Topic Proposal

The topic I choose to do that relates to “The Handmaid’s Tale” is how being a handmaid in our society is compared to what it is in the book. The text that confused me in, “The Handmaid’s Tale” in general was the story as a whole. How they were able to convert these women into being technically abused. How were they just forced to have children? I want to learn more about how their society allowed them to do what they did. The topic I’m going to research and hopefully get results is being a Handmaid in our society now versus what it describes in the book. I chose this topic because it really interested me how being a handmaid is portrayed now versus being a handmaid in Atwood’s book. It will help me better understand Atwood, based on her biography, which I plan to look into as well for a better understanding of her book.
Picture from Google images

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03C18N390512635243

Thesis Statements

Identifying the weak thesis statement Exercise:

1. Sentence A is the weakest thesis statement because it makes no claim. It just boldly states that they will be writing about the concerns with evolution in The Origin of the Species.

2. Sentence A is the weakest thesis statement because it also makes no claim. It also is something that is obvious, that one’s college education is to better understand others’ point of view.

3.Sentence B is the weakest thesis statement because although it makes an argument it’s too blunt, it makes no specific claim. I also find that the sentence makes a personal conviction.

4.Sentence A is weak in its thesis statement again because it makes no claim. Just simply states that the play Othello is a play on jealousy and love. Rather than going into depth on how they know it is just based on jealousy and love.

5.Sentence B is the weakest statement because I found that it was a personal conviction being made. Although, it did state that the emotional lyrics would appeal to the targeted audience.

*My thesis: He thought to himself, he was no soldier. There had to have been a mistake in the numbers. The history of the draft, this boy would become part of that history. The history that made him, go and fight and come back a coward.

*Why would he come back a coward? I believe that this is a strong thesis because it can be arguable. It can be arguable because the mistake of the numbers. I also think it’s strong because it states the topic that is going to be talked about. I can easily support it by articles talking about how the draft worked and how each person was selected.

Source Evaluation

Veronica Hernandez
Just a little side note I decided to do one of each considering the fact that I couldn’t really find anything on Huze. Also, I really don’t know which one author I am going to write about yet.
Kevin J Wetmore Jr. "THE SANDSTORM: STORIES FROM THE FRONT. " Rev. of: ***[insert title of work reviewed in italics]***, ***[insert clarifying information]***. Theatre Journal 58.2 (2006): 358-359. Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 22 Oct. 2010.
I found this source on ProQuest, the article is about how the play got started. How Huze was an actor before volunteering himself when 9/11 happened. Then it goes in why Sean Huze wrote the play, also how the media took it. When the play was open and how it showed how each soldier experienced the Iraqi War. Lastly it talks about who was the co-producer and that it was a very powerful piece. I really think that this article could help me write my essay because it tells how the play became written. The other aspect that I can use is the play itself and how others responded to it.
"Tim O’Brien (1946-)." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 123. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009. 82-190. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Yavapai College. 24 October 2010 http://galenet.galegroup.com.proxy.yc.edu/servlet/LitCrit/yava/FJ1584150003
This is a literature criticism that I found on O’Brien. I found this cite to be very credible because it is dated 2009 when it was done. Also, that the information provided seems very up to date. I also see that there are no advertisements or anything that can make the work suspicious of being untrue. Also, this is a site that I found in the library databases so I can be sure that it is great and useful information.

Mid-Session Check In

The work that I have accomplished in English 102 so far is reading about the war and analyzing a poem. So far I have enjoyed the readings and the different assignments that we do in order to get to know my classmates better. Although the biggest challenge that I have had in this class, has been staying on top of my homework. Just for the simple fact that it is an online class, it is hard to keep a steady schedule to have all my homework done and submitted on time. One of my biggest success so far has been having all my work turned in on time because the due dates are always either on Friday or Sunday nights (I still procrastinate).When it comes to the readings that we have had to read; they have affected me in a way that makes me understand more what it is like to live on the front. The authors do a great job at describing what the characters feel and I really do feel the soldier’s emotions. They stories really have good imagery as well. When we began with literary analysis it was different from the other styles of writing that I have dealt with because you are making an argument out of the text rather than summarizing it. This is the first class that I have had to do any type of reading analysis; I do like the fact that I understand it more. Well, now that I understand analysis more, my goal for the next session of this class is to really try to stay on top of things and keep improving on my writing. I also would like to accomplish a better understanding of analysis (like how to clearly do it) and do well for the remainder of the class.

Summary Vs Analysis

The story, “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” by Tim O’Brien was about soldiers that were in a small medical detachment. The story is being told by Rat Kiley, a soldier that is known to over exaggerate any story that he tells. So when the other soldiers heard about the story some were suspicious if it was the truth. The story was about a soldier named Mark Fossie and coming up with a brilliant idea to bring his girlfriend to the war. “No war here. You could really do it. A pair of solid brass balls, that’s all you’d need” (O’Brien 93). Mark Fossie had it in his head that it was very possible and he would make it happen. On the sixth week his girlfriend Mary Ann Bell showed up. Throughout the rest of the story it tells how in love they seem to be. The discussed that they wanted to be married and start a family. Eventually, Mary Ann started changing, going off at night and coming back in the morning. She became involved with the Greenies, the native Vietnamese people, and was no longer the same girl when she arrived. Mark Fossie became worried and noticed that her stay was way too long and told her that she would have to leave back to the states. Mary Ann refuses to leave. She finally ends up disappearing and a few weeks later she returns. Never going back to see Mark Fossie, she ends up becoming one of the greenies and disappears.
The argument that I was able to come up with for this story was that both Mark Fossie and Mary Ann took the war very differently. Mary Ann being a young girl that was fresh out of school and coming to an environment that is going to be foreign. She adapted to the environment and the Vietnamese culture, she wanted to become more involved. On the other hand Mark Fossie was a soldier and basically sent there to kill. They were the enemy no matter what anyone else said. Another thing that I couldn’t understand at first was the fact that Fossie wanted to bring his girlfriend to an environment like that. I figured out that he wanted comfort, being around men all the time and missing home. He only wanted a piece of home with him, but everything ends up with consequences. Mary Ann becomes one with the land and everything else ends up being gone.

