Vital Vocab, week five! I like Isaac. Eliza needs some serious character development, though. (Sorry if she's drastically different in the next Eliza update than she was in the last one.)
Prompt: --
Vocab Words (underlined): bias (n), beguile, benign, behemoth (n), bane (n)
Grammer Focus: their/they're/there, use a colon to introduce a list
Isaac Bade-
Eventually, Aunt Gaile woke up from the thunder, realized what time it was, and brought me inside to beguile me with "I'm sorry" hot chocolate and elephantine cookies. As I sat at the kitchen counter, she started to lecture me in her own benign way about things; how I should wear a better coat and better shoes; how I should and carry a small umbrella when there's not even rain; how I should try to find ways to always be prepared. (One stupid thunderstorm and I was suddenly a Boy Scout.) I stared into my hot chocolate, nodding at regular intervals, mostly just to lead her through the silences.
"And out there drawing, of all things," she continued. "Always drawing. What's even in that notebook of yours?" She reached for it, but I held it firmly to the counter. "And why won't you ever let me see it?"
Because you have a bias against black pen? I shook still-wet hair out of my eyes and munched on a cookie. My notebook? She wouldn't like what was in there. Anything vaguely dark seemed to be the bane of her existence. Well, that and behemoth food companies. ("They're dishonest," she said. "Their food's hardly even real!") I just knew if she looked at my notebook, it would fall open to exactly the wrong page. Something in there would send her concern levels through the roof.
I didn't want her to be through-the-roof concerned for me. Through-the-roof concern was my worst-case scenario.
September 30, 2013
September 27, 2013
OFFICIAL Blog Post 1 (Mr. Parker, look here!)
Okay, so last class in English, it was called to my attention that our first blog post actually had some criteria to follow. Because yes, in the end, this blog is an assignment. Whoops. Well, I already have, what, five posts? (Nerd, right?) So here's what we're gonna do. My first five posts remain my first five posts. But my first assignment post is this one. (Don't worry, there won't be a lot of these. In fact, according to Mr. Parker, this is the only post we'll have criteria for)
So, I am now to show you three blogs that I like. Such as...
The Oatmeal
(Note: the author swears a little. Sorry, guys.)
I actually didn't know about The Oatmeal until about a week ago, when we started looking at sample blogs in English. Basically the author, Matthew Inman, just has general thoughts about things, and he makes them into comics, which often turn out to be pretty awesome. And though a lot of them are just sort of weird and random, a few are actually useful, like his comic on how to use "whom." ("Do it for the bourbon. Do it for the mustaches. Do it for the steeds.") He also has a few comics on how to use other writer-y word tool grammar things (like that dreaded semicolon). So, um, that's useful.
ZenPencils
ZenPencils is another comic bloggy website thing I like. The author, Gavin Aung Than, takes quotes he finds to be inspirational and illustrates them. Most of the quotes are from famous people, and a lot from people I respect, like this one. (Nerdfighters? Anyone, anyone?) And in illustrating them, he generally uses everyday characters, making them seem more relatable and applicable to everyday life.
Writer's Mafia
Okay, so this is actually an old blog of my own. Is that cheating, to use your own blog? The thing is, it wasn't just my blog. It was my blog, but also fifteen other people's. We all met through a writing camp at the "U" a couple of summers ago (Sieze the Story 2012), all became friends, and all decided to create a blog so we wouldn't lose touch immediately after the last day of class. It was great for a while, and we had our own little critique group, but then we had some technical difficulties and a lot of our posts got deleted. After that, people just sort of forgot about it. But I still really like the blog, and it has a lot of great pieces of writing on it. (Wow, I forgot about some of those kids....)
So anyway, that's that. Sorry that my first few posts have been just these big blocks of text. In the future, I'm gonna try to post less wordy-word-wordness and more...well, more cool-looking stuff. Like art. (Notice how my first two blogs are comics? Visually enticing, my friends.) And also poems. Those are cool-looking, right?
Anyway, thanks for reading.
'Til then,
-Allie H-S
So, I am now to show you three blogs that I like. Such as...
The Oatmeal
(Note: the author swears a little. Sorry, guys.)
