NUMB

It's less than 72 hours until I graduate from high school (I now have a countdown app on my phone #app4everything), and I feel as if school will resume next week.  I don't feel any differently, but I do believe in the notion that I should feel differently because what I consider to be a big life milestone is about to happen.  Maybe it's one of my mind's coping mechanisms, a way to avoid the string of emotions that precede and follow a big life moment like this.  Family members are starting to arrive to support me, but it still isn't "sinking in." Maybe it never will...

LAST ESSAY

     I step into a classroom with CD cases on one wall and graffiti on another.  My first impression is that this room looks more like a performing and visual arts classroom rather than one where English Literature and Composition is taught.  I was a skeptic when the year first started.  You're giving me the freedom to control my education in this class? Yeah, right.  How will other students not take advantage if the situation? 

     I guess I should have had a little more faith in humanity, something that actually changed with this blog called Restoring Faith in Humanity that I discovered during a period of independent learning. My opinion about my classmates and my faith in humanity continued to be change as recent as last week as I noticed a common theme of helping others physically (physical therapy and Bless You bags), psychologically (inspirational comics and graphic novels as well as tools to be well prepared for high school on blog called ClassyU), and socially (the warrior zone and increasing school pride). I was going under the assumption of a childhood book that told children "If you give a mouse a cookie, he'll want a glass of milk," when I first began this class.  

     I can't speak for others about taking advantage of the classroom situation, but I can speak for myself.  I would be lying if I said that I was never tempted, but part of contributing an opinion to what we want for the structure and curriculum of the course is feeling a sense of obligation afterwards to fulfill the demands we made in class and follow through with what we say.

     

MASTERPIECE: GENETICS!!

Here's the link to the prezi that went along with my masterpiece presentation.  I wanted to provide some visuals to all of the talking that I am going to be doing.

A Little Inspiration Never Hurt Anyone

Two things, a video and an article, inspired me this weekend: one source I found on my own, and one source was shared on Facebook.


                                                                        LOOK UP

Procrastination, why do we do it?
This article attempts to provide a reason and a solution.

THE CROSSROADS BETWEEN SHOULD AND MUST

     The most important decisions in life are sometimes the hardest ones.  People focused on the past will imagine the life they could have had if they had chosen or done something different when given the option.  I believe that I am at a crossroads.  It may not be a Should or Must crossroads as the article mentions, but an important crossroads just the same.
     Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" has been on a loop in my mind for the last week as the college decision deadline grows closer and closer.  I can relate to it more now as "one traveler" who "stood and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth."  Robert Frost chose the Must road, a road "less traveled by."  I think I know which road I want to chose, but I am unsure if it is truly the Must road, or a Should road that I have convinced myself is a Must road.
     If I could, like I imagine most people would, I would attempt to turn around and would prefer not to look at the crossroads, not to commit to travel one way over the other.  However, one way traffic on life's main streets prevents me from avoiding hard decisions like the one I am faced with, and even no decision can be counted as a decision.
   

MACBETH ACT IV ACTIVE READING NOTES

MACBETH ACT III ACTIVE READING NOTES

MACBETH ACT II ACTIVE READING NOTES

POST #100!!!! (Pioneer Wagons to Planes)

I am a pretty sentimental person, especially as a senior in high school when I start to realize some experiences will be happening for the last time in high school.  With this in mind, I wanted my 100th post on this blog to be acknowledged; I am also all about the milestones.  This may sound odd, but I didn't want it to go by as another assignment post; I wanted it to be special, so yay! 100th post!  It certainly doesn't seem like that many...

I also will use this post to comment on a thought I had the other day.  I was riding on a shuttle bus from LAX to a hotel, when I marveled at today's technology in the form of transportation.  Yesterday, I woke up in New Jersey, had lunch in New York City, had dinner in New Jersey, and slept in my bed last night in California.  It amazes me that there was a time when it took pioneer families (I'm expressing my childhood memories of reading The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder series here) months to travel half the distance that I traveled in six hours because today we have planes, and they had wagons drawn by oxen or horses.  In addition, where they needed barrels and a wagon full of supplies, I only needed a water bottle, a package of Nutter Butters, a pair of headphones, and my calculus homework to get me through the flight from Newark to Los Angeles.

Just an insight into my thoughts, something special for the 100th post on my blog.

LOOK AT MY BRAIN

     I think things through for a long time.  When I was little, it used to take me up to an hour to decide if I wanted to spend any of the allowance I had save up on a bracelet or a new toy, even some candy at the movie rental store.  I don't like to make decisions until I have all of the facts and all of my feelings about the choices clearly laid out before me.  For this reason, I wanted my masterpiece to be on genetics so that I could explore whether or not I would be interested in a career in this field before I choose to major in it in college and spend the next four to six years of my life studying the topic.  This just shows how I think an prepare for things in the future.

