Creative Poem Project: Cats

Cats:
https://youtu.be/3pjotYtmcUg

Revision of Poem Analysis: Cats

Rujian Zhou

English II IS

Ms. Guarino

5/26/2016

Small Poem Has Big World

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” says by Carl Sandburg. Poetry is a literary form that contains a lot of information in short forms and exists for thousands of years. Recently, I read an interesting poem “Cats” written by Charles Baudelaire that lively describes the nature of the cats. Through reading this poem “Cats”, I clearly see the image of cats who are noble, adorable and emotional just like humans, and I am amazed by the writer who magically describes these lively images of cats by thoughtful structures that use the simplest language to show the complexes meanings.

I chose this poem “Cats” because this poem shows exactly the cats in my mind, who behave like Kings and Queens - always think they are more nobility than everyone. The poem describes these natures of cats lively and makes readers have clear images of cats by describing their appearances and actions.

Firstly, the poem uses metaphor to compare cats with “prim scholar” and “perfervid lover” (Line 1, Cats) in the first stanza. These words state to readers the lively image of cats that their emotions are changing all the time. They are prim scholars sometimes, who are calm and quiet. But they are unstoppable crazy like perfervid lovers another time, who are very energetic and can run all over your house all the day. At the next stanza, the poem uses simile to compare cats with “partisans of carnal dalliance and science”(Line 5, Cats). This is kind of repetition of the first stanza, which both of them describe cats’ changing moods. But the poet repeated this in a smart way, that the poet changes the method of comparison from using metaphor to simile, and the poet also changed the words from “prim scholar and perfervid lover” (Line 1, Cats) to “partisans of carnal dalliance and science” (Line 5, Cats). This kind of repetition is clever because it does not directly respect the contains, but uses a deeper, clever way to rearrange it and highlight the cats’ emotion successfully. Readers only get this meaning after look deeper into the poem. Secondly, the poem describes cats by their actions. For example, the poem uses words like “sit”, “shudder”, “stretched” and “lies” (Line 4, 8, 12, Cats) describes the daily lives of cats - rest, play, and rest. These words emphasis cats’ nature are lazy, they can sit and shudder their fur everywhere. They lay down, they stretch a little sometimes, change a new way to lay, then sleep on the floor and continue their dream. The poem lively shows the daily lives of cats in just a few words, how amazing it is! In total, by these appearances and actions from cats, the poem successfully creates the image of the noble cats who always think they are the king and queens of the world.

But if this poem’ meaning is an ocean, these meanings are just the surface of the ocean. Poems are so mystic and unique because there have deeper meanings hiding inside of the poem. The deeper mean for this poem “Cats” is the love from the poet to the cats. After reading this poem, readers can know that how carefully the poet observed cats. It is not easy to describe cats’ natural by just using those few words, and it is even more difficult to generalize those words into 14 lines. The poet must spend a lot of time with cats, to observe their actions and appearances. In the poem, the poet described cats like “prim scholar”, “perfervid lover”, “carnal dalliance”, “science” and “sphinxes” (Line 1, 5, 10, Cats) which all clearly shows the nature of cats. These words are not a normal person can think about in a short time, these words only come to mind after long observation. Because of poet’s carefully observation of cats and the thoughtful language he used, I can see poet’s love toward cats, he or she must be an extremely cats lover. Furthermore, the poet considered cats as a wisdom creature in the poem. In the poet's mind, cats are just like people, who are in the equal position as us, and our true friends. This is why they can show their neutral in front of us without any concerns, just like our old friends. In total, this poem expressed that cats are people’s friends, and people should also love cats inside its words and meanings on the surface.

The lively and meaningful languages are not the only highlights of this poem. This poem also has a thoughtful form in terms of structure. The poem’s structures fit with its contains very well. At the beginning, the poem directly uses metaphor to describe cats, which gives readers a quick image of cats. Then uses the first stanza to give an example about cats, which helps to understand its contains. The second stanza uses the same way. For example, “If it could bend their native proudness in compliance.” (Line 8, Cats) This gives another example of cats that shows cats have very high native proudness in a fun way. Then the poem changes its structure at third and fourth stanzas. The first and second stanzas have four lines, but the third and fourth stanzas have only three lines. The poem gives a new impression to readers through doing this, and it also has new contains. There are comparisons which are more detailed in the third and fourth stanzas, such as “Giant sphinxes stretched in depth of solitude.”(Line 10, Cats) At last, the poem describes cats’ eyes like “Vague Starpoints”(Line 14, Cats) to end the poem. There is an old phrase says that “Eyes are the wind of soul”, so when cats’ souls like stars in the sky, their souls must be clear and beautiful. What an amazing ending for the poem!

In conclusion, for people who do not know poems, poems are like mystic puzzles which people can not ever solve them. But for people who understand poems, poems are the most precious treasure in the world. The poem “Cats” includes a lot of information in its short 14 lines. It is a mystic puzzle waiting for people to solve. After I solve this puzzle and understand its meaning, I am impressed by the poem’s thoughtful languages and his true love towards cats. Poems are amazing because they are not just as simple as they look like, poets improve the contains and use the best words which fit with the contains into those few lines of poems. Poems are like treasures with diamond and gold in the literature, they are waiting for people to search it and find the deeper meaning they have.

Hunter, Charles Baudelaire - Poem. "Cats Poem." Poemhunter.com. Poem Hunter, 
3 Jan. 2003. Web. 26 May 2016.

Revise Thesis

Through reading this poem “Cats”, I clearly see the cats who are noble, adorable and emotional just like humans, and I am amazed by the writer who magically describes these lively images of cats by thoughtful structures that fit into this poem.

Poem Analysis Peer Review

Rujian Zhou

5/23/2016

Peer Review For Yubin

Your poem analysis Hold Fast to Dreams is a thoughtful analysis, which shows her deep understanding about her poem “Dreams”. As the name shows, the poem is about encouraging people to keep chasing their dreams.

