Bliss English Club

Meeting Recap of “攻敵必救Miss Sloane ” by Archer on July 22, 2017

Date: July 22, 2017

Host: Archer

Participants: Archer, Uncle Ting Lee, Allen, Stanley, Steven, Carmelo Lin, Ellen Huang, Annie,

Meeting Photo:https://photos.app.goo.gl/fVTZROCxGtNXCsqB3

Carmelo, New Member’s link:https://photos.app.goo.gl/VHixW8d0Vo0h60fx1

Meeting started:

As informative as expected, Archer offered us the full archive on politics:

Roman Republic:

Before Rome was an empire, it was a republic with a long history of “democratic” rule, for people fought for their own good, not for the ruler, gradually forming a mixed constitution, the constituent of which are two consuls, embodying the monarchic form; the Senate, embodying the aristocratic form; and the people through the assemblies

USA Democracy: Constitutionally limited democratic republic.

The USA is a democracy and a republic: a republic because USA Laws are made by representatives of the people, forming a Congress, rather than by direct popular choice; and a democracy in that those representatives are chosen in elections contested by multiple political parties that vie to represent the preferences of the median voter, the reason of which lobbying systems evolved.

The Bill of Rights; the First Ten Amendments

 It is amended to the United States Constitution which deals with constitutional matters and sets out certain basic civil rights. Over these 200 years, the amendment to the early issues continued to be addressed and resolved today: as played in “Miss Sloan” for “Gun control” H-H Bill vs. “Gun Purchase” Right in 2^nd Amendment.

2^nd Amendment

A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

NRA Projects “Minority Influence”

NRA, short for American Rifle Association, a non-profit association but regarded as a typical gun- purchase profit organization.

1.      Owning 5,000,000 members approximately, among whom are Presidents like Bush, Kennedy, Roosevelt and prestigious Congressmen, manipulates the “Gun Purchase” Bill resorting to “2^nd Amendment!

2.     “Gun-Using “Skill Training

Holding training programs for different ages in schools or workshops for safeguard.

3.     “Wild Game” Party in Politics

Invite annually or periodically high-ranking or powerful political figures to legally shoot the animals with guns and bows in the wild as well as advocate the Gun-use, a good tradition!

Here is the fun fact shared by Uncle Ting Lee for Wild Game in the USA:

https://www.nrablog.com/articles/2017/3/friday-feast-wild-game-snacks/

A.     Theme Question for any attendee to answer:

1.     I do not think people living in Taiwan (including citizens or non-citizens) do need hold a gun to protect themselves.

Why: Because people who hold the gun will be very likely to accidently injure their families or friends owing to the wrong practice of gun use, which comprised 80% gunshot casualties in Australia.
 

2.     “Guns” cannot protect people, but people themselves do, either keep away from provoking dangers by self-alert or alarms from the social networks.

3.     “Guns” don’t kill people but peoples do. Safer world is established once if we eliminate cultural conflicts including the racial, wealth issues and provide the gun-using skills.

4.     The USA already suffered from 2^nd Amendment, bearing the casualty in the accidental or attempted gun shooting problems.

5.     Once the door to the Gun Purchase lays open, Taiwan will cost more to regulate the gun use and control. We don’t need to repeat the USA history.

B.     Reflections:

1.     We really appreciate Archer’s efforts and all participants’ outputs there which opened our eyes toward the firearm control issue in the USA.

2.     Now we understand how the NRA demands their own lobbying firms to vie for the support of Congressmen.

3.     Through “Miss Sloane”, we understand how the USA Congress and lobbying system have been running and how astonishing to know the professionalism of USA Congressmen or lobbyists on the issues and debates for their Bill.

4.     We even got the Belgium chocolate from Stanley! What a” fruitful” meeting it was under the guidance of Archer and the outputs from all the participants!!!

***For those interested in the strategies applied, we list some quotes for references.** Ref 1. Quotes from “Miss Sloane”

我站上台時，會冷靜得像石頭。

When I take the stand, you’ll see nothing but a granite wall.

妳如果不喜歡，就改變它。

If you don’t like it, you change it.

我只為相信的事物工作，所以我晚上睡得著覺。

I work on behalf of causes I believe in. That’s how I sleep at night.

