ENTRY 30: Response to "Good Night&Good Luck"

This film is about 1950s when the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S has reached an intense relationship. This film describes the press circles and it is about the influence of public opinion to the politics. 1950 was an era when the McCarthyism was popular at that time which brought a lot of harm to many people. In this era, individuals doing something relevant to the communist, such as attended the communist meetings, read “dangerous” books, had close people with “different” opinions, would be accused as a communist and punished. In the present, we have learnt a lot of the harm of public opinion to an individual. However, sometimes, public opinion is very useful to help people out of trouble and give a blow to the people in high position who abuse his/her power. This film exactly describes the justice of the press. In the film, the CBS publicly criticized the McCarthy and spoke for Miss Moss who was considered to be a communist. Though it lost the sponsors as standing in opposite position of the officials but it earn the support from the public. I really like the words by Murrow in the end that “the media can teach, illuminate and inspire people”. I wish that today’s media can also speak for justice but not for its own benefits.  

ENTRY 29: Reflection on the "War Games"

There is a film named “War games”. This film depicts the tension of the cold war in a kind of fancy way assuming that the real war is approaching; it also discussed the hot issue like the technology and the children rebellion, leading to its popularity among the Americans. This film grabs the attention by its unique way to doubt the technology which is so trustworthy and becoming more and more closely connected with people’s daily life. In the film, all the coming war omens are the illusions created by the computer, and because people so much rely on the technology and a real war is almost round the corner. Actually, the same like today’s phenomenon, people rely on a lot on the computer, which is very dangerous. For example, if my computer breaks down at the end of the semester, it means all works that I’ve done must be redo again. What a terrible thing. Now, many statistic about human have been processed into computer, it is very dangerous because once the information is lost, the security of individual information lose. So this film give a warn to people that though computer is a creation of human being, it doesn’t mean it is secure. So we should be careful about the technology.

ENTRY 28: Respond to The Novel The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things is a novel by Indian writer Arundhati Roy published in 1997. It is book that I suddenly picked from the bookshelf for its highly praised comment on the cover with the words “one of the most popular work” when I was a junior middle school student. But I finished reading it when I was in high school as it seemed not attractive for me until I become a high school student. This book describes the experience of twins, a boy and a girl, which focuses on describing the very small things around their lives. The story adopts the flashbacks to initially give us the adult figure of the main characters, which are numb, withered and silent, and then the time goes back to the days when they were young, an age of pure, naïve and vigour. Then a lot small things happened to them in a quick succession, silently and quickly ruined their childhood. In my interpretation the god of small things stands for the power of small things; though always they are neglected by us, they still have the profound and hidden influence on our behaviors and attitudes. Sometimes, a big accidence can destroy one’s life, giving them a big blow, forcing people to change to adapt to the new situation. However, when someone’s life is filled with the small things to press them, it is really hard for one to recognize their danger. They gradually accustomed to their current life, being unaware of the small little changes, and they are sad, they are mad, they are depressed but they have no outlet as they have no idea when things begin to go wrongly. Actually, whether some literature are good works or not cannot be determined simply by other’s comment, but your own feeling counts the most.

ENTRY 27: Infographic of Final Presentation by Poetry Section

This infographic used in the final presentation includs the division of labor of our group; the work process, the information about our group problems, the analysis of the electronic literature and other things.

ENTRY 26: Response to Today’s Presentation.

The Lying cotton review is a big project needs the contribution and the efforts from all the members involved in this project. From today’s presentation, I had a better understanding that a collective effort can make a lot. The design, art, production and also other sections of the projects, all of them have done a great job that to make things happen. Also, I really appreciate the chance as member in this group as my little piece of effort help produce something. Actually, it is amazing to see it; and the feeling of it is just like the new baby born. We are the first group of people who devotes into this project; I expect more and more people will join this group. I hope that this journal can be better in future and gain a bunch of audience who really enjoy the works in this platform.

