Trees By Joyce Kilmer

        The poem I chose for Poetry Out Loud is a simple, but meaningful poem. This poem is sweet without using big words or things an average human being wouldn't understand. The title of my poem is "Trees". There are a few different reasons I chose this poem. The first one being that when I was little we had a HUGE tree at the end of our property that I was always in. I started climbing that thing when I was like 3. The summer before 4th grade I was sitting up in my tree and I found a robin's nest. I didn't know it was a robin's nest untill my dad told me though... Anyway a line from my poem is,"A nest of robins in her hair."
        The other reason I chose my poem was that I have a really cool tree necklace that I used to wear everyday. When I think of this poem I always think of my tree necklace and I really love it. For my presentation I'm going to wear it. I think I will have a very nonchalant tone when I'm performing my poem too. Just enough to keep it simple, but sweet. I really like this poem and think it suits me.
   

Poetry Out Loud

Part One:
1. "Sugar Dada"
2. "Deaf-Mute in the Pear Tree"
3. "Eating Poetry"
4. "Boy and Egg" and "I Felt a Funeral, In My Brain"

Part Two:
My favorite poem was definitely "Eating Poetry". This poem was corky and was exactly what the name described it as. I did not like "Sugar Dada" because it was hard to follow and you didn't really know what the author was talking about. If I had to chose one of these six I would chose "Eating Poetry" without a doubt. I like this poem because it gives you a different perspective on the world. The author does a great job with his use of satire. I connected with this poem because I am an odd person and I like odd things.

Part Three:
I will have the easiest time scoring point with dramatic appropriateness and voice and articulation because I tend to be dramatic and loud. I will have the hardest time with level of difficulty and accuracy. This will be hard for me because I tend to do the least amount of work possible and I like to change lines around.

Part Four:
I watched the video of Jackson Hille performing the poem "Forgetfulness." The great aspects of this performance was his body language and his voice. He was knd of monotone, but it went well with his poem. It was a successful performance because he knew his poem very well and he knew where to dramatize it. The next video I watched was of Kareem Sayegh performing "The Man-Moth". This performance was good because his voice changes pitch to go with his poem. He did some interesting things with body though and should've stood still. He was successful because he knew what parts of his poem to stress.

Part Five:
I think Poetry Out Loud is an interesting experience that will be good for everyone. I know that I will be fine because I love to read aloud, I love poetry, and I have acting experience. I honestly am clueless about what poem I'm going to choose. I guess it will be a surprise for everyone!

"Lobsters" Discussion

         During our class discussion on the poem "Lobsters" by Howard Nemerov some said somehting about human being like lobsters instead of lobsters being like humans. The first time I read this poem I just interpreted it literally untill the last two lines. After reading it a second time I realized that it was about relating humans and lobsters. I thought Howard Nemerov was trying to relate lobsters' fate to humans untill somebody said it was the other way around. After hearing this you can take a whole different perspective on the poem.
       My new perspective on the poem is a much darker one. It makes you think about death and how pointless our lives are. It makes you ponder your place on Earth. In this poem the lobsters couldn't control their fate, they just got chosen to be eaten for dinner. This makes you think that your lucky to be living. Some random explosion could kill you at any moment. For the lobsters it was just the point of a finger to get them killed.

5 Part Paragraph

          I was pretty much clueless when we started theses 5 part paragraphs on how much work they are. I thought well whoop-dee-doo it's a paragraph how hard can it be... it turns out they're pretty hard. The main skill everyone needs to write a fabulous 5 part paragraph is to pick really good concrete details. If you pick okay ones, your whole paper is going to be a disaster and you'll end up proving something you didn't intend for. The next most important element of your paragraph should be your thesis or topic sentence. This draws your reader in and explains what the whole paragraph will be about in one sentence. It's pretty tricky to come up with a good one. Most people put a lot of thought into their thesis, so the whole paper turned out pretty well. Another thing that is really important is embedding your quotes. If you don't do this your paper will seem choppy and hard to follow. Not many  people embedded there quotes very well. I think for me personally this was the hardest thing to do... I still don't think I succeeded.
          There are many things I need to improve on in my 5 part paragraphs. The main thing would definetly be my concrete details. I think I had at least one quote that didn't fit, so that whole section kind of failed. Next time I will defintely pick qoutes that support my point a lot better. As a critique myself I also feel that I could have embedded my qoutes better and had much better transitions. I think most people who read their paragraphs had decent transistions, but they all needed a little tweeking. In the future I think I will be much more prepared for the 5 part paragraph format. I have a long way to go though.

Diction.

