Hello...Hey Hi...How Ya Derin?

Reflection of English Class this Year:

Wow, so can I just say that english class this year went by so fast? When I first walked into my english class this year, I'm not going to lie, I was afraid because the entire class was filled with girls. Over time, I feel as though I made so many new friends through this class with people I never talked to before. But back to the "learning" part of english:

English class this year allowed me to explore all parts of english that I never knew existed. I know it sounds cheezy, but last year I was limited to rhetoric and truth in AP Language. AP Literature is definitely something that I thought I could never get a grasp of. I remember the first couple days of school, we were assigned a poetry assignment based on the book "Heart of Darkness". Although I didn't understand why or how I was even going to come up with a poem that even sounded sincere, I learned that week a whole different side of english that consisted of feeling and emotion. I never thought that writing in english class could be so theatrical or even slightly entertaining. I must say that was one of my all time favorite writing assignments, because I was so used to writing essays and notes.

Another thing I wanted to point out was the fact that I definitely talked more than I did last year. In student run discussions, I showed more interest this year than I did last year. I remember being mad quiet in the corner of the room last year, but now I think I involve myself more in conversations and discussions in class. I feel as though this year's english class also helped me on a more organizational basis. One thing my teacher this year enforced was organization. Every week in the beginning of the year, our teacher would have weekly organizers and calendars that we would follow up on. As the year ended, we became more independent and began organizing our work and due dates ourselves. I can honestly say that this year's english class has helped me with organization in all of my other classes.

On a literary level, I definitely have improved in my writing as well as my analytical thought. In the beginning of the year, I did not understand what my teacher said when he said to focus on "universal themes" in books. To me, that meant love, hate, or friendship. After reading so many different books and short stories in class, I began to realize that "universal themes" are way more controversial than the things I was taught my last three years of high school. "Universal themes" consist of controversy in the world that everyone might not agree on. I feel as though reading this year also helped make me more aware of these themes as well. I can remember in the beginning of the year, I was not excited about reading so many books for english because I am a slow reader and sometimes I can't remember what I just read. This year in english helped my reading, as well as my comprehension. I feel as though I was given the opportunity to brush up on my english skills, while also embracing a whole other world of english that I have been sheltered from ever since Freshman year.

Reflecting on this entire year, there have been times when I just wanted to give up (like the day before a research paper was due), but I always pulled through and tried my best to find a "universal theme" in everything I did. I feel as though I had a good time in english class this year, as hard it is to believe. I actually looked forward to period 7 english class because it was a time for me to get my thoughts heard in class. I think I appreciated this class so much as well as my other peers, because this was the one class where we could get our thoughts heard, and our opinions were not looked down upon. In my other classes, we are expected to memorize things that other people come up with, and we can't even think for ourselves. English Literature this year was a very creative class, and I really liked the way it was so chill and relaxed, although we got a lot of work done. This class was very fun, and I feel as though my writing would not have been able to improve so drastically if I was not exposed to everything I was exposed to this year in AP English Literature. I can honestly say that this class meant a lot to me in my senior year, and I feel as though this class grew on me, and I learned so many things that I can take with me in other aspects of my life that I learned from my period 7 AP English Literature Class.

Ending on that note, below are numerous works of mine that were part of the English Literature course. These are all samples of my work, and a brief description is at the top of each work! Enjoy!

Revision for Literary Analysis 'True or Untrue Grit'

So for this section of my blog, we had to revise one of the works we did this year. Taking into consideration that I already posted this up as a piece of literary analysis, I felt as though it would be a good idea to revise it and make it an even better analysis. This piece of writing was done exactly in the middle of the year in December, and I feel as though it can be seen that my writing has improved since the beginning of the year. Although I think that my writing improved, there is still always room for improvement. The bold sections are the parts that I edited and revised because they needed to be tweaked to sound just right. Most of my revisions can be found in the beginning of each paragraph, because in December, I was still working on learning how to create a good sounding paragraph while also saying what I wanted to. I also made numerous revisions concerning solely analysis, because in my old essay, I tended to stray away from the analysis and talk about techniques.