    My blog shows my creativity and collaboration. I wanted something "clean" as the background, something that wasn't too busy and distracted readers from the content of the blog.  I also loved the idea of including a poem from my favorite poet Emily Dickinson whose location would be ironic on a blog. (It talks about how weird and annoying it must be to have the public know details about your life, which is exactly what happens when a person has a blog like I do).  The collaboration can be seen in my introduction at the top of this blog page. Every person that has followed me from my AP English Literature and Composition course, I have followed them in return, and we comment on each other's posts sometimes to help one another our with grammar mistakes or questions about each other's work.

WHAT ABOUT MY MASTERPIECE?

This past week, I haven't done as much research on my masterpiece topic of genetics as I would have liked to.  I just want to state that I have school for five or more hours and then homework for another four hours, and then I have to fit dinner in there somewhere, not that this is an excuse because I always have time to research a passion, including genetics.  I am just saying; Shakespeare had most of the day every day to work on his masterpieces.  I will divulge that just recently, I read a really intriguing article about some innovations with genetic engineering that I will mention in my masterpiece presentation at the end of the year.

LOVE IS BLIND

When Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy that Macbeth will become king, she is enthusiastic and wants to kill the king himself.  The audience sees Lady Macbeth as a power hungry individual, while Macbeth, blinded by his love for her thinks that she just wants the best for him, which she convinces him is to become king of Scotland.  The audience sees her planning the visit from the king, and worrying over Macbeth's possible lack of inner strength that he needs in order to murder the king and take the crown for himself with Lady Macbeth at his side.  Macbeth seems meek about confronting the wife whom he loves and standing up to her to say that he doesn't want to kill his cousin who has recently put all of this responsibility, trust, and honor on Macbeth's shoulders by giving him the title of the Thane of Cawdor.

MACBETH ACT I ACTIVE READING NOTES

Act 1 Notes:

There was some glitch because I posted this last week, but it doesn't appear on my blog on the computer, only on my phone.

MEET MACBETH

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is introduced through indirect characterization as this heroic figure in battle and a great killer for his country.  This is revealed in a story of a battle that a visitor is describing to the king of Scotland, Duncan.  Three witches foreshadow through their predictions of the fortunes of Macbeth and his cousin Banquo.  They say that Macbeth will be a thane of Cawdor, and then, he will be king, while Banquo's children will be children.  They basically give away the ending of the play, but they do not give away the means by which all of this occurs, which is the real story.  Shakespeare's exposition includes characters like the witches and minor attendants who can make comments about Macbeth or his future, foreshadowing Macbeth's destiny and explaining his personality, but not foreshadowing the details of the play, only enough to keep the audience on their toes.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS #3

1.  For this literature analysis, I read The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kimberly Edwards.  The story is a bout a doctor who is forced to deliver his twins because of snowy weather.  The second child, however, is a girl with Down syndrome.  The year is 1964, and the doctor asks the nurse, who has had a crush on him for the longest time, to take the baby to an institution he knows of before his wife wakes up from the gas she is on to help with the pain of labor.  It is revealed in a flashback that the doctor had a sister with Down syndrome who he idealized but who died young, and the doctor didn't want his wife or the first twin, his son, to go through that pain, and he didn't want to go through that pain again.  The story then switches point of view from Doctor Henry to the nurse, Caroline Gill, who takes the baby to the recommended institution but can't bring herself to give the newborn away when she meets the people that work there and sees how they treat the "patients."  Caroline, without really thinking about what she is doing, takes the baby back to her apartment, making friends with a trucker along the way.  After a couple of days, she finds out that Dr. Henry told his wife, Norah, that their daughter, Phoebe, had died, and Mrs. Henry is having a memorial service for their dead daughter, who is really in the dresser drawer in Caroline's apartment.  Caroline tells Dr. Henry that she kept the child and he gets angry.  Caroline quits her job and cuts all ties with her life in that town and moves to Pittsburgh with Phoebe.  The rest of the book takes snapshots of the lives of Paul, the first twin, and Phoebe, comparing their growth and development at a couple of months old, one year old, six years old, thirteen years old, eighteen years old, twenty-four years old, and twenty-five years old.  The point of view was changed from character to character.  In the end, (spoiler alert!) David dies suddenly of a heart attack after splitting up with Norah but before he tells her that Phoebe is still alive.  When Paul and Phoebe are twenty-five years old, Caroline Gill comes to Norah and tells her that Phoebe is alive.  The book ends with Paul and Phoebe bonding by singing at their father's grave, Paul putting the past behind and moving forward after spending years angry and resentful at his father and his life.

MY MACBETH RESOURCES

1.  The analysis and summary of Macbeth available on Shmoop.

2.  Sparknotes, of course, has similar content on Macbeth as Shmoop, except here Sparknotes provides a modern translation of Shakespeare's old-fashioned language for the play.

3.  If you are really intrigued by Macbeth, you can spend three hours of your time watching this Macbeth movie starring Patrick Stewart as Macbeth.

4.  There is also a Thug Notes video on Macbeth where the narrator attempts to give a summary and short analysis of Macbeth in an entertaining way in hopes of making it easier to remember the complicated plot of the play.

