David

[dragondav]

All the Light We Cannot See

Right off the bat, this passage stuck out to me. It had countless instances of descriptive imagery, connections I made, and portrayed a feeling of suspense. I enjoy how the book has taken off and how it can create important and detailed moments throughout.

This passage had a handful of descriptive imagery such as "An avalanche descends into the city..." and "the single bulb in the ceiling winks out". To give more context to the situation, this grand city that has withstood centuries of time is occupied by Australians. Being approached by an unknown force of bombers, presumably US, the city is being attacked. As the bombs begin falling, the author describes it as a descending avalanche, combined with a hurricane. He transmits the sense of chaos and destruction through these natural disasters. Furthermore he adds in details of how loud and powerful the scene is. "...roar becomes loud enough to separate membranes in the middle ear". This creates am incredibly strong sensory image, allowing us to imagine just how loud and chaotic it was.

Alongside that, the mentioning of a proverb form the Old Testament is referred to. This caught my attention and was able to immediately recognize the connection. Referring to locusts who work together without a leader, but as one unit, is exactly what the bombers appeared to be from down below. This added context and created a connection to the Bible without mentioning more then then the locusts. The author is able to intertwine many different elements, such as connections to other sources or literature, and imagery to create an immersive story to follow.

[dragondav]

All the Light We Cannot See

This is the book I choose to read, which takes place during WW2. When choosing a book, I wasn't sure which one to pick because I had a harder time getting into a book or it wasn't interesting for me. Some other books I looked at were Secret Honor and The Night Watch. Both of these revolved around the same timeframe. All the Light We Cannot See is a great book so far, and the author Anthony Doerr does a great job at immediately captivating the readers attention.

The book smoothly introduces the characters and the position of the war. Marie-Laure who is a blind girl, and Werner Pfennig who is a radio coordinator. The book has detailed aspects and I'm looking forward to reading more.

[dragondav]

Mentor Poet Post 5

For my fifth post, I choose a longer poem then before. Anthony Anaxagorou "London's Dead" is much more descriptive but also with a much more serious tone. It is a poem that focuses on everyday life in London. The Poem starts out by describing the conditions found inside of London. "The gallows of blank skills your concrete rats and over worked workers that throw themselves from windows nameless slaves that dance with needles in their arms". This sets a very strong and serious image in the readers mind. It touches upon death and drug abuse, these being as a result from the conditions, or from being apart of London.

The poem continues to touch upon the depressing and terrible conditions, such as "purple knuckles of fury and smashed walls of slashing violence and alchocol that staggers home". This shows what London's occupants or people face when presented with the different circumstances. Looking at the title of the poem as well, "London's dead" now makes more sense in what it is referring to. It refers to those who as metioned earlier who jump of windows from substantial pressure of living as apart of London, but also those who suffer and attempt to live in London.

At the end, Anthony finishes with "And so I leave you behind like the loneliest picture in the world." With this mic drop like stanza, Anthony aims at leaving the loneliness of London, and all of its problems and implications. I think Anthony is trying to draw attention to the situation of London, and awarness of how the workers and people shuffle through repetitive and harmful motions in their life.

I choose this picture because I found it represents the cold and hard atmosphere of London as it is described in the poem.

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[dragondav]

Mentor Pet Post 4

"In three minutes" was an interesting and thought provoking poem. It was Anthony Anaxagorou's most gloomy and somber poem as well. The title and first stanza encompass the overall theme of the poem as well.

To start, Anthony begins by stating "Fact". The fact that ties in the previous stanza, "In three minutes a person you do not know will die". He uses this to grasp the audience's attention by drawing interest to why this relates to the audience, and why it should matter. Anthony uses this technique of a one word stanza sets up the rest of the peom.

Continuing onto the main stanza, the reader is introduced to the concept of death "by developed bullets". In other words, Anthony is referring to the different wars and conflicts throughout the world, and what they all have in common; the death of people for a cause. He continues to refer to this as "these bleeding times" followed by "slowly slowly". Which can be interpreted directly in the context of passing of smiles, but also passing of time. The passing of time that accounts to the "three minutes".

This ties in to the final stanza, which says "Now, a person you know just died". Throughout the second stanza, Anthony uses imagery, hyperbole, and personifications to inform the reader of who the "person you do not know" is. I liked this poem, and how Anthony used techniques to interest the reader.