I actually didn't know about The Oatmeal until about a week ago, when we started looking at sample blogs in English. Basically the author, Matthew Inman, just has general thoughts about things, and he makes them into comics, which often turn out to be pretty awesome. And though a lot of them are just sort of weird and random, a few are actually useful, like his comic on how to use "whom." ("Do it for the bourbon. Do it for the mustaches. Do it for the steeds.") He also has a few comics on how to use other writer-y word tool grammar things (like that dreaded semicolon). So, um, that's useful. ZenPencils
ZenPencils is another comic bloggy website thing I like. The author, Gavin Aung Than, takes quotes he finds to be inspirational and illustrates them. Most of the quotes are from famous people, and a lot from people I respect, like this one. (Nerdfighters? Anyone, anyone?) And in illustrating them, he generally uses everyday characters, making them seem more relatable and applicable to everyday life. Writer's Mafia
So anyway, that's that. Sorry that my first few posts have been just these big blocks of text. In the future, I'm gonna try to post less wordy-word-wordness and more...well, more cool-looking stuff. Like art. (Notice how my first two blogs are comics? Visually enticing, my friends.) And also poems. Those are cool-looking, right?
Anyway, thanks for reading.
'Til then,
-Allie H-S
September 23, 2013
Vital Vocab 4
Sorry. I was actually meaning to post this the same day as the other Vital Vocab uploads, but uhh, then the writer's block hit. Whoops. :/ So now, I get us up to date with Vital Vocab (until next class, that is).
Note on the prompt: we're reading The Book Thief in class, by Markus Zusak. For those who don't know, The Book Thief has a very unique quality about it: the book's narrator is Death himself. It's actually really interesting but ahh, more on this later. I have an assignment to do.
Prompt: How does the stereotypical concept of death differ from Zusak's character, Death?
Vocab Words (underlined): arbitrary, antithesis, aesthetic (adj), accentuate, abridge
Gramar Focus: their/there/they're, semicolon
Isaac Bade-
I sat there, watching rain run down the window pane. No, not run. Not just run. It flew; it hurtled; it cascaded down the window like lemmings off their cliffs. Like the raindrops were frightened of the thunder. Go, they screamed. Hurry! We've gotta get out of here! And that would have been a sight to behold. From the inside.
I was locked out.
I was drenched to the core.
I was noticing a pattern.
My dear Aunt Gaile was indoors in her chair, dead to the world, crossword and [barely] abridged dictionary in her lap. She said her naps were completely arbitrary, so why did she always take them right when I was coming home? Whenever I was out, she was alone in the house, and insisted on locking the door; I just had to wonder why she couldn't find me a freaking house key. I knew there was a drawer of them somewhere.
I sat on the front steps, a wet wind blowing just to accentuate the frigidity of the air. Lightning flared in the sky and I pulled a notebook and pen out of my backpack, starting to sketch the storm on lined paper. Wet lined paper. I didn't mind, so long as I could make it aesthetic (and of course, I knew I could; I could draw a cartoon of a crushed beer can beside a highway and give it class). So, pen quickly but gently to paper, I started to draw.
There I was, locked out of the house, trying not to tear through soggy notebook paper, when I saw her: my polar opposite. My antithesis.
Erica Wells. We'd been best friends through elementary school. She lived just up the street; in summer, we were inseparable. But when middle school came, she branched out, and I branched...in. And then came the Disaster, and I just branched in more. She came to try and talk to me about it, and I completely exploded at her. I hadn't spoken to her since. They're all looking at you. For years, I hadn't been able to shake the thought.
Erica disappeared up the street without looking at me. I had trouble looking at her, too.
I read a book once from the point of view of Death. Not death the event, like when someone dies, but Death the person, the character, he who collects departed souls. "It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible," he said. "Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away." He claimed he wasn't painful or violent, like the event of death. He said he was but the result.
I think I like it better that way.
Note on the prompt: we're reading The Book Thief in class, by Markus Zusak. For those who don't know, The Book Thief has a very unique quality about it: the book's narrator is Death himself. It's actually really interesting but ahh, more on this later. I have an assignment to do.
Prompt: How does the stereotypical concept of death differ from Zusak's character, Death?
