To:KYLE YOERG

Kyle, I had no idea how I was supposed to do the conclusion since I didn't even have our thesis statement...I did what I could to my best knowledge so please edit it by tomorrow. Make sure you include a concluding sentence as well! Thanks kiddo.

Da Rough Draft Conclusion:

By comparing nature to death, Frost is able to delve deeper into sensitive topics regarding the change and loss that result in a death. These poems connote a continuous cycle of change in life that is necessary for the beginning, or the ending of things including life, beauty, and desire. Most of Frost's poems depict a loss that is portrayed through symbolisim with nature. This loss is strongly yearned for, such as the narrator in Frost's poem, "After Apple Picking." Here, the narrator implies a strong desire for rest and "long sleep" (line 41). In other times, the loss is questionable and stimulates the narrator to wonder if loss is neccessary to carry on with life. This is shown in the poem, "(KENZIE'S POEM TITLE)." Frost's other poems like "Bereft" leave readers with a feeling of loneliness, which is one of the results from a loss or a death. In Frost's poem, "The Oven Bird," the narrator uses the central metaphor of the changing of seasons from summer to autumn with the altering behavior of the ovenbird. He says, "[the oven bird] cease and be as other birds/ But that he knows in singing not to sing[...]" which show that the bird aknowledges the loss of beauty in the world around him by not singing joyously like it did before.

This is what I've gotten done...I hope I gave you enough to work with Kyle!

~Hailey

Woman Work

Woman Work

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.
Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.
Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.
Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.
Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.

In the poem "Woman Work," Maya Angelou describes a woman's ongoing tasks and how they can only be relieved through nature's wonders since there is nothing else in the world that a woman can depend on for comfort. Angelou portrays the numerous hardships a woman must overcome through a continuous "to-do list." The reader may notice that the format of the wording in the first couple lines are repetitive—just like the daily chores a woman must accomplish in order to maintain the household. Angelou lists, " The clothes to mend/The floor to mop/The food to shop [...]The baby to dry [...] The garden to weed [...]The tots to dress[...]" and just when the reader thinks it would never end, Angelou writes, "Shine on me, sunshine/
Rain on me, rain" to depict the woman's desperation to forget the pressures that come from being a wife and mother. The reader can almost hear the exhausted woman's sighs as she professes, "You're all that I can call my own."

I believe the main purpose of Maya Angelou's poem, "Woman Work" was to deliver to the world, a woman's point of view on her ceaseless chores and how nobody seems to appreciate what she does for her family. Once a woman's tasks are finally completed, the only thing she can turn to is mother nature's carressing arms for comfort and protection against her reality. The author also delivers to readers, an unspoken message suggesting to assist their wives and mothers more in household chores.

Ouater 1 for me...

Reminiscing on my overall experience on Quarter 1 for Enriched English 10, I learned many tools to help improve my writing, analyzing, and organization skills. Since I was new to the school, it was difficult in the beginning of the quarter for me to balance my school work with making new friends. Facebook, the telephone, myspace, AIM, and other socializing devices were my main distractions that really marred my time management. I now found a great group of friends and will be able to focus on my academics for Quarter 2 more intensively. Specifically for my English 10 class, my first impression of my teacher, Ms. Froelich was of intimidation and that this was one teacher NOT to mess with. However, I learned that all she asked for was perseverance, participation and effort and she gladly returned the respect. As for academics, compared to the beginning of the year, my process of analyzing a piece of literature has improved with practice and with it, I am able to write better analytical essays. It was a big blow for me to get a "C+" on my Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Essay because I was so used to receiving an "A" for my English assignments. This helped me realize how much more practice I needed. But with more preparation and planning, my analytical paragraph on the movie, The 400 Blows, received full credit. This boosted my self-confidence and assured me that with a little effort, I could easily improve on skills that I lacked. I am far from perfect however, and the new research paper assignment is the perfect practice I need to hone my writing skills for the beginning of Quarter 2. In order to improve the atmosphere of our classroom, I could participate more during discussions and retain from side conversations. My main goals for Quarter 2 is to bring my overall grade up to an A and to do so, polish my analyzing, writing, and time management.

