Dishonesty

Dishonesty is no doubt a huge theme in The Importance Of Being Earnest. One way you can tell is through the epigrams that the characters so often throw out at the reader. A good way these represent dishonesty is because I think they are saying something that contradicts itself but makes sense. Also, I think that the satire of this novel and the social institutions is very dishonest because it shows that almost everyone would lie and cheat. Also, even though the title has the word "Earnest" Which means serious, is to trick you. It's to show that people back then were not honest. Also, He says that to get pleasure, you have to lie through a process known as "Bunburying".
Mainly what I think Oscar Wilde is trying to say about dishonesty in this story is really that it can lead to some uncomfortable occasions, such as act three. I think he really disagrees with dishonesty because if he wanted everyone to be honest he wouldn't have named the book The Importance of being earnest, because I think that that is the main theme overall. That it is better to be honest and true.

Animal Farm Project Evaluations

1. Adora: Adora's poem was awesome! It was extremely creative and I took a lot of thought. She completely extended the theme.

2: Connor: Connor's comic strip was very creative. I thought it was really cool how he chose to be a little different with his comic, giving a bit of a victorian style to it.

3. Kayla: Kayla's comic strip looked really good. You could tell she put a lot of work into it. The only thing is, I can't really understand what she's trying to say.

4.Thomessa: I can't really tell what project Thomessa did, but it looks really good. The way she showed the 7 commandments before and after Squealer altered them was really interesting.

5: Daniel S.: Daniel's photoshop made me laugh. He really showed the parallel to the Russian Revolution, because he put the leaders' heads on the animals.

6. Davis: Davis's project showed all the parallels to the russian revolution. It was a little messy, but it get's his point across well.

7. Emma and Catherine: The Trailer that these two did was awesome. It showed all the different themes, and was different from all the other movies I saw. Plus, there was an epic burning down of a cardboard house. It definately showed the themes.

8. Dan M.: Dan's comic was really neat and easy on the eyes. It did kind of look like it only took about five minutes, but it clearly showed all the themes.

9. Levi: Levi's was definately my favorite. It was completely computer generated, and really showed the themes. Plus he showed the themes clearly. Very Unique.

10. Sidney: Sidney did a poem, and she clearly showed all the themes, and the problems on the farm. Her poem was very well written.

As for mine, I think mine was okay. I definately got my ideas across, and showed them clearly. I believe compared to Levi's though, it was not very great. But still, not terrible.

What my poem communicates.

My poem is Song of the Powers, by David Mason. I chose this poem mainly because it starts out to me in a sort of whimsical, light manner, and ends in a dark somber tone. I really enjoy the contrast from the start to finish. And, to be honest, it's about rock paper scissors at the start, so I thought it might be easy to remember, but that's not the point. The points the poem conveys are balance and uselessness of fighting.
The reason why I thought this poem fitted me was because of the messages, said above. I hate when people fight, and I thought the satire in the art of using rock paper scissors to make a strong stance against fighting was great. The final stanza basically says, lower your guns, for it's useless. I also love the theme of balance this poem creates. See, while all the objects destroy each other, they continue. Paper will always beat stone, while scissors will always cut paper, and stone will crush the scissors. This was awesome to me because I try to base my life around balance, whether it be friends, family, school, etc. Another I thoroughly enjoyed about this poem was the vivid imagery and the strong and powerful language.
Finally, what shall I do to enhance my performance you ask? Well, let me just say that I will deliver a fair amount of dramatic appropriateness in my performance. I know very well that this poem has a strong message, and I am your messenger. I will also be clear in voice and articulation, so that you may also be able to enjoy the vivid imagery and wording. Also, I plan to keep my hand gestures to a small amount, because I don't want to over do it, seeing as this is quite a humble yet overpowering poem. I am not worried about this at all, and I am confident I can do well.

Poetry Out Loud

Part 1: Cruising the web.

