Poem #27 — Loop Poem

A Feminist’s Duty

For years we have fought to gain our rights

Rights, by birth, we were destined to obtain.

Obtaining them, not just for us, but for others too,

Too weak to raise their own voices to be heard.

First it was for equal rights among the different races,

Races which, when you think about it, are nothing but figments of our imaginations.

Imaginations that run wild, creating laws of segregation,

Segregation based on the color of our skin.

Next we fought for our own rights,

Rights to vote, and have control over our own lives.

Lives that have been living in Hell on Earth because we were women,

Women that, for centuries have been nothing more than property.

Finally, once again we take the plunge,

Plunging into the depths of humanity to help out our fellow brothers and sisters.

Sisters that like women, and brothers that like men,

Men and women that are no different from you and me, except they choose to love someone like them.

Add a comment November 16, 2009

Blog #24 — Queer Theory

On Friday, we discussed what Queer theory is and its significance in our lives. I thought for my blog I’d just give my thoughts on queer theory. I have a few friends that just came out since we graduated high school about being gay, and I feel with everything going on today about gay and lesbian rights, it’s a very relevant topic.

One of my very best friends came out last year and told us he was gay. At first, I was like, “Wait, what? You’re gay?” because he had had a number of girlfriends and never did the stereotypical ‘deny I’m gay like crazy’ thing. Even though I have a few other friends that came out years prior to this about being gay, it was still shocking to me, and made me feel even stronger than I did before about gay and lesbian rights.

My parents see very differently than my brother and I do when it comes to gay marriage. I don’t think they are wrong for their decision, but I don’t think they are right either. As we said in class, most of my generation grew up being raised to accept all people, no matter what their race, gener, religion, and sexual preference. So for my brother and I, when we’ve discussed such issues in the news, we feel that anyone in love should have the right to marry. My personaly opinion about this whole ordeal is that we are placing religion too far into our laws still, and while I believe in God and have faith in Him, I know our forefathers did not want us to mix church and state.

I chose the poem Equality to represent how I feel about this. (here’s the link: http://www.poetseers.org/contemporary_poets/maya_angelou_poems/equality/) Basically, the poem is about a person that is fighting for his equality. I’m not sure if it was written about a man that was gay or not, but I felt it sounded like it could have been the reason for writing it.

Add a comment November 16, 2009

Poem #26 – Diamante Poem

Men and Women

                                                              Man

                                                       Stong, brave

                                       Fascinating, enchanting, leading

                                 Warriors, fathers, mothers, caregivers

                                            Loving, caring, protecting

                                                         Beautiful, mild

                                                                 Woman

Add a comment November 13, 2009

Poem # 25 – Loop Poem

Guidance

My life was miserable

Miserable from the years of abuse I received.

Received only because I was a girl, Celie

Celie, the ruined child.

My life was miserable

Miserable from all the criticism I received

Received only because I was a woman

A woman with the voice of soul, Avery.

Meeting Celie changed my life,

A life I felt was worthless.

Worthless like the trash that I am,

Am not anymore.

Meeting Shug Avery changed my life,

A life I thought was over long ago.

Long ago I forgot who I was,

Was that same beautiful girl that Shug said.

Add a comment November 8, 2009

Blog # 23 – Shug Avery and Celie

I’ve decided to do my blog on Shug Avery and Celie. I chose this because we had just watched the part of the movie where Shug sings “Miss Celie’s  Blues” and I remember back to the class where we discussed their relationship. After watching up just past where Shug leaves for Memphis again, I witnessed enough of their relationship to discuss how they interact within the movie. So, without further ado, I’ll discuss why Shug and Celie are each other’s guides according to the movie.

When Shug Avery arrives, she’s pretty ill. She calls Celie ugly and then lays in bed for a long while. When Mister tries to cook breakfast, Celie notices how he goes about trying to make everything perfect for Shug, only to have that breakfast tossed out the door and all over the wall. Celie then takes a stab at it and Shug doesn’t fling it all over the wall. Celie also took the time (and mostly because her husband demanded her) to take care of Shug. If it wasn’t for Celie, Shug probably would not have pulled through her illness. Even Shug realized that after a while.

As for how Shug helped Celie, in the book, they share an intimate moment over a mirror, which was basically Shug telling Celie that she was beautiful and she just needed to see it for herself. In the movie, Celie keeps covering her smile and Shug tells her that she’s beautiful and she shouldn’t hide such a beautiful thing. Celie was in dire need of a strong female character (like Nettie) to help her gain a self identity. Since Nettie hadn’t written, Shug served as that role. Celie even became attached to Shug before she even met her: She saw her in the photo graph that was kept by her husband’s bedside.

