Poetry Reading Response for "Photography" by Nikki Giovanni (Draft)

When you take a picture, you can see only the photographer’s point of view of what the things happening are like in the photo.  In the poem Photography by Nikki Giovanni, it shows how people assume that their lives are perfect and so are everyone else’s, by using the symbol of the camera.

In the poem, the author uses metaphors and symbols to show how people struggle and other people don’t notice.  For example, take the lines ”it’s easy sitting in the sun/ to forget the ice and ravages/ of winter yet” (Giovanni, 12-14).  This shows that the sun (which symbolizes the good things in your life) is a place where you ignore/ don’t help other people and the ice/ winter (bad things that could happen to you and other people).

Although you might frown upon other people’s ways, they might love the way they live, struggles and all.  In the poem, it shows this by saying, “yet surf or sea each has/ its lovers and its meaning/ for love”(Giovanni, 20-22).  “Surf or sea” represents different people and “lovers” and “meaning for love” represents people’s lifestyles that they choose to have.  So basically, the quote says that different people have different ways of living and are fine with their lives.

No matter how different people are, we all work together to make the world what it is.  “and our hands joining/ those that reach/ develop the product” (Giovanni, 5-7).  This means that if we choose to work together, we will “develop the product” or make this world a better place.

After reading this poem, I realized that life really is like a photograph.  We can choose to make our “photo” whatever way we want.  We can either choose to pretend that everything is well in the world and forget about the troubles people are having, or we can work together to help people and ignore their differences.  

Photography

the eye we are told

is a camera

but the film is the heart

not the brain

and our hands joining

those that reach

develop the product

it’s easy sitting in the sun

to forget that cold exists

let alone envelops

the lives of people

it’s easy sitting in the sun

to forget the ice and ravages

of winter yet

there are those who would have

no other season

it’s always easy when thinking

we have the best to assume

others covet it

yet surf or sea each has

its lovers and its meaning

for love

watching the red sun bleed

into the ocean

one thinks of the beauty that fire brings

if the eye is a camera and the film is the heart

then the photo assistant is god

Creative writing

11. Craft a story with the following first line: I slowly backed up and sat in the nearest chair.

            I slowly backed up and sat in the nearest chair.  Then the bell rang.  I ran out of the room as quickly as I could and practically flew out the school doors.  I can’t believe it.  It just isn’t possible.  I leapt and jogged and skipped back home, to tell my mother the good news.  As soon as I opened the door I saw my mother.  She was slowly rocking.  Back, forth.  Back, forth.  I looked around.  Something was wrong.  Something was missing.  I ran up the stairs into my baby brother Ralph’s room.  My father was there.  But this can’t be.  No.  And then I saw my baby brother.  He was lying motionless in his crib, sleeping peacefully.

            “Don’t you touch him! ”  I screamed. 

            “It’s too late. The deed’s been done.” my father whispered with a slight grin.

            “You’re mad!  You’re insane!  Go back to jail!  Leave us alone!  LEAVE NOW!!!” I wailed at the top of my lungs.  He silently walked out of the room, down the stairs (step, step, step, step…), into the living room (he paused for a short second there), and finally out of our house.  I took small steps towards my baby brother.  Still breathing.  Good.  Then what was he talking about?  The deed’s been done?  I walked back down stairs to my mother.  My mind was foggy. 

            Hello mother.

            Hello, my boy.  What was that exciting thing you were telling me?

            I got a 100% on my math final.

            Wow. You must be the smartest boy in the 9^th grade!

            Yes.  That is what Mr. Stein told me.

           

            “Boy, what are you doing?!  Is that a dead body?!!!!  I’m calling the police!”

            Mother, what were you saying?

            I was about to tell you that we should leave.

            Okay, I’ll lead the way.

            “Put her down!  Stop!  The police are on the way.”

            Mother, do you think we should get baby Ralph from his cradle?

            Yes that is a splendid idea.

            “What do you think you are doing with that baby?”

