"Kissing" by Anthony Farrington Response Through the Lens of Czerwiec

What makes “Kissing” by Anthony Farrington a true lyrical/braided essay, is that it follows the criteria of material needed within it, as defined by Heidi Czerwiec. In order to create an authentic lyrical essay, Czerwiec states that factors and matters that it must include: “ surreal or absurd”, “embodied oppositions or tensions”, and “mediations”. All these lead to a form that reveals patterns, exposing “a larger truth”, that being the power of small affections.

The first form of material that Czerwiec deems essential in creating an authentic and truthful lyrical essay is to incorporate some form of surrealism or absurdity in the subject or formatting of the creative nonfiction essay. Though Farrington’s topic of discussing his experiences with kissing is neither absurd nor surreal, it is, in fact, an uncommon subject. However, the absurdity within Farrington’s piece is rather in the structural form and how you read through the piece.

Within “Kissing”, Farrington embodies opposition and tension through a collage  in his braided essay. The format of “Kissing” doesn’t flow like a typical narrative, but it’s rather similar to a magazine article. In fact, it is a collage–a collection of found materials that have been rearranged and repurposed to relate to what the author is trying to share. Farrington accomplishes this through incorporating quotes, Q&As, outside perspectives, instructive lessons, definitions, numbers, phone numbers, and random facts which are spread throughout the piece. For example, there is an embedded answer to a question as to how to get a boyfriend to kiss them, as if taken from a genuine Q&A,  but there is also a biblical reference to Matt 26:48. Though these additions seem abrupt and random, and not related, they are rather paradigms. All of these elements are pieced together, similar to creating a collage, to create a bigger picture and meaning:  the power of small affections. Each incorporation has stressed, desired, and revolved around a simple action, a kiss. So, to put them all together–a collection of opposite examples–it depicts how great of an impact this small gesture has on ruling people's emotions and perceptions. Moreover, embodying the opposition and tension of the bigger truth through a collage, further accomplishing Czerwiec’s idea. 

Czerwiec also expects mediations to be present–that being their thoughts and opinions, “especially where the author isn’t sure what s/he thinks”. Farrington is very candid throughout his creative nonfiction piece. Even though creative nonfiction essays are expected to be truthful and accurate, Farrington was very intimate in expressing and showing his life. Farrington admitted to his ex-wife leaving him, and how it impacted him and his kids. Also, he admitted as to the amount of women he had kissed, how it felt, how the kiss happened, where the kiss took place, and how his idea about kissing has changed. Throughout the piece, Farrington explores his past experiences and relationships, and connects them as to how it makes him think today. Before, childhood Farrington saw kissing as not intimate, but as he dives into each experience–the recognition as to how they were(i.e. “electric”, “quick”, “eager” or “soft)–and reminisce on years spent with his wife, Farrington recognises just how precious, awkward, quirky, and heated each one of those kisses were. Therefore, Farrington’s use of diving into each moment of his kissing experiences, replaying how he thought and felt, is a form of intimacy and candidness between the speaker and author that Czerwiec strives for.

