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Poetry Out Loud Performances

Forgetfulness
By: Billy Colins
Presented by Jackson Hille

Jackson Hille uses a very dry comedy, satirical type attitude when presenting this poem. He uses exactly the right timing when presenting this to give the poem a feeling of almost a comedy routine. He pauses to add dramatic effect to parts of the poem that may be funny to the audience, which portrays this poem to it's full potential. He uses his body language to show the audience a matter of fact attitude in the way he presents, he keeps both hands clasped together and moves in certain ways to emphasize separate parts of the poem.

This poem is a very wry interpretation of the forgetfulness that most everyone goes through. Colins makes the reader both think and laugh with lines like; "Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, or even in some obscure corner of your spleen, it has drifted off down a dark mythological river which as far as you can remember begins with the letter "L." Lines like that leave the reader to interpret it for him/herself. It keeps you listening, fully intrigued and not wanting to miss a line with the fear of misinterpreting the next bit of comedy that comes along. Hille fully embraces this feeling the author has given to the poem by making definitive pauses where necessary for the reader to understand, and interpret each line for him/herself. Hille also grabs your attention at important moments of the poem by significant changes in tone or volume. All of these aspects from the poem and the expressions of the reader come together to create a very entertaining performance.

Mockingbird Motif

Reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" has enhanced my understanding of the word motif because, "To Kill a Mockingbird" has such a well exemplified motif. The "Mockingbird" motif is basically the idea that, to harm or mistreat something that has never hurt anyone else is one of the worst things you can do. This book is called "To Kill a Mockingbird" because this motif is based on the idea that a mockingbird has never done anything to hurt anyone, so to kill it is a sin.

This idea has many examples to back it up through out the book. One example is when Bob Ewell tries to kill Jem and Scout, Jem and Scout are completely innocent and have never harmed anyone so they represent mockingbirds and to kill them would be unimaginable. Another example is the idea to put Boo Radley up for trail after living peacefully in his house for years and only committing a crime to defend innocent children. Both of these examples of the Mockingbird motif specifically represent the theme of innocence in the book and how fragile it can be at times when other people don't understand how much it should be cherished.

Symbolism: Extra Credit

Bob Ewell This beer represents all that is wrong about Bob Ewell's life. When he drinks he throws away all of his family's money leaving his children with very little potential for their future. If Bob Ewell was the type of person that led a better life he wouldn't be racist, he wouldn't beat his daughter and he wouldn't abuse alcohol.

Life Lessons

The main life lesson my parents have ever taught me is that there is no strict set of rules that dictate how you life should be led. This is something they have taught me not just by sitting me down and saying it, but by the actions they have done in life and the way they have raised me. I don't think I can once remember my parents saying not to do something because it's too weird or too different, in reality they almost encourage me to be different. Looking back there are so many things I have done in my life that personally if I was there, watching myself from the past as me now, I wouldn't even think before telling me from the past to stop (take a second to process that whole sentence).

With this in mind, I personally do think some things are...a little weird, but rarely will I say that out loud because everyone has the right to express themselves in their own way. As I've grown older I've taken a lot from this whole life lesson. I know that no matter what I do even if the rest of the world judges me, my parents won't judge me (that's definitely not 100% true). Along with this affecting my personality in life it also affects how I treat other people. Although I said before that every once in a while I think other people are a bit weird, everyday I get a bit more accepting of other people and maybe, just maybe someday I'll be able to tolerate a weird messed up child such as myself.

My best friend is Anthony Kiedis. I met him on this first day of middle school, he in all his glory with his long dark hair and tan skin, doing this insane rap routine in the middle of the hallway. At that very moment I thought to myself "he is gonna be my best friend". It turned out we walked home the same way together every day so we got to know each other right off the bat. Anthony was really daring always pushing the envelope in everything we did. One day on our way home from school there was this one shed, taller than usual about twelve feet high. He looked over me in his really sly way and asked me "Think I should jump off of that shed over there?" I said, "I don't know man." As soon as he saw my disapproval it made him really want to jump off of it. So he climbed up and jumped off of that shed with a landing roll before i could do anything about it. Well I couldn't be out done so I jumped off too, I landed but my roll wasn't too smooth so it hurt really bad, and I limped for a full week after. That was the last time I ever tried to out do him. As well as these physical abilities Anthony was really talented musically. So we got a band together, I would play guitar and he would rap these incredible lyrics over my music. Soon our band got some momentum and after writing a couple of songs that were kind of underground hits for our age group (Can't Stop, Around the World, By The Way, and Scar Tissue) we signed with a minor label out of California, Warner Bros. Records. I could go into us doing a U.S tour playing in small clubs and venues, but that would take a while. The point is A.K was really musically talented.
Anthony lives on the edge just like I told you in the last paragraph, anytime someone challenges him to some daring stunt he does it without question and always pulls it off. Sometimes he can be intimidating to some people because he's so determined in what ever he does, but he's really a down to earth guy that connects with the world around him. Again, talking about his musical talent, it really shines through in what ever he does. You can see an artist in the way he walks, the way he talks, just the way he goes about everyday life. He doesn't just "do" things, he holds his head high and has pride in what he does. He doesn't think twice about what anyone else thinks. I wish I could say I still hang around this amazing character on a regular basis, but he and his Dad moved to L.A. Although we meet up once and a while and play music together he's got a bigger and better band together now, I wish i wasn't jealous but I know Anthony has a lot of potential. I wish him the best with his band the Red...something or others (I forgot the name). I know Anthony will always remember me.

