Final Blog

I dreaded taking a summer school class. I took one right before my senior year in high school at ICC for an English class. I can’t stand the idea of school and summer mixing. I really had a good time in LIT 110 though. Not just the fact of Stephanie making everyday exciting, but I feel I’ve opened up a little more to the literary world. I think I have expanded a lot because I never in a million years would have picked up a book and sat down to read it. I think the fact that I knew we had a “deadline” we had to meet with our books, kind of made me sit down and read. Once I got going I couldn’t stop. I used to read when I was younger all the time. I would read Junie B. Jones books, and different books that looked “short” to me. Once I got a little older I felt I never had time to read because of friends or my family I now have. I’ve learned that the series of Twilight I’m reading is very interesting to me and I want to continue to read them. I guess you could say I’ve expanded in a way that I know what I’m interested in reading and I’m going to do it. You can always make a little time for yourself. I love the experience I had this summer with all of the opportunities Stephanie gave us. My favorite experience was the Poetry Slam. I also think that I expanded from that as well. I was always nervous getting up in front of an audience to speak or sing or anything at all. The class helped me as well by not laughing and only saying positive things about my poem. I loved the idea of being able to share my thoughts with the class. I like to talk a lot, which is weird because I was nervous to get in front of people, but this experience kind of put that aside for me and showed me the courage it takes to get up in front of people and recite something that you wrote. The poetry workshops were an experience as well. I didn’t know there were so many ways to write poems. They all helped out a lot as well because when you had the directions in front of you on how that poem should sound, it made it a little easier to understand.I feel I experimented in a positive way because I learned how to write poems, and I also learned how to write a short story. We also acted a play for the class. That was a fun experiment. I have had some background drama as a freshman in high school, so it was kind of like a refresh my memory chapter. It was fun to act from a different time and different person and get the authors point from actually acting it out. You get a whole new perspective when you “read” the play by acting rather than just reading it through text. Overall my experience with literature is a whole new perspective.

Inside Reading for 7/23

Last night I watched The Hours for my movie. I did not like it at all. It was about 3 women who all thought about suicide at one point in their life. One lady wrote a book called "Mrs. Dalloway", another lived it, and another was reading it. At least this is what my perspective was. The whole time I'm watching this movie I thought how much time is left, when is it going to be over. Then during one part my dvd player paused because there was a scratch on the dvd and I had to watch one part four times. I was dying by having to watch it the first time so by the fourth time I was pretty much dead. The lady that was reading the book had a little boy and was pregnant with a girl. She also tried to kill herself. I thought that was stupid. She was killing her daughter for no reason. She thought everything had to be perfect. Virginia was one of the ladies names and she had already tried to kill herself twice. I'm so glad it's over. I don't recommend anyone watch this movie. It was something I don't want to see ever again. I really don't understand why an author would write about three women wanting to kill themselves, especially when one has a child and another on the way. Hope everyone else's videos were better!

Outside Reading for 7/23...LAST ONE!

So through this summer school class LIT 110 I have learned alot of different things...of course I always learn something new everyday from Stephanie. I've learned that alot can come from a book, whether it be a poetry book or a book you decided to read because it looked good. I've kind of understood a little bit more how to "read" a poem. I used to read poems and after I was done I would just be confused. Like in Stephanie's READ 106 class, she had a poem for us to read everyday. Some of them were pretty easy to understand others were just so confusing. Even if we would talk about it, I still wouldn't understand why they wrote it. Stephanie has taught me to kind of take what I read and make it my own. Basically kind of analyze it. Why do you think the author wrote this way?, What kind of message was he trying to come across? These simple questions made it open up a little more. I enjoyed the cultural opportunities I had. I don't get to do much of these things on a regular basis and it was fun and interesting to have to write about them afterwards. It kind of made you really pay attention since you knew you had to write about it afterwards. So it was more meaningful than just watching a movie. I think my favorite part about summer school was the poetry slam. Even though I HATE getting up in front of an audience, I did a really good job. The poetry workshop really helped me along the way. I never was able to write a successful poem because I always thought they were supposed to rhyme. When I decided to write about someone very close to my heart, it all just came naturally. I wasn't struggling trying to figure out what I should put next because it was coming from the heart. I really enjoyed this class, and Stephanie's enthusiasm really got me through it. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did...but lets face it...it's summer vacation, time to relax!

