Though there are many Asian countries that produce this type of shows, I mostly watch Japanese dramas. I like the level of feeling they put into their narratives. I expected them to be a bit more distant since traditionally Asian people are more reserve than us, but it seems that all this reserved emotion is put right into these stories. Don’t get me wrong I’m definitely not complaining. I love it!!!!!!!! For any of you guys that want to give this a try I’m including a link of a website that can help. http://www.sars-fansubs.com/

P.S. These are the series that I’ve seen so far. Enjoy!

- Zettai Kareshi

- Hana Yori Dango

- Hanazakari no Kimi Tachi e

- Gokusen

It was a themed birthday party, Pirates and Rocker Ariel… so cool! The highlight of the day was most definitely the day itself, it was a beautiful sunny day. Though the sun was shinning with a vengeance, had to take cover for a few hours. I’ve never been much for swimming in the ocean, but the water look so good that even I had to jump in. Extremely refreshing encounter with salty H2O. Another thing that this visit to the beach allowed me was a chance to play photographer. I love taking pictures of everything!!! And I took plenty let me tell you, from the decorations to the natural beauty of the place, specially the incredible sunset.

I feel that I cannot end this post without mentioning the most bizarre sight that I witnessed that day… an emo kid at the beach. O.o Extremely odd, he was completely dressed in black, long sleeves, long jeans, chain belt, eyeliner, stylish hair and the only beach oriented thing… bare feet. He looked so uncomfortable that I almost felt sorry for him. But that didn’t stop me at all from feeling amused by it. (Horrible me.) Anyway this beach visit was loads of fun from 1:30 – 8:30 pm, I hope I can go again soon.

Pirate Ariel

Tranquility

Island Paradise

P.S. All the pictures were taken by me.

The rest of the weekend was a comfy swirl of movies, reading, junk food, games and just plain fun. Particularly since it was Sheilcas birthday on Sunday. Great cake!!!!!!! Oh and I musn’t forget to mention that I finally got to eat a sloppy joe… delicious!!! ^.^

The whole point of me writing about this is that you should always find time for friends and family, no matter how busy you are. It is a good feeling when you share so much with people who know and understand you. That visit definitely went a long way into recharging my very depleted batteries. I guess the only down side was that I couldn’t stay longer. ^^

O-D-E- double T’s

emphasis on these

and don’t forget the E.

Mom didn’t want common names

experimenting with this and that

she found the perfect one

in a friend.

My name… Odette

I’ve never wished for another

it has become part of me.

Part of my identity.

It means little treasure

and that’s what it is to me.

=> What ya think?

In a nutshell, this poem is a satirized account of the way the relationship between man and society is evolving. We went from being people with names, personalities and hopes; to being nothing more than a stream of identification numbers with no face, as far as the government is concerned. People have become faceless beings, unknown citizens. The poem starts with a very chilling reminder of the distancing between the people and the government. It is dedicated to JS/07/M/378, the identification of the faceless citizen, followed by a statement that evokes the monuments erected in name of the unknown soldiers fallen in war.

The rhyme in the poem doesn’t really follow any particular pattern or a set line structure. There is also no division between the verses, it is written as one long stanza. I believe this helps with the image of a paper drafted by the government. Like a long checklist to access whether or not the man identified as JS/07/M/378 has been a model citizen. No use of similes, but there is an abundance of personification in terms of social activities and agencies or things related to them. For example: “Bureau of Statistics”, “Greater Community”, “War”, “Union”, “Modern Man”, etc… The usage of these personified terms takes away the sense of individualism and humanity of the person by giving this none human things a name; something denied to the citizen.

An overabundance of p’s, s’ and d’s, give the contradictory effects, they stop and encourage the fluency of the reading. Almost as if the reader is terrified or disgusted in what is written, but cannot help but continue. Each ongoing sentence brings a greater sense of alarm and resignation towards the norms established by the government. The poem ends in a contradictory note to the rest of the writing, the body of the work sounds like they are running through a checklist of the requirements for a good citizen and by default a “happy” one. Lines like the following: “…normal in every way”, “… popular with his mates”, “… right number for a parent of his generation.”

The moment of change in the tone comes from the very ending of the poem. It changes from statements to questions that say: “Was he free? 0 Was he happy? 0 The question is absurd: 0 / Had anything been wrong, 0 we should certainly have heard.” These last lines are filled with alliterations (w, h) and caesuras (red 0) in between statements, almost as if the speaker questions the validity of its claim that the citizen is happy because of his compliance to the rules; and more importantly to the fact that he fits the mold of the cookie cutter image of the “perfect individual”. The government is concerned with the productivity of the individual and not truly with its happiness.

