Whatever It Takes by Lifehouse

A strangled smile fell from your face
It kills me that I hurt you this way
The worst part is that I didn't even know
Now there's a million reasons for you to go
But if you can find a reason to stay

I'll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what's at stake
I know that I've let you down
And if you give me a chance
Believe that I can change
I'll keep us together whatever it takes

She said "If we're gonna make this work
You gotta let me inside even though it hurts
Don't hide the broken parts that I need to see"
She said "Like it or not it's the way it's gotta be
You gotta love yourself if you can ever love me"

I'll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what's at stake
I know that I've let you down
And if you give me a chance
And give me a break
I'll keep us together, I know you deserve much better

But remember the time I told you the way that I felt
That I'd be lost without you and never find myself
Let's hold onto each other above everything else
Start over, start over

I'll do whatever it takes
To turn this around
I know what's at stake
I know I've let you down
And if you give me a chance
and believe that I can change
I'll keep us together whatever it takes

Alive by Hawk Nelson

To everyone in the world, who's left out on their own
To all the boys and girls with disconnected souls
See the dream awakening before your very eyes

We feel alive inside for the first time,
We've got to run not hide, from the former lives
We gotta take it, make it, never gonna fake it
This time we're breaking free, and making history

They say the dreams that we're chasing, are just a dead-end road
We don't have to embrace the lies that we've been told
The only thing we're missing is a whole new state of mind

We feel alive inside for the first time,
We've got to run not hide, from the former lives
We gotta take it, make it, never gonna fake it
This time we're breaking free, and making history

One day we will see through our tears and our pain
When we stand with the shame in the light
There's a hope that we know,
And we can't let it go
We've got to hold on tonight

We feel alive inside for the first time,
We've got to run not hide, from the former lives
We gotta take it, make it, never gonna fake it
This time we're breaking free, and making history

Every Ghetto by Nas

"Every Ghetto"
(feat. Blitz)

Uhh... yeah... uhh...

[Verse 1 (Nas)]
Blessings in life to the children
They say life is like 5 days
Words of a old man with silver hair in his wheel chair
His eyes were bloody while describin' what lies before me
Said evil bitches and jealous men would try to destroy me
It occurred to me, this old nigga's words couldn't be realer
I'm on top now, slightest drama, I'll have ta kill ya
Cuz animals sence weakness, sharks smell blood in water
Ishmael, Moses and Job, moved a divine order
Shit is plastic material, havin' no life
I crash whips and leave it no matter the price
As long as I survive, coppin' the five
Circle the block where the beef's at
And park in front of my enemy's eyes
They see that it's war we life stealers
Hollow tip, lead busters there's no heaven or hell
Dead is dead, fuckers
And your soul is with God
Your mind keeps lurkin' to earth
Watchin' your own murder reoccur

[Chorus (Repeat 2X)]
For ever struggle, every strip, and every ghetto
For every nigga toned in the pain and heavy metal
For every child that's born
And every nigga gone
And for every brotha breathin'
Live to see another mornin'

[Verse 2 (Blitz)]
It's Blitz nigga the streets glory many die for me
Got knocked refused 3 to 9's, went to trial for me
Basically I'm just reality loaded with vast stories
Of lust, greed, and contempt no street is exempt
Extended clip shots hoods barricaded for 6 blocks
I sip shots, watchin' em hustlers pitch rocks
All you paintin' pictures of my pain
Illustrate the city in vain
Fallin' deep into the pits of the game
This is for the sickest state of mind
In these fatal times, vesh crimes
Nickel play the nine and niggas for the dime
Hear the sounds of them baby's cry
Still I'm sayin' why do we reside
In the ghetto with a million ways to die
Stayin' high to relieve the pain
Breathin' in the game, exhalin'
Guilts and the shame, misery and strain
What the fuck will tomorrow bring
Look at anthrax, I stand back through
Hopin' I make it tomorrow

