Journal #20

Have you ever wondered how a tiny, lifeless egg could become a  picturesque, living butterfly?  The majority of people know the basics of the life cycle of a butterfly, it goes from a pudgy caterpillar into blossoming butterfly.  The process is called metamorphosis and to me, it is magnificent. 

"The first stage of a butterfly is the egg.
The second stage is the caterpillar, larva.
The third stage is the chrysalis, pupa.
The fourth stage is a beautiful butterfly" ("Sing").

This stanza states the four body-changing stages of metamorphosis.  It breaks down what we know into something more scientific.  We learn the names for the number and the exact stages of the development, that way we can stop saying it goes from a squishy caterpillar straight into a butterfly.  How does it become the winged creature?  I would say magic if I did not know the actual facts behind it.

"A butterfly has three main body parts.
They have a head, a thorax, and an abdomen.
A proboscis that drinks food from a straw.
Six legs, four wings, two antenna" ("Sing").

As we read this, it is almost like we are getting taught a lesson in science, going all the way back to our elementary and middle school days.  Sitting in those small, wooden desks with lids that lift up.  Ah I miss those days. In this we see a confusing word, "proboscis." A proboscis is "a protruding mouth parts of certain insects" ("Proboscis").  Amazingly enough, I had never seen this word before reading this, so I was able to enhance my vocabulary.

"Butterflies drink water and nectar.
Eating leaves when they’re growing as a caterpillar.
Spiders, ants, wasps are the predators.
Why? Because they like the taste of butterfly" ("Sing").

Now we know what butterflies eat and why caterpillars are so fat.  Caterpillars snack and snack on luscious, green leaves so that they can have enough food to live off of when they are in their hard, but cozy chrysalis.  This development and lifestyle of an angelic butterfly has many aspects and were able to be seen through this song.

"Proboscis." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

"Sing. Dance. Learn." Sing Dance Learn RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

Journal #19

Here I was sitting at my battered desk, 

A few minutes before the tragic mess. 

The ancient radio was whistly on, 

Playing an old, forgotten country song.

Out of the corner of my drowsy eye, 

I saw a winged beast hurling through the sky. 

An airplane crashed through the north tower walls. 

"Help me, help me!" were the heartbreaking calls. 

Black smoke, bright flames and ash was all I saw,

I had a horrible pain in my jaw. 

Bright, red blood dripped and ran down my pale face. 

There were hurt people all over the place. 

It was hard to see and I couldn't breathe, 

That was the moment I began to scream. 

I tried really hard to find my way out,

The ruins of a door I came about. 

Running through all the people and debris, 

I remember I'm on floor 23. 

As I try to find the only staircase, 

I'm slowly losing needed breathing space. 

I didn't know if I would be alive,

I kept telling myself "I will survive." 

The floors appeared to go on forever, 

But I wouldn't give up whatsoever. 

As I got closer to the final stair, 

Death, pain and screaming filled the dusty air. 

At last I reached the bottom after years, 

Sprinting through the doors I burst into tears. 

All around me were clouds of as and smoke. 

The thick dust and ash made me gag and choke. 

As I turned around to see what was left, 

I realized that what remained was death.  

That day many people went to Heaven, 

Due to the harrowing 9/11. 

Journal #18

As I pondered the multitude of eyes beaming at me from the magnificent creature, there came a stench from its mouth that was repungent and noxious.  It was almost like the beast had eaten skunks, onions, and rotten eggs.  The mix of appalling smells wafted from behind its toothed mouth.  The teeth were sharper than a filet knife, and as white as computer paper.  I drifted my eyes up higher on its face to its nose, well where a nose should be at least.  Instead, the beast had a flap of scaly skin with two slits resting on its face.  Coming from the slits was clouds of hot steam.  It was almost like the steam you see coming out the spout of a kettle once it is heated.  The steam also had a rancid smell, similar to the stench from the creature's mouth.  Next came the eyes.  Oh the eyes.  Staring back at me were three marble sized eyeballs.  There was no white or a black pupil to the eye, only purple and bright yellow.  I was taken aback by the perplexing sight in front of me.  I tore my eyes from the creature's eyes so I could take the look of the head in.  As I looked down, I saw what I guessed were the feet.  Normally, feet have toes, webs or something along that line, but this beast had four stumps with three projections coming out of them.  The projections helped the creature keep it's balance.  I started to wonder what I would look like if I had feet like that, then I realized I had a seven foot, green monster in front of me.  My eyes wandered up past its four knees to its thighs.  It did not seem possible for it to have such ginormous masses around the underlying bones, but it did.  They were about the size of a hundred year old oak tree.  The next thing I know, I see this huge hand slicing through the air towards me.  I had some crazy thoughts that went through my head, but---SMACK.  And that is how I became Flat Annie.

