Have you ever wondered what wearing a corset would feel like after eating a small pot of paste?

Well, I could tell you now. :)

This week in English class has been good so far. I got my thesis ironed out entirely, I think. I finally got my head wrapped around it! This is good. Now I can just write it all out.  It’s funny, outlines help me more as a brainstorming exercise than anything else. Does anyone else find this?

Tomorrow is the scholarship swap. I… think it’ll help a lot, but the amount of work that I’m going to have to put into it and schools is daunting. I need to find myself a little burrow of scholarship elves. 

 Also, tomorrow I will post the lesson plan and my mimesis part.

I’m pretty sure this is one of my favourite ISU choices ever. I absolutely love it. Maybe one of my favourite books in a very long time.

Ondaatje’s (awesome name… and the guy has an awesome voice too, perfect for reading, and he’s a poet… and Canadian/Sri Lankan!) writing is so poetic, especially in this book. The English Patient had more of a greyish mood, but in this it’s even more dreamlike, and woven together to make these beautiful snapshots. Ack. I can’t get enough of it.

I love it. Love it! And now off to read some more. :)

I’m very excited for this english class. :) Very.

I looked through the ISU list and I realized I own a few of these books. So, if you pick one of these, just let me know and I’ll lend it to you. Just… give it back after please! Or else. I like my books.

Pride and Prejudice – Mel has
Cat’s Eye, The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace
The English Patient - Mel has
1984
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Brave New World
The Stone Diaries
The Underpainter
The Englishman’s Boy
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My ISU choices:
1 – In The Skin of a Lion – Michael Ondaatje (Love how he writes. Poetic. And he has an awesome voice!)
2 – The Damnation Game – Clive Barker (Haven’t read too much horror, but I love dark and twisty. :))

Toodles.

I like Faust, it’s an interesting play. I wish there wasn’t so much Latin. I do appreciate all the allusions though, they’re making my forehead grow, hoo-ray.

I feel the a-ha moment for Stand on Zanzibar coming along. I know once I get it, I’ll just write and write and write… I just hope that’s soon! D: I’m trying to muscle through it until then anyways. Ugh.

I’m so excited. :)

I love poetry. Oddly, I don’t own many poetry books, and neither do I read a lot of it (other then my own stuff, or my friend’s, occasionally). Paradoxical, isn’t it?

Oh well. :) It doesn’t matter since, POETRY IS STARTING! We got ee cummings, whose writing has the prettiness and descriptiveness that I love, and the twistedness that Stephanie loves.

I’m very excited.

Other then that, we handed in our ISUs (finally), had our test, and watched some of Titus. Anthony Hopkins is neat. Hannibal Lector was always my favourite villain.

And I’ve told this to 4 people now, I know, but that scene where Levinia/Lavinia opens her mouth and sort of spits blood when she’s up on the stump…

It was gorgeous. In a completely twisted, heartbreaking, macabre way. But the way that it was shot, the music, the actress…

It completely fascinated me. 15 seconds of cinematic /art/.

(Then again, I feel like I’m falling into a trap of iffyish art… being affected by something that was so obviously meant to affect people. I mean, the girl had sticks for hands. Or does that just mean I’m human?)

Well, I think I’ll stop now before I sound too creepy.

Archetypal criticism argues that archetypes determine the form and function of literary works, that a text’s meaning is shaped by cultural and psychological myths. Archetypes are the unknowable basic forms personified or concretized in recurring images, symbols, or patterns which may include motifs such as the quest or the heavenly ascent, recognizable character types such as the trickster or the hero, symbols such as the apple or snake, or images such as crucifixion (as in King Kong, or Bride of Frankenstein)–all laden with meaning already when employed in a particular work. Archetypal criticism gets its impetus from psychologist Carl Jung, who postulated that humankind has a “collective unconscious,” a kind of universal psyche, which is manifested in dreams and myths and which harbors themes and images that we all inherit. Literature, therefore, imitates not the world but rather the “total dream of humankind.” Jung called mythology “the textbook of the archetypes” (qtd. in Walker 17). Archetypal images and story patterns encourage readers (and viewers of films and advertisements) to participate ritualistically in basic beliefs, fears, and anxieties of their age. These archetypal features not only constitute the intelligibility of the text but also tap into a level of desires and anxieties of humankind.Archetypal critics find New Criticism too atomistic in ignoring intertextual elements and in approaching the text as if it existed in a vacuum. After all, we recognize story patterns and symbolic associations at least from other texts we have read, if not innately; we know how to form assumptions and expectations from encounters with black hats, springtime settings, evil stepmothers, and so forth. So surely meaning cannot exist solely on the page of a work, nor can that work be treated as an independent entity.http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/archetypal.crit.html

Character ArchetypesThree sources were compiled for these tables: www.unm.edu/~abqteach/fairytales/02-03-08.htm, www.fccps.k12.va.us/gm/faculty/archcrit.htm, and the source below.

http://www.lebanon.k12.mo.us/lhs/departments/langarts/roden/literature/Archetypes%20and%20Archetypal%20Criticism.htm

I want to learn to read more critically.
I want to read new genres or writing styles and learn to appreciate them.
I want to not be timid. I want to speak up now and then.
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 ”And you know I will
I will
Ooo, la”
-Lennon/McCartney

I will help create the 2007-2008 yearbook.
I will help promote and build the arts program in RDHS by taking part in the Arts Council.
I will be respectful and helpful in class.
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I have to complete all my assignments on time and to the best of my ability.
I have to request help if I need it.
I have to be present at school 95% of the semester.
I have to use my time efficiently by making outlines earlier, beginning to read earlier, etc.
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I will ask help of Mary, Stephanie, Olivia, Mr. Murray, and myself.
I ask Mary to encourage me to speak, to update me on things I’ve missed, and to allow me to bounce ideas off her, please.
I ask Stephanie to also give me feedback when possible, please.
I ask Olivia to update me when I’ve missed a day, and to also give me feedback, please.
I ask Mr. Murray to help me to give me advice if I’m stuck in a rut, please.
I ask myself not to make too much of raising my hand.
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“And success? What is it? I do not find it in the applause of the theater; it lies rather in the satisfaction of accomplishment.”
-Anna Pavlova

What does my success look like?
Confidence.
80% (at least).
I’m able to put down a book, think for a moment, and be able to say something about it’s theme, characters, etc.
An assignment well on it’s way to being finished 4 days prior to its due date.
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If I don’t succeed,
I would like the late assignment’s mark docked, or to have a detention if the failure is more serious.

If I succeed,
I would like the mark I deserve. No pats on the back are necessary. (Stickers are pretty awesome though.)