End of Semester Reflection

This semester in English 1080 I’ve learned how to be a more critical reader. When analyzing poems I now know that the form is often relevant to the content. When it comes to short stories I’ve learned how to identify an allegory. I find thinking about a story critically interesting because I wonder if that’s what the author intended for us to take away for their work. I like the blogging activity because it’s a good little grade booster and our essays aren’t the only things we get marks from. I found the studying spoken word poetry interesting, that’s probably why it was my best essay. I know that I shouldn’t assume that the poet is the speaker but in the spoken word poems we can listen to how the artist wants their work to be heard.

Thanks for a great semester! I’m looking forward to the next one!   

Flash Fiction "A Dream? A Vision?"

His dress shoes could only run so fast and those foreign creatures were gaining on him. He was running out of energy by the time he reached the bridge to Brooklyn. They had already broken the bridge in two with a crack as wide as a city bus. He had to take the risk because they were getting closer and it was either jump or be ripped up the way they did to his driver thirty minutes earlier. He got closer and closer to the crack in the bridge; just as quick as he took off he felt the tip of his right shoe miss the other side.

He woke up to the sound of his alarm, besides the sweat on his forehead nothing was out of the ordinary. He got himself out of bed, showered and went downstairs. After his coffee and cereal he left his upper Manhattan apartment, got in the back seat of a black Lincoln and headed to work. As the car took the corner onto 5^th he recognized the terror on the faces of the citizens of New York City. He also saw the familiar terrifying face of those unwanted visitors.   

Open Letter Assignment

Dear Zeus,
   I realize you are the god of weather but why must you be so cruel? I'm hoping you could be a little more kind to the east coast of Canada. You've blessed Central America with the perfect climate and we Atlantic Canadians suffer through frigid wind and rain. If we've ever done anything to offend you I apologize on behalf of all the people of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador. We would appreciate it if you could treat us to a few snow days but other than that a dry pleasant winter. If there is something that you would like in return feel free to write me back and I will pass the message along to the rest of humanity.
   Thank you very much for your time.
    ~Jaymee

Hurricane Sandy gives Atlantic City a water wonderland

The largest Atlantic Hurricane on record caused 20 billion US dollars worth of damage to eastern North America. The cast of MTV’s hit series Jersey Shore has decided to open their hearts and their wallets to help the state of New Jersey in a time of need. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Mike Sorrentino, Deena Nicole Cortese, Jennifer “JWOW” Farley, Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola, Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Angelina Pivarnick and Vinny Guadagnino have donated funds to the “Rebuild Atlantic City Foundation” a charity organization founded by DJ Pauly D to assist those who lost their homes to the hurricane. Snooki also donated money to have a water park for children built in what used to be the commons of Atlantic City. Sandy’s Water Wonderland is run by volunteers from high schools in the area. All admission fees go to the Rebuild Atlantic City Foundation. These celebrities known for their drama and partying are taking their turn at helping the less fortunate. DJ Pauly D tells the press “Hurricane Sandy devastated millions of North American citizens and we’re gonna help out the Jersey Shore and hopefully expand to the Caribbean where they need our help!” Today’s television stars are making the best out of a horrible situation.  

Meme

A Yarmouth Experience

Rudders Seafood Restaurant and Brew Pub truly encompasses the heart and soul of the area. The building was built on the waterfront of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 18867. It was used by The Parker-Eakins company as a store and as the center of the export trade from it's own wharf. The wear and tear of the decades on the floor boards, the beams and the rafters put you in a comfortable atmosphere. The menu is diverse but the highlights are definitely the seafood options. All seafood is served fresh from the areas local fishing boats and always with a side order of Nova Scotian hospitality. The restaurant also has it's own on site micro-brewery! I would highly recommend stopping in for lunch, dinner or beer and a snack to anyone travelling though the area. You'll love it whether you're a seaman or a land lubber! 

Ice Cream- A spatial poem

Plunderverse

Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee”

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea. 

A plunder by me

It was              a year ago,

             by the sea,

     a maiden

                      loved    me.

                  She was a child,

                                    of heaven,

    this was the reason that

         her kingdom kinsman came

and bore her away

The angel          so happy in heaven

w                a   

      t    

              c                           h

                   s

                              I feel the bright eyes

of my darling.

