Thank you, blog, for teaching me that as nerdy as a blog may seem, it is immensely capable of spreading knowledge, perspective, wisdom, and wit to anybody with internet access. And a not-too-constrictive political body reading over their shoulder.
Dr. David Preston, the person really responsible for the creation of this blog, gave me a little peek into what a future in a technology-driven world will be like for a student, something I hope to always be, and for the career-making individual.
On a less serious note, here is the link to my final project in AP English Literature.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
I Lied!
I'm not actually going to do a video with my home group (aka The Overachievers) for the senior project. Instead, Ming and I are going to be working on itineraries for noobz. Ming will be planning a trip to Taiwan that she will eventually take herself while making the plan available to other travelers. I'll be doing the same except I'm planning for Paris because that's where I will be starting school in September. *eeeeeppp!*
Here's the General Outline:
1.Airplane ticket:
Here's the General Outline:
1.Airplane ticket:
- requirements to travel
- tips to make and save extra money before and during the trip
- how to be frugal with the ticket purchase itself.
2. Shelter
- Hotel v. Hostel v. couchsurfing
3. Transportation
- buses v. taxis v. trains v.subways
4. Food
- Fine dining v. Eating like a local
- Street food
5. Safety
- pickpockets
- different laws
- health
6. Culture/Etiquette
- tipping and the like
7. Communication
- Language
- Wifi/internet access
Sunday, May 12, 2013
What's Next?
From now to the end of the year I need to have a new goal. At the moment, it's finishing up my senior project with my group and continuing to find resources for learning Mandarin on my own as much as possible.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Streets is ruff
This essay made me think a little more than yesterday's but I'm pretty happy with it.
A character's relationship with environment can be an integral part of the plot due to its ability to drive the plot or shape characterization. In Ann Petry's The Street, the relationship between Lutie Johnson and the city she's in is defined heavily by imagery, figurative language, and personification.
The role of figurative language in the passage is to create an interaction between the people of the city and the city itself. The description of a " barrage of paper" in the passage is significant example of this purpose because that barrage was made of paper that the city's denizens had left. In essence, it was like a part of a cycle where the citizens litter and the city's winds hit them back. The interaction between the wind, Lutie, and the sign is a also a force to move Lutie to find shelter or at least make the search more urgent.
Perhaps the most significant of the device Petry used was personification. Giving the wind fingers and having them cause trouble by pushing bones down the street creates a personality in Lutie's environment which is integral to the complexity of a relationship within a piece of literature. Making the sing's rust appear bloody in the reader's mind is additionally humanizing to the environment, giving the city a history where it has interacted with others and, by comparison, making Lutie's interactions seem more significant.
Imagery in the form of Lutie's presence in this gale defines her character indirectly. However uncomfortable it must feel to have the eyelashes pulled away from the eyeballs by a grimy wind, Lutie persists in her efforts to read the sign rather than ducking inside. The description of her warm serenity being violated by the wind's cold finger additionally prepares, in the mind of the reader,l an established antagonist in the city as if a newcomer appeared to challenge a tyrant.
By creating a visual out of imagery, personification, and figurative language, Petry is able to define not only a character but also her relationship with the setting. These factors introduces a tone of the piece and even hint towards conflict with Lutie's search for shelter. In this way, the relationship between character and setting moves from accessory to a necessary factor in the plot.
Thou Blind Man's Mark
Sorry there's no witty title to accompany this post. I know you all look forward to reading them on cold mornings with your half-caf and buttered toast. Anyway, here's the essay.
In Thou Blind Man's Mark by Sir Philip Sidney, the poem's theme, desire, is ensconced by various poetic devices and techniques that allow the speaker's attitude to be made more complex. Where at the commencement of the poem, desire is characterized as a maleficent force, the speaker eventually describes it a s a weakness of character rather than an external antagonist.
At the outset, Sidney's heavy use of metaphors allows constant direct characterization in which desire is painted as a Pandora's Box. The fact that they all share similar structure emphasizes the author's motion to accumulate many negative qualities in desire.
In addition, the poem's simple rhyme scheme allows for facilitated diffusion from one attitude to the next, each line being connected to another line by rhyme. This, in turn, conveys to the reader the idea that they are evolution of opinion. While the poem moves along with rhyme, the change in opinion of desire follows.
That which creates the most complexity in the speaker's attitude of desire is the shift. While the flow of rhyme goes uninterrupted, the meaning of the lines changes at line five with the introduction of first-person pronouns. This emphasis on the effects of desire which emanate from private decision illustrate the contrasting perspective of the poem's second half. This generates a new portion of the speaker's attitude in regards to desire, improving complexity of the opinion toward desire.
By utilizing such poetic devices as rhyme scheme and shift, Sir Philip Sidney is able to illustrate a multi-tiered opinion of desire. His speaker's change to personal analysis accounts for the largest portion of the complexity, also supported by use of consistent metaphor, structure, and rhyming scheme.
Wow. What a baby essay. Would somebody mind sharing their conclusion paragraph technique because mostly I just summarized :/
In Thou Blind Man's Mark by Sir Philip Sidney, the poem's theme, desire, is ensconced by various poetic devices and techniques that allow the speaker's attitude to be made more complex. Where at the commencement of the poem, desire is characterized as a maleficent force, the speaker eventually describes it a s a weakness of character rather than an external antagonist.
At the outset, Sidney's heavy use of metaphors allows constant direct characterization in which desire is painted as a Pandora's Box. The fact that they all share similar structure emphasizes the author's motion to accumulate many negative qualities in desire.
In addition, the poem's simple rhyme scheme allows for facilitated diffusion from one attitude to the next, each line being connected to another line by rhyme. This, in turn, conveys to the reader the idea that they are evolution of opinion. While the poem moves along with rhyme, the change in opinion of desire follows.
That which creates the most complexity in the speaker's attitude of desire is the shift. While the flow of rhyme goes uninterrupted, the meaning of the lines changes at line five with the introduction of first-person pronouns. This emphasis on the effects of desire which emanate from private decision illustrate the contrasting perspective of the poem's second half. This generates a new portion of the speaker's attitude in regards to desire, improving complexity of the opinion toward desire.