[dragondav]

Mentor Poet Cheat

Hanif Abdurraqib

                 all them black                      boys in the ‘hood                                                had they wallets      

The poet I chose to look at was Hanif Abdurraqib. Hanif showed to have interesting poems and topics he covered. He is similair to my poet Anthony Anaxagorou. One specific example is how in my previous post, Anthony talks about a dear friend or relative who passed away unfortunately. Hanif also touches upon the topic of loss, such as "Brandon's mother" leaving him, along with the "older brothers who never found their way back home". Along this, both poets are men who've had years of experience with their youth, but also adulthood. Being able to see the similarities between the two helped choose my second cheat poet and poem.

With this in mind, I agree with your statement before when you explained how Hanif uses what he see's, like the wooden frame in your earlier post, and relates it back to him. But, I disagree that he always relates it to himself necessarily. In his poem "The summer A trive Called Quest Broke Up", he relates the physical earth, like the basketball courts, to the "boys of the hood".

Furthermore, Hanif uses other techniques to expand on his poem and the idea of loss. First, he talks about the boys in the hood with their "wallets unearthed in cities". Unearthed contributes to the idea that something is hidden, secret, or was gone at a certain point. Later on, another place was towards the end with "decide to gift us with a kind of feral silence". Feral refers to something wild, or even animalistic to a certian degree. This would be the loss of comfortable peace, but rather agitated silence. Tying all this together, Hanif finishes on the subject of basketball courts and older brothers. Hanif had two brothers and a sister, and their favorite place to be together were the courts. As he grew older, he moved out, like his siblings before him, and the childhood ties he had with his siblings were put aside.

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[jad-fakhoury]

Mentor Poet Blog #2

This week’s poem by Hanif Abdurraqib is titled, “WELCOME TO HEARTBREAK” and comes a few pages after the first poem I analyzed. To start, the poems title and first line gets you thinking about the idea of self reflection. I believe that Hanif really wants readers to read the first line and think about the old versions of ourselves and if we would most wish to dance with them too. The poem continues on and then there is a particular spot I want to look into. “I thumb the edges of the picture frame & consider the wood - what tree had fallen in order for this younger & smiling version of myself to have a home. It is killing season again.” These two sentences really caught my eye for a few reasons. First, when he talks about holding the picture frame, I feel like he is writing an observational poem as he holds this old frame of himself. We did a similar activity where we described and observed things in our lives so I thought this was cool. Second, when he mentions the tree that had to fall, I think that he is using it as a metaphor for heartbreak or love that is now dead. This also related to why he says it is killing season. Hanif really takes what he sees, the wooden frame, and related that wood to the death of the tree and ultimately love, which is heartbreak. This part of the poem also got me thinking of the theme or what Hanif wants to get at through this poem, and I think he simply wants to talk about heartbreak through his observation of an old picture of a loving and happy version of himself.

For my featured companion, I wanted to chose something to do with self reflection so I chose an article by The Blissful Mind that covers the benefits of self reflection. 

https://theblissfulmind.com/2018/01/14/importance-of-self-reflection/ 

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[dragondav]

Jad, I really liked how you focused on the idea of self relfection. I liked how you extended on Hanif's personal connection with the "open palm" and self reflection.

[dragondav]

"So He Dies" Anthony Anaxagorou Poem #2

"So He Dies" stood out to me because of its structure. It was unique in the way that Anthony shifted perspectives after the beginning. He starts off by "Some of us are born line saints", and describes how such people are seen and how they experience life. But right after, he abruptly adds another stanza openly stating "Some of us aren't". After this, Anthony lists off different notions that those who aren't saints face. Anthony uses descriptive techniques throughout the poem, adding phrases at the beginning such as "Perfectly filled with flavour, longevity, and crystal teeth" or others "born to taste...winds wilds breath". These paint a picture in the readers minds of the type of people who journey the world, explore life, and enjoy different experiences. But with the saints comes those who aren't, or those compared to "young and dead'". Anthony makes it clear how there is a difference between these "classes" of people, and creates a black and white image for the audience. With this in mind, Anthony then adds four stanzas that move past the two aspects of life. He makes a personal connection by starting off with "Then you my friend". Reading this, it is clear that Anthony this poem based on a close friend or family member. As the title is called, "So He Dies", this refers to his saint-like friend who was unfortunate and passed away, not being able to taste the "winds wild breath" or experience the longevity of life. Overall, this poem's tone fluctuates between postive and perfect, negative and low, to remorseful and memory.

