Some Final Thoughts

Over the semester, I think a lot of the readings that we did helped me in at least one way or another, regardless of genre. As a writer in general, I feel that I've improved a lot over the last few months. I know that the readings we had helped me take a step back and look at my writing style, which helped influence me and change as a writer.

The one area I felt I needed the most improvement is was my poetry. The most experience I'd had before this class writing poetry was writing joke haikus during lunch in high school. Beyond that, I had no idea of what to do. Throughout the years, my English teachers have assigned poetry, and although I always got good grades on my poems, I've never been particularly fond of my poetry. I think it's because I didn't really know how to write a poem effectively, and I've never really read any poetry outside of what was required for school, which wasn't exactly the most interesting poetry. I think that the poetry of Emily Dickinson, which I've never really read before, definitely caught my eye. When I read some of her work, her way of describing me definitely stuck with me. She has such a bizarre way of describing things, which really sits well with me. After that point, I realized that you didn't have to be so straightforward with your writing. You can make obscure connections and it'll still make sense.

Also in that packet was the poem Dream Boogie by Langston Hughes. This also influenced me greatly because it made me think about the rhythm of my poetry. The way the poem flows is almost like a song. It's just so rhythmic, and I had never realized poetry could do that before. Reading Dream Boogie was a huge eye-opener for me. As a musician, it made me realize how related music and songwriting is to poetry. With this added knowledge, I payed more attention to the rhythm of my poems.

Well, I had a blast this semester. I definitely have found a new love of writing that I didn't know I could ever have. Hope everyone else in class had as much fun as I did!

Ben L.

Total Eclipse

When I first read Total Eclipse, it honestly didn't do much for me. I really didn't make much sense to me, and I guess I didn't give it a chance, so going into the class discussion on Tuesday, I wasn't very enthused. But after looking at it a second time, I really started to like it. It stuck with me that the main character was genuinely afraid of this eclipse, like it was the end of the world. It's hard for me to relate to that because I haven't experienced an eclipse, but I can imagine how bizarre the experience can be. The sky doing things that it normally doesn't do, people gathering to see the sky do these weird things. It has to be a very surreal experience.
I also love how she's describing this story with very dark imagery, like how everything reminds her of death and how everything seemed "wrong." To me, the way she described everything made her descriptions stand out from everything else I've ever read. There are so many ways to describe an eclipse, but I've never heard one described as, "A piece of sky beside the crescent sun was detaching." Describing something like that gives it a very haunting image. She didn't make this event sound beautiful, she made it sound almost macabre, which is what I like most about this essay. She made something that everyone describes as amazing or miraculous become disturbing, like she was facing death itself.

Essay Response

After reading the essay packet, the one essay that stuck with me was "Things to Do Today" by Joe Wenderoth. I just love that throughout the whole list of things to do, a lot of things are really vague and non-sensical, like #63 "Nudge the drowsy lumberjack." In fact, a lot of things in this list almost make sense. It's almost like it makes sense, but then I do a double take on each task, and then it doesn't make sense any more. For example, #85 "Let yourself 'go'." Now, at first glance, it's a normal statement. Let yourself go. But the quotes around go give it another deeper meaning. Go. Go where? Go what? Go who?

And even though it's slightly frustrating, I really like how confusing and sometimes non-sensical this list is. It makes you think, even though the thoughts it makes you think don't make any sense to yourself. I really like stuff like this. It's up to interpretation, and every different interpretation is right. Even if the task doesn't make sense, it does at the same time. Crazy.

Ben L.

Mystery Stories

After class on Tuesday, the one thing that stuck with me was our discussion on the Mystery Stories. My interpretation of the Mystery stories is that even though they all were quite short, they were just glimpses into the real story, kind of like if you overhear two people having a conversation for a few seconds. You only hear the little bit that you heard, but you don't know what happened prior or after the conversation.

One example that sticks out in my mind is 'Strawberries.' You're told where the narrator is, what's on the plates at the table, and what's on the mind of the narrator, but you're not told anything else. To me, the rest of the story (or stories) is up to the individual reader. Who is the narrator? Why are they at this restaurant? Why are they worried about paying for the dinner? You can make these stories whatever you want.