ENTRY 25: About Poetry Section.

We are most pleased with the part of cooperation of the group members.

We attend the weekly meeting regularly. We exchange our own understandings of the poems and analyze the poems together. For the editing process, we finish our own part on time and then the whole task will smoothly proceed.

We have 3 major problems involved in our jobs.

1.      Criteria:

At first, because we are the novice as editors in the poetry section; it’s hard for us to set the criteria as different people have different opinion of what a good poem is. After setting the criteria, it’s also hard to select poem as some poems have their own strength while not meeting all the criteria. So we have to make a careful choice.  

2.      Interpretation:

As we are not native English speakers, it’s easy for us to wrongly interpret the poems with confused words. Sometimes, we encounter such situation that one member think highly of one piece of poem while another one doesn’t like it. Also, we have the trouble that because of our interpretation of the poem is different from what the author wants to convey, conflicts between author and editor occur.

3.      Communication:

The editing part really requires effective communication between the editor and the author.  Our communication with the author is not very effective. In some cases, editors fail to give clear suggestions to the author, and haven’t clarified the problems clearly, and it causes a problem that the revision poems that editors get are not the ones that we want.

If we have a chance to redo it again, we will do it differently.

1.      We will clearly define the jobs of editors and reach a common understanding of the criteria before we begin our job.

2.      Giving more time to understand the poem, increase the confidence and effectively communicate with the poet. 

ENTRY 24: Problem in Poem Selecting Part

Different people have different interpretation about one piece of poem, which is agreed by most people. However, the problem here is when we, as editors, meet with the poems that are hard to interpret by ourselves; we always assume that it is not a good piece of poem as it cannot inspire us to think. However, then problems come as that is a possibility that when this piece of poem is shared with other readers, they can fell something and they consider it is a very good poem as they may have the same experience with the author who want to convey an emotion based on his own experience. In my point of view, a good poem cannot be appreciated by one specific group by it should have the universal meaning based on the social background that we ordinary people somewhat are familiar with. 

ENTRY 23: Response to the Film "GRAVITY"

I watched the Gravity today, because it is referred by many audiences to be compared with the Interstellar. The first feeling is the shots of George Clooney are a little sparse, and most of his face was cover by the space cap, which disappointed me a lot. In this film, there are a few characters and most of them are presented only vocally without showing the face. This films is a little bit amazing as it can won such a great reputation though it seems only one main character Dr. Ryan Stone playing throughout the whole film. She is an engineer and also astronaut who struggles to survive after the disaster in the space; and she eventually makes it, successfully landing on the earth, breathing the air of home. Though there are many logical and physical faults in the films, this films still successfully exemplifies a good science film. It offers us with magnificent scenery through the powerful post production, like the stars, the darkness, the amazing planet—our earth, which are the views that an ordinary people can hardly touch but we see it through the film. Also, this film inspires us to think about ourselves. We explore the outside of the earth, which may also bring huge disasters to ourselves. So should we break the rule of the nature to attach something to the nature or just leave it as what it is? 

ENTRY 22: Response to the Eletronic Literature

 The ending of the semester is approaching. In this semester we focus on the electronic literature, a genre of literature that we encounter always in our daily life, which I’ve had a further understanding of it through the study in this semester. As for the electronic literature, it has many benefits compared to the print literature. In the class, we’ve brought up several aspects which to evaluate which is a good choice, such as productivity, permanence, ownership, accessibility. Actually in my own choice, I prefer the print literature. In today’s information explosion, it becomes harder for us to digest such large number of information in the internet that we meet with every day and every moment. Different from the electronic literature, the print version can be kept, and also needs buying with money, so that we will consciously read it more carefully and cherish it rather than scanning it without fully understanding. Actually, I really cherish the memory of the days when the computers were not so widespread in China. At that time, the information is not so much, and I can talk a lot with my partners upon one very small topic for a long time. But now, we talk and we switch the topic all the time without fully discussing the previous one as we have lived in an era when we are immersed in the information all the time. As electronic literature is also one kind of online information, so for me, the electronic literature is not as effective as print literature.    