By utilizing such poetic devices as rhyme scheme and shift, Sir Philip Sidney is able to illustrate a multi-tiered opinion of desire. His speaker's change to personal analysis accounts for the largest portion of the complexity, also supported by use of consistent metaphor, structure, and rhyming scheme.
Wow. What a baby essay. Would somebody mind sharing their conclusion paragraph technique because mostly I just summarized :/
Sunday, April 28, 2013
#grownupdecisions
If you're looking for the essays I was supposed to do this weekend, you won't find them because they don't exist. I thought they were a great idea and if circumstances had been different, I would have done them. This, however, was not the case because personal events, college decisions, and a calculus test had other plans for me. I promise I will be ready for the AP test but my grade in Calculus needs more attention right now.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Groupthink
I missed class the day we went over the poetry charts so I was mostly an observer during class today. Once I understood enough of what was going on, however, I was able to jump in and help Sam and Ashley with their understanding of "Marriage a la Mode."
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
SEVENTH READING Y'ALL
I like Poe's flow so I chose a poem by him that I had never read before.
Dreamland in the first read was a dismal place with a dreary landscape, not unlike California's Central Valley. Lots of imagery and a somewhat comfortable rhyming scheme mask the deeper meaning. In the seventh read, it's clear that dreamland is a place of isolation for Poe. He mentions having just arrived there and makes the observations of imagery and before mentioning his departure he makes it clear that if your soul is damned you'll be happy there but if not, then it can seem like the worst place in the nightmare world.
Emily Dickinson is popular so I read A Bird Came Down.
The first read makes it seem childish and a bit like Animal Planet. By the seventh read, however, I felt as if the bird were a person going about their own life and Emily cautiously tried to partake in his life. Then, he flew away. Perhaps like a man Emily Dickinson had loved. Does reading these poems seven times create a meaning out of nothing?
This time I looked for somebody I hadn't heard of. Lemme say that A Corn-Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar was the most moving poem I read today.
First read it sounds like an attempt to bring some scenery to a boring history chapter about American slavery. Then I read it again and noticed the strength of the poem's rhythm and diction. Using educated speech to describe what the " was feeling was a good move because it created a switch of the imagination when you read the lyrics of the slave song in their own accent. As for why it was so moving...I suppose it evoked the sentiment that there are many people who experience the same situations and, because of their own perspectives, their grass must seem a little brittle.
Dreamland in the first read was a dismal place with a dreary landscape, not unlike California's Central Valley. Lots of imagery and a somewhat comfortable rhyming scheme mask the deeper meaning. In the seventh read, it's clear that dreamland is a place of isolation for Poe. He mentions having just arrived there and makes the observations of imagery and before mentioning his departure he makes it clear that if your soul is damned you'll be happy there but if not, then it can seem like the worst place in the nightmare world.
Emily Dickinson is popular so I read A Bird Came Down.
The first read makes it seem childish and a bit like Animal Planet. By the seventh read, however, I felt as if the bird were a person going about their own life and Emily cautiously tried to partake in his life. Then, he flew away. Perhaps like a man Emily Dickinson had loved. Does reading these poems seven times create a meaning out of nothing?
This time I looked for somebody I hadn't heard of. Lemme say that A Corn-Song by Paul Laurence Dunbar was the most moving poem I read today.
First read it sounds like an attempt to bring some scenery to a boring history chapter about American slavery. Then I read it again and noticed the strength of the poem's rhythm and diction. Using educated speech to describe what the " was feeling was a good move because it created a switch of the imagination when you read the lyrics of the slave song in their own accent. As for why it was so moving...I suppose it evoked the sentiment that there are many people who experience the same situations and, because of their own perspectives, their grass must seem a little brittle.
Reeling Guts and Little Glory
If there are any crickets out there, please abstain from chirping for the remainder of this post.
The last few months have been the most novela-like out of my seemingly scripted existence. Really though, if college doesn't work out I'm gonna write for Telemundo or some creepy little fanfic forum, it's that bad (just ask my calculus grade).
But I'm not a punk. Maybe I used to be but I won't be anymore. If you see me being one, feel free to creatively insult me so that we both benefit from the experience.
Thank you and I promise(the crickets and myself). #performativeutterance
The last few months have been the most novela-like out of my seemingly scripted existence. Really though, if college doesn't work out I'm gonna write for Telemundo or some creepy little fanfic forum, it's that bad (just ask my calculus grade).
But I'm not a punk. Maybe I used to be but I won't be anymore. If you see me being one, feel free to creatively insult me so that we both benefit from the experience.
Thank you and I promise(the crickets and myself). #performativeutterance
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Brave New World Essay Draft One
After school ich werde schlafen. I said this as I sat in my bed this morning contemplating the demise of my alarm clock. Alas, no rest for the wicked and here goes nothing....Really nothing.
Oliver Twist, Pinocchio, and Galileo. All names of celebrated outcasts of history. Through their persecution, their punishers' values and assumptions were exposed. A boy without a family is no good to society. A boy is worthless if he isn't a real boy at all. If you try to prove the church wrong, they will be offended and denounce your name. Similarly, John of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a pariah with experience to heed. His upbringing as the shame of his "city-slicker" mother and the outsider child of a tribal village create a perspective through which the two fictional societies of savages and a world government can be effectively compared based on the ideals they value.
The most natural effect of John's social isolation is the irregularity of his emotional capacity. Although he was exposed to the indifference his mother treated intimate contact with, John's romanticized concept of a relationship, due to his education in Shakespeare and the monogamous culture of the tribe he was raised in, lead him to deny his own carnal desires and grow attached to his mother. His refusal to accept the advances of Lenina or the death of his mother were comparatively pious in relation to the norms of the Brave New World where erotic play and promiscuity are encouraged beginning in early childhood.
The product of John's socially unacceptable emotions is a confusion and depression he escapes through self-inflicted abuse and isolation. When John begins life yet again, alone in the countryside, he whips himself, a process reminiscent of the tribal ritual he was denied. In comparison, the citizens of the brave new world indulge in doses of soma to avoid any emotion they are uncomfortable with (that very discomfort originating from hypnopaedia).
