Samantha Hunt

At first reading these three stories in Samantha Hunt's, "Dark Dark", I was so utterly confused. I was trying to find a way to connect the chapters from either one character, or even a scenario. Then when I read the back that they’re all short stories I was like, wow duh.  My favorite one is “The Beast”, I love that in the end her husband ended up turning into a deer too and it was just a fun read. The other ones seemed a little perplexing to me. In “The Story of” I was thrown off when it went from first the sisters point of view and then switched to Ted’s girlfriend. The whole thing didn’t really add up to me and I feel like being confused I missed the whole point. In “All Hands” the same problem happened when we went from the ship and the secretary’s boy-toy and then back to the 13 pregnant girls. I think I need to re-read all of them and try to wipe clean that they’re all individual short stories to get a better understanding.

some questions to ask Samantha Hunt

Every writer has reason to write. Some of them write to escape from reality, expressing their feelings, or they just enjoy it. As for myself, writing is therapeutic, it helps to ease my thoughts and many are negatives. Therefore, I want to ask Samantha Hunt, what made her become a writer?  What challenges did she face while becoming a writer? Where did she get her ideas from? What advice does she have for us, young writers? What lessons have you learned as a writer? and finally Where did you get your inspiration? 

Samantha Hunt- The Dark Dark

Her stories are complex and you need to connect with the main character to understand their thoughts and emotions. However, I need to reread all of three stories to get very clear understanding.  I kept getting lost at the endings, such as "The Story Of". At first, I got confused if Norma really did murder Dirty Norma, then I read it again to get a better understanding. After reading the second time, I got it from my perspective, Norma is imagining to kill dirty Norma.  I got very confused in "All Hands" and the case about 13 girls was pregnant. Lastly "Beast", this one is my favorite because it is very unusual and a strange plot. Honestly, I find it very interesting and enjoyable to read than other two and I loved the ironic ending when her husband became a deer too.

Why not adopt?

The story starts with Norma, the narrator, she is in a coffee shop on Dead Elm Street. Then a waitress tries to have a conversation with Norma but she ignores her. Then Norma asks the waitress if she has walnuts. She wants the walnuts because she wants to get pregnant and she saw on the Internet that walnuts help women to get pregnant. The waitress looks at Norma weird but she doesn't care. Norma even calls "1-800-FUCKIN'A" to find help but it doesn't exist anymore. Also, she has found a Web where there is a conversation about IVF. 
If Norma wants a baby so bad, why she doesn't adopt a baby? Isn't the same thing? 

Today's class

I've come down w/ the flu and so I will have to cancel this morning's class. Please reply to the film and this week's reading on the class blog. I would also like you to come up at least one question that we could ask Samantha Hunt when she reads on our campus next month. There will be no blog due over spring break but I want you to do the next reading in Hunt before her visit.

Yazgi vs The stranger

The biggest difference between the movie and the book is that the book starts with the death of the mom. But in the movie, the story starts with a little introduction of how the mom and Musa lived together. I think a little introduction of how the two lived is great because we can see it instead of just reading it. The coexistence between Musa and his mother is very similar or identical to the book.

The Stranger- Ending Reflection

          Meursault's final thoughts before his soon to come execution surprised me a lot. From the beginning to just before I viewed all of his actions to be robotic and not emotion driven. As if he was unable to comprehend what basic human emotions were based on how he interacted with those around him. The way he reacted to his mother's death seemed to be detached, like he just viewed her death as something that just happens. The way he treated the woman he was involved with, Marie, was also very strange. It was as if he didn't care or rather did not comprehend that his actions would hurt her. The only situation he sort of had some sort of emotion behind was when he murdered that Arab man. Not when the girl he cares for says that she loves him nor when his mother passed and that concerned me greatly. Honestly I don't feel as if he truly understood what he had done. He only seemed to have a revelation because he did not want to die without any regrets.