Outside reading blog #4

Claire's death is an unmendable blow to Astrid and as she is being driven to the MacLaren Children's Center from Claire's glamorous "Hollywood bungalow", she watches the house get smaller and concludes to herself that she "[...] didn't give a damn what happened to [her] now" (296). Claire had been the only reason Astrid had tried so hard to improve herself both at school and as a person--she had been the only reason to live. But now that Claire was gone, nothing in life mattered anymore. If it was too hot, instead of opening a window, Astrid thought, "Claire was dead. Who cared if it was too hot" (297). Now that she was at the childrens' foster center, Astrid is pulled back into bitter reality of bad dreams and rejection.

However, at the Children's Center, Astrid discovers an intimate friend, Paul Trout. Paul, just like Astrid, has a passion for art and this similarity between them is what pulls them closer together. Unlike the other boys at the center, who see Astrid through greedy hostile eyes, Paul's attention for Astrid is through an artist's point of view. But just like she loses everyone else she becomes close with, Paul is soon assigned to a group home in Pomona. Astrid realizes, "Paul Trout was the only person I'd met there I could talk to [...] We were just getting to know each other, and now he was gone. I had to get used to that. Everybody left you eventually" (303). Next for Astrid was a new home with Rena Grushenka, an impaitient skinny brunette in high heels, sliver earrings, and a sweater that fell off one shoulder. Rena has no real feelings for Astrid and even offeres her a cigarette on the drive home. At the new foster home, Astrid shares her room with a pregnant young woman named Yvonne who is all chinese paper horses, torn out magasnes, and pictures of a young TV actors in a two-dollar frames. Yvonne's greets Astrid, "Don't touch my stuff or I'll kill you" (310). Another girl, Niki, is a magenta haired girl who is all about chrome and black leather. Astrid's relationship with these girls is mutual acceptance. However, the hardest event taht Astrid must get over during her stay at Rena's is Astrid's discovery that Rena had been selling all her precious clothing from Barneys New York, Marc Jacobs, Fred Segal etc. that Claire had bought for her. The hardest part of letting go of these clothing is that they are the few remenants that help bring back the memory of Claire from the past. However, Astrid learns practicality here. Rena tell her, "You want car? Artist college? How you think you pay? So this dress. Pretty dress. Someone gave. But money is...Money" (325). Rena's simple thinking with money influences Astrid and the longer she stays with her and the rest of the women, Astrid becomes just as money-wise and careful as Rena was.

Outside reading blog #6

When asked to testify in defense for her mother in court, Astrid decides to make a deal with her mother. If Astrid testifies for her mother in court, Ingrid in turn must tell the whole truth about Astrid's past such as information on her father, her childhood, and how often Ingrid had deserted her daughter. Through this heartfelt conversation between mother and daughter, Ingrid realizes the pain she had put upon her daughter. Ingrid softly whispers to Astrid, "If I could take it all back, I would, Astrid. You've got to believe me." And in response to that, Astrid says to her mother, "Then tell me you don't want me to testify. Tell me you don't want me like this. Tell me you would sacrifice the rest of your life to have me back the way I was." This was the only way Astrid could truly be free of her mother and continue with life as an individual. Eventually, Ingrid, for the first time in her life, thinks about not her own welfare, but the welfare and future of her daughter and decides to live the rest of her life in prison to save her daughter from ruin. Astrid gets a second chance at life.

Once Astrid turns 18, she meets up with her good friend Paul Trout and they move in together in a fourth-story flat in Berlin. The couple passed time with never ceasing art projects, art classes, art shows--anything involving art. Here, one of Astrid's greatest art pieces is a set of decorated suitcases. Each suitcase represents each one of the foster homes she had been to and her memories from them. Through these suitcases, all the people that passed through her life, Starr, Marvel, Yvonne, Niki, Rena, Claire, her mother, Ray and everyone else became re-existent in her memories again.

