Well hey there, this is a sad but at the same time, very happy post! I'm sad the year is over but I'm also REALLY happy because its almost summer! I'm writing a letter to my fellow classmates and to the rising 9th graders who may enjoy to know what high school is all about considering the fact that none of us never got anything like that. This was such a fun year and I really do love high school but it was so much different than last year or any previous years. In that sense, i'm talking about friendships, work ethic, amount of work to do, what is expected of you and the fact that now, it actually counts... Last year (in 8th grade) I really didn't try very hard, I made horrible grades all year long except the first quarter. I guess I just didn't have the motivation that I now have. I mean, it didn't count for anything later on in life so I just didn't feel like I needed to try very hard. That was a very big mistake...
I don't know what happened over the summer, but I guess I had a reality check because the first day of high school I really had it set in my mind that I wanted to succeed in life, so in order to do that I needed to work my butt off! English I was probably one of my favorite classes, I learned so much and I improved greatly from previous years. I thought I was a good writer before, but now I actually do feel like I know how to write! I mean, freshman, ya'll are going to learn a lot so be prepared. Some things ya'll should know. I recommend you get either one big binder or you get notebooks for every class and a binder for handouts; I say this because I got a different binder for every class and it took up so much space! My backpack was so heavy every single day. Also I am telling you now, do not throw anything away. I never had any problems with this because I have always kept everything I have ever been given in class or have written in class; but I promise if you don't keep it, it will come back and bite you in the butt because you will need it for future things, if not then for sure for the exam. Another thing ya'll are probably all worrying about is that you aren't going to get a school supplies list. It's OK! I panicked too, but all you need is pencils, pens, paper and binders or notebooks. Something else to keep in mind for english I next year, when Dr. D tells you to annotate, DO IT! When the test comes and you've forgotten chapters 1 and 2, if you've annotated then you can go back and look at your annotations and see what questions you had and what words you didn't understand or what connections you made. I promise, it seems stupid now but it really does help. Especially if she lets you use your book for part of the test, then you're really going to be glad you did it!
Classmates, you guys this has been such a fun year! I enjoyed so much being with yall and understanding how you work best. It was fun teaching each other different study tricks and helping each other with homework or studying. I got to know so many of you guys really well and it was super fun! I will always love my block 2 english class(: I hope we all have so more classes together next year when we're sophomores! ahhh thats so weird to say...
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Participation In English Class This Year
General Procedure: I thought that my general participation was pretty good throughout the year. I have never not brought any of the books we needed to class, such as Lord of the Flies, or Macbeth. I've also always had my pens and pencils ready to go with plenty of paper to take notes with. I also, rarely ever ask to leave class for bathroom or water breaks unless it is an absolute emergency. I am very good about checking my email consistently so that wasn't a problem either! So, overall I think I did very good in this category!
Lecture, announcements, and whole class discussion: I've always been pretty good about staying focused and paying attention to the teacher without having side conversations so I did good with that, with a few exceptions here and there but nothing out of the ordinary! I also try to always ask as many questions as I can, in order to get involved in the class.
Individual and Group Work: This one is probably my worst category because I am not very good with group work, I am best with individual stuff; so I did good with that. But I didn't do the best with my group work because its really hard for me to stay focused when I'm on my own without a teacher, so adding a bunch of other students just makes it worse... But I at least tried to make myself and my group stay focused which is a big improvement from previous semesters. I am a perfectionist so aiming beyond minimum came pretty easily to me.
Growth: I think that I participated really well all year long but I definitely improved in the last semester. I got much better with group work as I said, and I learned SO much! This was a great year in all my classes and I grew in so many ways, I couldn't even explain them all to year. Thanks for an awesome year Dr. D!(:
Lecture, announcements, and whole class discussion: I've always been pretty good about staying focused and paying attention to the teacher without having side conversations so I did good with that, with a few exceptions here and there but nothing out of the ordinary! I also try to always ask as many questions as I can, in order to get involved in the class.
Individual and Group Work: This one is probably my worst category because I am not very good with group work, I am best with individual stuff; so I did good with that. But I didn't do the best with my group work because its really hard for me to stay focused when I'm on my own without a teacher, so adding a bunch of other students just makes it worse... But I at least tried to make myself and my group stay focused which is a big improvement from previous semesters. I am a perfectionist so aiming beyond minimum came pretty easily to me.
Growth: I think that I participated really well all year long but I definitely improved in the last semester. I got much better with group work as I said, and I learned SO much! This was a great year in all my classes and I grew in so many ways, I couldn't even explain them all to year. Thanks for an awesome year Dr. D!(:
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Reading Reflection
wow, hard to believe the year is almost over... We're almost sophomores guys! In terms of reading, I have come pretty far. I have read only a few books but i've learned how to read which is the important thing. I have learned about theme and how to read between the lines and many other things. A book that I have just finished was the Hunger Games. It was extremely good and I plan to read the rest of the books soon then I want to read a few nicholas sparks books.
Something that I have learned about myself as a reader is that I don't comprehend what I am reading very well unless it is very intriguing to me, therefore I have learned that I have to conciously remind myself to pay attention and stay focused; and when I am reading something with imagery, I picture the words that I am reading in my head as a scene like in a movie. Or if I have seen the movie I picture the scene for that particular segment. Something else I have learned is that you really have to think about what your reading in order to accomplish the goal of reading in between the lines which is what I have worked pretty hard on this year in my outside reading assignments. I want to get better at that because I know that next year we will be doing a lot of reading in English class and I want to be able to understand the hidden meaning of the text. In the end, I really do truly believe that I have come a long way in my reading because I have become a much better reader and I have increased my reading level. But I plan to get better next year!
