Linda's Diary

Past:
Watching Willy and the boys get along, and running around the yard throwing the ball back and forth brings me such joy. Reminds me of how close our family truely is. Everything is falling into place nicely it seems; Willy has been bringing in enough income, we have a nice Chevy, Biff has scholarships lined up. I as a mother and wife could not be more proud of my boys. Although, i do worry Happy feels as if he is being forgtten. With Biff getting schholarships and doing so well in life right now, Happy may have been put on the back burner. I hope my boys find their way in life.

Present:
It seems to me my family Is falling apart. Biff and willy can not seem to get along, and fight with each other everytime they are in the same room with one another. Willy just want what is best for Biff, but Willy has begun to lose his own mind. He is so tired, and his emotions run wild. I can not seem to do much right anymore, and Willy always snaps at me. I worry about our finances, it just doesnt seem like we are where we were in the past. I worry about my family, we are not close anymore. Everything is falling apart. We have not found our way in life quite yet.

The Lottery

Almost every small community has a day designated for the people to join together that will take place annually. For example, when I lived in Troy Idaho, every year the community would have a big get together called Troy Days, and when I live in Turner Oregon, the community would have a get together called the Lamb Festival. In “The Lottery” they would annually get together to have a “Lottery” or a Stoning.

Although now day’s communities have a fun and good get together, it is similar to the Stoning process. In “The Lottery” the community gathered in one area and made an event out of it where their community would get together. I think the stoning process may symbolize that although communities get together, there is still tension or conflict that takes place within every community, and that a lot of the time one person is singled out within the conflict. For example, in the story every year they draw paper to kill one person in the end, and it is normal. We know that it is normal for “The Lottery” community since it does take place every year, but also from what some of the members say. For example, the old man who keeps complaining that he has experienced this for 70 years, and also the head person saying that they just needed to get on with the process so they can get back to doing their work. A good example for today’s people would be, in almost every friend group there is that one person that group gangs up on and basically makes fun of and tortures. I think almost every group can relate to this, and knows exactly what I am talking about.

Mrs. Mallard's Facebook

1. Send prayers out to me for I have been told I have heart trouble. Hopefully I can work through this.
2. R.I.P my wonderful husband, for he was killed in a terrible railroad disaster.
3. Living life alone without my dearest husband is difficult. love and miss you.
4. Drink your sarrows away.
5. Life is precious. Dont take it for granted.
6. The telegram was false. My husband, Brently Mallard, is still alive. couldnt be happier.
7. Life without my husband, wouldnt be life at all.
8. You never know what life will throw at you. smile and live with no regrets.
9. To much joy can be a killer.
10. Life goes faster then we know it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101407.html

Boy

Son dont cry. Wipe that dirt off yourself, and be a man. If something bothers you, suck it up. If you get hurt, suck it up. Learn to take a punch, and learn to throw one. Stand up for yourself. Work hard and do everything right the first time, then you wont have to do it a second. Go get the weed eater, cut some grass. Take the pickup in? ha. You can change the oil yourself. Learn to aim and shoot that gun, your gutting the buck afterwords. You put it on your dinner plate, you can eat it all. Pull your pants up, and turn your hat straight, you arnt no hooligan. Show your mother respect, and treat every girl like you would treat your mom. Open the door for your girl, listen to her when she talks, comfort her when she needs you. Dont be a boy. Be a man. "yes sir", says the son.

Dialogue

During another busy day at the tanning salon, while students rush to get a tan before spring break, beds run non stop. the salon is hot, and extremely loud with fans running, music playing, and people talking. All the tanning beds are full, and there is a line leading out the door. a women comes in and looks at the employee working the counter, "can i tan for twenty minutes?",the employee replys back, "yes ma'am you can, may i see your goggles please?" the customer glares at the employee, "i just switched purses, but i do have my goggles. they are in here somewhere." the employee responds back, "i am required by law to see your goggles, or i am not supposed to let you use the bed".
Angered by the employees comment, the customer proceeds to not show her goggles. beds are not getting cleaned, and other customers are lining up behind the counter wanting to tan. after argueing back and forth between the customer and employee, the employee finally says, "just go to bed seven, i dont care." the employee gets up and beggins to clean beds for other customers. twenty minutes later the cranky customer walks up to the front desk, and looks at the employee. "what is the owners name?", "Nancy Smith" states the employee. "what is your name?". "Lucy". "how can i get ahold of the owner". "Im not allowed to give out that information". The angry customer says, "I want you to know i will be contacting the owner, and i want you to know you are unprofessional and extremely rude". the employee smiles and says, "Thank you".
After dealing with the angry customer, and laughing towards her comments, the owner walks into the salon. "hahaha i got a phone call about you. i told her you were doing your job asking for eye wear, next time dont giver them our name."
The day went on, and there were no more customers refusing goggles.

Test prep 2

I personally have a difficult time explaining and interpreting the meaning of the poems we read. So i decided to look into explication, which is the act of explaining or interpreting the meaning of a text.

when trying to find the meaning of a text you should:

• find literal meaning
• find figurative language

Test Review

I personaly have a difficult time labeling words as stressed, unstressed, and counting the feet per line. I went online and found some STEPS that can be used to help learn how to do these things.

Steps

·        1

·         Determine whether your poem is a sonnet: if it has fourteen lines and some recognizable rhyme scheme. Assume it is iambic pentameter, and then do these steps with that mindset. If it's not, it still may very well be in iambic meter, which is the most popular meter for closed-form poems.

·        2

·         Read the poem out loud and see if you notice a particular rhythm in your first reading.

·        3

·         Count the number of syllables in each line, and write that number at the end of the line. Do you see a pattern in the number of syllables?

·        4

·         Put an accent mark (/) over any syllables that absolutely have to be stressed. The way you can figure this out is by trying to say the word several times, each time exaggerating a different syllable. ("AR-tist" or "ar-TIST") (One way will sound much better). You can look words up in the dictionary if you need to.

·        5

·         Put a "u" over the unstressed syllables.

·        6

·         See if the poem is iambic (u/), or sets of one unstressed syllable with one stressed ("ta-DAH!"). If it is, see if you can put in all of the other stress and unstressed marks.

·        7

·         Once you see a pattern (for example, unstressed, unstressed, stressed; unstressed, unstressed, stressed . . .), mark a vertical line between each unit of the pattern. Those are your "feet."

·        8

·         Read the poem aloud again, this time really accentuating the words you have marked as "stressed." Does it sound right?

·        9

·         Once you're finished with that, see whether each foot in the poem is a(n): iamb (unstressed-stressed u/), trochee (stressed-unstressed /u), anapest (unstressed-unstressed-stressed uu/), dactyl (stressed-unstressed-unstressed /uu), spondee (stressed-stressed //) or pyrrhic (unstressed-unstressed uu).

·        10

·         Count how many feet each line has. It will probably be one of these: Monometer (one foot), Dimeter (two feet), Trimeter (three feet), Tetrameter (four feet), Pentameter (five feet), or Hexameter (six feet).

·        11

·         Put the foot name as an adjective first and the number of feet as a noun second, and there you go! ("iambic pentameter," "dactylic hexameter," "trochaic tetrameter," etc.)