My ENC 1102 Class

I have always loved poetry and literature, but after taking this class, I learned to appreciate it so much more. I love deciphering poems as if they were puzzles. i also have a passion for tragic plays. I am so glad that we covered Oedipus Rex in this class. It is one of my favorite plays and even though I have covered it many times before in previous classes, I never tire of it. I loved the flexibility in the class and the fact that the whole class participated in class discussions and were allowed to state their opinions.

Service Learning is a great experience for students. It is a way for the students to gain knowledge of their surrounding neighborhood in addition to providing a helping hand to their community. Society is in dire need of volunteers to provide services in order to better the community. Not only will the area itself flourish, but the people in it as well. There are many different volunteer groups that students could choose from. I would particularly like to join one that revolves around criminal justice because of the fact that it will help me as well in getting a hands-on experience in criminology, while I am helping my community.

Reign Over Me - Extra Credit Blog

I felt that this movie was really moving and that the audience could relate to Charlie's sadness. I think that most of the families of the victims of 9/11 found some sort of comfort from this movie. However, I feel that the movie would have been just as moving even if another tragedy had been mentioned as the motive for Charlie's depression. The movie had only mentioned that his family died in a plane crash on 9/11 and did not further expand on that matter. They focused mainly on the fact that his family was dead rather than the cause of it. So, this reference may have been a little unnecessary. On the other hand, the person who I went to watch the movie with, had a completely different opinion. He felt that this tragedy may have played a key role in Charlie's depression because it's not something that happens every day. He feels that everyone knows what happened on that tragic day and how it must have affected the victim's families, but this film focuses on the effect it had on one man. The ending of the movie was very good because it gave the viewer the chance to come up with their own conclusion to Charlie's life. Had the writer chosen to conclude the film with a "Happily Ever After" ending, it would have made the film a little "cheesy" and unrealistic. It was a very well written and acted film.

"The Storm"

This blog is about the short story “The Storm”. This story is entertaining yet, quite disturbing. Calixta had a perfectly healthy marriage and a wonderful son. However, when she was left home alone, a storm hit and her ex-boyfriend shows up at her house and they end up making love. Alcee, her ex, also had a girlfriend who was on vacation. When Calixta’s husband, Bobinot, and her son, Bibi, got home, she acted as if nothing unusual had happened. Alcee did the same when he spoke to his girlfriend. Oddly enough, Alcee’s wife, Clarisse, acted suspicious when Alcee had called her.

"The Shape of the Sword"

I found the story “The Shape of the Sword” by Jorge Luis Borges very interesting. The ending was truly shocking. This is where the reader learns that the Englishman is actually John Vincent Moon himself all along. As the Englishman, he had admitted to the narrator that he had betrayed the man who had protected him and saved his life. The reader sympathizes for the Englishman at first, but once you learn his true identity, the reader may despise him. The character even prompts the reader to do so because he knew what he did was wrong.

"O' Brother Where Art Thou?"

In my opinion, this film is very well presented. Not only is it witty and entertaining, but in a way is also educational. I say this because the movie has several references to the epic poem "The Odyssey" by Homer. Some of these referencs include: the song "Man of Constant Sorrow", the sirens, the cyclops, the name "Homer", and the various moments where you can catch glimpses of statues or photographs of characters from "The Odyssey". My favorite part of the film was when “The Soggy Bottom Boys” performed at the town’s central and everyone cheered them on regardless of the fact that they were escaped convicts.

"The Lottery"

For this weeks blog, I decided to write about the short story "The Lottery". This story is based on a sort of "raffle" that several little towns do. At the beginning of the story, you assume that everyone is already accustomed to this ritual and that there is nothing particularly wrong with it. Everyone acts natural about it. It turns out that the lottery determines who is to be stoned to death next. One of the scary parts about it is that even if you decide to move away from this town, all of the neighboring towns are into the same custom. In the story, a woman by the name of Tessie Hutchinson was the one who pulled the slip of paper with the black dot on it. It's a very eerie ending when someone gives Tessie's child some stones to throw at her. Her neighbor, Mrs. Delacriox had also picked out an enormous stone to throw at her.

Literature

Literature is a very fascinating thing. It gives people the opportunity to step into the lives of other characters, whether they are fictional or imaginary. There are different types of literature, some of which include: movies, poetry, short stories, books, plays, and even music. The lyrics of a song usually tell a story and that story is a piece of literature. Literature may be tragic or heroic. It may also be about love or hate. Sometimes, it is about murder or revenge, or all in one. Whatever it is about though, there is always a work of literature for everyone. My favorite happens to be about tragedy or murder. I also love poetry. Some of my favorite authors include Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe, and Stephen King.

