Weekly Blog Ethan Flater

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. Mark Twain (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_twain.html)
This is a powerful quote because it starts off with a simple subject “lie” and this subject is not a flesh and blood subject making it a nominalization, this is powerful because even though the quote is not sticking with the rules of clarity it works and seems to flow very easily proving its point in the sentence.
A trip can last a long time but you are somehow still trapped in the same old routine.
Ethan Flater

Weekly Blog- Jake Moore

If it is agreed that this lexical disparity reflects a social inequity in the position of women, one may ask how to remedy it.  Obviously, no one could seriously recommend legislating against the use of the terms "mauve" and "lavender" by women, or forcing men to learn to use them.  All we can do is give women the opportunity to participate in the real decisions of life.

-Robin Tolmach Lakoff Edited by Mary Bucholtz

The paragraph I took from Mary Bucholtz revised version of the book "Language and Woman's Place" is a prime example of an author using pretentious diction.  Lexical, disparity, social inequity, and remedy are all examples of large words that I believe are unnecessary.  If it was not the help of Microsoft's synonym tool it would have been difficult for me to translate the first sentence.  It is very well structured and stated, but for an average citizen, I believe, it was too well-written and confusing to read.  If I were to write it in "5 cent" words this is how it would read: "  If it is agreed that this inequality use of words is for women, then one may ask how to change it."  

The rest of the paragraph Buchlotz tones down the use of pretentious diction, but still uses words that shows she has a large vocabulary.  The words alone does not make me think she has a large vocabulary, but how she structures her sentence gives me this assumption.  If she were to read this blog entry over her paper she might think that my assumption is based on her gender.  Her paper is over how women and men are portrayed by the world.  Women are forced to talk like a lady and if they don't then they are criticized as unfeminine, but if they do then she is ridiculed as unable to think clearly or make a serious decision.  According to her paper I believe if if a man were to write this paper he would be considered a nerd or very intellectual.  However, because a woman wrote this she is trying to show-off how intelligent she is and show her dominance in the English world.

Tyler Presley

In the beginning of Rich's "Burning of paper" poem, two kids burn a math book at the end of their school year. One of the themes of this poem is the actual burning of the book. To some people, when you burn a book it makes them think of Hitler during WWII when he burned thousands of books. To others it may just seem like two kids having fun. Another theme is that of poverty. Rich talks a lot about poverty when she talks about laying in the street, and typing on a typewriter.

Summary of themes

The Burning of Paper instead of Children by Adrien Rich is about 2 boys that decided to burn their book at the end of a school year; this lead to one parent becoming very upset and telling the others parent. As one parent reflected on the days events she recounted issues in life pertaining to literature.
One of these themes is that we cannot dwell on the past. We can know everything that is going to happen because it has all been experienced and written out; but though we already can know what may come...we do it anyway. "There are books to describe all this and they are useless" (Rich2) It's an issue that people have, they try to learn everything of the past by reading others thoughts rather than simply experiencing it themselves.
Something else that seems very vivid in the poem is a general feeling of suffering. Rich's reference to Melancholia I does a wonderful job of providing a quick picture of this. Literature can be consuming, we can become lost in the text of others. In the picture the woman is so obsessed in her work that she doesn't notice the infant's demeanor or her dog's (I thought it was an ugly a** sheep at first) terrible health. Learning is great and all, but there are much more important things in this world such as family and their well being.