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.