Billy Collins Reading!

Hey everybody, so I just wanted to finalize the travel arrangements for getting to Philly for the Billy Collins reading. We need two drivers (it's best if you are 18 because then we technically won't be breaking the law by having lots of people in your car). Please comment if you are willing to (and allowed to) drive and how many people you can fit in your car. Thanks everybody!

~Olivia

Poetry Month 2

I think it would be cool to read a poem over the loudspeaker maybe once every Friday during poetry month. We could have three people go down to the main office early that day, and alternate verses. This way each person can get a chance to read. We could do different time periods. The first can be from the old English time perod, then get more recent until we get to a current poem. This would be a fun way to raise our fellow classmates' awareness about poetry week. Please tell me what you think.-Alex H.

Poetry Month

Hey everyone! So I was thinking a little bit about planning an activity for April and I was thinking that perhaps we could "bring poetry to the masses" with a slightly larger scale Poetry Slam than just one at MHS. I realize that it's not very original, but I know people at the Moorestown Library (wow, that sounds sketchy), and I thought maybe a Poetry Slam there could be fun. It would be open to the whole community and could therefore reach more people. We could also do an event at the library for children, which I think could be quite successful. We could either do the readings ourselves, like a story hour, or allow children to read some poems they either enjoy or even wrote themselves, or a little of both. I went to a poetry workshop at the library some years ago, and it was really fun and well-attended. So tell me what you think!

~Olivia

Lydia

1. Lydia’s one mantra in like was to “grab the bull by the horns.” The more dangerous a situation was, the more likely Lydia would be in attendance, and in most cases, Lydia would be leading the pack. She never shied away from an opportunity to prove just how reckless and adventurous she could be. Many people believed that it was innately part of her nature, as if she were born a mini Indian Jones with a lasso-whip at the ready for an adventure. Truth be told though, Lydia had grown up nearly suffocating in the confining restrictions her parents placed upon her. Walking outside of the door without firmly holding her mother’s hand was strictly forbidden, even if she were only going into the backyard. She spent the first 18 years of her life feeling as if she were living in a fishbowl three sizes too small. Maybe her parent’s intentions had been good, after all, the world could be a scary and difficult place. However their fears were taken to an extreme, and left Lydia with the almost desperate urge to test life’s limits simply to prove to her parents that she wouldn’t die by walking outside unattended. The minute Lydia turned 18, she charged through life head first, seeking out scenarios that would allow her to push her limits, and allow her to say to her parents, “You told me not to do this, but I did and I am fine."

~Gretchen

Logan Rodgers

Logan is a 23 year old boy who just graduated from the local community college. He has always lived at home, which is located near the beach. While many of the guys he knows majored in things such as business and engineering, he majored in environmental science. Logan has a love for the beach. He spends all the time he can there, and doesn't ever see himself moving away from the beach. He spends all the time he can there, and doesn't ever see himself moving away from the beach. Living there has made him have a love for nature and appreciate everything it has to offer. He is not materialistic at all, and for this reason many people don't understand him. He is one of the only people he knows that doesn't even own an iPod. He doesn't have many friends, but he finds comfort in the fact that the beach is somewhere he can go alone and be perfectly okay with it.

-Sarah

Dan the Musician

Being a musician is something that no one will regret becoming. Dan is an excellent drummer and loves to just bang on his drum set whenever he has the opportunity to. For as long time he has tried to encourage his friends to help him create a small band so they could make music. He tells me all the time that everyone in the world should be a musician. He also says he feels bad for the people who aren't. He says they are missing out on a great experience. He takes being a musician very seriously. Many people consider being a musician his best quality.

