Finished with my blogs

I’m finally finished with my blogs! At first when we were assigned to write these blogs I thought the assignment was going to be boring, but these blogs eventually grew on me. I liked the fact that we were allowed to write about the short stories, in class discussions and poems even if we didn't liked it at all. Actually I made the blogs seem harder than it was for some reason I thought I wouldn’t keep up and forget about doing the blogs. Also, I liked reading about what other students thought of the readings. I even liked posts from the 101 class somewhere very informative which is always nice to be informed on things happening in the world or even things happening in their lives. I’ve read blogs about procrastination, views on tattoos and even about bullying. It's cool to see how many people actually read these blogs that aren't just in Sweeney's class but from all around the world. After this class I probably won’t keep blogging, but it was a good experience because I’ve always wanted to give it a try, but either I never had time to create a blog or I just didn’t know what to write about.

Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

For English class we are assigned to read Adventures of Kavalier and Clay,so we can write our last essay for the class. I have been busy with school and work and haven't even started reading yet. Well, i have read part one like two times, but I just can't get into the book because it doesn't interest me. I've realized that I am not the only one that hasn't started the book in fact there's several people that haven't either. I wouldn't say it's a bad case of procrastination it's time management I guess. My other classes require me to read the class textbooks for upcoming test and quizzes  For an example, my history teacher expects us to spend at least 3 hours reading and studying for his tests and that gets tiring I have online classes which require me to read and take quizzes on what I've read.Also, I have to work I am a waitress and I have to stand on my feet for hours with barely a break and by the time I get off work I'm so exhausted, but I have to come back to school and study. I don't know maybe I am procrastinating but it's not enough time in one day! 

Poetry

So I'm guessing we are wrapping up the poetry section of class now. The poems we've read were pretty good actually compared to the previous ones I've read throughout high school. At first when we got to the poetry section I thought we'd be reading a lot of older poems and just poems that I wouldn't be able to understand. I think its cool how one simple little poem with very few lines and have several meanings and interpretations. Also, poetry can have various styles, which I like since when I normally think of poetry I think of long sad poems. I actually got a little excited when I started reading the poems and could understand them, because I think I try too hard to analyze the poems while the meaning is right in front of my face, which I realize that a lot of people do the same. When I read poetry I think the meaning is supposed to always have deep meanings or meanings along the inspiration line. To me my favorite poem that we've read for homework/in class was We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks. Not just because it was short in length but because it was short but straight to the point and it was about teens back years ago and I thought it was cool that the poem has the meaning in today’s time.

Dog Poems

In class today we went over the dog poems Sweeney assigned us to read over the weekend. At first I was thinking okay, what the world are dog poems. When we discussed the poems we were told that the poems were told in the dogs' perspective, so it was like the dog wrote the poem. In a way it is kind of weird because I've never read such a thing. The poem I liked the most was Beau: Golden Retrievals, to me it was about a dog bringing his owner from the past to the present. The dog and his owner are walking in the park while the dog is focusing on the present the owner is more focused on the past. The dog barks at his owner to try to snap him back into the present. Reading that poem makes me think of when I was younger and used to try to understand and make up what I thought my dog thought about me, my family, and other things that was going on. Also, when I was younger when I used to leave my dog in the house alone I used to turn on the movie Air Bud so he’d have something to do while I was gone, I wonder what he thought about that. 

Fish

In class today we were assigned groups to read poems and talk about it with the class. My group picked the poem The Fish written by Elizabeth Bishop. My group decided that it was about a fisherman who went fishing and on his line he caught an old fish. When the fisherman caught the fish he described how the fish didn't fight to get off the hook, and the fish just hung on the line. The fish is described as being an older fish. I think that since the fish has been caught so many times the fisherman had sympathy for the fish and just let him be back in the ocean and let the fish receive another chance at life. It's kind of related to people now a day, because people have struggled and fought so long it's always room for that last fight.

