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

           

           

           

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Travis's "That's What's Up!" Reading Book Is Outstanding!

BREAKING NEWS! Travis Nelson's "That's What's Up!" reading book, Peak, by Roland Smith, declared best book in the class!...Well, not really, but I bet it's pretty close because Peak is a great book!  Here's a picture to help you get the idea of what Peak is all about:

What do you see here?  If you're not seeing a man scaling a building, you need help!

You need to read this book!  NOW!  No, seriously, I want you to go the library right now and check this out. 

Anyway, Peak is a great book in so many ways!  The main character, Peak, is adventurous and spontaneous - what a great combination!  Peak sounds like a lot of fun to be around!  One highlight of the story is when Peak attempts to scale a skyscraper.  I don't know about you, but I am definitely not insane enough to try something like that!  Teenagers should read this book!  I can guarantee that you can and will relate to this book and its characters in one way or another!  This is sort of a given, being that Peak, the main character, is a teenager himself.  You know Peak is an awesome book because it's being read by an awesome person!  (Not to beat my own drum or anything.) 

So go ahead... read Peak by Roland Smith!  You know you want to!

Image obtained from: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/galleries/the_french_spiderman_strikes_again/the_french_spiderman_strikes_again.html

"Mask of the Red Death" Essay

Symbolism of Purple in “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe

           

            In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, purple, the color of the second room, symbolizes fun, youth, playfulness, and childhood.  The colors in the story all stand for something.  They represent the seven stages of life.  Blue is birth, purple is youth, green is adolescence, orange is adulthood, white is the process of aging, violet is elderly, and black is death.  There are characteristics of each other that correspond with their meaning in the stages of life.  The color purple is associated with youth- which can be interpreted in many ways in the story and in the real world.  The Prince wanted to escape the lethality of the “red death” in England, so he lived in seclusion in his palace.  One could interpret this secluded lifestyle as an attempt to maintain youth.  Prince Prospero did not want to die; he wanted to live a fun life with his friends in his palace.  However, because one is unable to avoid any stage of life, the Prince’s plan of living ultimately failed in the end.

            Again, purple symbolizes the youthful stage of life.  Blue, which is associated with birth, precedes purple in the order of apartments and in the stages of life.  Green succeeds purple in the story and in the stages of life.  This makes sense because green stands for adolescence.  One experiences adolescence after the childhood/youthful years.  Alone, purple represents one stage of life, but in comparison to the other colors of the story, it directly relates to all the stages of life.  In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the ebony clock in the black room relates to the meaning of the color black in the story.  Black symbolizes death – the end of life altogether.  The ebony clock symbolized that the end was near.  It kept the time up until the death of Prince Prospero.  The ebony clock had a direct meaning to all of the colors in the story.  It was constantly keeping time, marking each of the stages of life (the colors).

            Purple relates to my life now in a number of ways.  Purple symbolizes youth and childhood, which I am moving out of as an adolescent.  I am thinking and acting more maturely than I did when I was a child.  I am becoming more aware of my community and those around me.  Although I am no longer a young child, I still have my youth; however, it is a matter of maturity.  As a fourteen year old, I am most certainly still considered young.  As a teenager, I stand for youth.  Purple represents me as an adolescent and as a person.  Purple is very significant in “The Masque of the Red Death”, as are all of the colors.  It represented the near beginning of life, before the “red death” entered the party.  Not only does purple represent youth and fun in the story, it represents the time before death finally reached Prince Prospero and his palace.  Symbolism is a key tool used in “The Masque of the Red Death.”  The meaning of the colors goes so much deeper than simply their appearance.  All of the colors, particularly purple in this case, were essential in understanding the story completely, as well as the meaning of each room and its color.

Getting to Know O. Henry!

• His birth name was William Sydney Porter.
• He was born in 1862 and died in 1910.

• He dropped out of school at age 15 to work at his uncle's drugstore.

• He founded a weekly humor magazine, titled The Rolling Stone.

• He was charged for embezzling funds from the First National Bank of Austin, TX in 1896. Instead of standing trial in a court of law, O. Henry fled to Honduras.

• After his release from prison, he moved to New York in 1901 to begin writing full time.
• Some of his most famous stories are The Gift of the Magi, The Furnished Room, and The Ransom of Red Chief.
• His method of story telling has influenced many modern stories and movies.

• At one point, O. Henry was writing at a rate of more than one stories per week.

• Over his entire lifetime, O. Henry published over 500 stories in several popular periodicals.

Below is a pciture of O. Henry:

This picture is of O. Henry with his wife and daughter in the early 1890s.

Image: http://schools.penncrest.org/staff/tdouglas/index.php/2009/12/13/the-gift-of-the-magi/

**All information was obtained through Microsoft Student Encarta 2009.**

Edgar Allan Poe Webquest

1.      Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died on October 7, 1849 (http://www.poemuseum.org).

2.      The death of his mother and father, along with his father’s alcoholism all influenced Poe’s works (http://www.poemuseum.org).

3.      The following are death theories of Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.poemuseum.org):

a.       Beating

b.      Toxic Disorder

c.       Rabies

d.      Porphyria

e.       Dipsomania

4.      Poe called Richmond, Virginia home (http://www.poemuseum.org).

5.      The Poe society of Baltimore believes that although Richmond was considered Poe’s hometown, Baltimore was a very significant city for him during his lifetime.  This is where he sought comfort while fighting with his foster father.  This is also where his parents are buried (http://www.eapoe.org).

6.      Poe was expelled from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (http://www.poemuseum.org).

7.      Poe married Virginia Clemm.  She was 13 years old at the time (http://www.poemuseum.org).

8.      I think Virginia was way too young to get married.  However, things were probably a little different back then.  I also thought that it was wrong for Poe to marry his first cousin.

9.      Murders in the Rue Morgue is a classic crime story.  In it, Poe analyzes the mind of the criminal (http://www.mysterynet.com).

10.  Tell Tale Heart and The Black Cat were both written in 1843 (http://www.xroads.virginia.edu).

11.  The Raven was published in 1845 (http://www.heise.de).

12.    (http//:www.poestories.com) This picture looks most like the Poe I envisioned because of the exhausted, old, and uneventful look of the portrait.  It looks depressing, just like his stories.

13.  My favorite Poe story is the Masque of the Red Death.  It was very interesting in its own creepy, distorted way.  I thought it was a great short story, and it really demonstrates Poe’s ability as a writer of this genre.

Picture from 12.