The Final Post

The Soloist definitely, was one of the best books I have ever read. Im so glad this was chosen for our class. The reason why I think I enjoyed this book so much was the fact it was a current story. For some reason current books seem to interest me a lot more. I made a connection with Nathaniel Ayers, and I understood the love and compassion he had with music. Although, it was a good story it also taught me a lesson. I learned about a disease I was not familiar with, schizophrenia. I never really considered the effects this can play on a persons dreams or goals, which was the case in Ayers' life. This book taught me a value of life as long as their is someone who cares for you, you can get through anything. 

13 -22

For my previous post I brought up three questions I wanted to ask myself. I asked myself, “What does he like to write about?” “Who does he like writing for?” And, “Does he see something in these people we cannot see?” I just basically wanted to know what kind of person Lopez is.  I think that Steve Lopez is not your regular or average joe. I definitely think he has something in his soul that everybody does not have. How does someone have the time and dedication to spend with a homeless man. What type of person does that? I think that Steve Lopez has a reason for writing this book. He might have written this book to tell his readers about the disease schizophrenia and the effects it can have on a persons life. In his story this person is Nathaniel Ayers, a man who was musically talented but his gift was taken away by his disease. This should not be an issue and that is what I feel Lopez portrays through his novel. Never let anything get in the way of your dream.

* Let me know if i was to drawn out about what i think Lopez feels, thank you..

The Soloist 7-12

For this weeks reading, I really took into consideration Steve Lopez as a person. I asked myself these questions, " What does he like to write about?" "Who does he like writing for?" And, "Does he see something in these people we cannot see?"

During this week in school we talked about these questions and issues. It really made an impact on my personal thoughts. In class we read a short article by Lopez. It was about a girl by the name of "Sweets" who played basketball. I was very glad we were able to read this article. It was very relevant to me and to my questions about Lopez. I found that Lopez likes writing about people or certain individuals who he feels have a "hidden talent" or "had to overcome obstacles through their own power." In the Soloist this image is Nathaniel Ayers, a poor, schizophrenick man playing the violin. "Sweets" is this image in the article, a young girl from a poor backround who has a gift in basketball. These two readings are very similiar. I came up with the answers to my first two questions, but really cant find one to my third. Lopez must see the inside of these people, even though it might sound preposterous. I also think Lopez is a very unique individual because he met this poor, streetman Nathaniel and is not gving up on him. I wonder how much longer Lopez will continue to help him. When is he going to stop? And what is going to happen? This is what makes Steve Lopez such a unique individual.


Focus: Take a look at my questions and see if you can come up with your own answers to them, especially the third.

The Soloist 1-6

The Soloist so far, is an easy fun read, that makes my unfocused mind stay glued to the pages. The reason why I like this so much is because of Steve Lopez's unique style of writing. This is not the way I am use to reading, he writes more like an article then the structured novel type. I also enjoy this because it is a real life situation, and is based on someone living in our society.

Nathaniel Ayers is a poor, homeless, schizophrenic living in the slums of Skid Row, in downtown LA. A local newspaper journalist, Steve Lopez comes across Ayers. He finds this young man playing a violin, and notices two odd things. One, he is making some progressive noise, for a man living on the street. And two, notices a small disadvantage, his violin only has two strings.

After his first meet with Ayers, he becomes so amazed. Lopez periodically visits Ayers trying to find some personal backround information on his life. After a few more visits, Lopez Finds out that Ayers was a student who studied at Julliard, lives in Skid Row, and has a mental dissability, schizophrenia. This led to the dropout of the world known Julliard. I really enjoyed every page in the first six chapters, and looking forward to the rest of the book.

Focus: I know this might be boring to do, but can you closely check and see if I made any grammatical errors. I really think that I should start paying atttention to my writing as a whole, rather focusing most on the information. Thank you.

Catcher in the Rye

In the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden is a teenager who refuses to grow up because he is stuck in this childhood life. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles through teenage life because he cannot accept the responsibilities that are given with growing up. Holden is in this state because “he chooses to be trapped between the world of innocence of children and the complex world between adulthood.”

In the beginning of the novel I feel that Holden makes a comparison between what the reader wants to hear, and what he is going to tell you. Throughout the novel he really avoids mentioning his parents and also avoids telling the truth about anything too personal or boring. This is probably the reason why I thought the novel was such a hard reading, to me it was more a like a journal entry. When I was reading this, I kept on waiting for a turning point, climax, some action to take place, and it just never happened. These points in the story are what keep my easily distracted mind focused. The structural form I am familiar with just wasn’t their. I am not taking anything away from this book, thought it was a great novel. I think his signature style of writing is what makes him unique.

