Blessed house

If I had to pick a favorite text this semester, it would be Sure Thing. Sure Thing is a story about a man named Sajeev and his wife Twinkle; they fell in love and decided to move into a house together. Sanjeev was a successful Indian man that was living in the United States. While moving into their new house, the couple found some items that were left behind by the previous owner. The items they found were not just regular left over household things—they were Christian sacraments and other Christian statues. Both Sanjeev and Twinkle were Hindu so all the Christian items did not mean much to them and their religious and cultural background. However, as the man in the house, Sanjeev did not want to keep the items that were left behind. In fact, he tried throwing them away a couple of times but Twinkle would not let him. Twinkle believed that the items that were left behind had some kind of meaning to the house and it would be very disrespectful to throw these Christian sacraments away. This disagreement over the leftover items ended up causing a good amount of tension between Sanjeev and Twinkle. And here is where I decided to begin to wrestle with the text for this blog. After all the arguing between the couple, Sanjeev ends up questioning his love for Twinkle.  For example, the part that most caught my attention was when the narrator provided, “[Sanjeev] did not know if he loved [Twinkle].”
    The reason I chose this part of the text was because I can not understand why Sanjeev would ever question his love for Twinkle if he truly loved her and was married to her, especially over mere items.  Unfortunately, I know there are times when married couples divorce due to infidelity, or the fact that their love has simply “faded” throughout the years. Yet, Sanjeev and Twinkle are newlyweds that recently moved into a house together—they should be head over heels in love! Because of the little arguments over a Christian statue, Sanjeev questioned his love for his wife, Twinkle.  Sanjeev specifically remembers the day Twinkle asked him if he loved her—he said, “Yes.” But, she never said it herself.  So now he questioning if she ever really loved him.  This concept just doesn’t make sense to me.  The story is about a married couple that thought they loved each other and so they got married.  Respectively, they moved into a house together to start a future.  Where is the disconnect here?
To me, this story is character driven through out the whole thing. From the beginning the characters were in love, now the characters are questioning their love for each other.  This leads me to think that there could be a possible break up in their marriage. Therefore, I interpret this section as way for readers to see that the couple is facing adversity in their life.  I think that Twinkle is Sanjeev’s first love, and that is why he is questioning if he loved her or not.
    Reading a little further it says, “In truth, Sanjeev did not know what love was, only what he thought it was not.” This sentence tells me that Sanjeev hasn’t experience love like this with anyone and he doesn’t know how to deal with thing like this. But he still chooses to go reconcile with his wife, despite his confusion of love.  I feel like at this point Sanjeev is having a change of heart and wanting to settle this little argument like adults. His mom said, “You need a wife to look after and love.” Deep down, I believe Sanjeev knows that Twinkle is the one he loves simply by being with her every day.
    This part is extremely important in this story. As I stated earlier, there are couples that get a divorce because their love has faded. However, I think that when you get married you promise one another to be with each other no matter what. You exchange vows of everlasting love and commit your lives together under the name of God. I think that Sanjeev realizes that this is the woman that he married and is going to spend the rest of his life. By him going back into the house and trying to work things out says a lot about his character.
Sanjeev’s character in this story comes off in a very conservative manner. He seems shy, but he has a lot to say when it comes down to it—there is always a lot on his mind, whether he says it or not. At the end of the story, Sanjeev shows his love by allowing his wife to keep the display of statues. He did not do it because he wanted to, but he did it because Twinkle really wanted to keep them. In marriage, there are times when you just have to let things go, you have to “pick your battles.” If one cannot let things go, little by little they will build up and it may result in the end of a relationship of marriage.  Even though men can be stubborn sometimes, they must understand that women can be sensitive and that is okay—we are not the same.  Does this mean if you don’t agree you will stop loving each other? No. But it will make you stronger as a couple. 
One thing my mom has always told me was to try and work all of your issues out civilly when you are married, fighting often gets you hurt feelings.  I really enjoyed reading this story and learning so much about these characters. This story can have so many questions that can arise from it. Can it be something religious? Does the display mean something? Can this story be how a man should act with a tough situation? There are so many meanings that this story could offer each and ever reader.  For now, I will let my mind continue to wander as to what it might mean to me right now.  One important thing that I obtained from this story though, is to always love you wife, no matter what.

