The bell rang and as usual all of the animals come running into their second to last room. Some are out of breath; others are already in their corresponding places, usually. The farmer comes into the classroom with all his tools in hand; at times it looks as if they were empowering him, towering over his small body. The green cat is sitting next to the yellow deer and she’s sitting next to the purple wader. They take out their learning tools, they usually involve some type of square box, but other times (mostly the green cat) the animals use leaves, but at times the box is more organized than the leaves. Those leaves at times get lost in the farm, and eaten by the dumb humans. The farmer introduces his ideas and asks all animals what they think of it; fortunately this group of animals is not one who likes to keep their mouths shut. The orange chipmunk and the turquoise anteater are always sitting next to each other and are always chit-chattering like two old groundhogs on a sunny day. The other animals such as the white sloth, the brown dog, and the magenta parrot are always in the center of the room. The magenta parrot is the one who speaks the most but apparently, according to the farmer, all of it is nonsense jibber-jab, parrot talk is all.

As the discussion begins the animals begin communicating in different dialects, that at times, not even the very knowledgeable farmer can understand. Somehow amongst the animals they are able to state their ideas, though coming from different species, and are able to agree upon some. This is what sets the animals apart from the humans.

Ahahaha. Sooo I guess all of you are really going crazy at the fact that I’m using animals and colors, and weird words. Well, this short story truly and honestly has no deep meaning, no hidden message, no nothing. This is a description of my TOK class through my eyes, this may be a good TOK journal but I got inspired to show a little bit of imagination when writing. Now, Lissy, you might say, what does this have to do with English??? Well to me this is English, it’s me expressing my thoughts in literature, if you could call my story that. Something I do wan people to guess is which colored animal are they?

p.s. i got some of my inspiration from the book animal farm by George Orwell, and mostly all of my inspiration is from my amazing TOK class. i love you guys.

They come they go.

We all go through them

At least one time in our life.

Can we survive without it?

We learn to cope after

It leaves us. Pain.

Rage. Is it all worth it?

Laughter and joy are the

First to come and first to leave.

Memories are carved into

Our minds, making it

Impossible to forget.

Now I have found a way out.

The thudding muscle has found a new route.

The memories still remain

But pain no longer has fame.

It has lost its might and power.

Now there is only a flower.

I’m found.

So here we are again, my second poem. Well, warning. My poems aren’t as elaborate as those of Heaney or Yeats or Mario’s ahaha. They’re merely me trying to express my thoughts about something that popped into my mind.

And apparently edublogs sucks, so the second stanza begins in “now i have…”

So first off, my poem is about the pain love can cause but even though this pain is long lasting after time one is able to get over it, one is able to heal. Starting from there, the poem is broken up into two stanzas. The first stanza is just describing what one goes through with love and the consequences of it. It also questions the necessity of this life experience. The first line of the stanza states that “they come and go” referring to the fact that there are many of these experiences one will go through, and with this our feelings will go up and down. Now having said this, I hope everyone noticed the structure of the stanza, where it looks like a wave. With this I wanted to show the movement of life when going through these experiences. There is also no rhyme in the first stanza, with this I wanted to make it sound a little broken, like a person who has just had their heart broken and is contemplating upon the past.

The second stanza is completely different to that of the first stanza. Unlike the first, there is rhyme making it have more flow, representing the healing of the voice’s heart. This stanza is the description of the voice getting over the pain, and accepting the pain she has gone through but now knows she/he has the power to overcome it. I wanted to follow the A-A B-B C-C rhyme pattern because it is done as if it were partnered up, symbolizing couples and finally breaking it with the final line.

One of the most important things in my poem is the fact that I never mention the word love, and I don’t mention some reference up until the second stanza. The reason for this is because the poem is not about love, but about the consequences of it and what follows after that.

The final line is a contradiction to the title, Gone. Gone is there to represent the love that has gone, the pain that also gone, and in turn the purpose of using the word “found” is to show that she now has found a way to get over her situation, find a new life, and finally find a new love.

-“RUUUUUUUUUUUN!!” they screamed.

-“They will never catch me, never. I swear. Over my dead body.” He promised himself this, as he crawled under his fortress. Safety.

Danger was close, he could feel it in his body, and his senses never failed him. His enemies smell was unique from all others; it could be singled out a thousand miles away. The sweet smell of vanilla reached his nostrils, caressing the inside of his nose.

-“Stop. You need to concentrate, don’t let it fool you.” he told himself.

