Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

For my second beyond-class assignment I bought the children's animated musical Frozen on Itunes. I thought that it would make a great piece to watch because we have explored poetry, screenplays, and short stories. However, we haven't explored a musical. What a choice it was! Frozen is a spectacular picture that could entertain people of all ages! It's the story of an energized optimist named Anna who grows up in a castle with her sister Elsa and is forbidden to interact with her. The sisters were separated after Elsa's mysterious ability to freeze things pricks Anna's innocent mind. After being treated by trolls, the girls parents separated the two to keep Elsa from striking her little sister in the heart; which would kill her unless saved by an act of true love.

Sadly, after the parents were killed in a shipwreck, the castle doors were closed until Elsa became of age to rule the kingdom. When the gates were opened, Anna, fearless and excited, rushes to her sister to introduce her to new beau Hans who has just proposed. Furious, Elsa loses control of her powers and freezes the land. As a result, Elsa flees with the whole town after her. Frozen is about the journey that Anna takes to find not only her sister, but also herself. It was a miraculous film that I would recommend to any and everyone. I think, more so now, that musicals and animations, as such, should be included in the Intro to Lit classes. They were all based off of literature such as Grimm's Fairty Tales anyway. 

Spring Break

Over Spring Break '14, I decided that I would build on my paper about The Glass Menagerie. I developed some ideas about how fantasy and abandonment were prominent themes throughout the play and how they pertain to the three main characters: Amanda, Laura, and Tom Wingfield. After I worked on my draft for a couple of days, I tried to recuperate.  I've been really sick for the past couple of weeks. I was in the hospital over the break due to dehydration and flu symptoms. It was the worst. I'm still taking the medication that was prescribed to me over the course of this week and haven't been able to go to work or fully pay attention in class. Last night I had a fever again and tried to get some rest. I'm hoping that this illness will subside and that the weather will become less snowy and a lot more sunny. Over the break, the weather was really nice and I couldn't even enjoy it because of my being ill. But now that I'm back in Petersburg, the weather has been awful. It doesn't feel much like spring at all. Hopefully that will change soon. 

3/6/2014

Today we had class and we talked about The Glass Menagerie yet again. We are supposed to figure out what it is that we want to right about. I want to try to tackle the theme of fantasy throughout the play which correlates with Sweeney's idea of escape. I think if I intertwine them, I can make the connection between abandonment and fantasy. Most importantly, I can talk about the impact that the Wingfield father's absence pushed each family member into their own fantasies. So far I have written up some idea about both Amanda and Laura:

Amanda Wingfield, the mother of both the narrator and the protagonist, continuously withdraws from reality.She believes that her son is to have a stealthy job to sustain their family since her husband is deceased and she lives vicariously through her daughter Laura while trying to find a well of gentleman caller to take care of the Wingfields.

Laura Wingfield, the daughter of Amanda, constantly shys away from excellence or any sense of normalcy. She attempts to go to business school and drops out unbeknownst to her mother. Wingfield also fantasizes through her 'glass menagerie', specifically from her glass unicorn which is broken by her childhood crush who also breaks her hopes of being with him when he reveals that he is already affianced. 

I think that this is a pretty good place to start. And tonight I hope to analyze the character/narrator Tom as well. 

Essay #2

In class today, we are watching The Glass Menagerie. We are at the part where Laura is going to have a gentleman caller arranged by her bother Tom who is practically forced by his mother Amanda to find the proper suitor for his kid sister. Little does Laura know that her special caller is the same young man named Jim O' Connor: the person who she was infatuated throughout her time in high school. Reluctant once her mother mentions his name, Laura panics and states that she doesn't want to come to dinner any longer due to fear and her shy exterior. Once the gentleman caller makes it to dinner, Laura faints right on the spot. He brings her dandelion wine and dances with her while connecting with her about her lack of confidence or 'inferiority complex. He, flirting with her, leads her on to believe that she ought to be shown affection. Leaning in to kiss her, the infatuation can be read across Laura's face. However, instantly afterwards, the caller regrets it. The poor girl was finally given some hope, to know that love truly exists. And it's all because her Mr. Nice Guy is affianced. The sickest tragedy. Of course, Laura's mother walks in after Laura hears the news without a clue about Connor's engagement. The entire scene is just gut wrenching. It definitely made the class and great one. 

William's "The Glass Menagerie"

Hey guys,
So last week we had Sweeney's class we didn't do anything out of the ordinary. We reviewed our papers, yet again. And following that exercise, we watched some of Tennessee William's "The Glass Menagerie". I found revising our papers quite monotonous. I say this only because my group, this time, was ill-prepared and I and one other girl were the only two out of the four of us who had our papers completed. There was little to critique which made the peer review process a tad more difficult. I didn't receive any feedback on my paper and was disappointed because the last time that I had gotten a substantial amount of things to change in my paper. Nevertheless, we continued as a class to watch William's "The Glass Menagerie" which is about a mother attempting to live vicariously through her undoubtedly shy daughter. Although we only watched approximately 15-20 minutes of it, I found the play to be somewhat intriguing and I am interested in seeing how the play will end. I think that it's very different to watch a piece of written work in comparison to reading it. There is always something new to pick up on or different perspectives to consider. Sadly, I was sick last Thursday so I missed some of the play. However, my goal is to get a copy of it to catch up.

Character Analysis

This week in class, we have been going over our character analysis papers. The assignment was to find a character that we have previously read about from Sweeney's Lit Reader book and talk about our relation to said character through textual evidence. In my group, it was me and two other girls. We each read our papers to one another and then continued to give our own personal critiques on each others works. I found this exercise less challenging for me because I am a writing tutor. However, I cautiously looked for feedback from the people in my group because I love being able to improve on anything that I write. I take it very seriously. With that being said, I noted everything that they commented and went back and made those changes after class. Next class, Sweeney mentioned that we will be doing the same thing again which I find extremely important because I may pick up on things in my writing that I and my partners had not initially notice. 

It would be nice if, next class, we could switch groups just to get a feel for how other people are constructing their papers and to also hear feedback from different perspectives. However, I did enjoy my time with the group that I had on Tuesday and learned some really unique and interesting things about both girls. If I had to pick one thing that I truly enjoy about Sweeney's class, it would be the freedom that he gives us to speak our minds and meet others we may have never met if it weren't for his class. 

LGBT-GSA Beyond Class Experience

This week I completed my first beyond the class assignment. The previous week, I had received an email from Mrs. Martinez about the lgbt gay-straight alliance here at Richard Bland College. Reluctant, I went Tuesday afternoon. There were just two other girls and myself; which was different for me. It was odd because when I was in high school I began the very first gay-straight alliance in the history of my school and although there weren't a lot of participants, there most certainly was a variety. However, at the meeting Mrs. Martinez held the four of us discussed goals for the organizations and any ideas we may have for the future. There were suggestions about t-shirts and campus wide campaigns which sounds exciting to me. The other girls and I decided that I would help getting the word out on campus while they took more control of the group goals and fliers. All in all, I'm glad I went to experience something different than my everyday routine. Essentially, that is what college is for: to challenge ourselves and push ourselves beyond the limits we once had whether it be through educational or extracurricular activities. The lgbt gay-straight alliance meeting proved to be a worth while extracurricular activity that I may continue to be involved in while I spend my time here at Richard Bland.