The not so good ol' days

Ways of TalkingBy Ha Jin

We used to like talking about grief

Our journals and letters were packed

with losses, complaints, and sorrows.

Even if there was no grief

we wouldn’t stop lamenting

as though longing for the charm

of a distressed face.

Then we couldn’t help expressing grief

So many things descended without warning:

labor wasted, loves lost, houses gone,

marriages broken, friends estranged,

ambitions worn away by immediate needs.

Words lined up in our throats

for a good whining.

Grief seemed like an endless river—

the only immortal flow of life.

After losing a land and then giving up a tongue,

we stopped talking of grief

Smiles began to brighten our faces.

We laugh a lot, at our own mess.

Things become beautiful,

even hailstones in the strawberry fields.

Well this poem is, in my view, speaks a very nice message. One that I try to follow as well. The message being, Life is crap, but so what? You're still here, you're still living, so live. Life can bring on a river of bad things and that torrent can seem overwhelming. But we're human, we're resilient, we're here, and we can't let the bad things run our life. We can still laugh, we can still sing, we can still learn, we can still love, we can live. Nothing is permanent, but it's still there. You still had it. So enjoy it, reminisce about it. Where he talks about losing friends, family, loves, possessions, and he still goes on. Every thing that he mentions can hurt you greatly, but you can still go on! Don't act like there nothing else in the world. That you lost anything that could ever hold a place in your heart. There's a whole world of possible replacements. Sure they'll never be the same but nothing ever is. Life can be tough so pick yourself up and keep going every time. This poem shows a little deviation towards the end from my views when it mentions the hailstones in the strawberry fields. I believe in relaxation, not obliviousness, still notice the world around you. Just don't let it get to.

Today's hero's... Today!

 Today, we as a people are not so much concerned with all the aspects of what a hero is as people were in the old days. I mean look at Beowulf, he's obviously a stereotypical hero, the stuff of comic books and movies and stories. He slays monsters and dragons and is well respected, and this is still a definition of a hero. However this definition today has expanded, or rather it has become freer. In other words you don't have to be like Beowulf to be a hero. Whether it's a lack of imagination, or a sense of realism, today's heroes are just ordinary people who did some action that showed the qualities that have inspired people for years. Selflessness, heroism, bravery, taking a risk in one’s life to save another, etc. I'm not knocking the heroes of today but they are more grounded than in the old fables. Look at Sully Sullenberger, he only had to land a plane on the Hudson River one time to become a hero. He now has permanent hero status no matter where he will go. But he's not a dragon slayer, he's not a liberator of slaves, he landed a plane on water. Just to remind you, I'm not criticizing him for not being heroic enough. I'm just saying our standards our more realistic.

The found poem

Eating TogetherBy Li-Young Lee

In the steamer is the trout   

seasoned with slivers of ginger,

two sprigs of green onion, and sesame oil.   

We shall eat it with rice for lunch,   

brothers, sister, my mother who will   

taste the sweetest meat of the head,   

holding it between her fingers   

deftly, the way my father did   

weeks ago. Then he lay down   

to sleep like a snow-covered road   

winding through pines older than him,   

without any travelers, and lonely for no one.

I chose this poem because of it's simplicity and it's calm way of telling itself. It's comforting feeling, just making food and enjoying one another's company at the table is a very traditional thought. That kind of tradition is a relaxing thought isn't it? I like it because it's easy to visualize the food being made step by step, and then enjoying it with family. After which laying down for a nap, and then drifting off into sleep.  I feel very at ease with this poem.

This be my Hand chart

The drive to do whatever.

How can we as people not have any ambitions? Without ambition we’d live in a world of complete nihilism. We need to have some sort of drive or purpose to keep us going; otherwise the world would fall on itself. Whether it’s the greed that you see in people to make money anyway they can, or the empathy to help people, we need a drive. This drive helps us advance, gives us reason to improve and expand. There are dark sides to it however; it is not a system to make everyone happy. It’s more that if you want to do something, you can go for it. You may or may not succeed, but you have the possibility of fulfilling your ambition. Someone might share your ambition and you might end up fighting them. At that point both you and your opponent are fighting for your ambition, which can essentially be your world. At that point you will either be the person who taken away a world or your world is taken away. When your world is at stake, you will do anything it takes to keep it safe, even if it means taking someone else’s world. Ambition can be brought too many things, even a fight for survival, so I guess it’s complicated. This is all I can think of off the top of my head. I can expand in the comments if you ask a question

It's interesting because (insert explanation)

Why should you care? It’s a big question… why does this matter, what do these things have to do with what I’m doing now? In my opinion it’s why everything that interests you is there in the first place. What we have now is an evolved version of past works. Why was the TV show Psych created, it’s a modern version of Sherlock Holmes. Doesn’t Avatar seem a lot like Pocahontas at times? It’s not just TV and movies, rap can be considered poetry. It adds up to me so I would say that it’s interesting to see our roots to understand why we are the way we are now. Past works have influenced so much that we have today. Think in terms of art, you don't just paint anything and say it's your style, you relate to a previous style such as abstract, or still life, or a portrait, we need these styles to determine what to make. For literary works it's the genre's that determine what your story is about, whether it's fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, biography, fantasy, etc. You didn't come up with that genre, but it led you to create something. Look at these video's between Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble, it's the same song but sung differently, it's almost a different creation. What we will do to continue from here on will be to keep going. We’re not going to stop evolving our tastes so that’s my idea on how to proceed, stay the course. Things are constantly changing, but that doesn't mean that we have to forget the works of the past, we need to keep them with us. We shouldn't forget what we once were. It's good to have a sense of self. 

The Start Point

Hello class, this is my blog which is going to introduce me. There really isn't much to say though, maybe I'll get the hang of this later. I guess I'll start with some facts. I'm Hunter, this is my 14th year @ North Broward, and I like comedy and making films. Here's one thing I'm just putting in for the heck of it, it's a song by my favorite band Big Bang, thought it would be a nice thing to add (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d5QEWdHchk). Lastly I have to include something that relates to my english class, so I guess I'll say that I'm looking forward to the book Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore, that we will eventually have to read in class, and hope to enjoy it. That's it.