Canterbury Tales Casting

The prioress/ nun could be played by Meryl Streep. "A stately bearing fitting to her place, and to seen dignified in all her dealings" (Chaucer 76).  The nun is shown to be very high class and uses her manners. Meryl Streep has portrayed very high class business women and even a nun in movies such as The Devil Wears Prada and Doubt. The nun speaks with high diction and is very elegant, graceful, and sensitive. "For courtliness she had a special zest and she would wipe her upper lip so clean that not a trace of grease was to be seen" (Chaucer 76). This could be Meryl Streep because of her graceful manner and she will be able to demonstrate these characteristics very well. Chaucer describes the nun to have and elegant nose, glassy-grey eyes, and a very small mouth, with a large forehead. I believe that this description also applies to Streep very well.

The Franklin can be played by Morgan Freeman. Morgan has played the know-all elder character in previous roles such as Evan Almighty, Deep Impact, and the Bucket List. The franklin "was Epicurus' very son, in whose opinions sensual delight was the one true felicity in sight" (Chaucer 80). The franklin lives for pleasure and is an honest man, although he is a wealthy land owner. He has a white beard and he eats a lot for pleasure. He is a member of the parliament and was a Sheriff. Morgan Freeman is portrayed as an experience, honest man who has been many places and seen many things, and wants to live for pleasure. "He was a model among landed gentry. " (Chaucer 80). Freeman would be a good representative of the franklin.

The squire would be played by Cary Grant. Grant was always portrayed as the attractive, charming man who always got many girls. "A lover and cadet, a lad of fire" (Chaucer 75). Cary Grant has been in many movies such as Gone with the Wind, To Catch a Fire, and The Philadelphia Story. The squire is said to be a younger man, with great agility and strength. He was talented at riding horses, singing, and writing and reciting poetry as well as jousting, dancing, drawing, and writing. In Cary Grant's younger years, he was a very talented man who could swoon any woman. The only difference between Grant and the squire is that the squire has "locks as curly as if they had been pressed" and "in stature he was of a moderate length" (Chaucer 75). Cary Grant is a tall, short haired brunette. Grant always was shown to be wearing a suit and tie, and the squire always dresses lavishly.

My guide through Hell

If I could have a tour of the nine circles of hell, I would choose Gandhi. He is the guru of peace, truth, and non-violence. Gandhi is my mentor, the same way that Virgil is Dante's mentor. Gandhi would be sympathetic with me, as we are both seeing the horrors of punishments that is shown through the inferno.As he was not a catholic, he did not believe in the heavenly lord, and he would probably reside in the first level of hell, because he was a peace-bringer.

Attempt at Iambic Pentameter: Snooki

There once was a large meatball named Snooki.
She liked to devour many cookies.
Her skin was orange like the skin of a fruit.
Suitors call her grenade because she is not cute.
Bibulous and shameful is how she acts.
She only drinks and sleeps, that is a fact.
Her hair is shaped in a large ugly poof.
Her friends are concerned it might touch the roof.
Foul is what comes out of her mouth all day.
Maybe she will become as sweet as May.

Beowulf and the City

It was just another average day on Wall Street. Manhattan was pushing along with average daily business, as it always does. New York’s economy was as prosperous and as peaceful as ever. Then, one Wednesday afternoon, the most hectic time of the week, the main computer crashed. When the technician went to find a problem, he found a sparking, broken power cord. He quickly searched for a replacement cable, and the problem was fixed.

                Two days later, the same thing happened, but this time, the technician found small clumps of what looked like raisins trailing throughout the room. He knew just what to do. He placed some rat traps out, and slowly waited, but nothing happened. The pests attacked for weeks, biting and chewing their way through wires, shutting down computer after computer throughout the entire building. It took days to repair each and every wire that was destroyed, and once they were fixed, the rats attacked again. Not a single rat-catcher helped the entire time. A species that once destroyed an entire population of humans with diseases was attacking human dignity again, so close to destroying America’s economy.

                 So, the technician slowly lost hope and he couldn’t waste anymore time. He decided that it was time to call in a pest-controller. Before he knew it, a slightly overweight, prematurely balding rat-killer who still lives with his mother comes strolling in the door. With a few roach spray bottles and mice traps wrapped around his waist, he quickly said, “I hear you have a rat problem. But there’s no need to worry, I’ve dealt with rodents bigger than housecats before. I can handle any problem.”

                The technician praised him for being for being so confident. He had heard of this man’s reputation, the one they call Beowulf, how he once challenged his own brother to a competition wrestling alligators in the city sewer. He had not only killed an alligator to save himself, but rescued his brother from the clenching jaw of another alligator. He knew that the rats would be no problem to Beowulf. That night Beowulf plotted out his attack, meticulously placing the rat traps, and waiting for the sun to rise and the rats to emerge from their holes. As he waited, others watched, trying to decipher each individual move, but no one understood the great hero.

                An hour before dawn, one by one the rats emerged, but Beowulf did not move. He watched as they slowly devoured a chunk of the first wire and slowly approached the next. Suddenly, Beowulf pounced like a cat, grabbing half of the pack by their tales with one hand, and the rest with the other hand. Two escaped, but ran directly into the rat traps, facing sudden death. Beowulf immediately knocked the rest unconscious, and began to squeeze them in his hands. He showed no mercy to the pestilent rodents and his job was quickly done.

                The technician was in shock of such a victory. He gave Beowulf his well earned pay with extra for the handy cleanup. Before the technician could fully thank him for his help, Beowulf had disappeared, as if by magic. He quickly fixed the remaining wires, and the computers were back up in no time. The stock market was fully functioning again without a single threat to the American economy ever again.

There was once a chance I didn't take

There was once a chance I didn't take. I can't believe I didn't continue. What was I thinking?
Little eleven year old me, thinking I was stressed, that I had too much work, when I didn't even know wat work was. I had talent. My teacher always told me I had promise, as my fingers knew what they were doing; they had a mind of their own as they danced across those black and white keys.
There was once a chance for me to be a piano virtuoso, to play something great, and I tossed it all out the window.
I had just started middle school, first year in a private school, and I didn't know what my parents had forced me into. For the first time, I wasn't the only one who knew long division. I felt like a failure and I was only in sixth grade. I thought i didn't have time to memorize my majors and minors, all the chords my knew but my brain couldn't name. So I just gave up, and i didn't think it was a big deal.
But it was. I was withdrawn from a world of happiness and music, and it sucked. I even tried to go back two years later, but it wasn't the same. I was with a different teacher, a new environment. I freaked out a little and I couldn't do it. So that was it, I gave up completely.
I still go back some days. I sit on the bench and just try to feel that other world with the tips of my fingers, but it will never be the same. The biggest regret I have of my life is giving up the most beautiful instrument in the world.