Saturday, December 19, 2009

Short Story

The short story is now finished! Please leave your suggestions for a title in the comments below this post. I will then tidy it up and submit to the university magazine.

Essay titles

Hi All –

Don’t forget to comment on the Princess Daisy essays!

Now, here are your research essay titles. If any of you are unhappy with your title, or want to discuss any other aspects of your essay, email me.

Elena N – “Vladimir Nabokov said of ‘Lady with a Lapdog’ that ‘All the traditional rules of story-telling have been broken.’ But are traditional views of gender relations broken or reinforced in this story?”

Xenia – “In making her assassin anonymous and his employers unknown, Doris Lessing seems to be aiming for a statement about the modern world. What do you see the Homage of the story as saying about modern political struggles?”

Alexandra – “What does the elephant symbolize in Orwell’s story? You may wish to compare with his essay ‘The Lion and the Unicorn’ and examine the idea of a just war in Orwell’s thought.”

Nicos – “How does Edgar Allen Poe achieve the ‘Gothic’ feel of his story? What stylistic tricks does he employ, and to what purpose?”

Vasia – “Explore the relationships between the characters in the story ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,’ particularly that between the older waiter and the old man. Do you think that these relationships affirm or deny the nihilism expressed towards the end of the story?”

Froso – “Do you see Kafka as being sympathetic to the Hunger Artist’s plight? How does this affect an allegorical reading of the story?”

Dora – “What is the significance of the fur in Mansfield’s story “Miss Brill”? How does this prop reveal contemporary ideas of the correct narrative function of elderly women?”

Fotinie – “Consider the way Shirley Jackson describes the people of the village in her story The Lottery. What is her vision of community? Might this account for the strong reaction to the story’s first publication?”

Elena S – “Discuss the short story ‘Sredni Vashtar’ by Saki, paying particular attention to the relationship between Conradin’s health, his feelings towards his aunt, and the actions of the polecat-ferret. Does this story seem like concealed autobiography?”

Alexia – “How is the relationship between the mother and daughter in “The Joy Luck Club” constructed? What elements are concealed? Is there any relationship between the events of this story and the wider history of Chinese-Americans?”

Tamara – “How does Borges describe ideas of infinity and eternity in his story ‘The Garden of Forking Paths’? What is his purpose in introducing these concepts into what seems to be a thriller narrative?”

Evanthia – “How does E. Annie Proulx alter common understandings of gender roles in the Western in her story ‘Brokeback Mountain’?

Marilyn – “Rachel Cusk describes ‘To Room Nineteen’ as being an allegory for women’s struggle to express themselves. Do you agree with her bleak pictures of this story’s understanding of women’s struggles for self-expression?”


Melina - "That DH Lawrence's short story 'Tickets, Please!' is loosely based on Euripides' The Bacchae is widely acknowledged. What use does Lawrence make of the original Dionysian myth, and effect do the changes he introduces have on our understanding of character?"

Friday, December 18, 2009

Response Essay "Princess Daisy"

Is anyone who has not been dreaming to belong to the high life of glamor and luxury? Of course everyone has been day-dreamer to this fancy world. Nowadays, it is generally admitted that a person who has plenty money can achieve his social classification and give precedence to dominate in society. Although, to reach on the top and succeed in life is necessary to look elegant and beautiful. Does really matter?
According with Judith Krantz in her text book “Princess Daisy” she believes that “being young, beautiful and rich is more desirable than being old, ugly and destitute”. She matches together the money and beauty necessarily of woman’s succeeding in life. Obviously, to be a beautiful woman with attractive appearance you can gain the attention of men. She concern that only beautiful woman deserves the high social class instead of ugly woman. Therefore, she mention about Princess Daisy of her text to point out the importance of the appearance of such a person who deserve to belong to the high class. Additionally, Krantz expresses her admiration in the high social life since her whole story is associated with capitalistic elements. She referred to the particular polo sport which is symbolizes the aristocratic status; because only the people who belong to high class can have the opportunity to play this sport. In addition, she give emphasizes in details while she describe that the menu has a brown and gold border in order to underline of the first class restaurant. She shows that she admire that she belong to the exclusiveness circle of plentitude materials.
All the above, Krantz declared her admiration to the capitalistic system as many people of the high social life do. This system is encourages private investment and includes integral part to thrive the economic growth.
On the contrary, Clive James through his book “A Blizzard of Tiny Kisses” is virtual judge her book in ironic manner because she show off the aristocracy life. Hence, in the beginning of his judgment, he said that “she deserves her high place in the best-seller lists” although he characterize that is “a terrible book and totally inept.” Clive raises his contradiction towards Krantz due to the fact that she gets enthusiasm with the exclusiveness of the upper class. Over his judgment he point out that the people should not show their intimacy because is concern with the aristocracy and glamor. Furthermore, Clive said that “Mrs Krantz has not enough humour to write tongue-in-check, but other people are perfectly capable of reading that way”; he emphasize that the particular book you might look at it with two perspectives. Therefore, the readers’ who are membership of the aristocracy life they will not look at it in ironic manner as she presents the glorious life. However, the readers who are not possessed to the high class they probably read the book in ironic way and despise it while are not familiar with this flashy world. Krantz’s literary writing has luck of humor as long as she describes the high class with not ironic consideration. Clive judge Krantz book with this manner because he represents the leftism doctrine. He regards the social change to become equal in terms of wealthy distribution rather than rule with the private property. Besides, he correlated his self feminist because he stands as woman’s defender. Despite the fact, a woman with not good looking is also deserved to belong to the high class. He totally disagrees with Krantz because she creates a snob image of the high social class. He believed that the intelligent people who are dreamers for this life should not obstruct them.
I agree at some extend with Clive that she spoil the ambition to the ordinary people into vague image for those who want to keep dreaming of this kind of life. On the other hand, I believe that a woman should be have a good looking but not necessarily beautiful. It’s a woman’s nature to care about she’s appearance. It is well known fact that many women who are celebrities such as singers, models, politician and journalists own to care and keep their selves appearances well. Many times I heard about that celebrities have made plastic surgery in order to look youngest and keep fit their selves. Although, Clive does not agree that women should do this things because the ordinary people may want to imitate them; because they represent their idol.
Ultimately, to be a wealthy or not is not really matter; but what is really essential is woman’s appearance because is integral part in their life. As Judith Krantz said “Every woman knows that a good clothes fantasy is the only thing to rival a good sexy fantasy”.