  My week

          Howdy! So, let me explain to ya'll how this goes down. Monday starts at the usual time and place, then I get in my rig and drive to school. There ain't much to it. Then I goes through all 'dem classes to learn stuff. After school I head to the Evergreen State College. My carpool driver ain't that good o' driver, 'cus people always be yellin' at her to go faster. She swim swim real fast though. We gots a long practice and swim too darn much. Then on Tuesday I go through the same old thang except after swimmin' I go to piano. My piano teachers real nas, but he gets angry when I don't practice my bestest. Wednesday is always the same as good ol' Monday. Then Thursdays the same as borin' ol' Wednesday. Friday's gonna be pretty nifty 'cus I gots a District swim meet. I hope we'll all do real good.

          My life ain't that excitin' durin' the week. My weeknds can be pretty fun sometimes though. I hang out with all my friends and we do cool stuff. Halloweens gonna be real fun 'cus I live in a real good neighborhood for all dat. Next week ya'll should stop by to see how my week went. See you later alligator!

         

          

Writing about Writing (extra credit)

Writing about Writing

          I love writing about some controversial topic. I can come off as kind of strong to some people, so I will always defend in what I believe in. My favorite writing piece I've ever composed was probably on religion. The piece represented me very well. I made a very strong opinion that I don't think anyone should judge by religion or be judged. This writing piece was not assigne exactly how I worte it. It was just suppose to be something you would strongly support. I worte this because I saw people around me doing exactly the opposite of what I think is right. I know I'm just one person, but I'm sure some people feel the same way. It's not neccesarily some peoples fault, it was just the way they were raised.

          To abruptly change the subject, I love writing poetry. Any deep, dark, and angry poetry is like chocolate for me. I'm a total nerd for poetry. I don't particulalry like reciting poetry, but I enjoy reading it just for myself. When I have a bad day, I go home and spill all of my feelings out onto a piece of paper. Or on most days I guess it's the journal thing on my phone. In my opinion, (which apparently I have a lot of) writing things down is much better than taking it out on a person.

          I enjoy writing and hope that this class only improves my writing style. Well, of course it already has... but even more! If you ever want to talk about poetry, let me know!

Outside Reading: Jane Eyre

     The first impression I got of this book isn't what I excpected. The people that I talk to about this book say it's wonderful... but I'm not buying it. So far it is boring, dreary, and I dispise reading it. If it doesn't inprove in the next few chapters, I don't know what I'm going to do. I wanted some sappy love strory, not some depressing story about an orphan girl.
     The easiest way to describe the plot would be dismal. Jane is an orphan left to live with her Aunt Reed who is very cruel to her. Her cousin hurts her and she is not to speak to any of her female cousins. After an inncident her aunt finally decides to sent her off to a school called Lowood. This is a school for orphan children to get an inexpensive education. At Lowood they don't feed her enough food, and she gets punished for the silliest things. Miss Temple, a kind teacher at Lowood, takes Jane under her wing and helps her figure things out. Over half of the school catches a disease and most die. Jane hasn't gotten sick yet, and I hope she doesn't. If she does the book will get really depressing.
     As ridiculous as this seems I am going to compare this book, Jane Eyre, to Twilight. When you start book one of the infamous vampire saga you excpect an intense romance with Edward and Bella. But really all you get is a lame girl from Arizona whos parents are divorced and she moves to rainy Washington. Twilight takes quite awhile to live up to your expectations and I never think it fully fulfills them. Right now I'm getting the same impression with Jane Eyre.
     At this point I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do for my project. Most likely it won't be very creative. I might contrast the differences of women then and now... but nothings set in stone. Ireally hope this book gets just a tad bit more interesting.

My Boo Radley: Fireworks

          Fireworks

          When I was around the age 3 to 10, I hated fireworks. Hate being I would run and scream when someone set them off. I don't really know why but they always bothered me. I think it was the noise light that scard me. I thought the world was going to end every fourth of July. I think I thought that because the stupid neighbor boy told me that. I was always worried when the fireworks went off that something would catch on fire or that someone would die. They definetly intimated me. Bacically all dogs hate fireworks, so I would curl up with my huge golden retriever and we would cry together every fourth of July.

         Now that I've gotten older I know that fireworks will not kill anyone or me when used with caution. I still hate the noise though. Except for that crackily one! On New Years and Independence Day I find myself sort of enjoying the foreworks. As long as they don't touch me, their harmless. Fireworks and I have a history like Scout and Boo Radley's.

Inroduction to My Blog

Introduction To My Blog

             I think my blog will entertain all readers and give them a different view on the world. My blog can bring happiness to those who read it, and an insight on certain literature. You can always except my random comments on things that are somewhat relavant to the topic. I am an interesting English student. I preffer writeen work so this is a little out of normal.

            English class is more than just a class for reading certain books, or aquiring reading and writing skills. In literature you can learn life lessons too, that should help you in the future. Being successful in English will give me better social skills, and also improve my knowledge.

           I think from following my blog you can learn something (don't hold me to this please) and enjoy commenting on my views of the world.