By: Tom McGahern (known to A.K as Hillel Slovak)

My Earliest Memory

The earliest memory I can think of is performing for our school performance in first grade(around valentines day). The main act I was interested in, involved several of the boys playing these fake cardboard guitars. THE ONLY THING I WANTED WAS TO BE ONE OF THOSE GUITAR PLAYERS!!!!!!!! Now, keep in mind although I play guitar now, the only reason I wanted to be one of those guitar players was for the attention, no certain attraction to the instrument at all. But what do you know, THEY DON'T LET ME!!!! So I just thought all of the people who did got to be one of the guitar players we're stupid POOP HEADS. In the end I'm sure I pouted and frowned through the whole performance, yet again trying to draw attention to myself.
Looking back on this now I realize that it probably wasn't a huge deal. Playing a little cardboard guitar in front of everyone isn't the greatest experience someone could have. Although, I'm not saying I completely avoid attention now. Sure, attention can be good every once in a while, but there is a difference between wanting attention and just being outspoken. I would hope that now I would fall under the latter of the two, and it's experiences like that that remind me that having a lot of attention can sometimes just make you look really stupid.

The Metamorphosis: Irony

After reading my book, The Metamorphosis it's been really hard to decipher which is the most dominant literary element. Although, after thinking it over and changing my mind several times I've come to the conclusion that irony is the most dominant literary element. In this book the main character Gregor leads a rough life where he works a very hard job, but it seems it's all worth while, because he comes home to a very appreciative family. Over night all of this changes, Gregor turns into a human sized cockroach and not only does his family find his appearance absolutely rancid, but they give him no respect now that he's not bringing home a pay check.

In this book the author uses irony in many circumstances to get across the point of how much Gregor cared for his family and at the time when Gregor needs care the most, his family completely disregards him. Here is an example of the differences of care for each other between Gregor and his family. All of Gregor's life before he went through the metamorphosis he had worked and saved toward being able to fulfil his sisters dream by sending her to a musical conservatory. A couple days before Gregor would have originally announced his plan (if he were human) his sister decides that the bug has become such a nuisance it's time they get rid of it (kill it). This just goes to show the irony of how differently Gregor treats his family compared to how they treat Gregor.

Outside Reading

I am reading Metamorphosis and so far it is pretty good. This kind of book wouldn't normally grab my attention but since it's a short book(I'm not a very fast reader) and got really great recommendations from a lot of people so it was an obvious choice for me. At first this book was sort of slow and hard to get into, but after about twenty pages it started to speed up and the story is starting to grow on me. For example the start of my book began by talking about the protagonist's family and working life which was not very appealing to me, but after that the plot became very interesting.
At this point the dominant literary element in my book is point of view because, it's told from the main character's perspective and well...the main character transformed into a bug. Because of this he tells the story from the point of view of his whole family not being able to understand him, and him trying not to scare them whenever they see him. So far I'm pretty sure this is the obvious literary element, but i wouldn't be surprised if it changed later on in the book.
I think the author is using this literary element dominantly in the book because that is the only way to give the reader the same trapped, helpless feeling the main character is experiencing. Also if the book wasn't written this way i don't think it would be nearly as interesting because I'm not used to this style of point of point of view, but I am used to most other styles of point of view.
The tone of this novel uses fairly neutral diction making the tone a bit boring at times, but overall fairly gloomy and a little bit hopeless as the main character struggles to remind himself of his human past as he becomes more accustomed to himself as a bug. So far the tone hasn't shifted at all over chapters because the protagonist has been a bug the whole book. I'd be surprised if the tone shifted at all through the story, but maybe it will change at the climax.

Writing About Reading

For me, the first couple pages of a book usually determine whether or not I'm going to keep reading it. I think reading should always be a pleasurable experience, so if those first couple of pages don't really ring true there's no point in killing yourself trying to read the book. On the other hand realizing that you fully enjoy a book from the very start can sweep you away into the depths of your room, buried in the book for hours. Finding books that can give you the later effect can become an amazing experience, making reading something that can take you away from everyday life and bring you to any place you want.

When reading it's best to have a peaceful setting, laying on a sunny day in your hammock or sitting next to the window with the pitter-patter of the rain being the only thing you can hear. But if your book is good enough you can read anywhere. You could care less about the sounds around you, all you know is that the main character of your story is about to spend the rest of his life in prison if he doesn't figure out a way to pull off this bank heist. A lot of the time with a book like that I'll be reading in my bed up late at night and make a mental note:
"Ten more minutes then I'll go to bed, i need rest for tomorrow." Ten minutes will turn to twenty and twenty to thirty, before you know it you wake up in the morning with a book on your face and the alarm clock going off.

I'm not a very fast reader (but again there is an exception to that if the book is enjoyable) so when I have a project deadline for a book I always have to choose an enjoyable book in order to get through it fast enough. When I'm faced with the task of not being able to pick out a book for a project, after a few days if i don't happen to like the book i have to force my self to read it. When ever this happens I become consumed by the fact that even if later on the book gets better I'll still have the same negative mentality. Still I have trouble stopping myself from giving books my preconception, but I'm getting better and have realized that although some books don't start great right off the bat they can surprise you later on. With this new knowledge i hope to be able to try reading books that i wouldn't normally read and further expand my interest in different book genres.