Point of View-Sheila Moss

Sheila Moss has her own unique style of writing. She has a very humorous point of view. Several of her columns are about modern day things and her critiques on them (since she’s an old lady). Her columns often have a funny/intriguing title. For example, some of her columns are, “Speaking of Starbucks”, “Confessions of a Couch Potato” and “OED says OMG, FYI, LOL OK”. Just by reading Moss’ titles, you can tell that her pieces will be humorous and interesting as well, which gives her her unique humor point of view.

In two of Moss’ pieces, “Speaking of Starbucks” and “OED says OMG, FYI, LOL OK” she uses
exaggeration and sarcasm to enhance her humorous point of view. She writes about small subjects in a funny way. In her “Starbucks” column”, Moss describes her first experience drinking coffee from this joint and says, “Oh!My!Gosh! The caffeine hit my veins with a jolt! My eyes may never close again. Wow! That’s some powerful stuff. I won’t sleep for a month! Maybe never!” The use of exaggeration here adds to the column by making it funny in the sense that an old woman thinks she may never sleep for a month because of her cappuccino from starbucks. In “OED says OMG”, Moss uses the same technique. When critiquing the Oxford English Dictionary for allowing texting language to be actual words she says, “BTW (by the way), Google is both a proper noun and a verb these these days. Pretty soon it will probably be an adjective or an expletive.” This too, adds to Sheila’s humorous point of view in her columns because one, throughout her column, she uses texting abbreviations and at the same time she’s also critiquing them. And two, she makes a sarcastic comment on how maybe google will soon be not only a proper noun and a verb, but an adjective and expletive too.   Both Moss’ sarcasm and exaggeration add to the overall humor to her columns and make them enjoyable reads.

Things I learned Last Year(:

Anyone can run for president,

even Donald Trump.

 

Coloring for 20 minutes before bed

can relieve stress.

 

A movie director, somewhere in the US,

can make thousands of dollars

off of a horror movie about

a trip to your grandparents house.

 

It's true, Miley Cyrus

could in fact get crazier.

 

Insomnia certainly

does not suit me

 

It is possible for

the person you thought of as

your best friend

to drift apart from you

 

Nobody can say Hello,

What do you mean or Sorry

without singing the song.

 

 

While I was writing this I related it to William Stafford's version as closely as I could. I followed the same 2,2,4,2,2,4,3 pattern and also tried to make the subject matters the same in each stanza. In my poem, the first stanza is not an intriguing nature fact like Stafford's is. Instead, I chose to have it as something with a sarcastic tone. For the second stanza, just like Stafford's version, I made this a life fact/life hack. As for stanza 3 and stanza 7, I made these have a more sarcastic tone just like in Stafford's version. William Stafford makes references to famous people and also random people so, in my own poem, I did the same in the correlated stanza. Overall, this poem has a more sarcastic tone but the content varies and could be considered as a very random piece of writing. 

Second Quarter Independent Reading Reflection

This quarter, I read and completed 4 books. All That Remains by Patricia Cornwell, The Color of Water by James McBride, The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell and lastly, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. Compared to last quarter, I have really picked up the pace on my reading. I completed 2 more books than I did last year that were longer and I feel were more challenging reads. The hardest book I read this quarter was probably Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. It's written in a way I hadn't experienced before and was definitely hard to get used to at first.. But I think this quarter I read more challenging books that were different and new for me. I chose these types of books because I wanted to try something new in my independent reading. The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell was the most interesting but certainly the best book I read this quarter. I liked how each chapter was written in the perspective of a different character. The storyline I thought was very intense but it kept me engaged from cover to cover. Just from the reading I've gotten done this semester, I've realized the I enjoy more intense stories where a lot is going on at once. It keeps me engaged and helps me not to get bored while reading the story.

Last semester, my goals were to read at least 2-3 books that were out of my comfort zone and to also read at least one book that could be considered "spiritual reading". This quarter, I did meet my first goal of reading at least 2-3 books that were different for me. I ended up reading 4 books instead of 3, all of which were either a different genre or were written in a certain way I had never experienced before. By doin this, I think I expanded my reading preferences and for the third quarter will consider trying even more that could be considered out of my comfort zone. My second goal on the other hand, I do not think I met. Beween all 4 books, I do not believe any of them took me to that "deeper place" and this is somethjing else I will also consider doing for the third quarter.