Outside reading blog #5

In Rena's house, Yvonne, her roommate becomes Astrid's closeest companion. They share secrets and stories late into the night and becomes friends. Astrid takes care of Yvonne in times of need such as when she is in labor and when she has bad dreams. The biggest transformation for Astrid is when she decides to find her mother's letters, reads them, and realizes that her mother had deceptively been molding Astrid to become exactly like her. But Astrid refuses to conform to what her mother wants her to become and decides to rebel against her control. She writes a poem to her mother expressing that now, Astrid Magnussen was finally alone. Astrid happily thinks, "How clear it was without my mother behind my eyes. I was reborn, a Siamese twin who had finally been separated from its hated, cumbersome double." She was finally able to separate from her mother and think for herself without the oppressive influence of her mother.

Astrid not only experiments with her self-identity but also with more hazardous substances like acid, beer and other illegal matters. The main reason for this is to escape her depression. Just like she used to take overdoses on Percodan to make herself feel numb against any major emotions, she is drinking alcohol and doing drugs now for the same reasons. When she is doing acid, she thinks to herself, "If I was going to do it, I wanted to make sure I'd get off" (373). However, by this time, it is so close to graduation and finally turning 18 that Astrid limits herself in no way. Now, a memory with Claire is not unbearably painful but instead, is now a reminescence of the old glorious days. Just another memory. Now, there is truely no particular person in her life that she considers a reason to live for. The only thing that propels her forward is the hope that soon, she will be in control of her own life without the bother of being kicked around from one foster home to another. Finally, Astrid will be her own master. In total, Astrid has been through six foster family homes, each one a bittersweet experience as well as a short stay at MacLaren Children's Hall. Indeed each of these homes had negative impacts on Astrid such as getting shot, being treated as a servant, or losing someone very close to you, but all of these expreiences, both good and bad was what formed Astrid as an individual and was inspiration for her art pieces.

Runaway Bride--Or Should I say, Groom

Outside reading blog #3

Just as Astrid thought suffering would never end with Marvel's wrath, she is taken to Claire--her new best friend and loving foster mother. Never before has Astrid met someone who genuinely cares about her and accepts her as who she is. Claire is sweet, always smiling, genuinely cares about the welfare of others and is always trying to please people. Clarie becomes the first person in Astrid's life that she can trust and admire as a respectable adult and role model. This intimate relationship between Claire and Astrid can be compared to the relationship between Oskar Schell and his grandmother in the book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. In the novels, both Claire and Oskar's grandmother act as guardians for their younger companions, Oskar and Astrid. Both Oskar and Astrid struggle with overcoming great losses in their lives--Oskar looses his father and Astrid, her mother. Claire and the grandmother play crucial roles in their process of healing by always being there in times of need and always expressing uncondtional love. Oskar even thinks, "She was always waiting for me [...] I don't know how she knew when I'd be there. Maybe she just waited around all day"(102). Similarly, Astrid reflects, "I had never come home to someone waiting for me before, someone looking forward to the sound of my key in the door [...] I had Claire now, waiting for me. She was all I needed"(217). Before, Astrid never felt such genuine love from someone and thinks it a little weird. But who can refuse love? Astrid certainly can't, and soon with trips to museaums, theatres, shops, a hiking trip in Oregon, and constant care, it seems like Astrid is on the way to full recovery.

However, it seems Astrid has the worst of luck. Even her blissful stay with Claire is jepordized by Claire's husband, who is having an affair and is also threaten by Astrid's own mother. In a visit to Astrid's mother in prison, Ingrid, who is jealous of her daughter's intimate relationship with Claire, ruins it by telling something secret that Claire is tricked into thinking will help her disputes with her husband, Ron. Astrid, at this point, hates her mother and warns her, "Do screw it up for me [...] If you love me, you'll help me." But Ingrid merely responds, "I would rather see you in the worst kind of foster hell than with a woman like that." She is selfish and this is eventually the cause of Claire's suicide.

to ms. froelich

Hi Ms. Froelich!
FYI, the order of the two outside reading blogs I put up are switched so read the second one first! =]

