New Chapter

Chapter 4 is up. Click the Charlotte link at the top of the page. I also got rid of some unneeded fluff on the right side, to give the blog a less chaotic look.

Stones of Fate

Stones of Fate is a game designed by some of the people I game with Saturday mornings. They need donations and offer rewards for their backers. It's a pretty fun strategy game, that is simple to play and easy to learn. For just $20 you can have a copy of the game shipped to you when it's published. Check out videos and more information on game play on the Kickstarter page. You can check out the publishing company for the game here. They could really use your support for the game.

Senior Projects and Stuff

One of my senior projects is is Charlotte and the Witch. This is the story that I'm working on. There are links to it in various places throughout my blog. (Like here for example.) It's a story of a baby that gets possessed and gains magical powers which she has no control over. She goes around doing horrible things to people and regrets every moment of it, but still has no control. Anyway, I'm still working on it, so y'all should check it out.

My other project that I'm working on is my board game entitled Prom Queen. I'm bringing it to school pretty much every day now, so if you want to play it, just ask me. I plan on getting this game published in the future, and make some money off of it. I may need some sort of art for the board and cards. I'll also need to find a way to get plastic pieces and cardboard tokens made, so that I don't have to mooch off of Risk for game pieces.

Helen Essay

Finally got it up:

Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world, and both poets understood that there were no women like her. Poe sees this as only positive, she is beautiful and pure. Poe believes that her beauty is a gift from the heavens, and by existing, she graces everyone that shares her world. H.D. on the other hand, sees this beauty as an example of what others are not, and therefore common people are upset, because they’ll never be as good as her. These two poets shape their separate views through contrasting usage of poetic devices.

The poets use the recent history of the speaker as a basis for which their speaker forms their opinion. In Poe’s poem, Helen had recently crossed seas and the people of Greece rejoice in her beauty, while in H.D.’s poem, death had occurred in the recent past. The speaker in Poe’s poem only sees the beauty that Helen’s face brings, whereas H.D.’s takes in a larger picture of war, lust, and jealousy.

The tone in each of the poems differ greatly. Poe sets his tone of optimism through his choice of comparison to all the lovely things in nature. H.D. makes his tone stand out by pointing out that everybody hates her and won’t be happy until she’s dead. Poe’s poem remains pure through focusing only on Helen’s face and hands, but H.D. details more lustful body parts, as a strategy to add corruption to the tone. In the time period this was written, a woman was not supposed to show her feet or knees, as these were seen as very sexual.

With 3 stanzas and 15 lines, these poems share a similar basic structure, but digging deeper will yield many differences in other parts of the structure. Poe’s rhyming scheme is more formal than that of H.D. in order to emphasize that Poe’s speaker is addressing a goddess while H.D.’s is addressing an evil. Poe’s rhythm is also more consistent than H.D.’s, also showing the differences in the speaker’s preparation of the announcement to Helen.

The two poets use very different strategies to get their drastically differing points across. Poe uses formalities as flattery, while H.D. relies on the outrage of the speaker to show frustration. The speakers are shown to have different opinions on the same subject through different uses of poetic devices.

BNE draft 1

There are a few characters in Brave New World that feel isolated even though people aren’t shunning them. These characters reveal new perspectives on the society of the novel. Bernard actually thinks about who he is and what he thinks. His thoughts uncover shocking features of the culture. John was raised into a completely different society, so he doesn’t understand the norms and beliefs of the society or where they came from. His presence brings sharp contrast to the story to emphasize the features and views of the society.

John simply doesn’t know what the society thinks, or how they react to changes. When he hugs his father, who was raised in a different culture, his father gets upset. This shows that the people in the society not only aren’t attached to others, but also reject this type of attachment. John’s father is very uncomfortable in this situation because he was completely unprepared for it. John wants people to open their eyes and think about what they are doing and how its wrong, but the people in the society don’t seem to mind because they were raised not to react to the ramblings of another. The fact that John cares about the people shows that the people don’t really even care about themselves.

Even though Bernard was raised in the culture of not caring about others or feeling anything but happiness, he feels unfulfilled and looks for more in life. Bernard rejects the sex and drugs that all the other people are doing, in order to better understand life and himself. Bernard has the capability to feel comfortable while looking out over the ocean by himself, while any other person in the society would quickly become bored and go do more sex and drugs. Bernard reveals that the people have become reliant on physical stimulants in order to be happy, and anybody who wasn’t was simply strange.

