Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Dottie's E- Portfolio Blog: My video of what I Learned In the YC Learning Cent...
Dottie's E- Portfolio Blog: My video of what I Learned In the YC Learning Cent...: "http://www.xtranormal.com/profile/6189925/?listid=23045437"
My Live Essay Defining Poetry of Witness
Many of these Poetry of Witness poems are written by the person that may have witnessed the actual event up close and personal. My poem choice is The Woman Hanging From The Thirteenth Floor Window.
legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Witnesses -
I feel this poem is written by someone who observed the incident minute by minute as it unfolded. "She is the woman hanging from the 13th floor window" (lines 1-2). This tells me that more than likely the writer was there and witnessed this event. The writer may have even known the person that was hanging there, to have
had the perceptions and be able to perceive what the woman hanging was thinking. The writer sets the scene at late afternoon to early evening time frame when the sun is going down and lights are just starting to come on.
www.flickr.com/photos/kenilio/5648529650
"She sees the sun falling west over the gray plane of Chicago" (lines 61-62). The speaker sounds like they are observing this from the ground and wondering about their own life. Kind of like, how would I feel if I were there instead of her?
The image of the woman hanging from this 13th floor window is a divorced, single, Hispanic, mother of children.
www.singlespouse.com/financial.html
The poem says, "she is a woman of children of the baby, Carlos, and of Margaret, and of Jimmy who is the oldest" (lines 10-11). She is a strong willed woman pushed past her breaking point, who's circumstances have become so unbearable, that she felt herself forced to this dangerous extreme. She had made this choice to hang from this 13th floor window.
"She is her mother's daughter and her father's son" (line 12).
She is financially challenged and has been most all of her life. It says, "when she was young she ate wild rice on scraped down plates in warm wood rooms" (lines 16-17). This tells me that there may have been no running water to wash the plates with so they were just scraped off and at least she had a roof over her head and heat to keep warm, basically he bare necessities for her family. This also tells me that there was little food since it was only rice and no mention of any other food with it. I feel she grew up in a very poor family and they got by the best they could.www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5000113324 The poem also says she lives in a tenement type apartment building, this is more evidence that she is in fact living somewhat financially challenged.www.tenement.org/Virtual_Tour/index_virtual.html
She has been married twice and is no longer with either husband as it says in the poem, "she is several pieces between the two husbands she has had" (lines 13-14). The word "had" tells me she's no longer with either of them. She compares herself with all the other women around her that she sees struggling with their children just to get by. It says, "she is all the women of the apartment building who stand watching her, watching themselves" (lines 14-15). She feels that her circumstances are not just in her life, but in the lives of many other women. That this on going struggle of being a single mother with children is quite a burden mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially and this leaves her and the other women like her in a deep despair. "She sees other women hanging from many floored windows counting their lives in the palms of their children s hands" (lines 24-25). She hangs there undecided of whether to let go or not. She hears voices in her head, some telling her to jump and others telling her to get up. She knows her time is limited as she is hanging by her own strength and losing her grip. "She knows she is hanging by her own fingers, her own skin, her own thread of indecision"(lines 47-48). She contemplated many things children, parents, grandparents, old memories and as her life is slipping away, she pulls herself together and her racing thoughts come to a halt and she decides, NO, not this way, I am a fighter and my life is worth fighting for, as she "climbs back up to claim herself again" (line 66). She feels grateful that she has made the right decision and even though she was dealt a hard poor life, she is still worth it!
Works Cited:
Harjo, Joy, The Woman Hanging From The Thirteenth Floor Window.
www.Poetryfoundation.org.Web.2/3/2011
I feel this poem is written by someone who observed the incident minute by minute as it unfolded. "She is the woman hanging from the 13th floor window" (lines 1-2). This tells me that more than likely the writer was there and witnessed this event. The writer may have even known the person that was hanging there, to have
had the perceptions and be able to perceive what the woman hanging was thinking. The writer sets the scene at late afternoon to early evening time frame when the sun is going down and lights are just starting to come on.
"She sees the sun falling west over the gray plane of Chicago" (lines 61-62). The speaker sounds like they are observing this from the ground and wondering about their own life. Kind of like, how would I feel if I were there instead of her?
The image of the woman hanging from this 13th floor window is a divorced, single, Hispanic, mother of children.
