Final Post

     Remember two years ago, I was so confident that I was going to be a scientist, so in the day that upper-classmates introduced Literature and Performance SL to us in the black box, I was thinking, "ok, it sounds interesting, but can I not take an English class?"  I asked Mrs. Griesbach, my English teacher in sophomore year, whether I cannot take any English class since my ambition was not in the literature.  Ms. Guarino was there as well, and her face turned seriously black after she heard my words.  I remembered Mrs. Griesbach said that the course definitely fit me.  The scene was kind of funny when I looked back because it reminded me how arrogant, ignorant, and ridiculous I was.  Thanks to Mrs. Griesbach and Ms. Guarino's advice.  They are right.  I enjoyed this two-year course, and it changed me.

     I have to say that I am not afraid of acting, because I started acting before junior year.  The funny story also related to Ms. Guarino.  In my freshman year, because I wanted to improve my English speaking, I signed fall drama.  The fall drama was Peter Pan, and I played an Indian queen.  I thought the role at least is a queen, so the queen must be somehow strong and important.  However, the queen basically did nothing in the play.  All she did were kneeling to Peter Pan, being robbed by the pirates, and being killed in the end.  She was so weak that she lost every battle.  In my hometown, we don't kneel easily because the old tradition regards kneeling as our reputations and sometimes self-esteem. The tradition tells us not to kneel easily if they are not gods, or parents.   I did not care about the tradition that much, but back at that time, I still felt uncomfortable with kneeling.  However, after a while, when I saw how much efforts and passions the others dedicated, I was moved and then I found out the interest of acting.  Acting asked actors to not show themselves but be the others that they depict.  Therefore, once you are on the stage, you cannot have so much self-consciousness.  After the show, I began to enjoy playing different roles.  This lesson made me be more outgoing and helped me think out of the box.  Moreover, it caused me to want to challenge playing the roles that are totally different from me.  The class provided chances for me to act.  We performed a monologue, straight play, speaking poems, and we played theater games.

     For the theater games, I remembered the educator I researched was well-known for theater improvisation game.  Viola Spolin, a beautiful lady, the educator who created theater games for acting training.  I first picked her as my presentation is not because of her well-known theater game or her beauty but her name.  Viola, the name of a string, got my interest immediately.   Viola Spolin

I remembered our presentations of acting pioneers should be 10-20 minutes long.  However, I used a whole class presenting her ideas and led the class play theater game for a long time.  I like the mirror game.  The game is about two people face each other, one of them starts telling a story while doing movement and the other should imitate the person's movement and retell the person's words.  I also liked the game that says only one sentence, "How are you?", in different situations.  

     For the performance, I enjoyed the game that acting out Romeo and Juliet in 3 minutes, 1 minute, and 15 seconds.  We were divided into groups, Yun, Aaron, and I were in the 15-second group.  When we were heard that we were going to act out the entire story in 15 seconds, I was so shocked that I cannot react.  I was like "What?" "How can it be possible?", and then I was so excited, "Yes! It is so fun!!"  In the end, we acted out in exactly 15 seconds.  I played Juliet, Aaron was Romeo, and Yun was the person who split us apart.  We did not speak any word.  In the 15 seconds, we acted out how Romeo and Juliet fall in love in first sight, and how they are separated and died one after another.  That is the first silent show I acted, and it was exciting that I can never forget.  

     I love acting, and I love watching movies and understanding a character.  It is my interest.  Therefore, there is no success or failure for me to discuss since I did not take the class as a "class", or a "task".  Instead, the class is more like a platform that allows me to perform and have fun, and the class is more like a library that enriches my analysis skill.  I enjoyed the whole process and had precious time in the class from the beginning to the end.   

Sample Question

Colour and sound provide some of the most vivid effects in poetry. How have at least two poems that you have studied used such visual and auditory aspects as these to enrich their poems?


