Teddy Purnell
12/18/08
Mr.Salsich
Room 2
Regrets
The Bad, The Wicked, and The Ugly
I have many regrets, of which I am deeply ashamed. Many of my regrets are little things, and their being small makes me regret having them, which creates more regrets, and here starts the never-ending list of regrets. There are two regrets, one of them recent, that are the most malicious. Although regrets can be painful, they can also be helpful, teaching you to prevent them from repeating themselves in the future.
One regret I have happened not too long ago, on Sunday, December 14. I got into a fight with my mom. I was grumpy, and being grumpy, I got into a fight with my brother, and when my mom came upstairs, I refused to listen to her, and got my Nintendo® DS Taken away from me. My anger, coursing through my veins, made me more defiant and my mom said something offensive about my dad, making me yell at her and lumber down the stairs. I will try not to get into fights with my brothers anymore. To help
me do this, I will need their help because sometimes I don’t think before I act, and instead I act before I think. Also, they should know by now that they can’t win a fight against me in their wildest dreams; I should know not to give in, but oh well, that’s brothers for you. I hope to prevent something like this from happening in the future, and I will try to make this hope a reality.
Another regret I have has been haunting me for most of my life. Not bonding with my classmates enough is a major regret of mine. In preschool, this was never a problem. As I got older, however, I became more and more secluded. To correct this regret, I will play with my classmates more often, get to know them better, and keep in touch with them after we all depart for our new high schools. Doing this may not make up for past years, but it will help me forgive myself for not doing this before. In my next school, I want to do this from the start. I hope to get very close to my classmates by the end of the year.
In the future, I want to train myself to regret little, or to have little regrets. Although it will be difficult I don’t want to regret anything in future years. I want to abolish my regrets and fears. Regretting less will make my life better in the long run.
SELF ASSESSMENT
I like how I wrote about my regret, then wrote how I would prevent it from happening in the future.
Trying to figure out what words to use was the hardest part of writing this essay for me, because I was thinking of one word, but couldn’t remember what the word was.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Ty's essay reposted because of internet failiure
Ty LeVarge
Mr. H. Salsich
English 02
December 15 2008
Why Should Past Actions Be Hated?
An Essay on My Regrets
I don’t want to regret things, but it’s hard not to because of their importance. I try to move on from the wrong things I’ve done in my life and forget about them. Regrets help to remind us of the things we have done wrong so that we do not repeat them again. If you regret past actions, then past actions will regret you.
TS I have a regret that took place here at Pine Point School that hangs on me for my last remaining time here. SD That I did not bond with my classmates immediately when I first arrived here in fifth grade. CM If I had, happily and joyfully, walked into the classroom and started meeting people, I would be very well bonded with the friends I have now. CM However, now it is the end of my time here at Pine Point and I’m just now getting to know people well now. SD The best I can do for now is to make the most of the time we all have together. CM I need to talk every moment I have and to laugh every moment I can so that this precious time we have left is not forgotten. CM I want to become known not only to the friends I have in ninth grade but beyond my grade, to become known to all and to be familiar to all. CS I will have to be the best me to do this.
TS I have another regret that means a lot and I still bear with me over these gangling years. SD It is that I have not spent enough time with, my “secondary family”. CM My secondary family is my classmates, whom I have spent countless years talking, laughing, and crying with. CM Everyone accepts me and appreciates who I am and who I’ve become. SD In the few months we have left to be as one, I want to be part of that whole and to share with the other parts of the whole. CM I should laugh every time someone else laughs and party when others party because we may never get a chance to do this again as one. CM I need to be as outgoing and obnoxious as my other friends do so that I’m remembered as one of the class and not someone who was totally adverse than others. CS I have spent five years with the people I know now and I hope I will spend forever with them.
I have had the two regrets as my most important regrets because they have shaped me. Most other regrets are small and meaningless like the time I lost in a game of battleship to my Mom because of one wrong move. These I can think about and forget but the important regrets I can never get rid of and will haunt me for a long time. So during these last months I’m going to be the best me I can be!
IDEA MAP
Intro:
The important regrets
1st body paragraph:
Not bonding with others at Pine Point
Make the most of time left
2nd body paragraph:
Not spending enough time with my friends
Spend lots of time with them during last months
Conclusion:
be the best me i can be
Mr. H. Salsich
English 02
December 15 2008
Why Should Past Actions Be Hated?
An Essay on My Regrets
I don’t want to regret things, but it’s hard not to because of their importance. I try to move on from the wrong things I’ve done in my life and forget about them. Regrets help to remind us of the things we have done wrong so that we do not repeat them again. If you regret past actions, then past actions will regret you.
TS I have a regret that took place here at Pine Point School that hangs on me for my last remaining time here. SD That I did not bond with my classmates immediately when I first arrived here in fifth grade. CM If I had, happily and joyfully, walked into the classroom and started meeting people, I would be very well bonded with the friends I have now. CM However, now it is the end of my time here at Pine Point and I’m just now getting to know people well now. SD The best I can do for now is to make the most of the time we all have together. CM I need to talk every moment I have and to laugh every moment I can so that this precious time we have left is not forgotten. CM I want to become known not only to the friends I have in ninth grade but beyond my grade, to become known to all and to be familiar to all. CS I will have to be the best me to do this.
TS I have another regret that means a lot and I still bear with me over these gangling years. SD It is that I have not spent enough time with, my “secondary family”. CM My secondary family is my classmates, whom I have spent countless years talking, laughing, and crying with. CM Everyone accepts me and appreciates who I am and who I’ve become. SD In the few months we have left to be as one, I want to be part of that whole and to share with the other parts of the whole. CM I should laugh every time someone else laughs and party when others party because we may never get a chance to do this again as one. CM I need to be as outgoing and obnoxious as my other friends do so that I’m remembered as one of the class and not someone who was totally adverse than others. CS I have spent five years with the people I know now and I hope I will spend forever with them.
I have had the two regrets as my most important regrets because they have shaped me. Most other regrets are small and meaningless like the time I lost in a game of battleship to my Mom because of one wrong move. These I can think about and forget but the important regrets I can never get rid of and will haunt me for a long time. So during these last months I’m going to be the best me I can be!
IDEA MAP
Intro:
The important regrets
1st body paragraph:
Not bonding with others at Pine Point
Make the most of time left
2nd body paragraph:
Not spending enough time with my friends
Spend lots of time with them during last months
Conclusion:
be the best me i can be
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tristan's Essay!
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
English 02
15 December 2008
I have had, being a 9th grade student, and will have many temptations. As I have been told countless times, one of the most important steps to avoiding bad decisions, is to find alternative methods of enjoyment, a natural high. I have also been told not to find the natural high, but let the natural high find me. This summer I rediscovered rock climbing. Or rather rock climbing rediscovered me. I say “rediscover” because in years previous, I had visited the local rock gym about once a month. Once I rediscovered rock climbing, I realized it was very important to me in different ways.
Rock climbing makes me happy, and I love doing it. One thing about rock climbing that I truly enjoy is the feeling it gives me. When I am hanging off of a rock face, looking down at the ground and I feel the breeze on my face, I feel like I am on top of the world. Rock climbing is so important to me, I have done my very best to pursue it during my free time. Since rock climbing isn’t that popular of an activity in Stonington, I have gone to great lengths to attain my natural high. I have traveled an hour and a half to go to a rock gym, and pinpointed all gyms in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and visited as many as I could. In addition, I started a rock climbing club at school based around a small bouldering (climbing without a harness) wall. As a busy teenager, I always need something to help me unwind, and with rock climbing, the tension in my life is reduced.
Rock climbing is important to me in so many different ways, on so many different levels. As I mentioned before, Rock climbing is my natural high. Climbing provides an alternative for me. It is much more easy to avoid temptations when I have something else to go to instead. Rock climbing is sometimes my escape as well. I will get so wrapped up in the day, that when I climb, I just seem to let go of everything else temporarily, and hold on to the wall. Many other things give me these feelings, but I think that rock climbing probably is the most prominent of them all, the one that I am the best at, and the one that brings me the most joy.
This simple activity of vertically ascending rocks has shaped my life, and is one of my favorite activities. I may not do it every day, and I may not be the best in the world, but every second I am climbing, that is how I feel. So when the temptations come my way, I’m ready with my answer. “No, thank you” I’ll say, “ I get high by climbing.”
Mr. Salsich
English 02
15 December 2008
I have had, being a 9th grade student, and will have many temptations. As I have been told countless times, one of the most important steps to avoiding bad decisions, is to find alternative methods of enjoyment, a natural high. I have also been told not to find the natural high, but let the natural high find me. This summer I rediscovered rock climbing. Or rather rock climbing rediscovered me. I say “rediscover” because in years previous, I had visited the local rock gym about once a month. Once I rediscovered rock climbing, I realized it was very important to me in different ways.
Rock climbing makes me happy, and I love doing it. One thing about rock climbing that I truly enjoy is the feeling it gives me. When I am hanging off of a rock face, looking down at the ground and I feel the breeze on my face, I feel like I am on top of the world. Rock climbing is so important to me, I have done my very best to pursue it during my free time. Since rock climbing isn’t that popular of an activity in Stonington, I have gone to great lengths to attain my natural high. I have traveled an hour and a half to go to a rock gym, and pinpointed all gyms in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and visited as many as I could. In addition, I started a rock climbing club at school based around a small bouldering (climbing without a harness) wall. As a busy teenager, I always need something to help me unwind, and with rock climbing, the tension in my life is reduced.
Rock climbing is important to me in so many different ways, on so many different levels. As I mentioned before, Rock climbing is my natural high. Climbing provides an alternative for me. It is much more easy to avoid temptations when I have something else to go to instead. Rock climbing is sometimes my escape as well. I will get so wrapped up in the day, that when I climb, I just seem to let go of everything else temporarily, and hold on to the wall. Many other things give me these feelings, but I think that rock climbing probably is the most prominent of them all, the one that I am the best at, and the one that brings me the most joy.
This simple activity of vertically ascending rocks has shaped my life, and is one of my favorite activities. I may not do it every day, and I may not be the best in the world, but every second I am climbing, that is how I feel. So when the temptations come my way, I’m ready with my answer. “No, thank you” I’ll say, “ I get high by climbing.”
Tristans Graphic Organizer
1st Paragraph
--> Temptations
-->Natural high
-->Recent development
Body paragraph1
-->Feeling
-->Top of the world
-->imagery
-->Determination relation (importance)
-->The lengths I have gone to (club?)
-->Put before things
Body Paragraph 2
-->Natural High
-->Escape
Conclusion
-->Temptations reference
-->What rock climbing means to me
-->Natural high
--> Temptations
-->Natural high
-->Recent development
Body paragraph1
-->Feeling
-->Top of the world
-->imagery
-->Determination relation (importance)
-->The lengths I have gone to (club?)
-->Put before things
Body Paragraph 2
-->Natural High
-->Escape
Conclusion
-->Temptations reference
-->What rock climbing means to me
-->Natural high
Friday, December 12, 2008
Kyle's Essay
Opening Paragraph
· “There’s only us. There’s only this. Forget regrets or life is yours to miss. No other hope. No other way. No day[,] but today!”-Jonathon Larson
· Regrets are meant to be learned from
· Resolutions are made from learning from regrets
· Resolutions are made from learning from regrets, but regrets are made from not following resolutions
1st Body Paragraph
· Regret many things, but don’t think we should dwell on our regrets
· Always regret talking back to my parents
· Can’t change what has already happened
· Can only change what I will do to prevent it from going further
· Don’t like to dwell on regrets
· Just makes me more depressed
· Can’t change them anyway
2nd Body Paragraph
· Would like to work on core value of integrity
· Integrity-firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values
· Means you need to follow what’s right
· Need to follow your own interpretation of what’s right
· Want to be able to live life right by the way I see it
· Want to follow my own morals and values
· Everyone has different morals and values so no one should live life the same as someone else
· Will feel better about myself
· Will feel that I am a better person by following what I believe in
· Will have a sense of self
· Everyone should live life with their own kind of integrity
Closing Paragraph
· “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important that any one thing.”-Abraham Lincoln
· We use what we learned from our regrets to deal with future mistakes
· Resolutions are the courses of action we decide upon should we encounter the same mistake
· I’ve had many regrets throughout life and have learned from them all
· Made it my resolution to live my life with integrity
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
Englich 02
13 December 2008
No one gets out alive anyway;
An essay on why we can't afford to dwell on regrets.
TS: “There’s only us. There’s only this. Forget regrets or life is yours to miss. No other hope. No other way. No day[,] but today!”(Jonathon Larson.) SD: Resolutions are made from learning from regrets, but regrets are made from not following resolutions. CM: Whenever you have regrets they aren’t meant for you to fret about, they’re things to learn from. CM: Once you learn from your regrets you make resolutions so that you won’t have to regret the same thing twice.
TS: Everyone has regrets, but I don’t think we should dwell on our regrets. SD: For example I greatly regret arguing with my parents the amount I do. CM: I can’t change what has happened and I regret that, but I don’t dwell on my mistakes. CM: I simply try and avoid them in the future. SD: I don’t like to dwell on my regrets. CM: If I think about my mistakes I simply get more depressed about them and beat myself up about what I could have done differently. CM: But since you can’t change the past, why bother worrying about it right?
TS: One of my major resolutions is to live life with integrity. SD: The dictionary definition of integrity is “Firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.” CM: This means that you should live life the right way without people having to remind you to do so. CM: You need to live your life according to what you think is right regardless what everyone else may think. SD: I want to live my life the way I want to doing things that I think are right. CM: My definition of integrity, built as a foundation that holds up my morals and values, is to live your life by what you think is right for you and for others. CM: Since everyone has different morals and values no one should be living the same life as someone else, their life should be inimitable. SD: If I follow a lifestyle of integrity than I will also feel better about myself. CM: I’ll feel like I am a better person following what I believe in. CM: I will also have a sense of self, I will feel content and know that I’m not being superficial, I will be me. CS: I think everyone should live life by their own definition of integrity.
TS: “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important that any one thing.” (Abraham Lincoln.) SD: We use what we learned from our regrets to deal with future mistakes. CM: We know that resolutions are the courses of action we decide upon should we encounter the same mistake. CM: I have had many regrets throughout my life and I have learned from them all.
