Interview on Beliefs

Untitled from Claire W on Vimeo.

At the end of the year.....

Authors note: This closure piece is a reflection over the past two years I have been in middle school with Mr. Johnson. As much as I look forward to high school, part of me wishes I could stay in middle school just for the sake of still having Mr. Johnson as my English teacher.

As cliché as it sounds, it is difficult to see how my two years of middle school have passed by so quickly. It is easy to remember the night before my first day of seventh grade -- nightmares about being late to class running through my mind. The teachers were welcoming and helpful to the nervous seventh graders, but I still went home crying and hating middle school. Yet being able to enjoy middle school is not the only way I have grown.

On the first day of classes fourth hour held a surprise. Gone were the teachers who expected you to do the assignment exactly step by step. No more was I in a classroom where teachers held my hand as I completed their self-created projects. I had Mr. Johnson now.

Two years have past and without a doubt I feel prepared for high school. When looking at the poster in this room above the Speak cabinet, those qualities seem to describe how I feel about my writing. I have gained the ability to read and understand novels more independently than when I walked in as a beginning seventh grader. Literature now seems to hold so much more depth than it did before for me. So now as I look forward to high school and the freedom to come, I am excited for the chance to learn more.

There may be time

Authors note: When I wrote this piece, my inspiration was someone who I love that as time goes on, may spread us apart. I wanted the reader to imagine somebody who they love that could possibly be taken away from then.

There may be a year

Or two or three

But there may be a day

Left for just you and me

We may have a lifetime

To celebrate what we love

But there may just be time

To wait for the above

Your childhood will be missed

The comfort you once gave

It will never be forgotten

All the love I will save

So now as we wait

For time to pass by

Live well and live all

Promise you'll try

Don't Forget

Authors note: After Mr. Johnson mentioned how the older you get, the faster time seems to get. This suddenly made me realize that each school ends sooner and sooner. Before long we will all be graduated, but will we always remember each other? I tried to make the lines longer in the end to show how sometimes we just want moments to last in life.

Don't forget that laugh or smile sitting

That empty silent seat beside

Those common faces so bare and dull

are they still alive?

Don't forget those awkward times with others

The ones you often wish away

They remember them just as well

did they feel the same way?

Those times and days when all was bleak

Yet one smile, a joke made you laugh

Those sitting there right beside

did they take joy in that grin?

Don't forget those single days between

The endless single hours

And at the end you all were cheering

how long did that last?

How long did it last before you remembered

The photos stained with your tears

You remember those times you wish you'd forget

did you finally?

Remember the love and the pain and loss

The death that you felt inside

Those ones that you hated unrelentingly

do you miss them?

Remember those times you laughed and smiled

Those days when nothing would bring you down

And the people you were with who witnessed it

remember them

Recording of Emilated Poem

http://voicethread.com/share/1972202/

Saison d'Autumn

Author's note: I tried to write this poem in french just to see how hard it was. Below it is a translation.

Link to voicethread

Avec les feuillages des coleur brilliant
et arbes des verte terre
Je regarde le mou et belle saison
devenis le froid hiver

Translation:
With the leaves of bright color
and trees of green earth
I watch the soft and beautiful season
become the cold winter

Finally Truth

Authors note: This poem represents all the lies that had been told to Truman. There are two quotes that the director of the show said in the movie that showed his need for control over the show and Truman. I incorporated both of them into the poem. Also, the last line was not spoken in the movie, but it seemed as though it should be assumed.



O're the ocean he traveled to see
that which had made him what he be
That which has almost been his death
And that which then gave his breathe

Of all the lies ever was told
He had never been all that bold
To have such courage for he was scared
For what beyond the world shared

He accepted the world as it was given
Not over the bridge had he ever driven
For water had stole from him a dad
One who was sheltered from all sad

The water that once had been his life
Began to cause him such a strife
His father was gone and what to become
but a heart that had gone cold and numb

And so as secrets began to unfold
The truth that once had never been told
Was finally spoken for all to hear
"In my world, you have nothing to fear."

Yet fear was what had caused this show
His need for control had made him so
And as Truman opened the door
I'll never come back again he swore

The Truman Show and school

Authors note: When we were watching the movie, my main thought was how unfair and inhumane it was that they were making his life a TV show. It also scared me that he didn't even know what was happening to him.


