Movie time

Do a second New Post today answering the following questions about your preferences in movies.

• Tell us about your favorite movie and why you like it.
• Tell us about the kinds of movies you don't care for usually.
• Tell us about how often and where you usually watch movies.
• Tell us about what you need for movie viewing (environment, food, company, etc.)
• Tell us about what this survey says about you.
• If my life story was made into a movie...

Include images in this post also. Thanks!

This is...photo poems/prose

I like this image...it's a print available at one of my favorite websites called Etsy, where you can buy all sorts of vintage and handmade goods. So much creativity and inspiration there...have a look some time.

Today I'd like you to do a New Post on your own blog with some writing about one of your own photos inspired by Katy Barber's "Photograph 1969." I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you'd like to arrange your words as a poem or a short piece of prose. I'll be looking for a vivid description of what we can actually see in the photo, followed by that "twist" we discussed in class yesterday, where you intimate or imply what else is "in" the photo...an understanding, an observation, a hint at something that came later...something more. Please include the photo in your post. If you don't have a photo of your own or find that too personal, find a striking or interesting photo that speaks to you on the internet or in a magazine and write about it in this same way instead.

Photograph 1969 by Katy Barber

This is my mother
lifting her hair long
like a low whistle
off her neck
These are her fingers
caught in the tangles
of brown and gold caught in
silver earrings
This is my father
reaching through the lens
to touch the edge
of a new family
to touch her opening belly
under her full dress

This is existing
before I exist

This is me growing up
against their lives
him watching for a sharp
breath from her looking out
onto the border of birth
this is bumping us into three

Through the window..

Fingers crossed for a snow day this week???
Leave a comment on this post telling us what you'll do with your snow day
if we get one and/or what you think our chances are...

Create a New Post on your blog today with the Window Poem you created in your journal during class.  Feel free to add to or revise.  Include at least one image.

Here's my example...As you can see, I didn't follow directions and wrote about the view looking into a window (my neighbors'!  creeper!) rather than out.

Window Poem:  On the Birth of Alex C.

I see chili pepper barstools

through the kitchen window

of the house next door--

barstools I wouldn't have chosen

but a dining table I might have

and a pantry I envy.

The man of the house

ducks down quickly behind that table,

shielding himself from the glow

of my headlights, but I still see

he's in only his tightie-whities.

Tonight the lights are still on

long after my neighbors' normal bedtime.

New babies always disrupt schedules,

change lives completely.

Melting ice drips from the gutter

above the window onto mounds of

lingering, dirty snow on the driveway

between our two houses.

Shiny balloons float above the table

heralding congratulations upon

the family's new arrival.

A new mother leans for a moment

against the kitchen counter

trying to catch her breath.



Inspiring images

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

Photo #4

Photo #5

Photo #6

Photo #7

Photo #8

Photo #9

Photo #10

Please do a New Post today on your blog inspired by one of these images and following these steps:

1. Add the image to your post. (You can right-click the image and save it on your computer to upload, or you can click the link below the photo and copy/paste the url--sometimes you lose the image later when you do it this way).

2. Write a prose paragraph of about 300 words inspired by the image (a fictional story, a personal memory, a vivid description...whatever comes to mind).

3. Then rearrange the exact same words in your paragraph as a free verse poem (like we did with the horoscope sentences). Experiment with the font if you'd like.

Example--yours should be a bit longer at 300 words (inspired by Photo #10):

Prose:

He put his hand on the back of my neck and kissed me, like he knew just who I was and what I wanted, that I loved summer nights and big, thick books, dancing and chocolate milk. I just closed my eyes. I didn't know if his favorite color was red or blue, if he liked Italian or Chinese.

Poem:

He put his hand
on the back
of my neck
and kissed me

like he knew
just who I was and
what I wanted

that I loved summer nights
and big, thick books
dancing
and chocolate milk

I just closed my eyes

I didn't know
if his favorite color
was red or blue
if he liked
Italian or Chinese.

For this week and next: I know it will be hard to remember, but I'd like you to bring in some images of your own to inspire some writing--your own photos, snapshots, family pictures or even images you've come across in magazines or on the web. Could you get these photos onto your phone or flash drive so you can upload them to your blog at some point later this week or next?

Also today, please review your grade check and makeup any posts you're missing or add to posts you haven't earned all the points for.

Keep writing in your journal on your own this week.  We will be busy and might not have time to fill any pages together.

Thanks so much...

The language of flowers

Take a look at the color you were going for on our carnation dye project and consider the suggested meanings from buzzle.com below.  In a New Post on your blog, write a 12+ line poem that relates to one of the feelings or themes mentioned in connection to your color below.  Include an image.  You could think of a time you felt that way and describe it, or you could make up a ficitonal scenario. 