The Reading Room

If these walls could talk,

They wouldn't

Silence on every level.

   You can feel the knowledge,

        that's being absorbed in this room.

              The dark cloud of midterms hovers over us. 

More to It Than a Hotel?

"Hotel California"

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

I had to stop for the night

There she stood in the doorway;

I heard the mission bell

And I was thinking to myself,

"This could be Heaven or this could be Hell"

Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way

There were voices down the corridor,

I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)

Such a lovely face

Plenty of room at the Hotel California

Any time of year (Any time of year)

You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends

She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends

How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.

Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,

"Please bring me my wine"

He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine"

And still those voices are calling from far away,

Wake you up in the middle of the night

Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)

Such a lovely face

They livin' it up at the Hotel California

What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)

Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,

The pink champagne on ice

And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"

And in the master's chambers,

They gathered for the feast

They stab it with their steely knives,

But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before

"Relax, " said the night man,

"We are programmed to receive.

You can check-out any time you like,

But you can never leave! "

   The poetic form of this song is not easy to describe, you could say it's like a free verse. It is made up of six stanzas/verses and there is no constant syllable or rhyme pattern. There is however similarities between a few stanzas. The second and fourth stanza have similar syllable patterns, as in the amount of syllables increase and then decrease by the last line in the stanza. The verses do not contain the same amount of lines so the rhyming patterns do not match up except in both refrains. The rhyming pattern for the refrains is aabbac. The refrains or chorus of a song are repeated because they contain the main idea of the story, in this case "The Hotel California", which we will see does not literally mean a hotel.

   The writer of this song uses a conceit, a metaphor that encompasses the entire song. The lyrics of this song use imagery, creating the picture of being on an empty highway, for example, and then seeing a light meaning someone or something is there. This image is linked to the conceit. The persona or speaker of the song could be a man or a woman. We might assume that it is a man because the original artist is a male band, also a woman figure is used as a symbol for temptation. This poem's tone is sombre, especially when you listen to it with the instrumental. The last lines of the song, "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave", make "The Hotel California" sound like a creepy place.

   This song is about drugs or any other type of addiction. The girl the speaker describes is a woman who lures him in, she represents temptation. They also mention dancing to remember or dancing to forget. They could be using a substance such as hard drugs to release tension and have a good time, which is represented by dancing. The last two lines of the song, which I previously cited, explain how you can try to stop but the addiction and harm will never leave your body.

Haiku

Wind is the music

Leslie is the conductor 

Trees are the dancers

Limerick

Over there is a lazy old dog

Who sits like a bump on a log

When out came the sun

He decided to run

But then he got stuck in the bog

   The form of the haiku constrains the poem to three lines of few syllables. By taking advantage of it's brevity I described the hurricane we had on Tuesday. Haiku often describes a snapshot of nature and that's what I tried to do here while capturing also the motion of the trees in the wind.

   The form of a limerick includes a rhyming pattern. The rhyming pattern in the poem evoques for me a more fun and childish feeling. I chose the silly image of an old dog being stuck in the mud so the form and the content subtly compliment each other. 

Introduction

   At this point you all may be wondering who is Jaymee? Why is she blogging and why did she call her blog "This is a Blog"? My title was inspired by Demetri Martin's This is a Book. It's a book with many different funny tid bits and I like funny tid bits. I also enjoy reading historical fiction novels like Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.
   I'm from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Yarmouth is a small town at the southern end of Nova Scotia and I am very proud to be from there. I'm happy to be a maritimer because I like cool winters and hot summers by the lake and on the ocean. I am fortunate though to have a family that loves to travel. My two favorite countries besides Canada are South Africa, for it's magnificent landscape, and Belgium for their yummy chocolate, waffles and beer. I lived in Belgium for ten months as an international student in 2010. That's where I learned to love french culture such as films like Bienvenu chez les ch'ti and writers like Victor Hugo. I studied Les misreables last year and since then to see the musical live is on my bucket list. As nice as Europe is I'm glad to call Canada my home because we celebrate Thanksgiving!!! I love being with my family to eat turkey dinner!
   I'm at Memorial University because it is still close to home but far enough away for me to be independent and discover new things. I'm not sure yet where university will take me but I'm anxious to find out! :)