Week 4 prompt a

Firebird suite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erOEatu5aH8 weird video, great song it's also just the finale the whole thing is amazing.
Stravinsky's Firebird Suite is possibly my favorite piece of classical music. My great aunt says if they don't play this at the Resurrection she's not waking up, I tend to agree with her. This is one of the songs I'll admit to putting on repeat for several days. The first time I really listened to the song was when my school orchestra was performing the piece, I'd heard it before in Disney's Fantasia 2000. We only played the last two movements but they resonated with me so deeply that it felt like my music heart was freed from stone. The music usually only has one theme playing at a time but each one is hauntingly beautiful or menacing.
Despite being a ballet, sort of the pre-television version of MTV, there's so much depth to the music. The Firebird is based off a Russian folktale about a prince and a Firebird, go figure. The prince is enchanted by the Firebird's beauty and captures her. He releases her when he realizes she isn't happy and she in turn promises to help him in his hour of need. The prince later finds a magic castle where a magician who can turn people to stone holds thirteen princesses captive. The Firebird saves him and the rest of the captives by making the wizard and his minions dance until they pass out from exhaustion. The Firebird then frees all those turned to stone and returns them to the flesh. Personally I prefer Disney's portrayal.
The word I associate with the song is haunting. Each melody is rich and complex with the brass and woodwinds playing the theme and the strings setting the tone. This is one of the three songs that made me realize that I actually love listening to music. It made me love the complexities of music.
Time: 65 minutes words:321

Prompt A #2: "All the Wild Horses"- Ray LaMontagne

"All the wild horses/All the wild horses/Tethered with tears in their eyes/May no man's touch ever tame you/May no man's reigns ever chain you/And may no man's weight ever defrayed your soul/And as for the clouds/Just let them roll/Roll away/Roll away/As for the clouds/Just let them roll/Roll away/Roll away/"

I first heard Ray LaMontagne when I needed him. I had unnoticeably been searching and it wasn't until I found him that I realized. I could feel his music in my bones, feel it conjuring up humanity I'd lost or had been missing all along. It may be dramatic, over the top, but I had changed and I knew it. Not how. I can't quite understand why his songs move me, the complete reason I fall in love with them. Though it only took once. It was then I knew that I couldn't be the same since they had come into my life. I would not live the same way and maybe only I could tell the difference. Yet it still remained to me that I had been affected: given chance, given hope.

I cried for so long when I came upon this song, "All the Wild Horses." There wasn't really a reason why that I could grasp. I can't point out even now the emotions I feel when I listen to it. Musically, it is simplistic. There is no bridge, no chorus, no showiness of talent, no intent other than to communicate a motive. The melodic line has a very small range and the strum pattern is uncomplicated. The accompaniment is merely a vehicle for his message. Yet I get a vast, indescribable meaning just from the music, let alone the lyrics.

I don't believe LaMontagne wrote the song to be lauded. Rather, he wrote it as a proclamation. He wanted to proclaim that nothing should keep you from being free, from living the life you want. "May no man's touch ever tame you." To tame is "to subdue, subjugate, curb; to render gentle, tractable, or docile; to temper, soften, mellow; to render dull or uninteresting" To think that we are being rendered dull or uninteresting because of the expectations of others is a horrible thought. LaMontagne wants the listener to never change to satisfy another. He calls for a greater self-respect. To not let clouds, trials, or other people stop you from being the natural you. Of course anyone and everyone is likely to take something different from the words and have differing emotions while listening. I also believe that is he wanted. I love how the song plays to who I am and who I want to be. I want to be able to live freely and take comfort in what I am doing, always. I want the lyrics to be an anthem for me, remind me of my worth and duty to myself.