=> That’s all folks!

Here it goes…

Many different aspects go into the writing of poems. Everything from the number of syllables in a verse, to the specific word choices, affects the overall meaning of a poetic work. Meaning is not just created through the literal message in the words, but also through the feelings and sounds they evoke when read. In his poem “The Voice”, Thomas Hardy evokes feelings of sadness, mystery and a certain sense of longing through creative, but simple usage of poetic devices and selective word choices.

This poem possesses a simple and straightforward rhyme scheme, in each stanza the first and third verse rhyme with each other, while the second and fourth do the same. These particular choices at the end of the verses create a rhyme pattern of: ABABCDCDEFEFGHGH. Hardy clearly chose to do this to aid in the hypnotic quality of the word choices and they add to the sense of sadness and mystery in the story that unfolds within the poem. “The Voice” tells the story of a man tormented by the memory of a past love; he is remembering their first encounter to the last detail (even mentioning the dress she wore). There is a slight suggestion that she may be dead or merely gone from his life; but the source of his melancholy is that he is hearing or merely imagining that he is hearing her voice in the wind.

There is also a repetition of the phrase “call to me” in the first verse which immediately calls attention to the fact that this is a two-way exchange of emotion; or at the very least there are two people involved. This idea is reinforced by the overwhelming repetition (especially in the first two stanzas) of “I” and “me”. Within the poem there are at the very least three strong caesuras that emphasize the moments when the speaker is questioning himself on whether or not she is really there; for example when he says “Can it be you that I hear? (caesura) Let me view you then,” This seems to suggest that he is seriously considering whether this voice is imaginary or it is real (almost like wishful thinking).

After scanning the poem it is possible to identify some internal rhyme which adds credence to the idea of mystery, sadness and longing; especially with words like “near” and “hear”. As if the speaker truly wished for her to be there physically and not just a whisper in the wind. There is some heavy alliteration with the repetition of t’s in the second and last stanza; some assonance with the repetition of the combined vowels of ou and ea. And it can also be mentioned that there is consonance, especially in the third stanza with the heavy repetition of double s’ throughout it.

The double s’ in the third stanza evoke the swooshing sound of the wind or of the breeze that is mentioned there. The caesuras bring emphasize to the lines spoken and also brings attention to them. In combination with the repetition of w’s and s’ they give a sinister quality to the sound of the poem. In the last stanza the repetition of t’s, s’ and the word oozing bring to mind, yet again, the sounds of the storm or at least the turmoil before one. This insinuation of the sounds in the wind aid the overall sense of sadness and longing that the poem evokes. This seems to reflect the inner turmoil of the speaker as he remembers events long passed as he imagines hearing the voice of his once beloved companion/ friend/ lover.

=> Hope you guys liked it.

What can we do when counting sheep isn’t enough?

Did you know that according to the National Sleep Foundation Americans are sleeping an average of 6.7 hours a night this year? Sounds preposterous, but it is true according to this research. I believe I do not only speak for myself when I say: “What a bummer!” Many different things can be blamed for this, but it is no secret that the economical crisis carries the brunt of the responsibility for the increase in sleepless nights. Back in 2001 the average was a well rounded 7 hours, now that sounds more like it.

Many people don’t seem to know what the big deal is of losing .3 hours of sleep a night since 2001. But here’s the problem, according to Dr. David Schulman, the medical director of the Emory Clinic Sleep Disorders laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia, “When you’re chronically drunk, you can’t tell when you’re drunk… If you’re chronically sleep deprived, you can’t tell when you’re sleepy. You lose the ability to detect how tired you are. It’s not unusual to fall asleep behind the wheel.” This statement was clearly printed on a news report written by Madison Park for CNN News on March 6, 2009.

Isn’t this a fact to be worried over? That we are so tired we are not even aware of it. It is just sad to think that your life could and in many cases is in danger because of lack of sleep.

But like in everything else there are those that go against these statements. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau says that Americans are sleeping an average of 8.6 hours a day. Can we trust this assessment? What do you think? From personal experience I have to agree with the first assessment, 6.7 hours sounds more accurate to me.

Some of the more worrisome consequences of this new trend are depression, anxiety, cardiovascular problems, increase in accidents, etc. It can just about affect any aspect of your life. Now my question is should we let it? No, our economic problem demands us to work more, sacrificing hours of rest necessary to function properly, but we can’t let it win.

Whenever this topic is brought up in discussion there is no shortage of excuses; people say things like: “I don’t have time to sleep” or “I have too much going on in my head.” In my opinion it doesn’t matter how much you need to work, you must worry about your rest as well. When we are sleep deprived, it is easier to make mistakes and we even tend to make more. These mistakes require us to go back on our work to correct them, we lose more time this way, time that we can use to rest and avoid making them in the first place.

