UGHHHHHH

At this point in the election, Clinton seems irrelevant which is why I choose not to include her. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be much difference between McCain and Obama. McCain is hardly a conservative only supporting the war and the Bush tax cuts which he opposed when first released. The only primary difference voters will have between these two candidates is their choice in staying in the Iraq war or pulling out.

This election will face many issues on the economical front as well as its foreign face. Many Americans are worried about the state of our economy, some even making it their prime concern. Unfortunately, the only candidate who spent a considerable amount of time talking about the economy was Republican nominee Mitt Romney who was early, knocked out of the race. An issue I predict will escalate into a serious problem is America’s debt. Our government is spending far to much and it will hit this country hard in the future.

There are many solutions to our problems. In general, everyone wants the same thing but were we disagree is how do we get to that point. Another big issue for the democratic camps is healthcare. One possible solution for this problem would be to split the decision to the states. This will give people the choice of cheap healthcare/more taxes or costly healthcare/low taxes. Other solutions might be building a large thick fens to prevent families of illegal’s crossing our borders.

The border has created trouble for many of our southern states. Illegals extensively take advantage of civil services. Along with that is the fear of rising gas prices. Our gas prices are as high as they ever have been and soon we maybe be seeing people stealing gasoline. Its always a possibility with a scarce product.

Our next presidential election will be an interesting one. Racially, the countries never had an African American president and a new race means starting over with this new generation we could also expect some interesting voting results. Either way, our next president will be an interesting choice simply because he takes office during a crutial part in our history

Creating Wrtiting Response

Indiana Joines had a very intresting impact on our culture. Like Jmaes bond gives flavor to the role as a spy, Indiana Jones gives flavor to being an archaeologist. Now along with that, many archaeologists have a problem with Jones saying he walks a fine line between the archaeologist and a burglar. All in all, Indiana Jones is the archaeologist every other archaeologist wants to be.

Darth Vader is one of the greatest villans ever crafted. When we first set eyes on Lord Vader, we don't know what or who he is. The only thing we know for certain is that he's trouble. As the trilogy continues however, we start to understand a bit more of who he is and he gains complexity. Finally he takes the greatest role a father can, sacrificing himself for Luke. In reality, Star Wars was about Darth Vader rather than anyone else, George Lucas even devoted 3 more movies to the biography of Vader.

Creative Writing Q&A

Part 1: Why in childhood?

In childhood, many people probably believe we have the most creativity. I believe this is true because most of what we are exposed to are stories. With stories, we are given a base to which we can create our idea's. I believe stories also help kids learn proper scentence structure and choice of words.

Part 2: Why later in life?

As a high school student I believe we read to capture our imagination and retrieve the creativity we lost when we arn't reading for classes. I believe older people also read to understand the idea's and the morals portrayed by an author. Besides that people may just read for recreation, providing a relaxing period of downtime and learning.

Part 3: Why in our nation?

As students, we have classes dedicated to just simply reading and reflecting on the text read. We have so many famous authors and movies based on text that there is no way we couldn't be a lit. based society. Another thing literature is used for is to describe events that could have happened or write historical happenings. America is a fairly young nation and has taken part in many historical events, we have every reason to write about those events. Although this ties into the previous scentence, we also write stories to speculate and get people thinking "what if it were this way?".

Part 4: Your stories

I can't remember many stories from my childhood but I do remember the chronicals of Narnia. Every night my dad would read the chronicals of Narnia aloud and I listened with deep intent. Besides the CoN, I also remember the Warrior's series by Erin Hunter. Those were books I would read within days they were so well written.

Part 5: Characteristics of a well-told story

Every book needs a list of characteristics to truly be considered a good book. One characteristic is the making of a good main character. Everyone wants to be able to see through a characters eyes and this is extremely important when developing a main character. Good books also need a good protagonist. A protagonist doesn't exactly need to be a villan but someone who always seems to throw a different twist at the characters. A good book also needs a decent environment to be developed through. A detailed environment helps the readers to picture the scene more helpfully.

