IT WAS a great 4 years

It was an extraordinary 4 years filled with many ups and downs
feelings indescribable or maybe that of a bittersweet sound
It was friends gained and lost, sports played and done
4 years have passed and around we have spun
It was a time of laughter, but also tears
As the the end was approaching, very near
It was the time of reflection, wonders, and hopes
Trying to be prepared and figure out how to cope
It was exciting and new, an experience that will never be lost
Never forgetting and hoping that one day our paths will be crossed
It was a time of goodbyes and farewells that hurt but with good intent
Not knowing how to say, how much it meant
It was a time of new beginnings, but remembering your past
Looking around, appreciating what you have, trying to make life not seem so fast
It was an extraordinary 4 years

Free Verse? Show Some Whit, Man

Trying to read Walt Whitman's hand writing is closely equivalent to trying to read hieroglyphics, it is very hard and interpretive. When trying, emphasis on the word trying, to decode these letters I could only make out bits and pieces of sentences and words. For me the words became clearer to read towards the end of the text as I was able to read "Ship of the world - Ship of Humanity - Ship that circles the world Ship of the hope of the world - Ship of Promise". To me this is very hopeful and Whitman is using a Ship to tie everything and everyone together. This plays off of his universal theme of acceptance and welcoming everyone no matter who they are. He also could be comparing poetry to the ship and saying that it is the ship of the world, humanity,and provides hope and promise to society. The last image presented stood out to me a great deal because it was nothing like the previous portraits he had drawn. This image of a skeleton of a man, who has been stabbed in the heart. Since the previous drawings seemed to be of Walt Whitman, I viewed this image as him also drawing himself but in a different way, showing how society viewed and discriminated against him and his poetry. However when looking at the interpretation of this image it was said that it was an "allegory of America itself, poised in a strange halfway state, suspended between day and night, life and death".

Just a tad bit off I would say.

Also, side note please take the time to appreciate the title of this blog post!

It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it

1. The "American Dream" is a fascinating concept that has been molded into the minds of our society as to what our life should look life. In the Great Gatsby the American Dream is a huge concept that controls the minds and desires of the characters, wanting to fulfill that dream, and have lavish things, and a family. However I do not believe that Gatsby, and many people in the society did not actually fulfill the American Dream because they were too caught up in the materialistic things in life, rather than focusing on a family which is a huge part of the American Dream.  I believe that people especially in the 1920s had this idea of what their lives should be and believed that if they did not fulfill this dream/desire that they would be unhappy. My idea of living the "American Dream" would be having a job that I love doing everyday, and that makes a good amount of money, having a nice house, and most importantly having a family and being able to support them and be happy. I rather live everyday to the fullest, and be truly happy, than have nice things and be unhappy.

2. I would describe wealth as something of importance and high value. The obvious descriptor being that if someone has a lot of money than they are wealthy. However I do not think that to be wealthy you have to have loads of money, I consider wealthy to also to be having a lot of friends and family who love you.

3. Looking through the perspective of an American there is a clear line between wealth and poverty. Wealth is classified as the higher class and poverty and the low class. An American, especially during the 1920s, might view the poor as grimy and not important within the society because of their financial standings. The American citizen also from this time period would view wealth as a desire, and goal in which they needed in order to survive. And they would view the wealthy as God-like creatures who they strive to be.

4. I view wealthy as a mix of privileged people and also people who work very hard. I do not think that it is fair to classify wealth with greed and wealthy people as people who have had it easy and had just cruised through life. I strongly believe that a majority of people who are wealthy have worked very hard to get where they are with a few exceptions. However I am not saying that people who are poor do not work hard, because many do and just do not have the right paying jobs to support them and a family.

Lost in Translation

1. This translation is more story like, and telling us more casually how Gregory transformed into a giant bug. This is expressed through the phrasing "As Gregory" awoke, which paints a picture of him waking up rather than just telling us he woke up.

2. This translation is stated more as a fact and is informing the reader that Gregory woke up and was transformed into a giant bug.

3. This translation is saying that the uneasy dreams could be what triggered the transformation of Gregory, this is seen through staring the sentence off with "When".

4. This translation is story like as well, starting off with "One morning", and also insinuates that the dreams caused the transformation.

The word choice in the beginning of each translation is what really changes the mood and direction of the sentence. Using words to start of the sentence like "As" or "When", paint a picture in the readers mind of Gregory actually completing the action of waking up from uneasy dreams. In contrast to this the two other sentences used different methods. The second sentence started off with just Gregory's name, stating the sentence as a fact, while the last sentence began with "One morning", creating a story like mood for the reader. I feel as though the last sentence is the most effective, because it tells a story and paints a vivid image in the readers head of what is happening to Gregory and why.

