Over the course of seven weeks i have been posting my writing's on a website called blogger instead of the original google group. In my opinion this blogger is a great idea for the student body. At first I was alittle doubtful about the whole idea because I was so use to just handing in my work but after using this blogger a few times I realized it was alot easier and overall better. The website allows everyone to read each other's work and respond with their opinions. In previous years, I was not able to see any piece of writing except for a limited amout in my class. Now, I am able to go on blogger and read all writings, especially those in the other 11th grade. This form of submitting work is defenitly differnt from any other way I have submitted work. In the previous years everything was done on paper. I feel this blogger is a defenitly an easier and better approach to english writing. This writing has defenitly changed the community between classes. By having this blogger I am able to see other classmates opinions, and their writing skills. This broadens my knowledge of all the diferent views of topics. One flaw of this blogging is that we are required to comment on each other's blogs. Now overall it is a good idea but I do not know how to keep track of how many I did. That could affect my overall grade because we get marks for it. It would help if there way a way to keep track. That is pretty much the only negative issue I have found on the blogger. Using this blogger I have found it to be more relaxed rather then worrying about handing work in on time or accidently forgetting to bring the work it. During the week we are able to focus on more issues and have more open discussions and at the end of the week we reflect that in our blogs. I also like how my peers are able to comment on my blogs. This helps me to become a better writer because i get to understand any flaws i might have. Also, I get to see if any others have the same opinions as me. To sum up, my overall opinion of this blogger is defenitly positive one. I hope to continue this form of writing in the future.

At the end of the story I was not in total shock about what had happened to Mr. Gatsby or Wilson but more in shock about what happened with Tom and Daisy. In the end, the two disappear without any information left of their whereabouts. What shocked me the most was how Daisy just picked up and left without a word to Gatsby. She was supposedly leaving Tom and in love with Gatsby. This changed when while reading we find out she does not even acknowledge the fact Gatsby was shot.
“I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all—Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly inadaptable to Eastern life.”
This quote is what struck me the most at the end of the book. It gave me great thought as I realized in Nick’s mind people were characterized as either from the West or the East. The people and way of life was very different in his eyes. He believed the gruesome lifestyle of the east shaped the behaviors of each and every character. What also caught my attention was the part in the book where Nick and Tom encounter each other. He finds out Tom told Wilson about Gatsby which draws Nick to the conclusion Tom and Daisy are rotten people who escape their past by the walls of their money for protection. The end of the book is where everything comes together and we realized not every story has a happy ending. I think this is what I liked most about the book. Not everyone gets what they want and some are left unhappy. We never really find out whether or not Daisy left with Tom by choice or if she was forced and deep down really wanted to be with Gatsby. This unanswered question made the ending all the better.

After reading the first chapter of The Great Gatsby I was left in somewhat confusion. All together it was a pretty good beginning; I just hope it gets better as the book goes on. We are introduced to Nick Carraway. He moved to the “west egg” of New York. In this chapter he goes to visit old but not very known friends. They are Tom and Daisy Buchanan. It was there we learn that Tom is cheating on his wife. We also learn that they have a daughter but she is never seen. That leaves you with a bit confusion of what the lifestyle is really like when no one is around. After Nick leaves he goes home and that is when we are introduced the first time to Mr. Gatsby. He appears to be trembling and then he disappears into the darkness. That left me with a lot of suspense and eager to read on. Many questions were left after reading this chapter. Like why was he trembling? Also, I am eager to find out what is going to happen with Tom and his affair.

