Hamlet Paper #2

Wow! This paper is super hard. I am really glad that Ms. Frailly extended the deadline for it because I needed more time to work on it and 'perfect' it. Although I had it 'finished' on Wednesday and could've handed it in, I'm glad that I didn't have to just yet. Even though this paper is crazy hard and extremely challenging for me, it has been a great learning experience because I have never before written a paper like this. I went an talked to Ms. Frailly Tuesday morning because I felt stuck, I wasn't quite sure if I was on track or not, and I wanted her opinion and help before I wrote one more word. Because I get easily discouraged at this point in the semester, it's good to talk with a professor to kind of pump me up and bring me back to reality. So, I've barely got 8 pages, and I'm going to finish tweaking it right now and hope for the best. Then I get to work on my Reflective essay (those are always fun-sarcasm). I'm trying really hard not to get stressed out, but thankfully, I have understanding friends, an encouraging family and the Almighty God to pull me through!

Peace in Crunch Time?

It's that time of year again...not Christmas, Easter, or Summer(although it's pretty close). It's CRUNCH TIME! Yep, the time near the end of the semester when a student becomes frazzled with so many final projects, papers and exams, that they lose sleep, become super grouchy, and always running out of time. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, you're smack in the middle of it right now. I am too! But you know, as I sit here at my desk, working on my literary research paper at 3:14am, I'm running out of time, have a crazy busy weekend planned, clearly not going to get alot of sleep tonight. It's really cool though because I was reading my Bible a few days ago and I found this totally-amazing, make-you-want-to-cry-your-eyes-out verse! I can't remember where it's found exactly but it said "For the Lord hath sustained me..." and I thought that was really amazing because in the midst of the craziness that comes at the end of the semester, God is right there guiding me, calming me and sustaining, so that I can come through and give Him the glory! I'm so thankful for my Creator and my Saviour. Without Him, I would be nothing but a crazy mess without peace when I need it most, now!

Air Pollution in China

I recently had to write a research paper for geography on the air pollution condition in China. I had no idea what I was writing about, or the disturbing information that I found when researching the topic. The extremely unsafe level of air pollution in China is so bad, that there is a rise in respiratory diseases, cancer patients, birth defects and other serious health concerns among citizens. Visitors to the more industrialized business districts even find that it is hard to breathe and coughing is nearly constant. I could not believe some of the statistics that I discovered, like due to air pollution and acid rain, over 90% of Chinese citizens consume contaminated water every day! That is really alarming, but it also makes me very grateful for the clean air and clean water that I am blessed with. I know that sometimes I complain or joke about living out in the middle of nowhere, but with its cons comes many pros, like clean air and water for example. I don't have to wear a mask during my morning commute, pure filtered water isn't a privilege for me, and knowing that every breath that I take isn't filled with toxins and synthetic poisons is so reassuring.
This research, like all of my other school projects, papers and exams, provided me with a learning experience that reaches farther than just the condition of China's air. I learned to be grateful for the things that I take for granted everyday; clean water, fresh air, and my health. God is so good to me!

The Star-Spangled Banner

“O say, can you see…” I love those words; the first five words of the Star-Spangled Banner. Whenever I hear our national anthem, I am filled with pride and patriotism for what this song stands for… Francis Scott Key wrote these words while viewing the American flag after an intense overnight battle. He went to sleep (if he even slept) to the sound of cannons, muskets and the sound of the American Fort McHenry being bombarded in one of the British attacks in the War of 1812. When he woke up the next morning, he expected to see the fort flattened, bodies scattered about, and no sign of an American flag- which meant surrender. Much to his surprise, however, he saw the valiant red and white and blue banner blowing magnificently in the sea breeze as the sun announced the new day. Filled with pride, and overcome with emotion, Key wrote down the words to America’s national anthem. He titled this poem “The Defense of Fort McHenry” and was later put to the well-known tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven”. We hear the song performed at major events and put our hand over our heart in tribute. I was at a basketball game, and while the National Anthem was performed, I felt a great sense of pride and gratitude. I looked around and saw a veteran (my step-Grandfather) and I wondered what it is like for him, and other war-heroes, to sing or hear the “Star-Spangled Banner”. I love this song for what it stands for, who it stands for and the glory of the freedom that I have today.

...History...