Where were all the others? he knew if he exposed himself all the others would be in greater danger, they all depended on him. He saw the two girls lying flat on their stomach but he knew the enemy was going to see them. He was right, he saw it approaching them. The girls began screaming just as anyone would after being discovered, how could he let this happen? the enemy then took them in to THE ROOM, horrible images came running to his mind of the horrible night he was forced into that room. The acid filled water burning his eyes, stripping him of his skin cells, leaving him naked, exposed. The being forced to sit under a blazing hot machine which seemed to burn his skull little by little, leaving his skin dry as the dead leaves outside.

There were two left, the other was quick to find a new safety place, and he knew he was safe. Relief came over him and he was able to breathe a little easier. Sweat starts trickling down his face, the cold drops rolled slowly as if they were reminding him of the little time he had left before the enemy came out again on the hunt of another victim. He could hear the girls screaming from far away and then suddenly it stopped. The time had come. The door slowly screeched open, the hunt had begun.

He suddenly looked over to where the other was hiding, his shirt was hanging out, he knew it would see it.

-“Daing it.” he whispered to himself

The enemy immediately heard him and looked towards the exposed shirt and started to walk towards the other. He was not going to allow another one of his fall in the hands of it, it was time to take action. He took a deep breath and stood up.

-“ NOOOO! You cant take him! Take me! He doesn’t deserve this!” the young boy screamed.

-“I GOT YOU!” she screamed. “Now, you’ve had a long day today at the park with your brother and sisters, its time to get you cleaned up.”

-“Fine.” He said in resignation, “but instead of using Daddy’s soap can we use mine? Pretty please momi?”

-Suddenly his younger brother came running out of his hiding place and asked, “Momi can I take bath with Rob?”

-“Sure sweetie, lets go into the bathroom.”

They both nodded their heads, and headed to the room.

Ahaha. Well I hope you guys enjoyed my short story.

The story begins by introducing a male character, struggling to keep himself from the wyes of the enemy, an unknown character. As the story goes on an “evil” room is introduced, THE ROOM. It seems as if it were a torture room of some sort and at the end one is able to discover that this is simply the bathroom. This story is meant to reflect upon how incredibly exaggerated children can be when describing a situation in their lives. My inspiration for this? Daniela Viteri. Ahah. When I’m with this young lady I seem to become a child once again and as that happens, memories of my childhood come rushing back. I remember the tall tales I would tell my parents in order to skip a bath, or to not eat my eggplant, or to just be able to stay awake a little longer. I really hope you guys liked it and were able to see the progression of the story and understand my feelings.

Paramore- For a Pessimist I’m Pretty Optimistic

Just talk yourself up

And tear yourself down

You’ve hit your one wall

Now find a way around

Well what’s the problem?

You’ve got a lot of nerve

So what did you think I would say?

No you can’t run away, no you can’t run away

So what did you think I would say?

No you can’t run away, no you can’t run away

You wouldn’t

I never wanted to say this

You never wanted to stay

I put my faith in you, so much faith

And then you just threw it away

You threw it away

I’m not so naive

My sorry eyes can see

The way you fight shy

Of almost everything

Well, if you give up

You’ll get what you deserve

So what did you think I would say?

No you can’t run away, no you can’t run away

So what did you think I would say?

No you can’t run away, no you can’t run away

You wouldn’t

I never wanted to say this

You never wanted to stay

I put my faith in you, so much faith

And then you just threw it away

You threw it away

You were finished long before

We had even seen the start

Why don’t you stand up, be a man about it?

Fight with your bare hands about it now

I never wanted to say this

You never wanted to stay well did you

I put my faith in you, so much faith

And then you just threw it away

I never wanted to say this

You never wanted to stay

I put my faith in you, so much faith

And then you just threw it away

So Paramore is pretty much one of my favorite bands ever and I pretty much love all of their songs so I decided to analyze one my favorite ones. For a Pessimist I’m Pretty Optimistic is the song I will be analyzing, or at least try to.

This song is basically telling someone that just because they left or finished the relationship it doesn’t mean that it affected the voice. The voice states she knew this was something expected from the other person. She is also telling the guy that she isn’t the one holding him back, that everything that is happening in this relationship is because it’s what he wanted.

In the first stanza she begins to talk to the man telling him to find a way to make himself feel better about what he has done but then breaking those words down and taking responsibility for what he has done. She then tells him that he has finally found an obstacle and for the first time has to find a way to overcome it. The emotion she evokes here is anger towards that specific person because of his lack of desire to make the relationship better. The words she directed towards him are to confront him about his standing point in the relationship. This portrays the man as a weak person who is willing to give up when things don’t go right. This whole part is sung with a sense of stress towards the person. The background music is very upbeat and only lowers the level of intensity as she sings allowing more emphasis upon her words.

