Professor Candia's class was 110% different from my English 101 class in every aspect.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Romanticism and Poe
- Usually in a Romantic story, the setting is in some obscure or unknown place, or else it is set at some distant time in the past.
- Poe's detective fiction is set in France rather than in America, thus giving it a Romantic distance from the reader.
- The Romantic writer is often both praised and condemned for emphasizing the strange, the bizarre, the unusual, and the unexpected in his or her writing, and it is out of the Romantic tradition.
- The purpose of art, for Poe, was to choose subjects which could affect the reader in a manner which he would not encounter in everyday life.
- Poe hated the idea of stories that could be related to or brought into an everyday life situation; he looked at them as mundane.
- The subject of many of his tales dealt with living corpses, with frightening experiences, with horrors which startled the reader, and with situations which even we have never imagined before.
Citations
- "16 Little Known Facts About Edgar Allan Poe." Phactual. Web. 22 Apr. 2015 https://www.phactual.com/16-little-known-facts-about-edgar-allan-poe/
- "Ask An English Professor: How Ridiculous Is The Following's Edgar Allan Poe Obsession?" Vulture. Web. 22 Apr. 2015 http://www.vulture.com/2013/01/how-ridiculous-is-the-following-edgar-allen-poe-obsession.html
- "Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"" The Poe Decoder. Web. 22 Apr. 2015 http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/raven/
- "Poe's Short Stories By Edgar Allan Poe Critical Essays Edgar Allan Poe And Romanticism." Edgar Allan Poe And Romanticism. Web. 22 Apr. 2015 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/poes-short-stories/critical-essays/edgar-allan-poe-and-romanticism
- "Poe's Poetry "The Raven" Summary and Analysis." Poe's Poetry "The Raven" Summary and Analysis. Web. 22 Apr. 2015 http://www.gradesaver.com/poes-poetry/study-guide/summary-the-raven
- Rooney, Kathleen. "The Raven." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Web. 22 Apr. 2015. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178713
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Poe and Joe
In this television show, The Following, Ryan Hardy (the at-the-time ex FBI investigator who first captured Joe before he escaped prison) easily devoted his life to figuring out all of Joe's reasons for doing what he's doing. He learned his entire life, he learned everything and everyone that had made contact with Joe in order to try and decipher who's his follower or not. Also, because Ryan spent many years investigating Joe, he can easily determine and use his FBI skills on figuring out the meanings to many of the symbols Joe and his followers are giving at the murder scenes they leave behind.
In the first episode of The Following, there’s a moment in which FBI investigator Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) stands in the middle of a horrid crime scene, looking at the word nevermore scrawled on the wall in blood. A lightbulb goes on. “The Raven!” Bacon blurts out. “Poe is symbolizing the finality of death!” That pretty much captures the show's approach to Edgar Allan Poe.
Joe Carroll is a well-known literature professor who creates this cult of random people to initiate Poe-inspired kills. (For example, they cut out victims’ eyes because of “eye motifs” in “The Black Cat” and “The Telltale Heart.”)
Poe was chosen to be the "go-to" connection for Joe because of his background that we know about. Poe lived a sorrowful life, many tragic events happened to him. Although some of the things Joe tells his students, or says about Poe to justify the reason to kill aren't exactly on point; they still have somewhat of a connection with they gruesome stories that Poe told, and the gruesome executions that were made.


In the first episode of The Following, there’s a moment in which FBI investigator Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) stands in the middle of a horrid crime scene, looking at the word nevermore scrawled on the wall in blood. A lightbulb goes on. “The Raven!” Bacon blurts out. “Poe is symbolizing the finality of death!” That pretty much captures the show's approach to Edgar Allan Poe.
Joe Carroll is a well-known literature professor who creates this cult of random people to initiate Poe-inspired kills. (For example, they cut out victims’ eyes because of “eye motifs” in “The Black Cat” and “The Telltale Heart.”)
Poe was chosen to be the "go-to" connection for Joe because of his background that we know about. Poe lived a sorrowful life, many tragic events happened to him. Although some of the things Joe tells his students, or says about Poe to justify the reason to kill aren't exactly on point; they still have somewhat of a connection with they gruesome stories that Poe told, and the gruesome executions that were made.
The Following
One of the main characters of this television series, Joe Carroll, is a cult leader who has a countless amount of "followers" that will do anything that he says because they want to please him and make him happy. They look at Joe as a Godly figure.
Joe Carroll manipulated so many people, and he had an inspiration for all of his doings;
Edgar Allan Poe.
Joe used Poe's writings as leeway to carry out all of the murders he conducted.
