Blog Evaluation

My favorite topic for the blogs was writing the poem. I put some effort into writing my blogs and I did my best to reach the requirements. It was an interesting experience and I really feel like other classes should have the opportunity and privilege to write blogs. I realized there is a whole new front for expressing ideas about things we learn other than in the classroom. I may or may not use the blog in the future seeing as I have a facebook. I definitely think the juniors next year should have the privilege and experience to write these blogs.

Gatsby Music

1. I Ain't Got Nobody - Marion Harris / Sophie Tucker / Bessie Smith
I chose this song for after Daisy has run over the woman and Gatsby is all alone. Gatsby feels alone without Daisy in his life after he realizes she won't come back.

2. Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love) - Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (Bing Crosby)
This song would be during the flashback of Daisy and Gatsby together. During that summer Gatsby fell in love with Daisy and this song sets the mood for it.

3. 64. It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo' - Wendell Hall
I chose this song because I thought the title suited the situation in which Gatsby finds Daisy again. Everything seems to be looking up for him.

Once, I knew a fine song

Once, I knew a fine song,
-- It is true, believe me --
It was all of birds,
And I held them in a basket;
When I opened the wicket,
Heavens! They all flew away.
I cried, "Come back, little thoughts!"
But they only laughed.
They flew on
Until they were as sand
Thrown between me and the sky.

Within the first few lines of this poem, Crane paints a brilliant picture of birds in a basket on a sunny day. As the poem continues though you start to realize that the poem is not about a song, in fact, it is about the birds themselves. This leads me to question why Stephen states he knew a fine song. The poem is written well and is very graphic, but the change of subject leads me to not be as fond of it.

Mark Twain

All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.

I absolutely love this quote for two reasons. I'm ignorant. And I'm confident. Well, usually. When Twain says to be ignorant, he means to not let logic get in the way of what you want. Rarely do I use logic when I want something. I listen to my heart instead. When you have confidence, you have conviction in what you're doing. When you are confident it is easier to succeed than when you aren't. So if you want something, forget the logic and think you can do it. It usually works.

The civil rights movement story

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/us/19birmingham.html?_r=2

This article has a lot of meaning to people. It shows that more than King and X did something for the civil rights movement. King and X got more publicity than the others but others did in fact make a difference. Other people spoke out and fought against injustice as best as they could. Just because there was less publicity does not mean that it did not move anybody in the right direction. People did the best that they could with whatever they had.

Impressionistic Art

http://www.juneteenth.com/final.htm

This picture hear displays something that all slaves or oppressed people had: hope. No matter how oppressed people were, they all held onto hope. The picture shows home and peace which is what everyone is searching for. When someone had them down they just thought of home and they had hope for tomorrow and courage to fight. Instead of searching for an oppressive image i thought that looking at the positive side of the spectrum was a better idea.

Having My Say

Something I feel strongly about? Apathy. It seems that these days nobody cares about anything. We're all in our own little world of Facebook and cellphones. Even though we are all so connected to each other at all time, it seems as though the emotional level has been disconnected. Everyday people walk past each other without a care or worry about what is going on to them. Even after the tragedies in Japan it seems that half the world is tuned out of it and just goes on living normal life. If half of us are already tuned out to the world, what happens when the rest of the world does as well?

There was a child wentforth

The first two lines of this poem hit home for me a lot. When I was a kid, I used to play pretend all the time. Whether it was by myself or with my friends that's just what I did. I live right next to a big park, and I used to go there every day with my friend Benji and we would stay there for hours just playing game after game. That's what it really means to be a kid. You let your imagination run wild. I only had to read 2 lines of this poem to connect and this is where my mind took me when I read those lines. My imagination was the way I would spend my days.

The Bee is not afraid

The Bee is not afraid


The bee is not afraid of me,

I know the butterfly;

The pretty people in the woods

Receive me cordially.



The brooks laugh louder when I come,

The breezes madder play.

Wherefore, mine eyes, thy silver mists?

Wherefore, O summer's day?


I think that Emily Dickinson was trying to convey the fact that things seemed to come more alive around her. She's trying to explain that she is so at peace with nature that nature accepts her as its own. The insects aren't afriad of her and instead they welcome her. SHe sees everything in a more vivid light than we all do and that feeling is conveyed in the poem. Her love for nature brightened the world around her as shown in this poem.

Transcendentalism

Personally, I prefer transcendentalist writers. They seem to have their heads on straight, They believe in ideals and fighting for what is right and picking their fights. They focus on nature which is essential to life no matter if we have forgotten through technology. They are more positive and still see hope in the world and because of that, I favor them over others.