Test...

So I about had a heart-attack when Ms. Stariha mentioned our test Monday. If this were a movie, that would have been the part where the loud music came on and it sounded like "DUN DUN DUN!!!"

test... ?

I don't know how to feel about the test on monday. I feel completely confident with the Frankenstein aspect of it, but the rest of the literature I am going to have to study and go over several times in order to be able to apply it in my essays(and answer the crazy mutliple choice). I don' think the history will be too difficult, but then again I have been wrong before. Well, hopefully it will turn out to be a successful test for our whole class... I guess we will just have to wait and see!

I think I retained a lot of information today during our class discussion and this may be the first time I go into the test having historical events in mind that I'm going to use on the first essay.

stress-mental, emotional, or physical strain or tension

well this weekend and next week are NOT going to be fun. i don't want to complain or anything, i just think it's gonna be a tough week, especially since i am in creative writing with stariha. we're currently writing short stories in that class...so next week i have the test on monday...the first draft for the essay on thursday and a short story due by friday. oh boy, it's gonna be lots of fun!...oh well..better get used to it if i want to be a writer the rest of my life:)

TEST!

I Joshua Moore XXVII strongly suggest that we, the class, should take the test tuesday because i think we should really havea good review day on the history and literature!! cuz im nto that good at stufdying on my own..im more of a hands on type of guy so i think we should do liek a jeporady interactive like game for review!!!

Focused?!

You know i was thinking about this essay and its actually coming alot easier than i thought...idk if it right but it sounds good lol..I sat down and brain stormed ideas for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and TAG and i got alot...so i decided to put it all on paper and BAM!!! im almost done and i got a week to go! lol maybe if i actually tried at things and didnt procrastinate, an "A" would come alot easier!!

Can't even get started

I am still debating on what type of criticisms to write my paper with. I kind of have ideas for a Marxist, psychoanalytic, and maybe a feminist criticism, or I could just group all of those ideas together if I make a deconstructive criticism, which I think is what I am going to end up doing. I have a few ideas for a few different points of views, so I think I am going to use those as my various angle from which a reader could view the work of Shelley. It is going to be a major time crunch though. I have Science Olympiad this weekend and then all of those extra projects that are going to have to be squeezed out of our brains are not going the help finish this essay sooner. Not to mention the test the MONDAY! A test Tuesday would be so much better I think, but that is only my opinion.

Critical Theory Analysis(Mary Shelley's Life)

So. I'm thinking Biographical. I was reading about Mary Shelley's life. There is some crazy stuff going on. haha. Shelley's Frankenstein tells a story of an overachiever who brings to life the monster who inhabits one's dreams, a tale which still stands as a powerful and enduring example of the creative imagination. When Shelley's father remarried Mary's relationship with her stepmother was strained. Her stepmother was very jealous of Mary's affection for her father. Mary's step mother demanded that Mary always do all the chores and encroached on Mary's privacy. She also didn't encourage Mary's intellectual development. Mary's stepsister was sent away to boarding school to learn french and Mary never received formal education. Fortunately she had access to her father's library where she spent most of her time. One day Mary even his under the parlor sofa to hear Coleridge recite "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" Which is in our Brit Lit books by the way. You should read it. (: SO.. My point. Mary Shelley didn't get any formal education but she still overachieved and finished many great stories like Frankenstein.

I'm Super Angry Right Now

Mrs. Stariha I'm super duper mad right now. More mad than I was at the first two-mile I ever ran. I was actually a little excited for that critical analysis paper, I do stuff like that all the time only I call it "making up crap that Misty will totally believe".

So I was a little excited and maybe even a little giddy to start this project, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I was ready to bust it out of the gate. Then I hear that there is A TEST MONDAY! WHAT THE @#%)#$*(^&$%^(! I can't possibly put in enough time this weekend (while I'm in Lansing for Science Olympiad) to write a test essay, study for a big giant test, and write a paper. I know I know the paper doesn't have to be done until Thursday but I do NOT have time to do it during the week. So Im super mad that the test is monday. Tuesday would be like 12 times better, its not right after the weekend and gives us more time to review.

Next, I find out that we have to peer edit these papers on Thursday. I think peer editing is the biggest load of hokey ever. My peers never edit my papers very well. Its either they are to scared to say bad things, they aren't scared at all and they give bad suggestions, or they draw unicorns on my paper.

THEN I find out we will have TWO OTHER prodjects introduced! WHAT? Yeah, I know you tried to win me back with your little joke, and it may have worked a little, but....... not really. Im super mad.

oh no

So I missed most of class yesterday so im not completely sure how to go about writing this paper. Its a good thing I can just focus on that and not anything else... just kidding we have a test on monday yaaayy

This Paper

I don't know what to do this is crazy! Decisions are not fun to make at all, if somebody just tells me to do one it would be soo much easier but ohh well I do not believe that this is going to happen so my paper when the rough draft is due Thursday it might be a whole lot of mumble jumble!! :/

(This post is in blue because I'm sad)

--do it

everyone SHUN DJ

:)love you jenny.. uh jodi, wait jason.. no danny.. errr dj.

Rough Draft

I think I'm done with my first paragraph...the introduction. And the intro is always the easiest. It turned out kinda long, so I think I'm going to have to cut some things out...oh well. I think it's really good! So hopefully Ms. Stariha does too....

No Longer Monster Sympathy Day

Has anyone else noticed the slight skip in Ms. Stariha's step this week? In a time when many teachers and students are dragging their feet towards the finish line that continues to creep at it's slow but rapid pace our English teacher has found a pocket of happiness. What is the cause? you may ask. What could make Ms. Stariha joyful despite the overall gloom that infects the majority? Today I uncovered it in our Frankenstein Literary Theory Analysis Essay. Thinking of the hours we will pour into this one assignment must make her glow with happiness. What other than the inflicting of stress upon inferiors could make any such creature be filled with such bliss?

N E R V O U S

So if you're reading this right now, which you probably aren't because no one reads my posts, you should stop. Because these next few lines are me complaining.

I know I'm being negative but I need to vent.

I am really nervous about this critical theory paper.

I'm not a very good writer and it usually takes me a really long time to write a paper.

I know we have a week and all but I don't have time to do it on weekdays.

I have so much stuff to do for other classes and I have softball games and physical therapy every night.

So my only days off are going to be spent writing this paper. :(

And this is how it's going to go:

I am going to take forever trying to get started because thats what usually takes the longest for me.

Then I'm going to get going and I'm going to get sick of writing and then I'm just gonna throw something down because I'm mad and tired of spending my weekend writing a paper.

Ugh I am stressing out just thinking about it.

Sorry Ms. Stariha.

I know I'm not supposed to be negative.

So here is a nice picture.

Critical Thinking Paper. Oh Joy.

So, after much thought and deliberation I have no idea which critical aspect to write this paper on. At first I was so sure that I wanted to Biographical but then the Psychoanalytic one sounds good too! Hmm...maybe I'll combine into the Deconstruction one? Anyway, everyone be excited because I'm making a NEW Brit Lit Free Write CD! Yay! It's chock full of Regina Spektor, some Jack Johnson, Ben Folds, Noah and the Whale and nice piano music (:

free write: psychological analysis

I think that the message of this story, or the meaning behind the plot, is that people who do things wrong aren't always punished. However, a lesson is always learned. Goldilocks didn't get in trouble or hurt, but I bet she won't disobey her mother again. The lesson was learned without a punishment being issued.

decisions decisions.

Soo after talking about writing our Critical Theory Analysis papers, I am officially ver excited to write this paper!! I think that once I actually start I might not feel the same way, but as of right now it sounds like it's going to be an awesome assignment! :D I'm trying to decide between taking the psycho-analysis or the deconstructionist approach. I wanted to do feminist at first but after talking to a few people, realized that it would be a much harder approach than the other options. So then I began leaning towards psycho-analysis, but then I heard that everyone is taking that approach. I guess I will just have to end up doing eenie meenie miney moe...

Question Time!

So, I am finally done with the book... wow. Not the ending I anticipated, but whatever. Anyway, after all the murders and "getting back" at Victor that the monster ends up doing, I continue to wonder if it was too much. Clearly stated: Are they even? I mean, I can see how the murder of a brother might suffice, but everyone he knows? Come on! I would have to say the answer to that question is no. Victor created him for gosh sakes! The least he could do is show a little respect. But no, he has to continue. If I was Victor, I would have died knowing that I owed him.

