Today in class we watched Brave New Voices after reading aloud two poems from the poetry textbook. We read three poems. Post your responses here. Students were asked to respond to one of the three.
A second response is also requested for the Brave New Voices. Talk about the National poetry writing program which releases or frees these young voices, and why this is important to the youth served. Why is it--a youth who write, also important to American society? How is art healing? How is art revolutionary? Why is art, specifically poetry important?
Homework was to chose an essay not assigned in Total Chaos to respond to in the usual 250 work minimally response. Post it here and bring me a copy, you can print it in A-205 (where we meet on Thursdays).
If you have a presentation, arrive on time. If you'd like to make up your presentation come on time. I am only allowing one hour or less for presentations and comments. So far, we have 3 presentations, two on hip hop dance, and one make up. If this is your second presentation, we should see growth. The comments I made on the first were to be taken into consideration for this presentation, unless your first presentation was perfect (smile).
The essays, some of them need a lot of editing. Please get a peer review from a teacher or tutor in the Writing Center before turning your work in. If you essay needs revision, make certain you include the narrative essay on top explaining what changed between the two drafts. If anyone needs guidance on revision bring in Hacker and I can show you where it is. I also have handouts.
Check the syllabus for the narrative guidelines, Ilene did a great job on hers. Ask her to see it.
As mentioned today, I will be moderating a panel on Women in the Black Panther Party at the Oakland Main Library on Thursday, October 15, 5 PM. We start with a film and there is a art exhibit there as well.
If people are behind on posts catch up. I will allow you to continue to post up to the end of this month. After October 31, if you have not caught up, you will get a zero for that assignment.
These posts count as essays, so don't post sloppy work, or unedited work, or work that is not reviewed for spacing or formatting. It should be polished. I hope you are enjoying your novels and at the beginning of November prepare to share your book with the class. I would also like an outline to accompany the oral presentation. The essays will be due later.
You have 1 week to get your essays back to me with corrections. Each person can revise the essay once. I would hope the second time the essay will get a passing grade, if not then you will have to revise it again. You cannot make the same mistakes paper after paper.
Many students don't seem to remember: SV Agr., confused words, wrong words, pronoun antecedent agreement, parallel structure, consistent point of view, VT agreement or how to conjugate verbs. I mentioned at the beginning of the class that I wanted to have a grammar boot camp. The offer is still there. You have to come to Study Hour on Thursdays to start or make arrangements in advance. Students whom I had last semester in English 1A, your papers should have none of the mistakes listed above in your final drafts (the ones I see). Please read your essays aloud before posting and before submitting. I don't have time to be your editor.
These are scholarly essays. Use the library database and/or Total Chaos or any one of the many essays I have given you. If you want to break form and write a magazine type piece for one of the essays, I am okay with this.
Remember, October 22, come to class on time. We have a guest. The essay on Poetry will be written in class Tuesday, October 27.
I hope everyone stays well and dry.
If ever I offend any of you it is not my intention. I get frustrated when students come to class unprepared, and see time as a commodity with infinite parameter when our time together is measurable and as such should not be wasted.
I value your time and effort to get to class and be prepared. I take your commitment to show up in the rain, when ill or when you'd rather be anywhere but here. I also respect the fact that you chose the College of Alameda and even if you do not like me or the class are committed to complete it. I appreciate your professionalism and seriousness. I just wish everyone had such high standards for their eduction and this class.
I see us as a writing family and as challenge the fourth wall...actually break it. So there is no space between the audience and the stage. In my classrooms to the extend you allow, we are each a part of the narrative unfolding in the classroom. In fact, we write it together. The final production is only as good as the sum of all its parts--you.
3 comments:
Erica Williams
English 1B TTH 9-10:50
October 14, 2009
Assignment: Response to “Before I read this poem”
In the poem “Before I read this poem” by George David Miller, I saw many parallels to my own life. I enjoyed the metaphorical aspects of the poem. For example, in the poem he says,
My life isn’t a poem
It’s clearance sale at
Wal-Mart
Buying all the Easter
stuff
At half price
The week after the
big rock is supposed
To have been moved
from the cave.
The poet compares his life to a sale at Wal-Mart after Easter. Half price sales after Easter, or any other holiday for that matter, are hectic. It is an experience of obtaining items that have been picked over and not that important to gain by others, and an opportunity for someone to purchase things that are much more inexpensive. It is very intriguing how the poet does such an excellent job at not only comparing his life, but others to the latter. I feel that more often than not, people feel that they are chosen as a last resort in many situations. On a more personal level, I feel that in my search for jobs in the past that I can be described as a half price sale at a large chain store. After all of the “good” people have been chosen for the jobs, or they are no longer available, only then will I be considered for the job or for “purchase” metaphorically speaking. Miller’s poem was very entertaining, but at the same time it was a refreshing experience to find someone who compares our lives to something so simple.
Itzel Diaz
English 1B
Response to “Poem for the Root Doctor of Rock n Roll.”
And “Before I Read this Poem”
George David Miller and Quincy Troupe Jr. explain the reality they live in through out their poetry. Quincy’s poem, “Poem for the Root Doctor of Rock n Roll.” expresses Quincy’s anger against the artist that from Quincy’s point of view have turned their expression into a marketing career. George’s poem, “Before I Read this Poem” expresses the simplicity of life and the hypocrisy that we participate in our every day lives.
George’s poem takes every day life and the ironies that we create and transform them into a poem that makes individuals go through a roller coaster of emotions. George starts “Before I read This Poem” talking about himself and explaining why his life is like a poem; his reflection on himself makes you think deep on who you are as a person. Then George made me smile when he says,
My life is an endless series
Of trivial foreplay
It’s like those advertisements
For the abdominal wheel
That is supposed to give you a six pack…
But two months after you bought it
Ends up in the garage as a replacement wheel (18-19)
George’s use of irony made me identify with some of the things he mentions. We have all bought thinks that we think we need, but we never use. The beauty of David’s poem comes at the end of it when he explains that the big moments of life are the ones in our every day life.
Like George’s poem, Quincy’s poem is an expression of certain reality from his point of view. Quincy expresses why he sees artist like Elvis and Pat Boone as being “Monkey business”. “Poem for the Root Doctor of Rock n Roll” attempts to make people see that for some artist Rock n Roll was only a way to make money; artist like the ones that Quincy mentions have sold their soul to the industry and attempt to kill real Rock n Roll.
Itzel Diaz
English 1B
The film “Brave New Voices” is a documentary about Spoken Word, Spoken Word is a poetry slam in which young people from all over the country get the opportunity to express their feelings through poetry. Some of the kids that strongly stand out were: 19 year old B.Young fro New York City, 18 year old Jasmine from Florida, and 16 year old Ericka from San Francisco. These kids’ stories are transmitted through the film; their poetry is strongly affected by what they have been through their lives. Ericka is an over weight teenager whose mother always told her to be tough and not to let anybody make fun of her. Her poem “bit them ‘till they turn blue” is the reflection of what her mom used to tell her to do if someone bother her; the feelings and frustration she had at the time were expressed in her poetry. Like Ericka, B.Young and Jasmine expressed their life struggle and how they deal with it through poetry.
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