Essay

      Poetry, a form of art, helps people share thoughts, feelings, and ideas with others. Using many different techniques, a poet can convey many different things. One of the most common thing all poems have is figurative language. Another way poets share thoughts and feelings is through diction. The way a poet structures their poem also adds meaning to the poem.
      Figurative language can include many things such as similes, metaphors, idioms, personification, as well as many others. An example of figurative language is in the poem "Poetic Bloodline" by GeminiEye. The first 2 lines provided an example of assonance using the words dream, scheme, and seemed. The poem also had examples of repetition and alliteration from repeating the word shit and the alliteration of Billy Blues. Each of those figurative languages help further develop the poem and makes the poem more interesting.
      An author's diction is also an important part of any written piece because the words themselves create the meaning. In the poem "The System", the word choices of the author make him seem more of a cyborg. Since he is talking about a system and comparing society to a machine that dictates how everyone has to conform to the machine's standards. The diction he chooses later in the poem shows the machine breaking down because it's not doing what it's programmed to do. How Prentice Powell, the poet, chose his words affected what the reader connected his poem to.
      How the author decides to set up a poem is very important because it determines how the reader will read it. If the poem is too unorganized, it is not understandable and if it is too organized it would be an essay. The poem "The Quill" is structured to look like a writing quill and the diction of the poem also makes it readable in many different ways. Since there is no right way to read it, the interpretation of the poem is up to the reader.
      Diction, figurative language, and structuring are very important parts of writing. They can all be used to create and manipulate thoughts and ideas to the writers advantage. Using diction, figurative language, and structuring, a writer can better develop their idea so that the readers can connect with and understand it better.

If

The poem is like a guide to how the be a man. It should probably start out with step one don’t write poetry. Step two if you failed to acknowledge step one, you have twenty four hours to kill a bear with you bare hands or your man card will be revoked. Do note that your man card is not an actual card. It is a chromosome and if you are to lose your "man card", badass beard dawning Viking lumberjacks will kick your door down in the middle of the day and rip that Y chromosome right out of your face hole because sneaking around at night is for pansies. All jokes aside, this is in fact a poem about how to be a man. And surprisingly it rhymes too. Do you know how rare it is to see a poem that actually rhymes in high school? Teachers are too into all that deeper meaning crap they forget what makes poetry bearable the rhyming. Right, back to the poem itself. The first stanza is all about do not do this do this instead. It's like one of those commercials. Don’t settle for whatever get Direct TV. The first stanza is also more self reflection/improvement. The second and third stanza is about being persistent and not giving up. The last stanza is about being a down to earth person. I personally like the last one because it's saying be the best you can be but also don't be a dick about it and that is like advice for life because you could be the most powerful person in the world and own everything but what would be the point of having everything if everyone hates you and there's no one to share the world with? The poem could help people to be nicer to each other and all that and is still applicable today if someone had the time to sit down and connect all of what the author is saying with things that modern people could relate to because not many people would sit down and do it themselves. What? Think? I'm not paid to think. I could just get it from Google because let's be honest no one uses Bing. I just don't feel like most men would actually think "I need to be a man, better read this poem". When you think manly you do not think poems. Unless what you consider manly is like a hipster or something. Which is cool too if you're into that kind of stuff. If this were directed towards men, it would be less complicated and more to the point. This feels like it is written for someone else to read and then tell the person it is meant for about it. Just cut the middle man and get straight to the point because everyone knows that guys can't take a hint to save their lives. If this poem were a how to guide or a list like most normal guides are, I would think that it would get more views than it does in poem form. But that's just my two cents.

Ain't I a Woman

Alright, so from what I can tell this poem is about racism and feminism. Wow. Okay. Way to be creative. Right so the first stanza is stereotypes on how guys are expected to treat women. Because feminists are totally okay with having the opposite sex telling them what to do. So the next two stanzas are about how she can do everything a guy can do and then asks ain't I a woman. Mixed messages much? Do you want to be treated like a man or a woman because I am not going to help someone over a mud puddle and then ask them to plow a field because if they can plow a field they sure as hell can cross over a puddle by themselves and if they can't cross a little puddle themselves what makes you think they can plow a field. The last stanza was very religious. But technically it was Mary and an angel and not God. And even if it was God then Christ would still have been from a "man" and woman since later on in the Bible and all Jesus refers to God as Father. So unless you go calling your mom father I suggest finding a better argument. It is true that the first woman turned the world upside down, at least it is in the Bible. I just do not see it as an accomplishment as much as the author does. The author thinks that since one woman could turn the world upside down, many women could turn it right side up but I don't know. If one woman screwed up the simple task of do not eat that fruit I wonder what a bunch of women could screw up. For those of you who don't know, God created Adam and afterwards created Eve and they were in the so called Garden of Eden. God then told them they could eat any of the fruit from any of the trees except that one tree. So what do you think they did? Yep they ate the fruit and end up betting banned from the garden. And that sums up the first three chapters of Genesis. So Eve kind of screwed like everyone over with that fruit because that was the birth of Original Sin which is bad if you couldn't figure it out. The author basically said that if one woman could change the world that much a bunch of women could change it even more. The argument would've been way more reassuring if, you know, she used an example that involved a woman changing the world for the better and not oh I don’t know screwing over like all of the people. Just saying. I bet you Adam never took Eve to another garden after that incident. I feel like the author of this poem really needs to figure out where she stands on the topic and should write so readers can understand her because she spent two stanzas saying I can do everything a guy can do and then asking why won't people treat me like a woman? Well maybe it's because you act like a man? I don’t know. And as a reader, I can tell you that if one person of a group could flip the world upside down I am not trusting the same group to flip it right side up because what if they mess up? Again. The world wouldn't be flipped it would be spinning every which way and that does not sound healthy. I think I'm fine with figuring it out myself. You've done enough to help thank you and goodnight.

