Vocab Poem

Senescent: growing old; aging
Soigné: carefully or elegantly done
Fugacious: fleeting; transitory
Leonine: resembling or suggestive of a lion
Inure: to accustom to hardship, difficulty, pain, etc
Incinerate: to burn or reduce to ashes
Ebullient: overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement
Ceraceous: waxlike; waxy
Aphotic: lightless; dark
Languid: lacking vigor or force; slow

Ebullience was the last thing I could detect in the room. I recognized most of my relatives and many of my friends. All of the decorations, very soigné, including the many flowers, looked as though the family had been preparing for this moment for ages. They all moved languidly, as if nothing in the world could convince them to continue onward. They congregated around an object in the front that I could not make out. When I moved closer to everyone to decipher the reason nearly everyone I knew had congregated, I first saw a halo of leonine hair. The ceraceous skin beneath that halo next appeared. Whoever the person was, she had most certainly begun to senesce, as smooth skin no longer stretched across her somewhat sallow face. Her beauty was still obvious despite the equally obvious display of death. They told me her body was to be incinerated within the next few days. I hardly knew this woman, but I still felt pained when I realized she was now in an aphotic void, from which she could never return. I had never before understood the fugaciousness of life. My parents had taken me to this place so that they could pay their respects to my relative, though she was unknown to me, but, to me, this event had more of a lasting impression. I could never become completely inured to the loss of life, but I could always pick up the pieces and persevere.

Musical Review

"Bathwater" by No Doubt

You and your museum of lovers

The precious collection you've housed in your covers

My simpleness threatened by my own admission

And the bags are much too heavy

In my insecure condition

My pregnant mind is fat full with envy again

But I still love to wash in your old bathwater

Love to think that you couldn't love another

I cant help it...you're my kind of man

Haunted and adored by attractive women

Bountiful selection at your discretion

I know I'm diving into my own destruction

So why do we choose the boys that are naughty

I don't fit in so why do you want me?

And I know I can't tame you...but I just keep trying

'Cause I love to wash in your old bathwater

Love to think that you couldn't love another

On your list with all your other women

But I still love to wash in your old bathwater

You make me feel like I couldn't love another

I can't help it.. you're my kind of man

Why do the good girls always want the bad boys?

And so I pacify problems with kisses and cuddles

Diligently doubtful through all kinds of troubles

Then I find myself choking on all my contradictions

'Cause I still love to wash in your old bathwater

Love to think that you couldn't love another

Share a toothbrush...you're my kind of man

I still love to wash in your old bathwater

Make me feel like I couldn't love another

I can't help it... you're my kind of man

No I can't help myself

I can't help myself

I still love to wash in your old bathwater

No Doubt- you’ve heard them many a time, but you’ve probably never given the band from Anaheim, California a second thought. Composed of Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Adrian Young, and Tom Dumont, this not-so-new band continually churns out songs that most certainly do not disappoint, and its newest endeavor, in the works now, will undoubtedly please. Formed in 1986, the band has since won two Grammys and sold over 27 million records. Though they had little popularity at first, especially due to the trendy status of the grunge movement in their early years, No Doubt steadily gained fame as they toured and released more albums. Whether you love them, hate them, or hate to love them, you simply cannot deny that No Doubt has wrought a great influence on the music industry.
Though most generally classify the group as ska, No Doubt tries to break away from that idea and actually spans several genres. They combine ska, pop, reggae, dance, and alternative rock to create a new sound that is uniquely theirs. They often include horns, keyboards, complex vocals, and guest singers. No Doubt purposely chooses to ignore the boundaries surrounding musical genres so that its members and its audience can expand their tastes and never feel confined. Lead singer Gwen Stefani successfully enthralls her listeners in all songs; her voice ranges from soft to longing, from hateful to scathing. She engages the audience, lets them feel the emotion behind the song, while all other instruments add even more passion to the songs. In the single “Bathwater,” written by Stefani, Kanal, and Dumont, Stefani lays bare all of her insecurities about a boyfriend, asking, “I don’t fit in so why do you want me?” She sings of a situation that she and many others have been in before, playing on the insecurities of listeners to connect them to the song in a true way, all the while showing her supporters that she and the other members of the band are real people who still doubt themselves, despite what their name might suggest.
No Doubt weaves many varied messages throughout their songs, and they communicate their ideas very well. As they usually write their own songs, the band members choose topics to write about that they know and understand well. Their songs chronicle Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal’s relationship and their subsequent break up and later chronicle Stefani’s relationship with Gavin Rossdale. “Bathwater,” from the album Return of Saturn, shows lovers’ ability to accept each others’ shortcomings. The line from the refrain, “I love to wash in your old bathwater,” implies that the singer tolerates her beau’s faults so well that she even would not mind bathing herself in his used water. In other songs, No Doubt criticizes society; in “Just a Girl,” the singer complains of societal restraints placed on her because of her gender, saying “I'm just a girl, all pretty and petite/ so don't let me have any rights.”
The group’s ability to cross genres and to promote certain views has influenced other artists and their works. Recently, Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams cited No Doubt as one of their influences and as a guide for the development of her band’s career. The similarities between the album covers for No Doubt’s Rock Steady and Paramore’s Riot! evidences the sway that No Doubt has had. Just as the band influences others, Madness, Fishbone, The Smiths, and other New Wave and British artists inspired and still inspire Stefani, Kanal, Dumont, and Young. Some of these influences are even heard in Gwen Stefani’s solo career, successful due largely to her exposure as the lead singer of her original musical venture.
No Doubt will unquestionably continue their greatly successful musical career, and they will never stop inspiring old and new bands alike. They have attained commercial success, but, more importantly, No Doubt has created music that they love and that enables the band’s members to express themselves, all the while entertaining and teaching its devoted followers.

