Journal #20

The cycle of life is a complex cycle that has been occurring since the beginning of time. Ever since a creepy crawly crawled, a feathered bird took flight, and a hungry carnivore hunted, the cycle of life has been present. The petite but significant beetle, searches the dirt ground for a satisfying meal of dirt and waste. Growing plump off of his findings his life is short lived as it serves for a greater purpose. The meal of another, such as a tan striped mere cat named Timone or a husky grown warthog named Pumba. As displayed in the classic Disney movie, The Lion King, the circle of life is simply apart of how life works. As the small slender mere cat or fat warthog or more likely a feathered bird of the sky survives off of bugs such as the beetle, they  too serve a purpose in the cycle of life. Whether they know it or not, they too will be hunted and used as food energy for a mammal larger than them. Low in the prairie grass crouches a hungry lioness stalking its prey. Its focused eyes are locked on the warthog following its every move. Even when it is lost from sight, the skilled lioness naturally is able to pick up its scent and follow the sound of the breaking twigs as the oblivious warthog travels through the brush. Moving slowly and cautiously across the earth's floor, the lioness pursuits its prey. Then suddenly, with a ginormous leap the lioness jumps through the air at the exasperated warthog now drained from the heat of the afternoon sun. As the sucessful lioness licks her lips and enjoys the sweet taste of victory, the cycle of life is continued. Even the great predator of  the jungle cannot escape death. Even if not by being captured and eaten by another mammal, the lioness too will eventually die like the rest and become a part of the earth. There the beetle enjoys his meal as the cycle of life is completed.

Journal #19

The sky was dark and pitch black on this night
with the air full of silence as the crowd
waited in patience and joyful delight
to view fireworks from their chairs on the ground.

Then suddenly a boom echoed the sky.
The first firework had gone off with a bang
Bright beams across darkened clouds they did fly.
Trails left to descend while the echo rang.

It is the annual celebration
of our country's birth, the 4th of July,
the date the states became a great nation
and reason of the soldier's battle cry.

For on this day, a document was signed,
the Declaration of Independence,
great men of integrity were the kind
to sign this with faith hope and allegiance.

This Declaration led our men to war.
Many lives were lost but for freedom's sake.
Families and friends caused to split and tore
while loved ones fought a great country to make.

Remember as you watch the colors glow
and marvel at our flag as freedom waves,
how we got here to this place we love so,
the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Journal #18

As I pondered the multitude of eyes beaming at me from the magnificent creature, I noticed hiding behind it stood a beautiful mermaid, curiously peeking behind its protector. The creature in front of me kept the mermaid from my sight though. The creature stretched out its long plump tentacles and tilted its head in confusion of my means. Every move I made, the multitude of eyes followed me. Every time I tried to make eye contact with the mermaid hidden behind it, the massive tentacles moved in my way. Unsure of how to proceed, I reached into my pocket and searched for the pearl I had found earlier. Using this flawless beautiful ball as a symbol of peace, I stretched out my hand towards the strange creature there before me. Suddenly, the mermaid squealed in delight at the sight of the pretty pearl. Her aqua shaded tail wagged back and forth like a dog who you are about to reward with a treat. She fearlessly passed by her guardian and received the pearl with a warm smile. It was not until this moment that I realized her true beauty. This magnificent creature with long brown curly locks floating gently in the water and piercing green and blue speckled eyes was absolutely breathtaking. Then there was her tail that reflected the sunlight, each time showing of its sparkling aqua scales. Lastly, on top of her head laid a shell and pearl crafted tiara. The pearls were flawless, much like the one I had given her. The rest of the shells shown brightly in a way that would put diamonds to shame. It was as if all the pieces had finally been put together in my brain. The strange guardian creature, the hesitance to my presence, the warm smile and sincere kindness, and then of course the one of a kind tiara. I was in the presence of princess Andrina. It was the same moment that I realized her true identity, that she had gone, disappearing as mysteriously as she had arrived.