要熟知你的專業啊，各位！不然就會錯失良機。

Know your subject, people! Failure to do so may result in the loss of a golden opportunity

想打破僵局，要用洞察力。

You want to break the ice, do it with insight.

有時我們行動不是為自己而是相信是做對的事。

Sometimes we act, not for ourselves...but because we believe plainly and simply it is the right thing to do.

遊說重點是洞察先機，預測敵人動作並設計對策

Lobbying is about foresight...about anticipating your opponent’s moves and devising countermeasures.

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<Bliss Meeting Notice> “攻敵必救Miss Sloane ” by Archer on July 22, 2017

Not just a “Movie”

Nor only “English Learning”

It is a demand of “Critical Thinking” through the heated debates and intertwined political schemes in the Congressional Hearing!!

Let’s enjoy the “Intellectual Gymnastics” via the movie “Miss Sloane” under the guidance of Host Archer on July 22, 2017!!!

“No pains, No gains”: It surely pays after your efforts to research “Miss Sloane” and prepare “Theme Question” before the meeting:

To help facilitate the meeting and focus the interesting points in Archer’s “Miss Sloane”, here are some researches for reference:

A.     “攻敵必救Miss Sloane ” Introduction

1.     Party A:  A lobbying firm Cole Kravitz & Waterman, Senator Ronald Sperling, stands for the party for the gun-purchase.

2.     Party B: A rival lobbying firm Peterson Wyatt ,Sloane, Esme, Rodolfo Schmidt(the head of PW) , Jane Molley in Party A, represent the party in promoting Heaton-Harris Bill for gun-purchase control

3.     The movie uses reverse- order narrative

(1)   Congressional Hearing : Sloane’s bribery scandal violating lobbying ethics via the exposure of which Sloane unveiled the Party A’s schemes at cost of her imprisonment

(2)   Back to 3 months and a week ago, Sloane quitted Party A to Party B. (reverse order)

(3)   After her imprisonment a few months later, a lawyer told Sloane that H-H Bill had already passed

B.     USA Constitution Preface:

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America.”

C.     2^nd Amendment

(1) A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

(2)Ref to the judgment for defendant 2008 and 2010.

The court held that the 2^nd amendment recognized an individual’s right to process and carry a firearm unconnected with militia service.

D.    NRA, short for American Rifle Association, a non-profit association but regarded as a typical gun- purchase profit organization.

E.     Others TBD in the meeting

F.      Theme Question for any attendee to answer after self-introduction at 1540:

Agenda:

1430 USA Constitution
1510 2nd Amendment
1530 Break
1540 Self introduction & Theme Question
1600 News and stories
1630 Break
1640 NRF and lobbyists & Discussion

1730 Adjournment

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Topic: ” VVG好樣聚落> 生活美學分享”

Date: July 15, 2017 
Host:Grace Wong 汪麗琴
Participants: Annie, Ellen Huang, JT,Annett,Angel Chan, Jessica Huang,

Edith Tseng,David,Angela lai,Sophie Su,Hazel,Peter,Uncle Ting Lee,Ivy,Gene,Alie,Carol,Daniel Chen,Louis
Meeting photo link:https://photos.app.goo.gl/gG50SxoncF82Xh053 

New members:
Louis https://photos.app.goo.gl/q5jLRJhBmvNrWSNg1 
Gene https://photos.app.goo.gl/rqNmRTAV1SvnTVvq2 
Annette Chen https://photos.app.goo.gl/BvQb0s7VuBDqrf7O2 
Ivy https://photos.app.goo.gl/N8CnBOe1SbXbT0WG2

Meeting began:

With soft, attractive voice, Grace told the VVG stories about the inspiration, enjoyment, setbacks, breakthrough of which strongly caught our attention and touched our hearts!!

In a quiet and uninterrupted area, we all surrounded by her “Goodwill” and the “Aesthetics” she offered:

“Pure White”, VVG Deco Base Color

1.     People tend to not using it because they are afraid of “dark spots” obviously exposed. However, dark spots” on other “color” deco look even dirtier. In short, it is not because of “Pure White” but a matter of cleaning the “dark spots”, which we need to face somehow!