Taylor

Martin Vienkot

An old man who walks with a stoop, he is one of the most pessinistically bitter people one might ever meet. He sits on his porch with his cane by his side with his brow furrowed, grumbling to himself. He doesn't like anyone. Not children (except his own grandchildren), not teenagers, not adults, not other elderly. He does, however, love his dog, Sampson. For years that dog has followed him around, and the two now sit on the porch together, old and worn, judging everyone. Martin likes to dislike people. Most talking he does is complaining. He hates those damn Democrats, then he hates those damn Republicans. He feels that everyone wants to scam him, and always takes it personally. Even the Girl Scouts don't come to sell cookies to him anymore. Years of life have taught him that dealing with others is a messy affair, and he has learned that he would rather just not do so. He often finds compromise undoable and those with whom he must work insufferable. To Martin, everyone else is a damn fool and he would rather not associate with them, thank-yo'-very-much. However, he'll still insult them from afar.

~Olivia

Character Description

The sports headlines in the newspaper never get published without haveing Braydon Michaelson's name in there somewhere. He is only a junior in high school and he is beginning to receive more college recruiting letter than anybody can imagine. He has to sort them into three different piles: baseball, basketball, and soccer. Ever snice he was a freshman and stepped out onto the fields for all three of those sports, the coaches knew a star was born. He had easily made teh varsity starting line-up and had no problem balancing that with school work. Being an only child he does not have to worry about spending time with his siblings. His mom dies when he was in fifth grade, so his dad takes care of him and supports his athletics. On the contrary, he has the perfect stereotypical life of a high school jock. He has the prettiest and most popular girlfriend, Tara, and many friends. His top school choices are Florida for baseball, Maryland for soccer, and Duke for basketball. The only problem is that he doesn't know what to choose.

Clark Richards

Clark Richards needs to get out more. Lanky, pale, dark haired, and taciturn, he goes throughout life doing the same thing day after day. Wake up, go to class, study, and make it early to his minimum wage job at Office Max. His philosophy on life is that people are too judgmental and rude to deserve his company. Instead, he spends the majority of his time with his dog, Kent, playing video games and watching old movies from the 60's. If he didn't have a stutter, or wasn't socially awkward, or maybe if he was just a bit better looking he would be able to muster up the courage for friends. In his mind, the world according to Clark was much better of a place. There, he didn't have to hide in his schoolwork or stay at home pretending he just didn't feel like going out. He could do anything, go anywhere and be anyone other than himself. Clark just needs one person, someone real, to break him out of his shell.
Missy

Character Outline

Hi, my name is Sharon, and I used to be a model in the 80's. I'm definately on the taller side for a woman and I'm really slim. Back In The 80's I used to live the fast life, I was always at parties and I was always the center of attention, everything I did revolved around some kind of fashion. When it comes to brains I can be fairly smart, but I don't have much common sense, not to mention that I'm some what oblivious. I was never afraid to try new things, and my friends always toldme I was a bit of a dare devil because of it.

Character Outline: Clark

Clark is what most people would consider...unpleasent. Don't let her model like looks fool you. Sure, the high school senior is absolutely breath taking standing at exactly six feet tall, but her personality kills it. She's runway model thin and her dirty blonde hair cascades in thick waves to her lower back . Her smooth tan skin, pink, plump, pouty lips and piercing icy blue eyes add to her allure. She has it all physically but her personality is lacking. Clark is far too blunt, she has no filter when she speaks and doesn't care who she hurts. Sarcasm is a way of life for the girl and she never stops with the witty comments. When it comes to talking about herself though, she has nothing to say. She may seem confident and cocky, but underneath the layers of anger and sarcasm, she's hurting more than anyone could ever know.