Before this semester, I have never really been a big fan of history, especially American history. I've never found it to be interesting or intriguing, it seemed to be dull, and in the past where it needs to be. My perspective has totally and completely changed. Being in Mr. Dick's American History I class has totally transformed my perspective on history. Mr. Dick makes history exciting, interesting and fun. He has really challenged the class to learn about the antebellum history of our country in a deeper way.
When I first signed up for this class, I was a little shaky on how it would be, American History I sounded BORING to me. But Mr. Dick totally proved me wrong because now, although the class is at 9:30 in the morning, I look forward to coming because I get a chance to learn something new about the history of my country. When I signed up for this class, I had no idea that my outlook on history would be completely transformed. Here I am blogging about how much I love history now! It's pretty cool! =]

e-Portfolio

It's that time of the semester again; e-Portfolio time, that is. Today in class, after course eval, Ms. Frailly brought in the laptop cart and announced that it was time to start building our e-Portfolio. It's been an interesting class so far; Tyler, Ms. Frailly and Cameron started a Moron Club (they said I could join), I have not been able to type effectively, and the sound of other fingers tapping their keyboards is the background as Ms. Frailly walks around and helps us morons in our distress. Actually, creating this with Google is sooo much easier than the way we did it last semester with Epsilen. I like doing it in Google also because I can change the layout and personalize it with Colors, Backgrounds, and other groovy things like that. I am so glad that Ms. Frailly has kept everything in Google this semester, everything has been so much smoother! Welp, its 12:15, gotta go to math!

Another reflection!

The night before our Hamlet paper was due, I brainstormed and worked and worked until around 4am. I had originally planned to just make a few changes and tweek it a little bit, but when I got started working on it and got focused, I couldn't stop. I kept writing and writing until I had over 7 pages. So I edited and cut and revised until I had 6 pages. When I was revising, though, and looking for literary support, I uncovered a lot of quotes and phrases that Hamlet used that were really harsh and cruel. I guess I overlooked them, because I was like 'Whoa! That blow was fierce'. I learned alot about the play just by reading through it over and searching for support. I didn't want to stop but when I looked at the clock and it said 4 oclock, I realized that I needed to go to sleep. zzzzzzzzzzz

Poison

AHHHH! I think that I am going to go crazy! I have worked on my paper all weekend long and only have 3 pages. I even stayed up until almost 4 this morning working on it. I pretty much scrapped the revision that I brought into class last week and started over. I am becoming really frustrated with myself because of my inability to stay focused and effectively argue my thesis. I have done a lot of revising but am still going nuts about this paper. GEES, I think that I need sleep, and we're supposed to turn this in on Wednesday! Yeah I think that I will go ahead and admit myself to a crazy person institute! Ok well I jsut realized that it is class time, so here I go with my paper that is lacking! .......

'Slow Me Down'

Here are the lyrics to one of my Favorite songs. It's by Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera, Poseidon,The Day After Tomorrow) and it really hits the nail on the head as far as how I feel right now. The song is titled 'Slow Me Down'.

Rushing and racing and running in circles
Moving so fast I'm forgetting my purpose
Blur of the traffic is sending me spinning
Getting nowhere

My head and my heart are colliding chaotic
Pace of the world I just wish I could stop it
Try to appear like I've got it together
I'm falling apart

Save me
Somebody take my hand and lead me
Slow me down
Don't let love pass me by
Just show me how
Cause I'm ready to fall

Slow me down
Don't let me live a lie
Before my life flies by
I need you to slow me down

Sometimes I fear that I might disappear
In the blur of fast forward I falter again
Forgetting to breathe
I need to sleep
I'm getting nowhere

All that I've missed I see in the reflection
Pass me while I wasn't paying attention
Tired of rushing, racing and running
I'm falling apart

Tell me
Oh won't you take my hand and lead me
Slow me down
Don't let love pass me by
Just show me how
Cause I'm ready to fall

Slow me down
Don't let me live a lie
Before my life flies by
I need you to slow me down

Just show me
I need you to slow me down
Slow me down
Slow me down

The noise of the world is getting me caught up
Chasing the clock and I wish I could stop it
Just need to breathe
Somebody please
Slow me down

Midterms…already?

I can not believe that it is already time for midterms! And I was just beginning to catch up on the sleep that I was giving up last week! It seems totally unfair but has its plus side, too. Midterms means that half of the semester is over with and there is only half left, which gets me totally stocked and excited! But it’s at this point in the semester when I feel burnt out and have no desire to go on. It’s when everything starts to pile up, I’m tired because of all of the homework, have an extreme case of Spring Fever and I just wanna play and do fund stuff not stay cooped up in my room doing homework. My mom and I were talking and decided that it is at this point when the rubber meets the road. Momma said that if I can persevere and endure through this time when I don’t want to do something that I have to do, and give it 100%, then I am pretty much set for life. I only hope that this is true, because I need some kind of motivation. I’m just waiting on my second wind, my lift or something to get me motivated. Anytime now…

Geography hits home

This semester, I am taking the World-Regional Geography, just because I have to, that’s all. Well little did I know the informative impact that this course would have on me. I thought it would be just a bunch of boring mess that would be faithful in putting me to sleep when I had to study it. WRONG! I am becoming to enjoy this course and the interesting things that I am learning from it. On the contrary, so of the stuff that I learning about like Africa and places like that is really sad. I have always wanted to go to Africa for a mission trip or something similar, and this has just refreshed that desire. Most of the countries in Africa are in such terrible conditions that they makes more than they spend and they are still in debt. It makes me really sad to think of all the little orphans who are plagued with HIV/AIDS and have lost their family to this terrible pandemic. It’s hard to conceive the conditions that these people live in and it seems like a totally different imaginary world, but it really isn’t, sadly. Studying about Africa makes me really grateful and reminds me of how blessed I am. It makes me want to change the world and find a cure for all of these devastating diseases and end world hunger.