Yazgi

The main actor in Yazgi does connected well to the protagonist in Strangers. He illustrated the impuslive emotions that Meursault had.  Theres some parts that confused me in Yazgi,  is the protagonist's mother.  From my view,  I think his mother is dead in bed,  but to him she might be sleeping.  Everytime when he come back from work, he always check on her and if theres slight changes on rooms but everything remain same. Honestly,  if a person stays in same postion as his mother, then you would be worry. However,  the protagonist doesn't do that,  he looked calm and move on with his daily activites. 

Samantha Hunt's "Beast"

As I was rereading Samantha Hunt's fiction this weekend, I ran across this brief essay in Ploughshares on "Beast," one of the stories I asked you to read for next week. Check it out. Here is an image of the Kiki Smith sculpture the author references:

Yazgi

What is your reaction to Yazgi? Why is the setting so drab, alternately dark and then light? Why is the camera so stationary and why are the characters so lacking in emotion?

How faithful, or not, is this film to The Stranger? The police investigator says late in the film that Musa reminds him of a character from a French novel he read once. This seems to be a reference to The Stranger. But if he's referencing The Stranger in the film Yazgi, then can Yazgi be a true adaptation of The Stranger?

In chapter 5 of "The Stranger",  the outcome of Meursault's trial is the death penalty. Towards the end of this chapter, a priest comes to visit him and Meursault's reaction was blasphemy in the eyes of the priest. As the priest tried to explain how his sin can be forgiven, Meursault screamed into the priests face. In this scene, I think Meursault had finally let out all of his mixed emotions out from all the years he's lived. He was always the type to hold everything in and not share his feelings on anything in general. But now that he accepts his death and knows this is his last moments to tell someone how he feels, he screams away his pain and joy.                                                                                                                                                    

Sad ending

The ending of the story was very sad because Meursault  was going to die in the guillotine. Not only that was sad but also Marie kind of forget about him. She didn't go to visit Meursault  when he was going to died in the guillotine. So I think  Marie move on and find another man. Also his friends didn't go to visit him. Specially Raymond, the one who brought the gun. The ending was like everyone was the ignoring him.

Ending of "Stranger" -Camus

The final scene of Stranger showed how protagonist changed. For example,  he stated " As if that blind rage had washed me clean, ride me of hope...." I think revealing his anger cleanses his mind and heart, as if he beome a different person in his final moment in life. This scene gave a turning point how he is. because through out the novel he was a stranger to himself, but now he find himself. Also he thought of his mother and finally understood why she had relationship with life and like his mother, he wanted to die with peace in life.

The Stranger's Ending

The ending to The Stranger is the most alive I've read Meursault be. Leading up to the ending, Meursault started actually feeling emotion for the situation that he was put in which I found exciting because throughout the novel I found him boring. Finally being able to get a good idea of what is going through the main character's head was great. Meursault at one point said he wanted to cry because he felt everyone in the courtroom staring at him with hateful eyes. I found it very interesting that he felt sadness at people's reactions to the actions, such as going out for a swim and then watching a movie, he took on the day his mother's death than his actual mother dying. At the moment, he probably finally realized he didn't react like any normal son would and he felt deserving of the dislike in his character.  When Meursault was back in his cell after receiving his death sentence, he lashed out at the chaplin for wanting him to trust in God. Meursault screamed his frustrations at him and his opinions on how his life now would have been the same if he lived another one. He was very vocal and thoughtful and I can't believe it took knowing when his death will be to have him be expressive.

The Stranger's Ending

          The ending stirs up a lot of contents. For one, at the beginning of the story he did not seem to think about the death of his mother, he was with out emotions. That she was just just a stranger that died. He also brings out a lot of emotions some that he did not seem to have which seems uncharacteristic from his part. He felt joy and happiness about being convicted of murder and being set for execution and be killed. Which his something new for him. He hated the world from a perspective he only lived in the world with out really enjoying it. And I just fund this ironic that he's life started when it was just  about to end.
 
          Putting the tittle into perspective I understand it. "The stranger' He was a stranger to his mother, to the man that he killed and most importantly to himself as all his life he never felt comfortable in his own skin that it was later in his life that he began to truly know himself.