Cinquain from Monster Appreciation Day

Monster?
Not really.
Other than appearance,
He is very human-like.
Misunderstood.

I think that the word misunderstood is a very good word to describe the monster because everyone takes one look at him and thinks ugly. When in reality, he is much more deep than what meets the eye. Its ironic that the blind man accepts him (De Lancey), and the man with vision shuns him (Felix).

Acrostic Poem from Monster Appreciation day

Very
Intelligent
Creator,
The
Only
Real

Frankenstein

Sort of Random

So, as I was driving to school last week, the people on the radio were talking about the last season of the bachelor. It's officially over between Emily and Brad (ughh thank god! She was wayyyy too young for that predator.) and that somehow got me thinking about Frankenstein. You know why? Because Emily on the bachelor and Elizabeth are soooo much alike! They both have blond hair. They are both sooooo super super extremely nice. And both are a little naive (although Emily had a daughter...but don't judge!) Anyway, that's how I conncected Frankenstein to what I actually think about during class lol

M O N S T E R (SPOILER ALERT!)

Being my geeky self, I think that the monster is the most intriguing character that we've read about so far. There are so many contradictions and interesting characteristics with him. All he wants is to be loved and accepted, but that is the one thing that he is denied. Other humans wish for the speed and the agility and the strength of the monster, and all he wants is to look human. He is such a kind soul, he leaves huge piles of wood for a family which allows the family to do more important things. He falls in love with each person in this family like they were his own, he wishes to do no harm to them but they don't even give him a second to explain himself. And he's so smart, he taught himself how to read and speak English in under 2 years, just by listening to them converse. Is that not crazy? Yet, when he is denied his request for a companion all he wants is to do is make Victor feel the pain and loneliness that he felt. He takes everything from Victor, his love, his family, his sanity. But what does he feel for Victor? He leads him on a chase through the arctic promising a fight but always stays a day or two ahead. And when Victor dies, he realizes how much having someone chase him meant to him, he needed Victor, his father, his creator.

Poor Henry.

"Remember that I have the power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; - obey!"

Victor has truly created a monster. This once kind, gentle being that wanted nothing but to be loved, has now become a creature overcome by despair. Because of the cruelties of man, he has known nothing but hatred and persecution and because of this, wants to inflict pain upon the world. If Victor had only shown his creation a bit of compassion, it might have grown into something entirely different.

Victor's hate for his creation not only caused the monster pain, but led to Victor's ruin as well. Henry Clerval, who was the most devout and loyal friend to Victor, was murdered because of Victors failure to love. Victor was constantly in agony because of what he had done, all of which could have been prevented if he had only shown the creature he brought into this world one thing... love.

exclamation point times 1 billion! :D :D

oh my gosh! i have a C in brit-lit! it's a miracle! it's a 75...soooo close to a b..yet sooo close to that dumb d...so i'm thinking that maybe...if i start doing those journal things and do really good on my next test......kendra could have a b!!!!! but..even if i don't. i'm okay with the c! :) :)

p.s...don't judge. a c is pretty good for me if you haven't noticed up there ^

Boo to "Dr" Frankenstein

Spoiler alert: I am pretty dang disappointed in Mr. Victor. Did he really think the monster was after him and not Elizabeth on his wedding night? I didn't even realize he thought his monster was after him until 3 paragraphs before the climax. But honestly, after all those years of education and previous strikes of murder Victor let the monster who he created (and shares some remarkable similarities with) destroy his only remaining source of joy?? And he didn't even seem to have an attack plan were his monster to go after him! I mean yeah he carried a revolver but for the superior qualities of the monster I would use something 3 times the power of a hand gun. I enjoyed the book a lot but it's always a disappointing when the main character goes daft in the head.

Slackers.

Gotta say. I usually am one. And now I have been reading everyones blogs about how they are behind on the reading. For once I actually finished the book before we were suppose to. So for anyone who is behind should really start reading because Frankenstein is such a good book.(: I loved it and I really surprised myself when I finished ahead of time. But. I still need some extra credit in this class. Yikes.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

I'm actually kinda suprised because this trimester I was thinking "oh crap, I have brit lit, I'm definitely gonna fall behind in that class and get all stressed out cuz I'll be slacking too much" and yadda yadda.
BUUUUT suprisingly I haven't been falling back too bad, I think maybe it's just because I like the book we're reading. Lol
ACTUALLY, precalc is uhhh yeah not doin me so sunny this trimester. I am slacking like sooo much in that class, wooooo doggy I'm not doing good.
But anyways, yeah idk why I made a whole other blog post to say this I coulda just put it on the other one but I'm an over acheiver. :)

Mrs. Stariha I liked your hair today ;)

the reaaadddiinnnnggg

I just love this book....it has so much meaning I like how you can feel the emotion and stuff, it has really good quotes too. It takes me forever to read it just because every 2 seconds I'm writing down a quote I like!! lol but I am verrrry behind on the reading sooo yeah hopefully I can somehow catch up with that or something. Overall I like it though I'm excited to see how it endssss.

Kaitlyn Bell's post

Kaitlyn emailed this to me because she couldn't get it to post on the blog:

So I am going to be like everyone else and post about the discussion last Friday.
First off, I was pretty impressed with how well it went considering it was Friday and we were just coming back from Pride Day.
Second, it was just a really good conversation. Everyone one had input and everyone listened.
Third, it really got me thinking there for awhile.
Fourth, it was a little exhausting. My brain hurt after that class and then I was too tired to think the rest of the day.
Besides that little negative, it was probably one of the best discussions we've had all trimester.

catch up time

so not gonna lie, this week i fell back on reading... so today was/still is catch up day. its gonna be just great, im going to know everything and be like "whooa im awesome" which yes i know you all thinking we knew that already but ill be even more awesome, which yes i know is hard to believe such a thing is possible but just take my work for it people... it is!! and now i think i should get off this and go finish reading, cause honestly i was just blogging to get credit. haha

uhhh is it just me or are my posts never about what we are reading... hmm is this bad, or what? i think stariha said once that we could talk about what we please on here, so i guess thats what i do. haha ok niiiiight everyone :) and hey HAPPY EASTER

:/

Soo I have missed more days this week than I normally do which would be none so I'm starting to know how the people who have crazy amounts of school related activities that take them away from the school feel! lol which would be overwhelmed, tomorrow morning I am coming early to talk to Stariha but ... I'm not up on my reading so lets just hope that doesn't get me in too much trouble!! :P

Easter

I hope that everyone had a blessed Easter and hopefully some of you read more of Frankenstein because I did not but I will relate to you a Romantic Age horror story of my own that happened to me this weekend...... It was a cold Saturday and my brother and his wife were home and we were headed to my uncle's cabin to hang out for the day. My little sister, John, Krista and I all headed up early to kyak the river which was very high and muddy. We had been in the water about a half hour when my little sister took a tumble in the freezing water. We all donated a layer of clothing and continued on. Ten minutes later we neared a impossible bend where you had to duck under a low log and I could not get down so I was totally submerged in the icy torrent. I clawed my way to shore and John drained my Kayak. Now we were perched on a bank that pointed straight down and John told me to get in the Kayak and he would push me in. I said it wasn't a good idea but complied. As soon as the kayak was all the way in I was in the water a second time and there were no extra clothes. Needless to say it was the coldest 30 minute kayak ride back I have ever had in my life! Here ends my personal horror story..... Hannah Huls

slackin

I have done a horrible job so far with actually reading what I need to get read in Frank. So today was my cram day and it was not very productive .... at all!!!! I walked around all day with Frank, actually calling the book Frank. It got bad cause I ended up doing more carrying of Frank than actually reading him. But it is hard to read when your at your grandmothers with soo much commotion going on.

Ive also been not-so-great with remembering to blog which is what I am doing now just, trying to catch up I'm pretty sure I forgot last week which is not good at all because I need all the easy cushion points I can possibly get!!!!