Response Essay Princess Daizy

A Blizzard of tiny kisses
Princess Daizy by Judith Krantz


Have you ever imagined living to high society’s world? If yes, would you prefer to have such an opulence in your life? Well, this is according to each person, his overview in life. To choose if he desires to deal with aristocratic life or just having a normal life. For some people there is a lot of dreaming and for others not. Through the high social class everything consider to be changeable, but first of all the appearance and the good - looking.
To begin with, Judith Krantz, the famous author of Princess Daizy book supports every department of the high - life. She is a capitalist lady that believes on aristocracy, especially having a lot of money. She deems that a young, beautiful and rich woman is more desirable rather being old, ugly and without money. She considers the female model, a woman that has money through her life, it is always appropriate to keep her own beauty. With her book ‘ Princess Daizy’ wants to bring out issues dealing with aristocracy, glamour , status and success. That every woman should keep this order in her life, to look for the bourgeois fancies of aristocracy. Through her work estimates the important issue of art. As Alex Witchel says , “ every woman knows that a good clothes fantasy is the only thing to rival a good sex fantasy.” For her, art is a good instrument for women. This art can give to her a nice appearance so that her beauty revealed. That’s why she gives so attention to her hero’s hair. This sounds ironic for someone who might read the book for a first time especially if he belongs to the low social class. But , people like Mrs. Krantz take it without this irony because they think with the mind of being in high social class. For Krantz, if you have the money, you can develop in such a situation.
In contrast with Cline James, who criticizes such an idea. From the beginning, he explores his ironic tone through Krantz’s book, Princess Daizy. He is a socialist man, who supports the other side that Krantz does. He criticizes her lack of literary weight by saying that there isn’t any sense through her book. He leaves his ironic tone to touch the entire book. That lower people will not think the life of high status in such a way.
He argues that all should be equal in life. Not only women who have the money deserve to have such a good appearance in society. To look always on their beauty. James, denies this idea by the view of a man. He identifies that women of high society give a fortune in order to engage an attractive appearance. For him, this is unacceptable. Aristocratic women may have the money but this does not mean that they put on surgeries, for instance to look younger.
However, considering the world today, it is appropriate for a woman to be herself in society. Every woman wants to keep her beauty in any way so that she will be attracted by men. By caring herself, it wins a lot of confidence and looks comfortable through her appearance. She wants to adapt her own image in society. Living in the modern world, in the world where everything happened. Specifically, in the latest sector of technology which has it’s own miracles through. For those who have the money and really want to change something for their appearance, technology is a solution. Concentrating on woman’s world , her appearance take the most important role in society. In Cyprus, there are such instances. Especially, important women who belong to the department of high social class, such as women in politics or even women who their husbands have an authority position in society. These women should always look nice and still remain their beauty even though they may interest on having a surgery. The world of media is so strong today and is more attracted when it shows a world of that kind of women. Obviously, woman’s popularity has as a prototype her appearance.
On the other, men’s world is completely different. Men might not attach so the idea that women have for their appearance. Having money or not, men do not develop so much on their looking. The only reason is that men get always attracted by women. They want women to have an attractive appearance, to expand their beauty. According to nature, women should look for themselves with money or not having as an expectation their own beauty and appearance. With that image men then will not look for attractiveness. So, men could understand that it’s woman’s nature to built on such an idea.
To conclude, women’s appearance seems to be a valuable jeweler for them. It might be acoustic as ironic, but it is not. Showing of their beauty, it is the reason to represent as women. Even if they are rich or not, they only know why they devote so much on their beauties. If someone wonders, why women pick up their own interest on having a finery appearance? A woman could answer “ that is woman’s world” so you should accept that “a woman cannot live without all these pleasure things that gives her life.”

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Sorry all

Something else came up and ended up not being able to do the bibliography marks as planned. Will post with the essay questions tomorrow afternoon instead.

Best,
James

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Response Essay: “Gretchen the Squid"

Every person in this world is born to do something with their lives, to have goals and dreams and try hard in order to be able to achieve them. Could you ever imagine how life would be without goals, if everybody lives their lives without a purpose? In the short-short story of Dave Eggers, “Gretchen the Squid”, dreams and goals are the main topic. Gretchen who is an enormous squid wants more than anything in the world to be an accountant. She lives in the Caspian Sea with her family. Even though her parents are being supportive so far for all of her dreams, she knows that they will never approve this one, her dream of being an accountant.

With this short-short story, Egger’s efforts for presenting a letter of appeal are obvious. He chooses to use an enormous squid in the place of a person; a squid with goals, dreams, and hopes. In real life this can easily be taken as a surreal joke, for the obvious reason of course that an enormous squid can never be taken as an accountant. He uses third person in the whole story and also the tone of voice is serious and sympathetic (deadpan humor). The writer uses a very smart way to capture the reader’s attention by using the serious tone of voice, and the not too serious context. There is a contrast between the tone of voice and the context because the tone as I said is serious but the context is ridiculous and funny. The implied reader of the story is a well educated accountant who most probably wears a “smartly tailored suit, black pumps and glasses, prepares annual returns for a Fortune 500 company, finds tax loopholes in unexplored places,” and of course the drinks afterwards at a downtown TGI Friday's.

The fact that in his short-short story, Egger describes an enormous squid, that also has a name, Gretchen, makes the story more personal. He concentrates on her one and only dream, to be an accountant and study at the best university for accountants, the University of Illinois. Gretchen is an ambitious, very confident squid, but most importantly she is a dreamer. She’s also afraid of letting herself down and she wants to change her image, to make it fit similar to that of a perfect accountant. What is more important to this short-story is the fact that the writer uses an enormous squid in the place of what could have been an overweight, ugly woman who is going after her dream and goals. In this way the writer shows the unfairness, the racism, and the stereotyping of people, that exists is in the world. Gretchen is embarrassed of her appearance and sad because she cannot do what she most wants in the world; some people feel like this every day. They are afraid of the misunderstanding that their appearance would cause and the discrimination they are going to deal with. Gretchen wants to do what she is best at, but she cannot do it; this is very unfair for her.

Furthermore, Gretchen wants to go to the United States and live the American dream. Many people from Eastern Europe and Asia go to the United States, full with ambitions, dreams and goals to achieve a better and a happier life. They seek for an opportunity to live the American dream which they consider it to be the ideal way of living. It is worth mentioning that Gretchen, a squid of the salt water lives in the Caspian Sea, a sweet water lake. Similar to those people who are captured by their own system, cultures or religions. Also the writer mentions T.G.I Fridays which is a chain restaurant, very typical in America for young business people. The reason that it mentions this is to shows us that Gretchen wants to be like them, to go there after work and have a drink with her colleagues.

In conclusion in this short-short story the issues of discrimination, racism and stereotyping are being raised. Gretchen the enormous squid who dreams of becoming an accountant and work in a big firm, and study in the University of Illinois, is being held back by her appearance, her location and her parents not approval. The unfair judgment that some people go through their lives, because of their names and ids, is a way of isolating people among us. Everybody should chase their dreams, goals and ambitions, and try their best to achieve them. All people no matter, color, race, religion, or political believes, should have equal opportunities, equal chances, to be who they want to be in their lives. They should not be limited nor by the Caspian Sea, nor by their size, nor by their environment; they should be accepted and valued for what they are.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Response essay: "Gretchen the Squid" by Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers introduces a gigantic squid who wants more than anything to have a good education and to follow the American dream. At a first glance, the author is narrating a humorous fiction story. Taking it further and deeper away, what he really does -is using a fiction story as his weapon to speak out to the world.
He becomes the voice among the voiceless people,who always point out the several problems and big dilemmas of society, but do not have the will to fix the broken parts.Through his leading fictional character, the author touches the heart of reality.
Gretchen, is the symbolic figure of a child who needs support by his parents, acceptance by his enviroment and wants to follow his dreams. Living at a time were the American ideals consider being the ultimate and greatest achievement that man could have -she seeks her piece of the american pie.
She wants to go to university, to be a great accountant, to join a large corporation, to wear the fancy and classy suit and to hung out in well-know bars and restaurants. Althought, she is very good with numbers, confident and competent, she is facing dissappointment and rejection from her surroundings.
It will always be the "Us versus them", the insignificant other. Gretchen is fully aware, that species of her kind can not have the same opportunities as humans- but yet, that does not stop her of dreaming the impossible.
The writer, from the begging until the end of the letter argues the fictional reality of the world we live in. Turning back the clock, we come across to all the struggles of people who fought for their rights- their different skin color, race, gender and religion beliefs.
Utopia does not exist.The key for a better world is respect and accept "the other". If we were all the same and had the same ideologies, cultural and religion beliefs- then life would have no greater meaning, since we would not have any sign of progress.
Gretchen is searching for her oasis- what humans search for? We struggle and fight, some more and some less,to reach our goals and dreams. We all want a piece of that happiness, regardless of what that is, for each and everyone of us. Our biggest fear is failure. But, what we all really desire, is to belong in a world that accepts " us and the different other". We can not be the same, we must not wish to be the same. We must maintain our own identity and culture and accept the " interesting other", which nevertheless redefines our own unique identity.
I

Friday, December 4, 2009

Response essay "Gretchen the squid:"

Is there any person on earth who doesn't have goals? or is there anybody which wouldn't try everything to make his dreams come true? Of course everybody would try but not all of them will succeed and each one of them for different reasons. Dave Eggers, in his short-short story " Gretchen the squid" introduces us to an enormous squid who lives in the Caspian sea and has the dream to become an accountant and be accepted to the University of Illinois (one of the best in accounting). Her parents, were always supporting to her but they do not agree with her decision because even if Gretchen could get in the university, for sure she will face discrimination since she is very different from others.