A very old man with enormous wings: A Tale for Children

Reading this story, I find it a bit easier the the previous stories that we read. I actually enjoyed reading this one. This story basically starts off with a guy named Pelayo who found this very old man with wings in his back yard. Him and his wife had no clue who he was or why he was laying in their back yard. They called a neighbor to come check it out and her first reaction was that he was an angel.  They believe that he was so old the rain knocked him down when he was coming for the child. They decided to lock him up behind the house with the chicken coop to remain safe. By doing that it allowed the neighbors to stand in front and start a commotion. The priest cam by and said this so call "Angle" might be sent from the devil. Among all the talk around the neighbor hood Pelayo and his wife Elisenda had to fence their yard to protect the creature that was kept in their back yard. In this little town there has been weird miracles such as a blind man who did not recover his sight but grew new teeth or the leper whose sores sprouted sun flowers. Pelayo and Elisenda came to accept this angle creature that was in there back yard. It feels like over time this angel has became a very close pet to this family. At the very end of this story the angel started to feel health again. The feathers started to grow back and it was trying to fly but very awkwardly. As the angel couple attempts of flying it finally gained control and started soaring through the air as he left.
I feel like the angel being there was very annoying to the family. The thing I like most about this story is that Pelayo and Elisenda did good thing by keeping him safe in the courtyard. The thing frustrate me the most about this story is when the neighbors burning him with a hot iron just so they can see him standing. Overall this story was a great story to read.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Reading this story at parts can get very tricky. Reading the fist paragraph I really enjoyed how they were very descriptive with the scene. "In the Silence of the broad green meadows one could hear the music winding through the streets, farther and nearer and ever approaching, a cheerful faint sweetness of the air that from time to time trembled and gathered together and broke out into the great joyous clanging of the bells." Reading that sentence, I can tell that their neighborhood is very small and everyone knows each other.
The Omelas was one of the many families that live in this neighborhood. The Omelas family were no ordinary family, They were different. In fact, The Omelas were the perfect family for those who doesn't know them. In the story it says that they are happy people, their children are always happy, there are goody goody and not too mention the other spectacular things they said about this family.
Now wouldn't you think this family is nothing but perfect? Well... other than being perfect, The Omelas family had a secret of their own. In a their basement they have a locked door where they keep a child. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl, but this room is always locked and he or she is not allowed out. The child begs to get out but the Omelas family never answers. The child has been there for so long, they are scared to the child up to society because we do not know how the child will act. The Omelas has a reputation to maintain. I believe that is why the keep the child in the basement. The question that this story asks is do I believe in this family. I don't know if I believe in the Omelas but I do believe that there are families that have big and deep secrets. Overall I enjoyed reading this story.

Stages of Interpretation

Coming back from the break was very hard. I enjoyed my thanksgiving break very much. In class on Thursday before we left for break we watch this animation video. In this post I am going to explain the stages of Interpretation and how it related the animation video we watched. The three stages you have to keep in mind are 1. What does the text actually say, 2. What does it mean, 3. criticize (Critical thinking) what does it matter. My first thought about the seven minute video we watch, I thought that a lot of people died and only a couple survived. At the beginning it made it seem like they were on a ship and they are heading off to an Island away from everyone.
To answer number one of three stages I think that this video was saying that he was on a ship escaping from society. There was a disaster that happen and trying to escape and find a deserted land to live in. To answer number two, I think this video can mean it's an old memory that passed a while ago and now he's grown old and going crazy. It also can mean he is a crazy man and just makes up stories. Its really hard to know exactly what is going on in his head. To answer number three, I think that overall it doesn't really matter because he suffers from Dementia and all his stories are made up.
At the end of the video before he pulls the gun on himself, it goes back to reality and shows that he's in a nursing home. What he thought was gun was really a door handle.
William Shakespeare had a really good quote that captured my attention as soon as it came up. It says "Its a tale told by an idiot, full of sounds and furry signifying nothing". Relating this the video, this made up story is told by an idiot. It is a very adventurous story but overall it doesn't mean anything. When I say it doesn't mean anything I mean that it is a made up story so it doesn't matter.   
I really enjoyed watching this video in class. I enjoyed trying to figure out the meaning of everything. After watching the video a couple times, you begin to notice more things that you haven't noticed before. 

A Temple of The Holy Gohst!!

Reading "A temple of the holy gosh" was kind of weird. There were times in the story where I got lost. I tried my hardest to figure out was going on. The 12 year old girl was the main Character in this story. They really didn't mention her name but they mentioned a lot of things about her. Right off the bat she came across as a mean girl. As the story progressed I found out that she was a mean girl and she says rude things to other people. The 12 year old girl and two cousin Susan and Joanne who decided to come stay with her for a long weekend. Her two cousins basically laughed at everything and at times can get real annoying. The 12 year old Catholic girl took religion very seriously. Her cousins really did not care much about anything but boys. They all decided to go to there fair not knowing what to expect. One of the tents had a person that was a man and a woman. To the 12 year old girl that was very shocking to her. The people there at the tent were called "Freaks". The lilttle girl confuses the freaks with a religous service. At the end of the story both the little girl and her cousins learned something, the little girl doesn't want to be mean anymore. She understand that the freaks will be freaks because God has made them that way. 

