On Turning Ten

It really seems like Collins is trying to explain his saddness about the coming of age.  As a child I was so excited to have a Birthday and turn a year older, because I felt like I was getting more responcibily.  He seemed to see growing up as a sad thing. For example he says, that the sun was solumly fall against his house, but that it didn't when he was younger.  It seems to me like he is trying to explain that he used to see the sun falling on his tree house like a sign that a great day was over and that a new wonderful day would start again tomorrow.  Now it seems like he is saying that the day finally ended and that he wasn't looking forward to the next day.   I understand how he could say that he looses so many things, like imaginary friends, but I feel like as children get older they gain so much.

 When Collins talks about all of the things he believed as a ignorant little child it seems like he is longing to be back at that time.  He says that he felt like only yesterday he had thought that there was light under his skin and it seems to me that he is longing for have light under his skin and have a carefree world instead of the broken life he has. He seems to be saying that at the age of 10 ingnorance stops and lifes problems are dropped on your lap.
This poem effectivly shows a coming of age and the saddness and happiness of growing up.  It explains the saddness a person could have that they are loosing the experiences of a carefree childhood, but I also feel like it is a comparison to the things that can occur in adulthood.  I really think he has a negative attitude about growing up and that he is not looking at how much he has gained, only what he has lost.

Homeless

Claudia Smith

Period 3

4/13/12

Homeless

            Homeless is sleeping outside year round.  It’s being so cold in the winter that you can’t sleep and you shiver so hard you feel like an earthquake.  It’s being so hot and sticky in the summer that you can’t do anything.  It’s sitting outside in the rain and snow and sleet and hail.  But, it’s also sitting outside getting sun burnt and having the sun drain the little energy you have left.   It’s calling a rock your pillow and a park- bench your bed.    It’s using your coat that you got from the local church as a blanket and using an old pair of socks you found as gloves.  Being homeless can turn someone from a human being into something that is looked down upon. Homelessness makes people desperate.  It makes you do things you know is wrong, but do it anyways, just to survive.   

            Homelessness is sitting under a bridge and overhearing parents say terrible things about you to their kids.  It is knowing that you haven’t achieved everything you and your parents wanted for you.  It wishing you had changed your life when you were younger, but now it’s too late. Your only chance it to become famous, but yeah, like that will happen.  If you are lucky you find a job, but since you have no car you will probably continuously be late and get fired.  Back to square one. 

            Homeless is begging for money or food from complete strangers.   It is basing your next meal off the charity of others.  It is hoping that you find someone who will show you mercy and give you just enough to stay alive. It’s dumpster diving at fancy restaurants to get their extra food that they threw away.  It’s living in a dumpster just because it hold in heat better than the great outdoors.    It’s waiting in line all day to get into the local shelter, but them closing the doors when you are the next one to get it.  It’s waiting around to get food from the local food shelter, but them running out of food because the need is so great. 

            Homeless is “joining” the local cause, not because you believe in it, but because they hand out free food and drinks to their members.  It’s being at the mercy of others. 

            Homeless is being dirty.  It is taking a shower once a week, if you’re lucky. It’s taking baths in the local McDonalds in the sink.  It’s using ketchup and warm water to make tomato soup.    It’s having a serious disease and living with it, because you don’t have the money for a doctor or insurance.  It’s visibly being affected by an illness and having no one help you. 

 Homelessness is preventable. It takes privileged people stepping up and giving a crap about someone besides themselves.  It takes people giving up the $10 they were going to buy McDonalds with and giving it to a charity that helps others.  It takes people spending less time on the couch and more time at food shelters.  It takes people spending less time worrying about how they are going to charge their IPhone and more time worrying about whether others have food and a blanket. 

            I’m not saying that everyone should give up everything they have to make the world a homeless place, but I am saying that everyone deserves to have food and shelter and that with just a little bit from everyone we can make a dent in the problem. 

April 9th, 2012

Are there any fresh ideas enlisted in this definition? How would you have defined this idea? Are there ideas similar to it that you could choose to define?

There are allusions here: (1) to the musical Damn Yankees!, (2) to the Bible (the parable of the Good Samaritan), and (3) to a poem by Robert Frost. Do these allusions add anything to the essay or to your understanding of things? What if you didn't "get" the allusions?

What techniques of development does the essay use in the process of definition? Do you think the writer dwelt too long on what a Yankee is not before moving on to what a Yankee is?

Can you point to (write down) one sentence that functions as thesis statement in this essay?

My spring break was pretty good.  I really didn't go anywhere, but it was pretty relaxing.  I went to my Mom's school for a few days and helped kids with their projects.  I also went to the dentist. 

Over Easter Wesley, Mom, Dad and I went to Cleveland and went to the rock and roll hall of fame.  It was pretty cool.  We saw an inductees show which was my favorite part.  It was interesting to see all the old preformances from people that were inducted into the hall of fame so many years ago.  My favorite band that was there in the movie was probably Aerosmith. 

Then yesterday I went aqnd saw the Lorax with Dub which was pretty fun. 

I checked out my summer reading list from Chatham.  28 books all ovwer 300 pages.  I have to start reading soon to get them all finsihed.  I went to half price book store yesterday and got some of them, the ones we could find, and have started reading.  I thik that Dad and I figured out that I will need one book a week, which is kinda hard.  But not too bad.  I definitely think I can do that.

I just recently learned how to spell the word "definitely,"  

On Easter we went to a brunch which was really good and Wesley and I took a picture with the Easter bunny.