Something that I have learned about myself as a reader is that I don't comprehend what I am reading very well unless it is very intriguing to me, therefore I have learned that I have to conciously remind myself to pay attention and stay focused; and when I am reading something with imagery, I picture the words that I am reading in my head as a scene like in a movie. Or if I have seen the movie I picture the scene for that particular segment. Something else I have learned is that you really have to think about what your reading in order to accomplish the goal of reading in between the lines which is what I have worked pretty hard on this year in my outside reading assignments. I want to get better at that because I know that next year we will be doing a lot of reading in English class and I want to be able to understand the hidden meaning of the text. In the end, I really do truly believe that I have come a long way in my reading because I have become a much better reader and I have increased my reading level. But I plan to get better next year!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Macbeth's prospective
Recently, we've been reading Macbeth, a shakspearian play. It has really interested me! I have really noticed a lot about Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. But Macbeth has probably caught my attention a little more than Lady Macbeth has. Lady Macbeth is just so rude and as a reader, I interpret her to be a mean, impatient rude person. She has no patience for Macbeth and if he doesn't want to do something she wants, she says he's not a man. Macbeth says I don't want to kill Duncan and Lady Macbeth tells him that he isn't a man. I think that Macbeth is a little stubborn but he is also very cautious and I guess what you would say as, innocent.
Macbeth has a sense of goodness to me. As a character, I think he feels like he is pressured into doing things by Lady Macbeth and he feels like if he does not do as she says, something bad may happen to him or maybe even be killed. I think that Macbeth is a patient, and cautious man. From Macbeth's prospective, he probably feels like hes not even loved very much by lady Macbeth. I predict that Lady Macbeth is going to try to kill Macbeth. She is a bad woman and I think that she is bad to Macbeth and she doesn't treat him well.
Macbeth has a sense of goodness to me. As a character, I think he feels like he is pressured into doing things by Lady Macbeth and he feels like if he does not do as she says, something bad may happen to him or maybe even be killed. I think that Macbeth is a patient, and cautious man. From Macbeth's prospective, he probably feels like hes not even loved very much by lady Macbeth. I predict that Lady Macbeth is going to try to kill Macbeth. She is a bad woman and I think that she is bad to Macbeth and she doesn't treat him well.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Year Reflection
This year has
been a huge learning experience for me.
Besides all the different academic lessons I’ve learned, I also learned
a lot socially and physically. But
what I would like to focus on more is the academic things. The very first day of school when Dr. D
told us everything we would be doing throughout the year and all of the
different assignments we would be having, I knew this would be a tough class
and that I was going to have a lot to handle for the school year, academic
wise. Especially when we wrote a
paper the first week of school!
After writing that first paper I knew that from then on, I really needed
to buckle down and make sure I paid attention every day in class and made sure
that everything I wrote was to the best of my ability.
Ever since I
was pretty young, I’ve always shown as my mom says “pretty impressive talent”
in writing, and I’ve loved it even more.
But, I have to say that once we started writing the real hardcore papers
this year and I actually learned how to write properly such as being formal in
my writing, using correct grammar, using proper sentence structure and fluency
ect. my liking for writing sort of decreased. Certain papers were really difficult and learning how to
write them was even more difficult.
One particular
paper, the literary analysis… I’m sure we all remember that one. That was probably the hardest challenge
I was faced with this year. I
remember when we were assigned to pick a short story and I remember not taking
the assignment very seriously.
Well, I kind of just picked a book off the shelf and I read only 2
stories before I found the one I wanted to do my analysis on. I didn’t pick wisely because I wasn’t
aware we would be using the story for something more important later on. Well, then we began to start working on
the analysis and I had no idea what the heck I was doing, I wrote and rewrote
and rewrote again! I even changed
the viewpoint on my entire essay after I had already written the entire
thing. That was a big learning
experience. I learned how to
manage my time and that I needed to take every assignment seriously and do it
to the absolute best of my ability no matter how big or small. I also learned that when writing, think
of as many ideas as possible when brainstorming what topic to pick or what to
write about so that you, as a writer can pick the best one and you can have a
good paper. I realized that I
needed to not procrastinate my writing and that I needed to work on a little
bit every day and that if I am ever confused, I need to go to a teacher.
Some things I noticed when going back and looking over my
papers from the year was the amount of improvement I made this year. On the first paper we wrote which was
the Literacy Narrative, I got all 8.5’s and 9.5’s which was really good! While looking through my other work, I
noticed that on the literacy analysis I got a C in the organization but mostly
A’s and a couple B’s in the other categories. Then, in my Reaserch paper which was probably one of the
best essays I have ever written by far I received an A in that category along
with all the other categories except voice and conventions- citations/MLA
format. That didn’t really come as
a surprise to me because I had a difficult time understanding that even after
paying very close attention in class and going to see Dr. D outside of
class! Getting down the whole
citation thing, weather it be a quote from the book (literary analysis) or a
quote from a database (research paper), was really difficult for me this year
and that was probably my lowest point.
My grades were
exceptionally good this year, which was not what I was expecting when the year
began! Every time I found out we
were writing a new paper I got very nervous because even though I really enjoy
writing, I always have a very difficult time beginning. But once I get going, the ideas flow
through me onto the computer naturally.
I wish it were that easy from the beginning. It really shows if you look at all my work carefully because
the opening paragraph for my every single one of my drafts is different from
the final! Something else I
started realizing this year that I am having a hard time with is my
vocabulary. I am lacking voab
skills big time… And I was talking
to one of my friend’s mom and she told me that I needed to read more and it
would help me to bring up my reading level and it would help my vocabulary; so
one of my goals for the end of this year and this summer is to read as much as
I possibly can and bring my reading level up and learn a lot of new words.
I have a lot
of goals for the upcoming year considering the improvement I have made and the
improvement I want to make. Now
that I realize the amount of improvement I can make in a year I know that I can
make just as much improvement next year.
Next year, like I said before I want to bring my reading level up and
increase my vocabulary. I also
would like to become a better writer, as most people probably aspire for
also. But when I say I want to
become a better writer I mean that I want to be able to understand the
assignment right away, or at least quicker than this year, and I want to be
able to dive into some sort of writing process as soon as possible. I noticed that in my work this year I
would spend a lot of time figuring out what I was supposed to be doing and what
kind of writing we were doing.