Self Assessment
· “There’s only us. There’s only this. Forget regrets or life is yours to miss. No other hope. No other way. No day[,] but today!”-Jonathon Larson
· Regrets are meant to be learned from
· Resolutions are made from learning from regrets
· Resolutions are made from learning from regrets, but regrets are made from not following resolutions
1st Body Paragraph
· Regret many things, but don’t think we should dwell on our regrets
· Always regret talking back to my parents
· Can’t change what has already happened
· Can only change what I will do to prevent it from going further
· Don’t like to dwell on regrets
· Just makes me more depressed
· Can’t change them anyway
2nd Body Paragraph
· Would like to work on core value of integrity
· Integrity-firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values
· Means you need to follow what’s right
· Need to follow your own interpretation of what’s right
· Want to be able to live life right by the way I see it
· Want to follow my own morals and values
· Everyone has different morals and values so no one should live life the same as someone else
· Will feel better about myself
· Will feel that I am a better person by following what I believe in
· Will have a sense of self
· Everyone should live life with their own kind of integrity
Closing Paragraph
· “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important that any one thing.”-Abraham Lincoln
· We use what we learned from our regrets to deal with future mistakes
· Resolutions are the courses of action we decide upon should we encounter the same mistake
· I’ve had many regrets throughout life and have learned from them all
· Made it my resolution to live my life with integrity
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
Englich 02
13 December 2008
No one gets out alive anyway;
An essay on why we can't afford to dwell on regrets.
TS: “There’s only us. There’s only this. Forget regrets or life is yours to miss. No other hope. No other way. No day[,] but today!”(Jonathon Larson.) SD: Resolutions are made from learning from regrets, but regrets are made from not following resolutions. CM: Whenever you have regrets they aren’t meant for you to fret about, they’re things to learn from. CM: Once you learn from your regrets you make resolutions so that you won’t have to regret the same thing twice.
TS: Everyone has regrets, but I don’t think we should dwell on our regrets. SD: For example I greatly regret arguing with my parents the amount I do. CM: I can’t change what has happened and I regret that, but I don’t dwell on my mistakes. CM: I simply try and avoid them in the future. SD: I don’t like to dwell on my regrets. CM: If I think about my mistakes I simply get more depressed about them and beat myself up about what I could have done differently. CM: But since you can’t change the past, why bother worrying about it right?
TS: One of my major resolutions is to live life with integrity. SD: The dictionary definition of integrity is “Firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.” CM: This means that you should live life the right way without people having to remind you to do so. CM: You need to live your life according to what you think is right regardless what everyone else may think. SD: I want to live my life the way I want to doing things that I think are right. CM: My definition of integrity, built as a foundation that holds up my morals and values, is to live your life by what you think is right for you and for others. CM: Since everyone has different morals and values no one should be living the same life as someone else, their life should be inimitable. SD: If I follow a lifestyle of integrity than I will also feel better about myself. CM: I’ll feel like I am a better person following what I believe in. CM: I will also have a sense of self, I will feel content and know that I’m not being superficial, I will be me. CS: I think everyone should live life by their own definition of integrity.
TS: “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important that any one thing.” (Abraham Lincoln.) SD: We use what we learned from our regrets to deal with future mistakes. CM: We know that resolutions are the courses of action we decide upon should we encounter the same mistake. CM: I have had many regrets throughout my life and I have learned from them all.
Self Assessment
1.) What I like best about my essay is that I think that I was very honest with my feelings about being a better person.
2.) I think that the hardest part about this assignment was putting in a S-V split participle phrase that hopefully helped the writing.
Key
Purple=chiasmus
green=fast words
red=S-V split participle phrase
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Tristan's In-Class Essay!
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
English 2
4 December, 2008
“The Chain Gang:
An Essay on a Quote From “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
“If you were to die now, what would you regret about your life?” Brad Pitt says this as he and Edward Norton are speeding down the highway towards an oncoming tractor trailer in the movie “Fight Club” All the men in the back seat have an answer “Paint a self-portrait.” “Build a house.” The man in the front seat can’t decide. The truck gets dangerously close. Everyone has regrets about their life, and even if we aren’t faced with impending dooms enforced by Brad Pitt, we will all eventually recognize these regrets, and try to come to terms with them and live our lives. In “A Christmas Carol”, Marley doesn’t recognize how much he has missed in life when he, like all of us should live our lives.
TS: In “A Christmas Carol” Marley wears a chain that is supposed to show his incomplete life, we all wear some sort of chain, and we need to break that chain by living our lives. SD: Marley’s chain is “made of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses” signifying that he has bound himself by the limits of his business, everyone today has this chain in some form. CM: These chains can be broken by letting go, by hitting bottom, by acknowledging that at some point you don’t own your possessions, your possessions can own you. SD: Incompletion is a simple word used to signify that we haven’t done something until it is finished, until it is complete; Marly’s life had much incompletion, yes he had survived, but he hadn’t lived. CM: Some simple incompletion can build chains, but the importance of the incompletion in relation to the building in the life-binding chain has nothing to do with one’s peers, but with how they feel about the incompletion. CM: If I were to stop this essay here, and walk away to go do something else I would not have a heavier chain because Mr. Salsich would give me an F, but because I would deserve an F, if Charles Babbage had quit figuring out the Vigenere Cipher, he wouldn’t be incomplete because of other’s opinions, but because ha had wasted forty years doing it. SD: In “A Christmas Carol” Marley was obsessed with his worldly goods, and with sitting in his office, festering within the wall of worthless money he had built, bound by that chain of business that proved nothing except for that he hadn’t lived. CM: We all need to let go of our possessions, to know that they were unimportant to the business of mankind. CM: Scrooge had to come to terms with this to achieve both freedom from material, but also a charitable demeanor. SD: Some, like Scrooge and Marley, would think the practice of letting go pointless, but the fact remains that in retrospect, material possessions are the things that don’t matter. CM: The relationships that we share with our fellow human beings should be valued before anything else, and the first step towards this is putting people before things. CM: If people in general start living through their possessions, mankind would be nothing but a bunch of vegetables obsessed with how much money they have. CS: Scrooge and Marley were both surrounded by materials, incomplete events, and the chain that we all wear, but that can be easily avoided if one just lives their life.
Living one’s life endears all of the thinking of Christmas, and rather than focusing on how people enjoy other’s company, Scrooge chooses to focus on how one loses money on Christmas. If I were faced with an oncoming Truck, who knows what I would say, but after writing this, I am going to think long and hard about it. Marley faced Scrooge with a tractor trailer, and now Scrooge must give him an answer. By the end of this story, I hope that Scrooge will “Walk abroad his fellowmen, and travel far and wide.”
Mr. Salsich
English 2
4 December, 2008
“The Chain Gang:
An Essay on a Quote From “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
“If you were to die now, what would you regret about your life?” Brad Pitt says this as he and Edward Norton are speeding down the highway towards an oncoming tractor trailer in the movie “Fight Club” All the men in the back seat have an answer “Paint a self-portrait.” “Build a house.” The man in the front seat can’t decide. The truck gets dangerously close. Everyone has regrets about their life, and even if we aren’t faced with impending dooms enforced by Brad Pitt, we will all eventually recognize these regrets, and try to come to terms with them and live our lives. In “A Christmas Carol”, Marley doesn’t recognize how much he has missed in life when he, like all of us should live our lives.
TS: In “A Christmas Carol” Marley wears a chain that is supposed to show his incomplete life, we all wear some sort of chain, and we need to break that chain by living our lives. SD: Marley’s chain is “made of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses” signifying that he has bound himself by the limits of his business, everyone today has this chain in some form. CM: These chains can be broken by letting go, by hitting bottom, by acknowledging that at some point you don’t own your possessions, your possessions can own you. SD: Incompletion is a simple word used to signify that we haven’t done something until it is finished, until it is complete; Marly’s life had much incompletion, yes he had survived, but he hadn’t lived. CM: Some simple incompletion can build chains, but the importance of the incompletion in relation to the building in the life-binding chain has nothing to do with one’s peers, but with how they feel about the incompletion. CM: If I were to stop this essay here, and walk away to go do something else I would not have a heavier chain because Mr. Salsich would give me an F, but because I would deserve an F, if Charles Babbage had quit figuring out the Vigenere Cipher, he wouldn’t be incomplete because of other’s opinions, but because ha had wasted forty years doing it. SD: In “A Christmas Carol” Marley was obsessed with his worldly goods, and with sitting in his office, festering within the wall of worthless money he had built, bound by that chain of business that proved nothing except for that he hadn’t lived. CM: We all need to let go of our possessions, to know that they were unimportant to the business of mankind. CM: Scrooge had to come to terms with this to achieve both freedom from material, but also a charitable demeanor. SD: Some, like Scrooge and Marley, would think the practice of letting go pointless, but the fact remains that in retrospect, material possessions are the things that don’t matter. CM: The relationships that we share with our fellow human beings should be valued before anything else, and the first step towards this is putting people before things. CM: If people in general start living through their possessions, mankind would be nothing but a bunch of vegetables obsessed with how much money they have. CS: Scrooge and Marley were both surrounded by materials, incomplete events, and the chain that we all wear, but that can be easily avoided if one just lives their life.
Living one’s life endears all of the thinking of Christmas, and rather than focusing on how people enjoy other’s company, Scrooge chooses to focus on how one loses money on Christmas. If I were faced with an oncoming Truck, who knows what I would say, but after writing this, I am going to think long and hard about it. Marley faced Scrooge with a tractor trailer, and now Scrooge must give him an answer. By the end of this story, I hope that Scrooge will “Walk abroad his fellowmen, and travel far and wide.”
Ty's CHristmas Carol essay
Ty LeVarge
English 02
Mr. Salsich
December 04 2008
The path of a greedy spirit
An essay on a quote
From A Christmas Carol
By Ty LeVarge
Someone greedy walks the path of punishment as punishment walks the path of the greedy. Marley was forced to wander the earth following his fellowmen for eternity as punishment for his selfishness in life. He also made a chain of what he “Forged in life” and wore it on his free will to remind himself of the greed he had in his life. Marley was as greedy as Scrooge and for that he deserved the punishment he received.
TS Marley lived wealthy but paid the price as a spirit and was made to follow his fellowmen for eternity. SD Marley made a chain of his life and on it was all of what he had made in life and used it to keep as a reminder of his past life. CM His chain was of greed and money and that was all he had in life and cared for nothing else. CM He made the chain to remind him of his greed, his wealth, his selfishness, and his self attitude. SD He was also made to walk the earth forever and to follow his fellowmen because of his past actions. CM He was to walk with shame as shame walks him. CM He paid a hansom price for his past greed and it weighs him heavily for now he must wander for the rest of eternity. CS Marley could have saved himself from his suffering but kept being greedy and paid a dreadful price for it.
Markley was to wander as a spirit forever for not going out and sharing with the world. A simple action such as giving some money for a charity would make a difference in the lives of others. If Scrooge turns his attitude and greed around, he may be saved from the hardships that Marley endured. Marley needed to go and help others to be saved from his now eternal suffering that he must do for the rest of eternity.
English 02
Mr. Salsich
December 04 2008
The path of a greedy spirit
An essay on a quote
From A Christmas Carol
By Ty LeVarge
Someone greedy walks the path of punishment as punishment walks the path of the greedy. Marley was forced to wander the earth following his fellowmen for eternity as punishment for his selfishness in life. He also made a chain of what he “Forged in life” and wore it on his free will to remind himself of the greed he had in his life. Marley was as greedy as Scrooge and for that he deserved the punishment he received.
TS Marley lived wealthy but paid the price as a spirit and was made to follow his fellowmen for eternity. SD Marley made a chain of his life and on it was all of what he had made in life and used it to keep as a reminder of his past life. CM His chain was of greed and money and that was all he had in life and cared for nothing else. CM He made the chain to remind him of his greed, his wealth, his selfishness, and his self attitude. SD He was also made to walk the earth forever and to follow his fellowmen because of his past actions. CM He was to walk with shame as shame walks him. CM He paid a hansom price for his past greed and it weighs him heavily for now he must wander for the rest of eternity. CS Marley could have saved himself from his suffering but kept being greedy and paid a dreadful price for it.
Markley was to wander as a spirit forever for not going out and sharing with the world. A simple action such as giving some money for a charity would make a difference in the lives of others. If Scrooge turns his attitude and greed around, he may be saved from the hardships that Marley endured. Marley needed to go and help others to be saved from his now eternal suffering that he must do for the rest of eternity.
A Cristmas Carol
12/4/08
Teddy Purnell
Mr.Salsich
Room 2
Sticky Situations
Scrooge’s Warning in “A Christmas Carol”
(OP)(TS)There are many ways to interpret the quote on page twenty-three in “A Christmas Carol”, by Charles Dickens. (CM)I think the ghost is trying to make Scrooge see what is awaiting him at the end of his life if he continues to live as he does now. (CM)Scrooge must see what is awaiting him, and what he must do to avoid it. (CS)If he doesn’t, he will suffer for eternity.
(BP)(TS)Scrooge is visited by a ghost, and the ghost says many confusing thing s that must be read multiple times to fully understand its meaning. (SD)‘"It is required of every man," the Ghost returned, "that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.” (CM)This quote means that if Scrooge doesn’t abide by this rule, he will be condemned to do so in his afterlife. (CM)Scrooge must come
to realize this, for his time is running out. (SD)"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it." (CM)The ghost means that the chain represents all the things he did in his life. (CM)(chiasmus)The chain is his life, and his life is the chain. (CS)This is my interpretation of what Dickens means on page twenty-three, in “A Christmas Carol”.
Kyle's Essay (A Christmas Carol)
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
3 December 2008
“What Comes Around Goes Around”;
An In-Class Essay on a quote from “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
TS-What if after death you could not find piece and had to pay for your sins here on earth? SD-Every action that you perform always has a consequence, no matter how small, it always has a consequence. CM-For example Adolf Hitler performed a despicable hate crime and he paid for it with his life. CM-You can sin and have your way in this life, but if you sin it will have its way with you in the next.
TS-Marley is trying to warn Ebenezor that the deeds he performs in this life will affect his next. SD-Bad deeds lead to a bad afterlife. CM-Marley spent all his time worrying about money and work and now he is forced to do the things he didn’t do in his life for all eternity. CM-Its a lot like bills, if you don’t pay for them now you’ll have to pay for them later. SD-If Scrooge keeps living his life like Marley did he will have the same thing happen to him. CM-He too will be bound by chains made of the petty things he valued in life and will be bound against his will to pay for his sins. CM-If he was just simply kind, if he was just generous, if he was just a little more sociable then maybe he could live a life that he didn’t even know he wanted. CS-Marley is trying to tell him that he can live a happy life and be able to live happily in the next if he just changes his ways.
TS-The things that you here will decide what things you do there, in the after life. SD-If you have a homework assignment and you decide not to do it then you will only have to do it later. CM-Why not just do it in the first place and even help yourself, homework, after all, was made to help us. CS-Why live a life that makes other people unhappy when you could live a life that makes yourself and others happy.
Purple-Chiasmis
Blue-Purposeful Repetition
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
3 December 2008
“What Comes Around Goes Around”;
An In-Class Essay on a quote from “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
TS-What if after death you could not find piece and had to pay for your sins here on earth? SD-Every action that you perform always has a consequence, no matter how small, it always has a consequence. CM-For example Adolf Hitler performed a despicable hate crime and he paid for it with his life. CM-You can sin and have your way in this life, but if you sin it will have its way with you in the next.
