two haiku

1. Beans 
(5) Beans are kind to hearts. 
(7) I like to eat them daily. 
(5) And then do big farts!'

I chose this piece because it is humorous, although it is a little bit vulgar. Second reason is that it has certain rhyme. The last word heart in the first sentence has the same (art) sound with the fart in the last sentence.

2. (cant find the name but it was composed by Peter S. Quinn)
Darkish red red rose
In the evening spring of glows
A petal drop goes

I pick this haiku because it depicts a beautiful scene, talking about a red rose in the evening. I think the reason why this haiku is good is because it has its flow/rhyme. The last word of each sentence all has the (o) sound, I think thats why it is good.

Respond to a Haiku

I picked Grace's Haiku, which is called "What an extremely frighten person could do"

The bird hear a clap
thinks it's a dangerous trap
so it slaps the chap

First, the syllables are correct, which is in 5 7 5 patterns. Second, it has its rhyme, the last word of each sentence all ends in the "app" sound. Also, it has some interesting content, which talks about bird was frightened by a man and attacked him.

Haiku

#1
The mosquitoes killer

I tried to focus
But mosquitoes annoyed me
I killed it by claps.

#2
Clapping to turn the lights on

With advanced techniques
Light goes on and off by day
As I failed my tests

#3
Everyone can sing
Good music makes you do that
Mr. Trier said.

Third draft

In the story, Tom Wingfield shows the elements of desires of escape, family struggle, guiltiness, and family love towards audience. We chose the last part of act 8 to show Tom's struggle with Amanda, his mother, and his desires to escape this family; and we chose the ending monologue to show that he feels guilty because of leaving Laura, who is crippled, and his family, which he used to be the only worker in the family, also shows the family love to Laura: even though he leaves his family, he always think about Laura. Tennessee Williams used tones of metaphors and similes to describe Tom's struggle with his family and the guilt he feels because of Laura. So by acting out Tom, it helps me to comprehend Tom's feeling after he leaves Amanda and Laura and his emotion when he finally makes the decision to leave his family. 

   In the act 8 when Amanda asked Tom why he did not know his best friend is engaged, Tom said: "The warehouse is the place where I work, not where I know things about people!"(Williams 67) It shows that Tom is getting furious because Amanda does not understand him. When Amanda keeps blaming him, Tom replied her in a short response:" I am going to the movies"(Williams 67). Just like the situation happened in previous scene, Tom went to the movies as a way to escape. In this situation, he is sick of Amanda's complaints, he used this short response to show that he was mad and did not want to talk with her. In Tom's ending monologue, he said: "I did not go to the moon, I went much farther."(Williams 68) At the end of Act 8, Amanda yelled to him that: "Go to the moon, you selfish dreamer!"(Williams 67), his word, I went much farther, implies that he thinks himself as a selfish person. In the ending monologue, Tom started his words by stating current situation after he left his family. He said: "The cities swept about me like dead leaves."(Williams 68) He felt helpless and homeless. Leaves supposed to hang on the tree, but since he left his family, the leaf dropped from the branches. Later on, he talked about Laura. "Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into a movie or a bar... Anything that can blow your candles out!"(Williams 68) He said this sentence directly to Laura. Even though Laura was not there, Tom still saw her when he turned around. This implied that even though Tom left this family, he still thought about Laura. All the movement he said, like reach for a cigarette, run into a movie or a bar, was what he usually did after he got tired from the work in factory. He tried so hard to forget Laura, which means that he felt a lot more guilty because of leaving the house.

  In the performance, the first scene for me is the quarrel between me and Amanda. First, when I tried to portray that Tom thinks Laura and Jim will be engaged and he feels excellent because he brings Jim here, I walk from the stage left to stage center, make myself a drink, and look around to find Jim in order to let Amanda praise me. But when I heard Jim was engaged with another girl, I put down my cup, and staring at Amanda; and when I said: "Jim? Engaged?"(Williams 66), my voice became sharper, because I knew that Amanda would be mad and our dream was broken, nobody would take care of us. Then, Amanda said it seems very peculiar Tom did not know Jim was engaged, my voice starts to get low, and containing a bit of anger. As Tom, I did not want others to criticize me, and here was the place where the family struggles started. When Amanda said that what I am doing was all selfish pleasures, I stood up, shook my head, and slowly walked to the coat stand, to show that I endured enough of my mother's humiliation. And when Amanda asked me to leave, I said my words in a fast pace, so that feeling of anger can be shown to audience.