Well happy Easter everyone and I will unfortunately see you all tomorrow morning bright and early =/

Easter

Well today was a very good day, it started off scary because we were in church and then my dad was told my grandpa had collapsed so he went to the hospital but it turned out my grandpa will be fine which is awesome!!, and then my family went over to my other grandparents and had lunch and watched the Tigers win so it was a great afternoon, and the night turned out pretty sweet so im happy lol.. not looking forward to school though haha

ms. stariha...

i know that you are super busy with your beautiful daughters and grading everything from other classes and stuff....but i was wondering...when are you gonna put grades in?

friday :)

so i think our discussion in friday was really awesome. i actually thought that if we got onto the whole religion topic people would flip out and get mad and stuff, but it was actually the total opposite. i'm glad that we could all get our own opinions out and that we felt like we could do that without people getting mad. and frankenstein...hmmm..well i'll be honest. i haven't been reading it as much as i'd like too. i kinda checked out a book from the library and i've been reading that instead so hopefully tonight and i can read frankenstein and catch up!

Friday?

Religion. To me this is a word that has a lot of power. No matter who you are, often this word stimulates a whole feild of emotions. Good, bad, ugly, beautiful, passionate... no matter who you are, often it stimulates something. And often its the thing that most people find the most comfort in. Its the one aspect of society that can bring peace to people. The one that completes ones view of life, and more important after life. To a lot of people "religion" gives them purpose. In society religion gives morals and structure for living. It can give the wanderers guidelines and the rebels a place to come back to. But in the name of religion so much hate has been done. In the name of "love" so much harm and hurt have been imposed. But to blame religion for this would be uncalled for. I cannot agree with hannah more when she said its not religion that has the flaws, its the humans that distort the religion. When looking at the religions of the world, so many of them lead straight to love. No where in love should you be able to find the harm that has been done in the name of God. But human flaw you find just that. Humans inflict the hurt, harm and hate... humans.

Easter TRIP

so my trip is coming to an end today on easter. im sad but it was really nice to see some of my family. i went to the nashville zoo and i seen all sorts of animals. that made me think of frankenstein, how you ask? well i was thinking that to come up with such a monster as frank, you would have to be around a lot of stuff, in particular, animals. so i think that mary shelley was around a lot of animals in her past before writing about freaky frank. lol i also went to downtown nashville to walk around and i seen this awesome magician! i also went to the loveless motel. its a very famous resturaunt and has the best biscuts in the south! so it was a very fun weekend. sorry if anyone reading this post got really jealous about the 80 degree weather i experienced. =] have a great Easter!!!

Thinking back to Friday...

It was really nice to hear everyones ideas on religion and how they apply to everything. Everyone really does have their own ideas and beliefs. Even people who go to the same church may have different ideas on what's right and wrong. But really most religions have so many of the same beliefs. They are all so similar.. But anyway. Frankenstein is so so good. I have like two chapters left. Love it.(:

Thus Far

Class has been quite fun lately! Discussions have been interesting and I really enjoy hearing everyones input. I am of course thinking back to friday and the discussion over religion. I was pleased that we were able to express ideas without being shot down or ignored. Prior to Brit Lit, I believe our discussion would have easily evolved into a division of sides. I feel this class has allowed us to grow more comfortable with our class mates and mature over all. However, I do realize our number of years has had some effect in our maturity. I am just able to see this change easily in our class.

Frankenstein Images

So here are some cartoon pictures of Frankenstein's Monster

Reading

So I am wondering if anyone knows how far we are supposed to be through Frankenstein. I don't know if the calendar is right, but I just wanted to know how far Mrs. Stariha wants us by Monday. Thanks.

Saturday Night Live Skit

So while at science olympiad I was watching some hulu and SNL skits. I came across a Mary Shelley and Frankenstein skit. It's coincidental that they just did this skit while we're reading Frankenstein! So here's the link:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/231270/saturday-night-live-mary-shelley#s-p2-sr-i1

Oxymandias reflection

This poem reveals to me that the brain of man, that makes it superior to all other animals that can't think beyond their basic needs, is also what has or will bring his downfall. Today we think that what we have created is "mighty" and right, but we have abandoned the ideas of yesterday. Ironically, today will eventually be a yesterday and the ideas the we think are great today will be "half sunk" in an ocean of sand. All because mankind likes to believe that today he is right and he will stick to that decision basically forever. I think that is why there is so many differences between group of people in the world. We where talking about religion in class and that fits here too. I agree with whoever said that religion is creation of man because that would imply that there are so many different religions because there are many different groups of people with different thoughts in the world. And even though the great majority of these different religion try to bring peace to the world I don't think everyone will one day believe the same thing as everyone else because all mankind has a brain to think for themselves. Even if everyone was at one point lead to believe a common idea for the benefit of all, I don't think it will last long because someone will eventually start to think for themselves and create a new way of thought.

Thinking....

While you guys were talking about the religon and stuff, I got to thinkin about how i could get my word in. So i wrote this up on paper in class and here it is....

I HAVE A DREAM that all people, believers or not, can live as one and be united to form a stronger faith.

I HAVE A DREAM that people can quit caring about proving others wrong and worry about their own problems.

I HAVE A DREAM that people notice the good instead of always looking at the bad.

I HAVE A DREAM that everyone, someday, could all be happy no matter if others think something else.

I HAVE A DREAM that everyone, of all race's can be friends. Because one day there will be a time when we will need someone to fall back on and if we dont unify then we all will fail. So its up to you...Die alone? or Die strong?...

Hope you all have enjoyed my I HAVE A DREAM speech and hope you all have an awesome weekend cya!!!

Further Religious Discussion

So I know this subject has kind of been driven into the ground today but I felt kind of bad because I didn't want it to seem like I was bashing the church or religion for that matter. When we were discussing the importance of religion, I really wanted to push the idea that religion is very important to society. Having a common interest in which people can agree on and bond with each other is necessary for a growing society. And I'm not saying that there is no God or that man made him/her up, the idea of building temples and really worship is however, and that's not a bad thing! One bad thing is that people will hide behind their church and push for what they believe in regardless of whether or not its right. It is not "religion" itself that causes problems for man kind, its man that creates problems for himself. Religion is not something that can be perceived as good or bad, it is not something that can be touched or have any physical matter, its what man decides to use it for, what slander he can come up with to make people do what he wants. Its all a matter of control and power. If a man can control what people believe in then he will have all of the power in the world because he basically would have a zombie army that would do anything he wanted (best example would be Hitler). I now realize that I've gotten off topic, but what I was trying to do was make today's discussion not insulting to anyone's belief because it really wasn't meant that way.

and this...

Though we all may want, none will be remembered, as always, the sands of time will wash away all remains of our existence. Our deeds done while on this sphere, are nothing more than a drop of water into the endless ocean of human existence, in which will then be inseperable. Only the events, in which we aided to take place, will be remembered.

our discussion today kindof inspired me to write this

The religion of our modern society, is no longer about God, but about the elevation of mankind, it is now about who is right, And who is wrong, no longer judged by a god of justice and wisdom, but by a corrupt judge of the kingdoms of the earth, of a kingdom of weapons, in which justice is not represented by peaceful communocation, but by destruction of all sides.

Why I Hate Brit Lit

I love this class I really do. I look forward to it in the morning, it makes me happy most days when I leave.
But here is my problem with this whole dumb thing. I have a reading addiction (similar to Abby's) To quote Mr Isakson I'm a "biography hound" I'm not sure if being called a hound is a good thing or not.
And with all the reading we do in this stupid class I never get to read my lovely biographies!!!! I have library fines racking up and unfinished books to boot! This NEVER happens to me!!! This class is costing me big time. I only have so much time to read these lovely biographies, and Brit Lit is stealing that precious time!

Forgetting Frankenstein

I always forget that stupid book every where!!! left it in the car two days ago! Left it in my locker today! I can't get any reading done without it! Its a good thing I'm a science nerd and I have Science Olympiad tomorrow and I will be able to get that dumb book that I forget everywhere. I don't know how I could ever forget about it. Its such a large portion of how my time is spent lately. I'm beginning to resent it I think. but I don't want to because I;m actually liking the book. I love the diction Shelley uses, its so blatant and descriptive. Nothing is sugar coated. The horrendous monster is referred to as just that.

soooooo....

I liked the discussion in class today, it kindof shows all the different aspects/opinions on different religions. I definitely agree with what Hannah said in class on the fact that all the bad things like war that may include disputes over religion, are not originally caused by religion. It is mans interpretation and disagreements over religion which cause them to fight, thus disrupted both religions they were probably fighting over!

