Monday, April 7, 2008

Proposal

For my multigenre project I am going to try something different than what I usually do. The "theme" if you want to call it is going to be inspiration or imagination. The theme does not necessarily lie in the text, but rather in me and my relationship with the text. I am going to use a vairety of texts from the class and use them as a creative starting point. I will use them as inspiration to create my own work or put a spin on the text. I plan on using them for poems, alternate endings, personal experiences, etc.

Monday, March 24, 2008

More Poems

I didn’t find ten poems, but here is a list of what I found;

“God Bless America” by an unknown author

“The Thermobarbaric Bomb” by unknown author

“Sept. 11, 2001” By Amanda G. DeBey

”TWIN TOWER” By Lisa Midwood

“What the Bullet Sang” by Bret Harte

“Twas the Night Before Bagdad” by the mother of a soldier

“There is no Poem that will Stop this War” Joe Napora

All of these poems deal with war or political themes of the time. Many of them express negative feelings towards war. Some are written by those who have been touched by war in some way. The one I liked the best was “Twas the Night Before Bagdad.” The poem uses the same patterns as “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” I thought that that was an interesting base to use for a poem like this. The poem kept with the rhyme scheme and felt much like “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” I felt that it was well written and an interesting poem to check out. Here it is for you to read:

Twas the night before Baghdad

Twas the night before Baghdad
And all through the base
Not a heartbeat was silent
Not a smile on one face

The soldiers at attention
Fists raised in the air
Saddam is a monster!
We must all go there!

So we loaded our planes
With our guns and our tanks
And we sent all the soldiers
To Kuwaits outer banks

From Kuwait, from Turkey
From Saudi and more
With battering rams
We knocked on his door

The Fedayin heard
All the military clatter
And ran to Saddam
To ask what was the matter

Don't worry he said
With a heartening ring
They financed my reign
They won't do this thing

We bombed all the buildings
Til the fires were glowing
While Baby Bush yelled
Keep the oil pipes flowing!

He should be a magician
Our Baby Bush, cuz you see
He created the biggest illusion
The WMD's

He lied to us all
About terror and pain
When all that he's after
Is monetary gain

For Daddy, and Barbara
And Baby Bush too
There is no such thing
As too much oil revenue

Some people believe
That it's for our own good
To bomb and to kill
To shed innocent blood

They sleep in their beds
Oblivious to lies
While we who have wakened
Hear bloodcurdling cries

Cries of our fathers,
Our brothers and sons
Sent to fight in a war
That cannot be won

We liberated them!
Our Baby Bush chimes
That is why they attack us
Time after time

With Christmas upon us
He steps up his work
Of campaigning again
The self serving jerk!

He'll don his flight suit
He'll have all his fun
Wishing Merry Christmas! Keep fighting!
And to all....Duck and Run!


written by mother of a soldier

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Poems

The six poems I read are:

Game Day (Nothing To Loose Everything To Prove) by JDBison

Deicide Government by: Unknown Author

Poverty Police by: Unknown Author

Basketball by: Rachael Kerney

My Son by: Ada Tyrrell

The Marine and the Terrorist by: Richard Macwilliam

The poem “My Son” is written by a mother who is concerned about her son in the military. All she asks is that he returns home safe. She knows the danger that lie ahead and she is hoping for the best. It’s a situation that many families can relate. Seeing their love ones leave, especially when they may be in danger. They hope for the best, but fear the worst.

“The Marine and The Terrorist” gives an interesting comparison of the two. It is one poem written twice with different titles. On the surface you would look at a Marine and a Terrorist and think one is good and one is evil. But if you think from their perspective, which is what the author does, you see that they have the opposite views of one another. I found this poem and tactic interesting and insightful.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Marks

I found this poem interesting both from an enjoyment standpoint and also by looking at how it was written. The woman in the poem, a mother/wife, seems frustrated with the "marks" she is given by those around her. The author uses marks or grades to indicate how those around her see her and her actions. She is constantly graded on her performance, as if she were a student. As the poem moves along her marks lower and her anger and frustration builds. I'm not quite sure what the others motivation for writing this poem is, but it’s possible that she has experienced judgmental people in her time. In the end she says, "I'm dropping out" which signals the end of her dealing with the marks others give her. She will no longer be judged by others and is moving on with her life. I found the idea interesting and unique when I read the poem. It was different than the others and stood out to me.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Morning

