Poetry Out Loud

I am reading Apollo by Elizabeth Alexander. The poem touches on racism and the author's own struggle to fit in in her life. In the poem, the Apollo missions are occuring and men are walking on the moon. At the same time, the US is going through a time of turmoil and the main characters in the poem are members of a black family. Alexander reflects on how the Apollo missions unite the US together and let them see past the racism that has been widespread. She mentions that men walking on the moon are "stranger, stranger even than we are." With such bounds being made in human development, the racial walls start to break down, even if it is only for a moment.

There are many aspects to convey in the reading of the poem. The narrator is a member of the black family that goes down to a public area that they would not normally be welcome in to watch men walk on the moon. They aren't noticed like they would have been, and I think this is important to convey. I will read it as if I am a younger member of the family, and use more of a contemplative and curious tone. The narrator isn't aware of the meaning that the author is putting into the poem, so I will have to find a way to incorporate that as well as the younger aspects.

5 Part Para EX Credit

Earlier in the year, I wrote on how I don't think through my ideas and also have bare-bones commentary, concerning my 5 part paragraphs. Since then, I have improved my skills greatly in the area of paragraph writing. When writing my paragraph this time through, I went over my ideas and carefully thought out every aspect of what I was going to say. I did type it up faster than I should have, but I am more comfortable with the quality of the content this time through. It also helped to have a greater understanding of the subject material in question, I had a pretty good grasp of what I was writing about. As I typed, my ideas took shape and I gained a deeper understanding of the poem than I could ever hope to gain just reading it. My proofreading didn't improve a whole lot this time through, but I feel like my errors were greatly reduced just my thinking about what I was going to say in the first place. Overall, I think my performance was greatly improved over the earlier paragraph.

Camouflaging the Chimera
RipRap
Kubla-Khan
A supermarket in California
Apollo

1. A supermarket in California is funny and a fresh approach to poetry.
2. Kubla-Khan is too old english for me.
3. I would choose either Apollo or A Supermarket in California. A supermarket in Calif. is very long, and that would be the only reason that I wouldn't do it.
4. It's a new beat, and defies expectations on classic poetry. It will engage the audience and be fun to recite, if I can memorize the whole thing. It also matches my personality and I feel like there are many hidden meanings buried within.

Generally, I have enjoyed public speaking in the past and have had no trouble with physical presence. I always make eye contact with my audience, and almost never get "stage fright". My voice and articulation will also be simple to master. I am very comfortable with higher vocabulary and once you understand what the author is saying, adding your own personal flair will become very simple. I don't like working harder than I have to by nature, and I am inclined to pick the easier option of one is available. For that reason, level of difficulty is going to be a challenging criteria. When I memorize passages or poems, I have the tendency to rephrase what is being said in my own words. It makes more sense to me and usually helps the audience understand what is being said. Unfortunately, that will detract from my score and will be something I will have to watch when reciting the poem.

Writ on the Steps of Puerto Rican Harlem

Jackson had a deep understanding of what the poet was trying to convey, both emotionally and idealistically. Jackson's performance was a success because he retained the core ideas of the poem while at the same time conveying his own beliefs throught his facial expressions and gestures.

Forgetfulness

Hille is completly comfortable with his audience, and it feels like he is relating a tale to us instead of reciting osmeone else's work. He captures the humor and adds his own personal tone to the poem at the same time.


If I put a large amount of time into memorizing and perfecting my technique, I believe I will get in the top ten. I don't have much of a desire to go beyond that, but if I do win, I will decide whether or not I will go on. I want to read ASIC, but in the end the length might discourage me from tackling it.

Five Part Paragraphs - Get 'em right!

After working on evaluating my peer's paragraphs, I have found many things. 5 part paragraphs are multi-layered and need multiple passesit into my final  to get right. People continued to struggle to weave all their ideas together into something cohesive and eloquent. Speaking of eloquence, the class should work on their vocab skills. I saw words being used 3 or more times when I could easily think of alternatives. If we could all go over our paragraph multiple times, quality would be greatly improved.

