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Poetry Out Loud Performances

Kaleena Kovach of Colorado was one of the Top 12 national finalists. In her recitation of Somewhere to Paris she spoke with amazing volume and speed, she was audible and spoke very well. Her voice and articulation was really good. She had appropriate dramatization during her performance and talked in a way that showed knowledge and understanding of the poem's meaning. The poem was very difficult, it was long and difficult. The only problem I noticed is her physical presence left a little to be desired, she looked like she was slouching and rocked her head around oddly. Overall her performance was very good, but some parts were slightly lacking.

Somewhere to Paris was a very difficultly worded poem with a deep meaning behind it. " I am this solitude, never more beautiful, the arc of space I travel through for a few hours, touching nothing and keeping nothing, with nothing to deny the night, the dark pines pointing to the stars, this life, always moving and still." This conclusion of the poem represents the meaning very well. That to enjoy life to the fullest you must be happy being unstimulated, living in your own thoughts. An action will eventually fade but you will always have the times when you are alone, and enjoying those times will let you live life well.

Characterization: Your best friend

I'm gonna write about an old friend, doesn't live around here anymore and don't see him much, but he's still a friend. His name was Walter, but he asked to be called Will. He was a little on the heavy side with long hair down to the back of his head. He wore odd clothes and sometimes was made fun of for that, but I didn't care. He would make up these funny and cool stories, which hold their quality to me today, I always thought he'd be a writer like he wanted to be. I hope he's getting his chance today. People always thought he was a little weird but they didn't get to know him, and he had a hard time getting to know people.

Will was always very creative and when you got to know him he was energetic and even hyper. But he was also an introvert, and rarely even spoke to people he didn't know well. Which is why it took his and my mom being best friend's for me to get to know him. Other kids thought he was weird because they didn't understand him and he never told them how he felt.

I still miss Will and regret the day I heard he was moving, his father was in the army and his frequent moves may have been the reason for his unwillingness to extend friendship to people.

Early Memory

It was another day of kindergarten, I'd just woken up and was excited for another day of school, something I realize was stupid now that I look back on it, I never enjoyed school and that day was particularly bad. I went to school and saw we were working on something that was not fun, cursive writing. It was boring and always felt like a pointless task. I never planned nor plan to write in cursive. It was the first day, we were learning A through G.

I learned how to write without picking up my hand and how to make the letters curve and loop together. A, no problem. Same with B, and C and D and E and F. But then there was G. I don't know what it was about it but I couldn't manage to make a G that looked at all professional. Then Mrs. Spohn, our teacher(and not a very good one), decided to "help" me. By watching me and telling me " to do it right!" I got frustrated and told her, so politely, to go away. She then decided to make me stay in at recess.....and work on G. This has been burned on my memory and was the first experience I can remember that prepared me for how school is.

For Whom The Bell Tolls: Imagery

Ernest Hemingway uses imagery in For Whom The Bell Tolls enough for it to be the dominant literary element of the novel. He writes in a descriptive way and has full pages and sometimes almost full chapters of imagery. The book is about war and the imagery describes the fear, violence, and labor of war. It makes the story seem realistic and gives his perspective on war in a fashion that we can understand and comprehend it.

The imagery in a way is the story. All the major events are accompanied by loads and loads of imagery, and whenever something is important to him or the story it's obvious by the 2 pages of imagery preceding it. When he works on his duty and when he deals with those he has to work with it is described in detail. The imagery is the backbone of this story, giving it fullness and life.

Outside Reading

For Whom the Bell Tolls did not immediately grab my attention but as I went I got drawn into it. He has a very steady, almost bland writing style but the characters are growing on me and I'm getting into the story.

I'm fairly sure that imagery is the most dominant, there are long paragraphs and full pages of imagery throughout. I'm not completely sure but it seems like that as of now. He writes like this to build realistic characters and settings. To make the story come alive. He builds up a setting so we can have insight into the character's feelings about their scenery.

The tone is very informative and impartial. It switches back and forth, though, with impartial because it states that someone is bad, is not good. But it states this as fact, as a given. It seems that the writing is always impartial and just represents the character's honestly.

Writing about Reading

The written word is one of the things that seperates us from the more primitive animals, it utilizes our imagination. Reading a book is stepping into another world, even if the book is nonfiction. Another world that takes us away from our narrow and limited perspectives, giving us a viewpoint that is alien to our own. And whether we enjoy it or not, it's a strong experience.

Getting into the first pages of a book can be a great experience, immediately drawing us in and entangling you in the story, or it can be difficult and uncomfortable. Taking the beginning steps of a novel is throwing yourself into that world, and sometimes it'll be strange and foreign. Often the book will get better if you give it time, absorb the information and let the plot build, but sometimes you just won't enjoy the experience. The trick is to keep reading until your sure you're uninterested.

I have done a lot of reading in many situations and, though this may be rare, never have much of a problem reading when it's noisy or irritating. I am able to get into the book and ignore everything else. Reading while my brothers are yelling or watching T.V. happens very often and maybe I've just learned to adapt. I don't even enjoy the book any less.

My reading style is usually fast and easy, going through pages quickly and almost unconsciously. Sometimes, however, when I don't enjoy a book I will have to actually say the words in my head and force myself to keep my attention on the pages. This is very uncomfortable and luckily my reading is usually very flowing.

I read fiction because I love it. It brings about the characters and settings that are truly original, truly entertaining. Nothing is better than a good fiction book, where I can escape stress and assignments and honors biology tests.

Thanks for reading.