ENTRY 21: Response to the Presentation About the Relationship Between the U.S and China

The wednesday morning presentation was about the relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Actually, in my point of view, the presentation was very "vague", a world aways used by my history professor. This means the presentor didn't cover the details of the relationship of the U.S and the China, but list some very general things that almost known to every students here. In the presentation, the beautiful prensentor hold a very positive attitude towards the future relationship between the U.S and China. However, she almost neglected most severe situations existed nowadays; as is said, the interests of the states determine the relationship between countries. Actually there are many conflicts between the U.S and the China towards economy, politics and also culture. I also expect a better future between the China and the U.S, but simply towards the presentation, I think it is not as good as what i've expected. But I really like the accent and voice of the speaker, very clear and beautiful.

ENTRY 20: Response to "The World Is Spining Around"

Selected poem: The World is Spinning Around

The world is spinning around
Black engulfs my eye
Nobody wants the sorrow drowned
In the slight raindrop sigh

Old melody echoes in the car
Rehashing cozy chat
The moonlight stepping far
As the wheels rolling forward flat

I am feeling standing on the mountain peak
Looking down autumn farm              
The chill of air freeze cheek
Taking away the strength of warm

The wind squeezes throat
Leaving the hoarse voice alone
Every wisp of the blowing mote
Piling up to tough stone


1. what's working well (what requirements of good poetry are here?)
This poem conveys a good sense of  rhythm with the words at the end of every lines. Also, the poet gives a stronge sense of image with the words like "black, raindrop, moonlight, wheel, moutain, farm, cheek."  Through the use of these words, we can sense a image where is cold and high and the feeling of loneliness and the hidden fear.

2. what is not working (what requirements of "good poetry" are lacking? or not quite working?)
However, the sense or the feeling of the narrator actually is a little hard to detect. Though i can feel a sense of loneliness and the fear, but the feeling is still so vague to be sensed as the poet uses something, seems to me, that are not very relative; for example, the car in the second stanza, in my mind, is not so relative with the sorrow and the chill in the first and the forth stanza. So the poem is a little bit hard to be understandable by me, a reader.

3. what needs to be changed?
The poet should give more connections between the things and the images he/she created to deliver a stronger feeling and to be more understandable by the audience.

4. suggestions for how the poet might change.
He/she can make advantages of the forms of the poem or other ways to build the connections between  the one image with another image; or change the form of the poem leading the audience to a more clear world.

ENTRY 19: Response to the poem selection section

Actually, as a novice of poetry editor, I met with problem at the first turn of selecting the poems among a pile of works. Actually, everyone’s preference for a poem is different from others, and so do I. For myself, I don’t like the poem or other literal works with so much direct description of the internal emotion of the first person; that is to say to describe one’s internal feeling with sensational words. So in my own poem, I’d like to describe the things as a third person, which means to tell the story of others. But, it is just my preference, so I have to try to judge poems without this kind of bias and ask the advice of the group members. Also, as English is not our native language, so some choice of the words and the meaning will be confused. So the problem is, maybe what he/she wants to convey is very meaningful and understandable by me; however, it doesn’t mean he/she adopts the right word and can be perceived by everyone. Also, because most of the contributors are also the novice in the poetry, so most of the work is not mature; the meaning maybe confusing and the distribution of the poem is not proper. 