Another goal I have for next year is to maintain my ability to make an A
because I’m pretty sure I held an A throughout the entire year! Finally I would like to become a better
reader and by that I mean I would like to improve in my reading comprehension
because I find that I struggle with understanding what I am reading. And sometimes even recognizing who is
talking! The final thing I wanted to talk about was my WRAP scores, which were fantastic! I got all 4.5's and 5's! I'm pretty sure that was an improvement from last year which is great. That is just proof that if I sit down and focus on what I'm doing, I can do really good work.
All in all,
this has been a great year and I really did learn a lot inside and outside of
English class! I definitely think
that my writing and reading skills improved a lot and that I became an even
better writing that I was last year.
My reading has a little ways to go but I know that we are going to be
doing a lot of work with that next year and I’m excited to become a better
reader! I’m hoping my teacher is
good next year because Dr. D was great and she really knew her subject!
Common Errors List:
*Use a hyphen in between a number and the word that the
amount is being described.
-ex: 5-pages
*Missing comma.
Things can be misread.
-ex: You start off with someone holding on to you, but as you get more
advanced and learn more and more, you no longer need the extra hand.
*Misspell Tis
-ex: Tis
the season to be jolly!
*Italic the name of a company
-ex: “Securing Maternal Health through comprehensive Reproductive
services”
*Misspelling the word Research
-ex: We have a research paper due on next Monday.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
The Hunger Games
Over the spring break I went to the beach and while I was there I had plenty of time to lay out and read! As those of you who follow my blog know, I've been reading the Hunger Games. I'm nearly done but I still have a little ways to go before I finish. Currently I am at the part where Katniss and Peeta are together inside of the cave and she is helping him get well. He has blood poisoning and Katniss is trying to help him get better. The game makers have just made a change in the rules to where 2 tributes from the same district can win if they are the last ones in the game! Well I am predicting Katniss wins but Petta dies very close to the end, like he is one of the last few left in the games.
Also, since Petta betrayed Katniss in the beginning of the book, I kind of have a feeling in my gut that he is going to do it again, or do something detrimental to Katniss, but she will find a way out of it. I'm really enjoying this book because it is so thrilling and full of action!! I can never put it down when I'm supposed to but at times I am sort of forced to. I really recommend it to anyone (girl or boy) looking to find a good book to read. I think that by next week, I'll be posting my final blog about the Hunger Games and I can't wait to find out who wins and what happens next! I know I always say that but the urge to want to know what comes next in this book is just so great, I can't help it! I love this book.
Reading Log: The Hunger Games 150 minutes-68 pages
Also, since Petta betrayed Katniss in the beginning of the book, I kind of have a feeling in my gut that he is going to do it again, or do something detrimental to Katniss, but she will find a way out of it. I'm really enjoying this book because it is so thrilling and full of action!! I can never put it down when I'm supposed to but at times I am sort of forced to. I really recommend it to anyone (girl or boy) looking to find a good book to read. I think that by next week, I'll be posting my final blog about the Hunger Games and I can't wait to find out who wins and what happens next! I know I always say that but the urge to want to know what comes next in this book is just so great, I can't help it! I love this book.
Reading Log: The Hunger Games 150 minutes-68 pages
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Crazy Girl
"Crazy Girl" Eli Young Band
Baby why you wanna cry?
You really oughta know that I
Just have to walk away sometimes
We're gonna do what lovers do
We're gonna have a fight or two
But I ain't ever changin' my mind
Crazy girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Wouldn't last a single day
I'd probably just fade away
Without you, I'd lose my mind
Before you ever came along
I was livin' life all wrong
Smartest thing I ever did was make you all mine
Crazy girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Crazy girl
Crazy girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately,
I love you like
Crazy, girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Like crazy
Crazy girl
Like crazy
Crazy girl
Like crazy
These are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs EVER, Crazy Girl by Eli Young Band, and I just realized that it actually has a lot of literary devices in it that we've been talking about in class over the last couple weeks. This form/type of poetry is Lyric, obviously. Some things I noticed throughout the song were repeating vowel sounds, assonance, in the first and second verse. Examples: "Baby why you wanna cry? You really oughta know that I..." "We're gonna do what lovers do We're gonna have a fight or two..." "Wouldn't last a single day I'd probably just fade away..." "Before you ever came along I was livin' life all wrong..." So those are a few examples of repeating vowel sounds.
Another thing I noticed in this song was that most of those examples I gave you were also couplets, which if you did not remember are:
Also, I noticed a few Enjambments and caesuras. This example is an entire stanza long which I also found interesting.
"Wouldn't last a single day
I'd probably just fade away
Without you, I'd lose my mind
Before you ever came along
I was livin' life all wrong
Smartest thing I ever did was make you all mine"
Baby why you wanna cry?
You really oughta know that I
Just have to walk away sometimes
We're gonna do what lovers do
We're gonna have a fight or two
But I ain't ever changin' my mind
Crazy girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Wouldn't last a single day
I'd probably just fade away
Without you, I'd lose my mind
Before you ever came along
I was livin' life all wrong
Smartest thing I ever did was make you all mine
Crazy girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Crazy girl
Crazy girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately,
I love you like
Crazy, girl, don't you know that I love you?
And I wouldn't dream of goin' nowhere
Silly woman, come here, let me hold you
Have I told you lately?
I love you like crazy, girl
Like crazy
Crazy girl
Like crazy
Crazy girl
Like crazy
These are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs EVER, Crazy Girl by Eli Young Band, and I just realized that it actually has a lot of literary devices in it that we've been talking about in class over the last couple weeks. This form/type of poetry is Lyric, obviously. Some things I noticed throughout the song were repeating vowel sounds, assonance, in the first and second verse. Examples: "Baby why you wanna cry? You really oughta know that I..." "We're gonna do what lovers do We're gonna have a fight or two..." "Wouldn't last a single day I'd probably just fade away..." "Before you ever came along I was livin' life all wrong..." So those are a few examples of repeating vowel sounds.
