Five Word Assignment (pick five words that must be used in a story)

            Love.  I love my family, but sometimes I just want them to go away and leave me alone.  Every morning my father wakes up and puts on his old blue suit; snazzy that’s what he thinks it is.  He doesn’t really need to wear a suit to work, but it makes him feel very important.

            My mother wakes me up every morning to the same conversation.  “Good morning Sweetheart.”

            Sweetheart?  Really, ugh I am 23 years old, and my mother still wakes me up by calling me Sweetheart.  My life is going nowhere fast.  Depressing.  “Good morning mother.”  I tend to say this more to my pillow than to my mother, but she understands.

            My mother walks away which leaves me some alone time to think about the dream I had the night before.  My mother doesn’t know, but she is quite rude; she interrupts my dreams almost every morning.  My dreams are great I hate when they get interrupted it’s like interrupting a movie!  This dream was no different. 

            I had my own house.  It was huge and extravagant, furnished with only the best kinds of furniture.  I had a hottie too hottie of a boyfriend, his name was Eddie, well Edward but I called him Eddie.  We were having dinner it was a romantic dinner with wine, and candles.  He was in the kitchen getting more wine for the both of us and when he came back I took a sip of my wine, and that’s when I noticed a ring in the glass.  I gasped.  I looked down and there he was kneeling in front of me.  “Will you marry me?”

            I was so shocked I was silent. This was the spontaneous proposal I always wanted. Then finally out of my mouth came “of course!  How could I say no?”

            He laughed, and kissed me.  “Good, because I can’t imagine my life without you.  I love you Sassafras.”  I know Sassafras is a tree, but that’s my nickname; sad to say isn’t it?  Then like a fat kid running to a piece of cake it hit me.  He doesn’t know my secret job!  I had to tell him, but how?  Just then the answer came to me the sound of shattering glass came from the front room.  “What was that?  Stay here I am going to check it out.”

            I knew who it was this man has been chasing me for two weeks.  Now he finally found me; I had a sinking feeling and I didn’t like it.  I cut off Eddie, and ran ahead of him, and there I stood face to face to the intruder. 

            It was here my dream was interrupted by my mother who just doesn’t consider that I just might be dreaming.  Does that ever occur to her, no!  Ugh I hope I got to beat that intruder to a pulp.  Wow, I am quite an adventurous dreamer I could have died.  That intruder could have chopped me up, or put a bullet in my head.  Then from the kitchen my mother’s voice cut into my thoughts like a knife through a pumpkin during Halloween.  “Are you coming down for French toast?”

            “Yes, I will be down in two minutes.”  One good thing about still living at home is that I get free food all the time.  No one can make food like my mother can she has a gift.

"God's Grandeur"

Gerard Manly Hopkins is a beautiful writer; his poems tend to drift more to a spiritual side which is understandable because he was a preacher.  The poem “God’s Grandeur” is a very exquisite poem it talks about the world that surrounds us.  The poem has many great qualities a personal favorite of mine is the change of the mood throughout the poem from happy to sad to an almost dream-like state.

            In the first three lines the tone is a happy one the type of tone that can put a smile on your face.  It relates to the world which is a symbol.  The world isn’t just the world, but it is the masterpiece that the Lord has so graciously let us live on.  When Hopkins talks about the world he talks about it with so much awe, and respect.  Then there is a sudden shift in tone from lines four through eight.  Hopkins tone goes from awe and respect to angry and disbelief.  Humans have been living on the world for centuries, and the world was once something that you could look at and see the beauty.  Now people see land and wonder what they can put in that tree’s spot.  “Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.”  People could once appreciate the world and its beauty feel the earth my pinching it between your toes.  Just like walking on the beach barefoot.  Now though people have a different view of things.   Since this is the way that people are treating the Lord’s masterpiece Hopkins is upset and angry. 

            The second stanza of the poem has soothing tone.  Personally it sounds like a mother talking to a child who has had a nightmare.  Hopkins fills this stanza with how the world should be viewed.  Through this I feel that Hopkins is trying to send us all messages saying that we the people do take the world for granted, but as the Lord’s children he has forgiven us.  “And for all this, nature is never spent;” this is the first line of the second stanza.  This line is saying that nature is a representation of the Lord and he will always be standing.

            Many poems will be a speaker speaking to someone relaying a message or telling a story.  In “God’s Grandeur” there is not a speaker in the poem, but the speaker is outside of the poem.  The speaker is Gerard Manly Hopkins the author of the poem.  The someone he is speaking to is also not in the poem, but outside of the poem.  He is speaking to everyone who reads the poem telling everyone his message.  His message isn’t just meant for one person it’s meant for everyone.  The theme that I interpreted from this poem is that people take the world for granted and we are ruining it.  We need to look as the world has the Lord’s grandeur.  He made this place for us to thrive, and live on.  The least we can do is take care of it like the Lord takes care of us.

            After reading this poem I was left with mixed feelings.  As he switched tones I switched moods.  So in turn I went from being in awe to angry to going back to feeling like a child.  I was in awe thought the first three lines because of his writing.  “It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil.” This line put me in awe.  The ooze of oil, oil when reflected in the sunlight looks gorgeous with all the colors swirling around with the curves of the oil.  It’s something that puts me into awe because how could something so dirty be so beautiful at the same time.   The first word of the fourth line is crushed which automatically changes your mood and feelings.  You want to know what is crushed, and how it has been crushed.  I then became angry because I felt that human was crushing the world.  The last stanza made me feel like a child again.  When I woke up with a nightmare, and my mother or father would change their tone one you only really hear when they are trying to calm you from something that is in your head.  It is a soothing tone that Hopkins takes in his last stanza.  I feel like he is telling us that everyone is going to be ok we just have to take on that innocence of a child.  We have to at least try and look at the world like something more than just an object.