*I would like whoever comments my work or just reads it in general to pay attention to the first short paragraph and especially the words I put in parenthesis. Think of what this means.

Death of a Salesman

Going into this book, I knew it would be difficult. In the previous year I saw the play “Death of a Salesmen,” which was quite confusing. I found it this way because I was very puzzled about the hallucinations, and at first had no clue why these were occurring. One of my reasons I found it complicated was probably because it was not one of the best arrangements. This now being the second time, I went into it with a more open mind and had a different appeal on things. When Biff found his father cheating on his mother, I realized it made him give up on everything he lived for. This major point in the book I did not get in the play. Watching the movie was definitely a bonus, it made vague points clear. It allowed the audience to consider the time period and also put emphasis on Willy Loman’s stress, at work and for his son. This time I really enjoyed “Death of a Salesman” and thought the movie was a great asset to the book.

* When commenting on my post please pay attention to my grammer and let me know if I made any mistakes with my spelling, sentence arrangement, etc. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to add them in to. Thank you

Third Quarter Reflection

Blogging for me so far has been awesome; I really enjoy this new feature. The main reason I like it so much is because we get to look at our classmates writing and ideas as well as the other 11th grade class. Throughout my 11 years of being a student, I never really got to see how my peers write and think. This is a very interesting, and lets me view other classmates writing and I can compare my opinions to theirs which is actually really cool because I can have something to write about. This, also allows me to have a week of thinking and gathering my thoughts together in preparation for the weekends blog. I was never really a fan of English but this whole new feature is very beneficial. One more thing I forgot to mention is responding. It is an easy way to gain points for your grade and at the same time you can look at peoples writing you never viewed before and comment, agreeing or disagreeing in a respectful way. This is a very new and great aspect in our English Class and definitely should be continued throughout the year.

the "GREAT" gatsby

The Great Gatsby. This book to me was probably one of the best I have ever read. When I started reading the first couple chapters my initial reaction was a feeling of confusion and misunderstanding. I did not get disgusted with it like I sometimes tend to do, but finally began to understand what was going on, and was beginning to get interested.

In the Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald carefully chooses words to describe this magnificent, wealthy Jay Gatsby and his chance to show his love for Daisy Buchanan. A tragedy that is miserable but funny and most of all about something everyone can relate to. A weird sense of love that in the end, no matter write or wrong steals life for all its meaning. In this novel his choice of words is very eloquent and makes you enjoy every little aspect in the book. Fitzgerald helps the reader to become one with the story and interact with the characters. He uses a great sense of imagery in this novel that portrays an almost real life picture. His use of figurative language in this is what makes it smooth and flow just like a piece of poetry. Fitzgerald published this book in 1925 using the actual time in history, which helps to understand what kind of character Gatsby was. The time of “The Roaring Twenties.” Fitzgerald‘s portrayal of the time period creates lifelike characters. My reason for this is so that the readers can really interpret and see for themselves if Gatsby was really “Great.”

The narrator is a man from Minnesota named Nick Carraway. In the summer of 1922, Nick talks about how he just moved to New York, to work in a bond business. He rented a house in Long Island called West Egg. West Egg is a place for the “new rich” as they call people who have made their money recently. Nick lives next door to the Gatsby’s mansion. Nick is no way shape or form like Gatsby; he was a graduate from Yale. One night he drives to East Egg to join his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan. At dinner Tom brings up a conversation about a book “The Rise of the Colored Empire” which talks about racism. Tom receives a phone call and leaves the room suspiciously, Daisy follows immediately and finds out it was his other lover from New York. After this weird dinner Nick leaves and when he arrives home, he sees Gatsby for his first. A young handsome man he describes standing on his lawn with his arms toward the water. Nick checks to see what he was looking at and finds nothing besides a light. From his first reaction, he is probably thinking that this man is a very weird and freaky spiritual man, and might have some problems in the future.

I choose the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke. Theodore was born May 25, 1908 in Saginaw, Michigan, to Helen and Otto Roethke. As a child, he spent much time in the greenhouse observing nature. He attended Arthur Hill high school, were he gave a speech on the Junior Red Cross, which was published in twenty six different languages. In 1923 his father died of cancer. This tragedy really inspired Theodore’s life and was an incentive to his writings. In 1925 he attended Michigan to fulfill his dream in law but quit after one semester. Later studying at Harvard for graduate courses he left due to the Great Depression. He began teaching at Lafayette were he began his first book “Open House.” Roethke was hospitalized due to a metal illness problem, which was known to be a strong case of depression. He later died in 1963 from a massive heart attack.

