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Kubla Kahn

The idea of reading is so strange. The idea that when you sit down with 100 pages of paper in your hand you will know nothing of that content but after reading 100 pages you will have another story in you database. When does the transformation happen? The one where you go from reading to living? When you go from simply in taking the content to suddenly smelling the aromas, feeling what they feel, living their emotions, basically escaping your mind. That's what I felt with this poem, "Kubla Kahn" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, one minute I was so bored I was falling asleep and next moment I was pouring my voice into it. I went from not understanding one part, to grasping the concept in my hands within 1 second or was it 10; that's the thing behind this concept about escaping. You don't realize when it happens just that it is suddenly there. When I try to go to sleep at night I never can but then I focus my mind and suddenly I wake up in the morning; how does that escape become created? When I play my music all I see is notes at first, the challenge ahead but then somewhere between my second hour of practicing suddenly it is a melody, a whole story, a pattern within my head. Or like when you first meet someone new all you have to go on is their body language and look but after talking to them for awhile you suddenly see so much deeper. 

My poem is about a drug paradise. His 'dome of pleasure' when he is high. I didn't get it at first, all the things he described to me were ugly and weird, "like why would that be beautiful?" but then my mom asked me to describe to her something beautiful and I couldn't at least not in a way that made it beautiful in words. "A garden bright with sinuous rills," was supposed to be beautiful but without the words beautiful and amazing I couldn't see it as beautiful. Now I can understand, when I recite the poem to myself I see lush gardens, a happy river, I imagine mineral caverns, and beautiful greens of all shades in the forest. I see the authors wish to create this place in every ones mind, it was all a dream both literally and figuratively. In my mind the author created this so that everyone who read it could have a shiny hope of perfection. When the author writes "Beware, Beware" I feel like he is telling everyone the troubles of perfection. How it is amazing but it is so easy to get used to it and to take advantage of it. That perfection is perfect because it isn't real, because in our dreams it can be everything but in life nothing is truly perfect.

When I recite my poem I talk with a lot of varied tones, throughout the first paragraph my tone is soft and gentle in an attempt to convey the beauty of the paradise the poem describes, in the second paragraph I start softly and grow louder, bolder, and faster to convey the urgency yet laziness yet everything unrealness in the poem. Then in the the second half of the second paragraph  I go lazy, calm, and serene trying to convey to the tone of a "lifeless ocean." In the fourth paragraph I become more alive, more there, I am not in my paradise anymore but want to create it, at the end I talk with a condescending air trying to convey the power of drugs, the danger but also the exhilaration.

URGENT! EX CR BL

In my first 5pp I felt that flow was really an issue. There is a fine balance between to total choppiness, perfect flow, and way-over-the-top flow. I felt that in my second 5pp I hit a lot closer to good flow. I feel like flow wasn't only accomplished in the writing and the ways the words sounded when spoken out loud but that there was also a flow between points, in other words my transitions also had flow. In general, nonetheless, and additionally all worked very well in the context much better than my first transitions: First, Another, and Unquestionably. Besides writing my recent 5pp with a more trained eye I also incorporated a new writing technique that I heard about on Good Morning America. They had this famous writer on the show and she was sharing her secrets; she said that what she often did was spend a day or two getting out every idea every tangent every speck of information out onto paper and writing the whole story. She leaves it for a few weeks and then comes back with a fresh mind and starts editing it and searching for flow. On my essay I wrote in one hour, left it for a week, and then came back and edited. I feel this really helped me because when I looked at it again I didn't remember it and I could easily and freely critique it and make it better. The other reason I think my most recent 5pp has a better flow is because I connected more with what I was writing about. A strong message is conveyed in my 5pp, "Lobsters." Where as in my 5pp on "To Kill A Mockingbird" a nice but weak theme is conveyed. I didn't fully connect in "To Kill A Mockingbird" but in "Lobsters" I feel like I was 100% there and was very inspired to get my point across in a clear way!

poetry out loud

1. To My Dear and Loving Husband  - Anne Bradstreet
2. Life - Edith Wharton
3. Solitude: Ella Wheeler Wilcox
4. After working sixty hours again for some reason - Brad Hicock
5. Dancers Exercising - Amy Clampitt

I liked the poems "After working sixty hours again for some reason" by Brad Hicock and "Dancers Exercising" by Amy Clampitt. The reason I was drawn to these poems is that they both had meanings for me. The poem by Brad Hicock is all about working all day long for no reason, going through life in a pattern and realizing it. The poem by Amy Clampitt entranced me and made me feel alive, I wanted to jump out of my seat and dance.