[Verse 3 (Nas)]
My skin is a art gallery, right
With paintings of crucifixes
Hopin' to save me from all the dangers in the music business
Was once a young gangsta hangin' with youth offenders
But since I tasted paper it started losin the friendships
Watchin' kids freeze in winters, they still poor
How could I tease them with Benz's and feel no remorse
Drivin' past them in the lively fashion, diamond colors clashin'
Red stones, blue stones, red bones and black ones
Fuck did I expect with bucket seats in a Lex
And spendin' time in Chuckie Cheese with Little Des
Got guns when I'm with my daughter
Hate to bring a violent aura in her presence
She knows what daddy taught her, it's lessons
Black princess it's a ugly world
I put my life up for yours, see I love that girl
Could you believe even my shadow's jealous
My skin is mad at my flesh, my flesh hates my own bones
My brain hates my heart, my heart makes the songs
Though my songs come from the Father
I'm lonely...
Hold me, it's gettin' darker

[Repeat Chorus 2X]

Revelations by Masta Ace

Lyrics to Revelations :

[Verse One]
At times I don't know who I be
And when I look in the mirror its like I don't know who I see
Am I even moving at all?
Cuz I swear I can't tell if my life is improving at all
Every time I got a pen in my hand
I forget every time before that one has been in my hand
And I write for the moment, get it tight how I want it
Get the right lawyer on it cuz I might wanna own it
I tussle and I fight, I hustle and I write
I struggle every night with every muscle in my mic
I'm in this rap race trying to eat the cheese
But y'all don't know my name like Alicia Keys
My face ain't familiar, neither is my music
If shit don't soon change I be the one to lose it
I drink a little liquor tryin' to heal my nerves
Cuz y'all don't listen here and feel my words
But something's wrong with y'all, ain't nuttin' wrong with me
And happy in my life is what I long to be
And happy in my life is what I'm gonna be
What you see in me is what I was born to be
From the day that my moms first birthed a child
She didn't need the world to make it worth the while
So I don't need no magazine to reach the pinnacle
Screw a review and you can eat the interview
Cuz that's what y'all seem to tend to do
Them cats you cover all seem identical
Through it all I weave like the park was here
And shine underground cuz it's darkest there

[Chorus]
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song

[Verse Two]
Y'all industry niggaz should be feeling ashamed
Y'all like "he ain't still in the game, he's stealing the name"
Oh wait just a sec that's straight disrespect
Take shit and get and don't be late with the check
I'm on the underground trying to scrape and scrounge
And sure it feel good to take a break and lounge
All these ups and downs like a roller coaster
Life is a bitch I'm trying to hold her closer
I'm killin' every nigga in sight
The bigger the dog, the bigger the fight
If you really say you know me then you'd figured I might
Try to use my anger as a trigger to write
I put it down simple on the paper or pad
Try to take a stab at what is making me mad
I jump on the track and I ride it through
And do it for the people that are tried and true
But y'all so fickle y'all love me today
And tomorrow love another cat and shove me away
But most ain't committed to do it how I did it
In the way that I did it, in the way that I spit it
It's like my burst of truth and it might hurt the booth
But first the proof, it gave birth to youth
Rap's like trying to take a piss in the wind
I'm just glad to know that some of y'all are listenin' in

[Chorus]
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
[Verse One]
At times I don't know who I be
And when I look in the mirror its like I don't know who I see
Am I even moving at all?
Cuz I swear I can't tell if my life is improving at all
Every time I got a pen in my hand
I forget every time before that one has been in my hand
And I write for the moment, get it tight how I want it
Get the right lawyer on it cuz I might wanna own it
I tussle and I fight, I hustle and I write
I struggle every night with every muscle in my mic
I'm in this rap race trying to eat the cheese
But y'all don't know my name like Alicia Keys
My face ain't familiar, neither is my music
If shit don't soon change I be the one to lose it
I drink a little liquor tryin' to heal my nerves
Cuz y'all don't listen here and feel my words
But something's wrong with y'all, ain't nuttin' wrong with me
And happy in my life is what I long to be
And happy in my life is what I'm gonna be
What you see in me is what I was born to be
From the day that my moms first birthed a child
She didn't need the world to make it worth the while
So I don't need no magazine to reach the pinnacle
Screw a review and you can eat the interview
Cuz that's what y'all seem to tend to do
Them cats you cover all seem identical
Through it all I weave like the park was here
And shine underground cuz it's darkest there

