Reflective Essay

10/29/10

Reflective Essay

Using blogger has been a blast. We have had freedom about writing about any topic, and who to respond to. Writing about any topic helps people, or me in particular, open up if they want to. So far I have not opened up, but later in the year I will. Throughout blogger, I wrote music analysis, response posts, and some controversial topics. The posts were helpful to me to recognize what there are many things to write about. I also learned about news from others post which took me by surprise. I believe that making posts in blogger is a great way to improve on writing. If it is either developing a new process of writing, or a new way to correct your writing. Finally, one big reason I liked blogger was because we did not actually have to pick up a pencil and write, instead we could type at our own pace, kudos to that. For the rest of the years, I will enjoy posting u blogs for people and myself to enjoy and see.

Improvement of writing came from topics of posts and response posts.

One of my blog post that got some recognition was my Graffiti post. I believe that this post got some recognition because the topic is about something modern and urban. A reason that I wrote about this topic is because many people look down at graffiti as a really bad thing, which in my opinion is not. In this blog post, I wrote about how graffiti is not a bad thing. This topic is very controversial, so I decided to write about it. This topic is controversial because many people have different perspective or thoughts of graffiti. I enjoyed writing about this because I myself like to do graffiti so I can relate to the topic, and may know more about it than some people (not all people). This is the first paragraph from my graffiti post,

Some people might say that urban art or “graffiti” is bad for the community and for people... Urban art is not necessarily destruction of property... Most of the property being painted is not even being used. I agree that urban art should not be done on important places such as religious places, cemeteries, and so on... Some rules are like: no tagging on churches or places of worship; no tagging cars or houses; no going over someone who is a lot better than you unless its beef; do not tag your personal property; no tagging over murals or memorials; and do not tag on schools.

Since I am a music fanatic, I decided to make song analysis blog posts. One reason I made music analysis posts is to get deep into a song with and think about them. Another reason I made these post is because most songs nowadays have ridiculous lyrics, and if you were to actually analyze them they would sound really different. Music analysis helps me think about urban songs that have actual good or real lyrics that make sense. For example, one song with no meaning of lyrics is Tik Tok by Kesha, not to go on her in a mean way. An example of a song with great lyrics is He Say She Say by Lupe Fiasco. One of my favorite music analysis post is Time. This was my favorite music post because this is one of my favorite songs, and it talks about a under-thought of time. Here is a following quote from my post,

This song is very symbolic. Some part of the verse that I found was symbolic was when it said," Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain." I found this symbolic to like how many people are staying home to watch T.V or play video games and so on and so forth, instead of being outside with friends. The rain is symbolic for how boring it is and the sunshine is for fun. One thing that I could relate to in this song was when it said,"Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way." I can relate to this because sometimes when  I wait for something or someone it never comes, which is a waste of time.

Writing response posts was very helpful. This was very helpful because we got to see others perspectives on different topics. Responding to their ideas helped to build a sort of friendship because the people responding are either agreeing or disagreeing with them, which is a sort of respect. Also, you get to show the person’s post your perspective which helps them open their eyes to new views of something. When someone responded to my post and disagreed with it, I took their ideas into consideration, for me I looked at it as feedback. This feedback helped me somewhat to think about other topics or re establish the following post. Overall, response post are very helpful that helps me and other people.

Even though blogger has been helping me improve, I still need to get better at these following things. My first goal is to improve my punctuation. I would need to work on using commas and semicolons because I use commas very often. This would make my writing better because others would be able to read it correctly, not get the wrong idea out of it. My next goal is to use different words instead of the same ones, use diction. I need to use this because it would make my writing more interesting or make it sound more intelligent. My last goal is to write about different topics. I usually stick with same topics, which is not so bad but I would like to change up my topics to have a variety of different topics. All of these goals would make my writing more interesting. blogger is one of the best ways of doing writing.

