A poem from me and one from a poet.

Last week in English class we were working on a poem as part of our poetry unit. This poem had to be constructed using words from two newspaper articles. Lastly, the articles had to have contrasting meanings. For example a house burning down as opposed to a new building being built would be contrasting ideas. Here is the Poem I came up with:

"Healing"

Inspiration critized,
Physically,emotionally, hurt.
Violence against people.
Keep from danger or loss.
Enough. Days are right for reconciliation.
Critized efforts.
Shouted slogans motivate others,
to make changes, not violence.
A plan: to bridge rivalries.
Confirmed goal.

Also as part of the blog we had to go to Poets.org and find a new favorite poet. I found a poem entitled Crossroads by Joyce Sutphen.

Crossroads
by Joyce Sutphen

The second half of my life will be black
to the white rind of the old and fading moon.
The second half of my life will be water
over the cracked floor of these desert years.
I will land on my feet this time,
knowing at least two languages and who
my friends are. I will dress for the
occasion, and my hair shall be
whatever color I please.
Everyone will go on celebrating the old
birthday, counting the years as usual,
but I will count myself new from this
inception, this imprint of my own desire.

The second half of my life will be swift,
past leaning fenceposts, a gravel shoulder,
asphalt tickets, the beckon of open road.
The second half of my life will be wide-eyed,
fingers shifting through fine sands,
arms loose at my sides, wandering feet.
There will be new dreams every night,
and the drapes will never be closed.
I will toss my string of keys into a deep
well and old letters into the grate.

The second half of my life will be ice
breaking up on the river, rain
soaking the fields, a hand
held out, a fire,
and smoke going
upward, always up.

In her poem Joyce Sutphen she most likely writes about her fiftieth birthday. The fiftieth birthday is considered by a lot of people to be the halfway point in a person's life. Some even joke that it's all down hill from here. The author of this poem takes the opposite point of view. She plans on living the rest of her life to the fullest. In her poem she gives numerous examples of this. She says "I will dress for the occasion, and my hair shall be whatever color I please". I believe that she is saying that she only has one life to live and she will live it how she wants not how others want her to live her life.

In life it is expected that a person will make mistakes. Here in her poem she gives some good advice: "The second half of my life will be water over the cracked floor of these desert years. I will land on my feet this time". From this passage it sounds like the author has made some mistakes so far in her life. However, she will not let this stop her from living. Even though she has made mistakes in the past, she has learned from them now. This piece of advice will work for anyone because no one's perfect. Take the advice from this author, do not let your mistakes take over your life, instead use them to make yourself stronger.

New Years Resolutions?

News Years resolutions happen every year. Many people make such resolutions in order to improve on themselves. Some might make resolutions to lose weight, and others might make resolutions to save money. The question is do these resolutions work. They are not magic, they only work if the person is truly willing to commit to the resolution they have made.
This past year has flown by for me. I can hardly believe 2007 is here. Have I made 2006 worth it? Well I don't really know. I would say that it was neither all good or all bad. I wish I would not have had so much work to do throughout the last year. I also wish I hadn't always put it off until the last minuet. I think that this next year will be a challenge as well as a break from my work. The second half of my senior year looks like it will be a lot easier than the first as far as work goes. Also I look forward to going to college in the fall of 2007. This year I will try not to put off my work until the last minuet. Instead I will try to work on it a little at a time. Also since I am going to college in the fall, I want to have as much fun as possible until I leave. Lastly I hope to be able to spend more time practicing karate than I have this last year.
All in all I think this next year will turn out good if I can stick to my resolutions. I guess the thing to do will these types of goals is to do your best at them and if you screw up just try again.

The Real Spirit Of Christmas

Our Pricipal had this to say about one underprivileged family that the school helped last Christmas: "I received the coolest phone call ever from one of our families from last December. Seems they went shopping, bought about five bags of toys, and want us to distribute them to a needy family this year." Last year this family was a recipient of our generosity drive. The fact that those people would want to help give back to those less fortunate makes the Christmas season that much more awesome.
It is refreshing to see people with a giving attitude. So often in our society today all you see is people taking things for themselves. Maybe that is the problem with our society. As Americans we strive to be the best in everything we do. We want to make more and more money. It seems like enough is never quite enough. Some people will do what ever it takes to get ahead, even if it means that other people will be hurt in the process. To see someone who wants to give back to others because someone once helped them is refreshing. It makes you feel like you will be doing some good when you help someone and perhaps that will inspire them to help someone else.