Journal #17

As the light blue fuzz feathered through the warm current of air purring form the heating vent, the noisy fast paced students piled into the still defrosting room. The high pitched squeaking of pulling out the stools and clicking noise of the computers opening filled the once quiet room. It was a typical Thursday in Mr.Langley's A2 honors English class. All eyes focused on their outdated screens in front of them, the students began typing away at their daily journal entry. The students work distraction free until their concentration is broken by the sound of the timer going off, causing several students to jump in surprise at the loud sound. Attention is then turned to the large bright touch screen board with black wide printed sentences written repeatedly down the page. This can only mean one thing. It was a sentence study day. The groans and complains of the high school students came automatically at the sight. Nevertheless, they unhappily pulled out their homework from their folders. After doing so they naturally searched for a different colored pen in which to grade as well. One by one the students passed on the thin black pointer stick like a baton, each taking a turn to diagram the sentences written. This was a long process, each step accompanied by hands in the air and the occasional arguing of who is right or not. Laughs are also shared at the expense of the befuddled student accidentally touching his or her paper to the board creating a random jagged line across the screen. Then of course, the mysterious wonder of how to undo it keeps Mr.Langley as well as the students left in curiosity. Finally, the first sentence is complete. The board is a colorful, messy yet organized display of prepositions, verbs, adverbs, clauses, phrases, infinitives, subjects, direct objects, etc. This process continues until the points are tallied up, and the grading is complete. The anxious students then sit in wait to be released by the high pitched sound of the bell.

Journal #16

Something very unique happened yesterday during Mr.Walworth's B3 Psychology class. As you know, the high school musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown is performing this weekend. Their opening night is today and so yesterday afternoon they got out of their classes to run through the entire show. Before they ran through the show, they had pictures for the musical taken. This means that everyone was dressed in their costume, stage make-up, and had their hair done. Pictures for the musical happened during B2 and the musical rehearsal would not start until after lunch, so that means that they were walking around in their costumes and stage make-up for their third hour class. Hannah Siehr is playing the role of Snoopy in the musical and when she walked into Psychology class, she was all done up as a dog. No joke. When she first came in, I was putting my books away. She said "Hi Sabrina!" and I recognized the voice, looked up and then realized that the person in front of me did NOT look like Hannah. I was talking to a dog. It was great and I had no idea that she was going to be in her dog make-up for class. She got all kinds of looks from everyone else in the room and she just kept repeating over and over "I'm in the musical! I'm not that weird I swear!" every time someone new walked into the room. It was quite entertaining. Hannah consisted of her white face, black nose, and black lined doggy mouth. Along with this, she had her hair stuffed into two black socks, which were her floppy ears. It was quite a sight to see. Everyone got a kick out of it, and it was nevertheless good advertisement. You could not help but just look at her and smile. It is a good thing that Hannah is confident and can laugh at herself, because that is probably the only way she could have gotten through all the stares. Everyone knows she is one of the best singers in the school too, so really no one can judge her anyways. Seeing Hannah all dressed up as Snoopy, only makes me that much more excited to see the show this weekend.

Journal #15

Someone who I greatly miss lives across the Atlantic Ocean in Europe. Paul Boucherie was a foreign exchange student from last year from France. He was hilarious. Paul stayed with the Good family and became a very close friend. Some of my favorite memories with Paul happened in Madrigals. Tucker Good had been involved in Madrigals all four years and so it was no surprise that he convinced his foreign exchange student to join in. I remember one class when we were learning a French song for Madrigals and he just laughed at our sorry attempt to pronounce the French words. With his help, our accents were not horrible. Paul was also involved in band as a part of the drum line. The drum line was one of my favorite parts of the football games and I always yelled "Go Paul!" when he played. He later joined track with us and ran for the first time. To put it nicely, running was not his forte. Nevertheless, he had fun and it was nice to have him on the team and hang out with him outside of school. I love getting to know the foreign exchange students because they are so unique. One of the things is that I just love accents, but I also think it is so interesting to learn about their culture and what they like the most about America. It is funny to see someone's perspective of us and our country from someone who is here for the first time. One of the hardest things about becoming friends with a foreign exchange student is that you know you will eventually have to say goodbye. The year goes by so quickly and you do not even notice it until they only have a few weeks left in the United States. I remember going to his going away party with Micalister and promising ourselves that we were not going to cry. We broke that promise. It was very emotional and we left in tears, but it was so good to see him one last time. We promised to keep in touch though. One of the great things about Facebook and other social media sites is that they allow you to communicate with people all over the world. This, as well as skype, makes it possible to still keep in contact with friends even though they are thousands of miles away. I hope someday to visit him in France, but for now I have to settle with Skype and Facebook.