             1. Poor Angels by Edward Hirsch

             2. Elegy on Toy Piano by Dean Young

             3. Cartoon Physics, Part 1 by Nick Flynn

             4. Good People by W.S Merwin

             5. In the Basement of the Goodwill Store by Ted Kooser

Part 2: What Do I Think??

 I really liked Good People, because it's message is very hidden and deep, and it makes you think a lot. I also enjoyed In the Basement of the Goodwill Store because I like the detail and descriptive words. I didn't really enjoy Cartoon Physics and Elegy on a Toy Piano because I felt that they were trying to hard to be deep, or complex, and didn't have the simple yet complex feel of the others. I really want to do Good people, because I thought it was complex and of decent length. I really personally connected with it because his writing style of poetry is much like my own.

Part 3: Scoring Criteria

 I will probably be best at Physical Presence and Voice and Articulation because I have good posture and a voice that carries. I probably won't be too great at Dramatic appropriateness because whenever I act dramatic it ends up in me laughing at myself.

Part 4: Videos.

 I watched The one with Forgetfulness and I think he did so well because the poem was very funny and he delivered it seamlessly. I also watched Sophia Elana Soberon and she did very well because she used her voice very well and you could really see that she loved poetry.

Part 5: Summary.

Well, after viewing PoetryOutLoud, I must say that I am feeling highly confident in my ability to memorize and recite my poem, and that this competition won't be too hard for me. I am going to memorize Good People, because the nature of the poem just seems to fit my personality. I thought that the website was very interesting and I hope I can make it far in this competition.

What's SO INTERESTING about LOBSTERS?

               So, here I am again writing about the trials of Mrs. Gilman's class, and talking about the poem, Lobsters. One interesting idea that was brought up by my fellow classmate Levi was the idea of a slave trade metaphor within the poem. I pondered this and this is what it meant. Basically, the slave trade was a huge part of the 1800's and early 1900's and anytime before, where people could come and choose which slave they wanted, and purchase that person. Now, is this just an idle coincidence? Or, could this be a way of expressing that we, as humans, are STILL practicing the slave trade without even thinking about it.
                This theory can be applied to many parts of the poem. Such as when the author talks about their colors, and how they are "velvet". But tell me, do these colors sound beautiful and awe-striking to you? Mud red, cadaver green, and bruise purple? Well, they may be awe striking, but in the other way... So, anyway, whit I'm getting at is that the author is trying to say that while the lobsters are beautiful when they are at their home on the bottom of the sea, but when we bring them here to buy and sell, they are considered odd, or weird. Now, we all pretty much know that Slave owners were white, and the slaves themselves may have been African American, Latino, or any race besides our own. And that was much like this. The slaves were not like the whites, so they found them odd and put them on the market, which is just an absolutely terrible and disgusting thing to do. Which, is what the author is trying to convey. That we have a fear of the unknown, so much so that we put it on the market and sell it to the highest bidder. So, is the slave trade still occuring, well no. But, it is with Lobsters, and other animals.
              

5 part paragraph critique.

In my class, there wasn't many actual BAD papers, but there were some tiny little issues. I think the biggest problems in our class was mainly word choice, and transitions.

              The main problem with word choice was that it was kind of weak. Also, it seemed like a lot of people didn't actually know the meanings of the words they were using, and they just threw them in there because they sounded, "intelligent". This was pretty ridiculous because I felt that it completely took away from the flow of some papers and made it seem like people just put together a collage of 5 syllable words. People should try writing for themselves instead of just trying to impress everyone.

               The only other big problem I found was transitions, in that a lot of people didn't use them correctly, or they didn't use any at all. I mean, it's in the format we were supposed to use to write, so why did people forget about them? We had a list of them in front of us! And I want to clarify, it seems as though I'm bashing EVERYONE in the class, I'm not. As I said, most were really well written. But the few that weren't, were not written well at all!

                As for me, I felt like I did well, but also messed up. For instance, I used this shows, when it was in the rubric telling me not too. So, I guess it is a little hypocritical for me to get on people for transitions, when I didn't follow the rubric either. Oh well, that's just how the story goes.