Blog #12 (Onion Style News Headlines)

Five headlines:

Burton's Pond Ducks Enjoying New Scenery
Leafs Expect Great Spring Conditions For Golf
With Sun Brings School Closure
Actors Hoping For Employment When Dwayne Johnson Takes Vacation
Heatley Doubtful Of Someone Ever Reaching His Level

Blog #11 (Description)

Keurig

1. A Keurig is a convenient, self powered, hot beverage dispenser. There are three different models, each priced differently due to their abilities. It is a silver and black elegant looking machine with a display on the top right side, indicating when the machine is ready. There is a main power button that is black with a white power symbol along with three small buttons, each labelled with a different cup size to indicate how large of a beverage you would like to have dispensed.  At the top there is a handle that opens the top part of the machine and raises a holster where your "K-cup" of choice is inserted. When closed the needle at the bottom and top of the holster pierces the cup so the water can run through the solution and mix evenly into your cup. On the left of the machine is a detachable water holder that needs to be filled up after so many uses. There is a pump at the bottom of the water holder that feeds the water through the machine, through the solution and into your cup. At the bottom is a spill or drip tray with a star in the centre and tiny dots coming out from the star in a circle pattern. This is to catch any spills of coffee, tea and/or any other beverage.

2. A Keurig is a coffee and hot beverage dispenser. There are three types of models that each have a different price. The machine has buttons and a display at the top to indicate when your beverage is ready and which size to choose. The handle at the top can be lifted where the "K-cup" can be inserted. There is a water holder on the side that feeds the water through the machine and a drip tray at the bottom to catch the spills.

3. A Keurig is a convenient, self powered, hot beverage dispenser. It is purchased to be used in the convenience of your own home. It has a very simple approach to the machine and can be used with ease. After powering it up, the water is collected from the side water holder and heated up within the machine. When the machine says ready on the display, the handle can be lifted in the front and the "K-cup" can be inserted inside the holster. When the handle is closed the K-cup is pierced. There are three options for cup size and when chosen the machine dispenses the water through the cup solution producing a cup of heaven before your eyes. 

Blog #10 - Part 2 (Theme)

2. Chinua Achebe's "Dead Men's Path" is a story about a man; Michael Obi and a Nigerian village and their struggle to meet personal compromise. 
        1. Michael Obi was appointed headmaster of Ndume School and decided to make it more 
            modernized, covering up an "old path" that ran through the school grounds.
                    1. Michael was a very dominant, controlling man that wanted to create a new way of   
                        teaching for the children of Ndume school, brining in a more modern approach and 
                        eliminate the traditions that once controlled the school. ("And what has that got to do 
                        with the school?" (57).)
                    2. Michael knew full well what the path meant to the village however his arrogance 
                        controlled his decision in covering the path with a bit of barbed wire, bushes and 
                        flowers. ("Heavy sticks were planted closely across the path at the two places where it 
                        entered and left the school premises" (64-65).)
        2.  The path running through the school was an old tradition of the village, that their dead would          
             take to their burial ground. The village demanded that it be uncovered, so it could still be 
             used.
                    1. The village's priest visited the headmaster to explain the importance of the path. 
                        Stressing the beliefs the path has on the people of the village and that this tradition 
                        was much more important than the "modernism" Michael was trying to promote. 
                    2. "Our dead relatives depart by it and our ancestors visit us by it. But most important, it 
                         is the path of children coming in to be born" (77-79).
        3. Compromise could not be decided upon by both the headmaster and the priest. 
                    1. The headmaster said the path could not run through the school grounds, however they 
                        could let it skirt their premisses and they would offer to help reconstruct it. The priest 
                        disagreed said the path had to remain in the same spot and if the path remained 
                        blocked a person of the village will perish.
                    2. A short time after a young woman died giving birth and Michael woke to his school and 
                        premises ruined by the angry villagers. 

Blog #10 (Theme)

1. Alice Munro's "Boy's and Girls" is a story about a girl entering into womanhood while growing up on a fox farm.
        1. The young girl learns to grow up as a fox farmer and perform the everyday typical farm tasks of a      
             male.
                    1. "I filled the water drum at the pump and trundled it down through the barnyard to the pens"    
                         (91-92)
                    2. The girl loved to follow her father around on the farm and help out. Her brother was younger
                        and weaker so she could skip regular woman tasks.
        2. The mother wanted her daughter to take on the typical role of a farm girl  and help with cooking,
            cleaning, preparing food, etc.
                    1. "Wait till Laird gets a little bigger, then you'll have a real help" (162).
                    2. However, the girl didn't want that and after doing what her mother asked would quickly
                        escape form the kitchen back out to the barn. The mother could see this and started plotting
                        how she would keep her inside.
        3. The girl starts to realize that she has no choice but to fill the woman role on a farm and become her
            mother, that was the path she was forced by her family to realize.
                    1. "Girls don't slam doors like that. Girls keep their knees together when they sit down" (228-
                         229).
                    2. "She's only a girl." "I didn't protest that, even in my heart. Maybe it was true" (451-453)

