Third Quarter Reflections

This third quarter has been really different for me, as far as the involvement of technology in the classroom goes. I really like that we hardly ever use the textbook: it makes it seem so much more informal, and that makes it easier to enjoy English class, rather than have it be a chore to endure. I like the blogs: it makes it easier to write homework and to submit it. It can be difficult to post, though, if you don’t have a computer. I just recently got a new laptop, but I hadn’t had one for almost the entire third quarter, which really made it nearly impossible for me to post on time, or even to read the assignments. I’m glad I got the new laptop, though, because now I’ll certainly be able to upkeep my blog.
I especially like how we don’t have to write in such a structured format. That was one of the things I used to hate the most about English, what made me dread writing papers, or having any written responses assigned. Being able to write my thoughts out in a conversational tone, to be able to write down my thoughts as I’m thinking them, and not be penalized for the informal tone is amazingly liberating. It makes me actually want to respond, because I get to voice my opinions in a safe place where I won’t be ridiculed or anything. And even better, my friends and peers get to read my writing and they get to respond to it.
One thing that I might want to try to do later in this quarter, though, is that I think it would be better to have one more period of computer time. I like being able to have the time to ask questions as I’m writing the assignment, rather than having to just type up my response, ignoring my uncertainties. I like that we can respond to each others’ writing, but I don’t think responses should really be graded as much. I think a) its probably hard for Mr. F to read EVERYONE’S blog to see who’s commented and who hasn’t, and b) its something that should really be encouraged, not that’s mandatory. I think we should have started off with blogspot.com, instead of GoogleGroups. While GoogleGroups was mediocre, BlogSpot makes everything easier and more organized. I really enjoy this English class, and think other teachers should adapt to making their classes more technologically involved, too. It would make school easier to handle if everything were as organized as this class has become.

A Selection Of Quotes: F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”
–Letter (undated) to his daughter, Frances

This quote was the one that really stood out for me, among the ones posted on the assignment blog. When you’re swimming underwater, you’re alone. Silence can be deafening. Under water, all you have to hear is the pounding of your heart, and your thoughts. That’s one of the major reasons I love swimming. My daily life is so fast and busy and filled with unnecessary stresses, that when I’m swimming…all of that melts away. I’m left with myself. That’s what I think this quote means. When you read good writing, you’re taken away from everything in day-to-day life. You can escape into the place the author has weaved for you with his words. I really think Fitzgerald had an awesome take on life. He was insightful, and an amazing writer. Reading The Great Gatsby made me want to read other Fitzgerald works, because his method of narration is intriguing, and his story captivated me; it made me want to read more.

Gary Snyder

“I am foremost a poet, doomed to be shamelessly silly, undignified, curious, ****struck, & considering (in the words of Rimbaud) the disorder of my own mind sacred. So I don't think I'll ever commit myself to the roll of Zen monk..." –Gary Snyder

Gary Snyder grew up in California, and attended Reed College. There, he expanded his interests to Buddhism, and Asian languages. Snyder has often been described as “zen”; that is, he was very calm and down to earth.

Ripples On The Surface
By Gary Snyder

"Ripples on the surface of water
were silver salmon passing under—different
from the sorts of ripples caused by breezes"

A scudding plume on the wave—
a humpback whale is
breaking out in air up
gulping herring
—Nature not a book, but a performance, a
high old culture.

Ever-fresh events
scraped out, rubbed out, and used, used, again—
the braided channels of the rivers
hidden under fields of grass—

The vast wild
the house, alone.
the little house in the wild,
the wild in the house.

both forgotten.

No nature.

Both together, one big empty house.

I liked this poem by Snyder. It included nature…but unexpectedly. His descriptions of nation make it seem more profound: I really enjoyed the choices of diction in this poem. The ways Snyder provides so many images that are easily visualized really captivated my attention as I read and reread the poem.

http://www.litkicks.com/Texts/Riprap.html

One sentence that really stood out for me was “The world is like an endless four-dimensional game of Go”. This really struck a chord with me…it made me think. I think Gary Snyder was really ahead of his time. Born in 1930, Snyder began writing in the ‘50’s. That said, his way of thinking, this free-spirited, ever immortal mindset, was about 10-20 years ahead of his time. In the 21st centaury, this line from RipRap still applies. We live in a world that’s always moving…I mean, think about it: people are ridiculed in advertisements for using CASH to pay for items. God forbid we bring back cash, when plastic is so much faster. We use vacuum cleaners to clean our houses faster. We have cars to get where we want to go faster. Speed is always a factor. The world really is like a constant game of “Go”. I think Gary Snyder has a really firm grasp on life, and everything there is to know about it.

I really can’t see anything about Gary Snyder’s poetry that makes it distinctly American, other than the “game of go” bit. Snyder clearly recognized the progression the world was going through at the time he wrote RipRap.