[Chorus]
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song

[Verse Two]
Y'all industry niggaz should be feeling ashamed
Y'all like "he ain't still in the game, he's stealing the name"
Oh wait just a sec that's straight disrespect
Take shit and get and don't be late with the check
I'm on the underground trying to scrape and scrounge
And sure it feel good to take a break and lounge
All these ups and downs like a roller coaster
Life is a bitch I'm trying to hold her closer
I'm killin' every nigga in sight
The bigger the dog, the bigger the fight
If you really say you know me then you'd figured I might
Try to use my anger as a trigger to write
I put it down simple on the paper or pad
Try to take a stab at what is making me mad
I jump on the track and I ride it through
And do it for the people that are tried and true
But y'all so fickle y'all love me today
And tomorrow love another cat and shove me away
But most ain't committed to do it how I did it
In the way that I did it, in the way that I spit it
It's like my burst of truth and it might hurt the booth
But first the proof, it gave birth to youth
Rap's like trying to take a piss in the wind
I'm just glad to know that some of y'all are listenin' in

[Chorus]
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song
Try and listen
Keep movin' along, keep bringin' it on, and keep singin' the song

Real People by Common

"Real People"

[Intro]
Yeah, yeah, you know how me and 'Ye do

[Verse 1]
Real People walk in the streets, the streets is talkin'
Often it's beef this city never does
People walk and talk in they sleep
Cold sweats and wet dreams
On how to get green our faith is all in a jeep
Black souls raw and they deep
Hypes tryna talk with no teeth
Shorties sayin' ball or retreat
A lesson we all speak at one point or another
Whatchu expect from one who smoke a joint with his mother
Anointed hustlers in a fatherless region
Through the pain wish they know that God was just teachin'
We want decent homes
So dreams we say out loud like speakerphones just to keep em on
It's like a colored song that keep keepin' on
I guess knowin' I'm weak is when I'm really bein' strong
Somehow through the dust I could see the dawn
Like the Bishop Magic Juan, that's why I write freedom songs
For the real people

[Verse 2]
I wonder is the spirits of Bob Marley and Haile Selassie
Watch me as the cops be tryna and pop and lock me
They cocky, plus they mentality is Nazi
The way they treat blacks I wanna snap like paparazzi
We're the children of a better God searchin' for better jobs
We could cop ghetto cars tryin' not to catch a charge
They say the dope game is sour
Now they doin' homework that's when they follow you for hours
Come to your crib and devour all that you work for
Must be more than paper these niggaz hurt for
Through the purple haze I circle days I rhyme that work for pays
Tryna reverse the slave's mind and insert the brave mentality
Heard that it's drama at home
Can a dude break free and still get honored at home
I was told by a chief it's the games nature
When you're glowin' some will love and some will hate ya
It's real people

[Verse 3]
Black men walking wit white girls on they arms
I be mad at em as if I know they moms
Told to go beyond the surface, a person's a person
When we lessen our women our condition seems to worsen
The weary cursin' the sky
Talkin' to themselves givin' the version of why help and hurt in they eye
I live across from it, some of it I do be in
I be showin' niggaz lives
Like UPN
It's real people

Yeah.
For you and yours
Good music
Forever
Yeah
Rock on
We keep on
Uh.. Yeah
Yeah, yeah
The real...

