Tuesday 3/11/25 - In both texts that you read, the line between reality and imagination blurs—the narrator sees a woman in the wallpaper, while Dickinson’s speaker feels their own funeral happening in their mind. Have you ever had an experience where stress, fear, or emotions made something feel distorted or unreal? How did you ground yourself in reality again?

I have had experiences in the past where emotions like stress, fear, or emotions made reality feel distorted or unreal. While going trick or treating with my two of my neighbors and my older brother, we were still somewhat young, the oldest of us being in 7th grade, we got lost. We had gone down the road from our home and took a couple turns down various streets, looking for the most inviting houses that we thought would hand out the most candy. After a while, we realized that we didn't know where we were and that we were lost. We tried to find our back but to no avail. At this point, I begun to become stressed and started to panic. Reality started to settle in, and almost seemed to warp. It was dark out, and lightly raining, plus it was freezing cold. All of these factors began to feel overwhelming and my perception of reality became distorted as everything felt more terrifying. Every car that passed by seemed like it could be someone that could try to harm us, the sounds in the dark of other kids, dogs barking, or the horn of the train didn't help either. Despite this, I was able to ground myself in reality again through the comfort of my siblings and friends around me, and the fact that we were eventually found 3 minutes away from our house by my neighbor's dad.

Summary: Today we worked on discussion questions in class about "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 

Reflection: We worked on and completed "The Yellow Newspaper" discussion questions in class and I learned that the narrator in the story had gotten worse mentally, partially as a result of the lack of recognition of her complaints in the story, particularly by her husband.