In most cases, I would say that I do not like to be scared. It puts me outside my comfort zone, and exposes me to things that I am not used to. Sometimes fear can be a good thing, like before a football game, where the fear can motivate you to be anxious and you know that you have to do something you've never done before.
I am scared of needles. I do not like needles at all, which is unfortunate, because inevitably I end up being poked by them. I am also scared of deep water. Like being in the middle of the ocean with nothing around you. No one to help you, nothing in sight, and not knowing what is underneath you. I guess I am more afraid of the unknown, and the ocean is simply a way that limited knowledge manifests itself.
Things that I consider to be horific are injustice, prejudice, discrimination, because there is no way to eradicate them, no way to evade their omnipresent ideals, and usually people fall prey to them even when they don't want to. Even people with good intentions are subconsiously opinionated against their will. Someone's appearance forms an idea in their mind that they cannot get rid of. The premanence of the "first impression" is what scares me. The fact that when someone sees you, their perception of you is already changed forever and there is nothing that you can say to them, nothing that you can do to get rid of their first thoughts about you. You can change their opinion afterward, but too many people don't spend the time to change that initial impression, and therefore the pessimistic side of the human conscious develops the unfounded hypothesis that the world is full of people that can't live up to their predetermined expectations.
A good definintion for madness is when your perception of the world around you is skewed from what is was before, or when your perception of the world is vastly different than that of everyone around you. To be considered mad, you would be someone who's actions are so uniquely peculiar that no one else has done them and no one else would want to do them.
As for what drives people to madness, in most cases it is a hardship of the most extreme nature. Watching your family die at the hands of some inexplicable mistake that you made, for example, would be enough to skew one's view of reality and thus drive them to madness.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Final Lines
Original- The vanishing rays of the sun’s warmth slowly creep below the horizon, allowing the cold to steal through the darkened streets. The bright lights of the city try to replicate the luminescence of the sun, but their feeble attempts leave too many shadows. And on the edge of these shadows lies a shoulder bag. On top of the shoulder bag is a pair of headphones. They don’t work anymore. The shadows cover up everything else, but the stench of the place is unmistakable with a bar next door, the alley clearly smells of vomit and urine. The neon signs of the bar highlight the shoulder bag’s profile against the pavement. But the signs don’t light up the shoe next to the bag, or the foot and cold body within the shoe.
2. Bryan Anderson visited his girlfriend at work shortly before the most important event of his life occured. To describe this event would assume that one has an indepth knowledge of the human anatomy, as there is no other way to aptly describe in any amount of detail the various injuries that led to his homicide.
3. Some people in life will tell you that knowledge is power. Shea McKenna was a vicious killer that knew what he wanted. In many ways, that knowledge only rendered him more dangerous. So, knowledge did empower him, but only to increase the danger that he posed to the rest of society.
4. "Hey Theresa, I'm really sorry about what happened to Bryan, and if there's anything that i can do , just let me know," Tony said. He couldn't help but feel bad for the girl, she had gone out on her smoking break and discovered a body that looked far too familiar. It was her boyfriend Bryan, who had visited her at work not even a half-hour before the body was found.
5. If there was anything that scared him, it was dark alleys. He knew that for the most part, all of the stuff in the movies was fake. But there was some deep part of his imagination that kept telling him that something was amiss in that alley, and that he should continue on his way home. However, his dilemma was that he had promised his girlfriend that he was going to visit her at work. He took the shortcut to the bar where she worked, and thought he saw a shadow dancing on the wall behind him. His fears were coming true.
2. Bryan Anderson visited his girlfriend at work shortly before the most important event of his life occured. To describe this event would assume that one has an indepth knowledge of the human anatomy, as there is no other way to aptly describe in any amount of detail the various injuries that led to his homicide.
3. Some people in life will tell you that knowledge is power. Shea McKenna was a vicious killer that knew what he wanted. In many ways, that knowledge only rendered him more dangerous. So, knowledge did empower him, but only to increase the danger that he posed to the rest of society.
4. "Hey Theresa, I'm really sorry about what happened to Bryan, and if there's anything that i can do , just let me know," Tony said. He couldn't help but feel bad for the girl, she had gone out on her smoking break and discovered a body that looked far too familiar. It was her boyfriend Bryan, who had visited her at work not even a half-hour before the body was found.
5. If there was anything that scared him, it was dark alleys. He knew that for the most part, all of the stuff in the movies was fake. But there was some deep part of his imagination that kept telling him that something was amiss in that alley, and that he should continue on his way home. However, his dilemma was that he had promised his girlfriend that he was going to visit her at work. He took the shortcut to the bar where she worked, and thought he saw a shadow dancing on the wall behind him. His fears were coming true.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Assignment 4
Task 1
The setting in the second half of the story is important because it allows for a more suspenseful ending to the story. Connie's seperation from the rest of her family lets the author be more creative with her situation and also lends an aspect of reality to her confrontation with Arnold Friend.
Connie is a carefree character that thinks her youth and beauty will save her from the things that prey on youth and beauty. She is misled in her vanity, and represents that aspect of society as a whole. Connie is asking for trouble, because she isn't asking for help. She is doing things that she knows she isn't supposed to,but thinks that because she is young, none of the adult dangers of the world will prey on her. Again she is mistaken. Her beauty, which attracts many admirers, causes her to leave the relative safety of her friends company. It is this desperate attitude to be loved that leaves her susceptible to a predator like Arnold Friend.
