4/15 - 45 min., 4/16 - 45 min., 4/17 - 45 min., 4/18 - 45 min., 4/19 - 45min.
Total - 225 min., pp. 143 - 238 (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), (Portfolio work)
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Goals and Obstacles
Er... This question really works my gears and makes me think. There are many, many things I want in life. I suppose I really just want to be happy. However, that's not to say that I am not; I just mean for the future. Some people, though they seem successful, may not be satisfied. For example, greed takes possession of many. It's only normal to want more than what you have: to go beyond necessity. I, for one, always want new toys or gadgets, despite the fact I have fully functional devices already. One of my life goals is to suppress this unsatisfactory emotion and become content with what I already have.
So then I'm asked: "What would [I] be willing to do to get it?" Like the question earlier, I find this to have a very vague answer, partially because my goal is very... unpredictable as well. From my view, I don't really have much say in it; my actions probably won't affect it much. I think it relies on me as a person and my development morally. Of course, there are several factors that affect my morals. For example, episcopal is one. Another example are donations. When I have my own career, I'll have to pay 2.5% of my annual income. Donating will not only make me feel comfortable losing money, but also break bonds I could develop with money.
This relationship between goals and sacrifices is visible in many stories we have read so far this year. In Nervous Conditions, Tambu is desperate for an education. When she is given the opportunity, she leaves her mother in a dying state (sacrifice). In Lord of the Flies, Jack strives for dominance and power over the other boys. He resorts to violence to communicate his superiority.
4/08 - 45min., 4/09 - 60min., 4/11 - 15min., 4/12 - 60min., 4/13 - 45min.
Total - 225min., pp. 1-143 (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), (Cancer Research Paper)
Poem: Place
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I gaze across the vast land
The grass danced to the strong winds
And reflected light with each turn in the sun
Twisting, turning
It became a dance floor
Flashing lights blind my eyes
The loud music bangs on my eardrum
A mass of bodies springing like trout in a river
The thick humidity of body heat makes me sick.
Seasick.
Moaning and turning of the boat disrupts my stomach
The old wooden boards creak with every weight
Weary sailors drag themselves to their destination
Like the water's current burdens them
At last! Land!
I gaze across the vast land...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This poem has several techniques. There are many shifts in setting (stanza divisions). There is personification (line 2). There are similes (line 8, 14). I use punctuation to emphasize certain areas (line 4,9,10,15,16)
I gaze across the vast land
The grass danced to the strong winds
And reflected light with each turn in the sun
Twisting, turning
It became a dance floor
Flashing lights blind my eyes
The loud music bangs on my eardrum
A mass of bodies springing like trout in a river
The thick humidity of body heat makes me sick.
Seasick.
Moaning and turning of the boat disrupts my stomach
The old wooden boards creak with every weight
Weary sailors drag themselves to their destination
Like the water's current burdens them
At last! Land!
I gaze across the vast land...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This poem has several techniques. There are many shifts in setting (stanza divisions). There is personification (line 2). There are similes (line 8, 14). I use punctuation to emphasize certain areas (line 4,9,10,15,16)
Friday, April 5, 2013
Reading Response: Moribito
I hadn't read Moribito in a while (with the interruption of Nervous Conditions) so I took time to skim the first part of the book and gather my thoughts. With preparation, I started on part two, and found it much easier to read. I jumped back into the book feeling lost - not because I didn't know part one clearly, but because there was a vague outline of the future. I knew the demon (Rarunga) was going to come after Chagum (the prince holding the sacred egg), but before that, there was plenty of time for anything. I was curious to see what would happen.In the end, nothing crazy happened. The plot progressed along smoothly; there were no dramatic changes or crazy ideas introduced.
After I had finished the book, I was very disappointed. This book to me seemed very bland, very cliche. I'm sure I had seen very similar plots in many different places. I felt as though I spent a significant amount of my time reading irrelevant dialogue. I'm sure I read like three chapters about the "star readers" (similar to scholars) and what they did for the main characters. Yeah, they deciphered a tablet which taught them about the egg, but the Balsa and Chagum journeyed along without the information completely fine. This made the book seem very slow and bored me.