These two characters different personalities reveal different things about the society. Since John didn’t know how people would react, he was much more up front about the things he wanted to express. Bernard quietly questioned issues that arose around him. John’s presence emphasizes how people interact with each other and how nothing in the society is personal or heartfelt, whereas Bernard’s presence shows the problems around the individual’s own thoughts and habits.

Huxley uses alienation to express the norms and moral viewpoints of his society. He points out the differences in the features of his selected characters and the culture they are surrounded by to identify what the society believes. John the savage questions the society to attempt to change the unchangeable. Bernard questions himself to change the small corner of the world which he can make better.

Sheeple

                          This image pretty much summarizes the key points of American conditioning.

Image provided by XKCD.com under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

New Chapter

Chapter two is up and posted to the Charlotte and the Witch page. Click the tab at the top of the page to check it out.

March Lit Analysis

For my literary analysis for this month, I will do the same thing I did last month. The point of this assignment is to read in order to better understand how authors use literary devices and strategies. I am HACKING MY CURRICULUM to change the assignment from reading and reporting these literary strategies, to actually practicing writing and using these strategies. I plan on gaining a new perspective on how authors are able to convey messages through their writing by becoming an author and using them myself. This is what I have so far.

Recent changes

If you havn't noticed, there's now a tab for Charlotte and the witch at the top of the blog. I'll post here to let you know when I update it. I just  added more this morning, the second part of chapter 1. As requested by Beka, my additions will be longer but less frequent.

First Quarter Review

I think I've done very little as far as required assignments go, mostly because I don't post Lit Term remixes. I rarely look at other people's blogs. I have done a Literary Analysis, so I'm doing better this semester in that regard. I have been working on my project a lot in this class, so the time I spend here is not wasted. See other posts.

Next quarter, I will work on my project a lot more often. I will do more required assignments and look at other people's stuff more. As far as suggestions go, I would like to have student presentations where we talk more about each student's SPs/BQs/CWGs.

Charlotte and the Witch Ch. 1 Pt. 1

Charlotte’s body shook her awake. Her legs stood her up and her eyes went to the stone she had carved earlier. She waited patiently and obediently as the witch would try to wiggle her fingers in just the right way to change something whole and natural, into a complete abomination.
Charlotte could do nothing but closely watch as she practiced her magic. The fact that her body used the stone statue of herself as a target for the various spells she observed herself cast horrified Charlotte. She waited in suspense as the witch crumbled her likeness in thousands of different ways.

Charlotte hated living in the dark cave, but her body didn’t seem to mind. When she needed to eat, her hand would feel the ground to find the life forces of vermin that she would catch, kill, and cook with one flick of the wrist. The only source of light was the dancing orb her body had created above her head. Her rests were infrequent and inconstant. Charlotte began to realize she was trapped, but without her captor and the power she possessed, she would be dead anyway.

The moments her body spent training blurred together. The witch had quickly gotten used to the ability to harness the magic she had brought with her into the child, but would still train harder and harder, as if to improve further her own capabilities. Charlotte had begun to believe that she wasn’t the first person to be possessed by this witch. The old lady before her, and most likely even more before the old lady were possessed in a similar manner, and forced to serve the witch until old age. Charlotte had accepted this fate, as many before her had, but wondered why she was able to think so clearly about it. With each passing moment, Charlotte felt smaller and smaller.

Charlotte noticed that the bears that the witch had slaughtered were not there anymore. She also noticed that the steps her legs took no longer felt straining on her physical form. She felt herself sit down, blink, then stand up. That's all her rests felt like to her. Blinks. She couldn’t dream like she used to. The prison offered no form of escape, even in spirit. Her body stood up again, as it had done countless times before, but this time, turned towards one of the walls. Her hand felt the wall, and then blasted a large hole through the wall. The resulting light was brighter than anything she had seen. This light was different from something the witch could have made, it burned her skin.

She stepped through the hole in the cave to find a familiar forest, but everything seemed... smaller. Not tiny, like she was a giant, but tree branches that she had recalled as being out of reach were now within reach. She wanted to climb one of the huge trees, but her body just made a small motion with her hand. A sort of mist appeared where her hand swiped. She saw herself in this mist. A young girl. She didn’t look like a baby anymore. Her face was pale, her hair was long and dark. She saw herself in this mist getting smaller and smaller. She saw the tips of trees, then the trees turned into a green blur. One corner of the mist wasn’t covered in this green.