Another thing I noticed in this song was that most of those examples I gave you were also couplets, which if you did not remember are:
A unit of verse consisting of two successive lines, usually rhyming and having the same meter and often forming a complete thought or syntactic unit. |
"Wouldn't last a single day
I'd probably just fade away
Without you, I'd lose my mind
Before you ever came along
I was livin' life all wrong
Smartest thing I ever did was make you all mine"
If you'll notice, the comma in between you and I'd is the caesura and all the other lines are examples of enjambment. I found the line breaks in this song very interesting because the line breaks at a point that it was as if a comma could be there or even in some cases a period. So that was something else I noticed! Later fellow bloggers, can't wait to read your songs. (:
xoxo
Emily
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The Hunger Games Continues...
I know, I've been reading the Hunger Games forever! But I just don't have as much time as I would like to be able to sit down and force myself to finish the book. But, I am really enjoying it! I am close to finishing it right now and as soon as I finish, I plan to read the next 2 books in the series! I am currently on chapter 14 and our narrater, Katniss, has just been informed by little Rue the only 12 year old tribute in the games, that a tracker jacker nest is directly above her head. Tracker jackers are basically wasps but their sting is way more painful and dangerous and can actually lead to death. Panicking, Katniss struggles while trying to figure out what she should do in this difficult situation because directly above her is death as well as directly below her because the careers are also below her. This is for sure one of the high points of the book because there are so many possibilities of what can happen. Rue motions for Katniss to saw the tracker jacker nest and tells her to cut it off so that it will fall right on to the careers. Horary for Rue! Thats a genius idea because (1) the venomous little stinging beasts will be away from Katniss and (2) the tracker jackers could possibly kill a few of the careers which would help Katniss out tremendously.
I thought this was very brave of Rue because I know that I wouldn't have been brave enough to talk to any of the other tributes because I would be scared that they would kill me! However, Rue sucked it up and helped an enemy out rather than killing her! Which really makes me happy(: And to make it better, Katniss, well so far, hasn't done anything to harm her either. Since I saw the movie, I sort of already know what is going to happen BUT I will not let myself be reminded of that because I want to read it and find out for myself. This book has been amazing so far and I can't wait to see what happens between Rue and Katniss and see how the book conveys it differently from the movie. Fight on...
Reading Log: The Hunger Games 35 pages-80 minutes
Nikki-Rosa 1 page-25 minutes
World History TBK 24 pages-45 minutes
I thought this was very brave of Rue because I know that I wouldn't have been brave enough to talk to any of the other tributes because I would be scared that they would kill me! However, Rue sucked it up and helped an enemy out rather than killing her! Which really makes me happy(: And to make it better, Katniss, well so far, hasn't done anything to harm her either. Since I saw the movie, I sort of already know what is going to happen BUT I will not let myself be reminded of that because I want to read it and find out for myself. This book has been amazing so far and I can't wait to see what happens between Rue and Katniss and see how the book conveys it differently from the movie. Fight on...
Reading Log: The Hunger Games 35 pages-80 minutes
Nikki-Rosa 1 page-25 minutes
World History TBK 24 pages-45 minutes
"Nikki-Rosa" by Nikki Giovanni Analysis
A while back Nikki Giovanni came to school during announcements one day and performed a few of her poems. They were magnificent and I really enjoyed her presence! So I decided to analyze one of her poems since I've previously enjoyed some of her work so much. Here is the poem:
childhood remembrances are always a drag
if you're Black
you always remember things like living in Woodlawn
with no inside toilet
and if you become famous or something
they never talk about how happy you were to have your mother
all to yourself and
how good the water felt when you got your bath from one of those
big tubs that folk in Chicago barbecue in
and somehow when you talk about home
it never gets across how much you
understood their feelings
as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale
and even though you remember
your biographers never understand
your father's
pain as he sells his stock
and another dream goes
and though you're poor it isn't poverty that
concerns you
and though they fight a lot
it isn't your father's drinking that makes any difference
but only that everybody is together and you
and your sister have happy birthdays and very good
Christmases
and I really hope no white person ever has cause to write about me
because they never understand that Black love is Black wealth and they'll
probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy.
This was a very interesting poem because I think that its always pretty intriguing to read about someones hardships and struggles but to then see how they were content and happy in the end. I noticed a lot throughout this poem. Right off the bat I noticed that she didn't start her poem with a capital letter and that there is no punctuation throughout the entire poem besides the very last period. No commas, quotation marks, periods or anything. So then as I observed the poem more closely and re-read it, I noticed that the line breaks were sort of odd (I copied the line breaks in the poem on my blog as they are from the book) and I thought that the line breaks could possibly replace the punctuation marks. I also noticed, from the begging that there were no stanzas and that it was just one big long poem.
Besides things that have to do with spelling and placement of punctional marks, I also noticed a few deeper thinking things. If you'll notice, the author doesn't ever address who she is writing to or about, she just consistently uses the replacement words "you" and "they." I highlighted all of these places in my poem book because there were a lot of them! Something else I realized by the end of reading the poem is that the author capitalized the "B" in the word black in the 3 times she used it throughout the poem. I'm kind of curious as to why she would do that. Something that I interpreted in the poem that could have been read in another way was about gratefulness. In the lines, "but only that everybody is together and you and your sister have happy birthdays and very good Christmases" I thought that the author was referring to be grateful and thankful for what you have. In conclusion, I noticed that the author talked about how happy she was to receive certain opportunities throughout her life and talked about how life was hard but then she concludes by saying that she was perfectly content and happy with the way her life was and she makes it seem like she wouldn't want it any other way.
childhood remembrances are always a drag
if you're Black
you always remember things like living in Woodlawn
with no inside toilet
and if you become famous or something
they never talk about how happy you were to have your mother
all to yourself and
how good the water felt when you got your bath from one of those
big tubs that folk in Chicago barbecue in
and somehow when you talk about home
it never gets across how much you
understood their feelings
as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale
and even though you remember
your biographers never understand
your father's
pain as he sells his stock
and another dream goes
and though you're poor it isn't poverty that
concerns you
and though they fight a lot
it isn't your father's drinking that makes any difference
but only that everybody is together and you
and your sister have happy birthdays and very good
Christmases
and I really hope no white person ever has cause to write about me
because they never understand that Black love is Black wealth and they'll
probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy.
