Opening up to "On Close Readings"

In "On Close Readings," Peter Rabinowitz talks about how close reading is not the only way to read literature. He states that close readers tend create a "distortion" of  works because they want to read however they want to . Rabinowitz says that there are many ways to read a piece. It depends on authors, genre, periods of time, and culture. You have to modify your reading style each time you read a different piece. 

I strongly agree with argument of Mr. Rabinowitz. I agree that you have to approach different type of literature in different ways. You can not use the same "template" for each piece. I would read and interpret differently my Twilight book from my Romeo and Juliet. The plots,setting, time periods, and even language is different. However, they are both pieces of literature. 

The Modifications to Fiction

John Barth, American novelist, in his piece "On Minimalist Fiction" gives us the new modifications to fiction. He entitles these type of works as minimalist fiction. He states the minimalist fiction is the most simple type of fiction. He says that minimalist fiction is stripped-down of all of its elements: vocabulary, syntax, rhetoric, and non-emotive tone. Also minimalist fiction has minimal material: characters, exposition, action, and plot.

When reading this piece it was hard to tell if Barth was towards or against minimalist fiction. Yet he is somewhat defending it when he quotes Hemingway, " You could omit anything if you knew that you omitted, and the omitted part would strength the story and make people feel something more than they understood..." I think he used to line to say that even though minimalist fiction can be lacking in many elements that you still get the whole perception of a piece. As well as, missing a part can mean that the reader can interpret or put the missing piece however they feel like. 

No More Reading Fiction....It's Dangerous

In his piece, "On the Dangerous of Reading Fiction, Thomas Jefferson expresses his distaste towards fiction. He uses a metaphor to describe fiction as a "poison [that] infects the mind." Jefferson makes this analogy to explain how he feels that fiction destroys the beauty of reading. He feels that when people read fiction that it results in "a bloated imagination." However, there are a few exceptions. The exceptions are pieces that model real life stories and have moral values integrated. He states that such fiction can be a "pleasure" to read and is a better "improvement" than unrealistic fiction. 

Even though Jefferson is one of the American founding fathers and he is the major author of the Declaration of Independence, I have to disagree. Fiction for me has always been a "happy place". Reading fiction takes me to a different world where anything is possible. Through out middle school years, my nose was always stuck in fiction books. I have read about princesses, wolves, vampires, zombies, ghosts, babysitters, and so many others things. I probably did not gain anything important, however they are just fun to read. It is fun to read about something different. As a student, I have a repeating schedule everyday. So being able to pick up a book and read about humans that transform into wolves is just a nice relief from reality. 

Putting words to Poetry and Prose

Poet, T. E. Hulme in his piece, "On the Differences between Poetry and Prose", points out the major difference between poetry and prose. He states that prose is a more concrete type of writing and less visual. However, he describes poetry as "visual concrete" form of writing. In his ending lines, he uses a metaphors to describe prose and poetry. He states that poetry "is a pedestrian taking you over the ground"; however, prose is " a train which delivers you at a destination."

What I think he meant in those lines was that poety is more of an  artist. Poetry helps you paint a picture in your head easier than prose would. Poetry does so through smilies, metaphors, personifications, and etc. Prose, on the other hand, goes straight to the point. It does not extend to give description like poetry does.  For example, in the piece says that describing a ship "coursed the seas" paints a better picture than the ship "sailed". In my opinion, Hulme was a bit bias. He didn't make prose seem horrible but boring. However, he did speak about poetry with admiration. I suppose it is because he is a poet himself. 

I'm not so great at "Figuring Out Metaphors"

In his work titled Figuring Out Metaphors, John R. Searle questions why do people use metaphors rather than saying what they really mean. He also questions the fact that some metaphors most people would understand and some are more difficult. For example, Sam is a pig: this metaphor probably means that Sam is an untidy person. However, if we said Sally is a prime number between 17 and 23, we would not know what the literal meaning of this metaphor is. 

I actually enjoy metaphors. I think it is a more creative way to say what we actually mean. Instead of saying, "Alicia is a young and beautiful girl," I could say "Alicia is the first ray of sunshine on a warm spring morning." Does it not have a better ring to it? Metaphors are just one more figurative language device to add embellishment to literature, even though they can be hard to understand at times.  

My Words On "On the Words in Poerty"

In his piece, "On the Words in Poerty", Dylan Thomas exclaims his passion for words. He describes how he loves the words and "the words alone." He states that he does not really care for the significance or what the words symbolize. He says he just loves the way words sound. Thomas uses a few figurative language devices to describe his passion for words such as: parallelism,  metaphors, and personification. He exclaims, "these words were, to me, as the notes of bells, the sounds of musical instruments, the noises of wind, sea, and rain...." As he goes on he says that words are just plain but once you structure them and make a pattern the beauty of the words just come to live.

I agree with Mr. Thomas's belief. Words are just words and can be as simple as can be. However, once you put words together you can create something so beautiful no matter if it is  a sentence, a paragraph, a page, or a whole story. It is the same for an artist. An artist can have an array of colors and when he puts them together he creates a iridescent painting that is full of color and life.