Charlotte’s head turned, her eyes stared off into forest at some distant target she couldn’t see. Her hand dismissed the mist, and her legs walked off into the forest. There was a quietness about the forest. No animals could be seen or heard, no birds were singing and the twigs underneath Charlotte’s feet weren’t snapping as she walked over them. The quietness seemed almost unreal, even more unreal than the fact that her body was walking without her control.

Her eyes wouldn’t allow her to admire the forest, to take in the nature that her wandering mind wanted to. The trail that her feet were walking on looked boring and repetitive. The few flowers that were allowed into her vision were pretty and colorful, but, as much as she wanted to, her body wouldn’t allow her to walk up to them, and bury her nose among the petals to smell these gifts of nature. Free will isn't something Charlotte could have any more. Each tree blurred by, the forest seemed to pass through her.

Charlotte noticed the sun had set. The sky was dark and her body was cold. Her hand pointed itself at the ground and a hole appeared. Her feet jumped in and sat down. Her hands raised and the hole was sealed. Charlotte’s eyes blinked.

Prologue Ch. 4

There was nothing but darkness. Charlotte was alone, on the ground, and covered in dirt. Charlotte felt her arms move, rocking the rest of her body until she flipped over on her stomach. She felt her body trying to stand up, but she stumbled a few times before actually managing to effectively move. She allowed her tiny feet and legs to carry her back to the wooden shack that her parents called home. She raised her hand, but the knob was just out of reach. She felt her hand touch the door softly. She couldn’t move it, her hand was stuck there. Her body couldn’t move. She was frozen in this position. She heard herself muttering something under her own breath. She felt something hot in her hand. Something on the door was glowing brightly. Charlotte could see her hand and arm, but it didn’t feel like hers. The light grew brighter and hotter.The small part of the door her hand was covering caught fire, and she felt her legs carry her away from her family and parents.

She stood back to watch the wooden structure go up in flames. She heard herself laugh. There was a voice echoing inside her skull, “You’re mine now child!” Charlotte heard the screaming of the people that used to be her parents. She tried to cry, but her captor wouldn’t let her.

After hours passed and the flames had died down, Charlotte’s legs carried her to the wreckage, where her eyes forced her to examine the charred remains of her dead parents. “They are dead. Nobody knows about you but me now, child.” Charlotte wasn’t alone. She was carried to the sack next to the old lady’s skeleton. Had this old lady suffered the same fate? Her hand grasped the strap of the pack, and started dragging it off into the forest.

Charlotte had noticed a few changes about herself. She began to think more. Not the same thoughts she used to have either. Her biggest concern was no longer for food or a change, but more sentient feelings, like happiness and freedom. She had also began thinking that this wasn’t normal for a two-week-old infant. She noticed that with each passing minute, her steps became more fluid and graceful.

She saw that she was approaching a cave. She knew that meant shelter. Her legs walked her into the cave. The cave was dark, but not empty. Charlotte’s hand raised, and started glowing. The cave was filled with hairy, monstrous beasts she had never seen before. The word “bear” came to her mind. The beasts were easily twenty times her size, probably more. She wanted to be afraid, but her body wouldn’t listen. She heard her mouth scream, waking these “bears” that she wanted to run away from. They woke up, at least five of them, and growled at her, approaching her slowly.

Her foot stepped forward, as if challenging the hungry family of monsters. The monsters had no reason to be intimidated and charged. Her hand pointed at the “bears” and with a flick of the wrist, they tripped. Charlotte’s legs ran past the grounded beasts, toward the back of the cave. Her body turned around, facing the mouth of the cave. She saw her fists close and the mouth of the cave collapse. She now stood in a room, completely sealed, and filled with hungry bears. Charlotte’s hand was pointed at the bears. She felt a familiar feeling in her hand. It started to glow, and in an instant, the beasts were nothing but charred corpses on the ground.