Hypnopaedia

My hypnopaedic statement, "Only Money Matters," demonstrates the emphasis our society places on money. The flashing words make viewers start to believe their meaning without thinking about it. The green color scheme subliminally reminds viewers of money. The image of a hundred dollar bill between all of the other pictures puts more significance on the want for more money, right now. Pictures of the rich and famous implants the desire to become more like these people. Images of famous brand-name products also make the audience want to have more of these kinds of objects for themselves. The images in this video represent all of the wants that our society has. Commercials, billboards, magazines, television shows, and the internet constantly push people to become more consumeristic. Many people look up to the rich simply because they have money and they would like to be more like them. Most of society's mores can be summed up into the belief that "Only Money Matters."

Dramatic Monologue

Who am I to him?
I am nothing, nothing at all.

I am the hurdle he must jump
So that he can achieve his dreams.
But what of my dreams?
They are shattered,
They are gone,
And so I am gone.

He has taken my place, my job, my life.
Judge Irwin, I suppose, thinks only,
“The ends justify the means.”
The means- they are me-
Me and my livelihood and my sister and my life.
I can not rightly go on;
I know what I must do;
I have resigned myself.

I exhausted all of my resources.
I informed Governor Stanton,
But he denied my accusations
Because he, too, is a selfish man,
And besides, why would Mortimer L. Littlepaugh ever matter?
I’ll bet Stanton thinks
Judge Irwin could amount to something,
So he therefore deserves my place.

I’m leaving everything to my sister,
Even though it may not be much,
So that she can survive
And make a life for herself
Where I could not make one for myself.

My fate is this-
To live a short life,
To have everything stolen from me,
To die at the hands of the most upright judge,
To suffer.

I have no question as to how
I will-dare I say it? - kill myself;
My only question now is this-
Will anyone notice when I am gone?

All the King's Men Found Poem

A New Light
This cracked sylight under which we stand
provides barely enough light to shine
on the sun- bleached sand.
The ocean, filled with brine,
leaves all glistening with moisture.
I look up, and stars and crescents
in the sky are together cloistered.
The moon shines with its brilliance,
the silence bulges and creaks,
the waves come in a beautiful reciprocal motion,
I finally find the one most unique,
and I learn that love is not just fiction.