Blog #9 (India Gate Review)

Very recently I was exposed and treated to food from a certain culture that I have never experienced before. That food was Indian food. I never thought I would picture myself having a traditional Indian meal in the heart of St. John's. (If that's not globalization, then I don't know what is.) The restaurant of choice was called "India Gate", located on Duckworth Street down town. I am not a picky eater and I was eager to try the new style of food. The atmosphere and setting was extremely Indian and really set the mood of the dining experience that was to be expected. The menu could not get any bigger and had a large variety of so many different things to try. The service was immaculate, our server was very knowledgeable of the menu and presented himself in an outstanding formal manner. Even the owners took the time to come to our table to introduce themselves and their restaurant. To make sure everything was nothing but perfect. When the common person thinks of Indian food they immediately associate it with the overbearingness of curry. This is true in some cases, however, the menu had so many different meal choices that did not use curry. The meals that did have curry incorporated in them had the option of it being spicy, with their variety of "hotness" levels, or not spicy at all. I would highly recommend this place to everyone, those looking for something different and even those looking to broaden their food-eating horizon. When it comes to food, I recommend the Tandoori Platter, consisting of a variety of meats and veggies dressed in spices and cooked in the traditional Indian "Tandoori" clay oven. To top it all off, upon finishing the meal they even give you a "cherry on top", that being a steamed refreshing towel. It is completely understandable why they are voted as one of the top dining destinations in St. John's. 

(http://www.49st.com/venue/india-gate-restaurant#info)

Blog #8 (Fan Fiction)

I currently watch the TV show; "The Walking Dead", developed by Frank Darabont. Last week's episode was about the ongoing rivalry between Rick's group of people living in the prison and the Governor and his people of the neighbouring town. Meanwhile, Rick is still battling the death of his wife emotionally and others at camp are trying to fill his role as leader and making stupid scattered decisions on their own. The Governor shows up and open fires on the prison with his men, where both parties are trading shots back and forth. The Governor then unleashes a truck full of "Walkers" inside the gate of the prison and takes off. I feel this ending was good, however, somewhat unrealistic. Members of the prison group just so happened to arrive at the right time to help fight off the "Walkers". An alternate way I think the episode could have finished in is:

Rick is still outside the prison's fence, telling Hershel the emotions and confusions he still has about his wife's death. Gunshots begin from the woods as the Governor and a few of his men try to ambush the prison. (One non-important character from the prison gets caught in the cross fire). To the Governor's surprise, members that belong to the group from the prison Daryl and Merle arrive from the woods as well and flank their surprise attack. The Governor and his men are outnumbered and flee, some of his men getting caught by bullets and their truck of 'Walkers" becomes abandoned. The "Walkers" are flooding out of the truck's door, left open by the Governor's man. The men of the prison take off back within the prison's gates, however cannot get the hole in the gate tied off fast enough. "Walkers" start to flood into the first gated area. (Episode comes to an end).

I feel this would have given a more realistic ending, then the one watched on TV. With that many bullets being fired at each other and minimal barriers, there should have been a lot more dead people then there was. Also, the prison group outnumbers the Governor and his men, therefore instead of him casually leaving, it should have been a fleeing situation for him.

Blog #7 (Plunderverse)

My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt. 

     whiskey
      make   s a boy
        hung
                               easy

   romp         the pans
          the kitchen    
   mother's count
      no    frown   s  

    hand      held
      t         one



    beat         my
       palm       hard
     waltz              to bed

Blog #6 (Poem About Death)

With Life Comes Death

Through the side walk I creep,

Between two concrete slabs I sleep.

The long coldness has come to an end,

The feeling of sun, I no longer have to pretend.

With the sun and rain, I grow very strong,

My life here doesn't last very long.

My body’s beauty is rarely seen,

Besides the dog that leaves me unclean.

As the leaves start to fall again,

The cold crisp air will begin.

As my body starts to fall apart,

The ever familiar blackness begins to start.

"With Life Comes Death" is a twelve line poem that includes rhyme. It is made up of three quatrains, each quatrain follows an aabb rhyme scheme and represents a period of time for the character of the poem. The poem represents the time line of life for an unmentioned character that is soon to die, due to natural cause. The character is unmentioned to leave the reader guessing the identity. (However, the identity is pretty easy to assume.)

Blog #5 (Imaginary Essay)

         In Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias", the tone of this poem is power and arrogance, but pity as well. The main tone being power and arrogance based on King Ozymandias's personality and role he had in life. In addition, there is the tone of pity from the man hearing the story of Ozymandias.

        The tone of the poem expressed is power and arrogance. Traces of this can be found all throughout the writing. However, some main examples of Ozymandias's power and arrogance are when the traveller is telling the story to the man of Ozymandias's statue and how it appears, "Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command". This proves to the reader that Ozymandias was arrogant in the way he controlled his kingdom. In saying this, another thing that could support the power and arrogance of Ozymandias is the words that appeared below his statue, "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, look on my words, ye mighty and despair". This also proves to the reader the power Ozymandias knew he had, classifying himself as the king of all other kings. In his eyes, he was the most powerful man in the world, with god status. 