I chose the poem Yin and Yang  by Nicole Nicholson. (Here’s the link: http://ravenswingpoetry.com/2009/06/02/yin-and-yang/) Even though she states that the poem is written about her and her fiance, I felt that it portrayed Shug and Celie just as well. Both Yin and Yang are wandering in misery alone, and until they come across one another, nothing is whole. Once they meet, it’s like all is well, because the one helps the other.

Add a comment November 8, 2009

Blog #22 – Project Summary

What I want to do for this project is to apply the monomyth and archetypes to the Pendragon series. I understand that the reading level of the series is far beneath me, but I just finished the final book (there are ten in total) this past month. The series, which I started when I was in 8th grade, has been slow in coming, and since I had just finished it completely, I feel it is fresh enough in my mind that I could disect it very thoroughly and more accurately than a novel I read last year.

The series, even though it’s ten separate books, is one giant story, and that is where I would like to make the monomyth and archetype connections. I don’t want to get each book’s plot involved, because that would be just too much work for one person to handle with this amount of time. I will instead, like I said, disect the major plot that extends from book one to book ten. There is still ample amount of information for me to work with to apply the monomyth and the different archetypes to the different characters.

I prefer to do this project myself, since I’m not the biggest fan of doing group work. This way, I know what information I need to cover and don’t have to rely on someone else to. I seem to always get people that don’t pull their weight on projects, so I plan on nipping that in the bud and flying solo on this project.

Add a comment November 3, 2009

Poem for 11-2-09

Cry Freedom by David Keig

Cry freedom
With a quiet voice
Cry freedom
And rejoice.

Cry freedom
See the purest light
Cry freedom
With fresh sight.

Cry freedom
With a gentle will
Cry freedom
And be still.

Cry freedom
Till your heart does ache
Cry freedom
And awake.

Cry freedom
With a quiet voice
Cry freedom
And rejoice.

Add a comment November 2, 2009

Poem #24 – Loop Poetry

Balance

There is one thing that comes with age

Age of wisdom, enlightenment, and maturity.

Maturity could be left to speculation, but it’s the enlightenment that leads to wisdom.

Wisdom, without we would have no balance in life.

Life teaches us that we should always be prepared

Prepared to become the teacher, after years of being the pupil.

Pupils learn through example and experimentation

Experimentation which leads us out on our own little journey.

Journeying far and wide across the land, or just to a home next door.

Doors are opened in our favors, letting us grasp life’s vaulable lessons

Lessons that which would go unlearned, could shift the balance of our world

A world that is made up of a delicate cycle in which all pupils become the teachers.

Add a comment November 2, 2009

Blog #20 – Master of Two Worlds

The way I came to understand the master of two worlds concept was that it is very much like a balance. Maybe not the balance like a balance between good and evil, but some sort of understanding on both ends. Maybe so in more of the way that when you are the child, you see things one way and don’t always agree with your parents. Then, when you become the parent yourself, you begin to understand why your parents did things the way they did.

When I was younger, I never agreed with my mom. She and I never saw eye-to-eye on the whole boyfriend concept and when I was mature enough to date someone. I thought at 15 I was perfectly mature, and it’s not until now, at 21, do I realize how super wrong I was! I see 15 year old friends of my brother act so immaturely that I question if I was fully mature to date at that age.

The poem I chose to represent this concept was My 1960′s Colour TV by Passive Horror (here’s the url: http://allpoetry.com/poem/5627241) I chose this poem because it really reflects my understanding of the realization/balance  process instead of two worlds. It’s about this person who has a really old 1960′s television set and prefers it over the new plasma and flatscreen types. I feel it is balanced/realized because the person is saying that this old, little set is no different than the new ones, and just because it’s older doesn’t mean it can’t do it’s job. I get the feeling when I read this poem that it is like comparing the tortoise and the hare: “Slow and steady wins the race” or that the older you are, the wiser you are. I get this feeling, I think, because even though the tv is very outdated, it’s been around the block and can preform its job with ease.

Add a comment November 2, 2009

Notes for 10-30-09

10-30-09

Class notes --
Be done with the Color Purple by Wednesday
Different genres of literature still convey monomyth.

Add a comment November 2, 2009