Sure Thing

First of all, I love this play! Back in high school my drama teacher asked us to put on a short play for class, my friend Dennis and I did this. (It was kind of rough but I think everyone still enjoyed it) Obviously, Bill and Betty are the classic people who find themselves sitting at a cafe table together. The play begins and Bill tries to have a sit at Betty's table while she is currently involved in a book by Faulkner. The bell sounds whenever the conversation goes south or does not turn out in the way the romantic reader would hope. Most likely this play was written as a comedy to make fun of the typical cafe scene. Different scenarios prove to the audience that not every single person in a cafe is either looking for love, friendship, a hook up or new acquaintance. Some real life situations are not the happy endings. The bell is probably the single most important prop within this scene. It is the tone that signals the audience to back up and move forward to a different outcome. This short scene is found amusing by many different types of audiences, mostly young adult. Perhaps the ages of the characters were chosen to relate to the best type of audience. All in all, the play was wonderful and funny, a great scene to lighten up the dull unrealistic cafe scene of reality.

The One Girl at the Boys' Party

Ok, this is definitely a confusing poem for me, at least in the sense that I can't fully grasp a significant hidden meaning behind the poem.

With that being stated, at the beginning of this poem Sharon Olds does a fabulous job of putting a specific scene in mind, the hot summer day at the local pool, probably for a child's birthday party, and the only girl (as obviously stated in the title). What I derive from the lines, is that this young girl, the speaker's daughter, is a very intelligent young lady. Sharon Olds constantly drops subtle (or not so subtle) hints about this child being the math wiz, "her math scores unfolding in the air", "Indivisible as a prime number," and "her ponytail will hang its pencil lead down her back." This young lady seems to be spending the entire party sidetracked on variables and calculations. She does enjoy herself, but not until the very end of the poem does this young lady realize the most significant proportion is that she is the ONLY girl and a boys' party.

Why is this important? Why did Sharon Olds right about a young lady at a boys' party, of all places a boys party? My best guess at these answers is this, she is becoming aware that there aren't just numbers and calculations, that there are boys, young men, all around her. Its a poem about the realization of young ladies that young men are attracted or aware of them. The child within the poem sees the "curves of their sexes, one each." It is a scary time but a time that is expected.

Again my disclaimer: So sorry if this is not the right interpretation of the poem; as ususal I did the best that I could.

Lonely Hearts

Written in 1986, Wendy Cope seems to have brought to life the email dating system long before its' time. "Can someone make my simple wish come true" the poem begins. Happiness is simple and most sought after in this life. Lack of happiness tends to turn the lonely times to desperate times. The biker, the gay vegetarian, the executive, the jewish lady, the libran all write their letters to Box 152 to have their wish come true. A wish that when granted brings them "happiness" ; gives them that significant other they've been looking for. Someone out there, living in north London, that would be willing to step out of the normal routine of things to date or sleep with or drink coffee with the individual writting a letter. Sometimes this act of desperation is hard for me to understand. I've never had a problem being alone. I'm secure enough in myself to understand that not every guy is going to fall for me. I've been in enough relationships to know that no one can completely fulfill my every wish. To ask for someone, a stranger, to make your wishes come true is completely irrational. It doesn't make sense. Who would do this? Apparently those writing to Box 152 have no hope of finding love or a partner on their own. They resort to mailing a complete stranger their information and photo and make themselves completely vulnerable to any and all perverts who prey on those types of individuals. Wendy Cope did a wonderful job of depicting the ways of desperate people, looking for an answer to their dreams.
I greatly enjoyed the poem, even though I do not completely understand the views of the characters within. I can imagine, and only imagine, how these characters must feel to lower themselves to such an action. I'm sorry if this blog is a little rough!!!
Thanks for reading!

To Celia

This is the start of the Poem Blogs and I am not quite sure how I should analyze these poems. For the first, "To Celia," I believe I will merely interpret, although I do make a note that I might change my mind.

The first stanza speaks of two lovers' longing for each other' kiss as one may long for wine. (Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine) They're longing to stare at each other. (Or leave a kiss but in the cup, and I'll not ask for wine) A kiss from the female character would quench a longing that wine could not. (The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine) The longing of the male character is that of utterly deep soul-ful longing, every inch of his heart longs to drink of her love. (But might I of Jove's nectar sup, i would not change for thine) Jove's nectar is most likely the nectar of the Roman god Jupiter, therefore Celia's lover states that even if he was offered the nectar of a god, he would rather have her love.

Within the second stanze the author continues to describe the bond between the two lovers. ( I sent the late a rosy wreath Not so much honoring thee) He sent Celia cut flowers that did not reach the height of his love for her. (As giving it a hope that there It could not withered be) Even cut flowers will bloom again because of her love. )But thou thereon didst only breathe, And sent'st it back to me) I think he is saying that she, in her love, sent the flowers back?!? (Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, Not of itself but thee) The flowers remind him of her and her love for him.