Social Imagination

I agree with the quote "We all have our social imagination: the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in out deficient society, on the streets where we live, on our schools." The beginning of the quote is true enough. "We all have our social imagination", however, may be technically incorrect because it claims that everyone has a sense of imagination and imagination might be something that not everyone has. Aside from that, the quote is true. Everyone has the ability to view something however they want. Having the ability to imagine what society should and should not be like does not mean that the person is going to be able to change that society that he or she lives in. If the quote is saying that everyone has the ability to imagine the world that they think would be perfect, then the quote is probably true because anyone can imagine something. Most people would want a society that is peaceful where all the bad things like death and destruction do not exist which I think would make a very boring society. Sometimes there is that one person who instead of just imagining the society they want to live in, they actually go out and try to make the real world more like how they saw it in their mind and that is a wonderful thing to do because that person is trying to make their reality just as awesome as how they imagine it. I am kind of glad that not many people try to go out and change things to the way that they think is right because if everyone did that then nothing would be right and it would be chaos. There is probably at least one person who is like "hey chaos that is my kind of society". So I guess yeah sure I agree with the quote. The way it is worded though makes it really strange because nowhere does it actually mention taking an appropriate course of action towards achieving your desired choice of society. All it says is that everyone has the ability to imagine what kind of society they want so perhaps what it is actually trying to say is that a person can dream about a perfect society but will never actually get it. That would actually suck quite a bit unless people develop some sort of virtual reality Matrix or something to throw people's thoughts and desires into a computer generated world and let them live out their lives happy. Hey that was a plot from Supernatural where Dean fights that djinn and it sends him into that alternate universe where his life is the way he wanted and Dean has to wake up before the djinn drains all of his blood and kills him. Right spoiler alert. Well to summarize up my answer to this question that required way less than five hundred words to answer, I do in fact agree with the quote "We all have our social imagination: the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in out deficient society, on the streets where we live, on our schools."

How does the past, present, and future lead us to the truth?

I have considered how the past, present, and future lead us to the truth and what I have concluded is that the past, present and future does not lead us to the truth. What leads us to the truth is question and curiosity. The past, present, and future are merely when the events occur and not how or why it occurs. If there was a lie that nobody questioned, it would still be considered a "truth". I would have an example but it would have to be an example of something only I know and that would be called wrong because it's not what everyone else thinks. The question asks how a period of time shows a fact which is strange because time is just a number. The only way time reveals truths is when it is provoked to do so by oh right curiosity. If it was not for fact checking and skepticism, people would believe anything that anyone with a fancy suit tells them. Seriously, if everyone was that gullible do you realize how often The Onion would be cited? The past is when it happens, the present is questioning why it is the way it is and the future is getting the truth. Classified information and documents aren't just released because the government is too lazy to keep them classified but I don’t know, the government is not doing too great of a job to begin with and it would not surprise me if a couple things slipped through the cracks. You know what else the past, present or future did not reveal? Those celebrity nudes. Then again I do not think that they would be considered truths. More of like a strange invasion of privacy. You know what else does not like the whole time reveals everything thing? Movies. Imagine how terrible that would be. Usually the hero has to fight monsters or something to figure things out. Would you want to watch a movie about well about a character that knows everything? Waiting for time to solve your problems is like opening a book and hoping that it will read itself to you. I'm sorry to say technology hasn't gotten there yet. The best we have so far are talking birthday cards and audio books which lets face it just aren't the same as regular books. Honestly, I was done with this answer like a hundred words ago. This is just me killing words. This is a commentary right? This is how the whole commetary-ing works? Whatever. I didn’t have much to say on this topic anyways. You know the more you question, the more you learn. It's funny because schools are a place for learning that just so happens to hate the questioning of their methods. Same thing with the government. For something created "by the people, for the people", the people seem to be on the short end of the stick. Last time I sat around and waited for time to tell the truth all I got was bored and hungry. Lessons learned: bring snacks and never trust time when it comes to the truth because a good doctor once said "it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

