Comparison and Contrast: Pastry

There are many kinds of pastry out in the world, from French croissants, to Italian panettone, to American "donuts." They all stem from the same basic ingredients; flour, sugar, eggs. Most baked goods are quite sweet, especially that of the American variety. These desserts, like "eclairs" and doughnuts are the descendants of real bakery goods from Europe. Pastries from Europe are really much more similar to each other than they are similar to North American pastries, but European pastries are still quite individual in their own respects.  For example, butter tarts and lemon tarts of the North American variety differ quite drastically from the flaky, savoury croissants from France, and the crunchy Italian biscotti.   

Classification and Division: Music Students

It seems to be quite easy for certain middle-aged people and seniors to look at all teenagers as one and the same; one huge sloppy, unmotivated, sexually starved, rowdy population that want to have nothing to do with adults other than ask them, "Ya want fries with that?" It is true that some kids are stereotypes like this; but there are groups of teenagers that deserves more respect. One of these groups of teenagers can be labeled "The Band Geeks." This is a term generally applied to those of us who are socially underdeveloped, wear glasses and play the oboe. However, there is really quite more depth to music students than it may seems. Consider the arts student; this teenager may take music, but will also be involved in visual art and/or drama. Most of their friends have either quit the band or were never in it to begin with and the arts student is always somewhat self-conscious about how they fit in. There is another rarer form of the arts student; instead of the arts, the student is involved in numerous sports, and also plays in the band. Another subclass of band geek is the student who truly loves playing music with others, and suppresses his dislike of the conductor for this reason. The symphony lover will never quite pitch in enough during concert set up, but gives his all during the performance and when practicing. Consider as well the conformist band geek, who participates because his friends are doing it. This subclass of band geek also never does his share, and doesn't practice enough. An unfortunate variation on this type is the band geek who was forced into it by his parents. And of course, there are always the true band geeks, the diligent music lovers who are usually also good at mathematics. These are the students who donate their time to organizing concerts and taking inventory of music stands, who willingly put up with the conductor, who fundraise for everything. They might not be exceedingly good players, or they might be planning a career in music; they are (hopefully) the core of the band in both sound quality and work ethic.

"A Fire Truck" by Richard Wilbur

1. The purpose of this poem is merely to express the feelings of the speaker as he watches a fire truck roar past him on the street.  It is evident from the language of the poem that he has been completely overwhelmed by the experience; the siren-blast "sends all else skittering to the curb" in the opinion of the speaker. 

2. "A Fire Truck" is wonderful poetry.  The purpose, which is quite simple, remains the focus throughout, and is completely fulfilled in that the reader experiences the passing of a fire truck with as much reality as the speaker did.  In fact, the speaker refers to his mind being blank, "purged of nuance," as if the fire truck had banished all thoughts and ideas, but also bothersome worries.  While reading and experiencing the poem, the reader, too, experiences a loss of thought about anything other than this compelling moment when the fire truck passes by.  Subsequently, it leaves a lasting impression on the speaker; "I carry you in my mind."  The reader, in turn, will be left with an impression of the simplicity of this moment that has been made extraordinary.

The use of stylistic devices also makes this poem very understandable and compelling.  Using metaphor, the truck is compared to an action, "blurring to sheer verb."  It is also interesting that the speaker hears the bell maintaining that "thought is degraded action!"  This observation suggests that the thought proccess is merely a somewhat useful, but inferior form of action that won't aid people like a fire truck might.  In addition, the adjectives throughout the poem become more evocative of the fire truck to allow the reader the same experience of the speaker. 

Metacognitive Reflection #1

Okay, so I'm not really the athletic type.  My father is, and so is my sister - she's on the city's travel soccer team and the school's and she actually likes it.  I don't, really.  Not soccer, just physical exertion in general; I've been skiing since I was about five, but I'm not very competitive.   Anyway, this year my father found this really great cross-country place out in Embro and made the whole family members and next thing I know I've been signed up for the Nordic ski team, and I have to go to St. Mike's twice a week and be shown up by everyone there.  

I don't like being bad at things.  I don't have to be the best, but I dislike being the worst.  I'm not the best trumpet player or the best singer or the best skier, but I'm not the worst either.  (Actually, I am the best alto.  At central, anyway.)  I mean, I know most people don't like being the worst, but I just absolutely HATE the way the Senior Boys whiz by me at three times my speed with three times less effort.  But when I'm with my friends skiing, they're about as good as me.  I can deal with that; it doesn't make me feel stupid.  And if I'm alone, then I just love it.  