I think that she is beginning  to realize that her body and her curiosity about different things will change. In this story Religion is a symbol that is very important to this family. The temple can aslo be a special and important symbol in this story. The Temple car represent the body or a holy place. Overall this story was good, I can not wait for class tomorrow so we can discuss it.

The (movie) boys next door.

Today I am deciding to to go with option 3 and watch the movie "The boys next door". I was really disappointed I didn't get to go see the play. That is why I was really excited when I got the option to watch the movie. Watching the movie gives me a different perspective as to reading the book. Arnold is a person who has a lot on his mind. There are times Arnold cant stop talking.  Lucien is this black guy who is a perfectionist. Everything has to be in order, specially his agricultural books. It's weird because when I read the book my favorite character was Jack, but now that I am watching the movie Lucien just makes me smile. The things that he says just makes me laugh. I might of said this on the old blog but before reading and hearing about this play I thought they were different. There are different in a way of being mentally challenged but they are normal and funny people just like us. My favorite scene is when Lucien is talking about the clip on tie and how much he loves his clip on tie. At the end of it, Lucien asked jack if he can tie the tie for him lol. Things like that just make laugh out loud. Norman crush for Shiela is on going through out the movie. His dream finally came true when he dance with Shiela and couldn't get the smile off his face. So watching the movie is way better then reading the book. It's the same story and plot but something about the expressions of the actors face just makes each and every character. Jack is a man with a big heart. Even through some times he might get a bit frustrated and lose his temper, his love for those guys are bigger than ever. Jack feels like the guys need him to survive in this world. It is hurting and and his wife. It was hard for Jack separating with the guys but it is one of those things he had to do.

The Boys Next Door

Really make you appreciate the mentally challenge

(Edward Barbanell) Actor with down syndrome acting since 2000

Reading The Boys Next Door was truly a huge impact on my life. Some of the main characters in this play are Jack, Arnold, Lucien, Norman, Barry, Sheila, and Mr. Klemper. Out of all the characters in this play Jack was my favorite character. Jack is a social worker and he basically took care of the mentally challenged men. Jack was sweet, caring, and always willing to help. At times I feel like Jack gets overwhelmed taking care of these men, because it took over his personal life.  I can mostly relate this character because I had to take care of my Grandmother in high school. My Grandma is an amazing woman who did a lot for her kids. At the of 65 my grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. For those who doesn't know what that is, it's a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. My mom was not comfortable in putting her in a nursing home, so we took turns taking care of her. This might be a little different then being mentally challenged but you have to take care of her the same as you would with a challenged person. If my grandma wasn't watched 24/7, She would exit the house in the middle of the night or forget where she's at. I love my grandma but there are times when I get so overwhelmed. I think that is the same feeling that Jack felt in this story. The Alzheimer's has gotten worst and my grandma now doesn't remember me. She is now in the nursing home where there's people to take good care of her. Being mentally challenged or having some kind of brain dis function is hard thing, But if you really pay attention to their faces they are not sad. I trained myself to not feel sad for them but treat them like a normal human being. Because that is what they are.

Mary Oliver (Messenger)

Reading Mary Oliver's poems were really great. I enjoyed the activity we did outside. My favorite poem has to be the messenger. The messenger caught my attention because it talks about loving the world. There are times in my life I totally forget what is around me. I am standing on solid ground, the world is slowly turning, there are different creatures living around me. All this God has created and I show no interest in it at all.  My favorite lines in this poem are "My work is loving the world, here the sunflowers, there the humming bird equal seekers of sweetness, here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums, here the calm deep in the speckled sand". I mostly enjoyed how in depth she was with all her lines. What exactly does My work is loving the world mean? Does it mean by her work she need to love the world?
I think by that sentence she is trying to say that her purpose is to love the world. By that I mean for her to admire the wonderful things that God has created. 
"Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work".  I underlined this sentence as I was reading through this poem. I think this sentence relate to me in a way. Now that I am old enough to realize the awesome things God put around me, I will pay more attention to nature and his creation. For Mary Oliver, the only thing that matters to her is her work, which is loving the world.
I enjoyed reading the different poems by Mary Oliver. They Opened my eyes to new things. Going outside and sitting in the peace and reading the poems was very relaxing.  I wish we can do more field trips like this more often.

Lake Bonnie Park (NATURE)

Today I decided to go to lake Bonnie park for the assignment that was given to us by Mr. Corrigan. Going out there I really didn't know what to expect or what to write about. I was just hoping that nature would take its course so I can get some ideas on what to write about.

