Response to the First Weekly Report of Journal

It was really excited to listen the first weekly report. It was a good chance for me, a junior staff, to know the progress made on other sections, which feed my curiosity. And I appreciated that every section was on tract, and our journal began to take shape. Though the name of our journal, Lying Cotton, is not my first choice, I believe I would gradually come to love it as the work progresses. 

   What’s more, it is kind of wonder that we created the Lying Cotton, just like sowing a seed. What we will do is to spread fertilizer to make it grows healthily. And someday, it will burgeon and harvest. I cannot wait to see the marvelous cotton (fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art submissions) grown on our journal. I would be proud of myself that I was one of the hard workers on the cotton field then.

Response to “A Blind Woman” after the Class on 10.27

"A Blind Woman" by Ted Kooser: The Poetry Foundation

I am always surprised to find some marvelous ideas on the class discussing, and again this time. The idea about “power” and the transfer of power is really smart. It is known that blind people cannot feel the light. However, at the beginning of the poem, the light is compared to liquid, which makes the light can be felt by the blind woman. Actually, it is us, the normal person, that makes the transition. That is, it is “the world” that is looking at the blind woman. Nevertheless, the transition happens after the circus wagon showing up. The blind woman tries to stride forward. At the moment, she becomes the observer, but not “the world.” And here is a question, “how does the blind woman transition from being the subject to being the observer?” I think it thanks to her courage to walk the footsteps to walk to front. She gains the power as soon as she strides forward. Here, the blind woman and “the world” switch the role, and the blind woman takes the power back.

  Besides, "the metaphor of the circus wagon to explain the blind woman’s relationship with the world” is also a quite smart point. I never thought those disabled people are being stared at just like the animals in the cage on the circus wagon. I think it is awful. We should not regard them like that. They are  people like us. They need power, too. And I appreciate that Ted Kooser does not "feel sorry for them or romanticize them."

Response to “A Blind Woman"

"A Blind Woman" by Ted Kooser: The Poetry Foundation

     The light in the poem is compared to a rain. The light shining on the woman from her forehead to breasts like a rain wets her face and sweatshirt. It is a marvelous symbols and tropes. From the first three stanzas, we seem to see a woman who closes her eyes stands or walks under the sunshine facing up into light. 

     The fourth stanzas focus on the woman’s shoes. The light spots on her shoes is compared to mud spots that circus wagon wheels splashed. Later, the woman chases the wagon with pushing her cane. It is seen that she is a blind. She chases the wagon means she is pursuing light, because the wagon can bring her light. She uses cane to poke and prod to perceive bars. When she passes through these bars, she is on the way of pursuing bright. 

     The last line is significant. The blind woman pursues bright "while the world cowered back in a corner.” The world is totally black for a blind. Therefore, the black world is behind the woman while she walks forward to the bright, which looks like “the world cowered back in a corner.” Destiny traps the blind people in the black, forcing them to look forward to forever bright. It’s quite sad. Ted Kooser may feel sympathy for the blind woman but also admire their positive attitude towards life. Me, too.

Response to “White Paper”

"White Paper" by Hanyu Chen
I created the idea from a song lyric “tearing out the page,” which comes out the ending is back to the beginning. It hints that what the hero does on the page is no longer meaningful to him. The song leaves the question open as to what causes the transition from the meaningful to the meaningless. In my poem “White Paper,” a story is created but hidden, as well as the transition is given. It is seen that he is a military officer and he is writing a letter. However, we do not know who is the receiver. His writing is disrupted at “Love, Your… .” Maybe he is writing to his old parents; maybe he is writing to his beautiful wife; or maybe he is writing to his lovely kids. Here it remains a space for audience to associate. But we all know that it is the one or ones that he loves. The young soldier’s report is the turning point in the poem. We can guess that the apostrophe in the line “… houses were bombed, and no one survived” indicates the bomb site. As soon as the officer hears the report, he tears out the letter, which suggests that the one/ ones he loves right live(s) at the bomb site and is/are died in the accident. It leads to the meaningless of the letter. It is also a harsh transition from happiness to sadness.

Writing Assignment 2_White Paper

Write a poem that involve (either as subject, theme or inspiration)

• beginnings=endings
• transitions

White Paper

He sits at a desk where there is 

a stack of white paper.

The green beret and the old rifle lie aside

watching the dancing pen 

in fascination. 

Coffee is refilled 

with a night over/ the dawning coming,  

leaving voluminous black yearning 

by lines.

He smiles, being going to write the last word….

A young soldier bursts in,

“Report, sir!” “… houses were bombed, and no one survived!”

The line stops as “Love, Your…”

Silently,

he tears off the piece of paper. 

