Name all the Animals

Now that I've gotten through chapter 18, I see that thankfully the book isn't as over-written as it was for the first 75 pages. I like the character personalities the author creates in the book. The eccentric old nun, the Physics hating science genius who only has a passion for drawing, the strict math teacher who ironically enjoys the pool. They're lifelike, and not one-dimensional or stereotypical with how they act. I think a lot of people can relate to Terry, who seems to have everything going for her but still can't do what she really wants. From her reluctance to show Allison her work, she either doesn't have much natural talent for art or hasn't yet gotten the confidence in her work to reveal it. While overly talented in the area of science, she doesn't use that ability because she isn't happy with it.

Name All The Animals

Name All The Animals is another book I am reading for my creative writing class. It is a memoir in which the author tells about the death of her brother at 16 and how she deals with that tragic experience. The setting is near Rochester, my home town. It's kind of weird seeing all the references to places that I'm familiar with in the book, but it keeps me interested.I'm only on page 30 so far, so my judgement on the quality of this book would have to be neutral.

Sylvia Plath's Poetry and The Bell Jar

The Bell Jar is a book I'm reading in my creative writing class, by Sylvia Plath. So far, I'm on chapter two The book hasn't done a good job of drawing me in so far, but from the description on the back of the book I'm interested in seeing how this innocent contest winner descends into madness. That should be very interesting.


I have also read some of Plath's poetry. I like how she can construct a dark poem without making it cliche. The descriptive words she uses make the poem feel like a metaphorical setting that represents the world we live in, but may not feel. Unlike many other poets, she doesn't quite acknowledge the tone of the poem as "dark" and "depressing". Rather, I feel she treats the state of mind in her works as normal.

Unsettling America: English Speaking Persons Will Find Translations

This is a poem I read by Michael S. Glaser. It tells of his modern day tour of a Concentration Camp in Dachau, and what he sees while he's there. His view of the camp and most tourists is somewhat ironic, for he sees the destruction of this establishment as a victory for America despite the similar acts of cruelty we have done (From killing and outlawing Native Americans, to bombing Hiroshima to stop WW2). The title of this poem is named after how the tours often translate the museum exhibits into English, but has a symbolic meaning in how the author translates the reality of the past events that we often only see from one perspective. This poem used simple diction, but was to-the-point and had capturing imagery. I enjoyed it.

Betsy Brown Responces

1. The scene in the morning when Betsy is looking out the window at sunrise.
2. Greer. Only because he seems to be the least obnoxious character so far.
3. The part where Betsy Brown and her friends...um...

It ruined her dignified/sophisticated image for me.
4. It fits with the time and setting.
5. She wins a acting/poetry contest? Not really many hints here yet.
6.Betsy seems somewhat like her mother.

EXPLODING ANIMALS!

Yes, they blow up. At least in rare cases.

I came across this article while reading about explosives, and saw a link that said "Exploding Animals". Had to check it out.

Some Whales explode after being washed up on the beach, due to build up of methane gases in their body caused by the bacteria that decompose them. A species of Ants has a function where it tenses up and "blows open" its body, expelling a bunch of disgusting chemicals.

But the most interesting thing I read in the article was about the exploding toads. They usually puff themselves up with air to make themselves look bigger as a defense mechanism, which usually is effective. But their predators happen to be some of the smartest animals on the plant: Crows. After an influx of predatory crows in the area, around 1,000 toads died by blowing themselves up. Berlin veterinarian Franz Mutschmann proposed a theory as to why this was happening. After observing the behavior of Crows in the area, he proposed that the Crows figured out how to make the toads do this. You see, the toads will keep puffing themselves up until a threat is no longer present. So apparently, the Crows taunt the toads until they take in too much air and then pop them like a balloon, resulting in an easy kill. Oh, and the toads actually live for a short amount of time after the explosion.

I've heard of a similar sensation happening to Puffer Fish, but this seems more odd.

Am I a bad person for laughing at this?

Betsy Brown

Betsy Brown, by Niozake Shange, is a book I'm reading as an assignment for creative writing class. I' unsure as to why we're supposed to post our poinion about the book after reading a few pages, I havn't taken enough in to decide how I feel. All I can say is that the setting chapter 1 creates leaves me to believe this book won't be "bad".