Today I will be finishing up the discomfort content text. I will start off with the poem put out the light. In this poem Tolstoy is refered to as one of those who fear death, then find God. Tolstoy is familiar to me, I remember reading about him during my undergraduate studies. I don’t recall any specific details so i google his name and find the following information   http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/ .I skim through the site and notice some of his well known works (War and Peace and Anna Karenina)  and I read quickly the section titled Conversion and Last Years.  I begin to think back when I was working on my undergraduate degree years ago, how helpful a computer with internet access would have been for me. Continuing with the poem I infer from “its not really necessary to tremble in the gloom among flickering wax candles”, that Bukowski is referring to churches. He believes that it is not necessary to spend time in church. Next Bukowski believes that most people are too busy living day to day to even think about death. He believes that when death does arrive, people don’t mind it. He goes on to say that if people were given a choice between eternal life or death, they would choose death, coming to the conclusion that people are smarter than he perceives. I wonder if he actually asked people; are they his buddies or a random group of people.

 ♦    ♦    ♦    ♦

The next poem foxholes deals with the belief of God. Bukowski explains that there was a saying during WWII that “there are no atheists in foxholes”. I come to the conclusion that foxhole is where the soldiers hide during war. Bukowski explains that one’s fear of doesn’t mean one should automatically believe in God.

 ♦    ♦    ♦    ♦

The last poem of the selected reading is calm elation, 1993. It is the longest poem of the group. As I read the poem, I pause after each stanza making sure I understood the jest of it. The first stanza starts off on a chilly rainy night. Bukowski is sitting in his desk thinking about fate and death. He can’t sleep because of sirens and noises of the night. From the second stanza I infer he is writing in the beginning of January of 1993, because a new president is about to be inaugurated and 1993 is in the title of the poem. Bukowski thinks that the new president is too young. I google presidents of the United States and confirm that Bukowski is referring to President Bill Clinton. President Clinton took office January 20, 1993 and he is the fourth youngest president at the age of 46. Continuing to the third stanza Bukowski indicates its January as I suspected. Here Bukowski talks to a gargoyle statue that is on his desk about “the hells and joys” of the year to come. I read the next several stanza rather quickly. Bukowski ends the poem saying that its easy to give up on life, but he will continue to dream and be alive.

 ♦    ♦    ♦    ♦

 

Today I will continue with Bukowski’s poems.   I find Bukowski’s writing style to be straightforward and easily understandable. His poems are brief short stories about his feelings in various situations. In the first stanza of proper credentials are needed to join, Bukowski describes how irritated he feels  when prior alcoholics share their story of kicking the habit. In the second stanza he goes on to explain that he doesn’t want to hear their happy ending stories.  As I continue to finish the poem I get an impression that Bukowski is proud that he started to drink at the age of 11, has gone to jail approx. 20 times, was caught D.U.I and has been hospitalized. He explained that he has been drinking for 54 years and has no intention of stopping and how could these young people give him advice, they are so young and have not experienced life yet. I found the last line “I’ve never met one of these reformed young drunks yet who was any better for being sober” to be thought provoking.

♦  ♦   ♦   ♦

Silly damned thing anyhow  is the title of the next poem. After reading the first stanza, I am not sure who we is. I am predicting it is the whole family. The family is trying to keep a pet without the neighbors knowing , it could be a cat or dog, who was difficult to toilet train.  In the next stanza he explains how one evening they came home and found a trail of blood leading to the backyard. The pet’s head was severed with a note  “we don’t want things like this in our neighborhood”. In the next stanza I learn that we is Bukowski and his wife. He starts to dig in order to bury the pet. As he is digging he feels the neighbors are looking at him through the blinds. He is thinking to himself here is your quiet little neighborhood. 

♦  ♦   ♦   ♦

In moth to the flame Bukowski refers to Dylan Thomas in the beginning of the poem. I get the impression that he is a poet who enjoyed being in the spotlight and enjoyed public reading.  He stopped writing and the fame got to his head.  This poem is very brief and I have mixed feelings about it so I googled Dylan Thomas and found a biography at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas . I found his biography to be interesting.

♦  ♦   ♦   ♦

Continuing on with 7 come 11. Here Bukowski explains what has become of his life. He feels like he has been working against the current for what?  Just to sit in a small room with a typewriter  staying alive and write for the people as he scratches his right ear. Here I imagine an old miserable  man sitting a chair recounting his life and  trying to think what he should write about next. 

