Goodbye..

This has been an awesome quarter! I have learned a lot. Although I'm a little late on posting this, I wanted to say good bye and good luck. I also wanted a chance to reflect on the class.

My favorite part of the quarter was our poem recitations as well as writing about them for our Unpack-a-Poem papers. The more time I spend on a poem, the more I can understand and enjoy it to the fullest extent. I love writing, especially when it is related to poetry. I feel like if I devote enough time to writing and reading about others' works, I will in turn advance in my own writing.

Well, everyone have a great spring break!

-Cassie

Vampire Diaries!

I have been obsessed with the show Vampire Diaries recently, which is also a book series. The series was published in the 1991, but I had never heard of the books until recently. I have never read them, but I would be very impressed if they were better than the television show! It would be interesting to find out. I like how it is very ambiguous as to who is the labeled "bad guy" in the show.

It is really good and I highly recommend the show! It's waaaaay better than Twilight! Best of all, girls and guys will like the show.

A Couple Poems I Wrote...

I have been writing poems for a while. It's a personal hobby of mine. I've actually managed to publish one of them, but that is as far as it's gotten. These are two that I wrote last year...

Questionable

Through the frozen leaves and grass
Pondering how long this will take to pass
Love is the initial precedent
Yet the world never seems to be content
Bias swells its own way
Sweeping secure bonds away
Lingering pains fill the souls
with all the stories dost untold

So tell me God, as I look above
Is there really such a thing as love?

..............................................................................
Thoughts Never Spoken


Strange as it is blunt
Battles conquered but never won
I stand blinded by our love
And as we struggle, I look above

As if the rich weren't wielded enough power
They're infinite in our darkest hour
Minds tremble with the urge of decency
While wondering if the world is meant to be

For us normal human beings...
Fate cannot be chosen over will
And yet love has its limits still

I break to you, and as I fall,
My open mind is not sealed at all.

Our past is gone, and now it seems
Merely the reminiscence of a memory

My Final Project

For my final project, I wanted to do something interesting, creative, and personal. Initially I thought of Professor Cassel's question "What is Literature?". Due to the very broad nature of the question, I had to think of different things that went hand-in-hand with it. That is when I immediately thought of music. Music is a passion of mine, just as poetry is, so I wanted to come up with something related to the literature we read in class and lyrics that had a kind of flow and rhyme to them. I thought this was brilliant to do for my final project because music, short-story writing, and poetry can all evoke the same extremity of emotions to their readers. I ended up focusing only on the play "Streetcar Named Desire" because we have read so many different writings that it would have been hard to narrow down a specific topic. Also, that play has various controversies and so many things going on that I knew I could find some lyrics to match the events.

I had a lot of fun with my "research." When I was looking through the songs I had on my mp3, I was surprised to find so many that was related to my topic of choice. Picking two of them was sort of a challenge actually. I also was baffled that the Kanye West song matched Stanley so perfectly, and to think, I used to like that song! I found significant things regarding both time periods, but mostly of all, I found deeper meanings to what kind of music I have been listening to. That barrier between men and women still exists, more so than I thought. It is sad to think that some of us haven't changed in that respect.

What does it mean to be human?

I have been thinking about this question a lot lately because it is the whole significance of literature in this course. I believe what separates us from animals is merely our overall view of the world as well as adaptation. While animals may rely on our planet for mere basics such as reproduction and food, humans need much more than that to survive. We need stability in our society, long-term relationships, money, houses set at the perfect temperature, and we need to feel as if we are worth something. If you really think about it, humans can die from a broken heart, from being out in the hot or the cold too long, or for no reason at all. We do not rely on ourselves to survive and we have lost any kind of animal-like instinct regarding survival. So, while we are more intelligent and expect to receive more from that intellect and to reach our maximum potential, I feel that animals can take better care of themselves and are stronger in the sense that they can adapt better to the changes and the harshness in their life. That is, humans acquire a better intelligence overall; however, animals are ultimately stronger and can handle the world in its pure state much more than we can.  

Excuse you?

In Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a passage that demonstrates just how sexist the 1930's generation was: when Charlie is asking Marion and Lincoln if his child can live with him. "'Do what you like!' she cried, springing up from her chair. 'She's your child. I'm not the person to stand in your way. I think if it were my child I'd rather see her-' She managed to check herself. "You two decide it. I can't stand this. I'm sick. I'm going to bed.' She hurried from the room...'This has been a hard day for her...' His voice was almost apologetic: "When a woman gets an idea in her head.' 'Of course.'" (pg. 2210) That line is so offensive and hurtful to me. How can Lincoln say that when he knows it is not just an "idea" she is sticking to. Marion feels strongly about her sisters death and to me, that is a very legitimate reason to hate a man--if you thought he was responsible for a loved one dying. She even mentioned she cannot stand in the way and that it was not her decision to make, which was a pretty mature thing to say. I admire her for having enough dignity to be the bigger person and walk away from something that she would like to fight for, because she feels as if it is the right thing to do. I disagree with her on that note; I think Charlie does not even deserve to have custody of his child anyway due to his alcoholism and mere recklessness. He was not fit for parenting then, and nothing has changed. Alcoholism is a sickness and an addiction that people cannot escape unless they stop drinking all together, which he clearly has not and is still drinking one-a-day. So, Marion is far from wrong in her reluctance to make Charlie a parental figure again. And furthermore, she is not just holding onto an "idea." She is actually using her mind a lot more than the men in this story are.