I didn't like the poem "Life" because it bored me. Life is supposed to be exciting and fun but I felt a dismal sense of dread as though I was sitting on a cold rock.

I'm most interested in studying my two favorite poems because they are the most interesting and engaging to me. I would choose "Dancers Exercising" because I felt full of life as I read it.

1. The two criteria that will be the easiest for me is speaking in a loud voice and eye contact.

2. I will have the most trouble not fidgeting because I naturally fidget a lot. I will have trouble memorizing my lines.

Stanley Andrew Jackson
Writ on the Steps of Puerto Rican Harlem
by Gregory Corso
This is a successful reading because he is confident and speaks with clarity an great articulation.
Jackson Hille
Forgetfulness
by Billy Collins
This is a successful reading because he really captures the essence of this poem and related it to the audience. I felt as though he clearly understood and grasped the poem.


I have no idea what to expect. I want to win but it doesn't really matter to me. I haven't found any poems I feel I truly connect with yet and therefore my mind has entered the excited stage of this project. I think it will be interesting watching others and seeing what they connected to and how they relate it to the audience. I have no idea who will be good. I think their will be some surprises but then others who I already feel will be good. I think I will memorize "Dancers Exercise." I chose it because I have always loved the idea of dancing but suck at actually dancing and so I can get closer to dancing by reciting a poem about it. The website is very nice looking. The layout is clear and easy to follow and I enjoy the color scheme.

extra credit

              Before this year began poetry was a distant idea, an ancient art form filled with hidden meanings and secret themes. Yet as the year has commenced I have come to observe poetry under a different light. It is not one specific THING, you can't pin it down and describe it, instead it is something abstract. Poetry is opposites, tangible and intangible, big and small, silent and loud, yet similar as well. Through the in depth characterizing of The Knife, Shoulders, and Lobsters I have gained a new respect and understanding of poetry. It presents life meanings and invisible morals. It also presents a challenge, unlike math and science there is no one solution instead there are many answers depending on your point of view.  

                     I like the fact that you can connect to a poem. The fact that poetry is all about you. You can see what you want to see. In English, this has been demonstrated by the fishbowl discussions, every person has a slightly different perspective and each person adds their own little twist. One aspect of the poem will really jump out at someone and that same thought will never cross another persons mind. I think the phrase, "2 heads are better than 1," sums up poetry nicely because you will always find something that someone hasn't seen.

                     Poetry has been the most important element we have learned about in English so far for two reasons. One, because it is fun and I believe that the best learning is done when a student is having fun; and two, because poetry is a way to freely write down any emotions or feelings that you have in a creative way. By creative I mean in a way that makes sense to you but doesn't have to make sense to others. It is away to let go, to teach without telling, and for me it is a way to achieve clarity of the mind. Writing down your feelings is like a huge downpour; you let out what you need to and then the grass is greener and the world comes alive again.

Lobsters or Humans?

When I first read this poem not one single theme or meaning jumped at me. Nothing spoke to me, and I hated the poem yet after having read it again, I started to notice the complex and deep symbolism this poem has to offer. No longer do I see it as a boring story about lobsters but as an insightful grasp on the concepts of lobsters being a lot like humans. I don't think we talked about the ideas of lobsters and humans in our fishbowl discussion, but some comments made me later think deeper into the comparison of an invertebrate and a human being.

