Memory Activity

It was a Friday night basketball game and my team was playing Oldenburg Academy. The gym was hopping as it was “Pack the House Night” and the Jazz Band was jamming. The school invited eight graders from Orchard who were bug-eyed watching the upperclassmen be wild and crazy. The game was very tight and Oldenburg was a close match up. I remember I was running up the court knowing there was little time left on the clock. It was at the end of a quarter. I got the ball and was nervously dribbling up the left side of the court. The clock was ticking down and the crowd was yelling 5…4…3…2… I decided that I should shoot the ball, but I could not shoot it with my right hand because of a defender. I had no choice but to shoot it with my left hand. I got past the half court line and did a cross over dribble and let the ball fly with my weak hand. The defender even bumped throwing me off balance. I went up and just threw the ball hopelessly not expecting it to reach the basket. After I let the ball go, everything felt right. I kept watching and praying. The ball was going straight towards the basket with the right velocity and arc. It went in!!! I made the shot with my left hand from just inside half court. While I was watching the ball in the air, it felt like it took 10 minutes to travel to the basket. But when it finally did go in the basket, I felt ecstatic. I leaped up in the air and then I ran to the bench while everyone was cheering. My teammates gave me high fives and everyone was smiling, yelling, and hugging me. This was the highlight of the game. We ended up playing very hard and winning only by a few points. It was an awesome experience.

After the game, there was a winter dance. We took showers in the locker-room and then went to it in the cafeteria, where it was being held. My boyfriend at the time was named Nick and I went with him. I can just imagine the funny first impressions the eighth grade basketball girls that were coming University must have had after watching me dance. They saw me grinding with Nick and this is what they remembered about me. They told me what they thought about it at the Illinois Basketball camp in the summer our basketball team went to. All the girls gave me a hard time because they remembered me at the dance. They were joking with me and imitating my dance moves on Nick. It was a good thing that this happened because it broke the ice with the incoming freshman, so they did not see my shy and timid side. The basketball camp was a memorable event as we all bonded. We had a great time laughing, joking, and making fun of each other. It was as if we had known each other for a while. I attribute much of our success during the basketball season to the moments we shared at basketball camp.

Reflections on Class

In the past few days, we have talked and discussed the purposes, the evidences, the personas, the audiences, and styles of pieces we have read. For Nickel and Dimed, we came to the conclusion that the purpose of the book was to let people know about the problems of low wage jobs. Barbara writes in first person and proves the purpose from her personal stories because she actually went out there and experienced the lifestyle by taking low wage jobs. She also gives facts and statistics to prove her point. She writes this book for the middle to upper class people in America to let people know how bad the situation is. These would be the people that could make changes and sadly enough, are the ones who have enough money to pay for the book. The style of Barbara’s writing uses humor and sarcasm. She also uses great description with imagery and metaphors.

For The Great Gatsby, we determined that the purpose of the book is to show that the reality is that reality of society is appearance. The evidence for this is that Gatsby creates a new self for the society because he makes himself rich. Also, it is the story of Gatsby versus all the lies and gossip about him. The story is told through Nick and the book’s audience is for the 1920s exuberant upper class. Fitzgerald uses the style of vivid description, imagery, and manipulation of time to make this book interesting.

For the Carlos Fuentes piece, we came to the conclusion that it had two purposes. They were that he was trying to show how language is important to express culture and history and about the creation of cultural identity. The selection was a told by Carlos and he gave his personal experiences to prove his point. The audience of this piece is Americans and he uses description to show his story, instead of telling. In conclusion, we have had in-class discussions over three pieces and talked about their purposes, the evidence, the personas, the audiences, and the styles.

Purpose of "How I Started to Write"

The purpose of “How I Started To Write” is to show how history and culture influence language and literature. They are intertwined, as language and literature are part of history just as historical events such as the Holocaust are. To write good literature, one must have knowledge of historical events, the culture, and customs of the people one is writing about, so one can understand a country’s identity and traditions. “There is no creation without tradition” (445). Carlos Fuentes refers to many historical figures like famous writers and political figures from different locations in the world and different eras make the point that literature and language are universal. A country’s identity is shaped by contact with many other cultures. Fuentes said “Mexican literature was important because it was literature, not because it was Mexican” (445). Language is the key to giving an identity to oneself and to one’s country. Writing is taking all of one’s experiences, readings, and culture and creating a work of literature, which becomes a piece of history for future generations to read.

Reflections on Red Sky In The Morning

I have several responses to the Red Sky in the Morning and about our class discussion over it. First, the quote “I could tell you stories”, could mean different things. When the woman in the story says it, it sounds like she has countless stories about the romance with her husband, but she just doesn’t want to tell people because it is sacred to her. However, if any person said the quote, it could be taken to mean the person is well traveled, has gone through hardships, or that they just have interesting stories to tell. Also, depending on how this is said, it could mean they want to gossip. Another thing I took away from this piece is that stories cannot live up to the actual experience, but they are the closest thing we can get to the event. One can’t grasp the meaning of someone’s completely, unless one was there. Not only is it important to remember meaningful events in one’s life, one must included one’s inner feelings and how it affects them emotionally. Lastly, I think the scene of the two lovers was penetrating. The narrator was lucky to have seen it. It made her realize she “lived on pride, not love.” Perhaps she was more in love or having someone to call her own than really loving ht person for what he was. Her relationship was a “romantic idyll” whereas the two lovers appeared to be genuinely in love. They were not afraid to show their emotion towards one another. Physical appearance did not seem to be important, as the woman was middle-aged and stout while her husband was young with golden curls. They were an odd couple, but obviously in love. This couple shows true love because they don’t care about what others think about their relationship and they seem to live it to the fullest with lust and understanding. Most people would be envious and wished they have such a story to tell.

Reflection of Classes so Far

I really enjoy going to AP English class and we have done several things so far this year. I think that the conversations that we have in class are very deep. They make us think about how the world is and how humans act. Sometimes I even feel like the conversations are over my head because of how intense they are. We have had discussions over Nickel and Dimed and The Great Gatsby. In our group discussions about Nickel and Dimed, we talked about how people might help with the poor to make themselves look better and they feel like its the right thing to do. They do not really care about helping the poor, but just about how it makes them be perceived as a good person. In our conversations about The Great Gatsby, we have spent much time talking about Gatsby’s lifestyle, his intentions, and his love for Daisy. When I read these two novels, I did not think that deep about them. Talking about them in class helped me realize why they are considered great literature. They make you question human nature and their motivation.