5.  This is a video that answers 10 questions about some confusing or thought-provoking topics in Macbeth.

Masterpiece Test (Benchmark)

I guess I will go over the basics of genetics in this post. Genetic material comes in the form of DNA or RNA.  DNA and RNA differ by the type of sugar uses in the structure of their backbone.  DNA uses deoxyribose and RNA uses ribose.  DNA is in the form of a double helix with two sugar and phosphate strands connected by a pair of nucleotide bases. The possible nucleotides of DNA are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.  These are usually just represented by the first letter of each of the nucleotides: A, T, C, G.  Because of their individual structures, adenine will always pair with thymine, and cytosine will always pair with guanine.  Genes are certain nucleotide sequences of DNA or RNA that could consist or hundreds or thousands if base pairs. This leads me to genetics, the study of genes, which is the topic of my masterpiece and which I will elaborate on in future posts.

HUXLEY'S BRAVE NEW WORLD

After watching the interview between Mike Wallace and Aldous Huxley, I have a lot more respect for Huxley and what he must have faced in regard to public opinion about his idea of what society could be like in the future in Brave New World.  During the interview, Mike Wallace's tone when he asked some of his questions was skeptical when Aldous Huxley warned against our uses of technology.  It changed my perspective on the novel because I fully realized how radical Aldous Huxley's concept of a future society was in Brave New World.

Resource(s) of the Day (AP Physics)

We are covering a challenging unit in physics class right now, so each student in the class came up with two resources that help to explain and clarify some of the confusing and closely interrelated terms.  Here are mine:

A video by Derek Owens on electric potential and potential difference, he has some great videos that explain physics concepts and give examples.  The link is to one of a couple of videos he has that teach electric potential and voltage.

An AP Central CollegeBoard document that discusses electrostatics.  Electric potential energy and electric potential are explained starting on page 13.

One (Wo)Man's Trash Is Another (Wo)Man's Treasure #2

This is the second post where I have focused on the re-purposing of unwanted materials or trash into useful items. Here is the first post.

I can't remember how I stumbled upon this, but this blog mentioned a jeweler named Margaux Lange who uses salvaged Barbie doll parts to create her jewelry! I have to say it's not my style, but I think that it's really interesting and creative. Check out Margaux Lange's website here to see her Barbie jewelry in the form of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, and brooches!  Meanwhile, here are some sample pictures of her jewelry:

SUPER 5

Look what I found still as a draft...Whoops.

So far, here are the five resources for my masterpiece that I have discovered:

1) This Stanford research about possible new treatments for pain using light.  This will contribute to the list I am compiling of some of the important past accomplishments and present research in genetics.

2) I found a type of genetic counselor here in this town! Maybe I can ask him about his occupation and see if this could be a career I am interested in pursuing with my interest in genetics.

3) This is a guest speaker that I met at the summer program I attended last summer.  He was researching the gene responsible for height in mice to see if he could relate its location to the location of the gene responsible for height in humans.

4) This is a genetics journal website that has a lot of information about the ongoing or completed research of many geneticists.  It's an excellent site for the list I am compiling of some of the important past accomplishments and present research in genetics.

5) This website contains a lot of information about genetics, including the location of certain genes, a listing of genetic disorders, and types of genetic testing.  This will definitely help with my research for my masterpiece by providing a lot of general information I can use and learn from.

10 QUESTIONS

This is the part of my masterpiece that I am unsure about, but here goes:

1) What interests you the most about genetics?

2) What do you think is the most important accomplishment the study of genetics has made so far?

3) What possible careers are there for someone interested in genetics?

4) What is the best piece of advice you have for someone for pursuing a career in genetics?

5) What does a typical day in your profession entail?

6) Where do you think the role of genetics in society and the world will be in ten years? Twenty?

7) Are you doing any particular research right now? If yes, on what?

8) Did you consider any other courses of study besides genetics in undergraduate and graduate college?

9) What is one downside to your work with genetics, or the career you chose in general?

10) Do you believe that gene therapy will cure all types of cancer one day?

BENCHMARK

Last summer I attended a math and science summer program at the University of Michigan to discover more about regenerative medicine.  Instead, I became intrigued by genetics.

If I am considering pursuing a career in genetics, I need to know what types of careers are out there in the field of genetics.  That is the main topic of my masterpiece: what a future with a passion for genetics may hold as well as a look at what genetics has already achieved.  I actually just recently wrote an essay for a

BRAVE NEW WORLD ENDING (REMIX)

My interpretation of the ending of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley/my reaction through images.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS #2

1.  I read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.  In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Jurgis and his family are a group of Lithuanian immigrants who travel to America in the early 1900's to fulfill the American Dream, only to find...

MY TEAM

Today in class, I brainstormed a lot with my group.  I made a team of Melissa, Rachel, Rebecca, and Miki, when she returns to school. We talked about each of our masterpieces, after discussing some of the literary terms like imagery and foreshadowing that were in chapters 6 and 7 of Brave New World, for some time.