In addition to John's quixotic self-improvement practices is his servile personality. Although he had been an outcast at the reservation in New Mexico, his loyalty still belonged to its people, offering himself as sacrifice for the rain that would ensure the community's survival. Devoting your person to the good of the community is clearly traduced by its conforming members when the incident of Linda's sexual practices within the reservation is considered. While the community never wanted either of them, they were not expected nor treated as if they should participate in its improvement. Similarly, when John attempted to liberate the people of the brave new world from the influences of soma after the death of his mother he was greeted with opposition. In effect, the conclusion to derive from the government's reaction is that individuality, a trait which soma allays through solidarity services and orgy-porgies, is detrimental to any overarching organization and consistency characteristic of a socialist society.
Oliver Twist, Pinocchio, and Galileo. All names of celebrated outcasts of history. Through their persecution, their punishers' values and assumptions were exposed. A boy without a family is no good to society. A boy is worthless if he isn't a real boy at all. If you try to prove the church wrong, they will be offended and denounce your name. Similarly, John of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a pariah with experience to heed. His upbringing as the shame of his "city-slicker" mother and the outsider child of a tribal village create a perspective through which the two fictional societies of savages and a world government can be effectively compared based on the ideals they value.
The most natural effect of John's social isolation is the irregularity of his emotional capacity. Although he was exposed to the indifference his mother treated intimate contact with, John's romanticized concept of a relationship, due to his education in Shakespeare and the monogamous culture of the tribe he was raised in, lead him to deny his own carnal desires and grow attached to his mother. His refusal to accept the advances of Lenina or the death of his mother were comparatively pious in relation to the norms of the Brave New World where erotic play and promiscuity are encouraged beginning in early childhood.
The product of John's socially unacceptable emotions is a confusion and depression he escapes through self-inflicted abuse and isolation. When John begins life yet again, alone in the countryside, he whips himself, a process reminiscent of the tribal ritual he was denied. In comparison, the citizens of the brave new world indulge in doses of soma to avoid any emotion they are uncomfortable with (that very discomfort originating from hypnopaedia).
In addition to John's quixotic self-improvement practices is his servile personality. Although he had been an outcast at the reservation in New Mexico, his loyalty still belonged to its people, offering himself as sacrifice for the rain that would ensure the community's survival. Devoting your person to the good of the community is clearly traduced by its conforming members when the incident of Linda's sexual practices within the reservation is considered. While the community never wanted either of them, they were not expected nor treated as if they should participate in its improvement. Similarly, when John attempted to liberate the people of the brave new world from the influences of soma after the death of his mother he was greeted with opposition. In effect, the conclusion to derive from the government's reaction is that individuality, a trait which soma allays through solidarity services and orgy-porgies, is detrimental to any overarching organization and consistency characteristic of a socialist society.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Aldous Huxley, Soothsayer Extraordinaire
While watching this video of an interview with Aldous Huxley by Mark Wallace, I took notes. They were really standard and I only paraphrased what was said. Nevertheless, the bees living in the beehive that is my brain crawled out of their honey hot tubs and pollen picnics to decipher and collect all the good bits of the dialogue. What I wrote afterward made me proud. So proud, in fact, that I decided to copy-pasta my comment here(with a few choice edits).
Over twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union and its tyrannic, misanthropic infrastructure, there still exist arguments that the world, or rather its human population, has fallen prey to the dictatorial society of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
In his 1958 interview with Mark Wallace, the political and social zeitgeist of the period foster direct comparisons between Huxley's fictional society and that of the Soviets or Communist China. He notes two main impersonal forces of freedom diminishment: overpopulation and hyper-organization. Essentially, these factors persuaded and prepared the populations of the communist societies to welcome a political regime devoted to increased productivity and removal of consent from the governed, just as the government of the Brave New World had accomplished through express deification of Ford and the assembly line. Huxley also stated that the devices such societies will use to achieve this goal are propaganda, terror, and "a chicken in every pot." Just as soma is consumed under suggestion of the government to increase happiness, the communists promised their public enough to eat and fair labor.
Re-analyzing today's society presents similar conditions to fear. There are certainly more assembly line industries, including those we buy our food from and more people use drugs than in the 1950's. Are we in a position to deny that we have avoided the Brave New World? Considering the frequency and intensity of the aforementioned devices' of individual restraint use, we have moved closer towards a puppet society. The natural human desire for power stands timeless and the technology, as Huxley warned in the video, seems to be passing us by. Soon, or perhaps now(in secret), 3-D printers will be used to create anything from writing utensils to weapons. Coping with the unemployment and resource consumption such a revolutionary technological development would cause appears to draw closer the likelihood of the Brave New World as well as a curtain on the final showing of individual thought.
Over twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union and its tyrannic, misanthropic infrastructure, there still exist arguments that the world, or rather its human population, has fallen prey to the dictatorial society of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
In his 1958 interview with Mark Wallace, the political and social zeitgeist of the period foster direct comparisons between Huxley's fictional society and that of the Soviets or Communist China. He notes two main impersonal forces of freedom diminishment: overpopulation and hyper-organization. Essentially, these factors persuaded and prepared the populations of the communist societies to welcome a political regime devoted to increased productivity and removal of consent from the governed, just as the government of the Brave New World had accomplished through express deification of Ford and the assembly line. Huxley also stated that the devices such societies will use to achieve this goal are propaganda, terror, and "a chicken in every pot." Just as soma is consumed under suggestion of the government to increase happiness, the communists promised their public enough to eat and fair labor.
Re-analyzing today's society presents similar conditions to fear. There are certainly more assembly line industries, including those we buy our food from and more people use drugs than in the 1950's. Are we in a position to deny that we have avoided the Brave New World? Considering the frequency and intensity of the aforementioned devices' of individual restraint use, we have moved closer towards a puppet society. The natural human desire for power stands timeless and the technology, as Huxley warned in the video, seems to be passing us by. Soon, or perhaps now(in secret), 3-D printers will be used to create anything from writing utensils to weapons. Coping with the unemployment and resource consumption such a revolutionary technological development would cause appears to draw closer the likelihood of the Brave New World as well as a curtain on the final showing of individual thought.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
5phynxing
I got got by Feli, Ming, and Isiah. They planned it while I was sitting next to them obliviously.
