Old Blog!

I no longer use this blog, I started a new one for a new class.
Feel free to take a look:
http://frankycompexpos.blogspot.com/

MAPLAN

     How I am gonna hack the Modernist research project is by working with a fellow classmate (Kristhian Marentes). We plan on comparing our authors and their modernist writings. Compare but also contrast their forms of Modernist writings. We will present our project via Prezi.
Kristhian's Author- Langston Hughes
My Author- Elizabeth Bishop

Joe College

     Today there was a presentation on how to find a college that best suits you. Topics like this one get really excited about my future. So far, I have been highly interested in Chico State. It offers a field in which I am interested in and that is recording arts because I have always been interested in music.
     There will be challenges with college. The first one is if I will get accepted and I see this as the major one. Of course, after you get accepted, you will have to pay for it some how. Though there are challenges, there will be great opportunities after college. When finding a job, I will be a good candidate for the position and, hey, I'm also bilingual!

Spring Vocab: March 4

1. chronic- constant; habitual
2. sentiment- an attitude toward something
3. morality- conformity to the rules of right of conduct
4. remorse- deep and painful regret for wrongdoing
5. acquaintance- a person known to one
6. sanity- healthy mental state
7. implication- to suggest
8. alternative- a different choice
9. savage- fierce, ferocious, or cruel
10. phenomenon- impressive or extraordinary

MAP 1: Introducing Elizabeth Bishop

5 Interesting Facts About Elizabeth Bishop:

  *Born 1911; Died 1979

*Was a poet whose vivid sense of geography won her many honors

*Her first book of poems, "North and South", earned her the title of Poet Laureate of the United States

*Occupation: Evangelist, Nun, Poet
*Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1956

 

Applied Modernism

     Modernism has a few themes to it and the poem "Richard Cory" could relate to them. Off the bat, the poem was written during the Modernist Era. Modernist Poems were short and contained a lot of imagery. The point of view is also remote/detached from the subject, it's somewhat ironic but not unfeeling. Low Art- we could understand that no matter how successful someone seems, they could be going through inner problems that the outer world cannot identify. All these things combined make "Richard Cory" a Modernist poem.
     The Modernist Era began in the early 1900s and lasted until 1965. This poem was written and published in 1897, so it was one of the first Modernist poems. It also contains factors that make a poem Modern. The poem itself is pretty short, sixteen lines and four stanzas. The most Modernistic thing about "Richard Cory" is all the imagery. What Richard Cory does in the poem and how he looks is described in detail and you can gain a pretty good sense of what is happening in the poem.
     It's kind of hard to understand from what perspective this story is being told from but from the line "We people on the pavement looked at him", we can see that it is being told from another ordinary citizen. Though, I am not sure what point-of-view this poem is written in. Although we aren't all richer than a king, what happened to Richard Cory is understandable. Many people in this society hide their struggles so well in the inside to not affect those in the outside.
     In conclusion, "Richard Cory" is a Modernist poem. The poem is short, filled with images. It is slightly difficult to understand the perspective from where this story is being told but you could get a sense of the mood in the poem. The theme of "Richard Cory" is also relatable and fathomable to the people.

Modern Writing: Constantly Changing

     At this point in time, us, as a race, are advancing and changing at a highly rapid pace in every way possible. Literature, technology, art, etc.
     There are factors that go behind the inspiration of one's writing and sometimes it could involve the innovations of their current time. If someone were to write a story five years ago about phones and how they have become so versatile, they'd be talking about the iPhone 2 and its great capabilities, well compare that with the iPhone 5 right now...

My Modernist

Elizabeth Bishop

One of the youngest writers from the Modernist Era. This caught my attention and separated her from most Modernist writers that were usually born in the late 1880's.

Spring Vocab #5

1. brouhaha- uproar
2. cloy- overly sweet
3. demeanor- behavior
4. deference- respect
5. enigmatic- mysterious

I Am Here.

     By the end of this week, the first grading period will be over and progress reports will come in. I am trying a lot more this semester than I did the last, especially in this class. My progress in this class is better than last semester's.
Last semester, my blog received 255 page views.
So far in this semester, in just one month, I have received 179 page views.
-If I continue to do what I am doing I will transcend last semester's work in just two months.

But we can't just express my progress with page views:
Last semester I published 23 posts.
So far I have published 12 posts this semester, that's including this one.
-At this rate, I will have surpassed the amount of posts from last semester in just two months.

My SMART goal: To be more involved in the class than I was last semester.
-I believe I am doing a pretty good job with this goal.

     Though I am doing better progress this semester, I am still behind. I still have to complete the LAQ's. I still have the "I Can Read" assignment to do; I just haven't had the right time to do it, but I plan on doing it tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then surely by this week.
                            

Essay Postgame Analysis

     Well, today's in-class essay exam went alright. It's just that I can't do an outstanding job with such limited time. Other than that, I believe that I did a good job in analyzing the themes. I'll admit it, I did rush the conclusion but I feel pretty confident in the body of my essay.
     The grade I believe I deserve is a C+.