LAUNCH

Ever since I attended a math and science summer program at the University of Michigan this past summer, I have been fascinated by genetics.  Genetics is a growing new field in the sciences that is producing significant and helpful results.  I want to know, however, if this could be the future that I want.  I know that I may not know for certain at this point what I want to do with my life because I might discover something new in college, but I would also like to learn, and to teach to my classmates, the role that genetics and the ongoing research with it has in the world.  For example, just recently, I read an article from my mom's Brown

I, JURY

It was interesting to see different interpretations of the topic that I had found an brainstormed on as well as of the topic that I did my essay on.  Reading Micaela Hellman's essay, I realized that I forgot to include direct examples from the text in the form of quotes.  I definitely need to work on that for the next essay.  In addition, I read Jake Hoffman's essay where I discovered that he had a similar take on one of the reasons why Huxley may have written the book, which I wrote about in my conclusion paragraph.  Lastly, I also enjoyed reading Colter's interpretation that Bernard was a light in the darkness of the society created by Huxley in Brave New World.  Overall, I noticed that the people whose essays I read had very distinct styles of writing.  Of course, there are always a couple of grammar mistakes and awkward sentences, but for the most part, the examples and supporting facts as well as the thesis were very clearly incorporated and explicated.

BRAVE NEW ESSAY

I chose to do the AP essay topic that Rebecca found for Brave New World:

Many people want to be part of the majority; they desire to be like everybody else in order to be socially accepted.  In Brave New World, the author Aldous Huxley creates a society in the future where people are divided into social castes, such as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon, before they are even born and conditioned to enjoy a particular lifestyle according to their predestined occupation in society.  The social norms include a hate of nature outside of the city and an inclination towards erotic activities, short, non-romantic relationships, and the drug soma which provides a sense of euphoria if people are feeling miserable with their monotonous lives or simply feeling the slightest bit of discomfort.  However, in the novel, the character Bernard Marx, who specializes in the sleep-teaching conditioning that molds children into the type of adults that society needs, starts to become disillusioned from the superficial happiness of the people around him.  He is conflicted, though, with becoming a complete social outcast because he wants to win the heart of Lenina Crowne, a woman who is supposed to be the epitome of the female role in the society.

BRAVE NEW ESSAY TOPIC

Here is one of the AP essay topics from 2012 that could apply to the first few chapters of Brave New World:

"And after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny, or any supernatural agency."

- Pauline Hopkins, Contending Forces

Choose a novel or play in which cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings shape psychological or moral traits in a character. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how surroundings affect this character and illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole.  Do not merely summarize the plot.

I AM HERE

This past grading period, I have delved into the structure and various interpretations of the texts of Great Expectations, Catch-22, and the first few chapters of Brave New World.  I have even recently identified the concept of a catch-22 in a couple of different real life examples.  As for my senior project, I have slowly been forming it in my head.  It will definitely have something to do with science since that is the path I want to take for my future.  I actually wanted to base it off science before we started reading Brave New World, whose storyline revolves around scientific techniques that attempt to create a perfect society.  I think for part of my project I want to focus on the good that science has done in the world because I feel that some movies and TV shows nowadays have developed a stigma that scientists go too far during experiments or research and something bizarre or life-threatening occurs.  I want to show the real work and help that science has given the world.

WELCOME TO THE INTERDISCIPLINARY

As cliché as it might sound, nothing in the world exists due to one discipline.  A sunset, for example, is known for its beauty and it's array of colors, but what forms these colors in the first place.  A scientific explanation may pertain to the sunset, but sunsets can also be seen in artwork and photographs, or even on how they affect the minds of people in that people find them so entrancing.  Genetics is also interdisciplinary. Knowledge of the sciences, such as biology and chemistry, is necessary as well as collaboration between research scientists in order to produce results more quickly.  Even with today's technology, the ability to identify patterns and a high attention to detail should be developed.

HAFTA/WANNA

My academic learning during high school is structured and limited, while I see college as an opportunity to explore the many different classes and extracurricular activities that colleges offer.  Taking college classes will be different from high school classes in that my schedule may be different one day than the day before. I also think I will be a little different in college.  I could see myself becoming more outgoing because I will need to make a new community of friends, whereas now I already have a great community of friends and I haven't had the need to try and make more.  College will challenge me both academically and socially, and I am hoping to rise to the task.  I think I will be a somewhat different person, but my core values and some of my routines may stay the same.

The Nose

1.  Ivan Yakovlevich is a barber.  He shaves beards and cuts hair for a living.

2.  While he is eating breakfast, Ivan finds a human nose in the middle of his loaf of bread.

3.  Ivan's wife thinks that he pulled the nose off of one of his clients because she has heard them complain about how Ivan pulls at their nose when he shaves their face.  She orders Ivan to get rid of the nose because she doesn't want the police in her house.

4.  Ivan sets out from his home with the nose in a cloth to throw it away or hide it in the street somewhere.  However, he keeps running into people he knows who ask him where he is off to, and when he tosses the nose on the ground, a policeman points out that he's dropped something.  Ivan finally decides to toss the nose over a bridge and into a river, but when he does so, he is questioned by a police officer at the other side of the bridge.