Character vs. Self

In the novella Of Mice and Men from John Steinback, is about two men, George and Lennie, who are looking for a job. Lennie has a mental illness that gets him into problems. They have a bad past in another location where they were chased out of there. They arrived at another location with a boss’s son who likes to pick fights with others. George and Lennie are in between the fight throughout most of their time. Lennie gets into problems with boss’s son’s wife, and he runs away, which leads to a shocking ending.

The central conflict in Of Mice and Men is character versus self because Lennie has kiddish urges and characteristics that puts him into trouble.

        Lennie has an urge. His urge is of the softness of a mouse, he likes to pet mice. In the beginning of the book, Lennie is petting a dead mouse. Into the story, George and Lennie are walking around looking for a job. In the following quote George is reminding Lennie of what had happened in Weed.                                                                                                                          Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress-jus’ wanted to pet it like it was a mouse- Well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? She jerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in a irrigation ditch all day with guys lookin’ for us, and we got to sneak out in the dark and get outta’ the country. (Pg 11)                                                                                  This quote shows that Lennie had no intentions into harming the little girl, he just wanted to feel her dress. The dress caught his eye and gave him the urge to pet it like a mouse. This is important because he is a sensitive person who has urges that are strong, which can lead to a problem like being chased by a mob of people. This quote also shows that Lennie still acts or thinks like a little kid. I say this because little kids are curious, and so is Lennie. This is important because even if he looks like a grown man he still has characteristics of a kid.
                                                                                                              

By this time into the story, George and Lennie find a new place to work at. In this place there are other workers that are helpful. The boss’s son, Curly, is like a troublemaker that takes care of his wife. From early days, Curly seemed as if he did not like Lennie. The following summary is when Lennie was smiling and Curly thought he was laughing at him.                                                                                                                                       In summary, Curly and Lennie got into a fight. Curly began the fight, when Lennie did not even want to fight. While Curly slugged Lennie, Lennie resisted fighting back. He waited for George’s permission to fight back. When he had the permission, Lennie held one of Curly’s fists and crushed it. After the fight Lennie felt sorry and said,” I didn’t wanta hurt him.”                                                                                            This summary shows that Lennie is not violent. He did not want to fight back and did not want to hurt Curly on purpose. This is important because he never meant to harm Curly so badly as Lennie had stated. Lennie is like a fighter that does not like to fight. Another point this summary demonstrates is that Lennie is loyal to George. I say this because George told Lennie not to get into trouble, therefore Lennie did not want to fight back either. This is important because Lennie respects and looks up to George, and does not want to let him down.

Lennie is very strong, but he does not know his strength. In the story, Lennie had accidentally killed Curley’s wife. He snapped her neck while he was touching her hair. Lennie ran away to the spot George had told him to go if he got into trouble. In the following summary, Lennie is thinking about leaving and not waiting for George to come, to abandon him.                                                                                                                                                In summary, Lennie is hallucinating that his Aunt Clara is with him and telling Lennie how George’s life would be so much better without Lennie. Then he hallucinates a talking rabbit, since Lennie loves rabbits, the rabbits are saying that he will never be able to touch them again.

This summary shows Lennie is hallucinating because he is scared about what is going to happen. This is important because he may have never killed someone which scared him to hallucinate things. Another idea you can get from this is that maybe Aunt Clara may have treated Lennie in a certain way to be able to hallucinate about her. This is important because Aunt Clara may have been strict on Lennie, which changed his life style.

In conclusion, Lennie is versus himself because of these reasons. He has urges and characteristics that puts him into problems that lead up to the final ending. Lennie has an urge to touch things that catch his eye. He also has kiddish and strong characteristics that Lennie is not able to control.

