Lacie Ballard

I chose to paraphrase the same poem that I used in my quote response. The poem is "Care and Feeding" by Billy Collins

"Because I will turn 420 tomorrow
in dog years
I will take myself for a long walk
along the green shore of the lake,"

I am really interprating the poem in two ways the first interpratation is a person who see's their dog really as a part of them and is taking their dog for a walk. Second, the person is really taking care of themselves and literally going on a walk

"and when I walk in the door,
I will jump up on my chest
and lick my nose and eyelids
while I tell myself again and again to get down"

This is where I think the first interpratation is more true, I think the writer is describing how their excited dog is happy to them.

The rest of the poem goes on to describe variations of how he himself interacts with himself as a dog?--sounds counfusing but basically he is just describing how close he is with his dog.

Because I will turn 420 tomorrow
in dog years
I will take myself for a long walk
along the green shore of the lake,"(Kennedy 765)

I chose these lines from Billy Collins "Care and Feeding" because I thought the poem was pretty funny the words that stand out to me were "420 in dog years" because it's a comical line that sets the tone for the rest of the poem. Next I liked "along the green shore of the lake" because its a good description even if its not really detailed I can see what Collins is getting at.

"It's not a war no, it's not a rapture
I'm just a person but you can't take it
The same tricks that once fooled me
They won't get you anywhere
I'm not the same kid from your memory
Now I can fend for myself"(paramore)

I chose this stanza from Paramores Ignorance. I feel its saying that it's not as bad as the atagonist is making it out to be and that whoever is singing it isnt going to fall for the same old stuff since they have grown. The phrase that stands out is the first like "It's not a war no it's not a rapture." I just like the phrase it sands out a lot.

Puppies are pure joy.
Cuddle with me so warm.
I just love puppies!

I decided to paraphrase the poem on page 798 in kennedy by Yone Noguchi.

"Leaves blown
Birds Flown Away"

This stanza is discussing how in the fall leaves fall of the trees and then birds migrate and fly away.

"I wander in and out the Hall of Autumn>"

I think this would mean they are day dreaming a bit about fall, walking around in the wonderment of Fall.

Are The fallen stars
Returning up the sky?--
The dew on the grass.

This means that the stars are shineing brightly on clear fall nights so they seem to be returning to the view of the sky.

Like a cobweb hung upon the tree,
A prey to wind and sunlight!
Who will say that we are safe and stong?

I think this stanza is refering to the leaves on the tree being like a cobweb being like prey to the wind blowing them off the tree and sunlight shineing through them.

Oh, How cool--
The sound of the bell
That leaves the bell itself.

This seems to mean that the leaves have all blown off the tree leaving alone the tree itself.

For my freestyle blog I chose to write about my favorite set of books the Twilight saga.I recently decided to re-read the second book in the series New Moon. Partly because my first book in the series Twilight was lent out and partly because I wanted a refresher on the book before the movie comes out, on 11.20.2009! I could choose to take my blog one way and write about how the movie is never ever as good as the book! However, most all of us would agree that the movie is never as good at the book! With that said I am just going to write my blog about the second book in the series entitled New Moon.

"I felt like I was trapped in one of those terriftying nightmares, the one where you have to run, run til your lungs burst, but you can't make your body move fast enough. My legs seemed to move slower and slower as I fought my way through the callous crowd, but the hands on the huge clock tower didn't slow. With relentless, uncaring force they turned inexorably toward the end--the end of everything."(Meyer,1)

I really love this quote found in New Moon in the preface. Most of us have had the dream of running and not moving at all. Meyers really painted a great picture with this quote I feel like I right there! The preface, this quote included really sets the stage for the rest of the book. A great read that I would recommend to everyone!

"There was clearly nothing to but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating."(kennedy 165)

This quote seemed to really pop out of the text at me. It fits the story "The Gift of the Magi"(kennedy 165-168), the story is pretty ironic since both parties of the story sell off valued items to buy the other a gift in the end the gifts bought were partners to what the other sold. I feel both parties in the story started out in sobs because they had no money to buy the other a nice gift. They both hoped to make the other happy and both some what end up in the middle of saddness and happiness aka sniffles.

I feel this is true that for the most part people are in between being absolutly sad and being absolutly happy.

For my freestyle reading assignment I read The House on Mango Street written by Sandra Cisneros. I really enjoyed this story. A young Hispanic girl explains the different places she has lived and how she had hopes to live somewhere nicer. The family finaly lands on a House on Mango street that the family owns. The house is not what the family had hoped for, it was small with a small yard. At a previous house the narrator explains of an encounter she had with a nun.

.."There. I had to look to where she pointed--the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn't fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There, i lived there. I nodded"..

I really found this story to be interesting because I am pursuing and an endorsement in which I would work with children who are learning the English language. Some of these children ,like the narrator, will probably not have stable homes and be in constant transition from homes. As educators or , even people like the nun, need to be more sensitive and aware of ESL students life-styles.

"The Children had stones already, and someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles."
"Tessa Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hand outs desperately as the villagers moved in on her. "It isn't fair," she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head."(Jackson 221)

I found this excerpt from The Lottery to be the most important. It's the point when you find out truly what the lottery is about. Jackson does what she set out to by "shocking the reader with a graphic demonstration of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in ther own lives." It truly is symbolic of the senseless of inhumane acts. The women , Tessie Hutchinson, is stoned assumingly to death because of a random act, chosing a slip of paper with a black dot. This woman had done nothing wrong.

I included the first line of the excerpt because it shocked me that even Tessie's son was encouraged in her stoneing. I found this to help illustrate perhaps how society as a whole may act. How everyone even Tessie's son takes part in the violence just because it was a part of the towns ritual. None of the members of the community seemed to have sense enough to stop this violent act. I wonder why the inhabitiants continue to live in this town, when others have stopped "the lottery".

School aged boys are reading less then there female counterparts. In an article I discovered in the Readings on Reading section of week one work for English 104 goes into better detail of this point. The article written by Linda Wilson Fuoco of The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, really got me thinking about this issue. Male students are reading less and in fact are less involved in language arts altogether. I think this may be occurring because for the most part males, by society, really aren’t expected to excel in this area. Therefore, male students really don’t feel it necessary for them to try and better themselves in this area. So, they pick up other activities such as sports and the sciences. The for mentioned article explains that males are now picking up books such as Harry Potter, male students seem to enjoy the book since Harry Potter is a strong, male main character. I really think this is an important issue and needs to be addressed within the school system.

“The whole store was like a pinball machine and I didn’t know which tunnel they’d come out of.”(Updike, 17)

This quote really stuck out to me, I think I mostly just like the simile of the store being a pinball machine. The reader can really imagine the main character, Sammy, waiting for his bikini-clad customers. The comparison of the store being like a pin-ball machine is fitting in which the tunnel is the aisles.
The quote is minimal importance to the story but it helps to the build-up of the upcoming conflict that occurs between Sammy and his employer. The quote also helps display Sammy’s interest in the females and how he later would like to be like a hero to them during the conflict.