Parlor Poetry

 What I believe makes a good substitute for "Dover Beach":
         
          It's little I care what path i take,
          And where it leads it's little i care;
          But out of this house, lest my heart break,
          I must go, and off somewhere.

          It's little I know what's in my heart,
          What's in my mind it's little I know,
          But there's that in memust up and start,
          And it's little i care where my feet go.

          I wish i could walk for a day and a night,
          And find me at dawn in a desolate place
          With never the rut of a road in sight,
          Nor the roof of a house, nor the eyes of a face.

          I wish I could walk till my blood should spout,
          And drop me, never to stir again,
          On a shore that is wide, for the tide is out,
          And the weedy rocks are bare to the rain.

          But dump or dock, where the path I take
          Brings up, it's little enough I care:
          And it's little I'd mind the fuss they'll make,
          Huddled dead in a ditch somewhere.

  - Edna St. Vincent Millay

My F451

Summary:

     This novel is set in the future, in an un-named American city. In that time, firemen start fires instead of starting them. They burn books and the houses containing them. The protagonist of the story, Guy Montag, starts off as a fireman. He was happily burning books, until he met Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse's philosophy on books cause Montag to question his work.
     After meeting Clarisse, Montag goes through a few unsettling events. His wife attempted to commit suicide by swallowing a bottle of pills. Then, while burning a house that contained books, the woman who owned the house and books decided to burn with them. To make matters worse, Clarisse goes missing and Montag heard that she was ran over and killed by a speeding car. Clarisse dies early in the story, she wasn't there to change the world but to spark the mind that would.

Spring Vocab #2

1. patronage- the financial support provided to a company or someone
2. centrifuge- rotating something at high speeds to seperate substances
3. leisure- freedom of the demands of work or duty
4. vessel- a ship or a boat
5. sieve- a person who cannot keep a secret

Spring Vocab #1

1. proboscis- snout
2. pantomime- gesture without speech
3. proclivities- natural or habitual tendency
4. centrifuge- rotating something at high speed to separate substances
5. odious- offensive; causing hatred

The Peeved Pedestrian

     I believe that Ray Bradbury wrote "Fahrenheit 451" because he was curious of the future. He wrote this novel in an attempt to foreshadow how we approach literature in the future and life in general. Bradbury wrote about "seashells" in his book which are basically earbuds. Considering that these were not invented during Bradbury's time, really shows that he had a rational idea of the future.
     I also think that this book was written to spread the importance of, well, books. In the story when the lady stayed in her house while it was being burned on Elm St., it showed loyalty to her belief. Believing that books serve a purpose; we learn from them. Religion is brought up in the story. Could the novel had been saying that religious views coincide with those beliefs in books? The women died for her beliefs, she is not the only one.

I'm a Poet and I Know it

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I'd rather stay in bed
than go to school,
but I want to own a house.
Not be a bum.
Have a girl who wears a real nice blouse.
Have a life filled with fun.
Why I wake up every morning,
go to school,
to make my parents proud.
Endure scorning there
Treated like a fool there
and some are loud there.
I do it for success.
To pass this test...
of life.
Receive money
and have a nice wife.
Watches are platinum.
Chains are gold.

Fahrenheit 451

A few factors I learned that will help me understand the novel:

• This novel explores the effects of television and mass media on the reading of literature.
• No clear explanation is given as to why books are banned in the future.
• It suggests that several different factors could be combined to create this result.
• Guy Montag is the protagonist.
• Another theme of the story is knowledge versus ignorance.

Theme for English 3

     Though I am different from plenty of other people at this school, a lot of us are similar in many ways. The average teacher thinks a high majority of us are the same. Those teachers enter the school year hoping that we get something out of them, to learn from them, instead of them learning from us. Which is why their opinion on their students stays monotonous. I honestly do not know how my teachers see me, but I have a feeling that whoever they see, its not me. But how do we know our self, yourself? On my pursuit of knowledge, my attitude is.. different. This pursuit lasts a lifetime and I approach each subject in a different manor. When I am not focused on one thing, everything becomes a whole; I call it school. I check certain factors before I begin my school day while I am at the quad. Some of them non-academic. "Did I get my book from my locker? Are my good friends here today? Oh hey, it's my crush walking by. Is today the right day to talk to her again?"
     Teachers can't expect to know who we are unless they are in our shoes, good luck trying to fit in them.A good thing about a teacher not being so involved in our lives is that we can focus on other things as well. It won't be a distraction for our learning process in other subjects. Just one reason as to how I become accountable for my knowledge and how I can express that knowledge.

Spring Semester Plan 1

     My current goal for this semester is to become more involved in the class.
     To participate in more than just the mandatory assignments.
    

Spring Post 1: Music as Literature

     Can we consider music to be literature? Well, first, we must understand what is literature. The definition of literature given to you by a dictionary is: writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays.
     Honestly, I think we can add music to that list. Ideas are expressed in a lot of songs and if you were to truly listen to the lyrics, you would hear the literature in the music. Though similar, there are some differences in forms of literature. So, what is the difference between a novel, a poem, a rap, a song, an opera, and a symphony?  They are different by how the context in these forms of literature are expressed.