Publishing Position

Publishing Innovation: Magazine staff roles and responsibilities in a nutshell

The Lying Cotton Review -- Positions. Google. Doc.

Design staff (8-11 positions)

• Manages and executes actual design ideas
• Responsible to acquiring, designing and managing journal website and online submissions
• May includes some programing

I would like to be a design staff. Though I am a person who wants to try a bit of every aspect, I like design best among all those aspects. I have loved design since I was a little girl, and I feel like I am going to living my dream in this journal project.
  I have a good taste of art. I will combine and balance functional aspects and aesthetic considerations. My blog design is a good proof. Furthermore, I notice that I this position (Design staff) needs 8 to 11 people. I am always a good partner and will have a good time cooperating with other staffs. The Lying Cotton Review will be a journal that is internally and externally beautiful.

Response to "10 Minutes"

"10 Minutes" by Ahmed Imamović
The main narrative is that an Asian man is touristing in Rome, Italy and he wants his photos developed. The Asian man waits for his developed photo about 10 minutes. The frame narrative is that the boy, Memo is asked to bring some water and bread, but when he comes back in 10 minutes, his parents are killed in blasts. Comparing and contrasting the two narratives, it is seen that both of them last 10 minutes, and they happens accurately simultaneously. However, the 10 minutes for the Asian tourist is so short. He even is surprised to the new technology which satisfy him get photos washed only in 10 minutes. On the contrary, the 10 minutes is a long story for Memo. During Memo’s trip to get food, he meet lots of his friends including neighbors, snipers, citizens and so on. Everybody at that time suffers a difficult life. Some of them even get injured because of the war. By contrast, the Asian tourist has a happy life. It is seen from his photos that he has a wonderful and happy tour with his family. Everybody in the photo has a big smile. Life is different for different people. It isn’t fake. Life is just so cruel. 

Response to Luna's Ekphrasis Poem

"Alcohol" by Luna and corresponding photo

It is a simple photo features a drunk young man on Oktoberfest. However, Luna’s poem has given the man a thoughtful story. The man’s "life dips into the alcohol, fuzzy and dazed.” Here, drinking seems to the man’s life style, and drunkenness seems to his living normality. He may be frustrated at career, relationship, health or something else. There is a huge gap between his expectations and the realities. He chooses to “stops the moment with a cups of alcohol.” The alcohol reflects his current life situation. It applies an usual way that juxtaposes the tangible with the intangible to create such a story. 

   I like the verbal phrase “chase after” in the sentence “He chases after jollification one  ruins himself.” The young man chases after happiness but what leaves him is endless daze. Such tangible happiness bases on intangible sadness. What he innerly really want to chase after is that intangible joy— of success (in life) rather than the crazy festival. 

Response to Paul's Ekphrasis Poem

Paul's Ekphrasis poem with the photo
This one could be regarded as a good ekphrasis poem. I was surprised to find a larger story towards such a simple photo through Paul’s poem. It is obvious that there are two parts of the poem. The first part simply depicts a man who are walking a bear. Readers cannot figure out what its deep meaning then, until Paul mentions ship and hero in the last part. Actually, I did not like his way to shift from the walking man to the ship until I know the hidden story. It seems that the man is a hero who ever steers the ship struggling in the ocean. But now, the ship is too old to continue sailing, and the man becomes a homeless person. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see that the homeless man finds a homeless bear. The bear saved the man emotionally. They walk along with each other with hope and keep moving forward. Therefore, a homeless person may not be an useless but a hero. It’s really a meaningful story which tells us to move forward, always forward no matter how difficult the life is.

Response to "Beginning"

"Beginning" by James Wright
The poem “Beginning” depicts what the narrater sees in wheat field on a peaceful moonlit night. In the poem, the moonlight is transformed into a metaphor for moon’s feathers, which is vivid and beautiful. Besides, the moon and the wheat are anthropomorphic, which creates a peaceful but dynamic picture. It seems that readers can feel "the moon’s young are trying their wings,” the moonlight is falling like hundreds of bright feathers, and the wheat is inclining forward to hear the sound of the falling feathers. What’s more, the slender woman who “lifts up the lovely shadow of her face," “steps into the air” and “is gone wholly into the air” just like a angel. It’s a process from darkness to light. On contrast, the narrater and the wheat still lean back toward their darkness. They are not as brave as the woman to break through the darkness and welcome the light. The moonlight stands for the light sudden breaks through the darkness. 

   However, what confuses me is its title “Beginning.” What is the beginning? Is the darkness or the sudden moonlight? The narrater and the wheat “lean back” toward the darkness in the end, so for them, the darkness is the beginning. For the woman, however, the moonlight is the beginning— which forward the light.