Extra Credit Post

Poetry has always been enigmatic to me. I can read or listen to poetry and appreciate its unique structure and rhythm, maybe even glimpse some meaning from it, but it has always been difficult for me to interpret the deeper message the author is trying to convey through their words. Because of this, I knew that attending a poetry reading and being able to write a 300 word response would be a challenge for me. I had never heard of the poet before but Graham’s poetry caught my interest because they were so different from most of the poetry that I have ever read. One line that really caught my attention was from the poem After Taxes. “We are more boring in the dark, less ugly.” I cannot remember the rest of the poem, but for me this line had some meaning.
In a very literal sense the poet is saying that life is more interesting because of the variety of people, places, animals, cultures, etc. In the dark it is easier to hide our imperfections, our differences. This would make life much less interesting because there would be no variety, no differences, no arguing, no controversy. This may be a very literal translation of the authors words, it may even be completely opposite of what Graham was trying to say to his audience, but that is the beauty of poetry. It can be interpreted in dozens of different ways, depending on the reader or listener. This means that even someone who is poetically challenged can get something out of reading a poem. Graham’s poetry was so unique, it was shocking and abrupt and that is what made it interesting to me. Many poems that I have read in the past a too wordy and focused on form that I become distracted by the rhyme scheme or having to lookup words that I do not understand. That what was wonderful about Graham’s modern poetry, it was short and to the point, but there were also many layers of meaning behind his words.

Post X

I recently read an article about an incident that took place at Bellevue East High School. Six students face suspension or expulsion for taping another student to a wall. All six students were charged with misdemeanors, three for disturbing the peace and three for disorderly conduct. This was most likely part of a stunt or prank that are common in high schools and colleges. Senior pranks are something that nearly everyone has heard of or been a part of during their high school years, but when does a prank go to far? This incident involving several students at Bellevue was a prank that went to far, but there have been far worse pranks that have ended in people being seriously injured or killed. The part that bothered me most when I read this article was that there were dozens of students witnessing their classmate being harassed and humiliated and instead of stopping this they took pictures of it. It is terrible that people are so unwilling to help someone who is in such a situation, instead they just go along with the crowd and laughed at the boy’s humiliation.
I know that I am naïve at times, having been sheltered in small private schools for most of my life, but I cannot imagine just watching while this happened, let alone taking pictures and video taping it. It is very sad that there were not enough people willing to stand up and stop this from happening. This complacency and unwillingness to stand up for anything is something that worries me about my generation. I know that there are many good people my age but I also know that there are many people who will do whatever is easiest for them and whatever is in their best interest no matter the consequences for others.