The writer with this story, aims with an interesting way to make us understand, that in fact what he does, is writing a letter of appeal. He uses a humoristic way by mentioning the squid but in reality he does not descibe the squid but every person which is ambitious and has it's goals high but it is very difficult to achieve them. In the whole story Eggers, make use of the 3rd person and uses a serious tone in most of the story. Despite the fact that the context is ridiculous, the tone he uses is serious rather than sympathetic and he is trying to pass the message of the story through feelings and while we read the story we put ourselves in Gretchen's position and we can understand how it is to feel like that. Moreover, most of us see this in every day life.

Furthermore, Dave Eggers is raising the issue of discrimination. He wants to make us realize that he is using the squid which is enormous and different while this happens to people too. If a person is very fat for example or has a health problem, most of us wouldn't see this person in a good way and this is wrong. This happens also with people with different nationalities. If someone is from China for example and goes to another country the people there will see him very differently. Gretchen's character in the story shows us that she is ambitious, not only wants to go to university but in one of the best universities, she is afraid of letting herself down and also shows us that she is embarrassed because she is different. Many people think the same way as her and as we see in every day life most of us we are afraid of disappointing ourselves, either in college, work or even in our social life, so here we come back to the point that the writer by using a squid is actually talking about people. He also refers to the unfair situation of being very good at something ( e.g. Gretchen with numbers) but cannot succeed because someone is different.

Gretchen as it is mentioned in the story, lives in the Caspian sea and wants very much to go in America. America which is a superpower, attracts many people especially for jobs because America offers many opportunities for employment and this is one of the reasons that many people go there. Gretchen what wanted most was to wear a suit, glasses and have an office such as everybody else. In the story Dave Eggers, also refers to T.G.I Fridays which is one of the most famous restaurant in America and the kind of people which goes there is mostly young businessman.

In conclusion, Dave Egger's short story passes several messages to its readers. Talking about discrimination which is also a contemporary phenomenon and in one point of view it shows how unfair our society can be sometimes. However my opinion is that each person which wants something very much must try hard to make it through and believe in himself no matter what other people are saying.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Favourite Song?

Hi All - Please post a comment below with the name of your favourite English-language pop song (preferably recent). I'll tell you why next week.
J

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Reading

Hi -

These are the short stories available online (click the name to see the story), together with the person who has chosen them:

George Orwell, Shooting An Elephant. Alexandra Charalambous

Edgar Allen Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher. Nicos Kozakos.

Ernest Hemingway, A Clean Well-Lighted Place. Vasia Savva.

Franz Kafka, A Hunger Artist. Froso Genethliou.

Roald Dahl, Beware of the Dog. Evanthia Aristodemou.

Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill. Dora Diomedous.

Jorge Luis Borges, The Garden of Forking Paths. Tamara Yeshurun.

Shirley Jackson, The Lottery. Fotinie Kavazi.

DH Lawrence, Tickets, Please. Melina Iordanou.

Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour." Elena Stylianou.

The following stories are not online - I will photocopy them and leave them in my departmental pigeonhole tomorrow afternoon.

Doris Lessing, "To Room Nineteen." Marilyn Hadjistylli.

Amy Tan, "The Joy Luck Club." Alexia Papakyriacou.

E. Annie Proulx, "Brokeback Mountain." Elena Nicolaidou.

Nadine Gordimer, "Homage." Xenia Sergiou.

Hanif Kureishi, "My Son The Fanatic." Farahnaz Saleki.

FILMS
Please note that these are all well-known short stories, and some of them have been made into films (e.g. The Joy Luck Club, A Hunger Artist, My Son The Fanatic, The Fall of the House of Usher, A Clean Well-Lighted Place, Brokeback Mountain, The Lottery: also the Dahl and the DH Lawrence stories have been filmed for TV). If you can obtain these films they may well feed into your analysis, BUT you must be aware that films often make very big changes, including the ending, so make sure you know the story well before watching the film!

If your name does not appear above, please email me urgently.
More at the weekend.
J

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

RESPONSE ESSAY ON "THE CRISPS AT THE CROSSROADS"

Who did never eat at least one packet of crisps? Obviously noone, because the way they are cooked seems to be tasty. Reyner Banham on "The Crisps at the Crossroads", analysed the sensibility that usefulness of crisps have in our lifes, but mostly in older centuries.
As I mentioned above, crisps were started to be created in 19th and 20th century. Industries were trying to investigate those tasty flavors as the meal in our everyday life. Of course, this investigation was under some appropriate rules, which governed according to crisps's production. Industrial people used a released way to encourage people to eat those unhealthy potatoes.
Although, crisps begun to be inside of our our drawer in the kitchen since they are created. This propably is the worst thing because those potatoes are cooked so delicious, but instead of their good taste they are formed into oil. Especially young children who finishes from scholl in the afternoon or watching tv and have their oily potatoes in front of them because they don't have anything to do. Also another example is when adults watching a football match or going to night clubs have the chance to eat them.
Flavors-crisps have the ability to taste nice, but also to smell nice. Some names of crisps are barbecue-bacon with sauce, cheese-onion, sault, Doritos and many other names. The big fact here is taht there is a huge number of crisps's names all over the world. In Cyprus there are industries who are cooking crisps such as LAYS.
Another point to add, is that each packet of crisps have colories, the weight and date. There is a small possibility those colories the wrote to be true but we don't have to trust them because the aim for industries is to sell their product. Moreover, we have to be aware of the day crisps were published and the day we will buy it. Maybe in each packet to write the date which is appropriate to eat it, but they are closed in this oily packet for so many days, so who knows what we are eating.
Finally, all consumers must be so careful of what they are eating, because those flavors are delecious, but with lot of oil and preservations inside them, which means bad health. These products are tend to be serious problem for the overweight people and this is dangerous for them. Don't waste your time at home but go to the supermarket and buy some fruits and fish, but if you want to buy the oily potatoes then think about it 3,4,5 times before.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Response essay for "The Crisp at the Crossroads"