Link: http://www.gazette.com/articles/soldiers-54174-brain-mcclanahan.html

Response To Tim O'Brien Story

Me And Frankie's Video To Our Fav. Story Hope You Guys Enjoy! =)

Reaction To Play =)

Well my video is very interesting and sorry for the lighting and the squeaky while moving the laptop....but i hope you all enjoy it!

Responding To A Poem

The Two Poems
After reading the poems in the Poetry of Witness tab I found that the two poems that were very moving are, “The Woman Hanging From The Thirteenth Floor Window,” by Joy Harjo and “Immigrants in Our Own Land,” by Jim my Santiago Baca. The reason that I found Joy Harjo’s poem to be moving is because throughout the poem the woman hanging from the thirteenth floor seems to feel lost. Maybe not having full control over her life, the want to speak but she never does. Which is where I can relate to her character because, sometimes I do feel lost and everything that I want is out of reach. Some of it being out of reach because I didn’t speak up for myself. Which Harjo seems to try to explain throughout her poem. It was the woman’s fault that she was hanging from the thirteenth floor, because she never spoke up for herself.

Now the poem by Baca, “Immigrants in Our Own Land,” was different. I liked this particular poem because immigrants come to a new world all the time. Most of them hoping that they are going to have a fresh start in this new world. The poems title though “immigrants in our own land,” tells me that they are the immigrants, but as the new ones arrive. They now become the regular people and now have immigrants in their own “new” land. So instead of being this new world it sort of becomes the old one again. I kind of relate to this poem because I have family that are immigrants, and the U.S. is their new world. Although the poems ending has a message that I can’t relate to, I really can relate to the feelings and emotions that the characters have.

Photo #1 & #2 from Google images
This Link is on Joy Harjo, Short Bio. and List of poetry books http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=2929

This link is on Baca also short Bio. and list of poetry http://www.jimmysantiagobaca.com/biography.html

"The Necessity to Speak"

The reading, “The Necessity to Speak” by Sam Hamill presents ideas of how important it is to speak up for yourself. Also presenting the ideas and feelings about poetry; he states that poetry can be embarrassing because it tells the truth. That we are ashamed or afraid because we as readers don’t know what to say or think towards the content. The necessity to speak is not just speaking up for you, but writing about the experience through poetry. Hamill also says that we think poetry is all about emotions, which isn’t true. He clearly states that if you were to take away the rhythm; the words and story would still be there. Hamill at the end of the story says that we can end violence by stopping the lying and silence. In other words that if we speak up for ourselves that we can end the violence. It’s the necessity to speak; when looking at all the poems in the poems of witness tab. They were all poems about witness and having to hold the emotions they felt inside. In order to stop the violence we have to break the silence, in order to break the silence we must write. Write through a story or through poetry. Like Hamill said, “Writing is a form of human communication expressing ideas regarding the human condition.” When I read the poems and Hamill’s story I agree that poetry is full of emotion on a personal level. Also that some do find it embarrassing. When reading poetry that we can relate to it can be embarrassing to admit the fact that we have been through it. Although if we had spoken up before the second time came around there wouldn’t be a continuous story behind it. Then again if there was no story behind it then there wouldn’t be inspiration to do the same.
A Little Bit About Sam Hamill: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/733

Whats Make A Good Blog?

A Good Blog Contains Visuals, Videos, Useful Information, and Personally It Has To Be Exciting, Where People Want To Come Back To See Your Blog.

1. Visuals Are Important Because Some People Might Not Know What You Are Talking About. If They Have A Visual Its Very Helpful.

2. When It Comes To Videos They Can Be Informative Or They Can Be Fun But Also Relating To The Topic (Unless You Are Using A Blog As A Journal Top Thing)

3. Useful Information Can Be Data, Charts, Professional's Critique, Etc.

4. Also To Make People Want To Come Back To Your Blog For Whatever Reason...Make It Exciting!

Here Is An Example Of An Informative Blog:http://themodulator.org/archives/002929.html

My Video

Lol I Apologize For Saying Ummmm So Many Times HAHAHA...Other Than That I Hope You Guys Like It!!

Good Readers and Good Writers

Here are my answers to the reading on "Good Readers and Good Writers":

1. What does Nabokov think makes a good reader? Do you agree?
-Nabokov thinks that a good reader has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some kind of artistic sense. Also, that a good and major reader is a re-reader. I agree with Nabokov that a good reader is one that re-reads because once you have read the story once or twice you do get what’s going on in the story. Also I agree that a good reader has imagination in order to paint the picture of the story.
2. What do you believe are the characteristics of a good reader?
-Characteristics of a good reader are that they can create a good picture of what they are reading. Also they have to understand the vocabulary that is in the reading. As well as having a good memory so that they can remember the story once they’re done reading it.
3. Do you consider yourself a good reader?
-I do believe that I am a good reader because I can instantly paint a picture in my head when I am reading. Also if the story is interesting I have the wanting to read it till it’s over. I can say sometimes I do get the literature but if I don’t get it I look the word up and find its meaning. Finally, I do tend to re-read stories over and over to get the story.

Here is a link on characteristics of a good reader: http://www.project-read.com/characteristics-of-a-good-reader/