Breathe by Pink Floyd

"Breathe"

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be
Run, run rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.

Trade Winds by John Masefield

IN the harbor, in the island, in the Spanish Seas,
Are the tiny white houses and the orange trees,
And day-long, night-long, the cool and pleasant breeze
Of the steady Trade Winds blowing.

There is the red wine, the nutty Spanish ale,
The shuffle of the dancers, the old salt's tale,
The squeaking fiddle, and the soughing in the sail
Of the steady Trade Winds blowing.

And o' nights there's fire-flies and the yellow moon,
And in the ghostly palm-trees the sleepy tune
Of the quiet voice calling me, the long low croon
Of the steady Trade Winds blowing.

Living Tenderly by May Swenson

Living Tenderly
My body a rounded stone
with a pattern of smooth seams.
My head a short snake,
retractive, projective.
My legs come out of their sleeves
or shrink within,
and so does my chin.
My eyelids are quick clamps.

My back is my roof.

I am always at home. I travel where my house walks.
It is a smooth stone.
It floats within the lake,
or rests in the dust.
My flesh lives tenderly
inside its bone.

Your Poem!!!!

Write a poem.....whatever style, order, theme.....due the day we come back.....make sure it is something you don't mind sharing..............

Tradicion by Victor Hernandez Cruz

Let the water rain into the forest

So that the vines holding up the guiros

Can flourish

Craft attack the vegetable kingdom

And make the lines that will sound

In Baltasar's ears

On the day of the astologers

Along with the guitar of the fourth dimension

Those that know themselves within: dance

Those that know themselves within: song

Those that know themselves within: relations

Those that know themselves within: food

Those that know themselves within: Religion

Those that know themselves within: Prayer

Those that know well the place of their tongue

The shape of their sound

Can go then and make everything disappear.

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

With Age Wisdom

At twenty,

stooping round about,

I thought the world a miserable place,

Truth a trick,

faith in doubt,

Little beauty,

Less grace.

Now at sixty what I see,

Although the world is worse by far,

Stops my heart in ecstasy,

God,

The womders that there are!

Archibald MacLeish *****************

1. When he is young, why does he think that the world is so bad?


2. Why does he change his mind as he gets older?


3. The name of the poem is "With Age Wisdom" -- what do you think "widsdom" is? How is "wisdom" different than "knowledge"? Would you rather have "wisdom" or "knowledge"?


4. What are some of the "wonders" that you can think of? Explain why they are wonders. Write a four line poem about your wonder.

Figurative Language

What extra meaning or visual is added by including this figurative language? Read my posts below....analayze...

Problems with Hurricanes

A campesino looked at the air

And told me:

With hurricanes it’s not the wind or the noise or the water.

I’ll tell you he said: it’s the mangoes, avocados

Green plantains and bananas flying into town like projectiles.

How would your family feel if they had to tell

The generations that you got killed by a flying

Banana.

Death by drowning has honor

If the wind picked you up and slammed you

Against a mountain boulder

This would not carry shame

But to suffer a mango smashing

Your skull or a plantain hitting your

Temple at 70 miles per hour is the ultimate disgrace.

The campesino takes off his hat—

As a sign of respect toward the fury of the wind

And says: Don’t worry about the noise

Don’t worry about the water

Don’t worry about the wind—

If you are going out beware of mangoes

And all such beautiful sweet things.

The Black Cat

http://www.online-literature.com/poe/24/ The Black Cat.... What can you tell me about this story????? Analyze.....here are some guidelines or 'help'.... http://www.eliteskills.com/c/5204 This link also has the story, but what is good is the bottom. Students have weighed in their ideas and thoughts about the story... Your essay due next Thursday is an analysis on this story. Poe is no joke. I suggest to really put some time into this. Analyze the elements of plot (conflict, rising action, climax, resolution etc), analyze the Symbols, images, setting, Point of View, Tone, and Style. I suggest to also look into the ending and title meanings. What is this full analysis of this story. Requirements: 3-5 pages or more...double spaced..typed....times roman.....12pt font.....Next Thursday!!!! BEFORE Spring BREAK!!!! NOT AFTER!! No emails!!!