Creative Writing Q & A VI

One thing that is always on my mind is swimming. It has come to the point where I've dropped many things (games, music) just to give my full attention to swimming. I think its cool because before this I always day-dreamed about something useless (like games) but now that I don't do much other then swim, homework, and watch shows online it has begun to dominate my thoughts. At the moment I'm trying to reach some of the most rigorous goals I have ever set. My greatest goal which I hope becomes a reality is to make it to the summer Jr. Nationals. Reflecting on my times right now, doing this would require my maximum effort as it would mean dropping 6 seconds in the 100m freestyle (long course). Although six seconds is nearly an impossible amount of time to drop within one season... I have not swam the event since July of 2007 so it should be easier then a six second drop. Based on my times right now I am nowhere near achieving this goal but think with enough work and determination, it can be done. When I was around 6-7, I played all sorts of sports in fact, I hated the water when I was young. When I first began swim lessons the wall was my friend while the water was my enemy. Thinking about my past experiences with swimming makes me laugh when I realize that I probably spend 1/12 of my day in water. As I progressed through the swim lessons my mom asked if I would like to join a club, casually I said yes not giving it to much thought. One event this summer that I'm looking forward to are the Beijing Olympics. When I think of the summer Olympic games My mind instantly goes to swimming. There are few publicized swimming events and the Olympics is one of them. Its always great to see what the greatest swimmers in the world do, think , and see right before their races. Its even better to see the underdog giving the favored swimmer a run for his money sometimes even upsetting the general favorite. One of my favorite Olympic swimmers is Brian Goodell. He was a two time Olympic gold medalist in 1976. The great thing about Goodell is he wasn't even six feet tall. During his 1500 he was trailing a US teammate by a body length and was in a lot of pain at the 1000. It looked as though the race was sealed and he would finish third, his teammate second, and an Australian first. In an interview he said that at first the negative side of his mind would talk to him saying he was done but then the positive side would come on saying, "Get your head together and get going!". In the final stretch he was arm and neck with the Auzi, and ended up winning the race in a touch out. Brian Goodell had more determination then anyone in the sport. As 17 year old who was 5 foot 9-11, he was one of the youngest male swimmers to ever make it to the Olympics and he upset many races and records.

Creative Writing Q & A 4

2. As a writer, I like stories that can keep me occupied for a good sum of time. Authors that run their books in a series are some of my favorite and I read their work probably 90% of the time. My second pick would be short stories. These tend to get right to the point but often are to quick to fully enjoy. As for the type of writing I like to write I'm tied between poetry and short stories. I find most poetry to be boring but its fun to write as it can be a very creative process. Short stories require more of a plot structure and are longer have to incorporate the main idea into the story while poetry can anounce it during the first line. Script writing is my least favorite as you can feel like your charcters aren't as developed as you would like but you'd have to write a significant amount to make sure the sole purpose of the next few lines wasn't just to develop a character. Out of school I don't write often. When I've finished my asignments I really like to day dream or plan out something.

3. One of my favored topics from the writing territories asignment was the sports/activities section. For topic I decided on swimming. One of the reasons I put this sport above all others is the means winning. You don't have to score a goal and you don't have to impress others, you just need to win the race. Swimming is a very internal sport. The environment or the conditions of winning don't really change and doing well depends on yourself rather then the other team. The key to the sport is consistency and optimism. You need to be consistent in practice attendance, swimming technique, sleeping habbits, and nutrition. You need to be optimistic for what I believe is the most important part of being a great swimmer. The mental aspect of swimming is the most important part of being a great swimmer. Only when you set goals rehearse your best swims before hand and are motivated to work hard and do your best will you be able to climb over your mental barrier and do well in a race.

creative writing Q & A 5

Refrain by Allen Ginsberg

The air is dark, the night is sad,
I lie sleepless and I groan.
Nobody cares when a man goes mad:
He is sorry, God is glad.
Shadow changes into bone.

Every shadow has a name;
When I think of mine I moan,
I hear rumors of such fame.
Not for pride, but only shame,
Shadow changes into bone.

When I blush I weep for joy,
And laughter drops from me like a stone:
The aging laughter of the boy
To see the ageless dead so coy.
Shadow changes into bone.

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/allen_ginsberg/poems/8340

2. I selected this poem mostly for its author. E.E. Cummings was fairly modern compared to the pool of famous poets I was selecting from. The poem itself wasn't to long but it wasn't to short. Although I think fragments of the poem are controversial, the perspective it takes is intresting and it isn't content you would here of everyday.

3. The title of them poem is Refrain. I see this title could mean one of two things. My first idea is to refrain from feeling this way. The second meaning it may posses is it could be a warning. A warning that something dark waits for all of us or our shadow represents more then just an absence of light. It is possible that it could mean both.