Vocab Words (underlined): arbitrary, antithesis, aesthetic (adj), accentuate, abridge
Gramar Focus: their/there/they're, semicolon
Isaac Bade-
I sat there, watching rain run down the window pane. No, not run. Not just run. It flew; it hurtled; it cascaded down the window like lemmings off their cliffs. Like the raindrops were frightened of the thunder. Go, they screamed. Hurry! We've gotta get out of here! And that would have been a sight to behold. From the inside.
I was locked out.
I was drenched to the core.
I was noticing a pattern.
My dear Aunt Gaile was indoors in her chair, dead to the world, crossword and [barely] abridged dictionary in her lap. She said her naps were completely arbitrary, so why did she always take them right when I was coming home? Whenever I was out, she was alone in the house, and insisted on locking the door; I just had to wonder why she couldn't find me a freaking house key. I knew there was a drawer of them somewhere.
I sat on the front steps, a wet wind blowing just to accentuate the frigidity of the air. Lightning flared in the sky and I pulled a notebook and pen out of my backpack, starting to sketch the storm on lined paper. Wet lined paper. I didn't mind, so long as I could make it aesthetic (and of course, I knew I could; I could draw a cartoon of a crushed beer can beside a highway and give it class). So, pen quickly but gently to paper, I started to draw.
There I was, locked out of the house, trying not to tear through soggy notebook paper, when I saw her: my polar opposite. My antithesis.
Erica Wells. We'd been best friends through elementary school. She lived just up the street; in summer, we were inseparable. But when middle school came, she branched out, and I branched...in. And then came the Disaster, and I just branched in more. She came to try and talk to me about it, and I completely exploded at her. I hadn't spoken to her since. They're all looking at you. For years, I hadn't been able to shake the thought.
Erica disappeared up the street without looking at me. I had trouble looking at her, too.
I read a book once from the point of view of Death. Not death the event, like when someone dies, but Death the person, the character, he who collects departed souls. "It suffices to say that at some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible," he said. "Your soul will be in my arms. A color will be perched on my shoulder. I will carry you gently away." He claimed he wasn't painful or violent, like the event of death. He said he was but the result.
I think I like it better that way.
September 21, 2013
Vital Vocab 3
Hi people. Here's my Vital Vocab 3. It's not great, so I promise I'll work harder on the next one.
Prompt: What in your life would you make sacrifices to protect?
Vocab Words (underlined): acumen, advocate (v), ambiguity, ascertain, alleged
Grammar Focus: its/it's, semicolon
Prompt: What in your life would you make sacrifices to protect?
Vocab Words (underlined): acumen, advocate (v), ambiguity, ascertain, alleged
Grammar Focus: its/it's, semicolon
Eliza Benjamin-
That night, I sat on my bed and stared around my new room. Gosh, this was weird. Nothing felt real yet; it was like we were on vacation or something. I wondered how long it would take for the move to sink in. And as I looked around the house, I'd seen maybe four spiders in it today. I flopped back on the bed as my mom came in.
"I see a giant, hairy monster," she said slowly. I glanced at the wall next to my head.
Make that five spiders.
Without hesitation, I grabbed my shoe off the floor and clapped it over the creature, leaving its tiny legs twitching. I had a certain acumen for bug-killing in my household, particularly because nobody else around could get up the guts to do it. Actually, my family generally advocated to not kill the giant, bed-infesting spiders, but I just had no tolerance for that.
"A giant hairy monster," I said to my mom. "Really. You couldn't just call it a spider?"
She smiled. "I was hoping you'd catch the ambiguity," she said.
"Oh. Oho! Thaaaaanks." I disposed of the spider and flopped back on my bed. "It's nice to see you care, mom. Especially after all the sacrifices I make to save the world from these eight-legged beasts!"
She just laughed. "It's difficult to ascertain whether we really need saving," she said. "Besides, what if that spider had a family?"
"What if everyone hated that spider and I've done their buggy little world a huge favor just by killing it?" I asked.
"What do you think it was, a warlord?"
I paused. "Yes," I said slowly. "Yes, I just took out one of the most feared warlords of the arachnid world."
"Without the lead of this alleged warlord, their world shall descend into an anarchy of power grabs," she said.