  The ending monologue starts with me walking on the bridge alone. Because in my comprehension, Tom was lonely. In order to show this, I walked slowly, then look around, tried to find something which I was familiar about it. Later in the scene, I said: "The cities swept about me like dead leaves, leaves that were brightly colored but torn away from the branches."(Williams 68) I portrayed this by using my voice; I emphasize the word "leaves" to show that even though the leaves are colorful, just like the talent that Tom got, it would not change anything, and when I said it was torn away from the branches, I lower my voice, and my voice sounds like I am desperate. Because Tom missed his family. He found out that after leaving the house, he could do nothing, which means that he lost his value and his goal. Just like when he said following his father's footsteps, Tom did not know what should he do. Later, when I said: "Perhaps, it was a familiar bit of music."(Williams 68) I stood there and listened to the music, in order to show that I was lost in my mind, thinking about my family, and Laura. Later on, I walked down the bridge, because I think on the bridge it limits my movements. After I walk down the bridge, I said Laura touches my shoulder. So I turned around, and pretend to look into her eyes because it was an illusion. I said:" Oh, Laura, Laura"(Williams 68), I said her name quietly. Because Tom thought it was his fault to let his family live in such a bad situation and he left his family, he did not have courage to call Laura's name loudly. Then, in order to show that I got shocked, I covered my mouth to try not to yell out. Next, I walked slowly, sit on a chair, and looked on the ground, because Tom at this point is feeling bad for his sister Laura. And he also felt a bit of regret so he will not be able to look straightly into Laura's eye if Laura is there. Following my words, I grabbed the cups on the table, and held it really hard, to show I am nervous. When I said: "Blow out your candles, Laura!"(Williams 68) I yelled it out, because Tom supposed to be nervous because he was talking to the person that he was scared to talk with. Then, I put down my cups, and said: " And so, good-bye!"(Williams 68) I said this as slow as I could, because this is a serious and solemn conversation with Laura. And in my opinion, this "good-bye" was not only talking to Laura, but also talking to himself, to the past Tom. Tom was going to have his new life, no matter good or bad.

 We as a group used a lot of props and lighting to show the characteristics that we want to emphasize. For example, we place a coat stand at stage right. When Tom was arguing with Amanda and wanted to leave, I stood out and take my coat which was on the stand, because it would tell the audience that I am going to leave. Talking about the lighting, the most important one was the lighting at the end of the play. When I said: "And so, good-bye"(Williams 68), the lights went off one by one. Because we think by using this type of ways, audience can get how desperate Tom feels more easily. 

    This book The Glass Menagerie contains a lot of descriptions about relationship between two people. When I first read this book, I did not like Tom, because I thought he was a selfish person, he did not think for his family. But later on, I found out that he was not a jerk, but the reality itself became a pressure to him and made him leave his family. Tennessee Williams used many techniques of writing to show Tom's characteristics. For example, he used a simile to portray Tom as dead leaves. He wanted to show that Tom was isolated, in another words, he isolated others. Acting as Tom helps me a lot to understand his feelings and what the words really mean. He wanted to be a poet in the future, but the reality showed that he could not. Because of his characteristics, he wont find someone to talk, instead, he wanted to take all of the burden by himself. Go to a movie or a bar was just a way for him to relieve stress. The Glass Menagerie not only helped me to improve my performance skills, it also promotes me to analyze the relationship between the characters, so it improved my ability to interpret the truly meaning underneath the sentence.

                                                            Citations:

William, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. Dramatists Play Service INC. 1975.

