Author Archives: josephgervasi
Digital Project Ideas
The poem I chose is “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. I like the idea of taking risks and not conforming with everyone else. He concludes the poem by saying he took the road that was less traveled and it made all the difference. This idea makes me think of people like Steve Jobs and how he stated in a famous speech “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” It also made me think of a line stated by Wayne Gretzky. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Don’t be afraid of taking the road less traveled.
For my digital essay I have a few ideas I have to try to sort out. I believe I want to start off by showing a path of two roads. Somehow I’d like to show how most people are going one way but that is not necessarily the right way. I want to focus on being unique and the positives of it. Maybe show some clips of famous people who have standed out and have become successful because of it. Also, I might like to portay diversity stating how people from all different backgrounds have the ability to become whatever they want to me. A slide show of courageous people who have caused positivity in this world by standing up for their beliefs is somthing I’d like to focus on.
Another idea I had one the concept of not giving into peer pressure. Maybe showing people doing something wrong and trying to convince someone to join in and they refuse. Afterwards the wrongdoers all get in trouble while the other person is safe because he or she took the less traveled route. I have a few ideas I need to sort out but this poem I like very much because I strongly believe in taking the road less traveled.
I Can’t Take It
I understand “If I Told Him” is a very complex poem and relates to cubism.
I guess I am not able to understand it and all it does is irritate
me. When reading it to myself at first I just noticed my mind rambling on. I
felt like she was saying a tongue twister.It sounds completely idiotic but I was then thinking about all the tongue twisters I knew. “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shellsshe sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.” I just wanted to escape every part of Gertrude Stein.
When listening to her I noticed I became very angry. It sounded like a woman complaining about every little thing. Like my mother scolding me for
not picking up a little piece of dirt. It escalates from the dirt to not cleaning my room to not making my bed. How one little thing escalates to the one million other things I do wrong. She just did not stop speaking.
The last thing that I noticed I was doing while listening and doing the automatic
writing, was I was starting to write in that same annoying form. I was mocking her but it still made me angrier. I felt like she was nagging me and my writing was all about making her shut up. I know my whole opinion sounds really bad but I could not find
any deeper meaning. I was just so frustrated by what I was either reading or listening to my mind would not let me get anything useful out of it. I do know now that if I ever am a boxer before I go into the ring I will not listen to music to pump me up. I will play
this poem and I will get so angry I’d be more than ready to fight.
A Summer 2012 Trip
When I was three years old I first met my friend Bobby. Our parents met at a daycare function and we supposedly played all day together. We ended up going to the same school and had Pre-K together. After school we would go over each other’s houses and we were always together. We then played baseball, basketball, and soccer together. Both Bobby and I had similar families, backgrounds, and interests. I’ve been best friends with Bobby ever since, but he moved to Florida when we were only 8.
I never would have thought a friendship could last so long and still be so strong when you only see the person about twice a year. He usually visits during Christmas and then spends a month in the summer living with me. He is the only person I am able to live with for a period of time without getting sick of. I introduce him to people as my best friend but he’s more like a brother. He always talks about how much he loves New York and how he wishes his family never moved. He even talks about how the New York girls are better than the Florida girls. I know he would be there for me if I needed him and he knows I would be there for him too. We always talk about if we get good jobs out of college we’d both get an apartment together in Manhattan. Hopefully one day this can become a reality.
We decided to plan a vacation this summer. He always visits New York and I never visit him in Clearwater, Florida because it’s too boring. I will be 21 in April and he will be 21 in July, so we decided we’re going to go to Miami. Going to some of the most amazing beaches and clubs will be so much fun. We won’t have to worry about fake ids or any nonsense. I know this week will be a time I will never forget. I’d get to be with my best friend living it up. For now I will keep saving my money and when the summer comes along it should be sick!
School Note (response #5)
School note
The leaves are falling off the trees
The wind is blowing, the prefect autumn breeze
The sky is blue and the weather is so inviting
The thought of me going to school was frightening
No sun, no fresh air, and no play
I would not let school get in my way
I left early morning and headed to the park
I planned on staying here until dark
Just watching the animals and laying down
So relaxing I felt like a king without the crown
I never felt so alone within myself
Just me, my thoughts and no one else
This beautiful day led me towards my inner sanctuary
This escape for me was more than necessary
I was able to escape all of my stress
I even avoided that psychology test
I knew in a few days I would pay
Regarding my absence on that beautiful day
I must now do all the work that I missed
My parents found out and they were pissed
A school note came home about me cutting class
The only outside I would see was through the window’s glass
Can’t wait for October weekends!