So about Frankenstein, I'm liking this book so far, and at this point in my reading I'm beginning to feel a sort of melanchony for the monster. His observations of the couple Felix & Agatha really bring out his realization of his lack of human relations and companionship. He is lonely and it really shows. It's also interesting to me how him, a creature who knows nothing of society sees the "creatures" he observes to be living in luxury with no reason to be discontent, when in reality they are suffering from poverty. To me it shows the lack of gratefulness we have for what we are blessed with.

felt but not explained

i love what we did in class today.
it gets my mind goin in the morning and it really gets me thinkin.
the picture free write at the beginning of class really made me focus
because i felt but i couldnt explain.
then getting into class discussions really excite me
becuase i know that one little thing that could be said
could either one, be blown wayyyy out of porportion or two,
make me think differently, ya know? plus if someone says something that someone else agrees with... idk i just like to watch the drama. i know i dont talk alot during those because im taking things in and to be honest i know things i say make me sound stupid so id rather not say anything at all. but in class i got a better understanding of other peoples view points and how to explain how i feel in words.... does that make sense?

reading... ugh.

So typically, I really enjoy reading and consider it one of my favorite hobbies. But I realized that when I know that I have to read, I just do it to get it done and don't enjoy it half as much. I'm not sure what to do to solve this problem of mine. I might start reading ahead instead of just reading the assigned number of chapters... or maybe I will just try to convince myself that I am doing it for fun and hope that it works? Trial and error I guess.

I FOUND MY QUOTE IN FANKENSTEIN!!!

"That the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard."

I chose this quote because I do not wholly understand it. It makes me very sad (at least the part that I believe to understand about it) because it says that once something is familiar and dear to you... it loses its jive. That once we 'get used' to something, it doesn't just stop being new, but stops BEING at all. To think that we could really be as simple of creatures that we need things to change, to become better, brighter, bigger and faster just to keep us happy, is humiliating. We have lost the beauty of consistency and traded it for insecurity. We found out that if you change things too fast, or too slow, people are never happy. And then they become discontent with the few things in their lives that stay constant, like the color of a persons' eyes or the tones of their voice. We have become creatures that need to be entertained, need to be spoon fed entertainment from different ways of life. We must be told what to wear, when to wear it, and how to wear it. What to watch, when to go to school, when to wake up in the morning. Who we should be friends with and how we should treat our friends. What choices make us cool, and what the definition of 'cool' is in the first place. Our world has us under its belt, and makes us think in a certain way which makes us forget the simple beauties of small consistent things that we had once loved. Sad... but true.

So that is what I got out of the quote... anyone else get something???

Fame Monster

Today we were talking so much about monsters that I got the song Fame Monster by Lady Gaga stuck in my head. I began realizing how many celebratities suffer like Victor did. Pushed to succeed and consumed by fame they begin losing touch with other important parts of the world. Fame is a monster. Look what it did to Princess Di and Heath Ledger. The fame of these individuals was brought on by themselves and became destructive. I think we all can create something that destroys easier than we realize.

Frankenstein! Bwahahaa. (All said with an extreme russian/italtian/german accent)

I think I'm starting to creep my mother out. I'm been reading Frankenstein and I decided to take a break because after about 3 chapters I started to get a headache...anyway I realized how fun it is to say "Frankenstein! Bwhahaha" in this extreme awful accent. It truly is fun...go ahead and try it! But besides the funness of saying "Frankenstein! Bwhahaha" I really am enjoying Frankenstein. Right now, I feel bad for the creature. However, I believe that my sympathy for the characters may change as the book continues. But the creature didn't ask to be a monster or look horrible. He wanted to be loved and cared for and instead Victor ran away abandoned him. It reminds me of those children who are abused or have a bad childhood and then they end in bad situations or in prison even if they started out with good intentions. Okay, I don't know if that made sense at all...but it also reminds of the phrase "No good deed goes unpunished." Both Victor and the creature started with good intentions and then their lives became more miserable and in a way they became punished.

Connection

So this whole thing about Justine being falsely accused for the murder reminded me alot of that story "To Kill a Mockingbird". The black guy (can't remember his name) gets wrongly accused of rape. Also, the mystery behind the plot of both stories is very similar. Atticus and Victor play similar roles...kind of weird.

pain?

Today in brit lit we all had to get on the floor and share. I wasn't sure how to position myself. If I should sit up or lay down. I found that sitting up was very uncomfortable, so I layed on the floor. I also found that laying on the floor is very uncomfortable and this is why I titled this post... pain.

P.S. I really dont enjoy complaining but whatever you have to do to get a blog post right?

poor justine..

Justine got the short end of the stick for sure. She was, like we talked about in class, a victim of Victor's ignorance. It was obvious that Victor knew the severity of his mistake, he was just choosing to keep it to himself and not trying to make amends. A quote on the bottom of page 65 illustrates this pretty well, it says, "every one else believes in her guilt, and that made me wretched, for I knew that it was impossible: and to see every one else predujiced in so deadly a manner rendered me hopeless and despairing." In class we talked about how Victor is in actuality a good person, but for some reason, I feel like I need to disagree. I feel like he is extremely selfish and almost heartless. How could he stand by, and allow an innocent human being be accused and punished for a crime that was caused by him.. ?

Death of Literature

On facebook the other day I was checking my messages and talking to people when one of the advertisements caught my eye. "Do you like Jane Eyre?" it said. Thinking of the book I enjoyed very much I read on- "Then check out the book!". I found the fact that I live in a Society where people are more familiar with a movie that was released less than 3 months ago than the VERY popular book written more than 100 years ago that the movie was based off of extremly depressing.

Science in Brit Lit

I completely agree with the idea that the search for "forbidden knowledge" today is not accepted by the great majority of society. I know this isn't the case for everythin but I think it is safe to say that all new ideas have their few sceptics or non supporters who reject the idea. In the medical field there are many example of this. To start off, abortion. We now have the tools and procedures to successfully remove an embryo without killing the mother, however not everyone agrees with this procedure. The process of organ doning also bring much controversy. There are those who think that a second chance of life is something that we should do if it is in our power but that also brings the group of people who think that possibly taking one life to save another is not ethical. In order to transplant an organ it must be relatively "fresh" out of the doner, but how do we know we are not killing him to save the other person? With modern technology, doctors do not only test for pulse and breathing to see if a patient is alive or not but there are also many other medical technicalities that declare a person living even if they are not able to preform many of the normal human functions without assistance. Like a human vegetable. Therefore, we as a society have made many advancements, in the medical field alone, towards the possibility of saving many lives but for each advancement there is a group who tags the idea as forbidden knowledge that we were not meant to achieve. I named a few examples but there is bound to be more examples of modern "forbidden knowledge."

....

well i am really happy about my test score. i know that you "smart" people would not enjoy my grade..but it was about 8 percentage points hire..so i was a happy camper. but anyway, i really like frankenstein..a lot. very interesting...

Ode to Kurt

So Kurt, I saw a blank page in the book on page 46, and remembered Kurt's post about the blank page on page 34. As a result, I decided to put a post on here in honor of Kurt. So there, you are being honored Kurt. And everybody, check out that sweet blank page on page 46.

I STAND BY WHAT I.... COMMENTED.... :D

With commenting on Kody's post prior to discussing it in class, I already had my idea of what to I thought of the topic. I still think what I said was correct, because of the facts stated in the comment. I do not think that we bind down the thoughts of the many prestigious minds of our time. The people who are thought to think outside the box are not just accepted, but rather supported by many. NOTHING in a society will have a mutual consciences of what is right or wrong, there will ALWAYS be someone who disagrees, that is an undeniable fact. So they fact that there is some people who disagree with the advancments today is expected, but are we (as a majority) encouraging to hidden knowlege???? YES!

ADORABLE!

I must say that Ms. Stariha has extremely adorable children. Slide 23 and 30 are the cutest pictures ever. Willa is getting so big and Harper is looking more and more like her Daddy :) Super cute.

But back to Brit Lit, I didn't quite understand the intense elaboration of the story of Justine in Elizabeth's letter to Victor.. ? Maybe it will play a major role later on in the book but when I read it, I was confused. I hope that Victor doesn't marry Elizabeth. Even though his mother said on her death bed that her "firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of their union", I think that it would be unfair to Elizabeth if they were to get married because he is not the same person that he was before he created the monster. Since creating "Frankenstein's Monster" he has become a deranged, fearful man who is not of sound mental health. He seemed almost schizophrantic towards the end...

This scale of life.