Journal #17

As the light blue fuzz feathered through the warm current of air purring from the heating vent, it slowly drifted through the air until it landed upon a hard, wooden desk.  On the desk sat a large, monster of a computer with papers and writing utensils scattered all over it.  There was a waft of aroma coming in through the heavy, wood door.  Fresh baked bread, boiling pasta, and cooking spaghetti sauce made up the aroma lingering in the room.  The water with the pasta was popping and sizzling with heat, while the spaghetti sauce bubbled with warmth.  The aroma from the sauce was filled with rosemary, tomatoes, thyme, and other spices and herbs.  "Charlie, come set the table," said the mother.  Charlie responded without enthusiasm, "Fine."  Charlie drug himself into the kitchen and went to the rectangular drawer that help the circular, red place mats.  He put the place mats hap-hazardously onto the tall table.  Napkins were the next thing to go on the table.  The package was unopened because it was bought the previous day.   Inside the package were bright, colorful napkins.  Charlie could not decide which color of napkin to choose.  Pink, turquoise, yellow, lime green, and lavender were the choices.  He finally decided upon the turquoise napkins and ripped the package open.  In the midst of unsealing the plastic, the napkins exploded from the package and slowly fluttered through the air until they landed on the kitchen floor.  What made it even worse was that there was an oscillating fan standing in the corner of kitchen, which started to blow the napkins EVERYWHERE. "CHARLIE!" yelled his mother! "I am so sorry mommy," whimpered Charlie in a small voice.  Charlie hurried to pick all three hundred and twenty napkins scattered all over the kitchen.  "It is okay Charlie, don't worry," said his mom.  His mom and him picked up all of the colorful napkins and finished setting the table together.  They had a delicious, stomach filling, Italian dinner.

Journal #16

Let's see.  An example of someone who dressed differently than normally, would have to be people's costumes on Halloween.  Most people only dress up for Halloween the night of or for a party because that is when they go trick-or-treating or to their party. I am talking about high school students, not elementary or middle school.  It is normal for younger children to dress up but once you reach a high school age, it becomes less of a big deal to dress up.  This year for Halloween, my friend and I decided to wear our costumes to school.  We were nerds, and if you were wondering, we looked pretty good.  I have to say that I got a lot of weird looks because I dressed differently.  I mean other people dressed up but they were cats or bunnies.  I find it very sad that people feel judged if they wear costumes to school because it is fun! It should not matter what you look like because WHO CARES.  Everyone is different in their own ways.  Plus, just because we are in high school, does not mean we can't still act like kids.  In my opinion, I do not want to grow up, so every chance that I can act like a kid, I take it.  Another example would be when Sperry's started to be worn.  Sperry's are a type of shoes that are worn by people with boats.  They are leather and have netting on the sides with ties.  At school, I remember one person wearing them and they had just came out, so no one knew about them.  The following week, EVERYONE was wearing them!  It was crazy that something no one knew about became so popular.  I think that it is cool when people change their style because it means that they are comfortable with their bodies and do not care what people think.  But then again, there are people who will wear something different and then feel self conscious.  As a result, they change their style so it was back to normal.  

Journal #15

The person I greatly miss would have to be Nolan.  Nolan and I first met in fifth grade at St. Agnes.  He had moved to St. Agnes from a different school and he did not know anyone.  We happened to be in the same class because in fifth grade there are only two teachers.  There are about fifty people in each grade, so twenty-five in each class.  During the first week of school, I would go up to him and start conversations so he would not feel left out.  After awhile, he would come up to me and say hi.  As time went on, we became inseparable.  Nolan and I would walk to class, lunch, before, and after school together.  People always thought we were dating, but who wants to date at such a young age?  All we were, were best friends.  For Christmas, we got each other presents, I gave him puppy chow in a doggy bowl (as a joke), and he got me a sterling silver flower necklace that have different words on it, like happiness and faith. Then for Valentine's Day, he got me a stuffed dog from Build-a-Bear Workshop.  The dog was white with pink hearts all over it and was dress up in a white shirt with a red skirt.  When you squeezed its hand, it said, "I love you!"  Writing this journal makes me miss Nolan a lot more than usual.  I moved away in seventh grade and we tried to stay close.  We found it very difficult to keep in touch because neither of us had cell phones then.  This is going to sound crazy, but we actually sent each other letters in the mail.  We did that a couple of times but then I stopped receiving them. ):  I will see him every once in awhile at random places and we will talk to each other, but it is not like it used to be.  I wish we could have stayed close...