Poetry Paper informal reflecton

So we just got our poetry paper grade back and I am totally surprised! I looked at the little rubric thingy and kept seeing 3’s and 4’s and finally at the end I saw a big fat A! I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t expect this at all but I do feel that I deserved it after all of the work that I put into this project, and all of that hard work paid off! I guess the biggest thing for me was the same for every paper that I do which is just getting started, and once I get started, then I’ll be ok. I am really proud of myself for sticking through it til the end. Seeing that ‘A’ on this paper was just what I needed-especially at this point in the semester when it seems like everything is piling on top of me. Ironically though, when I went through and read my paper after I submitted it, I had a lot of second thoughts and wanted to change so much of it to make it better. O well, the things we do in hind sight. But it is apparent that the sleep that I sacrificed was well worth it. Now I only hope that I can carry this into the next paper on Hamlet, I think… Gee’s another paper, already?

Thoughts on Hamlet

Wow, so we just started reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The only thing that I have ever read by Shakespeare was Romeo and Juliet and even then I spent more time in the cliff notes than in the actual play. I had really forgotten how hard it is to read this stuff. However, I am really becoming intrigued by this play, even if it is hard to read. There are a lot of intense emotions and passions in this play. I have only read the first few scenes of Act I and am already anticipating the outcome. I have kinda formulated a synopsis of the characters, it’s really informal though. Hamlet is a big baby, Ophelia is a slave to her father’s pride/vanity, Gertrude is an oblivious traitor, Claudius is a sly and greedy but very eloquent man, and Horatio seems to be the only character in the play who has any truth or virtue. Since we’ve started watching the movie, a whole new light has been shed on this play and it really enhances the emotions and the characters. Only thing now is that I don’t have any idea how I am supposed to write a 3-6 page paper on this play. I guess we’ll find out…

My First Hockey Game!

Saturday night I went to my very first hockey game! A friend of my family had four extra tickets so my boyfriend, two younger brothers and I all went to the Charlotte Checkers game at the Bobcats arena. I was so pumped up on adrenaline during the game, it was great. I had no idea what to expect, but I had a blast. I had heard, but didn’t know for sure, that occasionally the hockey players will break out into a fight. We were sitting there, watching the game, low and behold, it hadn’t even been two minutes into the first period when a fight broke out right in front of where we were sitting, and we were on the front row. This hockey game was so action-packed and intense, I was soo intrigued. Needless to say, I definitely want to go to another hockey game!!!

Everyday Masquerade Reflection

How to put into words what I learned not only while writing this paper, but also from this poem itself, would be an almost impossible task. The actual writing process taught me a lot about perseverance and self discipline. But the poem was where the rubber met the road for me. I think about that poem all the time. I can be doing something really random and think of a line from that poem that relates to what I’m doing at that moment. Nearly every day, especially when I’m not in a good mood, I think about “putting on a mask that grins and lies” and I think of how superficially so many people are everyday. I was never really that aware of the whole façade thing, but now, after I analyzed “We Wear the Mask” my eyes have really been open to how casual and nonchalant the world (myself included) has become towards covering up their feelings. It drives me crazy, and makes me want to totally revolutionize the way the world revolves.

2 Thumbs Up!

I was driving to school Wednesday morning and decided that it was absolutely crucial that I get Ms. Frailly’s to help me with my paper. I needed it terribly! But interestingly enough, the mini writing workshop that we did in class on Wednesday helped me out sooo much that I wasn’t as anxious about my paper as I was before. By just writing for 20 minutes or so, I was able to organize my thoughts and uncover some interesting details about my poem that I had unintentionally overlooked when I was trying to write in a formal manner. That writing exercise was so very beneficial and helpful to me. Although I dreaded it at first, because I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to do, I am glad that Ms. Frailly had us to do that assignment. I was even able to use a few ideas from that informal writing and put them in my ‘real’ paper. Therefore, I give that in-class writing workshop a 5-star rating!

Anxieties...

