."
"my one picture up wasn't of a Blessed Virgin or a detail from Amiens of the King of Judan holding a rod of the Tree of Jesse. Instead, it was an eight by ten glossy of Rudy and Leslie, my folks." I just think this one is funny because of the specific paintings she picks.
Place:
"But i slapped him my exam booklet and hurried out of Meverett."
"We had to borrow a neighbor's station wagon just to get the thing safely to Dreiser Junior High."
"Willow tree on Route 987"
Background:
"He had asked me out for Cokes, but I had brushed him off. That was maybe stupid because he might've been in charge of grading exams." I like this because the importance of background is to clarify the relationships and little things about the characters and this definitely shows that the speaker is worried about this test and hopes that every little thing counts.
I wanted to search for these concepts so that I could get a better idea on how to hone these skills in my own writing. The one big question that I had for this piece, that really didn't have anything to do with any concept except for maybe the whole Don't Explain Anything, WHAT REALLY CAUSES THE RINGING?
Showing Not Telling:
"writing clockwise in the left, top and right had margins of page one in my exam booklet." I like this one because it makes me wonder what was so special about the margins? Why didn't they just write in the middle? But I also like the specificity of where they were writing.
"Some guy whose hair I could've ripped out was finished with his exam." I like this because she didn't say "some guy I was annoyed with." It was a hatred you could see.
"The plaster walls were a nothing oatmeal color, which was okay. But not okay was that some earlier renter had gooped orange-unbelievably- paint on the moldings and window frames." I like this showing because of the words she used. You can see oatmeal and you can see gooped.
"This was #2 graphite and gushy-gummy." I like the word gushy-gummy. It really describes the graphite of some pencils.
Specificity:
"probably from overdoing it with diet pills or from the green tea all last night and from reading too much all the time."
"my one picture up wasn't of a Blessed Virgin or a detail from Amiens of the King of Judan holding a rod of the Tree of Jesse. Instead, it was an eight by ten glossy of Rudy and Leslie, my folks." I just think this one is funny because of the specific paintings she picks.
Place:
"But i slapped him my exam booklet and hurried out of Meverett."
"We had to borrow a neighbor's station wagon just to get the thing safely to Dreiser Junior High."
"Willow tree on Route 987"
Background:
"He had asked me out for Cokes, but I had brushed him off. That was maybe stupid because he might've been in charge of grading exams." I like this because the importance of background is to clarify the relationships and little things about the characters and this definitely shows that the speaker is worried about this test and hopes that every little thing counts.
I wanted to search for these concepts so that I could get a better idea on how to hone these skills in my own writing. The one big question that I had for this piece, that really didn't have anything to do with any concept except for maybe the whole Don't Explain Anything, WHAT REALLY CAUSES THE RINGING?
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Peer Response Entry 2 (Week 2)
I find myself really gravitating towards April's work. There is always something interesting to read and I get sucked in, then find something that I just HAVE to post about. Her original post can be found here: http://aprilantoniou.blogspot.com/2012/01/blue-in-red-state.html
April,
I loved the Blue in a Red State idea. This whole piece was the epitome of what Davidson was talking about "what makes you you." My favorite part was the : "Everyone went stiff. The fire crackled and spit in disdain while the crickets chirped like a group of frantic old gossiping knitters: “Did you hear that?” “Gasp!” “Oh my..." Crickets definitely seem like that when everything is quiet. I also liked the end. The idea of the "maybe I can learn to love purple" took me a minute actually, but then I laughed to myself realizing that you meant that there were good things to both the red and blue states and therefore you could maybe merge the two. That was pretty creative.
However, a question I have for you is where do you live? Because near my house, there is a Whole Foods, a Trader Joe's (a couple actually)and I believe a Jack in the Box.
And finally, you are right when you said that the beginning of the piece is a little weak. It seems as though you start with a lot of telling about yourself. Maybe if you showed how you were born and raised in California, you could say:
"With my hair as blond as the grains of sand and my eyes as blue as the crystal Pacific, my body was the beach. I breathed sushi. The last of the Valley Girl breed, I believed everyone came to Hollywood seeking the fame, fortune and glamor she promised. Waitresses were never waitresses-but rather actresses. Customer Service Reps were recording artists. And everyone had their own scandalous celebrity story to leak. I, the insider, no impostor or visiting tourist to the world of pain and regret, silently smirked at the foolhardy aspirations of the many immigrants."
