I'm Gonna Make a Blog You Can't Refuse.

Choose one of the poems that we have studied in your reader, and analyze the title. How does the title relate to the rest of the poem, and how does it create meaning? Provide examples from the poem to support your claims. This Is Just To Say Written By: Williams Carlos Williams I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold The title of this poem adds and helps to understand the meaning of this poem. Without the tile, the poem sounds like a sincere guy who gave in to his urges and ate some plums. Then he asks for the owners forgiveness. Now when you add the title to the poems meaning, it changes it. It makes the speaker almost seem sorry for eating those plums but sarcastic about it. They are just going to the owner and saying, "Hey, Just so you know I ate your plums, sorry not sorry." It changes the speaker from legitimately apol...

The visit to the Houston Museum of Natural Science Paleontology Hall was a very good experience. There is a lot of knowledge held within those walls and though I had been there before multiple times, there are still many things that I have yet to learn and that are interesting.  I thought that the trilobites were very interesting and to see how well they were excavated from the rocks that they were fossilized in was amazing. The people that process these fossils must spend lots of time and must be very careful in releasing these creatures from there rock coffin. I found it interesting how the oxygen levels relate to the size of the animals that exist on the planet. This sparked a greater interest and I would like to learn more about oxygen affect on life. This trip was very interesting and I learned much more than I mentioned here. I look forward to the new energy hall coming next year in Fall 2017 and gaining more knowledge in the realm of paleontology.

In "We Real Cool" by Gwendolyn Brooks uses the poetic element of enjambment. Why do you think she does this, and how does it affect the meaning of the poem? This poem by Gwendolyn Brooks uses the poetic element of enjambment and this has a great affect on the poem. It has a large affect on the flow of the poem making it seem more rushed and like it is one line. Enjambment affects the meaning of this poem because it makes it seem like the ending (death) comes much quicker then if it was not there. The poem is a story, starting the people thinking they are too cool for school and leave. Then they follow a bunch of events and go in a downwards spiral until it ends with there death. It tries to show a cause and effect with leaving school leads to death. The enjambment, I believe, adds to the meaning through affecting the flow and speeding it up. I think that it emphasizes that you will go downhill very quickly as opposed to a more extended period of time.

Bitter manioc is a plant in the Amazon jungle that many of the tribes depend on for survival. This plant contains a chemical in its leaves, flesh, and skin that turn into cyanide (poison) when digested. The people of the Amazonian tribes have created many tools to make this plant edible. Bitter Manioc   Manioc Grinder Manioc Stirrer (left) and Strainer (right)  Preparing Manioc 1. The people would take the manioc and skin it. Taking the poison from the skin, but leaving the poison still inside the flesh. 2. They will then use a grinder to turn the manioc flesh into mush. 3. The mush is then put into a manioc strainer to fully remove the liquid that contains the chemical/cyanide. Chinese Finger Trap The manioc strainer is like a Chinese finger trap. It is squeezed together and the manioc mush is added inside. Then it is constantly pulled apart and inward, squeezing the manioc mush repeatedly and taking out the liquid. Manioc...

What is poetry/a poem and how can you tell the difference between poetry and prose?    Blog Post done. Argument done. Well Not Really. First the questions, WHAT IS PROSE? WHAT IS POETRY? and HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT? Well prose can be defined simply as a form of language that has grammatical structure and flows naturally. Poetry has a much different form that can, and often, breaks the laws of grammar and has a more melodic or rhythmic flow.  Most of the writing we do everyday can be classified as prose and though prose can be creative, poetry is more associated with creativity and almost always contains artistic speech. Poetry is usually divided into stanzas comprising of lines that can be either whole or parts of a whole sentence. Prose is usually more straightforward consisting of paragraphs made up several sentences.  The differences between prose and poetry are not the easiest to define in their entirety, but they are important in ...

George Orwell's 1984 was written during the rise of many governments that had the power of the country in the hands of a few. He uses this book to warn the reader about what a possible world would look like if the government had complete control. Newspeak is a way for the government in 1984 to control the thoughts and minds of the people. It is an extreme way of saying that politicians and governments manipulate languages and words to convey the message they want and push the crowd towards them. This can be backed up by this quote in the book by Syme,"Don't you see that the whole aim if Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it." Language is one of the easiest ways to convey the information we have. If someone creates a language in which there is only one way of thinking there would be no way to say anything otherwise because you would not be able to...

In 1984 , Julia and Winston receive "the book" from The Brotherhood. Chapter 1, "Ignorance is Strength," analyzes this party slogan. A part I found very interesting was when it talked about how there will always be three classes in society, or what we call the high, middle, and low. In the book it says that the classes are in a constant never ending routine because the classes below the high want to be in the class above the one they are in. The middle will convince the low to displace the high by promising them a chance to become the new middle class, but when they are successful the middle leave the low as the low class and the middle kind of separates again into both the high and middle until the rebellion against the high class starts again. This can be seen in the world today because people all want to be in a higher class. In the USA, many people believe that with hard work and some just believe that one day they will be in a higher class then they are in n...