His life was completely his own. From whatever inclinations that prodded him towards his reasoning he came to an understanding that the natural causation of life was not something that need define his being. His value of life was distributed evenly among its participants. Although he acknowledged that when some people take actions that negatively impact others theyve lessened themselves in respect to life(p121, last couple lines) that does not increase or decrease his subjective value of them. I believe he would define this as freedom, a freedom that would be taken from him by the judgements of those that were incapable of empathizing with his reasoning. His momentary outburst with the clergyman where he openly and loudly criticized his position just reflected the conflict he had with trying to live life the truest way he knew how whilst being condemned to death for malicious premeditated murder, a thought that would never even cross the mind of someone like him. It would be an affront to his way of being.   

"The Stranger's" strange ending

Did we lose Mersault before the last page of the novel? When he snapped at the Chaplin, he says on those two pages, "He wasn't even sure he was alive because he was living like a dead man... Yes, that was all I had. But at least I had as much of a hold on it as it had on me.  I had been right, I was still right, I was always right" (120-121).  During this monologue of Mersault, he is sure of himself for the first time in the novel, he is able to make a decision on something, he was now able to see, even as a condemned man that life ended the same for everyone, in death.  So why should everyone blame him or find him guilty for his wrongs in life? For not crying at his mother's funeral, for killing a man?  He lived his life the way he saw fit for himself, despite his fate.  He is not the same Mersault from the first page of the novel, confused of life and what is taking place in front of him.  That stranger that took over him is gone.  Now, knowing his fate he is able to see more clearly, of this life he has lived and accepting the consequences of his past decisions. 

Ending of The stranger

With Meursault know when he was going to die it changed everything in how he expressed his feelings and emotions. yes he denied the chaplain at first because he didn't believe in god all his life according to him. but as he thought of his approaching death sentence a rush of different emotions came to life. I think it was great having him show emotions like that because it was truly normal to feel that way as he was actually scared to die. It would have shocked me if he would have never spoken to the chaplain because i felt he wouldn't have found that  peace everyone "looks" for as their death is approaching and he wouldn't have understood his maman as the way he mentioned he did. Having the thought of him being possibly autistic  Also helped me understand all of those emotions he let out.

When Meursault states that his mother must have felt free and ready to live again close to her death, I realize that for him maybe death was the way for him to escape from the " indifference world" he talks about. Although he killed someone, it did not seem fair for him to be executed for not showing emotions during his mothers funeral and for not believing in God.  As much as it bothers and it seems wrong, at the end of the day everyone has the decision to choose what to be live and show what they want to show to the world.

The Stranger

I have come to an understanding that the book ends with him stating how on his execution day he hopes there will be a large crowd that greats him with cries. He goes through a roller coaster of emotions from being frustrated to completely content with his death. His feelings passed after releasing them and also by exposing his anger he was able to release it. The way his thoughts are processed and the way his reality is shaped is completely different than the norm, he shows zero emotions when it comes down to certain conversation topics, but when towards the end of the book he finally shined some light into his emotions and us as readers were able to see it.

The Stranger, ending

The ending of The Stranger shows the first real human-like behavior from Meursault. Much like the rest of humanity, he's afraid of death. He is annoyed at the champlain for constantly bringing up God, saying that he doesn't want to waste the end of his life thinking about God. Meursault explodes in anger, but even in his anger it isn't as intimidating as his indifference.

The character that the writer portray is about facts about life at the ending of his story he said that he wished if he had a large crowd of spectators that would be there to greet him with hate. Many times when people committed crime everyone hate them for doing it, but don't realize that there is something that tempted the individuals to do so. The character accepted and realize that whatever he did was wrong and he is not sugar coating anything he accepted his crime and does know the outcome out of it. Also at the end of the story he mentioned about his Maman and why she did what she did where he wished if he had a chance to relive his life again.

ending of the stranger

I felt as if even at the ending of Meursault's life he still felt like the lack of emotions was better, he says "they greet me with cries of hate". This ending line stuck out to me because when I think of people passing or when people speak on passing they usually say things in the sorts of "At my funeral I want everyone laughing, and remembering the good times" they say this because they don't want people they have cared for hurting while mourning. Mersault encouraged the feelings of hatred because again like the day on the beach It's better to run away from emotions.

