Film Blog #3 (To Kill A Mockingbird)

I'm really happy to be watching this movie again, at this point in my life (I'm thinking of re-reading the book as well). The first, and only time, I read the book/watched the movie, was in seventh grade. While there are a lot of things I took away from the book at the time, I feel like I appreciate it more fully now. I imagine that will become more true the older I get, the more intolerance and injustice I see and experience. It just resonates really strongly (especially considering how the trial ends) with how I've been feeling the past couple of years, this year in particular with everything that's been happening. The fact that it is still so relevant today speaks to both how well it addressed certain themes, and how far we've actually come as a society.

On the topic of the movie itself, "To Kill A Mockingbird" uses a child's perspective in a remarkable way, to get the audience to see things a little simpler. It provides both the opportunity to have certain things directly explained (the use of the n-word) and to be able to understand things in a different, "naive" light (the way we experience Boo Radley, for example, is different in Scout's POV then an adults, and offers much more acceptance). It still preserves the complexity of racial inequality with the results of the trial, but frames it in such a way where it kind of becomes very obvious how wrong this all is (again, because the kids so easily understand something is wrong, so too does the audience).
Honestly it makes the most of how it was written, eliciting very visceral reactions from myself and my peers. It shows the trial for exactly as unfair as it was. There isn't a turn of heart in the jurors, Tom doesn't magically get away, there isn't some kind of immediate action. But, it shows us reality. And, it shows an unrest in the children, shows how upset they are, especially Jem, at seeing this injustice. I think seeing things like that, really seeing how badly POC were (and are) treated in America was such a huge part of the civil rights movement.

I imagine that because film and literature serves as both a reflection and creation of culture, this novel had a lot of impact, much like "Selma" very recently has. And while this movie/book is fantastic, and addresses racial injustice in a fantastic way, I find it tiring. For me, the movie draws forth some frustrations, not because of what it says, but because of how it says it. I feel like it reinforces the racial imbalance in our country (which, as a discussion point is fine, but as a piece of film that can impact the thinking of people, is not) because it is a white narrative. Again, this is not to discount the book, but it is to acknowledge that for our current purposes, it is less useful. Many people, including myself, are very tired of having to watch a movie about what Black Americans experienced, told from the white perspective. Especially because there are so many black narratives out there that we never get to see, or that never reach the same sort of fame. And for the time period, right in the middle of the Civil Right's movement, I can understand that a black narrative maybe wouldn't have gotten the same traction or respect, but it almost feels unfair that a major american novel that talks about race was done from a white perspective while there were so many people of color speaking out about it. I don't know, I just think we need a new American classic that can better reflect and shape our current national feelings.



Also, I was thinking about what you said earlier, about how people were banning a book they've never read, which is a very scary thought. But, maybe they have read it. Maybe they read it, and just don't get it, or just don't care, or can't remove their head from their ass. I think that's scarier to me, to think that these people did read the book, and see how that word was actually used, and just don't get it. Scarier still if they just don't care. I don't think there's much more to the thought, but yeah.

Film Blog #2 (Precious)

Man. Precious was a really heavy film (I don't cry very easily and I don't think I've ever cried during a movie but like honestly this movie had me on the verge of tears at some points like damn). It just paints such a real picture of what this situation is like. Like often when we see portrayals of abuse it either paints the victim as very like...pathetic? I guess, or makes everything seem a lot more straightforward (as does the internet, I have often seen people saying "why don't they just leave!!!"...because it's not that easy. That's not how abuse works. It's a cycle, and it's scary). However, this film makes it so much more complex, and it portrays it the way I feel like it needs to be portrayed, and shows both the abuser and victim (and surrounding parties) in really complex ways. Precious, for example, is a firecracker of a girl. She yells at a classmate for disrespecting a teacher she had a crush on and assaults a girl in her GED class for calling her fat. it seems like, on the surface, that she is someone who demands respect and acknowledgment. However, the scene with her mother show this deeper aspect to it, show how this fierce young woman can become small and docile and scared in front of her mother. And this is true for me- I have seen too many of my proud, demanding, firecracker friends be wittled down in front of their abuser. You fall into a pattern of hoping things get better.  It's just good to see victims/survivors as more than just these people who aren't "smart enough" to get out.
The same thing goes for Precious' mother. We see the whole film scenes of her abusing and bad mouthing and using Precious- but at the end we also get a very...I'd like to say heartbreaking, scene of her mother breaking down because she had to choose between the man she loved and her child. She is given a chance to show that she is a more complex character than what we might have given her credit for. Not that this means she's forgiven, and not that it means that I necessarily empathize or sympathize with her, but it shows her, and abusers for what they are- human. it's easy to paint them as unforgivable monsters, but these people are human, which makes these situations so much more difficult.
It also makes us think more, specifically for me in the way Sarah and you were discussing in class today. I know myself very, very well, which is why thinking about what I would do in that situation is difficult. If I didn't know myself it would be easy. I know that I am generally pretty vocal about my beliefs and how we treat others, and very loyal to my friends and loved ones, and I have very strong convictions. However, I also know that it's hard for me to let go of people, and that i try too hard to please other people, and that sometimes I'm too passive to stand up for myself for fear of confrontation. So it'd be easy at a surface level to say "Oh I wouldn't have let that happen because I have strong morals and stand up for what I believe in," but that's not all of my personality and that's not how humans work. We're complex. Again, this movie creates such a complicated scenario that I respect.