GOALS:
-I want to read 6 books third quarter to really challenge myself with my reading
-I would like to try a romance books because I usually don't read books like that

Theater Now Open!

Brand new theater is now open! After just recently being built and finished in 1599, the globe theater is ready for Shakespeare's written plays to be performed. Located along the banks on London's River Thames, this large, open-aired theater is the ideal location for a performance. It seats up to 3,000 spectators in it's 100 foot diameter so that all of London can come to enjoy the shows. At the base of the stage, there's an area called "the pit" where you only have to pay a penny to stand and watch a play. For another penny, you could be seated right along the benches by the pit. At three pennies cost, you are given a cushion to sit on. The most expensive seats are located in the "Lord's Rooms" with a cost of six pence. Color coded flags are put up to inform you what type of play will be showing.

Red- History play

White- Comedy play

Black- Tragedy play

ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE INVITED!

Those of you who would like to be in the plays can audition. MEN ONLY. No women are permitted legally to perform in any of the globe theater productions. The acting profession is not credible and is unthinkable that any woman would appear in a play. Female roles will be given to men between the ages 13 and 19 who's voices are still high and muscles are not yet fully developed.

 

 

 

www.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/files/2014/01/audiences.pdf

www.bardstage.org/globe-theatre-female-roles.htm

www.nosweatshakespeare.com/reasources/shakepeares-theaters/shakpeare-globe-facts/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Picture This 

In Angela's Ashes, Frank (the main character) is constantly asking his parents questions. Since he's a little kid and isn't very educated, he's very curious about a lot of things that go on or about something his parents may say. As shown in my symbol, Frank is depicted in the bottom left corner with many questions on his mind. His parents are depicted in the top right hand corner with the response he always gets when he asks them something. "Just go play outside Frank." 

"There's no use asking more questions. If you ask a question they tell you it's a mystery, you'll understand when you grow up, be a good boy, ask your mother, ask your father, for the love o'Jesus leave me alone, go out and play. (McCourt 133)" 

This quote clearly goes along with my symbol because of what's going on in both. Frank is always asking questions but never gets an answer to them. So he feels as though there is no point in asking them anything anymore. I think this will be an important detail that leads to the message of the story because it's brought up a lot throughout the book. 

she is not made of roses

flowers do not bloom in her presence,

nor do they bloom in the deep crevices

of her mind.

she isn't made of roses

but of fragile skin

and thin bones.

she isn't made of roses

but is intricately woven of wary eyes

and tight smiles.

she is not made of roses,

but that's okay,

because they never liked roses

anyway.

 

 

 

 

Humans are weird, aren't we? Music can either soothe us or ignite us, some of us like painting out our desires on worthless pieces of paper, but make millions off of it. We find value in the most empty things, we create our own philosophies and wonder how we made it. We ponder the inevitable and wonder the extremes. But we function, don't we? I guess there's always a little bit of beauty among the ruin.

 

 

I chose these two pieces mainly because on the days that I wrote them, the words just came freely. I didn't really have to think about it with either of them at all. After writing them it kinda shocked me because I've never really considered my writing very good but I thought these were some of the best pieces I've written.

Independent Reading Reflection

 

 

This quarter I finished 1 book almost 2 books both of them very long. The first book was around 400 pages and the second around 500. I was able to understand majority of the first one and so far some of the second. For the second quarter, I'd like to read at least 2-3 books one of them being a different genre than I usually read and the other could be anything else. Also, I'd like to read at least one book that could be considered as "spiritual reading." None of the reading I did this quarter could be considered as spiritual reading because In wasn't taken to that "deeper place" while reading either of my books. This is because since it was the first quarter, I was just trying to get some reading in to start off the school year and I didn't really consider reading something with a deeper meaning. But for the second quarter, I would certainly like to pick up pace on my reading and make it more meaningful to me.