What the future holds....

I have no idea what the future holds for me when it comes to writing. I do not really see myself as that strong of a writer, especially when it comes to creative writing. It is very hard for me to come up with stories. As far as a career is concerned, I do not have any dreams to become a writer of any sort, so this should not be that much of a problem for me (hopefully). However, I do believe that this class has improved what my writing future has in store for me.

Post Secret Website

I had never heard about this website before this class. I actually thought it was very entertaining. Most of the secrets made me laugh. Some of them were sort of strange, and there was one that I couldn't even read. I liked how most of the people who sent the secrets in put a picture or background along with their secret. That definitely made it more interesting. I originally thought it was just going to be a bunch of dates/times and secrets typed out.

Killing Yourself to Live

I thought this book was somewhat weird to be honest. Overall, I did like it, but it wasn't like I was dying to get back to reading it each week or anything. Probably the main reason for that was the format. While I do understand that this is how our brains work, jumping all around to five different subjects within a few minutes, it was very hard to read this type of book. I have never come across a book in this format before. I guess I would say a strength was the amount of dialogue. That really kept me engaged in what was going on. Another thing that really kept me from fully understanding this book was ALL of the song references. I mean there must have been hundreds of references to songs and I would say out of all of those I knew less than ten that were mentioned. I would say that I probably would not recommend this book. I guess if I did it might be to someone who really listened to a LOT of music because maybe they would be able to understand it better. But other than that, probably not. I guess my reasoning for this is simply that it was just kind of a chaotic book. Usually people read books to relax or as something to do on their free time and maybe they just wouldn't want to read a book that they barely even know what is going on in it. I guess that's just my opinion though.

My favorite monster

The monster I chose is Mike from Monsters, Inc. I like him because he is technically a monster, but he is not scary. He's only funny and also at times he is nice. His best friend is Sulley, the monster. Their work for the company, Monsters, Inc., where their job is to scare children. If you ask me, they aren't very good at it because they are actually kind of cute and cuddly looking. They actually find a girl who they nickname "Boo" and take care of her and try to get her back to her home. Even though they are trained to scare children, they end up really caring about her. I like these monsters!

Poem

Uncle Eddie

You had such a big heart.
And such big arms,
Mostly used for hugging.

You had so much love,
In your big heart,
But so little time to spread it.

Because you had such a big heart,
God took you early.
He knew that where you really belonged,
Was in heaven.


The inspiration for my poem, unfortunately, was the passing of my uncle on September 29th. The challenges I faced were trying to capture his essence in this poem. It was also a very emotional poem for me to write seeing as how this event was so recent. I am also not a very good poem writer at all. I worked hard at it and edited it a few times to overcome those challenges.

My poet - Maya Angelou

The poet I want everyone to know about is Maya Angelou. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but grew up in Stamps, Arkansas. One interesting fact I found out about her was that from the age 7 to age 13, she did not speak. Her mother's boyfriend had molested her and she told her brother. Later, she found out that her Uncle had killed the boyfriend so she felt as though her words killed him and that's why she stopped speaking. She had a child a few weeks after she graduated from high school, and left home to be a single mother at the young age of 16.

Her website, http://www.mayaangelou.com/, describes her as a "poet, educator, author, playwright, activist, historian, producer, actor, director .... Maya". She has written several books, and influenced or had some part in many films.

Here is an interview with her talking about her book "Letter to My Daughter"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YorUsSXvnGE

"Phonemonal Woman" is a poem that I really like by her. Here is a link to it:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/phenomenal-woman/#

Here is a link to her video gallery on her website which has several important videos in it, including Maya at the inaugeration of President Bill Clinton.

http://mayaangelou.com/media/video/

"Touched by an Angel" is another poem by her that I enjoyed. Here is a link to it:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/touched-by-an-angel/

I think everyone should experience this poet because she is very influential. Not only is she a poet, but she has been involved in many other things over the years too. She has a great variety of poems, interviews, and films. Her works of art are inspirational, and can promote creativity within people.

Cinderella, as Told by Gus the Mouse (Final Draft)

Hello, my name is Octavius, but all my friends call me Gus. One sunny afternoon I was walking through the woods when I came upon a huge mansion. I decided to go in and take a look around. I came in through a hole by a staircase that led to the attic. So, I started climbing the stairs when all of a sudden I heard a loud slam! I turned around to realize that I was trapped in a cage. I was so scared that I was trembling and had no idea how I was going to get out. Then another mouse, Jaq, saw me and told me he would go get his friend Cinderella to help me out. I looked up the stairs in awe as a beautiful girl ran down to help me. “C’mon out little fella,” she said. She named me and gave me a hat, shirt, and shoes to wear. From this day forward, they were my best friends.
Cinderella was such a wonderful person. Her father passed away leaving her to live with her evil stepmother and stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella, who made her clean and cook for them all day and night. It was rare that Cinderella ever got a chance to rest. Us mice couldn’t understand how they could be so mean to her. Whenever she had a task that we could help her with, we all worked quickly so that she could get it done on time.
One day the royal Prince announced that he would be holding a grand ball to find an eligible young lady to be his Princess. All of the young ladies in the kingdom were invited. I watched as Cinderella made dresses for her ugly stepsisters, and styled their hair for them. They teased her tremendously, as she was not allowed to go to the ball. She watched with sadness as her stepsisters rode off. My heart ached for Cinderella. It was so unfair that her stepsisters got to go and she didn’t. She was so upset that she went outside to cry. POOF! All of a sudden a fairy godmother appeared and granted all of Cinderella’s wishes. She gave her a wonderful gown and glass slippers to wear, and before I knew it she turned me into the coach for Cinderella’s carriage. Her fairy godmother also told her to be back by midnight or else she would go back to normal. Off we drove to drop Cinderella off at the ball. I never thought that she could look more beautiful than she already was. While at the ball, the Prince was overcome by Cinderella’s beauty and would only dance with her. When the clock struck 11:45 pm, me and the other animals started to get worried that she would be caught in the Prince’s love spell and forget to leave before midnight. Shortly after, Cinderella came running down the palace’s steps towards us. While coming down the stairs, she tripped and lost one of her glass slippers. Without thinking, she hopped in the carriage and we rode off quickly.
A few days later, the Prince announced that he found the glass slipper of the woman that he is to marry. He ordered the Duke to go around to every house in the kingdom and try it on every young lady they could find. Because Cinderella’s stepmother was so evil, Jaq and I watched in despair as she climbed the attic stairs and locked Cinderella in her room. She wanted to keep her from having a chance at trying the glass slipper on.
Knock! Knock! Knock! The Duke arrived and began trying the slipper on Anastasia and Drizella. We had to get Cinderella out some way! While her stepsisters were fighting over who would try the shoe on first, Jaq and I tiptoed our way into her stepmother’s pocket and stole the key to her room. Because Cinderella’s stepsisters had huge, ugly feet they did not fit the slipper. We took the key all the way up to the room in the attic where Cinderella was trapped. Whack! At the last moment, Lucifer the cat smacked a bowl down over the key and me so that we could not let her out. With much effort and some help from our animal friends, Jaq helped me escape and we let Cinderella out. Just as the Duke was walking out the door, Cinderella ran down the stairs and told him to let her try it on. She tried it on, and of course it fit. I was so excited! I knew that this meant she was to marry the Prince.
The Prince heard the news and came to get Cinderella so that he could marry her. Of course, before she left, she didn’t forget about her little friends and she took Jaq and I with her to live in the palace. We all lived happily ever after … and Jaq and I had lots of new places to explore in the huge palace too!