"Yes." Solemnly, I looked over at the trash can I'd dropped the spider in. "So it shall."Vital Vocab 2
So, last post I introduced my Vital Vocab assignment. Here's the second entry of that, which I think is ever more all-over the place than the first, so please excuse me. But here it is.
Prompt: --
Vocab Words (underlined): archaic, amiable, anecdotal, audacious, abhorred
Grammar Focus: your/you're, semicolon
Prompt: --
Vocab Words (underlined): archaic, amiable, anecdotal, audacious, abhorred
Grammar Focus: your/you're, semicolon
A/N: I’m actually changing her name from Emilia Keye (my default character name) to Eliza Benjamin - I found some old prewriting docs from a writing camp I did this summer and decided I’d model this after them. This is the same character, however, as in last week’s Vital Vocab installment. Also, next week’s entry will be longer. ((EDIT: ha, I tried.))
Eliza Benjamin-
I finished my assignments and looked at the cat that had settled next to me. Good Lord, the thing was archaic. Grey streaks permeated its fur. I scratched it behind a delicate ear and it opened a pair of yellow eyes, purring immediately.
“Well aren’t you an amiable little thing,” I murmured. That was when my mom came out.
“Well hello!” she said. I laughed a little, the tone of her voice making it apparent that she was talking to the cat. “You know Eliza, once as a kid, I broke my ankle from tripping over a cat on my stoop.” She proceeded to go off on an anecdotal tangent. Her stories always involved audacious brothers and unlikely accidents, and every time she made me wonder if I’d ever have that kind of story to tell. So far, well, my seventeenth year and I hardly had any stories at all. I abhorred the thought that maybe, I never would....
Vital Vocab Intro
My blog is pretty and I like it, so I'm gonna post some more today.
Alright, so there's a thing we do in my English class called Vital Vocab. It's a weekly assignment, due Mondays at midnight (alliteration!), in which we have to write at least a paragraph, using five given vocabulary words. Sometimes, we have a prompt to follow (if Mr. Parker's feeling the vibe, I guess).
But since there isn't always a prompt, I decided I'd take an idea I'd half-worked out over the summer and write an ongoing story with my Vital Vocab.
Unfortunately, I'm kind of procrastinate-y and tend to cut it close on writing these, meaning...well, meaning my first three submissions kind of suck. They're all over the place, seriously. It's awful. So I've decided to start posting them here, to prompt myself to procrastinate less, suck less, and to pre-write a little more. So...Vital Vocab 1. Here it is.
Now, don't judge me. It was sort of the middle of the night.
Prompt: What are your goals and expectations for English this year?
Vocab Words (underlined): vernacular, context, figurative, literal, subtext
Grammar Focus (we have those, too): your/you're, and properly use a semicolon to connect clauses
Alright, so there's a thing we do in my English class called Vital Vocab. It's a weekly assignment, due Mondays at midnight (alliteration!), in which we have to write at least a paragraph, using five given vocabulary words. Sometimes, we have a prompt to follow (if Mr. Parker's feeling the vibe, I guess).
But since there isn't always a prompt, I decided I'd take an idea I'd half-worked out over the summer and write an ongoing story with my Vital Vocab.
Unfortunately, I'm kind of procrastinate-y and tend to cut it close on writing these, meaning...well, meaning my first three submissions kind of suck. They're all over the place, seriously. It's awful. So I've decided to start posting them here, to prompt myself to procrastinate less, suck less, and to pre-write a little more. So...Vital Vocab 1. Here it is.
Now, don't judge me. It was sort of the middle of the night.
Prompt: What are your goals and expectations for English this year?
Vocab Words (underlined): vernacular, context, figurative, literal, subtext
Grammar Focus (we have those, too): your/you're, and properly use a semicolon to connect clauses
Emilia Keye-
The old house towered over me. I stared up, eyes transfixed upon its sage green, shuttered windows, the old paint peeling slightly, the siding not quite straight. It looked like something I’d draw up in a notebook, sort of quaintly ramshackle (if that was even possible). We’d moved in almost a month ago, and the utter character of the place - not just of the house itself, but of the old willow in the front yard, the still pond in the back, the stray cat we kept finding on our doorstep - it still shocked me every time I came home. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it.