5.  The fact that Ivan's happiness over disposing of the nose in the river illustrates that happiness in Ivan's life and in that society was ephemeral and a rare occurrence.  This theme is further shown when Major Kovalyov gets his nose returned to him.  His happiness and excitement is explained to last only a short two minutes for he realizes that he can't put the nose back on his face.

6.  The nose belongs on the face of Major, or Collegiate Assessor, Kovalyov.  He doesn't know how it left his face; he just woke up one morning and it was gone.  Major Kovalyov finally saw it in town wearing a uniform representing a better respected occupation than Major Kovalyov and praying in a cathedral, but the nose claims to know nothing about being the Major's nose and leaves.  Major Kovalyov tries to put an advertisement in the newspaper with a reward for the person who finds his nose first, but the clerk refuses his request because it could damage the newspaper's reputation.  Major Kovalyov then tries to put the Inspector of Police in the case but he wants to take a nap and refuses.  Major Kovalyov returns home where later that night, the same policeman on the bridge at the beginning of the story calls at his home and returns the nose that he caught Ivan throwing off of the bridge.  Major Kovalyov tries to out the nose back on, but it won't stay so he calls a nearby doctor.  The doctor says that  anything he does will only make it look worse, despite Major Kovalyov's objections, and leaves.  In the end, Major Kovalyov wakes up one morning and his nose is back in its rightful place and no one seems to notice, except for Ivan, that it was gone in the first place.

LIT TERMS #6

simile: figure of speech that compares one thing with another thing to form a more detailed description

soliloquy: a speech by one character that exemplifies their innermost thoughts and feelings

spiritual: a religious song

speaker: the narrator that tells the story or explains the plot to the reader, but most of the time without addressing the reader directly

stereotype: a widely held over-generalization of a specific group of ideas or people

stream of consciousness: a style of writing that illustrates the natural flow of thoughts and ideas of the narrator

structure: the arrangement of elements in a work of literature

style: the way an author uses language in a work of literature; a work of literature, art, or music that has characteristics typical of a certain time period or movement in the arts

subordination: the action of perceiving something as inferior to something else

surrealism: a literary movement that focuses on the irrational and and the potential of the mind

suspension of disbelief: the act of the reader suspending doubts until later in the story

symbol: something that represents or stands for something else

synesthesia: stimulating a sense that is mixed with another sense

synecdoche: where a part represents a whole thing or idea

syntax: how words are arranged in a work of literature

theme: the main message or topic of a piece of literature

thesis: a statement that is to be supported or proven in a written work

tone: the attitude given off by a piece of literature or art

tongue in cheek: type of humor; something that's ironic

tragedy: a play or other work of literature with an unhappy or tragic ending and plot

understatement: saying something is less important than it actually is for emphasis

vernacular: use of everyday, common, informal language

voice: the speaker of a piece of literature; who sets the tone for a piece of literature 

zeitgeist: the spirit or defining tone of a certain period of time 

LIT TERMS #5

parallelism: the sentence structure where two or more parts of a sentence are given similar form for emphasis

parody: an imitation or mock of a well-known piece of literature or art

pathos: emotional appeal to the reader or audience

pedantry: a presentation of learning for learning itself;

personification: giving inanimate objects or abstract ideas human or life characteristics/actions

plot: the structure or plan of a work

poignant: evoking sadness

point of view: the perspective from which the audience or reader comprehends a work

postmodernism: genre of literature with the characteristics of experimentation, radical forms of structure, and a fuzzy distinction between fiction and reality

prose: language without a rhyming pattern; normal, spoken language

protagonist: usually the central character of a work; must go against the antagonist

pun: a play on words

purpose: the intended effect of a work; what the author wants to establish in the reader

realism: a style of literature that attempts to depict real life

refrain: a repeated phrase in a poem or song

requiem: a song or work of literature to honor or commiserate the dead

resolution: the part if the plot after the climax that resolves the conflict

restatement: an idea that is repeated for emphasis

rhetoric: persuasive language that uses certain techniques to fulfill its purpose

rhetorical question: a rhetorical technique; a question that doesn't require an answer because the answer can be inferred from the question or context

rising action: the part of the plot leading up to the climax; may introduce the conflict

romanticism: style of literature where imaginations and emotions are valued over structure and reason

satire: makes fun of the weaknesses or wrongdoings of an idea, a company, an organization, a person, etc.

scansion: analyzes the meter, or rhythm, of a verse

setting: the time and place where a story takes place

One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

Check out this amazing and inspirational video I found about the Landfillharmonic.