Poem Workshop Reflection

    When I listened and took notes to what my peers discussed while, not only, workshopping my poem, but also the comments and questions that they annotated onto the piece, I learned how it isn't always easy to depict personal creativity to another reader. Whilst writing, any uses of metaphors, symbols, similes, and connotative diction are formed by the mind of the author with an understanding as to what it references and shows to them. However, readers don't share the same mindset, so any reference may not be understood as to whether or not the situation at hand is literal or not. For example, a large issue that was brought up during the discussion of my poem was to who the "she" that was mentioned and a subject for the starting lines of the poem was. Due to the fact I wrote it and knew what the "scene played out" was, I easily read the "she" in context to a girl from a documentary. However, due to the fact that "she" wasn't explicitly stated and that a "scene" can take on many forms, my peers believed that the speaker, that being myself, was the girl mentioned and that I was viewing myself in third person, instead of it being a, literal, separate individual. So, any moves or phrasing should be created with the mindset as to how an outside individual is reading it instead of what I, the author, believes to be understandable. As well as, there's a big difference to describing a situation from experiencing a situation. A lot of my poem was quickly brought from one moment to the next without much context towards what is happening in the situation and how the speaker is feeling, and the only way for this to be improved is through action verbs. Action verbs will allow for a story to be told instead of explained and will allow for a better comprehension as to what the moment is if there's a clearer idea of what is happening around it. Additionally, it is important that an author chooses comparison that are in relation to the subject. Throughout my poem, I had incorporated a metaphor of a ship in reference to weight and fuel that feeds a ships ability to run. Though the comparison is similar in context to an eating disorder, it doesn't properly reflect and expand on the situation; instead, it is an abrupt inclusion that is either not expanded on enough or completely takes away from the main theme. Therefore, when I revise my poem, I'll pay close attention to incorporating action verbs to expand the moment to make it more distinct and to develop how the speaker is feeling. I'll also brainstorm different metaphors to replace the metaphor of the ship so it builds onto the moment at hand, and actually develops the mental battle and eating habits of the speaker, and I'll explicitly state a few elements to eliminate confusion.

How I Have Viewed Poetry Differently in the Last Few Weeks...

Like many others, I viewed poetry as an art you "accidentally" create. Somehow, through unintentional word choice and random line breaks, an author creates a musical piece thats deeper that its surface. However, I realise now that none of that is true; in fact, it is very false. Steve Kowit has been a handy mentor into the formulation of poetry over the last few weeks, and there have been numerous amounts of important information that has changed how I used to view many aspects of writing poetry. Musicality is one of the literary devices that is most recognised in poetry; however, it goes beyond just end-rhymes. There's an internal rhyme that is subtly yet skilfully preconceived in order to change how a reader reads the poem. For example, assonance is the use of repetitive sounds, typically identical vowel sounds, so the reader can formulate the same sounds in words and, possibly, connect them–such as, the "awe" in "fallen" and "drawer". Another usage of internal rhyme is the use of alliteration; however, instead of just using it via the first letter of every word, you introduce terminal alliteration(also known as partial assonance). Through this technique, the author denotes the identity of the final consonant sounds in several words within a line–such as "en" in "golden" and "garden". Though this technique is considered inevitable, to carefully choose which words will be used to form a relation and interpretation between them creates intentional symbolism. As well as, Kowit has resurfaced the importance of figurative language that goes beyond for analytical and college essays, but to play a vital role in bringing about central imagery and comparisons in a poem. For example, how some poems are known in the form of a "controlling metaphor", where a singular metaphor extends to the entirety of the poem, bringing about fantasies to be literal and explore complex personalities(reveal an individual truth). Even further, a common misconception is how to break lines in a poem. Though, originally, I thought you can break lines wherever you feel would be best for they don't play an important role in the poem; however, that is also greatly incorrect. Various forms have various ways of breaking lines–free verse poems have 14 different ways of breaking lines–, though there aren't strict "rules" on the matter. Line breaks can be used for punctuation, word emphasis, pacing, aesthetic appearance, for irony, by what feels right by you, and so much more. What many don't realise is how every little detail you can imagine that is incorporated into a poem is more diligently planned and vital to interpretation and presentation to a poem than we know, and that is what I have learned over the last few weeks.

Geek Out!

TEDTalk Reflection: "Stigma"

TEDTalk Script: "Stigma"

During my TEDTalk, what I believe went well was my tone variation and slowing down as I tend to talk faster when I am nervous. I felt proud of how I delivered my solutions/call to actions and conclusion as I didn't look at my notes and put a lot of emotion while expressing the points. However, I could have done better on my hand gestures, not acknowledging if I started to forget something during a slip up, and memorising more of the first few paragraphs of my talk that could have helped to prevent my slip up. With that being said, the TEDTalk experience has been a lot of fun, and not only did I learn more about different public speaking skills, I also learned a lot more about my topic, which allowed me to grow my understanding and passion about it. With learning about how the stigma of depression, and any other mental illness, can lead to self-stigma and social distancing, it made me more aware towards the situation and how I can contribute to diminishing the stigma. 

