Victoria Collins

New Years Watch 

By Su Shi

Soon now, we'll mark the year's end that approaches,
It's like a snake that crawls into a hole.
Already half its scaly length is hidden,
What man can stop us losing the last trace?
5 And even if we want to tie its tail,
No matter how we try, we can't succeed.
The children make all effort not to sleep,
We laugh together, watching through the night.
The cockerels should not cry the dawn for now,
10 The drums as well should give the hour respect.
We sat so long the lamp's burnt down to ash,
I rise and see the Plough is slanting north.
Next year, perhaps, my span of years could end,
My fear is that I've just been marking time.
15 So exert ourselves to the utmost here tonight,
I still admire the exuberance of our youth!

https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=time&tbs=sur:fmc&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=FTpFJkbUx-HQKM:

1. This image of a clock represents time. The image connects to the poem because the poem talks about time and using a snake shedding its skin as an example of growth. Snakes shedding its skin can also be compared to people changing when New Years comes around which is when most people consider changing their ways.
2. Su Shi once wrote a poem about, Wang Anshi, an economist. His father and his brother were both famous in literature. His most famous piece of calligraphy is called "The Cold Food Observance", this piece explained his loneliness and utmost disappointment while living on a farm in Huangzhou. When he was governor he wrote a memorial complaining about economic conditions. After he died, he started to gain popularity and people started to pick up his pieces of art and they also made a shrine in his honor.  http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/calligraphy-su-shi.php
3. The poem "New Years Watch" is about time passing and going into a new year but during the time of New Years everyone should celebrate it and be grateful that they lived through another year. The poem starts off by talking about how easy it is for a snake to shed its skin and be fine with it and then talks about how hard it is for humans to go into another year without carrying something with them or growing. The speaker has a very strong opinion about going into a new year and that everyone should celebrate it because you only live once. The speaker also stresses the fact that most humans have a hard time going into a new year. The figurative language makes an impact in the poem by comparing a snake shedding and people coming into a new year. In the second line, there is a simile that says "Its like a snake that crawls into a hole". In line 4 there is a rhetorical question that says "What man can stop us losing the last trace?" The comparison between a snake and a human is growth. The form of the poem starts off by talking about a snake shedding. Then the author says that if a snake can do it then a person can move into another year in lines 15-16.  The tone starts off calm and then it gets straight forward. The author first talks about a snake growing and saying that humans don't choose to grow throughout the year only when New Years comes. Then the author gets real and says that humans are too scared to grow and they should stop worrying about New ears and grow while they are young. The theme of the poem is to celebrate living and growth as much as you can until you can't grow anymore.

Links And Videos

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjf4ond3fTPAhWCaz4KHc-1BKEQtwIIJTAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstudy.com%2Facademy%2Flesson%2Fwhat-is-a-memoir-definition-examples-quiz.html&usg=AFQjCNFiWNxIydyknwMdQPI6W2xFQjjppQ&sig2=yfBxLP04mXiDS8EU-fyY-g
      This video talks about the importance of writing memoirs,and about how they are different from autobiographies.The video mentions that memoirs are different because they focus on one specific event from a persons life.Autobiographies narrate a person's whole life.It also talks about how autobiographies take a lot more research in a person's past life and their families history.Whereas when writing Memoirs the author can just think back to a specific event on their own.
      Some of the things that the video talked about that I agree with are for one when a memoir is written it allows the reader to relieve some of their thoughts on paper especially the events that seem to cause them emotional pain.
   

Reflection of writing Memoir

         Some of the problems I think memoir writers face include getting emotional  while writing.I believe that as authors dig deep into their past to write they run into sensitive topics that hurt them emotionally.Most of the time memoirs are about something sad or upsetting that happened.I often wonder if authors stop writing about a specific topic because it hurts too much to complete it.

      Another problem I believe writers run into while writing is getting stumped. Writers may begin their writing on a role with their thoughts flowing one after the other, but soon stop because they simply don't know what to write about next.

      I am sure that writers have conflicts with getting information correct at times.They probably try to contact relatives to make sure they have the story right, but I feel like 9 times out of 10 their relatives don't have the stories right either.

      I wonder if  authors ever start lying while writing to make their story more interesting. 

     Some of the big hang-ups I'm worried about is getting off topic while writing.I think i'll start to talk about one event in my life and start talking about something completely different.I also think that I will get stuck while writing and not know what to type next.