The second stanza, part of the chorus, repeats “so what did you think I would say? No you can’t run away?” this repetition is sung with an angered tone along with a sarcastic one as well. When this is said there are barely any instruments playing allowing her tone and feelings to be heard even more. The chorus then begins by singing that the words she is saying are not ones she wanted to say but because of the situation she is being forced to. She immediately states that the man does not want to be there at all and that unlike him, she had put her faith into the relationship.

In the fourth stanza with the specific use of words and tone she uses one is bale to see the feelings she now has towards the man. She tells him that she is not surprised at his reaction towards problems because it is the same towards anything that confronts him. She then tells him that with the way he deals with things he’ll get “what [he] deserves”. This bluntly shows the angered and frustrated feelings she has towards his persona.

Then again the chorus is repeated.

Then in the seventh stanza she completely shows her anger towards him and completely confronts him about the problem. she tells him to “stand up be a man about it” and fight for something he wants for once. By using the words “be a man” is a complete attack towards the man’s ego. She isn’t telling him to fight for their relationship anymore because she has lost faith in it but to fight for any obstacle that is placed in front of him in the future.

The singer shows her angered feelings towards the attitude the man has towards confronting any situation he is presented with. Her frustration is heard throughout the whole song with the strength of the instruments as well. Her feelings and words complement the strength of the instruments. Everything said in this song has a direct meaning and does not invoke many literary figures as she bluntly pours out her thoughts. One of the most important aspects of this song is the strength and importance the tone and use of words can affect the emotions of the person who is listening to the song. Were it not for the way she expressed herself in the song I would not be so connected with the song at all.

Running Away

Why do

These things happen?

Do we really

Need to experience

Any of them?

Our thoughts are

Everywhere. I can

Barely hear mine

With the constant zooming

Outside.

Street lights, people, honking.

Breathing seems almost impossible

Here. We need a break sometimes.

Alarm clocks, shoes thudding, hearts

Stopping, minds flying. We need

A beak sometimes.

The end is near, and I have a good

Feeling about it.

Breathing,
its great isn’t it?

Running Away is based on the hectic life that students go through every week while in school. The title is basically based upon the idea of us being able to run away from all the stress we go through. The stress the poem shows is not only of school work, but of the problems we experience at home, the romance issues every teenager goes through, struggling with friends, it invokes all the different aspects. By introducing the different aspects a student must go through it shows how difficult it is for one to breath at these times. Taking a deep breath is almost impossible when your mind is running at full speed and your body is only functioning for the sake of being able to survive.
There is a constant use of enjambment that I use to emphasize the struggle to breath. The structure of the poem is broken up into five stanzas and the first one starting of with six lines. As the poem goes on the amount of lines diminishes by one until the final stanza where it only has 2 lines. A week of five days is represented by the amount of stanzas in the poem. The main purpose of the line diminishment is to show how as each day passes stress starts to lessen and there is more room to breathe for the student.
the first stanza of the poem is merely the thoughts that every student gets when they go to school and experience all the things one usually does. I begin to question if all the stress we go through is necessary, what is it needed for? Do we really need to lose hours of sleep? Do we really need to feel what done in this stanza is question the meaningfulness of these events, something that every student feels as they start the week.

The second stanza begins by being connected to the last sentence of the first stanza showing how our thoughts are connected from the day before to the next day. This stanza shows how the mind of a student is on the second day of the week. Thoughts are everywhere and because of the different events going on the students life nothing in their mind is organized. Because of this, he/she begins to notice things as their minds begin to drift off like street lights, the people around them and hectic sound of cars honking. It is needless to say that the poem is based on the life of a student in the city.

The third stanza begins with the idea of breathing which is a thought that begins to linger in the students mind as he/she reaches the middle of the week. The idea of having a break is then introduced showing the desire of the student to be able to run away from what they are experiencing. It then begins to list certain things like “hearts stopping” and “minds flying”. These enumerations are all aspects of what the student is experiencing. There might be someone who has just broken up with their couple, another who has ceased to think and begun to only exist, all of these things show different sides of what the real life of a student is.

The fourth stanza is again linked with the third stanza showing the connection between both days and the students mind. “The end is near” is referring to the end of the week because in the same stanza it then says that it is a good thing that the end is soon to come. It also makes more sense than the previous stanzas where at times ideas would be thrown out of the nowhere expecting the reader to understand what they mean.

The final stanza is only made up of two lines expressing that there is still a certain amount of stress but the voice has finally reached a certain degree of easiness because they have survived through the week. They are finally allowed to take a breath.