Now if you do not know where this slogan is from, it is from George Orwell's 1984 . I will be trying to explain what I believe the government of this fictional world was trying to tell the people with this poster. These posters were hung everywhere to let you know Big Brother was Watching you and the government, ruled by Big Brother, was monitoring your every movement and whatever you do will be seen. It erases any sense of privacy and if someone is thinking about doing something bad they are already committing a thoughtcrime and will be arrested by the thought police. This slogan tells all people who look at it that they are in the simple sense being watched. By 1984 it seems that many people have already adjusted to being watched and this slogan is just their to remind them if they forget. It is hard to imagine what it would be like if the world today was like 1984 and we had these posters on every street corner. So whenever you think or do something just remember, BIG BROTHE...

At the end of Much Ado About Nothing the story ends on a very happy note, but there is still a remaining cliffhanger, WHAT HAPPENED TO DON JOHN THE BASTARD? Here are some theories: 1. A happily ever after ending, Don John brings his army but it is easily crushed by the might of Don Pedro and John is then punished for his treasonous acts. 2. A tragedy. Don John brings his armies and wages a years long war against those of Don Pedro. Claudio and Benedick fight bravely trying to save their kingdom, but eventually there own bravery takes their lives. Beatrice and Hero mourn for the loss of their husbands and could commit suicide. Leonato sees his own territory annexed into that of Don John and he is immersed into a land of poverty and eventual death. Don Pedro barely wins against his brother, but stares at a kingdom of destruction and personal loss. Since the story has no epilogue it, what happens after is entirely up to imagination of the reader.

Explain why the ending of the play proves that it is a comedy, and give specific examples from the play. What would have had to happen instead were this play a tragedy? Whether the play is a tragedy or comedy can be determined by numerous characteristics, but the most simple way to tell the difference is by the ending. In a comedy the ending usually has a wedding, a new birth, the antagonist changes their ways or is punished and leaves the audience with a reminder that life is good. In a tragedy the ending is more tragic, usually with death and the opposite of a comedy. Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by Shakespeare and is a comedy because it is a fairly lighthearted play. There are jokes inserted throughout all the lines and the ending especially proves it. The antagonist is assumed to be dealt with at the end ( pg98 line 121-128 Messenger: My lord, your brother John is ta'en in flight, And brought with armed men back to Messina. Benedick: Think not on him till to-morro...

Dramatic Irony: When the audience knows something that the characters in the story do not. Dramatic Irony is extremely present in the Much Ado About Nothing. A motif in the play is deception, and the case where the reader knows who is behind the mask but the character does not occurs frequently. An example of dramatic irony is on page 20 line 80-93. Pedro is deceiving Hero and pretending to be Claudio. The audience knows whom Pedro is pretending to be, but Hero does not. The second example of dramatic irony is on page 48-49. Don John creates a plan for Claudio to see Hero being disloyal and being with another man. Claudio believes it to be true, but as the reader you know that it is simply just Borachio and Margaret.  The third example of dramatic irony is on page 22 when Beatrice and Benedick are talking at the ball. Benedick is masked and believes that his identity is unknown, but the audience and Beatrice know who he is. Beatrice then cons Benedick knowing it is him by sa...

The Prompt: We will have finished Acts I and II by the end of the week. As we know from the 5-act plot structure, we should have had an inciting incident at the end of Act I or beginning of Act II which will start off the rising action of the play. What was that inciting incident? Explain your answer and provide an example from the play (meaning a quote). The inciting incident of Much Ado About Nothing is when Claudio announces his love for Hero (Line 179-180 "In mine thine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever looked upon"). This is the inciting incident because once this is said arrangements are made for his wedding and the story is mostly around the events to this event. Don John the Bastard becomes the antagonist when, after overhearing his brother/prince is going to help Claudio , creates trouble and manipulates others for his own gain (Line 58-62 Come, come, let us thither: this may prove food to my displeasure. That young start-up hath all the glory of my overt...

For the next few weeks the blog posts will be based on Shakespeare's play, " Much Ado About Nothing." Unfortunately we are reading the Pelican Shakespeare published by Penguin Books instead of watching a movie version: There's two to choose from!: The prompt for this blogpost is: Choose a challenging passage from Act I, and  follow the action . Explain your process of following the action and then write the passage in your own words using contemporary English. The beginning of Much Ado About Nothing is the most challenging to follow the action because many of the characters are on stage and speaking. At times it becomes difficult to tell who is talking and to whom they talking too. My plan to follow the action was to pay more attention to the script and what is going on. Lines 87-111 Leonato: My niece, you will not go mad from catching Benedick. Beatrice: No, not if January were to become hot. Messenger: Don Pedro has arrived. (Don Pedro, Claudio, a...