2.     It is profound enough to go with any other color harmoniously without violation!

Outstanding Awards

1.     Acclaimed as one of top 20 most beautiful bookstore by Flavorwire.com in New York in 2012 for VVG Something

2.     2015 Good Design Award (G-mark Award) for Heartwarming in VVG Lifestyle Village

3.     2016 Good Design Award (G-mark Award) for non-profit library, VVG Chapter

“Ambience” and “Fantasies”

1.     Always set up tables and chairs to get people together to sip “ambience” via supply heartwarming food, desserts, bookstore, kitchenware, housewares, sewing kits or in staying at BB+B.

2.     Whimsical “Fantasies”-cosplay in the deco based on “Marie Antoinette” and “The Great Gatsby” in VVG Action!

“Traditional” & “Avant-Garde”

1.     “VVG Chapter”, a public-welfare library on a traditional wrecked Japanese-style warehouse, reconstructed from 2012 with the original building materials, displaying “Reading Aesthetics”. 

2.     “VVG Play Play” designed to immerse in the curve-shape of “Sound Cave”, the iconic design by Toyo Ito in National Taichung Theater in Nov., 2016.  .

Astonishing “Catering”

Fashion Party Catering for World-famous brands like LV, DF, Anna Sui, McM, and so on, presenting the service with seasonal fashion, exquisite customized “finger food”,  

“Chance Maker”, professional MV Maker

The MVs accord with VVG ‘s breathtaking aesthetic quality via the tailored music underlying zoom-in & out shots successfully showing us each of VVG stories!!!

“Idealistic” & “Rational”

Experiencing “2015 Financial Crisis” which was helped through by Huaxin Group, currently occupied 70% lion share, Grace learned the importance of the financial control while expanding the business scope.

VVG Never Stops

With Huaxin Group’s support, Grace opened VVG Joy in NanJing and Chinchin in Hopei in PRC after 2015. Grace never stops to spread the “aesthetic life style” all over the world!!!

Discussion after Grace’s Speech:   

A.     Application of “Aesthetic Life Style”

1.     Start from the inside beauty at the bottom of your heart ! Begin to appreciate everything around and look at its bright side. Followingly whatever you see will show their own beauty to you.

2.     Simply tidy up your room (area), rearrange the position of furniture, redisplay of your own stationery on the desk, change color or pattern on curtains, table cloth, and so on

3.     “Flowing” & “Fixed” Decoration Mixture

A window frame is a “fixed” deco while the inside nature scenes are “flowing” one; likewise, a table is “fixed” while the people gathering around are “flowing”. The mixture creates long-standing interest in common lives. 

4.     Besides studying cooking, photography, arts, fashion, aesthetic life style and travel around the world, we notice “people” is always the main factor to make “ambience”.

B.     “Pure White” inspiration

1.     “It” implies Grace’s life philosophy: be pure and comprehensive as much as possible.

2.     “It “suggests the audience leave some “blank space” in time or life management.

C.     Remodeling Possibilities:

If conditions permitting, I don’t think Grace has ever thought of remodeling due to dissatisfaction because she considered each VVG as her own baby. How will a mother try to “remodel” her own child?

Reflections:

Grace really touched our hearts with her personal charisma and supportive videos. Everyone felt inspired by her “Aesthetic” life style , for which we appreciated JT’s facilitation, Ellen’s hostess , Daniel Chen’s technical support and all the other participants’ output contribution. In short, it is an unforgettable and remarkable meeting ever!!!

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Bliss Recap of “Fun Water Sports in Hot Summer” by Monika on July 8, 2017

Date: July 8, 2017

Hostess: Monika

Participants: Ellen Huang,Angel,Paul,Jammie,J.T.,Annie,Jason,Ting Lee,Stephanie,Peter,Elea,Joe,Monika,Daniel Chen

Meeting photo:https://goo.gl/photos/zxR6gvwkgsD914537

New members:

https://goo.gl/photos/UXNUZnaWexdnVg7YA ( Paull)

https://goo.gl/photos/X7RqizkMpZmHHpnN8( Jamine)

https://goo.gl/photos/jgMitoadM1np6muc7( Angel)

https://goo.gl/photos/bSenYc9vWj2kEgcG8( Elea)

https://goo.gl/photos/MNQFw7Gbz96GCHK2A( Jason)

Real “Cool” time began…

Our graceful hostess, Monika proceeded the meeting as efficiently and smoothly as expected.