Firstly, you have a very attractive introduction. Especially the first sentence, also known as the hook of an article “Have you ever had a time when you just … and dark?”. This first sentence does not only show a question to attract readers but also connect the essay to the poem. In this way, the first paragraph goes better and better. There is a thesis statement about your understanding of the poem, a connection to your analysis paragraphs which follow the introduction, and the necessary information about your poem in the introduction. I always think to write an introduction which like this is very difficult, so I am very impressive by your introduction. In total, it is a well-done introduction that I, personally like it very much.

Then, you have two great understandings about the poem, one is about the surface meaning, and the other is about the deeper meaning of the poem. You separate these two meanings into two paragraph which helps readers to understand. In these two analysis paragraphs, there are examples of the used of poem methods in the poem, such as metaphor. As well as the detailed explanations from your own. I really like your example about the “eclipse”. Because of it, I can understand your ideas about keeping dreams. It is really good to have an example like this in the analysis paragraph, it not only show your deeply understanding of the poem but also let all the readers who read your analysis get to know your ideas. Great Jobs.

From the other hand, even though there are a lot of detailed analyses in the paper, I think there can be more analyses. Because your poem is not very long, so you can try to analysis it from sentence to sentence. This will provide your analysis more details as well as more words. The examples of the poems like “broken-winged bird”, “barren field” and “hold fast to dreams” are all support your analysis very much. So if there are more examples from the poem, your analysis will be more detailed, and believable.

More importantly, even though you have a great understanding of your poem’s meaning, you did not show your understanding of the structures, such as rhyme, repetition, and emotions in the poem. You have some of them in the essay, but they are not enough if you want to complete a better essay. In my opinion, the “meaning of the poem” parts of your essay is great, you only need to add some of your opinions about those structures in your poem, then your analysis part will be perfect.

In conclusion, this is a very well written and well-thought essay, you have done a great job so far. My advice to improve this essay is adding more information about the poem, and more analysis about the structures of the poem. Besides these, it is a very good essay that also help me improve myself. There are a lot of things I can learn from this essay, especially the introduction. I believe it will be a wonderful essay on Friday! :)

Spring Show Review

Rujian, Zhou

5/22/2016

Behind The Spotlights

To many people, the show on the stage is amazing. People admire the actors in front of the spotlights, but they do not how hard the actors and crews work for a show. The real show is always behind the spotlight.

We just finish our spring show Comedy Tonight this week. This time, I am no longer an audience who watch the show, I become one of the stage crew members in the show who control the lights. It is a magical experience to become one of the members in drama. I learn that there is nothing can be done in a second. I see this show from its beginning to the end. I and other crew members find the clothes and props for the show at first. Then with the help of Jack Jack, I know much more about the lights and the arts in the lights. Jack Jack is one of the people who love theater from their heart. I still remember Jack Jack, I and Mrs. Guarino worked in the black box until 10 o’clock in the evening. It is one of the best night for me, I feel so happy that I choose to do light in the theater!

During this two shows for all the members in school, I had been through a lot of things and I noticed many important things. Firstly, the first show at Friday was a nightmare for me. I was so nervous because it was my first show. So during that show, I made so many mistakes that I regret about them every time. Fortunately, the actors did a great job at the same time. Because I went through the show many times, I found out that actors forgot their words sometimes. But they are all talented that they all covered up each other when they forgot the lines. In this way, audiences would never know there was a mistake unless we tell them. I was impressive by all the actors as well as Mrs. Monahan’s quick responses to solve many accidents in the show. They saved the show many times in both two nights.

After the first show, I felt so bad to all of the people in the show because of my mistakes. Even though Mrs. Guarino, Mrs. Monahan, and Jack Jack’s words made me feel better, I still could not control myself to think about the play all the time. At the second day, I decided I would do everything I can to make the second show better. So I came to the Black Box, check the light’s cues again and again until I remembered them all. Even though I remembered them, I checked the light’s cues during the shows again and again, because I did not want to make mistakes again. After all, Saturday's show was better than Friday. I did my best as I could in that show, and I had a good result that I wanted.

In conclusion, it is really hard to make a perfect show, there are actors, crews, lights and sounds that need to control all the time. I think these two shows both has something good and something that need to improve. But after all, all the members of the show brought true happy to all the audiences. For me, the show is not only the part on the stage, but behind all the spotlights. Thank to all the people in this show!

Poem Analysis

Rujian Zhou

English II IS

Ms. Guarino

5/19/2016

Small Poem Has Big World

Poetry is a literary form that exists for thousands of years. For people who do not know poems, they are like mystic puzzles which they can not ever solve them. But for people who understand poems, they are the most beautiful girls in the world. One of the most beautiful, graceful and meaningful forms of literature in the world is  poetry, which contains a lot of deep meanings in just a few words. Reading and understanding a poem is an adventure for people, and people can see a big literary world through the small poems during this adventure.

Recently, I read an interesting poem, which is Cats which written by Charles Baudelaire. I chose this poem because I like cats because they are adorable, and this poem shows exactly the cats in my mind, who are like Kings and Queens - always think they are better than everyone. In details, the poem describes the cats in their appearances and actions.

Firstly, the poem uses metaphor to compare cats with “prim scholar” and “perfervid lover”. This shows readers the image of cats that they like  prim scholars sometimes and they are like outgoing lovers sometimes, which demonstrates the emotion of cats is always changing to the readers. At the next stanza, the poem uses simile to compare cats with “partisans of carnal dalliance and science”. It just changes to another way to describe cats’ play fast and loose. This kind of repetition is amazing because it does not directly respect the contains, but uses a deeper, more thoughtful way to rearrange it. Readers like me only got its meaning after we looked deeper into the poem.

Secondly, the poem describes cats by their actions. Words like “sit”, “shudder”, “stretched” and “lies” describes the daily of cats - rest, play and rest. Cats are lazy, they sit and shudder their fur everywhere. They rest, sometimes they stretched a little, change a new way to rest, then lay on the floor and continues their dream. The poem shows exactly what are cats in just a few words, how amazing it is! In total, by these appearances and actions from cats, the poem successfully create the image of the noble cats who always think they are the king and queens of the world.

