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.

Weekly Blog_12_Lunkun Deng

In my opinion, Adrienne Rich in this poem reminds the old days and expresses some pressure from tough life, especially poverty. Adrienne Rich repeats some words several times, such as “hurt to burn”, “poverty” and “be in danger”. Besides these repeated words, the title, the Burning of Paper Instead of Children, also indicates the theme of the poem. Children do not know much of the toughness in life. They are living an easy life. However, those elder people, as papers and books in the poem, are all tired from the stressful life. When those elder people come across some events, that someone “lights the fire”, they are easy to be in danger: they hurt to burn.

In life people will stand much pressure, pressure that come from study, work, as well as poverty as Adrienne Rich mentions. All the pressure, in one hand, drives people to work hard and then awards them with satisfaction. On the other hand, over-pressure may lead to unhealthy psychological conditions. Facing over-pressure, some people may get well adjusted by some ways of FAXIE. However, if they do not adjust properly, they may go to hell, like the burning books and papers.

Brandewie's Blog

Adrienne Rich’s poem “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” is an abstract look of literature in actual circumstances. The poem takes a look at Literature in somewhat of a negative light. So many times in today’s literature is glorified, “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” takes a different view on literature. The Rich has the opinion that literature is useless because it does not solve anything. In the poem she says, “What happens between us, has happened for centuries, we know it from literature, still it happens.” (Rich 3) This leads to one of the major themes of the poem, action over theory. To talk or write about tragedies or good things in the world does not impact the world at all. Rich shows the crime of language. It does not liberate people, rather oppresses action in the world. Another theme in the poem is peace and serenity. Rich looks back at a time before language and literature. She explains it as a “time of silence of few words, a time of chemistry and music” (Rich 1). Appeals to the reader by using the ideas of peace, music, and chemistry to show the positives of the world before language entered. It is an interesting view because many times the conflicts that engross many peoples’ lives are over such trivial problems. Rich does not agree with many of the thought and conflict that is brought up in literature.

caleb weber

I didn't really understand any of this poem. I guess one theme is that the burning of books infuriates some while it causes no anxiety for others. Another theme is that literature can describe alot of things. One theme was that even though we read about bad things, that doesn't mean we will do anything about it.

Summary of "The Burning of Paper Instead of Children"----Jake Moore

In Adrienne Rich's poem “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” she concentrates on the present tense.  A theme that is revealed is people spend to much time on the past and future.  An example of this theme is Durer's work MELANCOLIA.  He draws a lady who is extremely wrapped up in studying and is oblivious to her surroundings.  She does not realize her little baby is beginning to be wrapped up with books, and how her dog is becoming extremely thin and has a look of sadness on its face.  Rich is trying to state that literature will always tell the past and try to predict the future; therefore, we should not become obsessed with studying, but live a life in the present.  We, the readers, should live a life of how we want to live not how people lived in the past.  With the new and advanced technology in today's society anybody can look up any type of material and find instant answers on that certain subject, but nobody knows what will happen exactly as Rich writes in her poem "no one knows what may happen though the books tell everything."  Because nobody will ever know what will happen we should "burn the texts" a French actor, Artaud, suggests.  This is not stated literally but is said with a sarcastic tone once again telling people to live in the present. 

Blake's Blog

There seems to be a theme of anger in the poem. Rich’s neighbor seems to be very upset over the burning of a book that his son and Rich’s son burnt in the back yard. He relates to this act as an act that Hitler would do. Rich on the other hand does not really think that it is that big of a deal. I believe that the two disagree because of the different backgrounds where they came from. The neighbor gets so upset because he has learned a lot of information in his life through books. On the other hand Rich believes that there is a lot in life to be learned outside of books. This is why it is not that important to Rich that the book was burned. The two different outlooks causes a conflict between the two parents.

Blake

There seems to be a theme of anger in the poem. Rich’s neighbor seems to be very upset over the burning of a book that his son and Rich’s son burnt in the back yard. He relates to this act as an act that Hitler would do. Rich on the other hand does not really think that it is that big of a deal. I believe that the two disagree because of the different backgrounds where they came from. The neighbor gets so upset because he has learned a lot of information in his life through books. On the other hand Rich believes that there is a lot in life to be learned outside of books. This is why it is not that important to Rich that the book was burned. The two different outlooks causes a conflict between the two parents.

