Potomac's eighth grade English students read and discuss The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The book is a series of short vignettes that together capture the characters, setting, and stories of a particular neighborhood in Chicago. The vignettes are written from the perspective of a fictional narrator and are based loosely on Cisneros's own experiences as well as those of her students. Some of the vignettes are humorous or action-packed; some are heart-wrenching or shocking. All are deliberate in their use of figurative language, poetic elements, grammar conventions, and pacing.

Each eighth grader composed at least one vignette for inclusion in this digital collection. They wrote in the style of Sandra Cisneros, as they interpreted it based on their notes and our class discussions, yet they set it in a time and place of their own choosing. While some of these vignettes are based on the author's personal experience, many of them are purely fiction, an imagining of characters and circumstances that seemed ripe for this assignment. Students also used this assignment to experiment with new vocabulary words and techniques involving punctuation and sentence structure.

We encourage you to leave comments below vignettes that strike you in some way. Please keep your comments positive and specific; this is not the place for critiques or suggestions. Enjoy the creativity and vibrancy of these students' literary efforts.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Conceptual Beauty

People too often assume that beauty is purely visual, completely guided by the beliefs of society. Certain clothes, certain hairstyles, certain views. However, I believe that there is greater beauty in the other ways. I see greater beauty in pure darkness than everywhere else; I hear greater beauty in nature than in someone’s voice; I feel greater beauty in the bark of a tree than a soft silk; I smell greater beauty in absolutely nothing over the smell of freshly-baked brownies (sometimes); I taste greater beauty in… tiramisu.

Although my physical senses show greater liking to non-human items, an entirely different part of the brain finds beauty in concepts. This realm requires a bit more effort to access, but it is just as rewarding. This conceptual part of the brain celebrates ideas like the human body and maybe even human behavior. It celebrates the size of our universe. It finds beauty in the idea of time travel, if you happen to be a Back to the Future fan. This internally-evoked sense of beauty is perhaps the greatest form of all. That being said, I can appreciate the beauty in classic prose and historical epics because they represent the concept of human complexity.

The mental process of identifying and acting upon beauty in known as living. Intense negativity can even be viewed as beautiful in a way. Jimmy Valvano, in his 1993 ESPY speech identified the reactions to beauty that create give us life. Specifically he said, “To me there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think -- spend some time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that's a heck of a day.” And he is right. That is how to live.

I try to achieve this sense of beauty by reading a lot, which I have always done, traveling a lot to appreciate the beauty in culture, and I play sports to acquire beauty in work and play at the same time. The best part is that while I seek conceptual beauty, I unintentionally surround myself with physical beauty. Having all of that beauty teaches you things about life, like how the most simple things can be the infinitely complicated, like trying to conceptualize the angles of a circle. Eventually you get really philosophical and languorously say that “everything is beautiful.” 

~Once you’ve thought about all this beauty you might begin to truly understand the horrors of clichè.~

~ Deven P.

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9 comments:

  1. Khaya Y.January 6, 2016 at 5:35 PM

    Wow. I loved reading your vignette. It does a great job of analysing the greater meaning of beauty. I makes the reader really understand the best way to live their life. Great job!

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2016 at 8:00 PM

    I like how this really makes you think about your whole life and the lives of people around you. This is a great vignette that evokes your emotions.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 10:49 AM

    I like your perspective on the Idea of beauty and your very vivid descriptions. One question I have is how you came up with the idea?

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 10:53 AM

    I like how you describe many different types of beauty

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 10:54 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 10:55 AM

    I like how honest you are when writing about the beauty of life and about what life means to you. It was very deep and really focused on emotions and such.

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  7. Dany BarreroJanuary 7, 2016 at 10:56 AM

    I like how honest you are when writing about the beauty of life and about what life means to you. It was very deep and really focused on emotions and such.

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  8. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 11:06 AM

    I like how this story goes into a lot of depth and how it makes the reader think of new ways to enjoy life and how to be happy. I also like how you added a quote to your vignette.

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 6:16 PM

    I really like this vignette because you used words that helped the story come alive. also alluminium

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