Traduire Ceci; Übersetzen Sie Dies; Tradurre Questo; Vertaal Dit

If you don't know me that well...Hi. My name is Sara Davidson and I can not write poetry. I feel like i'm part of some unauthorized support group of people who have no idea how to start and form poetry, fumbling about placing words on a page hoping that readers will call it "unique." So, when the assignment for our class was to read and find poetry prompts, I was excited. As I began to read though, some of the poetry prompts made it seem like you have to already know what you're doing before you can use the prompt. When I was reading Robin Reagly's Blog, I realized that I would have to already know how to form and construct a poem in order to use one of those prompts. I did search around though, and I found a blog by Charles Bernstein who gave the most amusing poetry prompt I think I have ever come across. The prompt was this: "Take a poem in a foreign language that you can pronounce but not neccessarily understand and translate the sound of the poem into English." It is number 3 in this blog: Charles Bernstein. I thought this was absolutely amazing and the most unique way to make poetry. I am excited to try it now!

I actually thought this poetry prompt was funny because I had just been thinking about this idea to translate a foreign poem or song into english becuase my friend had showed me a link on youtube about somebody doing the same exact thing to an Indian song. I thought it was amusing. Enjoy!
Benny Lava

James Joyce

One of the main reasons I like James Joyce is because he is Irish; so am I. I have enjoyed in some way The Dead, but I'm lost in the midst of all the characters and commotion going on in the story. Granted, it is a party scene, and at a party, you don't really see everything that is going on. I do like the idea that he shows us little glimpses of things happening in all the different rooms, but there are just too many names and too many things going on to stay focused. Once you leave one room, you become immersed in another room, so by the time you go back to the previous room, you've forgotten what was going on in there before. That is exactly how I feel about this story so far. I'm being thrown all over the place, but at the same time, I'm getting to know a lot of very interesting people. That's why people tend to go to parties anyway, don't they?

A Guide to a Moral Life~ Ben Franklin

1. Temperance: Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation.
2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoiding trifling Conversation.
3. Order: Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.
4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform withouot fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality: Make no Expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e., Waste nothing.
6. Industry: Lose no Time. Be always employ'd in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary Actions.
7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak; speak accordingly.
8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty.
9. Moderation: Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation.
11. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at Trifles, or Accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity: Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dullness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another's Peace or Reputation.
13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Awesome Websites

VIDS: Whole World Dance


Indian Jewelry: a Band


San Francisco Museum of Modern Art


Rate My Drawings


Wordie.org

Benjamin Franklin

#1 Review of what I am reading in another class

For my American Literature to 1865 class, we have been reading from Columbus, DeCasas, Mary Rowlandson, John Smith, ect...For class yesterday, we had to read the first part to Ben Franklin's autobiography. It's interesting, (not really), but it is in a way. It was a semi-boring read, but at times Ben had a certain strange humor that made it able to get through. Most of it was bibliographical, obviously, but he incorporated stories that gave us a glimpse of what his life was like for him. The most interesting thing about Ben Franklin was that he was constantly reading. Whenever he had a second to spare, he would be picking up a book and reading something. These books weren't just fairy tales, either. Books on algebra and Pilgrim's Progress were not stories that children at the age of 12 would read normally. He was constantly improving himself whenever he could. In reality, he is the model American; he started at the bottom and worked his way up. I think that our culture as a whole doesn't read enough or try to improve ourselves any chance we get. We should all be like Ben Franklin and read, read, read...

abstractioin

It's kind of funny how our minds work. Somebody can say one thing, and an entirely different thing can pop into our heads. (and by the way, this is about a week late in posting. i apologize)As we were doing the abstraction exercises in class, I noticed how hard it was to let myself think random thoughts when a single word was said. At first, for rage, I only thought of one image and continued on that one image, unable to move on from that single thought. As I loosened my mind up a bit, I realized that if allowed, my mind could go to places that I never thought it could. It made it interesting and unique. One of my lists started at sharing books and ended with sour milk. It was amazing though, how all of those things linked back to the original word: generosity. I love that we can't explain everything about the mind and how it works. It still gives it the air of mystery that it rightfully deserves.

it's a truth universally acknowledged...

that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Jane Austen wrote that as her opening sentance in my favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice. I am unfortunately one of those girls I'm sure you've heard about, who fantasize about meeting Mr. Darcy in this modern age, while setting standards for the actual men of our age that are competely unattainable. On the other hand, for the girls who firmly believe that there are Mr. Darcy's still in this world to be found, it sets us apart from everybody else. Girls like us won't settle for less; we won't settle for the Mr. Wickhams who will tell us everything we want to hear but then turn out to be losers. Jane Austen's heroine, Elizabeth Bennet has become an inspiration to me. Granted, she is only a character in a book, but Jane Austen used Elizabeth to portray a strong, self-sufficient woman who was only convinced that true love would ever induce her into marriage. Pride and Prejudice is a love story, but it's a different kind of love story. It revolves around a love-hate relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. Through their (or really her) hatred towards each other, they learn more about each other and slowly realize that their hearts are becomming attached. I love Austen's witty humor also, but the character Elizabeth Bennet has been an inspiration for me since I was young.