Emma Morton

Beatrice

Beatrice walked down her creaky wooden spiral stair case into her dark kitchen, wearing nothing but a stained robe and slippers, which had cat faces sewn onto them. It was 7 in the morning on January 3rd and it was freezing in her little humble abode. She threw a log into her brick fire place, and began to light some newspaper to help ignite the wood. With the same match she quickly rushed over to her stove, hoping the flame wouldn’t go out. Once the stove was lit she began to fill up her black tea pot, and placed it onto of the burner. The room was still dark, and very silent, except for the flickering light and sound that came from the fire place. Her black cat Henry was purring, staring up at her as he wove in between her legs. He was heavily anticipating his morning meal. She crept over to the pantry got out the cat food, and began to fill Henry’s bowl.
“Woo wooo”
Her tea kettle began to cry like a baby ready for its morning bottle. Beatrice poured herself a cup of hot water, and began plunging her tea bag up and down. The tea began to mix; looking like blood in the water after a shark had just attacked an innocent baby seal. No matter how many times she brushed her mousy brown hair straight, it would always curl right back up again. Her face was rather dull; it looked like a blank canvas begging to be splattered with color. Beatrice picked up her book, that appeared as if it just came out of World War II, grabbed her tea, sat down in front of the fire and began to escape from reality.

-Brigid-

Character - Naomi

I am Naomi. I am 17 years old. I live with my parents and am an only child. I am an animal activist and a vegetarian because animals are very important to me. My hobbies are protesting at laboratories that conduct animal experiments and sell fur, blogging on the PETA website, volunteering at animal shelters, cooking and creating new vegetarian dishes, and taking care of my pets. My favorite things are animals, blogging, petitioning, and cooking. I speak my mind and don’t bite my tongue. I am very kind, unless someone gives me a reason not to be. Then, I also tend to be very argumentative.

Character - Alex

Joel- He is very booksmart. He has a very dark sense of humor and is very witty. He gets angry a lot with a trouble keeping his temper under control. He comes from a good family that is well off. He is sick of living the good life. He wants to delve into something his parents would not approve of. He likes to be rebellious. He dresses in black and listens to metal. He’s a bit of a player, and a lot of girls find him irresistible. He then meets a girl who changes everything. He is high school and he has blonde hair and green eyes.

Welcome to the 2010 Creative Writing blog!

Welcome, MHS writers!

It's a great pleasure to greet you (electronically speaking), and a special pleasure to welcome you to your home on the web--your class blogsite. Ever since we first began using online bulletin boards as a way to converse about literature and writing (all the way back in the early '90's, and please don't feel the need to comment about how long ago that was, or how old you were then), it was always my intent to do the same in my classroom.

I have put this space together for the benefit of your creative and academic pursuit--to expand your ability to compose, discuss, and improve your writing. This space is essentially yours to post relevant--and presumably intelligent--work and related comments and questions. At the moment, that slate is completely open to your interpretation. You can use this space to talk about any writing-related topics and events), in addition to posting your own creative work.

Please note the following rules-of-usage:

1. ONLY students currently enrolled in MHS Creative Writing may post comments here. This is not a discussion board intended for the world.

2. anyone who posts must do so with their REAL first name. Any posts found to be made using names other than real (for example, posting using another student's name) will be dealt with according to school disciplinary policy.

3. all discussion will proceed in respectful, cooperative, constructive, and scholarly manner.

4. to ensure that #3 is obeyed, I will personally monitor all discussions on this blog. It's not that I don't trust teenagers to behave in responsible ways. . .oh, wait--yes, it is. I don't. Don't take it personally.

5. Do not expect me to comment on every posting, even if a question has been directly asked of me by one of you. I am much more interested to see whether your fellow writers are capable of suggesting viable answers and explanations. I reserve the right to comment when and if I deem it necessary. Frequently, I will allow a discussion thread to continue unabated, in order to use that thread in class at a later time.

6. From time to time, if the mood strikes me, I may make a comment or pose a question, or refer you to some additional reading I've discovered. Just because I've done that does not make you obligated to respond. . .at least, not yet.

7. Oh--and, yes, the blog will be a required element of your grade each marking period, so make it a part of your daily online ritual. Check it frequently, and post or comment consistently. The concept of "participation" is now no longer restricted to the classroom walls!

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I also reserve the right to change/adjust/modify/ invent as we go along. Because I can, that's why.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, enjoying your writing, and seeing you all in in class.

MR. LAZ