Sonny’s Blue’s is about a man who struggled in life like all do, he used drugs which led him down a path that had broken his bond with his family leaving a hole in their hearts for him. Sony would have to show he had changed especially to his brother who had the closest bond with him, the fact is sonny’s brother lost all trust of his brother feeling like he let him down . Sonny found music to be his saving grace, he tried to tell how sorry he was by playing amazing music earning his brother praise and remark saying “this is Sonny’s world.”

Shmoop Editorial Team. “Sonny’s Blues Genre.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008. Accessed April 22, 2019

In this article it tells you what genre classification “Sonny’s Blues” giving great detail why it is classified as a Literary Fiction by explanation through the story’s characterization as well as events that took place. The article explains what Literary Fiction is and points out that it is the characters themselves that drive the story of “Sonny’s Blues.” The article even explains the tone and explains why Baldwin actually had sympathy for Sonny’s life story. All in all this is a good article to read over and should be given a chance when researching about Sonny’s Blues.

Holliman, Chloe, and Chloe Holliman. “Surviving and Suffering:” Medium, World Literature, 1 Dec. 2015. Accessed April 24, 2019

The next article I chose is one wrote by Chloe Hollimon. Her article provided a lot of information about Sonny’s life and Baldwin’s like how “Sonny’s Blues” was originally published as a partisan review and then later on published as a series of short story’s called “Going to Meet the Man.” This article has a lot of information on the lives of Sonny and his brother seeming almost like it follows them through their good and bad times.

Leeming, David Adams. James Baldwin: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1994. Accessed April 22, 2019
In this article it focus on James Baldwin, I thought this one was a good one because it answers my question who is James Baldwin?. James Baldwin beyond his work “Sonny’s Blues” was an outspoken leader for African American lives during the 1960s giving him international recognition. This article touches on his early life, achievements, and his final years making it a pretty good source of information or to answer questions we might have about Baldwin. It also provides a few more sources at the bottom page if you need more information about him.

The poem “A word is dead” is about finding the meaning of a dead word and how it comes to life, but everyone has their way of interpreting this poem. It’s strange hearing her say in her poem a word is dead, how does a word die, I bet this is confusing to a lot of people and is why I love this poem so much; it makes me think. I think Emily’s poem is about finding a way to express yourself with your words and I will be trying to figure out the meaning of a dead word and explain that she means words are alive when articulating them like in her poem. To understand what she is trying to teach us about a dead word, and its rebirth we must first find the meaning of a dead word how does it truly die, what does she want us to understand. When we are thinking about what to say there is a lot of thinking and emotions going on in our heads, like the word Love if we use this word as an example, then this word has many meanings it can stir emotions in ourselves, but when it’s spoken, it dies. Here is an example you say you love someone, it’s up to them to interpret what love is, meaning the word dies because the word could hold no meaning when said to the individual or maybe the one saying it doesn’t know how to make it hold meaning. The word loses all its value that’s the meaning of the poem; words lose value just by speaking them and not holding meaning. Emily says “Begins to live That day” I’m pretty sure I know what she means, and it must be related to her work. What I’m about to say may be a stretch, but I think “A word is dead” is one of her first ever poems she wrote. Something happened in Emily’s life; maybe Emily spoke words to a loved one only to find the words spoken not holding any meaning. Therefore, I think Emily decided to write down the words she wanted to say. You must understand a word is genuinely alive when articulated. There are many possibilities when thinking and writing down your words. Emily is trying to teach us, that we should write our words down and be creative with them or even find a way to express ourselves any way we can. I understand why Emily after death was recognized for her work because when you read her poem a “A word is dead” Emily’s words are full of life making them enjoyable to read.

Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. “A word is dead.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings and
Handbook. 4th Ed., by Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly Goggin, and Francine
Weinberg, 2016, p. 847.

T

he poem “A word is dead” is hard to explain. The poem to me seemed like it was her dealing with some hard ship that happened to her during her time, but everyone has their own way of interpreting this poem. It’s strange hearing her say in her poem a word is dead, how does a word die, I bet this is confusing to a lot of people and is why I love this poem so much; it makes me think.
I think this poem is about words dying because they have no meaning and can only truly be alive by being articulated.
To understand what she is trying to teach us about a dead word, and its rebirth we must first find the meaning of a dead word how does it truly die, what does she want us to understand. When we are thinking about what to say there is a lot of thinking and emotions going on in our heads, like the word Love if we use this word as an example then this word has many meanings it can stir emotions in ourselves, but when it is spoken it dies. Here is an example you say you love someone, it’s up to them to interpret what love is, meaning the word dies. It loses all its value that’s the meaning of the poem words loose value just by speaking them. Emily says “Begins to live That day” I’m pretty sure I know what she means, and it must be related to her work. What I’m about to say may be a stretch but I think “A word is dead” is one of her first ever poems she wrote. Something happened in Emily’s life maybe she spoke words to a loved one only to find the words die before ever reaching them. Therefore, I think Emily decided to write down the words she wanted to say. You must understand a word is truly alive when it is articulated it can live forever you can bring words to life when you articulate them, there are many possibilities when thinking and writing down your words. Emily is trying to teach us, that we should write are words down and just be creative with them. I understand why Emily after death was recognized for her work, because when you read her poems her words are full of life making them enjoyable to read.