     Personally, I have a tendency to have a few hours of inspiration, bang out the paragraph, and leave it be. I really need to start going over my work multiple times to check for consistency and refresh some stagnant ideas. Sometimes I trade quality for speed and just type for the sake of typing, not focusing on any kind of structure whatsoever. Also, I need to work on taking feedback and incorporating it into my final product. My paragraphs tend to have barebones commentary so that is something to work on as well.

Outside Reading - S5

I am reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. So far, it is full of dark humor and satire of the kind that doesn't make you laugh, but does require you to reflect on the topics at hand. Billy Pilgrim, the main character, is so slow that it's funny, and the author constantly uses him to represent different things. The topics involved in the novel are deceptively deep and very hard to recognize if you are reading at a brisk pace. The book is full of symbols and some are harder to comprehend than others. I would rate it higher than other assigned readings, but it isn't something I would just pick up and read for fun.

Vonnegut wields the plot like a superball, bouncing the reader from plot line to plot line through the use of a "time travel" plot object. You may be reading about the protagonist's time in the war for a few pages, and suddenly you are transferred to a description of the house he lived in, and again to a hospital scene. While these can get distracting, the author always manages to link them together in some way and weave the plot together like a oversized spider's web. The whole structure is used to relate to the protagonist's mental condition, a brilliant move. Vonnegut utilizes every aspect of the book to make points, and it is a very refreshing type of writing.

A movie is definitely in the making, and my group will be working on it soon. I will be editing for other groups as well.   

Theme

To Kill A Mockingbird was an interesting addition to other, similar works I have read that deal with the same issues of racial equality in early America. The most similar work that I have read was Amistad. Both books were passionate about the issues that they dealt with, and I had no choice to feel sympathetic to their cause.

I know that as a child I had little to no awareness of racial inequality and I was totally oblivious to the fact that not all men were treated equal. Scout, on the other hand, had a surprising grasp of the issue that I found interesting. Having read books like these before, it wasn't a complete surprise as to the tone and message delivered in the book. I thought that the court case could have been made much more dramatic than it in fact was, and the author cold have exaggerated more aspects to increase the effect.

Overall, I don't think I got as much of an emotional response as some of my peers, but it was an engaging read and one that I do not regret.

My Boo Radley

My Boo Radley(s) are computers. Initially, I was scared to even use them, and every time our home computer crashed, it would give me nightmares for days. I didn't understand them, and I didn't even get what they did. They were an unknown variable in my life, and I tried to avoid them as much as possible.

I started to grow up and look at computers (and electronics in general) in a new light. I played a few games, typed and printed, and changed a few settings. By my elementary school years, I was using them at a level above the majority of my class, and frequently gave tech advice and support to my peers. Things were changing.

Now, computers are a hobby, a tool, and a toy to me. I understand how they function and I'm no longer intimidated by any technology. They have become simply another tool in life. Coming from abject terror to taking apart and building them has been an interesting turnaround. Like most fears in childhood, my fear was caused by not understanding. Indeed, the human race as a whole fear things they do not understand, and seek to control them for their own means. I hope this isn't too abstract for the assignment, but I felt like this was the most appropriate topic for me.

The First Post of the Rest of The Blog.

Linguistic communication is the most widely used form of information transfer, and has evolved over thousands of years. It only makes sense to study and perfect the skill of communication to improve your eloquence and get your ideas across. I like English class, and I also understand why it is one of the most emphasized classes in the school system.

On the other hand, it is also one of the most inefficient modes of communication, and therefore requires streamlining to optimize how you talk to other people. If you cannot get your ideas across, there isn't much of a reason to come up with them in the first place. English is the most used language in the world today, so you should be able to wield it with precision, because it also is a prerequisite for almost any job whether it be a waiter or a lawyer.

Reading is a simple skill, but there is so much more you can do when you analyze what you read and get different perspectives. Being able to understand what you read and then find what it means to you and why is a very important skill, because it allows you to have a greater awareness of who you are, your morals, dreams, and what you believe. English class is a worthwhile endeavor for me, because I value the skill of communication.