I Heart Novels

Mone's story is very inspiring to me. At this moment, I am in Introduction to Creative Writing and for the first time, I am writing my own fiction and poetry. This article was inspirational because it gives me the message that everyone has their own story to tell. I would use this an introduction to teaching creative writing, if I have the opportunity when I teach.

I can't believe that there is a cell-phone genre! We are so technologically advanced that almost anything is possible now. I love texting, believe me. I could text all day! I love to send out mass-text messages, too, just to say hi to my friends that I haven't talked to in a while. Even though I am sort of addicted to text messaging, I don't think it would be possible for me to write an entire novel this way. It blew my mind to learn that when Mone's novel was published, it was over three-hundred pages! This is something I know I could never do. They keys on my phone (and any other phone) are just too small for me to type a novel on. I have trouble writing e-mails from my phone because I get so frustrated with the 'shift' key and symbols. Usually, I just receive e-mails on my phone and send/respond on my computer.

However, I'm certain that I will have students that have either adapted to the keys on their phone better than I or will have more advanced phones that are easier to type on. Perhaps this is a possibility for my future students. I'll keep this article and I hope to use cell-phone writing when I teach!

Jago Chapter 5- How Poems Work

I’m not going to lie to any of you. I’m simply not good at poetry. However, I loved that Jago called explicating and making sense of a poem an “interpretative game” (Jago 90). Those two little words opened my eyes to how I want to teach poetry, by making it an interpretative game!

In college classes, I have struggled with poetry. Jago says that students need poetry, so I guess I need to get over my fear! Jago suggests that using familiar song lyrics will help with recognizing poetry and the elements of poetry. I can think of several songs, both pop and rap, that would be great, especially for teaching similes and metaphors!

Figure 5.1 was a great tool. Jago has students reread the poem that is being worked on and “fill in words or phrases that appeal to sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, and movement” (90). After working on this for about ten minutes, Jago reread the poem out loud and asked students to contribute their words and phrases. She would ask them what effect the image had on the poem and “little by little, image by image, comprehension of the poem emerges” (90).

I think that teaching poetry is what I need the most help with. The more tools and methods like figure 5.1, the better equipped I will be!

Jago Chapter 4- How Stories Work

I was pleased to see that Jago used Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild” on pages 63-65. This is the text that I randomly selected for our Canonical Wiki Assignment. Without knowledge and use of literary elements, the story is kind of dull. The story would be pointless unless the reader takes into account what “the call of the wild” means metaphorically and symbolically. It is pertinent to the story to understand why the author used Buck’s point of view, in order to understand the story.

I agree with Jago when she says that “The Call of the Wild” is a “difficult, challenging text.” However, I also agree that if the instructor provides scaffolding and guidance during the reading of this text, paying “critical attention to the elements of literature,” students will understand and even like this novel.

I think that I will adhere to Jago’s suggestion to keep the list of literary elements displayed in the classroom. Jago says: “Seeing the words daily helps students accept them as the natural language of literature study” (Jago 68). If students know and employ the words in their reading, discussions would be phenomenal and the students would comprehend and evaluate the text on a deeper level.

Also, I liked how Jago used Freytag’s Pyramid. Jago states: “Charting the course of the story can help students see how they are reading, unfamiliar as the characters and setting may at first seem, actually conforms to a pattern they know well” (67).

Jago Chapter 2- All About Words

I have three things to say in reference to Jago’s Chapter 2, “All About Words.”

#1—Poor Danny! I hope she used a pseudo name for him. Even if she did, I hope he never decides to become an English teacher and buy this book! However, it did make for a nice introduction into a chapter about words.

#2—I learned that the method that all of my teachers used is not the best method if the goal is getting students to know the vocabulary words. My teachers would give us a list of words and point us towards the large stack of dictionaries. Then, we would sit and define them. Viola! Then we knew the words! Just kidding. As Jago states, “learning language doesn’t work that way” (Jago 22).

#3 —Jago also states: “What teachers can do is help students develop habits for mind for approaching unfamiliar vocabulary” (Jago 22). I liked that Jago had her students use the “Personal Vocabulary List.” Using this is an inquiry skill that students can use later in life to make reading challenging tasks more methodical and easier. My favorite exercise was on page 37, when Jago had students chose words and write about someone they know who possesses the characteristic of the word. Developing a personal meaning is probably the best way to learn anything. Sharing with a partner and rating themselves using these words are also great parts of this exercise.

