Journal 31

For career day I went to Lanphier Park, for the Springfield Sliders organization.  I can't recall what I put as the career category, but I believe it had something to do with tickets sales, sales advertising, or something like that. I had a really good time there and I enjoyed my experience.  I was a little nervous to go but I went in and met Denny something and he was a real nice guy.  The day started off with him showing me a tour of the stadium.  Although, I have played in the stadium, I didn't really care, I got to go into places where I normally would not have gone into.  After that I met the General Manager and another worker in the front office.  I then went with Denny to make a deposit at the bank.  After coming back, I got to sit in on a few phone calls, for tickets and advertising.  I got to see what it was like and the constant negotiating that went on in the process during a sales call.  I was asked to do a press release about the three new signees from Tusculum college.  I wrote that and showed it to the GM and he read it.  He was very impressed with my writing skill, some of which I attribute to Mr. Langley, but he also said that two interns had written previous press releases and he said that he had to start all over.  I felt pretty good about myself after I heard that and I remember seeing one of the articles in the sports page, so I am looking forward to seeing if it makes the paper.  I did a little bit of dirty work after that by cleaning the trash.  I got the whole experience there.  We went out to lunch which was what I thought was going to be the best part of the day.  It was very good but my experience with the club was a lot better.  As I was about to leave, all three of the guys said that if I ever wanted an internship during college, I could call them up and they would be more than happy to have me.

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Journal 30

As I went for my search for my favorite poem by Walt Whitman, there were many to chose from. I looked at the titles to see if there were any that cought my mind and I found one that jumped out at me. It was the only one that I looked at and I am glad about that because I did not have to search for one that I liked.  The poem that I liked a lot is called I Hear America Singing, of course by Walt Whitman.

I liked the poem a lot because of the tone to the poem.  It has a very positive attitude and tone to the poem.  The poem seems to be very happy and easy going, which is always nice to read, whenevery you are reading anything.   I would much rather be reading something exciting and happy than something with a sad tone to it.  It is obvious that Walt Whitman has a love for America and the working class.  He brings up all of these occupations, such as a carpenter, mason, boatmaker, shoemaker, etc. and shows them with something that they have created.  They all have great pride in what they do for a living and it shows when the boatman says the boatman singing for what belongs to him.  Walt Whitman definitely respects the working class of America.  He is praising them in this poem by mentioning them, and he is mentioning them in a good way.  Whitman praises them for what they do for America and how hard they are working.  He also shows the blue collar workers.  He does not mention lawyers or the white collar worker which shows that he definitely appreciates the hard workers of the world.

I thought that this was a very good poem because I share the same feelings towards America as Walt Whitman did. I appreciate the hardworkers in life, not just as grownups but as kids as well.  I like to see people that are willing to work hard.  I also liked the tone of the poem as I previously mentioned.  Overall, I just thought that this was a tremendous poem and a very entertaining read.

http://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/poems/19

CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC

Walt Whitman's, Chanting The Square Deific is a wonderful piece of writing.  God is usually thought of as the Son, the Father, and The Holy Spirit, but in this writing there is a fourth side, hints the square, that is also portrayed with God.  Each stanza takes one side of God.  “There are four stanzas, each presenting one of the four sides to Whitman's "Square Deific," and each told from the speaker's point of view, first God, then Christ, then Satan, and, finally, the Soul ("Santa Spirita")” (Oliver).


Walt Whitman has spirituality throughout the writing.  Whitman is writing as God.  This shows in the first stanza when Whitman writes, " Relentless I forgive no man, whoever sins dies, I will have that man’s life; Therefore let none expect mercy, have the season, gravitation, the appointed days, mercy? No more have I" (Whitman). The feeling that comes out of this stanza is that God is mercellus, and relentless.  The issue with that, is that every person sins.  God forgives us when we sin, and Whitman writes that the Lord has our life after sin.  Whitman is false in writing that God takes the lives of people because God gives every person multiple chances.


The second stanza is a very key stanza to the the work and it carries a message through today.  "But my charity has no death, my wisdom dies not, neither early nor late, and my sweet love bequeath’d here and elsewhere never dies" (Whitman).  The message that Whitman is trying to get through is that no matter what has happened, the Lord will live on.  "My wisdom dies not..." (Whitman), says that the knowledge of the Lord will be carried on forever.  Whitman shows a lot of spirituality in writing this, because Whitman understands the power of the Lord and his message.


The third stanza is written about Satan.  Whitman shows his knowledge in spirituality because Whitman knows that Satan will always exist.  “Defiant, I, Satan, still live, still utter words, in new lands duly appearing” (Whitman).  The knowledge of Whitman here is tremendous, because it is easy to try and say that everything will be fine, when it will not be.  Whitman knows the power of satan and says that he is defiant and will keep appearing.


The final stanza is the stanza that brings everything together.  The final stanza is the God part.  "Santa Spirita, breather, life" (Whitman).  Whitman knows that God holds everything together through the thick and thin.  Walt does a great job in saying that there will be difficult times that tear us apart.  Whitman knows that evil lingerers everywhere, but Whitman also knows the power of God.


