Gatsby Playlist

I chose Irving Berlin: All Alone Lyrics because it reminds me of Gatsby and his love for Daisy. In the beginning he has to chase Daisy and then he always wonders what she is doing and how she is. The song says that he is "waiting for a ring" and Gatsby is just waiting for Daisy. He loves her and he wants to be there for him like he is for her. 

 I also chose Duke Ellington: It don't Mean a thing. This reminded me of Gatsby because it showed how careless he was. This song just says that life can be free and you can have fun, with things in life still being important. 

The last song I chose was Bert Kalmar: I Wanna Be Loved By You, I chose this because it shows how Tom wants Daisy. Tom knows that Daisy is in love with Gatsby but he still wants her. Tom finds ways to make Daisy upset with Gatsby, but she will always be with him.

 

Evaluation

This year has gone by so fast and I cannot believe this is the last blog. I will probably never do another blog just because I don't really have the time, but I thought that they were a lot of fun! I enjoyed writing the blogs because certain ones let me express my self, such as Having MY Say. I thought that one was very cool that we got to put our own ideas out there for you to read. I will admit that I did not always try my hardest, but for this one I am actually writing and trying to write a lot because I want you to know that this was interesting. The blog that I least enjoyed was the Gatsby play list, I am still in the process of doing that one and I am dreading it. I do not think that I learned anything from this, it simply allowed me to express myself. I think that was a fun assignment but I do not think that I would recommend it for next years juniors simply for he fact that it is time consuming and we do not have the time to do it. Thanks(:

Stephen Crane

 "A Spirit Sped"

A spirit sped
Through spaces of night;
And as he sped, he called,
"God! God!"
He went through valleys
Of black death-slime,
Ever calling,
"God! God!"
Their echoes
From crevice and cavern
Mocked him:
"God! God! God!"
Fleetly into the plains of space
He went, ever calling,
"God! God!"
Eventually, then, he screamed,
Mad in denial,
"Ah, there is no God!"
A swift hand,
A sword from the sky,
Smote him,
And he was dead.

I think that this poem is saying that we need to be grateful for 

all of the things that God has and will do for us. We always want

to go to God when we are times of trouble and sometimes we forget

that we just need to give him praise. We should never deny the love

that God has for us because only bad can come out of that. That is

what I think Crane is maybe trying to say.

Civil Rights

First off, I thought that the article you found (Ms. Williams) was very interesting!

I'm not too sure if this one works so I'm going to do two. My first is based off of a movie called "Freedom Writers," it is about a new young white teacher who went into this ghetto school and the African Americans and Latinos were in her class and she changed their lives completely. The school board did want to fund these students because they thought that they were dumb and would never do anything with their lives. The teacher ended up being their English teacher throughout their high school expierence and they beat the odds of graduating and going to college. This is also based on a true story.

http://www.starpulse.com/Movies/Freedom_Writers/Summary/

I picked this because I thought that the teacher stuck up for what she believed in and did what was right. At first she was taken back by how the students acted and she was not open to teaching them, she wanted to give up. In the end she changed their lives. This relates to Bessie I think because she had opinions about white people and she said if it wasn't for teachers then she would not like white people, so she had to be open minded as well; just like the teacher. Sadie and Bessie also beat the odds of going to college and succeeding, just like the students. I think that the teacher just took a stand for what she believed in.

This is my second on:

http://www.enotes.com/civil-rights-article


The article dealt with the fact that people were losing their faith during the fight for equality. Malcolm X thought that people should fight for what they want and it does not matter what the conditions may be. Malcolm disagreed with a lot of things that King said. This article is related to everything that we talked about because it talked about what Malcolm X believed in and how he thought the situations should be handled.

Twain

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_twain.html

I picked the quote: "Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." -Mark Twain

I did this one because I think that it says that we should continue to take risks and go for the obstacles in life as we age. We should not be afraid of things and simply just let our age stop us. We should try to do the things that we would do when we were younger, as we get older. Age is simply a number.

Walking Through Harlem

When I read books I really try to picture a lot the things as they are happening, while I read "Having Our Say" I did that. I made like a mental picture of what their life and surroundings were like. It was cool to see what Harlem is like considering I have never been there or even seen a picture really. I pictured the churches to just be like little small places and not very unique but when I looked through the Harlem Walk I realized the churches were really big and cool looking! I would have liked to been able to see the inside of the beauty salon just see what it was like but that's okay. From the dentist office that Bessie shared with her brother on 7th street, they could see everything (well I thought that they might have a good view). I really liked this website!

Emily Dickinson

In the Garden

A bird came down the walk:
He did not know I saw;
He bit an angle-worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw.

And then he drank a dew
From a convenient grass,
And then hopped sidewise to the wall
To let a beetle pass.

He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad, --
They looked like frightened beads, I thought;
He stirred his velvet head

Like one in danger; cautious,
I offered him a crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home

Than oars divide the ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or butterflies, off banks of noon,
Leap, plashless, as they swim.


This poem is about a bird. I think that is very interesting because she makes it seem like the birds or animals in general are smart. It said that the bird moved over so the beetle could pass, that is like us moving over for a small child in a way because we don't want to plow over them.  This poem is showing the circle of life and how everyone plays a part.

Having MY Say

"The mathematician does not study pure mathematics because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it and he delights in it because it is beautiful." --J.H.Poincare

J.H.Poincare was a mathematician. I came across this quote one day when I was bored in Mr. Fisk's fifth hour physics class. I really really liked it. I even put "and he delights in it because it is beautiful" as my facebook status and as a saved note in my cellphone. I am not really sure why I like it so much but I feel like it gives truth to a lot of things in life. I think that the quote is saying that you do something because you like it, it is beautiful, it is something that you really enjoy. I just really like this quote and I thought it was interesting because it made me think about the actual meaning behind it.

Picture Reflection

I found this picture by Tom Feelings and I thought that it was very interesting. In a way it look like all of the slaves are forming a ship. I shows the pain and struggles that the people had to go through. In the background you can see all of the other slaves lined up on the boat. This picture is very sad and it made me think.

http://sharonantique.com/wer/the%20middle%20passage%20by%20tom%20feelings.html

Whitman connecting to me.

I really liked this poem because it talks about ids and how they want to be like all of the other kids. When I was younger at time I would want to be like everyone else and do what everyone else was doing but then as i grew up I realized that is not the way that I should e loking at life. When you are a child you want to blend in and not stick out like a sore thumb and you tend to compare yourself to the other children around you. I think that this poem  just explains how Whitman views children.

Transcendentalism

I think that I like writing style of the transcendentalist because they are much more positive and happy go lucky. When I am doing anything I like to look at it all in a positive way. My parents have always told me to look at the positive side. When I read the transcendentalist writings they put me in a much better mood than when I read the other type. Walden was very interesting, the quotes that Henry put in his writings were so good and somtimes they would make me think about stuff.