Task 2
The things that I think are important for a good short story start with a hook. The story has to have a point. Also, it has to have strong, specific descriptions of characters. Also, as a short story, it has to be short. This makes descriptions precise, including necessary details, but not drowning the reader in them. One more thing that a good short story needs is a villain. There is not enough pages to go into their wavering moral conflict; they are evil and the reader needs to know that immediatly. Also a good story would have character development, plot twists, suspense, suprise endings and conflict.
The setting in the second half of the story is important because it allows for a more suspenseful ending to the story. Connie's seperation from the rest of her family lets the author be more creative with her situation and also lends an aspect of reality to her confrontation with Arnold Friend.
Connie is a carefree character that thinks her youth and beauty will save her from the things that prey on youth and beauty. She is misled in her vanity, and represents that aspect of society as a whole. Connie is asking for trouble, because she isn't asking for help. She is doing things that she knows she isn't supposed to,but thinks that because she is young, none of the adult dangers of the world will prey on her. Again she is mistaken. Her beauty, which attracts many admirers, causes her to leave the relative safety of her friends company. It is this desperate attitude to be loved that leaves her susceptible to a predator like Arnold Friend.
Task 2
The things that I think are important for a good short story start with a hook. The story has to have a point. Also, it has to have strong, specific descriptions of characters. Also, as a short story, it has to be short. This makes descriptions precise, including necessary details, but not drowning the reader in them. One more thing that a good short story needs is a villain. There is not enough pages to go into their wavering moral conflict; they are evil and the reader needs to know that immediatly. Also a good story would have character development, plot twists, suspense, suprise endings and conflict.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
As We Grow Older
Time flashes by,
with the quickness of a lightning bolt.
The time spent by the poolside,
once seen as cherished memory,
now seen as wasted foolishness.
The younger years disappear
like the pages of a flip-book.
The friends you had,
slowly vanish as though in a rear-view mirror.
The memories creep,
like ivy up a wall,
no end in sight, nothing to stop it.
But you embrace it, because
as age approaches,
with the inevibility of a sunset
you realize.
If you're eyes are closed,
you can't see the sunrise.
with the quickness of a lightning bolt.
The time spent by the poolside,
once seen as cherished memory,
now seen as wasted foolishness.
The younger years disappear
like the pages of a flip-book.
The friends you had,
slowly vanish as though in a rear-view mirror.
The memories creep,
like ivy up a wall,
no end in sight, nothing to stop it.
But you embrace it, because
as age approaches,
with the inevibility of a sunset
you realize.
If you're eyes are closed,
you can't see the sunrise.
Revitalize My Soul
The cold air blow a chill through my soul,
but not in the sense of washing it away,
Rather, more like blowing air into a balloon.
The new air refreshes my soul, just as the campfire
below me warms it up.
The outdoors heal my body and spirit
better than any hospital ever could.
The brush of a dragonfly's wings,
the sound of a birdcall resonating over a lake
Revitalize my soul.
The tent pitched by a small campfire
on the edge of a deep and unexplored lake
Open up my spirit for adventure, and helps me to
Revitalize my soul.
THe paddle grasped in my hand propels me onward
to greater freedom and helps my soul
to perch from the lofty crags of wonderment that i have yearned to reach.
But the wilderness is what my soul has wanted
and the wilderness is what my soul has needed.
Because it is the wilderness that will
Revitalize my soul.
but not in the sense of washing it away,
Rather, more like blowing air into a balloon.
The new air refreshes my soul, just as the campfire
below me warms it up.
The outdoors heal my body and spirit
better than any hospital ever could.
The brush of a dragonfly's wings,
the sound of a birdcall resonating over a lake
Revitalize my soul.
The tent pitched by a small campfire
on the edge of a deep and unexplored lake
Open up my spirit for adventure, and helps me to
Revitalize my soul.
THe paddle grasped in my hand propels me onward
to greater freedom and helps my soul
to perch from the lofty crags of wonderment that i have yearned to reach.
But the wilderness is what my soul has wanted
and the wilderness is what my soul has needed.
Because it is the wilderness that will
Revitalize my soul.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
One Piece of Writing: Assignment #2
I first heard of the story in 7th grade. A friend told me that it was a story about survival, one that really got to the point. After hearing that it was also only 20 pages, I decided that there was no way it could be among the annals of modern literature. However, this story truely realizes the fragility of human nature, and how we are all at the mercy of natural forces that are far stronger and older than our own.
"The trouble with him was that he was without imagination...Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of hear and cold; and from there on it did not led him to the conjectural field of immortality and man's place in the universe."
Prompt 1: How does the size of a piece of writing effect its content? Does the amount of writing have any correspondence to its effect on the reader?
Prompt 2: How does the genre affect the content of writing? Do stories of different trials, whether about survival or a school day, resonate any differently to the reader?
"The trouble with him was that he was without imagination...Such fact impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of hear and cold; and from there on it did not led him to the conjectural field of immortality and man's place in the universe."
Prompt 1: How does the size of a piece of writing effect its content? Does the amount of writing have any correspondence to its effect on the reader?
Prompt 2: How does the genre affect the content of writing? Do stories of different trials, whether about survival or a school day, resonate any differently to the reader?
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