The author talks about the lobsters dream like state, I personally think that most humans travel through the day in a dream like state as well. As I looked around in English today I noticed many people staring off into space, or fidgeting; in fact I saw no one who looked completely absorbed in what we were doing. Why is this so? It seems as though we go through life in a dull, stolid rhythm; school, friends, homework, sleep, school. What do we live for? And the lobsters "tentative gestures" how is that not like us? What are we doing that makes us stand out? How many times have we heard the phrase "be yourself" but instead you keep hiding away? We muddle around not realizing that we are never truly awake. Another way that I think describes tentative gestures is being average, or moderate and the following quote from "Way of the Warrior" sums moderation up perfectly, "Moderation's? It's mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise. It's the devils dilemma. It's neither doing nor not doing. It's the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence sitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It's for those afraid to laugh or cry, those afraid to live or die!" The author includes the beauty of the lobsters to show how in our narrow minded way of thinking we have categorized everything, something is beautiful or ugly. He showed us our warped point of view by describing something that we normally categorize as ugly in a beautiful way. I think the poem was a message to us humans that we need to wake up and come to terms that everything is beautiful and ugly, that life will always go on and it is up to us to realize we are in the pot underneath the fire - in other words we will die - and live.

paragraph analysis

I feel the biggest problem in our class with 5 part paragraphs was the flow, when I say flow I am referring to the idea that transitions, commentary and word choice all go together into an easy to read essay. Words are an extremely complicated puzzle to put together, there is always another way of saying something, I think most people, like myself, struggled at getting the paper balanced, you know when something doesn't sound right but you often don't know how to fix it.

My biggest problem is also flow. You want everything to sound right and to fit yet some things are just awkward and do not roll off the tongue. At first my paper was very simple, it was of a neutral tone, in my thoughts, it was boring. So I spiced it up and added a plethora of words that were outside my vocabulary range, coming back to my support group the next day, I was informed that "I sounded like a dictionary!" I went home took out half of the words and immediately sensed a greater balance in my paper. I think in my next piece of writing I will be focusing on using big words with a sense of confidence while still maintaining a flow and an easy to understand layout. I will also try to make my transitions stronger and really fit into place.

Piano Lesson

On the former Thursday, I traveled to my piano lesson, one of the most excruciating hours of the week. Usually I never take it to myself to practice, but this week I was filled with an inspiration; I was going to impress my piano teacher beyond reason. I entered the lesson, my countenance disheveled and dreary for I wanted her to think that I had not practiced. This way I could really knock her off her feet. She greeted my acquaintance pleasantly, "Hello Talia! How are you today?" "I am exceedingly well, thank you." My voice showed nonchalance and gave nothing away. I seated myself at her grand piano and bided my time as she conversed with my father. When she navigated her way to the piano she smiled, my cue to issue forth with my now, still unknown to her knowledge, virtuous playing.

Upon starting the piece at my accelerated speed, her eyebrows raised, and her eyes became narrow, tiny slits. I moved my fingers across the keys, each note as perfect as the last; a perfect string of pearls, beautiful and remarkably shaped. I heard no sound from my instructor, but I was so in tune, so focused, that my mind lost all noise, there was no turbulence, my spirit was at a complete quiescence. When I finished, silence enveloped the studio. I turned my gaze towards my teacher and found tears cascading down her silhouette. I swelled with pride, and she filled with happiness at my finally succeeding at capturing the essence of the piece, smiled from head to toe.

My favorite peice of writing

When I start to think about all the writing I have done over the years my mind flickers to and fro; it wanders to many topics and papers. It is simply to hard to hit the hammer on the head, to find one literature example that exceeds all others, instead my minds eye targets a specific English class that deeply changed the way I compose my thoughts, and therefore my writing.