Just Lather, That's All

Go to the link below and read the story...Afterwards answer the questions... http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/velez/LAS100/tellez.htm

1. We learn from the comments in the beginning that the customers's presence is making him nervous. When does it become clear that the two characters are on opposite sides of a political struggle?


2. Why does the barber feel it would be wrong to let Torres go? Why, on the other hand, does he believe it would be wrong to take the captain's life? In what way can the decision he makes affect the course of his own life?


3. What, in the end, is the barber's reason for sparing Torres?


4. Near the end of the story, the narrator makes a suprising suggestion that there is a fine linke between a reputation as a hero and a reputation as a murderer. Do you agree or disagree with this opinion? Can you give some examples form real life to support your view?


5. Irony of situation. Which of the story's circumstances are the opposite of what would be expected or considered appropriate? Hint: barber and the executioner. Find support.


6. Verbal Irony. Which characters says one thing and means another? What is ironic about the barber's claim that he is a revolutionary and not a murderer?


7. Dramatic Irony. This is when a reader knows something that a character does not. Examples?? Last paragraph....how is that turned around or reversed?

Images II

DULCE ET DECORUM EST(1)

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares(2) we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest(3) began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots(4)
Of tired, outstripped(5) Five-Nines(6) that dropped behind.
Gas!(7) Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets(8) just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime(9) . . .
Dim, through the misty panes(10) and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering,(11) choking, drowning. (16)
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, (19)
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud(12)
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest(13)
To children ardent(14) for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.(15)

Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918

1. What is the situation? Who is the speaker?
2. What images are especially concrete and vivid? Why?
3. What is the effect of placing 3 participles in a row at the end of line 16 that is bold.
4. How is the effect of colors green and white different than in "Calvary Crossing a Ford"?
5. Alliteration or assonance Line 19?

Images

Read the following and answer the questions:

A line in long array where they wind betwixt green islands,
They take a serpentine course, their arms flash in the sun---hark to the muscial clank,
Behold the silvery river, in it the splashing horses loitering stop to drink,
Behold the brown-faced men, each group, each person a picture, the negligent rest on the saddles,
Some emerge on the opposite bank, others are just entering the ford---while,
Scarlet and blue and snowy white,
The guidon flags flutter gayly in the wind.

Cavalry Crossing a Ford, Walt Whitman

1. Which words appeal to the sense of sight?
2. Which words appeal to the sense of sound?
3. Where does Whitman place the reader to view the scene?
4. What are the effects of the rhythm and sound of the lines?

Compare these two paragraphs

I had coffee and the papers in bed and then dressed and took my bathingsuit down to the beach. Everything was fresh and cool and damp in the early morning. Nurses in uniform and in peasant costume walked under the trees with children. The Spanish children were beautiful. Some bootblacks sat together under a tree talking to a soldier. The soldier had only one arm. The tide was in and there was a good breeze and a surf on the beach.

Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises


We had listened to it for years: the long legend of corncribs rifled, of shotes and grown pigs and even calves carried bodily into the woods and devoured, of traps and deadfalls overthrown and dogs mangled and slain, and shotgun and even rifle charges deliverd at point-blank range and with nor more effect than so many peas blown though a tube by a boy--a corridor of wresckage and destruction beginning back before he was born, through which sped, not fast but rather with the ruthless and irresistible deliberation of a locomotive, the shaggy tremendous shape.

William Faulkner, "The Bear"

Counterparts by James Joyce

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/11289/

This is the link to the story. I want you to post your immediate reactions to the story. I also want a written analysis of this story. This should be printed up. (double spaced, times roman, 12 pt). This will be due next Tuesday! (yes we have class). The length should be about 2-4 pages. I am looking for a lot here including, but not only, character. Dig deep...there are people that have done PhDs on his work, so there is a lot to talk about.