Grading sample essays

Samantha Weed's essay:
A: 5 B: 8 C: 5
The essay is well organized. At the beginning, it talks about the plot and the character she chose. Then, she states out many detailed analysis. And she wrote a lot about how she achieved it.
Julia Rafferty's essay:
A: 5 B: 9 C: 4
The part that surprised me is that in her analysis, she even analyzes the style of the Shakespeare's writing. And then she analyzed what each sentence means and how she achieves it.

From their essays, I found out that they have many detailed analysis. Like analyze what the style of the writing it is, the word which represents what emotions, etc. I think I can add more of detailed analysis in mine. In performance part, they first give a sentence, then analyze what does the sentence mean, and then stating out how they achieve that; for my essay, I could add some of that.

Second draft essay

In the story, Tom Wingfield shows the elements of desires of escape, family struggle, guiltiness, and family love towards audience. We chose the last part of act 8 to show Tom's struggle with Amanda, his mother, and his desires to escape this family; and we chose the ending monologue to show that he feels guilty because of leaving Laura, who is crippled, and his family, which he used to be the only worker in the family, also shows the family love to Laura: even though he leaves his family, he always think about Laura. By acting out Tom, it helps me to comprehend Tom's feeling after he leaves Amanda and Laura, and the his emotion when he finally makes the decision to leave his family.

   In the act 8 when Amanda asked Tom why he did not know his best friend is engaged, Tom said: "The warehouse is the place where I work, not where I know things about people!" It shows that Tom is getting furious because Amanda does not understand him. When Amanda keeps blaming him, Tom replied her in a short response:" I am going to the movies". Just like the situation happened in previous scene, Tom went to the movies as a way to escape. In this situation, he is sick of Amanda's complaints, he used this short response to show that he was mad and did not want to talk with her. In Tom's ending monologue, he said: "I did not go to the moon, I went much farther." At the end of Act 8, Amanda yelled to him that: "Go to the moon, you selfish dreamer!", his word, I went much farther, implies that he thinks himself as a selfish person. In the ending monologue, Tom started his words by stating current situation after he left his family. He said: "The cities swept about me like dead leaves." He felt helpless and homeless. Leaves supposed to hang on the tree, but since he left his family, the leaf dropped from the branches. Later on, he talked about Laura. "Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into a movie or a bar... Anything that can blow your candles out!" He said this sentence directly to Laura. Even though Laura was not there, Tom still saw her when he turned around. This implied that even though Tom left this family, he still thought about Laura. All the movement he said, like reach for a cigarette, run into a movie or a bar, was what he usually did after he got tired from the work in factory. He tried so hard to forget Laura, which means that he felt a lot more guilty because of leaving the house.

  In the performance, the first scene for me is the quarrel between me and Amanda. First, when I tried to portray that Tom thinks Laura and Jim will be engaged and he feels excellent because he brings Jim here, I walk from the stage left to stage center, make myself a drink, and look around to find Jim in order to let Amanda praise me. But when I heard Jim was engaged with another girl, I put down my cup, and staring at Amanda; and when I said: "Jim? Engaged?", my voice becomes sharper, in order to show that I was surprised. Then, Amanda said it seems very peculiar Tom did not know Jim was engaged, my voice starts to get low, and containing a bit of anger. When Amanda said that what I am doing was all selfish pleasures, I stood up, shook my head, and slowly walked to the coat stand, to show that I endured enough of my mother's humiliation. And when Amanda asked me to leave, I said my words in a fast pace, so that feeling of anger can be shown to audience.