Throughout the first season of The Following, Joe's followers recite many of Poe's lines, most famous the ones from his poem, "The Raven". One of his followers put on an Edgar Allan Poe mask and stood outside on a stoop and recited lines from the poem, which in the town it wasn't abnormal to do this sort of thing, but the twist was the follower went over to a man (who happened to be a critic of his leader, Joe Carroll), soaked him with gasoline and lit him on fire; therefore killing him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gti9R2pYCHM (promo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7QxT990LRo (1:35-2:45)
Joe Carroll manipulated so many people, and he had an inspiration for all of his doings;
Edgar Allan Poe.Joe used Poe's writings as leeway to carry out all of the murders he conducted.
Throughout the first season of The Following, Joe's followers recite many of Poe's lines, most famous the ones from his poem, "The Raven". One of his followers put on an Edgar Allan Poe mask and stood outside on a stoop and recited lines from the poem, which in the town it wasn't abnormal to do this sort of thing, but the twist was the follower went over to a man (who happened to be a critic of his leader, Joe Carroll), soaked him with gasoline and lit him on fire; therefore killing him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gti9R2pYCHM (promo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7QxT990LRo (1:35-2:45)
The Raven
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Edgar Allan Poe
Background on Poe:
- Born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts.
- Died on October 7th, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland.
- His father abandoned the family when he was a child.
- Mother died of tuberculosis when Edgar Allan Poe was just the age of 2.
- Was adopted by John and Frances Allan (where his name came from)
- His childhood and adolescence were plagued by the deaths of those closest to him (i.e. his mother, his first love when he was 15, and his foster mother when he was 20.)
- He's known as the the founder of the detective fiction genre.
- He had a gambling problem and it got so bad he ended up dropping out of college when his foster father stopped giving him money and he enlisted into the army.
- After the death of his foster mother, his foster father disowned him.
- In 1835, Poe married his 13 year old cousin. (She was half his age, on marriage certificate it was listed as 21, not 13)
- In 1849, Poe was found disorientated walking through Baltimore and was hospitalized.
- He was never coherent enough to explain what had happened before he died.
- His cat, Catterina died the same day as Poe, miles away.
- Poe was nowhere near the drug-addled, drunken image we have of him today. His work as a writer left him little time to drink, and he once took a small dose of an opiate that made him so sick he swore it off for life.
Perks of Being an Athlete
Ask any athlete in the world, they'll all say that absolutely nothing beats being an athlete.
So many great and amazing things come out of it.
Friendships, bonds, memories, achievements, awards, fun, exercise, family.
Being an athlete for over 15 years has changed my life forever and for the better. I wouldn't be who I am today if I weren't an athlete! It has made me realize the point of a team, how to work together, it's given my lifelong friendships, it's given me goals to reach, it's given me so many memories that I'm able to cherish, and also being active and athletic has given me life. It's given me something to be proud of, it's given me achievement and accomplishments. It's made me, me.
In this picture, you can really see how much me and my friend enjoyed high school soccer night practices! Haha, even though it was a lot of hard work and dedication, it always proved to be worth it in the end!
The bonds being on a team makes is a great thing. Nothing compares to being a family and getting to have great connections with your teammates because if you lack connection, you lack a team. And if there's no team, there's no victories. Teammates were always an important part for me as being an athlete because we need each other to support one another, bring each other up, lift each other up, but never let each other down! We stick together, and with that, anything would be possible!!
Baby Got Track
Speed, agility, and more speed.
There's no trick to track, there's no way to get better without practice. After all, they do say practice makes perfect! But then again, some people are just born with the gift of speed. No cockiness intended, but God has given me a gift with speed and I couldn't be more grateful to have it!
Being fast is not easy, it takes a lot of strategy, a lot of endurance and stamina, so much strength, and a whole lot of heart. You have to be passionate when it comes to track, you have to somewhat have a love for it or you won't amount to anything in this sport.
Those who say, "Why do you run for fun?!" don't understand! It's definitely not for fun!!!!! Us trackies do it because we're good at it! We like it, we like winning, we hate losing more than we like winning. We want to show people what we're made of. We want to have fun, be with friends, be with people that share a common interest, and we definitely want the competition.
I ran for my high schools varsity team (Patchogue-Medford) from 10th grade to 12th grade. I had an absolutely amazing coach who saw so much potential in me and helped make the person I am today. Coach Collins always pushed me, and because of that my 4x1 (4 by 1) sprint team made it all the way to state quals in 2012-2013 and we KILLED it! We set a new school record and showed everyone what we were really made of!
Also some of my own accomplishments came out of track. I gained so much confidence due to joining track because I realized I was actually really good at something and wanted to show people my gift. It made me a better soccer player because as my coaches would say, it was my "secret weapon". I loved knowing I had something most people aren't born with, something I was extremely good at!
I was second fastest on my team, my teammate was a rocket, there was no beating her but I was always right behind her which even that was pretty difficult but she helped me push through and go faster and I'd usually PR (personal record) because of her!
