The first impromptu item of importance that Ms.Donovan issued after we got to class was announce a new seating arrangement which upon seeing desks stacked in rows of two had made sense. Understandably not many students were happy with the new stationary chart and I couldnt say that I blamed them.
It wasnt about the socializing for me. I had a bad experience with partners and not much luck in getting along with them.
Three weeks. It had been three weeks since I came to Starkhouse and already there were a few people who had decided I was a pyromaniac that went nuts and lost it. I didnt bother to correct their opinions and passed those guys over not sparing a glance when they were around unless I had to.
For the most part I did about as well as expected with lesson plans and I learned that what the professors taught in Starkhouse wasn't all that much different from what they taught at my old school, if you didnt count the dissimilar classes Starkhouse offered like Agriculture and Wildlife
It didn't matter where I moved some people were naturally good at taking tests and doing homework while others, with a little effort, passed with flying colors. It just so happened that the person Ms. Donovan placed me with was neither of those.
And fortunately for myself that meant doing all the work solo. Not that I'm complaining because for all of Darcys annoying habbits I had to say, I liked his silence most of all.
Paying attention to Ms. Donovan wasnt difficult in spite of what I had going on. While I couldnt wait to talk to Chanel I welcomed the distraction and put all my efforts in this one assignment with so much confidence that there was no way I could do bad.
Though graduation was still months away student counselors were already disrupting class to pull their seniors out and discuss options. I already knew what was in course for me and so I had a speech in place for when my time came.
The people I ate lunch with were already writing their essays for their prefered campuses and even Josh was talking about taking a year off to go abroad to help with a couple of children foundations that his father donated to.
And although neither Mason or Wesley mentioned their plans I was sure there parents' wealth and status would impress the most prestigious allumnis throughout the world.
I hadnt devised a goal just that I knew that I wanted to be healthy in mind, body, and spirit.
As for how I went about cultivating the most wacky experiences, instead of mapping out some realistic poster board five year mark, because those never turned out how anyone expected, I was going to improvise.
I wasnt setting myself up for less than I deserved; my philosophy was to stay unprepared that way I was open to change and could play it by ear.
My eyes flickered from student to student and stop on Kira who at the moment was the poster child of pissed off and reeling. I could feel the resentment and unexpressed rage radiating from her petite body.
Kira pulled a morose face, her eyebrows knitted together as she sulked in repugnance from the last row in seat number three. It was so obvious by the way Kira acted that she was not happy that she had Tasha as a partner.
When I looked at Tasha I didnt get any strong vibes from her at all. In fact, she seemed to be doing her thing as always sitting up straight and smiling at everyone she talked to.
So maybe Tasha was polar opposite of Kira. So what? Just because they werent carbon-copys didnt mean they wouldnt hit it off.
I thought if Kira would stop regressing and maintain a positive attitude and mindset then she would realize that having Tashas brains wasnt such a bad thing. I concluded that if I could befriend someone like Kira then all Kira needed to do was give Tasha a fair chance. However, maybe being Kira that was just not possible.
I scan the aisle further up and find Wesley in the front row sitting beside Danika, the petite asian who had a fondness for spikes and screws.
All in all it seemed to me like they were hitting it off well. Them getting along didnt surprised me because Wesley had a likeable personality that allowed him to befriend anyone easily no matter what common friend connected them.
"You're doing the assignment, right?" Darcy asks me.
I turn my attention back to my own personal concern of the hour. "Yeah." it didnt sound so bad.
And after forty minutes of uninterrupted poem interpretation through careful word analysis I had come up with a cohesive explanation and had provided several comprehensive examples to support my findings just like Ms. Donovan had specifically asked for.
Hopefuly Ms. Donovan would look at it and agree with what I put.
Sometime after the first segment of class Ms. Donovan finally got up from her desk that was situated face first and opens group discussion like many we've had before.
Dressed in a black and white polka dotted outfit Ms. Donovan gave the classroom a once over. "What form of romanticism does Lowell use?" she asks out loud, sharpening her narrow gaze from one student to the next seemingly unsatisfied with each and every one.
When no one volunteers Ms. Donovan whips her head and focuses her attention to Wesley.
"Mr. Appletree please enchant us with your firm understanding of Lowell."
"Romance." Wesley sits up straight and strengthens his response. "Although, romanticism has very little to do with things popularly thought of as 'romantic'. In this poem nature is used as an important aspect of romanticism." Wesley further explains.
Ms. Donovan smiles encouragingly. Fresh plumwine lipstick and pink gums. "How does Lowell show his love for this woman?" she asks him.
