Metacognition: Jane Eyre Writing Assignment

While writing my part for Jane Eyre, I had to think of it almost as a script. I first really needed the name of my person (I was the academy student) and I needed the personality. Once I had the name, I began outlining the kind of person the student was going to be. I made her attitude so it clashed a bit with the publisher's and Charlotte's. Then, as I started writing, I had to read and reread the statement beforehand, then decide how I would respond, and then shift that response to the eyes of the student. Once I had written it, I edited each part very carefully and used words that gave the person character. At the end, I looked over the whole thing to make sure everyone's part worked with each other in the dialogue. If it didn't, there were certain places where I edited. In the end, I was happy with what I had done with my character and the whole conversation.

Metacognition: Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a book that happens to be timeless as well as fantastic. However, the font is small and the book is thick, and it takes a while for my eyes to adjust to reading it so closely. I was having difficulties in the beginning reading it, mainly because I struggle with most things I am assigned to read. But since I was aware of the reading quizzes coming up, I had to find a way to read it...and enjoy it. So I thought about how the book is a winding tale of romance. Romance is one of my favorite genres. So, thinking of it as a romantic story, I started reading it like a fairy tale. That definitely helped me figure out how to understand what was going on. I identified Jane as the Juliet and Mr. Rochester as the Romeo...with slightly different happenings. I liked this way of thinking because it helped me understand the love between Jane and Rochester much better. But I should probably work on how to read it more carefully.

360 Degrees: STRESS

I'm stressing a lot right now. As usual, I have waited until the very last moment to get all of my work done. Once again, I'm sitting at my computer breathing heavily and worrying about whether or not I'll have enough time to do this and how late I'm gonna have to stay up to do that. Stress is a sadistic torturer. It gives me that feeling at the pit of my stomach like I'm going to throw up all the suppressed thoughts of regret and disappointment I have for procrastinating yet again. As I rush through my homework, I get bouts of small panic attacks and try to calm myself down, while I know my mom is downstairs thoroughly disappointed that I have wasted this weekend just like all the others. And then I chew nervously on the end of my ponytail and wonder what possesses me to do these things over and over and over...

BUT

Stress also gives me the drive to do things ASAP and as well as I can. It may be a little rushed, but I'm only focusing on one thing and one thing only: my homework. I block away any unwanted distractions (well, as much as I can for, after all, I'm an extremely ADD-like human being) and I don't stop until I literally drop. Also, I must admit I quite enjoy the suspense and craziness of waiting until the last minute (oh shut up you know you do too!) I thrive on the feeling I get when everything is finally done and I can go to sleeeeeeep.

Of course, If you're looking through the eyes of a parent, you're not exactly happy-go-lucky. I'd probably be worried that my kid wasn't putting enough effort into school and that he/she needs some help organizing his/her priorities. Then there's also the view of a disgruntled group member or a friend who tires of hearing you freak out time after time about how much you have left to do. So how do these perspectives relate? They're all the catastrophic repercussions that happen because of a little procrastination, and they all can be avoided. But should they be? Maybe, just maybe, there's a point in between being so stressed you're sweating buckets and starting homework obscenely early. In this, we would get a completely concentrated person who still has time to do other things when they're finished with the unholy thing that is homework. I'd like to thing there is that compromise, so for once my Sunday can be nice and relaxing. But it probably won't happen. Nope.

An Inconvenient Truth: never again? not true.

After World War Two, the world was shocked at the terrible concentration camps that the Nazis had set up to exterminate all who were different, which includes Jewish people, Gypsies, the mentally handicapped, prisoners of war, and others who opposed them. Around eleven million people died from this horrifying scheme, six million of them Jewish. There was a promise made thereafter that this would happen "never again". Unfortunately, this promise wasn't followed through. Today, there are several smaller-scale holocausts going on in places like Darfur, Sudan. And, like before, we are watching from the sidelines and hardly doing anything. The fact that there is more that can be done occasionally keeps me up late at night wondering.

Now, a total genocide would be bothersome to any normal person, but there may be different ways to look at it. The fact that the "never again" thing didn't go very well means that this could be a second chance. A second chance, that is, to stop Genocide. We have Holocaust museums and movies to remind us what happened, but the survivors of the Holocaust are growing older, and most have died. Plus, there are still many people (people with whom I don't and won't associate) who deny that the Holocaust even happened. This second Genocide could help hush those who are too ignorant and idiotic to face the truth right in front of there face. But, of course, it could go the total opposite way and we would end up with a Holocaust just as big as the one 70 years ago. There is also the chance that interference could cause an enormous conflict between invaders and the invaded. But if we, as one world, step in and stop the Genocide before it is too late, it could lead to a brighter future. It is getting later and later. Innocent people are dying. That just really puts a foul feeling in my stomach.

Dialectics: Moving Forward and Distraction

When something bad happens, something you can't get out of your mind, it is usually a good decision to move forward and forget. This doesn't mean picking up and running to a new place every time something happens to you, but it does entail trying other things and doing anything you can to move past whatever happened. That is where distractions come in. When you're distracted, it is much harder to wallow away in your sorrows than it is when you're staring at a blank wall, deep in thought. With me, whenever I am feeling terrible, I distract myself by watching t.v. or reading a book or something, and it really helps. Unfortunately, moving forward and distractions don't always match up. When there is a problem that can only be fixed head on, distractions will only slow the process down. Sometimes the distractions are the last thing needed to move on, and are even unhealthy. But, they bring a small sense of comfort and safety, if only for a little while. This shows what little things can do to make you feel great or at least better. And, in the long run, those little distractions could work wonders.

Blogging Around

Response to Taylor's post on voice

Taylor, what you say about voice is completely true. If I ever read a story where the voice of even one character has not reached it's potential, I toss the book and look for another one. Unfortunately occasionally I have trouble finding a voice of a character in one of my stories. If the character is somewhat different than I am, it's especially hard. In my short story, for example (which was bad, really bad) I couldn't figure out which type of voice my main character needed to have, and I still actually haven't. That's why I think the issue of voice is very important, and we should probably talk about it more in class.

Response to Graicey's post on timelessness

First of all Graicey, the words you used to explain why great literature is timeless were timeless themselves. "Good literature is like the sun, omnipresent and all seeing." really hits it. Alot of the timeless novels have lessons and experiences that we still would benefit from. Of course, as Graicey said, the life that both Conrad and Shakespeare experienced cannot compare to the face-paced life that we live, but regardless, the lessons on love friendship, and humanity are valuable. It makes me hopeful that people years from now will still be reading Romeo and Juliet or Heart of Darkness.

Best of Week:

The best thing that occured this week was the conversation about "Cathedral". Overall, I enjoyed reading that story quite alot, and the discussion we had made it more clear and easy to understand the characters. My favorite part of the discussion was the analyzation of the love between the husband and wife and the wife and Robert. The fact that the only name in the story was Robert got me thinking about this couple. They called eachother husband and wife, which seems very possessive and it gave out the feeling that they had become indifferent of eachother. At first, that made me a bit cynical, thinking that all marriages end up this way. But, even if there are so many marriages that end up this way, there are just as much that end up happy and well-lived. Anyway, it was just a really great story and a great discussion to get me thinking about that kind if thing.