Film Blog #1 (Rebel)

Anthony's film was very, very well made, especially considering budget and length constraints. He managed to recreate and modernize a film that is almost two hours in only 40 minutes. No matter any "errors" just that fact is very impressive to me.
There were a lot of conscious coloring/filter decisions that I think worked really well, and were pretty aesthetically pleasing too. There were a lot of dark filters applied with a blue-ish tint that kind of added to the whole angsty/melancholic feel of the movie. it also helped to make the creepy scenes even creepier.
Along the same vein, there were other video affects that were really well done. One scene that comes to mind immediately is when Dan and Mark's characters are watching "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" It's a medium shot of the two talking, and the part of "They Shoot Horses" where the woman is shot is over laid onto Dan's face while he's talking about death and happiness. One, it was just a really, really cool affect, and two, it helped emphasize what he was talking about and cast that event onto the characters itself (plus great foreshadowing). It was just a really smart choice.
The framing of shots was also impressive, as it helped increase the tension in the film, in my opinion. Often the people would be just slightly out of frame, and just slightly off from following the rule of thirds, or uncomfortably close, or from a strange angle, and it all helped the tense atmosphere created, and also the feeling fo something bein wrong and amiss.
The general feeling Anthony created through his different techniques communicated his message about angst really well, and made a very enjoyable film. Yeah, there were a few shaky parts, but how much was accomplished under the circumstances, and even out of context it was incredble. I thouroughly enjoyed it, and am very proud of my son for doing it!!

Blog Post #12 "The World is too Much with Us" by William Wordworth

The poem is basically the speaker saying that we're too focused on money and spending and on material things, and we don't have any grand reaction to nature anymore. We kind of take it for granted. Basically, we waste any power we have on us and advancing our lives and materials, without really caring too much about nature ("Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers," we just buy and sell, wasting all our potential and power that could be used with nature for better). It's all about the newest thing in the store. We don't know how to appreciate the simplicity and beauty of nature anymore, as we're too busy using it all up ("Little we see in nature that is ours,"implying that we see now value in nature, nothing we can own). The speaker also talks about how "we have given our hearts away," saying that nature no longer moves us, and that we've lost our souls in the process of increasing luxury, selling our hearts for whatever is on the market.
The poet uses a lot of imagery and figurative language to emphasize how he feels about the topic. He personifies the ocean to make it seem more powerful and more human, to try to create an element that can be sympathized with. He says that the wind will be howling at all hours, which kind of suggests a desperation/ loneliness coming from nature, helping to depict the affects that our withdrawal from nature has.
I think the poem is especially interesting because the speaker includes himself in the group of people who no longer appreciate nature (the use of "us" and "we"), and he decides to turn to paganism to try to remedy this. I find this interesting because it's not a hope to just enjoy nature in the last paragraph, it's a hope for nature to be more than it is, to have mystical creatures and more interesting sights, for it not to feel so lonely. It's like the speaker kind of recognizes how we treat nature, but can't fully bring himself to change this.

I do generally agree that we're kinda super not cool toward nature, and I feel like we forgot that we need to take care of our environment since we live here and it's keeping us alive. But rather than needing to turn to paganism, I want people to see the beauty nature already has (the world is super cool yo) and try to take a bit of a step back from the massive consuming we do (tho I think buying and spending is fine tbh we just can't lose sight of like other things, and maybe not focus as much on the latest trends, cause buying stuff can be fun and can help so ye compromise)

Blog Post #11 "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time"

Poem:

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,

   Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

   Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,

   The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

   And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,

   When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

   Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

   And while ye may, go marry;

For having lost but once your prime,

   You may forever tarry.