Outside Reading for 7/16

I have a series on ABC Family that I watch every Monday night. It's called "The Secret Life of an American Teenager." It's about a 15 year old girl named Amy who gets pregnant and she is trying to decide if she wants to keep the baby or put it up for adoption. Well through the show she decides that she wants to keep it and her friends help her find a job and a way to keep him. She eventually has the baby and names it John. Amy and the baby's father, Ricky, aren't together but he is more than happy to help out. He was physically and sexually abused when he was younger and knows he is nothing like his father because he wants to be there for John. Well during this new season, Amy's friend Grace's dad dies in a plane crash. Grace and her family are christians and her father didn't believe in sex until after marriage. Before her dad left for the airport she told him that her and her boyfriend Jack were going to have sex. She wanted to do this because she figured that he would stop having sex with other girls. Since her dad died she thinks its her fault that he died because she disobeyed him and now he is dead. Besides all of that, Amy's boyfriend Ben got offered a job in Balona for the summer. He wants to take Amy with him but then again he doesn't. When Amy finds out that he is going she wants someone to stay home and watch John so she can go. She is finding out parenting at a very young age. I feel I relate to this because right when I turned 17 I was pregnant. Parenting is very difficult but it's also rewarding. I wouldn't change anything about my life, but there are times when I wish I had more freedom. It's very sad to see so many girls at such a young age getting pregnant. They are throwing their life away to soon and not having any time to grow up. If I could change anything about my past, I wish I would have waited a little bit longer, but Mylee is a part of me now and it would just seem so different if I didn't have her.

Inside Reading for 7/16

I thought the poem workshops we did Tuesday were a big help in creating poems. I always thought my poems had to rhyme, but it's not always easy making every other line rhyme. I have a hard time writing things like poems, but these workshops kind of opened my eyes to see that you have to have a theme for your poem. My favorite workshop was the fortune cookie one. My fortune said "Your income will increase". It was tricky making a poem for this one because I wanted it to rhyme, but it was easier because my theme was right there. The poem that I'm writing for the poetry jam tomorrow is about my daughter. I feel that what I write just comes naturally with this subject. I have so much to say about her and its easy to write what I feel about her. I will probably get a little choked up because I have so much more to learn about her. I don't think I would be the same person I am today if I didn't have her. Back to the poem workshops...I loved reading everyone elses poems. I got a little jealous because mine sounded like it was coming from a 1st grader. I think it's interesting to see what other people come up with because that can also help you with an idea for your own. I don't think I could write a concrete poem because if you tried to read it, it wouldn't make any sense. Everyone was very creative with theirs though. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's poems tomorrow. I think it's going to be a great experience to let people know what we can do.

Outside Reading for 7/9

So I just wanted to explain what I've been reading so far for my independent novel. I'm reading the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I'm sure everyone has heard of it. I've been wanting to read this book for a really long time but could never find the time. Now that we are required to read for this class I have to make time! So far this book is addictive. I picked it up and have tried not to set it down. It's complicated to be addicted to a book and have a 2 year old. Every time I pick it up to read she starts getting into something she shouldn't because my attention is drawn from her to the book. So when I do get to read in private I just read and read. So pretty much what has happened is Bella goes to live with her dad Charlie in Forks, Washington because her mom is moving to Florida with her new husband Phil. Bella wasn't looking forward to it because she didn't like visiting during the summer and now she was living there. The sun rarely ever shines here and Bella starts to miss her hometown, which is Phoenix, Arizona. She isn't used to all the attention she is getting because at her old school no one paid attention to her. There is a dance coming up and 3 guys have already asked her, but she turned them all down. This is when she starts to question about Edward. Well when she decides to go to this beach party with some of her friends, Jacob, who previously owned the truck, took her on a walk and started to tell her some old legends and thats when he said that Edward was a vampire. She went home and researched vampires on the internet and tried putting two and two together and it finally made sense. She is in love with him and doesn't care what he is but she doesn't understand but being with her is hurting him because he loves her as well but if he bites her she will live an immortal life and he doesn't want that. So this book is getting better and better as I read and I'm really excited to finish the book so I can watch the movie. Just reading the book makes me want to watch it so bad.

