Blog Post #16

Dear Diary,
I hate to inform you that I have decided to leave Pickering and Higgins. I plan to take refuge at Mrs. Higgins. I believe that since she is Higgins mother that she will understand why I have left. Higgins has been treating me like his maid lately. I've had to keep track of his appointments and fetch his stuff for him. Not only that but he also admitted that he was going to put me back out in the gutter. I don't care if he does or not but i wish he would give me or show me more respect. I wish that he would treat me like a lady for once and not a maid. After much thinking I have concluded that out of everyone I could take refuge to would be Mrs. Higgins. She would not only understand where I am coming from, but she also knows how her son acts and how rude he can be. I will be leaving sometime soon. After I gather my things.

Blog Post #15

Blog Post #14

This book is about an old man named Socrates Fortlow. He spent 27 years in prison for double homicide and rape. After he got out he moved to L.A. and stayed out of trouble for 8 years. He got himself a job and had a ton of friends. He is a man that by doing wrong, he has learned from it and was trying to get people to do right. One of the stories I liked was Crimson Shadow. He had caught this young boy killing his "friend" that happened to be a rooster. Instead of beating the kid up he took him into his home and fed him. After that he took the boy under his wing and helped him out. He offered him a place to stay when he needed it and food. I like this story because it shows that Socrates is kind and loving even though he comes off man and tough. Another story I like was Blag Dog. Socrates was on his way home when he witnessed a man hit and run over a dog. Socrates wanted to take the dog to the shelter so he had a chance to live, but the man who had hit him wanted to put the dog out of its misery and kill it with a 10 lb weight. Socrates told him he was taking the dog to the vet but the guy moved towards the dog and Socrates punched him in the face. Despite knowing it would get him into trouble Socrates did whatever he could to get the dog to the vet. There was only one story that I didn't like.I liked this story because it shows that Socrates is compassionate. He did what he thought was best for the dog and in doing so the dog ended up living. It is the last one and it's called Last Rites. Socrates' friend Right Burke was dying of prostate cancer. On his last day to live Socrates took him to a bar room and let him get drunk. Once they had their fill it was late at night and they were ready to go home. However, Right wanted Socrates to let him at the bus stop. Right had taken 10 of the morphine tablets that Socrates had managed to get him and was ready to go. Socrates didn't want to leave his friend there, but it being his dying wish he did. Socrates left him, but he had to fight the urge to go back. I didn't like this story because if I was ever in that situation I wouldn't have been able to leave. I just don't see it as the right thing to do to leave your friend to die alone. Especially at a bus stop. The other story I didn't really like was History. This story tells you about this store Socrates used to go to. He would go there and talk to the men because they were smart and they liked to read about things. However, Socrates' opinions always seemed to strike up arguments between the men. One day, a fired started in the store and he happened to see the billboard to the store fall. He decided to go to see if the owners were still alive because he hasn't talked to them in so long. Once he got there, he encountered one of the men he used to talk to when he went to the store. His name was Roland. he had told Socrates that Mr. Minette had died of a stroke shortly after he was told about the store and Mrs. Minette had passed away of a heart attack. I would recommend this book for someone to read. It tells of one man's struggles to do better and make thinks better and about the obstacles he faces along the way. It kind of inspired me that no matter how bad your life seems, that there is always ways you can make it better. You just have to be willing to do it.

Blog Post #13

The wanderer: What I appreciated about this story was that it told you a little bit about his past. It told us why he ran when he got out of prison. “He ran because he knew that in Indiana the cops would know him. If they knew him they’d try to bring him in every now and again. And if anyone tried to put him in a cell again he would try his best to kill them. Socrates Fortlow was running for his life.” (111) It also tells us about his Aunt Bellandra and what she believed about God. “God ain’t nowhere near here, child. He’s a million miles away: out in the middle the ocean somewhere. An’ he ain’t white like they say he is neither. “He aint black. If he was he was there wouldn’t be all this mess down here wit’ us. Naw, God’s blue.” “Blue like the ocean. Blue. Sad and cold and far away like the sky is far and blue. You got to go a long long way to get to God and even if you get there he might not say a thing. Not a damn thing. (114)