"Toe to Toe" Contemporary Film Review (Costanzo p. 299)

Click HERE to watch the trailer for "Toe to Toe"

I saw the movie “Toe to Toe” at the Cleveland Film Fest. This movie was about twp girls in their senior year of high school at a prep-school. Jessie had just transferred to a new school to escape the effects of her promiscuity at her previous school. She befriended Tosha, who lived in a rough part of town, and invested all of her time, energy, and hope into getting into Princeton. The friendship between the two girls soon fell apart, because of a boy. The rest of their senior year was spent fighting with each other.

Many girls can relate to the falling out of a friendship because of a boy. As soon as Jessie found out that Tosha liked this boy, she pounced on him. I’ve seen this exact storyline happen with my own eyes at my own high school to a friend of mine (in a much more innocent way, if that’s possible). This made me feel more sympathetic to Tosha. Throughout the film, it becomes clear that because of Jessie’s lack of guidance from her always absent mother, she was always seeking attention elsewhere. However, my sympathy still belonged to poor Tosha, because she was the one that was betrayed by a friend.

At times, the camera work was quite strange to me. At one point, the camera did a close-up on someone’s eyeball and I could not understand the purpose. In one scene, a doctor was telling Jessie that she had Chlamydia, but the camera focused on a close-up of Jessie’s emotionless face. Again, the purpose was not entirely clear to me. I think at that point in the film we had learned enough about Jessie to know that she was not phased. I would like to have seen the doctor’s reaction to Jessie’s reaction.

The actors were wonderful. I think that Jessie, played by Louisa Krause, was casted perfectly. She looked like an average girl that I would have seen walking around Kent’s campus. There was something familiar about her face, but when I looked her up at IMDB.com, she was not in anything that I would recognize her in. I think that I just recognized her as an average American girl with issues. Tosha, played by Sonequa Martin, was also casted perfectly. She looked tough, but there was a very feminine vulnerability to her (which was her Tosha's personality). All parts were played tremendously well, because I believed every second of this film.

Even though I think that this is a fairly common plot, it was very compelling. I often see or read about inter-racial friendships (usually rich white friend and a poor black friend), but there were so many other conflicts besides the black/white conflict. According to IMDB.com, the movie's tagline is: "Winning isn't always black and white." In Jessie's case, her workaholic mother was always out of town and often ignored Jessie and her need for guidance and stability. Tosha was afraid of the people in her neighborhood, but often tried to appear as a tough "street" girl to her privileged friends at prep-school. I was so invested in this plot, that I didn't look at my cell-phone at all to even check the time. There were too many conflicts to be resolved that I couldn't look away from the screen.

The many different conflicts were representative of the many different themes in this movie. It is in my opinion that besides the obvious black/white conflict, money is one of the main themes. Jessie and her mother had plenty of money, but not the happiness. Tosha's family did not have money either, which caused tension between Tosha and her mother because Tosha went to a prep-school and wanted to go to Princeton. However, Tosha had guidance from her grandmother, who loved her very much. Family dynamic was also a theme larger than money. Tosha, her mother, her brother, and her brother's child's mom all had a bond, but they fought often and forgot about each other, because of pre-occupation with themselves. Promiscuity and ego of teenagers is another issue. Many teenage characters smoked marijuana, drank alcohol, and engaged in sexual activity (usually with Jessie). This struck me as frightening, because I may be teaching students who are living this way.

This film was a drama. The film had many emotional themes and presented dramatic issues (such as sex, drugs and betrayal). It is my opinion that the viewer becomes more emotionally invested in a drama, because of the serious issues that are common in our society. According to filmsite.org, Academy Awards seem to be given to more Dramas than any other genre.

The film represented many different racial groups. Rashid was Arabic, and therefore, not supposed to be dating. However, he was engaging in sexual activity with Jessie (as well as illegal drug use) while pursuing Tosha. This led me to believe his ethnic group was being portrayed as suppressed and rebelling against the suppressed desires. African-American in the film were portrayed in a way which I had never seen. Many of the black characters had plenty of money, but they valued being "street." Men in this film were portrayed in the most negative of ways. They were all users. There was a very graphic scene at the end showing Jessie's point of view while all of the men in her life used her (and some taped it and took pictures). Even Tosha's brother was portrayed negatively, because he smoked marijuana and forgot about his child while the child's mother was working. The film also slightly touched on homosexuality, but not enough for evaluate the portrayal.