Did the Sea of Flames really protect Marie-Laure? The Sea of Flames is a stone that is supposed to bring incredible luck and life to the holder but unfortunate events and bad luck to those they love. Whether this was true or not is really based on whether you believe in the supernatural. It could definitely seem like the stone was using it's powers as Marie-Laure had lived in building that failed to collapse and her father and great-uncle where arrested. But this was the time where being arrested was common and everyone was in fear of it. I believe that Marie-Laure survived by just being smart about how to go about things and her loved ones just happened to fall under the dark side of the Nazi regime. I think that the stone did very little to determine the events and was just a superstitious item to give hope and greed to the person who had it. When Marie-Laure dropped the stone in the water everything got back to normal, but that was just coincidence (again something that is d...

Ignorance is most likely the theme of the book. It is backed up by the blindness of the main characters Werner and Marie-Laure. Marie-Laure is actually blind and Werner is figuratively blind. Marie-Laure is able to sense her surroundings and is extremely observant, but is unable to actually see the world around her with her eyes. Werner has sight and notices that things are slightly, but fails to predict what is going on in the bigger picture. Both of these characters are curious. Marie-Laure is extremely curious about the world but is ignorant about what things actually look like, having to leave that to her imagination.  Werner is curious about his radio and how things like that works. His curiosity with this has, unbeknownst to him, put him into the heart of a great war. He fails to see the bigger picture of this and sees the pieces little by little. This theme of ignorance is also supported by the constant appearance of numbers throughout the book. For Marie-Laure, she must ...

This week, on Thursday, we learned about imagery. Find an example of imagery in the book, quote it, and explain how it appeals to your senses. Imagery is important and common in this book and this one excerpt from page 33 when Werner's radio first works really stuck out to me, "A piano chases the violins. Then woodwinds. The strings sprint, woodwinds fluttering behind. More instuments join in. Flutes? Harps? the song races, seems to loop back over itself." This appeases my senses because it provides auditory, visual, and tactile feelings in my imagination. I can hear the orchestra start with a few instruments, the music going at a fast pace. Every instrument like the flutes and the strings slowly adding to the speeding pace. I can see a piano player furiously beating the keys, not missing a single note. The friction between teh bow and the strings that produces the clear sound of the violin. The flutists constantly refilling their lungs to shoot air through the me...

 ^ Saint-Malo ^ Marie-Laure Leblanc is a girl from France and we see her through the book aged between 6-16. She is skinny but other than that her appearance is left to the imagination. She has been blind since age 6 but her blindness has not kept her from reading and learning to navigate herself through the streets of the city.  Her family is only her father Daniel Leblanc, and her great uncle Etienne. Madame Manec takes care off her great uncle and her whether she is more than a care taker is unknown. Daniel Leblanc is the principal locksmith for the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and Etienne is a recluse who inheirted wealth from his grandfather, has an interest in radios, and sees things ever since he fought in the war. Her goal so far is unclear, but it seems like she just wants life to get back to normal. Currently she is in Saint-Malo in Etienne's house while the Nazis are invading and occupying Paris and Saint-Malo.  She has a small mi...

I interviewed Dawn Callaway and her husband Scott Repass. They are the owners of a couple local cafes and bars in Houston. They had many interesting stories from how they got a Kool-Aid man to why they opened their first bar, Poison Girl. These stories were interesitng because they were evidence that proved how each one of their buisnesses has a little part of them. They chose the decor to something they really like or because it reminded them of a fond memory at some place. They chose to open their buisnesses to have them merge and become one with the community they are in.  I thought that the interview itself went well because even though we didn't use the full time we planned, we got many interesting stories and facts that none of us, or at least I, didnt know before. We had one small hiccup, but I feel that if we did a better inspection of the equipment maybe it would not have happend. Luckily, it did not stop us or have any large or any affect on the interview. Since ...

It has been a recent topic in Houston on what the fate of the "8th Wonder of the World," otherwise known as the Astrodome, will be. But while the Astrodome's fate is blurred, a new "wonder of the world" will take its name. A craft brewery, called 8th Wonder Brewery, uses the Astrodome's nickname for its small scale brews. The brewery is in Old Chinatown east of downtown Houston in today’s EaDo (East Downtown) district and is referencing Houston's achievement and is part of the recent growth in the number of craft breweries in Houston. These craft breweries differentiates themselves from macrobreweries, like Miller and Coors, by brewing on a smaller scale. While the microbreweries produce a large amount of one brew, a craft brewery produces less of multiple brews. This allows them to experiment with new techniques and ingredients.   I thought this was interesting because the Astrodome has been in the news a lot recently and this article caught my e...

Traffic Stop Video   Alex Landau is an African American man and was adopted by white parents. He was grown up in a household were the color of one's skin didn't matter. His viewpoint didn't change until one day, when he was with a friend, he was pulled over by a white officer. He was asked to step out of the car and he thought nothing of this since there was two other officers watching nearby. When he stepped out, the officer searched him and then searched his friend, who was white. his friend had some weed and then the officer handcuffed him and continued to search the car and people. Alex asked if they had a warrant and the officers punched him in the face and beat him up. When he was yelling he wasn't going for a gun after an officer accused him of it, another officer held a gun to his head and Alex passed out. He was brought in and had to have medical attention to heal his wounds, This event changed his and his parents viewpoints on skin color and the world. So...