As I enter the park and got out of my car, I took a big breath of air just so I can come one with nature. As I sat the for a little bit I can hear the sound of children having laughing and having a blast.  It reminded me of the good ole days where all I did was play outside till the sun went down. As I walked out on the board walk I saw a bunny jump into a big bush as if I was chasing it. I can also hear the different sounds of bugs and insects running away as i go further down the board walk. As weird as this sound, I can relate to them. If there was some kind of army that was bigger and stronger than me, I would sense some danger as well. I am now stepping into their territory so they have the rights to feel threatened. Sitting there on the board walk I heard many bird sounds that they made to each other. They all had different sounds and tones to their call. It made me wonder how cool it wold be to understand what they are saying.
Every where I looked I saw the color green. God has put amazing things around us that I took for granted. Looking over the water I see tall trees, the top of the plant,  the birds soaring through the air and the gnats that are flying around my head I'm trying to sit there in peace. By the end of my 45 minutes they were real annoying by the way. The words that are best put to God's creating are PEACE, LOVE, CALM and HAPPINESS. Even though I hate reading and writing about nature I enjoyed myself watching God's beautiful creation. 

State of The Plamet

Class on Tuesday was very interesting. Fist I would just like to say that I do not really like reading about nature and other stuff like that. I find it real hard to experience some thing without you really being at this special place. I believe that people have their own opinion and preference to the things they enjoy reading Mr Corrigan :)
The scripture that really stuck out to me about the environment is Matthew 6:26-28. It says "Look at the birds of the air.... Observe how the lilies of the field grow. That to me is just telling me to look at all of God's creation around us. There are times I get up just stare at the things around me such as the trees, sky, clouds, plants, grass and all sorts of things that our God has created. The things that he created around me is so breath taking I can hardly speak at those times of silence. If you haven't read the scriptures that Mr. Corrigan gave us, I strongly think that you should give it a glance.

I enjoyed doing that activity in class simply because we got to hear all the different sentences that stuck out to everyone. There were a couple of sentences that really stuck out to me the first time I read State Of The Planet. The sentence that grabbed my attention was "Poety should be able to comprehend the earth". To me that means in order to write poetry about about nature and the earth you must really experience it and know how to translate it in words. I find it very insightful how someone can write a poem about insects eating birds and the sky being so blue just by sitting while observing nature. This story has really inspired me to gave nature poems or novel a chance. Hopefully in class we will be able to go outside and be one with nature.

Little riding hood.

Through out my life I was not much of a reader growing up. I always would find other things that are more important to do. When Mr. Corrigan asked us to name our favorite literature I couldn't think of any. Half way through the semester I began really appreciating literature. Literature is not all about the long and boring stuff, it can be about anything that is a story.
Today I am going to talk about one of my favorite literature stories that my mother would always read to me. That story happen to be "Little Red Riding Hood". For some reason this story stuck with me as a child. The characters in this story are little red riding hood, her grandmother, and the big bad wolf.
For those who hasn't heard this story, I will give you a brief summery of the story. Little red riding hood ask her mother if she can pay a little visit to her grandmother. On her way there the big bad wolf saw walking through the woods. The wolf found out that she was on her way to her grandmother's house. The wolf ended up beating her to her grandmother's to gobble her grandmother. The wolf dressed as the grandmother trying to trick the little girl. Little red riding hood realized it wasn't her grandmother and took off running.  A woodman made the wolf spit up the grandmother and they lived happily ever after. The author who wrote this story had a good sense of humor. When literature is funny people seem to remember it more, well at least I do.  A couple other stories that I enjoyed as a kid were little mermaid, the Tortoise and the hare, Beauty and the Beast and last but not least was Rapunzel. To think that literature was never in my life, but all along i been listening to it my whole life.

Lectio Divina "Sunny Blues"

After reading sunny blues I found it to be a very good story. I don't read too many stories but for some reason I found this one very interesting. It could of been the characters I related to or it could of been music of conversation that they kept on bringing up through the story. In class on Tuesday we did an assignment called Lectio Divina. Some of you might heard of this and some might not. The whole point was to practice of approaching a text in different ways, reading text recursively, meditatively and reflectively. The second part is to make sure your being implicated in what you read, of aiming for it to matter in how you live and who you are after words.
The first part was Lectio (Listening to the words). As I was listening to the story the first time I tried to grasp everything that was important in the story. Even though I read the story before I got to class, I heard something new when he was reading it. "He who has to fill it, this instrument, with the breath of life of his own". "He has to make it do what he wants it to do". These two statement that really stuck out to me when i first read it.
The second part is Meditatio (Reflecting on the word). Those quotes I gave you from the last passage really opened my eyes. I think he means the life within who controls what happens around us. Our single breath gave life to the instrument and it came alive. Simply amazing to me.
The third part in this exercise was Oratio (Responding to the word). As we read the story again my thoughts of the story is that He's relating life to music. Life is like a melody that we bring to this world.
The final step was Contemplatio (Resting in the word). This part we are simply to rest in the spirit. This part was really weird to me. It hard to rest in the spirit of book that is called a literature experience. Someone in class stated that it would be easier if we did it over the book of Joel, simply because when we meditate on the scripture we have an image of God. I totally agree with that statement. When we do it on a book that not about God, what are we suppose to picture? The author who wrote the book? 