There's no trick to track, there's no way to get better without practice. After all, they do say practice makes perfect! But then again, some people are just born with the gift of speed. No cockiness intended, but God has given me a gift with speed and I couldn't be more grateful to have it!
Being fast is not easy, it takes a lot of strategy, a lot of endurance and stamina, so much strength, and a whole lot of heart. You have to be passionate when it comes to track, you have to somewhat have a love for it or you won't amount to anything in this sport.
Those who say, "Why do you run for fun?!" don't understand! It's definitely not for fun!!!!! Us trackies do it because we're good at it! We like it, we like winning, we hate losing more than we like winning. We want to show people what we're made of. We want to have fun, be with friends, be with people that share a common interest, and we definitely want the competition.
I ran for my high schools varsity team (Patchogue-Medford) from 10th grade to 12th grade. I had an absolutely amazing coach who saw so much potential in me and helped make the person I am today. Coach Collins always pushed me, and because of that my 4x1 (4 by 1) sprint team made it all the way to state quals in 2012-2013 and we KILLED it! We set a new school record and showed everyone what we were really made of!
Also some of my own accomplishments came out of track. I gained so much confidence due to joining track because I realized I was actually really good at something and wanted to show people my gift. It made me a better soccer player because as my coaches would say, it was my "secret weapon". I loved knowing I had something most people aren't born with, something I was extremely good at! I was second fastest on my team, my teammate was a rocket, there was no beating her but I was always right behind her which even that was pretty difficult but she helped me push through and go faster and I'd usually PR (personal record) because of her!
Tips in the Gym
There are many different types of machines once you enter the gym.
There's arm machines, back machines, chest machines, ab machines, leg machines, butt machines (which also coincide with legs), free weights, exercise balls, etc.
An important rule to going into the gym and working out certain muscles is to NEVER over work a certain muscle group. You need to schedule the amount of time and weight you allow your muscles to lift and work. Making one certain group too much can lead to a rip, tear, strain, etc. All muscles need a good off day where they aren't being used and then you're able to focus on another muscle group and help your entire body instead of just, for example, focusing on your stomach area. Muscles work together, and it'll all be better when everything in your body is up to par!
There's arm machines, back machines, chest machines, ab machines, leg machines, butt machines (which also coincide with legs), free weights, exercise balls, etc.
Whenever you go to the gym, a plan or an idea of what you're going to do is a definite need. Whether you're going to just focus on working out your legs, arms, etc. always have an idea! It'll make it that much more organized and easier to get what you need done.
http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/tips/best-workout-tips/
Monday, April 20, 2015
Soccer Soccer Soccer
Since I was the age of 3, nothing was as consistent in my life as soccer was. This sport isn't just a sport to me, it's pretty much my entire life! My weekends were always consumed with practices and games. Sometimes at night during the week we'd have practice. (This is just for my outside team)
My senior year of high school was without a doubt one to remember. No cockiness intended with these following statements but, I was one of the top players. I usually always was for school ball. I have an immense amount of speed and I'm just able to get past opponents, shoot and score. I led the team with most goals, and I was awarded MVP and All-County for my performance on the field. I distinctly remember during a few games against other schools, the coaches telling their players to make sure they mark me because of the speed and skill I had.
Then you have school ball. Not as competitive as an outside league, but just as fun! I played from 7th grade to my senior year.
I accomplished so much throughout this sport and gained a boat load of confidence thanks to it.
My senior year of high school was without a doubt one to remember. No cockiness intended with these following statements but, I was one of the top players. I usually always was for school ball. I have an immense amount of speed and I'm just able to get past opponents, shoot and score. I led the team with most goals, and I was awarded MVP and All-County for my performance on the field. I distinctly remember during a few games against other schools, the coaches telling their players to make sure they mark me because of the speed and skill I had.
Unfortunately though, for my first year of college I was unable to play due to a knee injury. Also, I've always felt like I never really had a say in whether or not I could quit soccer. So I used the knee injury as my leeway to stop and it's almost been a full year of no soccer; it's safe to say I miss it and I'm not me without it in my life.
Gym Time
The amount of love I have for going to the gym and exercising, it can't even be put into words.
Going to the gym, letting go of every hardship or every bit of stress you're holding on to, and running/lifting makes it all disappear for just a little while.
The high that working out gives is absolutely incredible. I never thought that something so simple, and so known could actually make you look and feel better both mentally and physically.
Working out is known scientifically to be an anti-depressant.
http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/tips/power-surge-the-hidden-benefits-of-exercise/
Going to the gym, letting go of every hardship or every bit of stress you're holding on to, and running/lifting makes it all disappear for just a little while.
The high that working out gives is absolutely incredible. I never thought that something so simple, and so known could actually make you look and feel better both mentally and physically.
Working out is known scientifically to be an anti-depressant.
http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/tips/power-surge-the-hidden-benefits-of-exercise/
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)




