Research Paper

Analytical Essay

Personification

I don’t even remember what the topic for this entry was and I forgot to write it down (sorry!)…but I think it had something to do with personification. I just really like it because it kind of “slows down time” and focuses on every little thing that happened. Plus, I didn’t think I could think of such spooky ideas- it reminds me of an Edgar Allen Poe story.

11/9/07

The ramshackle table swaggered in the stagnant air as the deteriorating wood in its brittle leg snapped into millions of tiny fragments. When the ancient grandfather clock chimed his muffled tune, the table had already fallen onto the lonely, chipped linoleum, and lay dead.

Excuses, Excuses

Of course, I don’t normally feel oppressed by the restraints of a journal topic…I just couldn’t think of anything to write about, so, here’s my excuse for having writer’s block:

10/25/07 (Freewrite)

A freewrite journal entry should be something to look forward to. It isn’t often that we’re allowed to write about anything we want. When I was in the second grade, I loved freewrites! I would write about everything from unicorns to my parents being angry with me…there was never a right or wrong answer and I was so imaginative.

But now it’s different; if I write what I want it feels incomplete, like the answer is wrong. Its like skydiving- as long as the parachute pops out within its normal boundary of time, you feel safe and secure. As long as your thoughts are contained within the boundaries of a journal topic, you feel safe and secure with your journal meeting it’s requirements. This is why I’ve began to deplore freewrites. After hearing about a “right or wrong” answer for so long…its hard to think of your own right answer.

Stream of Conciousness

Stream of conciousness was one of my favorite things we’ve done in english class. I loved looking at some of the hilarious things I wrote/thought about. Also, it was really interesting to see what everyone else had written.

11/7/07

Stream of Consiousness Writing

You better open the door before I take a hammer to the walls around it…Motion city soundtrack makes me feel really emo but I can’t help listening to their catchy music.

My birthday is in two weeks and all I want is people to be really nice to me. I think my favorite word is really because I use it all the time. I really like this journal entry because but my hand is getting tired, I need more excercise, I can’t wait until powderpuff football starts, I wish I could keep writing this forever.

This jacket is really warm. Really, really, really, I use it too much blah blah blah. I am realizing how selfish I am while I am writing this. My romanticism quiz grade sucks really bad, its wierd that I never curse and how cursing comes so naturally to some people, its a good thing though, its just weird how I never get into it.

I want to play the sims, its my favorite game ever, my jacket is so warm and comfy, I wish I could wear it every day, I have a strange taste in my mouth. This journal rocks! My classes are really boring because we arent doing anything but I’m glad we are taking notes in here.

The Silver Creek Farmhouse: Abandoned yet Bustling!

The amount of curiosity and excitement an unused building can bring to a young child is remarkable. Ever since I moved to Silver Creek when I was three years old, I’ve been drawn to the abandoned farmhouse across the street. I remember when my grandfather would take me inside to explore it. All the furniture remained untouched. It seemed as if the owners just left one day for no reason and the evidence of their everyday life stood frozen in time.  I would frequently visit the house and imagine what it was like when people lived there. I would pick a room and imagine the filthy, green paneled walls to be plastered with various stickers, posters, and old advertisements from the early 20^th century. I pictured the rusty iron bed with the tattered stained sheets to be new and have magazines and textbooks scattered across it like my own bed. All of my friends thought the house was haunted by ghosts and were repelled from it, but as a child I was always fascinated by the traces left by the former inhabitants.

            I haven’t visited the old house for nearly three years. It is no longer safe to enter because the wood is deteriorating and the entire building would cave in if I laid my heavy human foot upon it. So today, instead of going inside, I brought a camping chair and my laptop, and observed. As I was unfolding my chair I noticed the pine smell that lingered in the air. The odor was the only thing about the property that hadn’t changed since I was young. It brought back nostalgic memories of the childhood days I spent exploring the premises.