Or something like that.
April,
I loved the Blue in a Red State idea. This whole piece was the epitome of what Davidson was talking about "what makes you you." My favorite part was the : "Everyone went stiff. The fire crackled and spit in disdain while the crickets chirped like a group of frantic old gossiping knitters: “Did you hear that?” “Gasp!” “Oh my..." Crickets definitely seem like that when everything is quiet. I also liked the end. The idea of the "maybe I can learn to love purple" took me a minute actually, but then I laughed to myself realizing that you meant that there were good things to both the red and blue states and therefore you could maybe merge the two. That was pretty creative.
However, a question I have for you is where do you live? Because near my house, there is a Whole Foods, a Trader Joe's (a couple actually)and I believe a Jack in the Box.
And finally, you are right when you said that the beginning of the piece is a little weak. It seems as though you start with a lot of telling about yourself. Maybe if you showed how you were born and raised in California, you could say:
"With my hair as blond as the grains of sand and my eyes as blue as the crystal Pacific, my body was the beach. I breathed sushi. The last of the Valley Girl breed, I believed everyone came to Hollywood seeking the fame, fortune and glamor she promised. Waitresses were never waitresses-but rather actresses. Customer Service Reps were recording artists. And everyone had their own scandalous celebrity story to leak. I, the insider, no impostor or visiting tourist to the world of pain and regret, silently smirked at the foolhardy aspirations of the many immigrants."
Or something like that.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Response to Classmate's Journal Entry 1 (Week 2)
This is a response to April's Super Long Free Entry: http://aprilantoniou.blogspot.com/2012/01/super-long-free-entry-week-2.html (I included the link so everyone can read what I am talking about)...
April,
I really really really liked this piece. I literally devoured or scarfed (food humor) this piece up. What I enjoyed most, a lot like what Kelsey posted, was the idea that your relationship with your dad was complicated. But every bit of information, with the recipe and the relationships, all tied in together. The way you tied the bubbling and popping of the tomatoes to your brother being thrown across the house was really interesting. I noticed, and I don't know if you meant to do this or not, was that a lot of the memories conjured by the recipe had to do with your brother and your dad. It seems as though they had the worst relationship and you were there to kind of mend the two opposing forces. I also thought it was really interesting how your sauce was different than your fathers. I took it to show, a lot like how in the showing not telling exercise we did in class with the knife and the sofa, that there was a little underlying meaning to the sauce. To me, it kind of shows that even though you and your father were making the same dish (or maybe even though you both created families), the sauces (or the relationships), are different and therefore making the taste of the dishes different (making the future of your families different.)
I like to read into things. Its the psychology interest in me that brings out the weird connections. I thought this was a really good piece and you really "wrote about cooking without writing about cooking." Nice job.
April,
I really really really liked this piece. I literally devoured or scarfed (food humor) this piece up. What I enjoyed most, a lot like what Kelsey posted, was the idea that your relationship with your dad was complicated. But every bit of information, with the recipe and the relationships, all tied in together. The way you tied the bubbling and popping of the tomatoes to your brother being thrown across the house was really interesting. I noticed, and I don't know if you meant to do this or not, was that a lot of the memories conjured by the recipe had to do with your brother and your dad. It seems as though they had the worst relationship and you were there to kind of mend the two opposing forces. I also thought it was really interesting how your sauce was different than your fathers. I took it to show, a lot like how in the showing not telling exercise we did in class with the knife and the sofa, that there was a little underlying meaning to the sauce. To me, it kind of shows that even though you and your father were making the same dish (or maybe even though you both created families), the sauces (or the relationships), are different and therefore making the taste of the dishes different (making the future of your families different.)
I like to read into things. Its the psychology interest in me that brings out the weird connections. I thought this was a really good piece and you really "wrote about cooking without writing about cooking." Nice job.
Junkyard Quotes Entry 3 (Week 2)
"I'm strong like a butterfly."