It was in 6th grade when I unlocked the door to knowledge. The knowledge of knowing, of having answers. The knowledge of literature. Anything could come alive in that classroom, all you had to do was write it down. The teacher looked no different than others, yet as soon as he opened his mouth an unheard language came out. What was that you said? You want us to be unimaginably creative, to go beyond all reason and come out with something so fantastic, so out-of-the-box, so awe-inspiring that it can amount to anything? This teachers rules were incredible. As long as we gave 100% effort our creativity was free to expand and fill the room. We had a project titled "Points" and for one month of the school year, every day was free write day. Our teacher got books, papers, art supplies, magazines, he said "explore your own devices all I want is for you to write, write, write!" Every literature project you created you got points for, the longer and more detailed it was, the more points you got. At the end of the month their were projects galore, it wasn't just writing, you could make art as long as it had something to do with literature. One student, made a monologue that was over 6o pages and someone else made a forest, imagery come to life! 

Another aspect that made this teacher glow in my eyes, was his favorite quote, "Expect more get more!" He raised the bar high, he gave us projects that stretched our mind farther and wider than you would ever imagine of a 6th grader, and it felt good! It's like working out, you can only do 10 push ups, but you push, and you do that extra 5, and when your done you can feel that buzz of energy, that adrenaline bursting into your brain, and you feel ecstatic.

Most teachers teach the curriculum, it's easy...but it's also dreadfully boring, because it's not what you are interested in, or at least it's not what you think you are interested in. Teaching the regular curriculum is like saying your shirt is the color brown; can you say unappealing and BLAH. But when you mix it with fun and excitement, a sprinkle of originality, and perhaps a wad of interest, it becomes a dark, silky, dove-chocolate caramel, that would make anyone eager to learn. My teacher said anything you do this year that you are proud of, bring it in and show it off; you might even get some extra credit points. When teaching us about bovine landscape features my teacher said, "You are going to make a map of an island, with any theme you want, that have all these geographical figures on them. Go all out!" Kids came up with all sorts of inventive idea's, one person did a 3d map of "Tarzan Land", another person made their island a snake shape, someone even did Hogwarts. Imagine if my teacher had of said, "Today I am going to spend 50 minutes telling you about geographical features!" Do you think that would have gotten the same response? No, it would not because it is a dull, pasty brown!

And lastly, I felt completely comfortable in that classroom. I don't know how that teacher did it, maybe it was the hundreds of toy figurines, or the colorful artwork, or maybe it was his unassuming presence; but somehow that atmosphere was made for writing, sharing, critiquing, and reading. Everyday at the beginning of class anyone who had something to share was allowed to go up to the front of the room and get the good vibe rolling around the room. The vibe picked up energy as warm, critiques spritzed the air. The ball just kept rolling, gathering energy like an avalanche gathers snow; in that classroom it was okay to be a little nerdy, to get your geek on. In the intensity of writing anything could happen, and atmosphere greatly improves writing. If the atmosphere is warm, and fuzzy then you can be loose and supple, but if the atmosphere is cold and prickly you tense up and your mind, you canvas, is blank.

Wuthering Heights

My outside reading book, "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, can be hard to understand. At the beginning of this book I was absolutely lost. I had no idea what was happening. I thought this novel would be a boring read, but my prediction has turned out all wrong. From bovine to interesting in just a few pages, this book has already gained a new appeal of interest from me. Suddenly I am hooked, what is going to happen between Heathcliff and Catherine? Where did Heathcliff go? What is this strange families dynamics?

This setting speak a lot to me. Why are they isolated out in the middle on nowhere? I know that was common in the old days, but I would be depressed. If my social life consisted only of my crazy, mean family, a few servants, and the polite people at church I would not see the reason for living. What makes it worse is that they aren't just isolated they're ISOLATED. They live 60 miles from the city. Talk about being totally alone. At first I did't realize how large their property is but as I have delved deeper into the book I'm starting to get a feel that it was bigger than I imagined. I think this is the perfect setting for Catherine and Heathcliff. They are both wild souls, destined for freedom of their expected life tasks. They're physical boundaries of land are so big, and yet they always stretch the zone, for example when they went to thrushcross grange. I think the setting of their domicile is almost an anology of how greedy and selfish they were. They had so much room to move about and yet they still wanted more. Catherine has a loving, devoted husband and yet she still wants Heathcliff. 

