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Faith and Begora!  We have a great week planned ahead of us!

3/6/2014

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We've been reading about Robert Frost the past couple of days and Sylvia Plath before then! 

Thinking about it, you've been exposed to some of the best American Poets we've had this semester... Ginsberg, Kerouac, Plath, Sexton, Whitman, Ferlinghetti...who could be missing?  Who's left...  :)  Any guesses?  I'm going to bet you something.  If you guess right, I may be willing to award you with a prize!  Let's see if you can figure it out! 


In the meantime, we have the playlist for the week to get to:



Here's our Playlist for the week for those of you who like to ask for it!

James Blake - Retrograde
Mumford and Sons - Home
Joyzipper - One
The Cranberries - Zombie
Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping up to Boston
The Lads - If I should fall from the grace of God
The Cranberries - Dreams
U2 - I still haven't found what I'm looking for
U2 - Pride (In the Name of Love)
Niki and the Dove - Tomorrow
Walk the Moon - Anna Sun
Switchfoot - Dare you to move

Have a safe weekend!  I'll see you Monday!
-Mike
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Feeling Beat Poetry Yet?

1/23/2014

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We're definitely giraffing everyone crazy with our Beat Poetry Unit so far.  We could spend so much time on Jack Kerouac alone! 

I'm sure you are enjoying what we've been studying so far, and it's going to be hard to believe this, but the best is still YET TO COME!

But if you haven't had enough of Jack Kerouac, I strongly suggest you take a peek at our Extra Credit assignment for this week, as well as pick up a copy of "On the Road"
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"The
only
  people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad
  to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn
  or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman
  candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”

I can't wait for next week!  Here's our playlist from this week!  See you soon!

Ool-Ya-Koo - Dizzy Gillespie
A Night in Tunisia - Charlie Parker
On Green Dolphin Street - John Coltrane & Miles Davis
Some Day My Prince Will Come - Miles Davis
Caravan - Thelonious Monk
San Francisco Scene - Jack Kerouac
Lucien Midnight - Jack Kerouac
American Haikus - Jack Kerouac
Mami Gato - Medeski, Martin and Wood
Coconut Boogaloo - Medeski, Martin and Wood
The Edge - David Axelrod and David McCallum
I Know You Know - Esperanza Spalding
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OMG another 3 day weekend?

11/7/2013

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What a fantastic week we had!

We went from the happiest of moments and memories by telling people we were grateful for them...

...to the lowest lows of reading about heartbreaking tragedies like the loss of two poets during world war 1. 
By the way, don't forget that we need to turn in our finalizations this weekend and next week!
Take advantage of doing it here while you can!
Submit a Finalization Here!
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Okay, let's do this! 
Good luck with finaliztions!

There's some extra credit on our website for you too!  See you soon!

-Mike

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Have a Great 4 day weekend!

10/4/2013

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I hope you all have a wonderful time this weekend.  Please be safe!  Remember to look for "the reality beneath the reality" like Jimmy Baca says. 

By now you know Jimmy was an awesome poet, but did you know that he also wrote the movie "Blood in, Blood out" too?

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I know you had a great time listening to Jimmy's poems, so here are a few interviews with Jimmy Baca.

"Why do you write?"

"What advice could you give a future writer?"

If you feel like writing at this point, I don't blame you!  Grab a pen or pencil!  Let's see what happens! 

If you're looking for some extra credit, we have that too!  Just look to the tabs on the left.

I'm going to leave you with a "scary quote."  Have a safe four day weekend!  
 

Clive Barker's Quote!

See you when we get back!
 
-Mike

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What a NEAT week we had!!

8/30/2013

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First, a cool quote for you all...

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This week was an awesome introduction to poetry and what's to come around the bend in our class!

We learned about Simile, Metaphor, Personification and the philosophy of "First thought, Best Thought."  We even got to practice a little bit of the writing process (going back and changing things after we write them.)

I'm extremely proud and very humbled by the quality of writers we have in our class.  You're doing wonderfully.  How cool!

Next week we will be meeting an old friend of mine, understanding Hyperbole, listening to another awesome poem or two!  So exciting! 