I love this song so much because though the tone at first may be morose, somber, melancholy; it is only so to prove his genuine humility. He wants for who he is singing to, to let go and be free, no matter what that does to himself. There is so much passion in his voice it is undeniable, but very subtle. He created a gorgeous song for the remembering of loving who you are and loving the world for being who they are. The song is worth remembering because it emotes the deserving of freedom for all mankind. Whether that be freedom of the body, freedom of the mind, freedom of the soul... All the world deserves to be individuals, whatever that entails to each their own.
Time: 60 minutes

Prompt A1: The inspirational show, The Office

The television show “The Office” has been a huge part of my life ever since the very first episode aired in 2005. After watching that first episode, I was hooked and I have been watching religiously since that fateful day. I have watched every episode of all six seasons (so far), and I have seen each one at least five times. The Office is not something I watch, it is an obsession. My life has changed since I have allowed this show to enter into it. Almost everything I say has something to do with the show, and I can replay full episodes in my mind. When I meet new people, I always ask them if they like The Office, if they do not, I know I will not get along with them.
My aunt and uncle were the first people to introduce me to The Office and I love them for it. If I did not have this phenomenon in my life there would be such a huge void. So much happiness in the past 4 years of my life has come from watching The Office, and I would hate to have lost those memories that I have built and cherish so deeply. I often find myself constantly quoting The Office. One of my favorite quotes is:
“I keep various weaponry strategically placed around the office. I saved Jim's life with a can of pepper spray I had velcrowed under my desk. People say, oh it's dangerous to keep weapons in the home, or the workplace. Well I say, it's better to be hurt by someone you know, accidentally, than by a stranger, on purpose.” –Dwight Shrute
The thing that I love most about The Office is that it really does not apply to life at all. It may be about everyday things, such as going to work in an office, but the events that happen during the show are so strange and unusual that no real life, functioning workplace compares to it. Most people want television shows to apply to their lives so they can relate to it, but I just want to watch something for a laugh and The Office more than does that for me. Each time I watch The Office, my soul brightens and I am a truly happier person.
When I think of The Office so many things pop into my head, but if I were to describe The Office in one word, I would use ‘inspirational.’ Now you are probably thinking, “What? She just said The Office does not apply to her life at all. How could The Office be inspirational??” The Office is inspirational because it brings a whole new meaning to life. Even though it is meant to be comical, it is also drama based and some of the quotes from The Office characters really make you consider life and inspire. The Office has inspired me to look at Life in the face and laugh at it. It has freed me.

Kara Lohberg
Exactly 500 words

Prompt A2: Leslie the Log

One of my favorite commercials aired on Channel One when I was in 7^th grade. I only saw it in homeroom and the commercial may have run two or three times but my friends and I talked about it, laughed about it, remembered it—which, to an advertiser, sit he only thing that matters.

The commercial shows a reasonably attractive, slim, tall, dark haired man around age 24. He goes to parties, out to dinner, to the beach—and everywhere he goes he carries a log. They dance on the beach to the background music: Oh I love my log and she loves me!

They share a drink at the party. He introduces the log to his parents, his arm draped around the wood: “Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Leslie.”

Next scene: the man and his log are at a restaurant eating spaghetti. The log falls onto the plate with a splatter of sauce. The man panics, “Leslie? Leslie!” As he looks around for help, the screen blacks out with the slogan “JerZ: At least part of you is comfortable.”

What does a log, or even a guy dating a log, have to do with shirts? Nothing much. If I remember right, the kid wore long sleeved polos with wide horizontal stripes, but I could be wrong (sounds more like Steve on “Blue’s Clues”). Nothing flashy but the ad worked because it distracted and engaged the audience with the humor of a bizarre situation. The hilarity acted as a cue to JerZ. What do frogs have to do with Budweiser beer? Or a gecko with Geico—really? Symbology.

The JerZ people succeeded in knowing their audience well: middle school people wear their clothes, and they would appreciate a log commercial. In fact, every time I think of middle school or JerZ I replay that commercial in my mind: everyone saw it at school; it was the one thing we could all chuckle about together. We all knew Leslie the Log although the commercial never used the phrase.