Lessons: What I appreciated about this story was that he thought Darryl to stick up for himself. “He hadn’t looked back until then. He didn’t want to witness Darryl running scared. But Darryl wasn’t running. He faced the shorter heavier Philip. The other two boys stayed a couple of yards back. Darryl was holding out his hands in a reasonable posture.” (129) He also goes to Darryl’s rescue when he realizes he isn’t strong enough to take the gang on. “Somebody shouted ‘Hey what the…’ but Socrates didn’t hear the rest of what was said because he was moving.” “He went quickly and quietly behind Philips two friends.” “The first boy went down from a slap behind his head” “’Hey’ was all the second boy could get out before he was slapped senseless by Socrates .” (129-130)

Blog Post #12

Crimson Shadow: "The rooster was hoarse in his old age, his crow no more than a whisper." I think this is a good sentence because in a way it is describing Socrates. He is old and his way of going and making things right at times is no more than a whisper. He doesn't know if what he says to someone is going to get through to them or not.
Midnight Meeting: "Socrates was no angel" This is a good sentence for this story because its like he was admitting that he had done wrong. He knew he wasn't perfect and he wasn't afraid to admit it.
The Thief: "Socrates only had four dimes, three nickles, and eight pennies left to his name." I like this sentence for this story because it reinforces what he was telling Wilfred in the story. Even though he basically had no money he still didn't go out and steal from anybody because it was wrong.
Double Standard: "He would have let things lie if the bus had come; if the rain had let up and allowed him to wander away from the shelter; if Ralphie had just nodded or something to make him feel like he was at least considered a part of the human race." I think that this tells us that he longs for people to respect him. Maybe you could go a step further and say he longs to be accepted but I honestly don't think it was that.This story leans more toward respect than acceptance.
Equal Opportunity: "It was a realistic sort of dream; not magic, no impossible wish." This is a good sentence because it kind of explains his situation. He wants a job, but they wont hire him. Its not an impossible wish and no magic can make it come true.
Marvane Street: "He wished that some man had had that kind of love for him before he'd gone wrong." I think this sentence is giving you insight on Socrates regrets. If someone had shown him the way and took him under their wing then maybe he wouldn't have went down the path that he did. Maybe he'd a never went to jail or murdered the two people he did.
Man Gone: "He made a deal with himself that he could keep the table if he could walk the whole distance without putting it down." This sentence best describes this story because it shows that no matter what obstale you come across you can over come it. His friend Howard had and obstacle to face and ended up over coming it.

Blog Post #11

Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content.
http://www.poetry.org/whatis.htm

How the time passed away, all the trouble that we gaveAnd all those days we spent out by the lakeHas it all gone to waste? All the promises we madeOne by one they vanish just the same
Of all the things I still rememberSummer's never looked the sameThe years go by and time just seems to flyBut the memories remain
In the middle of September we'd still play out in the rainNothing to lose but everything to gainReflecting now on how things could've beenIt was worth it in the end
Now it all seems so clear, there's nothing left to fearSo we made our way by finding what was realNow the days are so long that summer's moving onWe reach for something that's already gone, yeah
Of all the things I still rememberSummer's never looked the sameThe years go by and time just seems to flyBut the memories remain
In the middle of September we'd still play out in the rainNothing to lose but everything to gainReflecting now on how things could've beenIt was worth it in the end
Yeah, we knew we had to leave this townBut we never knew whenAnd we never knew howWe would end up here the way we are
Yeah, we knew we had to leave this townBut we never knew whenAnd we never knew howNever knew how
Of all the things I still rememberSummer's never looked the sameThe years go by and time just seems to flyBut the memories remain
In the middle of September we'd still play out in the rainNothing to lose but everything to gainReflecting now on how things could've beenIt was worth it in the end
to me this is poetry because it has really deep meaning. he's basically saying that even though time goes and things change. friends may leave and things may happen but you always have your memories to look back on. 
he uses metaphors such as: "the years go by and time just seems to fly but the memories remain." 
he also rhymes. "in' the middle of September we'd still play out in the rain. nothing to lose but everything to gain.
although it is pretty straight forward and you understand what its saying from its context.

