12/19 Blog Post

Out of my two years at POHS, this semester of ELA has been my favorite so far. The most meaningful thing to me so far has been seminars. I enjoy seminars in all my classes, but more so this year in ELA. The Alchemist and The Odyssey were challenging books for me, so participation in seminars helps me get a  better idea of the book. The most challenging thing for me is doing response projects, just because of how long they take to complete. Doing creative writing responses in particular are the hardest for me, as I'm not really a creative person, and I usually get better grades on analytical or research papers. There is nothing I would really want to change about ELA, except for maybe having verbal reminders in class before having vocal quizzes. I would like the consistency of our seminars to stay the same, because I really enjoy having them so often. Overall this semester in ELA has been amazing, and I'm excited to see what next semester holds!

12/8/14

Analyze the purpose of all of the violence in books 22-24. Do you think that this is necessary for Odysseus' successful nostos? Why or why not?

I think that the violence was necessary when it came to the suitors because they took over his house and terrorized his family, to an extent. In order to have a whole homecoming, it was necessary to completely get rid of them, not only to claim back his property, but also to get revenge for what they did to his family. I think when it came to the maids, the violence was unnecessary to complete his nostos, because the maids were not in the way of him achieving his homecoming successfully. 

11/17/14

In class, Dr. Quillin discussed the historical context within which The Odyssey was written. Using your notes on this lecture, discuss how you think why it was necessary to develop an oral tradition during the Greek Dark Ages and what you think happens to that oral tradition once it is written down.

During the Greek Dark Age, I think it was necessary to develop an oral tradition because at that point the tradition of writing had halted, and verbal communication would be their only way to preserve their stories. Without the singers, they wouldn't have a way to tell their stories, but they also wouldn't have a way to preserve them. Once the oral tradition is written down, there would be less of a need for singers or word of mouth in general to tell stories, because everyone, or most people, would be able to have access to the storers, versus a group of people having to verbally tell it. The written down stories would also be better preserved because there would be less variations of the same story, since it wasn't based solely on word of mouth.

Halloween 2014

My Halloween was not very exciting. I stayed home, and a few of my cousins came over to my house, as they do every Friday. Every Friday, my mom's side of the family comes over and we all eat Burger King and hang out with each other. After most of my family left, a few of my cousins such around and we taught my two year old cousin, Hannah, how to tell people to "shut up". We mainly just laid around my house on our phones, talking and laughing all night.

Maus from The Conflict Theorist's Perspective

The reason that Vladek's story played out the way it did is because he was Jewish, and Jews were the underdogs in society. Non-jews had the upper hand and were able to not only avoid persecution, but also inflicted persecution upon Jews purely based on their social hierarchy.

10/18/14 Post

Prompt: What do you think some of the challenges might be in drawing another person's story. What might be some of the advantages? Why?

I think that one of the challenges of drawing someone else's story would be that you wouldn't have the firsthand experience of what you're trying to portray, so you might have to be creative and fill in gaps as realistically as you can just based on descriptions that your'e given. I think an advantage would be that you would be able to look at it more objectively and you would have a less biased view, so it would be closer to the truth of what it actually looked like.

Maktub

Throughout The Alchemist the word maktub is used repeatedly by many different characters. The word, defined by the Crystal Merchant to Santiago, means "it is written" (59). The word is generally used when Santiago is about to start a new quest or a new journey in his life. It almost seems like an assurance to Santiago, letting him see the bigger picture and helping him remember the role of fate. As we learned in class, fate tends to cooperate with the hero who is achieving his quest. "It is written" (59) seems to mean it is written in your future, which reinforces the idea of the Soul of the World and the Hand that Wrote All, or the idea of God.

9/29 post

Santiago is a Shepherd boy from Andalusia, Spain, and is the protagonist of The Alchemist. He is curious to learn about the world around him, so he chooses to travel around Spain and be a shepherd instead of being a priest like his parents wanted him to be. Santiago has a dream leading him to Egypt to find treasure, per King Melchizedek teaching him about Personal Legends. As Santiago’s journey goes on, he becomes more curious about the Soul of the World. As he crosses the desert with The Alchemist, he learns more about the Soul of the World through listening to his heart. Ultimately, he learns most from looking at the omens around him.

due 5/22

Prompt: On page 24, the king of Salem tells Santiago, "When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it." Do you believe that this is true? Why or why not?

I do not think this is necessarily true, despite the fact that I really want it to be. I think that in this world we make person decisions and set personal goals, and we work towards accomplishing them ourselves, without the help of the universe. I think that the universe just exists and does its thang without intermingling with our ambitions. 

Personal Legend- The Alchemist

A Personal Legend is, in the words of the King of Salem, "what you have always wanted to accomplish" (21). I think this will play an important role for the rest of the book in that Santiago, the main character, has already broken out of becoming a priest like his parents wanted him to be. He wanted to have a career that would allow him to travel to new places, and ended up becoming a shepherd, which gives him the opportunity to travel. Now, it seems like he wants to accomplish getting this mysterious girl. So far in the book, he seems to be setting his sights on something (or someone) he wants to attain, and does his best to attain it.