Here is my revised version of my Literary Analysis:

Kellie Leonce
English Literature AP
Gallagher: 7
12.18.2009
Ownership vs. Belonging

In the short story, “True or Untrue, Grit” by Laura Chester, the author touches upon major cultural clash, but in a lighthearted, comical fashion. Through her subtle use of humor, Chester is able to address the issue of clear cultural stereotypes, while also suggesting that the borderline of “ownership” and “belonging” are clearly distinguishable. In order to create this idea based around humor, Chester incorporates profound irony as well as childish tone. In using humor to mock certain cultures, Chester’s suggestion of distinguishing “ownership” and “belonging” as two separate entities is more easily accepted due to her lighthearted approach. Chester transforms a very controversial topic to a somewhat comical and enjoyable piece of literature, while also incorporating the idea of two very different ideas: ownership and belonging. Chester's definition of ownership and belonging plays a huge role in the story because this bigger theme is incorporated with moral value. In creating such a universal theme throughout her story, the reader is able to form their own moral opinion in their heads, while enjoying the light-hearted story behind the controversy.

Throughout the story, Nora continues to point out and expand on cultures outside of her own. Though the reader only knows that she is from Manhattan, New York, Chester shows that Nora is clearly in a place out of her ordinary, by surrounding this Manhattan woman in a place with “Hispanic” and “Native American” culture. The first clash of culture is seen when Nora believes her contractor when he says “Mañana”, the house would be completed. Chester touches upon the laid back Hispanic culture when she clarifies “Mañana” as being “Twice as much, twice as long, no exaggeration of fact”. This stereotype Chester incorporates is mentioned as a culture barrier, and she brings it up in a way that pokes fun at both Nora as well as the Hispanic stereotype, while continuing that culture clash. In relation to the Indian Grit, Nora replies “Uh-oh!’ I knew about Indians and (al-co-hol” right after he asks for a drink. Continuing Nora’s ignorance to other cultures, Chester is accurate in creating Nora as a character who is unaware of what culture really means. Nora is obviously not purposefully labeling these people, but she purely and truly gives in to the stereotypes that are put forth. What makes Nora so comical is the fact that she is not saying these things in spite of other races, but just because she reacts as a child would in this case. In displaying Nora as an American in this land of many ethnicities, Chester builds upon the fact that though she does in fact own her land, there may be issues in her belonging.

The place where Nora owns and the place where she feels where she belongs, “down in the bowels of the city, waiting for the E train as usual” is portrayed though Chester's use of irony. Though this short story is highlighted with many instances of irony, it helps the reader understand more about the controversial aspect of ownership, while also adding a hint of humor. In revealing a place where Nora feels normal in the end, Chester makes the reader view Nora as if she is in a place where she now belongs. This belonging that Nora feels in the end is what Grit is trying to get back for himself, and his people. Subconsciously, Nora in fact knows that boundary between “ownership” and “belonging”. Although she owns the land and put a lot of effort into building her house, she knew that the Apache Indian belonged there. Her understanding of this belonging is seen when she explains that “there was one small lien, a simple condition required by the original owners”. Though humor was used when addressing the plumbing situation, the fact that Nora would give up a piece of her new home for the Apache Indian shows her understanding of his belonging. Nora clearly owns her land, but subconsciously knows that the Apache Indian belongs there. Nora’s previous stereotype of the Hispanics and Indians also aids the idea that there is a borderline of ownership and belonging. Although Nora came from an outside place and had previous views about these people, she still felt the need to honor Grit’s wishes because deep down she knew that was the one place that he belonged.

Taking into consideration the amount of humor and light-heartedness added into this short story, it is safe to say that the literary device, irony plays a huge part in the tone of the story. Irony is used throughout the entire story in the fact that Nora was waiting for the E train in Manhattan while all of the events of the story were supposedly happening. The irony of everything around Nora being a dream creates an ironic situation where so many things are taking place in her dream, while she is really alone on a train in Manhattan. There is also an ironic contrasting plot from the trains in Manhattan, to a suburban country-side. Another ironic incident is Nora’s reaction to her house being finished. She describes it “like the end of analysis, or an affair of the heart”. After complaining in the beginning about how she wanted her house to be finished, she suddenly changes to utter “sadness” in that she was going to miss her “handsome contractor” or even miss the fact that she owned something and was creating something larger than it actually was. Sarcasm is even used when she states that their “property wasn’t huge, only forty-six acres”. Chester now reveals why Nora does not belong in this place. She is not only unappreciative of the fact that her house is done, but she also finds no appreciation of the sacred land she resides on. She is more upset about the fact that her adventure of creating something out of nothing is now officially over. When Nora states that her land “wasn’t’ huge, only forty-six acres”, Chester shows the reader that Nora does not view these acres as anything but land. Grit on the other hand has so much passion and respect for the land that was now being taken over by Nora. The irony of Nora’s responses and feelings show that although she owned the land, she showed no sense of belonging, as Grit had.

