Last Blog Post of the Year

What was the most fun/engaging activity that you did in ELA this year? Why was it fun/engaging? seminars are really engaging for me because they involve a lot of conversation  What was the most boring activity that you did this year? Why was it boring? Grammar workshops, not interesting to me at all What was your favorite book this year? Why? A Raisin in the Sun was my favorite because I enjoy the topic and I think it is really funny and entertaining What was your least favorite book this year? Why? Maus was my least favorite, it is hard for me to stay engaged with graphic novels What should I definitely keep the same for next year's ELA curriculum? Why? Seminars, they allow for a lot of growth while also keeping class interesting What should I definitely change for next year's ELA curriculum? Why? Make the vocal harder, for a lot of people it wasn't necessary to study because it was more basic vocab Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about your experience in ELA? If so - please put it here. I really enjoyed this class over all!

4/20

In Act II, Scene 3, the "Welcoming Committee" from Clybourne Park comes to visit the Younger family. Why did he come, and why does he seem so surprised when the Younger family are not receptive to his offer?

Karl Linder is the chairman of the "Welcoming Committee" of Clybourne Park, the neighborhood where the Younger's are planning to move. He comes to their apartment to try to convince them to not move to Clybourne Park, due to the fact that they are black, and Clybourne Park is a white neighborhood. Linder tries to offer large sums of money as compensation, but the Younger's refuse his offer. I think that Linder was surprised when they rejected his offer because he expected that because he was willing to give them so much money that moving wouldn't be worth it to them, but they had more respect for their integrity that they could not be swayed by money, but rather that they wanted to exercise their freedom. 

4/12

1. Put yourself into the shoes of the Younger family. What do you think it would be like to live in a tiny, three-room apartment with three generations of your family, without the choice or resources to move elsewhere?

I think I would feel differently about the situation in each different perspective. As Lena Younger, I would feel defeated and frustrated, but would have accepted the apartment as as permanent. When I was younger and newly wed, I thought this place would be temporary, and eventually I would have a house that would be comfortable to raise a family in. As years progress, that expectation gradually becomes less of a reality, and I would face the fact that a house is a fantasy rather than reality. As Walter I think I would feel frustrated, but that frustration would double as incentive to break out of having to live there. As Benetha, I would have the acceptance of the idea that after I got an education and got a job, I would have the finances to be able to move out and afford a more comfortable living space, trusting my hope and hard work will pay off. 

3/8

I started my internship last summer, around mid June. I intern with Megan at the Council For Drugs and Alcohol once a week for three and a half hours. While there, we help a team of councillors update data, keeps files up to date, and sit in on staff briefings and their teen 12 step class. When I am older, I would like to be a psychiatrist, so I feel like having an internship like mine gives me great exposure to that world. I am interested to know what you think about my internship, and what other kinds of internships you all have.    

3/2 Post

Comment on any connections that you were able to make between The Great Gatsby and the topics that you are exploring in IHSS and Science. How did our outings and/or the seminar contribute to your ability to make these connections.

One of the major things is Gatsby that hit me pretty hard was the contrast between the East and West Egg, compared to the Valley of Ashes. Although the two areas relatively were not far from each other, the living conditions were drastically different. To me, this seems parallel to our city. After visiting the different grocery stores, as well as the elementary school, I've realized that the economic disparity in Houston is vast. Just a few miles away from our school is a food desert, where many families are living dangerously close to the poverty line. The outings and seminars on the American Dream both made this connection clear to me. I am lucky enough to say that my grandparents and parents achieved the "American Dream", something I thought was common and achievable until recently. Now, I realize many of the families living in these poor conditions might have also been aspiring for the same thing my family was thirty years ago, but were not as lucky. 

2/23 post

On Thursday, we watched two documentaries about migrant workers and then had a seminar to discuss these issues through the lenses of science, literature, and economics. Examine  how this experience informed your understanding of major themes, such as questioning the American Dream and whether we live in a meritocracy, inThe Great Gatsby.

After watching those two movies, my view of how attainable the American Dream is has definitely shifted. For us, the American Dream seems a lot more realistic and achievable. For some of us like myself, because my parents and grandparents have achieved the stereotypical American Dream. For others, because they only know what they are told about it, which is that it is easily achievable with hard work, and that it is common. Both of which are untrue. There are people that work just as hard if not harder as people socioeconomically above them, yet can't break the cycle of poverty that they live in. It almost seems that in our society, we set it up so that people who already are financially well off are set up to keep receiving even more money, while making it harder for those who are socioeconomically lower to get ahead. 

American Dream

The American Dream is creating an ideal life for yourself in America. It generally looks like finding a stable job, being able to support you family, and setting up your kids to be able to have a better life than you did. Although this is definitely ideal, I don't think it is as realistic or achievable as it used to be, or as it is publicized. My grandfather moved here in the 70's with eleven kids, and no money. He saved up money overtime, and him and his friend bought one Burger King location. He saved up the money from that location, and bought another. Over time, this added up, and today the family company owns over 500 all over the country. He started a family company where all of his kids work, and some of his grandchildren have started to work. Even though he was able to achieve the American Dream, I do believe a lot of it is luck along with hard work. It seems like you have to be at the right places at the right time in order to have the opportunity presented to you. The cost of living itself is so expensive, its almost impossible to save up on a low salary, especially supporting a family. Although I do think it is do-able, I don't think it is realistic.

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.