TS-Marley is trying to warn Ebenezor that the deeds he performs in this life will affect his next. SD-Bad deeds lead to a bad afterlife. CM-Marley spent all his time worrying about money and work and now he is forced to do the things he didn’t do in his life for all eternity. CM-Its a lot like bills, if you don’t pay for them now you’ll have to pay for them later. SD-If Scrooge keeps living his life like Marley did he will have the same thing happen to him. CM-He too will be bound by chains made of the petty things he valued in life and will be bound against his will to pay for his sins. CM-If he was just simply kind, if he was just generous, if he was just a little more sociable then maybe he could live a life that he didn’t even know he wanted. CS-Marley is trying to tell him that he can live a happy life and be able to live happily in the next if he just changes his ways.
TS-The things that you here will decide what things you do there, in the after life. SD-If you have a homework assignment and you decide not to do it then you will only have to do it later. CM-Why not just do it in the first place and even help yourself, homework, after all, was made to help us. CS-Why live a life that makes other people unhappy when you could live a life that makes yourself and others happy.
Purple-Chiasmis
Blue-Purposeful Repetition
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Kyle's Essay
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
17 November 2008
Through One Set of Eyes;
An essay on my views on Heterosexuals and Homosexuals.
TS: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” (Dr. Seuss) SD: I am very open towards homosexuals, I feel very comfortable around them. CM: I felt that Ms. Olsen’s talk was very educational and the environment was comfortable enough to be able to ask questions without being embarrassed. CM: The difference between “gay” and “straight” is almost as significant as the difference between people who like chocolate ice cream and the people who like vanilla ice cream, they simply have different preferences.
TS: Homosexual people do not bother me in the slightest. SD: There really is no important difference between “gay and “straight” except that “gay” is often used in a condescending manner. CM: “Gay” is often used in a negative term like, “that’s gay”, but “straight” is often used in a positive or neutral manner like if someone asked you for a drink you might say “no I’m straight.” CM: Homosexual people eat, sleep, and feel all the things that heterosexual or bisexual people do and they should be treated as equals, not pariahs. SD: I long for a world where people of all sexuality and color and beliefs can band together and lead our race into a new age, without prejudices or racism. CM: I was raised to be very open and accept people for how they are as a person, not how I feel about what they like. CM: Life is too short to worry about if one’s sexuality is right or not, everyone has their own lifestyle to live. CS: Everyone has been given the same deck of cards to live with and all we have to do is play the game so that everybody wins.
TS: I loved the talk we had with Ms. Olsen, usually I’m tired during a talk session, my eyes fluttering up and down, my head slowly slipping off of my hand, but Ms. Olsen’s energy and excitement seemed to pulse through the room into me. SD: The aura that Ms. Olsen seemed to exude was very comforting and the whole room seemed to relax in her presence. CM: Sitting in my chair clinging on to every word she said, I felt at ease and perfectly comfortable asking questions when I thought of them. CM: Ms. Olsen was very humorous and seemed to make the subject more discussable for all of us as a whole. SD: Some of the things that she has other people say made me very angry, I have a few family members that are homosexual that are very close to me and when I hear what some people say to them it boils my blood because these are people I have grown up with and love. CM: When I asked her what her family did she responded “They asked not to speak to me, I haven’t talked to them in over fifteen years” this appalled me because someone’s family should be the strongest source of love and support in this world and Ms. Olsen’s abandoned her. CM: I was also upset at the things she said that other kids have said to her and other kids at the Safe Zone institute, I usually have the policy “Walk in everyone’s shoes before you judge”, but I have a hard time even wanting to put the other shoe on in this matter. CS: We try too hard nowadays to fit in, so much that we often don’t see or don’t care who we hurt in the process, this is the sad, but true fact that we all need to work to change.
TS: “Homosexuality is a sickness, just as [is] […]wanting to become head of general motors.” (Elridge Cleaver) SD: In my opinion there is nothing wrong with homosexuals. CM: There’s a small difference between them and heterosexuals. CM: They have been on this planet just as long as anyone else had and they certainly have the right to do anything anyone else can. CM: For people who do support homosexuals words are meaningless, we need to take action to show our love and support for our fellow brethren and sisters.
Key
Purple=absolute
Blue=participle
Self Assessment
Writing issues I am continuing to work on-Improving my punctuation.
Some strong points I see in this piece of writing-I think that i had some very good quotes that hopefully improved the writing.
Some weak points I see-I feel like I'm always missing a vital piece of information, but I can never seem to find it.
The grade I would give myself- B-
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
17 November 2008
Through One Set of Eyes;
An essay on my views on Heterosexuals and Homosexuals.
TS: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” (Dr. Seuss) SD: I am very open towards homosexuals, I feel very comfortable around them. CM: I felt that Ms. Olsen’s talk was very educational and the environment was comfortable enough to be able to ask questions without being embarrassed. CM: The difference between “gay” and “straight” is almost as significant as the difference between people who like chocolate ice cream and the people who like vanilla ice cream, they simply have different preferences.
TS: Homosexual people do not bother me in the slightest. SD: There really is no important difference between “gay and “straight” except that “gay” is often used in a condescending manner. CM: “Gay” is often used in a negative term like, “that’s gay”, but “straight” is often used in a positive or neutral manner like if someone asked you for a drink you might say “no I’m straight.” CM: Homosexual people eat, sleep, and feel all the things that heterosexual or bisexual people do and they should be treated as equals, not pariahs. SD: I long for a world where people of all sexuality and color and beliefs can band together and lead our race into a new age, without prejudices or racism. CM: I was raised to be very open and accept people for how they are as a person, not how I feel about what they like. CM: Life is too short to worry about if one’s sexuality is right or not, everyone has their own lifestyle to live. CS: Everyone has been given the same deck of cards to live with and all we have to do is play the game so that everybody wins.
TS: I loved the talk we had with Ms. Olsen, usually I’m tired during a talk session, my eyes fluttering up and down, my head slowly slipping off of my hand, but Ms. Olsen’s energy and excitement seemed to pulse through the room into me. SD: The aura that Ms. Olsen seemed to exude was very comforting and the whole room seemed to relax in her presence. CM: Sitting in my chair clinging on to every word she said, I felt at ease and perfectly comfortable asking questions when I thought of them. CM: Ms. Olsen was very humorous and seemed to make the subject more discussable for all of us as a whole. SD: Some of the things that she has other people say made me very angry, I have a few family members that are homosexual that are very close to me and when I hear what some people say to them it boils my blood because these are people I have grown up with and love. CM: When I asked her what her family did she responded “They asked not to speak to me, I haven’t talked to them in over fifteen years” this appalled me because someone’s family should be the strongest source of love and support in this world and Ms. Olsen’s abandoned her. CM: I was also upset at the things she said that other kids have said to her and other kids at the Safe Zone institute, I usually have the policy “Walk in everyone’s shoes before you judge”, but I have a hard time even wanting to put the other shoe on in this matter. CS: We try too hard nowadays to fit in, so much that we often don’t see or don’t care who we hurt in the process, this is the sad, but true fact that we all need to work to change.
TS: “Homosexuality is a sickness, just as [is] […]wanting to become head of general motors.” (Elridge Cleaver) SD: In my opinion there is nothing wrong with homosexuals. CM: There’s a small difference between them and heterosexuals. CM: They have been on this planet just as long as anyone else had and they certainly have the right to do anything anyone else can. CM: For people who do support homosexuals words are meaningless, we need to take action to show our love and support for our fellow brethren and sisters.
Key
Purple=absolute
Blue=participle
Self Assessment
Writing issues I am continuing to work on-Improving my punctuation.
Some strong points I see in this piece of writing-I think that i had some very good quotes that hopefully improved the writing.
Some weak points I see-I feel like I'm always missing a vital piece of information, but I can never seem to find it.
The grade I would give myself- B-
Tristan's Essay!
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
Honors English 02
19 November 2008
“Green and Yellow:
An Essay About Heterosexism and Stump Olsen’s Talk”
"That's gay." This statement, while commonly used, is also derogatory. This statement, being derogatory, is very offensive to most gays, so when teenagers say, "That's gay" lightly, they really don't know how much pain and suffering these words cause. Ms. Olsen mentioned this when she came to talk to us about heterosexism and Youth Pride. Heterosexism is bad, and homosexuals are just as good as heterosexuals.
Even though people should be tolerant of others’ sexualities, they aren’t always, and when they aren’t, Ms. Olsen and youth pride are there to help. Ms. Olsen has the personal experience needed to have a complete understanding of how the kids who come to youth pride feel and are treated. “I would rather be called a […] than a lesbian because of how the term lesbian has been used against me” said Ms. Olsen, showing how badly she had been made fun of in school, talking of how she had been beaten up, shoved in lockers, and spent every living moment praying the bullies would "Beat the gay out of [her]." Today, things are much better, but still pretty bad, and with Ms. Olsen’s worst case scenario, she can understand how kids being made fun of at any level would feel. Ms. Olsen and Youth Pride also have the right feeling, without forming a cult, Youth Pride has become a close-knit community mainly because of the openness of everyone there. As Ms. Olsen talked to us, she wasn’t withdrawn, she wasn’t held back about anything, but most importantly, she wasn’t faking it. This attitude was great, and it helped us all open up with our questions and comments about the topic as it probably helps many other teens open up about their sexuality. Youth Pride also lets in teens, any teens. The fact that all teens are allowed in at Youth Pride makes it so much more helpful to the community, because not only do homosexual teens get educated, but “straight” teens can also glean understanding from visits. This acceptance of all teens also acts as a way to keep homosexual and heterosexual teens together, not forcing them apart or spacing them out. What Youth Pride does is great, and if there were more places like it, the world would truly be a better place.
Heterosexism is the very bad belief, with shaky foundations, of heterosexuals being better than homosexuals. Most heterosexist people have one basic flaw, they are scared of difference, making them scared of homosexuals, causing them to consider homosexuality as wrong. This belief is demonstrated countless times in human history, with the enslavement of colored people, the holocaust, 9/11, and the list keeps going. All of these events have been for specific reasons, varying, but all with the underlying concept of difference being wrong. Heterosexists may also be heterosexist because they were raised that way. In these cases, it is hard to decide who is at fault, while you cannot blame the person in question entirely, you still partially blame them for not seeing the light. With this situation, it is best to just try to help these people see how wrong their ways are, and to try to guide them away from that hate. Some people are heterosexist because of their religious views, and how they think that religion dictates how sexuality should be handled. This is one of those sticky situations when peoples rights collide, when the best that can be done is to decide which right is more inalienable. Love is inalienable. No matter what anything or anyone says, I think that love is the one most noble, most inalienable right anyone can have. Heterosexuals really, honestly have no acceptable, legitimate reason for how they feel, and if any of them were to lay down the facts and take a good look at them, they would feel like fools.
Heterosexists really don't have too much sense, but they can still hurt feelings of gays and make them feel horrible. So when people say, "That's gay" I just want to say to them, "So what? Does that make it bad?" I think that just because people love a different gender, they shouldn't have to wear a green tie and yellow handkerchief (Green And Yellow, GAY) to keep their preferences a secret. My heart beating, my head swimming with thoughts, I left the room that we listened to Ms. Olsen with a new perspective.
Mr. Salsich
Honors English 02
19 November 2008
“Green and Yellow:
An Essay About Heterosexism and Stump Olsen’s Talk”
"That's gay." This statement, while commonly used, is also derogatory. This statement, being derogatory, is very offensive to most gays, so when teenagers say, "That's gay" lightly, they really don't know how much pain and suffering these words cause. Ms. Olsen mentioned this when she came to talk to us about heterosexism and Youth Pride. Heterosexism is bad, and homosexuals are just as good as heterosexuals.
Even though people should be tolerant of others’ sexualities, they aren’t always, and when they aren’t, Ms. Olsen and youth pride are there to help. Ms. Olsen has the personal experience needed to have a complete understanding of how the kids who come to youth pride feel and are treated. “I would rather be called a […] than a lesbian because of how the term lesbian has been used against me” said Ms. Olsen, showing how badly she had been made fun of in school, talking of how she had been beaten up, shoved in lockers, and spent every living moment praying the bullies would "Beat the gay out of [her]." Today, things are much better, but still pretty bad, and with Ms. Olsen’s worst case scenario, she can understand how kids being made fun of at any level would feel. Ms. Olsen and Youth Pride also have the right feeling, without forming a cult, Youth Pride has become a close-knit community mainly because of the openness of everyone there. As Ms. Olsen talked to us, she wasn’t withdrawn, she wasn’t held back about anything, but most importantly, she wasn’t faking it. This attitude was great, and it helped us all open up with our questions and comments about the topic as it probably helps many other teens open up about their sexuality. Youth Pride also lets in teens, any teens. The fact that all teens are allowed in at Youth Pride makes it so much more helpful to the community, because not only do homosexual teens get educated, but “straight” teens can also glean understanding from visits. This acceptance of all teens also acts as a way to keep homosexual and heterosexual teens together, not forcing them apart or spacing them out. What Youth Pride does is great, and if there were more places like it, the world would truly be a better place.
Heterosexism is the very bad belief, with shaky foundations, of heterosexuals being better than homosexuals. Most heterosexist people have one basic flaw, they are scared of difference, making them scared of homosexuals, causing them to consider homosexuality as wrong. This belief is demonstrated countless times in human history, with the enslavement of colored people, the holocaust, 9/11, and the list keeps going. All of these events have been for specific reasons, varying, but all with the underlying concept of difference being wrong. Heterosexists may also be heterosexist because they were raised that way. In these cases, it is hard to decide who is at fault, while you cannot blame the person in question entirely, you still partially blame them for not seeing the light. With this situation, it is best to just try to help these people see how wrong their ways are, and to try to guide them away from that hate. Some people are heterosexist because of their religious views, and how they think that religion dictates how sexuality should be handled. This is one of those sticky situations when peoples rights collide, when the best that can be done is to decide which right is more inalienable. Love is inalienable. No matter what anything or anyone says, I think that love is the one most noble, most inalienable right anyone can have. Heterosexuals really, honestly have no acceptable, legitimate reason for how they feel, and if any of them were to lay down the facts and take a good look at them, they would feel like fools.
Heterosexists really don't have too much sense, but they can still hurt feelings of gays and make them feel horrible. So when people say, "That's gay" I just want to say to them, "So what? Does that make it bad?" I think that just because people love a different gender, they shouldn't have to wear a green tie and yellow handkerchief (Green And Yellow, GAY) to keep their preferences a secret. My heart beating, my head swimming with thoughts, I left the room that we listened to Ms. Olsen with a new perspective.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Ty's essay #10
Ty LeVarge
Mr. Salsich
English 02
November 18, 2008
Someone different is trapped
An essay on heterosexism and my thoughts of Ms. Olsen's talk
A personal view from me on heterosexism would be almost like anyone else; I don’t mind being around homosexuals. I believe that people should not judge others just because they like someone different. Someone who isn’t listening to what insults others say, is doing the right thing. If one is different, insulting them will not do a thing to change them from being something different.