1st Post Of the Year!

This year in ELA, I'm hoping to improve my writing and annotating skills. I'm hoping to achieve this while reading new books. Last year, I really enjoyed seminars in class and I would love if we continued doing seminars in class this year.

Primary Conflict in Looking For Alaska

In Looking For Alaska, Miles Halter leaves his home in Florida and heads to a boarding school called Culver Creek on a search for The Great Perhaps. One thing Green (the author) introduces to you right at the beginning of the novel is that Miles is OBSESSED with memorizing the last words of people, as well finding The Great Perhaps, whatever that is. After doing further research, I was able to piece together these things. 

At the beginning of the novel, we see Miles as a gawky, anti-social nerd who has little to no idea of who he is, and is looking to fulfill his life. As I said, Miles goes to Culver Creek in pursuit of finding The Great Perhaps. When Miles arrives, he meets his roommate Chip "Colonel" Martin, and his friend Alaska Young. Not long after Miles arrives, Colonel and Alaska give him the loving nickname "Pudge", ironically, because he is described to be very lanky. 

Soon after Pudge makes friends with Colonel and Alaska, he is doing something he has never done before and is completely out of his comfort zone- smoking. This was not the only time in the book that Pudge smoked, in fact, it was only the first of many, MANY, times that he would smoke. Not long after he smoked, he also drank cheap pink wine with Alaska, his first time drinking alcohol, and again, not his last by a long shot. 

Not only that, but before Pudge arrived at Culver Creek, he had barely ever talked to a girl before, let alone getting a girlfriend. A girl named Lara was not only his first girlfriend, but also his first kiss, and also the first person he had gone to third base with. In fact, he was so new to the whole sex thing, that he had to ask Alaska what oral sex actually was. 

Getting to the point, I feel like the primary conflict in LFA was man vs. self. My reasoning for this is that Miles started out as a shy, naive, and anti-social kid, who really had on idea about who he was. Miles decides to go to Culver Creek in pursuit of The Great Perhaps- what could be, and what the future could hold for him. The reason that he decides to go after The Great Perhaps so early in his life is because Francois Rabelais, whose last words were "I go to seek a Great Perhaps", died basically saying that he was going to find out one of humanities biggest questions- whether there was an afterlife or not. Of course, we can't find out his answer because, you know, he's dead. Miles wanted so seek The Great Perhaps before he died. 

Miles arrives at Culver Creek and becomes a different person. At Culver Creek Miles turns into Pudge. Pudge dates girls, he smokes, he drinks, and is fun-loving and adventurous. Miles/pudge is trying to discover himself. He's trying to figure out who he is within these two conflicting personalities that he has. Ultimately, he is Pudge, but the shy, anti-social Miles still resided within him. 

I think Miles/Pudges' pursuit of The Great Perhaps is summed up by "Thomas Edison's last words...: It's very beautiful over there. I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful" (pg 221). 

5/12 entry

I had written this entry on time but it was saved as a draft instead of posted.

I feel like the over all theme/mood throughout the book has been growing up and maturing. The reason I think this is because the main charecter, Pudge, enters the novel as an anti social, naive nerd, who has never really had a proper friend, let alone one that was a girl, especially like the other main charecter, Alaska. When Pudge arrives at his new boarding school, Culver Creek, not only do him and Alaska become really close friends, he also falls in love with her, while she has an older boyfriend, and while she exposes him to all the "fun, teenage" things in life like smoking cigarettes, and drinking cheap pink wine on campus. 

When Alaska ends up getting in a car accident (which might or might not have been suicide) and passes, Pudge is dealing with many new emotions and situations, and to say the least, he's confused. He's very obviously sad, I mean the girl he as in love with basically killed herlself, but he's also mad at Alaska for leaving him. He feels like Alaska came into his life and taught him how to drink and smoke and got him a girlfriend and all these experiences that were once (and still are) completely foreign to him, and then left. She left him on his own in the dark to deal with all of these things alone, when she had gotten him in these situations in the first place. Him made do his best friend, Colonel, were also just plain confused. Colonel was sad because his girlfriend broke up with him. Pudge was sad because his parents were starting to enjoy life with out him. But in their eyes, Alaska didn't have anything to be sad about. She had a boyfriend she was in love with, and friends, and a car and her dad. 

I feel like overall, Pudge dealing with different experiences like drinking and smoking and with situation with Alaska killing herself diminishes all the naïveness Pudge had when he first arrived at Culver Creek. Throughout the book, by introducing him to new things and new situations, Alaska is the colloid for Pudge's growing up and maturity. 