During this time the Great Depression Roethke wrote “My Papa’s Waltz” which I choose. This poem is a very good example, describing the hard times of the Depression. The poem sets a tone of depression and anger. In this poem he uses the metaphor being “beaten” to a “waltz.” This is very ironic to me because a waltz is supposed to be a time of joy. I felt that this poem was just a son messing and playing around with his drunk father, but came to realize that after overlooking this poem it portrays that the speaker is retelling the tragic of his childhood. . http://gawow.com/roethke/poems/43.html

Another poem written by Theodore Roethke is “In a Dark Time.” This poem is talking about some life experiences he had. I found that Roethke wrote many of his poems to describe his early life. Out of the two writings I have read he describes his past in a very difficult, strenuous way. This particular poem portrays a great use of imagery to his writers, the line “And in broad day the midnight come again!” My interpretation to this says that as soon as he feels things are beginning to get better and he feels a sign of relief it just goes back to the awful old ways. http://gawow.com/roethke/poems/231.html

The final question being, “Is there anything about the works of this poet that makes them distinctly American?” I think that Theodore Roethke’s poems are distinctly American because I feel his writing portray that the life of the average American is not always what people may think. Even though we, America have freedom compared to other countries, there are many hard things we have to face and try and overcome. Theodore is an American poet and his works perfectly makes them distinctly American.

Romanticism to Realism (Mark Twain)

Mark Twain is known as the father of literature to Americans. Though Mark Twain wrote during the Romantic Period his writings greatly differed from those of that topic. During this time many authors wrote about change and nature and its effects on daily living. Twain portrayed a new style of writing which is much more vibrant. Even though Nature is an important literary topic, the style of twain branched off into many other genres of literature. Twain exampled real life experiences that people can easily relate to, unlike the writings of the other authors.
Twain wrote with much emphasis on his feelings about life and was very evident in his writing. Twain developed his own set of rules and writing style that was a success as soon as it hit the shelves of a book store. Great writer are writers who change the way the world views a topic. This is the key reason of Twains success. He made the world realize another side about life. This side was one of truth. Not every one of Twains stories ended happily, because that is not how life works. Twain made that evident in his writing that good is not always to come. That is why during his time there was a progression from Romanticism to Realism.

Mercer who slaves name Virginia Pryor is taken to New York by her owner with two of her three children. Her third child is kept at home so that she would comply to his demands. Mercer travels to Philadelphia and arrives at a hotel, through the help of the porters she is put in touch with people who helped her achieve freedom. She chooses to
gain freedom for herself and her two children, knowing this does not include her youngest son Bennie. The Price of a Child in this novel is freedom. Virginia Pryor changes her name to Mercy Gray, calls herself Mercer. After having to hide at different houses and locations and being separated from her children she meets Prudence and she becomes involved with the New England Anti-Slavery Movement. Mercer decides to go on a New England tour and speaks to abolitionists about her experiences of being a slave. Her fist meeting was in Massachusetts at a Methodist Church were she shares her stories of beatings and life of a slave. This illustration I drew shows Mercer at her fist stop in Massachusetts, sharing her stories and the stories of real truths about the effects of slavery on all people.Mercer in this picture is holding hands with Prudence Randall, the white women who had held her hand on the cars, carriages, etc. The reason I chose to draw this picture is because I felt this was a very brave and courageous time in the story for Mercer and also me. She was a black lady at a Methodist church giving her accounts of slavery to a bunch of white people. This must have took a lot to do, especially at this time. Mercer was extremely nervous and afraid, and thoughts were entering her mind that she was still a white man’s property. She begins to get more and more comfortable, when she finds out she is getting her message across. Her feelings of nervousness are switched to a sense of more peace and purpose.

Does writing have the power to enact social change?

Does writing have the power to enact social change?Yes, writing definitely has the power to enact change. Dating back 2000 years the words and parables of Christ launched an entire religion based on his teachings. His words and stories or parables are repeated through scripture and Gospel readings. More recently Dr. Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream” speech supported and inspired the important civil rights of people today. The music industry and people like Quincy Jones and Willie Nelson have raised social awareness to hunger and the poor farmers of America. Their music’s proceeds went directly to aiding those who their songs were about.

Words come from religious figures to rock stars it doesn’t matter who the messenger is or how you receive the message. You can read it (bible), hear it (video/audio recording), or sing it (we are the world). It’s more important that these words can inspire generations. Assuming the writing are for the good. My three examples have all guided others in a positive way. However, not all teachings, speeches, or songs have influenced the populous. In the last century the one who stuck out the most Adolf Hitler. His speeches and writings brainwashed an entire nation which led to the genocide of over six million people.

In conclusion, words have the power to motivate, provoke, and infect thousands.