3/26 - 30min. (Moribito), 3/27 - 30min. (Moribito), 3/28 - 30min. (Moribito), 3/29 - 30min. (Moribito), 3/31 - 30min. (Moribito), 4/02 - 30min. (Moribito), 4/04 - 45min. (Cancer Research - Read 4 articles)
Total - 225 min., pp.143 - 248 (Moribito), (Cancer Research - Read 4 articles
Song Analysis
Song: Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)
Author: Scatman John
Lyrics: http://artists.letssingit.com/scatman-john-lyrics-scatman-fnmhfpw#axzz2PbXTrlnm
After reading the blog assignment, a strong feeling of dread came over me. I thought there was so much to write, too much especially for a vacation. To liven the mood and writing process, I picked an ... enjoyable song? I found its upbeat rhythm, fast pace, and of course, lyrics, create this poppy sound to his style of music. In addition to its poppy, motivating music, I really liked the Scatman's story. Apparently, he had a condition that MADE him stutter ("Scat" as it's called in the song). He took one of his problems and turned it around. Anyway, enough of his background story; here's the analysis:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Throughout the song lyrics I found many lines that had assonance, mainly found in his "scatting." An assonance is the repetition of the sound of vowels in words whereas alliteration is the repetition of sounds or letters in the beginning of a word. Because of the vowels and location within the word, the entire phrase rhymed with itself. In one of his lines, he creates a smooth, yet unsophisticated mood through the composition of vowels (-oo) and wording a child may use.
"It's a scoobie oobie doobie scoobie doobie melody"
Also, Scatman John used breaks in his lyrics to emphasize certain ideas in his song. He defends his condition by stating that everybody has some bit of it; it doesn't make him unique or special. The break also separates the independent clauses in the first quote. In the second and third line of the second quote it separates them too.
"Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you."
...
"Well I'm the professor and all I can tell you is
While you're still sleepin' the saints are still weepin' cause
Things you call dead haven't yet had the chance to be born."
Lastly, I think there is some hidden idea (symbolism) in the quote above. I believe when he refers to the "things you call dead haven't yet had the chance to be born" he means that many people think that conditions are always bad. People may dismiss the idea that one's condition is a fault, however, it could very well be beneficial, like John's here.
Author: Scatman John
Lyrics: http://artists.letssingit.com/scatman-john-lyrics-scatman-fnmhfpw#axzz2PbXTrlnm
After reading the blog assignment, a strong feeling of dread came over me. I thought there was so much to write, too much especially for a vacation. To liven the mood and writing process, I picked an ... enjoyable song? I found its upbeat rhythm, fast pace, and of course, lyrics, create this poppy sound to his style of music. In addition to its poppy, motivating music, I really liked the Scatman's story. Apparently, he had a condition that MADE him stutter ("Scat" as it's called in the song). He took one of his problems and turned it around. Anyway, enough of his background story; here's the analysis:
_________________________________________________________________________________
Throughout the song lyrics I found many lines that had assonance, mainly found in his "scatting." An assonance is the repetition of the sound of vowels in words whereas alliteration is the repetition of sounds or letters in the beginning of a word. Because of the vowels and location within the word, the entire phrase rhymed with itself. In one of his lines, he creates a smooth, yet unsophisticated mood through the composition of vowels (-oo) and wording a child may use.
"It's a scoobie oobie doobie scoobie doobie melody"
Also, Scatman John used breaks in his lyrics to emphasize certain ideas in his song. He defends his condition by stating that everybody has some bit of it; it doesn't make him unique or special. The break also separates the independent clauses in the first quote. In the second and third line of the second quote it separates them too.
"Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you."
...
"Well I'm the professor and all I can tell you is
While you're still sleepin' the saints are still weepin' cause
Things you call dead haven't yet had the chance to be born."
Lastly, I think there is some hidden idea (symbolism) in the quote above. I believe when he refers to the "things you call dead haven't yet had the chance to be born" he means that many people think that conditions are always bad. People may dismiss the idea that one's condition is a fault, however, it could very well be beneficial, like John's here.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Jane Goodall's Plagarism
Jane Goodall has infringed an important part of plagiarism which in turn impacts her reputation as an author. The significance of her plagiarism occurs in one commonly known circumstance. She made the obvious mistake and used another author's words. Even alone, this act is severe and has many terrifying consequences for students, workers, and especially authors. In addition to her plagiarized work, she failed to cite sources under a bibliography or works cited page, worsening the effect. The article "Jane Goodall's 'Seeds of Hope' book contains borrowed passages without attribution" by Steven Levingston points out numerous sections poisoned by plagiarism.
After Goodall discovered her work infringed laws of plagiarism, she sent an e-mail consisting of apologies and reasons for her ignorance. I think she has done well to explain her mistakes, but believe she can do more. I think Goodall, her co-author, and the publishers should work together to develop a proper edition of the book, devoid of any plagiarism. It would replace the old 'Seeds of Hope' and clarify any questions regarding her honesty. This would further rebuild her reputation as an author. Jane Goodall's single mistake has sent her spiraling down back to the start alongside other writers who have been accused of plagiarism.