-little kid my mother knew from preschool
"All their lights are on, upstairs and down, as if they have money to burn."
-Tobias Wolff "Next Door"
-little kid my mother knew from preschool
"All their lights are on, upstairs and down, as if they have money to burn."
-Tobias Wolff "Next Door"
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Free Entry 1 (Week 2)
Today in class, I cannot quite remember how we got on the topic of it, but we started talking about ants and how fun it was for me to kick over the ant hills...and like Professor Davidson says "write about it." So, keeping that in mind, I decided to write a poem about kicking over the ant hills...
I remember being five or six
squatting seriously on the ridge of the curb
staring intensely at the red brown of the hill,
the curvature of the mound,
entranced,
like a lion stalking prey.
I push off the balls of my feet
and stand,
straight as the lines of ants below,
looking down upon the little village
filled with furious insects.
Like a demonic being,
my foot juts out
scattering the bits and pieces,
the hopes and dreams of all the beings
inside that mound.
Creating chaos,
fear.
I watch,
giggling
as they scatter,
trying to pick up their lives,
trying to formulate again.
I turn
and step over,
onto the scattering ants
feeling intense humor,
a surge of sick happiness,
flow over me
like the waves of dirt
flowing through the crevices
and hallways of the mind.
I remember being five or six
squatting seriously on the ridge of the curb
staring intensely at the red brown of the hill,
the curvature of the mound,
entranced,
like a lion stalking prey.
I push off the balls of my feet
and stand,
straight as the lines of ants below,
looking down upon the little village
filled with furious insects.
Like a demonic being,
my foot juts out
scattering the bits and pieces,
the hopes and dreams of all the beings
inside that mound.
Creating chaos,
fear.
I watch,
giggling
as they scatter,
trying to pick up their lives,
trying to formulate again.
I turn
and step over,
onto the scattering ants
feeling intense humor,
a surge of sick happiness,
flow over me
like the waves of dirt
flowing through the crevices
and hallways of the mind.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Junkyard Quotes Entry 2 (Week 2)
"Rorschach inkblot test has been resoundingly discredited... I call it the Dracula of psychological tests, because no one has been able to drive a stake though the cursed things heart."
-Carol Tavris "Mind Games: Psychological Warfare Between Therapists and Scientists"
"Oh my God. You have to smell these…they smell like old man poop."
-my sister Lauren (I just like this quote because who would want to smell something that smells like old man poop...and what does that even smell like??? Its just a really hilarious comparison to me.)
-Carol Tavris "Mind Games: Psychological Warfare Between Therapists and Scientists"
"Oh my God. You have to smell these…they smell like old man poop."
-my sister Lauren (I just like this quote because who would want to smell something that smells like old man poop...and what does that even smell like??? Its just a really hilarious comparison to me.)
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Calisthenic Entry 1 (Week 2)
Today in class we never really had a chance to do the active voice assignment, so it was assigned as homework...but I kinda wanted to take a stab at it for the calisthenic post for this week.
Here it goes:
One of the original sentences was: It was a nice spring day. Ok. A spring day...that normally conjures up the birds and the flowers...but for me today was a nice almost spring like day....
So here's my sentence: The clean, clear blue sky shone brightly through the budding trees, gleaming where the remaining rain drops sit on the premature leaves.
Or there is another one: The math problem was hard.
How about this: The vein in Mike's head bulged as he furiously scribbled and erased the answer to the problem over and over, wearing down both the lead and the eraser.
The active voice assignment kind of reminds me of the showing not telling calisthenic that we did in class...
Here it goes:
One of the original sentences was: It was a nice spring day. Ok. A spring day...that normally conjures up the birds and the flowers...but for me today was a nice almost spring like day....
So here's my sentence: The clean, clear blue sky shone brightly through the budding trees, gleaming where the remaining rain drops sit on the premature leaves.
Or there is another one: The math problem was hard.
How about this: The vein in Mike's head bulged as he furiously scribbled and erased the answer to the problem over and over, wearing down both the lead and the eraser.
The active voice assignment kind of reminds me of the showing not telling calisthenic that we did in class...
Monday, January 23, 2012
Junkyard Quote Entry 1 (Week 2)
"dreary faces of gaiety…"
-David Madden Abducted By Circumstance pg. 83
"People are like butterflies. They can't always see their own beauty, but everyone else can."
-facebook status by Rebecca Terrell
-David Madden Abducted By Circumstance pg. 83
"People are like butterflies. They can't always see their own beauty, but everyone else can."
-facebook status by Rebecca Terrell
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Reading Response Entry 1 (Week 1)
I recently finished the reading assignment for Abducted By Circumstance by David Madden, and I decided to write my reading response on that. This book is one interesting piece of literature. When I first started reading, I was excited...the outside jacket quotes said that this book was going to be a crime story and was supposed to be really intriguing...but as I started to read, I became more and more confused with who was talking. There are moments when there is an outside narrator talking and then within that same paragraph, Carol will be talking to Glenda. I find it very interesting when Carol talks to Glenda, because, obviously Glenda isn't there standing in front of Carol. Carol is literally talking to herself and pretending to know what Glenda would say. It makes me wonder why Carol is taking such an interest in getting to know Glenda. It cannot be just because she witnessed the abduction. I feel there is a deeper reason...and I think that Madden touches on that in the last part of chapter five. Carol has been abducted by her life and she really wants to save herself. But, I really like the quote on page 116 where Carol says "I have these feelings of guilt about you, Glenda. Like when I catch myself feeling that you are intruding. I have my own life to live, but you keep getting between me and it. The harder I try to keep you alive, the more I feel my own life, such as it is, slip away." This quote kind of makes it seem that Carol wants to save both herself and Glenda, but in the end she can only save one.
The other thing I noticed while reading is that Melissa is not the typical six year old daughter. She has characteristics of an adult. To me, the way she talks and acts sounds more mature and more adult like than her mother. I think this could be because Melissa knows that her mom is kind of losing her mind, and she takes it upon herself to help her mother figure out what happened to Glenda and therefore kind of be Carol's mother as well as her daughter. It reflects upon Carol's life because she herself never really had a mother, and it seems like Melissa doesn't really have one as well.
This is one difficult book to read, but I hope that it gets better because even though it is confusing, it is quite interesting and I want to be able to connect all the pieces together in the end.
The other thing I noticed while reading is that Melissa is not the typical six year old daughter. She has characteristics of an adult. To me, the way she talks and acts sounds more mature and more adult like than her mother. I think this could be because Melissa knows that her mom is kind of losing her mind, and she takes it upon herself to help her mother figure out what happened to Glenda and therefore kind of be Carol's mother as well as her daughter. It reflects upon Carol's life because she herself never really had a mother, and it seems like Melissa doesn't really have one as well.
This is one difficult book to read, but I hope that it gets better because even though it is confusing, it is quite interesting and I want to be able to connect all the pieces together in the end.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Response to Classmate's Journal Entry 2 (Week 1)
This is an entry that I read today in April's journal today:
"I wanted to do another take on show and tell, but with a different twist. Can you "show" without describing anything?
Tell:
The girl was bored.
Show:
Sigh. Open book. Read.
Close book. Get up. Go to the computer.
Sit. Check email. Stand.
Nothing new.
Stretch. Yawn. Walk to the kitchen.
Open the fridge. Grab nothing. Back to the couch. "
I really liked what she did with the showing twist so this is what I commented:
"It is so typical of descriptions of boredom to be just that...descriptions. We create a scene by showing what is happening in the typical way "Maddie opened her book and desperately tried to read. Anxious, she walked to the computer and logged on..."but here you paint the same picture without doing that. The short, sharp, choppy, one-to-two-word sentences characterize the speaker as bored because the collection of sentences show how quickly the character moves from one activity to the other, trying to stay busy but failing. I think this is more effective than the typical description because it makes the boredom seem more "real" in a sense."
"I wanted to do another take on show and tell, but with a different twist. Can you "show" without describing anything?
Tell:
The girl was bored.
Show:
Sigh. Open book. Read.
Close book. Get up. Go to the computer.
Sit. Check email. Stand.
Nothing new.
Stretch. Yawn. Walk to the kitchen.
Open the fridge. Grab nothing. Back to the couch. "
I really liked what she did with the showing twist so this is what I commented:
"It is so typical of descriptions of boredom to be just that...descriptions. We create a scene by showing what is happening in the typical way "Maddie opened her book and desperately tried to read. Anxious, she walked to the computer and logged on..."but here you paint the same picture without doing that. The short, sharp, choppy, one-to-two-word sentences characterize the speaker as bored because the collection of sentences show how quickly the character moves from one activity to the other, trying to stay busy but failing. I think this is more effective than the typical description because it makes the boredom seem more "real" in a sense."
Friday, January 20, 2012
Junkyard Quotes Entry 4 (Week 1)
"Its like having the Great Wall of China in my pants..."
-my sister on wearing a too bulky pad in her pants while on her period
"I remember your name perfectly but I cant think of your face."
-Oxford professor W. A. Spooner: famous for linguistic flip flops
"I see depression as the plague of the modern era."
-Lewis Judd: former Chief of the National Institute of Mental Health
-my sister on wearing a too bulky pad in her pants while on her period
"I remember your name perfectly but I cant think of your face."
-Oxford professor W. A. Spooner: famous for linguistic flip flops
"I see depression as the plague of the modern era."
-Lewis Judd: former Chief of the National Institute of Mental Health
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Improv/ Imitation Entry 1 (Week 1)
I really cannot stop thinking about this poem that we read during the first week of class...it was "A Martian Sends A Postcard Home." I keep thinking about how creative it was of Craig Raine to take the everyday and make it so unique and I really wanted to take a stab at it myself...so here it goes...I would love to see if someone would guess what they are, but I am gonna tell you anyway...
Legs in motion.
Moving so fast-
so high off the ground
that I wonder why they don't fall backward.
Arms moving
with bars in them-
but the bars have round pieces
attached to the ends.
Some are bigger than others-
size does matter I assume.
The ones that are bigger
make the peoples faces writhe
In what looks like pain-
all bunched up and pout-like.
But they slap hands
and start again.
This short little poem was just me trying to capture what it is like at...THE GYM! I am not sure if it is the best, but its my first crack at defamiliarization.
Legs in motion.
Moving so fast-
so high off the ground
that I wonder why they don't fall backward.
Arms moving
with bars in them-
but the bars have round pieces
attached to the ends.
Some are bigger than others-
size does matter I assume.
The ones that are bigger
make the peoples faces writhe
In what looks like pain-
all bunched up and pout-like.
But they slap hands
and start again.
This short little poem was just me trying to capture what it is like at...THE GYM! I am not sure if it is the best, but its my first crack at defamiliarization.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Free Entry 1 (Week 1)
I feel like there are so many things people nowadays do not pay attention to. Including myself. I hardly ever read the news...much less watch it. If there is something better on, like Criminal Minds, or CSI or even Modern Family, you bet your bippy (as my grandmother loves to say) I am watching that before I watch Amanda Davis on Fox Five or Jovita Moore on WSB-TV...I didn't even know these people. I had to Google them. How sad is that? What is our society coming to? Or at least our generation...who would rather play a video game or watch a funny comedy show...wait! scratch funny...that is the whole adjective thing that Professor Davidson talked about...funny comedy show...as opposed to a depressing comedy show? Let me try again: a whimsical comedy show? an Emmy winning comedy show? whatever...the point is: our generation is slowly killing our brain cells and we all are offenders. I go back to the phrase that Davidson wrote on the board after the quiz on tuesday "You are writers. WRITE!" He even underlined "write" twice!! I laughed to myself because even though I call myself a writer, I have trained myself to not write in situations where is isn't "appropriate." Society, I feel, is flawed in their sense of what is appropriate and what is not. I feel kids think it isn't appropriate for them to be worried about what is happening in society, because they are just kids! It isn't their responsibility to worry about the Occupy Wallstreet, or the SOPA thing that is going on...again I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS! That is actually what prompted me to write this entry. The whole "Wikipedia goes black for a day" and all my friends on Facebook posting articles and statuses about "you need to worry about these bills because it will censor your words!" I feel so out of the loop because I don't pay attention to what is going on in the world these days.