The book that I am currently fully enjoying and enraptured in is called White Oleander by Janet Fitch. It is about the struggle of one girl, Astrid to discover who she is where she belongs and how it feels to be loved and wanted through various Los Angeles foster homes.Ingrid, a brilliant poet, a struggling artist, and Astrid's mother becomes imprisoned for the murder of her ex-boyfriend Barry Kolker. Due to tramatic experiences with men in the past Ingrid becomes a heartless, self-centered coniving yet stunnigly beautiful woman who is unseduceable. She believes that nothing is purely good and always tells Astrid to guard herself from the world. Even when they are gazing at a beautiful full moon together, whereas Astrid describes it as a "baby-face moon," Ingrid counters, "It's a traitor's moon" (4) Because her mother always has an impenetratable iron wall around her, Astrid envies "the way [other] mothers sat on [their girls'] beds and asked what they were thinking." She thinks that her "mother was not in the least bit curious about [her]. Astrid even wonders to herself if her mother "thought [she] was a dog she could tie in front of the store," or "a parrot on her shoulder"(11). Ingrid's biggest fear is to fall in love and when Barry succeeds in seducing her, using her, then dumping her like a piece of trash, she swears revenge. Ingrid eventually gets sent to prison for killing her ex-boyfriend and leaves Astrid alone in an unwelcoming world to fend for herself. Her first foster home, run by a woman named Starr and her boyfriend Ray is a small dingy trailer home in a place called Sunland-Tujunga. Starr is a god-fearing, jesus-fanatic Christian who, ironically, enjoys showing off her body and coming off to others as "highly sexual." Along with Astrid, there is Starr's real son, Davey who is a kid-genious, Starr's rebellious daughter, Carolee who eventually runs away, plus two other foster kids, Owen and Peter. Astrid's experience here is a string of discoveries that result in conflict. Astrid rebels against Starr by having a secret love affair with Ray. She is only in 8th grade at that time. Without her mother, Astrid is desperate for someone to love and look up to and concedes with Ray. Astrid describes Ray as "solid." He was someone who "wouldn't let [her] drift away. Talking to [her], telling [her] nobody was going to hurt [her]"(59). He was Astrid's newly discovered support. However, with this new discovery of exhilarating passion and secret power over Starr, came consequences. As Starr slowly discovers that Ray and Astrid have been sleeping together, she cannot control her emotions and becomes an alcoholic. This impairs her mind and ultimately, during a fight with Ray, ends up shooting Astrid in the shoulder and hip. Although Astrid gets heavily injured, she never regrets loving Ray and realizes for the first time in her life that her mother's belief that love is non-exisitant is wrong.

Outside reading blog #2

After Astrid's disasterous ending in her first foster home with Starr, she is taken to another unwelcoming foster family in Van Nuys run by Marvel and Ed Turlock. Each member of the family, Marvel, Ed, Justin, Caitlan and now, Astrid, all live together in one house yet they're all enveloped in their own private bubbles. Ed escapes to the Good Knight bar nearby as soon as he can, Marvel could care less about either her husband or her children (let alone Astrid) and only cares about herself and criticizing others. Justin and Caitlan are dumped into the hands of Astrid as soon as her hip mends and are poorly nurtured. As soon as Astrid's hip mends, Marvel establishes Astid's role around the house: "babysitter, pot scrubber, laundry maid, [and] beautician" (124). Marvel always speaks of Astrid's future as if she can't decide for herself. When Astrid dyes Marvel's hair, she says, "This is good practice for you. You could go to beauty school. That's a good living for a woman,"(126) and later advices, "The army would be a good place, [with] job security, [and] benefits"(159). Overall, Marvel was one of the most controlling woman Astrid had ever encountered.

To cope with lonliness, Astrid concedes to overdoses on her prescribed Percodan to keep herself high and numb to all feelings. Another more positive escape was to bury herself in books. she read everything--"Colette, Francoise Sagan[...] short stoires"(129) and even a book called The Art of Survival. This book became Astrid's bible, a stratagy to overcome conflicts.