But these are only a small tip of the poem’s meaning. The poem is so successful and unique are not only because the beautiful words they have but also because they contain deeper meanings besides the surface meanings that are directly shown by words. The deeper mean of the poem is the love from the poet to the cats. From the poem, readers can know that how carefully the poet observers cats. It is not easy to describe cats’ natural by just using words, and it is even more difficult to generalize those words into a little poem. The poet must spend a lot of time with cats, to see their actions and appearances. In the poem, the poet describes cats like “prim scholar”, “perfervid lover”, “carnal dalliance”, “science” and “sphinxes”, which all clearly shows the nature of cats. Those words are not the normal person can think about, they only come to mind after long observation. Because of those, I can see poet’s love toward cats, he or she must be an extremely cats lover. Furthermore, the poet considers cats as a wisdom creature in the poem. In the poet's mind, cats are just like people. Cats are in the equal position as human beings, and they are our true friends. This is why they can show their neutral in front of us without any concerns, just like our old friends. In total, this poem expresses that cats are people’s friends, people should also love cats.

The beautiful and detail of literature are not the only highlight of this poem. This poem also has a thoughtful form in terms of structure. The poem’s structure fit with its contains very well. At the begin, the poem directly uses metaphor to describe cats, which gives readers a quick image of cats. Then uses the first stanza to give reader example, which helps to understand its contains. The second stanza uses the same way. It gives another example that cats has very high native proudness in a fun way. Then the poem changes its formats at third and fourth stanzas. The first and second stanzas have four lines, but the third and fourth stanzas have three lines only. It gives a new impression to readers by doing this, and it also has new contains. There are comparisons which are more detailed in the third and fourth stanzas, such as “Giant sphinxes stretched in depth of solitude.” At last, the poem describes cats’ eyes like “Vague Starpoints” to end the poem. People says that “Eyes are the wind of soul”, so when cats’ souls like stars in the sky, their souls must be clear and beautiful. It is the best ending for this poem.

In conclusion, this poem includes a lot of information in it. It is a mystic puzzle waiting for people to solve. After I understand it, I am impressed by the poem’s thoughtful languages that contain such great amount of information in just 14 lines. Poems are amazing because they are not just as simple as similize a large contains, poems improve the contains and use the best words which fit with the contains into these short lines of words. Poems are like a diamond in the literature, it is always attracting people to search it.

Recitation of Poem Cats

https://youtu.be/d4VDo_i07cU

Choose A Poem

Cats - Poem by Charles Baudelaire

They are alike, prim scholar and perfervid lover:
When comes the season of decay, they both decide
Upon sweet, husky cats to be the household pride;
Cats choose, like them, to sit, and like them, shudder.

Like partisans of carnal dalliance and science,
They search for silence and the shadowings of dread;
Hell well might harness them as horses for the dead,
If it could bend their native proudness in compliance.

In reverie they emulate the noble mood
Of giant sphinxes stretched in depths of solitude
Who seem to slumber in a never-ending dream;

Within their fertile loins a sparkling magic lies;
Finer than any sand are dusts of gold that gleam,
Vague starpoints, in the mystic iris of their eyes. 

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/cats/

Date: Unknown

Found Poem 2

Boarding students from 17 states and 30 countries,
make up the community.
Living in the supportive and empowering community,
we learn and grow in Cheshire academy.

Five dorms in the campus,
with kindly faculty members and their children.
"I love living on campus"
with a main lounge and a television.


Prepare your life at college,
at Cheshire academy.
Safe environment for students,
to explore our independence and responsibility.

Dorms are more than to sleep and study,
it is also the place to take to friend and play.
Living on the campus helps student and faculty to forge connection,
that built here but continue long after graduation.

Found Poem

And although in the end everyone believed that Pobby and Dingan had really lived and were really dead, nobody at the Ridge could quite believe the funeral of Kellyanne Williamson was actually happening. And I, Ashmol, still can’t believe that it did. I just can’t. I can’t believe it at all. Even now, one year later, it feels like she’s still totally alive. And I find myself lying awake talking to her all the time. And I talk to her at school and when I am walking down Opal Street, and Humph and I when we are out at the Moozeum talk to her together, and you will still see today if you go to Lightning Ridge people pause in the middle of doing whatever they are doing to stop and talk to Kellyanne Williamson just as they still pause to talk to Pobby and Dingan and to opal in their dreams. And the rest of the world thinks we are all total nutters, but they can go and talk to their backsides for all I care. Because they are all just fruit loops who don’t know what it is to believe in something which is hard to see, or to keep looking for something which is totally hard to find.

From Pobby And Dingan, P1104. Author: Ben Rice

Everyone believed
Pobby and Dingan lived.
But nobody believed
The funeral of Kellyanne happened.

I, Ashmol, can not believed it did.
I can not believed it all the time.
One year later, it fells like she still lived.
I find myself taking to her all the time.

I talked with her everywhere,
in school, Opal Street, Humph and Moozeum.
All the people do this in Lightning Ridge,
like they talked to Pobby and Dingan in their dream.

The rest of the world thinks we are all nutters,
but they can talk to their backsliders of all I care.
Because they are just don't know what it is to believe, which is hard to see
or to keep looking for something which is totally hard to find.

Image of Fig

1. To the writer's father, fig means more than an actual fig tree. Like mother says " what a dreamer he is." We know that father has a dream. Father's dream is not as simple as planting a normal fig tree, but to have "the largest, fattest, sweetest fig in the world." From this, I think father has some ambitions in his mind. Father does not want to be a normal person, he wants to become a great person which some great achievements that can let other people admire. So to father, fig means his dream of his whole life, and his ambition to achieve something that is very hard to achieve for normal people.

2. In the poem, the fig tree symbolize author father and father's dream. In the writer's mind, fig tree is the symbol of his father, who always talk about fig. Writer's father love gif tree very much, and when he has the best fig tree in the world, he is very happy and sings songs. Also, fig symbolizes dreams. Father's dream is to have "the largest, fattest, sweetest fig in the world." So to the writer, the fig tree symbolize dreams. Also, the fig connects the whole poem together. It connects the stories from different years in to one poem, and tells the reader about dreams.

Spring Haiku

Spring comes to Cheshire
We have sunshine and picnic
Enjoy the warm spring :)

- Rujian. Zhou

The Poem I Like

Rujian, Zhou

4/28/2016

The Poem I Like

   Yesterday, I found an interesting poem about a cat, which was My Cat written by Leanne Guenther. When I first read it, I found this was the poem that I liked immediately.