This was a very interesting poem because I think that its always pretty intriguing to read about someones hardships and struggles but to then see how they were content and happy in the end. I noticed a lot throughout this poem. Right off the bat I noticed that she didn't start her poem with a capital letter and that there is no punctuation throughout the entire poem besides the very last period. No commas, quotation marks, periods or anything. So then as I observed the poem more closely and re-read it, I noticed that the line breaks were sort of odd (I copied the line breaks in the poem on my blog as they are from the book) and I thought that the line breaks could possibly replace the punctuation marks. I also noticed, from the begging that there were no stanzas and that it was just one big long poem.
Besides things that have to do with spelling and placement of punctional marks, I also noticed a few deeper thinking things. If you'll notice, the author doesn't ever address who she is writing to or about, she just consistently uses the replacement words "you" and "they." I highlighted all of these places in my poem book because there were a lot of them! Something else I realized by the end of reading the poem is that the author capitalized the "B" in the word black in the 3 times she used it throughout the poem. I'm kind of curious as to why she would do that. Something that I interpreted in the poem that could have been read in another way was about gratefulness. In the lines, "but only that everybody is together and you and your sister have happy birthdays and very good Christmases" I thought that the author was referring to be grateful and thankful for what you have. In conclusion, I noticed that the author talked about how happy she was to receive certain opportunities throughout her life and talked about how life was hard but then she concludes by saying that she was perfectly content and happy with the way her life was and she makes it seem like she wouldn't want it any other way.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Coming Up
A lot of things are coming up in my life pretty soon and I'm sure a lot of them are pretty similar to you guys but I'm just going to write about the upcoming events. In a few weeks we all have spring break and so far I have NO PLANS other than to stay here and hang out with my friends. My parents are going to New York so I have to stay here and do nothing. On the bright side, my dad has a big trial that might run over through their vacation so I might be able to go with my mom! YAY! But I guess either way, i'd be happy to go to NY or to just stay here and lay out all day everyday!
Other than Spring Break, we all have summer that I am sure we are all looking forward to and counting down the days to. For this summer I have a little bit planned but not too much. I'm going to be going to the beach a few times and then camp then cheer camp. Also this summer, in July, I get my braces off. FINALLY. This is probably the biggest thing I am looking forward to because I have already had one set of braces from 3rd to 5th grade but then at the end of 8th grade I had to get another!! So as I said, in the next couple months I will finally be brace free! I can't wait for all of this to happen, 1 because I just need a break from school and 2 because I just can't wait to be done with all my orthodontics.
Other than Spring Break, we all have summer that I am sure we are all looking forward to and counting down the days to. For this summer I have a little bit planned but not too much. I'm going to be going to the beach a few times and then camp then cheer camp. Also this summer, in July, I get my braces off. FINALLY. This is probably the biggest thing I am looking forward to because I have already had one set of braces from 3rd to 5th grade but then at the end of 8th grade I had to get another!! So as I said, in the next couple months I will finally be brace free! I can't wait for all of this to happen, 1 because I just need a break from school and 2 because I just can't wait to be done with all my orthodontics.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
May the odds be eva in your favor
Holy moly... I'm just a little obsessed with the Hunger Games! In previous blog posts I've been writing about my current read, The Hunger Games, and in one of them I said that my goal was to finish the book before I saw the movie. Sadly, I failed and wasn't able to finish. On thursday, I was at my track meet waiting for my event to start, when my cousin called me and said "hey do you wanna go see the Hunger Games tonight?" and I just couldn't turn it down! I mean, its the midnight premier, who would turn that down! So throughout the rest of my track meet, I tried as hard as I could to finish the book but I didn't. Even though I didn't finish, I was thrilled to go see the movie because I always think its so interesting to compare a book to a movie. For the part of the book that I have read so far, I can honestly say that the book is WAY better and way more interesting than the movie. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie but as most people say, the book is just a lot more detailed and interesting. As of right now, I am about halfway to three fourths of the way through the novel but I think I might finish it within the next couple of days.
For all you Hunger Games fans, you will probably recognize where I am once I describe it to you. I am right at the part where Katniss is sleeping in a tree when she is suddenly woken up by a blazing fire coming right at her. I am so thrilled right now! Like, all these questions are running through my head. What's going to happen next? Will she die? Will Petta save her? Will she get injured? As I said earlier, the book and the movie are very different from each other in my opinion. This is an example right now. In the book she describes how she follows the animals because she trusts their sense of direction. She says "All I can do is follow the others, the rabbits and deer, and I even spot a wild dog pack shooting through the woods. I trust their sense of direction because their instincts are sharper than mine." This little snippet just gets me going and It was very difficult for me to go run an 800 meter race when a awe thrilling novel was putting me under a spell of interest. However, in the movie they didn't really depict this scene like I interpreted it from the book. They did not show Katniss chasing that many animals which was disappointing because to me, that really shows her connection that she holds with nature. I really have enjoyed this book and today once I finish all of my homework I plan to read as much of the book as possible because I am sure that I won't have a problem with getting bored with it. For any of you who have not had the chance to read this great novel yet, I really recommend you put it on your list of books to read because it truly is a good and extremely fascinating story.