Using a name for an inanimate object and giving that name a potential identity through human relationships stuck out to us all. In the halls, snip-its of conversation sprinkled in the phrase, “Leslie? Leslie!” We all wanted to be comfortable and the idea of Leslie the Log allowed us to pretend that we were comfortable in our clothes, our lives, ourselves.

40 minutes

Prompt A: My obsession with beauty

I saw a commercial online that changed the way I am. Sadly, it was a cosmetics advertisement that left such an impact on the way I view myself and made an impression on my wallet. Sephora is a beauty supply store that sells cosmetics of all different companies. The slogan they used for the advertisement was “Beauty is a language.” I happened to see it online when I was taking a break from typing a research project. I feel that this slogan really defines society now days. There is such as strong emphasis on beauty and women looking a certain way. I was somehow vulnerable enough to believe that I also needed to speak this language of beauty and see what the store had to offer. I was addicted. I could not pass the store or even look at it online without buying something. Beauty is not only the way the products make one look but also the way in which the make-up is packaged. There are square boxes, round boxes, handled bags, cellophane wrapping, and form fitting plastic outfits that decorate each product. The product alone looks beautiful. The slogan “beauty is a language,” insinuates that beauty has replaced love as the universal language. It is something that everyone can understand and in order to feel connected to the world, to our society, and to those of the opposite sex beauty is the route to take. The ironic thing about this is that make-up is meant to enhance one’s natural beauty. However, today companies advertise in a way that makes one feel that conformity is the key. Beauty is clearly defined and you have to fit the list of standards to be beautiful. When everyone conforms to the standards of beauty laid out by a company then everyone looks the same with the same products. The conformity then takes away from the beauty. Beauty is uniqueness that makes others glance and admire you. I got so caught up in Sephora’s definition of language that I bought every product the clerks told me about, every item that was new on their online store, and every package that had some mystifying power that would raise me to that standard of beauty. Beauty is a language and the make-up is the means by which that language is communicated. Opening the lid to that powder foundation and letting the residue fall on the brush speaks to me and says, “feel this. This powder will erase every flaw. You will be beautiful. I am the tool by which you become accepted by everyone.” The twist of the charcoal black eyeliner says to me “Look at how high I can go. You too can rise up to the occasion. You will be on top.” My bag of make-up was my security blanket, my means by which I was able to enter the world. I am to this day still addicted Sephora. But I see Sephora as a means by which to get beauty products to enhance myself. I do not see Sephora as the epitome of beauty and the definition of what I want to become anymore. I have become the one in control and I decide what is beautiful. One-day sparkles on top of bright blue eyeliner seems beautiful to me. The make-up simply reflects the mood I am in and I will no longer let the make-up create me. However, if I do not succeed at BYU I have always dreamed of going to cosmetology school.

50 minutes

The Swing

Week 4 Prompt A.2

Some may think that Jean-Honore Fragonard was a pervert.  Perhaps he was.  Or was he just facetious?  I prefer to think the latter.  Fragonard was a Rococo painter in France in the 1700's.  Rococo was--for lack of a better word--frilly.  His most famous painting he called The Swing.  There is a girl on a swing and she is being pushed by an older man.  The other man in the picture is hiding in the bushes to catch a perfect glimpse up her skirt.  It is quite obvious that the whole thing was planned by the two young people.  A statue in the left side of the painting has a finger up to his lips in a "hush" position because he knows what's going on and is trying to keep it a secret.  

I like this picture purely because I find it amusing.  There are a lot of works of art that have very deep meanings, but all this painting takes is a second look to understand the whole story.  I think Fragonard 's biggest success in the painting is the way he painted the mischievous  looks on the faces of the younger people.  

The first time I saw this painting was in my AP Art History class my senior year of high school.  It is definitely worth remembering because it is just funny.  

Rococo.  Not many people have heard this word, and if they have they usually don't know what it is.  It was a French style that was over-the-top decorative and pertained mostly to decor.  It reminds me of when I went to Spain over the summer and toured the Royal Palace in Madrid.  The interior was absolutely beautiful.  The walls were lavishly decorated with designs made of wood and other things.  In some rooms the ceiling and the floors matched the walls so it was a bit disorienting for a second or two.  

