all fOr the Love of wateR.

The Swimmer and Swimming have some similarites.

• Both main characters in the stories use their love for water and their ability to swim as a way to escape.
• They both swim distances.
• Both stories deal with seasons. In "The Swimmer" throughout the story, as he was swimming the seasons changed which effected his swimming. In "Swimming" the couple would visit Lake Juliet only in the summer, which is when everything takes place.

One theme for "Swimming" i feel could be, you cant teach an old dog new tricks (when he was trying to teach his wife to swim at the very end/ when Juliet tried to kiss him/and the fact that his body did not match with his facial features and feelings ).

One theme for "The Swimmer" could be mind over matter. . No matter how many pools he had to go through or as many times as he couldnt for some reason he never gave up.

I must say I enjoyed "Swimming" much more then the first story. I feel it was more of a slow paced story that just went with the flow rather then "The Swimmer" which i feel was quick and upbeat. The other story was calming and comedical that went with the eldery couple and his sarcastic personality.

Both stories use simialr ideas in totally different ways. Both main charactes have love for the water and swimming (the old man actually hated the water until his 40's). They express theyre love in different ways, from the first story he competes and proves his devotion tothe sport while the old man proves himself by trying to give his expertice to others. The younger boy is more of a quick swimmer while the old man swims for lesiure (perhaps it has something to do with thefact that he's 72 years old).

"tHe huLL caSe" - colors, aliens &&more. .

I found it interestesting that when asked what color the lights were Bessie said blue, then added the BABY blue. Throughout the story it was mentioned many times how the couple kept miscarrying. When discribing the aliens Bessie says the aliens were short, not like dwarfs but like CHILDREN. I began to feel like she was obsessed with children or having them. At the end of the story it says she was hovering over her bed with a blue light between her. Maybe that means she was finally pregnant with a baby BOY !

Back to colors. There was alot of attention on the colors red, blue, and white. The couple had first thought it was a cop car when they saw the reflecting colors. But to their amaze it was no cop car. Maybe the colors represented the government, the nation, or things like that since red whit and blue are the colors of our national flag. The colors were there to foreshadow the government not believing the couple, or anybody for that matter. Or maybe, the red blue and white couldve meant freedom of speech and hope to believe.

I was confused with the whole dentures part of the story. Maybe, they took out Bernie's teeth so he would stay silent about what went on in the space ship. Teeth can symbolize speech and thats why Bernie could not recall anything his wife was saying to the police. Bessie rememberd the whole thing because she did not have dentures sooooo therefore she had the freedom to speak.

beyond just a VISCERAL response .

"The Gift of Sweat" was an odd story. .but not odd in a negative way, odd as in different. I did enjoy reading it though, it kept me on my toes the whole time.

Rebecca Brown even started the story in a unusual way. She starts off saying "I went to Rick's house every Tuesday and Thursday morning." That right there caught my attention. It felt to me that the story wasnt starting from it's original beginning; i even brought it to Peter's attention. I also noticed that Brown in very repetative. It sounds like she added bullets to her story. For example: "I touched his back. It was sweaty and hot. I got onto the futon. I slid very carefully so I wouldn't jolt him. I lay on my side behind him. I could feel him shaking. I put my left arm around his middle." She does this numerous of times. It gave the story some sort of rythym.

As far as punctuations go. . .I hardly came across any commas. & it might sound weird but i love commas and semicolons. This story didnt seem to have any fancy litterary stuff it was cut and dry. But still very effective.

In the beginning of the story i immeditaley knew Rick was homosexual, BUT i thought that the nararator was his partner. Some of the passages that stuck out to me making me believe the narartor and Rick were partners was "I used to like being there alone sometimes. I could do surprises for him, like leave him notes under his pillow or rearrange his wind-up toys so they were kissing or other silly things. Rick loved surprises." and "I was about to get in the shower. I wanted to be all clean before you came over". That stuck out to me like a sore thumb.


I believe in every story theres some kind of moral or metaphorical meaning behind them, whether its hidden or obvious. In "The Gift of Sweat", i had to go back to the title to make a good conclusion. The word GIFT obviously means something, and Brown chose that word for a reason. I think it is the gift of sweat because once Rick left to the hospital and passed away all the nararotor had left was his sweat. She rubbed his wet back, combed her fingers through his wet hair, even had his sweat on her cheek. She thought he would be returning as usual, but he didnt. Therefore, the last thing they shared together was his sweat. Kind of gross, but kind of sweet too i guess.

literature. . .in MY eyes.

WHAT IS LITERATURE AND DOES IT MATTER? WHY? WHY NOT?

