Cover letter: 1 hour
Cover letter revision: 30 minutes
Essay Revision: 45 minutes
Philidia: 15 minutes, 10 pages
Total: 150 minutes
Monday, April 22, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
What I want
I think at this point in life; high school and college, everyone goes soul searching trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing 40 years from now, because anything can change. But I do have an idea to some extent of what I'll most likely be doing 5 years from now.
I want to go to a college somewhere in the mountains in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Tennessee. I want to earn a swimming scholarship and swim in college, and hopefully study physical therapy, athletic training, psychology, or something of that sort. After college, I really don't know where I'll live. That is why I say that I have no idea what life will be like 40 years from now. I want kids and a family, but where my family will live is indeterminable right now.
What am I willing to do for these things? Well, I think I'm already on the right track. I make good grades and put my best effort into swimming. I guess now all I need is consistency. I would say life is pretty good right now; It just needs to stay that way.
Philida by André Brink
2.5 hours, 102 pages
I want to go to a college somewhere in the mountains in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Tennessee. I want to earn a swimming scholarship and swim in college, and hopefully study physical therapy, athletic training, psychology, or something of that sort. After college, I really don't know where I'll live. That is why I say that I have no idea what life will be like 40 years from now. I want kids and a family, but where my family will live is indeterminable right now.
What am I willing to do for these things? Well, I think I'm already on the right track. I make good grades and put my best effort into swimming. I guess now all I need is consistency. I would say life is pretty good right now; It just needs to stay that way.
Philida by André Brink
2.5 hours, 102 pages
The Race
"The Race"
I look into that big blue space
The pool.
My home
My place.
I’m free
In the race, it’s only me
Cold water tickling my skin
As I dive in
The bubbles form a blanket
That comforts me and let’s me know
I’ll make it.
But the fear is still there
How fast does time tick?
I see Red.
The numbers on the board dictate my fate.
I think I got first,
Judging from my pace.
Couplet: lots of use in couplets in this poem, but stanza 3 is a rhyming couplet.
Slant Rhyme: fate/pace
Imagery: water tickles/bubbles form a comforting blanket
Connotation: Red- red is usually associated with bad things, but red numbers showing a best time are good
Anaphora: My home/My place
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Concrete Wall by Zee Avi
http://www.songlyrics.com/zee-avi/concrete-wall-lyrics/
In the song "Concrete Walls," Zee Avi writes in first person. She describes a failing relationship in detail, which makes us feel as though she is the speaker. This choice in narration allows us to have a deeper connections with the feelings in the song. We can imagine ourselves in her place, and use her words to cope with problems of our own, because we know someone is going through the same experience. She also addresses her "significant other" in second person instead of the alternative option, third person. This shows more aggressiveness and assertiveness, because the reader feels as if her feelings are heard directly by the other person and are responded to.
In the song "Concrete Walls," Zee Avi writes in first person. She describes a failing relationship in detail, which makes us feel as though she is the speaker. This choice in narration allows us to have a deeper connections with the feelings in the song. We can imagine ourselves in her place, and use her words to cope with problems of our own, because we know someone is going through the same experience. She also addresses her "significant other" in second person instead of the alternative option, third person. This shows more aggressiveness and assertiveness, because the reader feels as if her feelings are heard directly by the other person and are responded to.
You make
me wanna throw this shoe
Right through
that concrete wall
Maybe
you should pack your things
If it’s
that dreadful
Just leave
it all
As far as rhythm and meter go, the chorus is written in a mixture of iambic and trocheic rhythms. I also thought it was interesting how the number of syllables generally decreases as the chorus goes on. This makes it seem like the speaker is giving up, and not caring anymore. She is fed up, and says, "Just leave." The shorter lines accent these feelings as they become more intense and distant.
Reading Response
In my reading of The Memory Keeper's Daughter this week, Paul's dad refused to let him go to Juliard, brought home a pregnant 16 year old girl to live with them, and fought endlessly with his mom. While Paul is trying to find a way to live his dream of being a musician, his parents are also trying to find a way to live their dream life. It seems like they should already have their lives settled by now, but it is the choices they made early in life that have led them to where they are today.