"The Words Under the Words" and "My Grandmother in the Stars" used many visual aspects to poetry the figure of the author's grandma vividly. Since they are the autobiographic poems, the author wrote the poems mostly by recalling the pictures. Therefore, visuality is strong for readers. For example, in "The Words Under the Words", the author described the scene that her grandmother bakes, "My grandmother's days are made of bread, around pat-pat and the slow baking. She waits by the oven watching a strange car circle the streets." It actually also guides readers to think of the smell of bread, and the line shows the auditory aspect first. It shows the warm picture that grandmother is baking bread and waiting beside the oven. The smell of the bread escapes from the oven and fills the room. The heat and the smell warm your heart. It represents the grandmother's figure: a warm and kind woman. Then, "She waits by the oven watching a strange car circle the streets. Maybe it holds her son, lost to America." We can know that the grandmother's son "disappears" in America. At least the grandmother lost her connection with her son, and that is the reason that the grandmother stares at the cars, hoping her son will show up in the car. The cars are angularly cold, which contrast to the bread, and the picture is clear. Therefore, the visual reveals the strong feeling of solitude strongly.

"My Grandmother in the Stars" is written to remember the author's grandmother.  The author first described her mournful heart thinking of her grandmother.  Then, in the second stanza, she described the picture that after her grandmother left, "Just now the neighbor's horse must be standing patiently, hoof on stone, waiting for his day to open.  What you think of him, and the village's one heroic cow, is the knowledge I wish to gather."  Every subject in the author's eye reminded her of her grandmother, and it also recalled her memory being with her grandmother, "I bow to your rugged feet, the moth-eaten scarves that knot your hair."  In this poem, we can know that the author's grandmother is nice to not only her family but also respect to every living thing.  In the grandmother's world, there is no war, and people are welcomed to live in it no matter speaking the different languages.  

The Words Under the Words--Reading Notes

The Words Under the Words

for Sitti Khadra, north of Jerusalem

My grandmother’s hands recognize grapes,   

the damp shine of a goat’s new skin.   

When I was sick they followed me,

I woke from the long fever to find them   

covering my head like cool prayers.

My grandmother’s days are made of bread,   

a round pat-pat and the slow baking.

She waits by the oven watching a strange car   

circle the streets. Maybe it holds her son,   

lost to America. More often, tourists,   

who kneel and weep at mysterious shrines.   

She knows how often mail arrives,

how rarely there is a letter.

When one comes, she announces it, a miracle,   

listening to it read again and again

in the dim evening light.

My grandmother’s voice says nothing can surprise her.

Take her the shotgun wound and the crippled baby.   

She knows the spaces we travel through,   

the messages we cannot send—our voices are short   

and would get lost on the journey.

Farewell to the husband’s coat,

the ones she has loved and nourished,

who fly from her like seeds into a deep sky.   

They will plant themselves. We will all die.

My grandmother’s eyes say Allah is everywhere, even in death.   

When she talks of the orchard and the new olive press,   

when she tells the stories of Joha and his foolish wisdoms,   

He is her first thought, what she really thinks of is His name.

“Answer, if you hear the words under the words—

otherwise it is just a world with a lot of rough edges,   

difficult to get through, and our pockets full of stones.”