I believe that people should not judge people because they are homosexual and should not treat them as if they are aliens from another world. Everyone is a human being and being homosexual should not make you that different other than loving someone your same gender. In this world, everyone is supposed to be equal as human beings and that we should respect each other no matter who we choose to love. We should also be able to choose who we love and not be turned down by someone’s words. They should not care if someone insults them for loving someone of the same gender and go on living their life of dreams. People that are homosexual should not worry of words and should continue with their lives and not worry about what was said in the past. I think that homosexuality is alright in the community and that others should accept that because word and actions will not solve a problem this big and that people should just accept it that some people choose to me homosexual.
My personal views of Ms. Olsen’s presentation were very positive because of her positive influence she gave us. She shared with us, her experiences, which seemed to influence us greatly that there is that treatment in the world. She told us that too give us an idea of the evil that exists in this nation just because someone is homosexual. Ms. Olsen also tells of how she lost friends because they don’t want to look strange being around her and is very sad that her friends would abandon her. Ms. Olsen also speaks of the safety zone; a place of comfort to discuss heterosexism. This place of safety is where safety is “safety as whole” meaning that safety is always considered in a discussion as a whole. The safety zone is always indicated by a special upside-down pink triangle and shows that you can discuss anything of heterosexism within those walls. Ms. Olsen taught us much of heterosexism and its effects on others.
If one chooses to be homosexual, do not insult them, it does nothing to change them to be the way you expect them to be. If you were to find yourself being insulted, you should not bother talking back, it wouldn’t change them either. If getting into a fight, fight back if necessary to save your life, but tell someone who cares about heterosexism so that you can tell them of your problems. These factors of evil treatment are necessary to reach one’s ears that know what to do to solve any problems.
green = absolute
red = participle
pink (for upsidedown pink triangle ^_^) = quote
Mr. Salsich
English 02
November 18, 2008
Someone different is trapped
An essay on heterosexism and my thoughts of Ms. Olsen's talk
A personal view from me on heterosexism would be almost like anyone else; I don’t mind being around homosexuals. I believe that people should not judge others just because they like someone different. Someone who isn’t listening to what insults others say, is doing the right thing. If one is different, insulting them will not do a thing to change them from being something different.
I believe that people should not judge people because they are homosexual and should not treat them as if they are aliens from another world. Everyone is a human being and being homosexual should not make you that different other than loving someone your same gender. In this world, everyone is supposed to be equal as human beings and that we should respect each other no matter who we choose to love. We should also be able to choose who we love and not be turned down by someone’s words. They should not care if someone insults them for loving someone of the same gender and go on living their life of dreams. People that are homosexual should not worry of words and should continue with their lives and not worry about what was said in the past. I think that homosexuality is alright in the community and that others should accept that because word and actions will not solve a problem this big and that people should just accept it that some people choose to me homosexual.
My personal views of Ms. Olsen’s presentation were very positive because of her positive influence she gave us. She shared with us, her experiences, which seemed to influence us greatly that there is that treatment in the world. She told us that too give us an idea of the evil that exists in this nation just because someone is homosexual. Ms. Olsen also tells of how she lost friends because they don’t want to look strange being around her and is very sad that her friends would abandon her. Ms. Olsen also speaks of the safety zone; a place of comfort to discuss heterosexism. This place of safety is where safety is “safety as whole” meaning that safety is always considered in a discussion as a whole. The safety zone is always indicated by a special upside-down pink triangle and shows that you can discuss anything of heterosexism within those walls. Ms. Olsen taught us much of heterosexism and its effects on others.
If one chooses to be homosexual, do not insult them, it does nothing to change them to be the way you expect them to be. If you were to find yourself being insulted, you should not bother talking back, it wouldn’t change them either. If getting into a fight, fight back if necessary to save your life, but tell someone who cares about heterosexism so that you can tell them of your problems. These factors of evil treatment are necessary to reach one’s ears that know what to do to solve any problems.
green = absolute
red = participle
pink (for upsidedown pink triangle ^_^) = quote
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tristan's Post!
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
English 02
12 November 2008
A Land With Emotion:
An Analytical Essay on "The Way to Rainy Mountain"
Why does the land seem to have emotions? Sometimes the land may seem solemn, with brittle twigs, cold hard surfaces, and bleak horizons. Sometimes the land may seem happy and jubilant with warm weather, bright clear blue skies, and blossoming plants everywhere. Many moods can be shown in the land, and in "The Way to Rainy Mountain" N. Scott Momaday represents her grandmother's and his different moods.
TS: Throughout "The Way to Rainy Mountain" Momaday describes the land of his people in different ways, linking together the mood of the land with the mood of whomever he is talking about. SD: The weather is very important to the Native American people, as Momaday mentions on the second page when he talks about how his tribe worships the sun. CM: On the second page, Momaday mentions the sacred sun dolls that his tribe acquired from the Crows, who also shared their religion. CM: These religious beliefs are closely related to the weather, which could signify Momaday's referencing to the land's condition in relation to the condition of it's people. SD: On the third page, Mr. Momaday speaks of the highland meadows in July, describing them to be grand and "[to] cause the vision to reach away." CM: The way Mr. Momaday presents this description gives off the air of being something big and great, like some huge artifact that nobody has seen for thousands of years. CM: This mood is directly followed up by Momaday stating, "[The Kiowas] had come to the place where they must change their lives." CM: This condition of his tribe certainly is grand and important. SD: On page four, Momaday describes houses on the plains, saying that they were all worn away and the plains had the power to suck all life and color out of whatever was there, he says this right before and after remembering his grandmother. CM: This placement of his description could have been to say that his grandmother had had her life sucked away by the plains, had her color grayed by the onslaught of wind and weathering, and been left colorless and worn through. Mr. Momaday is trying to restore that color by remembering her and sharing his memories. CS: Through all of his essay, Mr. Momaday is constantly making references to people and their land, which is one reoccurring theme that helps with the mood of the story, smoothly transporting the reader.
After reading "The Way to Rainy Mountain" I was affected greatly, and I can attribute that mainly to Momaday's excellent writing and his ability to hold my attention with an iron fist that doesn't waver throughout the whole essay. If, in this essay Momaday had been describing bright happy green fields the whole time, I would wonder exactly what was going on, but his blend of emotions provided me with exact emotions in relation to the story. Other than the nuances of Mr. Momaday's descriptive writing, the whole story had a general mood of something great being lost, and that's exactly what happens with his grandmother. We know why the land seems to have emotions, but not only that, but how they affect people, and how they can represent how people feel.
Mr. Salsich
English 02
12 November 2008
A Land With Emotion:
An Analytical Essay on "The Way to Rainy Mountain"
Why does the land seem to have emotions? Sometimes the land may seem solemn, with brittle twigs, cold hard surfaces, and bleak horizons. Sometimes the land may seem happy and jubilant with warm weather, bright clear blue skies, and blossoming plants everywhere. Many moods can be shown in the land, and in "The Way to Rainy Mountain" N. Scott Momaday represents her grandmother's and his different moods.
TS: Throughout "The Way to Rainy Mountain" Momaday describes the land of his people in different ways, linking together the mood of the land with the mood of whomever he is talking about. SD: The weather is very important to the Native American people, as Momaday mentions on the second page when he talks about how his tribe worships the sun. CM: On the second page, Momaday mentions the sacred sun dolls that his tribe acquired from the Crows, who also shared their religion. CM: These religious beliefs are closely related to the weather, which could signify Momaday's referencing to the land's condition in relation to the condition of it's people. SD: On the third page, Mr. Momaday speaks of the highland meadows in July, describing them to be grand and "[to] cause the vision to reach away." CM: The way Mr. Momaday presents this description gives off the air of being something big and great, like some huge artifact that nobody has seen for thousands of years. CM: This mood is directly followed up by Momaday stating, "[The Kiowas] had come to the place where they must change their lives." CM: This condition of his tribe certainly is grand and important. SD: On page four, Momaday describes houses on the plains, saying that they were all worn away and the plains had the power to suck all life and color out of whatever was there, he says this right before and after remembering his grandmother. CM: This placement of his description could have been to say that his grandmother had had her life sucked away by the plains, had her color grayed by the onslaught of wind and weathering, and been left colorless and worn through. Mr. Momaday is trying to restore that color by remembering her and sharing his memories. CS: Through all of his essay, Mr. Momaday is constantly making references to people and their land, which is one reoccurring theme that helps with the mood of the story, smoothly transporting the reader.
After reading "The Way to Rainy Mountain" I was affected greatly, and I can attribute that mainly to Momaday's excellent writing and his ability to hold my attention with an iron fist that doesn't waver throughout the whole essay. If, in this essay Momaday had been describing bright happy green fields the whole time, I would wonder exactly what was going on, but his blend of emotions provided me with exact emotions in relation to the story. Other than the nuances of Mr. Momaday's descriptive writing, the whole story had a general mood of something great being lost, and that's exactly what happens with his grandmother. We know why the land seems to have emotions, but not only that, but how they affect people, and how they can represent how people feel.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Kyle's Essay
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
12 November 2008
Simple Magic;
An Essay on the Imagery in “The Way to Rainy Mountain.”
TS: There are always those few things in life that catch us off guard, leave us speechless. SD: The images that I get from Mr. Momaday’s descriptions is one of those things. CM: The way he seems to relate everything to something else like “great green and yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass popping up like corn to sting the flesh” (Momaday 313) simply gives me great pleasure. CM: I think I like it so much because I could never make such a simple, beautiful connection, and we often envy what we can’t do or have.
TS: There are the strikingly beautiful examples of imagery in his story of his grandmother, but three, like sirens, whispered my name, sang out to me, beckoned for me to notice them.(3 Action Sentence) SD: The first was the quote about the grasshoppers I have already mentioned. CM: Suddenly these grasshoppers didn’t seem normal to me, I had willed them to be so much more in my mind. CM: Now they were these (2 FAST Words) gargantuan behemoths that seemed to poke their heads out of a forest of grass. SD: The second quote was on the same page not too far away, the sentence just before. CM: “At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire.” (Momaday 313) CM: I imagined I was there, laying on the ground next to the leaves watching the dance of clear smoke rise off of them. SD: The third and final quote that called my name was found on page 315 describing the look of “Yellowstone”. CM: “The skyline at all directions close at hand the high wall of the woods and deep cleavages of shade” (Momaday 315) CM: Just before mentioning this Momaday spoke of the sense of confinement in Yellowstone and somehow I agreed with him. CM: The high wall of the woods reminded me of a birdcage, and unmovable object in a path, something you can’t climb over or move around and something that no one would dare enter for one reason or another. CS: Maybe I could just be looking too far into this story, but that’s what I love about it these quotes simply hold my interest and set my imagination free.
TS: I believe in a lot of things Love, Faith, Hope, but one of the most important is Magic. SD: It comforts to think of our world as a magical place that holds many wonders and miracles. CM: Some of these simple passages that Momaday has used are more powerful beacons of magic to me than anyone can imagine. CM: They represent the very essence of the simplicity of beauty and wonder that so many people walk past without even sparing a second look.
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
12 November 2008
Simple Magic;
An Essay on the Imagery in “The Way to Rainy Mountain.”
TS: There are always those few things in life that catch us off guard, leave us speechless. SD: The images that I get from Mr. Momaday’s descriptions is one of those things. CM: The way he seems to relate everything to something else like “great green and yellow grasshoppers are everywhere in the tall grass popping up like corn to sting the flesh” (Momaday 313) simply gives me great pleasure. CM: I think I like it so much because I could never make such a simple, beautiful connection, and we often envy what we can’t do or have.
TS: There are the strikingly beautiful examples of imagery in his story of his grandmother, but three, like sirens, whispered my name, sang out to me, beckoned for me to notice them.(3 Action Sentence) SD: The first was the quote about the grasshoppers I have already mentioned. CM: Suddenly these grasshoppers didn’t seem normal to me, I had willed them to be so much more in my mind. CM: Now they were these (2 FAST Words) gargantuan behemoths that seemed to poke their heads out of a forest of grass. SD: The second quote was on the same page not too far away, the sentence just before. CM: “At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire.” (Momaday 313) CM: I imagined I was there, laying on the ground next to the leaves watching the dance of clear smoke rise off of them. SD: The third and final quote that called my name was found on page 315 describing the look of “Yellowstone”. CM: “The skyline at all directions close at hand the high wall of the woods and deep cleavages of shade” (Momaday 315) CM: Just before mentioning this Momaday spoke of the sense of confinement in Yellowstone and somehow I agreed with him. CM: The high wall of the woods reminded me of a birdcage, and unmovable object in a path, something you can’t climb over or move around and something that no one would dare enter for one reason or another. CS: Maybe I could just be looking too far into this story, but that’s what I love about it these quotes simply hold my interest and set my imagination free.
TS: I believe in a lot of things Love, Faith, Hope, but one of the most important is Magic. SD: It comforts to think of our world as a magical place that holds many wonders and miracles. CM: Some of these simple passages that Momaday has used are more powerful beacons of magic to me than anyone can imagine. CM: They represent the very essence of the simplicity of beauty and wonder that so many people walk past without even sparing a second look.
Ty's 9th essay and 1st on this blog
Ty LeVarge
Mr.Salsich
English 02
November 12, 2008
The Amazement of an Essay
A Brief Essay on my Reactions to
“The Way to Rainy Mountain”
If I was to describe my reaction in a short simple phrase, I would say, “It was amazing” because it made my mind take in all of the parts that made me think and imagine what the author was describing. The author had put in many pieces of imagery that painted an image of the scene in my head. The author had also included descriptions of what kind of person his grandmother was like and important things she told him. The author likes to use stories of his family as well as imagery which are a great combination when used together.
TS I had a mix of reasons for my amazed reaction to this essay’s powerful words. SD One good reason that I enjoyed this essay was because the author made reference to his grandmother a little throughout the story. CM He told of little bits of her life and how she spent time with the author. CM He also shared her story of the creation of the big dipper, the story of the seven sisters that climbed a tree and became stars and formed the big dipper. SD I also liked seeing imagery within the structure of this essay. CM A prime example of imagery would be on page 315, “The great billowing clouds that sail upon it are shadows that move upon the grain like water, dividing light”. CM Imagery like this should be used sparingly so that it keeps the reader interested. SD I was also able to find a few lines that related to our theme; the journey. CM on page 314, “It was a journey toward the dawn, and it led to a golden age” and showed that their migration to the east was a journey that was worth the trip. CM Also on page 314, “[…] and traveled fifteen hundred miles to begin my pilgrimage” shows another journey worth the jaunt. CS The author seems to have really put a lot of thought into organization as well as connections with his grandmother.