In the meantime, here's a sweet slam poetry performance from a poet who is out on tour right now. 

EXTRA CREDIT ALERT!!

Poetry comes in all forms.  What makes something "Poetic?" in your eyes?  What does a peice of writing need to do in order to be considered Poetry?

Tell me what you think in the comments below!

Here's our Playlist for Week 4:
Foo Fighters - All my Life
Kate Nash - Mouthwash
Arcade Fire - My Body is a Cage
Snow Patrol - Hands Open
Metric - Help I'm Alive
Pearl Jam - Elderly Woman Behind the Counter
Brandon Flowers - Crossfire
Tonight Only - Where the Party At
R.I.O. - Shine On
Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life
Ben Harper - With My Own Two Hands
Aloe Blacc - Loving You is Killing Me
Interpol - Hands Away
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Here's to a great first week!

8/24/2013

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I can tell this is going to be an awesome year already...
We certainly hit the ground running, didn't we? 

What did we learn?

We learned a lot about baggage that people carry, what true friends are, the ethics of lying, being patient when things are moving slow and how we're all geniuses!

Next week we'll begin our creative writing process and I can tell you, it's going to be sweet! 

The first few weeks are always fun, because just like everyone has their own level of genius and their own kinds of smart, we all have our own style of poetry. 
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Think of it like a huge orchestra.  We have different types of writers, just like we have different types of musicians. 

Each person has their own way they sound and their own style of making music, but when we all get together as a group, we're making symphonies.  

I'm excited to hear your symphony next week!  And see what instruments you like to play.  In the meantime, have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

-Mike
Here's our Playlist for the Week:

Cream - Sunshine of your Love
Skip the Charades - Cold War Kids
Underneath the Sycamore - Death Cab for Cutie
The Golden Age - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Japan - Plastician
Paranoid Android - Weezer
Ghosts N Stuff - Deadmau5
1901 - Phoenix
We are all made of Stars - Moby
Who are you - The Who
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Do you know how awesome you are?

5/5/2013

 

That's the theme for this month!

Here's the cool thing.  Just some facts.  

There has never been another you.  You are a once-in-all of history event. 

"For thousands of years, your ancestors have been smart enough, fast enough, strong enough and courageous enough to survive several thousand years of famine, plague, predators and the worst natural disasters.  

Though you may think of yourself as "average" you are the latest in a long line of human success stories."  -"Five" by Dan Zadra

In fact, the odds of you existing are greatly stacked against you.  


You aren't one in a million.  


You aren't even one in 7 billion.  
(The estimated population of the planet right now.)  

Considering that every generation of humanity had to have two specific people meet each other AND have a child for the past 50,000 generations (give or take a few 1,000) the odds of you existing are close to a 1 with 900,000 zeros behind it to one ratio.  

You have better chances of flipping a coin 30,000 times and having it land on it's edge every time than you existing... but you do exist.  You really are special!

You are a "Person."  

Just like the "Tiger" can jump up to 20 feet, a "Person" can run for miles without stopping, swim for long periods of time, do a double backflip on a bike, write a book, play a musical instrument, speak more than one language, build skyscrapers, invent the internet and land on the moon.  

Take THAT "tigers."  

But the best part about being a "Person" is that you have a "Person-ality" and you can share it with the world through words.  

You get to step foot in our room everyday and listen as other "Persons" share their "personalities" with you.  

The BEST part of all this?  They want to hear yours!

All throughout our Creative Writing class, you have been learning not only how to write poetry in it's many different forms but how to be yourself in words.  

We've shared our work and our progress with each other every five weeks with an open mic event at our school.  

This Friday, May 10th 2013, we will celebrate our "Day of the Artist and Poet" with an "Open Mic" on our front lawn.  Other people will be there to hear you speak and hear what you have to say.  

I'm excited for you.  I'm proud of you.  This day is about you.

Enjoy it!

-Mike
P.S.  Here's the playlist for the week!  