Water Sports on the water

1. Canoeing

2. Dragon Boat Racing teams of 20 paddlers racing

3. Fishing 

4. Jet Skiing

5. Kayaking

6. Rafting

7. Rowing

8. White water rafting

9. Sailing using the wind for propulsion

10. Surfing downhill on ocean waves or artificial waves in a wave pool

11.Skurfing is where the participant "skurfs" behind a boat on a surfboard

12. Windsurfing on flat water using wind for propulsion in combination with sails

13. Yachting sailing on yachts, day sailing, cruising or Yacht racing

Water Sports in the water

1.     Swimming, including pool swimming and open water swimming

2.     Diving off springboards or off platforms

3.     Snorkeling is the practice of swimming at the surface (typically of the sea) being equipped with a mask, fins, and a short tube called a snorkel.

4.     Waboba is played with a waboba ball on beaches or in pools.

5.     Water aerobics is aerobics in the water.

6.     Water polo is a team sport played in water.

7.     Aqua jogging

Water Sports under the water

1. Cave diving

2. Deep diving

3. Free-diving

“What kinds of water sports do you like?”

Monika asked us to share some water sports ever joined and we felt much interested in hearing “Surfing” and “Sailing” fun experiences from Blissers.

River Tracing

1.     First developed in Japan, river tracing is a combination of hiking, bouldering and climbing in and above a river canyon. Also called river trekking and related to crayoning, it involves particular techniques like rock climbing, climbing on wet surfaces and understanding the geographical features of river and valleys.

2.     Imagine jumping from rock to rock, swimming through fast currents and climbing rushing waterfalls to reach the deep blue pool at the top of the canyon. Then, after having a gourmet lunch beside the pool and a quick nap on a sun warmed rock, climbing, cliff jumping and floating your way back down. River tracing is truly a sport like no other. 

3. Suggested places:

  SanZhan River 三棧溪 (Golden Gorge 黃金峽谷)

  Lupi Creek   鹿皮溪 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6VBvwaIL30

Kayaking

1.     Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water; canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits facing forward, legs in front, using a double-bladed paddle to pull front-to-back on one side and then the other in rotation.

2.     Most kayaks have closed decks, although sit-on-top and inflatable kayaks are growing in popularity as well.

3.     Some modern boats vary considerably from a traditional design but still claim the title "kayak", for instance in eliminating the cockpit by seating the paddler on top of the boat ("sit-on-top" kayaks)

4.     Suggested places:

(1)東澳粉鳥林

(2)東澳烏岩角

(3)清水斷崖 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrJjAvo5eg0&feature=youtu.be

(4)嶺腳瀑布

SUP 立槳 (Stand Up Paddle)

Win popularity from all over the world because of the following strengths:

1. Mobility, easy to carry: including (1) Backpack (2) Fin (3) Pump (4) Repair Kit (5) Accessories: Paddle/ Leash

2. Easy to learn control

3. A sport suitable for anyone

4. Unlimited Exploration

5. Good for health, training your core muscles

6. Can be played as extreme sports

6. Rafting

7. Relaxation

8.Diversity of playing：Windsup/ Windsurfing sails

9. Suggested brands of SUP for different purposes

  (1) RED UK https://redpaddleco.com/tw/boards/

  (2) FANATIC http://www.fanatic.com/

(3) SAFE (Italy) http://www.taiwansup.com/326812282321033-safe

10. SUP Yoga: An “Amazing” Scene to watch “Yoga” on SUP!!! 

  (1) Dahu Lake  (宜蘭大湖)https://youtu.be/kzumwcQVniM

  (2) Shinshanmeng Lake (汐止新山夢湖)  https://www.facebook.com/suptwlgp/videos/1311795772261182/

Rafting

1.     Rafting and white water rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk and the need for teamwork is often a part of the experience. This activity as a leisure sport has become popular since the 1950s, if not earlier, evolving from individuals paddling 10 feet (3.0 m) to 14 feet (4.3 m) rafts with double-bladed paddles or oars to multi-person rafts propelled by single-bladed paddles and steered by a person at the stern, or by the use of oars.  Rafting on some sections of rivers is considered an extreme sport, and can be fatal, while other sections are not so extreme or difficult.