The author seems to have put hours of work into this essay to make it to be the best it can be. He especially put a lot of effort into how his tribe behaved and also to their history to make the essay have some interesting facts. The author also included some facts of the tribe’s traditions and customs to help keep the momentum of the story. Overall, the essay was well written and carefully thought out to make it very powerful.
Mr.Salsich
English 02
November 12, 2008
The Amazement of an Essay
A Brief Essay on my Reactions to
“The Way to Rainy Mountain”
If I was to describe my reaction in a short simple phrase, I would say, “It was amazing” because it made my mind take in all of the parts that made me think and imagine what the author was describing. The author had put in many pieces of imagery that painted an image of the scene in my head. The author had also included descriptions of what kind of person his grandmother was like and important things she told him. The author likes to use stories of his family as well as imagery which are a great combination when used together.
TS I had a mix of reasons for my amazed reaction to this essay’s powerful words. SD One good reason that I enjoyed this essay was because the author made reference to his grandmother a little throughout the story. CM He told of little bits of her life and how she spent time with the author. CM He also shared her story of the creation of the big dipper, the story of the seven sisters that climbed a tree and became stars and formed the big dipper. SD I also liked seeing imagery within the structure of this essay. CM A prime example of imagery would be on page 315, “The great billowing clouds that sail upon it are shadows that move upon the grain like water, dividing light”. CM Imagery like this should be used sparingly so that it keeps the reader interested. SD I was also able to find a few lines that related to our theme; the journey. CM on page 314, “It was a journey toward the dawn, and it led to a golden age” and showed that their migration to the east was a journey that was worth the trip. CM Also on page 314, “[…] and traveled fifteen hundred miles to begin my pilgrimage” shows another journey worth the jaunt. CS The author seems to have really put a lot of thought into organization as well as connections with his grandmother.
The author seems to have put hours of work into this essay to make it to be the best it can be. He especially put a lot of effort into how his tribe behaved and also to their history to make the essay have some interesting facts. The author also included some facts of the tribe’s traditions and customs to help keep the momentum of the story. Overall, the essay was well written and carefully thought out to make it very powerful.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Ty's ssay #7
Ty LeVarge
Mr. Salsich
English 02
November 4, 2008
The essence of another reading
An essay on how another reading of a story
Can reveal things never noticed before
TS How could reading a story you have already read possibly help you in understanding a story and finding great writing tools within it? CM It could help you indefinitely with understanding the plot of the story and finding interesting points that you may never have noticed before. CM In the Garden Party, there have been many discoveries that I have made and some that are still waiting to be found. CS If re-reading a book, look into it as if you were looking for gold, and you will find something eventually.
TS As I re-read “The Garden Party”, I have noticed several things that I missed during my first reading that ,I thought, seemed very intriguing. SD One example of what I found would be one example of purposeful repetition that I didn’t notice before on my first reading. CM I noticed that on page 11, the author uses extravagant a lot. CM It also blended well with the rest of the paragraph and flowed well with what the author was saying. SD Another set of purposeful repetition was on page nine and was also repeated throughout a few sentences. CM When Laura is talking about the incident and how they must stop the garden party is where she uses “stop” about three times to add power. CM Just saying the sentences with power behind “stop” adds emotion and seriousness into it. SD Also, when Laura is putting on the new hat, I realized that something made that seem a bit unusual when her mother interrupts with the hat. CM This was a way for Laura’s mother to stop the words of the man being killed and to distract Laura. CM This was a good tactic deployed by Laura’s mother to stop the news of the incident form ruining the garden party that was prepared for by hard work. CS This goes to show how re-reading a book can be essential.
TS A connection bonds a story and its reader, and that is how many times you read the book and how hard you focus on it. CM The more you read the book and the harder you focus on it, shows how strong a reader and the book are together. CM Same if you read the book less and don’t focus on it, you get careless, and you are not taking the book as seriously as you should be. CS This is a great lesson to keep in mind, if you like a book, focus on it, and read it often, because you never know what you could find that you never thought of before.
Mr. Salsich
English 02
November 4, 2008
The essence of another reading
An essay on how another reading of a story
Can reveal things never noticed before
TS How could reading a story you have already read possibly help you in understanding a story and finding great writing tools within it? CM It could help you indefinitely with understanding the plot of the story and finding interesting points that you may never have noticed before. CM In the Garden Party, there have been many discoveries that I have made and some that are still waiting to be found. CS If re-reading a book, look into it as if you were looking for gold, and you will find something eventually.
TS As I re-read “The Garden Party”, I have noticed several things that I missed during my first reading that ,I thought, seemed very intriguing. SD One example of what I found would be one example of purposeful repetition that I didn’t notice before on my first reading. CM I noticed that on page 11, the author uses extravagant a lot. CM It also blended well with the rest of the paragraph and flowed well with what the author was saying. SD Another set of purposeful repetition was on page nine and was also repeated throughout a few sentences. CM When Laura is talking about the incident and how they must stop the garden party is where she uses “stop” about three times to add power. CM Just saying the sentences with power behind “stop” adds emotion and seriousness into it. SD Also, when Laura is putting on the new hat, I realized that something made that seem a bit unusual when her mother interrupts with the hat. CM This was a way for Laura’s mother to stop the words of the man being killed and to distract Laura. CM This was a good tactic deployed by Laura’s mother to stop the news of the incident form ruining the garden party that was prepared for by hard work. CS This goes to show how re-reading a book can be essential.
TS A connection bonds a story and its reader, and that is how many times you read the book and how hard you focus on it. CM The more you read the book and the harder you focus on it, shows how strong a reader and the book are together. CM Same if you read the book less and don’t focus on it, you get careless, and you are not taking the book as seriously as you should be. CS This is a great lesson to keep in mind, if you like a book, focus on it, and read it often, because you never know what you could find that you never thought of before.
Tristan's Essay!
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
5 November 2008
Subtle Detail:
An Essay on the Importance of Re-Reading in “The Garden Party”
Why do people re-read stories? Some re-read because they enjoyed the original read so much, some re-read because they missed something the first time they read the text, and yet some re-read just because they have nothing else to read. Regardless of why one re-reads, whenever they do, they find new things. No matter how good someone’s memory may be, they will always miss some detail, detail that can prove very important to the story. This phenomenon is perfectly illustrated in “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield.
Minor details can be evasive to an unwary mind, so sometimes re-reading can recapture those details and apply them to glean new information. One minor detail that I failed to fully grasp the first time I read “The Garden Party” was how perfect the scenario was for a garden party. This is shown in the very first line of text when Ms. Mansfield says, “The weather was ideal. They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden party.” (Mansfield, 1) This little detail, though it seems unimportant, actually shows why Jose and Laura’s mother are reluctant to cancel later in the story. Another easily missed minor detail in “The Garden Party”, is the want for Laura to fill her mothers shoes. This is shown when Laura attempts to copy her mothers voice when speaking to the marquee workmen. This little scrap of information, though small can show reason as to why Laura takes heed to her mothers advice so easily, and backs down from cancelling the garden party. One last little detail would be Laura’s desire to befriend the workmen in place of her rich upper class friends. This one sentence on page three, “Couldn’t she have workmen for friends rather than the silly boys she danced with?” (Mansfield, 3) suggests changes in Laura’s attitude toward her own class. This is important because throughout the story, Laura shows want to detach from the rich upper class life she leads.
It is apparent that re-reading can uncover unfound details in the text that can make one rethink parts of a story completely, not just in “The Garden Party”, but in almost all texts. In almost all situations, it is a good idea to re-read a text just to see why people in it did what they did, or thought what they thought. These key details are easily read, picked up, and analyzed to help gain understanding of how a story is put together.
Mr. Salsich
5 November 2008
Subtle Detail:
An Essay on the Importance of Re-Reading in “The Garden Party”
Why do people re-read stories? Some re-read because they enjoyed the original read so much, some re-read because they missed something the first time they read the text, and yet some re-read just because they have nothing else to read. Regardless of why one re-reads, whenever they do, they find new things. No matter how good someone’s memory may be, they will always miss some detail, detail that can prove very important to the story. This phenomenon is perfectly illustrated in “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield.
Minor details can be evasive to an unwary mind, so sometimes re-reading can recapture those details and apply them to glean new information. One minor detail that I failed to fully grasp the first time I read “The Garden Party” was how perfect the scenario was for a garden party. This is shown in the very first line of text when Ms. Mansfield says, “The weather was ideal. They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden party.” (Mansfield, 1) This little detail, though it seems unimportant, actually shows why Jose and Laura’s mother are reluctant to cancel later in the story. Another easily missed minor detail in “The Garden Party”, is the want for Laura to fill her mothers shoes. This is shown when Laura attempts to copy her mothers voice when speaking to the marquee workmen. This little scrap of information, though small can show reason as to why Laura takes heed to her mothers advice so easily, and backs down from cancelling the garden party. One last little detail would be Laura’s desire to befriend the workmen in place of her rich upper class friends. This one sentence on page three, “Couldn’t she have workmen for friends rather than the silly boys she danced with?” (Mansfield, 3) suggests changes in Laura’s attitude toward her own class. This is important because throughout the story, Laura shows want to detach from the rich upper class life she leads.
It is apparent that re-reading can uncover unfound details in the text that can make one rethink parts of a story completely, not just in “The Garden Party”, but in almost all texts. In almost all situations, it is a good idea to re-read a text just to see why people in it did what they did, or thought what they thought. These key details are easily read, picked up, and analyzed to help gain understanding of how a story is put together.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Kyle's Seventh Essay
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
3 November 2008
“Déjà vu:
An Essay on the Advantages of Re-reading.”
TS: We are always told to check over our work in math class to make sure that we didn’t miss anything, this is also applied in re-reading books. SD: I’ve found one new thing in “The Garden Party” the second time I read it through. CM: The first thing is that Katherine Mansfield loves to use imagery and describe every detail with great amounts of grace and beauty. CM: She has numerous examples of imagery throughout her short story.
TS: There are three beautifully written examples of imagery in the book that I would like to discuss. SD: One of them is “The green bushes bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels.” (Mansfield pg. 1)CM: I loved this example of imagery, I imagined the bushes as green humans in a great hall of white marble and gold awaiting the arrival of the heavenly angels. CM: Then the angels would descend from a magnificent stairway leading up into the heavens. SD: Another example of imagery is when Ms. Mansfield writes “And they were so, with their broad, gleaming leaves, and their clusters of yellow fruit. They were like trees you imagined growing on a desert island, proud, solitary, lifting their leaves and fruits to the sun in a kind of silent splendor.” (Mansfield pg. 3)CM: The image I got of these divine sounding fruits was mouthwatering. CM: When an author is able to get you to feel emotions just by reading something then that writing is superb. SD: My last example of imagery is on page four when she writes “All the doors in the house seemed to be open. The house was alive with soft, quick steps and running voices. The green baize door that led to the kitchen regions swung open and shut with a muffled thud. And now there came a long, chuckling absurd sound. It was the heavy piano being moved off its stiff castors. But the air! If you stopped to notice, was the air always like this? Little faint words were playing chase, in at the tops of the windows, out at the doors. And there were two tiny spots of sun, one on the inkpot, one on a silver photograph frame, playing too. Darling little spots. Especially the one on the inkpot lid. It was quite warm. A warm little silver star. She could have kissed it.” (Mansfield pg. 4) CM: Now this was a very long passage, but brilliantly written nevertheless. CM: It was written marvelously, can be spoken wonderfully, and leaves a truly magnificent view of the Sheridan’s house in the mind of the reader. CS: It's very enjoying when you can picture what your reading so that you get more into the story.
TS: When you look things over again you often find things you’ve never noticed about before. SD: Ms. Mansfield has a gift for imagery and “The Garden Party” certainly shows it. CM: She describes so many things and describes them so wonderfully. CM: The images I get from her writing make the story all the better.
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
3 November 2008
“Déjà vu:
An Essay on the Advantages of Re-reading.”
TS: We are always told to check over our work in math class to make sure that we didn’t miss anything, this is also applied in re-reading books. SD: I’ve found one new thing in “The Garden Party” the second time I read it through. CM: The first thing is that Katherine Mansfield loves to use imagery and describe every detail with great amounts of grace and beauty. CM: She has numerous examples of imagery throughout her short story.
TS: There are three beautifully written examples of imagery in the book that I would like to discuss. SD: One of them is “The green bushes bowed down as though they had been visited by archangels.” (Mansfield pg. 1)CM: I loved this example of imagery, I imagined the bushes as green humans in a great hall of white marble and gold awaiting the arrival of the heavenly angels. CM: Then the angels would descend from a magnificent stairway leading up into the heavens. SD: Another example of imagery is when Ms. Mansfield writes “And they were so, with their broad, gleaming leaves, and their clusters of yellow fruit. They were like trees you imagined growing on a desert island, proud, solitary, lifting their leaves and fruits to the sun in a kind of silent splendor.” (Mansfield pg. 3)CM: The image I got of these divine sounding fruits was mouthwatering. CM: When an author is able to get you to feel emotions just by reading something then that writing is superb. SD: My last example of imagery is on page four when she writes “All the doors in the house seemed to be open. The house was alive with soft, quick steps and running voices. The green baize door that led to the kitchen regions swung open and shut with a muffled thud. And now there came a long, chuckling absurd sound. It was the heavy piano being moved off its stiff castors. But the air! If you stopped to notice, was the air always like this? Little faint words were playing chase, in at the tops of the windows, out at the doors. And there were two tiny spots of sun, one on the inkpot, one on a silver photograph frame, playing too. Darling little spots. Especially the one on the inkpot lid. It was quite warm. A warm little silver star. She could have kissed it.” (Mansfield pg. 4) CM: Now this was a very long passage, but brilliantly written nevertheless. CM: It was written marvelously, can be spoken wonderfully, and leaves a truly magnificent view of the Sheridan’s house in the mind of the reader. CS: It's very enjoying when you can picture what your reading so that you get more into the story.
TS: When you look things over again you often find things you’ve never noticed about before. SD: Ms. Mansfield has a gift for imagery and “The Garden Party” certainly shows it. CM: She describes so many things and describes them so wonderfully. CM: The images I get from her writing make the story all the better.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tristan's Essay
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
English 2
20 October, 2008
Remember to Appreciate:
An Essay Discussing Appreciation in Zora Neale Hurston’s, “What it Feels Like to be Colored Me.”
Sometimes we make the hasty assumption that we should be constantly appreciating those who have shaped our lives, when instead we should be living our lives to the extent intended by our predecessors. For example, and I do not mean to offend anyone with these next ideas, I find that this approach is most useful with religion. I think that if there was a god, he or she would most likely rather we spend our Sunday mornings out and about, enjoying the lives he or she gave us. I think that a possible god would not have created life, if that life was not meant to be enjoyed. Of course, this approach does conveniently get me out of Sunday school, but I find it most logical.