This class lately has really made me struggle with this balance between knowledge and acceptance. Knowledge being to seek to know, to seek to understand, to yearn to further education, and the desire to learn everything about anything. This knowledge that would be helpful in worldly success. But then there is this whole idea of acceptance... accepting that there are things that we will never know no matter how hard we attempt to understand, accepting that there are things that we aren't supposed to know, accepting that we are only human, and accepting that nature is more powerful then what we give it credit for. This acceptance brings this idea of peace and rest. I don't know, maybe I'm just over thinking, but to me, it seems this balance is more key in our society than what we think.

"Intuition"

Here's a YouTube video with lyrics of that song "Intuition." It's been pitch-ed for copyright issues, but it's still good and gets the point across. Lyrics are on the screen (Some of them are wong). Personally, I like it. lol the URL will be on the comment. :)

"Gonna Follow My Intuition..."

So, this Brit Lit test just really didn't make my day at all. Actually, it kind of set the tone for my day :( but, when I got home from softball practice, my sister was playing her Selena Gomez CD and the song "Intuition" was playing. Two things: 1. Selena Gomez isn't that bad of a singer! and 2. This song totally made my day a lot better. It's about ignoring the negativity of life and the people around you and instead to "follow your intuition" to make your day the way you WANT it to be! I'll post the lyrics later...maybe...(extra credit for an extra blog post?) and I will try to find the link on YouTube I guess...Who knows, a lot of you may think I'm dumb for liking this song and some of you may like it, too, but either way I'm going to Follow My Intuition :) "It's gonna be a good day..."

NeGaTiViTy

Honestly, I have nothing positive to say right now... Thank God, I did that Satire project.

Photos of the girls.

Hello all!  This is unrelated to class, but if you want to see photos of the girls, check out the following link. Portraits of Harper and Willa

WOW!!!

You know life has its ups and downs but this really kills it lol...on my test i decided that if i studied really hard fro like 3 hours then id prolly get a good grade..well lets just say that my first two test of part A were about 50 percent combined more than these first two of part B....ya i know youre all thinking how do you plan on getting an A still...well you know what they say...

"If theres a will, Theres a way!"

so yes ive got it coverd..thank you al for caring and i do want to thank everybody who ive been in a group with (which has only been Emily, Abby, Mallory, and Ryan) but thank you guys....you do actualy (honestly) help me understand the class.

Test Results

So I was kind of impressed with my test grade! Once again, the multiple guess got me for most of my points off, but the essays I felt were okay. Preparation was key for these essays, and I think I did a good job of that. Stupid multiple guess.

Forbidden Knowledge

In the myth of Prometheus he is punished for giving the people forbidden knowledge... In Frankenstein, Victor is punished for searching for forbidden knowledge... In society we are all punished for our search of "forbidden" knowledge or just ideas that others don't find acceptable. In the case of stem cell research some people search for ways to cure diseases, and our looked down upon for their ways of acquiring this research.

stupid book.

thus far, im disliking this book. wasnt it supposed to be like a romance? maybe its cause i havent gotten super far into the book but holy crap the beginning is sooooo dumb and seems pretty pointless. so i had my mom finish the second chapter for me (outloud) and we got to talking and i was all like "i thought this was about some freak creature who tries to eat people.." so my mom comes back with "well yeah, sorta".. so i went on saying how i didnt understand the point of the first couple chapters then, and ya wanna know what she says.. "well its just trying to set a good look at the background.." or whatever she said.. i dont remember how it went but, ughh im just crossing my fingers that this book turns into this romance otherwise, i might be pretty upset... just saying.

Frank

I think Frankenstein will be a good book for me. i really think ill be able to understand what is happening. i can't wait to figure out how this literature relates directly to the culture in which it was created. lol but overall it should be an interesting book to read. =]

Blank Page

I was reading Frankenstein and I realized that there is a blank page in my book on page 34...is anyone else's like that?

***FrAnKeNsTeIn***

Romantic Era???? This book is going to redefine what I think about Romance. I love how this era isn't all ushy gushy, but its more about nature. I like also that it doesn't all end happily, like a lot of romances do currently. Instead we are starting to see realistic hardships with humans not being the center of attention. I wonder how the people of this time felt about the authors writing 'down' on humans. Did they agree at first???? It seems like people don't really like what they read until years later. Like painters and play writers, they were not appreciated (commonly) until after they were long dead and eroding in their graves. Funny how things work like that. But that is my question.... Is the Romantic Era "popular" during the actual time of the Romantics, or was it years later when people started buying into the idea?

Frankenstein

I thought the letters were weird and how Walton was obsessed and how he wanted to be a scientist. I think by the end of the book he will end up being a scientist but he won't be doing common good. His inventions won't help people and it was weird how he always wrote to his sister.

Frankenstein

I can honestly say that I have enjoyed reading this book a lot this weekend. When I have been bored I have picked it up like it is a book for pleasure and it has been very interesting minus some of the complicated vocabulary. My past experience with Frankenstein consisted of watching the movie The Young Frankenstein by Monty Python which as you can imagine was very ridiculous so all in all I am looking forward to reading more.

Letter

So here is my letter that I wrote for that free write in class...

Dear friend,
One day I went to the north peak of the Caberfean Mountains. I was skiing like a pro, as usual.

Then all of a sudden a grizzly bear, a puma, and a fuzzy little bunny came out of no where and started to attack me.

The grizzly attacked first so I decided to give him the good old roundhouse kick to the face....yeah with a ski on. Just then the puma started to charge so I took one of my ski poles and stabbed it through his face. There I was just finished of a cougar and a grizzly and no scratches or anything. Then out of no where the bunny came flying and gave me a huge gash on the side of my face from my ear to my cheek bone. Then i grabbed the little rodent and broke his neck with a simple twist. So after that I just kept being awesome and kept doing awesome tricks....

Sincerely,

Skierpro14

frankenstein

so i thought the whole 2 chapters of frankestein was pretty good, i like how he starts off talking about everyone else around him, and then slowly starts talking about himself and how he is obsessed with the metaphysical things, so ya, that was intense.

im not much of a socialite anymore.

so for some reason, im reading this book instead of doing this id rather be doing. instead of sleeping? reading. instead of watching tv? reading. instead of hanging out with shane? reading. lol. and as my family is watching passion of the christ... im reading! its terriblee! i cant get my hands off of this book! this book is my favorite book i have ever read. the only problem is i cant read alot at a time. the words are long and so it gets a little overwhelming so as of right now im barely done with chapter 7. which reminds me how far were we supposed to go? i have so many feelings about this book i cannot put into words. so i hope we will be having a great discussion come tomorrow morning because i want to know what everyone else is thinking when they read it as well. becuase personally, its not scary at all... and well everything (other than the death of elizabeth) is going great. i believe that that labratory that his professor showed him will later come into play. idk i just have a hunch.

Frankenstein

So far it seems pretty interesting, which I'm thankful for because I thought I'd hate it! Lol but my only fear is that I'm going to get wayyyy behind when it get's more difficult & stuff. In the letters we read it was so weird because it made me feel a sense of melanchony-not sure if that's how you spell it- which suprised me alot because I wouldn't expect that from this book? It seems like it's going to be very mysterious. I hope I can keep up with the reading!!!!!

Tired

So yesterday I was in ludington from 1-7 and by the time I got home i was exhausted...we went to see Rio :) oh and btw it wasn't all that great, cute but the funniest parts were the ones they showed in commercials. Any who I told myself "no worries I'll just read tomorrow" then when tomorrow got here I realized that my brain was fried. Let's hope it can find some sanity before the day is over.

Untitled

I think that Frankenstein is the best book we have read so far in either of the Brit Lit classes. For one, its the first story besides Gullievers Travels that I had heard of. Second Frankenstein is a classic horror story and is decently understandable. I'm also curious to see whats hidden in the story when we look at in more depth in class

Pygmalion

So I know we're going to read Pygmalion sometime towards the end of this class. The Central Park Players at the Grand Haven Community Center are performing Pygmalion on April 22-24 and 28-30 at 8pm. Just letting you guys know! :)

Tough Read

So I think that I am going to like this book. Besides the fact that it is hard to understand a lot of the time, the plot sounds pretty... interesting. I really hope we can spend some time talking about it in class so that I can better understand what I read, and so that we can discover some of the "Deeper messages" that I always seem to overlook. haha But anyways, I am excited for it.

I Frankin' Love it so Far.

So I am loving Frankenstien! I don't find boring and difficult to read like I've heard people complain about in the past. I think I may actually read ahead. Two chapters flew by and it will be way to easy to get behind once things start getting busy this week. I love reading a novel in class again. You have so much more time to connect with characters and bigger plot lines can develope better in a novel opposed to a short story or poem. Not that I don't love poems and short stories. A change of pace is just nice!

