1)Has blogging been valuable to you as a student, thinker, reader, and writer?
Blogging has been valuable to me as a student, because I'm very busy at this time in school. Preparing for the musical and completing my National Honor Society paperwork has led to a lot of stress and no other classes have been sensitive to that. However, blogging is flexible and less intimidating than the other assignments in other classes.
Blogging has been valuable to me as a thinker, because I get to read the writings of others and think of different perspectives.
As a writer, blogging has helped me, because I get comments from several people for every piece I write. The comments of my readers are helpful and their criticism is taken into account for my future writing pieces.

2)How do you feel about doing and continuing to do this kind of work?
I think we should continue this kind of work, because it's not intimidating, yet it's accomplishing our overall goal: to become better readers and writers.

3)Is this work different from other experiences that you have had in English classes?
Yes. Other English classes I've taken and are more formal than this one. There's more focus on grammar and specific techniques in effective writing. While I value the American literature we're studying and the life lessons our readings teach, I think it would be worthwhile to analyze more writings more closely (after the King and I) for organization, literary devices, etc.

4)Looking forward, do you have suggestions for how you want to be graded on this writing?
I think we need a clearer rubric for your grading. Sometimes I get an A and think, "Oh really!" Then other times I get a C and think, "Why'd I get that? What's he basing this stuff on?" I'm always shocked at my grades and that wouldn't be the case if I knew specifically what you were looking for.

5)Has doing this work changed the community within your own class or between classes (11-1 and 11-2) in any way?
I don't think so.

"He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: "I never loved you." After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house-just as if it were five years ago" (page 109).

This quotation from The Great Gatsby is filled with specific diction and I believe it reveals Fitzgerald's opinion of Gatsby.
Saying "he wanted nothing less of Daisy" tells critical readers that Gatsby wanted a lot from Daisy. If he had reasonable expectations, I think Fitzgerald would have said he wanted "nothing more of Daisy." This would make Gatsby's request seem minimal and easy. However, Gatsby's request was great and inconsiderate.
Fitzgerald reminds his readers also that fulfilling Gatsby's request would obliterate the last four years of Daisy's life. The strong negative connotation of "obliterate" is of great importance. Obliterate means to kill or delete. It's totally unreasonable for one to request someone else to obliterate the last four years of his or her life. It's also impossible for Daisy to obliterate four years, because she has a young child with Tom. Therefore, Gatsby isn't only unreasonable, but unrealistic and impossible.
The irony in the second sentence is very striking. After Daisy obliterates the last four years of her life (which is physically impossible) Gatsby plans to "decide upon the more practical measures to be taken." This is an oxymoron! It's almost as bad as the books Fun With Shakespeare. Describing their next step as a couple as "more practical," shows readers that the first step (deleting four years) is totally "impractical."
The third sentence takes the irony to another level of ridiculousness. Gatsby and Daisy's "more practical" measure is to pretend "as if it were five years ago." This is a less practical step if anything. How could Gatsby honestly believe that it's more practical to pretend that they're living five years into the past?
Overall, I think Fitzgerald sees Gatsby as foolish. His diction and use of irony shows readers his personal opinion of Gatsby and Daisy's relationship. While readers are free to have their personal opinions, Fitzgerald does a good job of making his opinion known.

Journal entry

"All I kept thinking over and over was, 'You can't live forever, you can't live forever."

At this point, Myrtle was describing her first meeting with Tom. She expresses how unworthy her husband is of her, by saying he's not fit to lick her shoes. However, he's a faithful, loving, hardworking man, even if he lacks intellegence. Myrtle is a lying, cheating woman. And if she believes that Tom intends on marrying her, she's more foolish than her husband. It's quite ironic that Tom, whom Myrtle adores, could slap her across the face and make her bleed. And mentioning Daisy was the cause of the slap! Does Myrtle need the picturer painted for her? Tom never defended her around Daisy, but he won't allow her to badmouth his wife.
Why would Myrtle choose an abusive man over a loving one? She's also gullible to believe that Daisy's Catholic faith is the reason Tom remains married to her. Tom has exhibited little respect for his wife so far. If he wished to leave her, he'd do it without hesitation. This should be obvious to Myrtle.
The only character that exceeds Myrtle's dumbness is her sister Catherine. What is the point in contemplating Myrtle's next move with Tom after they marry? They're clearly not geting married!
I just wish Nick would set everyone straight. People should stop worrying about his love life and focus on their own. Why would Daisy and Tom try to play match maker, when they don't know how to keep their own marriage together? Regardless, keeping quiet is Nick's best bet as he meets more and more people that can help his career.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Cross of Snow"

In the long, sleepless watches of the night,
A gentle face--the face of one long dead--
Looks at me from the wall, where round its head
The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.
Here in this room she died, and soul more white
Never through martyrdom of fire was led
To its repose; nor can in books be read
The legend of a life more benedight.
There is a mountain in the distant West
That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines
Displays a cross of snow upon its side.
Such is the cross I wear upon my breast
These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes
And seasons, changeless since the day she died.