The poem says, "she is a woman of children of the baby, Carlos, and of Margaret, and of Jimmy who is the oldest" (lines 10-11). She is a strong willed woman pushed past her breaking point, who's circumstances have become so unbearable, that she felt herself forced to this dangerous extreme. She had made this choice to hang from this 13th floor window.
She has been married twice and is no longer with either husband as it says in the poem, "she is several pieces between the two husbands she has had" (lines 13-14). The word "had" tells me she's no longer with either of them. She compares herself with all the other women around her that she sees struggling with their children just to get by. It says, "she is all the women of the apartment building who stand watching her, watching themselves" (lines 14-15). She feels that her circumstances are not just in her life, but in the lives of many other women. That this on going struggle of being a single mother with children is quite a burden mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially and this leaves her and the other women like her in a deep despair. "She sees other women hanging from many floored windows counting their lives in the palms of their children s hands" (lines 24-25). She hangs there undecided of whether to let go or not. She hears voices in her head, some telling her to jump and others telling her to get up. She knows her time is limited as she is hanging by her own strength and losing her grip. "She knows she is hanging by her own fingers, her own skin, her own thread of indecision"(lines 47-48). She contemplated many things children, parents, grandparents, old memories and as her life is slipping away, she pulls herself together and her racing thoughts come to a halt and she decides, NO, not this way, I am a fighter and my life is worth fighting for, as she "climbs back up to claim herself again" (line 66). She feels grateful that she has made the right decision and even though she was dealt a hard poor life, she is still worth it!
Works Cited:
Harjo, Joy, The Woman Hanging From The Thirteenth Floor Window.
www.Poetryfoundation.org.Web.2/3/2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
My video of what I Learned In the YC Learning Center
http://www.xtranormal.com/profile/6189925/?listid=23045437
Dear Ms. Cline,
I have thoroughly enjoyed this English class this year. I realize now that i was a bit rusty in writing and composing an essay, but I feel quite comfortable about it now. My biggest challenge in this class so far has been using a computer to do my class on line. I learned many things about this you taught me how to use the rich text format, how to submit URL's, how to copy and paste and most of all how to make a blog and post things to it. I can say i learned quite a bit in just one class of how to do a class on line. This was my first experience to do a class on line and even though I stressed it a bit, I was able to talk to you and refocus and get the assignments presented the way you wanted them. Thank you for the wealth of knowledge you gave me in this one class.
How have the readings in the class affected me? Well, I really enjoyed O'Brien's stories and did not realize that I liked reading war stories. I am reading the Handmaids tale now and I just can't seem to get into it yet, but as you taught me to hang in there and not make a preconceived idea of the book until it is completely read so as i complete this book i will form an opinion on it. The poetry i read in this class i enjoyed and tried my self to write poetry.
How has literary analysis different from other types of writing i have done in college? This literary analysis helped teach me to analyze the meaning behind the poem or story instead of just summarizing what i read. This i thought was pretty cool it made me think deeper about what i was reading.
What are my goals for the second half of the session? My goals are to be a better reader and contemplate what i write and what i read and think about it in a different perspective like analysis. My ultimate goal for this class is to do very well so that my reading and writing skills are at their best for other classes. I thank you for all the teaching you have given me and the things i learned in this class i will carry with me forever. Thanks again. Dottie Kee
I chose this blog because it explains the things I have learned in this class. Things that I will take with me on my journey through school.
Swirl In Their Head
Marines, the memories that swirl in their head.
Memories of friends alive, fallen heros, and now dead
The chaos, the noise the fear and the smell,
The heat and the sand this sure must be hell.
Marines the memories that swirl in their head
Wake up to morning or wake up to night,
The fear that they feel it just cant be right.
Why don't the politicians or anyone understand,
Are we fighting for freedom or just for some sand?
Marines the memories that swirl in their head.
The images they see the after math of war,
Body parts and pieces all over the ground,
Casualties of war strewn all around.
When will it end this bloodshed they see?
They pray to God, just don't let it be me.
Will they go home and be the same or is all
of this going to declare them insane?
The swirls of these memories are burnt in their brain.
By Dottie Kee
I chose the poem I wrote because it is like a breath of fresh air to me. It is something I would not normally do and I enjoyed writing it.
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