Through her irony and mockery of serious matters, Chester is able to contrast two very controversial themes while also poking fun at the situation at the same time. She creates a humorous tone through the mockery, in a way that other readers will not get offended. She refrains from forcing her ideas upon the reader in a serious manner, but she hints her ideas subtly through the humor of her mockery and irony. Chester is successful in structuring her idea of “belonging” in a subtle manner, that at the end of the story, the reader knows that Grit and Nora do in fact end up where both of them belong. In bringing in such different aspects of culture such as Hispanic, Indian, and American culture, and poking fun at each, Chester opened up the story to a more cultural clash while still bringing in the idea of ownership versus belonging. In the story, Grit is not the only character who ends up where he belongs. Although Nora did spend much time and effort on her house, the fact that she did not belong there overruled the fact that she owned the house. In the end, Nora ended up in Manhattan on the E train where everything seemed back to normal for her, intentionally were she belonged.

Artist Research Paper: Erik Parker

This year in english class, we did two research papers: one on a poet, and one on an artist. English class this year has been very fun because I feel like I explored so many different aspects of english that I have never noticed before. These two research papers definitely opened my eyes to a more creative and open side of english that I inever though I would be able to experience in a high school classroom. Though my poetry research paper went well, I feel as though I excelled the research process in my artist research paper. This was the last final paper that we had to do in english class this year, and I feel as though it shows how much I have grown as a writer this year. Erik Parker is an amazing artist, and my research paper shows the true message behind his numerous works.

Below is the document of my Research Paper on Erik Parker:

Erik Parker: Artist Research Paper

Literary Analysis on Laura Chester's 'True or Untrue Grit'

For this piece of work, we were asked to do a literary analysis of the short story 'True or Untrue Grit' by Laura Chester. Overall, I tried to go into depth about the different aspects Chester added to her work to make it meaningful to others. One thing that I tried to do was pull universal themes out of that short story. I felt as though it was really difficult to actually come up with universal themes because the story was very confusing. At first, I didn't really understand what my teacher, Mr. Gallagher wanted us to take from the story, because it was very vague and strange. But, I realized that there is more behind the story that comes together once a theme is defined. One theme that I thought was very important was the idea of ownership and belonging. I felt as though these two ideas contrasted very nicely in the story, and I tried to focus on how Chester highlighted these two ideas within her work.

With that said, here is my essay:

Kellie Leonce
English Literature AP
Gallagher: 7
12.18.2009
Ownership vs. Belonging

In the short story, “True or Untrue, Grit” by Laura Chester, the author touches upon major culture clashes, but in a lighthearted, comical fashion. Through her subtle use of humor, Chester is able to address the issue of clear cultural stereotypes, while also suggesting that the borderline of “ownership” and “belonging” are clearly distinguishable. In order to create this idea based around humor, Chester incorporates profound irony as well as childish tone. In using humor to mock certain cultures, Chester’s suggestion of distinguishing “ownership” and “belonging” as two separate entities is more easily accepted due to her lighthearted approach. Chester transforms a very controversial topic to a somewhat comical and enjoyable piece of literature, while also getting her point across without hammering it into the reader’s head.

Throughout the story, Nora continues to point out and expand on cultures outside of her own. Though the reader only knows that she is from Manhattan, New York, Chester shows that Nora is clearly in a place out of her ordinary, by surrounding this Manhattan woman in a place with “Hispanic” and “Native American” culture. The first clash of culture is seen when Nora believes her contractor when he says “Mañana”, the house would be completed. Chester touches upon the laid back Hispanic culture when she clarifies “Mañana” as being “Twice as much, twice as long, no exaggeration of fact”. This stereotype Chester incorporates is mentioned as a culture barrier, and she brings it up in a way that pokes fun at both Nora as well as the Hispanic stereotype, while continuing that culture clash. In relation to the Indian Grit, Nora replies “Uh-oh!’ I knew about Indians and (al-co-hol” right after he asks for a drink. Continuing Nora’s ignorance to other cultures, Chester is accurate in creating Nora as a character who is unaware of what culture really means. Nora is obviously not purposefully labeling these people, but she purely and truly gives in to the stereotypes that are put forth. What makes Nora so comical is the fact that she is not saying these things in spite of other races, but just because she reacts as a child would in this case. In displaying Nora as an American in this land of many ethnicities, Chester builds upon the fact that though she does in fact own her land, there may be issues in her belonging.

