The End

This blog is all about a way that I can express myself in my writing. As I read over my blogs I see my emanating from every pore. Most English teachers don’t give a lot of creative writing assignment, granted this really isn’t creative writing, but it is all about my opinions on things and it’s not some filled with rules of what we have to write. Not so much “you must hit all of these points” but more of “tell how you feel about this.”
From “Reading: The Journey into Books” to “essay writing” my writing has gotten different and different. But not different in a bad way, or in a way that is straying from me, different in that it is better, more in depth, and more me :) I have learned how to put myself into my writing without overdoing it.
I found this poem awhile back that I think really relates to my blog.

By your own soul, learn to live
And if men thwart you take no heed.
If men hate you have no care.
Sing your song, dream your dream,
Hope your hope and pray your prayer.--Parkenham Beatty

Because I put so much emphasis on being myself, and because I think my blog reflects that, I really enjoy this poem.
What has been so significant about this blog, to me, is that I feel I can express myself better. Sometimes you might not want to tell your teacher something is person, but when you get an assignment about it, where you can just write about it, it makes it so much easier. Also some things you might not want to say in real life, but if you put them onto paper (or the computer) then they become real and not quite so stupid and people can understand you. If everyone could just write what they wanted to say, the world would be so much better.
Many of my favorite blog assignments where the ones that where about ourselves; especially the very first one that just told about ourselves. But I also like when we would tell about an event in our life. However sometimes it got hard to think up one, but it was still fun. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from actual assignments and just give the world a little insight on yourself.
However, I think the best blog assignments were the ones when we got to ask questions about Great Expectation. It was really helpful to get answers from your peers about simple questions you might have. At times it felt kind of like a chat room.
Probably the least favorite blog assignments were the ones back in February. Those were just questions about what we where doing in class which is no fun at all. We could do inferential questions and stuff like that in class but it shouldn’t be on the blog. How am I supposed to show my creativity when writing about my topic sentence for the Importance of Being Ernest?
That’s all I have to say, there isn’t anymore.

Essay Writing

Am I an accomplished essay writer? You tell me. Defiantly I have learned a lot. Before my essays were a lot of just paraphrasing. Not much original thought, mostly because I didn't know how to write a good essay. However now I have learned to incorporate things such as themes and symbols, and of course; motifs. Now I really get what it means to write an essay. You aren't just talking about the book or play, you are trying to spark that little thing inside of someone that makes them go "Wow, I didn't think of it that way!" You really have to actually analysis it. Not just repeat the boo0k. (Hear that? No repeating)

Of course I'm not perfect by far. Who is really? The biggest challenge I face is grammar. I have always been so bad about how to use a comma right, or a semicolon. Also the spelling. For instance right now I have no clue as to whether or not I spelt 'Essay" right. Sometimes I also have big problems making things not surface level. I wrote like that for so long that's its hard to not do it anymore. However am defiantly getting better, thanks to our lovely Mrs. Gilman!

Ah the summer!

Summer for me has always meant reading for hours on end. It is so hard to choose just two that I plan to read this summer because of the fact that I read rather quickly.

However one book that I would love to read is Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. A friend introduced me to it and I read the first chapter at a bookstore one day. Sadly I was broke and now am waiting for my turn on the very long list at the library. Hunger Games is the earth in the future where there are 12 different places that are like towns on America, except that now the whole world is gruesome and evil. Every year, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12-17 (I think) are chosen from each town to fight in the Hunger Games. It is a fight to the death and whoever wins gets a lot of money and food, which are both rarities now in the earth. The main character is a girl that volunteered to go in her 12-year-old sister's place. That’s all I know, but it sounds really exciting.

Another book I would like to read this summer is called Unwound. It is a book my sister introduced to me, but sadly she was borrowing it from someone and I didn't get a chance to read it. It is also about the future. There was a second civil war about life. Basically people who were for abortion against people who were against abortion. The government ended up coming up with a law to please everyone by saying from conception to age 13, a child can not be killed. However from ages 13-18, a parent can have their child "unwound", which is a way for the child to go on living, but not. Really it’s a nice way of saying that they are going to take the child and take out all their organs and body parts and give them to people who need them. It’s all about these 3 kids who are scheduled to get "unwound" and how they survive.

I hope I have given you some ideas for your reading list. Enjoy!

Culture Shock! In front of your eyes.

As soon as I heard what this blog was about, one thing immediatly jumped into my mind. It is something out there that is very popular I was so sure half the people out there posted it. So I looked at everyone's blog and NO ONE had posted it yet! I was shocked! So I grabbed at the chance. What popped into my head was the very popular>>>
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Twilight.

Think about it. Edward is a vampire and Bella is not, so they really aren't supposed to be in love. For one, Edward told Bella all about vampires which is against the "law" and also Bella could get easily hurt which is mostly portrayed in the second book; New Moon. I know many of you out there will probably get tired from another Twilight reference, but when I think Romeo and Juliet, Twilight is a good example of this in a modern world (Even though vampires aren't real. And neither is Santa Clause. Just F.Y.I)

English Class

From To Kill a Mocking Bird to Great Expectations to motifs, allusions, and themes to extra credit posters and to synchronized staring at people who walk in the door; all of this make up our wonderful English class. We have written a lot of essays (but the creative writing is still my favorite) and analyzed a lot of sentences (which I hate to say has improved my grammar skills) but my favorite part would have to be the creative stuff that we can do. Oh sure diagramming and analyzing are important, but it gets kind of boring after awhile. I enjoy it when we do skits and posters. But whats also extremely fun is the big discussions where we all bring our desks around and debate on various topics. All in all it has been a good seven months, with good parts and bad parts. However a bit more are good.

Three Skit Scenes

• The first scene I would enjoy seeing is the first time that Pip goes to Satis House. The important characters would be Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham. Somethings that would be important would be to portray how creepy Miss Havisham is and to show that there is something of a mystery going on with her. Also what would be important would be for Estella and Miss Havisham to continually put down Pip, because it is at this time when he first wants to have a different life than the one he is living.
• Another scene I would like to see is when Pip and Herbert re meet at Bernard's Inn. The Only characters would be Herbert and Pip, but I feel this is important because Herbert plays such a prominent role.
• The very last scene is the one I would like to see the most. I would like to see the scene where Estella goes back to visit Satis House with Pip and she and Miss Havisham get into a huge fight. The important characters would be Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham.Basically the most important thing would be the fight between Estella and Miss Havisham.

Question #2

This may seem like a very simple question, with a really obvious answer, but I still don't get it. In chapter 44, Pip travels with Estella to see Miss Havisham one last time. Now it is a well know fact that Miss Havisham has always been awful to Pip. She is constantly telling Estella to break his heart. However, in this chapter, Miss Havisham shows an act of kindness to Pip. She is truthful with him and tells him that she purposely did all these horrible things to him. What I don't get is why she was finally truthful with him. After all of this, she is finally remotely nice to him. But why?