Toward the Future/From the Past

1. Congratulations! You wrote your first play. Reflect on your experiences here in paragraph form. Be sure to including explanation for your ideas. Write at least 75 words.

I thought it was hard to express the character’s thoughts and feelings in a play because I had to work it in the dialogue. Also, explaining terms, background info, and flashbacks are hard to translate to play form through the dialogue. I thought it was convenient to write in play form for setting and for character’s actions. I thought it was a fun challenge to write a playwright than in novel form because I’m not used to writing plays.

2. Now that you have an idea about what a personal essay is and does, write down some ideas of what story you may want to relate AND what ideas you may want to express with that story. Write at least 100 words (though, the more you have, the more helpful it will be).

I was thinking of writing about a mission trip I went on last summer with my church to build a house for a Mexican family. I think it would be a good choice because the experience was memorable and because it was the first time I traveled to a developing country. I could describe how different it was being in Mexico than America and how it differed from my expectations. I could also describe the experience of building a house and being at the base camp. I could describe the various delicious foods that were served at the camp. I could also describe how sweet and thankful the Mexican family was.

3. If you could give advice to a kid who was 10 years old, what advice would you give him or her on growing up in today's world? Would you give advice based upon your own experiences? Would you give advice based upon what you see in others? Would you advice be based on their thoughts, their choices, peer issues, school? Explain your advice and why you give it. Write at least 100 words.

I would tell the 10 year old boy to remain sociable and not waste his time with videogames, although some game time is acceptable (just don’t get addicted). I would suggest that he remain active with sports although not have his whole life become them. I would tell him to make his best effort in school and do all his homework on time in order to get good grades. I’d tell him to challenge himself with higher level courses (such as AP) to get into a good college so that he could advance into graduate school and get a lucrative job/career.

Luigi Pirandello, playwright: "A man will die, a writer, the instrument of creation: but what he has created will never die!"

1. How important is theme in what you write? Does a great piece of literature need to express an idea? Explain your thoughts on the matter using examples from things you've read. In your response, address the opposing viewpoint. (Write at least 100 words.)

I think it is very important to include a theme in my writing or any writing for that matter because theme gives writing a purpose. People rarely write for the sake of writing. Most people write for a purpose and convey a message through a theme to the reader. Same thing goes for me. I don’t usually write just for writing because that would be dull and uninteresting. Theme gives writing a deeper meaning and more interesting. In my poems I wrote, I included a theme within each of them in my portfolio. In my poem “time”, I included the theme that time affects people in many ways and governs our lives.

2. Great works of literature can last a long time. Jane Austen's novels (including Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility) are still popular almost 200 years after they were first published. Anne Bradstreet's poems have survived about 400 years. The works of Greek playwright Euripides (who wrote Medea) have survived for over 2000 years. What do you think causes great literary works to live forever? Could you ever foresee yourself writing something that lasts that long? (Write at least 75 words.)

Those literary works last forever because they have a profound effect on society. For example, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen criticized the upper class of society for their customs and ways. Many of Greeks philosophers or play writer are remembered because their works are the most ancient in western culture as well as first to venture in philosophy. Usually works that especially controversial in the time written or popular for a given literary period is remembered by society.

3. If you could have one long-lasting impact on the world around you, what would you want it to be? Explain why that is important to you and how, as a writer, you could have the chance to make that impact. (Write at least 100 words.)

As a writer, if I had the chance to change anything in the world I would eliminate all current deadly diseases by writing the antibodies needed to defeat them in a manual.
However, in the current realm of possibility, as a writer I would write about all the truths of the world, how things are the way they are. I would go to the most oppressed, the exploited and the poor people of the world and write about how they got the way they are and what can be done to help them. I would make it so that ignorant people of the world would realize the problems of these people so that the world can be a better place.

"I am a thinker and I think thinks"

1. What concerns me in this world is that more people are concerned about the environment (forests, global warming) and animals (endangered) than human beings dying of diseases (AIDS, HIV) and poor nutrition because they are too poor. Environmentalists think more highly of animals than human beings. They believe than humans are the polluters of the world and that animals should be treated with more respect than the average human being.

Happiness

1. Happiness is: -feeling or showing pleasure, contentment, or joy.
-feeling satisfied that something is right or has been done right.
-resulting unexpectedly in something pleasant or welcome.

2. What makes me happy is seeing others become happy because of what I did. I'm also happy when I see others enjoy or appreciate my work. Working on something that will later be appreciated makes me happy as well.

3. I think my parents have a great influence on my happiness. When my parents are in a bad mood, I tend to not be as happy and vice versa. Weather also tends to affect my happiness as crummy weather or darkness at an early hour can decrease my happiness and vice versa.

4. I think I affect the happiness or my parents significantly as well. I believe I have some influence on the happiness of my friends too. In addition, I can influence the happiness of my cats by giving them attention or by playing with them.

5. My greatest need is probably to be happy which is directly related to happiness obviously. The most important thing is to be happy because as human being we have a right to be happy. To be happy requires effort and commitment which is difficult for most people.