William Stanley Merwin, an American poet was born on September 30, 1927. He is most famous for his anti war poems during the 1960’s. Throughout his writing career his writing’s shifted from many different themes. He wrote about mythological themes, and also showed interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. During his writing career he received many awards for his poetry. Some included the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the Tanning Prize. One interesting fact about Merwin is that he is also a translator for Latin, Spanish, and French poems.
The poem I have specifically read for this poet is called “For the Anniversary of My Death” is a description of Merwin’s vision of what his death will be like. In the first part of the poem he talk about what goes on when he is alive, but by the second part he refers to everything he talks about in past tense, meaning this is what happens to him when he died. One part that caught my attention was when he says “when the last fires will wave to me.” The fire could be a metaphor for many things. In my opinion the fire is people that are alive. When we die our bodies are cold, but when we are alive our bodies are warm like the flame of a fire. So this line means that when the last people wave goodbye to me.
The last three lines in the first stanza are also metaphorical. He sees death as something quiet, and after he passes on his soul will travel on forever. It will never get tired. “like the beam of a lightless star” is a metaphor because many of the stars we see in the sky today are dead or millions of years old. This shows that even though they are “dead” they carry on forever. In the last stanza he realizes what he has lost now that he passed on. He will no longer feel the love of a woman, or the “shamelessness” of a man.
The last line in the poem is the most powerful. “Bowing not knowing to what.” While we are alive, people have many beliefs of their god and what it is. We have visions of what they look like or what heaven and hell represent. The fact is, we will never know what will happen until we actually pass on. His last line infers that once he gets to that higher place, he is unsure of what it is.
After exploring more of Merwin’s poems I came across another that caught my interest. “When You Go Away” is about a person who has lost someone dearly. In my opinion they were the cause of that person leaving. It is not the same type of loss like a death. It is more toward the loss of a partner. His poems seem to be about experiences that a person comes to face at one time or another throughout their lifetime. Based on the poems I have read by him I don’t think his writings really characterized any type of specific American way. The ones I have read were all about feeling and experiences that all people feel.

link to poems by W.S Merwin
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-you-go-away/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/for-the-anniversary-of-my-death/

Over the course of this week I have been introduced to two different pieces of writing by the author Willie Cather. The first story was called “A Wagner Matinee” and the second was called “Consequences”. These two stories were different in their themes but had a similar characteristic. They were both written during the time of the American Realism. In previous weeks we have been introduced to American Romanticism stories as well. These two types of stories are very different from each other. The American Romanticism focused its stories more about nature and the outdoor surroundings. These stories were also very spiritual and focused on people’s relations to nature and the afterlife. For example in the story “Walden, or Life in the Woods” written by Henry Davis Thoreau, he portrays nature in an amazingly vivid way. Some might perceive it as what we experience after we pass on. Others may perceive it as just someone who shares an extraordinary love for nature. Writing’s of the American Realism time are much different. Stories from this time are based more on fact and experiences. They are also based more on realistic situations rather then those of faith. They explain situations that could possibly happen, have happened, or even stories about certain behaviors one can experience. Over time American Romanticism shifted to American realism. I wouldn’t consider this a progression only because both these types of writing had exceptionally great authors and titles. Instead I would just call this a shift in the themes.
The two pieces of writing I read by Cather were very different in their meaning and storylines. The first story “A Wagner Matinee” is about a man who is visited by his aunt and takes her to see an opera that has significant meaning. This woman had a desired love for music and the theatre. In her early life in Boston she was devoted to music. Since she moved to Nebraska with her husband she was unable to hold her tight bond with music and it slowly disappeared. When she returned to the city and was taken to the opera it reminded her of a German composer she once knew. This was the significance of the title “Wagner”. The composer she knew was Richard Wagner. This discovery brought tears to her eyes and after it ends she does not want to leave, realizing she will have to go back to reality without music. The author might have a desired love for music which could be the reason why she wrote this type of writing. This person so wrote about could even be based on a past experience. Whatever the case, Cather must hold a deep desire for music to be able to write such a strong piece of work surrounding this fine art. In consequences her topic of writing shifted. This story focused on the topic of suicide. Her main question was, “is suicide something that is noticeable?” throughout the entire piece she makes the reader think of this question. What made this story interesting was that the question was never really answered. These two pieces of writing did not have much to do with politics, which makes me think her interest was not so much in the government.
In the story consequences, Cather in my opinion is writing to make the readers expand their thinking levels. This was a powerful piece of writing even though it was presented through a story. Suicide is something that in my opinion cannot be explained. Like in the story so many cases of this are unclear to the naked eye. Many of the different people discussed in this story have committed suicide without leaving any evidence leading up to this act. Cather wants you to realize that sometimes the truth isn’t always what you see, but it lies deeper. This piece of writing was definitely my favorite between the two that I read by this author. The first story, “A Wagner Matinee” was hard to follow and made me loose interest easily.
On the other hand, “Consequences” held my attention throughout the entire story. Reading about the human mind and human behavior interests me deeply. So when I found out that her story was about suicide I was eager to read it. At the end it left me with many questions. Was Cavenaugh insane? Or was there really a stalker that killed him? These questions will remain unanswered. In my opinion, his descriptions of this stalker remind me of someone who suffers from schizophrenia. No one other then he has reported seeing this stalker, and he appears out of nowhere knowing every memory from Cavenaugh’s life. This leads me to believe that he really did shoot himself because of the visions of this man he was seeing.