The word Rococo also reminds me of my cousin's dog that was named Cocoa.  It was a wild dog.  I was afraid of her for so long but she was just one of those hyper animals that likes to hop all over people.  She was harmless.

1 hr. 10 min.  (I figured it was about time I stopped...half hour over the time limit and my brain still isn't functioning at a high level because of the cold so forgive the sloppiness.)   

Week 4 prompt B

One of my favorite words that I chose for this assignment was "possibly" I love that possibilities that the word "possibly" has. It is a word that was almost meant to be replaced. It yearns to be filled in with more information or a better response. I've mostly used this word as a response to a question. To be honest, they are usually smart-aleck in nature. I'll have a friend or peer that wants to know some tidbit of information ("Were you the one that back that note on my back?"), and I would respond with the dreaded one-worded answer: "possibly." I think its these situations that make me laugh a little and remember the humorous context in which I meant that response. Whenever I think about this word I am transported back to my old Computer-Aided Drafting class in my senior year of high school. It was here that I had CAD with several of my closest friends from all through high school. Being a bunch of guys and not classified with any particular social order, we naturally developed a very close friendship. It was here that we would back talk and josh each other as we completed assignments and critiqued each others projects and building techniques. One of my personal favorite responses to peeve off my peers was one of vague generality of which "possibly" obviously fits. So now every time I hear that word I always think of the metal shaving, fresh cut two-by-four, and CNC mill lubricant-scented air that characterized the CAD lab in which we worked leading up to the time of graduation, and consequently, our inevitable separation. Away from each other and away from the carefree good life of a unburdened high school youth. Dang. 62 minutes

My Hero

Napoleon, the man with the biggest short man’s complex I have ever hear about. A Corsican native who took over France and large parts of Europe. He took over after a revolution that created civil war through out his state. As a bold military ruler he marched France from it’s lowest point to one of its highest. When Napoleon was captured they forced him to and island and he managed to escape to storm France once more. Napoleon’s only problem was he was to short. When he probably couldn’t see the vast land of Russia when shown on the map. He needed something to stand on before he throughly decided that France should move to Russia. That or he saw it, saw it was huge and wanted it. Either way Russia was the fall of Napoleon but he wasn’t the only one to be taken by this state. Many other rulers tried and failed. In my mind this need for Russia did not make Napoleon any weaker than Alexander the great because Napoleon is my hero and I admire him.

My favorite painting hangs on the walls at the Louvre; David’s “The Crowning of Josephine.” David was able to capture a moment of history that I wish that I was able to attend. You see another cool fact about Napoleon is that he went against the grain, against all powers, like the catholic church, and crowned himself Emperor of France. This is the ultimate way of saying in your face tradition you will listen to me because I am the Emperor. 

I remember seeing this painting for the first time in European History my sophomore year. This is also where my love and admiration for Napoleon began. He was a non-conformist conquerer. He is the best thing to come out of French history right next to Albert Camus. David was able to capture one of the biggest events in human history and put it artistically. That to me is true art.

Emperor, when I think of this word the old man from Mulan pops into my head. He is wise, strong, resourceful, and brave. The Emperor leads his people and ensures that no harm will come to them. There is tradition behind this word. Things that have passed down from generation to generation. An Emperor is not called but is chosen to lead from a young age. The Emperor is a man of power who does not use his power to benefit himself but to lead and encourage those around him.  

45 minutes  

Prompt A 1.