Reading Log: The Hunger Games 150 minutes-55 pages
For all you Hunger Games fans, you will probably recognize where I am once I describe it to you. I am right at the part where Katniss is sleeping in a tree when she is suddenly woken up by a blazing fire coming right at her. I am so thrilled right now! Like, all these questions are running through my head. What's going to happen next? Will she die? Will Petta save her? Will she get injured? As I said earlier, the book and the movie are very different from each other in my opinion. This is an example right now. In the book she describes how she follows the animals because she trusts their sense of direction. She says "All I can do is follow the others, the rabbits and deer, and I even spot a wild dog pack shooting through the woods. I trust their sense of direction because their instincts are sharper than mine." This little snippet just gets me going and It was very difficult for me to go run an 800 meter race when a awe thrilling novel was putting me under a spell of interest. However, in the movie they didn't really depict this scene like I interpreted it from the book. They did not show Katniss chasing that many animals which was disappointing because to me, that really shows her connection that she holds with nature. I really have enjoyed this book and today once I finish all of my homework I plan to read as much of the book as possible because I am sure that I won't have a problem with getting bored with it. For any of you who have not had the chance to read this great novel yet, I really recommend you put it on your list of books to read because it truly is a good and extremely fascinating story.
Reading Log: The Hunger Games 150 minutes-55 pages
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Hunger Games
Sorry for switching it up on ya'll again, but I switched back to The Hunger Games because the book I was reading, Close to Famous, was just too immature and not advanced enough for me. So, I went back to reading the book everyone is talking about! The Hunger Games. We recently started reading our outside reading books in class for the first 15 to 20 minutes and I love it! Some people don't bring their books to class and I just don't understand why because its a perfect time to get our 150 minutes out of the way. Thats why I am done now! Call me a nerd, but I love reading. If I can get a good book, and be in a quiet place, I really do enjoy to read because I get involved in the book, I sort of feel like i'm actually a character of the book.
So, to talk about the book,... wow, its SO GOOD! In class when she told us to get to a stopping point so we could start taking notes and other things I just couldn't put it down because it was so thrilling and interesting. I'm sure many of you have read it so you will probably know exactly where I am once I start explaining it. I just read about the interview with Cinna and how Petta said he loved Kattniss. That was very unexpected so I was pretty surprised when he said that because he just requested to stop training with Kattniss. In my opinion, that makes readers think that he doesn't like her and doesn't want to have anything to do with her! I'm wondering when the actual games will start because I'm interested in knowing who will succeed and who will walk out a winner. Katniss, or Petta? Or maybe someone from a different district. We'll just have to see...
The Hunger Games: 65 pages:150 minutes
So, to talk about the book,... wow, its SO GOOD! In class when she told us to get to a stopping point so we could start taking notes and other things I just couldn't put it down because it was so thrilling and interesting. I'm sure many of you have read it so you will probably know exactly where I am once I start explaining it. I just read about the interview with Cinna and how Petta said he loved Kattniss. That was very unexpected so I was pretty surprised when he said that because he just requested to stop training with Kattniss. In my opinion, that makes readers think that he doesn't like her and doesn't want to have anything to do with her! I'm wondering when the actual games will start because I'm interested in knowing who will succeed and who will walk out a winner. Katniss, or Petta? Or maybe someone from a different district. We'll just have to see...
The Hunger Games: 65 pages:150 minutes
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Cheer Tryouts...
As a lot of you i'm sure know, cheerleading tryouts are coming up quickly, they are this Sunday! Along with everybody else trying out, I am extremely nervous about making it. But I was on the squad last year so I am a returning cheerleader which is helpful because I know exactly what the judges are looking for and exactly how to give it to them. Unfortunately, my weak spot is definitely in tumbling. I've always been scared to tumble so I didn't learn anything until a year ago! I mean literally, I couldn't even do a cartwheel until a year ago. BUT, since then I've come a long way and I nearly have my flip-flop now. This will effect me a lot this year because most of the girls trying out have a lot of really good and advanced skills which I clearly don't have! Now, focusing on the good aspects of my skills: I can cheer really well! Which is a very vital part to being an EHS cheerleader. I am also like so sharp I am in pain after I finish cheering or dancing! Speaking of dancing... I don't really know what to say about dancing because I am a pretty good dancer but when dances are awkward (like parts of this one) I have to practice extra hard to get it right and make it natural looking.
To prepare for tryouts, I've been going to A LOT of privates with various LSU cheerleaders and different tumbling coaches at LSU. We work on stretching, jumps, tumbling, cheering, dancing, sharpness and many other things. I've been going to tumbling lessons a lot for maybe 4 or 5 weeks now and I've been working on cheer things (dancing, cheering, sharpness ect.) for maybe 2 or 3 weeks now. I've gone through a lot of soreness and exhaustion but I want to be on the squad really bad because I do really love cheer and I love all the friendships that I made and I would really like to continue them! I'm really hoping all of my hard work pays off because I have not only put a lot of time into this but also a lot of money! Wish me luck(:
To prepare for tryouts, I've been going to A LOT of privates with various LSU cheerleaders and different tumbling coaches at LSU. We work on stretching, jumps, tumbling, cheering, dancing, sharpness and many other things. I've been going to tumbling lessons a lot for maybe 4 or 5 weeks now and I've been working on cheer things (dancing, cheering, sharpness ect.) for maybe 2 or 3 weeks now. I've gone through a lot of soreness and exhaustion but I want to be on the squad really bad because I do really love cheer and I love all the friendships that I made and I would really like to continue them! I'm really hoping all of my hard work pays off because I have not only put a lot of time into this but also a lot of money! Wish me luck(:
Monday, March 12, 2012
Close to famous
Recently, I've started this book called Close to famous. It's about a girl named Foster (who is the narrator) and she has a dream about being a famous cook and having her own cooking show. Her dream is inspired by her cooking idol, Sonny Kroll. While she is still learning everything, she feels like she should do what she does best, bake. The story starts off with Foster and her mother driving away to anywhere but where they are because they are being chased by an Elvis impersonator... I know its really weird and I do not understand the it at all.