Assignment #8

Brainstorm ideas for pictures to go with my poems in my portfolio:

<--What is art?

<---- Music

<---Time

Assignment #7

1. I really enjoyed writing poems in this quarter because I like to write poems concisely with rhyming.
2. I believe that the poems in my portfolio were my strongest pieces because I think that they were well written and some poems had a deep meaning to them. Surprisingly, I don't have much experience in writing poems.
3. I believe I need some due date and direction for assignment or else I won't ever get to do them. I also write best under pressure and need sort of direction or else I'm at a loss for ideas.
4. I think I would enjoy writing short plays next quarter.

Creating Fear

1. I like to be frightened only a little bit, however I love to frighten others especially my sister. Occasionally, I like to watch scary movies, but I don't normally watch horror movies.

2. I don't get scared easily, but there is only once thing that scares me a lot and that's a centipede- and only a certain species the one above. Every once and a while I see one crawling in my basement of my house.

3. To me a mad person is someone who has lost their morals and common since and isn't in their right mind.

4. Pressure can drive someone mad like money problems, divorce, being dumped, family leaves, no friends, humiliation, peer pressure, depression, and especially drugs and alcohol.

Assignment #5

1. It was a warm beautiful day in the park with a clear blue sky. There was joy and laughter in the atmosphere, but there was only one person who had a dark cloud over his head. That person was John who like always was depressed and lonely.

2. It was a day like any other for John. He would sit down on the same swing bench in the same park every afternoon.

3. Wham, then it went black. That was the last thing John remembered before he lost his family. but that was 5 years ago and now he still feels lonely and depressed as ever.

4. John was a very lonely and depressed man. He lost his family in a car accident and now he just strolls in parks wishing he could be there with his family.

Assignment #4

Task 1

A) The setting of Connie being alone adds suspense and some foreshadowing that something will go wrong.

B) I think Connie is a shallow person who doesn't appreciate her family. She is a self-centered person who only thinks of herself and boys. The crowd just feeds her ego of being popular and pretty which I think is distasteful.

E) I think it ends that Connie goes to ride with Arnold and his friend. To continue on the story (how I think it should end): Connie's family comes home to find Connie missing while Arnold Friend rapes and kills Connie. Later, police find Connie's body in a dumpster. Connie's mother feels no remorse and says she had it coming.

Task 2

1. Suspense-Connie alone
2. Thorough character development-Connie
3. Detailed character description
4. First person POW
5. Detailed setting description-house, restaurant
6. Concise plot development
7. Believable conversations
8. Background- Connie's mother
9. Intricate conflict
10. In depth character thoughts/emotions development

Assignment 3

Poem 1:

A soldier’s feet

It’s a bright sunny day
What’s wrong with this picture?
It’s the unfortunate soldier
with cracked feet
like a dried up riverbed
laying there on the ground,
lifeless.
The war goes on
until peace is achieved
which came much later
after more deaths, more fighting.
Poor unfortunate soldier
always be remembered for his sacrifice
in the capitol of D.C. with other fellow soldiers

Poem 2:

Time

Time is a weird thing
It has its quirks and moods
Sometimes it speeds up or slows down
Some people want it to pass fast, some want it to stop
It can be a mortal enemy or a friend
It can mean between life and death
It affects lives

It is such a strange thing
Looking in space is like a time machine
Seeing things ancient
Seeing things that no longer exist
Not seeing things already created

To conquer time means to conquer everything
Is such a feat possible?
Is it something that should be done if possible?
Could conquering it destroy everything?

Assignment #2

It was during last year when my family went to Sanibel, FL for summer vacation. The previous week, my grandfather suggested I read a book called Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku because he knew I was interested in science. The book intrigued me because I always had a knack for physics. It ended up taking the whole week to get through the novel because of the complexity of its concepts. It made me look at the universe with a new perspective and meaning.

“Physicists and astronomers around the world are now speculating about what these parallel worlds might look like, what laws they may obey, how they are born, and how they may eventually die. Perhaps these parallel worlds are barren, without the basic ingredients for life. Or perhaps they look just like our universe, separated by a single quantum event that made these universes diverge from us” (Kaku 5).

Isn’t it mind-blowing? Can you wrap your mind around it? Does it change your perspective of the universe, even life? Perhaps you need to read the novel in order to change your perspective and understand, however it might even make you more confused.

Prompt:
Is there an event, place, piece of writing that has significantly changed your perspective of things?

about me

A)
I like journal writing, but prefer not write poems.
B)
I like the authors Dan Brown and Michael Crichton because of their fast paced intense thriller novels they write. Some of my favorites include: Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress, Deception Point, Next
C)
Metaphor Poem:

Writing about Poems

Writing about poems can be fun
for some
For others, a poem is a huge ugly beast
that will eat them to say the least
However, the one practices writing
ideas will come like lightning
And poems won't be as threatening anymore
and you will want to write more
Nevertheless, it still is hard to write,
but teachers can help you do it right
if you let them, not out of sight
When you become a master of poems,
and other amateurs ask for help, its an omen
that you may become a professional writer
and in the future be writing poems on the computer
and publishing them to become an author.