I closed the car door behind me and helped my mom bring in the groceries before going back outside and settling on the stoop. School here had started only a week ago and the work load was just beginning to build. So, I pulled out my laptop so I could start on my English homework. What are your goals and expectations for English this year?
How dry, I thought. That was always the worst part of the beginning of the year: boring intro assignments. My goals for most classes were just to get good grades, but for a select few courses, like English and art, I actually aimed to learn. But how does one put that into a paragraph? I sighed, thinking. Maybe if I just started writing...
One sentence completed. You’re boring, I thought, and deleted it.
Another, more interesting sentence. Where’s your vocab? Deleted.
That was the problem: I had to follow a prompt and use the fancy writing vernacular. Those two things didn’t balance easily. So, I did what I usually did in times of doubt, and took the instructions as far out of context as possible. Oh context, I thought. You leave your prompt friends no room to breathe!
Personification was my favorite figurative language.
I started thinking about poetry, and if I could write my assignment like that. I could do an acrostic poem, or maybe concrete. (Was that what those were called? I hoped we did a good poetry unit this year.) But poetry was tricky and I was running out of time. Besides, if I wrote a poem, I’d want to make it good, fancy. Literal or subtext? You decide! I wasn’t sure I had the energy for that.
In the end, I just started writing a nonfiction story kinda thing, sort of obnoxiously mirroring myself in the main character. (Was that cheating?) It was sort of long and unedited, but I had to finish soon, so I did my best to wrap it up and hoped for the best.
September 20, 2013
And So it Begins.
Hi.
I'd like to say my name is Anthony James Rousseaux (classy, right?) but of course, my display name will give me away. It's actually Allie. meh. Can I put a "de" in there, just to mix it up a little? Allie de Park City (and Park City de Utah).
I enjoy writing, art (I'mna post some drawings here), and reading. That is, regular reading, but also out-loud readings. I make Audiobooks, and post them, when I can get the rights. But those are just hobbies, right? What do I like?
I like edgy things. I like banned books and Banksy art. Things that are real, and also things that are elegant.
Also pretentious things. I can be pretty pretentious. For this, I apologize in advance (and feel free to call me on it).
So that's my intro. Now, I should probably explain why this blog is called "Rousseaux." Anthony Rousseaux is actually a character in a story my friends and I wrote/are writing (it's sort of a work in progress). Maybe someday I'll draw or cosplay as Anthony, and then you can get a photo or drawing. And for now...
He's 22 (his birthday is September ninth).
He's classy.
He wears a top hat.
He wears a suit.
He sometimes has white gloves.
There's a Shadow mark on the inside of his left wrist (for those who know him, I edited; for those who don't...more on this later).
He has silver-gray hair.
He has light brown eyes.
He always carries a deck of cards in his pocket, a select few on a chain around his neck.
He has a dagger made of diamond.
And now. Y'all have fun with that. :::;)
-Allie
I'd like to say my name is Anthony James Rousseaux (classy, right?) but of course, my display name will give me away. It's actually Allie. meh. Can I put a "de" in there, just to mix it up a little? Allie de Park City (and Park City de Utah).
I enjoy writing, art (I'mna post some drawings here), and reading. That is, regular reading, but also out-loud readings. I make Audiobooks, and post them, when I can get the rights. But those are just hobbies, right? What do I like?
I like edgy things. I like banned books and Banksy art. Things that are real, and also things that are elegant.
Also pretentious things. I can be pretty pretentious. For this, I apologize in advance (and feel free to call me on it).
So that's my intro. Now, I should probably explain why this blog is called "Rousseaux." Anthony Rousseaux is actually a character in a story my friends and I wrote/are writing (it's sort of a work in progress). Maybe someday I'll draw or cosplay as Anthony, and then you can get a photo or drawing. And for now...
He's 22 (his birthday is September ninth).
He's classy.
He wears a top hat.
He wears a suit.
He sometimes has white gloves.
There's a Shadow mark on the inside of his left wrist (for those who know him, I edited; for those who don't...more on this later).
He has silver-gray hair.
He has light brown eyes.
He always carries a deck of cards in his pocket, a select few on a chain around his neck.
He has a dagger made of diamond.
And now. Y'all have fun with that. :::;)
-Allie
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