Adam Piore explains how the lottery is basically a waste of time and money. He goes to great lengths to prove that that is so by providing statistics and different sources in his writing. Adam describes different lottery games and explains how they are supposed to increase the odds of winning but end up becoming harder to win. There is a 1 in 175 million chance of winning in the lottery and it gets harder and harder every year with more and more players every year in hopes of making it big.
Adam Piore does an excellent job convincing me that the lottery is a bad thing, start to realize just how much time and money is wasted for that small chance at an easy life. Piore may sound negative in his writing towards the lottery, but at the end of his article he states that there was a “1oo million-dollar jackpot” and even he couldn’t stop the thought of what he “would do with that money” from seeping into his mind. The fact that even Piore allowed that thought get in his head shows how much of a hold the lottery can have on people. I agree the lottery is a waste of money I understand wanting money for an easy life, but everyone should work to make their lives easier not blow money for a 1 in a million chance at making it big. I like how Piore made it clear how much time and money was wasted while playing. Even if the game gave out more prizes it was only to get you to feel like winners. They know how to keep you coming back for more.

The Lottery is a Waste of Time

Adam Piore explains how the lottery is basically a waste of time and money. He goes to great lengths to prove that that is so by providing statistics and different sources in his writing. Adam describes different lottery games and explains how they are supposed to increase the odds of winning but end up becoming harder to win. There is a 1 in 175 million chance of winning in the lottery and it gets harder and harder every year with more and more players every year in hopes of making it big.

Adam Piore does an excellent job convincing me that the lottery is a bad thing, start to realize just how much time and money is wasted for that small chance at an easy life. Piore may sound negative in his writing towards the lottery, but at the end of his article he states that there was a “1oo million-dollar jackpot” and even he couldn’t stop the thought of what he “would do with that money” from seeping into his mind. The fact that even Piore allowed that thought get in his head shows how much of a hold the lottery can have on people. I agree the lottery is a waste of money I understand wanting money for an easy life, but everyone should work to make their lives easier not blow money for a 1 in a million chance at making it big. I like how Piore made it clear how much time and money was wasted while playing. Even if the game gave out more prizes it was only to get you to feel like winners. They know how to keep you coming back for more.

My name is Anthony Gibbs there are many things I can talk about that I enjoy, but the one thing I’m most proud of and enjoy the most is being a soldier of the U.S. Army. I can recall my days in basic training on arrival we had to go through the torture process called reception it was the worse thing ever. You went through tons of medical and paper work you had to sign off on. We had to wait an entire week that felt like time was standing still. We eventually got to are new unit Charlie 31st were we experienced the legendary shark attack. These sharks were called drill SGT’s they had the most vicious attitudes that would make you question what have you got yourself in to. We had big green bags on are backs and in front of us full of stuff we were allowed to have. We pulled up in front of the building when the drill SGT’s rushed the bus screaming at us to get off, I never been so scared in my life, I don’t think any of us was prepared even though we had met people at recep about it and another thing Expericing that rush of fear personally. It was more frightening than the story’s told to us, they had us surrounded making us run as fast as we could carrying those heavy bags to the area they wanted us at. After we had got there I was assigned to 1st platoon Sidewinders, the first two weeks at fort Leonard Wood was terrible, the weather was awful and the heat made people pass out or have nose bleeds I was one of those nose bleed people. Everyone wanted to quit and many did. We had started with 300 recruits and by graduation we had only 140 that graduated through training. I don’t want to scare people in never joining, basic training teaches you how to be brave and have respect for others if you thought you were the biggest baddest guy where you came from think again those drill SGT’s will show you otherwise those first two weeks they broke us and then reshaped us into what they wanted us to be, honorable 12 bravos a mos proud and strong even though there is few in are field.

I love running it has been my favorite thing to do since I watched my very first Olympic games, I loved it so much I decided to run every day to get better, but not only better, but also a way to clear my mind. I’m an individual who overthinks everything and always has something on my mind, So running in a way has become a way for me to calm down and get my thoughts in order. In Highschool, I was a state runner in the distance events, I found I was so good at it I made states in my first year running the distance events in my senior year. These days I run to keep my mind from overfilling with thoughts I’ve collected over time, and to keep my PT scores high for the military. I encourage everyone to find something they love that helps them deal with their troubles.

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Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton