Last Post

I would just like to say it has been an honor being in this beloved English class. I really enjoyed hearing all of the short stories in class and I am glad that I was able to share mine. It is hard to believe that the school year is already over. It feels like yesterday I was squaring my meals and marching in section. But as reluctant as I am to leave our English class, I know that it is for bigger and....well bigger things. I am going to miss Rub-a-Dubs falling asleep in class and Jake talking about Ke$ha. But all good things must come to an end. I had a great time in English this semester and look forward to seeing you all next year.

Sincerely,
Michael Massaro

La Muneca

I found this play interesting, unlike most of my classmates. I could see the struggle that the main character faced throughout the play. He was struggling with what every boy coming of age struggles with; defining himself. He doesn't really know what he wants to do in his life so he works at a funeral home. He thinks he wants to be a painter but he doesn't actively pursue it. He doesn't know how to talk to women so imagines what it would be like if he had a wife. The only thing that was constant in his life was his dog Peppe. Since the dog died there was no stability. The dog served as something that the main character could depend on being there for him. His father occasionally checks on him, but often only stays for short periods of time and runs off with a woman every night. The main character pushes everyone away and doesn't want to leave the bubble that he has created for himself. It kind of reminds me of Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield doesn't want to grow up and calls everything else "phony" when he reality he is the one who is phony. He created a world in which only he lived in and understood. This fear of adulthood is prevalent in La Muneca. This coming of age for the boy creates a tension between the characters. It was really exemplified by his friend who wanted to set him up on a blind date, but the main character refused. I just felt like I could see past the poor set and the fact that it was a Sunday night and understand what the writer was getting at. The play was a bit long for me, but I could understand why it was critically acclaimed in New York. I think its unfair to criticize something without having an open mind. I enjoyed the play and thought that the actors did a good job with the limitations that they were giving (the cga stage is sub par at best).

Facing Plato's Bullet

These three poems represent three different eras of war. The first represented is WWII in Cummings, "Plato Told." It is interesting how the author said that it took a "nipponized bit of the old sixth avenue el in the top of his head to tell him." Cummings is talking about how war is hell and how scrap metal form the Sixth Avenue elevated railway in NYC was torn down in the 1930s in and sold Japan, which they turned into armaments used in WWII. It is kind of ironic how we sell scrap iron to Japan only to be killed by it in a war against them. Cummings demonstrates how the person that he is talking about doesn't fully understand war until he pays the ultimate price, his life. In Komunkyakaa's poem, "Facing it," he talks about his emotions at the Vietnam War memorial. Having served in Vietnam, he speaks on how the sights at the memorial affect him. What I found interesting was that he feels that people are trying to forget about the war. He says, "a woman's trying to erase the names: No, she's brushing a boy's hair." It seems to me that the author feels very strongly about remembering the ones who have fallen and doesn't want their sacrifice to go unremembered. "Here, Bullet," talks about the war in the modern era. The author, Brian Turner, served in Iraq and Bosnia. He talks about the brutality that the bullet causes in war, and how it is where the world ends. Overall, I thought these poems were pretty depressing, and gave horrific views of war. But if that is what the reality of war is like then I guess the poems are pretty accurate.

Light is like water

This story was hard for me to grasp. I understand the metaphor between light and water, but I find it hard to believe that the children actually drowned. It says, "Responding to the alarm call, the firemen forced open the door to the fifth-floor apartment, and found the whole place filled with light, up to the ceiling". If light literally means water then the apartment could technically have been filled with water. But I feel like the light represents fire, and that the children thought that breaking light bulbs would bring water, because it represented the tap. However, in breaking to many light bulbs, a fire started and they all ended up burning to death in the apartment. The inability for the children to distinguish between light and water inevitably led to their demise. But the last paragraph casts doubt on my assertion, because I cannot figure out what the author means when he says that, "Totó was seated at the stern of the rowboat, glued to the oars, with his scuba mask on, searching for the lighthouse of the port until his tanks ran out of air; and Joel floated in the prow, still trying to measure the height of the north star with his sextant, and floating throughout the house were his thirty-six classmates" I feel like there is something more here than just dying in fire. There has to be a reason the author chose to portray the children like this. I just cant seem to put my finger on it. It could be that by breaking the light bulbs and opening the tap, it unleashed the children's imagination of the room being filled with water and so in their reality they thought that they were actually overflowing with water, whereas in real reality they were trapped in a burning room, but did not see it that way. This whole idea of perceptions of reality confuses me and I can not seem to distinguish between what is real and what isn't. But I am going to stand by my statement and say that the children died in a fire and not in water.

Sassoon and Jarrell

I found these two poems very interesting. In "Dreamers," Sassoon describes what it is like to be a soldier under fire. Even though the military may seem glamorous with the nice uniforms and honor, once you are under fire you forget all of that. When you are put in a life or death situation you quickly resort back to thinking about "firelit homes, clean beds, and wives". That glamor that you once wanted is all gone. You would give anything to have your real life back. At the academy, even though we are not at war, we still have sacrificed many things to be here. We have given up the traditional college experience to serve our country. As a highschooler this seemed really honorable, but now that we are actually here dealing with the day to day grind of the academy, it doesnt seem so appealing anymore. Some days it feels like I would give anything to be a civilan again, but then others I feel a sense of pride in being here (although not many). So I can relate to how these soldiers may feel. But in war that feeling must be amplified a hundred times to what its like at the academy. In Jarrell's poem, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," the author talks about the like of a ball turret gunner and how they spend it curled up in the fetal position firing 6 miles off of the gorund until they are killed. This poem almost paralelled to an abortion. When Jarrell said, "When I died they washed me out fo the turret with a hose," it me of a woman given brith to a stillborn. It is a horrid image, but one that results form the author's choice of words. Overall, these poems made me think a lot.