Call to action: Think about the "broken leg analogy", your word choice, and how to use social media effectively to diminish the stigma. Think about it, contribute to it, and make a change. 

POL Reflection

"Silence" by Thomas Hood

During my poetry recitation, one thing I did well was managing my tone and pace with making sure I could talk slowly with breaks, and keeping the tone quiet to have a form of an "eerie" effect. However, I could have improved on expressing my nerves with decreasing my amount of swaying while standing, and not being obvious when I forgot the start of a new line. So, one thing I learned from this was how important tone and facial/hand gestures are to explicate the meaning of the poem and to really feel the true voice and effect of it.

Summative DBQ Reflection

For this summative DBQ on "how barbaric were the Mongols?", I felt I did well on giving context and detail on a quote before sharing it. The past few DBQ's I never gave much information about the origin of it and didn't really introduce the context of the actual quote itself before sharing it, so having that in this DBQ really helped. However, one thing I needed to work on is going deeper into analysis of the text of the document so I can explain more of the "so what?" for sharing the text. As well as, trying to be less wordy and be more precise when it comes to the claims, introductions, and analysis. With this, I learned that I really need to thoroughly reread my work once it is done so I can make sure it is clear, and to be really careful and specific when it comes to writing my analysis on a quote and/or document.

Summative DBQ Link

Argument Essay Reflection

World Studies Final Exam Argumentative Essay

In this essay, something I believe I did well on was writing a specific claim that clearly showed what I would be discussing/arguing about in the essay: "[S]oft power is ultimately more effective than hard power as it allows a leader to maintain their position and benefit people with knowledge.". As well as, the counterclaim that I wrote had a good use of examples to prove the other perspective with the use of examples and quotes from the Lord of the Flies that showed how the last chief, Jack, could be effectice by using hard power, and how philospher Machiavelli quoted you can make others more controlled by ruling with under hard power.

What needs work on in this essay is being clearer with some of my examples and analysis. Throughout the essay, some quotes were too long, such as the quote in the first body paragraph about coercive power from the "5 Forms of Power", and other outside information would be abruptly added in that wasn't the most effective, like the Benito Mussolini reference. With that being said, some of my analysis was sometimes unclear due to the lack of clarity with the examples/evidence.

So, my goal for the DBQ on Thursday is to be specific with my analysis and be careful with quote and example choice.

Summative Assessment Blog Relection

Final Informative Essay Writing

This first unit based on sociology concepts and identity essays has been interesting. With the use of going into depth on the factors of Agents of Socialization and sociology terms has made me understand, and really learn more about our daily life in society. With learning concepts, such as the "looking glass self" by Charles Cooley, the "Act-Like-A-Man-Box", and Agents of Socialization(Henslin), that we subconsiously follow on a daily basis, it was interesting learning how it really impacts ourselves and others. With that being said, I found that throughout this unit, I have been able to grow on my skills on noticing what "reality" is and how factors impact each person in society. Which also grows on my identity with allowing myself to become a more dependable person when it comes to helping and supporting peers. One concept that I learned more in depth in this unit was how gender roles are impacted through media, but personally for me, how the "Miss Representation"(Russell) connects to my identity. "Miss Representation" is a concept and organisation on how girls and women are impacted daily through their expectations on gender stereotypes, and this really impacts me because I deal with issues with trying to fit in with the "ideal body" stereotype. I learned a lot more about how media manipulates expectations, and how every single girl and woman, including me, shouldn't believe what is portrayed because we are all just as equal to everyone else. These sociology concepts that I have learned were also really important when it came to writing my informative draft based one the main question: do I control who I am? In this essay I shared how the Agents of Socialization of family and media, as well as, the concept the "looking glass self" by Charles Cooley have had the largest impact on shaping who I am. In this writing piece, I was proud on how I really allowed myself to go in depth and give personal examples of how these factors have impacted me. Especially, because with my original draft, I had an issue with including personal examples and having "so what?"'s to each. However, one aspect that I need to work on in this writing is introducing and explaining each concept better. For example, I had a hard time trying to give the correct description and example about the "looking glass self". As well as, though I was proud of my use to adding in personal examples, I still had a hard time punctuating the importance of them and how they truley showed my norms and values. Overall, I am proud with the effort I had put in my writing because of my interest and understanding on how sociology impacts every individual.