Sonny's Blues

When I got done reading, I was amazed on how long the story was. This story was definitely worth reading because it had some pretty interesting things that I thought was really cool. I am a huge fan when it comes to different sounds and music. The first day I sat a drum set and hit the base and the snare I fell in love with drumming. Music was my first love. In this story, the things that confused me a little was he talks about the instrument but also his uncle's death. This story was very graphic when it came to explaining the fathers brother's death. I can not even imagine how that family felt. It seems like the mom held this little secret for a long time. I can tell when mama told him about his uncle that died it took everything out of her not to cry. "I know you never saw you Daddy cry, but I did many a time, though all these years. When she finished explaining tears were gleaming on her face. At the end of the story it stated something about music being played as if it was instruments having conversations. This can be the highlight point of the story. I really cant put a finger on it but hopefully in class Professor Corrigan can explain this better.
 I said this in an older blog, But my cousin died in a shooting almost 2 years ago. He has a kid that is 3 years old right now. When that kid gets older it's going to be so hard to explain to him how his dad died in a shooting. He's going to grow up without a father figure by his side. That just makes my heart burn for that little boy. I will keep praying one day his mom will have some courage to tell him when the time is good.  Stories like this I love reading because I can relate to it. I like how it's very productive and really makes you think.

Notes on Character

Since class on thursday, We haven't really discussed anything new.  As I was looking through my notes I found the page on Notes on Character by Paul T. Corrigan. I found that it was really interesting and that is why I am going to share my thoughts with you guys today.
Having to create a story was very difficult for me. I told myself how can I create a story from scratch when I hate reading and writing?
Mr. Corrigan stated "Characters often determine plot, and character are developed through the things that happen". This statement stuck out to me due to the fact I did not want my story to be boring. I wanted multiple Characters so that it would be entertain to read. In my story my normal life, there were five characters. My mother, sister, father, best friend and lastly me.
Starting off the story was difficult for me. What I had to do is what down every character and write down their roles in the story. I decided to write about my life, simply because my imagination is not too amazing.

The thing about literature is that you cant really define a character's type from the get go. I think that is why literature is so interesting, because as the story continue you can see the characters personality being developed. Characters are developed by
1. their physical description, including the way that they move, the clothing they wear, the way they sound and so on;
2. The things they say
3. The things they do
4. The way other characters respond to them, including the things others say to or about them:and...
5. Their Thoughts, if these are shown
The five points that I've read are really good points that Mr. Corrigan gave so that we can write our short story. Knowing characters in a story tells a lot about the person who wrote it. That is why it is good to really engage and know the true meaning of the story.
Overall this really helped me a lot to develop my characters and story. If you haven't read it, I strongly courage you to read it.

My normal life

My normal life

What exactly is a normal life? Is life all about love, money or possibly family? As a kid growing I didn’t realize the atmosphere around me could affect me in the future. …It all started at the age of 5…

“Mom!” I yelled. “Where are you going?”
“I am going to work” she said.
My mother, Asmene is a hard working lady. She works three jobs practically around the clock, while supporting my sister and me at the same time.
As my mom grabbed her purse and car keys to head out the door, she said, “I’ll be home later so I can cook you guys some dinner, okay?”
To me, this had become a routine for my mom every day except Sunday. 
As she walked out, my sister and I would yell “bye mom, love you!”

As soon as my mom got out of the door, my sister Jenny asked, “can we play dress up today? I have this really cool outfit I want you to wear.”
Jenny was my older sister by three years. 
I replied with a loud voice “No I don’t, I want to do something else besides playing dress up every day!”
My sister really didn’t have any friends that lived in our neighborhood so I always ended up having to play with her.  Who am I kidding, though, I only had one friend myself, and his name was Jean-Pierre.

Jean-Pierre and I had been friend for many years. When I first met him, he was very shy and didn’t talk much. He and his family recently moved down from France to start a business on the Island of St Maarten, where we lived. He had a very strong accent and it was very difficult for him to speak English, let alone for me to understand him. Over time Jean-Pierre and I became best friends. We did everything together; we played soccer, played basketball, went snorkeling, and for some odd reason, always got in trouble by our parents. Other than us being troublemakers, we sure knew how to have fun together.

Often, as we kicked the soccer ball back and forth to each other, we would always be on the look out for my dad’s truck coming down the street. I will never forget Jean Pierre’s accent when he would yell, “your father is coming!”
We would commence our good-bye handshakes and waved goodbye as we went home.