Sample Paper 2

2. Structure matters!

        “I'm Nobody! Who are you?” and "Tell all the truth but tell it slant--" have great structures to grab readers' interests.  "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" is divided to two stanza and four lines each stanza; "Tell all the truth but tell it slant--" is one stanza only that has eight lines in total.  Two poems both have good arrangement, because in "I'm Nobody! Who are you?", the first stanza sets up an environment and the second stanza mainly reveals the strong emotion.  In first stanza, it is like a scene that one person introduces herself/himself and excitingly find that the other person is similar with her/him.  The first stanza is more setting up the background of the poem, and the fourth lines of the first stanza transits to revel the emotion from describing the pictures.  Emily starts two exclamatory sentence "How dreary" "How public" to show a strong negative feeling of being public or being "Somebody".  Moreover, Emily used a metaphor to compare the action of self-exposure to public with the frog, and it help readers to understand the theme of the poem more.   "Tell all the truth but tell it slant" is in one stanza only, because it is the poem that seeks to persuade people that people are too fragile to receive all the truth at once because truths sometimes are explicit and cruel enough to hurt people's values.  The idea is too abstract to be portrayed in details in another stanza.  Besides, when the stanza is long, readers' minds are concentrated.
        To make the poem more persuasive, capitalization plays an important role.  In "Tell all the truth but tell it slant--", Emily Dickinson capitalized every word that describe light and truth, such as "Truth", "Delight", and "Lightning".  The poem we know focus on persuading how bright the truths are, and the capitalized adjectives emphasize the theme of the poem and also grab readers' attentions.  Therefore, the poem easily convinces readers when the readers notice and pay attention to the idea.  Capitalization also works well in "I'm Nobody! Who are you?"  In the poem, Emily changed every "nobody" to "Nobody" and "somebody" to "Somebody".  Reader can interpret "Nobody" and "Somebody" as names, and reader can also interpret the two words as other meaning.  Whatever the interpretation is, the author's goal is achieved, which is engaging the readers to compare and contrast "Nobody" and "Somebody".  Therefore, capitalization successfully cause the readers' interest.

poem reading

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340)

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,And Mourners to and froKept treading - treading - till it seemedThat Sense was breaking through -

And when they all were seated,A Service, like a Drum -Kept beating - beating - till I thoughtMy mind was going numb -

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my SoulWith those same Boots of Lead, again,Then Space - began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,And Being, but an Ear,And I, and Silence, some strange Race,Wrecked, solitary, here -

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,And I dropped down, and down -And hit a World, at every plunge,And Finished knowing - then -

To and Fro: Come and Go
       Life is more than the pictures we see and the knowledge we know.  What we received from the world is twisting into chaos in our mind.  The strong beat and cracking noises are like a crazy violent idea disturbing our sense, and suddenly the sounds and noise can disappear one second after, leaving your mind as quiet as the night in a cemetery.  Therefore, life is jumping between mania and solitude.

I’m Nobody! Who are you? (260)

I’m Nobody! Who are you?Are you – Nobody – too?Then there’s a pair of us!Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know! How dreary – to be – Somebody!How public – like a Frog –
To tell one’s name – the livelong June –   To an admiring Bog! 

       I like being nobody than somebody.  I'd rather being nothing than the something that they ask me to be.  Actually, even though I'm nobody, they will find a way to advertise me and let me be somebody.  Even though I am clearly somebody in the audience' eyes, I am nobody, or I have part of nobody in my body.

Because I could not stop for Death – (479)

Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me –The Carriage held but just Ourselves –And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring –We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –

The Dews drew quivering and Chill –For only Gossamer, my Gown –My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –The Roof was scarcely visible –The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the DayI first surmised the Horses' HeadsWere toward Eternity –

       Death can be the word that is not always described with gloom.  Death can be an eternity.  It is like a path of going to eternity.  When you on the road, you can see the school, children, grain fields, setting sun, and everything you did and everyone you loved.  It is a beautiful trip, and then you should be satisfied and rested in peace.

Tell all the truth but tell it slant — (1263)

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth's superb surpriseAs Lightning to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe Truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be blind —

       The truth can not be told directly, and it should let the humankind to take time to process it, because people are too fragile to receive all the truth. (the truth dazzles).  

4/26-- Quiz

4. Select a passage from the concluding chapter of a novel you have chosen to study and show how acting, staging effects and design can combine to make it an effective ending for an audience.