  The ending monologue starts with me walking on the bridge alone. Because in my comprehension, Tom was lonely. In order to show this, I walked slowly, then look around, tried to find something which I was familiar about it. After this, I should say: "The cities swept about me like dead leaves, leaves that were brightly colored but torn away from the branches." For me, this sentence means that once he leaves his family, just like a leave falls off from its tree, he feels helpless and homeless. I portrayed this by using my voice; I emphasize the word "leaves" to show that even though the leaves are colorful, just like the talent that Tom got, it would not change anything, and when I said it was torn away from the branches, I lower my voice, and my voice sounds like I am desperate. And when I said things about music, I looked to a place that was far away, in order to show that I was lost in my mind, thinking about my family, and Laura. Later on, I walked down the bridge, because I think on the bridge it limits my movements. After I walk down the bridge, Laura touches my shoulder. So I turned around, and pretend to look into her eyes because it was an illusion. Then, I got shocked, so I covered my mouth to try not to yell out. Then, I walked slowly, sit on a chair, and looked on the ground, because Tom at this point is feeling bad for his sister Laura. And he also felt a bit of regret so he will not be able to look straightly into Laura's eye if Laura is there. Following my words, I grabbed the cups on the table, and held it really hard, to show I am nervous. When I said: "Blow out your candles, Laura!" I almost yelled it out, because Tom supposed to be nervous and he is talking to the person he is scared to talk with. Then, I put down my cups, and said: " And so, good-bye!" In my opinion, this is a serious and solemn questions to Laura. It should be serious so I put down the cups. Then, the lights go off and I still sit there to wait for the music to the end.

  Overall, Acting as Tom is a challenge for me. Because Tom is an emotional character, a lot of emotions need to be expressed out either by voice or body movements. When I am facing to the audience, I will be nervous, then my voice will become lower and lower, I will start to forget words. But, acting as Tom helps me a lot to understand his feelings and what the words really mean.

Self- evaluation

Criterion A: 3

Criterion B: 6

Criterion C: 3

I gave myself a 3 on Criterion A. Because I think even though I have some of the analysis, it is not enough. The analysis needs to be more profound. Not just analyze the facts on the surface. Try to analyze why would the author right that sentence, does it have another meaning? What does the author try to portray? For Criterion B, I wrote a lot, so that I give myself a 6. I wrote many explanation of why I am doing this, why I am doing that. But I think it was not enough. Because there is only 400 words for it. I can add more about the staging, lighting and props. For my grammer,  I gave it a 3. Just because I think I did not use much of the literary language. some words need to be changed in literary analysis.

Musical review(Les Mis)

                                                         Les Misérables

Play: Les Misérables

Author: Victor Hugo

Reviewed date: Feb. 23. 2018

Location: Black Box, Cheshire Academy

Director: Jennifer Guarino

Major actors: Lexi Williamson(Jean Valjean), Jenna Denomme(Javert), Julia Rafferty(Fantine), Aaron Luo(Marius), Maggie Guarino-Trier(Cosette)