As soon as I got home I would always scream, “Jen! Jen! Dad is coming, hurry up and clean up the house!”
We would pick up as much as we can to get the house looking tidy; my dad did not like to see the house messy when he came from work. After cleaning, my sister and I would sit on the couch waiting to hear his keys jingle as he opened the door.
He says with a tiring voice, “Hi Adam and Jen!”
We would reply, “Hi Dad.”
I would always get up to and gave my dad a handshake upon his arrival.

I was closer to my dad than my sister. Out of respect and tradition my sister would give him a kiss on both cheeks. Unfortunately, my dad, Paul is not a huggable or lovable person, so what see is what you get.

“How was work today dad?” I asked.
“Work was good today son, my boss got on me for not getting enough work done, but other then that work is just fantastic,” he responded.
My dad would always emphasized the word fantastic, I never really knew if he loved his job or just saying that word sarcastically.
He asked, “How was school today Jen?”
My sister replied “school was good, I got an ‘A’ on my test!”
“Show off!” I mumbled under my breath.
My sister has always been such was smarty-pants when it comes to schoolwork. On the other hand, I never brought a single book home in my backpack. I simply didn’t care about school.
“Why don’t you be more like your sister Adam, you can learn a lot from her,” my dad said out loud.
I replied rudely “I’m not as smart as her and never will be!  I just don’t care about school.”
My dad shook his head and gave me the whole “education lecture” that I’d already heard way too many times.

So far, my life had been pretty normal when it came to having a family and friends. Most kids have a parent who is strict when it comes to school work and other stuff, just like my family. Most kids have a sibling that seems to always get more attention than the other.  However, when my mom got home from work, what I thought was normal turned out to be not so normal at all.

My mom would always get home from work around seven in the evening. For some reason, my sister and I always got excited when my mom got home; as she pulled into the drive way we would be waiting by the front door for her.
“Hi mom!” As we rushed to embrace her with hugs and kisses, we yelled.
No matter what, my mom would always bring home a special surprise for us. It could be a toy, McDonalds or some kind of candy.

As we walked into the house my mom would say, “Hey Paul,” with no emotion on her face.
Without even looking at her my dad replied, “Hey Asmene.”
This was normally the most they ever talked to each other without arguing. However, by the end of every night, my mom and dad would start arguing. As time went on the arguing would progress into yelling at each other. As I looked at both them I would just see anger and frustration with one another.

After they had been arguing, my mom turned to us and yelled, “GO TO YOUR ROOM!” She said it with such a loud voice; I thought that my sister and I had done something wrong.
“What’s wrong mom?” as tears rolled down my cheeks.
Mom said in the same loud voice “I SAID GO TO YOUR ROOM!”
My sister then grabbed me by the arm and took me in to the other room.

We would sit right behind the door holding each others’ hand, listing to the yelling which eventually turned into screaming. After 15 to 20 minutes of screaming, we hear the front door being slammed and my dad’s car engine starting up. With a quick rev to the engine my dad would be gone until the next morning. My mom would then walk into our bedroom crying and holding us next to her side.
I vividly remember her always saying, “I don’t want to live like this anymore, kids.”

People watching

When Mr. Corrigan gave us the assignment to people watch I thought of the perfect place to do it. The thing I was really looking for is to see if I can read there body language. The first girl I saw she was walking down Elprado and had a rolling back back. She weren't really walking with anybody or looked like she didn't have many friends. The way she was walking I can only assume that she's a timid and a shy girl. She also looked like a very studious girl.
Next to me there was a guy talking real loud and obnoxious. This guy seems like he had about the same personality as me. His actions were very expressive and out going. That can only tell me he's a people-pleaser. My last observation, I saw a girl sitting across from me on a bench talking on the phone. As she was talking on the phone I can see she's really frustrated. The reason I noticed that she was frustrated is because she was talking with her hands and her voice kept on progressing louder and louder. Looking at the body language of someone, you can normally find out what kind of mood their in.
In between classes, It was really busy because everybody had a place to be. It kind of reminded me of time square during the afternoon. People really didn't care what anybody else were doing, the only thing on their mind was that they need to get where they were going.
People watching was very exciting to me. What we did was an exercise of learning the outer self. You can tell a lot just by observing the outer self.  I am looking forward to observing the inner self and the self in God. Overall this assignment was extremely fun and exciting.

literarture IS a Thing You Do as Part of Life

As I'm going through my note book I found this article that Corrigan give us and also wrote. As I was reading it I found some amazing points that he talked about. I truly understand that literature is very important in our lives. When we read a poem or story, I do not think we get the complete understanding and meaning of everything. Engaging through this Corrigan stated the "Literature is a thing you do as part of life." Living life is something we do naturally. We go through struggles pain and and different experiences living on this earth. My life is very complex, If you haven't been in my situations you would never understand my life. When Corrigan says that Literature is "about life," it means every literature story is different from one another. The second part of literature he stated was the word "you." Listening, reading, comprehending all start from us. Without us knowing we go through literature every day of our lives. Before taking this class I misinterpreted what literature really was. I thought it was dry boring made up stories that people wanted to write about. If I am not excited about literature how can I ever be excited about Reading a story. The assignment that Mr. Corrigan told to do out by the lake really made me get excited about reading stories. Another thing that helps me understand literature is when we talk about it and listen to what other people has to say.  For other people painting might be the answer to understanding literature. Painting makes you dig really deep in the writers thoughts, also in yours. We do all these activities because literature is not always straight forward. I find my self wrestling with every sentence so that I can feel what the writer was saying. 