The Cat is a short poem, which only has a few sentences. The whole poem is “It’ll be five days or maybe six, Before I get my laptop fixed. Gosh, I think it would be nice – If my cat would just eat mice. Unfortunately in my house – She likes to kill my cordless mouse!” It tells a story about a cat eats her owner’s cordless mouse that used for the computer. This annoyed her owner because the cat does not eat the real mouse, but eats a cordless mouse. The poem tells a funny story about the cat, which made me laugh when I first read it. Because this poem lets me feel there are a lot of common points with the author. I know that cats sometimes annoy their owners because they never do want they want. But these are also the things which make cats more adorable because I think the funniest thing you can see is a cat being stupid and make some mistakes. Those mistakes let me laugh and forget to punish the cat. This poem perfectly describes the cat let her owner annoyed, but also let me think the cat is so adorable.

This is a short poem but well written. It has “AA BB CC” form, which has the rhymes like “six - fixed”; “nice - mice”; and “house - mouse”. It has 8 syllables in all 3 stanzas, which each stanza has 2 lines. In total, there are 3 sentences in the poem, it is a very short poem. The poem does not have many repetitions because its length. But it emphasizes mouse, to show that there is the real mouse and the fake, cordless mouse for a laptop. This poem pays attention to humor, which the whole poem is telling a funny story to make people laugh. I laugh because I was impressive the expressions that author uses to describe this event and the “annoying” cat.

This is the poem I like. I like its meaning, its event, and the cat in the story. It is a poem that makes people laugh and give people happiness. It can treat people from heavy works in a day. This is the poem I like.

In Class Writing 4.28

My Cat

by Leanne Guenther

It’ll be five days or maybe six,
Before I get my laptop fixed.

Gosh, I think it would be nice –
If my cat would just eat mice.

Unfortunately in my house –
She likes to kill my cordless mouse!

     I chose this poem written by Leanne Guenther because it is talked about cat. Personally, I like cats very much. Also, I know that the poem tells the truth event that happens to people who have cats in their houses. Cats always like to sit on the desk, if there are cordless mouse and keyboard, they are likely to break it. And whatever how you stop them, they will go sitting on your desk again and again. Then your equipments will always in danger. Just like the poem talks about, the cat "I think it would be nice, if my cat would just eat mice". I like this poem because it shows such a funny fact about cat to me, and it is based on the truth story that I know. After all, it is always happen to read funny things about cats, they are so adorable. In total, this poem tells such an interesting things that make me laugh when I first read it, so I chose it. I hope every one will like it.

Reflection to Creative Project

Rujian, Zhou

4/26/2016

Be Creative

   Be creative is very important in our lives. Without being creative, we might not have telephone, vehicle and many other things that make our lives more convenient. In this creative project for English II class, Johnny, Daniel and I decided to challenge ourselves - we chose to make a short movie about the book Pobby and Dingan. In this project, we had a lot of fun things to laugh; we also had many difficulties to overcome; more importantly, we learned many things from this project, which is creative. There is no limit to people’s minds, so they can make many excellent things if they are creative.

   Our project was to make a 5 - 10 minutes movie about Pobby and Dingan. We chose to make a movie because we are going to take Literature & Performance class next year. So for preparing the class, we thought to make a movie could be very helpful for us. Also, our English class is always relative to acting. I remember that we acted out the characters when we were reading the novel Gathering The Pearl. So making a movie can relate to our class. Moreover, making a movie is not an easy job. We needed to write the dialogues for the characters, decides the scenes, recorded and edited the videos. All of these require teamwork, so we would learn and improve skills of teamwork in this project. Besides this, because there were 3 members of our groups, we had enough people to make a big project like a movie. In total, we wanted to make an interesting project to prevent and also learn from the project at the same time, so we chose to make a movie.

   To be creative, we decide to edit the story a little bit. In our movie, it was about mother Anne and father Rex argument with each other first, then Ashmol came in and asked mother about her past story with the father. The argument between mother and father was taken and edited from chapter 1 from the book, and the Ashmol with mother’s part was taken and edited from chapter 6. We combined these two scenes together, so we can present a more fluent story in the movie. Due to this, we had to edit a lot of things in the movie, such as the dialogues and setting. By editing the story, we were not only to be creative but also showed our understanding about the book in the movie.

   The plan seemed perfect to us, but it was not easy to do. We had a lot of difficulties while we were acting. Firstly, this was our first time to make a movie. Everyone seemed nervous in front of the camera. For example, when I was acting, my mind was blind and I forget what should I say next. Even though we tried to remember our dialogue before we acted, the pressure of acting would make us have some mistakes. It was one of the biggest difficulties in the project. We were not a professional actor, so we can not act like the actors on the movie. But we still try our best to make our movie as much as we could. We even retook one scene more than 3 times just because we were not satisfied with it. Those mistakes in the movies annoyed me at first because I wanted to make a perfect movie. But I found that those scenes that we made mistakes could be used as the blooper because those NGs made us laugh many times. After seeing those funny bloopers, we did not feel as nervous as before and continued recording the movie. The two afternoon of recording movie were full of fun like this. There were many NGs of our movie, we knew that it was really different to record the movie. After recording, editing was much easier and better. We found the background music for the movie; we picked the best scenes we had into the movie, and we put many funny bloopers at the end of the movie.

   In this project, we learned many things, from the planning before the recording; from the acting; and from the editing. We know that teamwork is important for projects. More importantly, we know that to be creative is very important. We had many excellent ideas in this project because we wanted to be creative. We change the story based on our understanding, and we used those “No Good” videos as bloopers to make the movie funnier. In conclusion, to be creative can let you overcome many difficulties and have many wonderful ideas. We believe our movie will bring our classmate fun.

Progress Of Crative Project

James, Zhou
     At this weekend, I, Johnny and Daniel started make our film. Firstly, We edit our dialogues again and made them closer to our lives. For example, we change some dialogues into words tasty based on our understanding. Because of this,  the dialogues make more sense to audiences, and it is more easy for us to remember the dialogues. Moreover, we spend about 2 hours to take the scene one of our project. I filmed the videos while Daniel and Johnny were acting. We separated the scene one into several short videos. After we finished videos of first scene, they are about 2.5 minuets long. After this, we are going to edic the videos, connect them together and take the second scene. We had a lot fun during the time, and we had great progress so far.