The Prompt
und mein Kampf
But I got them back!
FIRST QUARTER REVIEW
The first quarter of the last semester of high school. The only thing to say is I've had no time and I can't say I can account for it. These weeks have been a blur. At this point, the only class I feel I should be physically present for is calculus cuz my brain swims(drowns, rather) in there. The first two days of working on the senior project saw some intense planning. I imagine that's how it feels to write for a sitcom. A good one, though. Not Big Bang Theory or anything Tyler Perry.
I was under the belief that our Big Questions would be something presented in class and tackled cooperatively. I guess I can just include the answers to my BQ in my extraneous blog material. *pinches reader's cheek* *old lady voice* Would you like that? Huh? Yes you would! Yes you would! Whozagooboy?! *end old lady voice...or continue. I don't really care.*
Next quarter I expect to be more capable of managing my time now that I've realized I'm just walking in a groove. And not even the fun kind.
NO MORE Shakespeare. What more is there to see? Right now we don't need to see any more of his work. It would be more valuable to move onto a new period or learn how the zeitgeist of a piece would influence it. The only way you will get me agree to reading more Shakespeare is if we build a shrine to him in the center of the class and make sacrifices of his competitor's literature. What's that? No competitors! We know that already and how much of a literary genius he was. But he's gone and following him, albeit at a distance, is the time between now and the AP test.
Thanks for reading.
I was under the belief that our Big Questions would be something presented in class and tackled cooperatively. I guess I can just include the answers to my BQ in my extraneous blog material. *pinches reader's cheek* *old lady voice* Would you like that? Huh? Yes you would! Yes you would! Whozagooboy?! *end old lady voice...or continue. I don't really care.*
Next quarter I expect to be more capable of managing my time now that I've realized I'm just walking in a groove. And not even the fun kind.
NO MORE Shakespeare. What more is there to see? Right now we don't need to see any more of his work. It would be more valuable to move onto a new period or learn how the zeitgeist of a piece would influence it. The only way you will get me agree to reading more Shakespeare is if we build a shrine to him in the center of the class and make sacrifices of his competitor's literature. What's that? No competitors! We know that already and how much of a literary genius he was. But he's gone and following him, albeit at a distance, is the time between now and the AP test.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Best of Blogs: Numbah One
This is a disclaimer about how I rated my peers' blogs: For the most part this clump-style rating was based on contents' existence. I admit, however, that the scores were influenced by how much I like the people the writing styles and my interest in the extraneous material. Also, they are alphabetical within their categories.
Top Dogs, Cream of the Crop, Go-getters, Independent Womenz:
Their blogs are killer (in every sense of the word.jk) because of how much they care about the writing and the quality of their creations. *applause, hooplah, and the rest*
Ming Chen : She must be a machine because her blog has always got it goin' on.
Samantha Garrison: A blog where the thought process and true sentiments of its creator can be revealed.
Valerie Gonzalez: Dedicated, creative, and well thought-out
Isiah Mabansag: Silent but violent. I knew I had stumbled upon an unspoiled gem when I found this blog.
Josh Ng: If this blog were to develop sentience (something I won't entirely rule out), I am certain it could get a five on the AP exam.
Diamonds in the Rough:
Blogs who could be awesome if there were more flavor. All the content is there, though, which is stellar.
Reed Conforti
Danielle Galindo
Travis Knight (Special mention for having the best lit terms I've seen. They're simple but you can tell that real thoughts have been thunk.)
Felicitas Ruiz
Chanizzle Yamagizzle
That'll do, Pig:
None of you are pigs but that quote resonates in my mind and I like to use it anytime it's pertinent.
Cassidy Ashlock
Brittany Cunningham
Sebastian Guillen
Megan Hardisty
Alicia Hernandez
Ryunhee Kim
Abby Kuhlman
Alex Lane
Bailey Nelson
Nathan Oh
Matthew Patel: If I had a better upkeep, I would give myself a better score.
Troy Prober
Brady Redman: This is me publicly appreciating that your user image is a stock picture of a koala.
Jason Reinwald
Erika Snell
Justin Thompson
Devon Tomooka
Tanner Tuttle
Dulce Vargas
Ashley Wilburn
You'll Get it Someday:
I was gonna call this category "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" but then I noticed that that was mean and that I already know they are as smart as me. My only question for these bloggers is whether they apply themselves.
Kristofer Green
Carly Koertge
Karianne LaPlante
Conner Patzman
Top Dogs, Cream of the Crop, Go-getters, Independent Womenz:
Their blogs are killer (in every sense of the word.jk) because of how much they care about the writing and the quality of their creations. *applause, hooplah, and the rest*
Ming Chen : She must be a machine because her blog has always got it goin' on.
Samantha Garrison: A blog where the thought process and true sentiments of its creator can be revealed.
Valerie Gonzalez: Dedicated, creative, and well thought-out
Isiah Mabansag: Silent but violent. I knew I had stumbled upon an unspoiled gem when I found this blog.
Josh Ng: If this blog were to develop sentience (something I won't entirely rule out), I am certain it could get a five on the AP exam.
Diamonds in the Rough:
Blogs who could be awesome if there were more flavor. All the content is there, though, which is stellar.
Reed Conforti
Danielle Galindo
Travis Knight (Special mention for having the best lit terms I've seen. They're simple but you can tell that real thoughts have been thunk.)
Felicitas Ruiz
Chanizzle Yamagizzle
That'll do, Pig:
None of you are pigs but that quote resonates in my mind and I like to use it anytime it's pertinent.
Cassidy Ashlock
Brittany Cunningham
Sebastian Guillen
Megan Hardisty
Alicia Hernandez
Ryunhee Kim
Abby Kuhlman
Alex Lane
Bailey Nelson
Nathan Oh
Matthew Patel: If I had a better upkeep, I would give myself a better score.
Troy Prober
Brady Redman: This is me publicly appreciating that your user image is a stock picture of a koala.
Jason Reinwald
Erika Snell
Justin Thompson
Devon Tomooka
Tanner Tuttle
Dulce Vargas
Ashley Wilburn
You'll Get it Someday:
I was gonna call this category "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" but then I noticed that that was mean and that I already know they are as smart as me. My only question for these bloggers is whether they apply themselves.