History:
Written in 1904. Joyce was from Ireland and most his writings were based on the culture of that time.

Glossary of words:
the tube a machine for communicating within a building.

an order on the cashier official permission for an advance on wages.

snug a small private room or booth in a public house.

g.p. a glass (half-pint) of porter.

caraway a white-flowered biennial herb of the umbel familiy, with spicey, strong-smelling seeds. The seeds, when chewed, were thought to hide the smell of alcohol, and thus were offered to customers by turn-of-the-century Dublin bars.

manikin a little man; dwarf.

instanter without delay; immediately.

the dart the solution.

stood . . . a half-one bought a half measure of alcohol.

the eclogues short pastoral poems, often in the form of a dialogue between two shepherds; the most famous are by the Latin poet Virgil.

my nabs (slang) my friend or acquaintance.

Ballast Offices the location of the Dublin Port and Docks Board, where the father of Gabriel Conroy (protagonist of "The Dead") is said to have worked.

Irish and Apollinaris whiskey and soda.

too Irish (slang) exceedingly generous.

chaffed teased good naturedly.

tincture a trace; a smattering.

small hot specials whiskey mixed with water and sugar.

bitter bitter, strongly hopped ale.

stood to bought for.

smahan a smattering; a smidgin.

barracks buildings on Shelbourne Road for housing British soldiers.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Analyze the story. I want you to focus on the characters of the story. (Main characters, round, flat etc)

Kate Chopin....Story of an Hour

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/

This is the link to Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin.

1. After reading this short story.....You are to write an analysis about the story. It should be colored with details and proof!!!

2. Next, I want you to write a character diary. Choose a character and write from the perspective of that character based on the events in the story.

I have some questions below:


I've written the questions as they'd be read by the character that the student chooses; so the word "you" refers to the character

What are you most afraid of or worried about? What is making you anxious? Describe the person, object, or event that bothers you. Talk about specifically what concerns you -- Why are you worried? What's the worst thing that could happen? What do you hope will occur? How do your fears or worries relate to the things that have happened so far?


Who has impressed, annoyed, or pleased you most so far? What other character has had the strongest effect on you? Who is the other character? Describe the interaction you've had, and why you feel the way that you do? How have the other character's actions influenced the way that you feel?


When you grow up, what do you want to do or be? What are your aspirations? What job do you want to have? When you dream about the future, what do you think about? What do you dream that you will be? How does what you want to do relate to who you are now?
OR if you're character is already grown up, What do you want to accomplish in your life? What big goals have you set for yourself, and why? When you daydream about what you might be or do in your life, what do you dream about? What are you doing? And how do your dreams relate to who you are now?



What is your biggest accomplishment so far? What have you done that has made you proud of yourself? Describe what you've done, how it made you feel, and why you think it was so important -- what makes it your biggest accomplishment? When you think about your accomplishment, how does it make you feel about the future? How would you complete a sentence such as this: when I think about this great accomplishment, I only hope that in the future, I'll be able to __________.


If you could relive a moment, what moment would you like to relive, and why? What event do you think about? Why is it such a strong memory for you? Why is it stuck in your thoughts? If you revisited this event, would you change it? Would you do anything differently? Would you try to notice something in particular? Would you want to relive it exactly as it occurred the first time? Describe the event in a way that makes your interest in reliving it clear.


What has made you happy recently? Describe the event, object, or person who has brought you happiness, and explore why you felt happy. Reflect on the event, object, or person -- look back and think about exactly the way that you felt. What does your happiness tell you about who you are and how your mind works?


Sketch your house, yard, office, or another important space that you know well. Label all your special things and the specific places. Once you've sketched things out, write a description about the place that explains why it's important to you. What makes the place significant? Why do you remember it? How does the place make you feel, and why? How does it relate to who you are -- is it messy, neat, clean, and so forth? What qualities does the place have, and how do those qualities relate to what you want in life?


