Why I Chose Insomnia

I chose Insomnia by Dana Gioia because, as someone who has experienced insomnia, I understand what the author was trying to convey to the audience. When you are awake at night, you feel as if you are the only one alive. You start noticing noises that you would not normally notice. Ordinary objects suddenly seem to come alive. Dana shows that he understands this experience when he chooses the line, "the murmur of property, of things in disrepair." The idea of inanimate objects making taking on lives of their own is an almost unbelievable experience that only someone sleep deprived can truely understand. Dana seems to understand this perfectly.

The tone of this poem is very dark. The narrator seems to be questioning an insomniac. The questions are ones that are aimed at making the said insomniac feel helpless. The reader in turn feels sorry for the poor sleep deprived individual being questioned.

When I read this poem out loud, I don't want to be to enthusiastic or dramatic, as this is not how the poem is intended to be read. I want to be calm, appear almost wise. I will translate the poem's dark helpless feeling by reading slowly and in a cruel questioning manner.

The diction is not very complicated or formal. I would call it neutral diction. But aside from that there weren't many connotations I could identify. Connotations could identify were useless, dark, endless, drone, and discomfort. These words contribute to the poem's dark tone.

Poems!

1. BARTER
2. HARTLEY FIELD
3. KEEPING THINGS WHOLE
4. ALL THIS AND MORE, ISRAFEL

It is difficult to choose my favorite poem of these five. I enjoyed them all in different ways. But, because I am an avid Poe fan, I'd have to say I enjoyed Israfel the most. It is a poem about the Islamic angel of the trumpet. It describes the beauty of his song while the Earthbound poet is limited to his own music. I also enjoyed All This And More, simply because of its dark tone, but I can't really tell what it is about. The language in it is much easier to understand than that of Israfel though.
I didn't really dislike any of these poems. Probably my least favorites were Barter and Keeping Things Whole. They were the shortest and the most simple, and I found that that took away from my interest in the poems content. I did not have to think hard or search for meaning while reading these poems, which made them seem almost boring compared to the other poems.
Of these five poems I will either choose All This And More or Israfel. I've read Israfel many times so I feel like I have a deep connection with it. But on the other hand, All This And More would be more of a challenge because its meaning is hard to decipher, which could be more fun. I think if I had to choose between the two though, I would choose Israfel, simply because I am a dedicated Poe fanatic. ALL HAIL THE AMAZING EDGAR ALLEN POE!
I think physical presence will be easy for me because I have good posture and can make eye contact. I also think the level of difficulty will be easy for me because I'm good at memorization and have no problem taking my time with difficult poems. Dramatic appropriatness will be difficult because I have trouble being in front of people and might mess up.
The two poems I watched were by Stanley Andrew Jackson and Jackson Hille. Stanley was able to completely memorize a complicated poem and performed it very well. He was sometimes over dramatic but overall he did very well. Jackson's tone was excellent throughout the reading of his poem and the audience really got the sense that he understood his poem.
I'm a little nervous for poetry outloud, simply because I'm scared of speaking in front of a group. But hopelfully my enjoyment of the poetry I've chosen will shine through in my performance and I will be able to overcome my shyness.

Lobsters

Lobsters was by far the most interesting piece of writing we read this week. What was almost more enjoyable was the class discussion we had about it. One question we went over during this discussion was about the last lines of the poem. Those last few words seem to hold the meaning of the entire poem, but that meaning could be interpreted a number of ways. Everyone tried to decipher what "the fire under the world" was, and it was fun to listen to everybody's ideas.
My interpretation of the line was that the world didn't literally mean the earth, that it meant life and the the flame represented death. I think that the message of the poem was that humans are like lobsters, trapped and going through our lives in a sleep like daze, without realizing we are in a boiling pot. Other people seemed to think that the world literally meant the earth. I didn't understand how this could mean anything, but it was interesting to listen to nonetheless.

The Soccer Season Ends (Finally)

I ain't sayin' that I didn't enjoy the soccer season at Oly High. In fact it pretty much kicked ass. We won every game and our coach really didn't give a hoot about what we did at practice, so we just goofed off the whole time. But I have to say, in spite of all that, soccer was a huge time suck. I'd come home completely pooped, take a shower, eat dinner, and by then it would be 7:00 and I'd still have a pile of homework to do. So, the season had its good points and its bad. But my favorite part by far happened this week, on the day we had our final game.
Well for starters the other team was about 45 minutes late so we had plenty of time to joke around. Everybody gave each other big fat presents as "parting gifts" (which I don't get cause' we'll still see each other every day). We all brought silly string and planned to spray our coach with it after the game. When the other team finally showed up we started playing and scored 5 goals on them in the first 15 minutes (HA!). My mom's friend Amy came and embarrassed me by screaming my name as loudly as she could on the sidelines. Needless to say the game was kinda boring because the other team couldn't play but it was all worth it when we each shot an entire can of silly string at our coach, all 22 of us. The fumes smelled so bad and there were sticky gooey strings all over the field and our coach. I'm pretty sure its gonna take him a while to get that smell out of his clothes, but he seemed like a good sport about it. I sweat it may have been the most fun thing I've done yet this fall. Well, that and TPing our coach's house.
We're not very nice to him are we?