"Lowell depicts his love for her through nature and symbols." Wesley starts. Many students would be intimidated by the breakneck speed. There was no diffcult question that Wesley could not answer with polightness and grace.
Wesley reads a section from the poem My Love. "In the begining of the poem Lowell desrcibes only one girl, he says this woman is 'beneath the silver eavining star, and yet her heart is ever near'."
"Here Lowell uses nature to inform the reader that he feels her though she is not near him. He also hopes the wind will blow her to him so that he can see her again." Wesley demonstrates.
Ms Donovan praises Wesley. "Good job Mr. Appletree." more smiling.
Ms Donovan walks in front of her desk gesturing around the room with her white tipped manicured hands. "Can someone else besides Mr.Appletree tell us what the poem My Love is about?"
Tasha was the first to raise her hand. Surprise surprise. "Its about a guy and his love for a girl who he compares to an angel."
Tasha smiles knowing she got it right.
"That's right." Ms. Donovan agrees, her tight curls bobbing up and down her black dress shirt.
"What is one passage in the poem that can verify Tasha's observation?"
Tasha raises her hand but Ms. Donovan overlooks the girl with a thing for pink and picks Kira to answer the question instead.
Kira sighs cheerlessly.
Her current attitude definately fit the puzzle of young delinquent. Though it said nothing about her smarts. I had to say even though Kira hated talking in class she knew more about this poem stuff than I did.
"'and patiently she folds her wings to tread the humble paths of earth'." she cites.
Kira looks up from her paper and right at Miss donovan and sighs anguishly.
"Basically, he says that she is to a goddess like to be on earth, but he is glad that she is comming soon to be his." Kira adduces.
"I'm curious, tell me, what is your personal opinion in regards to this poem?" Ms Donovan asks her, seeminlgy interested in what Kira had to say.
"Oh come on." Kira looks Ms. Donovan dead on. "You're serious."
"Its a bit overdone. sure, Lowells expression pertaining to nature to put his feeling into poems is the stuff of romance but we all know how romance plays itself out in real life. Even though a man treats a woman how she thinks she wants to be treated, she eventually runs into the arms of another." Kira asserts her fact given logic.
"Personally, I think it cute. Totally romantic. I would love it if my boyfriend wrote poems for me." Tasha interupts Kira.
Ms. Donovan sits on top of her desk legs crossed and motions her hands upward, the silver quare watch falling past her forearm. "This is great. Keep it going."
A professor of literature she always encouraged us to openly talk about the meaning behind poems.
Ms. Donovan approaches Wesley with a dazzling smile. "Since you started the discussion why dont you tell us how it makes you feel."
"I don't agree with Kira." Wesley argues extensively.
I look behind me when Kiras name came out of Wesleys mouth. Apart from the little I knew about the two I didnt know if Kira and Wesley liked each other as friends or were enemies.
I turn my focus back to the center of attention.
Wesley continues backing up his earlier statement. His ungelled bloned hair flopped to one side.
"This is a poem based on a man who knows that the love of his life is out there somewehre; all that she has to do is make herself known. Hes ready to be with her, but his angel has not yet shown her face." he says.
I never realized Wesley to be unafraid about touchy subjects like genuine non artificial feelings that didnt involve ps3 or watching a rival team loose a football game.
When it came to guys even I knew that was rare to find.
Except it being Wesley that said that stuff it was a typical conversation I could see myself overhear him have. All people expressed themselves differently and Wesley unlike Toby was a boy not scared to show how he felt about others.
Sooner than expected the bell rings interupting Wesley from giving his take on our current poem of the day.
Ms. Donovan gives one last speech while I gather my things.
"Thats it for today. Save your assignments and turn them in tomorrow first thing after the bell rings." she announces to all in a loud voice because students had begun to stand and pack up.
I re-arrange the paper with my careful interpretation in a folder and put everything I'd used away inside my backpack organizing it behind the standard paraphelnellia of notebooks and the rule ledger I got at orientation in case I forgot.
As I'm getting ready to leave I feel another person standing close by.
I look up and smile.
"Where are you going?"
"To the library." I declare slinging my backpack over my shoulder and pushing my chair under the desk I shared with Darcy.
Welsey looked at me with a weird face, teeth showing, nose scrunched up like he was congested.
"Next you'll tell me a book is better than having a boyfriend." He said in a low playful voice.
"Har har har. Its my free period and I have a lot of studying to do. Look, I'll see you later, okay?" I wave goodbye over my shoulder before he said anything else.
No comments:
Post a Comment