Response to Rokhsor's blog

I was looking through google reader and I found this blog post about money from Rokhsor's blog. This was an interesting blog post because it is about money. Money is an interesting topic because it can be very controversial. Anyways, here is the quote,

People are so obsessed with money that it is slowly taking over the world. Money is nothing but paper so I do not see why we need to ruin our bodies and waste our time trying to bring green sheets home to your family. It is not as if I do not enjoy a bundle of money now and then, but I do not think it is necessary to base our lives on how much of it we have. For example, when your children want to go on a trip somewhere. You base your decision on whether you have enough money or not. You are giving away your child’s happiness because you want to save money? That is stupid and selfish. I know that without money, you cannot do anything or go anywhere but that is just it. That policy needs to change.

 I liked this blog post because it is about money. Money is very controversial subject because some people prefer not to use money even if you have to, and others prefer to use money. Money is used for many things. For things people need, and for what they want. Nowadays more people are spending more money on what they want instead of what they need. For example, many people are buying too much clothes than what they need instead of getting something like a printer for their computer. Money can be used for many things, but many people choose to use it selfishly.

Just like Rokhsor said," It is not as if I do not enjoy a bundle of money now and then, but I do not think it is necessary to base our lives on how much of it we have." This is very true. I think this is true because everyone enjoys having some money now and then, but basing or depending on how much money people have is wrong. For example, some people think they are better just because they have more money. Having more money does not prove much, what I think matters more than money is personality. If you grow up with a great personality and not much money I think you would still live a happy life. Money is a controversial subject.

Wishlist

Today i was going through my iTunes library and i remembered about a song. I remembered about Wishlist by Pearl Jam. It is a very simple song, but deep with meaning. This song talks about a wishlist that is on his mind which is very symbolic if you think about it. This song stood out to me from the repetition of the four words," I wish I was" on about every line. Here are parts of the song that I like,

I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could go off.
I wish I was a sacrifice but somehow still lived on.
I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on
The christmas tree, I wish I was the star that went on top

I wish I was a messenger, and all the news was good. I wish I was the full moon shining off a camaro's hood. 

I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on.
I wish I was the pedal break that you depended on.
I wish I was the verb "to trust", and never let you down.

Like I said before, this song is very symbolic. In some parts it talks about trust. For example, when it says," I wish I was the souvenir you kept your house key on. I wish I was the pedal break that you depended on." This is talking about trust because if you depend on a pedal break, you trust it to work. Also, if you keep your house keys on a souvenir, your trusting that it will stay safe there. My favorite line from the song has to be," I wish I was a messenger, and all the news was good." This makes me think about when a soldier dies, and a person is sent to tell the family about the news. This reminds me of this because nobody wants to be a messenger and tell people the bad news, everyone wants to tell them the good news.

This made me think about wishlists, it made me think about what I want to do before I die. Just like the T.V show The Buried Life which is about a group of guys who made a list of 100 things to do before they die. I wonder how others make or chose 100 wishes out many that everyone has. I think this would be a controversial list. It would be divided by selfishness and unselfishness. Some would help others and some would not. Overall, this song is awesome and should be heard.

Time

Today I was listening to a song. The song was Time by Pink Floyd. This song is about time, like it says in the title of the song. This song goes deep into about how there is not enough time, or how time is being wasted. This song stood out to me from the amazing guitar solo, tone, and mood.This is the first verse from the song,


Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun


This song is very symbolic. Some part of the verse that I found was symbolic was when it said," Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain." I found this symbolic to like how many people are staying home to watch T.V or play video games and so on and so forth, instead of being outside with friends. The rain is symbolic for boringness and the sunshine is for fun. One thing that I could relate to in this song was when it said,"Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way." I can relate to this because sometimes when  I wait for something or someone it never comes, which is a waste of time.


This song is very interesting. I think this song is very interesting because it goes deep into the thought of time. In this song, it states to not waste time, use your time wisely because time goes by fast. Time does go by fast, when i reflect back to middle school, all the three school years went by really fast especially 8th grade. It also states that there is always something to do. This is also true because no matter what at all times you can and are doing something.