Student

November 19, 2011


HANNAH H

 

“I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs.”

— H.L. Mencken

I had a hard time analyzing this quote. To be honest, I had no clue why hens even laid eggs, except for to reproduce (which was probably not what the quote meant). Did hens themselves even know why they were laying eggs? I actually googled “why do hens lay eggs” but there were no relevant results. It seems that everyone else is satisfied with the answer being that they just do because they can. I thought and thought for a long duration of time and then it hit me— because they can. If a hen were fertile and capable of laying eggs, why wouldn’t it? Just like the logic behind that, I understood that if I am capable of working, why not work? This quote made me think about a homework assignment a teacher at school gave me in 6th grade. It was not the typical one-night assignment with one task for the student to work on. It was a long sheet of math questions. We could do as many or as little as we wanted (because it was a busy week at school and the teacher was being thoughtful), there was no penalty either way. At first I was set on doing just a few problems, but then after I had completed those, I had nothing else to do. I felt almost uncomfortable just sitting on the couch doing nothing, so I did the rest of the problems. My mindset then was, if I am able to do the work and there is nothing stopping me, why not? There will be a time later in my life when I am unable to do work, and so I might as well work while I can. It seems to me now that the small hen knew a valuable lesson before I did.

The only way to enjoy life is work. Work is much more fun than fun.”

 

Unlike with the other quote, I understood what this one meant immediately. I instantly thought of last year—  a few months after the BP oil spill. This quote resonates with an assignment Mr. Watt assigned me last fall. I was to write an essay on the spill. After I had figured out what were my opinions on the issue and I began to write, I began wanting to spend time working on my writing. The topic was interesting and being able to help the environment made me feel good about myself. After a while, I actually started working on my piece for fun instead of watching TV or going online. The “normal” fun that I had is something I still enjoy, but while writing the essay I felt as if it was not exciting enough. I not only took more pleasure in writing the essay, but also acknowledged the sense of accomplishment that would follow the completion of the piece. That sense of accomplishment just made the process more fun. That was something I would never be able to get if I were just on Facebook.

November 19, 2011


SAMMY X

I can relate my work with My Childhood to H.L. Mencken’s quote. I remember spending my summertime reading My Childhood. It was very slow and difficult – just like work. I spent time going over parts I didn’t get, like you would go over the parts of homework you don’t get. Reading My Childhood can be related to the quote because I was reading it to see how the story would turn out: the hen keeps working to see how her chicks will turn out. That is the similarity between those two things. I can also relate Noel Coward’s quote to my band assignments. To enjoy my week, I first have to finish these.  When I was recording with Smart Music, I was able to play familiar tunes with my trumpet. Playing these songs was fun because I kept improving and my tone moved into clarity. I kept trying and trying to get it perfect, and when I finally finished it, I felt relieved. I played some familiar tunes that I never knew I could play, and when I finished, I got the satisfaction of finally finishing this long project. So these two quotes can definitely be related to my everyday work with Mr. Watt, and at school.

November 19, 2011


HELEN (HANYU) L

Work is necessary in order to be successful, just like how hens must lay eggs in order to be productive. From the essay prompts you assign me, I am able to map out my essay exactly, making a strong outline for my entire piece. Even though this counts as work, homework even, it does pay off in the end, because now I know how to write my Welty essay. For example, you assign me to brainstorm more on my essay questions and think of some of the books that I am going to use. This not only helps me develop the question more, but also forces me to concentrate on each of Welty’s stories.

Work may not seem more fun than fun, however, it is more fulfilling. As January is inching closer and closer, I get busier and busier in order to prepare for high school. This same time last year, I was more focused on school and had a lot of down time. However, during the times when I was surfing the web, hanging out with friends, and basically having fun, I felt unaccomplished. Now, as I get busier with more work piled on me, it feels like I achieve fulfillment and fun.

 

 

November 12, 2011


H.L. Mencken and Noel Coward on work:

“I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs.”

H.L. Mencken

The only way to enjoy life is work. Work is much more fun than fun.”

Noel Coward

Considering that the semester is halfway through and that you are thoroughly familiar with all of your classes, try and take an optimistic view of work.  After doing so, relate your perspective on this through your own work: describe and discuss one project or assignment from school, and one from my assignments to you, as examples of the above two quotes.  Use one example for each quote. 8 sentence minimum.

 

 

 

 

November 6, 2011


SAMMY X

Response

“Writing fiction has developed in me an abiding respect for the unknown in a human lifetime and a sense of where to look for the threads, how to follow, how to connect, find in the thick of the tangle what clear line persists.”

I understand this quote as “Writing fiction has helped me respect what I don’t know about life. It also taught me how to look for clear and correct direction in a mess of directions.” I think this means that when Welty writes, she starts to respect what she doesn’t know about the characters she creates. She may have created her characters so well, that when you read it you recognize real people. And since you respect real people, she respects her human-like characters. I think it also means that when she writes fiction, she has to choose carefully how the story will end and what the events will be; because in fiction, anything can happen.

I can relate this to “A Worn Path” because when Phoenix entered the doctor’s office, I expected her to get some kind of medicine for her grandson. But instead, Welty chose to give her no reason in being there – she completely forgot why she walked the entire trail. This shocked me because I expected her to do what most people would do when they go to a doctor’s office (to get medicine). This was a good example of how Welty carefully chose the direction of the book (in the quote “correct threads”).