nature

I love friday's class. It was exciting to get to sit outside for the nature poem. Professor Corrigan always has a way of incorporating our literature class in with what the subject is. It's such a fun way and a different atmosphere to be in. Friday was so beautiful outside. THe sun was out, the sky was clear and it seemed like everything sparkled in the day. We sat in the dock as professor Corrigan read the poems to us.

The poems were about nature and how they would use nature to get their points across. Nature is always a good thing to use because everyone understands nature. Even if a girl living in Chile has never seen snow she has at least understand the concept and seen it on tv. Nature is something that is all around us. As we read about trees and grass we were able to visually see it. It became easier to understand the poems because we were close to them, at time we could even touch these things. THis is a better way of understand literature compared to sitting in a class room and just reading. We know what tall grass looks like in the wind but sitting in the classroom we just imagine but being outside we got to see it first hand. This is the good thing about getting to experience literature.

Nature sights like the bright sun. We watched a mother duck lead her babies across the lake but there was one that stayed behind. We watched as the mosses on the trees sway back and forth in the breeze. The lake was peaceful and sparkled in the sun. I just wanted to stick my feet in the cool water, it looked so inviting! It was such a peaceful place to be even professor Corrigan got distracted a few times and pointed out huge fishes. They were the biggest fish i had ever seen, almost a foot and a half. I wander what they taste like...anways friday was fun.

lake bonny

Do you see it?
Do you see the grass dancing
dancing to their own rythm
as the wind blows

Look, further beyond the lake
for the ways the breaches on the old oak tree waves
waving to each other as if to say "good day"
as the wind blows

the palm trees swaying to the music of nature
the restling of the leaves
holding our their arms to the warm rays of the sun
as the wind blows

Do you hear it?
quacking ducks with their chicklings
following closely to each other
while they play follow the leader

Do you hear the birds chirping
chirping to the joys of the day
see them as they twist and turn
as they glide across the sparkling lake

Do you feel it?
Do you feel as the wind passes through your hair
wrapping itself around you as it passes by
as the wind blows

Does the wind make you wonder
as where it came from
or where it is going
as the wind blows





I went to Lake Bonny park for this assignment and I stayed for at least 40 minutes.
As I went to Lake Bonny I was excited. I love nature and I love being outside. The 8 months that I have been here I have not take the chance to visit any of the lakes. This was a disappointment but this assignment gave the opportunity to do so. Lake Bonny is such a peaceful place to be. I brought a blanket with me and sat by the lake, feeling the gentle breeze pass by. The little ducks were especially cute as they followed their mother around. They always swam in a row but of course there is always one that goes astray. To my left I saw a squirrel running up and down the palm tree. Was this for mere exercise or did he have a purpose in his manic state? I also saw a bird, a white beautiful bird gliding across the water. He started up high then he gets lower. Suddenly he swoops into the water and picks up something; a fish probably. Such a spectacular show this lake is holding. As I look down I see a huge fish, a foot and a half! He’s swimming close to the shore, going about his own business. Oh how I wish I could get a closer look. I’ve never seen such a large fish. I wanted to catch it with a fishing pole. What a wonderful catch he would be but then why would I interrupt nature for my own happiness? How selfish that would be, so I sit, sit and watch him as he passes by fully happy with that fact that I saw him. This lake has so much to offer, but people give it very little attention for it is small or perhaps it is just a lake. Perhaps being just a lake is good enough, good enough to be the most peaceful of all place.

inner/outer

For last class we talked about the inner and outer personality that each person has. Most people do not take the time to analyze themselves so therefore people don't realize different layers that they have. The way that these layers work is God should be immersed in our lives and everyday thoughts, then the outer part that everyone can see or our surface level is next and lastly our inner self is deeply enbedded inside of us.

The differences between each of these personality level is quite different though most people will not see this unless they have taken the time to really think about themselves. The outer level is the easiest to know. That is a person's personality that you can see from watching them or seeing them or even listening to them speak. Most people do know this level of themselves. It's our persons that we carry from day to day. The inner self is the part that isn't easily understood. This is the part that we truly must seek out to understand if we want to know it. This is the part that is the 90% of the iceberg that is under the water.