Paul's parents are now suffering because of their mistakes earlier in life, and they constantly remind each other of them every day. When his parents start having troubles again, Paul runs away from home because he can't handle his surroundings while also searching inside himself to try to plan his life. It's time he starts college and makes a life of his own, but now he has stollen a car, and could end up in jail. This was caused by Paul trying to escape from his mom and dad's crazy lives, the result of the mistakes they made early on. But now Paul has made a big mistake too. It will affect him for the rest of his life, and just like his parents, probably leave an effect on his children. Actions can be forgiven and forgotten, but weather you know it or not, the dents you leave in other people's lives stay there. It creates a domino effect, and before you know it, everyone around you seems like they're drowning in the mess that you created. People need to think before they act and realize how drastically their actions could change their lives, and the lives of others.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter:
3/25- 40 minutes, 30 pgs
3/26- 10 minutes, 7 pgs
4/7- 100 minutes, 60 pages
Total: 150 minutes, 97 pgs
Paul's parents are now suffering because of their mistakes earlier in life, and they constantly remind each other of them every day. When his parents start having troubles again, Paul runs away from home because he can't handle his surroundings while also searching inside himself to try to plan his life. It's time he starts college and makes a life of his own, but now he has stollen a car, and could end up in jail. This was caused by Paul trying to escape from his mom and dad's crazy lives, the result of the mistakes they made early on. But now Paul has made a big mistake too. It will affect him for the rest of his life, and just like his parents, probably leave an effect on his children. Actions can be forgiven and forgotten, but weather you know it or not, the dents you leave in other people's lives stay there. It creates a domino effect, and before you know it, everyone around you seems like they're drowning in the mess that you created. People need to think before they act and realize how drastically their actions could change their lives, and the lives of others.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter:
3/25- 40 minutes, 30 pgs
3/26- 10 minutes, 7 pgs
4/7- 100 minutes, 60 pages
Total: 150 minutes, 97 pgs
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Paper Revision
When picking which paper I would revise, I read my literary analysis and research paper and they were at about the same level in terms of need for revision. It seemed that both of them were strong and even in all categories, and I got a 92 and 93 on them. But then I remembered that I also wrote a Literacy Narrative, and I read that. Wow- you could definitely tell it was my first paper of the year, and it needs a lot of correcting! I am going to focus my revisions on Word Choice and Organization.
My paper was about reflection, and I used that word or some variant of it probably more than all the other words in my paper combined. I kind of knew it was an issue while writing it, but I didn't know how to fix it. Also, in my paper, I talked about a period of reflection where I wrote my life down at home, and also a paper I wrote in Mrs. Milligan's class where I talked about that experience. One comment from Dr. D said that I could leave the second writing out, and focus just on the first. I think that would make my paper more clear, but wasn't the point of the assignment to talk about a paper that we wrote in class? I hope that I can eliminate the second writing experience from my paper and also work on word choice to make my paper better.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter: 150 minutes, 86 pages
My paper was about reflection, and I used that word or some variant of it probably more than all the other words in my paper combined. I kind of knew it was an issue while writing it, but I didn't know how to fix it. Also, in my paper, I talked about a period of reflection where I wrote my life down at home, and also a paper I wrote in Mrs. Milligan's class where I talked about that experience. One comment from Dr. D said that I could leave the second writing out, and focus just on the first. I think that would make my paper more clear, but wasn't the point of the assignment to talk about a paper that we wrote in class? I hope that I can eliminate the second writing experience from my paper and also work on word choice to make my paper better.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter: 150 minutes, 86 pages
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Jane Goodall
After learning all of my life about all of the good things Jane Goodall has done, I would have never thought something like her plagiarizing would occur. She's in pretty much every science textbook, and well known to students everywhere, but now her role-model status isn't so perfect anymore. There are a few issues with her new book, Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder From the World of Plants. She borrowed 12 passages, as well as other smaller pieces of writing without citing it. This is a very serious matter, and needs to be fixed.
While some people argue that the liability for the infraction is dependent upon a number of things, I believe that there are no excuses for plagiarism. At Episcopal, we believe this too, and if you get caught plagiarizing, you are punished. So, I believe that instead of correcting the mistake and apologizing like she did, she should not be allowed to publish the book or any new versions of it and sell it. It only seems fair that if you steal someone else's work, you should not be able to make money off of it. While people should recognize that what Jane Goodall did was wrong, I hope that her reputation is not tarnished and that she still gets credit for all of the many wonderful things she has done in this world.
While some people argue that the liability for the infraction is dependent upon a number of things, I believe that there are no excuses for plagiarism. At Episcopal, we believe this too, and if you get caught plagiarizing, you are punished. So, I believe that instead of correcting the mistake and apologizing like she did, she should not be allowed to publish the book or any new versions of it and sell it. It only seems fair that if you steal someone else's work, you should not be able to make money off of it. While people should recognize that what Jane Goodall did was wrong, I hope that her reputation is not tarnished and that she still gets credit for all of the many wonderful things she has done in this world.
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