Final Blog

Well I can’t believe this class is over. It felt like it went by so quickly for me. I think that’s mainly because I was either busy doing homework, at work, planning for my sister’s wedding, or doing housework. I think staying busy all the time helped keep me on task this semester too which is good. I think my experience with Lit 110 has been a good one. We worked on poetry, which I have had some experience with before. Also I think another good experience that came out of this class was the people. I’ve met some pretty interesting people this semester. And they are what kept me coming back and wanting to make the class fun and exciting. I also actually had some time to read too. I hardly ever pick up a book and read it during the summer. I think having the reading goal helped keep on track with that though.

I got to experiment with a few things this semester too. My favorite was probably doing the ten minute plays. They were fun, but there was no pressure to go along with it, just read your lines and have some fun with it! I also wrote some pretty cool poems during the poetry workshop. This workshop helped me expand my poetry skills a lot. I learned that not every poem has to rhyme or even make any sense. And how could I forget about the poetry slam! I have to admit I was a little freaked out at first, but it turned out to be an experience I’ll never forget. Writing flash fiction was pretty cool too. My story just kind of stopped when I was finished with it, but I think that’s one of the joys of flash fiction. Your not exactly sure what is going on or what is going to happen.

And I also expanded my literature skills as well this semester. I think the short story unit is what did it for me. The stories that stuck out most to me were Party Down at the Square, Catskin and Orientation. I thought Party Down at the Square would about an actual party until the plot does a complete turn-around and it ends up being about a lynching. And Catskin, oh my where do I start? Wow, what a weird story! I mean who comes back to life as a cat and sews together a bunch of cat skins for their youngest son to wear? That story was just down right weird and gave me nightmares! I thought Orientation was neat because it was written in second person. Also because I could picture myself walking through an office and having someone tell me all the odd things about everyone who works there. Another way I have expanded is by going to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I have never been much of a Shakespeare fan, but going to see it in person definitely has changed my thoughts on it. Ewing Manner was amazing and the plays under the stars was sweet! I definitely feel like Lit 110 has broadened the whole scope of literature for me this summer. Thank you everyone for making it a fun and enjoyable class. And thank you Stephanie for keeping the spirit alive in all of us this summer!

Cultural Opportunity #3-Sylvia

For my third cultural opportunity, I chose to watch the movie Sylvia, mainly because I’ve been studying about the time period when she wrote, which is the Confessional movement. I have really enjoyed her reading her work so far. And I think the poem I’ve enjoyed the most is her poem Cinderella. This poem was also written by Anne Sexton as well, another writer during the Confessional movement. This movie chronicles the suicidal life of Sylvia Plath played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The beginning opens up with her reciting a few lines from her poem Lady Lazarous. This is ironic to me, because she says to Ted in the movie that she is Lady Lazarous. Plath suffered from depression decades before it was branded an illness, and this movie digs deep into the spirituality of her malaise. The Sylvia we see has little or no control over the moods that ultimately tear her existence apart. Plath, as played by Paltrow, is boiling over with literary and erotic hunger, possessed of a vision that scarcely fits into her strict era. In 1956, she's an ambitious undergraduate at Cambridge, and from the moment that she meets Ted Hughes played by Daniel Craig, the gravel-voiced, square-jawed, morosely charismatic British poet who has had the temerity to pen a negative review of her verse, is nothing but love at first bite. At the school dance, she's so smitten with passion that she draws blood from his cheek. This is just a taste of what is come throughout the rest of the movie.

Cultural Opportunity #2

For my second cultural opportunity, I actually went to a Battle of the Bands contest in Creve Coeur. It was held at the American Legion Hall. And there were four bands competing. Two of them I didn’t know too well, but the other two I had seen before. One of them was Led by Last, which a local band of four guys who live in Geneseo. I had heard their stuff before and I really enjoy it. They mainly write about love and the hardships that come with breaking up with someone. Their first album is titled, Trying the First Step to Heartbreak. Each song is about how each guy deals with their breakups and how their life is after it happens. It’s really cool to listen to how other people think and react.
The other band I heard is actually a band from around where I live. It got started in the garage of a kid’s house that I went to high school with. He lives in Lake Camelot and his neighbor also joined in and it grew from there. They call themselves Last N Line. And like Led by Last, many of their songs are also about love and breakups. I think it would be really cool to hear the two bands perform together. The contrast between them mainly is the whole age factor. Both bands did an awesome job! And Last N Line won!

