ANIMOTO ALL ACROSS AFRICA

http://animoto.com/play/jwJMZl44xgJx1q00vygreg

This animoto is all about Salva Dut and his magnificent journey to bring water to all of Sudan. Look into the deeper messages portrayed by the crude representation of cinema. Go donate 10 bucks or something, that'll serve a village in sudan for months. Yay Charity!!!!

http://www.waterforsouthsudan.org/

YO DAWG I HEARD YOU LIKE MOSAICS

This is a word mosaic, which has been created for your viewing pleasure through a glorious website known as  wordchef.com. Every single word within the mosaic is relative to the tragic events that take place within A Long Walk To Water. Notice the presence of words such as: Uncle, Dinka, Tribe, Need, Drought, etc. Very beautiful, no?

A Long Walk to Water, It's excersise, essentially.

 Hello my friends, and welcome, welcome to blogging it up round 3. The greatest thing about round 3 is that it comes after rounds 1 and 2, respectively. The other great factor is that it comes right before number 4, which is the end. This semester has been started off rather well, with a reading of the first 48 pages or so of "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park. The story is a time-traveler, as it alternates between two different stories of africans in alternative time periods.
     The first, is Nya, who lives in the oh-so-prosperous time period of 2008. the other is the life of a young sudanese boy named Salva, Salva Dut. Throughout the tale I could not help but notice the similarities between the life and actions of Salva, and those of a holocaust victim. The long walk to water is an African genocide, really. The group Salva joins up with after his school is shot up by extremists goes for days without food, and walks almost 19 hours a day. This is an eerie similarity to the death marches that took place in the holocaust.
     Within the first 48 pages Salva loses his one friend that he has actually met on the journey, to, you guessed it, a lion attack. In the dead of night, Marial had been swept away by a mysterious cat of the desert. Much like Roy being drug off the stage by his beloved tiger back in the day. The book carries a lot of realism with it, seeing how it is based off of a true story. It's not actually a bad read, much better than that pirate ninja business I've been reading about on the ning.
I've been asked to describe this book in one word: Thebestbookyouwilleverreadthattakesplaceapproximatelywherethelionkinghappenswhichmakesitawesome.

Salva Dut, In all his glory, Drinking Water, at long last

LANGSTON HUGHES, DEEP ROOTS IN MAH LIFE

Dear Langston Hughes,

                Sir, I do realize that it has been long since you have passed, but that has not stopped me from writing this letter to you. Recently this semester in my search for magic through literature I stumbled upon a copy of your collection of poetry, The Dream Keeper. This book, along with being the shortest read on the list, actually taught me some valuable lessons.

                Earlier on in my life, I regarded poetry as arts for the women. Men usually stuck to something much more masculine, like ceramics, or basket weaving, or lumberjacking. These poems were not only artsy and entertaining, but I found that many of them related to my very own life, almost exactly on point with experiences of my own. The poem Baby, “Albert!/Hey, Albert!/ Don’t you play in dat road./You see dem trucks/A goin’ by/ One run ovah you/ An’ you die./Albert, don’t you play in dat road” (Hughes 47). When I was but a boy, I used to love riding my bicycle. Riding my bicycle as a child was the most exhilarating and empowering activity out there. Typically it was all good in the hood, so to speak, when I went on a ride. My parents weren’t worried; for they knew I wouldn’t venture far, and would always use the proper protection. One day, however, I didn’t equip my protective equipment, and all went astray. I was speeding around the corner of the block, cruising by a neighbor’s driveway, when all of a sudden a pair of taillights lit up on a nearby truck, and they headed directly for me. There was no hope whatsoever for avoiding the dastardly mobile, as it approached with much ferocity in its eyes. The driver of the F-150 was lacking as far as paying attention went, and slammed his truck right into my little bicycle. The impact was devastating, and completely ruined my fine specimen of cycling, along with my face at the time. The driver dismounted the beast and hobbled over to me, asking if I was alright, I told him I was fine, and carried my broken bicycle, and bones, home to my parents.

                My parents weren’t upset that I had almost been killed, they were just glad I was okay. They realized that I had directly contradicted the rules of going on a bike ride by myself, and that was venturing about without my proper protective gear. Looking back, perhaps if I had listened to my parents, much like in the poem Baby, I might have been saved a lot of pain and grief over the loss of my favorite bike of all time, and much of my childish facial tissue. In the poem entitled Youth you said, “We have tomorrow/Bright before us/Like a flame” (Hughes 65). My grandfather once had a similar saying, “What day is it today sonny? The best day of the rest of your life, that’s what!” Perhaps my grandfather had a poet in him, who knows. Anywho, my journey of self remembrance would not have been possible without The Dream Keeper.

