Heather H

I believe in the freedom of speech and I also believe that we still live in a world where hatred exists. Context is the difference between hate speech and writing. Fundamentally utilizing certain language can be informative and even in certain times “educate” and “teach” those reading the literature or perhaps watching the movie. History is important to know and should not be censored. Through history, there is a great opportunity to create change in those who may hold ignorant opinion and hatred if they learn the truth, suffering and what has truly taken place in our not so distant past. We cannot pretend it did not happen, we must do something about it. We cannot create change by censoring, be create change by awareness. Unfortunately the United States has made some decisions to try and censor other events from the books because it does not look good. However we must be accountable so we can be better, better now and better in the future.

In the last two weeks of reading poetry I have learned to look into what the author of the poem is conveying instead of my own interpretation. Although I feel poetry is an art in itself and there is room for your own interpretation and meaning, I have learned to feel and comprehend what the writer intends. Through looking up words I do not understand and reading the poem correctly. I always saw how poems were writtten so differntly and we learned how to read them despite the formatting. That was something a bit new to me instead of reading line by line, reading until the end of the sentence. The poetry especially shakespeare prepared me for Oedpius the king. Sonnet poems such as “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Sonnet 18)  Helped me prepare for the more the reading and the language to come. “Thou art more lovely and more temperate: rough winds do not shake the darling buds of May,” (Shakespeare) “You may see them with one another like birds swift on the wing, quicker than fire I mastered speeding away to the coast of the gods.” (oedpius the king) Reading poetry helped by familiarizing myself in preperation for more similes and much more reading.

I have learned through the process of writing the first essay that I have much room for improvement. I think that while writing the essay I’m following the outline, however it appears that my opening, body and conclusion may not be strong or clear enough leaving the reader confused. Perhaps I even complicated the last assignment when trying to articulate the essay into my words yet act like the professor and review the sample student essay. I think in the future it may be less confusing for myself writing on a topic directly following an outline and I may come across more clear. I also think my time management skills mixed with study and tutoring need attention or perhaps trying a different study approach. I do like the poetry as it is similar to art and captures my attention span. Ultimately I have learned that going back to college and being the oldest student in all your classes and struglling is not the easiest thing to do all the time and yet it is the neccessary thing to do as to survive and prosper in life.

After reading “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, I would title my essay “School-Blocked”. The children who had moved from the south to the north seemed to be left unattended by the other adults in their life and ran free in the streets of New York. A neighborhood women whom had went to college herself, “Miss Moore”, found it her due diligence to spread her knowledge to school these children on the block they grew up and played. In my essay I would write about how “Miss Moore”, reached them, as at first the children were weary of paying attention to her and were very opinionated of who she way. They made comments “This lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup”. (Toni Bambara 1). With her persistence the she was able find a way to engage the children. One of those ways included enticing them into a car with five dollars after teaching or schooling them about money. This sets their journey to the store where they see a large price tag for $1000 on a toy sailboat and even learn about a paper weight. I found the paper weight discussion interesting as it leads to another discussion as the children compare dynamics of their lives and only one of them has a desk. I would also highlight their nervousness to walk into the store and yet their excitement prior to entering while window shopping. My essay would be about reaching the youth of the street, simple acts and the big lessons learned through the teachings of Miss Moore.

The assignment of activity ten for week one requires no actual writing at this time. I will be preparing myself for the actual upcoming writing assignment of essay 1 only after having completed the multi-layered steps in activity ten which I will describe. First I will read “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Gabriel Marquez. Second I will read “Overview of ‘The Most Handsome Drowned Man” by Dean Rader. Aslo in addition I will read the supporting writing guide material. I will learn how to write a strong thesis statement. Where and how to insert qoutations into a literary essay. I will watch the video on why formatting matters in activity 7 and the MLA Citations guide in activity 8. These steps will prepare me to act as the Professor and evaluate a student sample literary essay. This will prepare me for a successful part 2 when it is time to actually write. This will complete week 1 activity 10 at this time.