Kristofer Green
Carly Koertge
Karianne LaPlante
Conner Patzman
Here I Am. Rock You Like a Hurricane.
The past few weeks have been the hardest of my high school career #woebegone. They weren't overloaded with work as much as they were chock full of guilt (and maybe a little jelly filling). I've been overwhelmed with the lazy (sic). I fell asleep at 8 p.m. the other day. I'm a slave to temptation at the moment but this is all the complaining I want to do anymore. Esta sopa se me esta enfriando. I want to kick it back into gear now. Never did I ever think I would quote the Navy SEALs but here it is, relevant as ever: The only easy day was yesterday and that's because it's over.
I'm collaborating with my table to get my senior project done and I sincerely believe our project will thebee's knees cat's pajamas.
My SMART goal was to make my blog convey my desire for an international career and as it stands, it's looking pretty domestic. I plan on looking into what steps it takes to get there and share them here so it's apparent that I am staying the course. Maybe emphasize my love for languages a little more. I can translate a good portion of Romantic languages (except Romanian :/ ) and I know a bit of German too. Just an arrogant fyi...
BTW, the guys who wrote and performed Rock You Like a Hurricane were actually German.
I'm collaborating with my table to get my senior project done and I sincerely believe our project will the
My SMART goal was to make my blog convey my desire for an international career and as it stands, it's looking pretty domestic. I plan on looking into what steps it takes to get there and share them here so it's apparent that I am staying the course. Maybe emphasize my love for languages a little more. I can translate a good portion of Romantic languages (except Romanian :/ ) and I know a bit of German too. Just an arrogant fyi...
BTW, the guys who wrote and performed Rock You Like a Hurricane were actually German.
Friday, February 1, 2013
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I was gonna mention that I am amazed at how I can like Fitzgerald's writing so much when I cannot endure Hemingway's despite their friendship. Then, I tried to remember which of his novels I had read and realized I never had. The next book I read will be his. *gavel pounds*
General:
1. This Side of Paradise is a lot like Catcher in the Rye insofar as they revolve around young men who become disenchanted as they come of age. In TSOP, the main character, Amory Blane, is a wealthy boy raised by a free-spirited woman. As he begins preparatory school, we see that Amory considers himself superior to his acquaintances. This regular analysis of class systems is carried throughout the novel. Later, Amory falls in love ( after a history of womanizing) with Rosalind Connage. They're in love for a bit until she decides on a guy with some stability. If the purpose of the novel was to explain how the young man discovers who he is, it did a wonderful job by taking the reader through class comparison, romantic relationship, and friendship.
2. The theme of the novel was that discovering who you are is an experience that must be approached with caution and balanced against the rest of life by maintaining a considerate attitude <3
3. The tone was always severe. Unlike most books I've read, Amory is left to his own thoughts pretty often. That seems like Fitzgerald's style. This also makes for an isolation of character.
General:
1. This Side of Paradise is a lot like Catcher in the Rye insofar as they revolve around young men who become disenchanted as they come of age. In TSOP, the main character, Amory Blane, is a wealthy boy raised by a free-spirited woman. As he begins preparatory school, we see that Amory considers himself superior to his acquaintances. This regular analysis of class systems is carried throughout the novel. Later, Amory falls in love ( after a history of womanizing) with Rosalind Connage. They're in love for a bit until she decides on a guy with some stability. If the purpose of the novel was to explain how the young man discovers who he is, it did a wonderful job by taking the reader through class comparison, romantic relationship, and friendship.
2. The theme of the novel was that discovering who you are is an experience that must be approached with caution and balanced against the rest of life by maintaining a considerate attitude <3
3. The tone was always severe. Unlike most books I've read, Amory is left to his own thoughts pretty often. That seems like Fitzgerald's style. This also makes for an isolation of character.
- "...he wired his mother not to expect him...sat in the train, and thought about himself for thirty-six hours."
- " Tell 'em you're wild and have 'em reform you- go home furious- come back in half an hour- startle'em."
- "... his personality seemed rather a mental thing, and it was not in his power to turn it on and off like a water-faucet."
4. Aphorism: " With people like us, our home is where we are not."
Exemplary of the way Amory was always an observer. He's a teenage boy trying to figure where he goes in the world and so many can relate to that lack of a sense of belonging.
Foreshadowing: " A few years later this was to be a great stage for Amory, a cradle for many an emotional crisis."
The best part of this quote was how it showed a future Amory who despite being older, was assured to make mistakes common to his teenage years.
Evocation: " Many nights he lay there dreaming awake of secret cafes in Mont Martre, where ivory women delved in romantic mysteries with diplomats and soldiers of fortune, while orchestras played Hungarian waltzes and the air was thick and exotic with intrigue and moonlight and adventure."
Me too, kid. Me too. This quote shows how Amory could think of such an intricate world despite never having known it because it was an expectation he hoped for the future to become.
Anecdote: " However, four hours out from land, Italy bound, with Beatrice, his appendix burst, probably from too many meals in bed, and after a series of frantic telegrams to Europe and America, to the amazement of the passengers the great ship slowly wheeled around and returned to New York to deposit Amory at the pier."
This anecdote says, "Look at me. I've had wealth and influence in my past and I expect things to happen for me."
Personification: " She was conscious that they were a handsome pair, and they seemed to belong distinctively in this seclusion, while lesser lights fluttered and chattered down-stairs."
This excerpt addresses Amory and the girl he's with at the moment as bright and handsome lights. By interpreting that idea through personification, one can see that they have potential as clever and socially adept people who believe themselves to belong in the upper echelons of society.
Imagery: " At first Amory noticed only the wealth of sunshine creeping across the long, green swards, dancing on the leaded windowpanes, and swimming around the tops of spires and towers and battlemented walls. Gradually he realized that he was really walking up University Place, self-conscious about his suitcase, developing a new tendency to glare straight ahead when he passed any one."
By describing the grandeur of Amory's new setting with such extravagance, we feel the insecurity of feeling out of place.
Pathos: " He stretched out his arms to the crystalline, radiant sky. ' I know myself,' he cried, ' but that is all.'"