So He Dies - by Anthony Anaxagorou.Some of us are born like saints br br Fair br br Perfectly filled with favour, longevity br and crystal

[jad-fakhoury]

Mentor Poet Blog #1

The poem that I chose to analyze and dive into this week was, “HOW CAN BLACK PEOPLE WRITE ABOUT FLOWERS AT A TIME LIKE THIS” by Hanif Abdurraqib. Right off the bat, Hanif caught my attention with the title of this poem. I think that Hanif places the title intentionally to try and provoke thought in his readers: what are the times he is talking about and why can’t they? My firth thought was that the times he is referring to are getting at the current social injustice and racism we see in our society. To be quite honest, I am not entirely sure if that is what he meant but since this title repeats with different poems throughout the rest of the book, I am sure that I will find out eventually. As the poem begins, Hanif uses a metaphor that really stands out to me, “dear reader, with our heels digging into the good mud at the swamps edge…”. The first reason that it stood out to me was because of the way he addresses the reader. It creates a personal sense in the poem almost as though he wants to talk to you through the poem. Second, the phrase “digging our heels” is significant because when you do dig your heels into the ground that usually means that you are getting pushed by something or someone and actively resisting that pushing. The last part about the swamp also prompts your thinking: what does the swamp stand for in this poem since we know it can’t be a literal swamp? Next, Hanif continues with his writing about nature by bringing up a dandelion head that is not a flower itself but is made up of many small flowers. Immediately after this statement, I noticed a significant shift in the writing. He writes, “…lord knows I have been called by what I look like more than I have been called by what I actually am..”. During my first run through of the poem, I thought this line was referring to how society views him as a young, black male which I still think is true. However, what I did not notice that he is drawing a similarity between himself and the dandelion in the way that they are both misjudged in how they are called which is why I think that he specially uses the word called after the shift. Considering this and the ideas presented in the rest of the poem, I feel like Hanif wants to attack the theme of how a given person (him, in this case) is presented in society. Are they called for what they look like or what they are? I am super interested to continue reading this series of poems that include the same title because I think they will work together towards the same theme or greater idea.

Featured Companion: Image describing stereotypes which relates to Hanif’s writing about how society views you. 

(492 words).

[dragondav]

To start, Hanif Abdurraqib seems like a poet I'd be interested in as well. I find him similair to my poet, with how he address's the audience with a sort of unclear meaning, leaving it up to the reader to interpret how they want to. I agree with the different meanings you've pointed out about how Hanif depicts sterotype and racism but I also disagree with you based on the way he starts off his poem "dear readers, with our heels" the use of "our" shifts the perspective from being a victim towards being a representation of a larger audience. I think that he is reffering to both sides of the coin, both unwilling to budge.

[dragondav]

"Himself" Anthony Anaxagorou Poem #1

A man stands inside the noise of the world, But all he hears is peace,

"Himself" by Anthony Anaxagorou was an interesting and through provoking poem. It was on the shorter side, yet left thoughts and unanswered questions at first glance. To start, Anthony uses repetition in all of his stanza's beginning them with "A man". This immediately prompts the reader to wonder who this man is. Whether it is Anthony himself, a random friend or family member, or just a representation of life, Anthony lets this interpretation up to the reader. Furthermore, the poem contains many instances of oxymorons. As highlighted in blue and circled, he contradicts his descriptions with one another. Such as "Inside the noise of the world....all he (Man) hears is peace," and later on "Inside the stillness of a virgin field...all he (man once again) hears is noise,". These prompt thoughts about why this is the case, and what the author is trying to get at and say. We get more closure about this in the last stanza, which is only a line, that says "All a man ever hears is himself". This made me come to the conclusion that the man is the disturbing force throughout the nature of this poem. The man is what leads to the causations of the oxymorons. Along with the oxymorons, is the shift from the "negative-positve" first stanza, to the flip in the second stanza of "positivee-negative". Anthony uses this to draw attention to how the man affects the situation double edged, molding both possible enviroments. This poem overall, appears simple and but holds a much deeper understanding.

[dragondav]

My mentor poet - Anthony Anaxagorou

When looking for a poet, I was looking for a younger poet, in hopes of being able to relate more to the poet themselves. I found Anthony Anaxagorou as a result. He also had some awards and recignitions such as being the first young poet to win the London Mayor's Poetry Slam. This stood out to me as he has had some success along with accomplishments. With this, his works of poetry also stood out to me as unique and intriguing. I immediately knew I found my main poet. A couple of previous poets that I found interesting as well included Beth Bachmann and Joshua Bennett. One of Anthony's poems that stood out to me was "Himself".