ENTRY 18：Response to the film Interstellar by Christopher Nolan

The film Interstellar was on the screen in China recently, being hot discussed by the audience. It is directed by Christopher Nolan, the director of many other popular science fiction films, including Inception, a successful film won its popularity in the year of 2010 and leaves its profound influence on the audience by its unique and novel story. Actually, for in my own opinion, I think it very interesting to find the connections between the two films by the same director. In Inception, it explores the infinite inner world of human being to show the power, the potential and amazing ability of human being, which exhibits the huge of human being as we have great, potential power inside out body. Whereas in the Interstellar, it explores the outside of the earth, into the solar system, the galaxy and the alien galaxies, which shows how small and weak we human beings are in face with the universe. As for this film, the complex physical formulas and the huge data information has astonished me, which knocks on my mind constantly with the word “all the things can be true.” I really impressed with one of the film reviews that I’ve read, which can translated like “you come to the dark cinema from your ordinary life, and you step into a different life which lead you on a fantastic journey; you are into the play from layer to layer; but a film always has its ending, and you have to be out of the play from layer to layer, flowing out of the cinema with the crowd, immersed in the ordinary life as a vulgar in lanes and streets.” Actually, it's hard for an adult who has already formed a stable worldview to change his lifestyle or the worldview simply because of one film. They said all the story were based on the existing knowledge with the aid of Kip Stephan Thorne as consultant; but actually how to view the world base on yourself. The world can be enormous, and it also can be small.  

ENTRY 17：Response to “America” by Allen Ginsberg

“America” is a poem by Allen Ginsberg in the collection of Howl and Other Poems written in 1956.  This is an era of Cold War with an intensified conflict between the so-called democratic America and the communist Soviet Union. The poem contains many rhetorical devices which strengthens the themes of the poem. In this poem, the poet personifies “America” as a lost lover, and adopted a very disappointed tone to have a, seems like, dialogue with the lover. He uses the devices of sarcasm, irony to accuse the America of chasing after its own profit for its international status rather than focusing on the humanity. As a whole, this poem exemplifies a good work with the rhetorical devices of irony and sarcasm and it also aroused the national reflection on the American problems.

ENTRY 16: Identify An Emotional Change in the Poem

Emotional change: The memories of the childhood show the emotional change from the three to six lines in the first stanza. At first, the narrator is simply gazing at the snowscape, but when the memories of the childhood flow into his head, the feeling of loneliness and isolation comes out.

How change: The poet creates this change by using the contrast between the memories of the childhood with the reality he was experiencing now. As we can see in three to six line of the first stanza, he described scenes in his memory, like palms, cereus, and white keys, all of which are dynamic and full of vigor and are the representations of life. In reality, what he has inside is loneliness, a kind of isolation from the outside so he waits to hear a step by others, which he shows in the 4 and 5 lines in the second stanza. And the life representations now are replaced with the white, stiff, cold snow, lacking the vigor but with silence. 

selected poem

Absences

It's snowing this afternoon and there are no flowers.
There is only this sound of falling, quiet and remote,
Like the memory of scales descending the white keys
Of a childhood piano- outside the window, palms!
And the heavy head of the cereus, inclining,
Soon to let down its white or yellow-white.

Now, only these poor snow-flowers in a heap,
Like the memory of a white dress cast down...
So much has fallen.
And I, who have listened for a step
All afternoon, hear it now, but already falling away,
Already in memory. And the terrible scales descending
On the silent piano; the snow; and the absent flowers abounding.

ENTRY 15： My Refection on the Poetry Editing

I thought a piece of poem was very easy to publish until part of publication job fell to me. Working in the poem section, I think I leant a lot towards how to evaluate a poem. For the editing of the poem, there are three steps; substantive editing, copy editing and proof reading. For the substantive editing, the content and the substance of the poem count a lot. In this part of work, I learn that the rhythm and the choice of the words are also very important for a good poem to convey a sense of profession. Though, grammar is not emphasized a lot in the poem, but the break of the sentence assigned in different lines with different kinds of punctuation really works to deliver all kinds of different meanings. I realize that the poem is really a thing need to taste, to smell, to feel with all your senses to feel the beauty of poetry. For the work, though encounter a hard time as I have trouble working in the editing part, I would do my best.

