The End.

My blog started as just another assignment, and turned into somewhere where I could put my own spin on assignments and analyses that normally would be deviod of personality. It's a place where ideas from school intersect with my ideas from outside of academics. I used this place to talk about things we did in class, with my opinion and thoughts mixed in. I don't always like to stick to the template of schoolwork, and I really enjoy being able to talk about the things that we are doing freely. Sometimes all a certain assignment needs for clarity is a bit of reflection. When we relate things to the world and what I care about, it makes it that much more interesting. Things with music lyrics or pieces of art that we do separate from our daily tasks are the most meaningful to me, and provide the most interesting blog opportunity. That's what a blog is, after all. A place to vent your ideas, opinions, and views to the world so people have a better idea of who you are and what kind of person you strive to be. You can criticize, praise, judge, and preach, but "If you're not speaking the truth, you might as well not be saying ish." (Macklemore - I said Hey) Our beliefs and opinions make the core of our being and without them, we are just another face in the crowd. The things that differentiate us from everyone else are the most important in the world. I am someone who has very firm beliefs, and stands up for what I think is right. This blog is important because it allows you to give your views on something that is not usually discussed out of class. The fact that we can do something like this is a great thing. 

I really can't stress the importance of outside materials relevant to the current issues in English enough. Connecting our lives to school is one of the only ways I know to make subjects truly interesting and engaging. My blog is a place to glimpse who I am outside of the classroom.

Memorable Assignment

My most memorable assignment(s) have to be the extra credit movies that I produce with classmates. We generally only have enough time to get a very short movie filmed and edited the day before class. The rush and planning is fun, and filming is always a task. Having people to collaborate with on a creative assignment makes it more bearable.

The last movie we made was filmed and edited in about 3 hours, and I'm proud of it because it incorporated skills I learned outside of class with my academics. I got to use many different programs that I taught myself to complete the movie, and I think it turned out decent for the amount of time put into it. It would have helped to have a higher quality camera, but we ha to make do with what we had.

A Good Experience With Poetry

Poetry to me is a way of expressing your ideas through an almost musical arrangement of words and phrases. Poetry has a lot in common with music, it has certain structure, rhythm, and different styles that appeal to different people. Poetry makes me think about the idea or concept being voiced and is one of the most effective ways of expressing yourself that I am aware of, simply because there are no rules.

Conflict in RandJ

One conflict that isn't present until later in the play, but is just as important is Friar Lawrence's internal conflict. The Friar struggles with the decision to marry Romeo and Juliet because one one hand, it may bring the families closer together as he points out when he mentions that such a marriage would get rid of the rancor between the two houses. On the other hand, Romeo has just come out of a relationship and thrown himself headlong into a brand new one without any rational thought concerning where it might lead. The Friar makes up his mind to marry the two teens and that decision influences his actions throughout the rest of the play.
   This influence can be seen when the Friar gives the "poison" to Juliet to assist her in both getting out of her planned marriage to Paris and getting her back together with Romeo. Indeed, the Friar throws himself wholeheartedly into the task, personally carrying out the bulk of the work involved. As we know, the union between Romeo and Juliet has tragic consequences, but at the time, the Friar was unaware of these and his actions shape the path that the play travels from the beginning of his commitment to the very end, while the repercussions grow with every page.

Romeo and Juliet: It's Everywhere.

Romeo and Juliet has a hand in many modern love stories in Hollywood and in today's literature and music. A good example of this is the song Romeo and Juliet by The Killers. The song is a musical composition about the play. The lyrics are modified to fit the time period, and the music fits the band's style, giving the song a modern appeal. The song has sad and somewhat sentimental tone to it, and it fits the feeling of the play quite nicely. The fact that the band dedicated a whole track to this play is proof of its continued influence of modern culture.

Connecting with Romeo and Juliet

As for the characters in Romeo and Juliet, it's difficult to compare myself to any of them because like most fictional characters, their life and personality is grossly overexaggerated for the good of entertainment. If I had to pick one, Romeo would be my choice because like him, I find myself feeling sorry for myself and whining a bit more often than I should. Also similar to Romeo, I will always have someone to calm me down and get my spirits up.

Reading at home without having to take annotations is a much more efficient process than Great Expectations. I find that I am reading on time and understanding what is there for me to read. I can read knowing that we are going to go over the material and I will have a chance to annotate after the fact. This provides a calmer reading experience and I actually enjoy reading chapters now.

Reading Great Expectations

Reading Great Expectations was a task for me, partly because I had to interrupt my reading every few moments to insert a sticky note for annotationg. As a result, I spent less time focusing on the content of the novel and more time scanning for things I could annotate for. Dickens took a very long time to come to his point, and used more extraneous details than I would like. The book seemed like it was devoid of emotion for the most part, and while you were reading, you felt like an impartial deity watching over events with a cold eye. It was hard to feel any emotions for the characters, and the plot seemed like it could have used more action and examples of the theme.

I read whenever I had time, whether it was on the soccer bus at 10:30 or after school in the library. I read more for the assignment than for enjoyment, and that's generally not the case for "assigned" reading. I felt like the annotation system promoted skimming and skipping sections. As discussed in the previous paragraph, it detracted from the overall experience of reading and throughout the reading, I felt like just stopping annotations and simply reading the book itself. Hopefully units in the future will have a different structure regarding annotations and discussions.

Great Expectations Question

A bell with an old voice - which I dare say in its time had often said to the house, Here is the green farthingale, Here is the diamondhilted sword, Here are the shoes with red heels and the blue solitaire.