♦  ♦   ♦   ♦

The text is pretty straightforward. I have the poems scanned into my computer and  read the poems and taken notes in the afternoon. Having the computer on I was able to look up information about Dylan Thomas right after finishing the poem.  This evening I am posting my notes on the blog.  I read the somewhat long poems proper credentials are needed to join  and silly damned thing anyhow , stanza by stanza, reflecting after each stanza. I read the shorter poems moth to the flame and welcome 11 once in their entirety.

 It’s ten in the morning, my favorite time to read. Before I begin reading I have a pen and notebook, and laptop. Last week, texts were exchanged. My partner has chosen selected poems by Charles Bukowski. I was given a  paperback and was instructed to read pages 199 – 129.  I am not familiar with Charles Bukowski. From my partner’s blog I get the impression that Bukowski is a dark writer. Before I begin to read the selections, I reread my partner’s first blog on content area. I found it to be a little confusing.  I was instructed to start on page 199, but the blog starts with a poem on page 172 and skips to p.215. The second blog seems more confusing. Poems on pages 173 and 187 are referred to but nothing from p. 199 -219, the pages that I was instructed to read.

So, I begin with  the link provided in blog 2 for a biography about Charles Bukowski.  From the bio, I write down  what Time magazine has called him a,  ”laureate of American lowlife”. I also looked up the meaning of laureate. Laureate means honored (laurel wreath).  Now I have some idea of Bukowski life and I am ready to read his work.

First I skim through the selected pages and count 11 poems. Since this assignment is to run for three weeks I decide to do 4 poems a week, with 3 this week. Today I will be reading “notes on some poems”, “the buzz”, and ” a simple kindness”  from pages 199 – 204.

I stop at the end of the first sentence of note on some poems and look up the word feign on the internet and reread the sentence with the definition. I notice that the poem is actually sentences written vertically. The first break of the poem the author is saying that poets write about feeling they pretend to have and he has done the same thing.;” I wrote  5 comfortable, clever poems”.In the next stanza, Bukowski explains that 3 or 4 of his poems will probably get published even though they are not about real emotion. Bukowski continues on to say that poems without real emotion are dull and unreadable and those type of writers should not write. He concludes that poetry magazines are dull and one wastes their time reading them. Personally I have to disagree with Bukoswki. 

The next poem is the buzz. After reading the first stanza twice, I visualize Bukowski  as a gambler who visits and spends his days  (for at least 20 years) at a horse race track because he know the jock’s agents and trainers. In the next stanza Bukowski describes the gamblers he sees that come everyday until they lose everything as losers and wonders from where do they get their money. I was wondering the same about Bukowski, how much money does he have? does he see himself as a looser also? I assume he must win many of his bets. He describes himself as a fixture and goes to the track during any type of weather, nothing can keep him away. I finish reading the poem. The poem is straightforward. He describes the races as being very short about a minute long, and a least a half hour wasted waiting between races. The point of the poem is the rush feeling one gets watching the race, and waiting for the photo finish result.

The last poem for the week is a simple kindness. To me Bukowski’s poems are short stories, they are sentences written vertically. His writing is straightforward. After reading the first half, I visualize Bukoswki on the sofa, three in the morning (as the poem states) drunk with an empty bottle on the floor and the second bottle half full, previewing his poems. One of which reminds him of immortality. He seems to like the poem, but decides to tear it up when he is sober, thinking the poem is “sentimental trash”. That is all for this post.

I will be adding a small selection about Earth to my selected reading content.  Before I begin reading, I skim through the section and read the topic headings, then I write an outline based on the headings.  The initial outline looks like this:                                                                               

Earth 

I. Properties of Earth

           1. spherical shape Sphere – a round three dimensional object

                                                  Earth is spherical

           2. rotation - spinning of Earth on its axis;  it causes day and night;

                                     it takes one full day for Earth to make a full rotation.

            3. axis – is an imaginary vertical line around which Earth spins

II. Magnetic field -  Earth has a magnetic field similar to a bar magnet, ex. compass

           1. magnetic axis

III. What causes the changing seasons?

           1. orbiting the sun revolution -  is the revolution of the Earth around the sun; takes one year

                                                ellipse – elongated circle; the shape of Earth’s orbit around the sun

           2. tilted axis

           3. radiation from the sun

IV. Solstices

V. Equinoxes 

The outline  in black ink will be used as a guide for note taking.  Notes added while reading are in green. 