Despite the simplicity of this excerpt, it bears the weight of an idea borne on the shoulders of many. An idea that oftentimes is never removed.
Pedantry: " Amory had grown up to a thousand books , a thousand lies; he had listened eagerly to people who pretended to know, who knew nothing. The mystical reveries of saints that had once filled him with awe in the still hours of night, now vaguely repelled him."
At this point, the narrator states an observation of what I imagine every young person eventually realizes. The people we thought of as adults are really people who we know to have experience, not necessarily the key to living life the right way, but a perspective as to how life really works.
Pacing: " For this is wisdom-to love and live, To take what fate or the gods may give, To ask no questioin, to make no prayer, To kiss the lips and caress the hair, Speed passion's ebb as we greet its flow, To have and to hold, and, in time-let go."
This is the point in the plot where Rosalind is explaining that she loves him too much to live their poor life and become mean. Here is where we notice that life is no longer a slate that Amory can just wipe clean. I imagine Fitzgerald's own tumultuous was influential in the development of this relationship.
Characterization:
1.Direct: In this book, the question of class is addressed with direct characterization.
Indirect: When characterization is indirect, an interpretation similar to realistic processes brings the reader to understand Amory's situation.
Exemplary of the way Amory was always an observer. He's a teenage boy trying to figure where he goes in the world and so many can relate to that lack of a sense of belonging.
Foreshadowing: " A few years later this was to be a great stage for Amory, a cradle for many an emotional crisis."
The best part of this quote was how it showed a future Amory who despite being older, was assured to make mistakes common to his teenage years.
Evocation: " Many nights he lay there dreaming awake of secret cafes in Mont Martre, where ivory women delved in romantic mysteries with diplomats and soldiers of fortune, while orchestras played Hungarian waltzes and the air was thick and exotic with intrigue and moonlight and adventure."
Me too, kid. Me too. This quote shows how Amory could think of such an intricate world despite never having known it because it was an expectation he hoped for the future to become.
Anecdote: " However, four hours out from land, Italy bound, with Beatrice, his appendix burst, probably from too many meals in bed, and after a series of frantic telegrams to Europe and America, to the amazement of the passengers the great ship slowly wheeled around and returned to New York to deposit Amory at the pier."
This anecdote says, "Look at me. I've had wealth and influence in my past and I expect things to happen for me."
Personification: " She was conscious that they were a handsome pair, and they seemed to belong distinctively in this seclusion, while lesser lights fluttered and chattered down-stairs."
This excerpt addresses Amory and the girl he's with at the moment as bright and handsome lights. By interpreting that idea through personification, one can see that they have potential as clever and socially adept people who believe themselves to belong in the upper echelons of society.
Imagery: " At first Amory noticed only the wealth of sunshine creeping across the long, green swards, dancing on the leaded windowpanes, and swimming around the tops of spires and towers and battlemented walls. Gradually he realized that he was really walking up University Place, self-conscious about his suitcase, developing a new tendency to glare straight ahead when he passed any one."
By describing the grandeur of Amory's new setting with such extravagance, we feel the insecurity of feeling out of place.
Pathos: " He stretched out his arms to the crystalline, radiant sky. ' I know myself,' he cried, ' but that is all.'"
Despite the simplicity of this excerpt, it bears the weight of an idea borne on the shoulders of many. An idea that oftentimes is never removed.
Pedantry: " Amory had grown up to a thousand books , a thousand lies; he had listened eagerly to people who pretended to know, who knew nothing. The mystical reveries of saints that had once filled him with awe in the still hours of night, now vaguely repelled him."
At this point, the narrator states an observation of what I imagine every young person eventually realizes. The people we thought of as adults are really people who we know to have experience, not necessarily the key to living life the right way, but a perspective as to how life really works.
Pacing: " For this is wisdom-to love and live, To take what fate or the gods may give, To ask no questioin, to make no prayer, To kiss the lips and caress the hair, Speed passion's ebb as we greet its flow, To have and to hold, and, in time-let go."
This is the point in the plot where Rosalind is explaining that she loves him too much to live their poor life and become mean. Here is where we notice that life is no longer a slate that Amory can just wipe clean. I imagine Fitzgerald's own tumultuous was influential in the development of this relationship.
Characterization:
1.Direct: In this book, the question of class is addressed with direct characterization.
- " In consequence, Stephen Blaine handed down to posterity his height of just under six feet and his tendency to waver at crucial moments, these two abstractions appearing in his son Amory."
- " Children adored him because he was like a child; youth revelled in his company because he was still a youth, and couldn't be shocked."
Indirect: When characterization is indirect, an interpretation similar to realistic processes brings the reader to understand Amory's situation.
- " I've always suspected that early rising in early life makes one nervous."
- " With the attitude he might have held toward an amusing melodrama he hoped it would be long and bloody."
Through the combination of the indirect and direct methods of characterization, we receive a more realistic and credible understanding of Amory's perspective because we are presented with superficial characteristics and flaws/qualities of personality simultaneously.
2. Fitzgerald's syntax becomes prescriptive when he addresses the subject of character. Whereas his diction flows elegantly through context, the flow is interrupted and blocky during characterizing statements.
3. Just as we initially are shown impersonal qualities, we learn Amory's character as one of aristocracy, pomp, and circumstance. Later, Amory develops into a matured character with an emotional capacity with which he can not only react to others, but also predict their reactions. This makes Amory a dynamic character. I would consider him a flat character though, as the lessons he learned were not applicable to other areas of his life directly.
4. I am glad to have read the character of Amory Blaine after being so let down by the character of Holden Caufield. Amory showed positive growth while learning as much as Holden did. He released the machismo and became a vulnerable entity which is characteristic of the readers and audience I believe F. Scott Fitzgerald was hoping for.
" Don't talk that way; you frighten me. It sounds as if we weren't going to have each other."
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
LIT TERMS 6-30
Yaaay! Everybody's favorite kind of post! Let's do it to it so we can start our other homework.
P.S. Do you like the purple text background?
Analogy: brussell sprouts are to dessert as Matthew Patel is to calculus class.
Analysis: My favorite kind of graph is a simple way to understand the hard stuff.
