Author: RaeanneL

THREE REASONS WHY I DON’T LIKE THE WAY BIOGRAPHICS SPEAKS

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

As I watched Biographics’s video on Marco Polo, I started to dislike the way the man in the video talked, and here’s why:

First of all, he has an accent that sometimes is hard to understand. For example, when he says “years”, it sounds like he’s actually saying “yes”. When he’s says “empire”, it sounds like “em-π”. When he says “war” it sounds like “woe”. And this was all during the first thirty-two seconds of the video! “If he continues on like this,” I thought, “then I might not learn the correct information that was meant for me to learn.” Some people might disagree with me and say that his accent is pleasurable and elegant to listen to. But in my mind, I am constantly having to put together words and piece together phrases that the man in the video might have said. This is annoying and if there was another video on Marco Polo, I would certainly watch the other one given a choice.

Second of all, the guy pauses every four or five seconds to take a short breath. I don’t know if this is supposed to be for more dramatic videos or if this is supposed to make the whole thing more interesting to listen to, but to me, it is worse than the accent. This breathing pattern is so irregular that instead of following along with what information he’s trying to get through to his viewers, I am stuck on each and every pause in his speech. And what’s more, it gets worse and worse as you go through more and more of the video. In the beginning, it was about every seven or eight seconds, but towards the end, it accelerated to about four to five seconds. And who doesn’t like attempting to stroll along down the 372-speed-bump road of Marco Polo’s life story with Vincero Watches?

Third of all, man, do those eyebrows wiggle. About every time he pauses for a quick mental tea party with himself, his eyebrows seem to come to life and start going up and down. First, they’re the shape of the Chinese word for “eight”, then when his eyebrows are done posing, they switch to Super-High-Eyebrow-Raising mode and–self explanatory. Then they go back to normal before morphing into an eight once more. Does this Eyebrow Technique get more subscribers or what? A quick example I found by watching the video for about three seconds is at 1:32. This is really, really annoying and bothersome, because when you’re trying to focus on Marco Polo, the man’s eyebrows are always there, dancing around on his head and generally having a good time.

And as if the wiggling eyebrows aren’t distracting enough, there are also the earlier two, and combined with each other, they are a power so disturbing and annoying that I have watched the video until the end and I have still not learned any facts about Marco Polo’s life (except the part where he was put into jail because that part’s just too cool)… but nobody has to agree with me because that’s just my opinion on the way Biographics talks.

Happy TUESDAY

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

This is why the kidnapped boy in O . HENRY’s “The Ransom of Red Chief” is the weirdest person ever.

First of all, when he gets kidnapped, instead of running away or frantically asking for help (Like I would’ve done), he decides to throw a brick at the kidnapper’s eye. But when you take a step back and think about it, he’s just a ten-year-old. With a brick. There are two kidnappers and they both are way older than the happy little boy playing with bricks out on the street. And they probably have a lot of experience to aid them in capturing the boy as well because they have, as the story says, “stood by [each other] without batting an eye in earthquakes, fire and flood—in poker games, dynamite outrages, police raids, train robberies and cyclones” (19). … So just attacking his kidnappers with a brick is a really weird decision to make.

Second of all, this boy thinks taking the scalp off of Bill is a good idea. I mean, if he was Make Believe-ing, then I suppose that would be all right, but when Sam wakes up abruptly to find Bill screaming like a girl and the boy on him, holding a knife to his head, that’s… a bit weird (and disturbing too). I even found a quote for this one: “[Sam] was awakened by a series of awful
screams from Bill … and [Red Chief] was industriously and realistically trying to take Bill’s scalp, according to the sentence that had been pronounced upon him the evening before” (15). Ten-year-olds may not be old enough to attack two grown men, but ten-year-olds sure are old enough to know that that first night was a much better opportunity to escape than to further convince the kidnappers that they need to keep an eye on him at all times. Like I said, weird. But, the boy doesn’t seem to want to go back to his home either, which leads to my next point.

Third of all, the boy needs to know that it’s a lot safer in his own house than outside in the wilderness with two kidnappers who are only keeping you for money. I just can’t believe that he would rather stay in the cave and try to damage the kidnappers even more than go home and play with his family and possibly even friends. He literally says, “I never had such fun in all my life” (14). Oh yes, definitely, I would love to camp out with my kidnappers and play games with them and eventually even try to take the scalp out of one of them! It’s still really weird how he’s enjoying all this.

