Prompt 1
The world from which I come is a very lonely one, it was like wearing an invisibility cloak. Ever since I had the ability to think I was left to fend for myself. I had to; it was the only way to live. The only person who took care of me was my brother until he had to go to college, then it was just my dog left to keep me company. On my first day of sophomore year my father decided that it was more important to go to a divorce lawyer than pick up my cousin and me from school. This changed everything. That year, I had to struggle through dance, school, a horrible home life, death, and driving, it was like everything was happening at once and there was nothing I could do to make it better. Because of this, I am a changed person. Every day I fight for my rights and strive for my freedom-I was being watched from every angle and all I wanted was to leave and finally be free from my family. All this freedom was stripped away due to a divorce. What most people don’t understand in a divorce is that the child has no say, they have nothing to do with the divorce yet they have to suffer the consequences.
The remarkable thing is that marriage is made a fool of time and time again through divorce, cheating, abuse, and a serious lack of love yet homosexuality is said to do exactly this if it were made legal. I come from a heterosexual couple that had a planned child, on paper this sounds like an amazing family to be brought in to. Only on paper would it sounds good. This is because the people who read it would know nothing about this family other than a heterosexual couple who had a planned child. There are no reports of neglect or abuse. Just a heterosexual couple who decided to have a planned child, and that’s all it ever will be. If this is what a marriage is today, there should be no marriage at all.
My father raised me to think that homosexual marriage wasn’t wrong, it was just unnatural. Because of this upbringing I believed that bisexuality, homosexuality, and pansexuality were all odd and I shouldn’t participate in that community. Partially spiting my dad and partly due to the fact most of my friends are gay, I have become an activist for gay rights.
Prompt 2
One accomplishment that is most dear to me is getting on pointe in ballet. This is a term used for ballerinas-pointe are the shoe that enables you to stand on your toes. In my first year of dance I was always jealous of the other girls already could do. They were so graceful, so beautiful, and so strong. So I bought a pair of pointe shoes. I practiced every night. My feet weren’t strong enough and it hurt so much, but I continued to practice because I felt so strong and capable when I was dancing. The pain was excruciating, I could literally feel my arches tear. I was born with feet that easily mold to my shoes, this means I have fallen arches most of the time, because of this it made my experience of getting on pointe that much harder. I had to work twice as hard just to do the simple things. Once I was on pointe I felt my toes scream, having all your weight placed on your big toes is the most foreign feeling I have ever experienced, but after some time passed my toes would either get used to the pressure or simply go numb, whatever it took to finish the dance. Some days I would have to bandage my calves and knees because the tearing of muscles and formation of stronger ones would make it nearly impossible to move, but I had to continue my days normally. When I finally brought my pointe shoes to class, my teacher just looked at me but she let me show her what I could do. She was extremely surprised because of how I could actually get straight on my toes. I still needed a lot of fine tuning and work, and I did. I always pushed myself harder than I could. Every night I would have to massage the knots of muscle out of my feet and legs. But it was still worth it.
I went over board that year with all the dance class I took, I took six classes and was in nine dances-I was supposed to be in more but I couldn’t remember some and preferred to dance well in fewer dances than have many dances and not be able to dance to my full potential. I took one class called Lyrical. This is the hardest dance class I have ever taken. One of my proudest accomplishments is sticking with that class until the end. No one supported my dancing and everyone told me just to quit, but I never did. I dealt with the physical pain and when I was strong enough I would dance as hard as I could. I was never as strong as the other girls but I didn’t stand out anymore. I could dance just like them, I stayed in sync and pushed through. At the end of that year I had earned the respect of everyone, I had become a dancer.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Responces
My response to:
Marco:This is a very interesting blog post, can you elaborate on how you chose the book?
Wendy:Like Marco said, it was kind of confusing when your question was the answer. I like your draft though :)
and to Kim:I agree with Kaila and Wendy when they say that there is not that much analysis happening and it was more of a summary but if that was what you were writing about then it's fine
Marco:This is a very interesting blog post, can you elaborate on how you chose the book?
Wendy:Like Marco said, it was kind of confusing when your question was the answer. I like your draft though :)
and to Kim:I agree with Kaila and Wendy when they say that there is not that much analysis happening and it was more of a summary but if that was what you were writing about then it's fine
Friday, April 29, 2011
Very Rough Draft
Angela’s Ashes
I believe that the author's purpose in writing this book, Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt is trying to get the story about his family out. It probably was nice to get the stories off his chest and be able to show the world about his family. It also probably made him more comfortable with his life because in writing the stories he is able to have a hard copy of his family's history so it wont get lost in time-like what happened with my family. I believe this because the entire book is essentially about his family and how they were in the United States and Ireland. I think that his purpose for writing the book because it contains his family history and it gives an emotional appeal that only he could have given.