Anaphora: every episode of Friends (imagine 90's font) is titled " The one where..." It's cool cuz that's how we all describe specific tv episodes.
Anecdote: " Back when I was a boy, we had to walk to school uphill both ways...in the snow...and we liked it." What he's trying to say is that we have it good. Or he's showing off.
Antagonist: Captain Hook is the antagonist of the Peter Pan story.
Antithesis: Bull in a china shop compares the bulk and force of the bovine-american with the dainty fragility of the teacups.
Aphorism: This fun little thinkstarter was thought up by Jeff Mangum.
Apologia: My sister's apologia for lack of dental hygiene: Mom said I don't have to brush? Web of lies.
Apostrophe: A book as ubiquitous in preschools as bibles in motel rooms.
Climax: Thebest most decisive part of the movie. Harry and Voldemort battle it out, for example.
Colloquialism: My favorite accent to read aloud in.
Contrast: If this picture doesn't work, consider a quote from Remy in Fat Joe's Lean Back:
We gangsta and gangstas don't dance, we boogie.
P.S. Do you like the purple text background?
Analogy: brussell sprouts are to dessert as Matthew Patel is to calculus class.
Analysis: My favorite kind of graph is a simple way to understand the hard stuff.
Anaphora: every episode of Friends (imagine 90's font) is titled " The one where..." It's cool cuz that's how we all describe specific tv episodes.
Antagonist: Captain Hook is the antagonist of the Peter Pan story.
Antithesis: Bull in a china shop compares the bulk and force of the bovine-american with the dainty fragility of the teacups.
Apostrophe: A book as ubiquitous in preschools as bibles in motel rooms.
Argument: Many of us use wikipedia or IMDB to prove others wrong.
Assumption: I don't agree with that assume and ass and you and me thing because we're only trying to hone our deductive reasoning skills.
Audience: Despite the fact that pokemon is targeted at an audience of children, I believe it is most popular among the post/peri-pubescent.
Characterization: Eeyore, the donkey from Winnie the Pooh (as if you thought of any other), is heavily characterized by his sighs and stoicism.
Chiasmus: " Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." That's what JFK said. Btw, there was a guy who met John Quincy Adams and John F. Kennedy. C-c-c-crazy!
Circumlocution: Beat around the bush
Classicism: The Greeks had their ideas AND their style copied.
Cliche: (Sans accent mark because blogger doth protest too much.) This show is just one huge cliche and a massive joke being played on society.
Climax: The
Colloquialism: My favorite accent to read aloud in.
Comedy: I hope your mind didn't jump to Tyler Perry because no.
Conflict: That which causes drama in a clique of teenage girls.
Connotation:
Contrast: If this picture doesn't work, consider a quote from Remy in Fat Joe's Lean Back:
We gangsta and gangstas don't dance, we boogie.
Denotation: Straight out the dictionary!
Denouement: When they go back and tell you what's happened since the conflict ended.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
POETRY ANALYSIS
*groans* I'd like to say that making caps-locked titles on our posts is obnoxious but how can I complain when I have nothing better to suggest. It's what I would choose if I had to verify the existence of all our posts.
I'm gonna go ahead and use poems off the handy-dandy link on the class blog. Geronimoooo! *Javert's spine breaking sound*
Dulce et Decorum Est: on a scale of 1-5, this gets 4 snaps.
Paraphrase: We were marching home to rest after we had just finished a battle and suddenly we were gassed. One of us didn't get his mask on in time. I had to watch him drown in his blood. There is no glory in war.
Purpose: Share about how war is not like the propaganda made it seem.
Structure: Octet-Sextet-Couplet-12 line stanza
Shift: The shift occurs when the speaker announces the gas. We go from a trip to safety to the thick of danger.
Speaker: The speaker is a normal soldier.
Spelling: The diction of this poem makes the dying and dead a bit impersonal. A leader would have said "my men."
Tone: Quite grave.
Theme: Going to war will not make you a better man (unless you were a vile human being before deployment, I suppose)
Ozymandias( by Horace Smith, not Percy Shelley): 5 snaps for making me think about the future.
Paraphrase: There is a stone leg in Egypt that once belonged to a statue and that statue was made by a powerful civilization but they are gone now and the same may happen to London.
Purpose: To display our etheriality.
Structure: Octet-sextet
Shift: The shift occurs when the speaker mentions that we can think about how the same may happen to us that happened to Babylon.
Speaker: Sounds like a thoughtful explorer
Spelling: Why did he choose Ozymandias? It's another name for Ramses II who built a wealthy Egypt. Less than 150 years after his death, the empire fell.
Tone: Wondrous
Theme: Humbleness. You aren't the first and you won't be the last.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night: 4 snaps for making me want to write a bucket list.
Paraphrase: Don't die without a fight. Wise men know their end. At the end, all will be clear so don't waste your life.
Purpose: To remind people that yolo
Structure: tercet-tercet-tercet-tercet-tercet-quatrain
Shift: Sounds like a reminder to live it up until you see that he is writing to his father, probably on his deathbed :(
Speaker: A man telling his father to fight death because men are supposed to live fiercely.
Spelling: Rage is frequent so I imagine he meant to portray his anger. Really good flow in this one.
Tone: Angsty
Theme: Carpe diem.
Danse Russe: 3 snaps for teh lulz it gave me
Paraphrase: Everybody is asleep and the sun is glowing through the house. I am naked, dancing, and singing. I am lonely but this makes me happy.
Purpose: Expository of how good some people are at frontin'.
Structure: free verse, I guess.
Shift: When he first mentions he is lonely, you go from that "work it, girl!" attitude to " :*( "
Speaker: A man who feels restricted by what he has created for himself. Looking for his real self.
Spelling: Dat imagery. Grotesquely reminds me of self-loathing. Who shall say... is the "say it to my face moment."
Tone: Melancholy
Theme: Despite what we may be experiencing in life, there are moments in which we have all the control and nothing can restrain your mind (or body) at those times.
The Second Coming: 2 snaps for not being very intriguing to me
Paraphrase: Bad things are happening that remind us of the Bible's description of the Apocalypse.
Purpose: How do you just pull a purpose out of this one? To share what the world of the author is like, I suppose.