In the end, even the kidnappers would relinquish their dream of receiving two thousand dollars just to give him back to his father, Ebenezer Dorset (And he knows that no one can stand living with the boy). Surely, this means that the kidnapped boy in this story is truly, truly, weird.

Happy MONDAY

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

“The lottery’s almost starting!”

“Everybody! Let’s go!”

“Come on!”

As I peered out from behind some of Mrs. Hutchinson’s big bushes and trees, almost everyone else was already gathering in the center of the village. She was humming a cheerful song while scrubbing the dishes, but with a solemn look on her face, as if she was trying to cheer herself up. I watched for a few minutes, then decided to go and see what the other people were doing in the village center. My guess was the “lottery” they were talking about, but I would see for myself in a couple of minutes.

I quietly crept away, my back towards Mrs. Hutchinson. I was almost to the street when suddenly, Mrs. Hutchinson whirled around and spotted me.

“What are you doing? I know you don’t belong here.” She firmly put her hands on her hips. Trying to change the subject, I said,

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the lottery like everyone else?” I nodded towards the gathering of people not far off in the distance.

“Oh!” She frantically checked her watch, then the calendar on the wall of the kitchen. “My! It’s the twenty-seventh already! Oh, I simply cannot be late for the lottery. I hope Bill and the kids are all already there, and just waiting for me now!” She then swatted me away and scurried towards the silent gathering of people. I, curious, decided to follow along.

She glanced at me like I was crazy. “Where’s your father? Do you have a brother? Actually, do you even have a relative here? You can’t go without a person to draw for you!”

I shook my head no. She hesitated, then said, “Then if you want to come along, you’ll have to hide in the foliage again around the center and whatever you do, do not try to come out. They may try to stone you as well.”

We were almost halfway to the other villagers by now. Along the rest of the way, Mrs. Hutchinson explained the lottery to me.

“We worship a god named Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo. He is the one that makes sure our crops thrive and that we have enough food to last us the winter. Unfortunately, he likes human sacrifices, so we must hold a lottery each month to choose whoever is going to die an honored death for Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo.”

“But that’s terrible! Why can’t you just learn how to grow good crops my yourselves?” I asked, shocked.

Mrs. Hutchinson sighed. “You have no idea how hard it is without the help of Foo-Foo. Nearly half of our village died of starvation every year… and we figured losing twelve a year was better than losing one hundred and fifty.”

And at that point we arrived.

I quickly tiptoed around the center into a clump of tall plants and bushes. From there, I peeked through the branches of a magnolia tree and saw the lottery begin. I saw a man call out names, one after another, until about sixty people, scattered in the crowd of apprehensive villagers, were holding a scrap of paper, folded in half, in their hands.

Then, at the man’s direction, the sixty villagers slowly opened up their papers, and gradually, they all sighed a sigh of relief and smiled at the rest of their family. All except one… Bill. And I watched as a smaller lottery was held inside just Bill’s family and held my breath with them as they opened up their papers.

“It’s Mrs. Hutchinson.”

“It’s her… “

“It’s really Mrs. Hutchinson.”

And I watched as all of the rest of the villagers stooped down to grab the stones lying on the ground. And I couldn’t just let this happen. I couldn’t!

So I stepped out of hiding shouted at the villagers and I told them to put down the stones. I kicked the nearest one hard to make a point.

Silence.

“Stop! You don’t need to kill someone for a Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo! You–” I was cut off short by Mrs. Hutchinson.

“I told you not to come out! Why did you–“

“You know this intruder?” A man turned to look at her, raising his stone once more. Several others followed suit.

I started again. “Stop! I can show you how to plant successful crops! I know how to do it! Just follow me and let me teach you! Please! Don’t try to throw stones at one of your own when you are perfectly capable of getting food yourselves, without the help of this Foo-Foo Bunny!”

This time they peered at me with interest. They had gotten tired of killing off other families of the village just for some food. If there was an alternative, they were curious to see if it would work.

So they reluctantly let Mrs. Hutchinson go, as she was the one who let me follow her into the center.

And they all expectantly turned their attention to me.