Fingers Crossed

So far I am liking the romantic age.

I like the free writes we've been doing with the pictures and stuff.

And I'm liking Frankenstein so far.

And I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping up in class.

I think things are starting to get easier now that we're moving closer to the present.

I think the literature is becoming more understandable and everyone is pretty comfortable with the standards and expectations of the class.

Lets keep our fingers crossed that things will continue to get better.

:)

Frankenstein

Okay, so I think I missed a really fun day on friday? Writing letters sounds like a lot of fun...especially to DJ. Hah, I heard all about Kaitlin's letter :) Anyway, so I'm reading Frankenstein now and I'm actually enjoying it! I heard all these awful things about it, how it's sooo boring, slow, too wordy, etc. But I like it so far! Granted, I'm only on the 2nd chapter but I find it intriguing. Does anyone know how far we are supposed to read this weekend??

Letters?

So I was extremely confused as to why everyone wrote their letters to me... Not sure what was up with that, but it was weird. I must have missed the boat on that. But there was some pretty funny stuff when we did that. I liked it, and think we should do that more often.

In-class discussion (Frankenstein Letters)

I really liked In the beginning, he seemed completely ready to leave behind his pursuit of becoming an amazing writer such as Shakespeare and pursue his life long dream of sailing to the "pole" to make a great discovery. He showed his determination when he took part on several voyages on several different ships, always proving himself to be a hard worker. Then he began feeling extreme lonely, and craved human companionship in the form of a close friend. All he wanted was a person to be there when he needed to divulge his feelings instead of having to express them solely on paper. I feel like he somewhat got his wish when they pulled the stranger on board. This stranger caused curiosity among the sailers and although he was curious himself, he didn't "disturb" the stranger. Then when they realized they were a lot alike, I felt like he got a part, even if only a small part, of the friendship that he so desperately desired. I really didn't think that the language of the letters was that hard to understand, the story was engaging and seemed pretty easy to follow. I hope the rest of the story is as interesting as the letters were!

so, i know were already past this but...

gulliver's travel is a movie? nice! too bad we didn't know this before bc we could have went and saw it! :( gosh dang crap..

Similarities

I really love that we are talking about this whole "softness" of society because in many ways it relates directly to our society today. Just in one class I feel like so many links are evident. For instance the whole green movement; honestly its the same "save the world" idea that the people of this time period had. Except, I think that their intents were different. From what we have seen so far, it seems like the intents of the romantic age people were to go back to how things were originally, go back to the purity of nature and negate all of destruction. But now I feel like that we have this mind set that in order to get more advanced we need to be green. That if we want to save the world we need to be green. Contradictory to romantics, we still have selfish intent, and desire to progress instead of throwing in the towel and in some way just let nature take its course... Even though we have only talked about it one day- these are just my thoughts :)

Goin' Golfin'

Well I am not going to be able to be in class tomorrow and instead I will be golfing. I would greatly appreciate it if someone took some notes on what we talk about tomorrow and then lend them to me when I get back that would be great. That way I am not totally lost when the next test comes around. Thanks.

Goodbye 18th Century :(

Half way through the week and it seems like I've made enough dumb mistakes for two whole weeks already :( To Top it off we are ending what has been my favorite time period covered yet. I loved the 18th century. The sarcasm was soooo up my alley, in case you haven't noticed. Favorite piece so far was defiantly Swift's "A Modest Proposal", it was hilarious! Mrs. Stariha totally called it too. She handed me the packet and told me she thought I was going to love it. I was doubtful, because it seemed to have a lot of pages, and that's usually something that makes me NOT like things, but it was so good. The Various Thoughts were good too. I'm terribly sad to see the wonderful satire and logic of the enlightenment go. Stariha says to give the Romantic Age a chance, maybe I just might like it. She's been right before obviously, so.....I guess I will go into the Romantic (goodness, it's such a terrible word isn't it?) Era tentatively, but hopeful. Trust in Stariha right? Bye 18th Century, you will be sorely missed :(

Circle of Life

So going along with Megan's touch on Poccahontas, I too took the Disney route with the Nature free-write. The Lion King is a great example of how everything in nature is connected. (I now have that Cirlce of Life song stuck in my head) Not only is nature the beautiful and scenic activities that we see (like sunsets and rainbows), but its also the "necessary" things that happen. Let me give you an example: A young gazelle stands by its mother on the African plane, grazing on the unending supply of dew-covered grass. The mother, an experienced creature, perks her ears up as she hears a crunch in the ferns. She immediately notices the tan-colored coat of a crouching lionness and takes off in the opposite direction. All it took was a seconds delay for the younger gazelle to go from safe to sorry. In an instant the larger lionness has a hold of the gazelle and is carrying it back to feed her young. Now, many of you may see this as sad or disheartening, but this is Nature. I didn't think we talked about this part of nature in class today. I wonder if this side is looked at in any of the Romantic Age literature.

blah

So I actually don't have too bad of a feeling about the test, I was really prepared for the history, and the essays I thought. I'm hoping I did pretty well & I really like the fact that we get extra credit for reading logs because that will help alot. In fact after our loss against HART yesterday I really hope I did well on that test, it will probably have been the only good thing about my day. & I'm guessing I didn't even do that good so yeah, screw yesterday! mkay bye...

Taught from Nature

A sunset, along with being very beautiful, can teach a person about endings. Even though a sunset lets you know the day is coming to an end, we can always know that another day is on its way. It reminds me of the phrase that I feel like I hear all the time, "When a door closes, somewhere a window is opened." This is saying that even if we miss out on an opportunity, it never helps to get overly stressed out because there will always be more opportunites for you to take advantage of.

Longer But Shorter

I am not completely sure how I fell about the length of this test. I definitely like it better then the complete tests that we took with Ms. K but it still has some length to it. I did not feel like I had enough time to finish everything well. When Mrs. Stariha gave us a 20 minute warning I still hadn't finished my first essay. It could have been the order in which I took my test, basically from start to finish, but it could have been the time too because I felt like a had a good grasp on much of the multiple guess and fill in the blank. I took my time planning out the essay before the test so I didn't waste much time in class and that was really helpful. So I am not really sure if I want the next test to be the same length under the same time limit because this one didn't go too well for me time wise.

Ups and Downs

From recent posts I gather that there are some mixed feelings about how today's test went. This was far from music to my ears. I was hoping to log on to the British Literature B blog today and see my fellow classmates melting from the radiation of yet another soul crushing test. I looked to these blogs searching for reassurance that Kaitlin Bells tearful cry would float through the soft April air all the way across town and though my window singing me to sleep tonight. I looked towards these blogs hoping the sound of window panes shattering would reach my ears as DJ Beckman mourned the decay of his GPA by bringing his baseball bat not to balls but to the houses of innocent citizens. Hoping to hear a helicopter racing over head in search of a young Hannah Huls so ashamed of the B she was sure she would receive on today's test that she was driven to wild ideas never considered by someone who used to be so happy. Some where deep in my mind I even pictured a mob racing down the streets made up of fellow students carrying pitchforks, torches, and savagely crying out for redemption. But no, instead I'm greeted with reviews discussing the suprisingly easy essays and overall good vibes conceived upon handing in the test with a few apprehensions put in the mix! Is a small misfortune to much to ask for these days?

Test...?

So, like I have heard from many of you guys, the essays on this test went well. I think we were better prepared and did a good job in class discussing the potential topics. However, I thought the multiple choice questions were really hard. Not sure why, but it seemed like I never knew the 1 correct answer. All the choices seemed "close to right". I know that Ms. Stariha says they are made that way to be like an AP test, but I don't like it.

I'm sure all of you are just begging to know what I'm doing right now! Just kidding, that was obviously satire. Anyway, as I'm sitting in the computer lab with Syd, Stevo, Brian, Megan, and that new guy, Will, I'm getting kind of bored. So, I started to think of other things besides the test. Like the new age we are about to enter; the romantic age! I know that it's not our definition of "romantic" but there's still got to be a little love line here and there right? I'm such a hopeless romantic myself. So, hopefully this new literature lives up to my high expectations!