I think this story is similar "Cinderalla Story" with Hillary Duff. In each artistic endeavor status controls the decisions. In "Wuthering Heights" Catherine feels as though she must marry Edward Linton because she wants to keep a family name and also stay rich. In "Cinderella Story" because the main character, Sam(played by Hillary Duff), isn't popular she feels as though she isn't good enough for the guy she has feelings for. I think Sam and Heathcliff are quite similar, both are "adopted" into situations and treated cruelly because of their backgrounds, both are treated as servants. They also both have feelings for the beautiful. Heathcliff for Catherine, and Sam for Austyn. Even as far back as the 1800's "Popularity" still gave major complications for relationships. Edward was more "popular" so he got the girl, while Sam wasn't popular she did't feel good enough for the guy.

For my creative project I would like to make a movie. In it we will include the important elements like setting, theme, characterization ect. A few of my less thought out ideas include showing how an opposite decision could've completely altered the story. For instance if Catherine had decided not to marry Mr. Linton, or how had Catherine not spied on Thrushcross Grange she might have never even developed a relationship with Edward Linton. Another idea was finding a few important themes and illustrate them through similar current examples. I thought it would also be fun to contrast and compare then and now, yet how people usually turn out the same or different; the process of evolution through new inventions. 

A theme that I think many might have missed in TKAM is the clear message that to be happy all you have to do is be yourself. To be who you are no matter what you are doing. That it doesn't even matter what you do as long as you give 110%.

Give Your Whole Heart, Not Just Bits and Peices

From day 1 Atticus didn't really mind letting Scout be who she was. He wanted her to grow up and to find her own path. A unique individual he was one of few who encouraged her to be herself. If she wanted to be a tomboy he would let her run wild all day long. If she wanted to cuss he said, "let her test her boundaries." He let her shape her own life.

Aunt Alexandra on the other hand was quite different. From the moment she entered the novel she was always on Scout's case. "Be more ladylike," "Don't Run Amuck," "Be Polite," were all things constantly spurting from her mouth. She acted as though Scout was clay and she was an artist, molding Scout into whoever she, Aunt Alexandra, wanted her to be. If she didn't see fit a young girl in overalls she would say so and make her opinion loud and clear. She wanted to uphold the family name where as Atticus thought of it as just that, a name. Something nice and fine to live with but not to have it live you.


As a result of Atticus's strange but effective parenting Scout learned early on from her own mistakes. Atticus didn't teach the Scout and Jem that everything was OK. He more taught them an understanding of life. To be what you want to be with your whole heart. That when you know what you want go after it and seize it. Atticus knew the journey through Tom Robinsons trial would be a long and hard one, but that didn't stop him! He taught by example, he didn't just say, "Go out and help the world!" He was out there helping the world to! Another way of looking at it is through this story. Think of Atticus as Mahatma Gandhi:

A mother brought her young son to Mahatma Gandhi. She begged, "Please, Mahatma. Tell my son to stop eating sugar.'"

Gandhi paused, then said, "Bring your son back in two weeks." Puzzled, the woman thanked him and said that she would do as he had asked.

Two weeks later, she returned with her son. Gandhi looked the :youngster in the eye and said, "Stop eating sugar." Grateful but bewildered, the woman asked, "Why did you tell me to bring him back in two weeks? You could have told him the same thing then."

Gandhi replied, "Two weeks ago, 1 was eating sugar."

I like how Atticus teaches through actions more than words. What you do says a lot more about who you are than just saying what you're gonna do or who you are. I felt a really strong connection to this particular theme because I feel like so many people out there try to lead by talking when what we really is need is people who lead by action. Who be themselves and thrust themselves full hearted into challenging themselves and this world!

No matter how hard the climb, Put your Heart into it.

Be Yourself.

Just Do It - NIke

MY Boo Radley!!!