       The passage I choose will be the last chapter.  It is the scene that Andrea and Daniel are getting married, and it is also the day that peasants have celebration.  Desiree shows the clear contrast of the happy atmosphere.  She is dead on the road because of desperation and starvation.  
Costumes
1. The riches are dressing colorfully and exotically, and they are wearing the exaggeratedly big shining diamonds and jewelry.
2. The peasants are in brown clothes as always, but their hands, their faces are clean, and their hairs are glowing under the sun.
3.  Desiree is wearing her pretty dress that is given from Daniel's house, but the dress is old and dirty because Desiree did not take care of her outfit.  Her dress is ragged, her bare foot is muddy, and her hair is matted.  She is not as shining as the riches, and she is not as clean as the peasants either.
Staging
1. Will be divided to two parts first.
      a. The left stage is the peasants who have a long table and enough food and meats on the table.  Beside the table, children are dancing in a circle, laughing with the drums playing.
      b. The right stage is the riches' garden where people in big dress dancing waltz with a small string quartet.  They have several round tables, and the shining forks and flowers are on the table.  They are not laughing out loud, but they are smiling, bowing to each other.  The bright lighting is on, and then after a while, Desiree can come to the stage, numbing going through the two different groups like a ghost and then standing on the down center.
2. After Desiree comes to the down center stage, stage is divided to three parts.
      After she speaks her line, the two different groups can interact with each other, while Desiree is still being left out of the group.
Lighting and others
1.   The lighting can be always bright, but we can have some colored smoke (fog) on the stage.  At first, the stage is clean with bright warm light until Desiree comes out.  After Desiree come out, the stage is going to have yellow fog on the one side, and the red or orange fog on the other side of the stage.  When the stage becomes foggy and we cannot see anything clearly, then happiness is like a delusion for Desiree.  When the fog finally swallows Desiree, the audience can only hear the laugh.  Someone can pass the stage and says"oh, who is she?" "What a poor girl"etc.  After people pass by and the fog is clear, only Desiree's copse lying on the center.
Acting
1. Desiree does not know how she should react to the environment since she is the only person who is not happy.  She loses her identity since she is not a rich girl either a peasant girl.  She is weak, starving, and desperate.  The contrast is like a satirical comedy laughing at her childish dream and laughing at all the effort she took.  The extreme loneliness, desperation, and a merciless fate made Desiree cannot bear anymore.  Therefore, she bows down and smiles and laughs with the groups.

5. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which provides an effective introduction of an important character or characters. How would you use staging, design and acting to ensure that this introduction would have dramatic importance for the audience?

       The passage I choose will be the part that Desiree first sees Papa Ge in chapter 4.  In the fight between Desiree and Papa Ge, the characteristic of these two can be revealed clearly.  Desiree shows her determination by shouting "my love, my love!", so that we can know that she is tough fighting death.  Even though Papa Ge does not say any word, from Desiree's reaction, we can feel the dark bloom atmosphere around Papa Ge.
Setting:
1. The stage is split to two part, one side is for desiree, and the other side is for Papa Ge.  Spotlight is on Desiree and every where else is dark.  
2.  The setting is mainly lightning and ranning.  Therefore, the sound backstage will be howling wind, rain showering, and lightning with the sound of cracking wood door.
3.  Before Papa Ge comes to the stage, crow's croaking is sharp and noisy.  It build up the dark enviornment more intense and more ominous.  
Customes:
1. Desiree can wear a white dress to show the figure of life and show the contrast to Papa Ge.  
2. Papa Ge wear in black feather robe (like Snape's black robe), the long hair covers his face, and his face is thin and pale like a dead person. Crow's feather made this robe, and if you get close, you can see the fresh blood that on the feather that is still bright and warm.  When Papa Ge laugh, the black ink flow out of his mouth (like Pirate Salazar).

8. Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which deals with a fantasy or dream

sequence of consequence to the narrative. How can acting and design elements be used to stage such a fantasy or dream sequence for an audience?

       The passage I choose will be chapter 11, where Desiree meets Daniel by the pool.  The words mention, "In her sleep she heard him.  Lying at the side of the pool, listening to the sounds from the hotel, she had drifted off to sleep."  In addition, the next chapter does not show any sign that Daniel remembers he comes to find Desiree.  Chapter 11 ends up Desiree holding Dnaiel tight and sleeping with him by the pool, and at the beginning of Chapter 12, Desiree awakes by herself.  Therefore, the chapter 11 can be adapted as a fantasy of Desiree.
Setting:
1. The pool is originally near the hotel.   The blue spotlight is only on Desiree, and everywhere else is darkness.  The background can be the dark blue screen with black hotel and skysrapers's models.
2.  When Daniel comes and while they are talking, the blue light spreads out.  It represents the change of a small pool to large endless sea.  The dry ice is released to the stage, and the background of hotel and skyscraper disappear.  Instead, the screen shows the skys full of stars with a bright moon.  
Customes:
1. Desiree can wear a light blue dress that is blue before Daniel comes and is shinning in the light after Daniel comes.    