I did some research on what the author thinks about his book and I found, "As a "memoirist," I've had three different ranges of experience: Angela's Ashes; 'Tis; Teacher Man. Most of the people in Ashes were dead (still are). I didn't have to worry too much about consulting anyone, though I once—only once—mentioned what I was writing to my brother, Malachy. When the book was published in Ireland, I was denounced from hill, pulpit, and barstool. Certain citizens claimed I had disgraced the fair name of the city of Limerick, that I had attacked the church, that I had despoiled my mother's name, and that if I returned to Limerick, I would surely be found hanging from a lamppost." It seems as though he wasn't too confident his audience liked the book. I believe that the audience is Irish people as a whole-mainly because of how easily I was able to relate to the book and I am Irish-but I guess that his family wasn't the audience intended.Reading this story actually makes me more interested in finding my roots. Having another family with a relatively close history to my own makes it actually have meaning. As silly as it sounds having another family show me that there is history that could be found makes me extremely curious to find my own history. With all the new technology it should be a lot easier than it was when I tired to find my family before. I'm going to go do that right now.
I think that the books major weakness is how it gets slightly boring in the middle. The surprising thing is that I have talked about this book to other people and I seem to be the only on uninterested in the section I found boring. So, it could just be me. I'm not sure. Other than that section-the first half od the middle section-I really like this book. I continue to find similarities between the book and my childhood and family history. The part I found the closest to my own history is in the very beginning where Frank McCourt gives a very brief history of his family coming from Ireland during the early 1920's-which I believe is when my family came but as said in previous blog posts no one really knows. I believe that we came around the same time because even though there are no solid dates in my family history the stories seem to go hand in hand.
I believe that the author's purpose in writing this book, Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt is trying to get the story about his family out. It probably was nice to get the stories off his chest and be able to show the world about his family. It also probably made him more comfortable with his life because in writing the stories he is able to have a hard copy of his family's history so it wont get lost in time-like what happened with my family. I believe this because the entire book is essentially about his family and how they were in the United States and Ireland. I think that his purpose for writing the book because it contains his family history and it gives an emotional appeal that only he could have given.
I did some research on what the author thinks about his book and I found, "As a "memoirist," I've had three different ranges of experience: Angela's Ashes; 'Tis; Teacher Man. Most of the people in Ashes were dead (still are). I didn't have to worry too much about consulting anyone, though I once—only once—mentioned what I was writing to my brother, Malachy. When the book was published in Ireland, I was denounced from hill, pulpit, and barstool. Certain citizens claimed I had disgraced the fair name of the city of Limerick, that I had attacked the church, that I had despoiled my mother's name, and that if I returned to Limerick, I would surely be found hanging from a lamppost." It seems as though he wasn't too confident his audience liked the book. I believe that the audience is Irish people as a whole-mainly because of how easily I was able to relate to the book and I am Irish-but I guess that his family wasn't the audience intended.Reading this story actually makes me more interested in finding my roots. Having another family with a relatively close history to my own makes it actually have meaning. As silly as it sounds having another family show me that there is history that could be found makes me extremely curious to find my own history. With all the new technology it should be a lot easier than it was when I tired to find my family before. I'm going to go do that right now.
I think that the books major weakness is how it gets slightly boring in the middle. The surprising thing is that I have talked about this book to other people and I seem to be the only on uninterested in the section I found boring. So, it could just be me. I'm not sure. Other than that section-the first half od the middle section-I really like this book. I continue to find similarities between the book and my childhood and family history. The part I found the closest to my own history is in the very beginning where Frank McCourt gives a very brief history of his family coming from Ireland during the early 1920's-which I believe is when my family came but as said in previous blog posts no one really knows. I believe that we came around the same time because even though there are no solid dates in my family history the stories seem to go hand in hand.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Angela's Ashes 2
What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?
I think that the books major weakness is how it gets slightly boring in the middle. The surprising thing is that I have talked about this book to other people and I seem to be the only on uninterested in the section I found boring. So, it could just be me. I'm not sure. Other than that section-the first half od the middle section-I really like this book. I continue to find similarities between the book and my childhood and family history. The part I found the closest to my own history is in the very beginning where Frank McCourt gives a very brief history of his family coming from Ireland during the early 1920's-which I believe is when my family came but as said in previous blog posts no one really knows. I believe that we came around the same time because even though there are no solid dates in my family history the stories seem to go hand in hand.
Reading this story actually makes me more interested in finding my roots. Having another family with a relatively close history to my own makes it actually have meaning. As silly as it sounds having another family show me that there is history that could be found makes me extremely curious to find my own history. With all the new technology it should be a lot easier than it was when I tired to find my family before. I'm going to go do that right now.