"The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe

In "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe, the switch between Rationalism and Romanticism becomes evident.  Rationalism consists of God creating everyone and everything, reasoning, and scientific evidence and backup.  On the other hand, Romanticism deals with just the opposite.  It is more about imagination, feelings and emotions, nature and dealing with the self and "self experiences."  Saying that these two literature periods came right after another is incredible because they differ each other drastically. Edgar Allen Poe is a significant figure during the Romanticism period.  He is considered a Dark Romanticist.  Dark Romanticists tend to write about emotions and psychological fears.  Poe is known for writing disturbing and dark stories about characters who are at inner turmoil and suffering.  Edgar Allen Poe exhibits the characteristics of the Romanticism period through his short story, "The Pit and the Pendulum," by portraying acts of imagination, emotions, examining oneself and innocence.  

Imagination is a key part of the Romanticism period.  Instead of placing their faith in God, people placed their faith in their inner experiences and imagination.  Throughout the story, Poe includes passages that exhibit imagination.  One passage is , "He who has never swooned, is not he who finds strange palaces and wildly familiar faces in coals that glow; is not he who beholds floating in midair the sad visions that the many may not view; is not he who ponders over the perfume of some novel flower-is not he whose brain grows bewildered with the meaning of some musical cadence which has never before arrested his attention" (Poe 264).  The actions in this quote have to be imagined because all that coal is made of is coal and it cannot turn into 'strange palaces' or 'familiar faces.'  The next part talks about floating in midair, which is found to be impossible because of the force of gravity.  

Along with imagination, are emotions and fears.  The narrator was put into a cell for a crime that called for a death sentence.  "My worst thoughts, then, were confirmed.  The blackness of eternal night encompassed me.  I struggled for breath.  The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me.  The atmosphere was intolerably close" (Poe 265).  The cell he was placed in is dark, claustrophobic, damp, and rat infested.  Being in that cell freaked him out and caused him to be fearful.  Having these fears within the writing, is because Edgar Allen Poe is a Dark Romanticist.  Next comes, the confusion and inner turmoil.  "In this story we find the most explicit statement in Poe's fiction of his sense of the blurry line between dream and reality" (May).  For most of the short story, the narrator is drifting in and out of consciousness and sensibility.  He does this so often that he finds himself wondering if he is still in a dream or if it is real life.  Because he does not know what sate he is in, it affects what he does.  "But where and in what state was I?" (Poe 265).  For example, he tried to get a rough estimate of the width of his cell, but each time he would lose consciousness, he would end up retracing his steps.  This led him to think that his cell was twice the size.    

After all of this, just through reading "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe, several qualities of the Romanticism period become obvious.  Poe brought imagination, fear, emotions, etc, out in his writing in a disturbing, creepy way.  This is what makes his writing, specifically this story at the moment, sought after during this period.  "The ending is not an ending at all, but rather the beginning of waking life, the movement from the gossamer dream or nightmare that constitutes the story itself" (May). 

 

May, Charlie E. "Dreams and Reality in the Story." Infobase Learning - Login. Bloom's Literary 

Reference, 1991. Web. 04 Nov. 2012. 


Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Pit and the Pendulum." Glencoe Literature. Wilhelm, J., et al. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill.  2009. 263-73. Print        

Journal #14

Hmm. Let me think.  The time that I was most scared would had to have been when I was at my friend's house for a birthday party.  This was about six years ago, and my friend decided to have a sleepover for her birthday.  When four of her friends and I got to her house, we did ll the birthday things like: opening presents, singing "Happy Birthday", eating cake and ice cream, and playing silly games.  Once it got dark, my friend thought it would be a good idea to 'ding-dong ditch' some of her neighbors.  Ding-dong ditching is where you go quietly up to someone's front door and once you ring the doorbell, you run and hide.  All six of us started walking down the sidewalk to one of her neighbor's houses.  The house we decided to ring the doorbell of, was old with missing shutters.  I am not one for scary things, so being out at night with no flashlight is pretty scary.  As a group we decided which person would go up and ring the doorbell, while the rest of us hid.  The person that was chosen was the bravest of us all and enjoyed the thrill of being scared.  She quietly sneaked  up to the front door, pressed the doorbell and then sprinted down the front stairs and around the house to where we all were standing.  As soon as she reached the group, the front door was opened by an older lady.  She had white hair and was in her bath robe.  We were all focused on making sure that the elderly woman did not see us, that we did not even realize that someone was behind us.  All we heard was, "BOO!"  Of course, we all screamed and ran as fast as we could back to my friend's house.  Luckily, the old woman had shut her door before we were freaked out.  The person that scared us ended up being my friend's dad!