This happens to me a lot, and when I say that i'm referring to the fact that I don't understand novels at all when I first start them. I have to get in the groove of it and learn all the characters names and how they are all related and I have to understand the basic plot and setting. If I miss something, I feel totally and completely lost and confused! So obviously i'm saying that I don't understand this novel all that much right now... And I actually might not really like it that much. But I am going to keep reading and If I find that I am uninterested, I will just keep going with the Hunger Games because that is a novel I would really like to finish before the movie comes out! I'm challenging myself because that is only in 2 weeks! I think once I get into Close to Famous a little more I will begin to start liking it.
Reading log: Close to Famous: 51 pages-150 minutes
This happens to me a lot, and when I say that i'm referring to the fact that I don't understand novels at all when I first start them. I have to get in the groove of it and learn all the characters names and how they are all related and I have to understand the basic plot and setting. If I miss something, I feel totally and completely lost and confused! So obviously i'm saying that I don't understand this novel all that much right now... And I actually might not really like it that much. But I am going to keep reading and If I find that I am uninterested, I will just keep going with the Hunger Games because that is a novel I would really like to finish before the movie comes out! I'm challenging myself because that is only in 2 weeks! I think once I get into Close to Famous a little more I will begin to start liking it.
Reading log: Close to Famous: 51 pages-150 minutes
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Les Jeunes Amies
For about a year now, I've been in a debutante group called Les Jeunes Amies which stands for young friends of the Symphony. It's basically a group of young high school girls from ages 14 to about 18 doing service for the symphony. The earliest you can join is as a freshman in high school, which was when I joined. Each year you are required to obtain 4 service units but the thing is that a unit doesn't translate to an hour exactly. So in the end, you end up doing A LOT of service hours, and although it sounds like a ton of work (which it is), you have so much fun doing it. Now that I've told you about the boring service stuff, I get to talk about all the fun stuff! At the beginning of the year, the first LJA event is a tea welcoming all the new members. We get to dress up and wear tall 4 inch heels and be proper! It's very thrilling as a freshman. Then throughout the year we do various different service acts for the symphony such as work and attend a symphony concert, work at a clay shoot, go to an etiquette essentials class and many more.
Half way through the year, the biggest event of all happens. The LJA ball! The ball happens around Christmas time and all the senior debs are presented in front of probably a couple hundred people. They get to wear white gloves, a long white wedding dress, and all sorts of diamonds! Their fathers escort them down an isle to walk past all the guests attending the ball while an LJA director announces/talks about the many different things the debutante has done to complete her units and the different things she is involved in both inside and outside of school. I'm sure its a very proud moment for both the parents of the debutante and the young women's many guests she is permitted to invite! Later on after the debs are presented we party. Everyone is dancing to old timey music from the 70's in their long beautiful gowns and just having such a good time. Once the ball is all said and done, there is another tea at the end of the year; which is what I happened to attend today. It was so fun! I got to go dress shopping yesterday and I got a very pretty dress to wear to the luncheon. While there I saw all the friends I had made throughout the year and saw all the new girls we have that have joined the freshman group. I can't wait for my senior year when I get to be presented and be recognized for all this hard work we have coming up over the next 3 years!
Ps: For any girls reading this that are interested, let me know because there are still 8 open slots for the freshman! It's really fun(:
Monday, March 5, 2012
Nervous Conditions
This past week, we read from chapter 6 to the end of the book. I really liked it and thought it was not that bad of a read. We read about how Tambu didn't want her parents to get married and how Babamukuru beat Tambu and punished her and also about Nyasha and Tambu's growing friendship. I still don't really understand fully why Tambu disliked her parents wedding so much other than the fact that it was sinful. But the wedding ordeal was a pretty important part of the story. There were many fights and arguments because of it. I was also able to point out another "nervous condition," which was that Tambu was holding in her dislike for this wedding without telling anyone and because of it she wasn't able to sleep and she didn't have a good appetite. This was one of many nervous conditions.
But once it was made known that Tambu didn't want to be a part of the wedding she was severely beaten and punished. She was forced to do all of Anna's chores for 2 weeks. This was when I noticed Tambu and Nyasha's friendship a lot. Nyasha insisted that she help Tambu with her chores but even then, Tambu wouldn't allow it because she didn't want Nyasha to be punished as well. That was very brave of Nyasha, especially with the kind of relationship she has with her father, to offer herself to help her cousin like that. It really shows how much they feel for each other and understand each others needs. Then Tambu wouldn't even except the help because she knew that Tambu could get in trouble and be punished badly like herself and she didn't want that to happen to her dear cousin. Both of these reciprocating actions really showed their love and friendship for each other. There were many more examples of their strong bond but I felt this one was worthy of blogging about. (:
Reading Log- Nervous Conditions 103 pages:150 minutes
But once it was made known that Tambu didn't want to be a part of the wedding she was severely beaten and punished. She was forced to do all of Anna's chores for 2 weeks. This was when I noticed Tambu and Nyasha's friendship a lot. Nyasha insisted that she help Tambu with her chores but even then, Tambu wouldn't allow it because she didn't want Nyasha to be punished as well. That was very brave of Nyasha, especially with the kind of relationship she has with her father, to offer herself to help her cousin like that. It really shows how much they feel for each other and understand each others needs. Then Tambu wouldn't even except the help because she knew that Tambu could get in trouble and be punished badly like herself and she didn't want that to happen to her dear cousin. Both of these reciprocating actions really showed their love and friendship for each other. There were many more examples of their strong bond but I felt this one was worthy of blogging about. (:
Reading Log- Nervous Conditions 103 pages:150 minutes
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Track
Hello fellow bloggers and happy sunday! As some of you may or may not know, I am on the track team. I'm not a completely new runner, but I would definitely consider myself a newbie. All throughout middle school, I ran cross country and absolutely loved it! I loved everybody on the team and thought it was so fun to go out and run and support each other. However, as the years went on, I began to dislike it and thought I might like to try something new like cheer. So, I did and I loved it! But once my season ended in December, I was not about to just sit around with out a sport to play. Thats just not me, I like to stay busy and of course healthy. So I decided I might go back to running. To my surprise, I have enjoyed it as much or maybe more than cheerleading! It has been so fun because I have not only gotten extremely fit, but I have also made new friendships and learned a lot about running.