Why Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” Speech is Absolute Coolness but the Person Who Put Together the Video Sucks

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

I think Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is one of the greatest speeches ever. However, the person (or people) that put together the video doesn’t really make it that comfortable to watch. Here’s why:

First off, let me just say, Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech is pure awesomeness. It’s very motivational and was very, very, important, as you can see from how many people were in the audience. Martin Luther King is a great talker. He put together his speech in a very powerful way and delivered it just as powerfully. For example, towards the end, when he starts his “I have a dream” part of the speech, he purposely pauses each time he says it and gets a really positive and cool feedback from the audience every time. Also, his content is great. Obviously, when he made the speech, the audience could really relate to what he was talking about. He started off with the end of slavery, and how it was “a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” (1:13). Then he moved on to how years later, the colored people still “[are] still not free” (1:31). He talked about his great vision for the future and how he wished that in the future, “[his] four little children [would] one day live in a nation where they [would] not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” (3:13). I believe that a lot of the audience agreed with him, and personally, I think the points throughout his speech were very cool and very reasonable as well.

However, the person (or people) who made this video, “RARE FACTS”, failed to capture the true coolness of the speech. RARE FACTS distracted me over and over again and pulled me away from the actual speech!

For example, right at the start of the video, they show a truly AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, and NECESSARY view of a guy feeding another random person some water in a water bottle. This is literally when Martin begins his speech! This really didn’t motivate me to continue watching the video, because I wanted to see more of the actual Martin Luther King, not a random guy who really needs to drink water! I thought, “If RARE FACTS keeps doing this, I will be very annoyed.” I thought this at the beginning of the video, so I was cranky for the rest of the video. Not a very wise choice by RARE FACTS, if you ask me.

Another example is that RARE FACTS didn’t even bother matching up the audio with the video. It really made me annoyed because I don’t like it when I am staring at someone talking on the screen and what they’re mouthing isn’t even what the audio is playing! It messes with my brain and while I really want to believe the message the video is trying to send to my brain, my ears want to send my brain a different message, which makes me confused, and therefore angry because I don’t like to be confused (It makes me feel dumb, in a way).

And as if THAT wasn’t enough, they FAILED to even match up the words of the speech to the actual either video or audio, whichever one they decided to even choose! So now, there are THREE voices in my head:

  1. The one who’s watching the video,
  2. The one who’s listening to the audio, and
  3. The one who’s looking at the words to the speech!

It’s maddening and I had to just open my closed captioning for the whole video to just watch through the whole thing and not quitting. The closed captioning blocks out the words to the speech that are on the screen, so now I only have two distractions, which is a lot better than three. I was sick of trying to follow along the badly-matched-up pieces of the video and I was literally about to close the tab.

I still managed to get through the rest of the speech, however. I stayed there and did not leave because I thought Martin Luther King’s speech was too good to be ignored… But I still think it would have been a lot better if RARE FACTS decided to put more effort in the making of their videos and actually tried to make the viewer more comfortable and less irritated throughout Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech.

Why Long Solitary Confinement Can Be Both Bad and Good

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

I think long solitary confinement is necessary some of the time but not necessary the other part of the time. Sometimes, it’s not cool, but other times, some people just need it. Here is why:

First of all, there are the really, really, bad guys that are repeatedly committing crimes. Like, they do it over and over again, no matter how many times you put them in jail. I think you just can’t have this in our communities because then every day would be filled with police, trying to arrest the criminals. I think the bad guys would be thinking, “Oh, the police are going to let me go after some time in jail anyways. Besides, this is kind of fun. I’ll just keep doing it.” That’s why long solitary confinement would be nice. If you could make sure that they get that there are consequences more than just “some time in jail”, then I think there’s a better chance of them not repeating their crimes over and over again. Repeating crimes are really not fun for the police, who are really trying their best to keep everything in order and help keep the criminals at bay. They risk their lives every day and it’s not that fair if they just let the criminals out again every time, forever going in a loop of crime, jail, crime, jail, crime, and jail. That’s why I think longer solitary confinement could be really useful in these cases.