• Yellow: A yellow flower is a symbol of happiness, friendship, enthusiasm, luxury, success.
• Red: A red flower is a favorite of youth as it represents an essence of emotions such as love and passion. It is also a symbol of courage, desire, admiration, constancy and respect. A red flower is a token of youth and enthusiasm.
• Orange: You can represent your strong love, or a satisfaction of attaining the success through an orange flower. It is also a token of desire and enthusiasm. This vibrant color conveys satisfaction, confidence and passion for life.
• Green: This refreshing color represents resilience, youth, health and good fortune. The green flowers send a message of pleasure, renewal and optimism.
• White: White itself is a symbol of peace and purity, humility, innocence and silence. It represents heavenly, pious and sincere feelings. White blossoms convey an elegance and modesty.
• Pink: Pink is a color of love. And hence, offering a pink flower expresses your love and passion for the other person. A light pink flower is a symbol of delicacy, gentleness, grace, admiration and confidence. A dark pink flower represents gratitude and appreciation.
• Lavender: A lavender flower represents beauty, solitude and admiration. Lavender flowers are a token of grace, refinement and elegance. Lavender blossoms convey a message of a feminine beauty.
• Peach pink: If you wish to express your sympathy, gratitude friendship or gentleness, then you can offer a peach pink flower.
• Purple: This color is associated with the royalty and ceremony. The purple flower is a token of pride, dignity and success. Purple blooms represent admiration and accomplishment.
• Blue: The blue flowers can reduce stress and worries. They represent serenity, openness and peace. A blue flower offers a cooling effect. It is a perfect gift that promotes the muse of an artist, poet or musician.

Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/meaning-of-the-color-of-flowers.html

i have found (a lot) to like about this one...

Thanks for taking a look at the work of one of my favorite poets, e.e. cummings, on Valentine's Day. I'd like you write a poem of at least 12 lines inspired by his style, his words, his ideas or something else and add to your blog as a New Post.  Attach an image, too.  The lines we circled as starting points are listed below, but you are welcome to pursue a different direction.

i love you much ( _________________ )
more than ______________ ...


i have found what you are like:
________________


if you love me...


who pays any attention to ______________


it may not always be so; and i say...

 

A little more poetry

1. On Wednesday, we ended class by talking about eulogies, memoirs that are written about someone and read at their funeral.  Your assignment was to write a poetic eulogy about yourself.  Create a new post titled eulogy on your own blog and post it there.

2. Your next post on your blog is going to use idioms.  Idioms are a combination of words that have a figurative meaning that is very different from the literal meaning.  So, for example, an idiom would be "I'm going to run some errands."  Are you literally running anywhere?  Probably not.  You are probably driving to the stores.  But, no one questions you because they know the figurative meaning.  You can tell your friend, "I'll shoot you a text later" and no one freaks out thinking you are actually going to shoot them.  They understand you are going to send a text message to them later.  Try to find one I didn't mention.  There are many sites that have lists of hundreds of idioms.  A few others to get you thinking, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."  "Doubting Thomas." "A drop in the bucket." "A taste of your own medicine."  "It's all Greek to me."  Your assignment is to list 3 or 4 idioms that seem funny to you and then write a poem about one of them making fun of the differences between the literal and figurative meaning.  So while you are thinking, don't take too long.  But put your pedal to the metal, and you'll come out strong!

Here is an example by John Randal

'You can't cry over spilled milk!' 
my mother always said. 

'Life's not a piece of cake!' 
she hammered in my head. 

'That's the way it goes, 
'that's the way the cookie crumbles' 

My mother saved her idioms 
for all my idiotic troubles. 

Did you know it? You're a poet!

Create a new post on your blog.  Choose 3 of the poems you wrote in class last Friday or Monday and post them to your blog. One of your three poems can be a poem of your choice that you had written before.  Your options from class are a ballad, cinquain, biopoem, diamante, haiku, tanka, acrostic and limerick.  After you are finished, find two classmates' poetry on their blogs and leave a comment.  Remember to be encouraging!

The KHS librarians would appreciate if you could take this very quick survey today, too.

Also, review your most recent grade check and do some catching up.  Let Mrs. Fraser know if you've completed something you can earn some missing points for.  Thanks!

And the beat goes on...

Please do 2 New Posts on your own blog today...

For the first one, type up 5-6 of the answers you got from your teachers about music. Add some of your own thoughts here and there, too, if you can--like if an answer surprised you or taught you something new or one you didn't understand.  Use the word "teachers" in your title somehow...

For the second post, type up your results from at least one of the music inspired activities we did last week and give your post a creative title:

• using a lyric or lyrics cut from the Swedish House Mafia, Taylor Swift, Philip Phillips, The Wanted songs to start (or end or inspire) your own story, song, poem etc.
• the journal entry where we divided the page into squares with a marker and listed the music we associate with childhood, relationships, family, right now.
• any or all of the freewrites we did while we listened to 3 Libras, Wonderful Tonight, You Shook Me, and Golddigger
• any of the writing you came up with yesterday during Ms. Ferkel's activities regarding Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and other music

Add images to your posts to make them visually interesting...Comment on your classmates' work if you have time.  Be sure you're caught up on last week's work as well.  And please turn in your journal today so I can give you a mid-quarter score.  You should have at least 20 full pages.  Even if you don't, turn in what you have.