Sorry its a little rough, I did my best?

Little Tricker the Squirrel meets Big Double the Bear

During story time with Mr. Rather, he prompted us to analize the story and to notice if the author did a good job of making the story read as though it was an oral story. In my opinion, the story, with a few exceptions, did in fact read as though we were sitting at a camp fire and Mr. Rather was fifty some-odd years old teaching all the little children about being smarter than one's opponent. It was rather difficult in a few areas to imagine this however, mostly because a few tongue-tying phrases. Dispite Mr. Rather's excellent reading voice, the original reader, probably with more experience, would have read the story with a more flowing nature. The tongue-tying phrases would have come naturally as though the story were merely told instead of read.
The author did a fabulous job in unifying or separating the characters. The wording surrounding the smaller creatures that Big Double consumed was described in a very unique and systematic way up until the point of Big Double's meeting with Tricker the squirrel. When the author describes the movements of the first few forest animals, he follows and explodes the description of Big Double's movements. (E.i. sprang up like a fish, to shot up like a shark) The patterned continued until Big Double's contact with Tricker. This break in the systematic nature of the story automatically sends a message to the listeners that Tricker is the straw that breaks the camel's (or in this case Big Double the Bear's) back.
All in all this story is well written and well read for any age of reader/listeners. I greatly enjoyed the author's ability to create a story that was not only meant to be read but also to be heard.

A Drowning Incident

I'm not going to lie, this one confused me a little. Why McCarthy would take such innocence, the young boy or the puppy, and completely destroy them? The story starts as though it would not have a straight point. The beginnings reads very descriptively, and yet one does not realize the meaning of the story until the end. I may be completely off the wall by saying this, but I think McCarthy wants the readers to see that even the innocent become tainted. The puppy was innocent; it had done nothing to deserve death, after all it had only been born a few weeks before, yet someone, perverse in mind, destroyed the nature of that puppy. Puppy's represent good and gentle things, such as playfulness and obedience. The unnamed monster who murdered the puppy sought to obtain the opposite representation from the death of the puppy. In such a way, the unnamed characer influence the mind of a young boy, also relatively innocent at the beginning of the short story. The boy was neglected and hurt by the lack of love given to him from his parents. He younger sibling had been born, and he had been put on the "back burner." Now to get back to my original statement, this corpse of a puppy had stimulated an evil in the innocent mind of the boy. He thought to find the love that had not been given to him. He sought to destroy the constant coughing of his younger sister. He loathed that his parents chose her over himself, and with the images of death and disease fresh on his mind and his hands, he made up his mind to end her life. He place that disease and rotten corpse in his sister bed, to fix the only "problem" he had. The sad irony in this story is that with death and destruction of characters does not cease. First the puppy, then the baby girl, and with the life ending decision to harm his little sister, the boy's life is also destroyed (at least in the sense of never being the same). Again, I am probably completely off on this blog for this story, but this is the message I derived.

"Repent, Harlequin!"

The intoduction particular caught my eye first and foremost because that quote is at the beginning and secondly because it stimulates a few certain thoughts. In the corporate, political, materialistic society that we live in one may notice that the quote by Thoreau has overwhelming truths within it's content. Men do not serve as men in politics but as mindless drones following the voice that speaks the loudest (most likely corrupt politicians) without thought or care to what the voice is attempting to accomplish. Those fools are mindless in such a way as to be lead by the mob, without thinking for themselves. As such, as the quote says, they no longer form men but machines, machines built to serve a certain political or social purpose and absent from moral sense. Those who choose to utilize their consciences are seen as enemies to the common purpose of the people. Those who encourage free exercise of thought are viewed with disrespect and are classified as a disruptor. Such is the interpretation of the quote by Thoreau, which leads to the intended interpretation of the rest of the story.





From my perspective, the underlying basis for writing this story would be to enlighten those who put an emphasis on "keeping to the clock." In this case, the phrase "keeping to the clock" deals not only with timewise actions but government/authority approved actions as well. The stress of never being late does not allow one to freely live. If one is bound by time then freedom is stolen. In the same way, if one is completely bound, bound by life, to the government one's freedom has also been stolen. So there are two truths found in this short story, both are warnings to the common drone that completely follows the rules of law and time mindlessly. The first deals with the essence of time. To live a complete life is to not be bound by time but to live with respect of time. The time is short, therefore, enjoy living. The second deals with the power of government over the people. Yes, authority is good; yes, cooperation is good, but when the government has the ability to steal the time and freedoms of its people and the people mindlessly give those freedoms away in hopes of not having to take responsibility for living there in lies the problem.