But this long solitary confinement could also be a worse idea than regular jail. For example, a bad guy could commit a crime, get punished to a long time in solitary confinement, and when they get released a long while later, they might, instead of regret, have a need for extreme revenge. While being in their bathroom-sized cell for so long, they could have thought of a really, really, good plan to try following when they get released from jail. I don’t like this idea of criminals being more powerful than ever with their plan and their need for vengeance combined. It would make the police’s job so much harder, too. Instead of a lot of small, easier crimes, there would be a lot less but a lot bigger, harder, and more well-thought-out crimes. Now, if there was a prisoner, they would think, “If I go to jail like right now, I will emerge years later a more experienced, smarter, and more powerful criminal,” So of course they would choose to go to jail! In the bad guys’ minds, jail would not be a punishment anymore, but would rather be a possible gateway to success (In the criminal world)!

But, if that didn’t happen, then this could also be pretty bad. The police officers are also human, after all. Putting another human in solitary confinement for years can be stressful, worrisome, and uncomfortable for the police as well as the prisoner. The prisoner would most likely go crazy from the lack of social relations or lack of communicating. In the Ted Talk from today, the lady said that some prisoners even tried to commit suicide. Some tried to yell to each other through the shower drains. Some started smearing poop on the walls or cutting themselves to keep feeling human and themselves. You see, years of solitary confinement and years of no social interaction can really make you crazy. One guy who experienced being in solitary confinement made artwork depicting what he felt during that time. He couldn’t put his misery into words and he probably couldn’t speak for more than an hour, anyways. Years of not being able to speak to someone else would wear out the prisoners’ vocal cords.

And that’s why I think solitary confinement can be really, really bad… But for the really, really, really, really, really bad guys who really, really, really, really, deserve it, it can still be used. Very rarely, when we meet someone so bad that even jail cannot stop them, then we should put them in long solitary confinement. But other than that, I think it’s very, very sad.

Why I Feel Bad For Beethoven and Appreciate Him Greatly For His Efforts

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

After reading Sebastian Mitchell’s “Beethoven Biography: Life of Ludwig Van Beethoven”, I suddenly realized that I actually felt really bad for Beethoven. I thought, “Man, that dude totally rocked, but his life was so unnecessarily and so freaking sad.” And here’s why:

First of all, Beethoven’s father wasn’t really that cool. He was like, “Hey, my dude, Beethoven, look at how awesome that Mozart guy was! He started musical training at like four and also he made a lot of money by touring and doing concerts!” Essentially, he just wanted to make money off of Beethoven. So Beethoven started playing piano at four, too, and his father started getting a lot of money as well. I don’t think this is a really good thing to do as a parent, unless you want your child to be like “MONEY MONEY MONEY” in the future… OR unless you just want to teach your child how to manage their money really early in life so that they don’t grow up to be another broke Mozart. I mean, that would be a good idea… But I guess his father really wanted money, so… Beethoven must’ve been quite sad. Just imagine: Beethoven working his butt off at the piano and then suddenly, his dad bursts into the room with a rich-guy look on his face and orders him to perform ten more new concerts all over town just for the money. I would’ve cried.

Secondly, Beethoven totally rocks, but when he was around twenty, he started turning deaf. To you, it might be really really sad, but Beethoven… he’s a MUSIC PRODIGY. A PRODIGY. In MUSIC. So turning deaf was definitely devastating to him. He shut himself in his room and started writing a very depressed letter (Something along the lines of this):

Hey bro,
I seriously can't keep doing this. Like, I'm deaf, how am I going to hit 93,843,785,468,954,985,934 subscribers on my YouTube channel if I can't even make music, I hate people, I don't wanna come out of my house anymore, and you totally understand that, right?
But..... I'm just..... WAY. TOO. GENIUS. Like, dude, have you seen my symphonies?? They're, like, SO sick. The world needs me and I can't let the people who actually think I'm super awesome down, can I? So I'm officially not quitting my musician job anymore!
From,
Your buddy Beethoven

I mean, like, if I were a musician and I was turning deaf, then I would’ve kicked and screamed my head off! Beethoven was so awesome about it that at the end, he decided to actually keep composing! He created so many different pieces that we still play today.

Lastly, throughout his whole life, a lot of people also made him really really sad. For example, when he first started traveling and starting his music career, his mom got so sick that he actually had to travel back to his home to see her. And then after she died, his dad started being an alcoholic. Here are the main reasons why alcoholics are bad (Totally not copied from my last Mozart essay):

  1. Alcoholics drink alcohol.
  2. Then they really really want more.
  3. Then when they drink too much,
  4. They get drunk and sleepy and happy at the same time.
  5. Don’t drunk people tend to do weird things and say weird things?