I think that the books major weakness is how it gets slightly boring in the middle. The surprising thing is that I have talked about this book to other people and I seem to be the only on uninterested in the section I found boring. So, it could just be me. I'm not sure. Other than that section-the first half od the middle section-I really like this book. I continue to find similarities between the book and my childhood and family history. The part I found the closest to my own history is in the very beginning where Frank McCourt gives a very brief history of his family coming from Ireland during the early 1920's-which I believe is when my family came but as said in previous blog posts no one really knows. I believe that we came around the same time because even though there are no solid dates in my family history the stories seem to go hand in hand.
Reading this story actually makes me more interested in finding my roots. Having another family with a relatively close history to my own makes it actually have meaning. As silly as it sounds having another family show me that there is history that could be found makes me extremely curious to find my own history. With all the new technology it should be a lot easier than it was when I tired to find my family before. I'm going to go do that right now.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Angelas Ashes First Response
I believe that the author's purpose in writing this book, Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt is trying to get the story about his family out. It probably was nice to get the stories off his chest and be able to show the world about his family. It also probably made him more comfortable with his life because in writing the stories he is able to have a hard copy of his family's history so it wont get lost in time-like what happened with my family. I believe this because the entire book is essentially about his family and how they were in the United States and Ireland. I think that his purpose for writing the book because it contins his family history and it gives an emotional appeal that only he could have given.
I did some research on what the author thinks about his book and I found, "As a "memoirist," I've had three different ranges of experience: Angela's Ashes; 'Tis; Teacher Man. Most of the people in Ashes were dead (still are). I didn't have to worry too much about consulting anyone, though I once—only once—mentioned what I was writing to my brother, Malachy. When the book was published in Ireland, I was denounced from hill, pulpit, and barstool. Certain citizens claimed I had disgraced the fair name of the city of Limerick, that I had attacked the church, that I had despoiled my mother's name, and that if I returned to Limerick, I would surely be found hanging from a lamppost." It seems as though he wasn't too confident his audience liked the book. I believe that the audience is Irish people as a whole-mainly because of how easily I was able to relate to the book and I am Irish-but I guess that his family wasn't the audience intended.
I did some research on what the author thinks about his book and I found, "As a "memoirist," I've had three different ranges of experience: Angela's Ashes; 'Tis; Teacher Man. Most of the people in Ashes were dead (still are). I didn't have to worry too much about consulting anyone, though I once—only once—mentioned what I was writing to my brother, Malachy. When the book was published in Ireland, I was denounced from hill, pulpit, and barstool. Certain citizens claimed I had disgraced the fair name of the city of Limerick, that I had attacked the church, that I had despoiled my mother's name, and that if I returned to Limerick, I would surely be found hanging from a lamppost." It seems as though he wasn't too confident his audience liked the book. I believe that the audience is Irish people as a whole-mainly because of how easily I was able to relate to the book and I am Irish-but I guess that his family wasn't the audience intended.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Similar Stories-Stories that weren't Written
The stories where I have found a few similarities were the blogs A Heart of a Student by Shiyun Yang, New Era by Nawara Ahemed, and Ianna has a Blog Now by me. The similarities that I found between the three of us is that all of our families don't share stories. With Shiyun she discusses how unless prompted to tell stories her family doesn't discuss them. An example of this is when Shiyun states, "This story hasn't really survived in my family. My parents don't tell much stories and I don't think that they heard much stories from their parents either. Its sad to think that the family history kind of broken down and didn't get passed from generations to generations. I believe that there is a great story out there to tell, and it just never really got passed on. My only guess is that they don't want to tell the life of their sad living styles." I found this interesting because it relates to all three of us. We all know that we have a story to tell but we don't always have the resources to learn what the are.
One quote of Nawara's broke my heart, when she said "I have realized that connecting with Family history is also an essential quality and esteem to acquire because of the how sealed a household family can renovate into. For instance, many of my identifiable acquaintances inform their parents about their everyday existence- boys, school, faults, to broken-hearts- this demonstrates the kinship between the parents and the children. They are amid a great amount of comfort and wellbeing that they have they the strength to orally communicate their thoughts without a borderline.
Not having the capability to empathize and value my parent’s history is sad. To obtain family history is remarkable, and the aftermath always goes on- which is humbling.
When my parents reveal their history to us, I will cherish the stories and forever adore their adventures (mishaps and fortune). By doing so, the connections between my parents, siblings, and I will improve." I thought that this was a really good way of expressing how she feels about not having the stories of her family be present. Because of Nawara I have found a new appreciation to what I do know. Like Shiyun I do know a few stories, and though mine are not very accurate it's nice to know they are there. I really hope that soon Nawara will find her stories and achieve the emotions that she wants to portray with her parents and other family members.