Paining from joel

In class we decided to paint an image from the book of Joel. The sentences that kept replaying in my head was "For the day of the LORD is coming, they leap on the top of mountains, all faces turn pale." The mountains represents the spot that they went to so that they can experience the Lord's Presence. The clouds represents confusion. when they heard that the Lord is coming they looked up in the sky for some answers and was just confused on what was going on. The big sun just represents Lords face just smiling down and lighting up the whole place.

Joel

The one thing I enjoy about going to class is the fun activities that we do. Putting in fun activities into literature makes it ten times better. On Tuesday, We decided to read some parts of the book of Joel. Our assignment was to find a quite place around the campus and simply read out loud.
At first doing this assignment just sounded really weird to me. Reading out loud by yourself, people will begin to think that you're crazy. What I didn't realize was it made me step out of my comfort zone and engage in this passage. As I sat and began to read the passage of Joel, The tone of my voice started to get  more comfortable the more I read. Reading words in a passage to yourself gets really boring. There been a couple time I started reading a book then have to go back a couple pages because I don't understand what is going on. On the second page "The Terrible Visitation" was my favorite to read. It states "For the day of the LORD is coming surely it is near." It began explaining the day when the Lord will come.  A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and think darkness As the Dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and might people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it, to the years of my many generations. As read this out loud I just felt the power in his voice.  The generation will be shocked and all eyes will be opened to his presence. then it says all faces turn pale. I cannot wait to see myself standing in front of the Lord shocked and amazed by his presence. If anyone haven't read the book of Joel, I strongly encourage you to read it. 

Define Darkness

If I ought to describe darkness I would define it as evil. Can anybody really define darkness? Do we have darkness in our lives? Are we scared to admit that we have darkness in our lives?
I think that darkness comes naturally within all of us. In Ephesians 5:7-12 it says Don't participate in the things these people do. For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. As I'm reading this, I thought of my friend who struggled with pornography for a while. He's been a Christian for a while but has this dark side that he can't get rid of. He's done for so long even tho he tries to stop it haunts him and is always in the back of his mind. Make long story short, I was his accountability partner for him. There's only so much I can really do for him, But when he's all alone by himself, I told him if he starts to think about it just start praying to God. Evil is a very powerful thing that we cannot control. Defining darkness is not only people that have pornography addictions, it's in all of our lives. For me darkness is watching movies that I'm no supposed to, Listening to music that I'm not supposed to be listening to, not trying to help Hungary and thirsty people on the streets, not giving offering when I have money in my pocket. I want to be looked as an image of God. I want all darkness and evil to far away from me as possible. Just like my friend, the only thing I can do is pray and ask God to help me while I challenge things in my life to change. Now can you define you darkness? 

Discussion about the Grief Observed

As we finished talking about the grief observed, we played a little game in class that I enjoyed a lot. At first I was not sure exactly what the whole point of the game. As a group we tried to build the highest and the strongest house of cards. I never thought it was going to be that much of a struggle. After a couple of minutes we finally got the second floor. No matter how careful we were, the house of cards just crumbled. We tried building it again but it would be time consuming. Towards the end of the grief observed, He relates his life to a deck of cards. I might be wrong on this one but I think the deck of card that he talks about has different levels. What I mean by that is first, you build the foundation of the house level 1. This is keeping the whole house sturdy. This would be the highest and the toughest level. Level 2 would be the second floor of the house. You have to be a little patient with it but as long as you have level 1 you should be fine. That goes for the third or the fourth floor. I am relating this to his wife's death because him and his wife started a foundation together. They started building their relationship the first day they met. In his eye's his wife's death would be a level 1 and the bottom of the house of cards. It took away his foundation and now he has nothing. This might be a weird way of looking at it, but you will never really know his true thoughts behind those words. I really enjoyed reading this book and doing some fun activities in class. It really opened my mind so I can feel exactly how the author felt in the book.  