Blog Post #10

I’m more like Maude because I’m attending college. I’m also still living at home. My house is old just like hers. I’m also thin like she is. Unlike Sadie I don’t have two kids. I never had to scrape life. I almost always have things figured out and know where I’m going. I rarely ever stay home. I’m almost always out doing something productive. Either that or I’m visiting friends and spending time with them. I’m not one of the livingest chicks in town much less all the land. I’d say that  I am pretty normal and consider myself to be about average. I don’t have kids to leave a heritage to. I didn’t make my siblings and parents ashamed of me by having kids under my maiden name and ending up raising them myself. Therefore I don’t have to worry about them running away from home like Sadie’s did.

Blog Post #9

Please don’t fret momma

For I am home

In this poem momma

Is about the land I roam

I want to show you

The land I’ve come to know

I want to teach you

All that I know

I want you to walk outside

And not be afraid

Without the notion to hide

From their evil ways

I wish you could see it

See what I see

I wish you could know it

What it’s like to be free

To see the mountains side

Stretch across the land

To see the hillside

Or the beach’s sand

Did you ever see the sunset

Or the beautiful glowing stars

Something I hope you get

The chance to make ours.

I wish you could feel it

The cool wind at your feet

To go outside and sit

And enjoy the comforting heat

To feel the warmth of the sun

On your bare skin

To be able to run

To be able to fit in

I feel like I belong here

Of this, to you, I am askin’

The end is near

Please don’t give in

I’ll come back for you momma

They won’t win

I’ll save you momma

I promise they won’t win

Blog Post #8

Benighted – intellectually or morally ignorant, unenlightened

Redemption – an act of redeeming, or the state of being redeemed

Scornful – derisive, contemptuous

Diabolic – having the qualities of a devil; devilish; fiendish; outrageously wicked

Zephyr – a gentle, mild breeze

Verdant – green with vegetation, covered with growing plants or grass

Variegated – varied in appearance of color; marked with patches or spots of different colors

Knowing what these words mean helps me understand the poems better because it helps me better understand what the author of the poem is trying to get across. For instance, “taught my benighted soul to understand.” She taught herself that there was a God and a savior, and that he does exist. “ Or when she says “their color is a diabolic die.” I think that she meant that they look down upon her race and thinks that they are a sign of the devil. In “An Hymn to the Morning” she says “on every leaf the gently zephyr plays” she means that the leaves are rustling in the gentle wind.

Blog Post #7

Dear Diary,

I am sorry to say that my husband has changed for the worst. He has succumbed to the evils of alcohol. (27) Before he started drinking he was kind and loving. He loved me and all of our animals. Especially this all black cat we had. It would follow him everywhere he went in the house, and it was hard for him to leave the house without him following. (26-27) One day he was returning home very intoxicated. He searched for the cat and found it. When he did he took his pocket knife out and cut its eye out. After that the cat avoided him. (27) Not too long after that he took and wrapped a noose around its neck and hung it from a tree. (27) That night our house caught on fire and for the first time he looked scared. But that quickly faded.  He had seen the cat and the noose on the wall that survived the fire. However, if faded because he rationalized it with someone throwing it in his window to scare him. (28) Not long after that he was on his way home and stumbled across this black cat that looked almost exactly like our Pluto did. (28) He let it follow him home but soon became annoyed with it because it took to me instead of him. He was about to hit it one night because it disturbed him, but I caught his hand and stopped him. This made him angry and he ended up murdering me with an ax to my head. He took me down the basement and put me behind the wall with the cat. (30) So you can see that alcohol has turned my husband into a horrid man.