Inside Reading for 7/9

Last Wednesday I went to the Stimulate This Tour. They had four bands playing. Halestorm was first. I'm not a big fan of her music. The only song I heard from her before the concert was a song called "I get off." This song is pretty perverted. Basically she says this guy is watching her getting off and she gets off on this idea. I don't care for this at all. It's disgusting. The chorus goes like this, "I get off on you Getting off on me Give you what you want But nothing is for free It's a give and take Kinda life we make When your line is crossed I get off I get off." She is definitely someone I will not recommend you see. The next band was Chevelle. They were pretty good...not as good as I heard he could be. He must have had a sore throat or something that night because he kept getting drinks from a cup sitting by his drummer. My boyfriend happened to lean over at one point after his second to last song because there was a part he was supposed to scream and didn't and said to me I'm disappointed, I was waiting for that part the entire song and he didn't scream it. Shocking that I could actually hear him. The next band that came out was Shinedown. The entire reason why I wanted to go to this concert so bad. They were AMAZING! Brent (the lead singer) really touched me at one point, before he played the song"Second Chance" he told us what the scoop behind it was. He told us it took him 15 years to write down these lyrics. It was too his mom and dad. He was basically telling them to let him go and live his life. That goodbye was his second chance to make something of himself. He threw his caution out of his head and went after what he wanted. The chorus goes like this, "Tell my mother, tell my father I've done the best I can to make them realize this is my life I hope they understand I'm not angry, I'm just saying...Sometimes goodbye is a second chance." Another song they did that is one of my favorites is called Sound of Madness. This song kind of relates to some people I used to hang out with in high school. I guess the only word I can think of is emo. My friends hated their lives. They thought they had it so bad. Nothing ever went their way. Well Brent makes the point you may think your life is terrible and you see suicides all over. I'm standing here before you and my life was hell and I'm still here to tell you about it. This chorus goes like this, "I created the Sound of Madness. Wrote the book on pain. Somehow I'm still here to explain, that the darkest hour never comes in the night. you can sleep with a gun. when you gonna wake up and fight.....for yourself?" The last band to perform was Staind. I had to ask my boyfriend at the end why he didn't really explain what his songs were about or why he hardly interacted with the crowd and he told me because he is a very sad person. If you look at alot of his lyrics they are depressing. This made sense when I got home and looked them up. He did a really good job though. He actually made it look like he was done performing then appeared in the center of the crowd where they had a stool and mic set up for him to perform some acoustic songs. One of my favorite songs he performed was called "Right Here." It's pretty self-explanatory he is basically asking the question Will you be here for me if I leave cause I will be here for you if you do. It sounds like it's to a girlfriend or wife saying they have their fights but at the end of the day he needs her by his side. Another song is called "Believe." It sounds like its directed towards love. He wants someone to believe in him. Life isn't always what it seems so he is making his choice and he wants them to hear his words and just believe in him. The last song that I really like by them is called "So Far Away." To me it seems that he feels he is in a dream that his music has touched so many people. This is his dream and he is sharing it with others. Basically it took them forever to come this far and they have made mistakes but he can forgive and he isn't ashamed of what they have become.