ENTRY 14：Response to "Good Luck, and Good Night"

The film Good Luck, and Good Night was filmed in 2005, however, it was presented in the old fashion with the color of black and white. The film depicts how the staff in the news company of CBS conspired to help the unfair charge of those who were innocent and to criticize the guilt of the McCarthy government for its unreasonable cruelty towards people. The whole country seemed under the terror of the Soviet Union. Individuals or organizations did something relevant to the Communism would lose their jobs and kicked out of the society, and most seriously, would put into the death without explanation.

This story was based on the real events in the 1950s. The justice won the final success and the leading character Murrow and Friendly somewhat shook the status of the McCarthy in the politics. I really admire those heroes here, who dare to fight with the authority to associate their own life goals with the society, bring the justice to the people. As this is the real event, so it is very inspiring for us as we have someone to learn from by his appealing charisma. Also, I realize that job is not only a tool to earn money but also a place for you to achieve your life goal. 

ENTRY 13：Appropriation

Barge Haulers on the Volga is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Russian realist painter Ilya Repin. This work depicts the laboring men working on the Bolga River. On the picture, all of the men seem exhausted, and they almost collapse forward but they have to continue their work with the last energy. This work celebrates the hardworking laborers and their dignity, but it also criticizes the feudal forces in Russia, under which the Russian laborers suffered a lot.

I draw a leisurely person with a cup of coffee in his hand. The person is lying on the land with a very casual posture, which is a very common icon to stand for the leisure; and the cup is a very universal icon to represent the coffee area. The combination of the two icons expresses a sense of leisure, which do a great contrast with the original work where the laborers work really hard. I want to add this icon to give the picture intense contrast to help the audience better understands the idea of the original work. 

ENTRY 12：Revision of Billy''s Story

Problems:
In Billy's story, there are too many characters appearing in one time, also along with sudden appearance of the settings, like the rain and the lighting, which seems too coincident, and it is also a little bit messy and confused for me. Also, the appearance of Kaya in the graveyard is weird as she is simply come to say sorry to Marty but get killed, which is too abrupt. This story seems to try to be emotional and full of love under the theme of "death", but it is to hard to be felt as there are too many small sotries in one big story, which are not further developed. In a word, there is no focus in this big story. Also, some plots seems ridiculous.

How to fix.
I will cut off some unnecessary characters. In order develop a focus on this big story, I only adopt the these charaters: Jack, Marty, Kaya, the Mafia boss and a number of his men. The characteristics of the main characters will be better develped, and I will focus on the love between Martin and Kaya and the friendship between Marty and Jack.

Jack hid behind the grave to wait for the Mafia boss, with whom he would negotiate with for a peace. However, when he saw the gangs with the Mafia boss, he felt desperated; he thought he should never be so stupid to trust a man who never to be worthy of being trust. When he just decided to come front of the grave to surrender and wait for the death, he suddenly was  stopped by a force. He turned round only to see Marty was there, hiding behind a grave near him, holding up a gun with caution, behind whom was his girlfriend, Kaya. "Why are you here?" he whispered in a low, deep voice. Actually, he could feel the wetness in his eyes; it was a feeling hard to describe when he saw his friends was with him when he was near the death. Marty gave him a gun, smiled to him, "It is so lucky for you to have a coward friend who can be brave for you." It was a long sentence in this rush hour when the death approaching without hesitation, but Marty  whispered the whole sentence. In the confusing eyes of Jack, Kaya confessed, "he came for you, I came for him." In one second, with one faith, the three rushed in front of the grave and fiercely shot with the gangs.

...

who survived?
L.O.V.E

ENTRY 11：The Disabled Man

The man moves on the road,

with hands covered with dust,

the little, cute friends adhering to his fingers every step.  

Touching every single of the land he goes through,

he knows how long he has gone with fingers.

He feels the land, cherishing all the perception he got,

Hard, soft, warm, and cold, only he knows with the bare hands.

He got proud,

being proud of able to measure the land,

a skill others hardly get.

