I Have Never Had A Dream...

          I never really have had a dream, or at least one I know of. If I have it must be buried deep inside my brain, lost forever. There was, however, one time I came very close to experiencing one. When I was nearly 11 years old, I was waking into a state of semi-consciousness, barely acknowledging the world around me. All of a sudden I felt a sense of dread and my stomach dropped out. Somehow I knew exactly what was happening. A second later I hit the floor with a thud. Even though unaware of everything else, I had somehow known, I mean I was absolutely sure, that I was falling. It is very strange to me, it even seems slightly magical. But this hardly counts as a dream does it? I am now 14 and nothing similar has happened since. The dreams haven't started yet either. Maybe I will never experience what it feels to dream, but I still hold hope I will some day.

Welcome to Third Quarter!

                   Hello everybody! On Monday we started Semester 2 here at JC. In English class we just finished Act 4 in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and are almost finished. The next book our class is reading will be Into the Wild, which is about one man's journey across the world which ultimately leads him to his demise. I am glad I have the same English class so I can read that book. Because of the new semester, some of my classes have changed. My health class was cut and now I have art class. My biology class switched to another section as did my religion class. Other than that everything is normal. Thanks for reading!

My Book-of -the-Month= "The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe"

You can never have too much Poe! One of the greatest writers of all time, Poe has written many stories, poems, and the like. So here they all are, waiting to be read in "The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" (Seen Below).
                                              
                                                
Included in the book are timeless classics, including "The Black Cat", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Masque of the Red Death", and so much more!
The types of literature and literary devices in this novel are so numerous and well used, you will be hard-pressed to find anything quite like it. In between the covers lay devices such as symbolism, similes, metaphors, and so much more!
As a reader of this fantastic book, I have to give it five stars! Everything flowed well and made perfect sense, but what really got me was "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The story kept me trapped inside a world of gruesomeness and intrigue, sending delightful chills down my spine every step of the way. I especially loved the part of the tale when the murder was revealed to be an escaped Orangutan, who was merely trying to give the victim a haircut. Such strangely satisfying writing is not easy to come by, so you can save a lot of time searching for a good book right now just by choosing this wonderful collection.
And remember - You can never have too much Poe!

Picture of O. Henry

Source:
http://www.inspirationline.com/images/O_henry.jpg

O. Henry - 10 Facts You Probably Didn't Know

#1. O. Henry was a pseudonym (pen name) for one of the American short story writers, William Sydney Porter.

#2. His was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in the year 1862.

#3. William Porter only went to school until he was 15 years old.

#4. He dropped out of school so he could work at his uncle’s drugstore.

#5. While in his 20’s Porter became both a clerk and bank teller and moved to Texas.

#6. He did not write professionally until he was in his 30’s.

#7. O. Henry was accused of embezzling funds from the First National Bank of Austin, Texas in when he was 34. After being accused of this, Porter fled to Honduras.

#8. Learning his wife was dying, O. Henry returned to be with her, and then after she died he turned himself in.

#9. The sentence was 5 years (it was a small amount of funds embezzled), of which O. Henry served 3 at a jail in Ohio.

#10. O. Henry died in the year 1910, nearly 10 years after his release from prison.

Source:
Microsoft Student with Encarta

My Essay on "The Maque of the Red Deah"

Austin S.                                                                                                                 
Mrs. Zurkowski

October 27, 2010                                                                                       
Honors English – Purples

“Masque of the Red Death” Writing Activity

            Towards the beginning of Edgar Allan Poe’s story “Masque of the Red Death”, a paragraph was devoted entirely towards the seven colored rooms of Prospero’s abbey and their contents. One of the seven colored rooms in the prince’s retreat was purple. The purple coloring in the room represented the games, fun, and playfulness of youth as well as the ignorance derived from unknowing. As such a beginning stage, it did come closer to the start of the paragraph.

            Throughout life there are seven stages, each of them unique in some way. The seven rooms in the story represented these. Purple in the second room was the color chosen to represent youthfulness. It is the second stage in life after birth, and is when the innocence of ignorance allows for fun and games. Also related to the room was the clock of life, symbolized in the story by an ebony clock located in the black room with red panes. This stage was still early on and allowed for there to be more time for transition into other stages of life.

            This purple room and its symbolic color relate to me in many ways. Youthful ignorance and playfulness are represented by the color purple as a stage of my life. As an adolescent, that stage of my life has only just been left behind. There are still remnants of the stage resident, such as a capacity for fun and games, which I am hopelessly an addict of. Board games, discovering the new and exciting world around me, and just plainly goofing off are all still with me today. However, the flip-side of the color also relates to my life. Gone is the innocence of ignorance and now actions have consequences, be them good or otherwise. If I break something when I bump into it, I will be punished. If I do well in school I am rewarded. The fun and games of purple are over, but I still have many more stage to go through.

Welcome to Second Quarter!

Hi! Second quarter is here and the class has started on the short story unit. "The Interlopers" was the first one we read and I have to say I really the author (Saki) and his writing style. When the story finished with the hugely ironic ending it had, it reminded me of some of Shakespear's work. What was the story Shakespear wrote with the character King Lear? It sounded alot like it. Anyway here are some of my goals for the second quarter: Maintain A's in all subjects (a high B in the case of AP Human Geography), read at least three good books, and to keep up to date on my blog. Speaking of my blog, I've posted a recent picture of me below, just to give you a little reference.