The point of this entry, after all the tangents and all the ranting, was basically to show that, to me, society has always tried to keep kids from worrying about adult things until they have to...but for me, I feel like when we HAVE to start worrying about adult things is when it has become too late and we will never get caught up with all the stuff that is occurring and we will never fully understand. This could be just me. But I worry about society and all the future generations who may just be getting lazier and lazier...we need to start focusing on what is really going on in the world, because, as I have recently come to understand, it is our generation who will have to deal with it all and end up making a change. So that is another one of my goals for myself- FOCUS ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD SO I CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON...because I am not a kid anymore. I have to start becoming more of an adult...just add it to my list of things to do...
The point of this entry, after all the tangents and all the ranting, was basically to show that, to me, society has always tried to keep kids from worrying about adult things until they have to...but for me, I feel like when we HAVE to start worrying about adult things is when it has become too late and we will never get caught up with all the stuff that is occurring and we will never fully understand. This could be just me. But I worry about society and all the future generations who may just be getting lazier and lazier...we need to start focusing on what is really going on in the world, because, as I have recently come to understand, it is our generation who will have to deal with it all and end up making a change. So that is another one of my goals for myself- FOCUS ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD SO I CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON...because I am not a kid anymore. I have to start becoming more of an adult...just add it to my list of things to do...
Response to Classmate's Journal Entry 1 (Week 1)
I read this Entry that Drika posted on her journal today:
"I recently attended a screening of The Help here on campus, and as I watched the reactions of my fellow students I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that we as a society take many things for granted. Simple everyday moments and privileges, such as choosing our professions, sitting where we want on the bus, eating and socializing with whomever we choose, and being protected by the law are often overlooked. That is until an incident comes along, or a movie such as The Help shows us what could have been. Once this happens, for a brief moment in time we are grateful for everything we have, but this truly grateful nature dissipates in a day’s time, and is replaced by an almost oblivious contentment with our current situation. I myself am guilty of this as well. Often I am so caught up with my laptop, iPod, and other technological devices that I fail to remember the struggles of those that allow me to enjoy such privileges. It is my goal for this week to focus on remembering and realization. I intend to focus on remembering the raw determination of the trailblazers of the past, and realizing the efforts of those today that are diligently shaping the future."
I couldn't help but just shake my head because I felt the EXACT same way...so I posted this comment:
"I love this because I feel the exact same way. I saw The Help over the summer with my mother and just cried when I thought about all the things we take for granted and all the relationships with people that we take for granted for that matter. I thought about all the people that I know that just complain complain complain about everything that "isn't fair" about life, and even though I find myself saying the same thing sometimes, I try to catch myself and remember that it is because of people like the women in The Help, or appropriately, Martin Luther King Jr., that we are able to be the society we are today...even though I think they would be shocked of some of the things that we have let happen."
I am so glad that other people have the same thoughts that I do...
"I recently attended a screening of The Help here on campus, and as I watched the reactions of my fellow students I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized that we as a society take many things for granted. Simple everyday moments and privileges, such as choosing our professions, sitting where we want on the bus, eating and socializing with whomever we choose, and being protected by the law are often overlooked. That is until an incident comes along, or a movie such as The Help shows us what could have been. Once this happens, for a brief moment in time we are grateful for everything we have, but this truly grateful nature dissipates in a day’s time, and is replaced by an almost oblivious contentment with our current situation. I myself am guilty of this as well. Often I am so caught up with my laptop, iPod, and other technological devices that I fail to remember the struggles of those that allow me to enjoy such privileges. It is my goal for this week to focus on remembering and realization. I intend to focus on remembering the raw determination of the trailblazers of the past, and realizing the efforts of those today that are diligently shaping the future."
I couldn't help but just shake my head because I felt the EXACT same way...so I posted this comment:
"I love this because I feel the exact same way. I saw The Help over the summer with my mother and just cried when I thought about all the things we take for granted and all the relationships with people that we take for granted for that matter. I thought about all the people that I know that just complain complain complain about everything that "isn't fair" about life, and even though I find myself saying the same thing sometimes, I try to catch myself and remember that it is because of people like the women in The Help, or appropriately, Martin Luther King Jr., that we are able to be the society we are today...even though I think they would be shocked of some of the things that we have let happen."
