Freshman Thoughts

The gift giving season is nearly here and many people are already trying to find the perfect gift. What guidelines would help a shopper find that item?

Readers love to speculate on life events based around the discovery of an undiscovered scientific fact. For example, what could happen if babies could start life in a test tube as in Orwell’s 1984 or if perhaps they could be cloned as in Farmer’s The House of the Scorpion? Or What if people could be transported as Roddenberry described in the Star Trek series?

The Science Fiction genre has been around for some time — just how long is debatable among the experts. List five facts about a science fiction writer you know or who you found through research. To make this blog more fun, do not write about an author that another blogger has already written about.

Read “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll (page 400), “Macavity: The Mystery Cat” by T.S. Eliot (page 402) and “Problems With Hurricanes” by Victor Hernandez Cruz (page 405). All three poems are humorous and each is written in a different style. Compose a humorous poem in your own style.

As you write, include, if you can, one or more of the literary elements that apply to poetry which we have studied so far: imagery; diction; tone; figurative language; implied metaphor; metaphor; sensory language; symbol; repetition; personification. If you can’t, just write. You may see that you included one of these without trying.

Have fun with your writing.

Many writers like Bill Cosby and James Thurber find humor in difficult situations. Without mentioning the sadness, they turn it into humor. Please share one of your humorous incidents.

There has long been a legend told to every freshman that Magna Vista has a pool on the roof. (Those who frequent the math hall are most likely to believe that story). But the roof is inaccessible to students — too dangerous — so a pool on the ground or even indoors would be much more practical. If money were not an issue, how would you persuade your community that your school needs a pool so that swim classes could be added to the PE curriculum? Or how would you persuade your community to add some other sport of your choice to the PE curriculum?

The following poem, “We never know how High we are” by Emily Dickinson, means different things to different people. What does it mean to you?

Walking in the woods can be a relaxing experience in which a person enjoys the beauties of nature. But the same walk might also be a conflicting time of man vs. nature if the walker finds him/herself lost or facing a wild animal unexpectedly. Compare and contrast two experiences you have had while hiking through the woods.

The H1N1 flu shots will soon be available. Some people faithfully get a flu shot every year. Others do not. Take a position. Do you think you should get the shot? Why or why not?

If you could vote, what would you like to tell your senator about health care reform?

Using dialogue, tell an anecdote — real or imaginary. (Remember,an anecdote is usually a one to three paragrph story with a point, and dialogue requires the participation of at least two speakers.)