AP Language Blog

So far in the book, Welty tells of how she really likes books how,"neither of [her] parents had come from homes that could afford to buy books, but though it must have been something of a strain on [her dad]'s salary, as the youngest officer in a young insurance company, [he] all the while carefully selecting and ordering away for what he and Mother thought [the] children should grow up with" (Welty 6). She tells of how they had a bookcase in their living room that she would always take books from.
Welty also tells of how her mother had brought a set of "Dickens" from West Virginia when she went there and how the books looked too sad and how the books have been,"thrown through the fire and water before [she] was born" (Welty 8). She says that she believes that the books were waiting on her. She also tells of how she received her own set of books as early as she could remember. The books were presented to her when she was one early Christmas morning.
When I continue to read this book, I expect for Welty to tell more of the books that she received and what they mean to her. It seems as though when she was young, she was really fond of books and she really gained a lot from them since they really did not have anything when they were younger. Her parents really valued her reading and getting most of her knowledge through books.

AP Language Blog

Author: Eudora Welty
Title: One Writer's Beginnings
Publication Date: 1983

The book that I am currently reading is One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty. The reason why I chose to read this book was because last year in Mr. Eickoff's American Literature class, we read a passage from this book and I found it pretty interesting. My expectations for this book are kind of high because I believe that the book must be a good book if they chose to make us read a passage from it in class.
So far, the book is really interesting. At the beginning , Welty talks about growing up in Mississippi. She was the oldest of four children. Welty states that they grew up to the "striking clocks" because there was a mission-style oak grandfather clock standing in their hallway. Sometimes, the clock would wake them up in the middle of the night.
Welty also states that her father loved all types of instruments and that he had the knowledge of the weather and it's skies. He would always tell them what to do if they were ever lost in a strange country. He told them to ,"Look where the sky is brightest along the horizon"(Welty 4).
Welty also had a "love for the alphabet". She states that it grew out of her reciting the alphabet everyday. She fell in love with the,"various windings, enchanted-looking initials drawn by Walter Crane at the heads of fairy tails"(Welty 9).

How It Went

I use to lie awake at nights thinking of ways to kill my dad. Should I just go strangle him now while he is sleeping? Or maybe he is just too strong and would just throw me off and call the police. Then they would take me away without me getting any revenge. If only I could get hold on a gun. I would just threaten him and make him do crazy things like tell my mom that he was cheating on her with the dentist. My mom would never believe that he was cheating on her if I told her. If I threaten him before I kill him then I could make him suffer. Make him feel the pain I felt when mommy went to work at night and she would come. He would always make me go upstairs as soon as she got here. Even though I was only eight years old, I knew what was going on between the two of them. I had to do something about it. One day, I decided that it was time. Mommy had already gone off to work and she had already arrived. I noticed that every time she came over, they would put in a movie and about four or five hours later, they would be sleeping on the couch. So I waited. I layed in my bed and waited. For about four hours. Then, I did it. I finally did it. I crept down the stairs so quietly that even if they were still up, they would not hear me. I crept into the kitchen and pulled out the sharpest knife there was. And thats how I ended up here for the rest of my life.

My first day of first grade

My first day of 1st grade was really weird. When I walked into the classroom, I wondered why there were so many desk and no carpet or mats for us to take naps on. I didnt see any snacks or animal crackers for us on the teacher's desk and none of the other kids were crying while holding on to their parents. The teacher greeted me with a great smile on her face and asked me for my name. After I told her, she directed me to my seat and on my desk lay a worksheet with some things that i knew nothing about. There were numbers and dashes and even x's. "Today, we are going to learn about math." the teacher said.

Things I want to submit to Literary Magazine

1. NO TITLE
2. SEASONAL HAIKUS
3. When Being Bad Was Good...
   

When Being Bad Was Good...

I would never have my homework,
when the teacher would come my way.
She would sometimes ask me a question
but i would have nothing to say.

I would never do my projects,
not even my book reports too,
and when she would ask me why
Id say I had better things to do.

I would get detention after detention,
but I would never seem to go.
And even if I would get suspended,
My parents would never ever know.

And all of that would happened,
until I found out I had summer school.
And that is how it was,
when I thought that being bad was cool.

My thoughts on the Literary Magazine...

I liked the smaller size literary magazine because I believe that it could be a lot more convenient and I think it looks better. The smaller one also had a mix of the short stories and the poems. The bigger one is kinda boring with the format. It really does not look like a magazine, it just has everything in the same type and format. Although it is not as creative as the smaller one, it has a lot of good poetry and short stories in it so the content in the bigger one is pretty good but the illustrations in the book really did not have anything to do with the writings.