It’s 2:30am, on Friday morning and I am awake, working on my poetry paper. it seems that the only time that I can make any progress with my paper is in the middle of the night. Ms. Frailly totally freaked me out in class today when she said that our finals were due Monday. I feel that I have not had enough time to work on this paper, probably because of the snow and stuff, and it’s driving me crazy. I do not feel like my paper is ready to be turned in. I feel like there is so much work to be done on it, but we haven’t been allotted the appropriate time to complete it. To intensify my anxieties, we started in on Hamlet in class today! It was like I was in the twilight zone for a few moments. I feel soo rushed this semester in all of my courses, and it’s not a fun feeling. Oh well, I am already getting off the subject. But anyway, I am going to get back to work on my paper…

'The Paper Prison' Reflection

The Paper Prison was one of the most challenging papers that I have ever written. That paper took so much time and was, by far, a whole lot harder than the papers that I had to write in ENG 111. It seemed that as I wrote the paper, I encountered several different obstacles, each one bigger and more frustrating than the previous one. I didn’t think that I would ever get anywhere with that writing project, but I was able to, surprisingly. Overall, I think that the finished product was a really good paper, with the exceptions of a few grammatical and organizational errors. Now, as I reflect on it, I actually enjoyed reading and analyzing “The Yellow Wallpaper” and eventually writing about what I had discovered. During the actual writing process, I was in total misery though, because I felt like I couldn’t get started and when I finally did start, I felt like I couldn’t get anywhere. I was getting super frustrated with myself and I later discovered that, no only in English but Math also, I was being really hard on myself and not being patient with myself.
After I talked with another professor, I was able to get over this state-of-mind and, now my whole perspective about school has changed. Writing The Paper Prison was a good project for me to complete because it forced me to stay focused, be patient with myself, and also to always follow the steps, in order, to write a paper and not skip ANY of them. Looking back, I can see that if I hadn’t been so quick to jump in and instead, stayed on the right track, I would probably have came out with an ‘A’ paper. But, I definitely learned my lesson!

Sister Power

I wrote this story for History and I thought that it was pretty good!

“Come 'ere Becky. Look at those ships, they don’t look like our ships. No, I don't think those are American ships” Abby said. Once again I was the one working and she’s the one gazing out into the harbor, daydreaming.

“Abby, would you stop lolly-gagging and help me get this floor cleaned”, she and I are supposed to sweep and wash the floors today in the lantern chamber of our Pa’s lighthouse. Well, it isn’t really his lighthouse, he’s just the keeper. Pa took Momma and my brothers and sisters (‘cept for Abby) on a trip for a few days. He said that Abby and I are in charge of keeping the lighthouse tidy and keeping the lantern lit. Of course, when he said that we were in charge he was puttin’ all the responsibilities in my hand, ‘cause Abby would lose her head if it weren’t attached to her neck, and I am the eldest.

“I’m serious, Becky, those ships look like them British ones that attacked us earlier in the summer. I swear they look just like ‘em!”

“Abigail Bates, we do not swear in this household, and it’s ‘those British ones’ not ‘them British ones’. Ever since we’ve been spending the afternoons over at the military camps, your grammar has become atrocious.” Pa lets us go down to the military camps after the noon meal when we get our morning chores done. I can tell that Momma doesn’t like for us to go over there, I can understand why, but Abby and I have so much fun learning marches and drills and such from the soldiers. It beats staying indoors and learning the importance of being a lady. Even though I am they say I’m practical one, I’d much rather be outside any day.

“Ok fine, ‘Miss Know-it-all’, those British ships. Would you please come look?” Abby responded impatiently.

“Yes ma’am! Good grief, Abby sometimes I wonder if you just-O Abby, those are British war ships!” Those were almost identical to ones that brought war in the summer.

“See, I told you. Instead of correctin’ my grammar you should’ve-”

“Ok fine, I’m sorry for not listening to you, but this is not good, we don’t have time to run all the way to the camp and warn the men, and even if we did, they’d never be ready in time. We have to think of something, quick!” The last time those ships came rolling through town, they burned or destroyed a number of our war ships. The last three times the British attacked, it turned out to be pretty bad. There’s no telling to what they have up their sleeve this time.

“Well, are you just gonna stand there or are we gonna do something?”

“I’m thinking...Hmm...You said last week that when you were getting up clothes to be laundered that you saw a fife in the upstairs bedroom?” Truthfully, I don’t think that Abby was just getting up the clothes, she was probably being nosey and going through our brother’s battle equipment.

“Not just a fife, there was a drum with it” Abby replied.

“Ok go upstairs and get both of them and meet me outside near the cedars. Hurry!” I thought that, maybe, the British were through messing with us. I hate all of this fighting and carrying on.

“I’ve got ‘em, Becky! Now what? Do you have a plan? Can I help? Why did you have me get this drum and-"

“Don’t ask questions! You remember some of the marches they taught us at the camp?” Of course she remembers, she was better at them than I was.

“Yea, Why?” Abby replied.

