MOSAIC: voices from Polson High School

Welcome to Mosaic.
Be honest. Be kind. Be temperate.

Student Contact Information

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PHS photos

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Amanda’s got the moves

Rochelle takes a shot (it was good)

Waylon considers his options

Ryan makes it look easy

Cheers!

Misty, MUS Writing Assessment

Su-san, MUS Writing Assessment

Singing Valentines

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Megan Richardson’s Rip Van Winkle

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Rip Van Winkle was an irresponsible but like-able little Dutch man. He slept through the entire Revolutionary War, missed the death of his wife and his dog. I think if Rip was more responsible his wife wouldn’t have nagged on him so much and quite possibly he may have not slipped into a stress induced coma that lasted twenty years.  All in all Rip was a nice guy but missed a huge part of his life and was saddend by it all because of his irresponsibility.  On page 163, seventh paragraph it says, “ Rip’s heart died away at hearing of these sad changes in his home and friends, and finding himself thus alone in the world - every answer puzzeled him too by treating of such enormous lapses of time and of matters which he could not understand.”

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Rip Van Winkle and the Changes He Went Through--Jessica Huntley

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Rip Van Winkle went through many changes in his life. He played with the children and everyone in the town knew him well. “The children of the village too would shout with joy whenever he approached. He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and told them stories of ghosts, witches, and Indians. Whenever he went dodging about the village he was surrounded by a troop of them hanging on his skirts, clambering on his back and playing a thousand tricks on him with impunity; and not a dog would bark at him throughout their neighborhood.” Page 156, Column 1, Paragraph 1. However, suddenly, twenty years has passed while he slumbered and when he returns to the town, he finds astonishing facts. “He had now entered the skirts of the village. A troop of strange children ran at his heels, hooting after him and pointing at his grey beard. The dogs too, not one of which he recognized for an old acquaintance, barked at him as he passed. The very village was alteredit was larger and more populous.” Page 160, Column 2, Paragraph 3. He used to know everyone in the town, but now, he knows no one. The dogs used to never bark at him, but now, they all bark at him. He used to be friends with King George III, but now, congress has been established and those who call the King their ally are shunned and called a “Tory.” Poor Rip searched around the town and noticed the different fashions and that his old house was obstructed and his family was to be found no where.

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Rip van Winkle’s Fish of a Tale

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Rip van Winkle’s wife was the cause of his disappearance and his story. Rip was a lazy man when it came to his responsibilities. According to the story he disliked any kind of job that would make him money and provide for his family. His wife, Dame van Winkle, knew this and therefore she felt like it was her duty to nag him into his duties. After a period of time of harassment he decided to leave for an amount of time. “Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labor of the farm and the clamor of his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away into the woods.” Rip came up with his story of being gone for so long so others, although they thought he was lazy, wouldn’t think he was awful for leaving his nagging wife.

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Rip Van Winkle*~Erin King

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The story of Rip Van Winkle recounts a timeless tail of laziness and its following consequences. Rip is a man, living in a dutch community setting, who refuses to do chores, household cleaning, etc. He negletcs his son, wife and house, and spends his time wandering around his village doing chores and minor favors for other families. the book never really explains why this is, but you sort of come to the conclusion that he’s a little mental.  Any who...is wife is a nag, and is always yelling at him for not doing this, or that, ( she sounds like a brat) and finally Rip leaves to go on a so called “hunting trip.”
While wandering around the woods he runs into a little man, carrying a keg full of some alcoholic beverage, and offers to help him carry it down the mountain.  In return he receives a free drink ( and seriously, who accepts stuff from weird old men?) which makes him sleep for pretty much a hundred years. He loses like half his life, which wasn’t much to begin with, and returns to a town that’s almost completely forgotten him.

I guess this story is sort of romantic, because they are extremely unrealistic and require you to imagine extremely far fetched things. All in all, the story was funner when I was a kid =)

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Rip Van Winkle by Sarah J

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Washington Irving focuses a lot on nature to make his story of “Rip Van Winkle” a romantic story. Rip Van Winkle goes to the mountains where he gets drunk and wakes up twenty years later. Rip was very frightened when he arose that day on the mountain,” God knows,” exclaimed he, at his wit’s end, “ I’m not myself.—I’m somebody else… I was myself last night; but I fell asleep on the mountain… and I can’t tell what’s my name, or who I am!” Rip was very confused to what had happened to him that he demanded the towns people to tell him who he was and what was his name.

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