"I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
-- Dr. Carl Sagan
Papers on Education
Creative Writing That Does Not Conform
This is my paper I wrote for my CI 295 class freshmen year at Penn State Greater Allegheny for Prof. Jeanne Amlund.
Preview:
"Creativity. The one thing that everyone has but is afraid to use it or doesn't how to use. Sure, some people are more creative than others and are given a quality to their name as "creative," but I believe..."
Outline: A Cure for the Common Writer's Block
This is my paper and video I wrote and made for my ENGL 15 class freshmen year at Penn State Greater Allegheny for Prof. Mildred Mickle.
Preview:
"Writer’s block is a problem found anywhere there is a pencil, paper and a mind. It happens when a person has to write in any type of medium and he or she does not know where to begin, how to write it, and when to end. In schools..."
W #2: Understanding
This is my paper I wrote for my CI 412W class senior year at Penn State University for Prof. Larry Napoleon.
Preview:
"Perception. The dictionary sums up the definition into one word being “understanding,” but being a student of English, I feel that perception means more than that. With this being said, I agree and disagree with how Inchausi looks at perception. First off, I feel that perception is not a “basic activity.” Having taught..."
Reading Self Study: Understanding Poetry
This is my paper I wrote for my LLED 412 class senior year at Penn State University for Prof. Anne Whitney.
Preview:
"Before reading poetry, I always keep this thought in mind: To truly enjoy poetry, you should never know the exact meaning because then you can never truly grasp the craftsmanship, the creativity, and most importantly, the connection to the poem. What I’m trying to say is..."
Papers on Literature
The Power of Voice in Achilles
This is my paper I wrote for my CMLIT 408 class junior year at Penn State University for Prof. Cheney.
Preview:
"To most readers of the Iliad, the only characteristics mentioned more frequently than none when it comes to Achilles is his strength,power, and devastation on the battle field. However, there is another power of Achilles that goes “unspoken,”..."
Sandburg, The Peoples Poet
This is my paper I wrote for my ENGL 437 class junior year at Penn State University for Prof. Clarissa Turner Smith.
Preview:
"According to Joseph Epstein, “to find an American poet who received public adulation worthy of the king of heroism described by Carlyle,” shown in the quote above, “one must go as far back as 1878” (47). Written in 1992, twenty five years after Sandburg’s death, Epstein states that “perhaps no poet – or literary man generally – was more gaudily praised in his lifetime than Carl Sandburg” (47). But with all this praise Sandburg received, his recognition was not justified and appreciated until the publication of..."
Macbeth and Faustus: The Comparison Between Two Lost Souls
This is my paper I wrote for my ENGL 444 class junior year at Penn State University for Prof. Nicole Jacobs.
Preview:
"By comparing the respective characters of Macbeth and Faustus, their behaviors, key passages, and supporting casts, one might argue that Macbeth was influenced by Faustus’s play of need and power, but the truth remains that both of these works have many comparisons that readers of both classic works might find hard to ignore..."
Poetry Reflections
Amiri Baraka
This is my paper I wrote for my Poet in America class junior year at Penn State University for Prof. Virginia Ann Smith.
Preview:
"Amiri Baraka, aka Leroy Jones, is the type of writer that writes whatever is on his mind and does not care what others may think. If it sounds good to him and relates to him, it makes sense. To me, this is obviously controversial yet..."
Walt Whitman
This is my paper I wrote for my ENG 205 class sophomore year at CACC for my online term project final.
Preview:
This essay contains a bunch of my reviews/comments on many of Whitman articles by Whitman scholars such as Michael Collier, Michael Cox, Heather Morton, Robert Sickels, and Edward Whitley.
American Literature to 1865
This is my paper I wrote for my ENG 205 class sophomore year at CACC for my online final exam.
Preview:
"Transcentalism was a period during American literature and history that really brought out the best of American writers and their views of self accomplishment and self fulfillment. Some key writers that were really highlighted in this period were.."
Creative Writing
Chicago Poems
This is a short story I wrote about the writing of Chicago Poems for my ENGL 437 class junior year at Penn State University for Prof. Clarissa Turner Smith.
Preview:
“The snowflakes look so beautiful out there in the dark, don’t they Lillian?” Carl Sandburg asked his wife during his break after writing for four hours straight in his trusty pocket notebook. “There is something about how you can see them in the night sky which reminds me of us…”
Estacion De Tren
This is a poem I wrote for my ENGL 50 class sophomore year at Penn State Greater Allegheny for Prof. Clifford Manlove.
Preview:
"The station was quite plain against the grain,
Sitting in the middle of two rails of manmade wonder..."
Photo:
"Railroads" taken by baresteen located on Flickr.com; uploaded on 24 Jan. 2007.
Poetry.
This is a poem I wrote for my ENGL 50 class sophomore year at Penn State Greater Allegheny for Prof. Clifford Manlove.
Preview:
"Poetry..."
Photo:
"Central Park" taken by myself junior year of high school, 2003.