Response:

From the title, I assume that the speaker is addressing Virgins (virgins in the sexual sense or virgins to the world?), and I guess "to make much of time" just means to use their time wisely.
The poem basically says time passes quickly and what you think you have now you wont have tomorrow, and youth is a terrible thing to waste so they should take advantage of it (and get married bc who would want to marry you when you're not young and pretty amirite ladies???)
There's a lot of imagery and metaphor used to amplify this message of not wasting time. "Flying time," for example, helps strengthen just how quickly time moves by.  "Gather ye rosebuds" is a good use of imagery to help the read conceptualize when the speaker is communicating, as is the imagery involving the sun, to better communicate the passage of time.
Now, this is all well and good, wanting people not to squander their youth, but by the final lines of the poem, we can see that all this talk was just about marriage. "Gather ye rosebuds," and the references to flowers in the poem, can be likened to marriage- the virgins only have but a bit of time to get married, as the rosebuds only have a bit of time to be plucked. (Alternatively, I think the flowers could be used to express female genitalia, as they often are used in literature. The virgins must gather their flowers before time runs out and no one wants their flowers anymore)(flower is also another name people use for vagina but like I don't know why?)
"For having lost but once your prime/ you may forever tarry" This last line really drives it home, basically saying that if you don't marry in your prime, you may never get married (from putting it off our because you're not young and beautiful anymore yay!!!).
So in summary: the poet uses a lot of great metaphors and imagery to demonstrate the passing of time, and encourage some virgins to get married.

(Side note: So like cool that part of this poem is all carpe diem but the fact that it's literally just about how if these virgins don't marry before they're out of their prime they never will is sooooooo gross.
and like I also recognize the time period it was written in but this poem didn't stop being read back then, people still read it now. We need to be conscious of how literature can shape our world, and in our current world, telling a woman she better get married now before she isn't pretty anymore and no one will want her is real messed up and rubs me the wrong way and makes me so confused as to how people don't understand how literature can be political??? And how they try to remove the text from the present day with excuses like "WELL WHEN IT WAS WRITTEN BLAH BLAH BLAH" like okay???That's great if your analyzing it purely New Historical. But that's not what our society is like right now. Ideas change, society changes, morals change. Anyway I'm sorry this was way off track and more political than I'd need to be on the AP test but I'm real heated about what's going on in baltimore right now  + having a white conservative family try to tell me about it lmaaaaaaooooooo so yeah I hope you're having a great night Bavaro)

Blog Post #10 "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

Poem:

The whiskey on your breath   

Could make a small boy dizzy;   

But I hung on like death:   

Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans   

Slid from the kitchen shelf;   

My mother’s countenance   

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist   

Was battered on one knuckle;   

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head   

With a palm caked hard by dirt,   

Then waltzed me off to bed   

Still clinging to your shirt.

Response: 

To be completely honest, the first time I read this, I thought it was about the young boy being abused by his alcoholic father. the language that the poet uses to describe the scene is very violent and/or has a negative connotation. For example, the first line is "whiskey on your breath" which already sets the father up as someone who is drunk or has been drinking, and is followed by "could make a small boy dizzy," also showing that the father has been drinking enough to affect his son, either because he smells the whiskey, or the whiskey causes the father to act in such a way/do things that make the boy dizzy. Right after is also the line :hung on like death," the "death" part in particular adding to a dreary mood.
Then, there are the lines "The hand that held my wrist/ was battered on one knuckle." The fact that the father's knuckle is battered could suggest that he's violent/ gets into fights in order to have his knuckle damaged.
The two lines after, "my right ear scraped a buckle," could be seen as the son getting hit by a belt, like getting hit on his ears (I know some friends who used to be "disciplined" by being beat on the ears/head).  The next stanza starts with the line "you beat time on my head," with the word "beat" adding to this interpretation because it comes off as a very emphatic/strong way to put this, and could also be like the father beating him continuously over time.

However, I do think the poem can be read as just a very loud, rambunctious waltz session between a son and his father, where they're being super loud in the kitchen and mom disproves and whenever the missteps the son bumps his ear on his belt buckle because he's short and the dead is a little drunk so he's a bit careless with how he's keeping time on the kids head. It's just that the connotation of the words, and the diction, makes the scene seem very upsetting/violent/not like a super fond memory.