Her legs sat her down in the pitch black cave. Her hands changed shape in her lap. A light appeared in front of her, illuminating the cave. Her legs stood her up, and she started doing fantastic things, things she didn’t even believe were possible. She lifted rocks without touching them, burst them into nothing but dust, and reassembled the dust into a statue that looked almost exactly like her. Her eyes examined the statue. Not the witch’s best work, but it showed improvement. Her legs sat her down again, and her eyes closed. Her infant body needed rest.

Prologue ch. 3

“If we want this to last, we need to dry it out, and the best way to do that is a smokehouse. You two need to gather wood to build with.” Vira was only half concentrating on what she was saying. She was looking at the couple, but wasn’t really focused on them. “My old bones can’t really use a hatchet, but we need to get this done quickly, so I’ll guide you on what to do once you bring enough wood.” It was evident that Vira was just as excited about Nathan’s deer. “Go on now, before it’s spoiled.”

Nathan handed Charlotte over to Vira, and dashed into the shack and ran out, an axe in each hand, tossed one to Daniella, and dashed off to the closest tree, and started hacking away at it. Daniella was more encumbered by the heavy tool, but still managed to run to another close tree. Vira yelled at them, “No, not here! Do you want these trees to fall on your home? Do you know anything about lumbering?” She didn’t really sound angry, she used the same, neutral tone that her voice always held. The couple ran off in the woods together, leaving Vira and the baby alone by the carcasses.

Vira eyed the unnaturally still baby. Examining her face, body, and skin. Staring deeply into the baby’s green eyes. Vira saw something she liked in this infant, something she hadn’t seen in a very long time. She carried the baby and laid her in her bed inside the dark wooden room. As soon as the baby was set down, she started squirming and crying. “Oh be quiet you!” Vira said, although she knew it would have no effect on the noise. Vira started a fire and hung a pot of water over the fire. She went outside and came back with a bowl of bloody venison and dumped it into the pot. She sat there, stirring the stew, adding spices from her bag as she was cooking. Occasionally going outside to grab more meat.

As the sun began to set, Nathan and Daniella made their way back to their little home, arm in arm, covered in sweat. They were excited to come home and taste their first meat in months. They smiled when they smelled the stew cooking from inside. They saw Vira inside, holding a sleeping baby in one hand and stirring the stew in the other. She turned and saw the couple in the doorway. “Grab some bowls. I didn’t spend all day cooking for nothing.” They sat down on their uncomfortable chairs around the small table with their food and ate. They spent hours feasting with the most delicious food they’ve ever tasted. Daniella had lost count of the number of times she went to refill her bowl. Nathan had never eaten this fast in his life. Although the serving pot was huge, the size of the trunk they used to use to store their things when they went on vacation,  they eventually did run out of food, hand went to bed shortly after.

After everyone else was asleep, Vira crept over to where the baby slept. “My rebirth will begin with you, little one.” Vira told Charlotte as she picked up the baby, waking her. The baby didn’t cry, she couldn’t cry. She was being held by Vira.

Vira carried her outside, and set her down in the dirt. She pulled a candle out of her pack, lit it, then set it on the ground in front of Charlotte. She started drawing designs on the ground around the baby. The night was creeping around the tiny circle of light from the candle. The air was still, and the forest was silent. Nothing could be heard but the chanting coming from the old witch. Something dark came out of the woman’s mouth and shot through Charlotte’s skull. Vira collapsed, the candle went out, and the darkness surrounded the child.

Castlevania Literary Analysis

Plot
1. A hero with magical powers hears of a great evil, known as Dracula, that is awakening from a deep slumber. The hero ventures into a haunted castle filled with vampires, ghosts, and other terrifying monsters, with the intent to stop Dracula from awakening. In the final confrontation, she finds that the Dark Lord she has to face was actually disguising himself as a small child named Malus, which she had thought she had saved earlier. After killing this horrible monster, the hero escapes the crumbling castle and visits the cemetery for all the people that were killed by the Dark Lord's actions.

2. Although a purpose may appear clear, take nothing as certainty.

3. The tone was very spooky and creepy.
"But the old legends live, and soon the land will again be plunged into darkness."
"Why have you no fear? Nothing but vampires and demons live here."
"The devil in the black cloak was looking for a certain child..."

