Sigh of relief...Almost ;)

Ahhhh, the semester is finally over! Well almost J This marks my last blog, and the last thing I will do for this class.  I am also done with my Psychology class and only have one more test to take for my Politics class.  Lastly tomorrow night I have to take the dreaded Trig final L and turn in all the homework.  Lol looks like it’s going to be a long night!  But after tonight and tomorrow, all done!  I am already looking forward to having less on my shoulders and enjoying the holidays with my family! 

I have really enjoyed getting to know some of my classmates this semester and wish you all luck with your future classes!  To anybody thinking of taking Eng 223, I say do it!  It was one of my favorites and I really enjoyed the stories in that class!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Pronto Sessions, My Favorite!

I was a little disappointed to see that there was not a Pronto session for this pod; though I do understand because everyone is probably too busy with end of the semester stuff.  Pronto is one of my favorite things about this class.  I love the opportunity to get to talk with my classmates and hear other’s opinions of the stories read.  I often leave the sessions with an insight on things I would not have otherwise had after seeing it through someone else eyes.  Another thing that makes these so enjoyable for me is the extra information given by Mrs. Siemens.  It really does put a story into perspective to know about the author, the life they lived, and things they were going through at the time they wrote the piece.
 

Not my favorite thing...

So I am just going to come right out and say it, no sugar coating; I hate poetry!  With a passion.  For some reason or another it just does not process well in my brain.  Almost every poem I read I am left wondering what the heck the author was even talking about.  When I go to read a summary or interpretation of most poems I often wonder how they got such a story out of the poem that was read.  I really wish that I had a better understanding of poetry so that maybe I could appreciate it the way others seem to, but in all my attempts I have failed, I just cannot make myself like it…

Twilight!

I recently had the pleasure of seeing the new Twilight move: Breaking Dawn Part 1.  I must say that having read the book, I was expecting to be a little disappointed, movies always seem to leave out something from the book and I am let down.  That was not the case with this movie at all!  It was almost exactly as I imagined it as I was reading the book.  I love that they were smart enough to know there was no way to do the book justice in just one movie and broke it up into two parts.  To all you other Twilight fans out there, if you have not already, GO SEE THIS MOVIE! You will not regret it! :)

Scarlett Letter

While I did enjoy most of this story, I also found it very hard to read at parts.  There were so many times where there was no action and just way too much description for my taste.  Many times I caught my mind wondering and realized that while my eyes had been reading the words, none of them had really absorbed and I had no clue what I had just read.  I would then skim along until the story seemed to get interesting again.  Despite all this, I did actually enjoy the general story line.  It was like a glimpse into the past, into a time when people were trying to be more religious and closer to what they thought God wanted.  It was sad how judgmental they all were, especially of Pearl.  She was just a child, yet she was made to suffer for her mother’s sins by being an outcast.  The other children mocked her and the adults seemed to think she was the spawn of the devil.  Through all this though, she stood up for herself and was able to grow up and be happy and successful.

Fresh Leaves

Of all the authors from the last pod, Fern was my favorite.  I like her sarcastic, snappy attitude; as it is much like my own and made me smile.  I especially liked “Fresh Leaves, by Fanny Fern” where she writes of the reviews she anticipates.  My favorite line was “We regret to be obliged to speak thus of a lady’s book: it gives us pleasure , when we can do so conscientiously, to pat lady writers on the head…”  I laughed a little at the mocking of how woman authors were viewed by men, much like a little kid who has done well at a very simple task or a dog who has learned to sit.  In  my head I thought “who’s a good girl? Aww what a great job you’ve done!”  I love that while she knew how her works would be viewed by the male society, she kept on writing and working hard to get them published.

Snow-Storm

One of my favorite of all the Transcendentalists readings was The Snow-Storm.  Not because I particularly love the snow now, but because it reminds me of when I was younger.  Growing up we lived way out in the middle of nowhere, so when it got bad, we were literally snowed in.  My parents never failed to make the most of these times.  They would bundle my four sister’s and me up and the whole family would trot outside to build forts and snow families, dig tunnels, and have snowball fights.  Reading this short and sweet poem kind of took me back to this fond childhood memory, and made me a excited to make the same memories with my children this winter.