I don't think he died, I think its still an unfinished ending. He awaits the day but it hasn't come yet which I think is the purpose of the novel in my opinion. the whole novel I've been waiting to see some kind of emotion or even depth of Mersault and at the ending as his days are numbered, he becomes a little bit more humane and in touch with his self in a way. 

questions: 

1) what did he mean when he said "Little robot woman was just as guilty as the Parisian woman Masson married or as Marie, who had wanted me to marry her."?  (i know it seems small to worry about lol but was curious what he thinks they were guilty of) 

The Stranger: The Ending

The ending is dense and hard to understand even though not much happens. It's one of the most abstract sections in the novel. The priest says that Mersault is carrying a "burden." He's referring to the guilt in his soul. But that's a problem if you don't believe in a soul or heaven or God. In many ways, Meursault is being executed for not crying at his mother's funeral and also for not believing in God. In fact, this is a moment where he describes why he didn't cry at his mother's funeral, b/c it wasn't tragic. She had been happy in her last years, she had been in love, she had prepared for her death by starting over. It seems that Meursault is also trying to start over at the end and the way he imagines it is by reaching the fulfillment of his destiny, to be screamed at by the people who are putting him to death. He is "guilty" and so consequently he must be hated.

self-defense p.58-59

 I think Meursault kills the Arab guy in self-defense because first the Arab put his hands in his pocket when he sees Meursault. Making Meursault worry about it and taking the gun for safety. Second, the Arab drew his knife and held it up to Meursault in the sun. Blinding Meursault. Blinded and with an Arab guy in front with a knife. Meursault squeezed the gun to be prepared for any event and then the gun gave. This is called self-defense.

Collective and the Public Writing Project

In case you've not met the public writing project, I want to remind you of Collective, the QCC literary journal (see attached flyer). The deadline is Mon., March 19th (though I think they may take it later). The theme is "work," but Ben Miller, the faculty advisor, says that that theme is flexible (i.e. it could be working on a relationship or working on one's self, etc.). If you want to be considered submit your work directly to Ben. His email is on the flyer.

In this book Meursault, Raymond, and Marie go on vacation to the beach. Then Meurasult, and Raymond later attempt to have a conflict, with two Arabs. Then when Raymond was going to confront one of them, Meursault shoots one of them, and kills him. He then has to go to jail. Meursault should have not done this because now he has to deal with  being in jail for a long time. What they tried to do was not thought out properly, and should have found another way to handle it. It seems unclear why they went and killed the Arab in the first place. There had to be a real reason as to why they even were going to do something about it, which then became a problem to them. it seems as though there was something going on between them, and the two Arabs. But still it wasn't really thought out before they did it.

Class Discussion 03/12

         My opinion of meursault has changed several times throughout the story. To me he is still arrogant and pig headed. But with reading pages 54-59 it made me realize that there is more to him then i originally assumed. At first I looked at him as a narcissistic man who feels detached from the world or rather he feels he is above certain things. Only until I read more did I assume that he was a good person, its just he's going through a lot with his mother dying and all. Later on seeing how reacts with marie I can tell that this thought process tends to be straight forward and uncaring to others emotions which explains to me why he was so irritated of the woman crying over his mothers death at the vigil. Now as I get a chance to see how he would react with others I do not view him as as a narcissistic individual anymore.  I view him as a person who has either distanced himself  from everyone or he is just unaware on how to react in society. Also one thing I for some reason did not anticipate is his biases towards Arab people. Yes their was prior relations between these two specifically, but the way he references The Arab men you can tell he feels some sort of way about them being different from him. His initial reaction to murdering the Arab man I believe was just out of fear or a reaction to someone trying to bring harm to him. The four other shots though I believe that he wanted to see what would happen if he continued.             

