Kris's 102 Blog

Mr. Hughes statement means a lot to me, I agree that to build a sturdy foundation you need to start with yourself first. Because without having yourself steady how can you ever be ready for what life throws at you. My boyfriend and myself are trying to get our own selves figured out and all settled before we ever decide to do anything drastic like marriage or moving in together even if we’ve been dating for 4 years. We want to make sure we are all set and our own foundations are complete so we can start build our lives together. Without this our relationship could tumble and fall. So yes a great foundation starts with the person at hand and then they can build on it and make themselves an even better version of themselves or start building a life with someone. It’s also easier to go through life with a new foundation to grow and build on. Once you get yourself situated and you have dealt with your demons and even just helped with your mental and emotional issues (because everyone has them) you can start on that foundation and then grow yourself.

My least favorite story throughout the whole semester was “Desiree’s Baby”. I did not like how the story ended in the death of Desiree and her child when she was not even the cause of her child being racially mixed. It was her husband who foolishly married Desiree even when her father told him she was a foundling. And then he had to go and take her away, they were madly in love until the child’s skin turned dark. Then he was cold and distant to her, blamed her for everything and was even cruel to her. After he found out he kicked her out with her baby. I really dislike Desiree’s husband, if he would have loved her and truly loved her he would have kept her in the home. He would have taken her in just like Desiree’s mom, Madam Valmonde, write to Desiree. Heart broken and ashamed she felt like she had no place to go, she did not want to burden her mother and did not want her child growing to be in the slave class. So she took him to the woods with her and never returned. It was a story that angered me to no end with Desiree’s husband and also made me really sad for Desiree.

I have had many errors throughout this semester on my papers. My biggest error was summarizing the story in my paragraphs instead of staying on my topics. But I have outgrown that because I have practiced many times and have seen an improvement. I have a problem with putting commas in places they are not needed, I probably have done that throughout my whole semester and even through these blogs. Run on sentences are tricky for me because I can never catch them, I have tried to pick up on them more and have changed the ones I have caught. This class has really helped me on my work cited page and my in text citations, Mrs. Vance makes things very simple with that. I have also seen that i have just all around improved on a lot of things and can catch more errors in my typing. But not all and most are grammatical errors.

Throughout this whole semester my favorite story was “The Monkey’s Paw”. I loved all the suspense and the creep factor in it. It was sad that the son died, but the real suspense towards the end when Mrs. White wished her son back alive was amazing. I was hanging off the end of my seat listening to Mrs. Vance read the story out loud in class. Also anything that has to do with magic I love, so having the monkey’s paw be enchanted and able to make wishes made me like the story quite a lot. I also liked the message in the story, which is that you should not ask for more than you already have for it will not bring you happiness.

The imagery in the story was good too, describing the rats crawling through the walls, the creaks and moans of the house, the rain hitting the roof all made it seem gloomy and dark which was perfect for what was gonna happen.

Mathidle was not my favorite character, she was stuck up, high maintenance, and rude. Even though she was rich enough to have a maid to do her own chores she wanted more. She wanted rich dresses, expensive jewelry, being the shining star that all men stared at. And she would lie, beg, and manipulate to get what she wanted. Her husband tried his best to please her, but nothing was good enough even a invitation to a grand ball she threw a tantrum. She lied about how much the dress would cost and manipulated her husband to give her money to go get the dress she wanted even though he had to work harder and linger to get the money. Borrowing her friend’s necklace Mathidle went to the ball and danced with many people, later after the ball she lost the necklace. Her punishment was well deserved, working hard for years to pay for a new necklace. Even though it did not served well because at the end she still was rude to her friend.

My Nana is a strong lady, the strongest I have ever known. She has taught me loads of things, like manners (even if that meant embarrassing us in public to teach us a lesson), or how to talk proper English. My Nana was not fooling around when it came to talking like a proper human being. She would correct us none stop and as many times as she felt fit to do so. She also would not take anything from anyone, if she thought she was right it was right regardless. But she had also pushed me to go and do things on my own, she even nagged me until I got my driver’s license. She has also taught me how to draw and paint and do crafts. Cooking was our thing to do together, she is also an inspiration to me and makes me want to become a chef one day. She pushes me everyday to do well in school and to graduate. I love My Nana.

The phrase “you get what you wish for” is a famous phrase. But sometimes it is true, but even if it may be true it might not be all happiness. Like with lottery winners, there is actually a theory that lottery winners all go broke quickly because they just go buy and buy things that they don’t actually need or into things that have no worth after they are bought. And after their money is gone they cannot pay for all the expensive things they have bought and lose their house, car, and other items. And most quit their jobs as well and then are stuck jobless. So even if you may have the money right now to buy everything you wish to have it may end up destroying you in the long run.

I am not one to internalize a lot of things. But I do internalize my body and how it looks. I have always been self conscious of it, I have had body issues since I was little and have had a hard time with my weight. I have worn long sleeves, baggy pants, and hoodies year round at a young age. But I have overcome my conflict about myself, I do not wear baggy clothes and try to hide my body in layers of clothing as I did as a child. I have also started eating healthier and have lost about 40 lbs and now I’m 213lbs! And I’m so happy with how I look now and I can do so much more with my life.

English 102 is totally different than English 101. In English 101 you start out with the basics, because most people that take that class are coming right out of high school. You learn how to cite and make an outline, and how to make a proper work cited page so you are gonna be in trouble for plagiarizing. You get easier topics and ones where you usually get to pick the topic. Now English 102 is harder because the teacher expects you to know how to do in text citations. And how to properly make a work cited page, and how to structure a paragraph. Because you should have learned all that in English 101. So some teachers start off really strong, and your paper might come back as a D, but they also tell you what you have done wrong. Do not let English 102 scare you, its not as bad as English 101.

A moment in “Desiree’s Baby” that explained the ending was when it finally showed on Desiree’s face the truth about her baby. Desiree never realized that her baby was any other race than white, she had been so cheery and happy about the birth of her child it blinded her from seeing the truth. Up until her husband Amaund started to pull away it never clicked that anything was amiss. After the realization Desiree internalized everything and thought that she was the cause of her child being racially mixed. And with that she was kicked out of her house by her husband. Not wanting her child to grow up knowing the hardships that it was bound to face being in the slave class, she took herself and her child to the woods and never returned.