            The once evenly cut grass was now oddly dispersed upon the ground. There were some areas where the grass had grown about 8 inches and some areas where it had stopped growing altogether. Speckled throughout the green and brown splotchy terrain were dead, shriveled up leaves. I picked one up to see how dry it was and a tiny creature crawled onto my hand from underneath it. The creature’s many legs briefly tickled my skin until I carefully dropped it back onto the wild ground. The crispy leaf was so dry that it broke into a thousand thirsty pieces and floated straight to the ground through the windless air.

Unexpectedly, the repetitive sound of rapidly flapping wings filled my ears. I glanced up from my computer screen and saw the outline of a gray crow flying away from a crack in the concrete foundation of the building. The outer layer of the establishment was originally white, but it was now tainted with coffee colored stains and smudges of brown. In some places, plants could be seen growing from outwards from the hollow crawlspace. The random bursts of green made it look like a rotten plate of salad after someone had already eaten most of it. Even though it looked disgusting and useless on the outside, it served as an important refuge for many different creatures.

 My observation of the foundation was then interrupted by the violent guttural twittering of a squirrel in the tangly mess of a weed-eaten tree. The squirrel hysterically yelled at me for about five minutes while frantically shaking around his thin tail. His cartoon-like voice sounded like a really angry Donald Duck and his beady black eyes glistened like a pearl. I suppose he didn’t like me intruding on his territory, but after awhile he must have realized that I wasn’t going to leave and he effortlessly leapt from the tree into the glassless casement window of the decrepit old house. After that I didn’t hear anything else from him.

As the sky was darkening, a cool autumn breeze sent chills up my legs. There were no longer angry mobs of noisy mosquitoes swarming around my computer screen. The only traces of insects were the constant music of the chirping crickets and frogs coming from inside the house.  There were certainly many cracks, openings, and pipes that would provide a perfect home for many different animals. Insects, birds, squirrels and other many other animals could find utopia inside the filthy and deteriorating walls.

            At first glance, it seems that this old house is neglected and lonely, but it is actually far from desolate. Once I looked beyond “the big picture” I realized that it is actually bustling with all sorts of life. Insects, mammals, plant-life and reptiles all call this place home and maintain it with utmost care. Although the house looks so distressed and useless to most humans, it provides a paradise for other forms of life, and probably always will.

Intrusion Into Nature

 I wrote some of my best journal entries when we were learning about imagery. I picked this particular one because I like how it gives such a clear image: you pretty much know everything that’s going on even though the words don’t directly state what’s happening.

10/2/07

Topic: Using at least 4 types of imagery, describe an experience in which you had a “trandscendental” experience in nature.

The aroma of pine took over my nostrils as I was cantering through the open forest.  Dry, autumn leaves crackled and popped as my hooves hit the leafy soil. Particles of brown dirt tickled my tongue, so I took a swallow of icy fresh water from the spring that lay randomly amongst the trees. Suddenly, my ears twitched at the sound of a loud “boom” and my instincts had me running into the green distance before it was too late.

The Wrinkled Wrapper of Nostalgia

Journal Entry September 6th, 2007

On September 6th, the class was given chocolates that have inspirational messages on the inside of the wrapper. Along with the privilege of enjoying a tasty treat, we used the messages as a journal topic and wrote an entry using vocabulary words. Besides giving me an excuse to eat chocolate, the topic allowed me to study for my vocabulary quiz AND it was really fun to develop an entire entry based on a 6-word quote.

- “Temptation is fun, giving is better.”

The messages found on Dove chocolates are written to be lucid yet inspiring. The laudable phrases are sure to have you laughing, and thinking. For example, the phrase in my candy read: “Temptation is fun, giving is better”. Once I read it I caught myself pondering about the lemonade stand I held as a child to raise money for the American Red Cross. We raised $50.00 and I wanted to keep it really badly (I was a greedy little kid!) but I inferred that embellishing my wallet with the money would not bring me the perpetuating happiness I felt when I presented it to the affluent representative of the organization at their bi-monthly symposium. Though I was a novice at raising money, I still foreshadow the money I will raise as an adult imbibing only a small stipend. The nostalgic thoughts a tiny chocolate wrapper can bring is amazing!