After Goodall discovered her work infringed laws of plagiarism, she sent an e-mail consisting of apologies and reasons for her ignorance. I think she has done well to explain her mistakes, but believe she can do more. I think Goodall, her co-author, and the publishers should work together to develop a proper edition of the book, devoid of any plagiarism. It would replace the old 'Seeds of Hope' and clarify any questions regarding her honesty. This would further rebuild her reputation as an author. Jane Goodall's single mistake has sent her spiraling down back to the start alongside other writers who have been accused of plagiarism.
Paper Revision
For this assignment, I decided to revise my literary analysis paper. I was truly proud of the work I had created. After a quick look-over, I noticed several features of it that made me come to this conclusion:
1) Before this piece, my writing had been characterized by a few elements which clearly distinguished my paper from others. It was concise and strongly-worded. However, when I was assigned the analysis, I took a different approach. I had planned to develop a longer paper, with good wording spread across it fairly. Personally, I think this idea was the proper approach to a paper -- it emphasizes the saying: "quantity is a quality in itself." My literary analysis introduced me to another style of writing which was met with good feedback, so I'll be striving to use it in the future.
2) The simplicity of all of my errors presented in the paper frustrates me and creates a goal to perfect this paper, ridding it of these silly flaws. These mistakes can be corrected with the stroke of a few keys, nothing major. Problems associated with my paper are nothing severe, such as ideas or organization, but elementary errors.
Despite the reasons I wanted to use this paper, it has numerous faults, as indicated above. These errors fall under the categories sentence fluency, conventions, and formatting.
1) Right off the bat, Dr. deGravelles pointed out flaws involving my formatting. Both my heading and my page number had the incorrect font, which hurt the quality of my paper.
2) I had two issues involving the introduction of quotations. Instead of using a colon, I used a semicolon in two different situations. Keep in mind, this was before we learned about methods in which a writer introduces quotations and examples of what to stay away from (Dating Spider man, etc.)
3) In my introduction paragraph, there were two problems, one about tense shifting and another was just repetition. My first error jumped from Thiong'o uses (present tense) to Thiong'o developed (past tense). This is very easily solved by replacing the "ed" of developed with an "s." My second fault was in the sentence: "With a few exceptions, development of Kamau's emotions follow Freytag's pyramid, with a few exceptions." After seeing this in my paper, I facepalmed.
3/18 - 30min., 3/19 - 30min., 3/20 - 30min., 3/22 - 30min., 3/23 - 45min.
Total - 165 min., Moribito (pp 145 - ~215)
1) Before this piece, my writing had been characterized by a few elements which clearly distinguished my paper from others. It was concise and strongly-worded. However, when I was assigned the analysis, I took a different approach. I had planned to develop a longer paper, with good wording spread across it fairly. Personally, I think this idea was the proper approach to a paper -- it emphasizes the saying: "quantity is a quality in itself." My literary analysis introduced me to another style of writing which was met with good feedback, so I'll be striving to use it in the future.
2) The simplicity of all of my errors presented in the paper frustrates me and creates a goal to perfect this paper, ridding it of these silly flaws. These mistakes can be corrected with the stroke of a few keys, nothing major. Problems associated with my paper are nothing severe, such as ideas or organization, but elementary errors.
Despite the reasons I wanted to use this paper, it has numerous faults, as indicated above. These errors fall under the categories sentence fluency, conventions, and formatting.
1) Right off the bat, Dr. deGravelles pointed out flaws involving my formatting. Both my heading and my page number had the incorrect font, which hurt the quality of my paper.
2) I had two issues involving the introduction of quotations. Instead of using a colon, I used a semicolon in two different situations. Keep in mind, this was before we learned about methods in which a writer introduces quotations and examples of what to stay away from (Dating Spider man, etc.)
3) In my introduction paragraph, there were two problems, one about tense shifting and another was just repetition. My first error jumped from Thiong'o uses (present tense) to Thiong'o developed (past tense). This is very easily solved by replacing the "ed" of developed with an "s." My second fault was in the sentence: "With a few exceptions, development of Kamau's emotions follow Freytag's pyramid, with a few exceptions." After seeing this in my paper, I facepalmed.
3/18 - 30min., 3/19 - 30min., 3/20 - 30min., 3/22 - 30min., 3/23 - 45min.
Total - 165 min., Moribito (pp 145 - ~215)
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