Outside Reading for 7/1

Today in class we watched the movie Star Wars, Episode 4. I have never seen any star wars at all so I didn't really know what to expect. It wasn't a bad movie at all. I find things like this hard to follow because I'm not interested in space movies or battle movies...picky I know. One of the themes I noticed was when they were trying to rescue Princess Leia. The theme means the central idea or ideas that a play discusses. This is the main one in Star Wars when they are trying to save her from being killed. It was the whole reason Luke went looking for Ben Kanobi and they were battling all the droids. An incidental symbol is a thing or action that ordinarily would not have a deep meaning but acquires one in a particular story. I recognized this when Ben Kanobi told Darth Vader that if he did kill him the force would be stronger within him. I didn't understand it until they went to get on the ship and Luke saw Ben and Darth Vader fighting and Ben looked at Luke and let Darth Vader kill him. After that you could here Ben's voice inside Luke's mind helping him along the way. This is where the part comes in when Ben said the force would be stronger within him. Princess Leia's significance throughout the film is the fact that she knows what the bad guys want but she won't tell them. She plays an important part because she has valuable information Darth Vader wants. Princess Leia would be a protagonist because she is trying to protect her people. Her motivation could possibly have been a soliloquy when she was talking into R2D2 asking for Ben's help explaining what had happened on the ship. She was the only one talking and she was alone. I think this film reached its popularity because when it was first made it was something original and nobody had ever seen it before. The movie blended in so well with the culture. I liked the fact that they were on one planet and then followed R2D2 to another planet and it was kind of back and forth until they went to rescue the princess. The similarity between a shoot-'em-up adventure and an epic tale set in grand landscape is that there was always shooting. They all had "lightsabers" and used them in both settings. When they were at the bar and Luke told the droid to leave because his kind wasn't allowed they started shooting each other because they didn't like Luke. They sensed he was up to no good. On the ship when they were trying to avoid the bad guys, if they were caught they were shot at because they were trying to rescue the princess and to them it was bad and they were considered up to no good.

Inside Reading for 7/1

As an assignment we were supposed to read "Introduction to Drama" pages 779-801. I took Drama for a year in high school as a freshman. I loved it! My favorite was the Improv unit. This unit was when you had to get up in front of the class and the teacher assigned a setting and you had to make up a skit to that setting. You had no previous practice or script...that's what made it fun. A setting is where the story takes place. So for instance in the book I'm reading, Twilight, the setting takes place in Forks, Washington. I also read through the reading and it talked about characters. So for Twilight the main character is Bella because she is the one telling the story and it follows her story pretty much. Another character is Edward. He is also a main character, but in the beginning he is very mysterious. The reading also talked about the protagonist and the antagonist. You could consider Edward the antagonist right now because he knows that he wants to "get" Bella and he wants more than her blood so he warns her to stay away, but then continuously talks to her and tells her he can't stay away from her. Bella would be the protagonist because she doesn't know that Edward is a vampire. She is just a normal girl attending school like she is supposed to and staying out of trouble...for now. Another part the reading talked about was the rising action. The rising action could be when Bella finds out that Edward is a vampire...only I haven't gotten that far so if you have read the book don't spill! ;) I hope the end is an open denouement because I want to have unanswered questions so that the next book answers them. Normally I would want a closed because I have to know what goes on but in this case it would be ok for and open. Overall I liked this reading because I think it's something that I'm interested in. It had things I was familiar with and that I have used outside of class. I hope all of the rest of our readings are as easy as this one was.

Outside reading for 6/25

Last night I went to see the Wedding Singer at Eastlight Theater. I have never really seen the movie, just bits and pieces. The musical seemed more interesting than the movie. I enjoyed it. They took us back to 1985 and the music was hilarious and very good. Jarod Hazzard played Robbie Hart. He was amazing. He has only been doing musicals since last fall, but there was no way of even knowing that. He had an amazing voice. I think he fit his character well. He was entertaining to watch and never once did I feel he was boring. Rachael Waldon played Julia Sullivan. She also has an amazing voice. She has a degree in performing. During the play she realizes how stupid her name sounds if she married Glen. Her name would have been Julia Gulia. That made me laugh. Kelsey Burd played Holly. Holly was a very slutty character. Kelsey did an awesome job. She has been singing and dancing in plays for over ten years now. It showed because she was amazing with the character. Drew Overcash played George. He was probably the most amusing character out of the entire play. George is gay and he wore high heels the entire time he did the show, which lasted about two and a half hours. I would really recommend seeing this. Yes, it is a musical so it's constant singing, but it was very enjoyable. They also interacted with the audience by coming down into the aisles and dancing. They worked very hard and it payed off. My money definitely was not wasted and I would most definitely see it again. I encourage you to see it yourself. You will not be disappointed.