Update: I looked on shmoop and they talked about the poets history and how his dad died when he was young and that he still tends to write like a lost young boy and how even his memories that should be happy have been tainted with his father's death which could be why this scene came off as so morbid and I think that's really interesting!! Just because using the author's personal history to analyze a piece of literature sin't really something I'm super used to. I mean we've done it sometimes but it's never been super heavily emphasized/ ingrained in me to do it.

Blog Post #9, "Rites of Passage"

Poem:

Rites of Passage by Sharon Olds

As the guests arrive at our son’s party   

they gather in the living room—

short men, men in first grade

with smooth jaws and chins.

Hands in pockets, they stand around

jostling, jockeying for place, small fights

breaking out and calming. One says to another

How old are you? —Six. —I’m seven. —So?

They eye each other, seeing themselves   

tiny in the other’s pupils. They clear their   

throats a lot, a room of small bankers,

they fold their arms and frown. I could beat you

up, a seven says to a six,

the midnight cake, round and heavy as a

turret behind them on the table. My son,

freckles like specks of nutmeg on his cheeks,   

chest narrow as the balsa keel of a   

model boat, long hands

cool and thin as the day they guided him   

out of me, speaks up as a host

for the sake of the group.

We could easily kill a two-year-old,

he says in his clear voice. The other   

men agree, they clear their throats

like Generals, they relax and get down to   

playing war, celebrating my son’s life.

Response:

So this poem is basically about a first grade boy celebrating his birthday in a room filled with friends. From the title, it can be determined that the poem is about some kind of rite of passage, the transition from one phase of life to another. After reading the poem, I think this transition could possibly be the passage from boyhood into adulthood. This is odd to say, considering these are six and seven year olds, but their actions could be mirroring this transition, or at least be imitating it. The behavior the boys are displaying, particularly the description of this behavior, is resonant with males much older, drifting into becoming working adults. For example, "They clear their throats a lot, a room of small bankers, they fold their arms and frown" displays behavior that might normally be attributed to older people (especially with the help of "small bankers" as a descriptor). "Small bankers" especially adds to the feeling of these boys at least imitating this journey into adulthood, by assigning the boys a role that they're acting out, and the 'small" separates them from the occupation, makes them seem different from just a "normal" banker. The line "speaks up as a host for the sake of the group" also gives off a more "adult" feeling, as you have someone stepping out as leader and making their voice heard, and being a "host."I also think part of this passage communicates the propensity (I'd say more the inclination vs the natural tendency tbh bc I personally think a lot of it is nurture and society raising men to believe it's totally okay for them to be violent and in fact teaching them that it's manly to be violent) towards violence in men and this allowance of letting boys grow up believing that this is the behavior expected of them. Kids tend to mirror the behavior they see, hence their body language (the folding of the arms, clearing their throats), but also these ideas. They're surrounded by men all the time who probably also feel like they need to be violent or have been taught to be violent and the kids are mirroring that behavior and it shows boys being taught to be so violent and war hungry since a small age. This is their rite of passage, this violence is a sign of their growing up and embracing theworld around them. The line "they relax and get down to playing war" suggests further this passivity regarding violence and how lightly it's often regarded, hence the "relax." It is implying that playing war, war being an intensely emotionally, mentally, and physically violent environment, is relaxing for the boys. But yeah, I think the poem addresses how part of "growing up" for men often involves developing this violent nature that becomes regarded as normal, and that it is developed at a very young age, and is so normal in fact, that it is used as a "celebration" in this context.

Blog Post #8 "The youngest Daughter"

Poem:

The sky has been dark

for many years.

My skin has become as damp

and pale as rice paper

and feels the way

mother’s used to before the drying sun   

parched it out there in the fields.

      Lately, when I touch my eyelids,

my hands react as if

I had just touched something

hot enough to burn.

My skin, aspirin colored,   

tingles with migraine. Mother

has been massaging the left side of my face   

especially in the evenings   

when the pain flares up.

This morning

her breathing was graveled,

her voice gruff with affection   

when I wheeled her into the bath.   

She was in a good humor,

making jokes about her great breasts,   

floating in the milky water

like two walruses,

flaccid and whiskered around the nipples.   

I scrubbed them with a sour taste   

in my mouth, thinking:

six children and an old man

have sucked from these brown nipples.