Pride and Prejudice

So far I've really been enjoying Pride and Prejudice. I initially thought I wouldn't enjoy it because the language seemed difficult to understand, but after I began reading it slowly and carefully, it started to make more sense. The book is also difficult to understand because it is hard to keep track of who's talking at what time, but I've progressively gotten better at it.
So far in the novel I've noticed the major theme of the difference between pride and vanity. They have both been brought up in several of the characters conversations. Elizabeth speaks about it with Jane, Charlotte, and Mrs. Bingley. In their conversations they compare pride and vanity and often associate pride with good and vanity with evil.
The story Pride and Prejudice has many similarities to a book I read called Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper. The two books share the theme "You can't judge a book by its cover". Elizabeth's first impression of both Mr. Darcy and Mr.Wickham are both incorrect. She assumes Mr. Wickham is a fine gentleman and Mr.Darcy is a proud disagreable man, until her judgments are proved to be false when she learns that Mr. Wickham has lied to her about Mr.Darcy and that Mr.Darcy is actually a fine man. In Out of My Mind, everyone assumes that the main character is helpless because she has cerebral palsy, when it turns out that she is actually a very intelligent girl. This comparison may seem like a bit of a stretch, but It was actually one of the first observations I made while reading this book.
For my project I would like to do a picture or collage, because I love drawing and creating things. I'm not yet sure how I will make it or present it but I'm sure that as I read further, I will be able to come with a good idea.

My Boo Radley

In the story, once Scout learns Boo Radley is a (somewhat) normal person, all the fear she once had for him disappeared. In my life, I still find my "Boo Radley" rather frightening, though not as frightening as it once was. My Boo Radley is public speaking. And not just public speaking. Performing. Being in front of people. It still scares me, though not as badly as it once did.

It used to be that just thinking of going up in front of people would cause me to vomit. In school if I had a presentation to give, I would go to the bathroom and stall until class was over. Or, If I had to talk to the class the next day, I would pretend to be sick. But it actually wasn't very hard to pretend. The fear of being in front of people always gave me flu like symptoms. But, eventually, there were ways I could overcome this fear.

One person who really helped was my dad. He, having the same anxiety issues that I have, understood what I was going through. He taught me a simple trick that he called "looking for tigers". He explained that my fear was irrational, that there was no way that speaking in front of crowd could ever possibly hurt me. He said that the only reason I should ever feel fear is if there is any actual danger, like a tiger in the room, and if there isn't any, then I should have nothing to worry about. I realize now that this was my dad's way of teaching me to put things in perspective. This lesson actually helped me a lot to make my fear less frightening.

Another person who helped was my sixth grade science teacher. At the end of the first semester we were required to give a presentation on marine animals. I was scared so I asked her to help me. She gave me tips how to remain calm in front of a group. She said that the most important thing I could learn was to have confidence in myself. If I knew the material and practiced giving my speech then I didn't have anything to worry about. That year I gave one of my best presentations ever and received 100% on the project.

I know that I will always have to deal with my "Boo Radley" and learn to accept it. But, I am very proud to say that over the years, I have gained much more control over it than it once had over me.

Intro

All right, new blog! Lets get down to business.
As a student I am hardworking and a little intense. I am very driven to do well in school and get A's, but sometimes I try a little too hard and become overwhelmed. I love reading and writing, which is why I decided to take honors english in the first place. People say that I have a rather dark macabre style which I like to incorporate in my writing. Some of my favorite authors are Edgar Allen Poe and Lewis Carroll.
This year I would like to express myself more through my writing. I don't have much experience with revealing things about myself, because of my annoying shyness, but I would like to learn to overcome that. I believe I have some good ideas that others would enjoy If I just developed the ability to share them. That is one of my goals for this year.
Not only is english one of my favorite subjects, it is also one of the most important classes I will take throughtout my school career. Reading and writing are essentially forms of communication. Communication is what makes us humans unique from all other creatures. It has ingrained itself so deeply into our culture that it is impossible for society to exist without it, which is why it is so important that we be good at it.
Writing is also an art form unlike any other. Good writing can make you laugh or cry or transport you to a completely different place or time. And it, like any art, can reveal the true potential of the imagination. It is an amazing skill that humans have developed, one that should be taught to each new generation and deeply treasured.