Burning of paper

Adrienne Rich’s poem The Burning of Paper Instead of Children goes over the situation where the next door neighbor’s son burns a math book after school and how the son was punished harshly for doing so. The neighbor criticizes his son as being just as bad as Hitler for doing so well Rich takes a different perspective. The main theme that appears in the poem for me is the idea of living life without knowledge of books. Rich first brings in the MELANCOLIA to support the theme. The MELANCOLIA is interpreted as someone who spends all his time working and reading that he loses himself in endless work and loses out on life. Someone who spends his whole life by the book will learn nothing if they never experience anything first hand. She explains that famous writers like Frederick Douglas wrote “purer” than Milton, who had study his whole life, because he wrote from experience and life. What I get from this poem is that life can’t be mapped out for you by a book and that trying to live by a book is foolish.

Grant McCloskey Week #11

In the piece The Burning of Paper Instead of Children there were two children that were “burned” or scorned by a parent for burning a math textbook. The irate parent sentenced the children to a week apart from another. The parent of the child who was “burned” by an adult other than his parent is the narrator of this piece.

The narrator didn't see the big deal with burning the book, hence the title. It was looked at as an act of rebellion against school, almost saying “finally no school for three months”. The narrator took it as harmless child’s play, while the other parent saw it as an act of Hitler.

In the narrators pondering of the day’s events at a typewriter that evening she present many different themes that literature presents. I am not sure if I am in the ballpark with my perceived themes in the piece.

The first theme is obsession. The narrator described characters from books, but in particular the Trial of Jeanne d’Arc. How one dreamed of her too often so the book was taken away, obsession.

Next is the theme: culture of the past, and what to take away from them. I feel that the narrator was speaking of medieval times. It is hard to understand this period however because it was a time with little record, and what one does know is the voice of the oppressed.

Another theme pick up in the text is how one can learn from literature. Then the narrators’ counter argument to that was but what one learns isn’t necessarily directed towards us how to live.  We need to make our own mark on the world and not live vicariously through history, as impossible as that may be.

The narrator makes the claim that America lives only in the present tense. Meaning that we only care about the present, the past has zero significance. Which takes claim the why there wasn’t a numbing feeling as the book was being charred by the fire.

This is a problem however, the narrator said the “flames hurt”. This will hurt our culture not looking at literature of the past as a way to live by. But is this something that we as a culture can overcome? 

Poem Themes Ethan Flater

The poem “The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” by Adrienne Rich has many different themes that could be thought of while reading this poem. I find that one of these themes is the sense of knowledge and how it can be something that is cherished and something we can learn from. The part where the poem talks about the burning of books and how knowledge is being tossed away and forgotten and how that is a tragedy for society, but then it seems to turn it around and make knowledge something that can take over someone’s life. John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost spent many years studying before he wrote this book and in the end Fredrick Douglas writes a purer form of writing than he did. The two are contrastable people when you try to explain how a man with little education be able to do the same as a man who spent so much of his life in study. It seems like Milton was over taken by his studies and he tried to make everything perfect making the knowledge he sought after something that took over his life and in the end made it empty. This shows a contrast of how knowledge is good in some ways and when it can be taken too fare and lead to madness.

Ethan Flater

Nick's response to Burning...

“The Burning of Paper Instead of Children” by Adrienne Rich is a poem that compares the influence of literature to real life situations. One of the main themes in the poem is to live your life in the present and concentrate only on those things that you have control of. Literature does reveal what has happened and what will most likely happen, yet we should not feel constrained to the “knowledge of the oppressor (author)”. We should live life as we choose and to the best of our abilities and not follow the reoccurring actions of the past. Books may have an answer to all of our questions and problems, but we should not live our lives according to their answers. The oppressor gains total control of our lives when we become controlled by the knowledge of the past, similar to the woman in the “Melancolia” painting. She becomes obsessed with studying and understanding books and is unable to experience life and make decisions for herself.
Another theme in the poem is the present suffering of many individuals. Children are unfed, unclothed, and rely on stealing for survival. We have seen numerous examples of this suffering in books but have done nothing to help those people suffering. “There are methods but we do not use them.” For some reason, we tend to act no different than those did in books even though we know the outcomes (mostly negative). The burning of books might not upset the author of this poem because it would force people to make decisions for themselves and to take part in new positive ends. It is those people who are controlled by the oppressor that cause this suffering because they are unable to “tell the truth” and “touch you now” to help bring about positive change. Nick Curosh

Grant McCloskey Week #10

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness.”-Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson wrote this as part of the Declaration on Independence in1776. The document has some parts that would be considered “politically correct” present day, but it also has some items that would need to be changed if it were to be written today.

For instance “endowed by their Creator” would work today because it is not specifically addressing one religion. Creator is a general term almost to mean “Who you feel put you here”. In capitalizing “Creator” makes it a person, or thing of importance, I feel leaving it un-capitalized would take away from its power.