I was almost tender

when I came to the blue bruises

that freckle her body,

places where she has been injecting insulin   

for thirty years. I soaped her slowly,

she sighed deeply, her eyes closed.

It seems it has always

been like this: the two of us

in this sunless room,

the splashing of the bathwater.

In the afternoons

when she has rested,

she prepares our ritual of tea and rice,   

garnished with a shred of gingered fish,

a slice of pickled turnip,

a token for my white body.   

We eat in the familiar silence.

She knows I am not to be trusted,   

even now planning my escape.   

As I toast to her health

with the tea she has poured,

a thousand cranes curtain the window,

fly up in a sudden breeze.

Reaction:

Right away, the title suggests that the poem will be based around the youngest daughter in a family. The title makes me think of two things: how the youngest child is often the most spoiled or the most responsible. Like, either they got everything they wanted because they were the youngest, or they had to do everything themselves because everyone else had responsibilities of their own.
The poem is about the youngest daughter in a family having to take care of her mouth in her old age, all the while feeling both loving and bitter (bitter because she has to sacrifice her freedom to stay and take care of her mother.) The daughter wishes to run away, and the mother knows this.
There seems to be a very strained warmth between the two. The language in the poem suggests that the mother is affectionate towards the daughter ("her voice gruff with affection," "mother has been messaging the side of my face"), and in turn the daughter takes care of the mother. However, there is a great bitterness that comes through in the tone, through the way the speaker describes their own unhealthy appearance,  and the endless duties and rituals she must perform. These experiences seem endless to the narrator ("It has always/ been like this:/ the two of us/ in this sunless room"). The "sunless room" creates a very dreary, sad feeling, and adds to the bitterness of the poem.
I think the poem helps to demonstrate the complexities of parent-child relationships. The daughter loves her mother, but she feels trapped and resentful toward her mother as well. I think that even if they aren't going through this exact situation, this is relatable to a lot of people. I think that children (including teenagers, adults, etc.) can often develop these bitter feelings towards their parents based on how they act. Uh, for example, if my mom were really vehement about me not going to college in california, and maybe guilt tripped me into staying, I'd probably be bitter about it, I'd feel like she was holding me back. So I think it just presents an emotional relationship that younger people (or even the parents, knowing that they're maybe trapping their kids but unable to do differently) can relate to.

Blog Post 4/13/15 "Those Winter Sundays"

In this poem, the speaker talks first about how his father wakes up early in the morning on sunday and lights the fireplace to warm up the house, saying that his father gets up early even after a hard week of work. No one, including the speaker, ever thanks him. Then the speaker would wake up, but perhaps fearing his father a little bit, like maybe his dad yells a lot (chronic angers). Even when the speaker would go down and talk his father, it was without enthusiasm or compassion. The speaker is reflecting on the past, saying that he didn't realize when he was younger that these were expressions of love (his father waking up early to warm the house and shine the speaker's shoes).
It seems like there might have been a lack of very open affection while the speaker was growing, like his father was never directly affectionate and had bouts of anger. This put a bit of a strain on the father-child relationship, and kind of distanced them from each other a bit. The speaker didn't realize until they were older that while their dad wasn't super touchy-feely, he still loved them, and showed his love in more simple ways.
I think this poem is really universal (especially as a teenager). I know I have the same kind of relationship with my parents. My family was never very touchy or good with emotions, so blatant acts of affection were incredibly rare, especially as I got older. I find myself feeling the same way as the speaker, just having a sort of vague indifference towards my parents, and not really knowing how to build a relationship with them because there wasn't ever that outward connection and affection. I know my parents do little things (like turning off my lights when I fall asleep with them on, among others), but it's kind of hard to recognize that in the moment. You don't always see this as their way of making a connection until you've gotten older. So I mean, I think the poem wonderfully portrays the complexities of parent-child relationships, where things aren't always transparent, and their can be love, disdain, enthusiasm and indifference all at once, and does it in a way where it could probably relate to a lot of people. Even if you've only ever felt like that way for one second of your life, I think it captures it pretty well.

