You call this literature?? By: Ashley LaFrambroise

        Looking through the "Literature" section and expecting to find articles on Woolf and Morrison, Pound and Hazlitt, I was gobsmacked to see "Dan Brown" littered all over the place like candy wrappers in a field, and realized that this is in fact what we have come to. What I find appaling is how a bestseller defines what we talk about, and determines what we think we ought to read.

        Yes, popular literature hit an all-time low to the point that fine literature is being overlooked by so many of us. The extent of the damage has even reached to Chapters as they clutter the front of the store with unrelated merchandise. Moreover, on the tables nearest the entrance are shiny, colourful, hard-covered bestsellers with Oprah's book Club's seal of approval sticker. In fact, it took William Faukner almost an entire century to finally be recognized as a valuable writer by most of us when Oprah recommeneded a three-volume set of his "best" work. We read what Oprah tells us we should read, find it at the front of Chapters, and, for the select few of us who actually want to read more of an authors work, are hardly able to find anything else he wrote in the store. It seems we all want what someone thinks is "best," without having to do any research. Instead we gather bits and pieces, as if all works were seperate, only caring to read the author that the New York Times deems "brilliant" and "Dazzingly unique."

It seems everyone wants to "escape." Everyone wants to read for "enjoyment," to dissolve ino a world where a beautiful young woman falls head-over-heels for some man who has some dark forboding secret. It seems we don't want to look around us, don't want to read about things that matter. Further more if all we are reading is mass-market, bestselling, clichd plot driven books, I'm concerned about what that says about us, and, more specifically, where humanity is headed.

Explanation for changes: I tried to remove any excess personal opinions as I felt that they drew your mind away from the overall intent and thesis of the essay. Although making slight tweaks throughout the essay the one part I did get rid of entirely was the part about "Canadian" literature and the bash on Chapters. Like the essay this part was more of an organized rant, however, it really did not fufill its purpose by connecting with the reader but instead took away from the overall piece. Through these slight changes I feel I have made the piece into a more rounded and effective essay. 

"A Fire Truck" by Richard Wilbur

Richard Wilbur has captured the infatuation every one of us takes to a fire truck as the "redness, brass, ladders, and hats hurl past." Throughout the first verse Wilbur explains ones simple love for the common occurrence of a fire truck as it goes by "skittering to the curb." He does this by employing language that creates vibrant imagery such as; "Your phoenix-red simplicity," and "the headlong bell maintaining sure and clear." Captivating this imagery inside the readers head immerses them in all that is going on in that instance. However not stopping with imagery he continues to explore the jingles of the sirens as they "howl beyond hearing." Although everyone knows the feeling of a fire truck going "right down the shocked street with a siren blast"Wilbur has captivated this experience by redefining all the feelings that rush through you in that instance. On the whole the poem displays language that defines your senses as that oh so familiar "phoenix red" blares past you.

Metacognitive Reflection

Throughout the duration of the first socratic circle it became clear that I had a weakness in active participation. However I felt that due to the "tallying" and record keeping it caused responses to be hostile and often I found myself submitting to others as they talked and became more of a listener. As a result I feel that during the next socratic circle there will not be so much competition that I will be more willing to participate. As an extra initiative I will also try to be more opinionated with the topic at hand. Employing this single method I feel that I will be more of an active participant than a listener. However currently if i had to give myself a title after this socratic circle I would call myself a Active listener, passive participator.

Response to "April Fools on Polar Circus" by Janet Roddan

Early on in the essay the author created a sense of experience within the reader with warm descriptions like "it dances through my body. It tunes me. It wraps its fingers around me heart and squeezes gently." Immediately the author has established a connection and feeling with the reader that is continued on by a slow retelling of personal experiences during the journey. (In this case the invigorating climb to the top of a mountain.) By doing this the author has also introduced and communicated the significance of the climb so that the readers sensitivity is heightened to the real magnitude of the experience that may otherwise become lost. During the essay the author never changed direction ensuring that the reader had a good understanding of the topic and helping to avoid any confusions. Since the author is forced to recreate a world unknown to us this is crucial as a simple slip up or even slight unknown use of language (ice climbing terms) could be fatal to the readers overall understanding of a narrative essay. However, on the whole the author has provided a thrilling experience for any one willing to delve into the text and gain a better understanding of the risks and scenarios present in ice climbing.

Judgment Of Paragraph 3

It is merely assumed by the public that as ones nation grows the government to control and regulate such a country would simply meet the demands of its growing nation. I felt that the third paragraph was based off of this and even became a truism. This being that as a nation grows so does its government. Even if a topic does not particularly interest a reader the author should attempt to create an interest for the masses. The reason for this is that even if a piece of work contains good writing, if you don't take an immediate interest into a topic you wont be able to look into the work and extract the key information required to understand such a topic. The author then goes on to say things like, "men who worked with him were often reflections of his individual vision." What vision is that? I mean if your not going to explain yourself what is the sense in even saying it in the first place.I feel there was a good thesis but lost steam as it developed and almost comes across that the author ran out of things to say.

Good Vs. Bad Writing Samples

Bad Writing:

Eg. 1 - The author comes across as an egomaniac. Unfortunately for this reason his thesis slowly becomes lost in his excess of words. As a reader you have trouble decoding all the information that is thrown at you. Due to this you quickly lose interest and skip ahead to the next section or put down the article altogether.

Eg. 2 - The second example jumps right into its thesis and essentially sidesteps the reader. There is no connection established during the entirety of the paragraph. It feels as if you are merely reading a section of dialogue in a novel. Also again the author has not kept his argument concise enough for the average person, but has instead unleased an entire thesaurus at you in one sentence.

Eg. 3 - The third example certainly helped you to understand its thesis better although its filled with what almost come across as lies. It seems to be common knowledge that religion cannot be proven to do anything, not to say religion is bad but more that there is no direct evidence. It is merely something we use so that we can believe in something or to explain things that we dont understand. For this reason I feel the author cannot make the refrence that religion has proven to fufill the gap of a missing parent.

Good Writing:

Eg. 4 - The fourth example has an explicit direction and tone that are evident as the author explains the process of how the, "Capelin Spawn". However unlike the other paragraphs it uses language that the reader is capable of understanding. Although it is rather one dimensional that this is all that is required for the audience to understand the topic at hand.

Eg. 5 - This example provided a very clear thesis that is continually felt throughout the paragraph. Explaining how colour is seen by"three classes of cone-shaped, colour sensing cells in the retina" the author provides true facts to support their thesis. Although the author only said very little, much was learned after reading the paragraph.

Eg. 6 - The final paragraph is certainly much more effective then all of the others. The reason being is that the author connects with the reader by posing quesitons. Capturing the audiences attention is key to any succesful paragraph or essay. On top of thisthe author has a concrete thesis that he continues to focus on throughout the essay. These attributes truely make this an effective piece of writing.

The audience is hands down the most crucial piece of any form of literature. By keeping the reader intrigued you essentially ensure they do not put down what they are reading and move on to something else. Since your job with any medium of literature is to entertain you need to ensure you deliver the information while using effective language that the reader will understand. However overstating a particular area may cause you to lose track of your original thesis and end up following an entirely different direction. The "good" examples clearly explained everything you needed to know and delivered it very smoothly. However the "bad" examples was more like solving a puzzle. You had to try to gather all the information out of the paragraph and then attempt to put it back together again. Unfortunately for certain things there is no helping them.