4. Antithesis: the 2 faces of Malus (small child, Dark Lord)
Contrast: The rather quick jump from the castle walls filled with monsters to the seemingly peaceful castle courtyard.
Epitaph: reading on the tombstones in the castle courtyard
Foreshadowing: The lifelike dog statues that later come to life and attack
Irony: Rosa the vampire watering her red roses with blood, calling them her white roses
Symbols: Garden maze=A person's fears
Clock tower=The amount of time left to stop the Dark Lord
Magical Nitro=frailty of the human mind
Purifying=simplicity of good against evil.

Characters
1.Direct characterization: detailing the background of the hero in the exposition and the physical appearance given to the castle.
Indirect: The hero caring about the small child's safety shows compassion and the hero venturing into the castle in the first place shows bravery.

2. The diction changes drastically when dealing with the dialogue and interactions between characters. The tone shifts from being outright horrifying to being a much more subtle creepiness, dealing with the character's sanity rather than bravery.

3. The protagonist is a flat static character. The purpose of the hero is known, and the hero is determined to see it through to the end.

4. I felt like I had read a character. The dialogue of the characters was really choppy and inconsistent.

Creative Writing Part 2

Here's the second chapter of the story. Tell your friends if you like it. Same rules as last time. I would like more comments than last time before I start working on more. This takes a very long time to do. It's not worth me doing if my audience is as small as it has been.

The couple’s hearts were pounding in sync from opposite ends of the room. As Nathan opened the creaky wooden door, a cold rush of air came through the house, sending a shiver down Daniella’s spine. She couldn’t quite see who or what was on the other side of the door, but she knew it couldn’t be good news. She heard her husband say with a shaky voice, “Hello?”

“Good evening, Sir, I’m terribly sorry to inconvenience you, but could you perhaps, provide a wandering old lady with a place to stay? This is the only home I’ve seen all day, and it is very late.” An old woman in a dark, hooded cloak was standing in the doorway. Even from across the room, she looked very cold and tired. Daniella was ashamed of the little they now had to offer the old lady.

Daniella breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Then she noticed her baby that she had just put to sleep had woken up and started crying. She scooped Charlotte up, and walked toward the door. She knew they had to let the woman inside, but they could barely fit the three of them in the house, and they had no way to feed her, and the old woman could accidentally rat them out to the Tiger-Bloods if they ran into her.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think we have any room. I’m afraid we can’t offer you anything. As you can see, we already don’t have much as it is.”

“Nathan! She can stay the night! You can’t just send her out in the cold like that!” She pulled him aside.”We can kick her out in the morning. Just let her stay one night. You know what it’s like to be out there at night. She can sleep on the floor. I just don’t think it would be right to send her off.” Nathan looked at Daniella and Charlotte, then back at the old woman.

“You can stay one night, and we can’t feed you. That’s all I can offer.” Nathan said, definitively.

“Thank you, I’ll try to avoid being a nuisance. I don’t need anything to eat, and I can leave in the morning if that’s what you wish.” The old woman looked at the baby, then back at Nathan. “I apologize for upsetting your baby. I didn’t realize...” The woman trailed off, staring at the small infant in Daniella’s arms.her voice now sounded very grateful and relieved that she could sleep inside a warm home of a loving family.

“Come in and close the door.” Nathan sounded impatient. He put his arm around the old lady to push her inside. He peered outside, sword still in hand, as if his home and family were being stalked, then closed the door. The woman walked over to the corner of the room where Nathan kept his hunting supplies, which were laying neatly on the floor. Bow, closest to the wall, strung tightly, quiver full of arrows parallel with the bowstring, there was a space next to the arrows, which she assumed was for the sword Nathan was now wielding. Next to that, a small knife. It looked very sharp, it had an elegant floral pattern on the handle, that looked like it would be shiny if it weren’t so dirty. The straight blade was dirty like it had been in use, but was sharp as though it hadn’t cut anything.

The woman took off her cloak, and put it on the floor next to the hunting supplies, revealing the disgusting rags she was wearing underneath. Daniella was trying desperately to get Charlotte to stop her bawling. The woman took off the pack that was slung on her back, and sat down cross-legged next to her things and shut her eyes.Almost immediately, Charlotte went back to sleep, and Daniella and Nathan tried to get some sleep for themselves too.

Daniella awoke the next morning to the birds outside. She saw her husband equipping himself for another hunting attempt. He had a sickened and sad look on his face, as he did every morning for the past week. He put his quiver over his shoulder and walked toward the door. “Good luck.” Nathan didn’t respond. He knew he was trying his best, but trying won’t enable the survival of his family. The old lady was still sitting near the corner. Her eyes popped open just as Nathan twisted the knob to leave.