Poem Blog (4/10/15) (When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman)

So in this poem it seems that there is a student in a class listening to an astronomy professor lecture about the equations used for studying stars, and all the technical aspects of the science. The student feels sick and leaves, walking alone at night, occasionally looking at the stars. I wasn't entirely sure what this poem was saying when I finished reading it, but after thinking about it for a little, I think it's talking about how education can kind of take the beauty and experience out of certain things, or how we have a tendency (again, in school esp) to turn everything into an equation rather than just enjoying them for what they are. I guess it's just addressing how over explaining things, and trying to find a reason, just kills certain things.
The first half of the poem is the speaker discussing how the teacher is lecturing about diagrams and charts and equations to "measure them" (them being the stars). At this point the speaker feels uneasy- probably because the astronomer is talking about everything but the stars. the math is all the there, the science, but the actual stars, and the appreciation of the stars, aren't. The words in the second half of the poem (where he walks by himself looking at the stars) are much more intriguing and positive ("mystical moist night-air" where mystical paints the sky and night-air to be unreal and fantastical and lovely, "perfect silence"), further showing the speaker's feelings that it's better to not let the technicality destroy the beauty of things.
I think the poem also has a note of nonconformity, as the character kind of casts aside this formal education to be how he wanted to be, and learn how he wanted to (by just looking at the stars by himself), which goes against society's obsession with college and formal education.

I do kind of relate to the speaker, honestly. I've always loved space and the sky and I'm constantly afraid that taking an astronomy class might kill it for me. Like, the more I made it technical and concrete the more I would lose sight of how important it is to just appreciate the night sky. But I think the fact that I love science wold just make it more enjoyable for me, because I'd love to learn the equations and diagrams used to study stars and space and planets, and be able to not only view it as this large, abstract, wondrous thing, but as something relatable, something I could actually do something with. Like I just think being able to study something that seems larger than life with a few equations is super rad.

Poem Blog (4/8/15) "We Real Cool"

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks

What initially caught my attention with the poem was the form. Each line (accept the last) ends with the word “we.” Because of this there’s kind of this “pause” right after the “we,” before saying the rest of the sentence. This also makes each line rhyme more towards the middle rather than the end, while still having the rhymes rhythmically sound like they come toward the end.

When I started to analyze the poem, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. my first assumption/gut reaction was that it was making some kind of commentary on the minorities in america regarding their perception and actions as a result of societal standards. This first came from the grammatical style, with it saying “we real cool” versus “we are really cool,” as this is perceived as common in aave and language often associated with minorities (which is a whole other thing omg). I also connected it to how because of the socioeconomic disparities in the united states, and the deeply ingrained prejudice, that these kids weren’t in school, and were acting “bad” (b/c often in neighborhoods where the majority population are minorities, they receive poor funding for everything, and the city has a general disinterest towards their education and schools, leading to higher dropout rates.) The last line added onto this reading of the poem monumentally, as it says “we die soon.” I thought this was a comment on how POC and minorities as a whole are often targeted and die much sooner than their white, affluent counterparts.

After my initial reaction i wanted to read it a lot closer and pay more attention to each line, so i just started from the beginning. The subtitle, I guess you could call it, says “The Pool Players./ Seven at the Golden Shovel.” I assume the setting is some kind of pool hall or bar, named the “Golden Shovel.” I’m not sure if “seven” is referring to the time, or to the amount of people the poem is focusing on. The next two lines are “we real cool. we/ left school. we” So I think the use of “we” could be either whoever is looking at these players imagining what they think, or could be the players speaking themselves. I think if it’s the players themselves it adds a bit more to the poem, because it attributes this sense of timid confidence (because the pause after the we at each line kind of makes it sound a little unsure), and it makes these players very aware of what they’re doing. I’m also assuming that them saying ‘we left school” means they dropped out of school (just because a later line mentions june, so this might be taking place in summer, and also I’m p sure most people don’t go to a pool hall until later at night).

“Lurk late. We/ Strike straight. We” References the fact that they stay out all night, and are playing pool (maybe also tied to fighting? You can strike another person). The word “lurk” also makes the players seem more intimidating, and the combination of “lurk” and “strike” lends itself to something dangerous, possibly fights, possibly lurking to follow a woman or man or easy “prey” to “strike” them (rape/assault/etc.)

I just kind of continued this process for the rest of the poem, coming away with a sense that the players took pride in these dastardly activities, but again, had this sneaking bit of insecurity in the back of their heads. I think it could still be a comment on how racial or socioeconomic prejudice affects people, like if we think of minorities specifically, the communities created from societal oppression promote this behavior as something tough and cool, but racial prejudice also kind of crafts this huge sense of insecurity in young minorities, like everything they do is wrong.