This was a very hard assignment to think of. There are so many Boo Radleys in this world but the one that is the most prominent in my life right now is death. Death is an unknown fear of mine just like Boo Radley was an unknown fear to Scout. You might come close to knocking on deaths door but you never really do, instead it will find you when the time is right! The thing about death is that you are totally unsure of it. In the back of my mind I feel like death will never come to me. That something will happen, that I'll live forever. Scout was told that Boo Radley was alive but in the back of her mind she felt that maybe he was dead. Just like Scouts perception of Boo Radley is shaped by what others tell her, death is to. I mean none of us truly know about death. We know something happens that makes the person motionless, yet few of us know what actually happens. Do you go to heaven, or hell? Is God really up there? Death is life's greatest mystery.

Death is the one thing I think most people fear most, only because it is the one thing they know least about. Most people say they are scared of spiders, guns, murderous people but all this leads back to death. Why are people scared of spiders? People are scared of spiders because a lot of spiders are poisonous and they don't want to be poisoned which can ultimately lead to death. The other thing people fear most is pain. Death can be very painful, all this is really going in circles.

Dose life go around and around? If I die tomorrow will I come back the next day? Is life ever going? Are some people "older" and some "Younger"? Have some traveled the earth more? Are there ghosts? All these are unknown questions that in my mind really need answers. Scouts situation was very similar. She had all these questions about Boo Radley. Was he crazy? What did he do inside all day? What did he look like? These were unknown to her and that made it scary.

The most mind bending question about death that will forever be unanswered in my human mind is: when will I die? It is such an unknown concept and when I try to grasp this concept I feel as though I am blind. It is like staring into pitch blackness. You don't know and you never will. Scout knocked on Boo Radleys door a few times in hope of finding an answer to her questions but never could proceed to go all the way into the house. I feel this way a lot. I think about death a lot, "looked at the house", but have never "knocked on the door" or attempted to "go into the house." Some physics or more spiritually enlightened people have "knocked on the door" and have a better grasp on what is inside, perhaps by looking through the windows or just getting a feel from the houses aura, but noone who is alive(that I know of) have ever actually been inside the house. Death for me is a little more serious because there is no way of knowing. For Scout, however, she could've answered the question if she had've had the courage. She eventually got to know. Her questions were answered.

Death is an interesting topic because there are so many different idea's of what is going to happen and where you are going to go. Some out there think they're sure of what is going to happen. They think they know exactly where they're going to go. But many, like me, are unsure. They leave it to fate and let things flow because they have no other option. There were many different opinions in Maycomb about Boo Radley as well. Some thought he was best to be left alone, "let things flow." While some wanted to find things out and to get answers. Others already thought they knew, "They were sure of what was happening in that household." The truth is the world will never come to a consensus, people will always have different opinions and ideas. Death will never be answered completely as a whole for the world.  Lucky for Scout her mystery was solved, maybe mine will be too, but I doubt it, instead I think death will always be a mind twisting, contorting, adventurous, unexplainable thing for me.

About ME

            I am a vivacious writer and an extraoridanary reader. On cold, rainy days I love to sit inside with a cup of hot chocolate and open up a long book. Hopefully, when I'm old and famous, I will write an autobiography about my life. I will remember this class and think about how great an influence it was on me. I will remember Olympia Highschool and all the fun I had. The first book I read for Honors English: "To Kill A Mockingbird." I will remember my first funny moment in the library when a curious student asked the librarian why her hair - her blue hair - was lopsided. I will remember the first day I went to Honors English when the hall was so packed I could barely squeeze through. When I first entered the 1st grade I couldn't even say the alphabet but at the end of the year I was reading at a very high level, invovling books like Charlottes Web, and Harry Potter in my literary learning. By 5th grade I was addicted, reading became my passion. Since then I continue to greatly improve my reading and writing skills by reading at least 1-2 books a month.  I don't like reading sad books, instead I love to read Romantic Comedies. If you follow my blog you should see fun, creative, imaginative posts that have lots of spirit. English class is an interesting, expressive way to help students develop their writing and reading communication skills. Since for most jobs you must be able to write and read they make english a 4 year requirement. Reading and writing skills will give you confidence to come out in the world and find a job!