“Wait!” She shouted, waking the baby, who started crying. “I noticed you may need help with your hunting. I may be able to assist with that.” She stood up and walked toward Daniella who got out out of bed in a hurry. “I can tell by her face that she hungers. She hasn’t eaten any meat in a while, and you’re about to attempt to kill something to feed her, and through her, your child.” The old lady looked him up and down. “I think it’s very possible that your luck will change very soon.”

Nathan looked at her puzzled. “What do you mean by that?”

“You really think that after all of your failed attempts, your determination will go unrewarded? I think your thoughts on the matter are incorrect. You’re luck will change soon if you keep trying. You will try harder today, right?”

“I have to. I ran out of options. The only thing I can do now is try to survive out there and bring back something, anything that can sustain my family.” Nathan said. The tone of his voice matched the look on his face. “Miracles just don’t happen for me.”

Nathan was starting to break down and Daniella saw it. “We didn’t choose to live out here you know. We used to be a powerful family in the city of Aurabrook. The Greenhorns, my husband’s family, owned the silver mines that the town is known for.” Daniella interrupted, Nathan tried to shush her, but she went on, “Our family was a powerful ally and supporter of King Gerald when he was overthrown by a group that calls themselves the Tiger-Bloods. The Tiger-Bloods knew that and started hunting down the Greenhorns, who were very easy targets to kill, seeing as they were rich all their lives, and had little to no fighting skills or experience with manual labor. They killed the head of the family, Nathan’s dad. Nathan’s two elder brothers were also murdered by the Tiger-Bloods. Nathan and I fled town, stealing the hunting supplies which he now carries. We wandered the land, looking for a safe place to start over. Nathan built this house two weeks ago, right before our daughter was born. He hasn’t been able to kill anything, and we’ve been living off berries and fruits that we pray aren’t poisonous. Winter is approaching fast, and if we don’t have any sort of food that will keep, we won’t survive, and all this running and hiding will have been in vain.”

It was very unlike Daniella to speak out like that, revealing family secrets that put all of them in danger like that. After speaking like that, she realized she had been ignoring her maternal instinct about keeping her baby safe, and had been ignoring the fact that the baby had still been crying. She had done nothing to get her baby to stop. Her husband was completely shocked by her voice. Something about it didn’t seem normal. The mother was speaking out of desperation. She picked up her baby and tried to nurse. She watched as her husband, completely shocked, left the house.

After trying to calm Charlotte down for a few minutes with no results, Daniella heard the old lady announce, “Thank you for letting me stay, but, as promised, I will leave.” She walked out the door, and then it was silent.

Daniella wondered how she could have let herself be so careless of her own daughter. Mothers were supposed to be ever-vigilant of their children. Did her outburst make her a bad mother? Under different conditions, a minute of carelessness could have killed Charlotte. Something came over her, she couldn’t explain it. Then she felt that none of it mattered anyway, they probably weren’t going to make it through the winter. What did it matter that she had been careless for a few seconds when they were all going to die within a few more weeks? No. She had to believe. If she gave up now, they would be settling for their own doom.

After what seemed like almost no time at all, the door burst open. Nathan was in the doorway, shouting something. Daniella couldn’t quite make out what he was saying, but he sounded happy, so she couldn’t help but smile. “I did it! I did it! We’re saved!” Daniella knew what that meant. Nathan had brought down some prey. He was a hunter now. He had made his first kill.

“You did it? You killed something? What was it? Do you think it’s enough to put us through the winter?” Daniella shot off her questions quickly. She was so proud of her husband and so glad that she and Charlotte could eat something other than berries. Of course there always was the possibility that he killed a rabbit, and not anything substantial. Based on his voice, that probably wasn’t the case.

Nathan took a deep breath, then started his story, “Deer, not just one, four. I just walked a few paces away from the house,and I saw them. They were so close to me, I don’t think they noticed me, even though I practically ran into one of them. I aimed my bow at the closest one. Drew the arrow and pointed it at the deer. I missed my first few shots, but they still didn’t see me. Even after I killed the first one, the others still didn’t notice. I killed the rest, gathered all the arrows that missed. They’re still laying there dead.”