What lesson(s) have you learned? What have the events that you've been through taught you? Think of them as a sort of fable -- what would the moral be? Describe the events in a way that makes the lesson that you've learned clear. Once you've described the lesson, talk about why it is an important lesson and how you think that it will affect you in the future.


Describe your dream room or getaway. If you could escape, where would you go? What would you do? Use details to describe your getaway -- what does it look like? what sounds do you hear? what do you smell? How does your dream place relate to the places that you live in and visit now? Reflect on why you would want to escape to this place -- Why is it better than where you are now? Why this place instead of another?


Choose a value or ideal that is important to you -- honesty, courage, faithfulness, and so forth. Define your value, and explore how it relates to your life. Why is this ideal important to you? What events, objects, or people have brought this word to mind? And what makes it more than just a word? What makes it an important value or ideal? Describe the events in your life that make this an important value, and explore how and why the ideal has grown so important to you.

Zeeehomewerk....

1. Take a well-known children's story or fairy tale, and retell it from a different point of view. For example, "The Three Little Pigs" or "Little Red Riding Hood" would be very different if told from the wolf's perspective.

2. Then write a brief essay about how the change in perspective invites the reader to make radically different meanings from the original story.

So that means two posts!!!

Ideas and Hints to analyzing Fiction

1. Make predictions: Avoid missing points and understand the characters and situations
2. Identify with the character: Not just agree with the character or not agree with them, and immerse yourself in their experiences.
3. ASK Questions: Plot, theme, setting, Point of View, Mood/tone, symbolism, irony, figurative language, characters, etc
4. Make inferences: What is said? What is not said?
5. Summarize the events
6. What are the types of characters? Evidence to prove your point.
7. Like or dislike the end? Why or why not?
8. What is the Author's purpose? What is the author's attitude toward the characters?

Suggestion

There are far too many spelling and grammar errors. I love the comments, but let's shape up our commentary. I would like a little more formal usage and structure in future blogs... Good work so far..

Prof. Lignelli

Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes

http://www.americanliterature.com/Hughes/SS/ThankYouMam.html

Follow the link to the story and read it. Next, you comment your analysis on the blog. I would also like you to comment on other people's comments once they have put them up. (at least 3).

I will join in on the fun as well!!

Prof. Lignelli

Class assign #2

Not Neither
Sandra Maria Esteves

Being Puertorriqueña Dominicana
Born in the Bronx, not really jibara
Not really hablando bien
But yet, not Gringa either
Pero ni portorra, pero si portorra too
Pero ni que what am I?
Y que soy, pero con what voice do my lips move?
Rhythms of Rosa wood feet dancing Bomba
Not even here, but here, y Conga
Yet not being, pero soy, and not really
Y somos, y cómo somos?
Bueno, eso si es algo lindo
Algo muy lindo
We defy translation
Ni tengo nombrenameless, we are a whole culture once removed
Lolita alive for twenty-five years
Ni soy, pero soy Puertorriquñea commo ella
Giving blood to the independent star
Daily transfusions into the river of La Sangre Viva.

From Stone on Stone/Piedra Sobre Piedra, edited by Zoe Anglesey. Seattle: Open Hand, 1994. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Class Assignment #1

Pre-Reading questions:
1. What's the difference between a Boricua and a Puerto Rican?
2. How do you think Puerto Ricans identify themselves? (Boricua/Puerto Rican)? WHY?
3. Why are Puerto Ricans called Boricuas? What are the connotations (An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word) of both (negative and postive)?

HUEN 233 Journals

This will be your online journal. You will make personal comments and reviews of literature and what others write as well. Feel free to express yourself. However, remember there has to be a certain net ettiquette involved with each and every post. If you break the rules, there will be consequences.