Winter Break Blog #2 (Danse Russe by WCW)

Like Sylvia Plath's poem, i kind of just read this for fun the first time. It was super cute sounding!! Like it seemed like this person who just decided to embrace their state of being alone and embrace who they are and all their imperfections, or was trying to, and just kind danced around their room. That's all I really took away from it when reading it the first time. I honestly didn't even know what I would be expected to answer on a test about it, because I didn't get anything else out of when reading it the first time.
Again, reading it the second time I tried to analyze every part of it, instead of just summarizing it as a whole. I started with the title, "Danse Russe." It looked like it was in a foreign language, and I remembered briefly learning about W.C Williams in Mazza's and that he was like french?? So I put it into google translate (it was french) and it came out as 'Russian Dance," which I'm not sure how to take (maybe it just relates to how emphatic typical Russian folk dances are???). So I just went line by line from there. The first three lines establish the setting and character (in a house, he's got a wife and kid and someone named Kathleen (nanny?)). The next three continue the setting, providing morning imagery and let the readers know the time of day.  When the speaker starts talking about the dancing, he describes it as "grotesque," because it's probably not something society would expect from a father. It refers to all this passion disconnected from the constraints of society. The speaker is kind of coming to terms with himself and his body, and the part of him that has been suffocated by society and domestic life and the expectations that come with it. After, he talks about being lonely, I guess because he can't fully be himself when he's around his family and out in society, and he's at his best when he's alone, when he's lonely, when he can just be himself.  He finally accepts his body and any imperfections, while, in the last two lines, showing that he can still be the strong head of house. he can both be this ambitious, real person, and this important father figure.

Winter Break Blog Reaction (Mirror by Sylvia Plath)

Reading this poem the first time for me was kind of just reading it for fun, because I really like Sylvia Plath, and it was much more geared toward philosophy and interpreting it artistically than really analyzing it and understanding what was going on. I tried answering the questions after reading it the first time and discovered that I may be thinking about it too hard (I figured the answers must have been more straight forward/literal, than interpretive.). I thought mostly about these abstract ideas the poem was giving (like it being a little eye of god, which is beautiful language tbh) and how the woman felt, rather than, like I mentioned previously, what was actually going on. It's not that I didn't understand the poem, but that I did that thing that our class has a tendency to do, where I went straight into how it related to society.

The second time reading I tried to focus on what was literally going on, the actual actions. The TP-CASTT chart helped a lot with this, because it made it easier to pick apart the poem and analyze every single aspect. it made answering the questions a lot easier too, since I had a more literal interpretation of what was being stated. (I still don't know what it means when it says it's a lake, since I'm pretty sure later it references the lady coming in and turning the light on in the room again, but yeah, everything else made a lot more sense.)

The questions that were the easiest for me were actually the ones where you had to read the poem more literally (like one question asked what "the face replaces the darkness" meant and I thought that was easier) as well as ones involving like vocabulary and how it's used. the questions I had the hardest time with were ones regarding like the form of the poem, like it's rhyme scheme and patterns and meter and such. I still need a lot of work with that.

¨Spring and Fall¨ Close Reading and Reaction

"Margaret are you grieving/ Over Goldengrove unleaving"

• The Speaker questions if Margaret is sad about the leaves falling off the trees
• The first thing i notice about this line is the word "unleaving." It sounds strange, like "undo" or "undress," but I'm pretty sure it's not a real word. 

"Leaves, like the things of man, you/ With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?"

• Basically saying Maragaret cares for leaves falling off tress the same amount she cares about humans (or human struggles)
• The phrase "can you?" seems very odd, it just hangs in the air, like someone got cut off, but it's phrased as an entire question.

"Ah! as the heart grows older/ It will come to such sights colder"

• Either that Margaret won't have as much sympathy for these kinds of things in the future, or just that she'll literally see colder sights (like cold weather)
• I noticed that rather than referring to Margret directly, the speaker says "the heart" which I think helps to build a larger connection to society

"By and by, nor spare a sigh/ Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;"

• Margret won't "spare a sigh" for the leaves falling in the future, even if tons of leaves from trees (wanwood) fall to the ground
• It's interesting that it's an adult speaking this to a child (or so I assume). I think it indicates a loss of innocence, since this child won't be caring about the small, seemingly insignificant things in the future, and will stop caring about things.