As Reyner Banham refers in his essay “The Crisp at the Crossroads”, crisps are among the triumphs of progressive technology. When George Crum in 1853 invented them for a customer of his that kept sending his crisps back because they were soft and not crunchy enough; he never imagined that crisps would become an everyday habit of people around the world.
Later on when airtight bags were invented, crisps started being mass produced by factories and were sent for consuming around the world. They started off by Crum in 1853 being thin slices of potatoes that were fried and served with salt as their topping and are now two centuries later served with – only God knows how many flavors and toppings exist.
Nowadays the crisp companies of each country produce their own special flavors that have to do with the countries region and popularity of a certain flavor or ingredient. For example in Cyprus and Greece oregano is a very popular ingredient that is being used a lot and so crisps were made in Cyprus and Greece with oregano flavor and in Italy with pizza flavor. Flavors keep on expanding dramatically and there doesn’t seem to be a stop in this whole process because it is profitable.
The last few years advertising means helped a lot to their promoting and got crisps into our houses literary. The fact that they have an attractive packaging, there are so many flavors, come in “light” packages and are probably the cheapest snack in the market that can be served for any occasion helped to their promotion.
The sense that a small synthetic appetizer, side dish or snack can really be bad for our health never crosses our minds until we give it a good thinking. Even if it does cross our minds crisps can also be found in “light” packages with less fat, energy, proteins and so on. But for a potato to become a crisp means that it goes through a non-natural process which is frying in oil. Each packet of crisps contains at least one to one and a half table spoons cooking oil which is bad for our health if we consume it in large quantities every day and most of the times more than once per day.
Crisps can become a bad habit for ones health and especially in the times that we live now. Many people spend most of their time sitting on a couch basically doing nothing special, just watching TV and eating junk food because they can’t be bothered to get up and make a decent meal to eat. Crisps have made things even worse for “couch potatoes” health. They can be found in either small convenient packages or big family packs and are easy to carry around with you and that the reason why people eat them as a part of their daily fast food meals.
Crisps are “synthetic” potatoes, which can be a bad habit for ones health if they are consumed on a daily basis; but on the other hand they are a convenient snack, side dish or appetizer that can be served for many occasions. Next time we are all faced with a packet of crisps in a supermarket we should think twice before buying them.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Site feed

I have enabled a feed from this blog. This should allow you to get an email each time a new post is created. You will also be able to subscribe to a comments feed on your individual posts, sending you an update each time somebody comments on something you've said.

If you are using Microsoft Outlook, you can right-click on "RSS Feeds", then choose "Add a New RSS Feed," and then paste in the following address: http://eng203coursework.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

For other email types, you will need to follow the instructions for RSS from your email provider (or ask in the Computer Centre for help).

Best
James

(Incidentally, Tamara's post is now the second highest Google result for the Rose Macauley essay!)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

CYPRUS MAIL & Event Response-essay

It was a crisp evening on the fourth day of November, when the official car of the Swedish ambassador strolled down the cosy street facing the new building of the EUC [European University Cyprus] campus. As I hustled up the numerous steps to make my way up to Auditorium A, I saw people from the island’s literary community (both familiar and unfamiliar faces that is), greet one another. This to me, symbolized the inauguration of ‘Cadences,’ the finest poetic event to take place this year.
The auditorium was jam-packed, since it seems that intellectuals and university students alike, took an avid interest in either presenting or listening to, the inspirational poems and assorted prose comprising the multilingual (i.e. Greek, Turkish and English-written) Cadences journal. Mr. Karayiannis (head of the EUC’s Literature department), was donned in his immaculate black suit and flashy gold tie ; and welcomed all the lovers of the genre, with his subtle charm and distinctly caustic humour. He then invited Mr. B. to the podium, who updated the eager audience about the sponsoring (EUR 400 million) but also the cultural importance of literary translation, which is at the forefront of the EU’s efforts to overcome linguistic and ethnic discord among the member states, under the motto “ unity and diversity. ”
The aesthetic event, was an excuse for socialization between academics from different educational and literary backgrounds, despite the fact that the tasty, traditional snippets were to be served at the end of the poetry readings. The evening kicked off with two poems, recited by the erudite and soft-spoken Swedish ambassador. Ingemar Lindahl admitted that Cyprus is indeed a fascinating place and emphasized the special relations that (‘un-split’ by political conflict) Cyprus and Sweden have shared since pre-industrial times, due to our combined achievements in the field of archeology. Other foreign poets (from Europe and the States), were immediately invited to instill the public with the unique spirit of poetry and appreciation of the arts. Philosophical interpretations on various aspects of life were reflected in their poems, as in those presented by Greek-Cypriot poets in the English language.
I suddenly felt a tingling sensation of pride run down my spine, as I concentrated on the alluring words, woven into many a writer’s interesting literary or poetic style. I deemed myself as being privileged, to live in a society where intellectually-orientated events such as this one, comprised a significant part of our small nation’s earnest aspiration to promote ethical values through a critique of the society that we live in (i.e. as perceived from the prosaic passages and poems that the speakers acquainted us with). The poet David Porter, provided his literary audience with a means of coming to terms with issues of contemporary worth, for in stance in the form of globalisation (the American perspective on tourism in cosmopolitan New York was compared with the quiet and secluded atmosphere of Nicosia. In due turn, such outlooks could undeniably help us search for deeper meaning in our day to day lives.
Nearly every single performing poet, read their masterpieces in English ; including the Turkish-Cypriots. I became aware of the mutual sense of nostalgia felt by Greek and Turkish-Cypriots, as they recounted milestones from Cyprus’ recent past and provided colorful, multicultural imagery as regards the island’s present character, in poetic verse and prosaic discourse. One ought to keep in that a poetry movement or interest group of this calibre, regardless of whether Cyprus doesn’t really have a tradition of poetic rhetoric, is in actual fact the main driving force behind Greek and Turkish Cypriot literary and simultaneously social creativity, since in essence it explores the mores and attitudes of the locals and confronts these precise real life aspects in an unbiased way. I noticed that one of the poems presented by Mrs Aydin Mehmet Ali, brought to the surface the sensitive issue of ‘missing’ people, whilst another of her writings discussed the demographic changes to Nicosia, which seemed to highlight the contrast between conventional / traditional and contemporary culture.
These learned scholars have made it their mission to enlighten us about social and possibly even political issues that affect the common man, woman and child within the greater realms of Cypriot society, and this led to a newborn sense of optimism springing from within me. My intense feelings of hope were provoked by the fact that I was convinced that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could merge their voices and face the issues that in modern times are often a source of common hatred as a solid and strong entity. That is to say, that literature as a whole, has the power to break barriers and make people view the world that they cohabit, in a more rational and open-minded manner. I am under the impression that these bi-communal literary representatives have encouraged people, either old or young to celebrate the richness of their shared heritage, by evoking feelings of national or moral harmony amongst their audience and by granting students and seniors with priceless insight about times which will never be able to come back or be changed. The new generation of youngsters in Cyprus will therefore be able to interact with one another, by showing a greater degree of integrity. They will be able to learn from the good and bad experiences of those who lived at a momentous period of Cyprus’ socio-political history, and promote these crucial lessons to people in a similar situation. In this light, I tend to think that we should not be hindered from expressing our perceptions of the society which has raised, irrelevant of whether other social or ethnic groups agree with us or not us. Trying to show understanding towards one another by promoting and accepting our so-called differences is one of the challenges which young Cypriots must aim to fulfil. It will then be much easier for us to mould our dual identity based on respect of both community’s common and uncommon beliefs and principles, such as those of religious faith, educational priorities, cultural norms and customs / rituals etc, all of which influence the social trends of our ethnically mixed nation.
I would like to note that this year’s poetry performance coincided with the centenary of Yiannis Ritsos’ birth. The acclaimed Armenian-Cypriot poet, Mrs Nora Nadjarian, explained how she had been motivated by the poetic construction of Ritsos’ literary work to write her own poem (“Moon,”), which she narrated in a truly expressive and poignant voice. Mrs. Evidiki Perikleous Papadopoulou stunned the event’s spectators with her original and bilingual poem “A Variation of Moonlight Serenade,” which she delivered in Greek with a parallel translation into English. It was finally the turn of the Cypriot students from private Greek and English schools, to prove their innate poetic talent to us. Each and every poem recited by these young, award-winning poets, were uniquely mesmerizing and equally impressive ; both in terms of its content and the empathetic way in which it was articulated. Overall I must say, that Cadences was an event not to be missed, especially since it marks a sensational transition and is a chief contributor, to Cyprus’ cultural scene.
P.S. Sorry for being a tad late to post this blog. I'm afraid that my laptop was experiencing some problems today.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Mr. Mackay ;

I want to know if we have the possibility to improve our grades by correcting previous essays according to the comments.

thanks

Monday, November 2, 2009

The short story & your marks

Dear All - Somebody has obviously made a mistake about their turn in the short story, which has held it up a bit. Anyone who feels like continuing the story before Wednesday should go for it, whatever their place in the queue. We will then work out in Wednesday's class which people still need to contribute, and complete the story over the next few weeks. (I'm enjoying it so far!)

