Essay #3 Personification

Cooper Feltes

English 9

Mr. Salsich

September 28, 2010

              (TS)Could you imagine a world where ordinary objects spring to life? (CM) Maybe a world where at any moment, your bed could stand up and have a conversation with you, or the walls of the room you sit in animate and start discussing their favorite music. (CM)The different possible personalities that could be displayed by every day places and objects are endless. (CS) This kind of world would indubitably be whacky, but would give a different perspective of things around us.

              (TS) My room that I sit in every day to do homework could be related to an energetic monkey, climbing all over my cabinets, running all over the floor, smashing everything I own, and creating an endless array of distracting sounds. (SD) My workspace is supposed to be a great place for me to stay concentrated and get my work done.(CM) This concept is combated when I look anywhere in my room, where years of LEGOs, models, pictures, and  useless trinkets have accumulated. (CM) With the “screaming monkey” distracting me from my work, it seems as though I can’t get anything done. (SD) Distraction is not the only thing the “monkey” is a professional at. (CM) Over the course of the busy day, I leave numerous tracks to mark where I have been. (CM) Whether it be clothes on the floor or dirt running into the house from outside, the darn animal just doesn’t seem to let me look away from the many messes I leave in my workspace. (SD) The things that I break, thought, make the biggest messes in my room.(CM) Occasionally I manage to destroy a few plant pots or knock a delicate picture frame on the floor.(CM) Whether it be dropping a glass full of milk on the carpet or accidentally running into my table and knocking over the lamp, the monkey loves finding ways to inconvenience me. (CS) The energetic monkey knows how to distract me in my workspace and loves to push my buttons.

              (TS) My comforter, the warmest and coziest blanket that I have ever slept under, can closely be associated with a dog. (SD) Dogs are “man’s best friend”, but every night, the friendly nature of the pet is surpassed by the soft touch and loving fabric of my comforter. (CM) My blanket, just like a dog, is ready for me to spend time with it.(CM) Whether I had an awful day or the best day of my life, my comforter is prepared to enhance my day by giving me a great night’s sleep. (SD) On the other side of the spectrum, my cozy comforter can be extremely annoying, like an endless orchestra of barking dogs. (CM) When the great sleeping weather of winter starts to fade, to warm temperatures don’t bode well for my blankets. (CM) I often lay awake at night waiting for sleep to come and set me free from the endless “barking noise” of heat. (SD) The high temperatures are not the sole cause of my discomfort. (CM) I toss and turn at night, the extent of which could easily annoy a dog, causing him to leave the room and sleep somewhere else. (CM) With my feet kicking, the comforter can fall completely off the bed, leaving me cold and shivering, wondering where the “dog” had gone off to.(CS) Both a dog and my blanket can comfort me, annoy me, and be annoyed, but whatever happens, they will always be at my side, ready to ease my mind.

         

Essay #2 secrets

Cooper Feltes

English 9

Mr. Salsich

September 22, 2010

Mysteries and Secrets:

An Essay Describing the Secrets Inside Every Person

                (TS) Inside of every person are hundreds of mysteries and secrets. (CM) A person’s secrets are part of the essence of what defines them as a human being. (CM) If a person had absolutely no secrets, the world and every human living in it would have the opportunity to dissect them, or even rip them apart.(CS) Secrets and mysteries keep the world interesting.

(TS) In the book Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, in the third chapter, writes about the secrets that “every human creature” holds within themselves. (SD) He explains that many people are like a “book”, which “shut[s] with a spring, for ever and ever, when [he] had read but a page.” (CM) I interpret that Dickens means that when people probe into the lives of another person, that person’s “book”—the personal journal that holds in it their real personality, their wishes, and their secrets(appositive)—snaps closed.(CM) The “mystery”, Dickens says, is the only thing we “shall carry [to] life’s end.” (SD) Dickens also states,“my friend…my neighbor…my love, the darling of my soul, [are] dead.”(CM) He mentions this in such a grave tone because, I believe, the character, or Dickens himself, didn’t know these people as well as he could have before they passed away. (CM) Their “book” might have closed before he could “read [the] pages”, or he might not have taken enough time to probe their personality before he lost the chance. (CS) Dickens believes that everyone has secrets, and there is no way that this cannot be true.

(TS)When Dickens speaks of mystery in a person, I think of a person wearing a pair of sunglasses. (SD) While the eyes hide behind the dark tint of the sunglasses, people on the outside may struggle to see facial expressions that display the emotions of the wearer. (CM) Moreover, the mysteries that reside in the “eyes” of a person are shielded by a barrier that bars people from seeing within. (CM) The “sunglasses” are the wall that blocks people from seeing the other side, unless the wearer decides to tear that wall down. (SD) Many people make the decision to remove their “sunglasses” every once and a while to expose their feelings and mysteries to the outside world that has been darkened by the tint of the lens.(CM) Exposing their “eyes” to the earth may, in fact, brighten up their lives.(CM) If this is not the path that they would like to take, they have the option to remain in their cocoon of secrets.(SD) On a humid, hot, and bright day, however, It is extremely hard to take off your sunglasses. (CM) in a particular social “climate” It is sometimes best to remain a mystery.(CM)  For example, when meeting new people, it would be particularly astonishing to pour your secrets out in conversation.(CS) Keeping your “sunglasses” on can be the best option at certain times, but taking off the barriers that barricade your mystery in can reveal to you a brighter world.