I was most challenged by the ideology that the African-American characters valued being "street." Tosha was beat up near her home one day by a local group of girls, but when she went to her school, all of the girls praised her for being in a fight (which Tosha claimed she won). I was shocked by this, but I also challenge the idea that black teens appreciate fighting.

From this movie, the most valuable lesson I learned is that when I teach, I need to know my students. Even the most driven students (like Tosha) have a lot to think about that will distract them from school. As a teacher, I need to look for warning signs in students like Tosha and Jessie. In Jessie's case, if I knew a students like her, and knew what was going on with her, I would give her more attention in class and try to develop a relationship with her in which I give her some of the attention that she was seeking with her mother. I realized from this film that teaching will not be easy, since school is not the only thing that will be on my students' minds. I am glad I had the opportunity to see this film and make this realization.

My Film Fest Experience

On Sunday, March 21, I went to the Cleveland Film Fest along with seven of my INLA friends! We met in Kent, drove two cars, and had lunch at the HardRock Cafe, yum! I was glad that we got to do this together, because once it was time to go see the movie, things got a little confusing!

At first, we were going to see "Love Hurts." However, Dave had found a movie called "Bomber" that looked funny and we all wanted a good laugh. So we got our "Stand-By" tickets and waited in the "Stand-By" line. The workers assured us that there would be plenty of seats and we would get right in. However, right as the film was starting, they announced that we couldn't get into the film and directed us to the place where they refund stand-by tickets. The workers directed the eight of us to another film, "Toe to Toe," instead. The film had already been playing for about five minutes and I think we must have lost some pertinent information in those five minutes. Nevertheless, I was pleased that we still saw a movie, even if it was not a comedy!

Unfortunately, I was not feeling well at all on Sunday. I felt horrible and I was not very much fun! I would have liked to go again and see a few other films. I have so many sorority sisters who would love this experience!

Film Study Guide Assignment

For the film study guide assignment, I chose the movie "Casablanca." I am so glad that I chose this movie. It is ranked #2 on the American Film Institute's Top 100 American Movies of All Time. The American Film Institute (AFI) were judged based on: length, language, critical recognition, awards, popularity, historical significance, and cultural impact. The 1942 film, starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, was set during World War II.

Quotes like: "Play it again, Sam," "Here's to lookin at you, kid," and "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" are often recited, but I have never been able to recognize them. Thanks to this assignment, I will now be able to recognize the amous quotes that come from this movies. Also, I have always liked the song "As Time Goes By," but now I love it because it is a little more personal!

I would HIGHLY recommend watching "Casablanca" the very first chance you get!

You're Leaving A Digital Trail

All I could think of while reading this article was how much Marcus Yallow would disapprove! In "Little Brother," privacy was what Marcus demanded. However, in our society with the internet and social networking, privacy is probably unattainable.

My boyfriend, Mark, does not have a Facebook. I think it is so weird! Almost everyone has one for good reason. He, however, had one and never used it. He goes to Xavier University, which is an incredibly small school, and said that many of his friends there don't have one either. Even without a Facebook, I can Google his name find out almost everything there is to know about him.

The final statement of this article suggests that perhaps this is a good thing, because we are creating a "global village," which is keeping up with the tradition of people throughout history living in "small tribes where everything they did was known by everyone they knew" (Dr. Malone).

Cleveland Film Festival

If anyone is interested, Amanda Cox, Marissa Covelli, Brittany Moviel and I are all going to the Film Festival on Sunday, March 21 to see "Love Hurts." The movie stars actors that you may recognize: Jenna Elfman (from the former sitcom "Dharma and Greg") and Janeane Garafolo (from "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion"). It starts at 1:50 p.m., so we were considering getting lunch somewhere in Cleveland to make a day of it!

Just let any of us know either in a response, in person, or be e-mail! We'll arrange rides closer to the day. I hope some of you will consider going with us! It should be pretty fun!