I am so glad that other people have the same thoughts that I do...
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Junkyard Quotes Entry 3 (Week 1)
"Its not like I'm taking Ibuprofen like Skittles...I take it only when I need it."
--Conversation with my friend Lennox
"If you were going on a long journey, you could do worse than bring Ed McMahon along."
--Tobias Wolff in "Next Door"
"I smell like elephants."
--Another conversation with my friend Lennox
--Conversation with my friend Lennox
"If you were going on a long journey, you could do worse than bring Ed McMahon along."
--Tobias Wolff in "Next Door"
"I smell like elephants."
--Another conversation with my friend Lennox
Monday, January 16, 2012
Junkyard Quotes Entry 2 (Week 1)
"Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again..."
--Linkin Park Breaking The Habit
"To read is to empower,
To empower is to write,
To write is to influence,
To influence is to change,
To change is to live."
--Jane Evershed
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again..."
--Linkin Park Breaking The Habit
"To read is to empower,
To empower is to write,
To write is to influence,
To influence is to change,
To change is to live."
--Jane Evershed
Junkyard Quotes Entry 1 (Week 1)
"...the Devil adjusted
your new spiked antennae
almost delicately, with claws curled
and lacquered black, before he spread
his leather wings to leap
into the acid-green sky."
-- Mary Karr All This and More
The reason I picked this passage from All This and More was because I really like the specific descriptions Karr uses...she has strong imagery that really hits me in the gut with how truly evil and frightening this place is.
"I hear the noise of my own voice:
The painter’s vision is not a lens,
it trembles to caress the light."
--Robert Lowell Epilogue
The reason I picked this quote from Epilogue was because I really like the part in italics...it gives a contradicting comparison to what vision is...vision isn't something that offers clarity, but creates a hindrance.
your new spiked antennae
almost delicately, with claws curled
and lacquered black, before he spread
his leather wings to leap
into the acid-green sky."
-- Mary Karr All This and More
The reason I picked this passage from All This and More was because I really like the specific descriptions Karr uses...she has strong imagery that really hits me in the gut with how truly evil and frightening this place is.
"I hear the noise of my own voice:
The painter’s vision is not a lens,
it trembles to caress the light."
--Robert Lowell Epilogue
The reason I picked this quote from Epilogue was because I really like the part in italics...it gives a contradicting comparison to what vision is...vision isn't something that offers clarity, but creates a hindrance.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Calisthenics Entry 1 (Week 1)
For the first Calisthenics post, I wanted to replay the exercise we did in class on January 12th. We had looked at the poem "Under the Vulture Tree" by David Bottoms, which used the concepts of ladder of specificity, defamiliarization, germanic over latinate, strong imagery, and the fear of adjectives to describe vultures and being around them. So, for the first Calisthenic, we were tasked with describing a maggot like Bottoms describes a vulture.
My List of Descriptors for "THE MAGGOT:" (some of them)
-blind, appear out of nowhere, garbage disposal, white, ugly, nutritious, beginning stage of insects
The maggot islike a disappearing act of the garbage disposal, what goes in never comes out.
The maggot islike a blind newborn puppy following the scent of dying decay.
I took the descriptors and tried to describe what a maggot was like to me...but by trying to defamiliarize and trying to use the ladder of specificity, which is why some words are crossed out...they meant the same thing as the words before it.
My favorite of the descriptions is "the maggot is a newborn puppy following the scent of decay." It relates the maggot to something you wouldn't expect.
My List of Descriptors for "THE MAGGOT:" (some of them)
-blind, appear out of nowhere, garbage disposal, white, ugly, nutritious, beginning stage of insects
The maggot is
The maggot is
I took the descriptors and tried to describe what a maggot was like to me...but by trying to defamiliarize and trying to use the ladder of specificity, which is why some words are crossed out...they meant the same thing as the words before it.
My favorite of the descriptions is "the maggot is a newborn puppy following the scent of decay." It relates the maggot to something you wouldn't expect.
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