Ms. Hurston has similar ideas in her essay, saying that slavery, and slavery reconstruction was a thing of the past, which had underlying ideas of how she should appreciate her ancestor’s sacrifice. Ms. Hurston appreciated her ancestors, respected her ancestors, but did not worship her ancestors as some may do. Ms. Hurston clearly said in her essay, “I am off to a flying start, and I must not halt in the stretch and look behind to weep.”(Hurston, 115) In this profound allegory, Ms. Hurston basically says that she doesn’t want to slow herself down by looking back at the past and worshipping her ancestors. Ms. Hurston says that she was raised by people whose feelings were all hurt over slavery. Since Ms. Hurston was raised in such a community, it is really quite amazing that she could emerge from such a childhood with such an astounding opinion about how to appreciate the price she paid, through her ancestors, for civilization. Ms. Hurston describes her childhood with a voice of a parent talking about a pouting baby, suggesting that her community needed to grow up, and stop feeling sorry for themselves. Ms. Hurston was barely ever daunted by discrimination, and merely thought it was just another factor in her life, and she could decide how she felt about it, not necessarily agreeing with her childhood community. Ms. Hurston, in her essay, talks about how the idea of her actions getting either double the good reaction, or double the bad reaction was just exciting for her. This attitude of not considering how people thought pigheadedly of her being different suggested that she had the rare non biased opinion that helped her formulate her excellent opinions on slavery. Some of Ms. Hurston’s fellow’s opinions of how badly African Americans were treated did nothing but wedge open the already large separating gap between black and white people.
Despite the gap between our two races, Ms. Hurston and I both appreciate without worshiping, perhaps for different things, but with the same ideas in mind. I sometimes feel that I am the only one appreciating something, or that I am the only one who appreciates something fully. When I play music for others, for example, expecting them to dance with joy at the intensity of the song, I generally find that they have responses more like, "Hey, that's great, listen to this song." Not only do I get this response a lot with music, but I also find that many will respond with lukewarm appreciation when I'm enjoying a sunset, a poem, or even a work of art. Sometimes, I feel like I should be appreciating other things more than I already am. If I look at something, or hear something that I immediately judge on how it should be appreciated, I stop and think further about how I should be appreciating it. Sometimes, I feel differently about that one thing, but most of the time I feel the same way, which leaves me wondering why my first observations are so accute. I try my very best not to worship things, but sometimes I find myself really over appreciating things that need not be. When I was young, and again, these are only my own opinions, I worshipped god every Sunday, but when I actually thought about what I was doing, I decided a better way of appreciation was necessary. I sometimes got to the point of worshipping people for their arts, when really what I should have been doing was enjoying those arts. I think this appreciation in my life helps me as well as other people get a better grip of how important everything is in the scale of things.
Appreciation plays a big role in my life, and I'm sure it played a big part in Ms. Hurston's life. This helped guide both of us, helping us decide weather to live our lives in someone's shadow, or live them in broad daylight. Either way, it is important to appreciate, and to remember, but I think worshipping is a waste of time. On a finishing note, I must say, this essay really helped me discover new things about myself.
Works Cited:
Hurston, Zora Neale. "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." The Best American Essays of the Century. Atwan, Robert . Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Mr. Salsich
English 2
20 October, 2008
Remember to Appreciate:
An Essay Discussing Appreciation in Zora Neale Hurston’s, “What it Feels Like to be Colored Me.”
Sometimes we make the hasty assumption that we should be constantly appreciating those who have shaped our lives, when instead we should be living our lives to the extent intended by our predecessors. For example, and I do not mean to offend anyone with these next ideas, I find that this approach is most useful with religion. I think that if there was a god, he or she would most likely rather we spend our Sunday mornings out and about, enjoying the lives he or she gave us. I think that a possible god would not have created life, if that life was not meant to be enjoyed. Of course, this approach does conveniently get me out of Sunday school, but I find it most logical.
Ms. Hurston has similar ideas in her essay, saying that slavery, and slavery reconstruction was a thing of the past, which had underlying ideas of how she should appreciate her ancestor’s sacrifice. Ms. Hurston appreciated her ancestors, respected her ancestors, but did not worship her ancestors as some may do. Ms. Hurston clearly said in her essay, “I am off to a flying start, and I must not halt in the stretch and look behind to weep.”(Hurston, 115) In this profound allegory, Ms. Hurston basically says that she doesn’t want to slow herself down by looking back at the past and worshipping her ancestors. Ms. Hurston says that she was raised by people whose feelings were all hurt over slavery. Since Ms. Hurston was raised in such a community, it is really quite amazing that she could emerge from such a childhood with such an astounding opinion about how to appreciate the price she paid, through her ancestors, for civilization. Ms. Hurston describes her childhood with a voice of a parent talking about a pouting baby, suggesting that her community needed to grow up, and stop feeling sorry for themselves. Ms. Hurston was barely ever daunted by discrimination, and merely thought it was just another factor in her life, and she could decide how she felt about it, not necessarily agreeing with her childhood community. Ms. Hurston, in her essay, talks about how the idea of her actions getting either double the good reaction, or double the bad reaction was just exciting for her. This attitude of not considering how people thought pigheadedly of her being different suggested that she had the rare non biased opinion that helped her formulate her excellent opinions on slavery. Some of Ms. Hurston’s fellow’s opinions of how badly African Americans were treated did nothing but wedge open the already large separating gap between black and white people.
Despite the gap between our two races, Ms. Hurston and I both appreciate without worshiping, perhaps for different things, but with the same ideas in mind. I sometimes feel that I am the only one appreciating something, or that I am the only one who appreciates something fully. When I play music for others, for example, expecting them to dance with joy at the intensity of the song, I generally find that they have responses more like, "Hey, that's great, listen to this song." Not only do I get this response a lot with music, but I also find that many will respond with lukewarm appreciation when I'm enjoying a sunset, a poem, or even a work of art. Sometimes, I feel like I should be appreciating other things more than I already am. If I look at something, or hear something that I immediately judge on how it should be appreciated, I stop and think further about how I should be appreciating it. Sometimes, I feel differently about that one thing, but most of the time I feel the same way, which leaves me wondering why my first observations are so accute. I try my very best not to worship things, but sometimes I find myself really over appreciating things that need not be. When I was young, and again, these are only my own opinions, I worshipped god every Sunday, but when I actually thought about what I was doing, I decided a better way of appreciation was necessary. I sometimes got to the point of worshipping people for their arts, when really what I should have been doing was enjoying those arts. I think this appreciation in my life helps me as well as other people get a better grip of how important everything is in the scale of things.
Appreciation plays a big role in my life, and I'm sure it played a big part in Ms. Hurston's life. This helped guide both of us, helping us decide weather to live our lives in someone's shadow, or live them in broad daylight. Either way, it is important to appreciate, and to remember, but I think worshipping is a waste of time. On a finishing note, I must say, this essay really helped me discover new things about myself.
Works Cited:
Hurston, Zora Neale. "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." The Best American Essays of the Century. Atwan, Robert . Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Ty's essay # 5 :)
Ty LeVarge
Mr.Salsich
English 02
20 October, 2008
How could one appreciate life?:
An essay on how Zora Neale Hurston appreciates her life in her essay
"What it Feels Like to be Colored Me” And how I appreciate my life
Ms. Hurston is a type of person who appreciates her life, even though others around her may not want her to be around because she is a different color. No matter what anyone says, she is an upright person who can’t be knocked down easily by mere anemic words of discriminating dominance. In other words, she won’t care much of whatever anyone says about her, where those words can breakdown someone who isn't as strong as Ms. Hurston. Ms. Hurston is not only a powerful writer, but a powerful person of structure, a structure that is hard to knock down and she is still able to appreciate her life no matter what.
Ms. Hurston, no matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, no matter what anyone does, she is still headstrong and goes on with her life and continues to appreciate her life no matter what occurs around her. She appreciates being herself because she enjoys the life she has, even though she would love to have a better one, she would probably love the one she has now more than any other life she would have had. She lives in a good community that accepts her and likes having her both as a resident, and as a friend. She is also successful in life and probably has a good family, and a nice house; which seems to add to her appreciation of her life that she was given. She also describes how tourists think of her and others around her as the tourists are riding through their village. They may say things under their breath about Ms. Hurston and her neighbors and friends when she was young. However, these small phrases are unable to reach the ears beyond that form of communication; which is the advantage to the village; they are deaf to the curses and the horrible talk of others. Ms. Hurston has almost an impenetrable wall that shields her happy life from any invaders wanting to make her suffer.
TS I appreciate my life as much as possible even if something wrong happens; I learn from it and get on with life. SD Like Ms. Hurston, I also live a good life, and have a lot of friends, a lot of fun, and a lot of memories. CM During my life, I have made dozens of friends and memories that I will treasure for many years to come. CM This shows that I appreciate life and that I think that my life is pretentious since I came to Pine Point. SD Also like Ms. Hurston, I don’t bother to notice if someone was saying that I was a nonsensical white American. CM Not that this has ever happened in my life and I hope it doesn’t, but I would say something like, “Go get lost in the mountains.” and move on with my life (even though I would say something more inappropriate, this was a way of saying it without harsh language). CM This instance just proves that no matter what anyone says or does, I will continue to appreciate my life. SD My main goal in appreciating my life is to simply make the best of it and to live life to its fullest. CM No matter if anything bad happens or even if anything good happens, I will stare at it for a bit and cast it to the side like walking through brush in the woods. CM The point of one being able to appreciate life is to appreciate the opportunity and to live life to its fullest; maybe even beyond the limit. CS In order for one to not concern themselves about any negative activities around them, they must appreciate life and live it to its fullest to be blind to those activities unless necessary.
TS My appreciation of life is the same if not similar as Ms. Hurston’s appreciation of her essay. CM We both seem to appreciate life not just because we live good lives, but also that we wish to live life to its best. CM This shows a powerful connection of similarities between Ms. Hurston and I which shows that more than one person can have the same appreciation of life. CS A great message for readers to pass on is to not worry about anything that may seem to change your liking of life but to worry about what may enhance your life.
Mr.Salsich
English 02
20 October, 2008
How could one appreciate life?:
An essay on how Zora Neale Hurston appreciates her life in her essay
"What it Feels Like to be Colored Me” And how I appreciate my life
Ms. Hurston is a type of person who appreciates her life, even though others around her may not want her to be around because she is a different color. No matter what anyone says, she is an upright person who can’t be knocked down easily by mere anemic words of discriminating dominance. In other words, she won’t care much of whatever anyone says about her, where those words can breakdown someone who isn't as strong as Ms. Hurston. Ms. Hurston is not only a powerful writer, but a powerful person of structure, a structure that is hard to knock down and she is still able to appreciate her life no matter what.
Ms. Hurston, no matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, no matter what anyone does, she is still headstrong and goes on with her life and continues to appreciate her life no matter what occurs around her. She appreciates being herself because she enjoys the life she has, even though she would love to have a better one, she would probably love the one she has now more than any other life she would have had. She lives in a good community that accepts her and likes having her both as a resident, and as a friend. She is also successful in life and probably has a good family, and a nice house; which seems to add to her appreciation of her life that she was given. She also describes how tourists think of her and others around her as the tourists are riding through their village. They may say things under their breath about Ms. Hurston and her neighbors and friends when she was young. However, these small phrases are unable to reach the ears beyond that form of communication; which is the advantage to the village; they are deaf to the curses and the horrible talk of others. Ms. Hurston has almost an impenetrable wall that shields her happy life from any invaders wanting to make her suffer.
TS I appreciate my life as much as possible even if something wrong happens; I learn from it and get on with life. SD Like Ms. Hurston, I also live a good life, and have a lot of friends, a lot of fun, and a lot of memories. CM During my life, I have made dozens of friends and memories that I will treasure for many years to come. CM This shows that I appreciate life and that I think that my life is pretentious since I came to Pine Point. SD Also like Ms. Hurston, I don’t bother to notice if someone was saying that I was a nonsensical white American. CM Not that this has ever happened in my life and I hope it doesn’t, but I would say something like, “Go get lost in the mountains.” and move on with my life (even though I would say something more inappropriate, this was a way of saying it without harsh language). CM This instance just proves that no matter what anyone says or does, I will continue to appreciate my life. SD My main goal in appreciating my life is to simply make the best of it and to live life to its fullest. CM No matter if anything bad happens or even if anything good happens, I will stare at it for a bit and cast it to the side like walking through brush in the woods. CM The point of one being able to appreciate life is to appreciate the opportunity and to live life to its fullest; maybe even beyond the limit. CS In order for one to not concern themselves about any negative activities around them, they must appreciate life and live it to its fullest to be blind to those activities unless necessary.
TS My appreciation of life is the same if not similar as Ms. Hurston’s appreciation of her essay. CM We both seem to appreciate life not just because we live good lives, but also that we wish to live life to its best. CM This shows a powerful connection of similarities between Ms. Hurston and I which shows that more than one person can have the same appreciation of life. CS A great message for readers to pass on is to not worry about anything that may seem to change your liking of life but to worry about what may enhance your life.
Kyle's 5th Essay
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
20 October 2008
Color and Kindness:
A comparison between preferences of self.
There are so many colored people who were and still are loved by millions in the world such as Oprah, Coby Bryant, Bill Cosby, and Martin Luther King Jr. and many of them aren’t loved because they’re colored, but because of their personalities and what they have taught us. Zora Neale Hurst decides that the thing she likes most about herself is that she is colored and she elucidates several times that she’s not ashamed to be colored. I too am proud that I’m colored, but on the other hand I am also proud at the amounts of kindness I can show to a classmate, to friends, to family, and even to strangers. I believe that my color shouldn’t be a con for me, if anything it should be a plus to my character, and a plus to my personality,and only my abilities should be the deciding factor on what kind of person I am.
I think that I am a very nice, kind, sincere, loving friend because I am told that many times, and personally I love to be viewed in such a way and not viewed as “the black kid”. The color of my skin should certainly not be what people judge me by. The color of my skin has no control over my personality, my abilities, or my predilections. I should be viewed as a colorless human as everyone else should, because the only purpose that color serves is diversity. I think that out of my classmates I can be one of the most sympathetic when I need to be. I believe that this is why some people respect my input or ideas because they know that I really care about what happens to them and know that I want to give them genuine advice. However, if my chocolate skin has anything to do with my personality then it should only be a reminder of just how sweet I can be. I also really value kindness because so many good things can come of it. When I do domeone a kindness I feel like a better person afterwards, and thats a great feeling. Another pro about kindness is the karma you may receive, which can be anything from finding a dollar on the ground to winning the lottery. In short I love my kindness most about myself because that is what people choose to judge me by.