“You and I are going to play um…Yankee Doodle and try to trick the British soldiers. Maybe if we play loud enough, they will confuse us for the whole regime.” Oh, I pray my ‘plan’ works.

“Well, what are you waiting for, let’s start playing.” Abby said, and immediately began tooting out ‘Yankee Doodle’ on the Fife. I have never been so nervous in my life but I held nothing back. We played and played until Abby looked blue in the face and then we switched and she beat the drum.

“Becky,” Abby said in a raspy tone, “I don’t know if this is working. I’m scared. Where will we go if they try to attack Scituate?” Small tears filled Abby’s dark brown eyes.

As much as I wanted to comfort her, I felt like crying myself. I just kept on playing, and hoping for a miracle. It’s funny how a day will start out wonderful, and turn sour on you, just like that. As I stopped for a breath I peeked out over the bush that we were crouched behind. When I looked, I could not believe what I saw.

“Abby! Oh Abby, Look!” It was a miracle. “Them British warships are turning around! They’re retreating!”

“Well, would you look at that!” Abby said in her ‘soldier talk’, “I can’t believe it. Keep playin’ Becky, I ain’t never been so happy to see the back side of a British warship in my life!”

We played until I was out of breath and Abby was sure that her arms would fall off. And then we did a victory dance all the way back to the lighthouse.

“Becky, just wait ‘til Pa hears of our victory!” Abby said triumphantly as she put some tea to steep, humming ‘Yankee Doodle’ merrily.

“I can hardly believe in myself. We saved our lighthouse! I can’t believe that you and I were able to scare off the British regime. We could call ourselves ‘The American Army-Bates regime at Scituate’. Yes, I like the way that sounds.”

-The End-

"Those Winter Sundays" hits home

Those Winter Sundays, the poem we discussed in class on Monday, is a wonderful poem that seemed very real to me. As I mentioned in class, as long as I can remember, we have always heated our class with a wood heater. I can remember waking up in the morning to the sound of Momma opening up the heater doors and putting wood on the heater so we’d (the kids) be warm when we got out of bed. It didn’t matter if it was raining or 16˚ outside, Momma would keep that fire hot so the house would stay warm. I have probably never actually told Momma thanks for keeping the fire burning, maybe because she never complains and never mentions it, it seems as though she does is out of love instead of out of duty.

Poetry...

Call me a loser, I don’t care, but I have always enjoyed reading poetry. When I think of poetry, I think of the kind that rhymes, which is probably my favorite. For instance, ever since I was a kid, I loved the books Green Eggs and Ham as well as ALL of the other books written by Dr. Suess. I fell in love with poetry when my Grandmother gave me my first Shel Silverstien book entitled “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” My mom says I get my interest in poetry from my Grandmother and I remember as a young child, going to my Grandmother’s, going through all of her book (she had sooo many) and looking for the ones that she classified as ‘poetry’.
Of course, some of the poetry that we have been reading in class lately hasn’t rhymed, has made hardly any sense at all or has just been ‘out there’. But it never hurts to be cultured, right?

Why?

Why?
Why does love heal when it also hurts?
Why so opposites attract, with nothing in common?
Why are we comforted by other’s sufferings?
Why isn’t there a cure for cancer?
Why do we go to the moon?
Why do brown and black clash?
Why do kids make fun of other kids?
Why is reality so cruel and life so unforgiving?
Why do tears flow when we hurt?
Why do people get plastic surgery?
Why is there still no solution for world hunger?
Why do we judge others when we have no room to judge?
Why do we pray for rain, but consider it an inconvenience?
Why should there be mental hospitals when people go to school to be psychiatrists?
Why do people get drunk when they know of the possible consequences?
Why don’t we believe when we know it’s true?
Why are my questions unanswered?

Behind the Yellow Wallpaper

FINALLY! My paper is through, kind of. I have revised, added, scribbled and created a monster (in the form of a literary essay). I didn’t think that I would ever be able to get through that paper, but I did. The hardest part of the entire paper was getting started and then I faced several challenges like organization and thought process. In class on Monday, Liz practically saved my life! She really helped me and redirected me to get on the right path. I was way off target, and I was beginning to get really frustrated and annoyed with the paper as well as with myself. To make matters worse, I intended to work on my paper on Tuesday, but I tragically left my flash drive (which had my paper on it) at work on Tuesday. I was not very happy because I didn’t realize it until it was too late. So I worked on what I could and left my house early so I could get my flash drive. I was not able to make all of the changes that I wanted to before class period. But I was able to make a few adjustments. I have officially submitted my paper and now I am waiting in anticipation...