Weezer - Put Me Back Together (Rich Costey Mix)
U2 - Beautiful Day
The Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Norwegian Recycling - Miracles
Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness
Bombay Bicycle Club - Lights Out, Words Gone
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
Meaghan Smith - Such Great Heights (Cover)
The Knocks Ft. Mandy Lee - Midnight City (M83 Cover)
The Joy Formidable - Whirring

Welcome back from Spring Break!

4/11/2013

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To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."
-Unknown
I hope you've had a fun time reading about Robert Frost!  He's a great poet to read when you need some of that alone time.  Here's a cool cartoon I found that I feel illustrates "the road not taken" very beautifully!  What do you think?
The Road Not Taken!
Alright!  On to the homework and extra credit!  Remember my homework assignment for this week?  I asked you to find some "alone time" away from friends, family and work. 
Find time to be quiet. 
If you haven't done so yet, it's not too late, but this next part won't be very easy to do:

Assignment:  What was Robert Frost's poetry about?  What does his poetry and your experience of being alone and quiet have in common?  Type your answers below in the blog comments!  You get MORE extra credit for complimenting someone else's comment in a SECOND comment! 
Finally, where would we be without the playlist for this week!  Here you are for your listening enjoyment!  

Switchfoot - Your Love is a Song
Group 1 Crew - The Difference
Gotye - Coming Back
Phosphorescent - Song for Zula
Passion Pit - Take a Walk
Mumford and Sons - I will Wait
Phillip Phillips - Home
THe Lumineers - Ho Hey
Bon Iver - Holocene (Edited)
Miracles of Modern Science - Eating Me Alive
Simon and Garfunkel - The only living boy in New York
Sia - Soon We'll be Found

Well, there you have it!  Have a very peaceful weekend!
-Mike
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Happy Saint Patricks Day!  Erin Go Bragh!

3/15/2013

1 Comment

 

Happy Saint Patricks Day!

"He who doesn’t move forward, goes backward”
                                                                       -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Well Happy Irish Day to you all!  I hope you have a wonderful Saint Patrick's day this weekend.  Enjoy some Corned Beef and Cabbage with some potatoes and wear green! 
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Saint Patrick's Day aside, I'm looking forward to a wonderful week of Open Mic and Finalizations!  Remember grades are due this upcoming week!  Make sure you get all of your finalizations turned in.  You can do it now by going to the "Finalizations" tab up at the top of this page!
Here's our Playlist for the week for those of you who like to ask for it!

James Blake - Retrograde
Mumford and Sons - Home
Joyzipper - One
The Cranberries - Zombie
Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping up to Boston
The Lads - If I should fall from the grace of God
The Cranberries - Dreams
U2 - I still haven't found what I'm looking for
U2 - Pride (In the Name of Love)
Niki and the Dove - Tomorrow
Walk the Moon - Anna Sun
Switchfoot - Dare you to move

Have a safe weekend!  I'll see you Monday!
-Mike
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We've got a Crazy, Awesome week ahead of us!

2/26/2013

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Aaaand I'm back. Wow. Have you ever wondered what you looked like on the inside? If your skull looks just like all the other skulls you've seen on TV or Movies? 

Well... I know for a fact that I look like this:
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Crazy huh?  That's my brain!!!

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

 This week, we'll be reading a bit of Anne Sexton's lighter poetry and finishing up our own little "fairy tale."  We'll also learn the sad ending of Anne's story and the crazy things that happen AFTER she's gone!  But before we get to that, here's an Anne Sexton quote for you:
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Neat, huh?  Short and simple.  To the point.  Awesome!

 Here's our playlist for the past week.  I know a lot of you have been asking me about it!

 Playlist for the week!

 Avicii - Levels (Radio Edit)
 The Pixies - Where is my Mind?
 Arcade Fire - We Used to Wait
 Radiohead - Creep (Radio Edit)
 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Soft Shock
 Arcade Fire - My Body is a Cage
 Weezer - You Might Think
 Everclear - Father of Mine
 Garbage - Stupid Girl
 Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
 Blur - Coffee and TV
 The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
 Foster the People - I would do anything for you
 
Have a great week!  See you soon!  

- Mike

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    About Mike

    Mike's been teaching at Bowman for a long time.  He likes pelicans and narwals.  He also likes surfing, writing, playing his guitar and teaching.

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