Stranger - Camus

In chapter 6, there is a fast pace of the plot because the climax suddenly surprises me. In beginning, the story pace was slow and descriptive, but in this scene it suddenly attack me with questions. Honestly, I have to read it three times to understand what is going on in this scene. When Meursault shoot the Arab and continued to shoot at the dead body opens many interpretations to readers. My interpretation is, at first shot he was impulsive and when he continued he still was impulsive. Then his behavior made his lawyers got mad at him because they think he isn't cooperating, but he was being honest with himself. Overall, I feel like he created his own world and don't want to back to reality.

The stranger p.59

what got my attention was that When he shot the Arab he only felt a fraction of emotion which he never felt before. So when he fired quickly four times he wanted to re experience that emotion. But the only thing he got was him disrupting a good afternoon and knocking on the door of unhappiness. I think he did not want to shoot the Arab the first time but when he fired the first shot he was already there so he just continued.

The Stranger (56-59)

Reading this section left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. How Meursault, the narrator, described the event happening before his eyes made it seem very boring. For someone that witnessed his best friend, Raymond, get slashed with a knife and shot a man, his thoughts were pretty calm and boring. He didn't cringe at the sight of the blood like most people would nor did he feel fear when the Arab appeared one final time. Mesrsault seemed more bother over the cries of the women and the burning sun. He didn't like how he had to explain everything happened instead of panicking with the women about the amount of blood they saw coming from Raymond. He hated how much he was sweating when he was alone with the Arab rather than overthinking all the possible endings this encounter could have. This moment in the story is the climax of the plot but it didn't seem like it through the narrator's thoughts who made it seem like it was a everyday thing. If we got some emotions from Meursault, this section could have been better. The only emotion he felt was at the very end, "and it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness" where he thought he ruined the day by killing this man actually realizing that he was happy until that moment. It showed maybe is capable of emotions sometimes.

From pages 47-59, I think that Maresault had shown true happiness until he decided to quarrel with the Arab. His involvement in Raymond's conflicts had made him make the worst decision of his entire life. In the beginning of this chapter, he had shown signs of true happiness with Marie and his friends. He enjoyed the vacation he was having and had also finally decided that he wanted to marry Marie. But all of his happiness and dreams shattered the moment he pulled the trigger on the Arab. In my opinion, I think Maresault is mentally disturbed if he has the guts to kill a man who didnt seek to hurt him. When the Arab drew his knife, I feel like he was nervous that Merasault would hurt him. Even though the Arab did stab his friend, he did not have to intervene with an issue that doesnt involve him. In a way, I think he wanted to kill the man so he can feel something. Not only is he mentally disturbed in my eyes, but emotionally as well. He made a excuse to shoot the Arab just so he can finally feel something for the first time.

the stranger

I do not think Meaursault thinks very clearly and because of that situations seem to be very fast paced. when it comes to certain actions it does not seem he has a process of taking a step back to be present and think things through carefully. At least with having conversations with others he is able to absorb what is being said regardless of not having his own mind or not he is able to understand what is being said but as far as his actions it seems he to be impulsive no thought behind it with no care about the future consequences

What I found most interesting about this part of the story is how everything traces back to his mother's death and how everything occurred so fast. The emotions finally come out and its interesting to see how the beginning of the story connects to this part. On the day of the funeral the nurse tells Meursault "If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast, you work up a swear and then catch a chill inside the church", this shows there is no way out. You'll feel hardship one way or another and it wont change the feeling. “In our society, any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.” this quote describes how if a man cant show emotion during his mothers death, then he is emotionless and almost a criminal that deserves to be sentenced to death himself. 

-Era Sen  

   
   It seems that Meursalt killing the arab is a build up of what we have been seeing already from Meursalt. We already know that he seems rather emotionless when it came to the death of his own mother so what would the death of some stranger matter to him. Him shooting the man multiple times after he was already down further shows how he doesn't even grasp the fact that he just murdered someone.