THE TIME OF MY LIFE

At the start of class today, I read the journal topic and started brainstorming in the journal entry what I could do with the period so that it would benefit my education and improve my understanding of the two Dickens novels, The Tale of  Two Cities and Great Expectations.  In the middle of my entry, Daniel was asking who had read Great Expectations so that they could explain the main plot of the book to him so he could better understand the lecture that Dr. Preston gave in class yesterday and months before.  I needed to know more about The Tale of Two Cities, since I had read Great Expectations instead, so we came up with the solution that the groups who had read one novel would summarize it to the other groups who hadn't and vice versa.  I told him, however, that everyone needed more time to work on the journals.  Once I finished today's journal entry, I finished another entry from the day before that I wasn't able to complete in class. After ten minutes, Daniel and Jake got up in front of the class, and we got the class to quiet down and pay attention as they told us the main story line of The Tale of Two Cities, including characters, theme, and the symbol of the wine, which has a dual meaning of blood as well as wine.  When they had finished, I volunteered to summarize the first half of Great Expectations in front of the class and did so for the next ten minutes, answering any questions the class had, as Daniel and Jake had done before.  Rachel completed the summary of the book, and we made sure to mention the change in the characters. (i.e. how Magwich turns from a criminal into a benefactor due to Pip (bad to good), while Pip turns from a shy boy to an arrogant man (good to bad) due to the money that his benefactor Magwich gives him)  Those plot discussions went on until class ended.

LITERATURE ANALYSIS #1

1.  I read To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.  It was divided into three parts called "The Window," "Time Passes," and "The Lighthouse."  On the surface, the plot is very straightforward, but in the novel, the main events are interlaced with descriptions of multiple philosophical conflicts and solutions in each of the characters.  The story takes place in a summer home on a bay where the Ramsay family stays while entertaining many guests.  In the first part, James Ramsay, the smallest Ramsay child, wants to go to a lighthouse across the bay the next day.  His mother says yes, if the weather permits it.  To this, his father chimes in that the weather won't be fit for sailing tomorrow, crushing James' hope of going to the lighthouse.  Later that same day, Mrs. Ramsay goes to town with "an atheist" named Charles Tansley, who falls slightly in love with her, as do some of the other male guests staying at the home.  In the evening, Mrs. Ramsay poses for a painting for a woman named Lily Briscoe, who does not want to fulfill the conventional female role of the time of marrying and serving to stroke the ego of men.  Mrs. Ramsay also awaits the return of a couple that she matched up because she suspects that they have gotten engaged.  When the group returns, dinner is served and the once distant characters seem to bond with candlelight saving them from the dark uncertainty outside of the house.  Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay's relationship is very strained.  He has a temper, but he also has a side that needs to be sympathized by Mrs. Ramsay for him to achieve complete self-confidence.  The second part of the book condenses ten years into about twenty pages.  The housekeeper Mrs. McNab tries to handle the upkeep when Mrs. Ramsay dies suddenly.  Eventually she can't handle it, and everything becomes overgrown or moldy.  Both of Mrs. Ramsay's two older children, with whom she took pride in their futures, die, one from childbirth complications and the other in World War I.  After ten years, Lily Briscoe and another former guest return to the house.  The third part starts in the morning, as if it is the morning after that dinner in the first part and no time has elapsed.  Lily Briscoe goes out to redo the painting that she had attempted a decade ago, this time succeeding in capturing it to her liking because she has had some distance from it to really understand what she was painting. Meanwhile, Mr. Ramsay takes an older James and his sister out to the Lighthouse, where his children see that he has changed over ten years, and they understand him better than they did ten years before, despising him less.  With this novel, Woolf intended to demonstrate that our perspectives of the world and the people in it can be altered with a little distance, like a decade of processing the personality of a person, as Lily did with Mrs. Ramsay.

Tale Of Two Cities Lecture Notes

WHAT'S THE STORY?

Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations to teach the audience that dreams are bittersweet.  Achieving goals can be sweet from the achievement but disappointing when you achieve the dream itself, whether it is getting accepted to a college or becoming wealthy.  We often will idealize the things we want, building them up beyond their practical worth or enjoyment.  For Pip, becoming a gentleman so that he could be worthy enough to marry Estella was his main purpose after he met Miss Haversham and Estella for the first time.  The tone of the novel, which seems nostalgic and reflective, in the beginning slightly foreshadows dismal prospects for his dreams with quotes like "Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."  It is the negative connotation of the word "bound" in this comment by the narrator, or Pip, that hints a constricting dream or thought that will not be beneficial for the dreamer.  In breaking the fourth wall with that quote, Charles Dickens also has Pip as the narrator admit to the reader that the story they are reading is a reflection by Pip on his life, once again supporting the tone, which exemplifies Dickens' purpose to warn against the enticing dream of wealth because it can corrupt.

LIT TERMS #4

interior monologue: form of writing that reveals the character's inner thoughts and feelings

inversion: words put out of order for emphasis

juxtaposition: placing a word or phrase to contrast another nearby

lyric: a poem in musical form or with musical qualities; an outburst of the author's thoughts/feelings

magic(al) realism: genre that mixes the everyday with marvelous or magical

metaphor: a comparison between two things

extended metaphor: a metaphor developed as long as the author wants it to be

controlling metaphor: a metaphor that runs throughout the entire work

mixed metaphor: a metaphor that blends two or more analogies ineffectively

metonymy: a technique where the name of an attribute of something is used in place of the name of that something

modernism: literary movement of stylistic experimentation and an interest in symbolism and psychology