Also, please accept my apologies for not getting you your marks earlier - I forgot to copy them onto my USB memory stick to take home this weekend. I'm working through them now so you should have your marks by email by the end of this morning.

James

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Response essay - The sterner sex

Response to "The Sterner Sex" by Rebecca West

Throughout history, women are struggling to earn equal rights with men. Societies themselves are build up in an unfair way towards women, something that makes the situation for them even difficult to change. The general mentality of men, is that women should not have the same privileges as them, and even some women of older generations seem to have the same belief. This is probably due to the fact that from the moment these women were born, they were taught to be subordinate to men, so that notion seems to be correct for them, and they consider it unacceptable to think otherwise. Nowadays, women in most societies are considered by law to be equal to men. But that’s not the case. Unequal treatment of women in Cyprus is a proof for that.

According to statistics that had been published in newspapers, there are less women employed in either public or private positions than men. The same statistics show that women are underpaid in relation with their male coworkers. Even in executive positions where women have the same qualifications and efficiency at work with their male coworkers, they are still underpaid. This difference in the salaries can’t be attributed to anything else than the gender of the employees.

Regarding politics, there are less female than male politicians. When governments are formed after elections and each president is about to assign ministers to each ministry, there are more male than female politicians being assigned as ministers. Even in the parliament women are underrepresented. How are women expected to get the majority of votes in the parliament regarding the formation of a new drastic law that favours them, if they are outnumbered?

Women that decide to stay at home and raise their children should be supported much more financially by the governments. Raising children is a difficult and time consuming thing to do. Each of these women has the role of the mother twenty four hours a day, and things are more difficult for working, single mothers. Governments should increase the financial support to these women in order to help them, but also as a way to praise them for their contribution to the society.

I believe that the Church of Cyprus is unfair to women, regarding the fact that women are not allowed to become priests and moreover to be candidates for the position of the archbishop. They can only show their devotion to God as nuns for example but that’s it. Without being fully aware of the regulations of the Church, I believe that the specific rule was written by males possessing high positions in the Church, because they wanted women out of their way. I will not go deeper into matters of the Church because my knowledge on the subject is poor but I have the belief that several aspects of it show that it’s biased against women. For example, women are not allowed to enter the sanctuary. My opinion is that this regulation was also set by males possessing high positions in the Church and not because our religion says so. If the Church that affects the beliefs and way of thinking of many people is biased against women, it’s inevitable for these people to think the same way.

The image that society created for women is the one of a kind, delicate, weak person who needs to be protected by someone. Society’s notion is that at first, women are protected by their family, but after that they must get married so that they have a husband to look after them. In the past, when women were mistreated by their husbands or were unhappy, they didn’t ask for divorce because they were afraid of what other people would think about them, what would happen to the children, and of what would happen to them regarding financial issues. Nowadays, mistreated and unhappy wives tend to ask for divorce more easily than they did in the past, but still some of them choose to stay married. That change of tendency of women towards divorce happens because of some amendments in law. These amendments happened because of women’s attempts to earn them. They happened not a long time ago, and arrange various issues like the custody of the children, and the right of women to claim for property in divorce. The change of society’s and even the Church’s attitude towards divorce also functions positively to the decision of these women to ask for divorce.

Women should be treated more fairly, and additional measures should be taken in their advantage regarding all aspects of their lives. Women are dynamic because they earned most, if not all of their rights with struggles. Life was harsher for women in the past but they did not abash. They found the strength to oppose to the existing situations, and they still do. So, who should be considered as the “Sterner sex”? Men that had all the privileges in their possession from the beginning, or women who fought to earn every single one of them?

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Dear classmates... What's the problem with the short story ?? Only three people wrote their text and we have a long way to go until the number 15. I am the last one .. please hurry up we have only three days. Thanks.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Assignment Evening Parties

Response to "Evening Parties" by Rose Macaulay

God created Adam and then Eva to show us that human beings cannot survive alone. Can anyone of us imagine his or her life without other people’s company? Even if we don’t want to admit it we cannot live alone. There thousands and thousands of ways meeting new people. Evening parties is one of them. Some people love being at a party, some others hate it being there, and others are there because they have to. For many of us, parties are ridiculous and for every one there is a unique reason. Moreover, good breeding demand to be at the party, even if you like It or not; is not necessary to stay there until the close of the evening especially when you have to go to 3 or 4 at the same evening.
Nevertheless, we finally be at an evening party which begins at about 8 o’clock and ends up about midnight, wearing our best clothes to impress the others especially when celebrities would be there. Showtime has begun for many people who were dying to be at the party counting the days, to show their new expensive clothes. And that’s when many women even men entering at the party showing off, walking and ignoring everyone else.
Also, a group of people standing near the table of foods among entire strangers, without talking to each other just eating and drinking. For them this is paradise, free food and drink even listening to the music they like. They see each other for curiosity, see drunk persons making fool of their self and this is when they feel glad and proud to be there making fun of them. They also might think we are very lucky to be there because there are worse from us.
We finally got to the party and find our self separated by a crowd of guests. People of different ages, color and gender see each other maybe for first time. ‘Hey let’s go, there will be many women’ men saying to each other when they got the invitation. Later, you see a group of men just standing there seeing each woman passes, waiting the right moment to talk to them. But, let’s be fair many women go there for picking men, and maybe for them this is the only reason that they had been there.
Lots of people go at the evening parties for respect of the host as good manners demands. You need to have patient of course if you hate parties, some talent for acting and some readiness of speech when you have been there. The secret is to be quite or better hide in a corner when the most of them are away and just relax by listening to music and hoping that the time would pass. Also many of us should remember that we have to expose our own inability by taking part in these entertainments. On the other hand if there isn’t any chance to go there you must do your best by refusing quietly as possible, avoiding being ridiculous of excuses. Furthermore, most of people who organize evening parties they have a specific reason. They may celebrate their son’s or daughter’s wedding, birth, birthday, even a better job and many of the guests who have been there trying to avoid each other because they are bored of such meetings.
Therefore, another reason for going to an evening party is to have some fun. Of course not all people like it but the truth is when you are with friends or be social, everything is cool. Public or private occasions if you are a fun of parties there is no doubt that you feel bored. You can see people that you may not see before, old friends, some relatives and this is a chance to get away even for a night from your daily life.
All in all our life is a way of having more and more experiences, meeting new people, making different things. We must feel grateful that we have the opportunity being invited in a party because there are other people that would have been killed to be in our place. We must be thankful of what we have in our lives, we must do what we want to do and not thinking others opinion and the most important of all we must be ourselves and not pretend to be a person we aren’t. After all everyone hates loneliness and if we want to be accepted in this society, we must do our best to show what we really are as a person.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Response essay-Evening Parties

