Dream Poem

Dream Poem

By: John Zalazinski

I lie awake at night thinking of it coming true.

The door is shut I don't know what to do.

Will I ever find an opportunity?!

Guess it's not true.

It worries me and drives me insane.

Leaving a huge hole in my brain.

Denying it will only bring back so much pain.

I am alone now.

The hope is gone.

I don't see any light,

even after dawn.

Forever and ever I look back.

Somehow I just got off track.

Don't know what to do.

It leaves me breathless.

The thoughts leave me restless.

Dark thoughts are all I can think.

All the agony and disappointment.

For now I know one thing,

this true torment.

Commented On: Devin R. Mia C. Sonny S.

Conflict in Of Mice and Men, Week of 4/27

Conflict in Of Mice and Men

John Zalazinski

4/29/2015

 One of the conflicts in the story was with Crooks and it was Man vs Society. Knowing the time period in the story this shouldn't be a surprise. The black population was discriminated and really hated as a group of people. This made hard situations even more complicated because of just his skin color and maybe he's a decent and kind person but has a lower chance at a getting a job. In the text it mentioned that Crooks used to play with the white kids but his dad didn't let him because there were separations between the two races and Crooks didn't find out why his dad did that until he was older.

Another one of the conflicts in the story was Candy with himself. The reason why I say this is because when Carlson shot Candy's dog, Candy wishes he had to shoot the dog himself. He would of seen the last moments of the dog's life and it would only make since because he had the dog since it was a pup. Now Candy is thinking more depressing thoughts and might not want to be around anymore because without the dog he doesn't have that much of a family.

Lastly, one of the other conflicts was Curley fighting Lennie, this conflict was Man vs Man. This all started when the other workers were teasing Curley and Lennie was smiling. The thing is he wasn't smiling because of that, he was smiling because he was thinking about the farm George, Candy, and Lennie are going to have someday and live together. Curley got furious not only because Lennie was tall but because he thought he was enjoying the teasing. Soon after the fight Lennie doesn't know his strength and crushed Curley's hand. This most likely can create a lot of tension between Lennie and Curley and might even get the Boss involved.

Of Mice and Men Blog 4/20/15 - 4/24/15

Of Mice And Men 

4/22/2015

John Zalazinski

The atmosphere of the ranch and the bunkhouse seem to be a little bit tense sometimes. An example of this would be George always getting frustrated with Lennie. When they were finally introduced to The Boss and he wouldn't let Lennie say anything because George thinks when ever Lennie opens his mouth he is going to mess everything up. This happened when George mentioned Lennie was "...strong as a bull" then Lennie repeated him and immediately got scolded by George and made the Boss suspicious of them.

The atmosphere can also be positive because during Christmas the Boss brought a whole gallon of whisky and said to the workers "Drink hearty boys. Christmas comes but once a year." This can hint that he is mostly nice to his workers and treats them well. This compels the workers to do well for him and the Boss would often do something kind in return.  The workers would be calm after work and could relax rather than worry about what they did wrong.

I think Curley's wife doesn't have a name because of the way women were treated back then. Curley didn't care what her name was as long as she was attractive he was alright and didn't really care about her name. I think the message that was sent is that women were treated more like objects than an equal human being. Even George insulted her calling her a tramp and a b**** because he wanted to convince Lennie she was nothing but a waste of time. Men wanted someone just to do things for them and they do nothing in return, sort of like robots now with us.




Commented On: Diana A. Devin R. & Saul G.

Things Not Seen Week of 4/13 - 4/17 Prompt: Write the biography for one character (SPOILERS)

Things Not Seen 

By: Andrew Clements

John Zalazinski

4-15-2015

Bobby Phillips didn't know what to do because he was invisible. It happened all of a sudden and shocked his parents also trying to process information that was impossible and beyond belief. There was a lot of confusion between his family and school. He couldn't go to school until they solved the problem, but luckily his dad was a scientist working for a company called "Fermilab" which runs complicated and "fancy" experiments on different things in the world of science. 

Unfortunately poor Bobby's parents got into a car crash and now he's alone trying to live with being invisible without causing any trouble. That comes with making up reasons why he can't answer the door or lying that his aunt is taking care of him when she lives in Florida. When he felt a little bit confident he got bundled up concealing every single part of his body so no one would get suspicious.

Then something terrible happens, he notices his scarf fell off and he bumped into a girl walking out of the library. The girl just keeps walking and doesn't say anything and realizes she was blind.

A few days or so later she finds out the truth that he is invisible and also has a hard time processing it in her mind. Bobby finds out that her name is Alicia and discussion the situation there in. Bobby later becomes aquatinted with her parents. Her dad which is a professor/astronomer and her mom which went to the same university as Bobby's mother. They find out about it and talk with Bobby's parents after they recovered from the crash, about Bobby's problem. Both pairs of parents are working hard to find out the truth and make everything right again. Until they do he is stuck like that for who knows how long.

Commented On: Sam T. Saul G. Justin R.

Poetry Reflection Week of 3-23-15 to 3-27-15

Poetry Reflection

John Zalazinski

3/25/2015

After this unit poetry has somewhat significant place in my life. During this poetry unit learning things like imagery has kept me interested in certain subjects like nature or fantasy. I feel like that has been one of most useful things that I've learned in this ENTIRE unit. It also has been actually been fun. Especially making up words for the nonsense poem and making the Bio-Poem. 

I don't think poetry belongs to everyone. Everybody has their own tastes when it comes to literature, specifically poetry. An example would be a kindergartener flying through a Dr. Seuss book when he doesn't even know half the words to a kid who won't even touch a book. For me I'm between the two. If I find something good I'll fly through it like nothing but if its slow I'll have to force myself to read it. 

The life experiences of a person can highly affect a person's writing. If someone lived a happy, full life they would write about something really positive like playing in the backyard with their dog. If the person had a bad, horrific life they would write about horror or maybe living in bad conditions. An average person with regular "ups and downs" would right about their lifestyle, an injury, or what their favorite things to do are. For me I would be the average person writing a poem, but with as much creativity as I can put into it.

Extended Metaphor

Bio-Poem

Where I'm From

Two Voice Poem

Spine Poem

Found Poem

Nonsense Poem

Picture Poem

Commented On: Sam T. Sonny S. Mia C. 

"A Wiseman On Technology" by John Zalazinski

Found Poem

"Guilt, A Powerful Thing"

by John Zalazinski

If you can't see the poem:

Suddenly, contrite it just slipped out.

Promise not to tell.

I didn't mean to do this!

Say anything else.

The old brick house at the end of the line.

No calling home.

I chose these words because it describes how guilt can take over in seconds. It is really hard to keep things secret, especially when its something terrible or a huge mistake you made. It also mentions consequences like "The old brick house" and "no calling home." Which means your in prison and you can do nothing about it. You can't call home to explain yourself, and you can't explain your guilt to anyone you know or never seen.