Writing and Me

     As I was reading through the entries in my journal, I started to notice a pattern. For the most part, my analysis-based entries seem dry, poorly written and/or short. One such example would be the following excerpt from a response I wrote after watching the video "Teenage Afluenza is Spreading Fast." "The video...literally talks about Erin's life, exaggerating how hard it is and compares it to life for kids in poor countries." In this particular entry the word choice is extremely lacking and the response is over all poorly written. On the other hand, entries that have a less rigid criteria, such as Friday free writes, I'm able to get more excited (well at least, in this case more emotional) about. "I need to learn to relax again. I want to be able to just read a book and not worry about my enjoyment of it being  temporary. I want to be able to live in the moment, day by day, and not have to think ahead so far. To not have the next few weeks already busy and full when I haven't even started this week." With entries like this, I really enjoy the creative freedom. My style is more creative writing oriented than expository.

(*A great book series FYI)

Like I mentioned before, my expository writing skills are severely lacking. I find that type of writing very bored and that often seems to bleed through into my assignments. My analysis usual seems very short and not well developed. An early analysis I wrote of Ralph from Lord of The Flies is one such example. "He is a very immature character and is not the smartest. People pretty much only follow him because he is the stereotypical 'ideal male.'" Although my analytical writing has improved in the past couple of months, I still have trouble coming up with more in depth  writing. Also related to this is my inability to produce well thought out, "deep" analysis in a reasonable amount of time. More often than not, I psych myself out worrying about the amount given to write, feeling that I am trapped, for lack of a better word. As the new semester progresses, both of these skills will be areas I hope to focus on.

I wouldn't consider myself to be one who suffers from claustrophobia (unless, of course, I'm stuck in a small place) but, for some reason, when writing at school, I begin to feel increasingly claustrophobic. When at ever possible, I would rather write at home, or any place that I choose to write at (choice of surroundings seems to be a major factor in my "classroom claustrophobia"), because that's where the words seem to flow best. As far as inspiration goes, I am often inspired by a variety of different things. In a journal entry from late September in which I discussed my writing, I found an excerpt that neatly sums up my most common sources of inspiration. "I get inspire from all kinds of things, whether that be a *book I've read, or a show I watch. Sometimes it's as simple as something I saw...", for example a rope burn I got on my finger caused me to decide that a fake suicide attempt would be used to frame my main character, Rachel, for murder. I find examples like that to be really exciting because, it proves that inspiration can come from just about anywhere.

Literature in Our World

For the most part this semester, I loved studying world literature. I realized it was the expository writing is the part that I did not love--my brain is more creative writing oriented--not the material itself. The material is pretty much all interesting, especially those pieces that I'm able to make important connections with, such  as realizing the duality in humanity while reading Golding's Lord of the Flies, or during class discussions when the ideas of others spark such connections, but my favorite epiphany, if you will (hence the commonly recognized "light bulb going off in one's mind" analogy), is my realization that world literature is important.  That by extension, it isn't just a bunch of boring work by a lot of dead guys that I have no hope of ever understanding, as I previously thought.  Its importance, as I see it, boils down to the concept that world literature provides a window into the minds of people, past and present, that have experienced and/or do experience different cultures and hold different opinions than I do. World history may provide the facts, but it is world literature that provides the human prospective. 

"Whether you call someone a hero or a monster is all relative to where the focus of your consciousness may be" (Campbell 127). 

In this excerpt, Campbell uses the phrase "the focus of your consciousness" as a way to say prospective, or in this case, how one views other people's actions. By doing so, Campbell expresses that one's perspective determines which side of an issue one will take. The use of the opposing words "hero" and "monster" suggests that there are two sides, the differences between the them very obvious. 

"Supposing that one thousand families in this city, would be constant consumers for infants flesh, besides others who might have it at merry meetings, particularly at weddings and christenings..." (Swift 7).

Here, Swift uses a kind of verbal irony when discussing the possible events at which eating infants would be appropriate. By giving examples such as "weddings" and "christenings", celebrations of life and change, he is emphasizing how disturbing the suggestion of eating dead children truly is, in order bring attention to problems in society that, though not as obviously gruesome as his "modest proposal", he believes need to be brought to the public's attention. 

"...Ralph went to Piggy and took the glasses from him...Piggy stood behind him, islanded in a sea of meaningless color..." (Golding 72-73).

When Piggy's glasses are taken away, the world becomes "a sea of meaningless color", expressing that they are a symbol of clarity. Golding uses the word the word "islanded" to emphasize how isolated one feels when unable to understand the world around oneself.

Moment

  Moment

  Fear arising. 

  Back Up against the wall.

  Instincts on overdrive.

  Fight or flight?

  Do I give in or give all?

  Back still up against the wall.