When reading the Blessed House the two character used had both parts. At first I saw twinkle as just a bubbly, care-free wife who is just about the outer layer. She has the same friendly and care free personality throughout the story while her husband had alot of emotions flowing through his mind. As I read on the story at one point Twinkle was so upset that she started to cry, she has never been so upset in his presence before. At this point we get to see the inner levels of Twinkle. The emotions that she carried. Why was that silly religious figurine mean so much to her? We don't know but we know that she was very distrought over it. Throughout the story I thought that Sanjeev showed his inner levels alot. He seems to show the reader how he felt and why he felt the way he did. He had alot of anger that he carried with him, his esteem that he needed to keep up. One point in the story when we really saw his inner self was when he told Twinkle where her shoes were when her foot started to hurt. Both of these characters showed immense levels of the person thorughout the story.

the blessed house

The blessed house is about a couple who are not Christians but they keep on finding Christians figurines in their house. Sanjeev is the husband who has a very good job and makes a good bit of money while the wife, Twinkle, is more of a free spirit lady. Twinkle is thrilled by all of their religious figurine's in their home while Sanjeev refuses to accept these items. During the story Sanjeev is wondering who his wife is, as if she has changed over time and he does not like it. He goes back to the time when he and his wife use to date and he remembers how he use to be crazy about her. He use to love all of her corkiness and her odd habits but just like every married couple those things get annoying after time.

Sanjeev would get angry at the fact that he feels that all his wife does is just goes on a treasure hunt for the figurines and not contribute to the house. As the story goes on the religious fingurines become more of a burden to him while Twinkle gets more thrilled. As time goes by the reader can tell that Sanjeev gets a intense passive aggression towards her and her religious phase. He clearly tells Twinkle that he doesn't like it but other than that he doesn't tell her why he doens't like it. As a reader I feel like there was a miscommunication in this story. Twinkle doesn't what she wants and she cries when she doens't get her way. Sanjeev says the same thing about the figurines but does not do anything about them. The two couples get more aggrivated with each other was time goes by but they don'e talk about their aggravation.

To have a good marriage there must be good communication. Both parties must understand what the other person is say but more than that we must understand why. Just like the short story about how the two boys were making up a superhero their quesiton is not "what can he do." It's "why does he do what he does." To understand/explain the question why is to get to the deepest part of the heart, to understand their intention and their motives.

cut flowers

She has never been here before. So low, so sad. Her heart pounds through her chest, tears races down her cheeks. Trying to maintain her emotion she takes a deep breathe. She presses the brakes and pulls her Volkswagon over. Pulls down her visor to look at herself in the mirror. Red eyes, red cheeks, tears streaming down her face. It didn't happen. How could he do that to me? Didn't he love me? These questions turned in her mind. She touched her stomach, she needed to puke. He lied. Foever, loving her always, always being there for her... all lies. She didn't care what he had said now. None of it was true. His definition of forever and hers were appearently not the same thing. The more she thought about it the more she hated him. Hated the every thought of him, hated to have ever known him. Hated that she spent so much time to know him. All of the times she spent these months. What would have happened if she didnt know him? It was foolish thinking because the fact was she knew him. She spent her time with him. She pulls her volkswagon out and starts down the street again. The thought of him filled her mind. He was tall with blue eyes. He smelled like heaven when she sat next to him. She didn't really think Heaven had a smell to it but if it did it would smell just like him. He had this confident that glowed from his body, walked just like he owned the world. He said he'd love her forever...but how long was forever?

They met many months ago. How long? No one really remembers but it didn't matter. It was long enough. She worked in a gym those many months ago. He entered, he enterend with so much confident. She was knew at work, he must be a regular. Those muscles that his arm bares, yes he must be a regular. She catches his sight and he returned a smile. She must meet him but she's too shy. She's not that kind of a girl. Don't get me wrong she's pretty with that long blonde hair. Her body fit for the 6 mile marathon she is training for in the spring.

"He doens't look like a guy with too many thoughts, just another one of those" she says to herself and walk away. She must walk away. Days past and he keeps returning and she keeps staring.

"One of these days you're going to have to stop looking at me and just go out on a date with me."
These words shot through her hears. Her cheeks burned with intensity as the voice came from behind her. He was standing right behind her. So close she saw his veins in his arms. He was too close, he came too suddenly. She was not ready. She just didn't know how not ready she was.
"I don't date guys like you" she replies. Waiting for his reply her heart beat raced.
"You don't even know what kind of a guy I am."
He was right she didn't, she could assume though.
"One date..." He states, all he needed was just one date.