Spring

This test gave me a really bad feeling. So, I decided to blog even more than I have been! Good idea, right? Well, with softball games coming up it's going to be hard to accomplish. We typically play doubleheaders and have 2 or 3 double-headers each week :( Then we have tournaments almost every saturday,which are a lot of fun if you aren't bound down with the stress of homework. So, here we go...another crazy spring is about to begin!

Test, test, test, test

The essays on this test seemed easier than normal. I felt like I understood the topics really well. But, the multiple choice was kind of hard. It's funny because I reread the poems and stories and studied my notes, but yet I didn't feel confident in my answers. Funny; usually I feel a little more doubt about the essays. Hmm...guess we will see what happens.

... :/ ..... off topic..?

soo I just got home a few minuits ago, which is crampin my study time. My parrents sprung a were going to muskegon hop in the car!!! & so I took all my stuff and went, and on my way down I for some reason was like hmm I wonder how camras take pictures and I know this has nothing at all to do with Brit Lit (but I had to post it somewhere to voice my curiosity but it was too dorkey for facebook so here it is) .... how do camras take pictures??? And then whiel we were in the resturant and I was studing away I was like I have the wong folder completley and couldnt even study at all so here I am wasting my study time bloging well not wasting but you know what I mean so I going to get on that now! :)

Help

Here we go again...

Soo, here we go again with another one of those torturous British Literature tests. I am not prepared for this one at all! The break didn't help and, surprisingly, the project wasn't good at reviewing all of the works. I'll be okay with the essays, but will I be okay with the essays? Guess we will find out...

Holy Help

Could someone help me to dissect Holy Thursday. I missed this poem the day I had the ALPA testing and I thought I could understand it because I was following the conversations about it in class but looking over it again I have a few questions. I should have looked over it before the tag meeting but I totally forgot about it. I understand what it is talking about, how the lower class is much less fortunate then the wealthier people in British society of the time, but if someone could point out some of the literary devices that I can't seem to find that would be great.

Right Back At It

So we just got off break and now we are taking a test, great! I fell just as prepared as I have been for any of the past tests but I think this time I am going to do some of the thinking before the test. I don't think I have ever really thought through what I was going to wright for an essay, I just kind of knew what to include but I didn't organize it in my head beforehand. So after some more major studying tonight I am going to do some thinking.

here i go again...

so, the day before tests i always get super exited and feel super prepared for the test and i feel like i'm gonna do amazing, and then i usually end up with a REALLY bad grade. but i really feel like this time it might be different? because i feel really ready for this test and i feel like i might do good! but who knows..but hey..i'm actually studying this time, so it might help? i also want to say thank-you to mrs. stariha for giving us tag time today, it helped a lot! good luck to everyone else!:)

Oh Boy

It seems like forever ago that we started this unit. I'm really worried about remembering all of the poems and keeping them straight. At least the meaning/theme of most of them are close to the same...but wait, that might make it harder.

18th Century is a killer.

I have this awful feeling that the 18th century is going to murder my grade. I don't feel very prepared for this test. Usually I feel somewhat okay, I know what my first essay will be on, I have a grasp on the history and I study to make sure I remember everything. Well, not this time. This time I feel a little like a stuffed refrigerator. I have everything I need but it's just somewhere in the back or gone a bit moldy over spring break. Okay, yeah that was a bad simile...but anyway, I'm hoping for a bit of luck tomorrow.

Test

So, once again I feel very unprepared for the test tomorrow. I'm sure it will all turn out fine, especially since we have a TAG meeting today, but I just don't feel like I know the stuff. Plan on hitting the studying hard tonight, and hopefully picking up everything I'd forgotten over that very short break.

Satires

Wow, I was really impressed with the satire projects! Those were pretty awesome. Even the ones that weren't videos were cool. I liked the stories and Kurt's drawing. haha, very satirical.

Break

This has been a great spring break. i have just got on a computer. well over the break i was with michelle, her mom, brady and bua; it was a lot of fun! during the break we happened to point out many ironic stuff. i don't even remember all the different stuff. lol we were very busy every day, other wise i would have done the project. (thankfully it was optional) =]=] the test coming up should ok as long as i get some study time in!

various thoughts

i was thinking about the religion one, and its so true in our society today, if you think back in history, almost every war was started because of a religous or religion based group fighting with another one, like world war II, because in essence, wasn't the conquest for the aryan race a sort of religion of itself? or the crusades, or 9/11, all because of differences in religion. And although we all have differences, religion is the one difference that drives more individuals, because, religion is what guides the rest of our lives, even if we are black or white, that doesnt directly change what we believe about the world or what we fight for in out lives, religion is the one thing that stands out amongst other things, and that is why our world is always at war. It's ironic that the one thing we feel should bring peace and purpose to the world, only creates war and devestation for everyone...

various thoughts

Various Thoughts

Alright, alright, so better late then never right? This is my blog post of Various Subjects and my fingers are crossed that stariha said we could do it until the end of break- yeah, Im pretty sure she did. The part that I wanted to talk about was: "If a man would register all his opinions upon love, religion, learning, ect beginning from his youth, and so go on to old age, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last" I loved this part for so many reasons, first of all I love how it begins to touch on the depth of the human mind. In reality we have so much inside our heads, if you think about it all of the great man made things in this world were in fact man made. Once oh so long ago they stemmed from the thoughts that were drifting through one fellows brain. But this part doesnt only touch on the fact that they are there but also upon the fact that we have opinions about them. Caught in this world there are many different routes you can take, many different roles you can occupy, and many different views on life you might have. These all equate to opinions. Opinions on EVERYTHING; petty or non-petty. But the truth is our heads are not a place of nothingness, they aren't places that should taught to only memorize and repeat but instead they need to be nourished to think, nourished to imagine and nourished to come up with the innovation of tomorrow. The last part of this little section is what strikes me hardest. "inconsistencies and contradictions". This part is where the most truth lies. The idea that our identity is no more then a cluster of questions seems ridiculous; but its the truth. If we are human enough to realize we can be wrong, then we are human enough to have our opinions change and human enough to question our own opinions. Lets face it, we are all human.

Project Feedback

Well I was really glad the this project was optional and it was also very fun. It took me forever to make a video but I had fun doing it. However, I posted the video on youtube on Friday and now I am having the same problem as Laura, the thought of it being a bad video just keeps on building over time. Quick question: if I show myself shooting someone else, lets say a ninja, with a paintball "gun," will I be in trouble? I don't really hit them, not because they are a ninja, but because I am not shooting any paint balls I am only dry firring my gun. The purpose of this clip was to show how people today can be so violent and cruel to each other, so there is some purpose for it but I could take it out if I really needed too.

Project

So I thought that the satire project was actually pretty fun. I am kind of excited to see what other people came up with as their examples. I guess I didn't realize how much satire is used in our lives. It is in everything! TV, movies, music... Wow. Satire, gotta love it.

April

Happy National Poetry Month Everyone! I propose a free write in honor of all the great poets of the world! That's right. I propose a free write, so long as it is after the test that is.

Spring Break Frustration

So.... over break I wrote a song for this class, and I hated it so I threw it out. Then I did some research for my topic (which was kinda painful, I didnt really enjoy it all that much) wrote another, thought it was good, came back, realized how bad it was and threw that one out too. I am now two songs down and not having luck with round three. It's super frustrating. Thanks ever so much Mrs. Stariha for making it optional, because at this rate I will have nothign or just a sad excuse for a song that turns out to be round three. So now I'm listening to some wonderful works of art to try and inspire me into creating a masterpiece. I hope it works. Two songs down, hopefully only one to go, Im running out of time

Satire

I have come to a conclusion on my understanding with satire: When others use it or when i see it, I totally understand it. But, trying to write this essay for this project is hard! It's a lot harder than I thought and it seems that I am not satirical at allllll. Good thing this project is optional so it can't kill my grade. For example, I am watching the Tonight Show with Jay Leno right now because I missed the night that Taylor Swift was featured :) and he is using satire all the time. And I understand it. And it's funny. So, then I get inspired for my project and attempt to make it better, only it ends up turning out worse! Thank you, Jay, and your stupid satire...