Daniella was completely astonished by the story. “Did... did you really do it? Four? Are you sure? Show me!” Nathan grabbed Daniella’s hand so fast she almost dropped Charlotte. She shifted the fragile baby into her free arm and was led outside into the forest. The light of the breezy autumn morning hurt Daniella’s eyes. Each step on the forest floor stung Daniella’s bare feet, but she couldn’t care less. She wouldn’t go hungry tonight. Nathan was shouting and celebrating. Nathan had done it. He provided for his family. They wouldn’t starve this winter.

“Here it is!” Nathan yelled, as though announcing to a large audience. There were four deer as he said. Each one dead on the ground. There was much more blood than Daniella had expected, it made her queasy. She was dancing and laughing anyway. A few months ago, she never could have pictured herself this happy over a meal. She and her family could eat again! She couldn’t wait to have a feast and eat until she was full. After their excessive celebration, Nathan instructed, “Help me drag these back to the house.”

“I’m not much help with my hands full. I’ll go get the sling and be right back.” Daniella rushed back to the small wooden house she lived in, making careful note of where the path she had taken to get back to her husband as fast as possible. It occurred to her that she did not know the first thing about preparing the deer bodies for consumption. Some of the guts are bad to eat, right? Which ones? She had to tell Nathan that she couldn’t do it. She didn’t know how to cook deer. Her cooks had always prepared her meals. She had almost no experience cooking on her own from scratch. Before she had married Nathan, she had sometimes helped her mother in the kitchen by cutting vegetables. Gutting fish had grossed her out, so she never paid attention when her mother tried to teach her. She found her sling laying neatly in her corner of the room. She put it over her shoulder, put her boots on, changed Charlotte, fastened Charlotte snugly in the sling, and headed out the door.

She found her way back to her husband, who wasn’t making much progress on his own. She helped him drag the corpses back to the small clearing in front of the house. Luckily the spot they were killed wasn’t far from the house. It was about noon by the time they got the last one to the house. “Listen Nathan, we can’t eat any of this yet. I don’t know how to make this safe to eat, but I think I know someone who can.” Daniella was trying to remain calm, even though she could hardly keep herself together. “That old lady said she had experience in the forest. I think she can help. She was too old to hunt, but I think she can help us with cleaning the meat. Hold Charlotte, I’ll go find her.” Daniella took off in the direction she saw her guest leave earlier that morning.

Nathan was left holding his child. This was the first time Daniella left him alone with the baby. He hugged it softly, and stroked her tiny, delicate forehead. He examined the baby thoroughly. She had her father’s short nose and rounded chin, but her mother’s eyes. He recalled the first time he had seen those eyes. He was walking through Aurabrook, as he used to do each morning. It was raining and there was a girl splashing around in the puddles. This wasn’t a small child with her mother, but a 22 year old girl. It was love at first sight. Nathan knew that as long he could be with her, he would be happy. It had been two years since that day, they have since gotten married and had a single child. Nathan hoisted that child on his shoulder. “Look at what daddy got you.” He showed off the deer carcasses, the irony never occurred to him. He was showing off dead bodies to his baby and was proud of it.

Daniella came crashing through the bushes with the old lady from the night before. “She agreed to help us. She said we have enough food for the four of us to last through the winter.”

“Four of us? If she can help us, then she can stay.” Nathan looked at the woman, “If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask. I don’t think we caught your name last night, what should we call you?”

The woman looked excited for all the meat that was on the floor before her. Nathan’s words seemed to pass right through her. “We have a lot of work to do.” She turned as though she suddenly heard him. “Vira, that’s my name.”

Smart Goal

I want to select which college I go to without having drastic regrets for the rest of my life. I don't want to have to spend a bunch of money changing schools or major later in my life.

Creative Writing Project

This wasn't assigned to me by Dr. Preston, but I thought I would try to do a little creative writing. If i can get 20 people to comment on this telling me they want more, I'll include the next chapter. Tell your friends.

Nathan was spending his evening in deep thought. How could a normal man like him, with no hunting experience, manage to gather enough food to put his family through the quickly approaching winter? His family couldn't help him, and there was nobody else that lived around his family, he’d made sure of that. The most he could do was hope for a miracle to save him and his family from their impending doom brought by the cold grasp of Mother Nature.

