They Exist?

For Advanced Speech class this week I have a different type of blog. This blog is a piece that I wrote in collaboration with an art student. The art student drew a few drawings to go along with it but here is the story:

Astonishing news came in today from our neighboring city in the pacific. They’re under attack. This attack is something quite unusual as well; it’s a massive dragon that the people named Castratikon. In the night, a bolt of lightening hit the ground and cracked the earth. The dragon emerged from this hole. Their military is fighting to hold it back as much as they can but all attempts to kill it are failing. The dragon seemed peaceful but the military wanted to bring it down by shooting at it. This is what is believed to have made the beast angry. He then went on to attack the city. We believe that if they are unable to kill him then we’re doing to be attacked next.  I fear for everyone and their families. Honestly, I don’t like Empire City much but I do hope that they defeat this killer beast for that reason. Here in Hawaii, everyone is already preparing to evacuate in case the dragon is not killed. We have all our things packed and we’re ready to go at a moments notice. We keep hearing news from Empire City but none of it is good. Their people are dying and their buildings and houses destroyed. Some people here are already leaving because they have no faith in Empire City’s military. I have planned to wait it out until I know for sure that the dragon is coming but sent away my family because I do not want them harmed in anyway.

As the day continued, I went out into the streets where almost everyone is now in a massive panic. I’ve decided to interview a few people. One panicked man said, “I’m getting out of here! There is no way that their failure of a military is going to defeat that ferocious beast.” This man reflects the views of many people in the city today. A calmer woman said, “I have faith. They can do it. I’m going to go home and pray for them. What happens happens but I’m not leaving my home.” She is a crazy yet brave woman. I personally would not take that route.

Waiting in my home listening to the terror outside, I hear fantastic news come in on the radio, “The dragon has been killed!” The news must have broken outside as well because suddenly the cries of terror turn into cries of joy and happiness. Everyone was hooting and hollering, “The dragon has finally been defeated by the military.” The military got the beast to the ground by shooting him in the eye and then attacked when he hit the ground, ultimately killing him. This was a great victory for them. We were glad as well because we are also safe now. Now that this event has passed, we must work harder to make sure that there are no more dragons under ground. Also, the body of the dragon along with the hole it came out of is being investigated. Further details yet to come.

I am as _________ as _________.

Yesterday in class, we were given a prompt: Fill in the blanks, [I] [am] as ________ as ________. We could fill in whatever we wanted and we could interchange the “I am” part. I filled it in and elaborated on it. Miss Lester liked what I had to say so in this blog I've decided to post my response.

I am as curious as a puppy. I ask too many questions and say "what if" too many times. Millions of scenarios go thorough my head every week. Just like puppies, I wonder around places looking for new things and I love meeting new people. I am outgoing and spontaneous; always looking for something new to do. I hate staying in just one spot for a long amount of time because I feel like moving constantly. I like being outside on nice days even if it is just sitting in the grass and sometimes I even like being outside on rainy days. I love going on runs to different places; exploring.

During the summer, I'll be outside as much as possible. I'll walk almost anywhere because I hate taking a car when the walking distance isn't that far. Also in the summer it seems like I never get tired. I'll be out trying new things constantly, getting little to no sleep. I never want to do the same things in the summer either. I always want something new and better.

When asking so many questions, I get in some trouble sometimes. Some people don't mind but others think that I'm just annoying. They'll either answer or yell. When they yell I ask, "Why are you yelling?" and they just get even madder. It makes no sense to me because I'm just curious for the answer. This happens with my mom all the time. I'll ask why she's mad and she'll tell me. Then I'll ask why she feels that way and ten more questions and she'll get really mad. I just walk away after that.

In the past year I have searched throughout almost all of the woods in Cudahy. I've gotten lost several times but yet still managed to find my way out. There are very interesting views and scenery in the woods; different sounds an animals. Looking over the cliffs looks amazing, watching the wave’s crash down then roll up onto shore. It sounds very calming as well. I loved it there because it was so peaceful and it felt as if you were the only one in the world (until a bike rider went by of course).

Coming to Terms: Alice Walker Article (Revised Edition)

For my Advanced Compostion class, we were told to post a blog every week. This week I deicided to take a revised peice from class and post it. I decided to choose this piece. Enjoy :)

Alice Walker writes about how meditation helped her after her divorce with her husband among many other problems she had faced in her life. Her drive in this piece seemed to be her love of meditation and the peace that it brings to her every day. The piece explains the ideas of meditation, the things that it can do for one, and what exactly it does for her. She is very specific and all telling (explaining all aspects).  Also, she does not hold her feelings back; she lets it all out. Walker lets all of her readers know that meditation makes her so much happier and much better. All of the “loss, confusion, sadness. Anxiety Attacks. Depression. Suicidal inclinations. Insomnia,” gone.

            Meditation helps Walker a lot. She states that it “began to seem as if my inner vision had cleaned.” Meditation has affected her in a very strong way as it does with other people and this is clear throughout the piece. She writes, “I felt the lightness of heart that comes from knowing you’ve found something truly reliable and helpful.” As the reader, one can completely agree with this statement. It is clear as the reader that the meditation she practices helped her over come many things in her life. By her writing this short article, she allows others to share insight on her life. She completely opens herself up to all criticism which is truly inspiring to the reader. Near the very end of her piece she writes, “Our way to forgiveness, our way to letting go, our way to understanding, compassion and peace”. This line basically sums up her entire writing about meditation. Everything she is trying to say, said, or was going to say comes out through this sentence to the reader.  

This text describes what meditation does for Walker very well. She also does a great job of explaining what problems she has to overcome such as her divorce and her jumpiness. She could finally listen to the radio in which she wasn’t able to do before because her soul had banned it. Although, one aspect she occludes to is the method or technique of meditation that she uses herself every day. She writes about her “mastery of techniques” but fails to inform the reader on which techniques these are. There are many techniques for meditation such as Mantra Meditation, Steady gaze (Trataka), Chakra Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, Raj Yoga Meditation, Zazen, and Nada yoga. Walker could have used any of these forms. Something that she does quite well throughout the piece is describing what mediation does for her personally. She goes through many specific examples where meditation practically saved her and helped her overcome her issues at the time. This is a very good article that one can appreciate because of the fact that Walker is able to come out and explain in great detail how she feels and tries to reach out and relate to the reader. She acknowledges that she has problems and found an effective way to deal with them. 

"Using Apperance To Characterize"

In Advanced Composition class, we were told to blog about a variety of things. In this blog I chose to respond to an article from Writer Magazine.

On the Writer Magazine website, there is an article called "Using Appearance To Characterize." In this article there is a question being answered and the question that is proposed is, "I understand appearance is often cited as one way to characterize, but isn’t this misleading?" The writers response to this article is that is can tell a lot about his personality.

I believe this is true but it can also be misleading as the question states.

These people may have to dress or act a certain way whither they like it or not. Sometimes the appearance of a character is quite misleading. The well dressed, snazzy lawyer's son may not want to dress in the thousand dollar suit and may not want to wear all of those expensive things but must because it's his father's retirement party. The way that people look don't always give away the personality but may shield them from their actual personality. The way that people act is based on their environment. So yes, I do believe that appearance being used to characterize is often misleading to a point.

At times though, this appearance may be exactly correlated to the characterization. The woman that is one the side of the street in 6 inch heels and a mini skirt is actually a prostitute. When the author wants to have the character be characterized by their appearance then they will  do so.

http://www.writermag.com/Columns/Ask%20The%20Writer/2011/02/Using%20appearance%20to%20characterize.aspx