A Road Trip Like No Other...

   In John Green's "An Abundance of Katherines," Colin Singleton and his best friend Hassan are on the run. Not from the law, no. These two boys are on the run from their pasts. Throughout his whole life, Colin has been seen as a prodigy. But, seeing how he has just graduated high school and has done nothing especially outstanding with his life, those days are just about over. It is not intellect, however, that Colin is running from. Colin Singleton is running from his romantic past. Colin has dated 19 girls in his lifetime, all named Katherine. He has also been dumped by 19 girls in his lifetime, all by girls named Katherine. In a desperate attempt to escape this romantic rut of his, Collin grabs his best friend, Hassan, and heads off on a road trip to the middle of nowhere, also known as Gutshot, Tennessee, where he meets Lindsey. She has a boyfriend named Colin (TOC), and lives with her mother, Hollis. Can Colin finally escape his rut? Is it possible that everything he was looking for could be found in this tiny, Tennessee town? Pick it up and find out.

New Quarter, New Flusters...

Welcome Back!

A new quarter means new challenges, new experiences, and plenty of new ways to just have a blast! I don't know too much about Shakespere, but that's why I'm excited for this unit to come along! In the past years, we read many short stories at my old school. I'm very interested in seeing what kind of stories we get to read an annalyze throughout this quarter. Finally, there's Edgar Allen Poe. I actually know a lot about Poe, because I studied him and all of his works last year. I have found that though he has quite a disturbing past, and a knack for eerie writing, he is truly an inspiration to any writer who wishes to work well with words. I could spend hours looking over that man's works, and I hope that is something we get the chance to do, at least a little bit of. Overall, I cannot wait to see what we get into this quarter, so bring on the English!

Poe Websearch!

http://rgbjr.tripod.com/poepicts/page12.html

1. Edgar Alen Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. The great dark poet died on October 7, 1849.
(all found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allan_poe)


2. One childhood event that influenced Poe's life immensely was that he was orphaned quite young. Shortly after his father abandoned his family when he was a young boy, his mother passed away. 
(found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allan_poe_)


3. Five possibilities for Poe's cause of death are: 
         1. Heart Disease
         2. Alcohol Poisoning 
         3. Cholera
         4. Rabies
        5. Epilepsy
(All found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allan_poe)

6. Edgar Allan Poe was expelled from West Point Military Academy as a young man.
(Found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allan_poe)




7. Edgar Allan Poe married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, when she was just 13 years old.
(Found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_allan_poe)

8. I studied Poe's life last year in my Language Arts class, so while I am a bit disgusted at this young age and marriage in the family, I am well informed to know that many people at the time had done the same type of thing, and it wasn't a big deal. So, I think that helps me to feel a little less strange about the whole situation.

12. The photo at this URL: http://poestories.com/view.php?photo=42bf37bf0e01e is probably the Poe that I see the most when I envision him and his works of literature. It's probably one of the most famous "photos" of him, which would explain my thoughts. 

14. I signed the guest book under the name Megan G.
(http://poestories.com/guestbook.php)

17. The Poe toaster is a "mystery man" who pays homage to Poe's grave, every year at the anniversary of his birth. The identity of this person has never been revealed.
(prior knowledge)





Last year, around Halloween, my Language Arts teacher did the same unit on Poe and is poetry, so that we knew that our city had such a brilliant writer in its history. I don't know too much else about Edgar Allan Poe, but I do know that he was troubled, even in his brilliance, and he deserves to be honored. I love reading his works of art, even when it's a little late and easy to be spooked.