My dad has always been my knight in shining armor. He has always been the person that I could go to for anything. I can’t count the number of nights he stayed up listening to me complain about dumb boys or silly girl drama. He always knows exactly what I need; advice, a laugh, dinner out, or just silence. He has taught me so much about being the best person I can be. I thought that I knew and understood him; I thought that I respected him as much as I possibly could. I was wrong. This summer while I was working we listened to the country station everyday, all day. One day Brad Paisley’s song “He didn’t have to be” came on, and as cheesy as it sounds, I learned more about my dad that day. This song talks about a man who loved Brad Paisley’s mother and became Brad’s father, even though he didn’t have to be. My dad was this type of man as well. He married my mom and became a father the same day. Growing up in an LDS family, with knowledge of the eternal family, I never gave much thought to this thought. Tyson is my brother, always has been and always will be. But he could have not been.
My dad had a choice to make; be cowardly, and run from my mom and brother, or be strong, and become a husband and father. He chose to be strong but that wasn’t what he was thinking. He wasn’t consciously thinking, “I will do this because this boy needs a father.” He was thinking that he loved them. Honestly, I don’t think my dad ever thought twice about becoming a father and husband at once. My favorite line in the song says, “And then all of a sudden...we went from something's missing, to a family.” This is the story of my family. Without any of us it wouldn’t be complete. We would be missing a part of our whole. This song means a lot to me because it brought into perspective the relationship between my dad and the rest of my family. He brings us all together. He took a big leap, that I’m sure wasn’t easy. But he did it with love and has never looked back. Not only was he the dad that “he didn’t have to be” in that sense. He has taken his role as a father to every extent possible. Never has he shied away from an opportunity to teach or a chance to show love. He is always thinking of ways to serve my siblings and me. There are a lot of men in the world today that aren’t even the dads they are supposed to be, let alone going the extra mile. I feel very fortunate to have a dad that goes the extra mile.
The whole message of this song is that Brad Paisley wants to be the type of father that his dad “didn’t have to be.” Although I will never be a father, I hope that I can be the type of person that my father is. A person who is always doing their best, looking to serve, and going the extra mile. This song opened my eyes even more to the amazing man that raised me even though “he didn’t have to be.”

Week 4 Prompt A2

The Legend of Zelda is one of my favorite pieces of music, art, storytelling, and cinema all rolled into one. It is successful because all the elements are balanced and executed so well that they create a very believable and immense world. It follows the quest method of story telling. The quests are intensely detailed but had a large over arching theme or central story that each detail was woven into and helped in their own way to support. 

The game treats the senses to a banquet of experiences. 

The visuals of the game are stunning. Huge landscapes are open for exploration and they are as varied as the landscapes of earth. The music was done by a real professional orchestra and written by Koji Kondo. This music, in my opinion,  stands up to some of the best classical music we have today. One of my favorite themes “Gerudo Valley” has rich cello and racing violin that I would compare to Bach’s Cello Suites. I credit this game for my love and open reception of classical music. I am listening to some of the music now and it evokes strong emotion and memories.

I first remember playing it when I was in seventh grade. One of my friends had a copy of the game and we sat down and played it. The first scene shows a young hero riding horse back across a wide grassy plain.  Something that appealed to me greatly then was the ability to escape into a warm green world in the dead of winter. There would be nothing to do outside because it would be negative twenty degrees. In Hyrule that was a different story. 

The next scene I remember involved battling a heavily armored enemy that struck me an beautiful and unique. The swordplay was fascinating and furious. It was like olympic fencing but the combatants are wearing shining armor and wielding bright swords. You can obviously see why this caught he attention of a thirteen year old boy.  

The game is character driven. One of my favorite characters is the villain Gannondorf. Gannondorf was a wonderful villain because his motivations are understandable. He wants a home land, but the land he wants is the hero’s and he purports to take it by force. Here is a great line of Gannondorf’s. He was a character that I love to hate. 

"My country lay within a vast desert. When the sun rose into the sky, a burning wind punished my lands, searing the world. And when the moon climbed into the dark of night, a frigid gale pierced our homes. No matter when it came, the wind carried the same thing... Death. But the winds that blew across the green fields of Hyrule brought something other than suffering and ruin. I coveted that wind, I suppose..."