You can agree or disagree that Americans are losing sleep over this economic crisis or any other situation. But there is one thing that we should be unanimously against, and that is the idea that losing sleep equals more success at the workplace. According to Dr. Neil Kavey, director of the Sleep Disorder Center at New York-Presbyterian at Columbia University Medical Center said that: “Our society has valued people who brag about being able to function on very little sleep as a mark of someone who is aggressive, dynamic, successful…”

So what are we to do? Will we allow ourselves to become sleep deprived zombies for the sake of the state or are we going to reclaim our lost hours of sleep for the sake of the country and of ourselves? I believe this is a no brainer; sleep more, produce better quality work and therefore fix the economy and other ailments of our country.

I say let’s get those sheep back again and polish that arithmetic. Sleep here I come and I am not alone… or so I hope.

In terms of the work shop they provided, I truly enjoyed every aspect of it. We were led to the area in which the conference was going to take place. The Rebel Poets presented themselves and we were given instructions to draw the place we where from on a piece of paper with some colored pens. After we were divided in smaller groups and a poet went with each one. At this moment we were instructed to write whatever we wished to, it was basically an exercise in free written; we had approximately 5 minutes to do so. As soon as we finished we presented our work to the group and reacted towards them. It was an extremely fun experience.

The final activity of the day was a presentation of the poetry of The Rebel Poets themselves. It was truly an awe inspiring moment to watch them perform. All of their verses where thought provoking, emotionally charged, just plain beautiful. At the end there was a round of questions and answers; after a round of applause the show was over and it had marked the completion of the first annual English Conference. In my opinion it was an utter success and an inspiring one as well.

P.S. If you want to see some Rebel Poet action check out this link.

Since I took this decision it came to my attention that the professors organizing this activity, Dr. Mary Sefranek and Dr. Judy Casey, were looking for volunteers to help. Needles to say I was there, I really do like helping out; especially in this type of activities. The Conference consisted of three parts, an introductory lecture from guest speaker Dr. Maisha Tulivu Fisher, then the students presentations and finally the Power Writing Workshop and The Rebel Poets (there will be another post for this particular activity).

My work, as a volunteer, consisted of being a room monitor; this entails that I would be the one keeping track of the time allotted to each speaker and I would be responsible of presenting the speaker. (Thankfully we were distributed in pairs, so I was in-charge of presenting.) After participating in this activity I can truly say that I would do it again and it was a complete success. Can’t wait for the next one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

political cartoon by Mike Lester

Ever since the events of September 11, America has been plagued by an extremely heightened sense of paranoia and an increase in prejudice and racism. This is mostly due to ignorance and fear; we fear what we do not understand. A popular way of either aiding or rejecting these social/political stances is through political cartoons. Since 9-11 there has been no shortage of this mean of criticism. In a particular untitled work by Mike Lester published in Rome News Tribune online, some of the repercussions of this way of thinking are presented.

The cartoon consists of a one frame, hybrid medium, using bright colors. It depicts a typical Fourth of July barbecue in which the center of attention is placed on two patriotically dressed American males. One holds a drink and is observing a strange container aptly named XXX and the other is busy minding the barbecue. At first glance it seems like a typical scene, nothing out of place, until we read the dialogue. The observer says: “What are you talking about? That’s not a ‘weapon of mass destruction’…”, while the one barbequing responds with the disconcerting: “It can be.”

In a nutshell this cartoon is making a direct reference to the US’ “War on Terror” and to the “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. What is ironic is that while one character lets us know that he cannot identify what can or cannot be considered under the label of “Weapon of Mass Destruction”. He seems to be repeating the term from the news or something to that effect, without truly understanding. While the other man disturbingly answers that even though it seems like an innocuous object it can become a weapon of mass destruction.

The irony here comes from the idea that most people in the US have that only the Middle East harbors terrorist and therefore they are the ones that have the knowledge of how to make a “Weapon of Mass Destruction”. Which is not the truth, the other end of the interpretation for this cartoon is that anyone, anywhere can be a terrorist and anything can become a weapon of mass destruction. Even in such an innocent gathering as a Fourth of July picnic. In other words, we can apply the old adage that appearances can be deceiving.

The lesson here is that we should inform ourselves before making any assumptions on any matter, especially those that affect others. In this context I’m referring to the unjust discrimination against people of the Middle East and immigrants for no better reason that they just happen to come from the same countries than the terrorist that devised the 9-11 attacks. Ignorance breads fear, and fear brings incomprehension and destruction. Therefore study and analyze, so that you may make the right decisions for the right reasons.