Comments for Great Works \'09

Comment on Hello by seversley

seversley — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:31:12 +0000

Oooh sweetness! Cheers (more taps, eye contact, sip, and a slight tear in my eye)!

Comment on One Hundred Years of Solitude by rolanda170

rolanda170 — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:41:57 +0000

I agree with both of you, I think that her grandmother is a very cruel woman. She basically exhausts her granddaughter and then instead of just being forgiving she immediately calculates the time that it will take for her Erendira to pay her back. I found her to be quite unbearable. I honestly wanted to slap her in the face the whole story. Clearly, very annoyed with her actions….

Comment on On Innocence by Galina Aynbund

Galina Aynbund — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:30:19 +0000

wow! Katie, you really can draw your butt off! And you are such a great writer too!

Comment on Why did Erendira run away? – A short freestyle by kalarcon

kalarcon — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:51:19 +0000

You are a poet and you surely must know it. When I read the poem, being your typical english student I exclaimed “doggrel” and “couplet” and prided myself on knowing these terms. After that pat on the back I decided to compliment you on your poem in class but I forgot so here goes.

“This is really good Rodeon”

Anyways, I also understand why you put it in this form. It seems that the “winds of Erendira’s misfortune” were very deliberate. Like the beats of a drum, or couplets, or a heart. Wonderfully clear Rodeon!

Comment on STOP. LOOK. LISTEN. by kalarcon

kalarcon — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:47:14 +0000

I agree with you! The concert itself is underrated and so are the simpler, less complex pleasures of creating and admiring art! John Lennon once said that “Life is the thing that happens when you are busy making plans”. I think this applies to your post because people are too busy…making plans I suppose. Their lack of appreciation although regretable really only impacts one person. Themselves. Maybe I wouldn’t stop to hear the music but I know better than to neglect any artistic talent I have and not sell myself short.
I know someone else like me who cultivates talent. You might know her. She’s a bit shy but she just wrote one of the best blog entries I’ve ever read… Featuring a video and and an article link

Comment on Why did Erendira run away? – A short freestyle by hbaier75

hbaier75 — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:42:16 +0000

Wow Rodeon is a poet!

After reading your poem, I felt that you captured the essence of Marquez’s work. I could not help but question why Erendina was a passive character. In our previous discussion, we addressed why Erendina did not escape from her grandmother when the house was still intact. Perhaps Erendina felt she had obligations towards her grandmother. Erendina might have performed all of the chores to earn her stay in the house. I am curious as to how other students interpret this situation.

Comment on Do you remember your first book? by Galina Aynbund

Galina Aynbund — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:18:16 +0000

I wish I could remember my very first book. In my elementary school, they always transformed reading into a sort of contest to get children to read. I remember that they would have contests who could read the most books in one month, in one school year, etc. Looking back on this, I completely disagree with such a strategy for encouraging students to read. I remember skimming through books and not reading them as deeply and/or carefully as I would have liked to, just so that I can add the book to my list. I don’t know if schools still do this, but if so, I think that schools needs to make some changes. It would be great to foster a love of reading in children from an early age.

Comment on Do you remember your first book? by allisonlouie

allisonlouie — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:45:38 +0000

I can’t remember my first book, but then I can hardly remember a time when I didn’t read books… After a day where it seems like nothing went right or as you would’ve wanted it to (today is feeling like one of those days for me), I’ve always used books as a way to relax and unwind, and just not think about things going on in my life. I can forget about my worries if only for a few minutes or an hour or so, and imagine someone else’s life.

Like George mentioned, I can definitely see how a lot of people nowadays can get this kind of escape from lots of other sources, thanks to media. Maybe two hundred years ago, the only thing people had was books (and maybe theater) to do that, whereas now we have movies, tv shows, youtube… I think it’s a little bit of a shame that people read less. Movies and TV offer the kind of entertainment you don’t have to think too hard about most of the time, whereas if you get a really good book you might have to work through it a little. Nowadays, a lot of people might feel that books you have to think about to understand are “boring” or “too complex” or include “too many extraneous sentences and ideas”, but I think that’s half the appeal of books! An author can construct your characters, settings, perspectives, the way you relate events to the reader, etc. so carefully and meticulously and precisely that, like any other piece of good artwork, visual or aural, you can’t help admiring the construction and what it makes you think and feel…

That said, all art I think is inherently subjective, so it’s obvious that everyone is going to like different things. What I think is a well-crafted masterpiece, someone else might think is the most boring piece of garbage ever written. But I think it would be wrong to think of all literature as obsolete.

Comment on Why did Erendira run away? – A short freestyle by mschinazi

mschinazi — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:01:20 +0000

I think this is a very clever poem that touches on all of the key points in Erendira’s tale and still manages to rhyme. The line “With daily chores that squeezed her dry” was effective because the verb squeeze conveys an image of someone working, possibly wringing out clothes and at the same time “squeezed her dry” paints a vivid image of physical exhaustion. The line “her body was bargained for” was quite witty and effectively describes prostitution and maintains the flow of the poem. Nice job!

Comment on How far are you willing to go for your family? by allisonlouie

allisonlouie — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:12:48 +0000

I think I would agree more with Cathy’s questioning… When I read through “Innocent Erendira”, I also wondered whether or not Erendira really cared about much in life. She submitted so easily to her grandmother’s wishes– even when she had the chance to get away from her grandmother (after her impromptu marriage), she didn’t take it. The author described it as a kind of “spell” that the grandmother had over her, but I think that in reality everyone has a choice, and for some reason Erendira chose to go back to her unhappy lifestyle. She never fought back against her grandmother, who (without her servants and connections, ironically paid for by Erendira’s work) is a pretty powerless person. Her inability to “rescue” Erendira from the mission is a testament to that.

I also doubt that Erendira is as “innocent” as the title would imply. Even before she convinced Ulises to kill her grandmother, she had been tempted to kill her. Or at the very least, harm her by pouring the boiling water into the bath. I think Ulises appearance was more of a convenient means to her ends.