 

As I begin reading I visualize the sun rising and setting. The author’s question “Is the sun moving or you?” triggers a childhood memory.  I am in the back seat of a car, in the evening discussing with my sister that the moon is following us. I continue to read and write down the definition of the sphere into the outline and its also the shape of Earth. Axis and rotation are defined and written into the outline. Rotation is explained how it causes day and night and that it takes a full day for Earth to make a full rotation.

Before I continue reading I examine the figures provided and read the captions. Continuing on to magnetic field, the author explains how a compass works which I found to be interesting. Notes are added into the outline. Next revolution and ellipse are described. The author explains that the Earth’s orbit is elliptical and the sun is not in the center. Also the Earth is closer to the sun in Jan. and farthest in July, but the difference in distance is negligible and the Earth is exposed to the same amount of Sun all year, so what causes the season?  As you can see the outline, has been amended to include what’s important and remove what’s not.  Continuing on the author explains that the Earth’s axis is at a tilt and that is the cause of the seasons. This is a hard concept for students to understand so I have included a link about the seasons.  http://www.videojug.com/film/why-does-the-earth-have-seasons The video also explains solstices and equinoxes. 

 

I continue to read the last page, which is about solstices and equinoxes. I write down their  defintions. This is followed by a section review box which  I read quickly. I believe the video was very helping in understanding the seasons.

This morning I read Section 3: Ocean Waves and Tides. Reexaming the selected reading I noticed that it is a little bit short of the 20 page min. because I have chosen not to include the last pages of the chapter which are lab activities and a practice question study guide for the chapter. So I have included a section Earth which I will read after I post about Section 3: Ocean Waves.

Before I begin reading I have  a pen and notebook, that I have been writing notes into. First I skim through the section. Now I am familiar with the  authors style. I look for words in Blue Headings. These are the main topic, which in turn have words in red that are their subtopics. For this section I am going to write my notes in outline format, using the author’s style as a guide. The outline  looks as follows:

Ocean Waves & Tides

I. Waves –

       1. Describing waves

       2. Wave movement

       3. Breakers

       4. How water waves form

II. Tides

         1. Tidal range

         2. Extreme tidal range

         3. Tidal bores

         4. Gravitional effects of the moon

         5. Gravitional effects of the sun

As I continue to read, I will fill in the appropriate definitions and notes into each section.

First I read each section rather quickly then I reread the section to write down any notes and important info. The first paragraph defines waves. Which I write into the outline.  This paragraph triggered an image of  a tsunami with huge waves because it is fresh in my mind from this mornings news. Next characteristics of a wave are described and shown in figure 11.  I draw a similar representation into the outline.    I also include the definition of a wavelength, crest, and trough.

Continuing on to wave movement I found the properties of a wave to be interesting and I take note of  the fact that only energy moves forward in a wave, and that water molecules remain in about the same place.  Also water movement stops below a depth equal to half the wavelength. The author directs the reader to figure 13, a full page, which provides a great visualization and explanation of wave movement and relates it to dominoes. Just as only energymoves forward in a wave, energy is transferred to each domino in sequence, but each domino remains close to where it started, just as the water.  A question comes into mind ” So how does the water come onto the shore?”

I continue reading and my question is answered with breakers. I write down its definition in the outline. I reread this section twice and refered to figure 13, which is similar to the diagram above, it  helped me understand breakers. Friction with the ocean bottom slows down the bottom of the wave increasing its height and not affecting the speed of the top of the wave causing the crest to fall breaking on the shore. 

Continuing on to ‘How water waves forms”, I notice the author asking the question ‘what 3 factors affect wave height?’ twice, so I answer this question in the outline also.  The last two sentences in this section, part of which is ‘ waves continue moving for long distances, even if the wind stopped’, triggered a connection to the dangerous surf that the coast encounters even though a storm or hurricane is more than 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean.

Next tide is defined, and I write its definition into the outline. While reading this section I remembered the time I noticed a difference in the shoreline at South Beach.  One day it was so far out into the beach area and the strip of rocks was covered with water. The next day the shoreline was far into the ocean and the strip of rocks were visible.  Small shells and seaweed left a visible line of the day before’s shoreline. At this time there was no storm. This is when I realized the effect low and high tides have on oceans and rivers. The author provides a good picture, using Mont-Saint Michel as an example. During low tide  Mont- Saint Michel becomes part of France’s mainland and during high tide it becomes an island surrounded by water. I found it to be amazing.