And if you still don’t believe me, here:

  1. You have to be a freaking 21 year-old to be able to drink.
  2. A lot of sources on the internet also say that drinking is bad for your health: www.healthline.com, www.bbc.com, and www.health.harvard.edu, just to name a few.
  3. Why do you think everybody else doesn’t like alcoholics??

So his mom died and his dad drank. It gets worse from here: Beethoven was in an awesome relationship with this student of his. But the problem was, back then, it was the weirdest thing ever for a super-cool person to marry a not-so-highly-ranked person. So Beethoven and his student just eventually gave up. There may have been another important person in his life named Elise (Dude, everybody plays that trendy Für Elise piece), but that’s not for sure… but Beethoven did write a whole lot of mushy gushy letters to her, so you decide. Basically, Beethoven wasn’t able to get a wife either, and he was really sad about that. So Beethoven tried to win his nephew over from his nephew’s mother after his brother died. He probably just wanted someone to live with to not be lonely or he just wanted someone to carry on his musical ability and legacy for him, since he didn’t have any children. But unfortunately for him, he lost against his nephew’s mother. I’m feeling really bad for him at this point. Mother died, father drinking, no wife, no family to live with, and don’t forget, still deaf?

If I were him, I would’ve definitely given up all hope. But he kept on persevering and kept on making great music for all of us present people to play and enjoy. Despite his deafness, he still made an attempt to conduct at some concerts. I still feel pretty bad for his losses throughout life, but I think he coped with it well and–he’s just an absolutely amazing musician.

Why Mozart Kinda Sucks But People Still Think He’s Awesome

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

Mozart is probably the most well-known classical musician ever. That’s why he’s really really awesome. But at the same time, he can also be kind of crazy and weird sometimes. Here are some reasons why people like but sometimes don’t like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

First of all, he’s really bad at keeping his money. When he started getting really really rich, he was like, “Bro, I need to spend this. Like, now.” So he and his wife, Constanze Weber, started using his money lavishly and sometimes even extravagantly. For example, Mozart’s children all went to private schools. And I mean, that’s not BAD. It’s just that… He was really really bad at saving at least a portion of his money for later, just in case something unexpected happened to him. Then, when a few months pass, he’s really low on the cash and starts becoming really really glum. Then he might start doing more concerts and things like that, and then he spends all of that money and now he’s glum again (Mind you, he also had some debts to pay off at that time). That’s why you have to manage your money wisely and not be like Mozart.

Secondly, he was an alcoholic. I’m pretty sure everyone knows that being an alcoholic isn’t exactly the best thing in the world, but for those who don’t understand what I’m saying, I’ll explain it.

  1. Alcoholics drink alcohol.
  2. Then they really really want more.
  3. Then when they drink too much,
  4. They get drunk and sleepy and happy at the same time.
  5. Don’t drunk people tend to do weird things and say weird things?

And if you still don’t believe me, here:

  1. You have to be a freaking 21 year-old to be able to drink.
  2. A lot of sources on the internet also say that drinking is bad for your health: www.healthline.com, www.bbc.com, and www.health.harvard.edu, just to name a few.
  3. Why do you think everybody else doesn’t like alcoholics??

Third of all… Mozart liked butts. He, like, had an obsession with butts for some weird reason. I guess he thought he was being funny, but… In my honest opinion, he’s just failing really badly. Butt humor is typically used by four-year-olds… you get what I mean? So unless Mozart really wanted preschoolers to listen to his music, that’s not a real good obsession to have. One reason why he’s so childish might be because (In my opinion) his father started training him really really hard from the age of four. With all that composing, practicing, and working on new pieces or techniques from then on, I don’t think Mozart had all that much time to actually mature. He even wrote a piece called “Leck mich im Arsch”!

From everything I’ve written above, you might now think, “Oh, Mozart’s stupid!” or something like that (I don’t know, okay?). But you also have to remember that that’s not all to who he is. The reason why he’s still so cool is because he’s literally a GENIUS. A PrOdIgY. And he started musical learning at the age of four! Come on, that’s got to be at least a little impressive! He wrote so many pieces that are still played today. He also wrote operas, believe it or not. And even further, his masterpieces just flowed from his mind effortlessly. On the contrary, people like Beethoven had to struggle with their work and you can see that they crossed out, rewrote, and rephrased a lot. Even though Mozart tended to procrastinate (He once wrote a giant, giant piece on the MORNING of the concert), all of his work just comes out in one fantastic piece. He was a master pianist, an awesome violinist, and a lot more (that I can’t remember, probably the organ, though)! He wrote countless (over 600 works in all!) operas, symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and string quartets. And even though he spent it like an idiot, you still can’t ignore the fact that he was hella-rich.