Unfortunately, there's sort of a catch there.  Without other people pushing me, I have no motivation.  (It's a good thing I got into this English course, and didn't have to stay with the online one.)  So even if I managed to make myself go out and ski, I'd stop every ten seconds for a breather and enjoy the scenery, then leave after a mere 45 minutes.  But when I'm racing, there's no stopping option.  When I'm racing, mostly I think about "how much farther?"  Then I kick myself for ever agreeing to it in the first place, and then I get resentful at my dad for forcing me into it.  He didn't at all, actually, but I have a really bad way of trying to please people and then passive-aggressively guilting them for it later.  Unfortunately, I do that to my father a lot.  I confuse him - but, I confuse myself, too.  Why do I continue to do it?  Perhaps because I need him to push me in the way that I can't push myself, but he could do that even if I wasn't mean about it.  

Inevitably, though, the race ends and I don't come in last - and I haven't thrown up while crossing the finish line yet, which is a plus.  No matter how hard the racing is, it comes to and end and I'm left with a feeling of accomplishment.  And now that WOSSAA is over, I somehow doubt I'll be invited to OFSSAA; so that's the end of the season for me.  And I'm going to miss it, as hard as it was.  And soon my father won't be there to push me (not in Belgium, anyway), as cliche as that sounds.  So I don't really know how to label myself in this situation - slacker with potential?  Someone who wants to care and go the distance, but needs help, perhaps.

Methods of Development: Process

Petrunkevitch's "The Spider and the Wasp" is an excellent piece of writing. It is quite interesting to read, and not just for a scientifically-minded person. The author takes facts that would otherwise be dull, and makes them into a story that would intrigue any reader.  To begin the essay, the author uses a great hook regarding the tarantulas pitted against their "arch-enemy," the digger wasp Pepsis. This topic, intelligence pitted against instinct, is referred to throughout the essay and interesting observations are made on it.

Process writing is a series of sequential actions and each one is a development of the next.  These steps all lead towards a result, be it a product, effect, or decision.  In  "The Spider and the Wasp" the actions all lead towards the preservation of the species of the wasp.  The beginning of the essay the reader is unsure which insect will survive and which will die, but this becomes clear when it is stated that "they [the senses] fail the spider completely when it meets its deadly enemy."  In the style of process writing, each point is made and explained when necessary.  The author begins by introducing the two characters, the tarantula and the wasp.  He goes on to explain the tactile senses of the spider and how they fail when it comes to the wasp.  It is then revealed, step by step, how exactly the spider is hunted and ultimately killed by the wasp, which is the final product to feed the wasp larvae. 

You Call This Literature? Part 3 - edited

Looking through the "Literature" section and expecting to find articles on Woolf and Morrison, Pound and Haslitt, it is disappointing to see Dan Brown's work everywhere.  This is not to criticise Brown, although his earth-shattering theory is, too be fair, not even his own; but what is truly dissatisfying is how a bestseller, based on a juicy story everyone loves to believe, is what can define what we all think we ought to read. 

Popular literature has hit a regrettable low, unfortunately to the point that fine literature is being overlooked.  Even Chapters has candles and calendars and journals and pens at the front of the store now, and we have go to the back to see what it says it's really selling.  Moreover, on the tables nearest the entrance are shiny bestselling books written by Dan Brown and anything with Oprah's Book Club's seal of approval sticker.  It took William Faulkner almost an entire century to finally be recognized as a valuable writer by most of us, when Oprah recommended a three-volume set of his "best"work.  It seems we all want what someone thinks is "best," the overarching narrative of a writer's career, without having to do any researcher to dig through piles of books.  Rather, we gather bits and pieces, as if all works were separate, only caring to read the author that the New York Times deems "brilliant" and "dazzlingly unique."