Similar to me Ms. Hurston also had something she liked about herself, which was the color of her skin. Ms. Hurston was not ashamed or afraid that she was black. She even states “I am not tragically colored. There is no sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.” (Hurston 115). She did not care what people thought about her if they judged her by her skin. Ms. Hurston seemed more shocked that anyone could deny her presence. “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonished me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” (Hurston 118). Ms. Hurston felt no different than an ordinary person. She could sing and dance and ask questions to any white person just as easily as she could to a colored. She even states in the book “I remember the very day that I became colored” and this astonishes me because before she went to Jacksonville she felt normal, she felt like a regular person, she felt that no color could define her, as it should be.
As I have said before there are many famous African Americans who were loved and judged by what they shared with the world. Ms. Hurston felt that she had a lot to give and share with the world, but she never got the opportunity to. I however, will my kindness with everyone so that our world may become a tiny bit more of a better place. If there are people who still hold prejudices than let them mull over the misapprehensions they have made and if they still do not see the truth then pray, pray that they’ll understand one day. (not meant to offend anyone if they don’t believe in prayer)
Key
Purple-Purposeful Repitition
Red-FAST Words
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale. "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." The Best American Essays of the Century. ED. Robert Atwan. Boston:Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
20 October 2008
Color and Kindness:
A comparison between preferences of self.
There are so many colored people who were and still are loved by millions in the world such as Oprah, Coby Bryant, Bill Cosby, and Martin Luther King Jr. and many of them aren’t loved because they’re colored, but because of their personalities and what they have taught us. Zora Neale Hurst decides that the thing she likes most about herself is that she is colored and she elucidates several times that she’s not ashamed to be colored. I too am proud that I’m colored, but on the other hand I am also proud at the amounts of kindness I can show to a classmate, to friends, to family, and even to strangers. I believe that my color shouldn’t be a con for me, if anything it should be a plus to my character, and a plus to my personality,and only my abilities should be the deciding factor on what kind of person I am.
I think that I am a very nice, kind, sincere, loving friend because I am told that many times, and personally I love to be viewed in such a way and not viewed as “the black kid”. The color of my skin should certainly not be what people judge me by. The color of my skin has no control over my personality, my abilities, or my predilections. I should be viewed as a colorless human as everyone else should, because the only purpose that color serves is diversity. I think that out of my classmates I can be one of the most sympathetic when I need to be. I believe that this is why some people respect my input or ideas because they know that I really care about what happens to them and know that I want to give them genuine advice. However, if my chocolate skin has anything to do with my personality then it should only be a reminder of just how sweet I can be. I also really value kindness because so many good things can come of it. When I do domeone a kindness I feel like a better person afterwards, and thats a great feeling. Another pro about kindness is the karma you may receive, which can be anything from finding a dollar on the ground to winning the lottery. In short I love my kindness most about myself because that is what people choose to judge me by.
Similar to me Ms. Hurston also had something she liked about herself, which was the color of her skin. Ms. Hurston was not ashamed or afraid that she was black. She even states “I am not tragically colored. There is no sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.” (Hurston 115). She did not care what people thought about her if they judged her by her skin. Ms. Hurston seemed more shocked that anyone could deny her presence. “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonished me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” (Hurston 118). Ms. Hurston felt no different than an ordinary person. She could sing and dance and ask questions to any white person just as easily as she could to a colored. She even states in the book “I remember the very day that I became colored” and this astonishes me because before she went to Jacksonville she felt normal, she felt like a regular person, she felt that no color could define her, as it should be.
As I have said before there are many famous African Americans who were loved and judged by what they shared with the world. Ms. Hurston felt that she had a lot to give and share with the world, but she never got the opportunity to. I however, will my kindness with everyone so that our world may become a tiny bit more of a better place. If there are people who still hold prejudices than let them mull over the misapprehensions they have made and if they still do not see the truth then pray, pray that they’ll understand one day. (not meant to offend anyone if they don’t believe in prayer)
Key
Purple-Purposeful Repitition
Red-FAST Words
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale. "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." The Best American Essays of the Century. ED. Robert Atwan. Boston:Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Another Essay by Teddy
10/7/08
Teddy Purnell
Mr.Salsich
Room 2
We Win Some, We Lose Some
An Essay About the Gains and Losses in “Sonny's Blues” and “Winter Dreams”
In both “Sonny's Blues” and “Winter Dreams”, there are parts in which the protagonist either gains or looses something. In both “Sonny's Blues” and “Winter Dreams”, there are many things that the protagonists care about, but the more things they care about, the more they have to loose. In both “Sonny's Blues” and “Winter Dreams”, the main character must learn to accept their losses and revere their gains. “Sonny's Blues” has more examples of gains and losses than in “Winter Dreams”, however.
Sonny, the main character in “Sonny's Blues”, looses many things, but gains even more. In the beginning of the story, he has already lost himself due to heroin. His brother mails him letters while he is in jail for peddling heroin. Other than his brother, he has lost all contact with his family-he has even lost contact with his best friend. Eventually, he gets over his addiction and gets released from jail. He doesn't meet his friend again, but he does meet his brother, and they have a talk about what he wants to do for a career. He tell his brother that he wants to be a musician, much to his brothers dismay. He gains quite a bit of respect from his brother when he takes him to a local bar that he is going to play in and his brother hears him play. His music is so good that a man named Creole says,”you got a real musician in your family” to Sonny's brother. His brother notices that everyone in the bar knows Sonny. Through a series of losses and gains, Sonny gets his life back on track, which is the opposite of what happens to Dexter Green in “Winter Dreams”.
In “Winter Dreams”, Dexter Green's losses outweigh his gains. First he looses Judy, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He thought he was going to marry her, but he lost her. He gave up on having her, and didn't see her for an extended period of time, which makes him very distressed,”Men like Dexter Green do not cry easily; his tears and the language explaining them therefore point either to melodrama or to a complex significance”, writes Clinton S. Burhans , the author of “Magnificently Attune to Life”: The Value of ‘‘Winter Dreams’’. Later on in the story, he meets Irene, a very pretty woman that he starts dating. After a few months, Dexter gets engaged to Irene. They are to be wed three months later. Just when he thought his life was getting better, guess who popped back into his life. That's right, Judy. He runs into Judy, they get talking, and Dexter says that they cannot be together anymore, the only difference from last time they saw each other is-she loves him back now. This is how Dexter's life goes from great, to good, to atrocious(purposeful repetition).
Both of these stories have an important lesson in life, we gain some, we lose some, life isn't perfect. The protagonists learn this the hard way: through experience. Although they had to be the ones to find out for themselves, they show us what they learned in the form of these stories. No matter how hard you try, something is bound to go wrong at one point or another.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Tristan's Essay
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
English 02
October 7, 2008
Winter Blues
An Essay on Loss and Gain in Winter Dreams and Sonny’s Blues
Both Sonny’s Blues and Winter Dreams are stories of gain accumulated by application of loss. Things aren’t always gained through loss, but Sonny’s Blues and Winter Dreams are two perfect examples of gaining from loss. One could say that whenever one experienced loss and suffering, one did gain a lesson, which is expressed in the quote, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Throughout both Sonny’s Blues, and Winter Dreams, Dexter and Sonny gained many lessons from what didn’t kill them.
Sonny was almost killed by his addiction to heroin, rebellious behavior, and the bad crowd he chose to be around, but instead he took the consequential loss and channeled it into his music to let loose the inferno built up inside him. The catalyst to most of Sonny’s trouble with life was his addiction to heroin, which got him arrested, and made him spend time in rehabilitation. Despite the fact that rehab appeared to have had no effect upon him, Sonny started to realize that if he kept his behavior up, he would continue to get in trouble. This realization may not have made Sonny change his behavior, but it got the ball rolling towards his subconscious ultimate goal of becoming a better person. Sonny’s addiction to heroin also helped him to build up the internal storm which would drive him towards finding a way of letting it out, the heroin may have been a temporary way for Sonny to let out the storm, but ultimately it just popped the pustule that needed to be drained. Throughout Sonny’s Blues, Sonny changed behavior from a happy boy with the winter dream of becoming a jazz musician to a young man who wanted nothing but to play the piano and do heroin, to a thoughtful man who just wanted to be close with his brother, each change of character was triggered by some event or thought in Sonny’s life, and changed Sonny’s life in turn. In the first half of Sonny’s Blues, Sonny had obsessive behavior in regard to the piano, which eventually got him kicked out of the house he was currently living in. Even here, we start to see loss and gain as Sonny’s behavior gets him kicked out of the house, but also helps him counteract his feelings with both heroin and piano, starting to find a compromise, on the rise to becoming completely clean. As Sonny becomes more thoughtful, this behavior helps him really think about how he should be behaving, how he should be dealing with his emotions. While Sonny is in the process of building the cocoon he would soon find himself trapped in, he makes the mistake of hanging around the wrong group of people, this mistake most likely led to a large amount of his problems, and also probably led to the salvation of music as an emotional outlet. This shows how he loses by wasting so much time in rehab, getting kicked out of his house, and almost loses his brother, but gains a creative outlet for his emotions. Sonny’s losses may seem great, almost to the point of ruining his life, but what he gained in the end made up for his mistakes, and additionally set him on the road towards success.
Dexter Green had similar experiences as Sonny, maybe not quite as risky, but in essence, he had the same experience of loss for gain, but in his case, Dexter loses Judy basically twice in his life, making his loss all the more painful. Dexter does earn success, money, and power throughout Winter Dreams, but he also doesn’t get the woman of his dreams. Judy treats Dexter horribly throughout his life, but Dexter maintains his love for her even after becoming engaged with another woman. This shows that even after Dexter gains money, power, and a wife, the only thing he thinks about is that he hasn’t gained the woman he loves. Even after it becomes painfully apparent that Judy won’t take Dexter, his remaining love still forces him to dream about Judy, these winter dreams that he continues to cherish create a happy protective bubble around him, only really enjoying Judy’s company when he is left alone to think about her. Even after the loss of Judy, he gains satisfaction from her memories. In the second half of Winter Dreams, Dexter discovers that Judy is married, and has changed to the point of him not loving her any more, but after confronting her, Dexter learns that she now loves him. This rediscovery of Judy makes further enjoyment of Dexter’s prized memories impossible, “When Devlin destroys this imaginative present, Dexter finally and forever loses not only Judy and his love for her but also his ability to keep alive in his imagination the best part of his youth and its winter dreams.” (____) From this loss of everything that made him happy, Dexter gains, or rather avoids, the experience of watching Judy waste away in front of him. Even though Dexter lost having Judy truly in his life, he did gain happiness from his winter dreams of her, and the luxury of preserving that fallacy for as long as he could.
Dexter and Sonny both went through life-changing experiences in relation to what they lost and gained, but their loss was always coupled with their gain. One may say that throughout both of the protagonist’s stories, what didn’t kill them made them stronger, with their strength feeding off of their loss. Like a muscle being torn, and growing back, Sonny and Dexter’s emotions were being tested, and then returning with even more willpower. Some may say that both Sonny and Dexter would have been better off without the whole ordeals, but the events in their lives made them who they are, and to that, there is no argument.
Works Cited
"'Magnificently Attuned to Life': the Value of 'Winter Dreams'" www.enotes.com 4 October, 2008
http://www.enotes.com/winter-dreams/magnificently-attune-life-value-winter-
Ty's 4th essay
Ty LeVarge
Mr. Salsich
English 02
06 October, 2008
Could there be a gain from a loss?
Is it possible to have a gain from a loss for someone who messed up their lives; and is the gain something other than learning from your mistakes? I think that having a gain out of a loss is as possible as catching a fish and that it is very possible to receive a good out of a bad. This exists both in "Sonny’s Blues", and "Winter Dreams". Several positives that come out of the bad can appear in everyday life as well.
First, I will start with "Sonny’s Blues" where the title gives away the fact that someone could make gains from losses. Sonny lost control of himself at the start of Sonny’s Blues by becoming addicted to heroin which represents a major loss for him. He messed up his life because of heroin and that messed up his life more than before, so he paid a hefty price for it. Through using heroin, he also messed up his mental health and he wasn’t thinking straight and ruined his life that way as well. Another loss in Sonny’s Blues is the narrator’s character that loses the brother he once knew. He only sees the brother who has been on drugs and in all sorts of trouble; not the one he remembers from the past. Sonny in the past was like a normal person, no drugs, no fights, a good and healthy life. That’s the brother the narrator remembers from the old days. However, he receives a gift from all of the bad things that he chose to do and went through during his life. At the end of the prodigious story, he plays his blues at a local nightclub along with some of his old friends. He also seems to have fulfilled one of his dreams which is to play the piano and to become a pianist. Sonny’s Blues overall has some interesting ups from downs all around and is sure to pass on the message that you get gains from losses and that it passes the message on to other readers as well.
As in "Sonny’s Blues", "Winter Dreams" had a lot of losses but also a few gains from them as well. The first great loss was when Dexter lost Judy’s love which was a big deal for Dexter because he loved Judy but couldn’t accept love back. As stated in Ms. Burhans’ essay, “Men like Dexter don’t cry” is saying that he doesn’t physically cry, but I think that he does cry mentally or in the inside of his heart. Through all of the things that he has been through, all of the things he has had in his possession, and all of the things he has seen, he cries mainly because the one he loves turns on him. After Judy left Dexter, Dexter lost all sense of love within his heart. His engagement with Judy was over and so was his with Irene. After his heart broke he just decided to give up on being burdensome to get a wife or to even be in love. Although, by making the sacrifice of not loving someone, he was able to gain emotional freedom to his mind and to reduce the stress he was feeling. Through joining the army, he was able to conciliate this emotional freedom and to live without fear of loss from love, live without worry of love, and to live without missing or feeling sad of any he loved. He is now free of any thoughts of Judy or anyone else he loved so he didn’t get emotional about it. Winter Dreams is basically a story of love, loss, and learning from them and the readers of this story should take it seriously.
Winter Dreams and Sonny’s Blues are related very similarly in terms of Losses and gains and they should be respected as so. Sonny’s Blues has a lot more losses that are happening in the world right now and are more emotional because it’s about a brother who gets addicted to heroin and can’t break free. Winter Dreams is still of sadness and loss but isn’t as powerful with the losses within it as Sonny’s Blues has within it. Both Sonny’s Blues and Winter Dreams are both emotional and sad stories, but whether one is more powerful than the other does not matter.
Works Cited“‘Magnificently Attune to Life’: The Value of ‘Winter Dreams’” http://www.enotes.com/winter-dreams/magnificently-attune-life-value-winter-dreams Accesed 2 October 2008
Mr. Salsich
English 02
06 October, 2008
Could there be a gain from a loss?
Is it possible to have a gain from a loss for someone who messed up their lives; and is the gain something other than learning from your mistakes? I think that having a gain out of a loss is as possible as catching a fish and that it is very possible to receive a good out of a bad. This exists both in "Sonny’s Blues", and "Winter Dreams". Several positives that come out of the bad can appear in everyday life as well.