Morning by Billy Collins is a simple yet effective poem. The author describes top the reader why he loves the morning so much. There are many lines in the poem that reflect the wonders of the morning. One part states:

“This is the best-
Throwing off the light covers
Feet on the cold floor,
And buzzing around the house on espresso-“

This passage describes when one first wakes up in the morning. You come out from under the sheets and blankets and touch the floor, often times feeling the cold chill of the morning on the floor. He also mentions espresso for the first time in the poem. Another passage states:

“maybe a splash of water on the face,
a palmful of vitamins-
but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso”

Here the author describes some action one does when they first wake up in the morning. He also one again mention espresso, which is popular to many in the morning. Coffee is important to many in the morning and he is no exception.

I found this poem to be much easier to understand than some of the others we read for today. It was simple, which also made it more enjoyable after reading some of the other poems for class. Sometimes simple is better.

Monday, March 10, 2008

A Love Poem

They met at 17
It was love at first sight.
They spent time together
In the day and the night.
They began to date
It was a perfect match
They were inseparable
When you saw one you saw the other
They were like one
Nothing could come between them
No problem was too big
No argument too heated
They were met for one another
They went to different colleges
But their relationship never strayed
Temptation was never too strong
Their relationship would never fade
They would talk every night or every other
Their love was too strong to be broken
No other person would do
They were meant to be together
They were the only each had ever knew
They married at 25
It was the beginning of their lives
Together for forever and a day
Nothing would come between them
They would never stray

Monday, February 18, 2008

Lucky Response

It is apparent that Alice has different relationships with the different people in her life. The way she handles and deals with her rape around them is also very different. When she is first raped her immediate reaction is to not tell her mother. She tries to think of ways to hide it from her, but in the end she does tell her over he phone. Later on in the story a conversation over lunch she takes a different tone with her father. He asks if she would like something to eat and she responds by saying “That would be nice.” “considering the only thing I’ve had in my mouth in the last twenty-four hours is a cracker and a cock.” I can’t imagine that someone would react like this, but as the author states this is normal for her. To her and her family it shows that she is still the person she has always been even after the trauma and hardship of being raped. Later she sees a boy named Tom. Alice thinks that no boy will ever love her because she has been raped. Her family tries to tell her otherwise, but she does not agree with them. When she sits down with the boy at first he is very nice and understanding. She does not know that he knows anything her happened to her until they begin talking. It is then that she finds out that he has been told a lie. He thinks that she was beaten and robbed in the park. She then tells him the truth, that she had been raped. Their conversation turned awkward, as he did not know what to say. He began to move away every so slightly as to not make it obvious. He was at a loss for words and her feelings about how men will think of her were at least for now, confirmed.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Lucky

The first chapters of Lucky are chilling, yet compelling to the reader. The author gives a first hand account of the night she was raped near the campus where she went to college at the time. Some of the details were hard to read. I would guess that someone who has been through a similar experience would find these description all the more chilling and difficult to read. She describes in detail what the man made her do and what was going through her mind at the time. It was hard to read and I found myself stopping at points because of the sad details of what had happened to this woman. While it was hard to read, it was also very compelling. I felt for her and could not imagine going through what she had gone through. I wonder why she chose to begin with the rape, and then backtrack to her childhood in the third chapter? I think it was effective, but also could have been done differently if she had provided some background about herself before she details being raped. I think that as I read on, this reasoning will be clearer to me.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Non-fiction

I think that non-fiction is something based on a real life event, person, thing, etc. It can range from an autobiography to a true tale of a team or the retelling of an event in history. It must be based on facts and real life occurances, and not have fictonal charecters, events, etc. Basically any story that is told with facts and real events that have happened can be considered non-fiction.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

A Rose for Emily

I found the ending to A Rose for Emily to be both surprising and grotesque. I was not surprised that she would commit murder. Emily certainly had her issues. The author spent so much time setting up her eventual demise and on speculation from the townspeople that she may commit suicide that I felt that it would have been anticlimactic if that had been the ending. Instead the author went with a much more grotesque idea than simply suicide. The idea hat she had not only kept the dead body of him in her home after presumably killing him, but also had spent nights sleeping with the body clinging to her is quite horrific. It is like it comes straight from a horror film. The author does provide some clues to the ending. There is the strange smell in the house and the sudden disappearance of Homer. Both are explained with the ending of the story, but at them time left the reader to wonder.