What is also disheartening is that many people haven't heard of good Canadian writers, or at the very least, Canadian writers who don't base their stories in the mid-western U.S.  Many of us have never read anything by Atwood or Munro (who are hardly even being considered in Chapters' best selling novels) while others like Henighan are being almost completely ignored.  It seems we'd all rather read up on astrology and Devils wearing Prada.   Granted, people read because they want to escape.  Lamentably, everyone these days wants to escape into a story that is predictable and superficial.  Have we become so passive that we cannot escape into a story that might enlighten us or enhance our knowledge of the world?  It seems we don't want to look around us, don't want to read about things that matter.  This is not only egotistical, but also irresponsible.  The need for enjoyment is recognized, but great writers like Brand and Rhys, Joyce and Chesterson inform and inspire as well as delight, which may take us further than a bestselling Dan Brown or Stephen King.  Literature helps make us human.  Since what we're reading is mass-market, cliched plot-driven books, society should be slightly concerned about what this says about our collective intelligence. 

Good and Bad Writing

The first example begins with somewhat of a truism, "within our society ... there is an individual."  Well, of course there is an individual.  Everyone is an individual. The author then tries to support the statement with claims that are all questions. "Who determines whether or not he is correct in their choices?"   "Are our thoughts brainwashed...?"  This is a stylistic flaw that I personally find quite annoying when it's overused.  Another subject, ethical relativism, is then introduced (again, with a question) seemingly out of nowhere.  This is the type of bad writing, then, that has too many directions.  The author continues to ask questions that are not quite rhetorical - "who is behind all the madness of ethical relativism?"  Ethical relativism, which was rather confusing, is at last defined as what one's culture says is right, is right for the individual.  The conclusion that the author draws from this is that a variety of diverse cultures will produce a variety of different moralities, which is almost a truism, especially since it's not supported with anything but the author's reasoning.  After all this, the closing sentence is a train wreck in which it is vaguely stated that ethical relativists think studying ethics philosophically is a waste of time.  This is the type of bad writing, then, that has too many directions that aren't supported - so, at the same time, it has no direction.  The last thing that condemns it is just all the grammatical and spelling errors.  "He is correct in their choices," "with it's hellish ideas," "your wasting your time,"  need I go on.

The second paragraph, if it can be called that, is one sentence.  Clearly this is the type of writing that is "too clever by half," the author using long sentences and big words to make himself feel grown-up and smart.  The author has not thought about his audience; his meaning is unclear and the entire sentence is not very cohesive.  This piece of writing is not likely to be read/understood because it does not say what the reader needs to hear.

This last example begins with a weak thesis, a question for the reader.  The supporting claim that follows is a vague and poorly worded "frankenquote" from Freud that does not seem to relate to what it is supposed to support.  (What does Freud's observations on religion have to do with the theories of science being the laws of origin and people having strong emotions from a science experiment?)  The author then notes that many children have parents who love them and take care of them and "give them their needs" (that could be worded better), and yet the children are still religious.  Unfortunately, the author thinks that "this proves" that religion doesn't fill the gap of a lost parent.  It might prove that religion can fill this gap, but doesn't always need to fill it - but the author has clearly not thought this over thoroughly and should take his final thought, "religion does not fill the gap of a parent which has been lost," and try and prove it as the thesis.  The original 'thesis' doesn't relate to the conclusion at all, for that matter.  This paragraph is definitely too "hyped up."

The first sample of good writing is indeed well written.  It is concise, coherent, and interesting, and never drifts off-topic.  No truistic claims are made.  The thesis is partly the opinion of the author (the capelins' mating ceremony is 'fascinating'), which could be a downfall; however, he supports and describes the ceremony well, and does makes it seems fascinating.  The wording used is almost poetic, and the description makes the audience pay attention, and really feel for those fish; they go to so much trouble, that seems so planned, just to reproduce and die. 

The second example of good writing begins with an interesting hook and then launches into the thesis.  The amusing quote at the beginning makes a potentially tedious subject interesting.  Unlike the examples of bad writing, the use of a question as an introduction to the subject in this paragraph is not abused and manages to capture the attention of the reader even further.  The subject is then explained simply and understandably, never mentioning facts irrelevant to the topic. 

The last example is quite an interesting one, controversial in nature.  Again, it does not abuse the use of questions as a hook for the audience, but instead uses them tactfully with a sense of wonder.  The thesis is intriguing: "humans are machines ... and so of course machines can think."  After this thesis is stated, it's supported by the fact that humans haven't researched and don't know a great deal about things like this, so thinking machines could be formed from anything.  In the next sentence, a new spin is put on the thesis by asking if a machine could think just by the implementation of a computer program.  The paragraph doesn't quite come to a conclusion and it is evident that the article continues to discuss whether our minds are computer programs.  It remains a good example; the author doesn't fall into any of the bad writing traps.