Even above books and overdoses, the number one hope that Astrid holds dear to escape her hardhearted foster home is her neighbor, Olivia Johnstone. To Astrid, Olivia is the perfect model for all women to follow: "her eyes were almond-shaped, the color of root beer"(135), she had delicate features, and an impeccable style. "Olivia was linen and champagne and terra-cotta, totanical prints and 'Seven Steps to Heaven'"(141). Unlike Astrid, who worships Olivia, Marvel thinks she is nothing but a "damn whore" who thinks "she's the Duchess of Windsor"(133). Marvel forbits Astrid from speaking to her, but Astrid is fascinated with everything involving Olivia. She ends up having secret visits to Olivia's house (when she was supposed to be training for the army) and ends up finding an irreplaceable friend. Olivia plays an important role in Astrid's development from a young girl to a woman. She teaches things about men, fashion and life that no other woman in Astrid's life would have bothered with.

However, in Astrid's life, sweet fairy tales don't have happy endings. She ends up getting attacked by vicious stray dogs as she is taking a walk which leaves horrible red gashes everywhere on her face, arms and face. This ruins Astrid's beautiful face and she realizes that beaty never lasts. Even Olivia begins to drift out of her life, and to top it off, randomly one day at school, Ms. Cardoza, her caseworker, arrives telling Astrid to get her belongings for another trip to a new foster home in glamorous Hollywood.

Memoirs=self reflection and revelation

Memoirs are a great way to teach lessons in real life through a personal story or experience. They are an excellent tool to use if an author wants to offer the reader insights about mistakes he has made in the past and wants to help them avoid making the same mistakes. Most memoirs involve self-reflection when the author wants to find a deeper meaning or purpose in his life by tracing back to his past experiences.

By telling our own stories, people (friends and family) get to understand us better. Through memoirs, readers can personally connect with the author and may even have insight of himself and his life. Through writting a memoir, the author's past is revealed like a confession which always leaves the reader with something deeper than a good story to delve into.

Richard Hungers.

Because Richard is brought up to be tough and unfeeling, it is difficult for him to easily identify his wants. Ever since he was young, Richard was taught to supress such feelings by his family. His mother believed that by constantly thinking about what you wanted, you would get weaker and wouldn't be able to protect himself from the unwelcoming society.

However, it is near impossible for a child to NOT desire anything. And Richard, being a young child, secretly craves many things. He keeps these secret from his family because he knows that he would simply get scolded or worse get a beating.

Overall, Richard hungers for simply a happy life. A life void of dangers or fears. A life where he doesn't have to live up to another person's expectations. He wishes to live without the fear of getting beaten. An even simpler thing that Richard hungers for is food. Hunger is a constant reminder of his poverty striken family. These wants are good because they are what drive Richard to work harder for a better future and have goals to work towards. However if he considers them too negatively, it may eventually make him depressed or hopeless.

Richard is NOT a bad boy!

Richard is most definitely NOT a bad boy. How can an innocent young child be expected to be naturally evil? No, Richard wasn't born bad, he just grew up in an environment where bad words and mischief was exploited. Young children absorb everything and anything taught to them, not realizing that it's bad or not. Richard caused so much monkey business because he learned it from society, not because he wanted to harm others.
Everywhere around him is violence. It is exposed through other children, irresponsible adults, and even his family. For every wrongdoing, he is beaten or repremanded so harshly that he comes to fear everything around him. When he accidentally sets the house on fire, instead of worrying about the rest of the family, his initial thought is to hide from his mother thinking that she "must not find me and whip me for what I had done [...] it was all an accident" (5).
The people in the saloon also advertise bad behavior to Richard. Because of them, profanity and even alcohal was exposed to Richard at an extremely tender age. Even though Richard protested to go inside the saloon, he was dragged inside and forced to be drunk. The men from the saloon merely considered making Richard drunk a "sport[,] urging [him] to repeat obscenities."
Thus, it is no surprise that Richard, let alone any other child who lived in that sort of negative environment, was prone to bad behavior. (A pity indeed for such an intelligent young boy...)

Hi Ms. Froelich!

I've created my blog and im ready to start!