He approaches the world with all his passion,

where full of people,

a place with warm land.

He expects the warmth from the bottom of his hand,

like the cotton pillow on the bed he once saw through the window.

The thistles and thorns are present in front of him.

Having no choice, but move on.

The man moves fast, anxious, with the dirty hands.

Red blood offends the crowd.

He gets confused, why the world abandon him with cruel back.

ENTRY 10：Response to the poem "The Blind Woman"

This poem describes the desperate access of the world with light of the blind woman. In the first stanza, the light was associated with the rain, which was touchable and you could feel with it. The woman smiled towards the light, which shows her love for the light. In the stanza two to four, the word like forehead, eyes, neck, sweatshirt, breasts, shoes, every part of her body can feel the light like the rain trickling down from the top of her body. The light touching her skin made her felt alive, though blind, she could still feel the light with her sensation. Different from the former stanzas, from the stanza four to the last stanza, it depicts a totally dark moment when she eagerly chased behind the circus wagon that left her behind; however, instead of quitting the world, she still chose to survive in the darkness with her cane, though the world cowered back in a corner, she leaned towards the world and embraced it. So, in my own perspective, this poem delivers a positive attitude, which can be summarized in a word, “never abandon the world, though it abandons you.

ENTRY 9: A Poem With Begining/ending & Transition

Wolf

A lonely shadow is lingering on the stark wilderness.

The sun disappears at the horizon burning final light.

Bitter wind cut through his face,

arousing the latent rage.

Running wildly as a king under the looming stars,

His last consciousness is devoured by desire.

Red is the cruelty between black and white.

He gobbles up the poor fellows lost in the chill,

aggressively, ruthlessly.

He gallops, constantly assaulting,

Perishing in the darkness.

Until,

The orient surrenders the first light.

The burning sunshine ignites his gloomy, weak eyes.

He will never retrospect the bloody memories he just created.

ENTRY 8：Publishing Position

Section editors 

I choose this position in part because I like writing but not that so much writing. Also, I like to cooperate and communicate with other teams and also individuals in the work. I consider myself to be careful and am capable of taking up this position.

Actually, i also hold the intention to be a staff writer in our journal cause i love writing, but i am just afraid of too heavy works.

(???)

ENTRY 7：Reponse to the short film "10 Minutes"

  In the main narrative of the short film a man walking in a very modern city with people sitting outside, drinking coffee, accompanied by a very soft and bright music, displays a very leisure life just as the city dubbed as “romantic city”. However, in the frame narrative, in a very dark and rough room accommodating a whole family, stories begins with baby crying, mother yelling; the boy then walks in a shabby street with ruins, aiming at the relief food. The two main character in separate stories show a completely different life from each other. In terms of the color, it is obvious that the main story adopted a very warm color to display a sense of leisure and pleasant, but in the frame narrative, the color is cold with a sense of danger. Another element both showed in these two stories is the technology. In the main narrative, the man is amazed by the advanced technology that his photos can be developed in just ten minutes, while in the frame narrative, the high technology, the mass destructive weapons like guns, can ruin his whole life in one second. The former one is the praise of the technology, and the latter narratives criticize the cruelty of it. I personally think the film tells us that never disdain 10 minutes; it can develop everything, also ruin everything, and the same with technology. Through the contrast of these two stories happened in simply ten minutes, we should also learn how cruel the war is.

ENTRY 6：Reponse to Beginning by James Wright

This poem is very distinctive towards its language and style. In terms of its language, James Wright uses very beautiful but also natural words, delivering a very strong image. In the poem, the words, such as moon, drop, feathers, fields, dark wheat, still, wings, tress, slender women, shadow, step, lean, describe a very vivid image invoking the imagination of the audience with intense perception. In terms of its style, the poem tends to be plain, and with few rhymes. It lacks the complex structure but with simple and flexible style, there being no words limits in every single line, and no specific and regular words choice at the very end of each line. In this poem named Beginning, the poet initially depicts a very dreamlike scene where moon drops its features, the wheat listens and the moon’s young try their wings, all of which being very lovely and graceful. However, everything fine disappear when the slender women is gone, which indicates “my” dream is gone. Then, the wheat no longer listens but leans to the darkness and I also lean to my own darkness, and everything go back to their beginning, like nothing has happened. This poem delivers a sense of loneliness and the disappointment. The narrator weaves a very beautiful dream for himself at first, but when the reality comes, everything destroyed. The narrator leans towards his own darkness indicates he has to be alone, though it’s not what he has sought for.

