The Tale of My Sonnet...

So I decided that instead of sending my sonnet home to my dad, where I also live, I figured I'd send it to his work! So I got home from work today and he said that he got a very nice letter at work today and that he cried and that all the office ladies cried too...I was confused....then he explained that all the mail, regardless of who it's to, is read by the owners secretary and once she read the first line she couldn't stop reading! I thought it was very sweet that they all cried over my sonnet! My dad also told me that he is going to keep it forever and ever!

Mister Pip's Great Expectations of Matilda

The three passages I choose from Mister Pip were:

1) page 69 Mr. Watts is telling Matilda about losing his big toe, but how it's not that important that he's losing it because another one will grow back. "You gain as you lose, and vice versa." He tells her. I think I'm going to start my paper out with discussing losing and gaining. Matilda's world has been thrown upside down by this war that is going on. The island doesn't get any new supplies, they don't have electricity, or anything. But then the children gain a teacher. They gain a friend in Mr. Watts and in Pip. And even more, when Matilda loses those she loves on the island, she gains her father back. It's like a never ending circle.

2) page 123 "'We have all lost our possessions and many of us our homes,' he said. 'But these lessons, severe though they may seem, remind us of what no person can take, and that is our minds and our imaginations.'"Mr. Watts is explaining this to the children after the redskins destroy the village. He's telling them that no matter how many material possessions you have, no matter how rich or how poor you are, no one can take your mind. You will always have your beliefs, your dreams, your imagination. I think he's trying to give them hope. No matter how old Matilda got, Pip was always her friend.

3) page 231 Matilda is explaining the people ask her "Why Dickens?" and she tells them, "It gave me a friend in Pip. It taught me you can slip under the skin of another just as esily as your own, even when that skin is white and belongs to a boy alive in Dickens' England. Now, if that isn't an act of magic I don't know what is." It's back to the imagination that no one can take away from you. Matilda is continuing what Mr. Watts started she's showing people her friend and that he can be their friend too.

I feel that with these three passages I can conjure up The Great Expectations of Matilda!

Sidenote...

I just wanted to mention something on a sidenote before I write my actual blog in the morning. I was in Great Falls this weekend visiting a friend and I got home on Sunday evening to find The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch on the counter! I know it's another coincidence, but I thought it was worth mentioning! I'll write another more informative blog in the morning!

Catching Up...

So the power at my house was out from the storm Tuesday night until 7:15 pm on Wednesday...So I have a little catching up to do...

After discussing Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce in class I couldn't get the word Finnegan out of me head...then it hit me...I used to watch a sing-a-long movie called We Sing in Sillyville and they sang a song called "Michael Finnegan". The lyrics are totally all about ending and beginning again...here's a site with some cool music and the lyrics... Michael Finnegan

Then after looking for more about Finnegan's Wake I found out that James Joyce actually composed a song for the book titled "The Ballad of Persee O'Reilly"...here's a clip of the music and a different site with all the lyrics. I thought that was kinda cool!

I really enjoyed Mister Pip! I concur that yes it was depressing and not really a children's book, but I also feel that the sad and depressing parts, as significant as they are, shouldn't be focused too hard on. When I was in fifth grade my teacher read aloud Where the Red Fern Grows, a sad book, and every day before he started to read he told my class "The dogs die" and then would start reading. I realize now that he told us that, not to spoil the ending, but to show us that however sad it may be, it's not the point, it's the experience. I feel that in some sense this logic also works with Mister Pip. It doesn't really matter who dies, it's all about what each character believes and the experiences of what they do.

Sonnet to my Daddy...

I wish I could say this is easy as pie

but I just can't find the right words to use.

I sit here and coax myself to just try,

and not worry about which words to choose.

For this I don't want to sound elopquent,

just simple and caring precisely like you.

My thoughts just need to become coherent

then all of my feelings will come rushing through.

There's so many ways to show someone love

and in nineteen years you've used all of them,

now I try to go beyond and above.

I've got what to say and it is a gem.

Daddy...you will always have my heart

and from yours I will never ever part.

Intimidation...dun dun dun

Our discussion today about intimidation really hit home for me. Luke said it perfectly...he may be book smart and intimidating in that sense but, there are things that others do, such as Medina and her reciting poetry to a random stranger, that he couldn't (Sorry Luke if I'm making this up). I realized that there are things that each of us achieves that others may not necessarily be able to do and can be classified as "intimidating". In the back of my head I'm constantly thinking of what others are thinking about me. Am I wearing the right thing? Am I saying the right thing? What do they think of this? Everyone is going to think my sonnet's crap. Am I doing this right? And it's always been a struggle for me to do things for myself and not think of what others think. So frankly, I realized that I'm intimidated of almost everyone, but that I shouldn't be because they may be intimidated of me...crazy to think. It's like a football player being intimidated by the band geek or the popular girl and the artist...I don't know for what reasons...but there probably is one. I've recently been trying to think of me and how I feel and doing things for myself and for no one else. So far it's been scaring not thinking of what others think of me, intimidating almost, but I know that in the end I'm going to become a better me. I hope this makes sense and is sort of relevant. 

Carpe Diem

Here's a link to a clip from Dead Poet's Society about Carpe Diem...kinda long...but well worth the watch!