I started right when the indoor season was beginning and ended up doing really well throughout it (even though it only lasted for 3 weeks) and even ran in the state meet! But its not really that big a deal because most people did. Anyway, a few weeks ago we kicked off the outdoor season and had our first meet yesterday at Catholic. It was sort of gloomy because of the weather being rainy, cool and fairly overcast but we still ran. Yesterday, I ran the 400 meter dash which is only 1 lap around the track. It may sound pretty easy but its actually one of the more difficult events to run in! You have to go full out in a full out sprint throughout the whole lap. I wish I could have done more events yesterday but since I hadn't been able to come to practice the week prior, It was best I kept it simple. Track has been such a great experience so far and I can't wait to see what our team does and what kind of runner I become. Later bloggers!
xoxo,
Emily
I started right when the indoor season was beginning and ended up doing really well throughout it (even though it only lasted for 3 weeks) and even ran in the state meet! But its not really that big a deal because most people did. Anyway, a few weeks ago we kicked off the outdoor season and had our first meet yesterday at Catholic. It was sort of gloomy because of the weather being rainy, cool and fairly overcast but we still ran. Yesterday, I ran the 400 meter dash which is only 1 lap around the track. It may sound pretty easy but its actually one of the more difficult events to run in! You have to go full out in a full out sprint throughout the whole lap. I wish I could have done more events yesterday but since I hadn't been able to come to practice the week prior, It was best I kept it simple. Track has been such a great experience so far and I can't wait to see what our team does and what kind of runner I become. Later bloggers!
xoxo,
Emily
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Recently in Dr. D's Class
As we all know, we've been reading Nervous Conditions in English class over the past few weeks. I don't know If I am the only one (I sure hope not) but I've had a hard time understanding it. So over this wonderful break that we had this past week, I sat myself down and reread the past couple chapters. It was extremely difficult to do because I kept thinking "Emily, you've already read this, just go to class and listen to the discussion" or "Ask your friends, i'm sure they understand it!" or even "screw it, just enjoy your break!!" But, I did it... And it helped SO MUCH! I highly recommend it to anyone that Is having trouble understanding what is going on. Before I reread the chapters, I thought Maiguru was one of Tambu's cousins and I didn't realize that Maiguru and Babamukuru were married and had Nyasha as their child. Like it was sad how much trouble I had with this book. But hey, I get it now and thats all that matters!
In this weeks reading, we read about when Tambu went to the mission for school. We read about how Maiguru treated her like royalty when she arrived at their beautiful home and how Tambu was frustrated with the way that Nyasha disrespected her parents, especially her mother. In the chapters, we read about how Tambu thought that she was just jumpy because of all the change but I agree with Tambu, the way that Nyasha treated her mother and father and the way that she smoked just blew me away! I would never treat my parents like that and I would especially NEVER smoke a cigarette so I understood Tambu's outlook on the situation. Regardless of the fact that I need to pay close attention while reading this book, I have really enjoyed it and its a pretty entertaining novel. Farewell bloggers!
Reading Log-Nervous Conditions 47 pages:150 min
In this weeks reading, we read about when Tambu went to the mission for school. We read about how Maiguru treated her like royalty when she arrived at their beautiful home and how Tambu was frustrated with the way that Nyasha disrespected her parents, especially her mother. In the chapters, we read about how Tambu thought that she was just jumpy because of all the change but I agree with Tambu, the way that Nyasha treated her mother and father and the way that she smoked just blew me away! I would never treat my parents like that and I would especially NEVER smoke a cigarette so I understood Tambu's outlook on the situation. Regardless of the fact that I need to pay close attention while reading this book, I have really enjoyed it and its a pretty entertaining novel. Farewell bloggers!
Reading Log-Nervous Conditions 47 pages:150 min
Finally, I get to relax...
I think this is the first sunday that I'm not pulling my hair out because of stress. Thats sad... Anyway, for the past week, I have finally been able to relax and tend to my sleep deprival and it has been so AMAZING! Last sunday at 5 in the morning, I was up and getting ready to fly out of New Orleans for a ski trip in Colorado. This was my third time to go skiing and my second time to go to Crested Butte, Colorado. I have never really been all that good because I have a terrible fear of crashing and injuring my self badly. But this trip, I finally got my self confidence up and started hittin the slopes. When I started on monday morning, I thought I was going to want to stay on greens the whole trip but I finally started skiing on more and more blues and then double blues and I have improved so much as a result of pushing myself. I also learned a deeper lesson, you don't get better at something unless you push yourself to do more difficult things.
Throughout my trip I got to hang out with some people I certainly knew but was not very close with. I became close with Chris Sammons and Lauren Yegge, 2 people that are so fun to be around. Not only did I ski but I also got to get a massage and a mani pedi. While I was getting my toes and nails done, the funniest thing happened! I was talking to the lady and the song "set fire to the rain" came on by Adele and the lady just busted out in Song! It was hilarious! I also caught up on a lot of movies that I haven't been able to see because I have been so busy and even some old movies that I hadn't seen in years! By the end of my trip, not only had I improved my skiing skills but I made a lot of new friends, got my nails and toes looking pretty, and FINALLY got to sleep and just breathe. I really needed this break. So whens spring break?? Haha. later bloggers(:
Throughout my trip I got to hang out with some people I certainly knew but was not very close with. I became close with Chris Sammons and Lauren Yegge, 2 people that are so fun to be around. Not only did I ski but I also got to get a massage and a mani pedi. While I was getting my toes and nails done, the funniest thing happened! I was talking to the lady and the song "set fire to the rain" came on by Adele and the lady just busted out in Song! It was hilarious! I also caught up on a lot of movies that I haven't been able to see because I have been so busy and even some old movies that I hadn't seen in years! By the end of my trip, not only had I improved my skiing skills but I made a lot of new friends, got my nails and toes looking pretty, and FINALLY got to sleep and just breathe. I really needed this break. So whens spring break?? Haha. later bloggers(:
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