ENTRY 5: Poem From a Photo

Webpage: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/09/opening-weekend-of-oktoberfest-2014/100817/

Identify the image:　

A man takes a rest in a meadow on the opening day of Oktoberfest on September 20, 2014.

Identify the reality you want to change: 

in this photo, this man was one of member who took part in this beer festival. Under this background, the man should hold a relatively happy emotion and take a nap on the grass after the stirring moments he enjoyed on the festival. But in my poem, I want to transform it into a sad story.

Identify the how you will change:

In this photo, this man lowering down his head on his hands to have a rest. But actually we hardly see his facial expression from our view. So in my poem, rather than taking a rest, I would describe this man is crying for the regret of what he has lost.

Alcohol

by Luna

Life is dipped into the alcohol,

Fuzzy and dazed.

He lowered his head down, alone,

refused the past reluctant to recall.

Looming smile, approaching chuckle  

The definition of happiness was noiselessly stolen.

A life is choosen by himself,

hot, fervent he thought,

cold, cruel he felt.

He postpones all the answers 
already in his eyes.

He hides behind his own back 
to continue life.

He chase after jollification 
once ruined himself.

Luckily, 
he stops the moment 
with a cups of alcohol,

spilling from his wrinkled eyes,

benumbing his face that ever with a smile.

ENTRY 4：Response to the poem "Photograph from September 11."

  This poem possesses a very strong sense of pictures through single word it has used in this poem. In this poem, the burning floors, face, blood, hair, keys, coins, pockets are very visualized and all the things that are very familiar to us and will arouse our emotions of sympathy and regret for these people trapped in the building desperately struggling for life. This poem is very plain in terms of the words but very touchable as it has described a very real scene to us to imagine, to feel and to think. The poet subtly describes very part that will grab the readers’ attention, which just like a description of a static photograph that catches a very brutal moment. However, it is also dynamic with the poet’s words such as “jump”, “burning floors”, “loose”, “fall”, which just resemble the process of life, flowing and fading away. In the last stanza, the narrator included his own emotion of helplessness and lament for those who unfortunately lost their life and indignation and wrath for those who gave rise to this tragedy.  

ENTRY 3: Journal Presentation

Journal Presentation:

Overall introduction and Journal Editors:

The Apple Valley Review is a semiannual online literary journal. Each issue features a collection of beautifully crafted poetry, short fiction, and personal essays. This journal was founded in 2005 by its current editor, Leah Browning.

Content: (audience)

It covers poetry, fiction, essay; it also contains cover artworks which are used as a cover for every issue.

This journal combines different styles; it is unique and imaginative. The audience here is eclectic audience, who are willing to try new things.

It has only online versions.

Aesthetic:

Format/Layout

It is quite simple and clean, which shows a very concise beauty. It contains artwork at the top of the page, usually the pictures with painted figures and scenes. This kind of layout let audience easy to read. But it doesn’t have regular sections.

Genres:

Fiction, poetry, essays, artwork.

Publication platform:

It is published on the website where it is easy to read the journal. Also, it is a print journal which published twice annually.

Like:

We recommend this journal because this journal is very suitable for those who prefer the literary works. We like the cover artwork accompanying every issued journal, from which we can learn to adorn our own journal with several pictures to make the page more attractive. Also, we love the layout of this journal. This journal is simple and clean with concise beauty, which grabs the audience attention on the quality of the literature itself.

