Holiday Celebration

As for me, I am American-born Chinese who celebrates Christmas as a fun holiday. In my family, we would listen to Christmas songs, enjoy cookies, open presents, and spend time with family. The Christmas songs that I listen to are O’ Holy Night, The Twelve Days of Christmas, The First Noel, Gloria In Excelsis Deo. Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Silver Bells, Silent Night, and several other songs. My mom would bake Pillsbury cookies, the ones where cookies are already made, but needs to be placed into the oven. My family would spend time together by going out to dinner at an elegant restaurant, watch a concert, or visit our family members in California. Some of the concerts that I would go to include Christmas or Classical Music. In California, I stay in the Southern California region, in cities of Arcadia and Temple City. My cousins live in Arcadia and Downtown Los Angeles. My grandma lives in a Senior living center in Alhambra. When we go to see my grandma, we would take her out to dinner, talk about pastimes with her, and play mahjong.

Stanzas in Meditation: Stanza LXXXIII By Gertrude Stein

Stanzas in Meditation: Stanza LXXXIII By Gertrude Stein
Why am I if I am uncertain reasons may inclose.
Remain remain propose repose chose.
I call carelessly that the door is open
Which if they may refuse to open
No one can rush to close.
Let them be mine therefor.
Everybody knows that I chose.
Therefor if therefore before I close.
I will therefore offer therefore I offer this.
Which if I refuse to miss may be miss is mine.
I will be well welcome when I come.
Because I am coming.
Certainly I come having come.
These stanzas are done.


Gertrude Stein, Stanza LXXXIII from Stanzas in Meditation and Other Poems (Los
Angeles: Sun and Moon Press, 1994). Copyright © 1956 by Alice B. Toklas. Copyright
© 1980 by Calman A. Levin, Executor of the Estate of Gertrude Stein. Reprinted with the
permission of the Estate of Gertrude Stein.

Source: Stanzas in Meditation and Other Poems (Sun & Moon Press, 1994)

I like the poem because of the poet Gertrude Stein. In the following poem, she uses certain words repetitively. The words close, chose, come, and open are used twice. Some of the things she says do not seem to make sense. There are several questions that I have regarding the poem. For example, what does the poet mean with the title, “Stanzas in Meditation: Stanza LXXXIII. The poet continues to say open, close, open, close. I get a negative feeling when I read this. The words of I must do something to get this.

Heroism: Beowulf

Originally an oral epic and composed in Old English, Beowulf – depicting societal values and, of course, a hero – is considered the first great work of English national literature and “one of the most important and exciting epics of Western literature.”

What kind of “exciting” stories of heroism are shared today? How are they shared? Which qualities does (0r would) TODAY’S HEROES have? Compare these with the qualities that you have read so far in Beowulf. If possible, support your comments with one or two specific examples. (250 words).

Stories of heroism that are shared today are the ones that involve saving people from famine or from a criminal. For example, people in the world raise money to support schools in Africa to help the people living there have clean water to use. The people living in a metropolitan city share them or the news reports them. Qualities that today’s heroes have are courage, generosity, and strength. In Beowulf, the hero is named Beowulf. Beowulf is a Geat that traveled to the Danes to save them from Grendel and his mother. Beowulf is described as someone with courage, generosity, kindness, and strength. The hero saves the Danes, which are people from Denmark from an evil force. The evil force relates to a monster and the monster’s mother. Grendel and Grendel’s mother are the monsters. Both of them are described as being cruel, grotesque, homicidal, and scary. They enter the mead-hall killing many of the innocent Danes living under Hrothgar’s rule. The mead-hall is located in Herot, which was a place in the book where the Danes lived. Beowulf, the hero comes to the rescue and battles the monsters. When Beowulf comes to the rescue, he is showing both courage and generosity to the Danes. After a long fight, Beowulf ends up pulling Grendel’s arm off, letting him bleed to death. When Beowulf stabs Grendel’s mother and cuts off Grendel’s cranium, he is displaying strength, because swords were unable to do any harm to the beasts. Those are the kinds of exciting stories referring to heroism that is shared today.

[i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]: by e.e cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
“[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]”

Copyright 1952, © 1980, 1991 by the Trustees
for the E. E. Cummings Trust, from Complete Poems: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings,
edited by George J. Firmage. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.