On the other side of the room, closer to the warmth of the fire, a worried woman was nursing her newborn. Daniella saw the worried and pessimistic look on her husband’s face and knew they were thinking the same thing. She also knew that worrying about problems doesn’t make them any easier to deal with. She wanted to strike up a conversation with the man on the other side of the room, but she never was good at small talk. A few times she opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't think of anything interesting to say about something that wouldn’t bring Nathan back to his problems. She decided to stop trying and focused more on rocking her baby to sleep. A task that doesn't require a whole lot of focus, but was something to keep her busy nonetheless.

Daniella had been feeling very lonely lately, spending all her time with baby Charlotte. She wondered what it would be like to have company in their tiny house. She looked around the room at the small table with two uncomfortable logs that she and her husband used as chairs. Nathan was sitting in the opposite corner of the room on the splintery wooden floor. There were no windows, the only lighting being the fireplace across from the bed. Hanging above the mantle is Nathan’s most important possession, a family heirloom. A green horn from which his family is named. It had been used to call a local militia to arms, to defend a homeland, to save lives. Now, it’s just a symbol of what his family used to mean, sitting in a shack in the middle of nowhere. The bed she was sitting on was not much more than grasses stuffed under a sheet. She had brought Charlotte into this world almost two weeks ago on that bed. After thinking about it for a while, Daniella was impressed with the general quality of the home that was now hers, considering the hastiness of its construction. Still, this place was garbage compared to where she and her husband used to live. She decided that she wasn't too upset that she would never have to have her old friends look at her and her home now.

The small newborn was breathing softly in her arms. She found it hard to believe that she had created that breathing thing she was holding. It had a heartbeat of its very own. When she thought about it, the circle of life was absolutely astonishing.

Just then a knock on the door made her heart jumped. She looked at Nathan, who motioned to her to hide behind the bed. She quickly set Charlotte down in her tiny bedside cradle which Daniella noticed she was quickly outgrowing. She got down on the ground curled up into a ball and closed her eyes. Nathan was walking toward the door slowly, each small step he made caused the floor to creak. With each second, his heart beat faster and faster. He unsheathed his sword that hadn't tasted blood in a month. Nathan reached for the knob with his free hand, and was prepared to defend his family at all costs. Daniella heard Nathan open the door ever so slightly, and prayed that this wouldn't be the end for her and her baby. She couldn't imagine a situation in which her baby’s life could be so immediately ended. She was ready to defend Charlotte with her life.

St. Crispin's Day Speach

As far as memorization goes, I simply couldn't get myself to do it at all. It was rather lengthy and not very exciting. I could probably make a better inspirational speech with no prior thought on the matter. It didn't make me feel inspired. Dr. Preston's two reasons why this assignment was worth something were that memorization is good for the mind and we become more familiar with the text. To address the memorization aspect of this assignment, I can say that, as a person, I memorize a lot of things I experience, so adding another relatively insignificant speech to my mind won't really help. As far as becoming more familiar with the text. This speech doesn't have the flow that the other poems that we memorized had. So a person like me would subconsciously use mneumonic devices to memorize the words rather than the meanings. No extra time thought on the actual meaning. This assignment didn't feel like it was important and vital to my education.

Fall Semester Reflection

1. I almost never read colleagues' work online, mainly because the way I evaluate something is by showing each thing I think is wrong. This doesn't seem very fair because most of the stuff others' blogs isn't present on mine because I almost never update this thing. It wouldn't be fair for me to tear a work to shreds without a work of my own for them to tear to shreds.

2. Our course blog doesn't really change all that much for the students. Without a course blog, the only people drastically affected would be those on the outside.

3. Nothing about my attitude toward the work has changed based on the publicity of my blog.

4. The openness of the classroom has helped quite a few times for me when I need to find information that isn't quite relevant and applicable to every member of class.

5. It doesn't feel too different from any other class if you aren't afraid or shocked by the publicity. By the end of the year, it isn't about passing the A.P. exam, it's about preparing yourself for the rest of your own life chosen by you.

6. I'm afraid I misunderstood the last question, but I like my answer too much to simply delete it. I don't actually talk to people that aren't in the class about the class because the people I talk to aren't really curious about the goings on in a high school classroom.

7. The fact that nobody is super intrigued by my trivial, daily life does't bother me. It doesn't really affect my opinions toward this class.