Creative Project Proposal

Rujian, Zhou

4/10/2015

Pobby & Dingan Creative Project Proposal - Film

   It is always challenging when every time we have a project due after we finishing a book. But this time, the project is not an essay as usual, but a creative project. This time, the project seems more interesting to me.

   Firstly, Johnny, Daniel and I become a group. To do a group project means everyone can work together, and more interesting. Also, it means our works should be better than the project that was done by one person. Because of this, we will spend a lot of time in this project and make it as perfect as we can.

   Secondly, we decide to do a film about our book Pobby and Dingan. We have seen the movie Opal Dream which based on the same story at class, so we know how to appearance those characters in the book. We decide to take a 5-10 minutes video about some scenes from the book. One of the scenes will be an argument between Ashmol’s mother and father, the other one will be Ashmol and his mother’s discussion about photos at Chapter 6. If there are not 5-10 minutes, we will add scenes that about Pobby and Dingan’s funeral. Daniel will be Rex, the father; Johnny will be Anne, the mother; and I will be Ashmol.

   Lastly, all of us agree that we are going to change the story a little bit. We will change the story with our understanding of the book. We will fix some parts of the story in order to make it fits our time. For example, use iPad’s photo instead of a real photo. We will connect the arguments scene with the photo scene. Moreover, we will act out the characters. This will be a perfect preview of our Literature & Performance class at the next term.

   This creative project is very interesting to me. I think it is not extremely hard to do, but it still requires time. I hope we can learn about performance and teamwork in this project. Also, we are going to use iMovie to edit the story, we will learn about how to use software to edit video. But I think when I work with Johnny and Daniel, I will never get bored. I believe it will be a good project.

The Dreams Of Opals

Rujian, Zhou

4/8/2016

The Dreams Of Opals

   Every people have dreams. In the book Pobby and Dingan, people in Lightning Ridge all dream about finding precious opals which can make them wealth. But like Australian Geographic quote says “The secret of an opal’s color lies not in its substance but its absence.” The most precious things on the opals are not the opals themselves, but those people’s dreams which relative with the opals.

   In the book Pobby and Dingan, the Ashmol’s father Rex is crazy about finding opals. Like other people in the town, Rex has a dream about opals. He brings all his family into this small and poor town of Lightning Ridge. Rex works the all day in the Opal mine, but he does not find any opals that worth money. Because of this, Rex becomes anxious about finding the opals. This also same to other miners. In the Lightning Ridge, as Ashmol says in the book “Ratting, you see, is the same thing as murder in Lightning Ridge—only a bit worse.” This shows how crazy those miners are, and they only care about finding colorful opals. To the Williamson family, the mother of Ashmol, Anne has a lot of complaining about this situation. Anne has a dream too. She was in England, where she lived on a big farm and had a wealthy boyfriend Peter. But now she is in this poor town with Rex finding those opals that “might not exist”.

   People in Lightning Ridge cares too much about the color and worth of the opals which are all appearance but forget what is their original dreams. In my opinion, Rex’s dream is not just about finding opals, but giving his family a better life by finding the opals. The things that more important than the opals are the dreams. Like Ashmol, he has a dream that he can live in the Lightning Ridge with his family happily. He says he likes living in Lightning Ridge “Because here there’s always opal waiting to be found, and there’s always something to dream about, like another Fire Bird or a Christmas Beetle or a Southern Princess or an Aurora Australis.” I am very impressive by his word about “There’s always something to dream about.” Every people have dreams which let them keep hopping. Dreams are important. In the book, Ashmol’s dream drive him to do many brave things for saving his sister Kellyanne. He goes around the town, finding Pobby and Dingan; he goes to his father’s claim at the midnight for finding Pobby and Dingan; and he arranged the funeral for Pobby and Dingan. When he gives the most beautiful opals that he has ever found to the funeral director for the funeral, he does not hesitate. He believes that he is doing the right things for Kellyanne, for himself and for his family.

   For people in Lightning Ridge, dreams come from the opals. But everyone pays too much attention to the substance, the worth of the opal, and miss the absence side of the opal - dreams. Opals are beautiful, expensive and colorful, but the dreams come from the opals are more precious. People can live because of those opal dreams, they are the goal of their life. Extend the opals dreams, you will people’s love. Like Ashmol, he cares his family very much, and he always put them in the first place in his life. Compares to those adults who are crazy about the opals’ substance, Ashmol seems more mature.

   The precious things do not usually appear on the outside, they are in the absence side where people used to miss. To be better, people need to find the absence side, to know what is the real precious things in their lives, like Ashmol does. I think to live in this way, to live with true precious things, such as family, is the true opals dreams that all of the people from Lightning Ridge have. Opals' beautiful out-looking always distract people from the real precious thing.

3 Ways That The Ending Of The Film Is Different From The Book

• In the ending of the film, it does not tell what happen to Kellyanne at the end. We do not know she is cured or she is dead. But in the book, it says Kellyanne is dead and bury next to Pobby and Dingan.
• At the end of the film, the funeral director gives back Ashmol the beautiful opal that is believed to belong to Dingan. But in the film, he does not give back the opal to Ashmol.
• At the end of the book, Old Sid shows up at the end of the funeral. He tries to convince other people not to believe in Pobby and Dingan, and Rex is a ratter. But the film does not talks about it.

Chapter 8-12 Quiz

2. What connection does Ashmol make between the land covered with seawater and Pobby and Dingan? Why is that important to the story?
      When Ashmol is on the way to the claim, he remembers his father told him that the area of claims was covered with sea water hundreds year ago. Ashmol is amazed by this fact, he thinks "That a sea was once here where now there is nothing but dry land." Then Ashmol connects this with Pobby and Dingan, who are also hard to believe that they are real people. Ashmol believes that anything can be real since the miracle such like the seawater can happen, so Pobby and Dingan might be real people. As a result of this, Ashmol really looks for Pobby and Dingan in the claim. He does not pretend to find them or just sits there for a while, but he really tries to look for them. When Ashmol does this, he finds "a massive heap of rubble in their corner", the Violet Crumble Chocolate Bar, and the yo-yo size green, red black opal. These things lead him think about Pobby and Dingan are buried under the rubbles and introduce the story after that. Because of these, the seawater is important to the story.