                                                                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                                                            Michael Wilkison

Sparknotes: SPARKING ALL THE GOOD GRADES

    Recently in our English class we read The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I know for a fact, that quite a few people in the class, myself included, never opened the book outside of class. All because of Sparknotes. The idea behind sparknotes is that a classical novel that many modern day teenagers would consider boring is completely summarized online. 99% of all english teachers despise sparknotes and similar websites, but to the students, sparknotes is like some nice hot cocoa on a cold winters day. Teachers say that students are selling themselves short of the full experience by reading the sparknotes on a book. I would say that students are still learning all of the main points of the book, they just don't need to worry about racking their brains to produce theories that are already out there. Reducing the repetitiveness in the world is truly a great thing. No one will ever build a house out of cheese, with a cheese couch, and a cheese bed, that's too much cheese. Books are the same way.
     There will always be that one student who wants to stick to the proverbial old testament of learning, and read the novel, so that the teacher will have someone to bounce the same schpeell that they use every year on and off of. All of the other students will pass, and understand all of the going-ons of the story, adequate to pass the class easily enough. Really it all boils down to whether someone wants to use more effort to produce a similar result. If i could build a log cabin in 12 hours, but the wind could blow through in 1 spot, opposed to a cabin build in 2 weeks that was perfectly sealed, i would definitely choose the previous cabin. The decision to use such a site as sparknotes is usually very obvious, especially with A Tale Of Two Cities. That book is the bane of all sophomore english students. I don't know how i could have gotten through that unit without the aid of sparknotes, and for that, I salute you, sparknotes.

Langston's Luscious Link-up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes
There's a link to the wikipedia on Langston. Believe it or not, Wikipedia can be thorough on certain topics. Historical poets is one of them.
http://nymag.com/realestate/articles/neighborhoods/harlem.htm
Here's a link to a real estate article of sorts. Particularly in the Harlem area. Which just so happens to be a prominent area for African Americans in Langston's time.
http://eotm.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/20_harlem-globetrotters-reno.jpg
Poets and great writers are not the only thing to emerge from the depths of Harlem, however. Errybody know dem globetrotters!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bRHmu7q_eY&feature=fvst
A short video here. A montage in tribute to Langston Hughes. Pretty nifty I thought.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1stL9N/www.poemhunter.com/poem/life-is-fine/
Gonna be using stumbleupon from here on out to find Langston-Related sites. First up was a simple list of some poems with some critiques and whatnot.
http://www.fashion-era.com/1950s/index.htm
Here's a site briefly detailing the fashion at a period in Langston's life. The 50s. Who doesn't love the 50s?
http://www.hisdates.com/years/1902-historical-events.html
Langston was born in 1902, here's a short list of some events of minor importance that occured in the year of his birth.
http://cc.pbsstatic.com/l/64/3964/9780590623964.jpg
Simply a picture link of the cover of the book. I wish i could assumed if you're here then you already know what that looks like...
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1UuZPH/beinecke.library.yale.edu/langstonhughes/web.html
This is actually a pretty neat site, after a brief introduction it leads into a massive poet observatory where you can browse any poet you wish.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1c0BDU/www.dramainnature.com/quote_by_langston_hughes_.htm
This particular link leads to a site with a picture that vaguely relates to a quote by Langston Hughes, where there's one, there are many!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1koIKK/www.afropoets.net/langstonhughes.html
Another brief biography, I realize you tire of them, but this one has even more poems to peruse on the caboose of the page! And a sweet Rocawear add for all you thugs out there.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2ulBSL/www.learner.org/catalog/extras/vvspot/Hughes.html
This one looks quite promising, not only is it more information on Langston, but it also has a video! For those of you who don't enjoy reading.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2hEPR8/www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253DcMPQDnWrg18
Here's a standalone poem of Langston's, read by some strange guy. Even better for those who don't like reading, and enjoy the poetry.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9c0DNA/www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253DoZXgrxRXBts
Molly Beneke recites some Langston Hughes for the world. Ignore her mediocre video quality and try to focus on the poetry.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/20zK3s/www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253D75TeymlfZv0
Doesn't Mos Def have something to do with hipsters and whatnot? Well apparently is also has something to do with Langston Hughes! Who woulda thunk.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1kKap9/www.youtube.com/watch%253Fv%253DKyqwvC5s4n8
I think that within this spectacle of a video we get to see the man himself, Langston Hughes, performing some dance of the era, how exciting!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/181Juf/www.loc.gov/exhibits/blackburn/milieu.html
Hey look! A site for a nice little creative space within Harlem, go unleash your inner Langston guys!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2RsKeU/www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/harlem/harlem.html
Here's a site with some background information on the Harlem Renaissance, much better than the original Renaissance in my opinion. Who wants a diseased flaming cow flung at them?
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2oLbid/memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/vanvechten/
A site dedicated to pictures of famous people, there's some woman writer on there. That means langston must be near!

Collaberation Con Richard Ketter

Me and Richard are reading the same work of literature, and drew a picture representing the poem "Dressed Up"