My Independent Writing Project: Wrong Daughter

Wrong Daughter Writing and Author's Note

Final MS Band Reflection

First Band Video Blog Post

1) Looking back at your earliest days as a musician in middle school, what are you most surprised by?

I am most surprised at how I actually knew more than I thought I did in my earliest days of band.

2) Comparing your musical ability now to your musical ability then, what are you most proud of?

Over the course of the years in Middle School Band, I am most proud of my growth with the use of articulations and dynamics to emphasise and bring energy/emotion towards the music.

3) Looking back over your days in Middle School Band, what are the highlights?

A few highlights over the years in Middle School Band included playing with the Wind Ensemble this year and the close friendships you gain with your instrument group. Band class has always been fun because of all the friends we end up knowing well over the years and how close you are to your own instrument group.

4) What is your favorite Band piece of all time (here or at any other school or event)

I believe that one of my favourite band pieces that we have played over the years was Captain America.

5) What valuable lesson have you learned in Band that you will take with you into High School as both a person and a musician?

Many valuable lessons have been learned over the course of Middle School Band, but one lesson that I have learned as a musician that will be brought with me to HS is how important it is to practice the music at home because you can't always learn how to play a piece in class as it wastes other band members time, and it doesn't allow you to efficiently grow as a musician. As well as, one lesson I have learned as a person that will be brought to HS is that it is helpful to ask fellow members for help if you misunderstand anything and to stay organised.

6) Gratitude is part of every completed journey and every closed chapter.  What are you most thankful for in your Band experience?

During my Middle School Band experience, I am most thankful for the friendships I have gained that have encouraged me, and helped me grow as a musician and as a person.

DEFEATS

Detailed explanations

• Money spent
• How long the walls are
• How many people have been killed
• etc.

Expert opinions

• Site people
• Quote credible people

Facts/stats
Emotional appeal: touching the heart

• Write on the behalf of a perspective

Anecdotes
Testimony
Surveys/studies

• What people of Israel think
• Statistics can be added

Israeli Palestinian Conflict

1. Lines of Demarcation: Where should the border between Israel and Palestine be drawn?
(Where should the borders go? Do we make people move? Do we make a partition?)
Two State Solution: 
(Instead of Israel controlling Palestine, Palestine becomes its own country)
Solution 1: Palestine becomes its own state- own decisions

2. Housing Settlements: How do you propose settling the unresolved dispute over Israeli Housing Settlements into the West Bank? 

What should be done about the housing settlements that have already been built?

3. Jerusalem: Jerusalem is a Holy City to Jews, Muslims, and Christians. How do you propose to make Jerusalem available and safe to all these groups of people, worldwide?

-Israeli have taken up and control of areas of the Jews, including Jerusalem

4. Palestinian Refugees: 

As a result of the military conflicts in 1948 and again in 1967, hundreds of thousands Palestinian people fled out of the borders of Israel to the neighbouring Gaza Strip, West Bank, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. They are a people without a country and have not been allowed to become citizens to the countries they fled to. Sine 1967, their numbers have increased into the millions because of birthrates. (7 million)

What should their rights be? Should they be allowed to return to their homeland in the West Bank(not big enough to handle that many people)? What are some compromises that can be made between Israelis, Palestinians, and the neighbouring countries to resolve this issue?