It's All in the Bag

What girl does not love new clothes? I can’t think of one of the top of my head. That’s probably because Girl’s love clothes, shoes, accessories and shopping in general. Well I, by no means, am the exception. I love clothes, shoes, accessories, shopping and just about anything fashion. However, shopping is a rarity for me because I have to pay for my own clothes, and my ‘every other week paycheck’ doesn’t accommodate the latest trends, sadly. My Momma’s best friend is about the same size as me and always dressed fashionably and oh so cute. Her closet is a wonderland! She told me yesterday that she was cleaning out her closet and that she had some clothes for me. As soon as she said that, I was excited because I knew what kind (more specifically brands) of clothes she wore and I knew that I was probably getting ready to hit the jackpot. Sure enough, the next day after church, I was walking to my car and she tells me that she has those clothes. She gave me four garbage bags FULL of clothes and another full of pocket-books! It was like Christmas for this white girl!
What girl does not love new clothes? I can’t think of one of the top of my head. That’s probably because Girl’s love clothes, shoes, accessories and shopping in general. Well I, by no means, am the exception. I love clothes, shoes, accessories, shopping and just about anything fashion. However, shopping is a rarity for me because I have to pay for my own clothes, and my ‘every other week paycheck’ doesn’t accommodate the latest trends, sadly. My Momma’s best friend is about the same size as me and always dressed fashionably and oh so cute. Her closet is a wonderland! She told me yesterday that she was cleaning out her closet and that she had some clothes for me. As soon as she said that, I was excited because I knew what kind (more specifically brands) of clothes she wore and I knew that I was probably getting ready to hit the jackpot. Sure enough, the next day after church, I was walking to my car and she tells me that she has those clothes. She gave me four garbage bags FULL of clothes and another full of pocket-books! It was like Christmas for this white girl!

Music to my Soul

There are so many songs that inspire me. I am very versatile when it comes to music so I am inspired by anything from Country to Christian to Broadway; I even enjoy listening to Classical. When Ms. Frailly asked the class today about what song inspires us, I was unable to answer simply because I could not pinpoint one particular song, I have so many. There are a lot of songs by Sugarland and Sara Evans that really inspire me. There are Christian songs by Third day and MercyMe that either challenge or comfort me. Even in the world of Jazz, Norah Jones and Michael Buble’ are a guarantee escape for me. There is a song by Sara Evans called “Born to Fly” that pretty much takes who I am and puts a melody to it. Particularly in the second verse the lyrics say “My Daddy is grounded like the Oak Tree, My Momma is as steady as the sun, you know I love my folks but I keep staring down the road, just lookin’ for my one chance to run”. Every time I hear that song I just think of how my Daddy is so old-fashioned and stern and yet my mom is still kinda strict but she is so even-tempered and wise, to me she really is as ‘steady as the sun’. That is just one of the many songs that make me happy or speak to me like no other.

Embrace every moment

Today is my nephew’s second birthday. I can hardly believe that he is already two years old. So many things have transpired since he was born. I have changed so much as well as the world around me has seemed to undertaken a complete metamorphosis. I feel that as an individual I have matured a lot and have become more responsible. I also have acquired a new perspective in life. I have learned to embrace every moment because I have a limited amount of time to live. I have learned not to rush, especially when it comes to driving, because I would rather be two minutes late than never get to that place and end up in the hospital instead. I have also learned how important it is to use positive and uplifting words rather than using words that will tear someone down. There are so many things that have taken place in my life that have taught me very important lessons, most of which I wish that I had learned a few years earlier and some I wish that I didn’t have to learn them in the way that I did. In the light, I have learned that in life, you get what you get, and there is only one thing you can change about that. That one thing is your perspective and how you handle each situation. Yeah, life stinks sometimes but there are other times when things couldn’t get better, it’s just life.

Love

If someone loves you, really loves you, then they will do anything, sacrifice everything and hold back nothing for you. My eyes have been open to that love in that last seven months. There have been two people in my life that have loved me enough to let me fall, let me learn and helped me back to me feet. They have supported me every step of the way. in the past seven months, I have not just learned how to write an ‘I-search’ paper, how to find the potential energy of a car and the history of music. I have learned that true love, whether romantic or motherly, can withstand any storm that life can hurl at you. I’ve also learned that God will sustain me through these tough times when I fell that I have nothing left.


I have learned that I have three true friends and companions, who won’t ditch me when times get hard, won’t judge me when I have a bad day, and won’t let past circumstances hinder our future.

An Advocate for Extended Deadlines!

When I am drowning in the sea of homework, papers, snow make-up assignments and complex fractions, one extended deadline is all I need to save me from sinking. Ms. Frailly lengthening the time to finish our paper was like one of those round red-and-white striped life preservers in the middle of the ocean. I knew that I was going to be in for some long nights after it snowed on Wednesday, but I may be able to afford a few hours of sleep somewhere in the chaos. I am so glad that we have a little while longer to work on our papers. Because it seems that no matter how hard or long that I work on this paper, it just doesn’t seem done! Grr! I feel as though writing a paper is a never ending process, a hard-core marathon with no finish line. The only time it is ever ‘complete’ is when we hand it in to Ms. Frailly to be graded. And after that I still feel as though something else could have been adjusted, or maybe my topic sentence should have been clearer.