    5. In the very end of the novel, Ashmol talks about what it’s like to “believe in something which is hard to see. Or to keep looking for something that’s totally hard to find.” Discuss the importance of imagination and dreams in this novel. Why are they so important even if they cannot be seen. Consider what dreams Rex, the father, and Annie, the mother, have in the story. Consider, also, the dream that Ashmol has. How do those "unseen" dreams connect to Kellyanne's belief in Pobby and Dingan?
      Dreams are always important to people, if a person does not have a dream, then his life has not difference between a small fish. In the novel Pobby And Dingan, dreams and imaginations are two of the most important parts that make up the story. Everyone has a dream in the story, the main character Ashmol has a dream, Ashmol's mother Annie has a dream, and his father Rex has a dream. Rex has a dream about finding good opals that he can sell them for big money. But it is not easy to successes, so Rex becomes more and more crazy about finding opals, like Ashmol says "He'd go crazy with excitement and then he wouldn't let me buy Pobby and Dingan a grave with it (the opal), and then Kellyanne wouldn't get any better." Rex counts opal above many things in his life, such as his family. Because of this dream, Rex comes to this countryside in Australia and digs for the opals that might not exist. Then he loses his confident, which leads him does not do a lot of works for Kellyanne at the later in the story. In total, I think Rex is struggled with his dream and can not get out from this dream.
      In the story, Kellyanne's belief in Pobby and Dingan starts from the beginning to the end. Pobby and Dingan are just like the dreams of Rex's, Annie's and Ashmol's. They are all "unseen", but if people believe they are real, then they are real. Like Kellyanne believe Pobby and Dingan are real, and Rex believes he will find opals and makes big money. These are the same, because people need comforts in their lives. All of the people want to live a happy lives. Moreover, some people get struggled by the dream, like Rex; but some people get motivation form the dream, like Ashmol. In my opinion, because everyone wants a better life, they have the "unseen" dreams. And so does Kellyanne, she believes in Pobby and Dingan. These are the connections between Kellyanne's belief in Pobby and Dingan with the "unseen" dreams.    

Quiz Pre

Johnny
Eunice
James

• Ashmol saw massive heap of noble in the corner. "There was a massive heap of rubble in the corner."
• He found P & D because he heard the sound of moaning & Breathing. "I listened carefully and sort of convinced myself that I could hear a little moaning and breathing."
• He saw wrapper of a violet crumble chocolate bar. 
• He saw a greedy-red glint, which was an opal
• Opal: he touch it; it was strangely warm like it had already been in someone's hand or close to someone's skin
• Smell: He smelt earlier was death. 

At last, Ashmol made a perfect story for P & D, which he thought Kellyanne would believe it. 

"This was Dingan’s bellybutton. This was Pobby and Dingan, who got trapped under the roof of the drive where it fell in. And the smell I smelt earlier was death. And the last thing they ate before they died was a Violet Crumble. Everything sort of fit together perfectly."

Image of Pobby and Dingan

    Pobby and Dingan are image nerdy friend of Kellyanne, Pobby is a boy and Dingan is a girl. I think Pobby is a very outgoing boy who always want to have some adventures in his life. He likes to play outside, collecting small opals around the claims and build his own rock castle by the rocks. I think Pobby acts like this because the father "brings" both Pobby and Dingan to his claim. To children, it is hard to let them go to an adult's workplace unless they are interesting in something there. So I think Pobby maybe like to play with the rocks around the claim, and Dingan is just staying with him in the claim.
    On the other hand, Dingan is a little bit shy. She does not talk a lot and she always stands at the back of Kellyanne or Pobby. She is afraid of talking to strangers, but not her friends. I think Dingan is a shy girl because once there is an old man asks Kellyanne “G-day, Kellyanne, g-day, Pobby, and how’s Miss Dingan doin’ today?” The old man asks Pobby first, which shows Pobby is more outgoing, then he asks Dinagn with "Miss Dingan". The old person adds "miss" before Dingan maybe because Dingan is not very familiar with him. More importantly, the person asks about Pobby and Kellyanne before Dingan, which shows Dingan stands behind them.
    In total, both Pobby and Dingan think Kellyanne is their best friend forever and the most dependable person she knows. Besides this, they do not want to leave Kellyanne at all because they always stay together. Ashmol records that Kellyanne always talks with Pobby and Dingan and three of them are very close friends. So I think all of the three people takes each other as one of the most important people in their lives. Kellyanne gets sick badly because of the loss of Pobby and Dingan, so I think Pobby and Dingan will also get so depressed if Kellyanne is gone.
    I think Pobby is a very naughty eight years old boy with short golden hair. He smiles a lot, and you can see his white teeth. Pobby has a pair of light blue eyes like the most beautiful opal in the world. I get this image of Pobby because many cartoon characters who are outgoing look like this way. Furthermore, Dingan will be an Asian  girl who has long black hair. She has a pair of big brown eyes with a black glasses on her eyes. I think Dingan looks like this way because she is not outgoing and little shy.

Vocabulary For Pobby and Dingan

Claim: n. Mine that owned by someone "And so Dad couldn’t do nothing except take Kellyanne out to the claim called Wyoming, where he had his drives."

Wobbling: v. Move with shacking, not stable. "The noise of a car drove into our ears and a four-wheel-drive police jeep came wobbling down the creamy red track that leads to our claim."

Startled: v. Shocked. "My dad turned around, startled."

Figment: n. Unreal things. "I walked over to where Pobby was supposed to be sitting and punched the air and kicked the air in the head to show Kellyanne that Pobby was a figment of her imaginings."

Rummaged: v. Search. "He rummaged through piles of rocks."

Ute: n. A type of car that can run on many Kinds of land. "Kellyanne watched him, making sure he helped them up into the cabin of the ute,"

Crackpot: n. Crazy people. "Lightning Ridge was full of flaming crackpots as far as I could see."