2.     Rafting Activities

(1)   Rafting in Grand Canyon, USA

(2)   2017秀姑巒溪國際泛舟鐵人三項競賽」

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNJxhQQwr34&feature=youtu.be

Monika’s Reminders for Water Sports in Summer

Safety first!!! Whenever or wherever you enjoy the water sports

(1)   Study the route you will explore

(2)   Always make sure you have right & sufficient gear

(3)   If you are not familiar with the route you explore, always follow a professional guide

Reflections:

Thank Monika for such a “professionally fitting” topic in Summer time and her wonderful PPT information.  After that, every participant was” fired” up to be engaged in some of them soon, for which please stay in tune with Bliss Water Sports News~@@@

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You bet!

Bliss Meetings not only “Water” but “Cool” ”you “Up” this Saturday!

Without further delay, come to splash water in Fun Sports with our hostess, Monika!

Let’s have fun and be “Cool” together, Blissers!

The agenda: 
1. Introduction of water sports

2. What kinds of water sports do you like? 

3. River Tracing

4. Kayaking

5. SUP & SUP yoga

6. Rafting

7. Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

Recap of “To Get Involved From Knowing ‘The Ocean Cleanup’" by Steven on July 1, 2017

Date: July 1, 2017

Host: Steven 
Topic: To Get Involved From Knowing "The Ocean Cleanup 
Participants: Daniel Yang, Daniel Chen, Hazel, Sophia, Peter, Kevin Huang, Annie, Wade, Angel 
Meeting Photo: 
https://goo.gl/photos/F3NS2dxNJX15yJPe6 
New members- 
Hazel: https://goo.gl/photos/Fuqkmgg8Evp97quYA 
Peter: https://goo.gl/photos/txaCUejBRNS9EVxSA 
Wade: https://goo.gl/photos/ez9iv9NAQRXSt3LYA 
Sophia: https://goo.gl/photos/NqxF1LmDEwLM5pGw7
 

The Meeting started…

In the beginning of the meeting, Steven showed the photos which presented the serious problems of plastic pollution in the ocean. The plastic garbage not only filled the ocean but also wild animals’ stomach mistakenly. Accordingly, our lives and environment are threatened by the plastic population day by day, which awakened more and more people to face and solve the problems. 
 

Boyan Slat

Then Steven started to talk about the person, who saw more plastics than fish in the ocean when diving in Greece at age 16.  He started to devote himself in a high school project to investigate ocean plastic pollution problems and tried to convince people that we can “clean up” the ocean.

In 2012, he presented his idea to build a passive system in TED talk and he quitted his studies and founded “The Ocean Cleanup” next year. 
 

Assumption and Findings:
“The Ocean Cleanup foundation” observed ocean garbage patches and the gyres and made their conclusion after investigation : “ the plastic mass peak remained on the sea surface and the plastic mass exponentially decreasing with depth”.

1st clean-up Design

1.     Based on that, they developed the 1st design comprising V-shaped array of floating barriers that are attached to the seabed so as to catch the plastic deposited there by the ocean currents.

2.     Underneath the booms, a screen will help gather plastic suspended under the surface. The floating barriers will funnel plastics towards a central platform which extracts and stores the waste until it is transported to land for recycling. 

3.     The prototype was launched in June, 2016 but failed after 2 months

2nd clean- up Design 
1. The 2nd clean up system was announced on May 12, 2017.

2. Comparing with previous one, it’s cheaper and more efficient. It is supposed to shorten the clean-up time from 10 years to 5 years.

3. The new system also has better survivability. 

Arguments about “Clean-up Simulation”

Although the cleanup system is very creative, the foundation is facing a lot of doubts. Such as we should prevent the garbage from being spread into the ocean other than cleaning afterwards; most recyclers don’t want to recycle the plastics; the project itself may harm wildlife…etc.

Boyan’s “How the oceans can clean themselves” and his vedio

1.     Inspiringly, Boyan engaged himself in this mission without money and experiences when he was a junior high school student.

2.     Aspiringly, our Host, Steven “got involved” in the project by “printing out the full text of Boyan’s Studies “How the oceans can clean themselves” and sharing with us.

