The first book we read, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, was probably my favorite out of all the books. I learned a lot from just reading the book itself. To be honest, in high school I used to just skim through the pages and that would get me by. Since this is college and all, I decided to read the whole book, page by page (haha). When writing the paper for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I accidently missed the Peer Edit Day, so I had to turn to office hours. This is another thing I learned, office hours are very helpful. Since this was the first paper and all, I wanted to make sure that I was writing the “correct” way. I know how some teachers look for certain things in each student’s writing. I know you were not like that, so you just gave me some very helpful advice on how to improve my writing. After writing this paper, I concluded that this book was definitely my favorite because of the unique writing style of Foer.

            The Powerbook was an interesting book too. I felt that this book was very confusing to read, so it was not one of my favorites. I felt it was difficult to find evidence and write a good thesis for the paper because the book was confusing. The one part about this book that I did like was our class discussions. I found them to be really funny because of the plot (sex, girls, etc.) and that allowed students in our class to crack jokes. Haha. While writing this paper, I learned the importance of transitions in your text. Transition words and sentences not only allow your writing to flow, but also introduce your new concept or idea.

            The Bloody Chamber was my second favorite book for sure. The stories in this book remind me so much of my childhood. After reading the first story, I did not know that this story dealt with fairytales. The author used a lot of good figurative language in order to describe things with much more detail. Sometimes rereading each story would help quite a bit because it allows you to catch more details. I enjoyed the project for this book because we were assigned a partner. I learned a lot not only about my partner (AJ), but also more about our story. Our story was “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon” and we came up with a story about how a girl decides between two guys. The theme of our story was about choosing the underdog and gives them a chance. I felt this project was a great opportunity to not only meet someone in the class, but also learn to work with other people which is an important ability to have.

            The other main part of the class had to do with our presentations. I was very nervous before I presented. Even though I felt very prepared before I presented, I am usually always nervous before I present. I had to present on the “final thoughts” of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. To prepare, I had to go online and find out about the amount of drafts Foer did and other fun facts about the book. Overall, I felt that my presentation was sort of interesting because of the fun facts that I taught.

            The newest thing that I learned in English class was blogging. I had never blogged before this class. I had read people’s blogs online such as ESPN analysts who write about other sports. I like blogging everyday for class because it is an informal way for you to express your ideas and also to interact with other students about their opinions. As a writer, I learned a lot about the way I write. I was able to write about experiences, emotions and risk that were all associated with what I had read. Some questions I was left with were why did Foer include so many pictures in ELIC? Did not having quotes underneath the pictures help or hurt? Also, was The Powerbook based on some other story? Finally, how did the author of The Bloody Chamber come up with the idea of describing other versions of fairytales? Thanks for a great year, I really enjoyed this class!

 “an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements and musical composition. It is administered by Columbia University in New York City” (Wikipedia).

Wow! What an honor! These awards are given out every year but to receive one is one of the highest honors imaginable. Natasha Trethewey seems like a very intelligent lady from what I saw last Thursday at the Shriver Center. She gave a short biography about her life and her time in Mississippi and then she finally discussed her poems.

            I felt that the crowd at the Shriver Center enjoyed Natasha’s “speech”. She did well to “win over” the crowd by saying how she felt that Miami felt like home. From all the speeches I have seen, these things are always eaten up by the audience.

            Now, switching over to the part about her poems, the poems were inspiring. I thought her poems were very interesting but NOT because of the way she presented them. I remember in high school when I presented ANYTHING, my teacher always said to add some flare with our voices. I was always “forced” to show emotions through my voice. Using a strong tone, not only brings the poem to life, but also keeps your audience interested. Lets be honest, some poems are very boring but if the reader is “in it”, the audience will also be somewhat interested.  Unfortunately, Natasha Trethewey did not use much of a tone while she was reciting her poems. You would think that such a praised poet would put some sort of emotion into her speech, but no, she did not. Just by her voice, you would think that every poem was the same, but I do not think that was the case at all.

            From her poems, I learned a lot about her writing style. It seems as if she loves to use very detailed imagery in her poems. For example, in the poem Genus Narcissus, there are many similes such as “I knew nothing of Narcissus or the daffodils’ short spring-how they’d dry like graveside flowers, rustling when the wind blew”. I love it when poets and other writers use figurative language because it seems to bring the poem or piece of writing to life more. Also, the poem keeps the reader interested because we get to comprehend this figurative language in our own sense. I know when I read poems in English class back in high school; I did not always understand figurative language that was used in certain poems. But, that is a good thing! Not understanding results in you thinking more about what the author’s message is.

            Overall, I am very happy that I went to see Natasha Trethewey because not only was it entertaining to watch, but it was also a once in a lifetime opportunity. All the imagery she used kept me interested in the long run. The only thing she did that I did not like, was her sort of monotone. This was not good. Haha. Even with the monotone, Natasha’s poems are good inspiration for some other poets.

The fiddle, to me anyways, seems to be the idea of being “human” or back to normal at least. During the story, the fiddle is broken and then the girl contemplates “fixing it”. Maybe that means that she wants to change the Erl-King into a human again. I have no idea if this is right, but this is my opinion on this whole situation.

            So, I found the play to be rather interesting. It was the complete opposite of what I thought it would be. I went on Saturday at eight and quite honestly, I was expecting a large stage with fancy lights but I did not see that. Maybe I expected too much? I do not know, last time I saw a good play was about five years ago when I saw Jesus Christ Superstar. That play had everything in it, costumes, music and a LARGE stage. You never forget a good play, it kind of sticks in your mind. This play that I saw on Saturday did not compare in the slightest bit. It did not have good music, costumes or a big stage. I felt that this was either a dress rehearsal or a quick “put-together”.  The characters were dressed in normal street clothes with the exception of a few that had nice formal apparel. I always feel that costumes give a play the extra boost that lifts it from either bad to average or good to great.

            Moving on to the acting portion of the play, I felt that it was pretty good. Most characters showed the signs of good actors; emotion, memorization and effort. I do not know if these are all the “good signs” of actors, but that’s what I feel. So, these actors and actresses memorized their lines well and did well portraying their characters. From what I saw, the crowd was sort of into it. They looked excited about the play. The crowd consisted of about fifty or so people. Most of the people were sitting in the front of the room, near the stage while a few people stood in the back videotaping the whole play.

            My favorite part of the Julius Caesar play is the part where Cassius and Brutus betray Julius Caesar. I find it interesting how throughout the whole play they are each conspiring to get him and Caesar has no idea. He kind of just sits there and is waiting to get setup. Finally, when they do get him, Caesar does his famous “Et-tu Brute” line. I believe that means “and you Brutus”. Wow, what a dramatic line. Imagine your best friend killing you and you saying something to them. I think I would say this type of thing as well. I might say something like “Wow, you are a…” haha. Overall, I felt this play was a success for those who put it on even though it lacked costumes which would have made it better.

         So, my question is: What is the advantage of not wearing costumes? Does it bring the play to life or kill it?

http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/green10.htm

“I want to tell you how I feel, but there’s nobody on the other side of the screen” is an important quote that links both stories. In ELIC, Oskar feels like he is alone because he cannot talk to his mother about how he feels after his father’s death. In The PowerBook, the narrator (Ali, I think) feels the same way because she cannot find the person she cares about. Surprisingly, these two books have many similarities even though they are both just out there. Haha