This exercise shows the difficulty in reading translated text because even the slightest change in punctuation or word choice can change the entire meaning of the sentence. Different translations effect whether the tone of the sentence is going to be informative, or informal. It also shows how important it is to take note of all the punctuation, and stylistic features of the sentence so that you can grasp the full meaning of the sentence and what is contributes to the text as a whole.

PRACTICE IOC

Scores:

Criteria A: 6

Criteria B: 6

Criteria C: 3

Criteria D: 3

Freebie(:

what fear can teach us

https://www.ted.com/talks/karen_thompson_walker_what_fear_can_teach_us#t-666626

The overall argument and point of this TEDtalk was analyzing fear, and what we do with it, along with connecting fear to story telling. Karen Thompson starts off the TEDtalk with a story of the Essex whale ship men who are stuck at sea, due to a shipwreck and are forced to assess their options. It is shown that they assess their choices of survival based on the various fears in which they have. The closest island they can sail to has been rumored to be populated by cannibals, to the island of Hawaii they would encounter storms, and the long route of South America they would endure starvation. They end up choosing the South America route because the story that they had in their mind of the fear of cannibals and being murdered was a more vivid picture. Half of the 20 sailors starved to death and some adopted their own form of cannibalism along the way. But this is a clear example of the connection of fear to storytelling. When we are afraid of something we often make up stories of what could go wrong in our minds, like getting on a plane and it crashing, or being murdered by cannibals. We make up elaborate stories in our mind stemming from these fears, and often ask ourselves "what will happen next?"

The author of this TEDtalk on fear used a lot of pathos targeting our emotions. This is shown through the story of the sailors and us feeling sympathetic towards their situation and the fear that they must have felt and it makes us think of our own fears. Another example that targets the audience more directly so they can better relate is, when Thompson told the stories of her small fears as a child living in California, scared that their chandelier would fall due to the earthquakes. It makes the audience think back to their childhood and the "monsters under their bed" or the small fears they encountered and the stories they made up surrounding that fear.  

When shuffling through the different TEDtalks and deciding on one to watch and analyze, a few interested me but this one caught my eye the most. Just the title "What fear can teach us", intrigued me because everyone has fears and I thought it would be easy for me to relate and learn more about the concept of fear. While watching it the talk made me visualize the different fears that I have had throughout my life and how they have changed or stayed the same. I had never thought of fears as creative story telling until watching this but am amazed and fascinated by how accurate that is. Whatever fear you have small or large, you have made up in your mind a story of what might happen and how that fear may play out, which you don't realize at the time is your imagination running wild and creating a story. Though these stories can stem from real events of the past, they remain stories that stem from your fears.

what's more tragic, Walter Neff's love life or his acting?

4.)  Within the film Double Indemnity it is difficult to pick out a true hero. There is definitely some lead way in the character of Walter Neff where his actions could have justified him as the hero, but all characters including him have a "tragic" flaw to them. I believe that there is no hero within this film, however I do think like in the play Macbeth there is a tragic hero. A tragic hero is defined as a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction.

In this case Walter Neff is the tragic hero with his flaw being love. Love is a powerful thing that drives his actions and motives in the wrong direction, making him do anything for the woman who has stolen his heart; Phyllis Dietrichson.

  This film noir begins with us already exhibiting his wrong doing, as he sits at his desk leaving a message explaining his actions and what exactly happened. Right from the start we already foresee his downfall, and realize he is not a hero. His downfall begins the first time he meets the lovely manipulating Mrs. Phyllis Dietrichson, in her home as he goes over to talk to her husband about insurance. When he sees her, he sees love and possibilities, and naturally begins to flirt and smooth talk her, but when she sees him she sees the possibility of a way out of her miserable life. Her seductive language, and body language tactics persuade him to help her trick her husband into getting life insurance, and then kill him so she receives all of his money. We see Walter's tragic flaw play a factor here as he agrees and formulates a plan to kill Mr. Dietrichson, showing that he would do anything for Phyllis's love. This relationship directly corresponds and relates to that of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, as Lady Macbeth and her strong persuasion was one of the main causes of Macbeth's downfall, as is Phyllis's to Walter. Walter is bitten by the poison of love which makes him unsuitable for the title of hero, but he relates more to that of tragic hero, which he accepts his role as that shown by his constant realization of his wrong doing.