My Dream!

In English, we are reading about dreams in A Midsummer Night's Dream.  This is a description of a dream that I remember having.


I think this was probably a few weeks ago, but it is the last dream I can remember having.  It was a rather weird dream, but, like all dreams, I did not realize is was that odd until after I woke up.  In it, I remember I was lost and someone was chasing me.  I could not really get away; it felt like everything was just this big maze that I could not get out of.  I did not know what was chasing me, but I knew it was something.  I guess I was running for a while, until I started falling.  Maybe I fell off of a cliff or something wild like that - I don't know.  Usually, when I have falling dreams, I wake up, which I eventually did in this case.  This was just a really weird dream.  Every time I have dreams about falling, I always wake up and sit up in my bed.  Most of the time, I think I'm actually falling, even though it was just a dream.  It's fascinating how real dreams can be to our sleeping minds.

Welcome!

Welcome back to my blog!  I am so excited to have a nice fresh start with the beginning of the second semester!  Plus, exams are over!  Hooray!  (By the way, I was severely emotionally scarred from that experience, just saying.)  Anyway, with the start of the second semester, our English class is moving right along.  We are finishing up A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, and will soon be moving on to the true story, Into the Wild.  I have learned so much about John Carroll since starting here in the fall.  Actually, I remember being in Mrs. Zurkowski's room with Allison Sanphillipo as a shadow last year - which seems pretty crazy that it was over a year ago.  I have made a lot of wonderful new friends here at JC. I think I have a much stronger sense of responsibility and awareness, in terms of academics, than I did when I first started in September.  Here's to the rest of the year!

My Character Sketch Essay!

Leaving for the Fast Lane

            In today’s world, many people begin to plan out the rest of the lives from a young age.  The goal of many people is to become their own person, living their life the way they want to.  Choosing a college, an area of study, a career, and a place to live are just some of the things people usually contemplate during their youth.  Often, these sorts of plans work out, making these people happy about what they have accomplished; however, sometimes things do not go exactly as planned, which may lead to disappointment and a dire need of “course correction.”  Sometimes, authors will write about these sorts of circumstances, in which the character’s “master plan” does not go as they expected it to go; although, this is not always a bad thing for the character.  Anything but Ordinary, by Valerie Hobbs, tells the story of Winifred Owens, who boasts academic excellence, an understanding and caring boyfriend, and a sense of unique independence that she knew would carry her far; however, her inability to resist some outside influences at college forces her to reevaluate her relationship with her boyfriend, her life, and the direction in which she will take it.

            Winifred Owens was a very unique individual, in terms of both physical and personality traits.  She was rather short and had an average weight.  She also had frizzy red hair.  Winifred is described as cultured, as her mother played the bassoon and spoke French and her father taught

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dead languages at a university and played the viola.  Valerie Hobbs describes Winifred as, “A fireplug, short and square . . . Winifred’s hair was red and frizzy . . . Neither was beauty contest material, which was just fine with them.  Beauty contests were ‘ordinary’” (Hobbs 9).  Winifred was her own person.  She did not care what others thought, because being self-conscious was “ordinary.”  Winifred was very independent, meaning that despite having a boyfriend, she had her own ideas and her own plan for the rest of her life.  

A major part of Winifred’s life was her boyfriend, Bernie Federman.  Bernie had always been supportive of Winifred and everything that she did, including her unpopular Green Hat Club.  Bernie also shared Winifred’s dream of attending a great university, as well as continuing to get exceptional grades.  Winifred was always at the top of class, with Bernie right behind her.  Winifred had no worries about her future, as she believed that after they graduated together, they would get married.  However, while Winifred was speaking to him about what college they should attend, Bernie let her know that he was not planning on attending college.  Bernie and Winifred argue:

“‘I’m not going, Winifred,’ he said in a voice as deep and grave as Jack Kerouac’s.

‘Not going where?’

‘College,’ he said.  ‘What good is it?’” (16).

This shocked Winifred a great deal.  She was in no way expecting this, as she thought that Bernie had as much academic motivation as herself.  Clearly, she was wrong.  Because of his mother’s

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death, Bernie Federman lost his dream of attending college, and forced Winifred to see him differently than before.

