Georgia Warhorse

It seems everyone's goal is to wipe you out. In the warm south east of the United States of America from Florida to Tennessee is where you reside.  In the spring when you come out to feast and mate and enjoy the warm southern air, pages of local newspapers and garden magazines arrive with you filled with pages of info of chemicals and locations to buy them to destroy you.

Mr. Lubber does a great job of defending himself.  He possesses bright color patterns of red, black and yellow which are a direct warning to predators you contain toxic substances.  Step two is to produce a secretion as a dispersant  spray that turns into a froth of irritants and toxins combined with a loud hissing sound just to get the point across.

If and when predators ignore all of these efforts the outcome is not good. Many murder records of birds who didn't read your warning. Even mammals one hundred times your size such as the opossum have vomited violently after ingesting one of your relatives. However....the devious Shrike. He and he only will decapitate you and hang you out to dry like grannies laundry for two days on a thorn or a barbed wire fence spike then come back to feast once you've all dried up. We'll give you that one no one gets by that devil.  Aside from that guy, no matter how hard you're put under shoe you always roll out alive. Cause you were born with a smile and a heart of stone. The Georgia Warhorse he ain't easy to kill.

     Animal Paragraph


     Imagine that everyone's goal is to keep you down. Such is the life of the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper. Despite your bright color patterns of red, black, and yellow which are a direct warning to predators you contain toxic substances. For you have but one natural predator. You have created several records of murder to birds who didn't read your warning. Even mammals fifty times your size such as the opossum have vomited violently after ingesting your cousin. However, the Shrike. He will decapitate you and hang you out to dry like laundry for two days on a thorn or a barbed wire fence spike then comes to eat you when you're all dried up. We'll give you that one no one gets by that demon.  Committees are formed to beat you. Someones job is to put you under shoe but you always roll out alive. Man has racked his brain for lifetimes trying to put an end to this creature. Despite all attempts the Georgia Warhorse will endeavor to persevere!!

Literary Research Assignment

Literary work:
"My shell is hard,my hooks like steel. My wings are fire and you cannot break my will. Cause I'm a Georgia Warhorse and I ain't easy to kill."
J.J. Grey and Mofro. Georgia Warhorse. Georgia Warhorse. Alligator Records, 2010.

Print source:
"The body has a long abdomen and shield-like upper thorax."
"These large plant-eaters can occur in huge numbers and are often considered pests to farmers and gardeners."
Todd Telander. Bugs and Slugs. Morris Book Publishing LLC. Connecticut, 2014. Page 10.

Scientific resource:

Adults of eastern lubber grasshoppers possess a variety of abilities to defend themselves. Their bright color pattern is a warning to predators that the lubber contains toxic substances. Indeed, there are several records attributing the demise of individual birds failure to exercise caution when selecting prey items. Also, small mammals such as opossums have been known to vomit violently after ingesting a lubber, and to remain ill for several hours. However, shrikes are reported to catch and kill lubbers.

If the red, yellow, and black coloration fails to keep a predator at bay, when contacted the lubber may produce a phenolic secretion from a special thoracic gland, first as a dispersant spray and then as a frothy secretion. This exudate consists of a number of phenolic and quinone compounds, some of which are irritants or toxins that deter predation by vertebrates and ants (Jones et al. 1987, Whitman et al. 1991). The exact nature of the toxic properties varies, as these grasshoppers assimilate different compounds depending on the plants they ingest. This bubbly froth is accompanied by a relatively loud hissing sound. The insect contracts the abdomen to force air out of the spiracles along with the defensive secretion. The sound is produced as the spray is being forced out of these tiny holes in the thorax called spiracles. These defensive behaviors seem to be limited to the adult stage

Authors: Clay Scherer and John Capinera, University of Florida
Photographs: John Capinera and Lyle J. Buss, University of Florida
Web Design: Don Wasik, Jane Medley 
Publication Number: EENY-6
Publication Date: October 1996. Latest revision: May 2013

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I chose these writings because they talk of the strength and ability to overcome of a small creature in a big world. The theme I had in mind is resilience. These 3 items fit together because they all cover the topic. The differences I see in these 3 things is some are scientific and some are poetic.

     This theme I feel is actually pointed toward people like myself who have dealt with struggles growing up. I know we all have them this is mine. To overcome a lot of negativity from different angles. Persevere!!

“Behind the pattern the dim shapes get clearer everyday. It is always the same shape, only very  numerous. And its like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I dont like it a bit. I wonder- I begin to think- I wish John would take me away from here! (652)

In this passage from “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, I feel the reader is given a glimpse into the thought process of the main character of the story. A lady who has temporarily moved into a new home with her husband and her husbands sister. In this time the lady is describing in detail what she sees in the wallpaper. She has talked of other images but this is the most substantial.

“A woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern.”  This is where i feel its been put together in her head that she is the woman trapped by her situation. She's basically being held prisoner by her husband who keeps telling her she's sick. She's being oppressed and held to her room. Not allowed to be with her child or hardly see it. This "woman stooping" is because she feels she's being held down and "creeping about" is her having to tread lightly because she's under the microscope of her husband.

“It is always the same shape, only very numerous.” This is her imagining herself only to be able to travel about the room. She is stuck in this room only.” I dont like it a bit” is another small pivot in the direction towards what i feel is the ultimate unveiling.