Response to "Evening Parties" by Rose Macaulay

Human beings are strangers, no-one can understand them in society but only themselves. They give us fake pleasure than the physical one. Actors in a play,for pretending;or dressing like a bride and groom, for showing off; or even starving for food,like dogs. Sally forth at someone’s else expenses nor because they really feel that they want to be there. I see them conventionalism others and trying to do the same things. Hostess or host are not there for them , she/he disappears from the time that all that come up. They don’t celebrate hostess birthday or the event that are invited to, but these that they think is better for them; wathcing football match; or even playing tampoo.to spend their time.
When the appointed date arrives, we bieleve to be suitable and perfect enough for the party and we dress up depence on the other quests. We running to buy clothes to be vantage of the night even you don’t have money to eat the next day;or you borrow clothes from your neighboors. Therefore we clothe ourselves to pleasure ‘’the others’’ not to be comfortable and feel yourself in a way. According to Macaulay’s essay “ if it gives you no pleasure , and if, further, you derive none from listening to the remarks of others, there is no need to converse’’. I tottaly agree with her, we should do whatever make us feel happy and not pretending, just to be there like a chair, an object with no soul. Wear anything you like, a jean with a white t-shirt; or even wear a dress that costs fifteen euro because you like it but not something expensive that makes you look frick and doesn’t match you. Be yourself anywhere you go.
Evening parties are prepared to give pleasure to quests and have fun. Hostess preparation for a party is too difficult and expensive indeed. I am convinced that the majority of human beings do not go to the party because he/she respects the hostess but to have a nice diner, or spent his/her time; or even showing off themselves to find a lover. It’s not that the point. We should go to parties, I agree you can meet other people and have a brief discussion with them but not to get a room after that. Oh, my goodness! Realation-ships are not like that. Good realation-ships it depends on you from the first time you gonna start to create it., if something goes wrong you lost the game.
This is, when you get your posteboard card inscribed with the details of the party, make questions to your self, “Shall I have fun to this?’’ “ I will dance and feel the music?” “It’s better if I stay at home and cook pasta?”. Seat down to your relaxing chair and think if you prefare to spend your money to go somewhere that you may feel unuseless or organize to go out with your friends at a club with a music of your choice. On the other hand go to the party that you are invited to, and if you realize that you feel like been in a theatre with actors to pretend, attiring rediculous dressers and costums and that you want to shrick, find the exit door and run away.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"It was a dark and stormy night"...

The short story starts in the comments below...

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Assignment-response essay: A walk to the zoo

Response to "What There is to See at the Zoo" by Marianne Moore

Zoo usually supports two theories. One theory is that zoo is a perfect home for animals to be in it, in order to be safe and be taken care of, and the other theory is that this “perfect home” can also be associated with prison because many people believe that animals should learn how to survive alone in the nature. That's why when you get to visit a zoo, you feel a lot of mix feelings. This is what I felt when I visited a zoo last Sunday. The zoo I visited was a huge park divided into different parts and each part was reflecting a different place of the jungle. The animals that consisted the specific zoo were being matched to the right place, according to their needs. Something that I like in zoo is that gives us the opportunity to see animals that usually we would never have seen because of their origin. For example I had the chance to see penguins that we all know that only survive in cold countries. Some other animals that I had the chance to meet are gorillas, dolphins and pandas.
As long as I remember my self at school, our teachers keep telling us that studies showed that human beings are relatives with monkeys and gorillas. Now that I've seen a gorilla from a close distance I strongly support this idea, because despite the gigantic size of the gorilla and the hurry body, the facial characteristics and expressions were a lot similar with humans. Moreover gorillas have a lot more similarities with humans except from some facial expressions. An excellent example of what other similarities humans can have with a gorilla is the sweet; tender scene that a gorilla shared with us while being near his cage. A father gorilla was holding his baby in his arms kissing him in its own way now and then, until the baby fall into sleep. The particular scene reminded me a lot of a scene were a mother holds her infant in her arms. This father gorilla showed the same love as a human being would have shown to his child. I can say that a gorilla for many reasons deserve our respect but only for this scene deserves everything that someone can offer him.
Being next to the gorilla's cage means being somewhere in the middle of the zoo, at the part were the zoo reflected the jungle in its “wild form”. This wild part is formed with tall trees all over the place so the animals can satisfy their need to climb from one tree to another. Except from gorillas and monkeys, another animal has the same need of climbing and by that I mean the panda. I have always think panda as the favorite animal of children. It has a sweet face and looks like our teddy bears; small ;black and white fur and big eyes. No wonder why all children wanted to give him a hug while one girl even asked her mum if she could take him home with her. A Panda can easily make your day.
When you finish your visit to the “wild part” , a small bus comes to take you to the other side of the zoo which is a 15 minutes ride. This other part welcomes you with a huge plastic dolphin dressed with a costume, in front of a gate. Above this gate some letters draw the attention of the visitors. The letter were forming the word aquarium. From the moment I saw those letters I couldn't wait to get in, because I have always been attracted to the sea world, but nothing would have prepared me for the amazing things that I saw from the moment I passed the gate. Dolphins were everywhere in the swimming pool, sometimes swimming under the water and some other times jumping so high above the water. All of them were having a gray colour almost silver and all of them smooth and shining. The most incredible thing that I've experienced though is that they allowed us to swim among them and even take photos. My favourite photo is the photo were a dolphin put his mouth on my cheek. Dolphins were so friendly among humans, in contrast with other animals and that makes me wonder if they realize their difference from us.
My visit to the zoo came to the end and along with a great joy, I have also dirived a whole new theory as far as concern the animals. Animals give so many to humanity and to the whole planet in general and for this they deserve the same attention that us people deserve, because after all, animals look like humans a lot more that we thought. A strong argument for this is the incident that I described above with the father gorilla. Finishing I would like to add that while I was visiting the animals in the zoo, I sometimes felt bad for being free instead of a cage like them; but trying to think this fact, as a positive thing and that this is a way to protect the animals from nature I asked my self: “people, live in a dangerous world but no one came to put us in a cage why we do this to animals? Do they really deserve this kind of security?”

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Evening Parties

Dear Evi,
How are you? Unfortunately you missed the class on Wednesday, but don’t worry about it because this summary will clarify what we've studied. I hope that you're feeling better and it would be great to see you soon.
This week, we focused on an essay written by Rose Macaulay, the title of which is “Evening Parties”.
Firstly, the subject of the essay is parties. She successfully managed to introduce the topic through a couple of questions. Then, she provided us with the reasons, as to why we consider it important to attend parties, by using semicolons - which make her essay more interesting.
Moreover, the whole main body consists of a variety of sentences, which in effect mock people who like going to parties. The language that the author used, is complex and the tone is rather caustic. This is purposely done as a means of emphasizing dominant images and metaphors ; in a sarcastic way. For instance, in the 1st paragraph, Macaulay implies that we visit parties simply to fill our stomach with free food (that somebody else paid for). She is thoroughly ironic when stating the phrases "at someone else’s expense" and "elegant food about the palate." I believe that the author employs this technique so as to convince us that people go to parties since alike animals they have gregarious instincts and in addition to this their weak character means that they are influenced by social conventions. The author feels that some people enjoy the food more than the actual party, since they don't other to talk to anyone and just spend time alone by standing in a 'solitary' position and greedily scoffing down bits and pieces - if they were lucky enough to be offered any that is. Macaulay used the method of juxtaposition when describing humans beings who belong to the civilized world, as animals.
It seems as though the author takes the mickey out of her own essay, since she mentions that “not I do not enjoy the parties” in her closing sentence. In some way or another, she is probably playing with our feelings or fooling us. She presents the reader with an elaborate discussion about the notion of party-going, which obviously amuses him/her. However, Macaulay's composition is brought to an abrupt end, due to the fact that it does not have any conclusion whatsoever.
During Wednesday's lesson, James showed us a useful way of planning our essay, so as to make it more specific. He advised us to write down the word smell and then draw a circle, which we were suppose to divide into several parts. Next, each of had to write down as many elements as we could, which were directly related to the main word or category. Eventually, we took the idea or element thatch interested us most and once again drew another circle - inside which we wrote a number of points. We can do this particular procedure until we narrow down the subject of our essay and determine the ideal one ; which in due turn will hopefully become the recourse of our thesis statement and its supporting (body) paragraphs.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