1) After reviewing Longfellow's biographical information, I understand why his tone is so depressed in this poem. It's probably about his late wife. He visits the room she died in and seems very sad. He feels like the days stand still nor are "changeless since she died.
2) Rhetorical Aspects-
Imagery is a huge part of this poem. Longfellow creates an image of his wife's ghost in front of him. The gentleness of her face and the roundness of her head can be visualized by readers, through Longfellow's description.
Comparisons are also effective in this poem. Comparing his wife's life to the life of a martyr and a very blessed person.
3) I also read "Changed" by Longfellow. Once again the images were very vivid and helped me visualize the scene. The topic of a person changing after being away from a familiar place for years was interesting. This is a phenomonon that all men and women experience at least once, so the subject was very good.
4) I don't know if Longfellow's works were distinctly American. I think his themes were universal in that when people lose love, like in "The Cross of Snow" they may feel like Longfellow and be able to relate to him. The subjesct of "Changed" is also u niversal in that people might leave their childhood place and return many years later. Somehow, the place looks very different upon their return.

1) How do the writings of this author compare to those of the American Romantics we have read? Can we note some progression from American Romanticism into American Realism?
The writings of Kate Chopin are different from the writings of the American Romantics, in that Chopin wishes to depict the lives of simple everyday people. In contrast, the American Romantics tended to use super human characters to depict more extreme situations. There are some romantic aspects to the short story "Lilacs." In this story, Choplin discribes a lot of nature's beauty and emphasizes a love for blooming lilacs in Springtime.

2) What topics, themes, social/political issues does this writer take up in his/her work? What might these tell us as readers about this author and his/her worldview?
Kate Choplin seems to focus on the lives of independent women in her writing. In "A Pair of Silk Stockings" the main character, Mrs. Sommers, was married with children, but she wasn't pampered by her husband. There were several daily tasks that she had to deal with on her own. It was evident that her family depended on her and she always sacrificed for them. It wasn't a surprise for me when she couldn't resist spoiling herself for an afternoon. Adrienne in "Lilacs" wasn't married and lived a very independent life. People always counted on her throughout the year, so she loved to take two week vacations to the convent, to relax.The fact that she focused on the lives of working independent women shows that she valued the roles of women in the world and wanted to tell others about the importance of women. When her characters, Adrienne and Mrs. Sommers, had moments of weakness in which they thought only of themselves, Choplin might have been telling her female readers to take time for themselves every now and then.

3) With regard to author’s purpose consider the following: To whom is this writer writing? For whom are they writing?
Choplin is writing to women that feel pressed in their everyday lives. She wants them to know that it's not a crime to be self-centered every so often.

4) What relevance does this author’s writing hold for you as a reader?
This author's writing tells me that I have a some-what stressful life ahead of me as a woman. This is just as relevant to me as it was to Choplin's readers in the early 1900's, because the roles of women are just as hard today (if not harder) as they were back then. It's a great balancing act that all women must master.

5) What drew you to the work of this author? Pick a short passage from one of his/her works and write in response to his/her words.
When I saw that "A Pair of Silk Stockings" was the shortest writing in the text book, I was drawn to Kate Choplin. I also knew that I wanted to choose one of the female writers, because I wanted to know a female perspective of the Realist era.

"... a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever"
This was the last line of "A pair of Silk Stockings," after Mrs. Sommers' glorious day of pampering was over. She didn't want the feeling to end and she didn't want to go back to her real life. I feel like this every time a shop. Shopping is like entering a fantasy in which you are the only one that matters. Everything is about what makes you look good or feel good. I personally couldn't care less about school, boys, and the other stresses of the world when I shop. I always call it "retail therapy." After a long day at school I love to go down town and go to Daffy's or the Gap and spend all of my money. It's just so refreshing. I feel like I need it. I can totally understand where Mrs. Sommers is coming from. She's constantly stressed by her kids and her husband and her chores. So when she get a few extra dollars she can't help but to splurge on herself. And guess what, she deserves it.