Oedipus Rex

Oedipus sounds like a real pain in the butt right from the beginning. Why not just shut up about his problems? He's the king. What does he have to really worry about? Oh, wait the whole murder your father sleep with your mother thing seems like something to be worried about but right he DOESN’T KNOW THAT. Pity's not going to make the kids feel better by the way. Okay so like how can this guy not remember killing someone?  I mean like he was a dude who was a king with a bunch of guards and you can't remember him? You know I really feel like Oedipus' solution to everything is to kill them. It might be a lie? Kill them. Think they are plotting against you? Kill them. Dad blocking your way and tried to chop off your head? Kill him. Oh right his "dad" died of old age. That took a long time to put two and two together especially for a king. You killed a person. The king was killed. The king disappeared, you showed up. I would like to think that a 5 year old could put that together and figure out that it was him. He could solve the Sphinx's riddle and save a whole kingdom but can't even put something that simple together.  You know reading these types of books and stuff  are the most frustrating thing in the world. You know everything about the place and people but the characters don’t and it makes them seem so stupid you want to just yell at the characters to quit being so dumb because splitting up and looking for clues will get you killed and then you remember that you are yelling at a book and it makes you feel stupid because hey I just yelled at someone trapped in a dead tree. The person isn't even real. This is a very frustrating play. It's more frustrating than a framed picture of the leaning tower of Pisa to a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Oh great now he's torturing old people. What a wonderful person. I should totally feel sorry for him for not being able to change his fate. If you weren't away that was meant to have been completely sarcastic. So he has to leave?? Alright so let's summarize. He goes to some place and sees kids and talks about the plague. Then the messenger comes and delivers the news and he needs to make sure so he asks someone else and when he doesn’t get the answer he wants he threatens to kill the guy. Then he goes to his wife and mom and they talk about it and the messenger and shepherd are brought to him to be questioned and he threatens both of them and he gets his answer and they make him go away? Is that it? Or just a prologue? That was a pretty bad story. I didn't like it. Not enough action. Where's the hero? Every good story needs a hero. 

The Ritz Diamond

Fitzgerald makes fun of youth, wealth, and religion by doing the extreme. Either he hides the idea or he over exaggerates the idea to the point where it sounds impossible. Religion was hidden while youth and wealth were overly exaggerated. Fish was an allusion for Jesus and the twelve people were the apostles. The over exaggeration of the diamond makes the rich kids seem greedy because even though they live on top of a diamond mountain, they still want more money. John and Percy's actions were meant to show how spoiled and pampered rich white kids are. The reason I think they're white is because they Percy owns slaves and during that time period most rich people were white.

Great Gatsby Movie Reflection

The Great Gatsby is a movie about Jay Gatsby, a rich gangster. The story takes place during the 1920s in New York City. In the movie, Gatsby chases after Daisy who was a girl he fell in love with. The Great Gatsby contains Fitzgerald's ideas on the American Dream. Many of the things in The Great Gatsby symbolize things about the American Dream and what it is. An example is the places where the movie takes place. Between West Egg and New York City is the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes represents the evil and corruption in the American Dream. To get to Mew York City or the dream, you have to drive through the Valley of Ashes or become corrupt. In the movie, Daisy represented the American Dream and Gatsby represented the average American. He spent the whole movie chasing after this dream that in the end never cared about him. At the end of the movie, Wilson shot Gatsby after he received a phone call from Nick. He didn't know that it was Nick and thought it was Daisy. Gatsby died thinking that his dream came true. I believe that the message that Fitzgerald was trying to send was that some people romanticize the idea of the American Dream and end up working way too hard to chase something that they will never truly catch and even if they did it was only an illusion or a moment of satisfaction because the American Dream is to have more.

American Dream

I really didn't like the American's Story poem. It was a lot of complaining and used a lot of comparisons between things that aren't facts. If you're gonna write about real problems at least give some real comparisons. The writer had years and information and used a sophisticated language so clearly they're educated and wow this is weird like do I say the writer or Ms Lamphier?... okay back on topic. If you have the money to educate yourself to write this well and happened to have the time to get the education, look up the numbers, and write this, couldn't that time and money have been spent helping these people? And the thing about the government taking things away is a problem. People an barely work for enough for themselves and their families and now they have to work to feed people they don't even know. The American dream isn't happiness. It's the pursuit of happiness. You are not guaranteed happiness but you can chase it until you catch it or die trying. The sooner you realize nobody cares, you learn to work and get things done yourself and maybe that's what people need. Maybe no help should be given so it's do or die.