Mello Yello: n. A type of drink. "I said, hiding my anger in a swig from my can of Mello Yello."

Mates: n. People who work or live with you. “I still say Kellyanne could do with some real-live mates,”

Opal: n. A kind of stone. "My dad would come back from the opal mines covered in dust, his beard like the back end of a dog that’s shat all over its tail."

Fairdinkum: n. Australian word for "Are you sure?". “Fairdinkum?”

Imaginary: adj. unreal, imaged by someone. "but I wasn’t crazy enough to talk to imaginary friends, I’ll tell you that for nothing."

Grub: n. Food. "She said they were quieter and better behaved than me and deserved the grub."

Fossilized: v. Become a fossil. "There’s rumours going that Lucky Jes has taken out a million-dollar stone and a fossilized mammoth tooth with sun-flash in it."

Mammoth: n. An old animal liked elephant which lived in the ancient time. "There’s rumours going that Lucky Jes has taken out a million-dollar stone and a fossilized mammoth tooth with sun-flash in it."

Are Pobby And Dingan Real?

  I think Pobby and Dingan are not real. The narrator writes that “They never existed. Things that never existed can’t be dead. Right?” at the very beginning of the story. Also he says that Pobby and Dingan are his sister Kellyanne's imaginary friends. These shows the fact that Pobby and Dingan are not existed. Moreover, there is not words about Pobby and Dingan, which means they never talk. It is hardly to believe that two real people who live with you are never talk with you. 

  Beside this, only Kellyanne knows exactly where Pobby and Dingan are. For example, when their father tries to convence Kellyanne that he brings Pobby and Dingan back, and they are siting on the coach with the narrator. But Kellyanne does not believe it, she says “No they are not, dad. They hate Ashmol. Where are they really?” Both the narrator and his father can not see Pobby and Dingan, yet only Kellyanne can. I think this means that Pobby and Dingan are Kellyanne's imaginations, and the people around her, like her mother, the people in the town just play with Kellyanne to let her happy. 

  In conclusion, Pobby and Dingan are not real people because they only existed in Kellyanne's mind.

Critical Analysis Essay: Final Draft

Rujian, Zhou

Ms. Guarino

English II

2/14/2016

True Strength Occurs After Facing Your Fears

What is the true strength? The true strength is not just simple as a great power, but also having wisdom and intellect to use the great power. Even though there are many differences between a movie and a novel, the characters and the main ideas of them can be similar. Both Lorenzo in Me And You by Niccolo Ammaniti and Hank Palmer in The Judge directed by David Dobkin are the people who have great abilities in some ways, but they are antisocial and ruthless people who never show their real feelings. Fortunately, the people around them change them. Lorenzo is changed by his step-sister Olivia and Hank are changed by his family members. As a result, both of them become grown men who learn that true strength comes from wisdom and challenging themselves to help those they love. Generally, both of the novel and the movie try to tell that the true strength occurs when people overcome their fear and pain in order to connect with others.

Lorenzo is not an empathetic person, and he thinks only about himself. In Lorenzo’s mind, people around him are all “others”, in the book, he describes that  “The others were anyone who wasn't my mom, my father and grandma Laura” (Ammaniti 24). Moreover, Lorenzo does not have true friends in school and he never opens his heart to any people. However, Lorenzo is actually a talented kid. For example, Lorenzo tells to his mother about going to a ski trip, but instead he is hiding in the basement where three floors below to his mother. Since Lorenzo has the ability to design such a precise and successful plan, it clearly determines that Lorenzo is actually a brilliant kid and an excellent actor. Moreover, when he tries to trick his mother, he thinks that “I had one last card to play” (Ammaniti 17). It proves that Lorenzo also has deep and scheming thinking in his mind. Even though Lorenzo has many great talents, he uses his talents to avoid contents with other, therefore, he will always in his comfort zone and never faces his fear forever.

After that, Lorenzo meets Olivia, who is his “half-sister” and the person who makes him change and inspires him the right way to use his talent. Olivia was a very beautiful girl when Lorenzo met her two years ago, Lorenzo thinks that “Instead she was incredibly beautiful, one of those girls that as soon as you look at them your face burns red and everybody knows you think she is beautiful”(Ammaniti 70). However, she loses a lot of weights and seems to have a heavy illness now. This is because Olivia is a heroin addict and she is suffered by the withdrawal of the drugs. Olivia seems to be the girl who also does not how to deal with other people like Lorenzo.

Lorenzo changes a lot during the time he stays with Olivia, it is not only about his attitude towards Olivia, but also Lorenzo as a person becomes aware of the true strength. At the beginning, Lorenzo thinks Olivia is very annoyed person and a block, because she vomits, scratches herself which is noisy as well as Olivia breaks his “perfect plan”. However, Lorenzo pities to Olivia after a few days, and he Finds out that he and Olivia share many things in common, such as both of them can not disagree with their parents. When Olivia keeps in poor health and seems she is dying. Lorenzo imagines his grandmother Laura who is dying in hospital from Olivia. Lorenzo feels helpless and powerless because he can not do anything for grandma Laura. Lorenzo thinks this is his chance to show his strength, and to prove his ability. Therefore, he decides to find medicine for Olivia to refill his helpless and powerless. This is the first time that Lorenzo cares about others. Lorenzo comes out from his comfort zone - his little world in the basement and tries to do something great - to save his sister’s life, even though his “perfect plan” about ski week maybe explode. When Lorenzo says “I’ll take care of everything. You stay here, I’ll be back soon”(Ammaniti 112) to Olivia, he sounds like a superhero who is going to save the heroine. In addition to this, Lorenzo also shows his strength wisdom strength in the process of finding medicines. After Olivia gets medicine from Lorenzo, she becomes much better. Lorenzo knows that he has the ability save someone’s life, and this is the right way to use his strength. Therefore, Lorenzo’s change deeply because he is able to connect with his sister and overcome the fear of being together with other. because he is able to connect with his sister and overcome the fear of being together with others.