Textual Reading-July 23rd

Well so far, I have really enjoyed everyone’s literature salons. I think this was a neat idea. My only complaint is that I felt like I didn’t have much time to prepare everything. And I felt like I didn’t have much time to get the reading done. But that’s partly my fault, because I have been helping my sister plan her wedding for the past two months. And thank god she’s getting married on Saturday. I’m about ready to explode! Anyways, enough of my ranting, back to the literature salons. I’m willing to admit that sometimes I’m a big procrastinator! And I’m sure everyone else has done that a few times as well. I think the one that stuck out the most to me today though was the Black Arts Movement. I think this movement did many things. It broke racial ties and proved that being “Black” is not a bad thing. I think that racism is still present today. It’s not as bad as it used to be, but still present in other ways in our society. The big thing I think of when I say this is gangs. Their not as bad as they used to be, but still are present today. They also can still hurt anyone at any time. I think that Roger and Ryan did a great job at presenting it too. Their packet was easy for me to follow and understand. Also, I really liked their outfits. Good job guys!!

Cultural Opportunity- A Mid Summer Night's Dream

I was so glad I went to see A Mid Summer Nights Dream. I was a little weary about going at first, but I’m glad I went. I’m not much of a Shakespeare person, so this was new to me. I had never seen one of his plays performed. Plus, I really just wanted to get one of my cultural opportunities done. I really enjoyed watching it under the stars. That was cool! And Ewing Manor was so beautiful. I think that really tied in the whole Shakespeare experience for me.
I wasn’t really sure what was going on at first. I started figuring it out during the second half. I thought it was a very good performance overall. The accents confused me too like everyone else said. But then I got used to them. And what really threw me off was in the beginning when the fairies came out. I was like wait what. It went from talking about love and marriage to fairies. So I was very confused. But they made me laugh, especially when they laughed at their own mistakes. The end was really funny. I enjoyed watching the guys put on the miniature play. That made me laugh and so did the costumes. That blonde wig was hilarious!
Oh, and I must say that everyone’s food was delicious! I really have enjoyed our class. So thanks everyone for making this an enjoyable summer to remember!

The Sandlot

Ok, so as I was starting this, I couldn’t really think of anything to write about for my non-textual blog. So I decided to go with the all-American movie, The Sandlot. I’ve seen this probably about 100 times and it never gets old! Made in 1993 and directed by David Mickey Evans, this movie chronicles the lives of young baseball players. The movie is about a boy named Scotty Smalls who moves to a new neighborhood with his mom and step dad, and wants to learn to play baseball. The neighborhood baseball guru Rodriquez takes Smalls under his wing, and soon he's part of the local baseball buddies. They fall into adventures involving baseball, tree house sleep-ins, the hot lifeguard, Wendy, at the local pool, the snooty rival ball team, and the traveling fair. Beyond the fence at the back of the sandlot menaces a legendary ball-eating dog called The Beast, and the kids inevitably must deal with him.
I really like this movie because it about the one thing I never get tired of, and that’s baseball. I’ve been playing sports my whole life. I played softball for 8 years and my dad was a baseball coach for 30 years. So I can relate to this movie in many ways. I think that’s probably the reason why I never get tired of it. Plus I think one of my favorite things to say is, “You’re killing me Smalls!” It never gets old!
And yes Stephanie, this is another blog about baseball. but I'm being good! There is nothing about the Cards or Cubs. :)

Poems, Poems, Poems!!!

Ok, I think I definitely got my dose of poetry for this week. The poetry workshop we did on Tuesday was really cool. I liked the ransom note poetry and the magnetic poetry. And like Annie, when I write poetry, I always felt like my poems had to rhyme. Otherwise, it seemed like they just didn’t make sense. I think this workshop broke me of that, mainly because there was very little to work with to write a poem. I was really tested on this when I went to the fortune cookie poem. My topic was about being hasty. That was hard for me to get something started so I could write. And today was absolutely awesome too! The poetry slam went really well. There were definitely some interesting ones. The whole idea freaked me out at first, but I ended up going last. So I thought, well this is it. I was just worried about what everyone was going to think of my poem. I think I definitely got my dose of poetry for this week though. Thanks Stephanie for making it fun and exciting!
On a side note, I got a call on Tuesday about 3 or so from a friend who works on grounds crew at ICC. He hosed all of our poems off. :( That made me sad but oh well. And the only reason he knew it was me is because I signed my name. I guess that’s considered graffiti, and there’s not supposed to be anything written on the walls or concrete. BOO!!