Blog Post #6

Http://www.stuffyoushouldread.com/episode-018-young-goodman-brown-by-nathaniel-hawthorne/

It was really interesting to listen to the story.  What I like about it was how they added music and sound effects to it to create the mood and set the scene. Like on page 32 when “he takes the dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest...” they play slow music to build up an eerie feeling. Or for instance on page 36 where “the hoofs clattered again, and the voices, talking so strangely in empty air…” they added hoof sounds to help create the image. On page 37 they added a scream where it says “there was a scream, drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices…” I kind of liked but kind of didn’t like how they did the different voices. I think that some of them sounded way too similar and it got kind of confusing. I think that the elder traveler’s voice was the best one. They really did a good job in making it sound scary. However when the lady comes in on page 34 I thought her voice sounded a little too similar to Goodman Brown’s. They really didn’t depict a girl’s voice.  Over all I think they did a pretty decent job of telling it.

Blog Post #5

I missed a few things when I read the first time that I caught while reading the second time. When I first read it I didn’t quite understand why they had to shoot Bonaparte and Noble. But as I read the second time, it was because they had 4 of their men shot and one of them was a 16 year old boy. (12) I also missed that Belcher would do stuff for this woman when he was twice as strong as she was. But I found out that it was because he liked her. It’s what my understanding of that part of the story had concluded to. (9) I also didn’t get why they were keeping them until I read it twice. I found out it was because their men had English hostages and they were the hostages the English took in retaliation. (11) I didn’t get why they shot Hawkins instead of the men they were supposed to be shooting. After I read it a second time I think it was because he would have snitched on them and then they all would have been shot and killed at the expense of not killing their enemy’s men.  (15)

Blog Post #4

How I relate to Michael in “Homework” is that when something is bothering me I don’t normally tell anyone. For instance when his dad asked him what’s wrong on he told him nothing. (20) Or when his guidance counselor asked him, and he told her nothing was wrong as well. (22) I just find it easier to deal with things on my own then to tell someone and get a bunch of confusing advice. I can also relate to him because he likes to do math. I found math to be a fairly easy subject for me, including algebra. I used to have my mother make up problems for me so I could do them. He however makes up his own in the story. (20)

How I relate to Rachel in “Eleven” is that I don’t see my birthday as any special day either. It’s just another day and it feels no different; like she explained it in the story. (18) Also how she doesn’t like talking in class. (18-19) I absolutely hate talking in class. I don’t like being put on the spot. If I know what I’m talking about I will gladly share, but if I have the slightest hint of doubt I won’t. I’m very precautious.

Blog Post #3

"The Flower"

"The Story of An Hour"

Blog Post #2

I think a good sentence that would describe Madame Loisel in the begging of the book would be
“Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings instead of your own.” 
― Harold G. Coffin
because instead of accepting what she had she always envied her friends lives and what they had. Thus never appreciating what she had.
. A good sentence that would describe Madame Loisel at the end of the story would be
“The bittersweet about truth is that nothing could be more hurtful, yet nothing could be more helpful.” 
― Mike Norton, Just Another War Story

because by learning the truth I'm almost certain she learned that she should not take what she has in disguist and accept it. Also it ended up both hurting her and helping her.

Post #1

I am Keanisha Zurenda, and I am taking Humanities Literature. I am blogging because it is required for the course. I am a very avid reader. I read books all the time. Depending on whether the book is interesting or not determines how fast I read it. I think I am a fairly skilled reader. I read carefully and if I forget what I read then I will go back and read it. I pay more attention to novels when I read then I do poems or short story because there is more you need to remember and take in, but I pay a good amount of an attention to them all. I rarely take notes in the margins. The only time I do that is for a class I'm taking, otherwise, I don't take notes. If I don't know the meaning of a certain word I will look it up in the dictionary. This is only if I can't determine what it means by the context it is in. What I think I get out of reading is that it broadens my vocabulary and teaches me how to structure sentences. As well as, letting me escape and be alone for a while.