FINALEMENT

I'd like to begin thanking my classmates and teacher for a wonderful English class this year. It was a class that I'll never forget, if only because of the laughter we shared. It was so impacting that I plan to continue my blog beyond the school year since I love sharing and commenting so much.


I'll start with this: How do the things you read influence what you write about or how you write it?I read a lot of things. I read the news, books, others' blogs, and plenty of other sources. I love to read, and there's no questioning it effects what I write about. Most of the time I find that after reading a book my writing style changes as well! I use different writing styles to convey different emotions and subject matter, and of course I learn these from the books and blogs I read. It helps my vocabulary and my ability to relate to others- as it turns out, the internet has developed a whole new means of communication that I'm doing my best to learn and exploit. As for subject matters themselves, my writing is heavily influenced by world events, specifically climate change and government. I attended the March 4th protest which did a huge lot to help me realize the gravity of the situation that we're in, and the urgency in which it needs to be righted. As for climate change, those inspirations are around me every day.

I chose books for class that I thought I'd enjoy writing about. This is obviously because I knew that if I read them, I'd have to write about them one way or another. For the most part I chose well; Lies My Teacher Told Me and Fahrenheit 451 were excellent books that I wouldn't hesitate to read again, and writing their reviews was actually quite fun for me. I started to read the blog boing boing, which I love, as well as watch TED talks. I know this isn't what the question was about but the stuff I chose to watch also really effected my writing. Capitalism: a Love Story really opened my eyes to our country's history in the destructive capitalist policy, and helped me to reanalyze the way I see the world. Food, Inc inspired me to give up the corn in my diet for good. If I haven't written about these things enough YET, I know that I will, and I certainly have in my written journals which I'll start to post here as the Summer wears on.

Overall, the stuff I read has been majorly influential in my writing. I know I notice it a lot. And reading is really one of my passions, so I'm happy to be able to write about someone else's stuff! It's one of the reasons I love having a blog, open discussion is always possible. I'm going to keep commenting on blogs for this reason; since I hope whatever I say will be fun and helpful for whoever reads it.

Choose one of your posts. (Your favorite? Your least favorite? The one that surprises you the most when you reread it? Any one you want to pick.) Analyze it in detail, with quotes etc. Well, I'm going to choose beaucoup because I think I did the best job explaining my thoughts there. And that's what a blog is all about, right? And this blog also surprised me in more ways than one. I'm not sure how I was able to describe myself so perfectly. This snippet in particular.

It's through drawing I've realized just how fallible my mind is. It's the detours I've learned to take, slowly replacing confusion with steadfast reality, that allows me to progress.

The best part about it is it directly reflects the way I write, too. Only instead of looking and studying images, it's reading and listening to people. They're almost the same for this reason, and I'm happy to be able to know how I do things because then I know how to improve how I do them. Especially art; because it's pretty much my only consistent hobby. I really enjoy it and despite myself I also enjoy the attention it occasionally brings me.

In this quote I also see a parallel between drawing and writing.

"Drawing has changed the way that I think. As I said before, I now realize my mind's weaknesses, and it helps me to improve them. It helps me learn about how I see the world internally, not through the ideas on the paper, but by the inconsistencies in the manifesto itself. Each drawing, then, is a specific flaw, and I learn from each."

It's really just like that!

I love learning from my mistakes. It's a huge step I too this year, going from secretly feeling victimized whenever someone critiqued me to openly seeking critique. There's no embarrassment in wanting to improve, and I'm glad this class was able to help me learn to think that way. An indirect way of helping me to improve is the comments everyone left. The more opinions I can see and relate to, the better my writing gets because I'm able to make it so that lots of people can read it and have respect for whatever it is I have to say.

Well, at first it took a lot of confidence to post a blog, but as time went on I was able to be courageous in what I was writing about. I got really passionate about some things, which was good for me to look back on because we all grow and learn from our past if we're lucky. A blog does this for me. I used to (and still do kinda) have a tendency to throw away my old writings and art once I've improved beyond the time that I drew them, but having this blog enabled me to keep them so I can appreciate my progress. I even started to keep a sketchbook so I can avoid throwing away my old art (and I'll post some of it later.) I really loved keeping a blog and this class, and the person I've learned to become this year.

Have an excellent summer, everyone. I'm looking forward to even more satisfying progress.

L'inconnue

"The most kissed face of all time."

I should work on my final, but I'll save that for tomorrow. I'm going to write a story, and I don't know what it's about or whom, for that matter. I don't know yet and I'm going to find out as I write it, disregarding the outlines and plots I've been taught to use for so many years. Maybe then, I'll figure out whether I like it or not, what I'm doing wrong, and if charts and diagrams would truly aid me in my quest to write a story. As if this paragraph weren't disorganized enough, it also serves as a poor advertisement to my plan, and is likely best ignored. Speaking of adverisement, I'm going to post a gigantic art dump soon, with over twenty pictures I've drawn in it.

Glories, petals in powder and cream, grow delicately beside a weathered chest of cherry and brass. Their lives are over, their pink hearts as cold as the valley from which they were plucked, the paled sun a watery beacon in the deep grey sky. A master of thought, a princess of virtue strokes their petals in complacent meditation. Held in a byzantine tangle, led through the throes of some derisory argument. If the moon would appear tonight, she would be lonesome in her witness.

Seven laws and six degrees drew invisible lines through the blue hour. Twenty-two fingers, toes, and eyes altogether, each fixed on a single object of steel by fickle illumination. First was commitment, last was courage, but in the end there would be nothing. No incrimination if it were to progress as intended, not even a single salty drop from a lover's eye. The lover's eyes had been closed forever now, the bitter visage, the tangle of pearls and hair, was to live forever as the last.

What of the betwixt motion, the endless golden field that stretched past the lithe, emerald columns? What of the evening sky? Of the thick, black bust emerging from the west, and slowly looming upon the windowsill, eyes stark as the coal from which they sprung? Yes, he had lessened the golden field. But whatever was left of it had grown tenfold in mind, so vast an expanse that it began to scrape against the sane part, filling the space she had left as well as that which hadn't yet been vacated. It wasn't bad, no, it felt sweet and slow and just as sickening.

THAT'S ALL I CAN MANAGE RIGHT NOW. If you read my blog, please tell me what you think. I need to know what's bad as of yet, or just what could use improvement or whatever you'd care to elaborate upon.