SAMMY X
The Plague When Mr. Watt comes to Hong Kong, I’ll find a place to hide, I hope I won’t be there for long, but that’s what I’ll decide. The wait may be long and weary, but it’s what I must do, I may eat my Read more…
Genre: 8th
GRACE G
Because Weiland and Wilsey wanted personal stories about experiences with the state, Smith tells about this one illegal adventure to the island she had with her father. She talks about swimming off a boat to the island, which was trespassing and completely forbidden. Not only were they breaking the law, but they ended up encountering a group of sharks, all gathered under their boat. During the time on Ni’ihau, they beachcombed together, finding human bones. The hundred-year-old skulls they found lying around on the beach under the sand were forbidden to be touched because “To touch a bone, especially a Hawaii’an one, disturbs its mana, the life force Hawaiians believe inhabits all things.”
OSCAR S
The River of Life “Bilbo used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.” Frodo, The Fellowship of the Ring Bilbo Baggins had a very consistent way of life, but when Gandalf Read more…
HELEN (HANYU) L
A Wish’s Journey It starts with a shiny penny plunging through the fountain. It continues with the quick flick of a fallen eyelash. Next it’s blown and travels the air from a dandelion, And it blossoms when met with a shooting star’s dashing flash. It is dazzled when encountered by a simple wishbone. Read more…
HELEN (HANYU) L
The author is persuasive and clever. “I was confused, of course. I’d fallen in love not with this person, but with this place.” This reveals who she is and how she was in love with Vermont, rather than the person that brought her there. Also, “What’s so compelling to me about the mountains? Is it that there’s always somewhere to go? Is it the supramundane perspective afforded by a summit? Is it genetics?” The repeated “Is it …” provokes us to learn all the reasons why Bechdel would stay in Vermont. “I always feel a little out of place, but it’s place, of course, that binds me to these people.” This reveals that the reason she remained is that she truly adores the state, viewing it as more than the people there. Through this, the reader can feel as if Vermont is Bechdel and Bechdel is Vermont, since the place is what keeps her lingering: “…our microclimate, our brief spring-times, the particular contours and declivities of our rural, plural habitat.” The readers feel an invisible bonding among the citizens of Vermont, their unique love for their state, and their independence.