Source: Complete Poems: 1904-1962 (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1991)

I like the poem in general because of e.e cummings style of writing poetry. e.e cummings is a poet who is famous for his usage of lowercase letters when writing poetry. In general, the poem is well-structured and he uses the same title to begin to the poem as well as to conclude it. The poem made me think about the nature and its surroundings. The root of the root, the bud of the bud, and the sky of the sky are all repetitions in the poem.

Three of my favorite lines are the root of the root, the bud of the bud, and the sky of the sky. The root of the root relates to a tree and the roots beneath the tree must lead to something deep. It sounds like deep refers to something that has a deeper meaning. The buds refer to a flower with something new to come up with. The sky of the sky sounds impossible to think about, but as I know e.e cummings is a poet who creates vivid and creative images for his balance in poetry.

Lady Macbeth: Then and Now

I). Act III Scene 2 Line 14

"What's done is done."

Then: In Act III Scene 2,Lady Macbeth have already done the deed of killing
innocent people. Since they have done the deed, then it is done meaning that nothing else can be done.

"What's done cannot be undone."

Now: In Act V, Lady Macbeth says "What's done cannot be undone" referring to the fact that she is feeling guilty and wants to go back which she is unable to do now.

A). Act I Scene 5 Line 57

"Come, thick night
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell."

Then: In Act I Scene 5, Lady Macbeth would like change from being a gentle woman to someone who is hungry for desire and power.

"Hell is murky"

Now: In Act V, Lady Macbeth says that she might have done more than what was necessary.

B). Act III Scene IV Line 88,90

"What, quite unmanned in folly? Fie, for shame!"

Then: In Act III Scene IV, Lady Macbeth is talking to her husband about how embarrassing it is to see the ghost of Banquo.

"Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afread?"

Now: In Act IV, Lady Macbeth says that while is walking in her sleep, she talks about Macbeth in a dream regarding the killing of Duncan.

Innocent People

"When bad things happen to good people"
Knowing that Macduff is in England, Macbeth sends murderers to Macduff's home. The murderers kill Macduff's wife and young child. In Macbeth, bad things happen to innocent and good people. The same is true of our world. In this blog post, consider an example of bad things that happen to good people. Explain a situation, and then explain how YOU make sense of it -- or how you deal with the fact that you can't make sense of it. You can make this post as personal or as abstract as you want. Try for 300 words.

In the play Macbeth, several of the characters are described as both good and innocent. They all get murdered for something that they are accused of. It ranges from killing a ruler to just men. In the real world, bad things happen to good and innocent people ranging from being abused, killed, molested, or robbed.
An example to fit the topic relates to a family friend. This family friend was described as being both innocent and trustworthy. He was involved with many things in life from starting organizations, running for a board position, and controlling his business. During one of the organizations that he was considered a board position, some of the other clients were giving some of the members a hard time. He would help to mediate the clients as well as the members. The situation worked out making everyone feeling cheerful and glad. Two years after this situation, he was diagnosed with a serious disease. The medical doctors who tried to help him said that they are unable to save him and only time will tell. After about three weeks, he died. About two weeks later, some of the people at one of the organizations were starting a conflict by removing board positions randomly and organizing events without notifying anyone about them. This really had an effect on me because he is one of my parents’ closest friends. My parents have known him for about 12 years. He was the type of person who worked strenuously and always had a sense of humor. As a student, I believe that he should have taken a day off from work and rest his body. By doing this, he would not have died early. At the same time, people should take care of their own conflicts and prevent them from letting others worry about it.

Blood Map

The word blood is used in Act I-III of Macbeth. Some of the words that are related to blood include birth, bloody, cold, death, evil, flow, gore, guilt, guts, hate, health, heart, kill, kinship, murder, red, sad, and stab. The word blood is associated in the book because Macbeth kills Duncan, gets the murderers to kill Banquo and Macduff’s family. It comes to place because Banquo, Duncan, Lady Macbeth, Lady Macduff, Lady Macduff’s son, and Macbeth die. The word blood points to evil and guilt because the Macbeth household plans the killings and ask the murderers to kill each character that Macbeth wants dead. When someone dies, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begin to feel guilty for their actions and decide to cover things up by washing off blood and putting on a different outfit. They also wipe blood on the guards, that way others will think that someone else pulled off the killings.