CVS shopping

This eyeshadow, from the brand Physicians Formula, caught my eye. It was obvious they were going for the sex appeal, after all, it was from their "Sexy" line, and was named Sexy Booster Oh So Sexy Eye Shadow Quad. The overall idea marketers were probably going for when putting this on the market was that by wearing their eye shadow, you would become totally sexy. As if the name doesn't make that obvious enough, each of the four eyeshadow colors has a different design on them. The first has a corset, the second has lips, the third a tight dress, and the fourth; shoes. All of these connote sex or parting, which is exactly what the brand is telling you you'll be great at when you get this eye shadow. The marketers of this eye shadow seemed to be trying to appeal to pathos, by trying to make the targeted audience, teens and young adults females, feel not only that they need to have sex appeal, but that this will give it to them. They also employ logical fallacies like false cause, because even if someone uses this eye shadow, that most likely won't transform them into a sex goddess. They also use black and white, by implying that sexy people use this product, and if you don't use it, you aren't sexy. There is no in between. 

Feed over all

Feed was a really interesting novel in that it gave me a different perspective on our society and how the media and television and ads affect not only the society as a whole, but us individually as well.

What really hit home for me though, is when I started to realize what the feed actually represented and I realized how we are actually programmed by media and public figures to think one way, and that we are robbed of a level of our individuality. We allow these influences to set the status quo for us and we are becoming puppeted by the media, all just by living in society.

What frustrated me about reading Feed was that Anderson wrote the novel in such simple language and that so many words were abbreviated. The book became almost frustrating to read because of the level of simplicity and basicity of the wording and language, although I did understand that it was an exaggeration of our society.

2/24 journal entry

I think Shylock is a comedic character because i believe that Shakespeare put him in the play to be the laughing stock of the people who were going to see the play performed. Even though now a days, we see pity and sympathize with Shylock because we feel bad for him, but he was actually meant to be laughed at. I think that's pretty obvious to the fact the he was Jewish, and even though it's harsh, the reality is the people wanted to laugh at the Jews despite their hardships.    

blog due 2/17

I think that Shakespeare gave Shylock the huge heartfelt speech in the Merchant of Venice because the persecution of Jews was so common at that time that it was a huge risk to write that speech in to the play without him getting in trouble. I think he wrote it in the Merchant of Venice specifically because it IS supposed to be light-hearted comedy, and he could get away with writing such a controversial speech against society because it would not be taken as seriously as if it were in a tragedy, or could be taken as a joke. I do believe that Shakespeare wrote it because he truly believed that Jews and Christians were equals, but was not allowed to say it publicly, due to the possibility that he could be punished, or possibly killed. His only other option to express his views on the matter was to sneak it in to this play, and write it off as a joke or no big deal.

Belmont vs. Venice

In the Merchant of Venice, I think it is obvious that Shakespeare separates the cities of Belmont and Venice into different "worlds". I thing that Belmont is the "Green World" and Venice is the "City World". Reasons for this is that like Belmont, the "Green World" is (for lack of a better word) ruled by women. So far, the only characters we have seen in Belmont are two female charecters (Portia and Narissa). In the city world, the "rulers" are the men, and so far we have seen Shylock, Bassanio, and Antonio in Venice, which are all men. Although the women and the men rule their respective areas, in the end, the men rule over "their women". An example of this is that although Narissa is the ruler of the Green World, her deceased father is ulitimetely the one who choses how her husband will be picked, and essentially gives her no choice. Her husband is chosen by a "lottery that [her father] hath devised in... three chests of gold, silver, and lead, whereof who choses [her father's] meaning choses [Narissa]".

Was the Renaissance period a thing?

I do believe the Renaissance Period was a "thing". Although at the time, the Europeans did not know they were living in a time in history that would forever change the course of the world, it does not meant they weren't. As John Green described it, the renaissance period was "a lot of mutually interdependent things that occurred over centuries". This time period is not necessarily about the separate events themselves, but rather the impact they had on the the world around them to this very day.

The amount of "stuff" that actually happened in the Renaissance period was immense. There was the rediscovery of Greek and Roman texts and learning, which affected politics, literature, math, and science, which altered the way people thought. This new found information put an emphasis on people starting to reason and question why things were the way they were, and this slowly led to a movement away from the church. Although they moved slightly away from the church's commands to not question anything, a common misconception is that the people at this time were not religious, which we know is very untrue (the CONSTANT depiction of the Madonna in paintings). Anyway, this new way of thinking fueled the scientific revolution (heliocentric universe discovered by Copernicus around 1514), and also glorified the individual, in that they were allowed to focus more on worldly pleasures (like science or philosophy or art not dominated by the church). In addition, after the plague had ended, there were many agricultural advances which fueled trade, and in turn brought in a lot of money. As we know, the Renaissance period took place mainly in Italy, and trade with other countries which Italy had access to (Africa, Europe, the Islamic world) not only made them wealthier, but also developed connections around the world.

Long story short, yes, the Renaissance might not be 100% set in stone and the events that make it up might over a relatively long and random period of time; but there is no doubt that the Renaissance period was dense with progression and innovation that changed the course of math, science, literature, philosophy, and politics.