 

 

I found the next section Tidal Bores to be unimportant and crossed it out on the outline. Continuing on to the gravitational effects of the moon I have a better understanding of the moon’s effect on high and low tide. I drew a diagram in the outline similar to the authors indicating  high tide on Earth with respect to the moon location. Gravitational effect of the sun are explained. I make note of spring and neap tides. Spring tides cause high tide to become higher than normal and low tides  lower than normal, because of the additional gravitional pull from the sun, that occurs when the Sun, the Moon and the Earth are aligned. Neap tides causes high tide to be lower than usual and low tide to be higher than usual due to a lesser gravitional pull, caused when the Sun, Earth, and the Moon form a right angle. 

 

This brings us to the end of the section with a section review box. I read through it quickly making sure I understood everything. I found this section of the chapter on Oceans to be the most interesting, especially the sun’s influence on tides.  Afterwards I will go to www.glenco.com and see what they have about tides.

P.S. Due to my change in selected reading, the section about Earth will be posted later tonight or tomorrow night.

Today I will be reading Section 2: Ocean Currents. Before I begin reading I skim through the pages to see how long the section is. Then I begin to examine section headings and pictures and predict this will be about three different types of ocean currents — surface, upwelling and density. I also have a notebook and pencil with me to take notes. In my notebook I jot down the section heading and subheading.  Before I begin reading I read the authors notes in the margin of the text. It explains what will be learned in this section and its importance.  Also in the margin are review and new vocabulary words. I write them in my notebook leaving room for their definitions.

As I begin reading I visualize myself making chocolate milk as the author suggests and compares it to ocean currents.I read the section about surface currents quickly and ask my self what is the difference between surface and ocean currents. Going back I reread it more carefully, making sure I understand the differences and write it down. Continuing to the next subtopic– How Surface Currents Form — the Coriolis effect is explained in words and in a pictorial demonstration. Continuing on reading to the end of the section I start to feel a little uncomfortable and reread the last couple of sentences that explain the direction of currents to the left and right due to the Coriolis effect. Looking at the map of surface currents while rereading reminded me of a weather map tracking a hurricane storm. It starts from the Caribbean and turns to the right up the east coast of the United States. I make a note to search the Coriolis effect on the internet.

Reading the next two subtopics — The Gulf Stream and Tracking Surface Currents — were straightforward. The author did  great job reinforcing the idea of surface currents. He made a historical connection from the American colonial era using Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin. He used to complain why mail reached England faster, than it did America. After studying maps the General figured out that the ships sailing from England were traveling against the current, and ships traveling to England were traveling with the current. As I was reading this section I visualized sailboats and colonists on the ocean and reexamined the map in Figure 5 to see the currents. Currents are reinforced again with a message in a bottle.

Then warm and cold surface currents are discussed briefly. I found it interesting that the California current is a cold surface current from the north pole and the east coast has a warm current, the Gulf Stream coming up from the equator. At this point I am starting to get a little tired. The next topic is upwelling. After I finish the section on upwelling I make a mental visualization between upwelling and surface currents. Upwelling is a vertical circulation from the deep ocean and surface currents are horizontal circulations created by winds.

Next is density currents. From the reading a make a note that density currents are  deep and are related to water temperature and salinity. In the margin the author has a mini lab about density currents. I will probably try the mini lab another day. I prefer to read one day and do activities another day. Density currents are explained further with deep water  and intermeadiate water examples. The author also applies math in this section by calculating density of salt water. I read through the examples and I already know how calculate density. The authors directs those who need more practice to www.glencoe.com for additional questions. I have noticed  a similar caption earlier in this section. So I looked for it and found it on the second page of the reading. The author also directs those who want more information about ocean currents to that website also.  

This brings us to the end of the section. As in the first section there is a section review box with a section summary and self check questions. I read the text in the box and feel comfortable about the topics.

After I finished reading, I took a ten minute break. After the break I visited the author’s suggested website www.glencoe.com. The website had a lot of information. There were practice quizzes, crossword puzzles, links to more information and more. I found the following link to be useful:    http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/oceanography_currents_1.html. It provided an overview of the section.  Since I work better with visuals I searched the internet for visuals to increase understanding..