The Right of Return- "we want to return to our homeland"

Current/ Past Issues in the Middle East
1. US Embassy in Jerusalem

• If it moves to Jerusalem, it will be rude to Palestine's and would show that US supports what the Israelis have done in the 1947 agreement. Supporting Israeli taking Jerusalem. Will become a religious issue. Intifada- a holy war

2. Caterpillar Tractors in Israel

• From the money of the aid from the US, Israeli's used Caterpillar Tractors to build borders which made the Muslim's upset. 

3. Zionist Christian Support of Israel

• Millions of dollars for Jewish support
• Religious issue

Band: Gb Major

Band: B Major

History Alive Presentation Notes

1. Bill Russell- Chris

• First African American to win an NBA university basketball game
• Broke racial barriers in sports by being a head coach for basketball teams
• Became a part of the Hall of Fame in 1975

2. T.C Williams- Kento and Yoshiya

• First school in the south to teach African Americans students and hold African American teachers
• Located in Virginia
• Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. School Board Education

3. Lewis Hine- Gabi and Andrey

• Photography of child laborer's
• Wanted address the issue to public
• Children were taken because they didn't have to be paid wages unlike adults
• Kids would be tricked and kidnapped

4. Emmeline Pankhurst- Stuti

• Woman suffragist
• Founded Women's Franchise League- helped unmarried women fight 
• Women's Social and Political Union
• Received woman's rights in London then moved to America to help

5. Matthew Shepard- Malu

• Brutally attacked and murdered for being a gay student in University
• Matthew Shepard Foundation- advocate gay rights 

7. Harlem Renaissance- Cheryl

• Cultural explosion in Harlem, New York
• Black civil rights
• Paintings, sculptures, and literary elements showing the Harlem Renaissance
• Didn't intend for art to join movement, just for aesthetic

8.  4.29: Sa I Gu- Euna

• Korean Americans impacted in Los Angeles by being attacked by the African American committee
• Received no help or justice for being a minority group
• 11,000 people arrested

9. Fred Korematsu- Ria

• Asian American rights activist
• Refused to go to relocation/interment camps
• Went to Court to see if it was Constitutionally right to discriminate Asian Americans
• Denied and overruled because of military

10. Emmett Till- Jay

• Murdered at 14 years old
• African American civil rights
• Murderers weren't ruled guilty for being white

11. The Japanese Fight for American Freedom- Jack

• Fights for Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbour
• Forced into interment camps

History Alive Reflection

History Alive Project: http://historyalivethewomensrighttochoose.weebly.com/
Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10yYyz6wPJK8EspAcrU7W3A1UlwyP8UjB6_nQlGxnPSs/edit#heading=h.idpcxy9ld51h

A. During History Alive, I learned a lot about the history of abortion and how it not only affected women. Before History Alive, I had never researched about the history of abortion through the illegalisation, organisations, cases, etc. So, I a was able to understand more about the topic. Most importantly though, I learned about how it not only affected women and it is still very controversial today.

B. If I were to keep improving on my History Alive, one thing I would work on to make it better is to improve our bibliography. I would do this by finding more reliable sources and extending my research; so, not only would the bibliography be better, but the overall writing would extend in depth.

C. One thing I liked about this project is being able to pick any topic from any time period and place. With a free choice on our topic, it allowed me to enjoy the research, writing, and forming of our project as my partner and I chose a topic we were both passionate about. However, one aspect I disliked about this project was having to create an in-depth/annotated bibliography.

D. Through the process of this project, one way I have grown as a learner was by growing on my essay techniques. For our final project, I wrote the analysis of our topic in an essay. So, this added growth for thinking about way to incorporate different text evidence and analysis to support our claim.

Band: E Major

Band: A Major

Band: Line 175