Diction and Syntax

     For myself as a blogger, I feel that the way I present the information I am giving is conversational and and at times a bit static. I feel that at times I can get into a rhythem on what topic I am blogging about, which I don't think is the best of things. What I'll do is, I'll start adding in commas and extending my sentences even just a few words to make my blog a little longer. I don't know if that's necessarily  a bad thing, because like I said I think the sentence length variety in my syntax is what makes it more conversational. back when I wrote on "Fat Boy Chronicles" in January I did this a lot. One example of this is, "How cool is that, to see a kid just like you and I become a very successful writer and teach kids the harmfulness of bullying in the process." At the beginning of the sentence when I said "How cool is that" that's what I'm talking about. Creating a conversational syntax feel can I guess create a not needed length to your blog, but also makes the reader feel at home. Overall, I think my syntax throughout my blog is consistent in trying to create a conversational feel through my sentence lengths. 

     

     Diction on the other hand is something that I feel I should work on to finish out the year. Finding GOOD diction in my blog posts can be a struggle sometimes, and maybe that's because of what I said earlier of sounding conversational. In my everyday life I wouldn't use the high vocabulary words that we see in for say informational texts, which prrroobablyyy isn't a good thing. I'm almost certain there is a way to use those words and still sound conversational, but I just haven't gotten onto that level yet. So that's something that i should probably work on throughout the rest of the year. Something I could try to do is ATLEAST while I'm writing my blog, look up a new high vocabulary word that i can incorporate into my blog. That would at least be a start right?

     

     Overall I think that my syntax is far better than my diction, and that I do a good job keeping it conversational. The sentence variety in my posts is a key component to keeping a blog sound like a conversation. That and even sometimes only using fragments kind of like we do in real life. I feel the goal and things I can try to improve my diction will be helpful in the long run because I will be learning at least one new word every post. 

Winter Olympics Column

     I read a column by Mike Lupica, you may know him for his famous sports novels, as do I. This column was once again about sports, but instead of it being fictional, it was about one of the greatest sporting events of all time. The miracle that will always be remembered in hockey and also in world sports is the topic. Mike Lupica really takes you back to 1980 and retells the fantastic performance by the US in order to knock of the power house of the world, the Soviet Union, in order to advance to the finals of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.
     The facts that are presented from this column really bring of the awe in what occured. The strategies that Lupica uses to keep the reader engaged is incredible. He has a wide variety of sentence length and jumps around to a lot of little topics within the one big topic. One thing i have noticed throughout the columns I have been reading is that there is little to no dialog in them. I guess that's because it's the authors voice that really comes out of these, and not the characters. Also, most of the time there really aren't characters in the columns but more so events of what happend or what's going on in the writers life.

     Columnists have a very unique writing style and it really showcases what you can do with writing other than write on one specific topic. With columns it really opens up a lot of different ideas that a lot of different writers can get out easily.

Fahrenheit 451 theme handout

Theme: Engaging with difficult and uncomfortable thoughts and experiences is the only route to true happiness.

Sammi St. Arnold, Brian Whitney, Hannah Lea, Stephanie Schoenlein, and Evan Haas Bell 3

Events

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1. Clarisse asks Montag if he's happy.

2. Montag realizes he's unhappy, and threatens to start reading books.

3. Montag meets Faber and realizes the power of reading/ learning

4. The firemen went to Montag's house.

5. Montag burns Beatty.  

6. Montag meets Granger.

Quotes

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1. "He was not happy.  He was not happy.  He said the words to himself. He recognized this as the true state of affairs.  He wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there wa no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back." (Bradbury 12).

2. " 'If there was no war, if there was peace in the world, I'd say fine, have fun! But, Montag, you mustn't go back to being just a fireman. All isn't well with the world.' " (Bradbury 104).

3. " 'We all made the right kind of mistakes, or else we wouldn't be here.' " (Bradbury 150).

How it Relates

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1. This theme is important to our understanding of the story because the story is based on a society that believes in the opposite, that thoughts and uncomfortable experiences actually diminish a person’s overall happiness, and have rules against people creating their own thoughts and opinions.  

2. This connects to our society today because people are depressed and don’t realize that they have to deal with and engage in uncomfortable and difficult experiences is the only way to achieve true happiness.  It is important to study and be aware of this theme so that we can grow and be happy in our daily lives, dealing with the hardships in our modern world.  

Finishing Up Fahrenheit 451

     Our class has been coming close to closing the door on "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury. The novel has turned into a classic over the years, and I believe it will continue to bring the same lessons to students in the future as it does now. The book is based off the idea of censorship, but as you read it brings along a variety of different meanings.
   
   
One of these impactful meanings that the book brings in a implicit sort of sense that i have been studying over the course of the book is the idea that difficult and unconfortable situations can eventually bring along a life of happiness. My favorite part where this is presented in the book is when Granger is talking to Montag about what has happend to him throughout the book. Granger tells Montag, "We all made the right kind of mistakes. or we woulsn't be here" (Bradbury 150). Granger telling this to Montag really made me reflect back on the events in the book, specifically the mistakes that I believed Montag had made. But thinking back on it now Montag wouldn't be where he was now without the difficult situations that he had faced earlier in the novel.
     


     This is what I mean about a deeper meaning, not only within this novel but in many. So next time you pick up a book and start reading, start to think more about what's beyond the words.