Reading Notes W17: Poem, PART B

Works Cited: "Poem" by James Madison Bell
http://mshenglishcourses.pbworks.com/w/file/123178953/205%20Bell.pdf

-In commensalism of Abraham Lincoln, whom of which was assassinated
-Bell is the writer and narrator and it is in First Person Viewpoint, limited
- Bell speaks of the pain in losing the president who represented freedom
-even thought the president is dead, the narrator shows hopefulness in the end.

I think its also about the civil war. "One flag will wave" meaning that the narrator wants to avenge him by making the country whole again~ win the war against confederates

"One flag shall wave---and freedoms spirit, In peace and love o'ev all preside"


Themes: grief, nationalism, hope,

Reading Notes W17: The Rememberer, PART A

Works cited: http://www.napavalley.edu/people/LYanover/Documents/English%20121/English%20121%20Aimee%20Bender%20The%20Rememberer.pdf



Reverse evolution- losing memory and emotion

Baboon: wisdom, science and measurement
Sea turtle: determination, good luck, endurance
Salamander: immorality and rebirth


"Remeberer"~ perhaps dementia and Alzheimers- double entendre to narrator who is also remembering Ben.

One will lose memories, or maybe become the remembered so someone else must be the rememberer.


She had to give up in fear of finally seeing nothing. Her fear caused her to set him free, and yet, she still has hope he'll return.

Weekly Review: I QUIT!!!!

OVERALL: Honestly, I just feel COMPLETELY overworked. I have a lot to do to catch up in other courses. The deadline for my research project is next week, and so is TWO other projects for my English course. Both of which are group projects, and both of which I feel like I'm taking most of the load. Let's not mention the final exams as well..... I'm just experiencing a lot of anxiety, and I just want the semester to end, but also do so smoothly.

THIS COURSE: I'm currently at 463 points in the course, just finishing up W16 Analysis and including this EC assignment. That's a 481 after completing the rest of this weeks mandatory assignments. Since in week 17 we have a possible 30 points *shown in the grading chart* , I predict that I will end the course with a total of 511.

That being said, with my high work, school, and stress load currently....

I HAVE DECIDED THAT IT WOULD BE IN MY BEST INTEREST TO NOT CONTINUE WITH THE FINAL PROJECT FOR THIS COURSE.

*In all honesty I do and did not feel comfortable with using my book for the project. After changing my initial prompt choice to suit using the novel, I lost motivation and the essay felt forced. I had to add information that didn't necessarily fit my thesis just to make it the right length. It would have resulted in a rushed piece anyways...*

By sacrificing the project submissions (16 points total *8 a week, this and next*) , my predicted grade total would drop from a 511 to a 495....... out of 492....

Isn't that just peachy... with all the work I have done this semester in EXTRA CREDIT.... I can sacrifice TWO project submissions... and still finish with a 100.61% in the course. *I could even stop doing work for the rest of the semester in this course and still get an A... but I won't do that.* So I have decided to officially QUIT the project altogether for this class in aims to catch up in other courses. I may do other EC works; time and stress allowing, but as of now, that is the plan.

Week 16 Analysis: Literary Analysis on Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?

This week I will be doing a literary analysis on the poems in "Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?" by Tracy K. Smith. Before doing this, its important to have a bit of background information on the piece itself.

The subject of these poems "Bowie" refers to the recently passed away in 2016, famous pop singer, David Bowie. Its a collection of poems in her series Life on Mars which has the same title as Bowie's song. Smith likes to write poems about the cosmos, and her thoughts on life and death.She shut out the opinions of others on the subject of death, and gave her take on it. She shut out the opinions of others on the subject of death, and gave her take on it.  She used these poems to imagine Bowie, after his death, becoming a part of the cosmos. His presence is in a world paralleled to ours, still roaming in New York City. That being said, Smith's most prominent literary device would be allusion, and in this case, the allusion to David Bowie. David Bowie's cosmic appearance and wardrobe was even directly mentioned; "Some thin-hipped glittering Bowie-being--a starman" (Sec.1, Stanza 1, Line 3). In the reference, "The star that walks among us" we also get a double entendre. The star means both celebrity, but also a connection to the cosmic definition. We also get an example of overstatement when she compares Bowie to God, "Pope of Pop, coy as Christ" (Sec.2, Stanza 1, Line 2). Some of the poetic devices would include; free verse with open form, no set rhyme or meter, enjabment, alliteration, and euphony. All of these are used to amplify the imagery of the cosmos as compared to everyday life* also a metaphor* and the interestingly odd character of Bowie. It all also adds to the theme of embracing the different. With no rules in her writing, she parralells the beautifully unnatural perspective that she wants others to embrace.