Something that would need to be changed would be “that all men”, that is not giving equal representation among sexes. It should be made into “that all human beings”.

Something aside from the tone is how the sentence flows. It makes a statement and then is lists what the statement called for. It is a really good way to keep the attention of the reader to keep it all together. It makes is flow well.

I also feel that this is a specific example of a sentence that is low and breaks the rules previously discussed in Style, but still works. This sentence would not be as powerful as it is if it were to be split up.

That is the one thing that I will take away from this blog is that sometimes you paper needs some of those sentences spread throughout your paper. It will be somewhat difficult for me when to use that style and when not to. If I am able to master this I feel that it will only help me in writing college style papers. 

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
...Mark Twain

Mark Twain always proves that he is in fact the man. The quotes he makes famous always hit home with me. This line can relate to our life in many situations; most recently in events here on campus or Saturday after the buzzer sounded. There is a lot of power behind this line and that's awesome. As for his diction; the sentence is easy to understand so that's cool. By putting commas around 'too' it gives the feeling of an emphasis to the reader. The reader can feel that the sentence really does apply to their life and they can take it to heart. This quote stays with me, but I remember the gist in my own words with it.

"Stay away from the people that want to pull you down. Some people are like that, but we can be more than them. We can surpass what they have become and what they would have us become.

Blake Litmer

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."
- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)


This is a short, but to the point quote. The first word victory is talking about victory in anything a person participates in. Most people might think this quote is referring to a game. However, I believe the author is referring to any life situation. In this quote the player is the person that is in the completion of an everyday life situation. It could also refer to a player the game. The end of the quote is very true with any competition a person is put in with another person. There are many successful people in this world that commit a lot of mistakes. The point to the quote is it does not matter if a person commits a mistake. The part that matters is after a mistake is committed the person must fix his mistakes and not let them happen again. I believe that in life people need to forget about the mistakes they commit and worry about what is happening in their life in the present. My belief follows this quote.

Greatness goes to the player who forgets about past situations.

Brandewie's Weekly Blog

Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers, that the mind can never break off from the journey.
Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides
Pat Conroy is one of my favorite authors. He has the ability to blur the line between conventional prose and beautiful poetry. This quote is elegantly written through the use of strong clauses and exceptional adjectives. It is an extremely long sentence; however, it still flows very well, and as in a quality of many run-ons does not seem too long. The first to phrases, “Once you have traveled” and “the voyage never ends” sets the reader up with two odd phrases. There is also a repetition in over and over that flows very well in the sentence. In the final phrase the sentence refers back to the journey that can not be broken off from. Here I will try to replicate the sentence with a similar sentence structure.
Once you start something in life, no matter how tough it gets, it is important to finish, that you can bring a strength in character.

Jumanji

"A hunter from the darkest wild... makes you feel just like a child" - Alan Parrish Jumanji 1995

This quote is very interesting to me through the way it is written. It contains a great rhyme scheme as that syllable count and last to words rhyme makes it easy to read and more memorable. I think that what is most interesting about the quote is that it doesn't give to much away. Although it gets its point across its still leave a lot of mystery and isn't too descriptive. I also noticed that the use the multiple periods in the quote to build up dramatic appeal. And the way the use "you" directs it at a person and bring about a greater sense of danger.

"Better run better flee... or he will eat you from the knee"

Weekly Blog_10_Lunkun Deng

Love is patient, Love is kind,It does not envy, It does not boast,It is not proud, It is not rude,It is not self-seeking,It is not easily angered,It keeps no record of wrongs.
Corinthians 13 : 4

My host family told me yesterday that this chapter is translated from Greek. Even if I cannot read the original Greek version she showed me, I think this is a perfect translation. In this Love Chapter, all the sentences share one subject, love. This makes the whole paragraph be united. Then every two sentences come as a pair, such as “Love is patient, Love is kind.” They share the same sentence pattern. Moreover, each pair is either positive or negative. For instance, the second pair starts with “It does not” and the third pair starts with “It is not”. In additional, the two sentences in a pair express similar or close-related view points. For example, patience and kindness are both considered to be characteristics of a nice person. Even if all the sentences in the Love Chapter are short ones, they flow so well from one to another in ways of both structure and meaning. Furthermore, all those short sentences balance the entire paragraph and express a powerful thought as a whole. The chapter only uses some ordinary feelings yet successfully describes an invisible object, LOVE.

Mother is an instructor, Mother is a companion.
She is always missing me, She is always concerning about me,
She is always criticizing, She is always encouraging,
She does not want to hate,
She does not want to blame,
She devotes all her love to me.