Phonar "Unphotgraphable"

The first time I experienced a "wow" moment that I didn't take a picture of was the first time I went on the ride Goliath at Six Flags. It's the tallest coaster in the park, (23 stories) and it takes its sweet time getting you to the top...and then it keeps you there for a good five seconds which, in the open air at that height, feels like a lifetime. I couldn't take a picture, obviously, but taking a picture wouldn't have been able to capture exactly what I was seeing anyway. I thought for sure I was going to die. I was sooo scared. A picture wouldn't be able to capture that feeling, either.

Canterbury Outline

Introduction
-Thesis
- introduce chosen tale

Body paragraphs
-compare to Dante's Inferno
-dante's inferno and Canterbury are actually pretty similar
-show similarities
-use of language

Conclusion

The Point of Canterbury Tales is...

Canterbury Tales is different from other stories of its time by its use of ___, ___, and ___.

Green Eggs and Hamlet

1. I saw Hamlet at PCPA last year, so I know the basics of the storyline.(Spoiler alert: If you don't want to know what (kind of) happens, stop reading now.)  It's about a prince whose father suddenly died and less than a month later his mom marries his dad's brother, and Hamlet thinks that his uncle poisoned his father in order to become king so he decides to kill him. Then he kind of has a thing with Ophelia whose father Hamlet kills on accident and she goes crazy and commits suicide (or something along those lines) and that's all I remember. It's pretty much typical Shakespeare.

2. I know that Shakespeare devoted his life to writing his plays and sort of abandoned his family in order to pursue his dream of being a playwright (at least that's what I learned at OA freshman year). Also, he was married to a woman named Anne Hathaway and she was way older than him.

3. Students "involuntarily frown" when they hear his name because despite how great he's considered to be, the fact is that his work is very old and hard to understand and boring. Freshman year we went over Romeo and Juliet in detail and it made me realize that Shakespeare was actually pretty funny, but you would never catch his jokes today if you saw it in a theater or read it because it requires in- depth analysis.

4. I don't know about making it an "amazing experience" but if we could read it in completely modern English it would be more interesting for everyone, but then that kind of defeats the purpose of how he wrote it because it was in iambic pentameter and all that. I just like it when we read something like Shakespeare and then we have in-class discussions about it because I think it helps everyone to understand it better.

Vocabulary #5

shenanigans--secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering 
ricochet--a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief.
 schism--a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief.
 eschew--deliberately avoid using; abstain from
 plethora--a large or excessive amount of (something)
 ebullient--cheerful and full of energy
 garrulous--excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters
 harangue--a lengthy and aggressive speech.
 interdependence--depending on each other: unable to exist or survive without each other
 capricious--given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior 
 loquacious--tending to talk a great deal; talkative.
 ephemeral--lasting for a very short time
 inchoate--just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary 
 juxtapose--place or deal with close together for contrasting effect
 perspicacious--having a ready insight into and understanding of things 
 codswallop--nonsense
 mungo--cloth made from recycled woven or felted material.
 sesquipedalian--characterized by long words; long-winded 
 wonky--crooked; off-center; askew 
 diphthong--a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another (as in coin, loud, and side). Often contrasted with monophthong, triphthong.

Canterbury Tales (II) What A Character

Pages 106--115 focusing on Chaucer's use of humor
The wife of Bath has had five husbands and despite the failed marriages, she believes herself to be quite proficient in the matter of relationships. Chaucer gives her a humorous description and says she is an ugly woman where looks and personality are concerned yet men seem to like her, as she landed five husbands and multiple lovers when she was younger.
The miller's tale uses farce (a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations) as the main form of humor. He gives the miller a ridiculous and exaggerated description, saying that he is like an ox. He is described as being strong, and claims he can break down a door completely by running at it. He's also a thief.
The summoner is also given a funny and rather unattractive description. He has pimples and gross eyebrows and he's boisterous. He's a "kind" man who'd let any young man keep a whore for a year as long as he received a quart of wine, despite the fact that there's "no better fellow" than he. He seems easily persuaded by alcohol.
The pardoner likes to swindle people out of their money and doesn't feel bad, though he is very good at seeming like a person with morals. He would imitate someone who was a churchgoing person and yet he was the complete opposite. One of the reasons why he was happy to sing a church song was because he could easily get money from all of the people there.

Canterbury Tales (I)

Chaucer spends a lot of time talking about how the nun has excellent table manners. I don't know why that matters. The nun would cry when an animal was hurt or dead but the monk liked to hunt them, and he lived richly while she really didn't. The monks, priests etc. were some of the most educated back then, yet this monk doesn't believe in education. Despite being a "holy man", he hunts even though that's considered unholy. He's just a total hypocrite. The merchant is in debt which is ironic because he handles money for a living, but can't seem to manage his own. The Oxford student is broke lol.  He talks about how amazing the cook is, then says he has an ulcer on his knee then goes back to food. Why? He doesn't spend a lot of time talking about the lower class people, I guess he considered them less important? which seems strange for a man who should have better beliefs than that based on his life experiences. The character's story that I most want to read is the nun's, mainly because she loves animals and so do I but honestly I didn't find any of them very interesting. Maybe the Oxford student.