The stranger p.50-59

What called my attention was that description at the moment at the beach.  When I was reading it, the scene was a little nasty in my opinion not because of the killing of the Arab but because of the sweat. The sweat of Meursault that went into his eyes and with the intense heat of the sun. He also said it taste a little salty and that too much of a description. I think was nasty the description of "salty sweat" and make think of  the summer season without an ac.

From the character description of the scene its seems like he was aware that something bad was going to happen, because he said that he had the same feelings he had when his Maman passed away. According to my opinion Meursault tried to defend himself from the Arab. In my opinion the Arab was only trying to defend himself by holding the knife against Meursault, earlier in the scene his friend Raymond  got stabbed by one of the Arab so probably Meursault was taking revenge for his friend.

"the arab"

from the start of page 53, we see raymond go out of his way to make a hostile situation out of two strangers passing by on the beach. He all but orchestrated the circumstances that led to his evisceration and then seemed to be vengeful towards the people he tried to target. His innate animosity towards the 2 people is striking because he is essentially a foreigner in their land. Where one would think a measure of arid respect or at least indifference would  be present between these 2 peoples he moves with a self-entitled indignation that these arabs would dare disgrace his beach with their presence. It strikes out at me because more often than not we see colonial entities take the stance of  "superior " status with regards to their colonized regions and the attitudes that rise from that bring forth meaningless situations like the violence on the beach. It makes me wonder what other aspects of this society are slighted in favor of the colonizer's and not the colonized.

“In our society, any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.” It means that a mother is the world to a man as she is the person to give him life, the person that raises him and the first woman to be in his life. As a man's mother dies his world should be shattered in pieces. So any men who does not cry when their mother dies never loved her. That only a heartless person could not cry when his mother would die. And in our society there no place for heartless people.

Meursault gives a description of what was happening in the trip to the beach with his friends. It is interesting to see how he describes the scene as if it was nothing to be really worried about. After the incident with Raymond, he goes back to the beach. He does not seem to be scared. Honestly, there is something in him that i cant yet understand. He seems like a man with no soul. Nothing surprises him, nothing makes him feel.

He tries to stopped Raymond from shooting, but in the end he does it himself. I wonder why after the first shot, he paused and continued with the other 4.

This part of the story happened very fast for me. Meaning it went from a nice day to instant life changing moments. Each time that i thought they were done with the situation it escalated. When Mersault can't handle facing the girls again after they return to the house the second time, he goes to find peace. It was very ironic how peace was where a potential danger just was but still it was better in his head then going to face his "friends" Mersault seems to not be able to handle emotional situations. he seems to have an emotional detachment and disconnect.   "at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace." The fact that when he shoots, he shoots 4 more times as if he was a sociopath in a way.

The Stranger (56-59)

I notice that on page 56 it foreshadows what Mersault is going to do to the Arab. He states "If the other one movies in, or if he draws his knife, I'll let him have it." Then later on that ends up being exactly what happens, Mersault is really seem to be a man of his word. He tells Raymond exactly what he plans on doing and does just that. This proves that Mersault takes relationships that he has serious to some extent even if he doesn't express that. Even when he says he has to explain what happened to Raymond to Marie and Masson's wife, you can tell he feels bad for Raymond, the whole reason he left the house to continue walking on the beach was part of that reason. He also describes the scene in very vivid detail he says that the heat was so intense, that he was drunk, the sea was gasping for air, and that he was sweating it builds up to what is about to happen to the Arab.

The Stranger

Meursault seems to be outside events. He describes the conflict of Ramon and the other men as if he's watching something on TV. He seems desensitized to the violence in front of him even though there's a lot of blood. He actually seems more troubled by the women's tears and questions than he does the violence. What seems the most troubling to him, though, is the sun. The sun attacks him--like cymbals, like a knife. It seems to stab him so that he is shooting at the sun and only accidentally kills the Arabic man.

I'm puzzled by the four shots he takes at the end. I wonder if he's expressing rage. If he blames the dead body for what it's done to his life. Or if he is as helpless to shoot the body then as he is the first time around. He seems governed by events, not the master of his fate.