A man stands inside the noise of the world,

But all he hears is peace,

A man stands inside the stillness of a virgin field,

But all he hears is noise,

All a man ever hears is himself.

[jad-fakhoury]

The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner Process #6

This section includes the last chapters and epilogue of the book. This section was actually added onto the edition of the book I have, the second edition, and is not present in the first edition of the book. Glassner takes about how The Culture of Fear has changed but is still insanely present in today’s society. He focuses on the culture of fear grew during the time after the 9/11 attack and provides an interesting perspective. Terrorism was made out to be much more of a danger than it actually is. Americans are much more likely to die swimming or driving! Glassner also commemorates Obama for launching his campaign on the foundations of hope, and I loved that he said that. Another thing that I liked was how he looked at Trump and called him “ The Fearmonger in Chief”. Never before has America been so lied to and cheated before this current era. I really enjoyed this book because it brought new ideas to light I hadn’t really though of before. I think everybody should take the time to read this book and listen to what Glassner has to say because a society that acts based on fear and false information is not a society I want to live in or support.

For my sixth secondary source I chose an awesome video that truly captures how fear has taken over the minds of some American people through Trump and other previous Republican’s bullshit. It also shows how Americans are self deceiving themselves about what to be afraid of who is “killing America”. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sc3_V7Qyq4

[dragondav]

I think the video really helps support Glassner's point and the notion that fear can heavily controls society. Why do you think fear can influence so many people?

[jad-fakhoury]

The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner Process #5

In this section of the book, Glassner really goes in to detail about just how fear mongering and dishonesty occurs in the media. He says something I thought was very interesting. For a fear to be instilled in people two things have to happen. There must be a social anxiety relating to that given thing and there must be some type of sympathetic example or appealing fact. Much of what this is relates exactly to the unit that we covered: Dishonest Arguments. Logical Fallacies are consistently used in the news media for a wide variety of purposes. Also, Glassner warns us to be on guard for how reporters manipulate words and numbers to make a point. He also stresses that the reason all of this is so bad, aside from the dishonesty and corruption, is that true problems, such as education, hunger and lack of insurance, are left un reported on.

My fifth secondary source relates directly to what I said above about the logical fallacies. It is a video where somebody explains the top 10 logical fallacies that are usually observed in society, and examples are given for each of them. It is good to see the examples and get a better understanding that you cannot get with just the definition and name alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IawIjqOJBU8

[dragondav]

It seems like Glassner does a good job at pointing out different flaws in society. I immediately connected this to your first secondary source, George Orwell's politics and the English Language. Do you think that there should be more people and authors like Glassner that draw attention to this?

[dragondav]

For my final secondary source, I decided to connect this inspirational video to my The Last Lecture. From the book and speech, Randy made clear that he wanted to leave an impact for his friends, colleagues, and most important his family. I choose this video because Randy accomplished exactly what the video is titled- Make An Impact. Through his decision to give his Last Lecture, he has affected millions of people. His book sold more then 5 million copies, translated in 48 languages. Through Randy's fight with cancer, he was an inspiration to a countless amount of people, and all of his actions were centered around hope. Hope was his legacy.

[dragondav]

For my fifth secondary source, I found an inspirational quote that represents exactly how Randy acted and what his mindset was. When trying to find the best one, this one reminded me of how Randy battled everyday against cancer, knowing chances were not in his favor.

[dragondav]

Remembering The Last Lecture

A little over 10 years ago, a fellow by the name of Randy Pausch was planning a speech at Carnegie Mellon University. Pausch was a professor

For my fourth secondary source I have another article that adds commentary to The Last Lecture. It also gives additional insight on Randys family.

[dragondav]

Living 'The Last Lecture' - Word&Way

By Bill Webb Word&Way Editor Randy Pausch died on July 25 at the age of 47, but not before he demonstrated how to live and die with pancreat

For this secondary post, I found an article that gives additional commentary and about says more about Randys family. It shows us what Randys wife said after his death. On the other hand, it also expands on the idea of hope.

[dragondav]

Throughout this whole book, every different and new section of his speech (this book was based on his Last Lecture space) there were parts that stuck out to me. Randy did a amazing job the entire book. His final words stuck out to me, and end the book on a realization that whatever challenges faced him, he still made the best of every moment he was given and never stopped being himself; a role model, professor, husband, and a father.