I found the following visuals to be useful

surface currents:

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2401/es2401page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

Upwelling:

 http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2405/es2405page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

The best time of day for me to read is early morning and afternoon. In the evening I tend to fall asleep in the middle, no matter how interesting the text is. The location of my reading depends on the type of text. I prefer to read content text in  the dining room with a pencil and notebook. I tend to save short content articles for the times I am waiting at the doctors office or for my kids to finish their swimming lessons. Any location will do for pleasure reading.

Right now its 1:30 in the afternoon, and I am in the dining room with a pencil and notebook. I have selected chapter 12: Ocean Motion from NYC’s middle school’s science text book for this assignment. Before I start reading I skim through the chapter to see how long is it, and what are the headings for an idea about the content. Skimming through the chapter I noticed that it is divided into three sections with some lab activities, which is perfect  for this assignment since it will be completed in three weeks, so for today I will read section 1.

In my notebook I wrote down “Chapter 12 Ocean Motion” and todays date. Next I looked at the picture of someone surfing a big wave and predicted this unit will discuss how waves are formed. I read the start-up activities and from the Foldable activity I made two columns in my notebook labeled ‘Causes of Ocean Motion’  and ‘Effects of Ocean Motion’

As I started reading section 1, Ocean Water I imagined my self walking on the beach with my feet in the water. After I finished reading the page, I studied the pictures and wrote down some notes– the 3 sources found in oceans. I continued to read the next heading Origin of Oceans. After finishing the paragraph I compared the two pictures that were refered in the paragraph and wrote the highlighted vocabulary word basins and its definition in my notebook. I enjoy looking  and examining pictures, visuals appeal to me.

Continuing on to the next heading composition of Oceans, I paused on the word photosynthesis and recalled the by product O2 and the byproduct of respiration is CO2. I continued onto the next paragraph and stopped on the end of the page. Then I reread the passage and drew a concept map about how dissolved gases and minerals enter the ocean. After finishing the concept map I reread section making sure my concept map was accurate. That took more time than I expected.

Continuing on to the next heading Salts,  I found the fact that the proportion and amount of dissolved salts remained constant for millions of years interesting. I made a note of the highlighted vocabulary word salinity and its definition and finished reading the last  two pages of todays section and made notes about them. While reading I visualized the marine organisms mentioned in the text — oysters, algae, and clams. Also the section Removal of Elements reminded me of sea salt sold in stores..

I read each section at a moderate pace the first time. When I reread the sections I read at a  somewhat slower pace so that I could write notes and make sure I did not miss anything.  At the end of the section there is a table named Section Review, with a summary and self check questions. As I was reading through the summary I checked my notes to make sure I included everything. Then I mentally answered the self check questions, and I feel confident about this sections content.

In order to make a connection to the real world I have include three links below that are  about desalination plants and processes. The first link utilizes evaporation and condensation. The second link describes desalination via  a membrane. The third link is a currents events article that makes one wonder what possible effects can huge desalination plants have on the environment.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/g-word-water-desalination.html

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/26731-freshwater-and-saltwater-the-desalination-process-video.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE54D6M420090514?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

My early memories of literacy were not pleasant. In the second grade I was pulled out of class for remedial reading based on my year end standardized test score. I remember the classes were not challenging and I felt the teacher thought I was stupid. After the first report card the teacher would realize my grades are too high to be in such a class and I would be removed and placed back in the following year due to my low reading standardized exam score. Looking back, I believe that I needed speech class. This began my dislike for standardized exams.

When I was in either the fourth or fifth grade, I remember my first big writing assignment. I had to do a book report on one of the Little House on the Prairie books during one of the school’s one week break. It was a big struggle for me. Reading the book was not a problem but writing about it was the problem. I believe my uncle helped me with it.

In high school I enjoyed reading books that we discussed in class together. Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie , All Quiet on the Western Front ,  and Lord of the Rings were my favorite. I continued to struggle with writing assignments throughout high school and I believe writing continues to be my handicap.

In college I enjoyed A Midnight Summer’s Dream and The Importance of Being Oscar. The professor showed us movie versions of the plays after we finished reading them. I believe that increased my enjoyment of the readings.  After finishing my Bachelors degree, my recreational reading was mostly magazines, Reader Digest being one of them.

After I got married my husband, who has a Bachelors degree English, encouraged me to read for pleasure. I enjoyed Sherlock Holmes and The Phantom of the Opera.  It might be a coincidence, I read The Phantom of the Opera while pregnant and at the age of three my son was mesmerized by the soundtrack and movie.