The Pit and The Pendulum

Romanticism follows the Rationalism period, taking over in the early eighteen hundreds. This style of writing is the complete opposite of Rationalism in the way that it values feelings over reasoning. Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most famous writers during this period and his short story, The Pit and the Pendulum fits the characteristics of Romanticism well. Poe's work of literature demonstrates the power of imagination, value of individual freedom, and lastly the dominance of psychological fears. All of these meet the criteria for this period.

The power of imagination is one of the many characteristics of American Romanticism. This is displayed repeatedly throughout The Pit and the Pendulum. When the character first comes to his senses, he is engulfed in fear. He was desperate to know where he was, but he was afraid that when he opened his eyes, there would be nothing to see. He was correct. He was suffocated by the darkness. He was overwhelmed and his imagination was racing. "I reached out my hand, and it fell heavily upon something damp and hard. There I suffered it to remain for several minutes, while I strove to imagine where and what I could be" (Poe 265). Having his sight taken away, his imagination was only encouraged to think the worst. His imagination also misguided him in the measurements of his cell. He had imagined his dungeon to be twice the actual size of it, which was twenty-five feet (Poe 268). The power of imagination on a person's feelings is what Romanticism feeds off of.

Along with the power of imagination, the longing for individual freedom is another factor of Romanticism. This is what the character hopes for the entire story. He is held as a prisoner both physically and mentally. At first his hope for freedom is through escape, but when faced with the reality of the situation, he sets his sights for freedom through death. "But the moment of escape had arrived. At a wave of my hand my deliverers hurried tumultuously away. With a steady movement- cautious, sidelong, shrinking, and slow- I slid from the embrace of the bandage and beyond the reach of the scimitar. For the momentt, at least, I was free" (Poe 272). This section of The Pit and the Pendulum, this desire to taste freedom, is key to Romanticism.

Lastly, the influence of psychological fear is very important in the Romanticism style of writing. This is all about what is going on inside your head and your internal battles. This is first seen when the character is having troubles distinguishing the difference between his dreams and reality. "This sense of having a memory of that which did not in fact occur is central to the story's ambiguity, for as the narrator tries to remember his experience, it is not clear whether the memory is of a real event or a dream event that has been forgotten" (May). Psychological fear also provided the character with the internal battle between surrounding to death or fighting to stay alive. In the end, his hope is enough to keep him stable. This idea of psychological fear is directed more towards the dark side of Romanticism, which is what Poe is known for.

The power of imagination, desire for freedom, and influence of psychological fear are all key elements to the Romanticism writing style. Henry Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, uses these elements to reach both the reader's emotions and feelings. This is the main difference between Romanticism and Rationalism. Henry Allen Poe, along with many other writers of this style, succeeded in doing just this.

May, Charles E. "Alternate Realms of Reality." In Edgar Allan Poe: A Study of Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991, pp. 96–97. Quoted as "Dreams and Reality in the Story" in Harold Bloom, ed. Edgar Allan Poe, Bloom's Major Short Story Writers. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 1998. (Updated 2007.) Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BMSSEP39&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 5, 2012).

Poe, Edgar A. "The Pit and the Pedullum." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 263-73. Print.

Journal #14

I have two very scary moments that have occurred in my life. One of them happened last year at the end of the summer, the last day of summer actually. My friend Amanda and I had spent the entire night at the fair having a good time, but it was getting late and it was time to go home. We had parked about four blocks from the entrance in some random person's yard. It was about ten o'clock at night when we were walking back to our car. During the walk, there were these drunk guys drinking on a porch that we had to walk by. They tried talking to us, but we kept on walking. It was pretty sketchy. After we got a little ways from the house, we noticed one of them was following us. We freaked out. We started walking as fast as we could and immediately called my mom. We were so pumped up on adrenaline and fear that I had to focus just to control my hands from shaking while dialing my mom's number. We were able to make it to our car safely, but it definitely shook us up. I think the fear was created because of the unknown. We had no idea what this guy was doing or his intentions so we just assumed the worst. Another very scary moment in my life occurred a few weekends ago. This was when I went to my first haunted house with my friends. I am an easily scared person and this was a really big deal for me. I was fine one the car ride there, but once I realized this is really happening, I got extremely anxious. In line for the haunted house, I was literally almost in tears from being so scared. They had zombies walking around while you waited in line, and of course they love messing with scared girls that they can get a good scream out of. This would be me. I refused to let go of my friend and I did not even want to look up to see if they were still there. I also kept my eyes closed for the majority of the haunted house. I think I was mostly scared because it was a new experience for me. I had no idea what to expect, all I knew was that by the end of the night, I would be terrified.