Time for Dinner

OVID

I was surprised that we were reading Ovid in English class. In high school that was usually reserved for only Latin class. Prior to coming to the academy I took Latin for 5 years, so seeing some Latin poetry brought back fond memories of conjugating verbs and translating sentences. I actually didn't need the English to get the gist of what Ovid was talking about. Of course I am not an expert at Latin so I couldn't translate nearly as well the way the author did. Plus its been a while since I've read Latin so I was a little rusty on vocab (needed a handy Latin to English Dictionary). For example the author translated "Dum facit ingenium" into "While she inspires me" whereas I would have said "While she makes my talent" and when the author translated "petite hinc praecepta" into "seek precepts here" I would have said "seek rules from this place". Its basically the same thing except put better into English. Latin is the reason I use the passive voice a lot in my writing. Its hard to distinguish the two tenses for me because it is perfectly fine to write in the passive voice in Latin. But I enjoyed the passages and hope to see some more Ovid or any other famous Roman author.

The Alchemist?

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the Alchemist and its meaning. I cannot wrap my head around the idea of a personal legend, because if the worlds greatest lie is that your fate is set, then how do you make your own fate? Isn't your personal legend your destiny or fate? Of course you can choose whether or not to pursue your personal legend, it is what you are fated to do. I guess I just have a hard time grasping the notion that you can have a fate that is destined for you and choose whether to pursue it or not, because if something is destined for you then you really don't have a choice, because it will bother you your entire life. If it was true that you could make your own personal legend, then there wouldn't be omens pushing you towards it, because it would be your decision where you are going, not where your personal legend tells you to go. I mean, I get the whole follow your dreams thing, but it seems contradictory to me if your dream is already picked for you. What if Santiago wanted to see the great Wall of China? Would his personal legend prevent him from doing so? What makes the pyramids so special? It would be different if he really wanted to go there, but when he has some supernatural force pulling him towards the pyramids, that doesnt mean that it was his dream to do that. I just feel like the author kind of went in circles and tried to convey the same idea throughout the entire book. It was kind of cliche. like he leaves the girl finds gold and goes back to her and they live happily ever after. that isnt how it works in real life and it makes me kind of mad that that is how the author chose to tell the story. I mean i enjoyed the book, but it could have been a lot better if it was mroe realistic than how he portrayed it.

Cancion of the Pirate

My treasure is my gallant bark,
My only God is liberty;
My law is might, the wind my mark,
My country is the sea.

These few lines demonstrate the meaning of the poem. The passion for liberty and treasures trumps everything else in this pirates life. The poem creates a sense of motivation for freedom. After reading Jose de Espronceda's biography, it was clear that this poem represented something more than just a pirate. Espronceda was tied to political conspiracies, and was forced to flee his country because of it. It is as if the pirate in this poem represents the person he is. He says that his only "God is liberty" and his "Country is the sea." These phrases are significant, because they show how Espronceda does not consider himself as being connected to one specific country, which is understandable because he was forced to leave his. The only thing that he believes in is freedom and will follow the wind where ever it takes him so that he can be free. It is interesting how the poem has an underlying meaning to it. When the first time I read it I just thought it was about a pirate in the 1800s, but after reading the author's biography I realized that it meant much more than that.

YouTube Found Poem

In case it didn't work on the blog. I put my video on youtube. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWRbL-MgjNM

Clinton Aplology Poem

This is a speech that was given by Bill Clinton on December 11, 1998. It was given minutes before the House Judicary Committe voted to pass the first article of the President's impeachment. It was interesting to look back on the speech and see what really happened, because at the time I was only 8 years old. I didn't really know why the President was in trouble when I was younger, but it became evident later in my life. I don't really know what sparked me to turn this speech into a poem. I was just surfing the web and came across Bill Clinton and thought it would interesting to recite one of his speeches.

The Mulatto Millenium

I couldn’t help but google the author after reading this essay. I was extremely surprised when I clicked on the link to her name and a white woman appeared on the screen. If the author is writing from own experience then this creates quite a dilemma. I was expecting someone with at least vague features of either an African American or a Mexican. But I guess what she says in the reading is true “If it had been based on the appearance, my sister would have been black, my brother Mexican, and me Jewish” (16). It is just hard for me to imagine growing up in a culture that doesn’t reflect what you look like. If I were the author it would be hard for me to refer to myself as African American when my skin is as white as day. But I guess it is all based on how you are raised. Another thing that caught my attention was when the author talked about the M.N. officials and how they questioned her. They say, “But why black? I mean, why didn’t you identify as white if you were gonna identify as only one thing? Isn’t that reverse racism?” (20). It is intriguing how the author continues to try and identify herself as black even though the favorable race at the time would have been white. The M.N. officials don’t understand her reasoning at all. But for the author it is very simple. She believes that multiculturalism is about confronting racism and power. The authors views are very interesting and caused me to think a different way.

Poetry Reading ELizabeth Bishop~Sestina