The fact that this story is based around a huge plot of irony contributes to the fact that Chester is making a connection between the place where Nora owns, and the place where she feels where she belongs, “down in the bowels of the city, waiting for the E train as usual”. In revealing a place where Nora feels normal in the end, Chester makes the reader view Nora as if she is in a place where she now belongs. This belonging that Nora feels in the end is what Grit is trying to get back for himself, and his people. Subconsciously, Nora in fact knows that boundary between “ownership” and “belonging”. Although she owns the land and put a lot of effort into building her house, she knew that the Apache Indian belonged there. Her understanding of this belonging is seen when she explains that “there was one small lien, a simple condition required by the original owners”. Though humor was used when addressing the plumbing, the fact that Nora would give that up for the Apache Indian shows her understanding of his belonging. Nora’s previous stereotype of the Hispanics and Indians also aids the idea that there is a borderline of ownership and belonging. Although Nora came from an outside place and had previous views about these people, she still felt the need to honor Grit’s wishes because deep down she knew that was the one place that he belonged.

The most used literary device in this short story is irony. Irony is used throughout the entire story in the fact that Nora was waiting for the E train in Manhattan while all of the events of the story were supposedly happening. Another ironic incident is Nora’s reaction to her house being finished. She describes it “like the end of analysis, or an affair of the heart”. After complaining in the beginning about how she wanted her house to be finished, she suddenly changes to utter “sadness” in that she was going to miss her “handsome contractor” or even miss the fact that she owned something and was creating something larger than it actually was. Sarcasm is even used when she states that their “property wasn’t huge, only forty-six acres”. Chester now reveals why Nora does not belong in this place. She is not only unappreciative of the fact that her house is done, but she also finds no appreciation of the sacred land she resides on. She is more upset about the fact that her adventure of creating something out of nothing is now officially over. When Nora states that her land “wasn’t’ huge, only forty-six acres”, Chester shows the reader that Nora does not view these acres as anything but land. Grit on the other hand has so much passion and respect for the land that was now being taken over by Nora. The irony of Nora’s responses and feelings show that although she owned the land, she showed no sense of belonging, as Grit had.

Through her irony and mockery of serious matters, Chester is able to connect with the reader on a personal basis due to the humorous and comical nature of her ideas. She refrains from forcing her ideas upon the reader in a serious manner, but she hints her ideas subtly through the humor of her mockery and irony. Chester is successful in structuring her idea of “belonging” in a subtle manner, that at the end of the story, the reader knows that Grit and Nora do in fact end up where both of them belong. In bringing in such different aspects of culture such as Hispanic, Indian, and American culture, and poking fun at each, Chester opened up the story to a more cultural clash while still bringing in the idea of ownership versus belonging. In the story, Grit is not the only character who ends up where he belongs. Although Nora did spend much time and effort on her house, the fact that she did not belong there overruled the fact that she owned the house. In the end, Nora ended up in Manhattan on the E train where everything seemed back to normal for her, intentionally were she belonged.

Walk Front: Creative Writing Assignment

This is a piece of creative writing which was adapted from Suheir Hammad. I studied the author and poet Suheir Hammad, and created a piece of writing that was an imitation of her work. I focused more on her sentence structure, her language, and the overall message of acceptance among different groups of people. I really feel as though this was one of my strongest works of creative writing because it was done in the middle of the year, when I was more accustomed to creative writing, and adapting traits of other authors to my writing. Although I did not know how to adapt so well in the beginning of the year, I definitely feel as though my writing became stronger over time because of that adaptation I had to learn how to make. I also feel as though this creative writing assignment did not only help me with my writing, but with understanding writings, and the work that goes behind them. I've noticed that after writing a poem of such depth myself, it is easier for me to understand other poems, and the true emotion behind the tone and words.

Here is a document of my poem 'Walk Front' adapted by the great Suheir Hammad:

Creative Writing: Imitation of Suheir Hammad

Dialectical Journal Sample: 'Lolita'

Here is one of my dialectical journal entries focusing on characterization. Although notes were not my favorite part of english this year, I really enjoyed doing DJ's because it allowed me to rip apart specific pieces of works and understand its meaning on a more thorough basis. I feel as though my DJ's were one of my better sides of writing because it allowed me to question a passage, and answer myself as well. This DJ's is on the book 'Lolita' which plays a huge role in characterization. With these DJ's I was able to pick specific moments in the book where characterization was found, and highlight and analyze what the author was trying to say. In my DJ's (like the one below), I focused on the character Humbert Humbert. These DJ's definitely allowed me to further analyze this work on a more chill basis than the other formal ways we worked with this year.

Here is the document of one of my DJ's:


DJ's