Don’t like:

Actually, apart from its advantages, there are also some disadvantages. This journal is not rich in the content. The sections of it are very limited. This journal is exclusive of various fields, such as history, politics or science. Also instead of specifically categorize the works by its genres, this journal simply collect all genres in one issue, just like a book. So for our own journal, we suggest that we can contain more things to make the content rich. In addition, though it has pictures, but the meaning of the picture can hardly be delivered as it is simply used as cover of each issue without accompanying text to explain it. So in our journal, we think we should use the pictures which are in accordance with the content of the poetry in terms of its meaning.

Sample piece:

The bees by Grant Clauser
First the bees disappeared
and the apple blossoms failed
to understand, so fell away
blown across the field.

The rivers shrank.  Dry algae
like dead skin, flaked off rocks.
Catfish settled into the mud
crusting over the roots
of weeping willows.

When milk stopped flowing
the mothers cried and everyone
noticed how quiet
the marsh had become.

We gathered the last books together
and told the children
to close their eyes
so they wouldn’t see
what was coming.

(image)

We choose this poem as it has literary appeal through many beautiful images, such as bees, apple blossoms, river, catfish and so on. It is very finely written.

This poem is also very accessible as it not only describes the natural scenes, but also connects the things with our human beings as what last two stanzas have described. It is very thought-provoking.

As we can see, the bees only appear at the beginning of this poem. But with the disappearance of the bees, the emergence of many things follows, and leads us from a very beautiful moment to a thoughtful level. This poem is consistent with the journal and can be a representative among his journal, as it is accessible, beautiful. Just as the name of this journal shows in the words “apple valley”, this poem is also full of imagination.

LABOR DIVISION: I'm responsible for collecting information, organzing the information and  filling in the spreadsheet.

ENTRY 2：Response to Bush "As We May Think"

1.       What’s Bush’s context for research?

--What problem does he list?

This article was written during the time when the world war two was about to cease. During the warfare period, the scientists from all fields conspire to arm the military and develop human through the application of science to warfare. A huge number of new knowledge and ideas emerged in during the war, and it’s a huge work to make more accessible bewildering store of knowledge through extracting and manipulating them.  

The problems are listed as following.

-          The investigators are staggered and confused by the massive research and conclusions from other workers.

-          The records were inefficiently stored which decreases its usefulness in science.

-          Professionally our methods of methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old.

-          Some publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record.

2.       What is the memex? 

--description

Memex is a sort of mechanized private file and library where individual could compress and store all his books, records and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It has powerful memories to help you store all the resources.

--what does it enable the researcher to do?

A researcher can select the research relative to his academic area through memex. Also, he could store all his writings of research on this topic in the memex so that he can efficiently find them. In addition, he can category all the research paper he finds from other in a clear order so that he can easily find them. He can also share all his findings and achievements with his fellow and communicates with them upon his research.

3.       Do we have anything similar to memex today?

I think Facebook is similar to memex. They both allow users to collect, consult and share data. Facebook is a platform where the users can upload picture, videos and also can share those things with others. It is also very flexible to store resources.

ENTRY 1：Response to “Instructions on How to Play the Comb”

Question: what does hair stand for?

  In this poem, though not directly mentioned, we can indicate that the son of this woman passed away from the context. This is a very sad story as it is about lose of the person you love. In my point of view, the “hair” in this poem stands for “memory”. As we can see in the first line, “as big as Mrs. Delilah’s hair”, which refers to that the mom holds the maximum memory of his son as her son was dead and he can never produce memories for her anymore, so the memory was “big”. The line “listen, it’s not true that the hair of the dead continues to grow” explains the dead person will never give additional memories to the people he knows. The words “Grass is the beautiful uncut hair of graves” that means though the person was gone, the memory of the person just like “grass” which would always exist in the mind of his mother, and his mother would always keep the memories where her son was always with her.