What is Dickens trying to symbolize with this? Is the bell meant to represent a warning sign to the house? If so, why use benevolent objects as examples?

Theme

Charles Dickens uses all of his characters to stage a rise and fall scenario that underscores his theme that people are and always will be more valuable than material wealth no matter what time period you happen to be living in. He uses various characters to show how you can count on friends regardless of your current financial status as well as examples of "bad" friends that shouldn't be trusted. Bad friends generally are your friends because they have something to gain from that friendship. As soon as that value goes away, they will desert you in a heartbeat. Dickens uses all these examples to prove his point that you can't place a value on friendship.

I made this picture because it represents the motif of doubles and duality. The major characters in the book all have an element of 2 personalities contained within. For example, Pip can be arrogant and irritating at one moment, then humble and thoughtful at another. Estella also has 2 different sides to her, the one controlled by Havisham and the one that is developing a free spirit. Sometimes these sides work in harmony, but more often than not, they are at odds with each other. Estella is constantly in conflict with the side that is controlled by Havisham, and resents the weight the shadow of her brings wherever she might be.

Great Expectations II

In the second stage of the novel, Pip moves to London with his newfound wealth. Like the title implies, he has great expectations of it. When he arrives, he is greeted by nothing but grimy streets and filthy people. For example, he is greeted by a man who offers to show him the legal system for a meager fee, but Pip opts to explore the public areas and sees disgusting sights including the execution area. On top of that, the people in London are divided by the class barrier. The higher class treats the lower class with contempt and disrespect because it is morally acceptable to do so.

Pip's expectations are indeed great, and his original vision of London was closer to a shining utopia than a dismal and grim city. London and its people don't live up to what Pip had in mind. He even expresses his distaste for the city on multiple occasions. All of this just goes to show that money and expectations don't go hand in hand. London is the center of civilization for that area with vast wealth, yet it is filled with squalor. Much like its citizens,  it contrasts wildly between absolute wealth and desolation and poverty. In fact, the city closely mirrors its inhabitants in more ways than one.

Pip Quote

Pip is most likely mentioning the events that come together and make you who you are. The first event or chain link can send you down a path that may differ wildly from the direction you want to go. You may not even realize the impact on your life until much later. Since Pip has the benefiet of hindsight, he can talk about these things objectively. Pip's attitude drastically changes in the later chapters because of a certain event that shaped who he is, just as much as any other. He starts to rebel against the class that he was born into, and dreams of a high class life. His character becomes more negative and judgemental. Not all of this is as simple as cause and effect. Pip is also going through adolescense and all the additude changes that come with. He is coming to terms with who he is as well as who he wants to be.

A long time ago, I stopped by a jewelry store with my dad and glanced their computer that controlled the mill. Of course it was shiny and powerful, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted one like it. I started researching and sooner or later I was ready to get my computer. The next few years, I learmed more and more until I knew as much as I could. I built PCs for friends, did maintenace work, and even worked at a computer repair shop for a few days. Today, I consider myself an expert on computer hardware and it still is a passion of mine.

Group Collaboration

This post isn't going to be very lengthy, because I haven't done too much on my paragraph since class on friday. Just to be sure there are no repetitive details, here are my quotes:

“’You will marry me, won’t you?’ ‘You silly boy! Of course. Why, we have been engaged for the last three months’”(pg. 53)

“Yes, I know it is. But supposing it was something else? Do you mean to say you couldn't love me then?” (pg. 19)

“To speak frankly, I am not in favour of long engagements. They give people the opportunity of finding out each other's character before marriage, which I think is never advisable.” (pg. 80)

Since we have different intros and conclusions for our paragraph, you can email me the 2 others that I don't have and I can figure out how to stitch them together and share the document to you guys on the cloud.

Proj. Evals

1. Olivia wrote a poem that matches the book's theme and meaning throughout the varioius twists and mood changes in the plot.

2. Grace, Molly, Sarah, and Kady did a movie that was very well shot and produced. The effect was amplified by the choice in music that matched the tone of the book.

3. Alena and Mackenzie did a movie trailer that illustrated the plot line of the book, but it needed work conveying the mood or tone.

4. Donna did a video that referenced some main points of the novel and gave a good view on the characters.

5. Brooke did a song that changed tone along with the book. It was well thought out and fun to listen to.

6. Sean did a comic strip. It was original and shed a different light on the dark events.

7. Leah did a comic strip. It also was a visual take on the novel, and showed some certain aspects of the book.

8. Rachel did a slide show game that outlined basic plot elements but it could do better displaying the tone of the novel.

9. Kamron generated a picture that flowed with the plot and represented the events well.

10. Reagan wrote a well structured poem that had some really creative ideas and the tyranny thing was a cool twist.

Extra Credit blog: New Years resolutions.

I have been playing select soccer for about 4 years and while I work very hard at team practices,  I dont do a lot of training outside of practice, at least not as much as I should. I used to do crosscountry and 2 soccer teams and I was in the best shape of my life. That was about a year ago, and I haven't had the motivation to work out and train on  my own. Starting this year, I would like to create and execute a work out schedule. I feel like it wouldn't be too hard to commit to a set time to train. I also want to practice more effectively during team practices and play harder on the field. This year I am trying out for school soccer and I would lke to start training early for that. I can't run as fast as I could last year, and I would like to start to run around my neighborhood.

Animal farm project