Kurt,

HAPPPPPPYYYY BIRRRTTTHHHDDDAAAYYY! :)

i don't know?

i am still debating on whether or not to do the project. i know i should, to help my grade out..but i'm just not feeling any motivation to do it. maybe i'll do it sunday night? yeah that sounds like a good plan!

lyrics-once again sorry about the cursing, i blocked it out

Art is dead, art is dead

Art is dead, art is dead




Entertainers like to seem complicated

But we're not complicated

I can explain it pretty easily



Have you ever been to a birthday party for children

And one of the children won't stop screaming

Cause he's just a little attention attractor

When he grows up to be a comic or actor

He'll be rewarded for never maturing

For never understanding or learning

That every day can't be about him

There's other people you selfish -BLEEP-


I must be psychotic, I must be demented

To think that I'm worthy of all this attention

Of all of this money you worked hard for

I slept in late while you worked at the drug store

My drug's attention, I am an addict

But I get paid to indulge in my habit

It's all an illusion, I'm wearing make-up

I'm wearing make-up, make-up, make-up, make-up


Art is dead, so people think you're funny

How do you get those people's money?

I said, art is dead, we're rolling in dough

While Carlin rolls in his grave, in his grave, in his grave


Cause this show has got a budget

The show has got a budget

And all the poor people way more deserving of the money won't budget

Cause I wanted my name in lights

When I could have fed a family of four

For forty ***** fortnights, forty ****** fortnights


I am an artist, please god forgive me

I am an artist, please don't revere me

I am an artist, please don't respect me

I am an artist, feel free to correct me

A self-centered artist, self-obsessed artist

I am an artist, I am an artist


But I'm just a kid, I'm just a kid, kid

And maybe I'll grow out of it

Art is Dead- Bo Burnham

Okay so I found this song that tooottallly relates to how like our world is like messed up or whatever we were talking about kind of like using sattire and stuff. It's a good example I think HOWEVER....
there is a bit of profanity in it, soooo yeah not trying to promote that hopefully i dont get in trouble lol but i think im just gonna post the lyrics up and block out the curse words.

hmmm...

so about this whole project thingy....yeah idk.
i can't really decided weather or not to do it, i mean i guess i will but i'm kinda nervous because i could either keep the kinda crappy grade i have, make it better orrrrr, make it worse with this project. cuz if i do it, that means i have to do it good or itll just make my grade worse. maybe it would have been better if the whole thing were just extra credit! ..
im jealous of all you people in warm weather.

Gullivers Travles

Ok so I remember talking in class about how Gullivers Travles may have been a childrens story, and in the book I am reading; Jane Erye it mentions Gullivers Travles as one of the books she read as, guess what.... a child!! lol so I believe that it realy was concidered a childrens book of that time!! Just an intresting tid bit there. There is also a childrens movie coming out with the name wait for it.... Gullivers Travles!!! Although I am not certian it is using the "origional" Gullivers Travles but I am assuming they are because in the trailer there was little men!! Brit Lit your everywhere, leave me alone!!!!! ......... just for break please????

Even more Appreciative

Well now that spring break is in full swing, I'm even more grateful that the satire project is optional. I thought it would be fun to do anyways but the idea of getting out school work just doesn't seem to fit into my busy schedule. Busy being doing absolutly nothing of course. Perhaps I will feel the urge to write up a project but in the mean time I'll keep doing nothing until I'm forced back to the books!

spring break

Well the snow today was defintly not cool but I dont care because im going to indiana tomorrow so it sucks for you guys who have to stay here lol im going to warmer weather and were gonna play baseball so it will be sweet.

Irony of To a Louse

Because we ran out of time in class to talk about a bunch of stuff, Mrs. Stariha wanted me to post how "To a Louse" was a very ironic piece. If you remember, this story was about how a louse was making its home on a very nice lady and the the narrator was saying to the louse how it didn't belong there and how it belonged on a much more poor person instead. Well, the diction used was very plain and choppy, not at all elaborate or sophisticated, which implied that the narrator was a poor man himself. So the irony is that the poor man was telling the louse to stop harming the nice lady and to harm someone like himself instead. The social commentary here is showing how society forces people to think that the higher end of society is superior in every way to the lower class and the lower class seems to follow along with that rule and even support putting themselves down to elevate the higher class even more in some cases.

Snow during Spring Break is just depressing.

It's really sad when Brit Lit starts seeping into your everyday life. A few days ago I found myself listening to Lily Allen in the car and realized quite a few of her songs could be considered satire. Then I heard a song that reminded of the Passionate Shepard, and The Nymph's Reply. Even little things like the new Arthur movie reminds me of OFK and all the posters we made. I'm bracing myself for even more connections as we move more into the modern times.
Also, for all of you that went somewhere nice and sunny break- It's cold, it's cloudy, and it's snowing. This is not okay.

whoo hoo?

yeahh, I'm currently in a huge van with the rest of mi familia, on the way to warmer weather! Anddd, I'm doing homework :( whoo hoo? lol, I started the optional project and it's actually kind of hard, good thing I'm doing it for more credit, right? Which i really need right now.

Poem Summary For Laura (and all other United Brit Lit-ers)

1. Woman by Goldsmith: This poem mocks the stereotypes of both men and women.  It mocks the concept of man as a cheater... who will inevitably betray woman and not care about her at all.  And it mocks the over-dramatic women, who will respond with tears, but who will not really get his sympathy unless she is dead.  Of course Goldsmith is not serious about the woman dying, but he plays up the social stereotypes of his time.  He uses irony in the ending to emphasize his sarcastic tone.  He also uses the open form poem (it is only 8 lines rather than the rigid 14 line sonnet structure) to create an abrupt poem that creates black and white assessment of all gender relations.
2. Infant Sorrow by Blake: This poem uses the symbol of the infant as the "innocent" born into the human world of cruelty and suffering.  The tone of the poem is one of despair and doom.  The words suggest inevitable failing and pain.  The infant's birth is not joyous, rather than infant struggles against the bands of the world.  This shows Blake's belief that the corruption and cruelty of 18th century society will destroy all beauty and innocence in humanity.
3. Human Abstract by Blake: This poem uses allusion to the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge (the shade of Mystery... deceitful fruit).  These allusions help Blake deliver a message that the quest for ultimate knowledge has led to cruelty and pain.  That true knowledge of good and evil already exists within the human soul and that knowledge is enough.  The concepts of the Enlightenment are really questioned in this poem that points out a truly enlightened society wouldn't treat its people so harshly.  Cruelty is personified in the poem to show its power and place among the people of the 18th century society.
4. To A Mouse by Burns:  This poem is written in dialect.  The dialect represents the speaking patterns of poor and uneducated people.  The poem talks about how the mouse has to worry about losing its home to the actions of the people (ie the plow).  The poor mouse is little and insignificant, and as a result, it is totally helpless in the face of the actions of humans.  The poem even takes the point of view of the mouse to help the reader sympathize with the poor creature.  This technique along with dialect allows the reader to sympathize with a lower class that is virtually "run over" by the factory and land owners of the time and a political system that deems them inconsequential.
5. To A Louse by Burns:  This funny poem is a satirical criticism of the class divisions in British society.  The speaker is telling a louse (singular for lice) not to eat off of a rich lady, but to feed on a poor lady instead.  This shows the stereotypes of the time and additionally casts social commentary on a system that feeds off of the poor to benefit the rich.  This poem also uses dialect.

ALL of these poems are representative of the Pre-Romantic movement at the end of the 18th century.  Remember that during this time people began to question the conventions of the Enlightenment.

Hope this helps!

Brit Liters Unite!

Kudos to Mrs Stariha for making that prodject optional! I didnt fin out until just now, after I sat on the plane writing a song and tapping my foot and humming like an idiot. but hey it's already half way done so I might as well finish right? Also I would greatly appreciate it if some of youe (cough stariha cough) could post some stuff about Friday (today's) poems because I really liked them and I wnt to know what you all said about them. Rock on 18th century!! My favorite time period so far! Brit Liters Unite and post things so that I can read them and learn!!!

Miss Tonya

Hey the computer down here is all janky and it wont let me comment on your Ed=Tiger post. So I'm just gonna post it separatly. Ed is stalking us like prey and he will attack us viciously. (he told me so himself) Tonya we are like helpless little lambs unable to defend ourselves! AH

Good Break

So I am very happy that Ms. Stariha made that Satire project optional. But I still think that mostly everyone is going to do it. Its just nice to know that we don't have to do it, but that we want to do it in order to learn more about it. The application (in today's society) is much more practical, and should be fun to work on. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. Have a good break everybody!

Confusing Works

So, I really like having these "short" poems as reading assignments. However, they aren't the easiest things to understand. Before today's discussion, I had no idea what the point of those 5 works was. I think that the group discussion today cleared it up, though. I feel a lot better about it now.