American Realism: Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin was an American realist author. In class, we read a couple of her stories: Lilacs, and A Pair of Silk Stockings. Both of these stories seem to embrace both writing genres of realism and romanticism. Realism, when applied to writing, produces a high quality of writing. The realists use the harshness of their day-to-day life in order to create literary work that is personal, and that which exposed the horribleness of the world. Romantics, however, strive to create a fantasy-like world for their readers to get lost in, to escape the barbarities of the world. A Pair of Silk Stockings is about a young woman who may have come from a wealthier past, but now is living in the working class. Once day, she comes into an unexpected (and unspecified) amount of money. The money is enough to let her indulge in the things she clearly misses from her wealthier days, but which now may seem trivial. A pair of shoes, new silk stockings, a meal at a fine restaurant…these things are taken for granted by some, and are considered the most luxurious of activities. Kate Chopin creates this world for her story’s main character, one that allows her to completely get lost in the wonder that money can bring. I thought this story was interesting, because it shows the clear differences in class during the period in history that the story takes place.

Lilacs was a really good story too. I liked the plot, and the fact that French words were interjected into the text at certain points. It really took me away from my seat in English class and into the world of Adrienne and her precious Paris, and her home in the convent. I was confused, though, as to why Adrienne was banned from the convent. In class, Mr. Fiorini tried to explain his reasoning of it: The nuns realized Adrienne would not make the decision she needed to make: pious life in the convent, or a “wild” life in Paris, as an actress. To resolve the issue, she was banned from the convent, the place she grew up. Clearly, Adrienne was upset by this, stunned, even. She seems just as confused as to why she was banned as the reader may potentially feel. However, it is also clear that she feels respectful of Mother Superior for making this decision, but unless a copy of the letter given to Adrienne ever becomes available (highly unlikely), we will never know exactly why she was barred from ever returning.

Does Writing Have the Power to Enact Social Change?

Honestly, I think writing has remarkable powers, some which people don’t generally think about. For example, people can write testimonials, which persuade people to maybe buy a certain product, or to trust any given business. People can write editorials, which can disprove an authors article or book that wasn’t necessarily as checked for facts as it should have been. People write poetry, which moves others deeply. Poetry is one form of writing that can most definitely enact change. Poets all over the world write from their souls, write about what matters most: whether that’s about the environment, personal experiences, or about social classes, or oppression, poetry moves and changes those who read it. And writing doesn’t necessarily have to be an essay, or poem, or speech: someone has to write laws, and laws certainly effect social change. When a law is created, it is generally abided, and if its not, it is enforced. I think writing is one of the things that most often causes social change. The poem by June Jordan was really moving, for me. The second stanza, especially, was well written. Although one of the shortest in the whole poem, the second stanza really struck a chord with me,
“The bombing of Baghdad
did not obliterate the distance or the time
between my body and the breath
of my beloved”
This stanza has a slight shock factor, for me. After the first stanza, full of “we bombed…”’s, I wasn’t expecting any mention of a beloved of the narrator. The stanza is a direct protest of the former stanza. I think this is a perfect example of a piece of writing that may enact social change. It speaks to me, and I’m sure to anyone else who may read this.

The Great Gatsby Journal Entry

My first impression of The Great Gatsby was that it was sort of boring. Chapter one was mildly difficult to understand, and it just confused me! I realized a while ago that when I have to read things for school, I go about it completely differently than I go about reading some random book just for fun. I read it in a critical way, always looking for things to write down in my journal. But if I read things for school the way I’d read a book like Twilight, just for fun, then I absorb so much more. That’s how I decided to approach The Great Gatsby. After the first couple of pages, I realized that if I stopped counting page numbers till the end of the chapter, it’d go by much faster, and it really did. I really got into the book in chapter two. The parties and drinking weren’t anything I’d ever thought we’d read about in school, of all places. I really like this kind of book, because you actually have to think, in order to retain anything you’ve read. You have to read between the lines, and infer from the text any subplots that might exist. The only part in chapter two that really sort of confused me was the very end, when Nick is with Mr. McKee in the elevator, and then it switches to the next scene when they are both in Mr. McKee’s bedroom, and McKee is looking at his portfolio of photographs.

One part that really shocked me was when Tom broke Myrtle’s nose. It was just so uncalled for. I think he might have done it because he’s ashamed of the fact that he’s cheating on Daisy. Even though adultery is something that is generally done by choice, in this case…It might not have been something he was 100% secure with doing. When Myrtle starts shouting Daisy’s name, it makes Tom livid. Granted, it was childish of Myrtle to take it that far, but Tom shouldn’t have reacted so rashly.

A second part that confused me was the whole Doctor T. J. Eckleburg billboard. After asking about it, Mr. Fiorini really cleared things up for me. A) it’s a billboard, B) the idea that T. J. Eckleburg is a god-like figure, omnipotent in his glasses, was brought to my attention. Maybe that will become more evident later in the book??