The story is told through the eyes of a person from the town so we never really here from Emily about what is going through her mind. We only hear the thoughts and speculation of others. It would be interesting to hear Emily’s thoughts about her life and to see the story through her eyes in order to provide the reader a contrasting viewpoint and gain some insight into what she was going through.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Grief

Grief comes in many shapes and sizes. It can come and go quickly, or stick with someone for what seems like forever. It could be death or disappointment. It could be a relationship or heartbreak. It can be emotional or physical. While grief is sad, it is also necessary. It is one of the necessary evils in our society. If one never grief’s can they truly be happy? If everything was perfect, then what would we have to strive for? We must see the bottom, before we can reach the top. While often times it’s hard to overcome, the process can also be beneficial. It can bring people closer together or help you realize things you never thought you had. It can help one grow stronger. Often times out struggles bring out the best in us. Grief can also provide us a since of reality and give us a chance to reflect on what or whom we may have lost. These feelings, while hard to overcome, also give us a chance to honor and cherish things we may not otherwise recognize. We all have different ways of dealing with grief. Some like to talk, while some like to reflect privately. Others like to get away, before they come closer. Still others like to honor what has been lost and celebrate what is still yet to come. There is no right or wrong way to grieve. Everyone has their own way to deal with this necessary evil.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

How to Be Sucessful

1. Be prepared to work: sucess doesn't come easy.
2. Do somethng you want to do. If you don't enjoy it, then you won't reach your full potential.
3. Make good contacts: the more people you know, the better your chances for sucess.
4. Be yourself. Don't try to be something you're not.
5. Don't be afraid to fail. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. You wll have your ups and downs, but it will all work out in the end.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

How

I found this story to be a unique and creative look at a relationship and the feelings of those involved, specifically that of the female telling the story. I thought the way it was written was different from stories I have read in the past. The story is told in a way that describes the actions as a how to. The author takes you through the relationship in a way that tells you what happened by describing the how and not the who, what, and why. For example the author uses words like “begin by” and “think about leaving.” The author uses these hows to describe how the relationship evolves and eventually ends. I thought the author used these words effectively to tell the story. I also felt that by telling the story this way it made the story more interesting and intriguing than if the author had told the story by describing the events like they normally would be. Even though it was written differently, I still felt it was relatively easy to follow and comprehend. After reading this story I would definitely be interested in checking out more stories written by the author Lorrie Moore. I enjoyed the way the story was written and how the author presented it to the reader in a unique, yet simple manner.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Sonny's Blues

Often times family members can seem to be nothing like one another. Despite being from the same family, people can be very different from one another. They may have different interests, personalities, and often times take very different paths in life. Despite this, they are still family and can find something to bring them together. That is the case with Sonny and his brother in this story.
Sonny and his brother cannot appear to be more different from the outset. Sonny is a jazz musician and a drug addict who wants to escape from his past and pursue his dream of being a musician. His brother is a school teacher who seems to be much more secure in his standing in society and much more stable.
At one point in the story, Sonny is arrested for drug possession and his brother gets word of the arrest. Upon hearing about Sonny’s arrest, he begins to reflect upon their past. He had not been in contact with Sonny for many years, but he decided to write him. Their relationship appears trained at best. They often argue about what Sonny should do with his life. They both have different views on what patch he should take. Sonny’s brother does not understand why he wants to be a musician. He instead wants him to finish school, saying if he doesn’t he will regret it later.
After a while, Sonny’s brother finally has a chance to hear Sonny play his music. Upon hearing it, he begins to understand Sonny a bit. The music seems to draw them closer than they had been before. On page 103 he says, “As the singing filled the air the watching, listening faces underwent a change, the eyes focusing on something within; the music seemed to soothe a poison out of them; and time seemed, nearly, to fall away from the sullen, belligerent, battered faces, as though they were fleeing back to their first condition, while dreaming of their last.” With this it seems as though Sonny’s brother realizes the power of the music. In the end, the music is what brings them together. Seeing Sonny perform allows him to understand him better and ultimately brings them closer than they have ever been.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Introduction

This is my literature blog for English 1100. Here is some information about me

name: Stephen
year: Junior
major: Communication studies
minor: Spanish
hometown: Grand Rapids
interests: sports, traveling, volunteering, games, having fun!, sleeping, reading.