Outside Reading for 6/18

So I have been watching this show called "Charm School." It airs on VH1 on Monday nights. It's about these girls who were on previous "love" shows and a certain celebrity tries to break them of their old habits and teach them to be ladies instead of alcoholic whores basically. Whoever makes it through every elimination round and proves they were there for change and did change wins 50,000 dollars. I'm really into these "dumb" shows for some reason. I'm possibly one of the reasons why they keep making new ones =] One of the episodes I just recently watched was about the remaining ladies having to get into teams and build this group of children a swing set. Some of the girls didn't like their teammates but they had to put it aside to build this for the children. I think that it shows how they are willing to work with others even though being on previous shows and hating each other. I think it kind of shows you in a way that these people may do things that you don't like early in your life but later on your eventually going to run into them and you can't hold that grudge forever. Eventually you may end up having to be a team with that person or work together, or that person could become your boss. That's why I take the saying "Keep your friends close but your frenemies closer" so seriously.

Reading for 6/18

The short story that I had to read for my book club was called "Nipple Jesus." I thought that it was weird, but interesting in a way. I finally understood the point of the story when he was explaining when you look at the picture far away it's beautiful and when you get up close it's ugly. He described his wife in this way. If they are going out she will get all dressed up and put makeup on and look like she could be a model and then in the middle of the night if he happens to roll over he sees her with her hair all messy and bad breath and you would think they wouldn't want that as a model. I really liked the part when they were talking about the reporters wanting to arrest Martha and Dave was wanting to be interviewed because there was a sign right outside the room that said "WARNING! This room contains an exhibit of a controversial nature. Please do not enter if you feel you might be offended." So when people were going in the room they knew that they could possibly be offended by the painting but they went in anyway. I think the reason why most people were offended and made such a big deal is because it was a picture of Jesus made out of breasts. That is someone religious people look up to and it is kind of demeaning. I look up to my mom and that is like someone giving me a painting of a bunch of obscene things making it look like my mom. I would kind of be upset as to why they portray her that way. I think the text was very easy to read because it's kind of an everyday language. On the other hand it was very back and forth instead of a chronological sequence.

Outside Reading for 6/11

So I was sitting trying to figure out what I was going to do my outside reading on. I remembered a song that really got my attention. It's called "Already Gone" by Crossfade. You know when you get that tingly feeling when you really like something? I got that feeling with this song. I believe it portrays how so many people leave things behind. Whether it be a friend, family, loved one, or their own souls. It's a sad song but it brings forth all there is to know about how many people deal with losses and grief and how anger can overwhelm ones feelings and make them close off the world around them. In the lyrics Crossfade makes the point: "What could you possibly want from me Can't you see I'm already gone Everything we thought we'd be I still don't feel sorry for this loss" meaning that because someone left something/someone, they cannot understand why they are wanted back after being rejected before. Basically just trying to say it's not your fault that they left you and you can't blame yourself for it. He also kind of makes a sarcastic point as in he will be better off without her, he is going to show her he can make it without her, but deep down he still needs/wants to be with her. It's almost like the perfect song for a really hard break up. I would have loved to hear this song in high school when it seems like this is where you go through most of your heartbreaks.

Reading for 6/11

I really couldn't stand reading the Introduction to Fiction. It was so boring. All the information was going in one ear and out the other. There were a couple good parts that got me interested. One part was right at the beginning called The Telling of the Tale. I like the way Gwynn starts it off about a counselor who is telling a tale. It seems like something is going to happen the further you read on. I defenitely liked the plot part because the passage for "Reunion" really got my attention. It kind of leaves an open denouement because we don't know why Charlie never sees his father again, or if it was his own choice. I like open denouements because it leaves a little bit of mystery, so you kind of have to think and contemplate what is going to happen. Books that have open denouements are good for discussions. Descriptions of character are important because you kind of get an image in your head of what that person looks like so you get a better understanding of the story or that characters point of view. The setting can also be important because if you don't know where the story takes place it can confuse you or make it harder to understand why it's written the way it is. Its important to pay attention to theme because anybody can interpret different themes to the same story. Like with "Reunion" it could be a psychological confession for Cheever. I got the idea that he left Charlie for alcohol and Charlie doesn't think he deserves a second chance because he will never stop.