One quote of Nawara's broke my heart, when she said "I have realized that connecting with Family history is also an essential quality and esteem to acquire because of the how sealed a household family can renovate into. For instance, many of my identifiable acquaintances inform their parents about their everyday existence- boys, school, faults, to broken-hearts- this demonstrates the kinship between the parents and the children. They are amid a great amount of comfort and wellbeing that they have they the strength to orally communicate their thoughts without a borderline.
Not having the capability to empathize and value my parent’s history is sad. To obtain family history is remarkable, and the aftermath always goes on- which is humbling.
When my parents reveal their history to us, I will cherish the stories and forever adore their adventures (mishaps and fortune). By doing so, the connections between my parents, siblings, and I will improve." I thought that this was a really good way of expressing how she feels about not having the stories of her family be present. Because of Nawara I have found a new appreciation to what I do know. Like Shiyun I do know a few stories, and though mine are not very accurate it's nice to know they are there. I really hope that soon Nawara will find her stories and achieve the emotions that she wants to portray with her parents and other family members.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Beta Reading
1.Does dialogue contribute to or take away from the story?
The dialogue is fine. If anything it helps the reader have more insight to who the characters and what their relationships are to other characters. When this history was incorporated during the lake side scene it added a lot to Adrians motivations, but was somewhat unclear. One criticism I have is that it seems that you-the autor is trying extremely hard to incorporate pop culture into your story. Write about what you feel is right, not what you expect your audience to want.
2.Is Adrian's explanation of Filipino folklore interesting? Why or why not?
I found that Adrian's explanation was very interesting. I wasn't clear if he was talking about his family history, Filipino history, or a combination. If all of what was incorporated into the story was true then Filipino folklore is very interesting and it would be nice to have random tidbits of Filipino history and folklore thrown in.
3.Is Dorothy's reaction realistic?
Dorothy originally seemed to be kind of a strange high schooler with very limited social skill so the fact she responded "normally" to Adrian's stories made her character complex. It also made it unclear what her social experience was, the fact that she had such limited interactions with males-especially with men she was attracted to-so her being able to flirt and act as if she were a socialite was confusing to her character.
4. Do the cultural elements seem forced in the storyline?
The Filipino cultural elements seem fine. The pop cultural elements seem forced. Making references to Vampire Diaries seems as if the author is just trying to entertain the reader by expressing his knowledge on pop culture. Teenagers are smarter than you think, and they are the experts on pop culture. Possibly having a teenager to reference phrases or tv shows might be a good idea.
5.Is Dorothy a relatable female protagonist? Do you think it's cool she's Filipino? Or do you think she should be of another ethnicity who finds Filipino culture interesting?
Dorothy and I have different social experiences and skills so I personally find her difficult to relate to, but she does have some relatable qualities. It's fine that she's Filipino, maybe adding some diversity would make the text more relatable.
6.Is Adrian compelling?
He used to seem very sexy, but when he turned into a mystic being and tried to get at Dorothy he lost some of his sex appeal.
The dialogue is fine. If anything it helps the reader have more insight to who the characters and what their relationships are to other characters. When this history was incorporated during the lake side scene it added a lot to Adrians motivations, but was somewhat unclear. One criticism I have is that it seems that you-the autor is trying extremely hard to incorporate pop culture into your story. Write about what you feel is right, not what you expect your audience to want.
2.Is Adrian's explanation of Filipino folklore interesting? Why or why not?
I found that Adrian's explanation was very interesting. I wasn't clear if he was talking about his family history, Filipino history, or a combination. If all of what was incorporated into the story was true then Filipino folklore is very interesting and it would be nice to have random tidbits of Filipino history and folklore thrown in.
3.Is Dorothy's reaction realistic?
Dorothy originally seemed to be kind of a strange high schooler with very limited social skill so the fact she responded "normally" to Adrian's stories made her character complex. It also made it unclear what her social experience was, the fact that she had such limited interactions with males-especially with men she was attracted to-so her being able to flirt and act as if she were a socialite was confusing to her character.
4. Do the cultural elements seem forced in the storyline?
The Filipino cultural elements seem fine. The pop cultural elements seem forced. Making references to Vampire Diaries seems as if the author is just trying to entertain the reader by expressing his knowledge on pop culture. Teenagers are smarter than you think, and they are the experts on pop culture. Possibly having a teenager to reference phrases or tv shows might be a good idea.
5.Is Dorothy a relatable female protagonist? Do you think it's cool she's Filipino? Or do you think she should be of another ethnicity who finds Filipino culture interesting?
Dorothy and I have different social experiences and skills so I personally find her difficult to relate to, but she does have some relatable qualities. It's fine that she's Filipino, maybe adding some diversity would make the text more relatable.
6.Is Adrian compelling?
He used to seem very sexy, but when he turned into a mystic being and tried to get at Dorothy he lost some of his sex appeal.
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