Research Topic: Serial Killers

For my research paper this semester, I chose to write about serial killers. Some of the criminals that I chose to write about include: Dayton Leroy Rodgers, Albert Fish, Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, and the BTK killer. I chose to write in this topic because it is something I look forward to studying about in the future. Fortunately, in our neighborhood, we don't have to many cases of serial killings. However, this is a very serious issue that I feel should be discussed because, although it is not occuring here, it's still happening in other parts of the world.

Nature

For this week's blog, I decided to write about the nature chapter in our book. A lot of the poems in this chapter are based on how society is allowing for nature to be diminished. I agree with the authors that most people in society are completely disconnected with nature an they tend to forget that, without nature, we are unable to survive. Society continues to demolish trees and the habitats of wildlife to construct buildings and hazardous facilities. We are slowly destroying the world we live in and taking for granted just how beautiful the world truly is. We are part of nature and we must learn to acknowledge that instead of disregarding it.

Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex is one of my favorite Greek tragedies. The story is based on a man named Oedipus who was destined to kill his father and marry his own mother. Trying to run from his fate, he left the city where he lived and became king of Thebes. Little did he know, that the prophesy had come true because the people he left in Corinth were not his true parents, but the people who raised him after his real parents abandoned him. They had abandoned him because they, too, were trying to avoid their destiny. On his way to Thebes, he killed King Laois, who happened to be his father. When he became King of Thebes, he married Laios' wife, Queen Jocasta, who turned out to be his birth mother. When the truth is revealed to him, he was so ashamed that he blinded and banished himself.

The House of Asterion

The House of Asterion is based on The Myth of the Minotaur. I really enjoyed this myth because it has so many different stories going on within one. For example, the story mentions how Pasipahae falls in love with a bull and bears a minotaur as a curse from Poseidon to King Minos. It then tells the story of how, after the death of one of Minos' human sons, Androgeus, King Minos seeks revenge against Greece with the aid of Zeus. That is why they had to sacrifice some people every nine years to the Minotaur, which was locked up in a labyrinth by Minos. The Minotaur was finnaly killed by Theseus, son of Aegeus and Aethra, with the help of Ariadne who had fallen in love with him. However, he left her abandoned when they stopped at the island of Naxos. On his way home, he forgot to change the his sail from black to white, to signal his safe return to his father, and consequently, caused his father to commit suicide.

Two of my Favorite Poems

For this weeks blog, I decided to write about some of my favorite poems. One of the poems that I especially like is Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. This poem is romantic and tragic and I believe that it captures the grief of the writer over the loss of his love very well. It is very well written and very easy to understand. When the poem is read, it has a tune similar to that of a song.
Another one of my favorite poems is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. I love this poem because it shows people to be nonconformists. I really enjoy the structure of the poem and I like the ending in particular because you can tell that the writer is very confident in his decision to follow his own heart and not be like the rest of the people.

Swarthy smoke-blackened smiths

This blog is about the poem swarthy smoke-blackened smiths. I like this poem because it uses a lot of descriptive language to help us actually hear the sounds illustrated in the poem. This poem uses plenty of alliteration which makes the poem more interesting. The explanation for this reasoning is that by repeating the sounds over and over, it somewhat gives you a sense of just how annoyed the narrator in the poem is by all the clatter. I love the way that he describes the noises each tool makes very vividly. The made up syllables used to capture the exact sounds of the noises also give the poem a little bit of humor.

Jorge Luis Borges

I decided to blog about the short story by Jorge Luis Borges. This is a very interesting piece, not only because it stimulates the mind by making you think, but because it is very well and uniquely written.

In my personal opinion, I believe that the writer of the story is actually Borges himself. He is the one who jots the tales, but the one who creates them is the speaker of this story. From my point of view, the speaker of the story is actually a metaphor that symbolizes Borges’ imagination. That’s why the speaker says that Borges is nothing without him, because if he had no imagination, he couldn’t write such beautifully composed stories. On the other hand, Borges’ imagination would be nothing without him as well, since it needs someone to physically write down its thoughts.

Zobeide

Zobeide is a city built by several men who had the same dream about chasing a naked woman who is running through a city, but the woman always manages to escape. The men modeled the city they built based on the appearance of the city in their dreams. However, they always closed off all of the possible exits through which the woman could escape. Many men, who had the same dream with the woman, arrived at the city and contributed in building it and trying to trap the woman. The failed, and from continuing to block off the city, they managed to trap themselves within it. The story was very interesting. It kind of teaches you a moral.

Armilia & Argia

Armilia is a city filled with pipes, sinks, and bathtubs. It gives a mystical impression. Only nymphs and naiads live in this city. These are water gods. Since the story mentions that the humans feel they should pay tribute for misusing the water, it gives the idea that water is an important element in the city. How the city first came about is unknown throughout the story.
Argia, on the other hand, represents an undergound city full of dirt. It seems lifeless since there is no movement. The only thing that can be heard every night is a door slamming shut, which I believe symbolizes the door to hell.