14 March

A Field to Getting Lost: Abandon
By: Rebecca Solnit

I AM RESPONDING TO VANESSA MARTINEZ'S QUESTION: 4. Explain the significance of the following passage, "The young live absolutely in the present, but a present of drama and recklessness, of acting on urges and running with the pack." (108)

In the book A Field to Getting Lost, Rebecca Solnit tells a story called Abondon. In Abondon, Solnit use the following quote to represent the literary device of synecdoche, "The young live absolutely in the present, but a present of drama and recklessness, of acting on urges and running with the pack" to show the way people live life. For Marine, she followed a crowd that made her a rockstar, but was not worth it at the end. Many teenagers today follow fashion trends, share music, and even share dislikes, just to keep being "cool" or "in." And this is not only in teenagers, this goes for the famous people, too. For instance, many famous artist have shown us how "life" should be lived, and later, end up in complete disaster. Many of these artist end up in jail or even worse, dead like Marine. Thoughout the this story, Solnit shows thats Marine is just another person trying to live life to the fullest (by following or being like others) but in order to live this way, there will be consequences for the actions committed.

12 March

due before 5pm

A Field Guide to Getting Lost: Abandon
By:Rebecca Solnit

 1. How was Marine's life describe as in the beginning of the story?

 2. Marine said she was going to change her way of living (stop using drugs/ drinking alcohol) because she found love, but she died. Why is this ironic?

 3. Marine defins the quote "What is a ruin, after all?" What is the meaning of this and imagery behind it? (p88)

 4. Why does Marine say her (film making) dream was a methaphor? (p92)

 5. On page 95, what was the significance of Marine's dream?

 6. From a feminist point of view, analyze Marine.

 7. Explain the following line: "Like ruins, the social can become a wilderness in which the soul too becomes wild, seeking beyond itself, beyond its imagination." (p90)

 8. On page 96, what does Marine and Solnit mean by "Beauty is often spoken..."

 9. Analyze the type of relationship the older musician and "Little Marine" had?

10. How does Solnit use the Grotesque?

12 March 2012

Dare To Love
by: Eliana Osborn

http://www.literarymama.com/creativenonfiction/archives/2011/10/dare-to-love.html

I decided to choose this short story, "Dare To Love" for my Anthology. This story symbolizes a new born baby with a mental/ chronic/ skin disease which causes a mother suffers from seeing her child suffering and struggling in life. The reason why I chose "Dare To Love" is because I value life and I love children that have special needs; I feel sad for the moms that have to go through this, and I actually cried as i read it. I had an experience like this in my family and it is a horrible feeling to find out but at the end this children are children of God (angels ).

09 March

Full Moon

 I finished watching the last couple of minutes of a series called "Prison Break, on Neflix, I remembered that my English professor gave his students a special assignment. As I walk towards my boyfriend and kiss him goodbye, I walk out the door and noticed that it was dark. I looked up and there was a full moon. I continued to walk down the side walk, and jump inside my car. As I turn on my car, the moon whispers and says, "Let me lead you." I looked up and drove away on the street. I noticed a light shinning over me. I drove straight ahead. Soon I made a stop, made a right turn; I looked both ways, and made a second right turn on a stop light. I continued to drive forward, and felt the moon walking in behind of me. The shadows behind me was like a shield. I was driving like I was flying on a beautiful pile of clouds. I drove, and drove, and get on the lonely freeway that was illuminated by the moon. I then noticed that the moon was beside me. The moon winks and says, "I'll take care of you." I always said friends are the ones who are by ones side. I cried; I wiped my tears and smiled at the happy moon. I switched to the right lane and drove onto another freeway. The shiny moon is now in front of me. I drive, then exit, I stop, and make a left turn. Now, I am driving down the street, pass four stop lights, and finally, I make one last right turn. I park, look up, and the moon puts a spotlight over me and whispers again, "Welcome to your Home Sweet Home." I smiled and said, "Thank you!" Today, I realized that the shiny moon was there to illuminate my path way, every step I took there was the moon watching me, to insure that no accident would occur, and I got home safe.

29 February

A Winter Walk


Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Shitznoodle who enjoyed exploring. She always dreamed of a beautiful place that will make her happy. She was three feet tall and skinny as a stick. She was wearing warm clothing and a cute brown pair of Uggs. She stood in front of an amazing forest that had thin, tall tress that were covered with soft snow. As she walked further and further down snowy forest, she noticed everything began to melt. Instead of falling snowflakes, there was falling sunshine. She looked around and saw flowers of different colors, butterflies, and a rainbow. She even saw a pink unicorn pass by. As she looked up, the sun smiled, and she smiled back. There she discovered a whole new world that made her stay and never return back home.

08 February

I've been looking for the perfect song and poem. I was listening to Nichole Nordeman's and Amy Grant's song, and I would classify their song "I'm With You" as a poem. Here are the lyrics:

1) Love is a hurricane in a blue sky.

    I didn't see it coming never knew why.

   All the laughter and the dreams

   All the memories in between

   Washed away in a steady stream.

2) Love is a hunger; a famine in your soul.

    I thought I planted beauty but it would never grow.

   Now i'm on my hands and knees

   Trying to gather up my dreams

   Trying to hold on to anything.

3) We could shake our fists

     In times like this,

    When we don't understand

    Or we could just hold hands.

[Chorus]

You and me; me and you.

Where you go I'll go too.

I'm with you. I'm with you.