            Come along, honey.  You don’t want to miss the boat.

            Okay, I’ll get on it now.  But that annoying old man is following me.

            “Stop!  Stop!  What are you doing?!  Get away from the pond!”

            Riding on the boat should be great fun.

            Indeed it should be, my boy.  Now tell baby Ralph to shut up. 

            SHUT UP RALPH!!!!

            Quite a good boy you are.  Away we go, for the boat has arrived!

***

            “I saw it with my own eyes.  That boy took his dead mother and his living baby brother and jumped into the pond with them!  He must be insane!” says our neighbor.

            “We’ll eventually figure out why he did this.” says the police chief.

They stare into the pond at our floating corpses.

END.

Deenie by Judy Blume

I recently read the book Deenie by Judy Blume.  In the book, the main character named Deenie, wants to be a model. But then, the doctor tells her that she needs a Milwaukee Brace (a big clunky back brace that people used to straighten their backs in the ‘60s and  ‘70s.  Deenie has scoliosis, a condition where your spine is crooked.  Throughout the book, Deenie’s attitude towards modeling, the brace, and new friends changes.

            In the beginning, Deenie’s mother keeps on pushing her to be a fashion model when she grows up, but Deenie secretly doesn’t want to be one.  Also, in her gym class there is a girl named Barbara who has a blotchy skin condition (every time she gets nervous, her skin gets red and itchy).  All the girls stay away from her, and think that she’s contagious. “Her real name is Barbara Curtis but I named her the Creeping Crud because she’s got this disgusting rash all over her. It’s supposed to be some kind of allergy but who wants to take the chance of finding out by touching her?” (page 30).  Deenie is really mean and untrusting towards Barbara and she reminds me of the typical mean popular girl in movies and books.

            Then, in the middle of the book, Deenie’s gym teacher notices that Deenie walks in a strange way.  So she is sent to many doctors when finally, they diagnose her with scoliosis.  She has an S curve which means that her spine is curved in the shape of an S.  This is what Deenie thinks when she first sees the brace (page 68): “I wanted to scream, Forget it… I’m never going to wear that thing.  Everyone will know.  Everyone!  But the words just wouldn’t come out.” This shows that Deenie really cares about who will judge her by her brace and what people will think of her.  Also, Deenie is starting to warm up to Barbara. She also starts dating her crush, Buddy Brader, even though all he really only likes her for her looks (not her personality).

            In the end, Deenie learns to live with her brace, and final accepts the fact that there is nothing she can do about it. She also stops judging people based on their looks and she and Barbara become really good friends.  Also, Deenie dumps Buddy because they have never really had an actual conversation together. Deenie basically becomes a stronger person.

            I think that Deenie’s brace made her a better person on the whole.  She finally realizes that even if people don’t look drop dead gorgeous, you should still accept them and be friends with them based on their personality.

Non Fiction Reading Response on "The End of Extreme Poverty?"

            In the December 9^th edition of Upfront Magazine, there was an article called The End of Extreme Poverty? by Nicholas D. Kristof.  Basically, the article states that the majority of extreme poverty in the world is fading away.  The author shows that vaccines to deadly diseases are becoming more available in poverty-stricken places around the world, schools are being built in areas of countries that lack free education, there is now more technology to identify certain diseases, and there is more clean water and sanitation programs to prevent illness.  With these new actions being taken, people can now focus on getting ahead in life, instead of focusing on how to keep their starving families alive.

            The author is trying to convince the reader that the battle with extreme life-threatening poverty is coming to an end.  The author states that, “The goal is to end extreme poverty by 2030– and we’re close.”  This means that we have a fair shot at making this world healthier, more educated, and happier on the whole.  One section of the article shows that the cases of polio worldwide went from 350,000 in 20 countries in 1988, to 123 in 3 countries in 2012.  This is a humungous change, and if we can do that in only 24 years, then who knows how far we’ll get by 2030.  