4. One example of personification is in the very first line "the night is sad", this is obviously a human emotion that translates into a dreary night. It also translate into a night without light (via clouds over stars, no full moon). One metaphor I found was "laughter drops from me like a stone". Since it uses like, I have doubts if its a metaphor but perhaps a similie? either way, we often assume that when we drop a rock in lake, we know it will sink. This might be a device to help the situation seem gloomier by saying the mans laughter droped or vanished quickly.

5. Cummings creates a sad gloomy tone in his play, Refrain. He creates the tone by using words such as moan or groan and ends all his passages with "Shadow changes into bone". Another system he seems to use in his poem is the effect of creating a darker tone with his use of O compared to the use of A or I, it seems much more frequent.

Creative Writing Q & A

1. I thought the play write was an intresting experience. I always found myself adding more and more to the story and it was hard to give closure to something that I wanted to develop further. The only thing I didn't like about the form was the fact that I couldn't decribe thoughts rather they would have to be inclueded through the dialogue. I found that my play would make a better movie then a play just because there is relatively little drama and it could easily be classified as a sci-fi.

2. If I could give a bit of advice to a ten year old I would tell them to never lose their motivation. If they played any sort of sport I would encourage a good work ethic and a deep liking for their sport. If they want to be one of the best, they need to act like one of the best. Also I would tell them it is never to late to take on a good work ethic. I would also encourage them to lay off the electronics like video games and really focus on something like being better at their sport. Usually if you do well in something athletic, it can easily replace your thoughts. Finally I would tell him/her to be optomistic. It is certain that a high level of optomism and confidence will affect any preformance positively.

3. I believe any work of literature can survive the times if it leaves us with a better understanding or greater intellect. I believe this can directly relate to music. Artists like AcDc can survive the times because their music has a great amount of individuality where some of the current era rock artists arn't as influential due to their maybe simplistic style. I think this can be easily applyed to books. Authors who convey a central hidden and layered message will be credited more then those who don't. These books are also the ones that will more likely then not be made into a movie at one point or another.

Creative Writing Q & A, 2

In my opinion, theme is always crucial in writing. If the story doesn't have a theme, the author has un-successfuly left his/her footprint on his/her work. As for ideas, every great book must have a central idea to it. If it doesn't have a combination of a theme and an idea it will probably lack direction and cohessiveness. In every book I have read so far this year for American Lit., we spend about half the class period discussing the different sections we have read. Generally, the theme is rebeling but the idea usually revolves around finding one's true-self. My point is, we've only read books this year that contain a theme and a central idea. On the other by forcing yourself to incluede both these items in your writing, it can be rather constricting and my limit creativity.



One popular theme that would appeal both to parents and kids would be "the rebel". With this in my you could go anywhere with it making it leniant. When you use the rebel as the theme of your play it really can go both ways. You could have the honorable hero who rebels against the king or enslaver or you could have the rebel who doesnt agree with societys morals be them good or bad. One common "good" rebel would be the leader of a resistance group within a dictatorship. One conception of a "bad" rebel would be one who breaks our standards (stealing, fighting...). Obviously some of historys greatest influential figures were rebels but the same is also true the other way around.



One conflict I would love to write about is just the moral issue of stealing. I'm still a little sour about my coat and thats one main reason I really just want to talk more about it. Also rebeling and stealing can go hand in hand. Another conflict might be a certain lie that really screwed someone up. Eventually he atones for his lie and everything turns for the better but only after experiencing painful memories on his part. Really those would be two great ethical issues that I think would be great conflicts in a story.

Creative writing Q & A 1

1. Reading is important to writers because along with the ideas you can gain from someone's work, it also allows us to create a picture in our minds of the events taking place. Since writing is a creative process, any type of creative practice will obviously help you writing. Reading can also help us understand words we wouldn't know otherwise which might be able to tie together a scentence or scene we might be idling on. On the other hand we might gain more from simply writing then spliting our time reading others work in the sense that we create our own ideas instead of having a possible link to someone elses.

2. Something in the world that really concerns me would be theft. My family and I have had many possesions stolen. One example would be my letter jacket which was taken on the 31st of January. Obviously what can someone do with a letter jacket thats not their's? They can either take it and dump it or they can destroy it. They gain nothing from stealing such an item except for the satisfaction that they got back at the other team. The feeling you get when something you owned has been stolen is like no other. Your constantly dwelling on why it was stolen or what you could have done to prevent it. Obviously theft is not uncommon in just America.



3. One form of art that inspires me is fast paced music. Often it can aid me in re focusing or staying focused for a long period of time.

Rest of response deleted.