monologue: an extended speech by a character

mood: the atmosphere evoked by a work of literature

motif: a recurring name, image, or phrase in a work

myth: a story that attempts to explain some of the world's mysteries or marvels

narrative: a story or description of events

narrator: the one who tells the story

naturalism: extreme form of realism

novelette/novella: short story; short prose narrative

omniscient point of view: the narrator knows all things, usually in a third person perspective

onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning

oxymoron: two contradicting words or phrases put together to produce a paradox

pacing: rate of movement; tempo

parable: a story trying to teach the reader a religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth

paradox: a self-contradictory statement that could hold some truth

LIT TERMS #3

exposition: beginning of a story which introduces certain ideas and/or characters with lengthy explanations

expressionism: movement in literature and the arts that focused on unrealistic representations of feelings and ideas

fable: a short story with a moral; usually uses animals as characters

fallacy: false reasoning; a false notion, belief, or argument

falling action: the part of the plot after the climax

farce: a comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue

figurative language: descriptive language using figures of speech such as metaphors and similes

flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to previous events

foil: a person or thing that is opposite to another person to make them seem better or more prominent

folktale: a story passed on by word of mouth

foreshadowing: a device hinting an outcome to a reader, preparing them for what's to come

free verse: verse without a structural pattern

genre: a category or class of literature or the arts, usually with specific themes or characteristics

gothic tale: a style in literature characterized by a gloomy setting, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay or decadence

hyperbole: an exaggeration used to prove a point

imagery: figures of speech and/or vivid description that conveys images through the senses

implication: a meaning left by the author to be interpreted by the reader

incongruity: intentional combining of opposites or elements that are not appropriate to one another

inference: a conclusion drawn from evidence in the text

irony: a contrast between what is said and what is meant or what is expected to happen and what actually happens

LIT TERMS REMIX 1-5

1.)  In Shrek 2, Pinocchio uses circumlocution to avoid telling Prince Charming that he knows where Shrek is since he can't lie or Prince Charming will know.  This occurs in the first 45 seconds of the video.

2.)  Classicism reminds me of the genre of classical music so here is a classical music mix whose melody resembles the definition of classicism.

3.)  Cliched themes or techniques can be found in most medias.  This video gives some great examples of some of the most common movie cliches.

4.)  I think of a book like a mountain.  The rising action is the hard climb to the top, filled with suspense of what is to come at the top of the mountain, the climax.  The hike back down the mountain is much simpler, with fewer problems and returning back to the original spot, a state of normal.  That's why I believe that a climax can be perfectly well symbolized with this picture alone.

5.)  Colloquialisms are pretty common in speech today.  Many colloquialisms can be found in music as this video demonstrates.

LIT TERMS #2

circumlocution:  the use of many words where few would do; sometimes in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive

classicism:  a traditional style of literature, art, or music that is usually graceful and simple with parts that are organized in a pleasing way

cliche:  a trite phrase or expression; a hackneyed theme

climax:  the most exciting and important part of a play or work of literature that occurs usually at or near the end; the high point

colloquialism:  a word or phrase that is used mostly in informal speech

comedy:  a work of literature meant to make people laugh; things that are done and said to make an audience laugh

conflict:  a struggle or problem in a story causing tension

connotation:  implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition

contrast:  one element is thrown into opposition with another for emphasis or clarity

denotation:  dictionary definition

denouement:  loose ends tied up after the climax; ending; conclusion

dialect:  the language specific to a certain region, or class of people

dialectics:  formal debates

dichotomy:  a split or break between two opposing things

diction:  the style of writing demonstrated through word choice

didactic:  instructive; having to do with transmitting information

dogmatic:  rigid in beliefs and principles

elegy:  mournful poem or song for the dead

epic:  long narrative focused around a hero and his feats

epigram:  witty aphorism

epitaph:  a brief inscription on a tombstone

epithet:  an insulting word or phrase following a person's name

euphemism:  the use of a mild word in the place of an offensive or blunt word

evocative:  calling forth memories and sensations

AP PREP POST 1: SIDDHARTHA

1.)  What purpose does self-denial serve in Siddhartha? What about self-indulgence?

See original here.

If I remember correctly from reading the book a couple of years ago, self-denial, most prominent when Siddhartha becomes an ascetic, reminds him that he is living and that he has enough self control to deny himself daily pleasures.  Self-indulgence serves as a protagonist to Siddhartha and his choices as an ascetic.  Self-denial is more important in Siddhartha because it is Siddhartha denying himself any pleasure, even life eventually, that leads him to disillusionment.

2.)  Siddhartha concerns the quest for spiritual enlightenment, and by the end of it four characters have achieved this goal: Govinda, Gotama, Vasudeva, and Siddhartha. Is the enlightenment achieved by each of these characters the same? Why or why not? What distinctions and similarities exist between the paths these characters use to reach their final goal?

See original here.

To answer this question, I would definitely need to reread the entire book and not simply the excerpt on the class blog in order to draw parallels between the journeys of those four characters.

3.)  What does enlightenment look like in Siddhartha? Is it a feeling? An attitude?

See original here.