THE RESPONSE ESSAY An earth without animals

Response to "What There is to See at the Zoo" by Marianne Moore

Imagine a word without animals. It’s impossible! Is like a house without windows, a forest without tress, a human without lives. They are many people whose lives depend on animals such as farmers, vegetarians or even vets. Our word is surrounded by these species; respecting them must be our achievement not only for those who are independent but for all of us.
Moore had chosen certain animals in her essay and I believe she had a reason for mentioning these particular animals. Why she didn’t mention the dog, the fish, the cow and other animals that are in the zoo? Because she might wanted us to open our eyes and see these animals from a different point of view. Giving emphasis on not how they look like but how details are represented and how unique they are. This uniqueness is what she wanted us to realize and to draw our attention. What uniqueness these animals had?
Peacock is the first animal that Moore had mentioned. This bird is the biggest beautiful and colorful bird that now lives in the animal kingdom. Comparing this animal with a sparrow you will be able to see the uniqueness. A sparrow has just few colors mostly brown but a peacock has all the colors that you can imagine. Tiger is the second animal in the essay which is the largest for big cat and is the most popular animal in ancient methodology. In our days tiger is a mascot in many sport teams because of it’s strengthens. Moreover, zebra is the next animal that is the most recognizable animal because of its unique black and white stripes. Giraffe is the fourth animal that comes to show us the uniqueness of its neck. Is the only animal that has this long neck and is the only animal that when it feels threaten puts its neck into the ground having the sense that is hidden from the enemy. Elephant, however is a symbol of the largest mammal, such a huge animal with a weighted of thousands of kilograms comes to put its uniqueness not only for its weight but also for its history. Elephants are so close to mammoths which had lived thousands years before Christ which comes to show us that this kind of animal still exist in our days but with different details. Finally monkeys come to show us that are the most intelligent animals that have so many similes to human characteristics.
Mentioning all these uniqueness that these animals had there is no doubt that these animals are important in humanity and generally in earth. They created with so many details that we probably never realized before. These species can offer lot to the humanity, things that we might didn’t think. You will probably wonder what these animals can offer to you, might not offer lot to you but they offer to history and to other people. Peacock had offer a new line in fashion shows since it becomes an inspiration for many designers in designing their clothe collection. Tiger in some countries is the animal that supports their pray demands and is a symbol of a respectful animal. Zebra can be used as a way of transportation since it's a cousin to the horse. Giraffe can offer its eggs for a delicious food; elephants in Asian are a part of their culture and finally monkeys can offer an entertainment because of their intelligent especially in small kids.
For all the above reasons that these animals are giving either to us or to other people we are responsible for their existence. What is the point of killing these animals, either for their meat, for their skin or for their teeth? I think is pointless. Giving an end to these species we are destroying our earth. An earth without animals is meaningless. Our food, our milk, our surviving, comes from many species, that’s why respect is very important. Many writers had their inspiration from many animals as Moore had; painters had drawn the most buzzard painting by just seeing a bird or a peacock; songs have been written from the inspiration of a sound that comes out from the tiny mouth of a bird. I am sure that many of us we had a seen a monkey eating with a spoon, a tiger closing it’s one eye by their feet, a see lion shaking it’s hand and I am sure that we all have said ‘’ this is miracle’’.
Animals are miracles! It’s in our nature to protect what is important and unique to us and these miracles are important. We must respect them otherwise destroying the nature it will be a revenge for the nature to destroy us. Respecting not only the peacock, the tiger, the zebra, the giraffe, the elephant and the monkey but all the species starting from the tiny one to the biggest one because an earth without animals IT’S IMPOSSIBLE!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Lesson Summaries

Please leave a summary of the lesson we have just had in the comments under this post. Your summary should be a rewrite of the previous comment.

In the meantime, enjoy this video (I think you can't see this from the campus computers).

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

What There is to See at the Zoo (James Response Essay)

This essay by Marianne Moore describes some of the things that you can see at the zoo when you go to it. She is trying to make the point that the zoo is full of interesting things that should be respected and that we should be interested in them. Fine. But who didn’t know that already? Who hasn’t been to a zoo? Who doesn’t already know that animals are different from people and that it is good to be interested in animals? It seems to me that the writer Marianne Moore is trying to make a deeper point, but using simple ideas like a child’s trip to the zoo to make them.

So what are the points Marianne Moore is making? Firstly, she wants to tell her readers about some of the animals that she sees in the zoo. She tells us that zebras are symmetrical and that peacocks have beautiful tails, that tigers have stripes and that giraffes are examples of “marking.” It is the next paragraph, however, which shows us the method she intends to use all the way through. Having given these examples, she then draws something like a moral from them when she says that “Such colors and contrasts educate the eye and stir the imagination.” In my view this is the first point that she is making.

There are more points like this in the essay. She uses many examples to show that animals are interesting, that they are examples of being adapted to their environment, and that humans have to change their behaviour when dealing with animals. This all leads up to the final paragraph, which works as a conclusion. Here, Moore states her belief that we have both privileges in a zoo (because we are allowed to see these fantastic creatures) and also obligations (not to feed them, not to disturb them). It seems to me that Moore is also implying that she has a wider idea of how humans should interact with non-humans. If a zoo imposes these obligations, then don’t these obligations also exist anywhere that humans come into contact with the natural world? Here Moore delicately expresses an environmentalist idea that would not be generally accepted until much later in history. Now we know how badly the world is affected by destruction of animals’ habitats, Moore’s idea is more important than ever.

But it still seems to me that her way of saying this is quite boring and stupid. She could have done something more interesting and still made the same points.

Statement of Goals

Writing is a way of expressing yourself freely. Although writing an essay can sometimes have some difficulties. For example, an essay to consider good must have rich vocabulary, syntax, cohearence and also it must be well organized. By taking this course I expect to improve my writing skills and even learn some more, for better results.

An essay must be interesting for the reader or else the reader will be bored before it reaches to the end of it. In order to be interesting it has to have good vocabulary and no repetition of the same words or phrases. The writer of the essay must also avoid the meaningless details that might make the essay boring. This things I take firstly in mind when I'm writing an essay.

Secondly I continue with the stucturewich is a very important part of the essay. I start with the inroduction, wich has to be good to draw the readers attention. Then I continue with the main body wich contains 3-4 paragrafs and then with the conclusion.

The problems I believe I have with writing an essay are the vocabulary -because some times i might use the same word or phrase more than one time- and the syntax. I think that this is the most common mistake that almost everybody does. In generally my writing is good but certainly not perfect.

In conclusion I know that my writing needs improvements and by taking this course I will manage to enrich my vocabulary, correct my problems with thee syntax and in general become better in writing an essay.



Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Statement of Goals

Writing an essay is an art through which one expresses feelings, ideas and other abstract meanings. Composing an essay is a form of communication but it takes special skills to achieve a successful one. Attending Advanced Expository Writing course I will improve certain skills so as to be able to compose essays in a creative and successful way.

So far, there are some areas in writing which I cover well. For example, I always draw a planning skeleton before I start writing my essay. Also, I can explain myself very well by providing lots of information in bullet points as well as examples to support an issuing point. As for the resources that are an essential part in composing a research essay I know where to do my research, in order to provide myself with as much information as possible. For example, last time I did a research on divorce and I searched information in the library looking for magazines, books concerning the psychological, sociological aspect of the issue. I even expand my research by looking for issues that are similar to the issue such as searching for books regarding marriage life and families. Another positive thing about my writing is that i use grammar and syntax very well but not perfectly. After all who is perfect?