3.     Persuasively in his TED video, Boyan successfully convinced people of “Ocean Cleanup” with his own charisma and supportive data.

Reflections:

Thank our devoted Host Steven, a living example of learning and improving by “getting involved”, who hosted two meetings within two months, and the contribution of all the participants during the discussion. It was really an informative meeting ever attended.

My Dear Blissers,

Are you getting refreshed from Bliss Q2 Outing?

Welcome back to Bliss again!!

This coming Saturday we are so much honored to invite our Earnest New Blood, Steven, to share how to clean the Ocean in a very practical way!!!

The spirit of his topic is “To get involved”, which is originated from one of his favorite quotes by Benjamin Franklin:

“Tell me and I forget,

Teach me and I may remember,

Involve me and I learn.”

Sound familiar to Blissers, right? 

Because we are birds of a feather, life-practitioners~

No wonder we like to get together every Saturday!

See you all on July 1 ~ 

Introduction by Steven

Sometimes we feel we are small. Sometimes we think the world news is million miles away from us. But undoubtedly, we care everything concerning the planet from the bottom of our hearts because it is an invaluable one!

This time I want to introduce a project started from a Netherlands college student, which could clean 50% of plastics from the oceans within 5 years.

Maybe you heard this news before, if so, this time, we will follow up more and step farther. We are going to understand how this project has worked out and how far it is going on.

Hopefully, via me, all the participants will feel how much we can still do no matter how populated the oceans have already become such as many plastic bottles floating on the sea which hurt both you and me very often!!!


Agenda：
14:30-14:40 Self-Introduction
14:40-15:00 The Ocean Clean Up - At the beginning
15:00-15:50 Ocean garbage patches and the gyres
15:50-16:00 Tea time
16:00-17:20 The cleanup system 
17:20-17:30 Question and discussion

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My Dear Blissers,

Outside is simmering hot, which echoes our passions toward the world~

The passion to be involved in cleaning the ocean~

The passion to be engaged in splashing the water ~

The passion to enrich the world with Grace’s pretty style~

The passion to apply “The Art of War” into the modern world via the movie~

The passion to create a “Surprise” in regular meetings~

Don’t ever miss such precious opportunities to embrace the world with passion!!!  

Date: July 1, 2017

Host: Steven

Topic: To Get Involved From Knowing "The Ocean Cleanup"

Date: July 8, 2017

Hostess: Monika

Topic: Fun Water Sports in Hot Summer

Date: July 15, 2017

Hostess: Grace, CEO of VVG Group

Topic : VVG好樣聚落 生活美學分享

Date: July 22, 2017

Host: Archer

Topic: Miss Sloane

Date: July 29, 2017

Host: Secret Guest @@@

Topic: TBD

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<Recap of “Love Cake and Poems” by Annie on 6/17>

Date: June 17, 2017

Topic: “Love Cake and Poems”

Hostess: Annie

Participants: Annie (hostess), Hector, Anita, Kami, Ellen Huang, Joanne Yang, Nania, Joe

Meeting photo: https://goo.gl/photos/P6DhvkKL48Sm4DLS9

New Blisser – Joanne Yang https://photos.google.com/u/1/share/AF1QipOUp339hfdwpSnWdr4iXuFkhe5OhceQ3eJOhsD1BValtM_GfoOiXJ05a8M_CVmsRA/photo/AF1QipNV9T5h-M2j4eH4wUCo1snDAgIZRx2mPgpmdvml?key=bkpINXdkUWdVZXZ0aHBjeFZEWVAxS3djck5MZHd3

The rain poured…

That afternoon, but we still had 7 poem lovers coming to join such small study group showing how persistent our Blissers are!!!  Punctually and emotionally Annie introduced us how to understand, enjoy and know more the English poems.

Ⅰ. Basics of Poem Appreciation

a. Who is the speaker? And to whom he (she) is speaking?

b. Theme: what is the poem mainly about?

c. Images: What pictures (images) does the speaker choose to be consistent with the theme?

d. Sound: What sound system does the speaker use to convey the theme?

e. Are the images and sound systems applied appropriately?