- - - I Love Lucy, Marilyn Monroe, and Bewitched were some things that a 'normal' 10 year old does not have any interest in, but i did and still do. Reading was also something i did as a young child when most just felt reading was boring. I can remember writing pages and pages of fictional stories about imaginary places and using my favorite celebrites from the older days. The books that were especially for my age group didnt really catch my attention much with the exception of those chicken soup books. Instead i would rummage around my mothers things and find books by Danielle Steel and Dean koontz. At the time i didnt understand fully what i was reading but it gave me the boost to try and expand my vocabulary and reading skills. Literature still to this day has an effect on me that lets me escape reality and enter the world of the characters. For example, theres been times where i wept like a baby reading a novel, or threw the book across the room because of how scary it became to me.
Literature does matter, to me and mannnyyyyyy other people...but it also means something different to every individual. To me, its kind of like safety. Like im in a bubble. When im really into what im reading, there can be a concert going on and i wouldnt even notice. It blocks all my troubles and worries for the time being, and im just fine with that because there needs to be a gap between reality and the reality within the pages.

If you dont feel literature means anything to you, put it like this: how do you think your life would be if you werent as privledged to learn to read? If everyday you would go about your daily routine not understanding the weird markings that are all around you. . that would SUCK !

soooo read something ! its food for your brain ! :)

FIVE s t a r s*

First off I want to say that i named this blog five stars because I have a tattoo on both wrists of five stars going from biggest to smallest then smallest to biggest. It symbolizes some personal memories, struggles and obstacles that i have gone through in my life, which I do not regret because if those things didnt happen to me i probablly wouldnt be who I am today.

Everyday is a routine. Everyday I physically carry almost the same things such as books, water keys, sidekick, wallet and if I'm feeling girly maybe a purse. A few days ago I never realized what I was REALLY carrying, until I read The Things They Carried. Everything suddenly became clear to me. I was overloading myself with emotions, past memories, and grudges that were just weighing me and my spirits down. Dont get me wrong, I'm a very happy and positive person but that's because I've learned to put things that aren't going to help me move forward in life, in the past. Occasionally they do sneak up on me but it just makes me a braver woman knowing that I understand and accept my emotional baggage.

If I were a solider in The Things They Carried my name would probablly be Lieutenant Amanda Steel. Steel because it is one of the strongest metals and I am a very strong and brave individual since I was a young child. Also because I can be pretty stubborn at times and that brings me to some grudges I've been carrying along the way. I carry grudges with my father since i was young, if that could weigh anything it would be about two hundred pounds but it would be the size of a grain of rice because that's how little he matters to me. Like many of my peers I carry the stress of trying to be up to par with my mother's and grandparent's expectations of me in college. That could also weigh about one hundred and seventy five pounds and it would be a pencil with no eraser because life is the art of drawing without an eraser. Being the first in the family to make it to college is a great honor and everybody is counting on me to succeed.

Relationships always come with some emotional baggage especially after a break up. Not getting into too much detail but after an almost 6 yr realationship things ended for good right before this semester. Little things always remind me of what we had, especially music. All My Life by KC and JoJo would symbolize the baggage i carry due to my breakup.

Another peice of baggage I always have on my mind and in my heart is my little brother, Macho. If i had to choose what i would carry it would be a banana, because he is a clown, the funniest kid ever. That would most definatley be the heaviest thing i carry around. Since I started dorming my brother and I havent been seeing much of eachother and at his age (10) I feel it is crucial to keep in touch with him. Im always worried about how he's doing in school because unlike myself when i was younger, i loved school and everything about it but in Macho's case he does not. My mother is a single parent so she works a lot. I have always felt it was my duty to fill her shoes when she isn't around, even while in here and he's at home in Jersey City. I want to know what he's doing every second of the day but we all know that is impossible, I just want him to go in the right path and if he doesn't I might feel like it is all my fault because im not around.


Just as the soliders in the story, none of my everyday physical things can amount to the weight of my emotional baggage...but the trick is not to let it bring you down :)


SMILE. BE HAPPY !

my first blogGie. [lying in a hammock]

The first day of class we went over James Wright's poem "Lying in a Hammock" and got many different interpetations. While reading the poem in class I immeditaley noticed how efficiently Wright used imagery with colors and animals. After the first time hearing it, I thought in the end when he says "i have wasted my life" I saw it as he realized all wonderful and beautiful things happen everyday and he has wasted his life by always lying in the hammock. Then as we kept rereading it, we all discovered some hidden meanings. The way Wright wrote this poem makes it seem like a lonley and deserted place with only cows walking into the distance.

The chicken hawk could be representing death. Lying in a hammock can also be representing the position that is done when lying in a coffin. He says the chicken hawk floated over him; hawks only prey on dead food. I feel this poem was meant to come off with some sense of sadness and regret. Regret that he didn't do more with his life then he should've as he says i have wasted my life.

The way Wright kept putting together ugly and beautiful words together really gave the poem some spice. For example. he would say bronze butterfly then BLACK trunk, or sunlight between two pines then the DROPPINGS of last years horses. I rememer that being one of the first few things i noticed when i read it.

Analyzing poems or Adding meaning to poems as professor says is not one of my specialties or favorites but this poem i must say was entriging and interesting. It was pretty simple to decode some of the symbolic things mentioned with a few times of reading the poem over and over again. Hopefully, in this course i will learn to better interpret and add meaning to poems.