 Zelda shaped me. Even today I look for little treasures everywhere. I wonder what secrets are hidden in plain sight. It helped me develop my sense of adventure and curiosity. It is worth remembering because it is a bridge to my youth.

500 Word Criteria 

Week 4 Prompt A:1

My favorite movie is V for Vendetta, based on the graphic novel of the same name. I have seen a lot of movies. It's sort of my thing. V for Vendetta sends them all packing in my top movie list. It stands above the rest of the movies I have seen for one simple reason. Plot. The plot in V is superb. It drew me in and didn't release me until the movie ended. I loved it so much that I watched it everyday for two weeks. Supplementing the story, James McTeigue gathered an array of high caliber actors such as Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, and Stephen Fry. These actors embody the characters that they were assigned to portray. I first saw this movie two years ago on the fifth of November (an important date in the movie.) After that, I was hooked. The dialogue was so compelling that I had no choice to watch it over and over and over again. When introducing the main character of V, his opening dialogue is this "But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. Voila! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
"The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V." Yes, you may think this is long, but Hugo Weaving's execution of this line is marvelous.

The word that comes to mind when thinking of this movie is "vendetta." McTeigue puts this word everywhere. The movie is filled with an actual vendetta, or as Oxford Dictionary defines "A family blood-feud,usually as a hereditary character. This word has a deep, rich history going back for centuries. There have actually been such extreme cases where entire villages were razed to the ground just to kill one girl. Vendettas usually occurred in societies where family units held power in the country, like Italy or Arab cultures. Vendetta is a ruthless word that doesn't give mercy to anyone who stands in its way. It is soaked in ageless blood and is always seeking more to quench its never ending thirst. It sees everyone outside of the "victims" family as fair prey.
47 minutes

Prompt A1: Then

Right now one of my favorite songs is "Then" by Brad Paisley. Even though it is written from a man's perspective, I can relate to the message of the song. The message is basically no matter how much I love you right now, my love for you will always grow, because I thought I loved you at a past moment in time, but that love doesn't compare to the love I have for you now. Of course the song is a lot more poetic. The chorus of the song is extremely meaningful:
"And now you're my whole life; now you're my whole world. I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl. Like a river meets the sea, stronger than it's ever been.We've come so far since that day, And I thought I loved you then."
It is such a powerful song to me and it helps me to try to explain the way I feel about my husband. I remember the first time I heard the song. It was on the radio right after Brad Paisley sang it on American Idol. I was driving to work, and I actually cried in my car (and yes, I am an emotional female, but that doesn't negate the point that the song is powerful). I thought about the way I feel about my husband. I thought I loved him when we got engaged, but that doesn't even compare to the the love I felt for him the day that we got married and the joy entwined in that day. Or the way I feel about him today while he is sitting on the couch reading and I am writing this. I feel more love for him than I could have ever imagined. Forget the love I thought I experienced in high school. This is the real deal. The song finishes this way:
"We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in, and I'll look at you and say,'and I thought I loved you then.'"
One of the most significant words in this song is love, and the basis of the song. Love is something that can't ever truly be defined. The love I feel for my husband is different than the love my friend feels for her husband. The love I will feel for my future children will be different from the love for I feel for him as well. How I feel about my family, or about my friends, or the kids I teach in the nursery, they are all different kinds of love that can't be described. Even my love for my husband is ever changing. As the song describes, someday I will look back at the way I felt about the amazing man that I married and love him more than I ever dreamed possible. It is something that has to be felt and experienced. What is true love? How can it possibly be described. Some say it is wanting the other person to be happy regardless of your happiness. That is a good definition, but I don't think it really encompasses all that love entails.
In the Oxford English Dictionary there are 4 definitions for love, 2 that define love as a noun and 2 that define love as a verb. Surely this a convincing factor in my claim that love is virtually undefinable. Especially because as I mentioned earlier, there are so many different kinds of love. I love my country, I love my job, I love my nieces and nephews, I love my house, I love shoes, I love water, the list goes on and on. How can I claim I love all of these things? They are all so different. Is it something I don't want to live without? That could definitely fit into the definition. Are they things I have a fondness for? Yes, that too. My point is, love is something that has to be felt to be understood even slightly, and only in the feeling do I truly know the definition.