Structure: Octet-14 line stanza
Shift: When the speaker figures out what all the signs he's mentioned correlate to.
Speaker: A man afraid of what the world has become.
Spelling: Troubles, pitiless, darkness, nightmare, and rough. There are plenty words to make you think of an apocalyptic landscape but these do the best. Heavy christian undertone.
Tone: Christian. Jk, I meant tragic and survivalist.
Theme: This world is going to hell thanks to ironic imbalance.
I'm gonna go ahead and use poems off the handy-dandy link on the class blog. Geronimoooo! *Javert's spine breaking sound*
Dulce et Decorum Est: on a scale of 1-5, this gets 4 snaps.
Paraphrase: We were marching home to rest after we had just finished a battle and suddenly we were gassed. One of us didn't get his mask on in time. I had to watch him drown in his blood. There is no glory in war.
Purpose: Share about how war is not like the propaganda made it seem.
Structure: Octet-Sextet-Couplet-12 line stanza
Shift: The shift occurs when the speaker announces the gas. We go from a trip to safety to the thick of danger.
Speaker: The speaker is a normal soldier.
Spelling: The diction of this poem makes the dying and dead a bit impersonal. A leader would have said "my men."
Tone: Quite grave.
Theme: Going to war will not make you a better man (unless you were a vile human being before deployment, I suppose)
Ozymandias( by Horace Smith, not Percy Shelley): 5 snaps for making me think about the future.
Paraphrase: There is a stone leg in Egypt that once belonged to a statue and that statue was made by a powerful civilization but they are gone now and the same may happen to London.
Purpose: To display our etheriality.
Structure: Octet-sextet
Shift: The shift occurs when the speaker mentions that we can think about how the same may happen to us that happened to Babylon.
Speaker: Sounds like a thoughtful explorer
Spelling: Why did he choose Ozymandias? It's another name for Ramses II who built a wealthy Egypt. Less than 150 years after his death, the empire fell.
Tone: Wondrous
Theme: Humbleness. You aren't the first and you won't be the last.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night: 4 snaps for making me want to write a bucket list.
Paraphrase: Don't die without a fight. Wise men know their end. At the end, all will be clear so don't waste your life.
Purpose: To remind people that yolo
Structure: tercet-tercet-tercet-tercet-tercet-quatrain
Shift: Sounds like a reminder to live it up until you see that he is writing to his father, probably on his deathbed :(
Speaker: A man telling his father to fight death because men are supposed to live fiercely.
Spelling: Rage is frequent so I imagine he meant to portray his anger. Really good flow in this one.
Tone: Angsty
Theme: Carpe diem.
Danse Russe: 3 snaps for teh lulz it gave me
Paraphrase: Everybody is asleep and the sun is glowing through the house. I am naked, dancing, and singing. I am lonely but this makes me happy.
Purpose: Expository of how good some people are at frontin'.
Structure: free verse, I guess.
Shift: When he first mentions he is lonely, you go from that "work it, girl!" attitude to " :*( "
Speaker: A man who feels restricted by what he has created for himself. Looking for his real self.
Spelling: Dat imagery. Grotesquely reminds me of self-loathing. Who shall say... is the "say it to my face moment."
Tone: Melancholy
Theme: Despite what we may be experiencing in life, there are moments in which we have all the control and nothing can restrain your mind (or body) at those times.
The Second Coming: 2 snaps for not being very intriguing to me
Paraphrase: Bad things are happening that remind us of the Bible's description of the Apocalypse.
Purpose: How do you just pull a purpose out of this one? To share what the world of the author is like, I suppose.
Structure: Octet-14 line stanza
Shift: When the speaker figures out what all the signs he's mentioned correlate to.
Speaker: A man afraid of what the world has become.
Spelling: Troubles, pitiless, darkness, nightmare, and rough. There are plenty words to make you think of an apocalyptic landscape but these do the best. Heavy christian undertone.
Tone: Christian. Jk, I meant tragic and survivalist.
Theme: This world is going to hell thanks to ironic imbalance.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Thufferin' Thuccotash
Let's talk about that pitiful display of memorization that happened in class today. Good job to the few and proud who actually knew their stuff. I'm thinking it was a combination of just back in school plus plenty of other things to do that left us in the dust of St. Crispin's Day. Personally, this was a bad week. Rotten, really.
The worst part about memorizing the thing was that Shakespeare had so much flow that this and To Be or Not To Be were too similar and my brain told me to mention fardels and bodkins :(
The worst part about memorizing the thing was that Shakespeare had so much flow that this and To Be or Not To Be were too similar and my brain told me to mention fardels and bodkins :(
LIT TERMS 1-5
Alliteration: My favorite kind of tongue twisters are created through alliteration. And if you're looking for tongue twisters in Spanish to sharpen your pronunciation, search trabalenguas.
Allusion: This image is a screencap of the tv show Bones. It's a good show. I don't feel like I have to explain any more so there you have it.
Ambiguity: These are fun, right?! Is it a man with a sax or a lady with an up-do? *ghost voice* Nobody knoooows!
Anachronism: A few years ago, this crazy little idea at the 4:22 mark popped up. Was there a time traveller recorded in Charlie Chaplin's The Circus? Does he get coverage in 1928? How does his battery last so long? Many more questions inspired than answered.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Parado sobre la Muralla Verde
I could say I want to get a five on the AP exam and it wouldn't be a lie. It also wouldn't be unique. What does it take to define my semester in this class? My overall goal is to become some kind of foreign policy officer (if you have any advice, please share!). It's pretty vague but, you know, my wishes are fleeting and only revolve around general themes. And if it's true that we will switch careers at least once, statistically of course, in our lifetimes, then why should I be so specific. I'm gonna grab the reins of this course and make it open up my mind. Like most kids in my generation, I'm pretty socially liberal. I'm a minority from SoCal, what else is new? But I don't wanna let those liberal dogmas get in the way of letting me hear anything valuable that comes from a Tea Partier or...dare I say it, a Romnesiac. Mostly, I want to get into the valuable literature that can be a Jaws of Life for an apathetic mind. This happened for me with The Great Gatsby last year so I hope to let that flow and maybe calibrate and pressurize the flow.
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