In conclusion, Mozart was a little disgusting and acted like a doofus sometimes… But people still respect him and adore him even today. He’s just too cool, too genius and too awesome for people to only focus on the negative points of his life.

Why Mozart Kinda Sucks But People Still Think He’s Awesome

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

Mozart is probably the most well-known classical musician ever. That’s why he’s really really awesome. But at the same time, he can also be kind of crazy and weird sometimes. Here are some reasons why people like but sometimes don’t like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

First of all, he’s really bad at keeping his money. When he started getting really really rich, he was like, “Bro, I need to spend this. Like, now.” So he and his wife, Constanze Weber, started using his money lavishly and sometimes even extravagantly. For example, Mozart’s children all went to private schools. And I mean, that’s not BAD. It’s just that… He was really really bad at saving at least a portion of his money for later, just in case something unexpected happened to him. Then, when a few months pass, he’s really low on the cash and starts becoming really really glum. Then he might start doing more concerts and things like that, and then he spends all of that money and now he’s glum again (Mind you, he also had some debts to pay off at that time). That’s why you have to manage your money wisely and not be like Mozart.

Secondly, he was an alcoholic. I’m pretty sure everyone knows that being an alcoholic isn’t exactly the best thing in the world, but for those who don’t understand what I’m saying, I’ll explain it.

  1. Alcoholics drink alcohol.
  2. Then they really really want more.
  3. Then when they drink too much,
  4. They get drunk and sleepy and happy at the same time.
  5. Don’t drunk people tend to do weird things and say weird things?

And if you still don’t believe me, here:

  1. You have to be a freaking 21 year-old to be able to drink.
  2. A lot of sources on the internet also say that drinking is bad for your health: www.healthline.com, www.bbc.com, and www.health.harvard.edu, just to name a few.
  3. Why do you think everybody else doesn’t like alcoholics??

Third of all… Mozart liked butts. He, like, had an obsession with butts for some weird reason. I guess he thought he was being funny, but… In my honest opinion, he’s just failing really badly. Butt humor is typically used by four-year-olds… you get what I mean? So unless Mozart really wanted preschoolers to listen to his music, that’s not a real good obsession to have. One reason why he’s so childish might be because (In my opinion) his father started training him really really hard from the age of four. With all that composing, practicing, and working on new pieces or techniques from then on, I don’t think Mozart had all that much time to actually mature. He even wrote a piece called “Leck mich im Arsch”!

From everything I’ve written above, you might now think, “Oh, Mozart’s stupid!” or something like that (I don’t know, okay?). But you also have to remember that that’s not all to who he is. The reason why he’s still so cool is because he’s literally a GENIUS. A PrOdIgY. And he started musical learning at the age of four! Come on, that’s got to be at least a little impressive! He wrote so many pieces that are still played today. He also wrote operas, believe it or not. And even further, his masterpieces just flowed from his mind effortlessly. On the contrary, people like Beethoven had to struggle with their work and you can see that they crossed out, rewrote, and rephrased a lot. Even though Mozart tended to procrastinate (He once wrote a giant, giant piece on the MORNING of the concert), all of his work just comes out in one fantastic piece. He was a master pianist, an awesome violinist, and a lot more (that I can’t remember, probably the organ, though)! He wrote countless (over 600 works in all!) operas, symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and string quartets. And even though he spent it like an idiot, you still can’t ignore the fact that he was hella-rich.

In conclusion, Mozart was a little disgusting and acted like a doofus sometimes… But people still respect him and adore him even today. He’s just too cool, too genius and too awesome for people to only focus on the negative points of his life.