Culture

Culture- The characteristics shared by a group of people, such as language, religion, clothing, type of food, etc. I've always found it amazing how many countries (aka flags) there are in the world. However, probably even more amazing still is the steer number of completely different cultures that are able to exist. It's estimated (according to the people on http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/ethnic_5.htm) that there are between 5000-6000 languages spoken in the world today, with at least that many cultures, if not more.  It's almost hard to wrap my head around it. 

Country- For me, my country has always been the U.S. I have never lived in a different country, so I can't really imagine living anywhere else. With the freedom we have here, the diversity, it definitely is a great place to call home and I am proud to be an American. One thing that I don't like though is that   we do act sometimes that we are superior to everyone else sometimes, but that not always true. When we first became a nation, we were able to prosper because of all those different people--whose descendants make up this great nation today--and all their unique cultures and ideas.

State- With my dad in the military for 20+ years, I have lived in four different states so far (Maryland, Colorado, New Jersey, and Texas.) My favorite part of living in all those different places, one thing I realized early on, was the uniqueness of each of the places and the peoples that lived their. Looking back on my childhood though, what amazes the most were not the differences, but the similarities. No matter where I went, all the people were extremely nice and always made me feel welcome.

Town- With the exception of San Antonio, all the towns I have lived in were small towns. I love the feeling of those close knit communities. Everything is so close to you and the people are always watching out for you. When you move ever three years, having that kind of community make you feel more at home and gives you that feeling of belonging.

Family-My family is a small one. With just my mom and  dad, my brother, my dog, and me, we are what some people would consider the stereotypical American family. My family's always been closer and never fail to make me feel at home where ever we are.

School- So far in my life I have gone to 9 different schools, 2 preschools, 4 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and two high schools. I've seen everything from a high school sized elementary school with over 1000 kids to a tiny, 108 year old school with just less than 400 students. The one most important thing I've experienced in all the schools I've gone to was the overwhelming amount of school spirit.

Friends- What I love about my friends is how unique they are. I'm not just friends with one type of person from one group. My friends friends are the athletes who are passionate about the sports they play, the readers who always have their nose in a book. My friends are the artists and the writers who are never out of  new ideas. Most of all, my friends are the kind of people who think for themselves and who care about others.

Finding Forester Reflection 

Forrester: No thinking-that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is...to write, not to think! 

From the movie, Finding Forrester, I learned that writing isn't what you think it should be or what others want it to be, it about what you want. You need to learn to write with what you feel before you ever worry about what others will think about it.  Knowing this, I realized that writing, whether it's real or fictional, is a very personal thing. Sometimes it's a good thing just to write for yourself, even if nobody else will see it (journal, diaries?)

"SNL" to Obama: Stop talking

Characteristics of a Hero

Courage is a very important in a hero and they almost couldn't be one without it. A craven hero just would not do. The stereotypical isn't meant to sit on the sidelines and "shake in their boots. No, the people we know to be heroes are the ones putting themselves in danger to save the lives of others, no matter what the cost.

Bravery is another one of the big ones. A hero has to be  fearless, like the little kid who believes nothing is impossible. The one believes that nothing can hurt them. Just like with courage, being brave involves taking risks for the good of others. It means putting others first, period.

There's no point in the first two traits if a hero has no compassion. That's like having a teacher who hates children--pointless. They must care for others and empathesize with their struggles. And most of all they must be willing to always help a person in need.

Have you ever heard of a weak hero? I sure haven't. Strength is an important component of a hero. They must be strong both physically and mentally. Physically to deal with situations such lifting away heavy rubble to free trapped people. Equally important for a hero though is mental strength, to allow them to be able keep going after going through all the hard work they endure on a regular basis.

Similar to having courage, a hero needs be selfless. They must be willing to  put the lives of others before their own. What they do is for the good of the people not themselves.

Again everything they do is for the good of the people. A good hero is humble. What they do is not about reward, but about helping others. If they care more about recognition then they care about the people, they are not a true hero.

Heroes are always polite. Sure you're grateful they saved your life, but you won't be for long if they act like a jerk. Heroes need to have good manners. Typically they are the type that always says please and thank you.

Every hero I've seen is always clean cut and clean in general. Of all the pictures of heroes we see through out our lifetime, their hair is never long and shaggy. They always have on a clean uniform and  cape and they never burp loudly, ever. 

Another must have characteristic of heroes is their speed. It's very important that they are fast and able to people in need as quickly as possible. Without this trait they would not be able to save near as many people as they do.

The last trait is not necessarily as important as those previously mentioned, but always seems to come with the costume and cape. The finale trait is attractiveness. I have never once seen an "ugly" hero. Most of them are usually men, as well as tall and very handsome. The only possible importance of this characteristic is that it makes them generally look more trustworthy.