Blog #4 (A Sonnet)

A Day in The Life

Up in the North, where it is cold,
A black mirror formed by ice -
Skates get all sharpened and 5030s are sold,
This is Canadian's version of paradise.
Grab your buddies and a few beers,
Your playing Johnny's team from up town,
Along with the misfits that make his crew.
Showing how to play hockey to these clowns.
The pond is filled with a colourful sea,
We got Chara, Malkin, Toews and Pronger.
Old man Jay's chip truck selling in glee,
This will be everyday for a few months longer.
Why did our ancestors find such a cold place to stay?
They knew full well we were born to play!

In writing this sonnet, I definitely found that the form provided many restrictions in some of the content I would have liked to include. My goal was to first come up with a theme and then I thought my best option would be to have it based around a sport I love. The language was "tricky", especially having to make lines rhyme. Some of the words I wanted to say could just not be included because of the rhyme scheme. The poetic language used was mostly based around imagery. I tried to incorporate some of my childhood memories, along with a "typical" pond hockey story. The reason I incorporated these imaginative aspects were to hopefully paint a picture for "you" as a reader. The sonnet's audience is intended for all, however I did include a few references that generally only hockey players would know (such as; "5030", being a popular wooden hockey stick). 

Blog #3 (Creative Form of Poetry)

I have chosen to work with the "creative" option for this week's journal assignment.

Haiku
Wind wisps through my hair
The leaves dance about the ground
Summer sun had died.

Limerick
An old man of Newfoundland,
Was upset and took a stand.
Beer prices got higher,
He wanted to inspire,
Beer is the past time of Newfoundland!

In reflection, the form of my writing that influenced the content was very restricted. The Haiku poem obviously can only contain certain syllables within the three lines and has to portray an image or feeling. In saying this, the poem is usually in reference to a season. With these guidelines I felt very restricted in creatively writing the poem. However, the Limerick poem gave a little bit more freedom in creativity, but still provides some restrictions. These restrictions being (AABBA) rhyme scheme, etc. With that being said, I really enjoyed the fun "goofy" approach of Limerick poems with their "up beat" nature. 

Blog #2 (Song Analysis)

Analysis

  One of the many songs that I enjoy is "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", by Bob Dylan. The inspirational song  was written in the early 1960's during the "hard times" in the United States. Within the song, Dylan is addressing some of the World's problems to "my blue-eyed son", a fictional character representing future generations. Warning them of the negative things that are coming their way if these problems are to continue.

   Dylan leaves the listener with a masterpiece chalk full of powerful lyrics and stained throughout with powerful symbolism. Some of the symbolism used was "I met a white man who walked a black dog", symbolizing the power that the white race felt they had at that time over other races in the world. Another being "I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children", symbolizing child soldiers in war-torn countries, or possibly the easy access children have gained to "anything" that they want.

Lyrics

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?

Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?

I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains

I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways

I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests

I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans

I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard

And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard

And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?

Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?

I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it

I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it

I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’

I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’

I saw a white ladder all covered with water

I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken

I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children

And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard

And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?

And what did you hear, my darling young one?

I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’

Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world

Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’

Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’

Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’

Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter

Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley

And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard

And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?

Who did you meet, my darling young one?

I met a young child beside a dead pony

I met a white man who walked a black dog

I met a young woman whose body was burning

I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow

I met one man who was wounded in love

I met another man who was wounded with hatred

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard

It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?

Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?

I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’

I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest

Where the people are many and their hands are all empty

Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters

Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison

Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden

Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten

Where black is the color, where none is the number

And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it

And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it

Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’

But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard

It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

(http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/hard-rains-gonna-fall)

Give It A Listen

George Harrison A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan) ( The concert for Bangladesh 1971) - YouTube

Blog #1 (Critical Approach/Practice)

   After reading through Critical Approaches in the novel Literature and the Writing Process, by Elizabeth McMahan, I discovered the most appealing approaches for me consisted of; "Reader Response" and "Historical Approaches".
   Reader Response appeals the most to me because it "makes sense". It incorporates different ideas from it's audience and how each individual has interpreted the text. In saying this, when reading a form of literature, like most, I develop a picture in my head of what might be happening. However, the picture I develop can differ completely from other classmates. I enjoy how neither person is right nor wrong, it is just a different point of view and can help you think about different scenarios of the text that you may have skipped over.

   The poem I chose to approach using "Reader Response" was The Eagle, by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The poem is a very short poem relating to an eagle that is sitting high on a rock with a body of water lying beneath him, about to cliff dive in search of his next meal. The poem represents simplicity in which I think resembles the eagle`s life, not too much to worry about, a free world to explore and the sky being the only limit.