Why The Poison Woman in William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” Is Not That Awesome

by RaeanneL, posted in Others

The Poison Woman (Emily) is really, really, not awesome in the story “A Rose For Emily.” Here are three reasons why:

First of all, before the story even starts, her father dies (And her “sweetheart”). She is left really really sad and doesn’t want to go outside: “After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all” (Pg 2). If I were her, I’d be like the lady in the Ted Talk and get over it. It’s been so long that the Negro servant who had once been a young person became a very old guy. Also, I wouldn’t just never go outside ever again. There’s so many things you can do outside of your house. You can hang out with your friends (assuming you have any), you can travel to some landmarks and take photos to your heart’s content, and you can even go surfing!! You can’t order your Negro servant to go and hang out with your friends for you! You can’t order him to go and have fun surfing and taking photos for you! Emily’s kind of trying to freaking make a quarantine just for herself in the story and in my opinion, that’s not that cool.

Secondly, she seriously needs to lose some fat. “She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another while the visitors stated their errand” (Pg 2). From the way the story describes her, she is a very, very, fat, round, chubby, and obese woman. But I’ve never seen her actually do anything about it. This is probably because she has an attitude problem and won’t even go out of her own house, but still, nobody likes being fat, right? She could tell her Negro servant to start cooking more healthy meals. She could be like the guy in the same Ted Talk as I mentioned earlier and plant a bike in front of the television. She could start exercising by jogging around in her backyard while listening to music or doing squats while scrolling around on her phone, looking at the news and chatting with her friends (Again, assuming that she has any)! She could even do those awkward weight-loss dances that weight-loss people post on YouTube because they don’t have anything better to do (Not saying that losing weight is a bad thing, I just think those diet-dances are a little bit weird)!

Lastly, this girl is seriously violent. At some point in the story, she buys a container of poison: “‘I want some poison,’ she said” (Pg 4). At first, I thought she was going to kill herself to stop all the pain and all that nonsense (I wouldn’t put it past her, though). The people in her town thought so too and story said they said things like “‘She will kill herself’; and we said it would be the best thing” (Pg 5). But, at the end of the story, this idea gets destroyed because when they discover the Homer guy’s corpse in the upstairs room, they find a gray hair (Emily’s hair) next to it on a pillow with a head dent on it. It reveals that Emily might have poisoned Homer instead of herself because Homer wouldn’t marry her. I think this act is very violent and unnecessary. If Homer doesn’t like you, so what? There are plenty of other things to do like going on a vacation or trying to hit some golf balls into that teeny hole thing in the grass with a flag on it instead of trying to court an old dude who doesn’t even like you. I think this might be because of her poor attitude towards life again. You can’t just murder to have someone in your house forever. You just can’t! It’s wrong and very selfish too and if anyone found out, this time they probably wouldn’t buy your frantic screams to ask some dead colonel about the act of violence and wrongdoing.

All in all, I think this Emily woman is not being a good neighbor and not even being that awesome in this story by William Faulkner. Surely, I don’t think anybody would, considering that she’s quarantining herself and not socializing with anyone, she’s really fat, and that she literally murdered Homer in order to keep him in her house.

My Best Attempt At a Poem, Okay?

by RaeanneL, posted in Others 
Dee's coming.
A cold shiver of nervousness slowly travels up my body.
I remember when we were younger
When she didn't care that we weren't rich
And we would happily splash around in the mud
Not caring if our clothes got dirty, 
Having a great time.
A great time--until some businessmen 
In spotless, black suits
Interrupted us when they saw Dee's potential.

Longing filled my heart when Dee waved good-bye and 
Headed off to college by herself.

And now, she's coming back again.
Cautiously, I step outside and
Wait for good old Dee to come and greet me.

But Dee isn't here.
I see a girl in a magnificent orange dress
Gold earrings
Bracelets
And fancy hair.


She quietly picks up our butter churn and examines it.
Her expression changes.

Instead of moving on, she grabs the churn and takes it
Saying something about new decoration.
But that's Uncle's butter churn.
A tiny sliver of annoyance enters my mind.
I push it away and continue looking at the girl.

She turns to Grandmother Dee's dear quilt and snatches it.
I want to take it back but I can't. 
Mama reaches out to stroke the quilt
But the girl holds it away from my mother too.
It was supposed to be my gift and Mama seems to realize that too.
The girl tells Mama that she took it 
Because I wouldn't appreciate it enough.

I hide my fury by turning away from the girl and my mother
And I start walking back to the house.
"She can have them, Mama"
I mumbled. 

Then she grabs the quilt from the girl and dumps it on me. 
I can see a tear form in the corner of her eye.
I say, 
"That's not Dee."
She says,
"I know."