S-N-O-W!

The second snow storm of the year! I was so excited. Why? I’m not exactly sure why I love snow. When we get a significant amount, I only like to play in it for about ½ hour to maybe an hour depending on how cold it is outside; I would rather be inside with a cup of coffee. Maybe the reason I love snow so much is because snow is so beautiful and delicate and makes everything that it falls on look beautiful and magical.

When I woke up this morning and saw that it was snowing, I was happy and kind of disappointed. I knew that the snow would be fun and all, but in the back of my mind I knew that I would have to pay for this day off by doing extra homework and stuff for school. L When I finally got out of bed, I had a lot of things that I wanted to get completed before church later this evening. I even made out a make-shift list with some goals to complete. Sadly, I didn’t get but maybe two things checked off on that list. I didn’t do hardly anything except drink too much coffee and talk to my mom. Ironically though, even though I didn’t get all of those things finished, I didn’t have the least bit of remorse or guilt for wasting my day away. Usually I do, but today, I simply didn’t care. I’ll probably suffer for it in the future, but oh well; I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Summer Plans (tentative)

As I was looking at some pictures of my family and me from last summer, I remembered what a great summer it was. I went to a wonderful life-changing summer ballet intensive in Jackson, Mississippi, one of my brothers went on a mission trip to Durham, North Carolina, and my other two brothers went to a camp in the mountains and had a blast. My mom and I were discussing my plans for this summer, and I really wanted to go back to the Summer Intensive I went to last summer. In my heart, though, I knew that going there wasn’t exactly how I was supposed to spend my summer. So I began looking into taking some summer courses at South Piedmont. I kinda felt bummed that, instead of going off on an amazing summer adventure, I would be cooped up in a college classroom. But for some reason that still didn’t feel right.

So I began to really pray about it, and after really praying about it for about a week, my brothers received a postcard from the camp they went to last year. That postcard seemed like a sign. So I went to the website and found that the camp was accepting applications for Senior Counselors in their freshman year of college. When I saw that, I instantaneously knew what I should do. I was going to fill out applications and apply to be a counselor at Christian Summer Camps for kids. I think that this would be the opportunity of a lifetime, and I really feel like that is where God is calling me to go! So I guess we’ll see, because being a counselor was no way near my original summer plans.

Ok Class, get a laptop...

Today’s class seemed to go by really fast. Maybe it’s because we were working on figuring out some stuff in Google and Dashboard. We basically spent the entire class period on the laptops with Ms. Frailly instructing us in uploading our drafts to Google Docs and also adding our classmates blog url to our individual blog space. I thought that is was kinda cool to see the diversity in our class by just reading the names of the url’s of each person’s blog. We are indeed a very diverse group! This method of blogging and posting our papers seems to be sooooo much easier that CompClass, which is what I had to use for my online stuff for ENG 111. We spent several 2-hour class periods in CompClass last semester, just to dissipate some of the confusion. That was always chaotic to me, because we weren’t always insured sufficient class time to work on the papers like we desperately needed. But, Ms. Frailly was able to pull us through.
For once in my life, I was not the one who needed a mass load of help. When I got home from work on Monday, I logged into Google and played around for a little to figure out the site and to get familiar with it, also. I was able to upload my first draft and post a few blogs, all by myself. Frankly, I was proud of myself, mostly because I am typically not that great with computers or the internet. It made me feel good to help out some of the people beside me in class today, because it is usually the other way around. In conclusion, although it didn’t seem like we did a lot in class today, we spent time working with the necessities, which was of utmost importance.

Monday's Class 1/26/09

Today in class, we talked about our papers some, looked over Liz’s paper and separated into groups. I thought that Liz’s paper was really quite good to just be a draft. We also discussed “A Rose for Emily” to not only grasp a deeper insight for all of us, but to add a more faceted format to Liz’s efforts. Of course, there was room for improvement but since her paper was only in stage 1, that was only to be expected. We also took a look at some examples of previous papers of the same sort. One of the examples Ms. Frailly handed out happened to be on “The Yellow Wallpaper”, which is what I am writing my paper on. So it was really beneficial for me to see a final product of what my paper should be in perspective to.