Now, as far as the negative part of my writing skills are concerned, there are times when I omit the revising part. Sometimes I do it because I am in a hurry and it is not a project or a research essay that takes days or weeks to be done. However, I still have to revise all types of writings I compose. Furthermore, my vocabulary may be good enough for this course but I still need to improve it. It can be done by reading English Literary books and magazines not only to enrich my vocabulary but also learn about things I have never known before and strengthen my creative skills. Another important point to make is the fact that I have trouble with referencing. There are some standard steps to follow regarding referencing, which is called the APA system. Personally, I find it quite confusing which is why I always mostly forget how to do the referencing part of a research.

Stating the positive and negative writing skills I own, what I would like to achieve from this course is to plan, organize effectively as well as to write in an interesting and exciting way. The important thing for me is not to make the reader yawn but to want to read more and more. In addition, I would like to improve my critical skills so that I can use fair feedback for my fellow-students and in return receive fair feedback. By receiving feedback for my work I will also realize how a reader fees while reading my work.

Finally, throughout the course, I hope to improve my creativity skills and revise every time I compose a piece of writing. In this way, my essays will not look boring and dull and not with a lot of inexcusable mistakes as well.


Statement of Goals for the Course

Writing is an eruption of your thought. Writing is ability to show, who you are. It can also reveal how do you think and how do you feel. Words are arrayed in the sentences to make a text. It shows your desire every body should get this ability. Many things are that help us to have a perfect writing. Knowing audience, increasing vocabulary and grammatical notes are important. I think grammatical notes is more important thing that others. That is why:
· Using grammar can help to show when the text happen.
· Can show your feel and your though
· Help you to arrange words to affect them better.

I know t some believe, increasing vocabulary is a reason to write. Knowing words and using them without employing grammar cannot be enough to write a perfect text.

At first, in a text tenses show when event happened. It shows the plot is related to past, happening now or will be happen in the future. It is done by a known person or unknown Also it can be used in mysteries texts for example in criminal novels to increase the excitement of text.

Second, you can show your though and your feel as well. Words in suitable and different situation have found different meaning. For example using some of them like power, light, braveness, fighting, peaceful show to reader your thought.

Third, grammatical note cause an essay become powerful and having more effect. Text which arrange by grammar is in order and the effect ion is more than essay that writ like this .So you should use them carefully.

In conclusion, when you writ you want to communicate and effect on reader .So you must choose the best way to transfer them. Everything to build needs many tools. I believe an important tool to write is to know grammatical notes.

Statement of Goals

Is anyone perfect? I don’t think so, because all people must always be processing. Everyone has difficulties on writing skill and as much as we practice, the better result we will have. Even the most popular writers and poets have mistakes in their writing process.
Firstly, there are some critics we should focus on which is formalized writing. Writing is a skill which you can improve your personality, you can express feelings and also to show in what mood you are. Each time we want to write, we create something knew and we are practicing. It is obvious that the writing has some categories which are included on it, the syntax, vocabulary, grammar and word order. Although, an important aspect of writing is the organization, on how well we organize our thoughts and how they are processed. We all have to focus on these categories for our own better result on writing skill.
Secondly, I know for myself that my writing is not a perfect one, but I can say that am doing well with the organization and paragraph order. Also, am good enough to explain myself and to build up an argument, but it needs harder work. My vocabulary and deeply my syntax are not as good as I want to be, but am trying for my best. To be honest, I can manage to make a good research, but I don’t explain my sources clearly enough, even though am not so expert to revise my essay also.
Thirdly, as I mentioned before, writing skill is a skill which can be processed all the time. Personally, I think that all categories of writing need to be more practice from me. My trouble is to write original phrases and to have an absolute correct syntax.
Finally, this course is an important one, because it will give me the chance to find and to recognize where I need more practice. Also, I think that this course is here to explain that all of us need work for better essay writing and that each of us will understand the material of writing better. I need more work on my writing skill and am sure that throughout this course I will improve my effort.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Statement of Goals

Writing an essay is a big deal and requires a lot of effort, skills and practice. Taking a course such as Advanced Expository Writing I am expecting to improve some of my writing skills and learn some others. Elements and skills that can contribute in writing a good essay can be organizing skills, vocabulary, syntax, coherence in what you write, grammar, revision, creative skills and also research skills.
In my experience in writing, up until now, I find my self good in creating strong arguments to support my thesis statements and to develop my subject in a coherence way. I believe that I am able to describe or explain my self clearly while writing an essay, even though I sometimes struggle to find the exact or the “perfect” word to use in order to have my description on the paper as I have it in my mind. Generally even though my vocabulary is not as rich as I would like to be, I try to search different words in the dictionary in order to make my essay more interesting and less flat to the reader.
On the other hand there are some things that I don't do well as a writer. First of all I have trouble in organizing my essay. Why is this? This is because I rarely plan my essays and this has as a result to spent a lot more time in writing my essay. Another thing that I have to improve is my research skills. In my opinion a research in order to be a “proper” research you have to search more than one resource. The thing that I do and I think that needs to be improved is that when I do my research I emphasize on the one resource that I will find satisfying things to write.
Overall through this course I would like and I hope to improve and even adopt some skills that later on will help me write better or more “proper” essays. Each skill can be useful, but personally I believe that organizing skills will be the most useful to me. In order to achieve these skills I will have to work with the course material by practicing on writing essays using the skills that I have trouble the most and also by revising and take into consideration the comments that the readers of my essay will make.

statement of goals

This semester at the university we have the chance to take the course of Advance Expository Writing and the opprtunity to improve our writing skills. Nobody is perfect in writing even a famous writter like James Joyce. Joyce reputation recedes him more than most writers. Without even reading a line of his work. As I studied for him before at the preface of the book they give us suggestions how to read him, exactly “Ulysses. I took his work as example to emphasize the point that no-one of us is perfect even Joyce. Each of us has a different way of writing or reading a text, poetry , fiction or drama stories. As I want to be better in writing essays I would like in that course to improve my vocabulary and syntax. I not plan my essays at all because I prefare to just thinking what I shall write and write in more physical or life way.
I have to learn how to memmorize words and start using them at my essays to make my writing more attractive and comprehensive to all the readers and not let them boring with my repeatiation of words and make the text meaningless. I must to start write down every word that I hear and has no meaning to me and try to find it out. Also I think of stop using subtitles at the movies, maybe is way to learn some words and phrases.
Then I will try to improve my syntax. If I don’t have good syntax my essays will not have meaning and the readers will not understand the aim. I have to be in situation at least to give them understand the main theme of what I’m writing.
At the end of this course I hope to improve my vocabulary and syntax. I strongly want to achieve in the future without and writing problems. Personally, I thanks university of giving us that great course because I’m sure that it will help me a lot.



Genethliou Froso

Statement of Goals

It's believed that writing an essay is something easy but is the exactly opposite is very difficult. An essay must be organized very well, to have rich vocabulary, good syntax, the grammar to be as much correct as possible and the most important a good revision to help you better.
To start with as a writer when I am going to write an essay according always what the topic is first of all I start to organizing my topic before to write. Later when I start writing I make my introduction intresting in order to make to the reader a good impresion and start reading it. I know that my syntaxe and my vocabulary need work also I repeating the same phrases but with a revision I can change them and make some changes in my essay that will be better and I must use linking words more often because it make the vocabulary more rich. As far I as I know I analyze an essay well about what to do and in which order and something else is that I will do a reseach according with the right steps and to mension the reference of my sources so the teacher to know what I used that helped me to do my research.
Another thing is that I am trying in every essay to get my point across whatever is it and always after an essay I make a revision and then I will give it to my teacher but I know that as much as revision as I do may there are things that I can't see but my teacher can.
To conclude from this course I want to be better as student and to get know more things about how to write well and every time to be better and better and I will can explaining my self better according what my teacher will tell me and something else is that not only for my teacher I will get help but also for my students because I believe that we are all like a team and if someone is better for me I might need he/she help Iwill ask to help me and may the opposite.