In-Class Writing 4/19

Select a passage from a novel you have chosen to study which deals with despair and euphoria.  How might staging, design and acting combine to register one of these experiences for an audience?

       Euphoria and despair can both exist on the stage; euphoria can come from the greatest despair; euphoria can be another's tragedy.  Therefore, in the wedding scene, the euphoria from peasants and the riches and the despair from Desiree can be both showed on the stage.  The production is going to be adapted based on the description of the wedding day:

      The torture of her dangling arm increased with every heartbeat.  Determined merrymakers guided her up the hill, back to the gates.  She stood wedged among them, her face against the bars, looking in.  Foods had been laid out on long tables outside the gates.  Food had been laid out in the gardens inside the gates.  Outside, peasants started the first feast for many years knowing it to be the last for many years to come.  Inside, guests nibbled and chatted.  Outside, drummers beat the drums of the island.  Inside, guests danced to the waltz.  Food and rum were consumed outside.  Liquors and foods were consumed on the inside.      

Inside, people are chatting and dancing in excitement celebrating Daniel's wedding day; outside, people are preparing and dancing in the feast.  However, in this scene, Desiree is in great despair.  She keeps thinking that Daniel would take her home and cannot believe that Daniel did not come.  To show the contrast, the stage will be split into three parts: from left stage to right stage are peasants, Desiree, and the riches.  The staging will be discussed in details later.
       Costumes are easier to prepare.  The riches are dressing colorfully and exotically, and they are wearing the exaggeratedly big shining diamonds and jewelry;  the peasants are in brown clothes as always, but their hands, their faces are clean, and their hairs are glowing under the sun.  Desiree is wearing her pretty dress that is given from Daniel's house, but the dress is old and dirty because Desiree did not take care of her outfit.  Her dress is ragged, her bare foot is muddy, and her hair is matted.  She is not as shining as the riches, and she is not as clean as the peasants either.
       The staging will be divided to two parts first.  The left stage is the peasants who have a long table and enough food and meats on the table.  Beside the table, children are dancing in a circle, laughing with the drums playing.  Then, the right stage is the riches' garden where people in big dress dancing waltz with a small string quartet.  They have several round tables, and the shining forks and flowers are on the table.  They are not laughing out loud, but they are smiling, bowing to each other.  The bright lighting is on, and then after a while, Desiree can come to the stage, numbing going through the two different groups like a ghost and then standing on the down center.  After she speaks her line, the two different groups can interact with each other, while Desiree is still being left out of the group.  Desiree does not know how she should react to the environment since she is the only person who is not happy.  She loses her identity since she is not a rich girl either a peasant girl.  She is weak, starving, and desperate.  The contrast is like a satirical comedy laughing at her childish dream and laughing at all the effort she took.  The extreme loneliness, desperation, and a merciless fate made Desiree cannot bear anymore.  Therefore, she bows down and smiles and laughs with the groups.  The more exaggerated the laugh is, the more euphoria the stage can show, and also the greater the despair the stage can have.
       The lighting can be always bright, but we can have some colored smoke (fog) on the stage.  At first, the stage is clean with bright warm light until Desiree comes out.  After Desiree come out, the stage is going to have yellow fog on the one side, and the red or orange fog on the other side of the stage.  When the stage becomes foggy and we cannot see anything clearly, then happiness is like a delusion for Desiree.  When the fog finally swallows Desiree, the audience can only hear the laugh.  At the end, when the euphoria and despair are too much for people to endure, and then when people become uncontrollably crazy, there is no difference between euphoria and despair.