No More Darkness

Is it possible for blind people to regian their sight? Today with the help of modern technology it is! Today there are various methods for sight recovery. One way is to implant an artificial retna. This artificial retna is just a fraction of the size of a penny. Another way is to send an electric current through the optic nerve. In doing this doctors hope to stimulate the nerve so it will work again. Lastly, research on blind mice has revealed that stem cells can be used to cure blindness.
In local news, Patricia A. Stanton regained her sight after a corneal transplant. Before this she had been blind for 65 years. I think it is incredible how she came to receive her sight. Just the general advancement of technology is amazing. Just think, twenty years ago something like this would have been impossible. Also the world must have seemed very strange to her since she was blind for her whole life. I wonder if she was able to get around well now that she was using sight, not touch, to guide her. It would be intresting to talk to her and see if she could recognize the objects she knew by touch when she saw them.

My thoughts on tattoos.

Here is what one of my classmates said about piercings and tattoos.

my freind just got his lip pieice it made his lip swell up like a ballon. i dont know why he got it done just some thing to do i guest that kid is pretty crazy i never under stood why people got any thing pieiece espelly some thing you cant see you mindesle well just staple you self im not against it its other people getting it done not me its just some thing i wonder about tatoos are a nother thing i had a tatoo or kind of lets just say it not there no more i like tatoos there away you can express your self the art , creat of idea just amazes me some day i will i will have couple of them


I agree with you on this. I do not care if people get lip piercings. However, I don't know why people do this. To me this is not a sign of beauty. I don't look at people and say "wow that person looks really pretty with her lip ring. There is nothing wrong with a piercing, after all as individuals we have the right of expression. I do think that people should consider the choice to do something like that carefully because they will have to live with the consequences.
Tattoos on the other hand could be very cool. They can be very artistic and beautiful if they are done properly. You probably should go to a professional. With tattoos you can get anything you want. If you can think of it you can get it in a tattoo. However, the same caution should be taken with tattoos. If you get one it should be a good representation of yourself since you will have it for the rest of your life.

War...What's your view?

Today everyone has a different opinion about war. Some are in favor of it and some detest it. Still some are indifferent. For example people tend to be in favor of World War Two. In contrast, most hold the opinion that the war in Vietnam was a senseless war. People may think this way because we won World War Two, but we lost the war in Vietnam. It seems to me that people think war is fine as long as America wins.
The truth is that war is not fine. No matter who starts the war there are casualties on both sides. In the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut expresses his opinion on war. Here is a quote from pages 134-135 of the novel. "Billy asked them a little about themselves, learned that the boy's father had been killed in Vietnam--in the famous five-day battle for Hill 875 near Dakto. So it goes." From this passage it is plain to see Vonnegut's point of view. He is opposed to this and every war in general. What he is saying is that the boy's father died in vain. He was fighting for no reason. After all who will remember the battle for Hill 875 when they think of the Vietnam war? Basically the boy's father died in vain.
Also Vonnegut frequently says the phrase "so it goes" when someone dies. Here he tries to point out how people are changed by war. When they have been fighting for so long, they become immune to the pain of war. I mean by this that it no longer becomes hard to kill. After all when people are in war they may kill dozens of people. After that one more person really does not make that much difference. This is what Vonnegut is trying to say about war.

A letter from a marine.

This particular letter entitled, The Secret Letter, is form a Marine officer in Iraq. In the letter there are a few unusual stories to say the least. I really think that the Marine wrote the letter well. It was very interesting reading and I would recommend reading it if you want a good laugh. If you would like to read this letter you can type in the following web address: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1543658-1,00.html to get to the site. I do not know how to create a link for the site. If you copy and paste this addresse into the search engine at the top of your window the site will come up.
I think that the author was able to truly capture the experience of being in Iraq. His writing makes him seem sincere. The letter is pretty blunt. This is what makes this letter so good is that the author tells it like it is. He does not worry about offending anyone. It is often the case that when a story is told certain details are left out that would make the story “presentable” to people. The Secret Letter however seems to be uncut and real. From what he has written it seems that the author is anti-war. At one point in the letter he talks about his happiest experience. It was not in Iraq. Instead, it was of being with his family while on a leave. He says that there are no truly happy times in Iraq. This would lead me to believe that he is indeed anti-war.
This article also has several things in common with the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, which our English Class has been reading. The one that I can think of is the Deja Vu element of both the novel and the letter. In the novel Billy Pilgrim has Deja Vu when he travels back in time. In the letter the officer returns ten months later to an old camp. Here he finds everything exactly as he left it. He finds this quite unnerving. Similarly, Billy Pilgrim from the novel Slaughterhouse-Five felt this way during his time travels. When he arrived to a point in time he did not always know where or when he was. Also, just in general, the authors of both author of the letter and the author of Slaughterhouse-Five have similar styles of writing. Perhaps this is because they both experienced war first hand. Other than that I can not think of anything else that the novel and the letter have in common.