Enlightenment in Siddhartha is an entire change in his state of mind and how he views the world, as any enlightening experience can be.  For this reason, it is both an icy cold feeling as described in the excerpt, as well as an attitude against returning home and continuing on with the past.  The feelings and the attitude form the basis for Siddhartha's enlightenment.

4.)  If you were the river, would you be enlightenment or would you know enlightenment? In other words, what’s up with the river? What is it’s relation to enlightenment?

See original here.

If I remember correctly, Siddhartha tried to drown himself in the river before reaching a state of enlightenment.  The river knows enlightenment, it isn't enlightenment itself.  Knowing enlightenment is the only way that it could teach Siddhartha (in a personified way), just as knowing what was outside the cave was one of the only ways that the enlightened prisoner in Plato's Allegory of the Cave would want to share with the other prisoners to bring them out of their mental and physical darkness.  If the prisoner was enlightenment in the first place, then he would not teach the others in the cave about the outside world because he wouldn't see the enlightened state as anything out of the ordinary.

5.)  The main purpose of the first-person point of view in the passage, “I am no longer what I was, I am no longer an ascetic, no longer a priest, no longer a Brahmin” is to make clear?

a. The change in Siddhartha’s physical lifestyle, in order to follow his spiritual one
b. Show Siddhartha’s anger at the corruption present in his father’s position
c. Reveal the frustration in Siddhartha’s journey toward enlightenment
d. The views and beliefs of his family and his religion
e. Draw attention toward the excitement that Siddhartha feels now that he has less responsibility

See original here.

My answer is a.  I believe that Siddhartha is ascertaining that he is leaving the past behind due to his new state of enlightenment and so he lists off every physical thing he can think of that represents the abstract concept of his past.

LIT TERMS #1

allegory: a tale in which the characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas; a story that uses symbols to make a point

Ex: Plato's Allegory of the Cave

alliteration:  the repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants  

Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

allusion:  a reference to a person, place, event, or literary work that the reader is expected to recognize

Ex: "Go get her, Romeo."  (refers the romantic Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet)

ambiguity:  something with many open interpretations

Ex: They say that smoking is bad for you.  (who is they?)

anachronism:  something in the wrong place or the wrong time

Ex: Benjamin Franklin listening to an iPod.

analogy:  a comparison between two things to show similarities between them

Ex: "Life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you're gonna get." - Forrest Gump

analysis:  a method where a work or idea is separated into its parts and given detailed scrutiny

Ex: An analysis of a poem includes determining its theme, its meaning, its tone, and the techniques used to write it.

anaphora:  a repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences

Ex: "We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence...we shall defend our island...we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.  We shall never surrender." - Winston Churchill

anecdote:  a very short story used to illustrate a point

Ex: A parable from the Bible

antagonist:  a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative

Ex: The Joker in Batman

antithesis:  a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

Ex: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."  - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

aphorism:  a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life

Ex: "Keep thy shop and thy shop with keep thee."  - Benjamin Franklin

apologia:  a justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action

Ex: Richard Nixon's speech discussing the Watergate Scandal and his resignation.

apostrophe:  a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly

Ex: "Is this a dagger which I see before me,/The handle toward my hand?"  - Macbeth

argument:  the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself

Ex: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."  - Pride and Prejudice

assumption:  the act of supposing, or taking for granted that thing is true

Ex: Of course everyone loves chocolate cake.

audience:  the intended listener or listeners

Ex: Students are the intended audience for textbooks.

characterization:  the means by which a writer reveals a character's personality or appearance

Ex: "His memory was good, and for so young a man he had read largely" - A Passage to India

chiasmus:  a reversal in the order of words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order

Ex: "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live." - Socrates

HACKING MY EDUCATION

     I would like to attend a college where I can receive a liberal arts education.  Even though I am on the math and science career track, a liberal arts education means that I will be continuing on with my education in literature and the humanities despite my major.  For this reason, I will still need to develop a breadth of knowledge of literature and the humanities in high school to prepare my mind for those courses in college and any meaningful and educated discussions about literature that I may have with future colleagues.  My preparation for my math and science major in college is already solid.  However, I need this class to expand my skills in literature, writing, and vocabulary to meet the challenges of college next year.  In my network, I need people who are interested in math and science, but who also realize the importance of a well-rounded education in literature and the humanities as well as guidance from those whose sole focus is literature and the humanities.

What's In This For Me?

     I initially took this class to prepare for the AP Exam at the end of the year for possible credit in college and to challenge myself in a way that I thought the college prep English class wouldn't.  As the year has progressed, however, my purpose for attending this class has shifted to one that stretches beyond college to affect the rest of my life.  I desire to be familiar with the texts that are referenced often in life, whether it is talking about a certain book with a peer in the future or even mastering a question on Jeopardy! under the category British Authors.  Maybe this is too indefinite of a goal, but I aim to attempt attaining it at least in the next semester of this class.  I also want to delve into British poetry.  I love poetry, and I know some American poetry, my favorite poet being Emily Dickinson if you couldn't tell by the poem along the side of this blog, but I want to more familiar with English poetry to see if there are any contrasting and similar styles or themes between the two.