C.S. Lewis A Grief Observed

Before I start off talking about this book, I would just like to say that this book is absolutely amazing. I only read the first two chapters bit I cannot wait to read the other chapters. The pain that C.S. Lewis went through after his wife died was indescribable. After three years of marriage his wife past away of cancer. I do not know how it feels to have someone die of cancer that was close, but I do know how it feels to have someone die that you love so much. Two years ago I go a phone call saying that my cousin was in the hospital and did not have a long time to live. He been shot by some gang members at three o'clock in the morning.  Right then and there I got on my knees and prayed that God would save his life and do Miracles. A couple hours later my cousin past away. It was rough for my family and especially me. As a Christian you will always get that thought in you mind to ask God why he had to take his life away. Situations like these dreces people away from God. Immediately Lewis aslo turned his anger and confusion to God. He was confused on why God would take the woman he loved and cared for away from him. He wrote journals so that he can cent his entire problems at God. I can honestly compare my life with Lewis merely because we both lost a loved one. I know God has a reason for everything, and if he does something it's because he knows what he's doing. We tend to worry about things, but we often forget that God orchestrates our life day by day. Later on in chapter two, Lewis starts to realize that he is wasting time on venting his anger on the journals, when he can be looking on the better side of things. He starts remembering her joy in life, and her remarkable rewards she has accomplished. A death within a family or friend is very hard to go though, some will let God help them understand and some will just turn the other cheek right away. The only thing I know is without God; I would be an absolute mess right now 

Sure Thing

I really enjoy reading this novel. This novel was funny and serious at the same time.  The Characters of this novel was Bill and Betty. Both of them are just two single people looking for a good time. The bell was my favorite. The bell basically is like a time machine for the two people. It rewinds back to a couple seconds so that you are able to answer the question a little better then before. I personally think every guy would love having one of those bells right at your side the first time you meet someone. As the story proceeded they began to ask each other questions about one another. Bills answer was always better the third or forth time around. They started talking about books, college and where they are from. At some point during there conversation Betty got the impression that Bill was just like any guy. Pretend like they are interested then get invited into the home, then do the (Cough cough), then after confessing that they had a girlfriend for over seven years. Betty was not all for that at all, and she told him that. Bill didn't seem like a guy who would do that. To me Bill seemed like he wanted to have a good conversation with Betty and wanted someone to go to the movies with him. Finally, Bill decided to man up and ask Betty to the movies.  A couple bells later Betty said yes to going to the movies with him. The story ended there but I can only assume that they had a great ending after the movies. I believe this novel is kind of like a "what not to say" during a conversation. This novel makes me think next time before I go and talk to a random girl in the bar. 

Frankie and Johnny

The old folk song reminds me of a soap opera. The whole point of soap opera's is that we take a group of normal people and put them together so that they can have drama with each other. The drama is what keeps us wanting more of the show. Relating this back to Frankie and Johnny, they are normal people that were crazy in love with each other. In the beginning the assumed they had a truthful relationship till Johnny was caught with a girl by the name of Nellie Bly. The part where it said "Frankie took out the six shooters, She took out her old forty four her guns went a rooty-toot-a-toot-toot-a-toot-toot" meant that was hurt really bad. Perhaps it was just an expression how she felt, because on the next paragraph she says "Cause my wounds they hurt me so." Roughly after that episode it seems like Johnnie came back apologizing to her. After all that she has been through she took him back in the mist of him doing her wrong. Johnny eventually got old and died. She is definitely going to miss johnny, but in the other hand Johnny was the guy that did her wrong. Towards the end of the song it says "This story has not moral, this story has no end, Thisstory only goes to show that there ain't no good in men." I believe that she wrote this line out of anger and disappointment. In my words she is saying that her heart will continue to be broken because all me aren't good at all. she is emotionally hurt and have to live that way. This is the type of literature I like to read because it's humorous at times but also interesting. It grabs your attention from the beginning and then you don't want to stop reading till the end.

Post 1

My earliest memories of literature stem from when I was a little boy living in St. Maarten.  My mom used to lie in bed with me every night and read/tell me nursery rhymes.  One story I remember in particular is Humpty Dumpty.  I love that story because it is so simple yet so entertaining to a child. My most recent memories of Literature are basically non-existent; I have never really considered myself a reader. The most I have read is for college, especially in my religion classes.  The most significant literary text I have ever read would probably be the Bible.  The Bible is definitely a literary movement that will forever be a vital book in my life.  Literature is the key to knowledge; it can be interpreted in many different ways to many different people.  Similarly, Literature is a way for writers to express their feelings in a way that they may never be able to do in words. Although I have not been much of a reader, I will be sure to pass on the importance of reading to my children.  I plan to read with my kids every night before bed and maybe even require them to read as they get older.  Being from the Caribbean, my family speaks Creole and French, along with English.  I think it would be beneficial for my kids to also read literature in my cultural languages.  Most people say that after college, they become a reader, although they hated to read as a kid.  I hope that this is true so that I can continue to expand my knowledge of culture, society, and mankind.

Adam Felix