'Til your heart finds a home,

I won't let you feel alone.

I'm with you. I'm with you, with you.

4) You do your best to build a higher wall.

    To keep love safe from every wrecking ball.

    When the dust is cleared, we will

    See the house that love rebuilt;

    Guarding beauty that lives here still.

  

[Chorus]

It's you and me; me and you...

5) Who can say I'm left with nothing?

    When I have all of you. All of you. Yeah.

     In the way you've always loved me.

     I remember he does too.

[Chorus]

It's you and me; me and you... 2x

"I'm With You" has rhyme, and what makes this song a poem is the symbol ("To keep love safe from every wrecking ball."), the allegory ("Love is a hunger; a famine in your soul."), and the metaphor ("Love is a hurricane in a blue sky."). Therefore, I believe "I'm With You" by Nichole Nordeman and Amy Grant is a fabulous song and poem.

06 February

Title: The First Marriage by Peter Meinke (Wedding)
Why?: I chose this poem because it reminds me of my parents. They are the perfect couple in my eyes. I feel that they set an example of a beautiful marriage for my family members and myself. They have an amazing story behind their love. They have been married for forty-two years, and their love is still growing. They had ten children including myself. Although they go through their tough times, they still manage to be calm and find a way to solve their problems. I have to say I love my parents! 

03 February

1. Methaphor: A dog is a vicious, ugly monster.
2. Rhinoceros or Berenger: I have been a rhinoceros when I am angry at someone or when something goes wrong. I have been a rhinoceros when I cry; crying is a way of releasing all of my feelings.

27 January

Memoir

God brings kidness to my life .

Rough Draft of Question 12

19 January

12. In “Rapunzel,” Sexton uses anaphora in lines 39-46 with the phases “We are.”  Explain the significance of these lines.  In lines 39-50 use the pronoun “we”; lines 51-60 switch to the pronoun “they.”  Why is this change significant?  Why does Sexton choose to retell this tale?

When Sexton uses "We are," she is referring to herself and Rapunzel. Sexton describes herself and Rapunzel as two clouds, two birds, fair game, strong, and the two good ones. This change is significant because Sexton compares herself to Rapunzel in some part of the story, then shifts to talking about the characters (witch/ mom and Rapunzel/ daughter) in the story. Sexton chose to retell this story because she felt like she had a connection and similarity with Rapunzel. Rapunzel was stuck in a room and all she did was read books, be creative, use her imagination, and use her knowledge to entertain herself (and keep herself motivated that one day she will live that room); Sexton had a similar story. She was living in New York and she used her creativity, knowledge to keep herself motivated and entertained. 

20 January

RAPUNZEL

There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world. One day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion (rapunzel), and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, she quite pined away, and began to look pale and miserable. Then her husband was alarmed, and asked: 'What ails you, dear wife?' 'Ah,' she replied, 'if I can't eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die.' The man, who loved her, thought: 'Sooner than let your wife die, bring her some of the rampion yourself, let it cost what it will.' At twilight, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it, and ate it greedily. It tasted so good to her—so very good, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening therefore, he let himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him. 'How can you dare,' said she with angry look, 'descend into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief? You shall suffer for it!' 'Ah,' answered he, 'let mercy take the place of justice, I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rampion from the window, and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat.' Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him: 'If the case be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rampion as you will, only I make one condition, you must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother.' The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried:

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
  Let down your hair to me.'

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

After a year or two, it came to pass that the king's son rode through the forest and passed by the tower. Then he heard a song, which was so charming that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. The king's son wanted to climb up to her, and looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found. He rode home, but the singing had so deeply touched his heart, that every day he went out into the forest and listened to it. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw that an enchantress came there, and he heard how she cried:

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
  Let down your hair to me.'

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her. 'If that is the ladder by which one mounts, I too will try my fortune,' said he, and the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried:

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
  Let down your hair to me.'

Immediately the hair fell down and the king's son climbed up.

At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her; but the king's son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought: 'He will love me more than old Dame Gothel does'; and she said yes, and laid her hand in his. She said: 'I will willingly go away with you, but I do not know how to get down. Bring with you a skein of silk every time that you come, and I will weave a ladder with it, and when that is ready I will descend, and you will take me on your horse.' They agreed that until that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day. The enchantress remarked nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her: 'Tell me, Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the young king's son—he is with me in a moment.' 'Ah! you wicked child,' cried the enchantress. 'What do I hear you say! I thought I had separated you from all the world, and yet you have deceived me!' In her anger she clutched Rapunzel's beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground. And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.

On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, however, the enchantress fastened the braids of hair, which she had cut off, to the hook of the window, and when the king's son came and cried:

'Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
  Let down your hair to me.'

she let the hair down. The king's son ascended, but instead of finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks. 'Aha!' she cried mockingly, 'you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will never see her again.' The king's son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did naught but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.

I believe that Sexton chose this tale because it helps us notice how Repunzel dedicated her time to her knowledge. This is a good example set for everyone to pursue a higher education. 

13 January

"Auguries of Innocence"
by William Blake

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

1. William Blake is trying say the different ways people live their lives. For instance, he says that some people are born in a struggling and difficult life, meanwhile others are born in a happy, peaceful, good life. This may be defined as the way people live economically or the way you behave/ treat others. This shows that people are different.

2. Blake uses allegory, and symbol in this stanza. Allegory gives two different meanings for one meaning, and also symbolizes. Misery and sweet delight are used to symbolize life.