Glass Castle

I really enjoyed reading my memoir, "the Glass Castle".  The story was so beautiful and yet so heartbreaking at the same time.  I was so relieved near the end when Jeannette found a job and a husband.  She expressed to her mom that she was very comfortable.  Although reading a memoir was a great experience, so far writing one has been the opposite.  I can't quite remember everything that happened to me in the past so I'm having to stretch some events to make them seem.."bigger" than they actually were.  I'm also having trouble with including specific details, it's hard to know what to leave in and what to take out.
     This makes me wonder about how did the authors of the memoirs feel when they couldn't remember something?  Did they ever have to "lie"?  What if they forget something very important and have to destroy so much of their work just to put it in?  Writing has never been easy for me, so yes, I tend to leave out significant things even if they are essential.
     Some obstacles I'm worried about are; What if I find something better to write about after writing so much about something else? What if I started my memoir at the wrong point in time? I'm also worried that I'll write about my life and then forget a really important even leading to the next, so I reach a dead end and can't continue until I remember what is was.  It's probably going to e boring anyway, but I'll try.

Reflections On Writing Memoirs

 I really enjoyed reading the memoir. It was very entertaining and funny. Now that I actually take the time and think about it. . . It must have been difficult to write. I started thinking about how I will be starting my memoir; what will be in it, what will be the title, etc. and it all just seems actually sort of difficult. SO many things that need to be taken under consideration. Thinking about all this I can already name a few problems the authors of these memoirs probably faced. For example, where to start, where to end the memoir, how to end it, what to title it, etc. Also, what needs to be described with more detail and what doesn’t. You can’t describe every single thing too much because that could result in you losing the reader’s attention. Another problem the author could have faced was exactly how to make the memoir interesting enough for someone to want to read it.

 All this makes me wonder how authors usually decide what part of their lives they want to write their memoir on. How do they decide when something is significant enough for them to actually want to write about it? What makes it significant? How do they decide what details they will and won’t include in their memoir? While writing the memoir do they usually have a theme in mind they want the reader to come across or does that usually come to them as they write/outline their memoir?

 Some big hang-ups I’m worried about coming across as I write my memoir are; I’ll make it too boring and put emphasis on the wrong parts. I’m worried my memoir won’t be as interesting as I hope it will be or that I won’t remember the event good enough for me to give accurate descriptions on the things that need to be detailed. But I’m sure I’ll do fine. If someone else was able to do it then so can I.

"That year I started working for the school newspaper, The Maroon Wave. I wanted to join some club or group or organization where I could feel belonged, where people wouldn't move away if I sat down next to them." I chose this quote because it relates to me in a big and important way as it does for most kids at the Durham School of the Arts. I feel like I like playing sports because you can feel included since you are in a group with people who like to do the same things as you such as sports, writing or even knitting. Most kids at the Durham School of the Arts try various club for varuous reasons but many more try to find them for the sense of family you get. I play soccer and I really enjoy it because of the new friends you can make and the new cool people who you can get to know who also enjoy a common object. Its a big deal amongst most kids to feel excepted and i really think clubs and sports can help kids fit in to a group or cliche. 

A moment in my life that relates to that scene is a sixth-grade year, my first year at the Durham School of the Arts was choosing a pathway. You had 3 choices. You could pick between Chorus, Orchestra, or Band. Right away I realized band was not for me. It was a big toss up between Chorus and Orchestra. My mom had played the cello and so had my sister so it became a choice and in the end, I chose chorus. looking back on it, it was the right choice for me. On the first day of school chorus just felt good for me. It was a sense of family and it is a big reason I stuck with it through all of the middle school.

The Color of Water (Character Description)

Character Description

My favorite person throughout the book is the author's mother Ruth McBride-Jordan.

• "Ruth converted from Judaism to Christianity after her move to New York. She became increasingly involved with local churches, and eventually opened her own church with her husband. Ruth's parents had forced Judaism on her, causing her to resent religion. She embraced Christianity because she discovered it on her own. After her separation from her family, Ruth needed some source of relief from the guilt she felt, and she found that relief in Christianity's emphasis on the power of forgiveness. "

Ruth is my favorite character in the novel because of the characterization that the author gives her. His mother is his greatest inspiration and this fact is very evident throughout the whole novel. He explains how his mother told him that God was the color of water, and not black, white or brown. This was great characterization because it let us know that his mother valued the inside more than what was on the outside and this was a way of thinking that he and his siblings adopted. The author also describes the late night hours that his mom works, and this shows us that she is hard working. He lets us know that she has sent all 12 of her kids to college, and this shows that she is devoted to their success, and she wants them to have the best in life.

It would be fun to write a description of my grandma, because she has some of the same characteristics of Ruth McBride-Jordan.

• "My grandma is a hardworking women, and she is deeply involved with her faith. She is involved with a lot of churches, and she prays every day in the morning and in the night. She loves her family and she provides a lot for them. She is a principal at a school, and education is very important to her, and she wants the best for all her grandkids."