The Age of Aquariums

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1196890/index.htm

Do we really need all the extras in our ball parks? When they built Fenway Park or Wrigley Field, two stadiums that are almost 100 years old, did they assume that fans needed more than the game to have a great time? I don’t think so. Back in the days of the historical ball parks fans came to see the game, not to go shopping or gaming. Today with new ball parks such as the highly styled Miami Marlins Stadium, people can do it all except watch the game in peace. Baseball is clearly not enough for people today, they need performance art between innings and a shopping mall on premises in case they have the urge to buy stuff not related to the game. Sadly, long gone are the days that ball park dimensions were determined by the streets around it. One of baseball’s secret charms is the fact that each ball park is unique in its footprint. Each one has different dimensions but the game always comes first. Ballparks used to made of brick and wood and they felt organic while now there are plexi glass fish tanks behind home plate, what for?

2012 is a year of change in baseball, some teams are switching leagues, the post season format is changing allowing more teams into the race, the season opened in Japan and the ballpark is the new amusement park. Baseball seems to be spending a lot of money on things that have little to do with the game I love and they make it harder for regular families to enjoy the great American pastime. While some kids might like all the bells and whistles of the new ballparks I just go for the baseball and maybe an ice cream and a few hot dogs and nachos…ok, I like all the new food choices that the stadiums have now, the changes are not all bad.

Baseball like music before sampling, has character because of the human touch. Umpires make calls in every play that can change the outcome of games and some would like to change this and institute a replay rule for baseball. I say No! No replays in baseball, part of the game is the ump and that is the way it should be. Baseball can tinker with the dimensions and layouts of its parks and they can add teams to the playoff format to make for a more interesting end of the summer but I ask the MLB to stop short of taking the human element away from the game. Let us enjoy our game with no clocks the way our parents and grandparents enjoyed it, simply.

Plagiarism

1. What did the student do wrong? What could he/she done to include the source correctly?
~In the example given, the student plagiarized; he/she took an excerpt from a source and used it as their own. Not showing that it was taken from somewhere else was what the student did wrong. He/she could have used the name of the source and put the excerpt in quotation marks in order to let the reader know that it was taken from somewhere else.

2. Write a sentence using the original source correctly; use a quotation or paraphrase. Also, make sure to cite correctly...
~"There is a peaceful essence flowing from the structures. Perhaps the cool dark colors and the fiery windows spark memories of our own warm childhood years filled with imagination of what exists in the night and dark starry skies. The center point of the town is the tall steeple of the church, reigning largely over the smaller buildings. This steeple casts down a sense of stability onto the town, and also creates a sense of size and seclusion.To the left of the painting there is a massive dark structure that develops an even greater sense of size and isolation." (http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html)

3. What are at least 3 ways to avoid plagiarizing?
~You can paraphrase the quotation, use quotation marks and cite the source correctly, or preface the statement you are about to make by using the name of the source.

Peer Blog Response

I've read 2 student blogs; Jake Lester (813) and Josh Waldman (813)'s blogs. I read Jake's response on Cats Cradle and Ice-Nine Josh's poem about America. Both responses were intriguing due to vocabulary, ideas brought up and techniques used.
Jake's response on Cats Cradle and Ice-Nine is interesting for me to read due to vocabulary. He uses phrases such as unrelenting distaste, meaning there must be some significance in the book of what he's describing. Another reason why I enjoy Jake's vocabulary usage is because it's very similar to how he speaks in real life. I remember when I was just learning how to write, teachers would say "write like how you speak", some people take that idea and create writing that is a little more difficult to understand, but Jake actually uses this idea and his writing comes out perfectly clear. In this response, another thing I like is how Jake uses true evidence from the book to support thoughts and even predictions. In fact, most of his statements tie in together, which he later explains. He really has found a way to take tons of text evidence and use it to prove a point that he's trying to make. Jake doesn't do very much retelling, he just elaborates on what he read.
Josh's poem on America is interesting because he uses tons of great technique and deals with mature topics. Josh uses techniques such as symbolism (belles), and even physical techniques like line breaks which help the flow and mood of the poem. Josh also touches on some mature topics such as unemployment in America and losing privileges such as Southern Blacks with voting. Josh finds a way to sneak politics and history into a poem about a place. The only suggestion I have for Josh is to change the color of the writing.
After reading these two blog posts, I've gotten some ideas of what to do. Using line breaks and techniques in poetry is healthy; it makes your artwork unique, and isn't that what writing is-a form of art?                                    Writing like I speak is a useful idea, but you can't take it literally because your writing won't turn out very well. trying to keep it similar to your own style is the goal though. One last struggle that I've had lately is citing sources correctly. Jake did it perfectly, so I will take his work into consideration. Overall, the two blog posts that I read were remarkable.    

Poem Response

            Studying poetry is hard. Trying to decipher what the poet is trying to say is challenging for sure, but I might be getting a little better at that. Picking the poem apart for certain techniques and literary devices is the easy part, decoding the language and finding what the author’s true intentions are is a different story. Two poems, “Harlem” by Langston Hughes and the lyrics to “Starry Starry Night” by Don McLean are very contrasting texts but they both touch on the power of your ultimate dream.

            A dream deferred, sad if you think about it. How many people do we all know living with a dream deferred, probably most. Sometimes, some things are more important than dreams. I actually can’t even believe I just said that, but I guess feeding a family can be more important than some dreams. Love might lead to a dream deferred, I could see that happening. In this poem, Langston Hughes uses many literary devices to catch our attention and although the poem is short, it drives the point home directly. Dream Deferred itself is alliteration, there are rhyming words and similes. There are lines in this poem that make your stomach turn and I found myself cringing at the thought of the smell of rotten meat and festering sores. Both of those images are awful to think about, the author must truly be disgusted at all the dreams he has seen deferred in a place like Harlem.

            Starry Starry Night is also about dreams but in a different way. Don McLean is telling us about a man who lived for his dream so intensely that it drove him mad. He has followed his dream down the road to obsession and from his room in an asylum, he paints. Nothing got in the way of Vincent Van Gogh’s dream of art, not family or love. He was in love with is work, a love never retuned but I must admit I think of him as courageous for standing by his true love. Don Mclean gives us the illusion that this a light and airy text with rhyming words like hills and daffodils. Palettes of blue and grey and summers day, these images are peaceful and the whole poem feels peaceful to me even though he is locked away and ultimately dies.