  Les Miserables is a musical play, which means that there is only singing in the play. The play began on a prisoner ship. The protagonist, Jean Valjean, was on the ship. He became a prisoner because he stole bread couple years ago for his starving nephew. He supposed to be freed, but the the captain, Javert, said he was extremely dangerous and gave him a parole. After he left the ship and entered the town, he found out that because he had that parole, nobody would help him. One day, he stole a church's silverwares in order to survive; but when he got caught, the god father forgave him, what he wanted was to make Jean Valjean become a good person. At that time, he decided to run away and tried to be a kind person. Later on, he became a mayor and a owner of a factory. One day, he saved one of his workers' life, Fantine, who used to work in his factory. The worker told him that because of him, she became a whore in order to raise her daughter. Although Jean Valjean tried his best, Fantine still died; but before she died, she begged him to raise her child which is Cosette. At the same time, Jean Valjean was suspected by Javert because Javert thought he was the prisoner who ran away couple years ago. As the time passed, French teenagers started their revolution. One of the teenagers, Marius, Cosette's beloved, who also participated in this. When they rebelled against the government, government's army was too strong and they got destroyed. Only Marius survived because Jean Valjean saved him. Later on Marius and Cosette got married, but at the same time, Jean Valjean was passing away. Till the very end, Marius finally knew that Jean Valjean was the person who saved his life.
  The most important themes that appeared in the play are love, death, sadness, injustice, and hope. Love starts from the very beginning, to the very end. Jean Valjean was caught because he stole bread for his nephew, that is love; Fantine became a whore to raise her child, that is love; Marius and Cosette got married, that is also love. Although this is a sad story, Victor Hugo wants to show that the world is lit by love! Sadness is also an important theme. Fantine got fired because she refused the love from her manager, and finally became a whore in order to raise her child. That is a tragedy. Also, at the resolution, Marius noticed that Jean Valjean saved his life but Jean Valjean was gone, that is also tragic. Even in director's note, she mentioned that: " Although the story contains much fighting, death, and sadness, it also teaches us the power of hope and persistence." This shows that director particularly wants to show love and persistence to people. So in the play, take Fantine as an example, even though she was fired, her husband left her, and she needed to raise a child, she still did not give up. That is a persistence to her life and love to her daughter.
  Then, talks about the staging in the play. Since this is a musical play, this two hours play is always with music. The music is fierce, prisoners are singing: " Look down, Look down, you'll always be a slave." The music makes this scene look fantastic. Audience could directly get the emotion from it. They are also having transition music when people are switching scenes. Then, characters' costumes can directly tell many information to the audience. For example, when they are on the ship, they wore poorly, and they had some black stains on their face to show that they were prisoner. Also when Fantine met those whores on the street, they were scantily clad, and it shows that they were whores. Lighting is also one of the important staging. It can emphasize the leading role of a scene easily. For example in the scene which takes place in the tavern, the couple and many other characters are singing. In order to show and emphasize the couple is the most important characters in that scene, the light is focus on them, and they are also standing at the stage center. Although they were just like many of others who were singing together, but because the light spotlighted on them, audience would focus on them first. The props are also helping to understand the play. For example, when French teenagers were fighting the government's army, they were standing and hiding behind a block. The block consisted of pieces of wood, chairs, etc. It was a mess, but it showed the mess of the war. So it helped the audience to understand the situation was terrible. Also the coloring on the face, typically, on the actor of Jean Valjean, Lexi's face. Because Lexi is a female and Jean Valjean  is a male character, they drew a bear for Lexi. It does help the audience to notice that Lexi is acting a male.
  In the play, Jean Valjean is highlighted as the as the most important one. First, the story happened around him. Second, he was always the person who got spotlighted. Third, Jean Valjean always stood at the center of the stage, which shows that he was the main character. In the play, Jean Valjean and Fantine was similar. They both had a poor beginning. Jean Valjean was a prisoner at the beginning, and Fantine worked really hard in order to raise Cosette. And they both got redemption. Jean Valjean got redemption from the pope and Fantine got her from Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean and Javert was standing at the opposite. At the beginning, they are singing against each other, to show that they are opponents. During the play, Javert tried to catch Jean Valjean. Although they are opponents, they both had a same belief, this world was injustice. Javert at last found out this because he saw a prisoner, which is Jean Valjean, saved others' life, and he suicide because his old belief got destroyed. Jean Valjean noticed that the world was injustice since he wanted to become a good person. He had seen a lot of sins and tragedy, he wanted to change this situation.
  Throughout the play, Julia Rafferty did a great job on playing as Fantine. Because when she got fired from the factory and she found out that she had to become a whore, she showed the despair to audience. I felt desperate and sad when she was singing and talking about the life. Fantine created a character that showed the tragedy of aa low-class worker, but whom would not surrender to her destiny. In order to show the awful situation of Fantine, After she got fired from the factory, she whimpered and looked at the sky desperately. And when she was singing her voice was shaking. Also, she did not give up till the very end. She worked hard for her daughter. When she heard that becoming a whore would have enough money to raise her daughter, her eyes showed her determination.
  Overall, this is a fantastic play! The music is great and they played it for two hours. Actors are also doing really well. They expressed the proper emotion; their body movements and facial expression exactly showed what they wanted to portray. From this play, I learned that the lighting is really important for a play. It not only helped to construct an atmosphere, but also it helped audience to notice who is the most important character in a bunch of people.