The Stranger

Why does Meursault kill the Arab?

Albert Camus said,

“In our society, any man who doesn't cry at his mother's funeral is liable to be condemned to death.”

What does this mean? How can you connect this statement to The Stranger? 

Why is it relevant whether Meursault believes in God or not? 

What is the significance of the scrap of newspaper that Meursault finds in his cell? 

On p. 81, Meursault references what the nurse says on the day of his mother's funeral (17) which he interprets to mean there is no way out. Out of what? What is he talking about here? 

#ProtectSyrianChildren part 2

As mention before, I said I will write a poem on this horrifying tragedy and I finish it. I want to know if guys like it and as you reading it, do you visualize what is happening to those innocent children? While I was writing this poem, I thought of my baby cousin and it makes me want to protect him more than ever. That video is still on my mind and here is my poem:
The title mentions the miles between Syria and United States.

6,677 Miles

Can you hear the cries of children,

From 6,677 miles away?

The desperation ringing in the air; stifled screams that you don’t hear,

The thundering footsteps running in fear.

Can you hear the streets pleading for help,

From 6,677 miles away?

The skies rain fire; their home has become their hell,

Where is it safe to hide? How can they even tell?

Can you hear the bombs go off,

From 6,677 miles away?

The weeping sounds of children; many who are now motherless,

The clouds darken; rendering life colorless.

Why can’t you hear the screams of 18 million people,

From 6,677 miles away?

Death

Illness

Debt

Sadness

Anger

Depression

Worry

Confusion

Guilt

Hopelessness 

     The anger that was felt after we had left the room was so great. 

    

     There was so much confusion going on during the meeting.

     We had a lot of debt going on during this time period.



     The anger that was felt after we had left the room was so great.
It made us believe that we were being betrayed. There was no way to
put it. We were mad, and upset by what was taking place, we could not
even believe what had just happened. When we were told the news about
the person that was stealing was a very difficult thing to manage. It was
shocking yet also very uneasy to acknowledge. At this point we had to protect
ourselves to make sure this wasn't going to happen again.

Beginning The Stranger

The Stranger is set in Algeria in Northern Africa just after WWII. You have to realize that Algeria was a colonial territory of France up until 1962. So when Meursault refers to Arabs, he's really talking about the people who are native to this land before the French occupied it (Camus was born in Algeria and grew up there and went to college before moving to France). Meursault is part of the minority white European population there. One reason I chose this novel is to think about how Camus uses setting. We live in such a diverse and vibrant location in Queens, NY. Sometimes I have to remind students to write about where their stories are taking place. So my first question would be what is Algeria like?

Other questions:

• What is Meursault like?
• What effect does the first line of the novel create? What is his attitude toward his mother's death?
• What is his relationship w/ Marie like? His neighbor Raymond?

Motivational poem

Ambition


As I lay on my bed,
I think of all of the endless possibilities ahead.
Life has in store
Because life isn’t even close to a bore.

Live, love,laugh
Or just simply Laugh your life away
Because there shouldn’t be room for sadness on any day.

As they say you live and you learn
No need to grief on your mistakes indeed.
Don't let a setback burn your fire.

Remember . . .
You always have yourself to lean on.



Authors Notes:

I wrote this poem for motivational purposes Do you feel I excelled that aspect? what did you feel as you read it ?

What was your favorite line?

Is there anything that should be added or edited out?

Public Writing Project opportunity

I wanted to bring your attention to this writing opportunity, a chance to both meet your Public Writing Project requirement and also make some money.

 

 

#ProtectSyrianChildren

I know this is not related to what we talk about in class, but I feel like it should be mention because it needs attention. I watched a video of what is going on Syria and children are getting brutally murder. They were taken away from their parents and are getting beaten. It aches my heart to see this horrific news.  It makes me think what kind of world do we live in? Especially children, what did they do wrong? They don't deserve this at all. They can be someone's daughter, son, brother, sister or cousins.  Anyway, I am thinking to write a poem based on this horrific tragedy and creating a awareness.