Try to Understand

The eye must bite

Into the hot cloud

In a way that burns

The red moon

I am a very leather dog

Who will kiss an important mud

That is swinging into a throat

Of a sharp rock

The cool frog bruises you

To curve a blue belief

Very surprising for the soft slag

To say “you are tough!”

English 1102 Expectations

Dear Future  Student,

                Now that you have enrolled in Ms. Lindberg’s English 1102 class, I will explain to you what to expect from this course. First off, you will write a six to eight page research paper over health and food. Ms. Lindberg does a good job at helping you through the steps and gives you plenty of time to do it. Even with her help, I stressed over writing it so much. I had never written such a long paper over something I was hardly interested in. It took a lot, but all my effort paid off with an A. I had never been so proud of an essay. After that, you will write other essays over stories that we read and discuss. Those essays are typically a breeze after having to write a six page essay. There will be multiple quizzes online while you are in class, they are easy as long as you pay attention in class and do your homework. You will go over three sections in the book: drama, short fiction, and poetry. Although there were a lot of them to read, my favorite was short fiction because the stories were not very long and usually entertaining to read. You will have a GDR assignment to write each week, but they are not very hard, they are actual kind of enjoyable to write. Be prepared to do lots of work. This was the one class that took up a good portion on my time at home. I truthfully have never stressed over a class as much as I have this one. All the effort you put into it is paid off though with good grades. Ms. Lindberg is an incredibly nice teacher and you can tell she completely loves literature. Do not be afraid to ask her questions or ask for help because she is very willing to help you understand. Good luck throughout the course and hope you do great!

                Sincerely,

                                                Former Student

Life Poem

This life,

This love life,

It’s my life,

A life full of hurt, regret, disappointment, and tears,

Too much pain, a life full of stress,

Stress,

Sex, tension, release, elegantly, so stress,

The feeling of letting go,

My heart turns black,

I turn black,

My life should be made of the three P’s,

Passion,

Pleasure around sensitive surrounds is openly needed,

Peace,

Patiently excited about caress everything,

Poison,

Please open inspiration so only needed,

…By you.

Hypocrisy

     When I was in high school, I was a part of the color guard and winter guard. The team was made up of typically sixteen girls and two of them were our captains. Morgan Mosley was one of our captains and was pretty strict on us. She was in the same grade as I was and was captain for three years straight. She was always a really good performer and got even better as the years pasted. The guard looked up to her since she was one of the best on the team. We had many rules and guidelines that we had to follow when a part of the guard. We were not allowed to be on our cell phones during practice, eat nor drink while we were in uniform, and could not change in and out of uniform while on the bus rides to and from our competitions. Here and there, some of us would slip up and break some of these rules. Morgan would sometimes catch us in the act. She would get onto us for not following the rules and then look down upon us for it. As the years past, I got to know Morgan better and we became pretty good friends. I spent more time with her at practice and during our show days. She was always our strict captain that kept us in line, but I started noticing her faults. I would catch her texting during practice after just getting onto someone for doing the same thing. On show days, I would see Morgan eat food while in uniform. She even changed out of uniform on the bus ride on occasions as well. It made me think of all the times she yelled at the team for doing the wrong thing, while all along, she was doing the same thing. It certainly made me resent her at times.

Tattoo Idea

        When I was younger, I didn’t think I’d really care for a tattoo. Ya, they were kind of cool, but I wasn’t really sure if I really wanted one. My grandpa hated them though. He made me promise him that I would never get one. I loved my grandpa, so I made the promise. My grandparents also loved my sister and me very much. They bought us anything and everything. My grandpa was at every single softball practice, and he also came to every game along with my grandma.  They supported us in any way they could. Sadly, they both passed away a couple years ago due to two different sicknesses. They were high school lovers and were happily married for 52 years. I miss them so much and wish they were here to see me graduate, get married, have children, and live my life. They were such nice and generous people. We called my grandpa Luckie because he said he was the luckiest grandpa when my sister and I were born. He loved telling everyone jokes; he even wrote them done on a piece of paper so he could tell them to people throughout the week. When we told the ladies at the pharmacy that he had passed and would no longer be coming for his prescription, they were heartbroken and cried. One day I went to the bank and the teller recognized my last name. She had remembered the last name belonging to Marge Etterman, my grandmother. She worked with her at a different company many years ago. It blew my mind how she remembered her. It just showed how much of a great woman she was. It makes me wonder if I’ll ever be like that. Will people be able to remember me in ten years by just seeing my last name on a sheet of paper? I looked up to my grandparents which makes me want to get a tattoo dedicated to them. I would get a four leaf clover, resembling my grandpa Luckie, with a red hat on it, resembling my grandma since she was in the red hat society. I know I promised my grandpa I wouldn’t get one, but I want a tattoo that resembles them so they will always be with me. I don’t know where I would get it though. My sister and I want to get it done together. We were their first grand children and they were the only grandparents we really had. I want to be just like them to my grandchildren; I want to be someone who people will always remember.

Troy Maxson Racist?

     In August Wilson’s story, Fences, Troy Maxson would be considered the main character. The play starts out with Troy complaining about his job as a lifter for a garbage truck company. He grumbles that the white men are the ones that get to drive the trucks and do not have to do the heavy lifting like he has to do himself. The blame for this is put on his boss. He rebels against this racial practice by protesting the restrictions the black employers have in the company. At a first look, this makes Troy come off as racist. He is irritable about his boss making his job have racial differences and in a way segregated. Later, he goes on talking about how his son Cory will not be able to be recruited into a football team. His reasoning is that the ‘white man’ will not let Cory get anywhere with football. He puts the blame on the ‘white man.’ Again, this makes Troy look a bit racist. Some may take this as racism, but I do not believe Troy truly is racist. Yes, he does put blame on white men for multiple reasons, but he does not show any kind of hatred towards them, just frustration. Troy is mostly just upset with the ways the white men have upon black people. He feels they control them and do not give the black community any chances. The time setting that they are placed in definitely conflicts with the segregation issue. In this time period, black people did not have the same equalities as the white people did. This is why Troy is having a hard time with his boss and with white men in general. It does not make Troy racist for being aggravated with this situation but it can make it appear that way.

Charley's Statement

    In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman goes through a tough time. His life is based around being a salesman. He is not a very successful one though, and his neighbor Charley can see that. Charley in a way pities Willy. He constantly lends Willy money and plays cards with him. Willy tends to treat him badly because he is jealous of Charley’s successful son.  Nevertheless, he offers Willy a job many times. However, Willy never accepts the job offer, even when he loses his job as a salesman.  Charley tries telling Willy “the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell” (1256). Willy cannot seem to understand this though. Here, I think Charley is trying to tell Willy that he does not have anything to sell. Willy is losing everything he has and it is making him lose his job. Willy’s most valuable asset is his job as a salesman, and that is what he is living off of. This reflects America in the 1940s in a different way than America now. In the 1940s, a man’s most important responsibility was his job. Losing his career would be losing everything. As America in 2012, salesmanship is not the only thing a man has got in the world. There are so many more opportunities in America now. Overtime, things have changed a lot. Back then, a man seemed to only work and worry about his job. Now, men do much more than just work. They spend more time with the family, go out with their friends, or use their time watching Sunday night football games. I guess America’s morals have changed overtime.