One date was all it took. He was sweet. Roses, any color. Not picked or cut roses, the ones that lasts forever in a pot. Chocolate, not for her for him. He bought them for her but he knew she didn't like chocolate. It was just an excuse for him to eat chocolate yet appear thoughtful. Nice restaurants on weekends and fast food for the week days. Cut daisies for her mother, hand shake for her father and candies for her sister. He knew what he was doing. Months go by and she cut some hours out of work to have mor time with him. She slept in now since they go out so late at night. They go mostly to bars and kareokie. They sing late into the night, sipping on bar and munching on peanuts. She can't do friday nights with the girls anymore. Friday is their guitar class. They've learned to play Jack Johnson and John Mayer. Together they started volunteering at the homeless shelter and volunteering at church functions. He didn't go to church. He didn't care about religion. She grew up in church, a large white church with a cross for every car passing by to see. She used to go weekly but now that they were together it wasn't a priority. On occassion when they go he sits patiently waiting for it to end so they could go eat lunch. Even though he tried to aviod the church services he would gladly join in voluteering for any event they had planned. Holloween festivals in October, Thanksgiving feast in November, Christmas plays in the December, going to the shelter on Saturdays. He'd never been involved in church functions but it was fun, innocent-hard working fun. When weekends when there was nothing to do he would take her to the south end for canoeing lessons in the near by river. They walked together, hand and hand down the trail stopping occasionally for photo snaps. In a pink dress he bought for her, she felt beautiful. she felt confident.

Now she has arrived. Pulling into an empty parking space she turns off her car. Not wanting to move, not wanting to face reality. All of those times they had spent together...waisted. All of those pictures were burnt in her anger. How long will she feel like this? When will she be hole again? She looks at the gold medal she had hung on her reaview mirror. 1st place. He was there for that long day. 6am they piled in the van, her mom, dad, sister and of course him. They drove to the site where the marathon would be. Together they ran that race, side by side they kept each other going. He left her now...she couldn't think about it anymore. Grabbing a box of tissues she put her black heels on that matched her black dress; she got out of the car. Forever isn't long enough.

character

"Did Caroline Yip in Don Lee's "the Prince of Eggs in China" leave her lover, Dean, simply because the autor needed to creat a fight between the two that would set up their later actions? Or was Lee compelled to let Carloine leave because the insecure Carloine he had come to know could not stay with a man she learn s is a tremendously sucessful artist- not the moderately accomplished carftsman she though he was? To put it another way, did Lee's characters eerge from the story, or did the story emerge from the characters?"

To write a story one must think about the characters and the actions of these characters. As viewers, we don't think about how much goes into a story. Every character must have a role, every character must serve a purpose and every character must be thought out carefully. This reading made me think about how much effort an author must put into their stories. You can't just sit down with a laptop and start typing away, one must do serious planning. What is the point you are trying to get across to your audience? How will you have your character act and how much will the characters grow? One of the most important question is how will audience relate to your characters. To have your audience relate to your character is vital. People care about things simply because it relates to them, they don't care about things they don't know about. Are your characters going to go through things that your audience have experience? Do your characters act like your audience? It's important for your audience to understand your characters.

To write a story is to put thoughts into it. Your characters must have a reason to exsists, they must help you tell the story you want your audience to know.

Sonny's blues

Sonny's blues is a narrative story between two brothers living in a rough part of town. The narrator and Sonny never really had a tight relationship in fact several times in the story the narrator said how he wishes he could relate to his brother. Sonny went to jail because he was addicted to heroin and when he recovered he came home to live with this older brother, the narrator. Throughout the story the narrator is bringing up past events that dealt with him and Sonny. One part that really touched me was when the narrator said "I wanted to say more, but I couldn't. I wanted to talk about will power and how life could be-well, beautiful. I wanted to say that it was all within." This is extremely sad to me since I am coming from a Christian perspective. I often wonder how do people live the daily grind without hope? How do you deal with stress whether it's dealing with the family, fiancial, school, friends, relationships. We live in America and we are known to have an abundance in materialism but does that get us through our day? Can our car or college degree save us from ourselves? Many times we rely too heavily on what we have to be our savior just like life got rough for Sonny and he resorted to heroin. "It makes you feel-in control. Sometimes you've got to have that feeling." This quote Sonny was referring to how heroin made him feel. He was in desperate need of being in control of his life, to have this peace that God can only give. He didn't have it so he was looking to the world for solutions. In the Bible it states that God made a little hole in our heart that we will wont to have filled in our life but it has to be him to fill it otherwise when it's not him it doesnt feel quite right. Only God can give us this peace that we all are desperatly looking for just like Sonny.