It was brought up in class that these might be dreams, and I agree with that. Some of the stories are non-sensical, and some seem like they could happen in real life. Now, I can only speak for myself, but I've had many dreams that made no sense at all when compared to real life, and I've had dreams where everything makes perfect sense. So maybe these stories are dreams, or maybe they're glimpses into dreams, or maybe they're whatever you want them to be. I guess it's a mystery.

Ben L.

Dream Boogie 2: Electric Boogaloo

The one poem I really wanted to read in class on Tuesday was Dream Boogie, but I knew that a whole bunch of people would choose that poem to discuss because it just looks and sounds awesome, so I chose to read an Emily Dickinson poem. But the poem that stuck with me all this time was Dream Boogie.

The first time I read it, I honestly didn't get it. Well, that is, I didn't get it until I read the last four lines. I realized that those last lines were scat, a form of wordless vocal jazz. I then realized that the whole poem was inspired by jazz, which, to me, is awesome. I reread it and reread it, and finally settled that it sounded best to me read in a swing beat, just like the jazz of the time period this poem was written in. That's when the poem really started making sense to me.

Maybe it's just because in a previous life, I was a jazz musician, or maybe it's just because I'm a musician and I see this weird connection between poetry and music, regardless of genre, but I can definitely imagine that this poem is written as a jazz song in words, like a Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis song translated into poetry. Definitely very cool.

Ben L.

Shakespeare vs. Mullen

Out of all the poems and sonnets that we've read in class, the two that stuck with me the most were Dim Lady by Harryette Mullen and the accompanying sonnet by Shakespeare. I loved the use of more modern language to convey the same ideas that Shakespeare conveyed hundreds of years before. One thing I noticed was how with the Shakespeare version, everyone in class took it so seriously, and with the Mullen version, it was pretty humorous. Even though they say the same thing, just with different words, the reactions people had towards the two pieces were quite different. I feel that in our society, we take the works of Shakespeare too seriously. In my opinion, Shakespeare wrote his sonnet to convey his love for someone, but with a humorous approach. But besides that, I loved that both of them had the overall message that no matter what the physical attributes, that the writer loves their significant other no matter what. That's a message I can get behind!

Ben L.

Introduction

Hey everyone!

I'm Ben Ledoux, I'm currently in my second year at Eastern, and my major is currently Elementary Education. Originally, I'm from Amherst, Massachusetts. I chose to go to Eastern because I had heard about it's reputation about having a great teacher education program, as well as the fact that I would be representing the third straight generation in my family to go to school at Eastern. My mom, as well as both my Grandma and Grandpa attended and graduated from Eastern.

I love music. Music has been my life as long as I can remember. I've been listening to music basically since the day I was born. My parents started me off listening to oldies music greats like The Beatles, Herman's Hermits and the like. I've expanded my library from that quite a bit, and as cliche as it is to say it, I truly love to listen to every type of music. I feel like music is something that is rooted deeply in me, no matter what genre.

Not only am I deeply rooted in the listening aspect of music, I am also an avid musician. My mom always tells this story about how when I was about three or four, I opened up all the cabinets in our kitchen, took out all the pots and pans, and then arranged them by pitch. I then proceeded to figure out how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on them. At the age of 9, I started taking drum lessons, which centered on both drum set and concert percussion. In high school, I was considered one of the better musicians in the school. I was a member of my high school's Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, as well as being in my own rock band. I am also self taught on the piano and the guitar.

But enough about music... I love reading, writing and English in general. All my favorite classes I've ever taken have been English classes. I signed up for creative writing because it is sort of a passion of mine. I've been writing fictional short stories ever since I could write. It seems to me like everyone I've ever met has hated writing, and that isn't the case with me. Whether it's a poem, a story, or an essay, I can just sit down and grind it out, and I love it.

So,  in short, I'm super excited about taking this class this semester. Hopefully it'll exceed my expectations!

Ben L.