Here is the link to the movie. Check it out if you may be interested:http://www.clevelandfilm.org/festival/films/2010/love-hurts

Costanzo- Chapters 5-9

What we did today (3/8) in class was what I liked most about Costanzo's text. At this time in Dr. Pytash's class, we are talking about reading using critical lenses (Marxism, feminism, new criticism). I think that the activity we did today with the portrayal of women is a great supplemental activity or a great preparatory activity to use. This activity was fun, because we used clips from youtube that I personally found humorous.

In chapters 6 and 8, Costanzo talks about theories of films, critiquing film, and representations in film. Analyzing and critiquing all of these things can make students better readers. I realize that we've been discussing film for two weeks, but it wasn't until we did the activity today that I understood what Costanzo was saying about using film in the English classroom. I am aware now that watching meaningful films can enhance the reader's ability to critique literature and society.

I am still not sure which film I will do for my study guide. I am incredibly sensitive and Amanda Cox advised me to beware of a few of the options. I have already seen "Bend It Like Beckham," so I am leaning more towards "Casablanca." My mom has this on DVD, so I would have access, and from what I have read on IMDB, this is probably the best movie for me.

2010 Oscars

I have been waiting for Oscar night to arrive ever since I heard the big news that STEVE MARTIN would be hosting with Alec Baldwin! I have always loved Steve Martin. When I was young, I loved the movies "Father of the Bride" and "Father of the Bride part II". Also, however inappropriate, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" was another favorite since I was young. I love how he is not crude, not disgusting, but classically, honestly funny.

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin did a wonderful job of keeping the crowd laughing and entertained. I thought that the joke between them and George Clooney was hysterical. I was laughing out loud!

I was happy to see that Sandra Bullock was the winner of Best Actress in a Lead Role, since she was won a "Razzie" for worst actress. That had to hurt her ego a bit, but she really was 100% believable as a deep southern woman in "The Blind Side," even though she is Canadian! You know she's got to be good to pull that off as well as she did!

Now, I am a very sensitive person. When I saw "Precious," I cried so hard that I nearly made myself sick. What that poor girl went through was unimaginable. The book, "Push" was written by Sapphire, who actually endured all of this and "Precious" is Sapphire herself. I thought that the Best Adapted Screenplay was well deserved. Mo' Nique was also well deserving of Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Although I just hated her in the movie, she played an abusive, mean, angry, but incredibly fragile woman to a tee. She was such a complex character, and Mo' Nique made her so real. It breaks my heart to know that people have lives like the one they lived.

I need to see: Inglorious Basterds, The Hurt Locker, Crazy Heart, and Avatar still! Then I will be fully up to date and can make judgments on the other winnings!

History of Facebook (Rolling Stone)

“Zuckerberg made that fortune by creating Facebook — now the sixth-most-visited site in the world — as easy to use and as addictive as any drug.” -- I think that the word drug is appropriate. Not only is Facebook as addictive as a drug for users, it seems like it may be something toxic and addictive for Mark Zuckerberg. I don’t believe that we will ever know the full truth of what happened between Zuckerberg and his friends, because there are two sides to every story. However, it seems like Zuckerberg is a capitalist.

It is crazy for me to think that while we’re all out here using Facebook without a second thought (I know I am), there is so much of this controversy behind the scenes. It is especially crazy for me to consider that he is only my age! I cannot imagine creating something like Facebook and maintaining ownership as it grows! I can only imagine what more Zuckerberg is capable of, considering how young he is. However, some young, brilliant college student will probably show up into the scene with something way more effective than facebook! As of right now, it seems completely impossible to me!

I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You

I haven’t always loved Facebook. In fact, I was one of the last people to have one! I did not get a Facebook until late into my freshman year of college. I realized that I needed one when I went through informal sorority recruitment and realized that everyone communicated with each other using Facebook and I was missing out! So I got one and I found out how it can benefit my relationships.

As for the Status updates, I need them! I love reading the updates of my friends and family. It is so hard to maintain communication with high school friends, because we are all hours and hours apart! Status updates and relationship status changes keep me in the know. In the summer, it feels like we never had the communication barrier, because we are all so familiar with each others’ lives, all thanks to Facebook! I’m hoping that more of my friends get onto Twitter for this purpose. However, only most of my Kent State friends are using Twitter. Hopefully I can set that trend!