Blog Assigment #3: Beth

Katheline I. Ramos Vazquez

Ingl 3104      Sec 066

Profe. Elizabeth Lenherr

February 25, 2011

Beth

            My intermediate English professor’s name is Elizabeth Lenherr, but she likes it better when you call her Beth. Because that’s her nickname, in that manner she feels connected to us in a confident way in class. She doesn’t like it when you call her Miss or Ma’am, because that makes her feel old. She told to the class that she likes better to be called Beth, she said that in order for us to understand that she just wants us as students to feel comfortable and, establish a good and respectful friendship with her. My first impression of her was that she was very young to be a professor. As soon as she started talking to us about the class, she mentioned that she hates writing on the chalkboard because she doesn’t like the chalk in her fingers. That was quite funny because she tried to write something on the board and her writing is pretty bad. But she seems like a very nice and cool person, because she doesn’t talk to her class in a strict way and she’s interested in knowing everyone of her students. Not every professor does that in the Colegio.

            Beth has light brown hair and green-bluish eyes, one thing that caught my attention of her is that in her wrist she has a henna tattoo shaped like a sun or something like that, I knew it was henna because she noticed a student in class that has a henna tattoo in his hand and she told him that she loves henna tattoos. Other thing that I noticed of her is that she has a nose piercing. I think that the henna tattoo and the nose piercing is a very unique thing that describes her personally, but she hasn’t told the class how and why she got her nose pierced and what does the henna tattoo mean. Beth dresses very comfortably; she uses very comfortable shoes like sandals and sneakers. She dresses casual clothes like blouse and pants, but sometimes she uses skirts. She always wears her hair loose, I’ve have never seen her in class with a ponytail nor a braid. She barely uses make-up maybe because in the American culture women barely use make-up. Beth is naturally from the United States, I don’t remember from which state exactly but she mentioned she comes from a big humble family. Once in class she mentioned that from all her brothers and sisters she was the only one that hasn’t got married yet, maybe because for now she’s not interested in forming a family and is waiting to have finished all her studies and become a professional. Beth seems like a very responsible and dedicated person to her studies and job, because she mentioned in class that she has been even in Africa teaching. I think that not everyone can do that, just very dedicated people that have a very strong vocation, because going to other continent to teach far away from home is not a very easy thing to do.

            In conclusion I thing my English professor, Beth, is a very nice, dedicated and smart person. She always tries to make class fun and creative, by doing different activities and watching videos that may help us understand better the English class. I think she will succeed in everything she propose in life because she loves what she teaches and has a lot of interest, but most importantly she has vocation. I think she is a good example of perseverance and going after ones dreams because she dedicates very much to what she pursues in life.

Blog Assigment #2: “What I liked most of the short story “A Rose for Emily”

Katheline I. Ramos Vázquez

Ingl 3104     Sec 060

Profa. Elizabeth Lenherr

February 14, 2011   

Blog Assigment #2: “What I liked most of the short story “A Rose for Emily” 

From the both short stories that we read in class, the one I liked most was “A Rose for Emily”, because I thought is a very unique, surprising and mysterious story. Most of the themes presented in the story that were too the reason why I liked it so much were mystery, fear and love.

From the beginning of the story it is present a mysterious mood, because it begins with Miss Emily’s death. It is described the house where she lived as a “big, squarish frame house that had once been white… set on what had once been our most select street” (Faulkner, 1). In my mind I pictured a beautiful big antique house from the eighties, but them it is told “the house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay” (Faulkner, 1) this means that the house turned old and creepy looking and it is when the mystery begins. Why Miss Emily left the house to decay? I personally like when the story begins to turn to a creepy mood with the house because I’ve always wonder what would be like to be in a kind of looking haunted house. Another mystery in the story is, why did Emily killed Homer Barron, her sweetheart? She loved him very much, but everyone in town felt sorry for her because they knew Homer Barron didn’t love her same and when he finished the construction work of the town he will go. Maybe Emily killed him because she didn’t want to be alone. After her father’s death she was left very lonely because her father didn’t let her to create a family of her own. So she preferred to have Homer dead, decaying in one room of the house than alive but not with her.

When Emily commits the homicide of Homer Barron by poisoning him with arsenic, it is clearly presented her fear of being alone. Earlier in the story it is presented this fear when her father died “She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body” (Faulkner, 2) Emily didn’t wanted anybody to take away her father from her although he was already not among the living. But she couldn’t accept to be alone; she couldn’t accept her fear of accepting changes. This theme of fear I like it very much in the story because it teaches the reader a very valuable lesson and that is that everything changes. We have to get use to what comes in life no matter what because then we can turn crazy like Miss Emily did or we could die for not adapting to change. It is very difficult to accept change from the first step, but life is a changing cycle all the time. Miss Emily’s fear of being alone and not accepting change consumed her and made her killed Homer Barron so he can stay with her forever although dead. 

I like very much when there is love involved in a story, but in this story love takes a sick turn because Miss Emily loved Homer Barron so much she didn’t wanted him to abandoned her. So she preferred to have him in her house, locked in a room, decaying slowly through the pass of time in a bed dead. It is very sick and horrible to do something like that. But what I like about this part of the story is that her love was so strong she was able to do that, but if she had been a mentally healthy woman she would have let him go to be free and love whoever he wants. Because the power of love is so strong that should be able to think for the lovers good and happiness. But Miss Emily wasn’t quite that reflexive, because she was blinded by the fear of being alone her whole life.

In conclusion what I liked most about the story apart from all the themes that make me like it so much, is the valuable lesson it teaches; if you love someone but that person is not happy with you or doesn’t love you the same you should let that person go and be free to find his or her happiness and good. Other lesson is that dead is an everyday ordinary thing, it is painful but we should accept it and continue life as it is. Surely that loved one is in heaven and it watches over his or her family from above.

Faulkner, William, “A Rose for Emily”, Missisipi: 1931. Web

Two Important Things for Me

All of the things that belong to me are important, but if in case of a fire I can only grab to things. Those will be a framed photo of when I was two years old sitting on my grandpa’s lap and my graduation ring from high school. Those two things are very important to me because they have a very special sentimental value.

            The framed photo of when I was two years old sitting on my grandpa’s lap is something very special to me and very valuable because it is a very beautiful picture. It reminds me of all the wonderful moments I went through in my childhood. My grandfather to me is a very special person because he has always been there for me when I need him; he gives me very good advice and always gives the best for me. He has a lot of faith in me in that I can become a veterinarian and accomplish all my dreams. I love him very much and that photo is something that I would rapidly grab out of the house in case of a fire, because it is one of a kind. I think there is no other copy of that photo and I really love it.

            Other of things I would grab in case of a fire is my graduation ring from high school because it represents all the efforts I made to graduate from my high school, Colegio Ponceno, which is a very well prepared school. I love my school and my class, and my graduation ring also represents all the good memories and times I passed with my class and activities we made together. The ring is very important too to my father because he was the one who purchased the ring and to him it is very important that I take care of it and not loose it. I like very much my ring too because although it holds a very strong sentimental value, it is a very beautiful ring. The ring has impressed the official emblems of the school and in the center has a purple jewel that represents the official color of the school.

            In conclusion although my whole room and all the things in it are very important to me, these two things would be the most essential because they have a very strong sentimental value. If I loose any of these two things it would be very painful for me because they mean a lot to me. I always try to take care the most of these two things so in a future I can pass on my ring or show my photo with my grandfather to my children, and to future generations.