(TS) Every person that has lived a meaningful life on this earth has had at least one secret; at least one pair of “eyes” that are hidden from the outside world.(CM) The people that live in this “outside world” look upon your “book” of secrets and mysteries in hope of a sneak peek into who you really are. (CM) Whether or not you allow them to preview your book is a decision that determines how well you let people know you. (CS) Your mysteries and secrets define you as a “human creature” and what keep the world wondering who you really are.

Essay #1 summer's end

Cooper Feltes

English 9

Mr. Salsich

September 14, 2010

Summer's End:

My Thoughts on the Start of School

                 (TS) There are many different ways to feel about beginning the new school year. (CM) Having a positive attitude is probably the best way to cope with the coming months of homework, tests, and studying.(CM) Keeping a negative mindset, however, is easier and can hold a student in a rut of anguish and dismay.(CS) However you deal with the event, going back to school is unavoidable, and leaves many students wondering whether to love it, or to hate it.

                 (TS)There are many ways to make going back to school and ending summer seem like a horrible occasion.(SD) Listening to “Swallowed in the sea” by Coldplay keeps me from enjoying  going back to school.(CM) The song mentions placing people “on a shelf”, putting people “on a line, and [hanging people] out to dry.” (CM)These kinds of things are exactly what I feel when the summer comes to an end and the school year approaches. (SD)Watching the movie Heavyweights reminds me of going back to school.(CM) At a summer camp, the fun and playful owners retire to let a new and crazy owner take away the fun, making the kids throw away their candy, forcing them to exercise way too much(long sentence). (CM)This is the kind of transition that most children go through when their summer comes to an end.(CS) Looking on the bright side is one of the only ways to cope with the coming school year.

                  (TS) There are some things that make me feel a little less blue about coming back to school.(SD) In the same song that has many negative metaphors, "Swallowed in the sea", we can see some positive ones as well.(CM) Singer Chris Martin says "you cut me down to size and opened up my eyes."(CM) Without the loose structure, extreme challenges, and harsh rules of the school day(parallelism), we would never remember that there are people and assignments that can "cut [us] down to size" and whip us into shape after a summer of relaxation.(SD) Heavyweights has some interesting and positive metaphors that remind me of going back to school.(CM) In the middle of camp activities, now under direction of the punishing new owner who forbids candy on the premises, the boys would sneak out and grab some treats that they hid in a hollow tree stump.(CM) Something to look forward kept the boys in pleasant spirits throughout the summer, and at the start of school and throughout the school year, the thought of relaxing on the weekends  keeps me in a cheerful mood.(CS) The start of school whips us into shape and shows us that there is always something to look forward to, no matter how stressful the times may seem.


                  (TS) Whether you loathe or rejoice the start of school, the thought of tests, studying, and schedules are unavoidable.(CM) If you have the ability to keep a positive mindset, you can block those images with thoughts of seeing your friends and having fun with them.(CM) If this is too hard a task, you are left in a pool of negative emotions that consume your mind.(CS) Both good and evil thoughts enshroud the brain of a scholar returning to school from a relaxing summer, yet how that scholar perceives them is a decision that must be made.


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Self-Assessment


One weak point I see in this writing is definitely the clarity of the sentences, especially the sentences at the end of the opening and closing paragraph. I definitely took advantage of antithesis in many of my sentences to enhance the writing. I have a lot of trouble clearly writing our my ideas and thoughts without making them jumbles up and confusing. 
Self-Grade= A-

Freestyle writing #1

Cooper Feltes
English 8
Mr. Salsich
September 9, 2010

Freestyle Writing

I am a BIG person. Sometimes it comes in handy, like when I’m dealing with someone who is making trouble, yet sometimes it can be more troublesome than enjoyable. Whenever I go to a party, or any social event for that fact, the only thing anyone has ever said to me when they meet me is “there is no way you are fourteen” or “oh my goodness Cooper you are very tall!” or “have you grown a foot over the summer?”; No of course I have not grown a foot over the summer, what kind of question is that! People just can’t seem to see anything interesting about me other than my height. When people ask me how tall I am, I say to myself, “did you really just ask me that?”. I hear it so many times every week from numerous different people.  I mean, I’ve been the tallest kid in my class since 3^rd grade, but it was fun to me back then, and now it’s just a burden. Like this summer I worked for a camp for little kids (namely 3-12 year olds) and I swear, until I told the other counselors my age, they treated me like I was nineteen. Countless times have I been approached in different stores just browsing around and people ask me where they can find different things, like I worked at the stores. I don’t like being tall sometimes, but then I think to myself, it’s better to be very tall than very short.