45 minutes

Week 4 Prompts

A. 1. Think about a piece of music, art, a movie, television show, or commercial that shaped you (in terms of relationships, status, routine, or just one that you obsess about, seems to represent the larger culture, or your family in some way, etc.). Analyze it. Write down why it means so much to you, where and when you heard/saw it. Write the lyrics, quotes, title, etc. Choose a word that indicates its significance and essay on it further.
2.Or, what is one of your favorite pieces of music, art, advertisements, etc. Analyze it. Why is it your favorite? What did the creator do to make it succeed? When did you first see it? Why is it worth remembering? Choose an important word from the piece and essay on it further.

B. What is one of your favorite words? If you don’t have a favorite word, choose a word that is new and interesting to you. Analyze it. In what context(s) have you seen it used well? Why is this word striking? What does it remind you of? If the word had a smell, what would it be? Taste? Texture? Why? What experiences do you connect with this word?

C. Where did a specific punctuation mark come from? Do some research on a punctuation mark (Google and Wikipedia are fine for this assignment—also try some of the library website dictionaries and encyclopedias). What is it? Where did it come from? Has its use changed over time? How is it used today? Write 300 words on your findings then rewrite three of your short essay sentences using that punctuation mark correctly.

New Short Essay: Flash Captures

(Sorry, folks. My previous draft was fiction, so it had to be nixed. Hope you enjoy!)
I am terribly unphotogenic. Looking at myself in the mirror never scares me, but each picture I take elicits fear. Upon close inspection in the glassy echo, I seem pretty normal. Semi-proportional at the very least. But something happens between my causal reflection and the capturing of who I am on film. Picasso would have been inspired. Maybe even insulted. How did I whip that expression out in the time it takes the flash to register me candidly? In every depiction, I look unfortunately deformed. Each photo brings out a new ugly side of me. I peer horrified into the succession of images framed by the tiny L.C.D. screen. Monstrous masks obscuring my face in all representations. I don’t believe these are true self-portraits. They don’t embody my features at all; don’t correspond with the countenance I know. How could these horrid photographs symbolize the woman I have come to be? How could the visage in these snapshots stand in for me, when the visage I see has been shaped by my experiences, my years of changing expressions, my life?
My grandmother recently gave me a photo from when I was very young. It was taken just before my parents’ divorce and I must have been barely two years old. It’s rather poetic. My mother and father are on either side of me, all dressed up, looking into the camera. They are not so naturally posed and half-smiling. Forced together for the lens. Both hold me, arguing even in body language over their child. Between this, I am looking away. Something offstage interesting me more than the tangible contention. And I hold a cliche red and thorn-less rose in my tiny hands. It seems to measure the distant between Mom and Dad. The petals caressing the hollow of Mom’s collarbone and the tip centering on Dad’s chest. I seem so innocently entranced by whatever is outside the point of view. I have no idea what the future holds or what truth the camera reveals about my family. And I do not find myself hideous in any way. Just young. Unconcerned. I only now think that I am correctly characterized in the picture because of course, I have no way of knowing who I was then, and because I hadn’t had much character to be yet represented. I hadn’t been hurt or wrought by living yet.
This image has given me a new perception. More than exposing a time in my life that had been so vague and indistinct, it reveals why I found each recent photo of me so off-putting. No picture can personify me. A single still won’t show my entire lifetime. One image can only prove so much, can only render what is transferred by illumination so quick and sudden. It can’t speak of my journey to that point or why my features have set in such a way. It can only say in that moment in time, a fragment of me was summed up and depicted in this manner. So each example is not an embodiment of the whole me. But rather a distorted trait hanging out high and dry. Each flicker brings out what is inside. Sometimes it is ugly and frank, but all are real and a part of who I am. They are simply flash captures of me.