On a usual weekend I will go out with my friends to our favorite bar. On the other night I work. At “our” bar we seem to always have a good time. The bar is enjoyable because I get to see my friends who go to different schools, while meeting new people. Unfortunately, the same thing every weekend gets boring and I am ready for a change of pace.
This weekend my first cousin is getting married and I am so happy for her. I am looking forward to seeing everyone in my family who I haven’t seen and for the first time being able to party with my family. My family knows how to have a good time and my cousin and I are pumped. Free drinks, free food, and music sounds like a good time to me.
The next weekend is my friend Rob’s birthday. He goes away to college at SUNY New Paltz. This college is about an hour and a half away from Staten Island but so worth the drive. He’s always trying to get me to come up but I usually work on either a Friday or Saturday night. Next weekend I am off of work and I have been talking with his roomate to make sure he will be around. I am going to suprise him on his birthday and I know we will have a great weekend. He will be very happy to see me and his fraternity and school are a great time. Also, I am really in the need of a little vacation, so it will be nice to be in a small town and have time to relax. He is one of my closest friends that I have not seen since August, so hanging out with him should be an enjoyable weekend.
Finally the last weekend in October should be the end of a great month. One of my favorite holidays of the year, Halloween. So many people go out on Halloween and you’re allowed to look like an idiot, slut, clown, or whoever you may want to be. On this weekend all of my friends already have a room in Atlantic City. We are staying in a cheap hotel but for $50 a night I cannot complain. There will be 6-8 of us guys and then a whole group of girls that we know are coming as well. So when it is time for us to go out we will be a large group and ready to go crazy.
Lately I have been doing a lot of school work and working a lot. I have saved my money and been doing what I have to do. Now it is time for the weekdays to pass quickly because I can’t wait for the weekend!
A Hungry Daydream
After school today I walked into my house right at dinner time. My mother was cooking chicken francaise and the smell of the lemon and butter smacked me in the face. I sat down at the table and ate with my family. The aroma of food, sitting with my family, and eating brought back great memories of my grandmother and the daydreaming began.
Freud spent a vast majority of his life interpreting dreams and how they are related to our desires. My daydream today brought upon my desire for all the food my grandmother always cooked and our memories in the kitchen. No matter what day or what time it was it always seeemed as if my grandmother was cooking. Whether she was making homemade pizza, or her famous lasagna. My grandmother would make different dishes and she would wait for my sister to come over so she could teach her. Needless to say my sister did not learn much but I ate like a king. I constantly got yelled at for eating the foods while they were cooking and somehow the fresh mozzarella always seemed to disappear. I saw this video called cooking with nonna and it reminded me of the kitchen at my grandmothers.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/KOxoqVVCPq4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Thinking back on the times with my grandmother made me very happy. There are many things an Italian grandmother seems to do such as being extremely family oriented or hitting you with an object such as a shoe.“A field Guide to an Italian Grandmother” was written on sparknotes.com and I found this funny but true. http://community.sparknotes.com/2011/06/23/a-field-guide-to-the-italian-grandmother It states many things your Italian grandmother does for fun. The warmth is what reminded me of my grandmother. The contributor on sparknotes stated “When you’re feeling down, their door is always open, beckoning you in with their soft hands.” This daydream stemming from the smell of food brought back the great memories I have had.
Book 7 Response
Book sevens’ allegory of the cave I found very interesting. Plato talks about how these people are chained in a cave only to look forward and see certain shapes. These shapes are the most real things to these people and it forces them to have a terrible imagination. This allegory was able to describe a relationship to knowledge in an extremely unique perspective that basically anyone should be able to relate too.
If you are a person who never goes out and does not go to school you will be unknowledgeable. This is similar to the prisoners’ in the cave, even though it is less extreme. Since the prisoner’s were unable to leave the cave this is all that they knew and this life made sense to them. Plato stated how if one man were able to escape the cave he would not know anything of the outside world because he has never seen or heard of it before. Therefore, he would not know the names or functions of anything and he would need to be taught.
The man who escaped the cave will not be able to understand the heavens and greater powers right away. First he will understand shadows and reflections. Later he will grow to understand objects such as trees, houses, etc. His knowledge will keep expanding until eventually he will have the ability to understand a vast amount about the world and what is in it. This allegory is Plato’s explanation of how knowledge and education occurs. Everyone can relate to this great example because in the beginning of our lives we did not know anything, we observed and were taught. Like the prisoner, we understood simple things in the beginning of our education and through time our knowledge grew to be more complex.
After having the opportunity to proceed as far out of the cave as possible and enhancing your education we should go back to teach others in the cave. This idea was interesting because just as Socrates was always a teacher because of his higher levels of education we should enrich those who are not as knowledgeable. This promotes being virtuous and helping others. This allegory inspires me because there is always opportunity to become more educated.