As children we are taught to follow certain rules. 'Don't talk to strangers.' and 'Don't cross the street alone.' are examples of non-negotiable rules. At school it is required for us to 'use our inside voices' and 'walk in a straight line' at all times while inside the building. Each teacher has a list of rules that hang in their room proudly to remind students of what not to do. School starts at a young age and slowly drills these rules into us. In third grade, they push harder for us to learn these rules saying that fourth grade is much worse in their punishments for not following rules. When we reached sixth grade, we were constantly reminded of the difficulty in middle school. Finally as eighth graders, teachers are always telling us of how difficult high school will be. After high school there will be the trouble of college. Our school says they are preparing us for "College Readiness" with our learning targets. They say they want to prepare us for the real world, yet they keep us so protected at school. Just as it is in the movie, our school is constantly making sure that everything is happening in the right place and the right time. We think that school is a reality; the teachers teach us about all that is going on in the current world. But is school reality? I was thinking that school is a lot like this movie because everything is so protected to be made perfect. School seems to be teaching us what they want us to know, though, just as the producer is doing with Truman's life.

Never give all your apples

My poem was inspired by the poem Never give all the heart by William Butler Yeats. I took his idea of not wanting to give something away and the consequences that would occur if you did and made a satire.

Never give all the heart:

Never give all the heart, for love

Will hardly seem worth thinking of

To passionate women if it seem

Certain, and they never dream

That it fades out from kiss to kiss;

For everything that's lovely is

But a brief, dreamy, kind delight.

O never give the heart outright,

For they, for all smooth lips can say,

Have given their hearts up to the play.

And who could play it well enough

If deaf and dumb and blind with love?

He that made this knows all the cost,

For he gave all his heart and lost.

My Poem:

Never give all your apples, for good

You'll never be thinking you should

To hungry poor children so sweet

Certain, and they would never eat

That it hurts some from day to day

For all that is juicy I pray

Is a cool, crunchy, kind delight.

O never give your apples outright,

For they, for all poor souls can say

Have given their apples up to the play

And who could eat with upright head

If full and rich and plump with red?

He that gave it knows all the loss,

For he lost all his apple sauce.

El Alcazar

Author's note: This poem was based off of the poster in the back of the room. I looked at the tower and imagined a princess who was left there to die.

I know why I am here

The fate of all the lands

And all that I hold dear

resting upon my hands

And now that I am gone

A single flower dead

The rest quiet their song

And nothing to be said

In life what have I done

To call upon this death

No Hell I can't outrun

And gone my single breath

My soul will linger here

So restless and unsure

All love will disappear

Along with all else pure

Creation

After studying the Christian view of the creation of the world, I was inspired to write this poem.

Beginning of the morning

The light a gift for all

So soft so strong it is today

A beautiful creation

Another day has come and gone

To leave another morning

Another day for night and sky

A beautiful creation

The day is gone another comes

Alive are plants and trees

Separate are the land and sea

A beautiful creation

Another gift another blessing

Let light guide us in our lives

The darkness hides in fear of light

A beautiful creation

Yet another day is here

The fish swim in the sea

Birds are flying overhead

A beautiful creation

Another day again is here

The last and final gift

A beating heart and love for all

A beautiful creation

The seventh day of rest and peace

So blessed is it now

We sing of praise for the time we have

What a beautiful creation

Mr. Kumar

This was a response to the prompt "Discuss Mr. Kumar and Pi's description and respect for him."

When meeting someone for the first time, you may get a first impression immediately just by their appearance. When Pi describes Mr. Kumar in the novel Life of Pi, he is an interesting man with an interesting shape. A triangular head and body stuck upon two sticks called legs. An odd shape, yes, but if you were to get past the first impression what would you find? A man full of knowledge and a love for science is what Pi sees behind the façade of an oddly shaped person. Though Mr. Kumar is an atheist, Pi does not mind as long as he has faith in something. The weak are those who claim they are too strong to put their faith anywhere for support.

As an atheist, Mr. Kumar believes that God is not real. He said himself to Pi one day, "Religion is darkness." "Why tolerate darkness? Everything is here and clear, if only we look carefully." Mr. Kumar then pointed to a rhino standing in front of him referencing him as the light in life. It shows that his "religion" is science.

Once, Zeno the Stoic said that it is better to feel nothing than to feel good or bad. If you believe this, you could also say that it is better to put your faith in nothing than to put it in something good or bad. When Pi is thinking about his talk with Mr. Kumar he says to himself “It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while." "But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation." Pi is saying to that life by doubt or to put faith in nothing, you are making life as hard to live as you possibly can.

If ever in life were you to take a leap of faith, where would your faith be? This question is one that would have a variety of answers. The point that Pi or Yann Martel is trying to get across is that if you ever have to be asked that question, you should know exactly where you put your trust and faith. Not the trust you have in a bank for keeping your money safe, but the faith that you may realize that something is greater and more powerful than yourself and you trust it with your life. Pi's respect for Mr. Kumar is not about his knowledge, but that he has faith in something he loves -- that he could take a leap of faith with science by his side.