First, I will start with "Sonny’s Blues" where the title gives away the fact that someone could make gains from losses. Sonny lost control of himself at the start of Sonny’s Blues by becoming addicted to heroin which represents a major loss for him. He messed up his life because of heroin and that messed up his life more than before, so he paid a hefty price for it. Through using heroin, he also messed up his mental health and he wasn’t thinking straight and ruined his life that way as well. Another loss in Sonny’s Blues is the narrator’s character that loses the brother he once knew. He only sees the brother who has been on drugs and in all sorts of trouble; not the one he remembers from the past. Sonny in the past was like a normal person, no drugs, no fights, a good and healthy life. That’s the brother the narrator remembers from the old days. However, he receives a gift from all of the bad things that he chose to do and went through during his life. At the end of the prodigious story, he plays his blues at a local nightclub along with some of his old friends. He also seems to have fulfilled one of his dreams which is to play the piano and to become a pianist. Sonny’s Blues overall has some interesting ups from downs all around and is sure to pass on the message that you get gains from losses and that it passes the message on to other readers as well.
As in "Sonny’s Blues", "Winter Dreams" had a lot of losses but also a few gains from them as well. The first great loss was when Dexter lost Judy’s love which was a big deal for Dexter because he loved Judy but couldn’t accept love back. As stated in Ms. Burhans’ essay, “Men like Dexter don’t cry” is saying that he doesn’t physically cry, but I think that he does cry mentally or in the inside of his heart. Through all of the things that he has been through, all of the things he has had in his possession, and all of the things he has seen, he cries mainly because the one he loves turns on him. After Judy left Dexter, Dexter lost all sense of love within his heart. His engagement with Judy was over and so was his with Irene. After his heart broke he just decided to give up on being burdensome to get a wife or to even be in love. Although, by making the sacrifice of not loving someone, he was able to gain emotional freedom to his mind and to reduce the stress he was feeling. Through joining the army, he was able to conciliate this emotional freedom and to live without fear of loss from love, live without worry of love, and to live without missing or feeling sad of any he loved. He is now free of any thoughts of Judy or anyone else he loved so he didn’t get emotional about it. Winter Dreams is basically a story of love, loss, and learning from them and the readers of this story should take it seriously.
Winter Dreams and Sonny’s Blues are related very similarly in terms of Losses and gains and they should be respected as so. Sonny’s Blues has a lot more losses that are happening in the world right now and are more emotional because it’s about a brother who gets addicted to heroin and can’t break free. Winter Dreams is still of sadness and loss but isn’t as powerful with the losses within it as Sonny’s Blues has within it. Both Sonny’s Blues and Winter Dreams are both emotional and sad stories, but whether one is more powerful than the other does not matter.
Works Cited“‘Magnificently Attune to Life’: The Value of ‘Winter Dreams’” http://www.enotes.com/winter-dreams/magnificently-attune-life-value-winter-dreams Accesed 2 October 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Kyle's Fourth Essay (I thought it was the third)
Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
4 October 2008
“The Gamble of life”:
The losses and gains in “Winter Dreams” and “Sonny’s Blues”
Professor H. Salsich
English 02
4 October 2008
“The Gamble of life”:
The losses and gains in “Winter Dreams” and “Sonny’s Blues”
TS: People can have great gains, like winning the lottery, or have great losses, like the death of a loved one, throughout their lives. SD: But in the stories “Winter Dreams” and “Sonny’s Blues” there was a great loss for Dexter and a great gain for Sonny. CM: Sonny had a greater gain than Dexter, having finally had found his place in the world. CM: Dexter, however lost something of more importance than Sonny had lost, his dream of loving a special someone.
TS: Dexter had many gains; conversely, they pale in comparison to Sonny’s greatest achievement of finding his place in the world. SD: Dexter had many small victories, like having his own business and having his own “glittering things”, but Sonny didn’t care about that kind of life; he simply wished to have his own place in the world. CM: Sonny’s greatest wish was for himself to find a place where everyone accepts him and he can be himself and he made that dream come true. CM: Dexter wasn’t as fortunate. He may have had many small successes, but they were only the minor pretensions of his “Winter Dreams”. SD: When Sonny had finally found his place at the night club he must have felt overwhelmed with joy, but Dexter never felt this immense happiness. CM: He only felt the small ripples of joy instead of the swelling ocean of happiness. SD: Sonny’s dream may have been easier to fulfill because he only had that one dream that he pursued. CM: He didn’t have any other dreams that he really focused on besides playing his music and trying to get his brother and others to accept him. CM: Dexter had many dreams of being rich and owning expensive things and he focused on all of them until he met Judy again years later. CS: However, Dexter had many small moments of joy, but in contrast to fulfilling your greatest joy, like Sonny did, they didn’t really matter to him.
TS: In consequence to Dexter not having made his aspiration of keeping Judy Jones as he once saw her in his memory, he had gained a greater loss than Sonny had ever experienced. SD: The only reason Sonny fell into the dark web of addiction was because his greatest ambition didn’t come true at first. CM: Because Sonny felt that no one saw him for himself, Sonny gave up music and turned to drugs to escape his emotions of not being understood. CM: However, Sonny was able to get help and eventually continued on making his dream come true. SD: Dexter did not have the luxury of being able to “get help” or even try to keep chasing after his dream. CM: There wasn’t any help available for his problem because once he had lost his image of Judy, he had lost their memories together, the times they shared, the beauty he wanted to remember forever, the very essence of why he fell in love with her. CM: “These had been basis of his love for her-not to her reflection of eternal youth or beauty but their physical and perishable realities” (Burhans). The way you picture someone cannot not be changed as easily as trying to get others to accept you. SD: Sonny never really had any small achievements, but he never had a great loss either. CM: He only went through small trials like trying to get his brother to listen and finding a life involved with music. CM: He never felt what it was like to have a loved one never care about you, although he may have felt that way. CS: As a result of Dexter having a great loss and Sonny having small losses I have concluded that Dexter has suffered greater sorrow than Sonny had.
TS: Dexter’s loss and Sonny’s gain may seem like big deals to them, but in reality they’re everyday occurrences. SD: Thousands of people have gotten their hearts broken and thousands have had trouble finding their places in the world. CM: These are all ordinary things that happen all around the world. CM: Life has many things to take away from you and it has many things to give you, but you have to accept any problem or gift that comes your way and just live life.
Key
Yellow=Appositives
Green=Fast Words
Bold=Loose Sentences
Purple=Purposeful Repetition
Works Cited
“‘Magnificently Attune to Life’: The Value of ‘Winter Dreams’” enotes.com 4 October2008
http://www.enotes.com/winter-dreams/magnificently-attune-life-value-winter-dreams.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Teddy (invisabloid)'s first Essay
18 September 2008
Teddy Purnell
Mr. Salsich
Room 2
The Journey of Life
An essay relating a Quote and “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Of all the quotes in the hall at Pine Point School, “The Journey is the reward” related best to the poem by Rilke. Both the poem and the quote are not quite clear the first time they are read. If you read it just once, you will not fully understand it, and thus, will not benefit from its true meaning. When I first read the quote, “the journey is the reward”, I thought, “that makes absolutely no sense at all.” Then I repeated the quote a few times in my head, and then it occurred to me that maybe it meant you get more out of a hike than you do looking for treasure. If you're on a hike, you don't usually expect to find anything, and so if you do find something, you'll get more joy out of finding that one, little, minuscule thing than if you expect to find something great, and you don't find anything whatsoever.
I realized that both the quote and the poem talk about a “journey” and “reward” of some kind. In the poem, the journey is living the questions. “Live the questions now. Perhaps then someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” The rewards are the answers to the questions, which you must “live your way into”. In the quote, the journey is the reward and the reward is the journey. They are both the same. It is simple, and yet, on a deeper level, perplexing. The poem and the quote relate to each other, they are different, and so they are alike.
In both the poem and the quote send the same message, “slow down, everything will come to you in the end.” In the quote, the message is sent by an example-yours. You're so focused on finding the true meaning as fast as you can, that you may have overlooked it without noticing the quote is simple at a glance, but you must carefully search for the meaning of it. As for the poem, Rilke tells us, “Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them.” You have to be patient when it comes to life, never try to speed through life, but live life to its fullest. Let the answers come to you. One message expressed through two different styles.
Whether this is the message that Rilke and the person who said the quote wanted to send, that I do not know. All I know is that this is the message that they sent to me. I have already learned that they are right, we need to take our time, and do things carefully. Just the experience of writing this-the first essay of the year-proves to me that, ”The journey is the reward”.
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
--Chinese Proverb, “The Journey is the Reward”
Teddy Purnell
Mr. Salsich
Room 2
The Journey of Life
An essay relating a Quote and “Letters to a Young Poet” by Rainer Maria Rilke
Of all the quotes in the hall at Pine Point School, “The Journey is the reward” related best to the poem by Rilke. Both the poem and the quote are not quite clear the first time they are read. If you read it just once, you will not fully understand it, and thus, will not benefit from its true meaning. When I first read the quote, “the journey is the reward”, I thought, “that makes absolutely no sense at all.” Then I repeated the quote a few times in my head, and then it occurred to me that maybe it meant you get more out of a hike than you do looking for treasure. If you're on a hike, you don't usually expect to find anything, and so if you do find something, you'll get more joy out of finding that one, little, minuscule thing than if you expect to find something great, and you don't find anything whatsoever.
I realized that both the quote and the poem talk about a “journey” and “reward” of some kind. In the poem, the journey is living the questions. “Live the questions now. Perhaps then someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” The rewards are the answers to the questions, which you must “live your way into”. In the quote, the journey is the reward and the reward is the journey. They are both the same. It is simple, and yet, on a deeper level, perplexing. The poem and the quote relate to each other, they are different, and so they are alike.
In both the poem and the quote send the same message, “slow down, everything will come to you in the end.” In the quote, the message is sent by an example-yours. You're so focused on finding the true meaning as fast as you can, that you may have overlooked it without noticing the quote is simple at a glance, but you must carefully search for the meaning of it. As for the poem, Rilke tells us, “Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them.” You have to be patient when it comes to life, never try to speed through life, but live life to its fullest. Let the answers come to you. One message expressed through two different styles.
Whether this is the message that Rilke and the person who said the quote wanted to send, that I do not know. All I know is that this is the message that they sent to me. I have already learned that they are right, we need to take our time, and do things carefully. Just the experience of writing this-the first essay of the year-proves to me that, ”The journey is the reward”.
--Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
--Chinese Proverb, “The Journey is the Reward”
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tristan's Essay
Tristan Yerkes
Mr. Salsich
English 02
22 September, 2008
A Lifelong Funk
Analyzing an Analytical Essay on Sonny’s Blues
Everyone gets the blues. Some people can cope with this sadness better than others, some cannot, and even more people cannot even think of dealing with their blues, and instead let sadness consume, and become them. This particular essay deals with Sonny, and his blues. Ms. Goldman wrote a very informative essay, James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”: a Message in Music, which examines Sonny’s Blues, and what it means.
Goldman’s essay starts off examining Baldwin’s writing style, and a very brief overview of main points in Sonny’s Blues. Goldman goes on to state that the very beginning of Sonny’s Blues sets foundations on which the two main characters’ relationship is built. As Goldman states, “Yet this rude discovery [of Sonny’s drug addiction] sounds the initial note in these two brothers’ growing closeness.” (Goldman, 1) this quote illustrates the kicking-off of the brothers’ newfound relationship, and demonstrates how very distant they really are. After hearing of Sonny, the narrator continues to take proverbial “steps” towards Sonny, such as when he starts to understand the boys he teaches. Goldman continues to make connections and relationships, as she further explains the story, and how the two main characters both draw closer together and grow apart. As Goldman quotes directly from a frustrated Sonny in Sonny’s Blues, “I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.” To which Ms. Goldman boldly comments, “Because he has no one to communicate with, the piano becomes his only source of expression.”(2) To one, this may seem like something to pull the two brothers apart, but as the story progresses, it just becomes another brick in the stonework of their relationship. However, after this Goldman says that Sonny running away was just a way that the other characters reached him. Goldman now relays that once the narrator feels sympathetic with Sonny, and listens to his music, all of his suffering is thrown into perspective. The brothers now apparently forge a newfound relationship, spawned partially by them both witnessing a street revival meeting. Directly after this meeting, Sonny invites the narrator to a concert where, through music, Sonny conveys all the suffering, pain, and emotion he has encountered along his dark and dangerous path to becoming an excellent musician. Through this music, the main character sees how nobody listens, how he should listen, and how Sonny listens. After this Baldwin leaves the story, with no more bumps in Sonny’s life, and the masonry of the brothers’ relationship solid and sound.
Goldman does an excellent job analyzing Sonny’s Blues, relating to the reader what things mean, how they are used, and she never takes anything said at face value. One thing in which Goldman truly excelled at was taking simple comments, annotations, and anecdotes, and elaborating to show what they may or may not signify. As an example, in the first section of the story, when the narrator has just discovered Sonny’s arrest, and the void between them, Goldman comments on a boy whistling, saying, “[he was] the young man who makes himself heard and transcends the disenchantment, the darkness with his song.” Regardless of if this was actually a reference to later on in the story, Goldman made an excellent connection. Although it may be hard to take anything in Sonny’s Blues at face value due to the lack of direct statements, Goldman does an excellent job of analyzing every bit of Sonny’s Blues. During the second movement, in which Sonny comes back home from prison, the simplicity of Sonny’s discomfort at the dinner table is thrown into an intricate fabric work of reasons as to why he is uncomfortable, which all seem obvious once explained. Later on, at the start of the fourth movement, the death of the narrator’s daughter, which is not exactly a simple event, with much emotion from the main character, is cast into even more complexity, as Goldman simply explains how this helped the narrator feel more for Sonny. Goldman doesn’t just elaborate on events in the story themselves, but she even puts them to more use, as she finds meaning for everything. At the very end of the story, after the climax, Goldman has a short section on what Sonny’s blues did for his brother. In this section, Goldman displays how the music summed up, and gave meaning to both of their lives, and even relates Sonny’s blues to the rest of us, and the suffering we feel.
After reading Goldman’s essay, some may feel the blues, but no matter what your way of dealing with the blues may be, Goldman’s essay does have many useful messages contained within it. Goldman’s essay does focus mainly on sad patches of life, with barely any moments of happiness, but regardless, I think she greatly explains and elaborates upon the story of Sonny and his blues. Sonny’s Blues is a very meaningful story, packed with emotion, and pain, it throws light into many cold, hard, dark corners of our lives, which we may have left neglected for a long time, perhaps because of the pain or sorrow. I think James Baldwin and Suzy Goldman helped to throw light into those corners, and better all who read their works and their knowledge of personal relationships.
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