            Hopkins achieves the feelings that I felt through diction, and imagery.  The words he chose is what really made me feel the feelings I was feeling.  Words such as crushed, warm, and shining.  The word crushed symbolized that something bad has happened, and needs repairing.  Shining makes me think of the sun coming through the clouds and doing the miracle shine.  This is when you can see the rays of sun which it makes it look heavenly, which is why I felt the awe I did when I first read the stanza.  Warm makes me think of the warmth of a hug.  When you are feeling low, and you are scared you just want to feel that warmth of something to make you feel safe, and feel like nothing can go wrong.  Throughout the last stanza I kept picturing this huge tree that has grown, the tree has the sun shining through the leave making the miracle shine I mentioned earlier.  I think of this giant tree because I feel like it is something powerful.  The opening line to this stanza is “…nature is never spent;” I feel like this giant tree I imagined could never get spent, it will always be there to stand tall.

My Agrument to Save Sports

The budget at Cudahy High school has been challenged because of the bill that has been passed.  To accommodate for the new budget someone who has a high standing, and authority was asked to give ideas to make the budget more workable.  Well the person had an idea to make cuts to the athletic budget.  It was to be proposed at the next board meeting to cut the co-op sports.  So I made a decision to go, and speak at the board meeting to make sure that this did not happen.  To prepare to go there and talk I went to two board meeting before hand so I could understand how they worked.

What does a sport mean to me, and the others who join them?  A sport is more then just something my friends and I do after school.  Every week I set goals for myself so this way I have something to stride for each week.  I push myself to the limit I analyze myself all the time.  I look at what I can do to make myself a better athlete.  I eat healthier, work myself outside of practice, and I make sure my grades are something my coach can be proud of.  These things mentioned don’t just go for me, but for the whole team.  My team members are my family.  They aren’t just people I work with.  We are a family, which is what a sport makes people, they make them a family.  We sweat, and bleed together.  We all push each other to the limit we always look out for one another because that is what a being in a sport entails.  You learn multiple things being on a team, you learn how to trust each other, how to respect people, and most of all you learn how to be a leader.

Sports inspire people to do their best in every thing they do.  If it wasn’t for my involvement in sports I don’t know where I would be today.  Sports taught me how to be a leader not just at practice or around my team, but every where I go I am a leader.  I made friends that will last a lifetime because of how close we have gotten while in the sport.  Something that I would have never have developed if not for the sports I have participated in they gave me the confidence to be myself, and that being myself is just enough.  Sports gave me the attitude of “I am a winner” I try my best at everything I do.  So as long as I try my best I am a winner in my coaches’ eyes just as much as my own.

Sports don’t just teach us lessons, but they give us a chance and a dream to go places we never thought we could go.  Personally I would never have gone to the college of my dreams if it wasn’t for the sports that I participate in.  Sports give us all a chance to have a dream.  They give us scholarships to go to colleges or universities that we wouldn’t think about without the sports.  Many people dream about doing something, but athletes make it happen.

I went to the board meeting and spoke.  I addressed how sports gave me the confidence to stand up in front of the board, and protect something that I love and believe in.  I asked the board if they were prepared to rip families apart, and if they were willing to kill the dreams of the athletes who don’t have much, and this dream is the only thing they have.  Well the board ruled in my favor at the end of the night.  Co-op sports would not be cut, but they would stay.

"Covet"

I read the book "Covet" by J.R. Ward for my quarter book review.  Something that I really enjoyed about the book the authors great talent for detail.  As a reader I really appreciate his detail because it helps me really get into the book.  I placed myself in the book so this way I could really understand how the characters were feeling.  From a writers point of view i didn't like that he had to be so vulgar in his writing, but at the same time i did like it.  It made me feel like it was more realistic with the language he used.  At the same time I feel that he is a very intelligent person that could have used different forms of the words.  Overall I really enjoyed the book, and I look forward to reading the next novel in the series of "The Fallen Angel".

Obama's Speech

President Obama is one of the best speakers of my generation.  Listening to him give a speech is awe inspiring.  His speech on Osama's death I feel was not one of his better speeches, but still a good speech over all.  In my personal opinion he had some unneeded information, and the speech would have been better if he would have left that area of topic out.  He also started to repeat himself which loses some audience members so that should have been avoided.  My favorite part of his speech was when he incorporated the Pledge of Allegiance into his speech.  That showed great idea development especially since he had a short time to write his speech.  The speech wasn't infallible, but it was a good speech all around.

My Response to "Writitng without a map"

I read "Writing without a map" by Jessica Handler.  She talks about how she is a sprinter writer.  She develops a clear ending (destination) and then she writes to that point; she creates her journey following her map.  Then she decided she was going to write a novel about her life.  Like normal she planned out her beginning, and her ending.  Then her edior caused a detour in her plan because she wanted the novel to be more personal.  Now Handler has no clear ending; E.L. Doctorow once said, “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”  For Handler this a scary way to travel because she is used to being able to see her destination not going in blind like she is.

Introduction

I started this blog for my advanced composition class.  I am an athlete as well as a student.  I run track and I am in love with the sport.  My personal feelings is that sports are a very important part of a students life.  I am in various AP classes, and I have a lot of fun throughout my school day.  I am excited to start blogging I think it will be a lot of fun, and something I will look forward to doing.