            I think that this article is biased in a way that the author supports the cause, but besides that, the author sticks to the facts.  Anyway, whoever doesn’t feel positively about this is a bit strange to me.  The author makes sure to quote relevant sources, such as the World Bank, which in this article states that, “the share of people in the developing world living in extreme poverty has been reduced from 1 in 2 in 1980 to 1 in 5 today.”  This contributes to the Upfront article by showing the reader that this statistic is real and it emphasizes how much we have changed in the past 33 years.  I don’t think that anyone’s perspective is missing in this text because the author makes a point to include the story of a mother that has to choose which of her children can go underneath the family’s one mosquito net every night to protect them from insects that could possibly carry diseases like malaria.  Overall, the author does a good job to include every perspective that is relevant to the text, and to be unbiased.

            After reading this article, I have realized that people are getting the things they need in other countries and I used to think that people were just getting poorer.  It really makes me happy that things are getting better and I hope that by 2030 the problem of extreme poverty will go away.

Revised Reading Response of The Night Circus

CTQ: Who has “power” in your text?  How does that power get shown?

            I have recently read the book “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern.  It’s about how two magicians, Celia and Marco, are put into a magical duel by their guardians.  This event takes place in a circus, and it lasts many years.  As time goes by, Celia and Marco fall in love, but they figure out that the only way to play the game is to outlast the other player.  I believe that Hector Bowen (Celia’s father) and Alexander (Marco’s adopted father) have the most power in this text.

            Celia and Marco are expected to have an inner drive to try to out last each other.  But they love each other and Celia sometimes thinks of committing suicide to let Marco win.  But, thanks to their parents, they are forced to never run away or even think about it by a scar that will blindingly hurt whenever one of them gets any ideas about it.  This shows the power that the parents have over their lives.  “And then his right hand begins to burn, the pain sharp and searing, beginning at the scar around his finger and racing up his arm, blacking out every thought in his mind.” (page 351).This is what happens when Marco asks Celia to run away with him.  His scar was made when he first started preparing for the challenge.  This shows how much power and influence the parents have over the magicians lives, so much that they can get into their children’s thoughts.

            Whenever Celia and Marco kiss, either Alexander or Hector shows up to lecture his child about how their love will get them nowhere in the challenge.  Celia and Marco are constantly being reminded that their love is fake, disgusting, and irrelevant by their guardians.  “ ‘Stop behaving as though you love that boy’ Hector says.  ‘You are above such mundane things.’ “ (page 397). This quote shows Hector Bowen’s attitude towards Celia and Marco’s love for each other.  Hector and Alexander can only think about how everything affects their competition for who’s the better magician and they never think of their children’s feelings.  They only think about how they will be able to win the competition by controlling their children’s views on their competitor. They have power and influence over what their children should feel.

              Hector and Alexander also have power over the other people involved in the circus.  The fact that Alexander had no shadow convinced Charles Lefèvre (the owner of the circus) that there was something secret and evil going on behind his back.  That caused him to attempt to kill Alexander with a knife, but he misfired and it hit Herr Friedrick Thiessen (the maker of the famous clock on the gates of the circus) instead.  “…Mr. A. H-‘s suit shifts…the knife brushes by his sleeve, and comes to rest instead in the chest of the man he’s speaking with…[he] catches Herr Friedrick Thiessen as he slumps forward.” (page 375).  This shows how entangled other people can get in the web of magic that Alexander (A.K.A. Mr. A. H-), Hector, Celia, and Marco have created.  It makes normal people suspicious and causes them to do drastic things.  Hector and Alexander have taught their children to do the same as them, which is controlling other people’s lives.

            After I read this book, I thought that it kind of related to “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, in a sense that a higher power forces two children to outlast/murder each other to prove their power to other people.  This text makes me wonder how they would have turned out if Marco actually did commit suicide. How would Celia react and would she ever be the same?  Would she ever use magic again?  Her father’s emotional power over her probably would have convinced her that she doesn’t belong without Marco in her life, and she probably would’ve killed herself too.