The Road Not Taken

Today in class we went over the poems that were assigned for class. The poem that was my favorite was The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. The Road Not Taken is about the character making a decision on which path to take. There is one path that everyone takes and there is another which is rarely used. I think Robert Frost was making a connection with everyday life, because every day you are faced with a choice, and don't always take the path that everyone else is going it's always good to make your own decisions and choices. Although we aren't able to see the future and see the outcome of the decision we've made always pick what you want to do, so next time if you are in the same situation you've already learned about the other path. 

Harlem

For homework we were to read three poems that were assigned in our lit reader. Of the three poems assigned my favorite one was Harlem by Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was a poet during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. The poem Harlem is about a dream that has been deferred.  From my point of view I viewed the poem as in meaning what happens when you dream and just sit around and not go through with your dreams. When he says "or does it explode, I think he means does the dream just go away because you never went through with it the dream just sat around. I think I liked this poem a lot, because it put me in the mind set to push myself to the goals that I want to accomplish short term as well as long term. Also, the poem gives you different feelings/ emotions on how it feels when dreams get deferred. This poem was short and straightforward without any hidden messages which you had to think and make up what you think happened or could of happened, but I do wonder since Langston Hughes wrote this poem did a dream of his ever get deferred and what influenced him to write this poem. 

We Real Cool

In class we were assigned groups today and in each group we had to pick a poem to read aloud and explain to the class. My groups poem was We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks. My group all agreed on that the poem was about high schooler or an older crowd that were cool, went to school, hung out late,had sex and soon die. Then Sweeney showed us a video, which was Gwendolyn Brook actualy talking about how the poem was banned,how it was about her seeing kids in the pool hall and about how "we jazz june" had nothing to do with having sex. I thought the poem was pretty straight forward and I like the tone of the poem. 

The Glass Menagerie

I have actually enjoyed reading and watching the play The Glass Menagerie at first I thought it was just going to be another boring play that we'd have to read then write a paper on, but clearly I was wrong. Throughout the play I picked up on several symbols in which helped me write my paper on. The symbol that most related to me was the glass unicorn. To Laura the glass unicorn meant a lot to her, because unicorns are a made up creatures and they are different from all the other horses. Everyone has a trait that makes them different from everyone else. What set Laura apart from everyone else was that she was cripple. Being cripple made a large impact on Laura’s life because to me she let her disability get the best of her. I think if she didn't have that disability she probably wouldn't have been so shy and she probably would have had a lot more confidence in herself. When the horn broke off the glass unicorn Laura claimed it was a blessing in disguise, which to me meant it was like a sigh of relief like she’s finally free and doesn't care that she’s different. 

Hills Like White Elephants

Hills Like White Elephants is about an American man and a girl that are in Barcelona. They are talking and drinking beer in a train station . At first I just thought they were casually talking and drinking and i did know that the girl was getting some kind of operation. In class we discussed that the girl was getting an abortion. I was caught off guard because that was the last thing I even expected to happen. We also discovered that there is an age difference between the man and the girl because thought the story the girl has a name which is Jig but is referred to as "girl" while the man is referred to as "the man". The man suggest that she should get the abortion but she travels on a train to leave. I think don't think she got the abortion because at first she seemed as if she were scared and then she lighten up about it and decided to keep her child. The man could of had a wife or something back in America but we don't i think that he did because even though the age difference why else wouldn't he have wanted to keep the baby? Since the class discussion I've understood the story a lot better and I actually liked it. I researched "White Elephant" and the definition was "for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth." That also lead me to the conclusion that she did not have the abortion.

First Blog

In the short story The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the main character is a Native American that's being judge upon his race. One night he goes into 7-11 to buy a Creamsicle and as soon as the clerk sees him he instantly thinks he is a armed robber since he looks "dangerous". Soon while paying for the Creamsicle the Native American man tries to start small talk but he can easily tell that the man feels threaten. Also, another way that the man is being judge upon his race was when he got stopped by the police officer and the officer tells him that he doesn't look like the profile of the neighborhood. All the man was trying to do was blow some steam off since him and his girlfriend got into an argument.Living with his girlfriend who is white and with him being native american and with the area being mostly white I could imagine that he gets judged a lot.