Thoughts on the Poetry Project

  I don’t know about anyone else but I am surely enjoying the change of pace that the poetry project has brought to class. Its very refreshing to have a somewhat more laid back class every day. I also find it interesting how the groups thus far have led class in very different and unique ways. Both groups that have gone in third period were quite entertaining. I especially liked the self proclaimed “Dream Team’s” game, even though my comment landed my team out of the game first. I thought it was hilarious having to make Ms. Serensky decide which group she though made the worst comment. I certainly look forward to what the upcoming groups have to offer. Although this poetry project has literally brought some fun and games to the class, I think it really does help us. Having to read a variety of poems written by very different authors and at different times will surely make us ready for whatever the AP test throws our way. I also think the nightly soapstones help get jumpstarted into thinking in depth about the poem. I have found myself each of the past three nights feeling ready to write a poetry paper after completing the soapstone. We have written so many poetry papers after writing spoapstones that it feels natural to get geared up to write a poetry paper following the completion of a soapstone. That is where I think the genius lies in the project. By writing a soapstone, we naturally get in the zone to write a poetry paper, which means that we are probably thinking deeply about the poem. The poetry project enables us to think deeply about many poems without having to spend the many hours constructing a lot of poetry papers. I feel that this project is a very efficient use of our time while still providing us with deep insight into many poems.

 

Paper Covers...Data Sheet

Paper takes less time, Very Nice!

A Most Surprising Juxtaposition

            The Cavs, oh the Cavs. As most everyone knows, the Cleveland Cavaliers now own the record for the most consecutive losses in NBA history. It makes me very sad every time I see another “Cavs Fall Again” headline in the Plain Dealer. It’s really quite unbelievable how much of a 180 the Cavs managed to pull off. They had the best regular season record in the NBA just last season and now, less than a year later, they are arguably the worst team in NBA history, if not sports history. Murphy’s Law began its chokehold on the Cavaliers as soon as LeBron James announced that he would take his talents to South Beach. Although all us Cleveland fans worried about the future of the Cavs, no one could have imagined that we would be this bad. Injuries to key players like Anderson Varejao and Mo Williams combined with the loss of big-men Zydrunas Ilgauskus and Shaquelle O’Neil factored in to the Cavs’s ineptness this season. So, a bunch of NBA backups playing in the aftermath of losing the best player in the NBA losing 26 games in a row should not come as too much of a surprise. The part I hate most about the losing streak is that it makes LeBron look like some sort of basketball god. To the casual fan it looks like the Cavs were the best team in the NBA with him and are the worst team in the NBA without him. Although LeBron’s departure has made the Cavs into below average team, all the injuries, Byron Scott’s new system and the departure of other players have made the Cavs the worst team in league. It really saddens me to think that without LeBron, Cleveland sports are in absolute ruin. 

Cowardice

 

            Come on Clive. Really? Write down the sound a bird makes instead of help a woman getting beat up by a shady looking guy in the middle of the forest? It’s kind of pathetic if you ask me. He needed to go down that hill and help out the woman in need. Especially considering he felt “that there was not really so much physical difference between him and his thirty-year-old self” (88). His cowardice does not shock me though. I feel like characters wimping out in the face of adversity is a fairly common theme in movies and books. Take the movie Saving Private Ryan for example. Toward the end of the film, during a major battle scene, the young inexperienced private Upham tries to deliver much needed ammunition to his fellow soldiers. But as he walks up the stairs to the building his comrades are in, he hears a brawl going on in the building. He hears a German soldier and one of his fellow American soldiers engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Upham freezes up on the stairs, unable to move into the room and help his buddy. In the end, the German soldier wins the battle and excruciatingly kills the American soldier. He then walks down the stairs, sees Upham harmlessly cowering in fear, and moves on without hurting him. Upham’s failure to act closely resembles Clive’s failure to act. Although we do not know what happened to the girl and the shady guy, it would seem that it did not end well for the girl. Both Clive’s and Upham’s failure to act in the face of adversity show their cowardice and selfishness. Deep down, the reason each did not act certainly centered on the fact that they did not want to hurt themselves in the process. I find it hard to read/watch such cowardice knowing that others could have been helped.