Ten years after that, Lorenzo becomes much more talkative and mature. When he meets with Olivia in Cividale del Friuli, he talks and treats to other people elegantly and politely, like a gentleman. Lorenzo says to the waitress very politely, like “Thank you” (Ammaniti 5), as well as to the man at the last “Can I stay with her” (Ammaniti 152). These significant changes determine that Lorenzo is not the merciless wired boy anymore, he is a responsible grown up man now. As a grown man Lorenzo knows the true strength is not used to fool his mother, it is used to take care his family, the people who he loves.  Lorenzo’s courage and passion on save the person he loves in the story are the true strength, and it is very brave of him to save his sister.

On the other hand, Hank Palmer is a gifted lawyer in Chicago, but he also fears to face his family. Hank feels not shameful about being against  to the law, he helps guilty people to get away from their punishment. In return, he gets big money and he says about his life is “I sleep on a Tempur-Pedic bed, in a Highland Park home with a Ferrari, next to a lovely wife”. Moreover, Hank and his father Joseph Palmer, who is the judge of Hank’s small hometown Carlinville alienated each other for over 20 years. This traces back to an accident happened when Hank was 17 years old, which makes Hank’s elder brother Glen Palmer lose his bright future in baseball. Because of this, Hank feels shameful and guilty to his family and he runs away from them. In total, both Hank and Lorenzo has gifted, but they fear about to connect with others.

In the movie The Judge, it mainly discussed how Hank’s family change him, and let him open his heart to them. Firstly, Hank’s father is an honorable judge in the town, he lives honest and believes in law deeply. He teaches Hank that everybody deserves a second chance, the law is the dustiest of the earth, so he should believe in law and depend on the law. Second, Hank’s older brother Glenn is the person who has to give up his baseball career because of Hank. But he has no compliments to Hank, instead of that he supports the whole family in 20 years. Lastly, Hank’s little brother Dale who has a mental problem. Dale behaves like a child, but he knows what he should do. He records videos about Hank and others, and he is the man who encourages Hank to help their father at first. Because of these people, Hank is able to face himself. Hank does not want to have a great deal of money, the true thing he wants is a family who supports him. After the judgment, Hank does not define for the guilty people anymore. Moreover, Hank overcomes his fear of coming home. He realized that the small town Carlinville will be his home forever, where have people who he cares and care about him. He will not run away from his home again. As a result of these people, Hank transform to a just, honored and kind person at the end.

In conclusion, both Lorenzo and Hank are transformed when they are thrown into the situations that they have to overcome their fear; as a result of that, they discover their real strength and have confident as well as brave to make connections with others. Whatever a novel or a movie, if they can tell a truth that can infect people's lives - like encourage people to become better, then it is a meaningful work. The novel Me And You and movie The Judge are excellent meaningful work without a doubt. It is a pleasure to read and watch both of them, and I can not wait for reading the new novel Pobby and Dingan!

Favourite Character

  My favourite character in the show is Ti Moune. She is a very brave girl who always challenging herself. She is not afraid of the common rules like "A peasant girl can not fall in love with the homme". Even when she faces the goddenesses, she still stronge enough to follow her own mind. When all the peasants leave Daniel to die, she shows up and saves Daniel. When Daniel is back to his house, she crosses the mountain to see him. And after Ti Moune is dead, she becomes a tree that break the gate, and make the young people can have their true loves. Moreover, Ti Moune shows her kindness to all the homme at the dance. She do not bordered by the differences in classes, and she treats all the people in the same way. Even though Daniel refuses her, Ti Moune does not kill Daniel like the Dead God suggests her to do. In conclusion, I like Ti Moune because she has a very stronge heart in doing the thing she chose, and it is very brave of her to break the old rules.

Review of Winter Musical

Rujian, Zhou

2/28/2016

A Great Musical Show

Music can always beautifies the story, so it can not be better than using music to tell a story. The Musical Once On This Island presents by Cheshire Academy BlackBox Theater uses music to tell a story of love and pain at this weekend. It is a very attractive show that brings all the audiences to a magical journey at the island.

Firstly, it tells a love story between a peasant girl Ti Moune and a wealth young man Daniel. The four goddesses of the island give Ti Moune a journey that will give her what she hopes - a better life as well as a man she loves. Ti Moune falls in love with the grand homme Daniel. She takes care of him when he is injured in the car accident, and she crossed the mountain to see him when all the people around her all disagree with her. At the end, Daniel marries with another homme but not Ti Moune. Ti Moune’s heart is broken by the gap between rich and poor, and she becomes a tree where break the great gate and watch the new generations grown up.

Like other love story, the ending is very sad but meaningful. It reminds us about the social orders and the vanity of the higher level societies. We all pity Ti Moune who is such a kind, brave girl but lose her true love. It is depressive when those matter such as money, reputation and consanguinity stop people’s ways from happiness. Even though Ti Moune can not stay with Daniel, but her faith of loving is so deep and strong that impressive the goddesses. She becomes the tree, the symbol of the breaker of the class differences. More importantly, she as the tree witnesses the hopeful future - a peasant girl and a homme boy live together at the end. This ending is excellent, it gives all the audiences a bright future and let Ti Moune’s sacrifice honorable.

Beside the story, I am impressed by many other things in the show. For example, music is one of the most important parts of the show. It is surprisingly to hear many of my classmates and friends singing on the stage. And their songs are very professional and moving. Also, Ms. DiGiacomo pays her full attentions in conducting our musicians. I saw her wave her hands widely in other side, and she seems very attentive in her conducting. With those live music, the show feels more realistic and alive. Moreover, I notice that the light effects are also very important in the show. The light changes with the story and makes up the environment in the show. I never notice this before. Lastly, I think it is very cleaver to tell the audience the background information by a lecture, such as the history of the island. In this way, the audiences know the information in a flexible way that do not break the story.

I getting more and more interesting in the theater. I am curious about how those shows like Peter Pan and Once On This Island are made up. I knows that all the crew of the show works very hard, and their hard work make this show successfully. I see all of their happy faces when I walk through them after the shoe. I can tell that all of them are proud of themselves and they value this show very much. I am also very happy because I chose to be one of them - joining the theater in the spring. I know it will be very hard and have to spend a lot time to make a show, but it will worth it after all.

In conclusion, I am proud of our school because we can have such a interesting show casts by our own school members. I am looking forward to join the theater!