1920's

It was legendary. There was liquor and parades and food and liquor and lots of people and liquor and did I mention the liquor? It was by far the best party of the week. I can't believe the guys are throwing another one this weekend. Maybe I should throw my own party... but make it huge. It would be awesome. I could invite a couple blocks worth of people and buy some booze from that guy who owns that store on that street. We could gamble, smoke and get drunk. What more could anyone want? Everyone could be invited except for that guy Steve. He's just strange. Last time I invited him to a party, he brought his pet goat and it ate someones hat. It was a nice looking hat too. Well its settled. I'm gonna throw a party and Steve isn't invited.

Paradox

I think the purpose of the paradox in Life of Pi is to show that people have something like multiple personality disorder only it's not a disorder. Martel making Richard Parker a reflection of Pi shows that Pi had another personality different from the religious Pi. Parker represented a wild Pi that would do anything to survive. It helped Martel's purpose because Pi's other personality, Parker, kept him alive and gave him a  reason to live.

Mr. Parker

Life of Pi, logically, would be considered magical realism. It just seems too impossible for a boy to survive alone in the middle of the ocean with a tiger. There are people who work with animals all their lives and are professionals who still get hurt by their animals. Pi actually training Parker is very surprising. If the story were true, Parker would probably have killed Pi for being a pain in the butt with the whistle. In the end of the book, Pi says Parker disappeared into the jungle. There was no proof that Parker was on the boat with Pi. He could have been delusional and imagined the whole thing. Parker just symbolized the fighting spirit of Pi and the animal instincts that kept him alive in the ocean. Martel's purpose is to get people to become open minded towards others and create meaning for their lives. I think Parker was a way to give meaning to Pi who's life had lost all meaning.

Reader Autobiography

People read for multiple reasons. Some people read for pleasure, some people read for school, and some people read just to kill time. A reader could be anyone. All you have to do is read and POOF you're technically a reader or in the process of reading. I think a "good" reader is someone who can read quickly and effectively without compromising their comprehension abilities. As I have said before, I don't have favorite authors. I have favorite books. I guess I consider myself a reader. I've read things before so I guess I am. I learned to read in school. As a reader, I'd like to be able to read different genres without getting bored but I don't really see that happening any time soon. I enjoy reading books about disasters, sci-fi, mystery or funny books. Some teachers require some really terrible books to read so I just don't read them and textbooks are rather boring too. I don't fear reading because if reading is a portal to another world, then I can close the portal any time I please so the nasties can never get me. I didn't really learn anything about my approach to reading. I don't even think i have an approach to reading. I do judge books by their covers. It makes choosing a book much easier because, just like people, the inside isn't the first thing you see. First impressions matter. This process was really energy draining for me but hey, that's school right? What kinda high school would be complete without stress and hormones?

Self-Study

People write because it is a way to express opinions and ideas. A person is a writer if they write anything for fun or money however most people consider writers to be people who have work published. To be a good writer means to be respected by your writing peers. Those peers could be anyone. They could be family, friends, or even internet strangers. I don't have a favorite writer. For me, the books are more important than the person who wrote them. It might seem harsh but that's what I think and it's the same for ideas. Give credit where credit is due is great and all but I feel like it's a waste of time to try and own a thought or idea. Just agree or disagree with it that's all and if you need to use it, use it. I wouldn't consider myself a good writer or a bad writer or someone that writes well. I get my point across but it's not too creative or entertaining. Learning to write is an experience that was pretty normal for me. I sat in school and they told me to trace the lines and then afterwards they told me what those little lines meant. I didn't question it because I was taught not to. I learned in school. That's all there was to it. As someone who writes, I would like to write about my thoughts but in the end it's just what people want to hear because thoughts don't get you grades. What I would like to do better? Well for starters I would like to be able to write something cheerier. It wouldn't hurt to have a few jokes here or there because the longer I write, things sometimes get too serious for my liking. It gets boring and no one likes boring. Writing really isn't often a choice for me and the writing I'm required to do is usually about topics that don't interest me. As far as fears go, anything that I have to present is pretty terrifying. I hate public stuff. This took forever to write. My writing style, discovered merely minutes ago, is to write everything first and change it later. There's no need for a rough draft especially on a computer. This process wasn't quite fun but it wasn't boring either. It was okay. Just okay. Nothing more, nothing less.

What is it?

The picture is a snake that just ate an elephant. It is not a hat because the picture was terribly drawn. If it had been drawn so that anyone could look at it and realize it is a hat then maybe there could be a story behind that hat. Maybe the story will explain why the hat was so terribly made. The better story would definitely be about the snake and the elephant because there are actual characters in the picture. The characters would develop a story way better than any terribly drawn hat could. The lifeless factuality would be the hat for two reasons. The first reason is that the hat is literally a lifeless inanimate object and the second is that it is the boring story that no one wants to hear about.