            Another big event that changed Winifred was arriving at the University of California Santa Barbara and meeting her new roommates – Calista Bearden, Victoria Castagnola, and Samantha Gray.  To describe how the girls acted, Valerie Hobbs wrote, “Calista (the blonde) stared openly at Winifred’s ragged cuticles; Tory (the booby brunette) actually bounced on Winifred’s bed to see if she ‘got the good mattress’; but Sam (the too-thin brunette) would smile almost shyly at Winifred now and then if she thought the others weren’t looking” (42).  At first, Winifred just wants to make a great first impression on these girls by being herself; however, as she soon learns, her roommates are only interested in what is on the outside and not on the inside.  Eventually, Calista, Tory, and Sam, talk Winifred (or “Wini” as they began to call her) into changing her look.  On a day out with the girls, Winifred dyes her hair black and straightens it.  She also begins to wear tight-fitting clothes and short skirts.  She eventually becomes “one of the girls.”  For a while, she sort of forgets who Winifred was, and takes on “Wini” completely.  She begins to doubt that her relationship with Bernie was even worthwhile.  She does not even know if she loves him anymore.  Bernie even comes to UCSB to visit her, and she just lets him be.  For most of his stay, Bernie is just “there.”  Winifred really does not pay much attention to him, as he “cramped” her new style.  With this physical transformation, Winifred begins to think differently about how her life was before.

            From the many changes in her life, Winifred undergoes an enormous transformation by the end of the story.  In the beginning of the story, Winifred is rather unpopular, as the only

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friend she has is Bernie.  This was not because she had an inability to make friends, but rather because she had no interest in doing so.  She never took the initiative in social situations, mainly because she was never involved in many social situations.  When she was younger, her main goal in life was to attend a prestigious university known for nanoscience and nanotechnology with her boyfriend Bernie.  However, as the story progressed, Bernie ended up not going to college, and she majored in communications at UCSB and not nanoscience.  At the end of the story, Winifred meets with Bernie, and they talk seriously about the future of their relationship.  She says, “‘Bernie!’ cried Winifred with a look of horror.  ‘I never stopped loving you, I didn’t!  I was just, I don’t know, under some kind of spell or something.’  Then she frowned.  ‘No, that isn’t fair.  It wasn’t anybody else’s fault.  The girls never made me do anything I didn’t want to do.’” (165). They compromise on just being friends until they are both sure about who they are and what they want to do with their lives.  Winifred becomes friends with Tory, who has realized that she does not belong with Calista and Sam.  She figures out that she must stop partying and drinking and focus on the important things in life.  Winifred has a similar realization when she returns home for break.  By experiencing all of this, Winifred learns to surround herself with different people while still keeping her own personal identity.  She learns that “Wini” is not who she wants to be.  She wants to go back to just being “Winifred.”  Winifred, Calista, and Sam say,

“Winifred smiled.  ‘No, thanks.  But could you guys do me a really big favor?’

Calista shrugged.  ‘Sure.’

‘Call me Winifred, okay?  That’s my real name.  Winifred.’” (148).

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Yes, “Wini” becomes “Winifred” again; however, she emerges from this experience with a newly developed sense of self.  She once again became who she was meant to be: not Wini, but Winifred Owens.

            Through reading about Winifred and her experiences, we can learn that being and staying our own person is very important, especially at this age.  Winifred, while going through high school and college, developed her own personality, did the things she wanted to do, and lived her life her way; however, she failed to resist the pressure of her new roommates at college and gradually changed into “Wini.”  We learn that becoming who others want us to be is not what life is about.  Life is about figuring out who we are, because everyone is different, and staying that way.  It is great to be surrounded with new things and people, but it is important to embrace them without changing ourselves.  Through telling Winifred’s story, Valerie Hobbs was trying to say that even though Winifred’s world was changing around her, she managed to become who she wanted to be in the end, and that is what the overall message of Winifred’ transformation, as well as the book in general.  The life of Winifred Owens would never be the same after her transforming experiences told in Valerie Hobbs’s Anything but Ordinary.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/valerie-hobbs/anything-but-ordinary.htm