Oliver, Charles M. "'Chanting the Square Deific'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 03 Apr. 2012.




Whitman, Walt. "Chanting The Square Deific." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Apr.

Journal 29

I am Ben Sprague.  That is my name not who I am.  There is not really a correct answer to this question, but I think that who I am, what I do, what I like and things like that make me who I am. I am seventeen years.  I am a junior at Pleasant Plains High School.  I am the son the of Keith and Keely Sprague.  I enjoy being around my friends, playing all sorts of sports, going and enjoying the outdoors, and cheering on my sports teams.  I am a hardworking individual who does whatever he can to do the best at whatever I am working on.  I consider myself to be smart, but I look a lot smarter because of my work ethic.  I am a nice and sympathetic young man.  I treat others with respect because I want to be treated the same way.  I am a caring individual.  I care about how others feel and want them to be happy.  I do not like to see people feeling sad or crying because that makes me feel sad, so I do whatever I can to cheer them up.  I am an honest person.  I stick to the truth and do not fall away into lying.  The most important one to me is that I am a Christian and I believe that God is my Lord and Savior.  I believe that this makes me who I am because the Lord lives through me. I believe in the Lord and I believe that he has a purpose for me.  This being said I think that the Lord makes me who I am.

All of these things contribute to the essential question that we are trying to answer.  I am all of these things because they are traits of me.  They make me who I am.  It is a hard question to answer, but I feel that I did it in the right way because these characteristics contribute to who I am.

Partner Blog

When I first read this poem, once again me and Benjamin got a little confused as to what the story was talking about. We read and analyzed this poem at least several times and yet we still could not get the grasp of it. What me and Benjamin finally got out of it was that everyone knows that a mother is caring and very loving. Me and Benjamin believe that a Emily Dickinson used Nature as a mother in this story.You think of a mother and a child and you immediately think of the bond that they share. They have such a great bond and when Dickinson says this it says that nature is like a mother. I guess that if you think about it like saying when the sun comes up, your mother gets you up and when the sun goes down, she puts you to bed. The little things in the middle of this poem may be the things that she does for you to reward you. Nature is doing the same things for us that a mother does. She treats us with love and care just like the warm summer day that the poem refers to, and when it is dark nature puts us in our beds and cools us down. Here is a quote from the story that shows how Emily Dickinson referred to a motherly sense in the story, "When all the children sleep She turns as long away As will suffice to light her lamps; Then, bending from the sky" (Dickinson). This is showing that you think of a mother putting her children away for the night, and the nature outside is calm and seemingly very caring. Dickinson also gives out a positive vibe towards by writing nature as a soothing and relaxing topic. She does this by saying things like "summer afternoon" (Dickinson). When one thinks about a summer afternoon, you think of a sunny day, not too hot, but with a perfect breeze, and being outside for this is like nothing other in the world. I love these kinds of days where it is a perfect day to play outside and chill out. Dickinson does a great job with explaining this and this is when me and Ben started to get ideas.

During a few classes we have looked at the literal meaning of the poem. After looking at the first stanza the literal meaning that we got out of this was that nature is gentle and patient to all children. Some of the words were hard to understand and we had to look them up, which made the literal meaning harder. The last part of the stanzas literal meaning comes out to be, she still gives advice to the weak and the improper. Overall, through the way me and Ben analyzing and looking at this poem, I think we did a good job with looking at how Dickinson wrote this poem and what she did to show us how she wrote all her stories.

Bibliography

Dickinson, Emily. "1. “Nature, the Gentlest Mother.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." 1. “Nature, the Gentlest Mother.” Part Two: Nature. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems. Web. 28 Mar. 2012.

Journal 28

Emily Dickinson's poem, I heard a fly buzz has a very disheartening and depressing mood.  It is definitely not something you would want to read if you are looking to get into a good move.  Although the mood is not a optimistic one, it is still a very well written poem that has a good message through it. 

Emily Dickinso writes this poem and she come to the fact that she is going to die.  I think that this would be a very hard thing to come to terms with.  You only get to live once and you want to take all the advantages of the time that you have.  I do not want to die any time soon and to come to terms and accept that I am going to die.  Emily, no matter what she is feeling, has accepted this.  The part that I find somewhat funny is the fly.  Why does she write about a fly?  If you think about it, what purpose does a fly have in life?  Nobody really likes them and I find them very annoying.  They always find a way to get into your house or around you and you just want to kill them.  I think that Emily wrote like this because she pictured herself as the fly.  If you think about Emily and what she was like, she never got out and nobody really wanted to be around her.  She may have seemed as annoying to other people and her family.  I think she wrote about the fly because she wanted to say that everything in life has a purpose.  No matter what you are, how annoying you may be, there is always a purpose for you.  I think that this is a great message that Emily is trying to send.  She is trying to reach out to the people that were like her and show them that people can make a difference in life just like she did with her writing.