"And yet you will weep and know why"

• Margret will still cry in the future, but it won't be over leaves. 
• The "know why" and "will" kind of come together to sound like a command, or a "listen up" (like, I'm about to tell you why you will be crying). It could also just suggest Margret will be aware of why she feels upset.

"Now no matter, child, the name:/ Sorrow's springs are the same"

• Sorrow doesn't really change, it always comes for similar reasons, and doesn't have a
  "happy" spring time. Could also be saying that sorrow is similar forever, like everyone experiences the same sadness eventually, even if they call it something different
• The speaker is choosing to personify Sorrow, and give it possessions (Sorrow's springs) and makes it more than just a word.

"No mouth had, no nor mind expressed/ What heart heard of, ghost guessed:"

• You can't always describe the sadness you feel in your heart with words or thought. Not sure about the ghost part.
• It's creating this kind of melancholic mood, by saying sadness is unavoidable, but you may never be able to express it properly. Kind of philosophical?

"It is blight man was born for, / It is Margret you mourn for"

• Humans are made to experience sadness and not comprehend it, it happens to everyone. Margret is actually mourning for herself, since she's mourning the leaves dying, and it reflects the fact that humans will get old and die. Mourning the temporary nature of everything.
• The first thing I notice is that the speaker is using the phrase "It is," which kind of implies that what he's saying is an assertion, it's a fact.  I also notice that he references Margret in relation to herself, telling her she's mourning herself, which is strange. The phrase threw me off, making me think the speaker was addressing us, or a third party.

This was really challenging!!! It was frustrating trying to pick apart the poem and analyze it line by line, instead of reading the whole thing and just coming up with some sort of summary. Like sometimes I would have no idea what a line meant and just tried to piece together whatever made sense. Poetry is very hard for me to grasp immediately and understand easily, and yeah this activity was hard. I do think reading the poem like this can help you come up with a better overall theme, and gives you the evidence and analysis you need when arguing a point, instead of coming up with a point and then trying to figure out how to analyze the text to find good evidence.

Analyzing Literature

3 things I learned/thought were important:

• It's not worth much on the AP Exam for simply identifying the tools the author uses to convey the meaning of the work as a whole. There is "no what without why." I guess before I was like "well maybe I can still pass if I know what they did at least?????" but I mean now I definitely see that that would not really work. The AP evaluators are looking to see your analysis, which has to go beyond just what, it has to link it to the text, so they can see your understanding. It's just important for me because I know I still have  hard time making that last little connection that would help my writing a lot.
• I never realized how pace can affect a story. It was never something I really thought about, or perhaps nothing I could ever give a name to. And it can completely alter the way we interpret a situation, a character, and the story as a whole so it's just interesting that I had never encountered it in any of m other English classes (public school sigh), or even thought of it's impact. 
• Okay again I blame the fact that my quality of education has been pretty inconsistent but I never learned the difference between a narrator and speaker???? Narrator and author yeah (even if a lot of us tend to equate the two), but never narrator and speaker. Whenever I've heard someone use both terms (including past teachers) it was in a way that equated them, implied they were the same thing, so I never knew they were different and did different things for the meaning of the text.

2 questions I still have/skills I need to learn

• Oh my god I have so much to learn for poetry Bavaro it is insane. I think I've talked about poetry in an English class probably, at a maximum, seven times. And not what makes up a poem and all the intricacies or even the necessary basics. We just talked about what we thought it meant, but not really anything else. I haven't learned about the formal aspects of poetry since probably third grade, when I learned about a stanza, and an aabb or abab rhyme scheme. And the whole sound pattern section on poetry makes no sense wowie.
• Uh picking up on symbols honestly. The packet said not to go hunting for symbols, and I don't usually do that anyway, but whenever we had to talk about symbolism in Feldman's class or your class I just????? I think the problem I normally have, which I noticed a lot last year, is that I guess that I recognize something is appearing a lot and is important, but I'm never like "oh that's a symbol." And so when people would volunteer with a super important symbol they noticed and it's meaning I would just be like "oh wait I thought that was obvious though what???" SOOOO I think part of the problem is that I make symbolism much harder for myself than it should be. The packet said it too, the author isn't trying to hide these things from you. So yeah symbols man. It's just a mixture of me not being able to ever make that connection/give it a name, and over complicating things all the time always.

1 skill you feel you know so well ypu could teach others

• I feel really confident in analyzing point  of view,  and distinguishing the different types. Plus a lot of my recent analyses have been surrounding how point of view contributes to the meaning of the text and I just like it. Yeah.