Works Cited: "Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?" -Tracy K. Smith (link)

Reading Notes W16: Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?, PART B

Works Cited: "Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?" -Tracy K. Smith (link)

Some necessary background information:

The subject of these poems "Bowie" refers to the recently passed away pop singer, david Bowie. Its a collection of poems in her series Life on Mars which has the same title as Bowie's song. *this song is both popular but weird and i think that is why she wrote the poems with him as the subject.*

Smith likes to write poems about the cosmos, and her thoughts on life and death. She used these poems to imagine Bowie living it out after death, in another world. She shut out the opinions of others on the subject of death, and gave her take on it.


Here, watch this~ (video)

Reading Notes W16: Casa, PART A

Works Cited: "Casa" -Rigoberto Gonzalez (link)

Upon first reading: I really struggled to determine the narrator and what made the narrator so unmoved by it's people. At first I thought perhaps its an old bitter woman who once wasn't this way but lost a part of herself
-I also hoped that by the end of the poem, something would have changed in the narrator.

What I Realized:
-After reading the entirety of the poem, I realized that the narrator was actually a house.
In actuality, it is a house that once was a HOME to a family. Its a major PERSONIFICATION. The entire poem is a house speaking to a distraught person/persons.

-The house WAS a home:
"Take care, you fool,
and don't forget that I am just a house,
a structure without soul for those whose
patron saints are longing and despair."
The idea that it is "a structure without a soul for those whose patron saints are longing and despair" begs the idea that when it was filled with people of happiness and content, the home itself had a soul. A mood perhaps. *I can imagine a dark empty home (soulless) and a colorful and filled with memories and furniture home that has happy patrons (filled with soul)*

About the Author: Born in Bakersfield, CA but from Michoacán, Mexico. Chicano/Latino activist writer.

Week 15 Literary Analysis: Close Reading on "Orientation"

This week I will be doing a close analysis on "Orientation" by Daniel Orozco. Specifically, I will focus on paragraph two, which is a great representation of the point of view the story is told in. From this, I can also infer a few things about the setting as well as the speaker. The paragraph is as followed:

"You must pace your work. What do I mean? I’m glad you asked that. We pace our work according to the eight-hour workday. If you have twelve hours of work in your in-box, for example, you must compress that work into the eight-hour day. If you have one hour of work in your in-box, you must expand that work to fill the eight- hour day. That was a good question. Feel free to ask questions. Ask too many questions, however, and you may be let go."

This brief paragraph says a lot about how the story is being told. The narrator of this is obviously one who is a recently hired employee at an office location. It is in first person point of view, however, not a single time in this paragraph, or even in the entirety of the story does the employee speak a single word. This is the closest to the narrator speaking that we have. the speaker says "You must pace your work. What do I mean? I’m glad you asked that." This shows that either the narrator spoke and we did not hear it, or the speaker is inferring a question.

This also says a lot about the speaker. This person has not only been with the company to familiarize himself/herself enough to give the orientation, but they are overly confident and passive-aggressive. The narrator remains silent, yet the entirety of the orientation seems threatening. For example, "Feel free to ask questions. Ask too many questions, however, and you may be let go." This is obviously off-putting, but in many instances the speaker mentions being let go for different yet simple instances. The speaker has obviously given office tours and rules many times as the entire speech seems like a rapid robotic spiel with absence of emotion.

In my personal opinion, this is not a company I would like to work for, then again, I also never want an office job. While the task loads may not be hard on many occasions, i just don't feel comfortable with the unclear boundaries. Isn't it juxtaposing to say you can ask questions, but not too much? I'd feel uncomfortable asking questions all together with not knowing where my lines are drawn.


Works Cited:
https://fsgworkinprogress.com/2011/05/17/orientation-by-daniel-orozco/

Reading Notes W15: The Salve Trade, PART B

-slang
-calm tone and poetic but almost just descriptive language
-embracing the early african american culture
-mocking but jokingly and sarcastic at the end

Significance of title:
-counters "slave trade" which is against african americans
-salve is a hair product for natural hair

Reading Notes W15: Orientation, PART A

NARRATOR: The narrator of this is a silent one. Its a first person POV where they are listening to the employer. The narrator does talk, however it wasn't important enough for the author to actually let readers here it.

-the whole thing is like a robotic schpeil, almost like the employer gas sad it many times before. Some of the stories seem unorthodox and absurd, but as a new employee we don't feel the right to say anything as a rebuttle.

-this is a job i feel most people don't like... amd the employer seems to talk behind the backs of many of his employees

- some of the things mentioned were concerning employee safety yet, he says not to mention anything or get involved. It just doesn't seem like a healthy environment... if you know someone is being harmed at home, at least be a shoulder is my opinion

-it seems as though the things mentioned are deterring... strict rules... don't touch this or that, don't say anything, ask questions but not too much or you'll be fired. Its just not ideal