The next line of the quote is the most emotionally linking. The narrator says “I wonder- I begin to think-” This is where she has made the full connection to herself.  She knows she is the image behind the wallpaper. She is the one who is trapped trying to break out of the oppression. The dash after “ wonder-” indicates her pause, her thinking. I feel this was the exact moment the connection was made. Onto “I begin to think-” This is followed by another dash, a pause for recollection.

She immediately follows these two phrases up by saying “I wish John would take me away from here!” She ends this line with an exclamation point . Its a sign of desperation at this point. Therefore breaking the quote down to just “I don't like it a bit. I wonder- I begin to think- I wish John would take me away from here!” We draw all of the evidence we need to know the narrator is basically at the end of her rope.

 I do not believe this story is a ghost story. It seems to be a mixture of a few things. The first and most substantial is Postpartum Depression. Most of these symptoms of this issue alone describe her condition. Loss of appetite, insomnia, overwhelming fatigue, depression. Page 652 the narrator states “I dont weigh a bit more” “nor as much, and my appetite may be better in the evening when you are here, but it is worse in the morning when you are away.”  page 650 “I cry at nothing, and i cry most of the time.”  She doesn’t sleep at night she stays up studying the images she feels she sees behind the wallpaper. page 652 “its like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind the pattern.”  She tires easy and doesn’t help with the baby or any chores. She stays in the room all day and doesn’t go outside.

        This mixed with the issues of her husband and the times were she is treated as a child herself and her husband kind of speaks down to her calling her a “little girl” and a “silly goose” He treats her more  as a patient than his wife in lot of cases i feel. These issues mixed with just moving into a new home seem to have been to much.  It seems the narrator’s husband John is gone a great deal of time as well and she spends a lot of time alone

Poe

   1and2  In Edgar Allan Poes "The Fall of The House of Usher" the narrator tells us he's found himself "within view of the melancholy House of Usher." The building really depressed him because he states "with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit."


   3.  In "The Fall of the House of Usher" the narrator says of the feeling he got "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime." This basically emphasizes that the feeling of sadness was so seriously deep nothing he could think of could shake it.


   4. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" the narrator describes to us that the depressing feeling he got was deep and lasted for some time.


   5. In Edgar Allen Poes "The Fall of the House of Usher" when riding upon the house on horseback the narrator is taken back by the gloomy scene. It affects him deeply and causes him to pause and take it all in. He notices and focuses on every detail. Engulfing each one because of the effect it had so deeply on him.


   6.  In "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is approaching the estate. The scene he arrives to gives him great sorrow.

Bryant Park

    His many shades of grey blended in with the rainy scene. It made the red paddle, although faded, seem very illuminated. He held the paddle with his right hand returning the ball in an awkward backwards motion. His lighter grey pants were sagged very far down disturbing his movements. The hooded sweatshirt he wore was a dark grey with even darker grey shoulders. It was a V-neck with draw strings and a chest pocket on the left side. Suddenly the bright  orange ball passed him and went onto the walkway. As he turned to retrieve it he stopped to tie his shoe. They too were many different shades of grey. The bulk of the shoe was a light grey that blended almost perfectly with his jeans. The Nike symbol however was very dark almost a light shade of black. He retrieves four balls in total two of which were floating in puddles on the walkway.

       He suspiciously and carefully clucks around the ping pong table. Then hopping on to the walkway never giving up the search for food. His eyes jolt quickly in any direction in which someone invades his space. Jumping into the flower bed his grey camouflage no longer exist. The pendulum swing of his body never stops as he continues the hammering of his beak into the flower bed. As his pace speeds down the walkway his body turns to more of a wabble. He stops to thoroughly investigate a damp brown paper bag which has stuck to the leg of the green metal chair. The wet bag clinging to the leg provides enough strength to allow him to really investigate without it blowing away. After a seemingly failed search he directs his attention to the right and continues his journey.

                              
He was sitting at a chair facing her in his dark glasses and loose brown corduroy jacket. A smile approaches his lips quickly as he turns his eyes then head to the left, back at her then to the left again. His hands were together in his lap with his knuckles in a row.  His blue shirt with the two bottom buttons buttoned and the two top unbuttoned casts the shadow of a huge bubble that had been created in his jacket.  His dark pants were heavily creased and stiff making them barely touch his brown shoes.  His gaze rarely leaves her face and there isn’t much movement except the occasional fidgeting of his hands. Then he crosses his right arm grasping his left wrist. Quickly pulling his lips back revealing his big buck teeth he lets out a small chuckle. Repositioning himself in his chair he lifts his left hand to the back of his neck causing his jacket sleeve to raise and reveal his wrist.  With a quick motion he stands up sliding his chair back with the back of his legs and hastily follows her down the steps.

                                  His left arm propped at the elbow on a green metal chair the old man sat smiling in the sun. With right leg crossed over his left leg and his left hand drooping from a limp wrist he sipped his cup with his right hand.  His snow white hair perfectly parted to the right really revealed his tan face. He wears a pink, blue and red short sleeve button up shirt  with a royal blue sweater tied at the sleeves over his shoulders. He points to the right in the distance squinting his eyes and explaining something to his colleagues.  Turning his head back to the group he lifts his right hand sliding his sun glasses down over his face. He glances at the black banded watch on his left wrist and taps his left foot three times on the still wet concrete.  Suddenly there’s a boom of laughter at the table he jolts to the edge of his seat ripping off his sun glasses! Bent at the waist high on his chair the lines from the corners of his eyes appear very deep telling his age.