When we separated into groups, Tyler, Cameron and I ‘formed’ a group. We discussed some of the short stories that we have read so far, the extremity of their weirdness of boredom, and gave our thoughts on the story that each person was writing their essay on. We also filled out reader responses, those are always helpful to me. I always like to have another persons perspective and thoughts on the paper that I am writing, and just about anything else I do. I am a big fan of constructive criticism. Overall, I think that we made a great use of our time today in class. We focused on helping Liz and each other get on the right part in this hard journey of the literary essay. As far as I am concerned, the hardest part for me when writing this essay is getting focused and staying focused. Once I have my mind set and have eliminated nearly all of my distractions, I am good to go (for the most part).

Thoughts on The Lame Shall Enter First

When Flannery O’Connor wrote “The Lame Shall Enter First” she constructed a challenging and thoughtful story full of hypocrisy, tragedy and reality. I have never read a story quite like this one in my life. It almost angered me the way Sheppard was so hypocritical and self-righteous but couldn’t even see it. He instead was so convinced of how unselfish and sacrificial he was. It really bothered me how he thought that he could reach out to another boy, when it seemed that he was not even trying to pursue a decent relationship with his own son. From my perspective, Rufus seemed to have more wisdom and common sense than Sheppard did. And it appeared to me that Sheppard hardly ever hosted the right motives for his actions.

What shocked me the most about this story was the way O’Connor ended it. I didn’t think that Sheppard would ever see how much his own son was starving for his fathers’ attention, but when he finally came to his senses, it was tragically and unfortunately too late. The ending by far, threw me for a loop and mad me sad to think that Sheppard never really believed in Norton but instead put all of his time and interest into someone (like Rufus) who really didn’t seem to appreciate it.

My Draft Process

When I first started trying to decide which story to write my first paper on, I had no idea how hard it would be to write this paper. I thought that the papers I had to write last semester in English 111 were hard. This one is incredibly challenging. I am writing my paper on the short story ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’, so I decided kick this writing process off to a ‘good’ start by reading the story a few more times, so I could become familiar with it. After this, I tried to brainstorm and develop a thesis statement and some main points that I wanted to include in my paper. It seemed as though I was continually running into roadblocks and little things that were getting in my way and slowing down my momentum. They say the easiest way to do something that you don’t want to do is to just jump in and get started. I am not exactly sure that particular strategy works with this writing project. I tried it, but to little avail.
This paper is also being very discouraging to me, because I wanted to just in and have the draft finished before the weekend. Well here I am, it’s Saturday, and I am in my room stumped with little to no progress. I want to hurry and be through with this step so I can finish my other homework, but that is just not working out for me. The only thing I can do is just keep working on it, regardless if I want to or not, and give it all that I have left.

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper is a strange and unusual short story, one that is unlike anything that I have ever read before. When I first started reading it, the story seemed to be dry and kind of hard to follow. As I continued to read, much to my surprise, the story compelled me and I found it to be very intriguing. Something in the story that bothered me was the insensitivity and the lack of true concern that John (the husband) had to his wife (the narrator). It appeared that the only time he ever tried to help or showed any concern for his mentally sick wife was when it was convenient for him. Instead of moving to this summer house for the wife’s health and healing, the end result was that her condition was actually worse. John saw a room with fresh air and a serene atmosphere; she saw a prison with an unmovable bed, barred up windows and disturbing wallpaper. I believe that the wife want to get out of the house and socialize so bad that it eventually added to her insanity. And when John promised to have people over and to go visit some relatives, it was like he was dangling that hope just out of her reach and torturing her with it.
Probably the most disturbing and bizarre part of the story was the ending. The wife appeared to be getting better, but, perhaps due to the wallpaper that John refused to take down, her mental condition worsened. At first, I didn’t understand the final paragraph, but after I read those last few lines again and discussed it in class, I came to the (rough) conclusion that the wife had starred at the wallpaper so much that it came alive in her mind. By tearing the wallpaper off the wall, she was ‘releasing’ all of the other women (like herself) that had been held captive in these same four walls. She may have done this to symbolically free herself. She may even have torn the wallpaper off the walls to prove a point to her uncaring husband.

The Elephant in the Village of the Blind

The Elephant in the Village of the Blind, in my opinion, is a catchy and unlikely short story that provokes one to think about how people who have many similarities can have completely different perspectives and opinions when it comes to something that is unknown and new in their lives. I found it very interesting how each villager described the elephant to be something totally opposite than how the person right next to them described it. Each person was touching various parts of the elephant and voicing their opinion of what this strange creature was. Not only does the point of the story apply to literature and the literary world-the different views each individual has concerning a story, but I think that is could also be seen in the real world around us.
Another thing in this story that stood out to me was how the elders of the community (who were supposed to the wisest- began to argue about exactly what this unknown object was and how four young women solved the problem by listening to everyone’s opinion. This also made me think about how the older people in our society are indeed wiser, but they also tend to be closed-minded. It seems to me that the young women may not have been educated but were willing to think outside the ‘tub’ and discover that this elephant wasn’t a huge leathery tub, but instead a massive ox-like creature.