My Debut to Poetry: " Introduction to Poetry"

To begin with, poetry is not one of my strongest suits.  I actually only enjoy poetry when I actually understand it (which is not often).  I guess I have not been expose to poetry enough but by the looks of it (syllabus) I should start getting comfortable.  Not to mention our "awesome" Literature book that is as twice as fat the Bible.
However, I did enjoy this poem called Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins. I totally agree with the man who says that people should actually sit down and enjoy these meaningful poems. Instead of draining these poems until they are fully desiccated. Teachers, especially English teachers, make the students dissect every single phrase in a poem. Cutting up a poem into little pieces makes it harder to appreciate it as a whole.  That is what I think Mr. Collins is trying to say in this poem.
Also I really liked how he used all those metaphors to compare how it should be when reading a poem.  I really enjoyed the metaphor he used when people analyze a poem:

But all I they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR AP CLASS!!!

One word to describe it all: KA-POOYA!
This year I experienced something really new in this class: the worry of failing. This class was the first class I was honestly afraid of failing. Everyday I dreaded coming into this class, but I did not dread coming because of Mrs. Day. I dreaded coming because I always felt guilty for never bringing my homework on time. Please, do not be mislead with my title of this post. When I say "aint nobody got time for AP class" I mean that students in this class have to make time and dedication or else they are going to fail. To be honest, I am a huge procrastinator! My dear friend, Michell Rodriguez, can testify to this statement and now that I am confessing Animal Farm was the only book I read out of the 4 that we were given. However, I always did try my best in the class. Especially on my essays and in-class work like the multiple choice and such. Besides all the irresponsibility from my part, this class has been one of the funnest class I have ever had. Mrs. Day was one of the few teachers I have really had a good connection with. I love how she would come into the class and just converse with us as if we were all just good friends. I really do want to thank Mrs Day for " keeping it real" with us.

Free Write: The Coming Out Party

Recently, Jason Collins became "the first active openly gay male athlete in the four major American pro team sports." Collins wrote a disclosure to Sports Illustrated that stated, "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."

 start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have

To be honest I do not understand why all the commotion. It is possible that there were many gay athletes who were just too afraid to come out. Who were afraid of their reputation as a professional athlete be degraded because of their homosexuality. Yet, Jason Collins was a inspired by all the catastrophe that has been falling upon the United States recently. He knew it was time to finally let the world know that wants to live his live without having to hide who he really was. I do support Collins coming out because of the fact that he was the first to really come out and not really cared what people had to say. We are in the 21st century, if it is acceptable for an everyday-person to come out of the closet, why would it not be acceptable for a professional basketball player? Who knows maybe in a few years from now we will have our first openly gay President of the United States.

Resources:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/29/sport/collins-gay

Tic Tac Toe

This cartoon was created during the elections of 2012 between President Obama and candidate Romney. The picture illustrates a game of tic tac toe. It shows that no matter what Romney's next move is he will lose; President Obama will win regards of Romney's move because he has better positions than Romney. The tic tac toe game is the analogy of the campaigns. The cartoon is illustrating that Obama has an advantage because he was first to make a move in the tic tac toe game; Obama had an advantage in the campaign because he was already president of the United States once.

Current Event: The Death of Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro, surrounded by other government officials, announced the death in a national television broadcast. He said Chavez died at 4:25 p.m. local time.
During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor.
Chavez repeatedly proved himself a political survivor. As an army paratroop commander, he led a failed coup in 1992, then was pardoned and elected president in 1998. He survived a coup against his own presidency in 2002 and won re-election two more times.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/05/hugo-chavez-dead_n_2296423.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

I think that Chavez was a good leader for his country, Venezuela. He really cared about the poor people and did everything he could for them. He did anything and everything he had to do to pick up Venezuela from the deficit it was left in. He was a type of man that spoke his mind and was not afraid to offend people. Many loved him and many hated him as well. The rich despise him because he was not on their side and giving the rich all of his support. Chavez created money by selling the petroleum with was abundant in Venezuela. Even though he might be consider a rude and arrogant man; he was very productive towards his country.

Free Write: Are You Aware?

          Are you aware of the diseases that can be transmitted sexually? Many high school students would answer yes but many would answer no as well. According to a survey giving to high schools, only 30 states have taught or is teaching a sexual education class. However, the classes only cover the basic of the anatomy of the female and male bodies. Another survey shows that  "teens aged 18–19, 41% report that they know little or nothing about condoms and 75% say they know little or nothing about the contraceptive pill." The same survey states that one out of three teens are not inform at all about about contraceptives before they have sexual intercourse for the first time.

     In my opinion, I think all schools should have sexual education classes. I think bringing awareness to teen pregnancies, STD's, and contraceptives would prevent many issues that torment our teens today. I think these classes can reduce the rate of teen pregnancies. I understand that having theses classes will stop teenagers from having intercourse but it would make them aware of the consequence if not using contraceptives or abstinence.

Resources:

• http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/04/05/sex-education-efforts-lagging-in-schools-cdc-says
• http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-Teen-Sex-Ed.html