Long Day's Journey Into Night Essay

To give their works more life and depth, many authors incorporate their own experiences into their works. Khaled Hosseini, in his novel The Kite Runner, follows this pattern by using his experiences of growing up in Afghanistan and of helping a Hazara man learn to read and write to flesh out the relationship between his main characters Amir and Hassan. Writers use their own lives, beliefs, and backgrounds because the subjects come naturally to them and because retelling their own stories helps them to deal with any repercussions their actions may have had. The same holds true for Eugene O’Neill. O’Neill writes about morphine addiction, alcoholism, and an Irish-Catholic family in Long Day’s Journey into Night in order to face the family problems he grew up with as a child.
Since Eugene O’Neill discovered his mother’s addiction to morphine at a young age, the playwright had to live with his mother’s problems for much of his life, and he chose to deal with them through the medium of his plays. Both Ella O’Neill and Mary Tyrone, after complications while giving birth, use morphine at first to assuage their pains. However, the two mothers cannot, or perhaps refuse to, give up the relief that morphine gives them (Overview 1). Mary and Ella neglect their families and friends while under the drug’s influence; they choose to dwell in the past, ignoring the actual events that occur around them so that they will not have to deal with any hurt or pain. Eugene O’Neill sorts out his guilt for causing his mother’s addiction through Edmund Tyrone and his guilt for the same thing. Both feel that their births forced this reliance on morphine onto their mothers, but while Edmund does nothing to deal with his culpability, O’Neill does his best to understand his mother’s actions by fabricating a similar situation that he can understand in one of his final and most personal plays (Overview 1).
Eugene O’Neill portrays Jamie and Edmund Tyrone as alcoholics to document his troubles with his older brother and his own internal conflicts. Jamie O’Neill abuses alcohol to escape from the realities of his mother’s problems and his father’s emotional distance from the family just as Jamie Tyrone does in Long Day’s Journey into Night. Although the two have essentially the same addiction as their mothers, nobody ever recognizes the sons’ alcoholism as a problem while many look down upon the mothers; O’Neill presents this double standard in his play to instruct his readers about the hazardous effects liquor can have wreak on families. Although Mary’s morphine causes family troubles, the Tyrone men’s alcohol produces just as many negative effects, if not more (Overview 1). O’Neill attempts to posthumously fix his bad relationship with his older brother by giving Jamie Tyrone, Jamie O’Neill’s alter-ego, redeeming qualities such as his choice to visit a fat prostitute because she may lose her job. Much of the alcoholism in the O’Neill and Tyrone families results from their Irish-Catholic roots, so they cannot easily overcome it, since it is a natural part of their heritage.
Both Eugene O’Neill and the Tyrone family cope throughout their lives with both the stigma and pride that accompany an Irish-Catholic ancestry. James Tyrone especially displays his national pride, even saying to his own son, “And keep your dirty tongue off Ireland, with your sneers about peasants and bogs and hovels!” (O’Neill 34) The Tyrone men pride themselves on their ability to hold their alcohol, a very Irish trait. Eugene and Jamie O’Neill also drank often, sometimes forcing themselves to restrain their habit while with non-Irish (Overview 2). Immigrants from Ireland, often discriminated against merely for their culture, faced social ostracism; James Tyrone and James O’Neill know this very well as they went through it first hand, O’Neill in his acting career and Tyrone in his social connections. An important part of the Irish tradition, Catholicism plays a distinct role in both families. The Tyrones have effectually abandoned their religion, although not in name. Eugene O’Neill, too, gives up his religion soon after he realizes his mother’s addiction to morphine (Overview 3). O’Neill may have tried to atone for this desertion of his faith by writing about the Tyrone family and explaining how his upbringing affected his beliefs.
By baring his life, family, and emotions to the world in his Long Day’s Journey into Night, O’Neill enables his readers to relate more easily to his story and situation and to recognize their own struggles in his play. The audience can realize that others strain just as much as they do to survive and live a “normal” life. The playwright thus gives his audience hope despite the seemingly bleak ending of the work, where Mary reflects on the beginning of her relationship with James Tyrone. The play demonstrates the results regret can have and teaches its audience to forgive and forget, even if that means forgiving oneself, because the past cannot be undone.

Works Cited
“Overview: Long Day’s Journey into Night.” Literature and its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Vol. 3: Growth of Empires to the Great Depression (1890-1930s). Detroit: Gale, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Gale. LEE COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM. 20 Sept. 2008
<http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=lees86285>.

O'Neill, Eugene, and Harold Bloom. Long Day's Journey into Night. New York: Yale UP, 2002.

Emily Dickinson Method Poem

Shift

The time before

it happens,

the time while

you anticipate,

can seem so

very slow

and yet pass

so quickly.

As you wait,

lost in

times of bliss,

change creeps,

makes its move,

never revealing

where it goes

until it

takes its leave.

College Essay

At the beginning of my freshman year of high school, I joined many clubs, eager to figure out which ones would suit me best. I tried Student Government Association and went to a few meetings of Chess Club, and though I enjoyed them for a short while, they simply did not feel right. I had always taken pleasure in watching professional ballroom dancing on television and had danced as a young child, so I made the decision to join the new Latin Dance Club. I have never since regretted that choice. I loved learning the new steps and listening to the music; dance club on Friday afternoons became my stress reliever and therapy. The Latin Dance Club soon became so important to me and a few other friends that we decided that our school needed a dance class.
During sophomore year, my friends and I took our idea, along with reasons the class would be beneficial and a list of students who would also like to take part in a dance class, to the school’s Dean of Academics. We explained to her that other students could also find a new and unique way to exercise and decompress through this course while gaining their fine arts credit. The administrator’s approval thrilled me, and I quickly requested a place in Dance Techniques I.
In addition to decreasing my anxiety levels, the Latin Dance Club and Dance Techniques exposed me to Hispanic culture. I learned more about the people, their music, their cuisine, and their relaxed way of life. Learning about the way others lived fascinated me, and it inspired me to delve into the Spanish language. I took higher level Spanish classes so I could learn more quickly, watched Spanish television programs, and began to listen to Spanish radio stations. I loved the idea that, by learning this language, I could increase the amount of people I could communicate with exponentially. Learning Spanish developed into a challenge I fervently attempted to win. In the spring of my junior year, I travelled to Ecuador. This new experience put my dreams and talents into perspective. Although I could understand most of the conversations, I never kept up with our guides and the locals. I realized that if I truly wanted to know the language, I could not give up, even though it sometimes felt as though I could never succeed, and I could not solely rely on my natural affinity for languages. Since then, I have made every effort to familiarize myself with Spanish, and I always seek out and take any extra opportunities to use it.
The influence Latin Dance Club has had on me extends even to my future, as I plan to continue studying Spanish at college. I hope to one day have full command of the language and I may even choose a career that will involve it. It broadened my horizons enough that my desire for knowledge now extends to other languages. I would like to one day study and learn French and Russian, among others. I changed profoundly simply because of a school club, from a young child content with her native tongue, to a young woman yearning to know more.