II. Sound Systems

a.     No end rhymes (1. Blank verse still with internal rhymes 2. Free verse has neither of these)

b.     Rhymed Poems (most of them are end-rhymed)

III. Stanzas: a poetic term as a “paragraph” in prose

a.     Couplet: 2-line stanza

b.     Tercet: 3-line stanza

c.      Quatrain: 4-line stanza

d.     Sestet: 6-line stanza

e.     Octave: 8-line stanza

IV. Scan (Scansion): To identify “stressed and unstressed” in each line of a poem

V. Stress variations:

A. iamb (adj. iambic): unstressed + stressed  ex. Obey, about,…oh, NO.

                                                                                x /    x/              x  /

b.     trochee(adj. trochaic): stressed +unstressed  ex. Pattern

                                                                                             / x 

c.      anapest(adj. anapestic): unstressed+ unstressed+stressed  ex. Understand

                                                                                                                     x  x    /

V. iambic variations:

a. iambic trimeter: 3-iamb line ex. “The on/ly news I know 

                                                           x  /   x  /   x  /

d.     iambic tetrameter: 4-iamb line  (ex. “I wan/dered, lone/ly as /a cloud )

                                                                       x /     x          /    x     /    x  /

e.     Iambic pentameter: 5-iamb line  (ex. When I do count the clock that tells the time)

                                                                        × /  ×  /          ×    /         ×   /       ×      /

VI. Sonnets—meaning “a little song” in Italian; 14-line poems scanned with iambic pentameter, a popular poetic form of expressing love in renaissance.

a.     Italian (Petrarchan ) Sonnet: firstly invented by Petrarch, the first 8 lines(namely Octave)of which are rhymed abba abba, but the last 6 lines(namely Sestet) of which are flexible forms as /cde cde /c d c d c d /c d d c d c/c d e c d e/c d e c e d/c d c e d c

b.     English (Shakespearian) Sonnet: based on Italian sonnet and then invented by Shakespeare, the first 3 quatrains rhymed as /abab cdcd efef /, followedly by 1 couplet rhymed as /gg/.

c.      Mixed forms: others can be as varied or identifiable as possible

VII.Heartfelt Poems:

1.     “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” BY e. e. Cummings

2.     “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, 1911 – 1979 ~movie “Still Grace”

3.     The Guitarist Tunes Up by Frances Cornford (1886-1960)

VIII. Italian Sonnets

1.     Italian Sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

  Sonnet 14 “If thou must love me, let it be for nought”

Sonnet 28 “My letters all dead paper, “

Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee?”

IX. English Sonnets by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

1.         Sonnet 18 “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s Day”

2.         Sonnet 116 “ Let me not to the marriage of true minds”

3.         Sonnet 138 “When my love swears that she is made of truth”

d.      Sonnet 30 “Love is not all” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

X. Blissers’ poems:

1.“The River” by Hector

Must be somewhere, must be sometime,

Must at some point, you left my love behind.

I’d love to ask,

I’d ask to the river,

The river aren’t like you; the river doesn’t fake

The river is made by tears; the river is rolled with memory;

That hasn’t bent over.

2.“My Children” by Ellen Huang

My children are not mine;

They are the creatures of lives

They are the arrows

While I’m the bow.

I can give them Love

But not my thought.

Let the arrows fly

Till they are out of my sight.

3.“No More..” by Joe

No more, my dear, no more, kid smiles;

O, give my passions leave to run and jump.

Let for eat togeher and go to the picnic,

Let say “happy birthday”, carry your heart with me.

4.“I love to hear her song, yet well I know…” by Nania

I love to hear her song, yet well I know

Thy voice hath a far more pleasing music

I grant I never saw a goddess go

My Muse, when she dances,

Treads on the Galaxy

5.“The Only Surprising Thing I Know” by Anita

The only surprising thing I know

Is you miss me all the time

The only annoying thing I feel

Is you always care about me

What’s a bit but sweet person you are

I feel peace in my mind for anything

Because you are always staying around me

XI. Reflections

Not surprisingly, most of participants got something to say about “love” either by “writing” or “recitation”. During the break, Kami opened her self-introduction by reciting “I carry it in my heart”; Nania and Hector hoped to have “drama” or “poem recitation” classes without number restriction of participants. Their voices were heard and will be carried out soon.  Let’s look forward to next Bliss “Literature” meeting in the near future!!!

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