The last blog ever?!!

Wow… so I’m finally done. It seems like just yesterday that we were assigned our blogs. I was very apprehensive about going into high school, and maintaining a blog didn’t seem like the best way to start. But hey, this is a great school with mostly great people, and I graded high in all my classes (so far). I also solved my problem with taking care of my blog. See, I learned a valuable lesson from my blog, and that is that the world comes a lot less close to ending every time I missed an assignment than I thought. So this year I’ve been loosening up in terms of school work and it feels pretty good. I don’t like talking about myself and what I like very much, especially on the internet, especially to my classmates and friends, so even now the idea of a blog doesn’t really appeal to me. That’s why I’m happy to know than no one actually reads these. If anyone besides Mrs. Gilman is reading this right now, I am very embarrassed.

But although I don’t like keeping a blog, I do think it has helped my writing. However I think it was a pain to have to remember to do it every Saturday night. I have done that twenty seven times, and still can’t remember them consistently. You can’t do something twenty seven times and not get better at it unless you are stupid or give yourself brain damage, which is really the same thing in the end. But because I did learn, I must not have brain damage. Also twenty seven is my least favorite number besides sixty seven and forty nine, so that’s interesting.

When I say it seems like yesterday we were assigned our blogs, I’m lying. It seems like forever. I hate doing this blog, but in the words of Cage the Elephant “I’m just a stupid kid, another crazy radical”, so what would I know. I know I’m super happy to finish this blog.

that thing was so memorable!

We have done a ton of assignments. The most memorable assignment I have done would have to be poetry out loud. Now this project was stressful and unpleasant, but I did remember. I normally don’t have a problem with memorization, and am even pretty good at it. For example, when I was like ten I could say every Pokémon. Since then my vast Pokémon knowledge has been replaced by more useful things, and also math problems. So the actual memorization isn’t very hard, but with that comes the expectation that you will recite your poem for the class. I know this is the only thing that makes sense, but it’s not fun.

After reflecting on my performance, I can’t help but note that I can no longer recall the poem. However, the period when we recited will be burned in my memory forever. So I didn’t really like that project , but it was memorable. I actually think I did pretty well, not top ten but maybe top fifteen. A high enough score that I didn’t feel as bad after I preformed as I did before.

poetry experiences

I’m sorry that I couldn’t post this earlier, but the internet at my house has been really unreliable, and was down yesterday and this morning.

I am not that into poetry, I’ve read it in school for the past four or so years but I’ve never really enjoyed it. However I have several fond memories of poetry. Of course when you’re four you enjoy the stories that you are read. I especially enjoyed limericks because they are usually direct and exiting. Then later in my life when we had to read the raven by Edger Allen Poe, I really enjoyed that poem just because of the raven, but that still wasn’t my favorite poetry experience.

My favorite poem was another one by Edger Allan Poe that we read in eighth grade. I’m pretty sure it was called the beating heart, or something similar. It’s where there’s a crazy guy and he kills his house mate and chops him up and puts him under the floor boards. But when the police arrive, he thinks he can hear the guy’s heart beating under the floor and eventually confesses. I think. I’m not totally sure about the confession, that’s because the experience wasn’t so much about the poem; it was about the follow up.

After we read the poem, we were supposed to write our own poem with vivid imagery like was in the one we read. Anyway, I really got into that assignment. Mine was one of the best in the class. This was kind of big for me because I’m not really the competitive type, like when I do better than other people I’m happy, but I don’t push to surpass others. But when I did so well on than assignment, I sort of realized that I could do poetry. And that was awesome.

So poetry is defiantly kind of a mixed thing for me, I appreciate it when other people write it, but it doesn’t really come naturally to me. I like to think about what the meaning of certain poems is, but I feel like when you analyze poems, they sort of loose what was special about them, but I feel that way about books too. But generally I like poems as long as I don’t have to write too many of them.

R & J conflict

There is a ton of conflict in Romeo and Juliet. From the doubt in peoples hearts to a war between familys, the book is full of it. The most obvious nature of this coflict is the war between familys. From the firt page it states “Two households, both alike in dignatiy… from ancient grudge break to new mutiny.” 1.1.1. that’s a pretty clear indicator that they have beef. This is the struggle that brings the whole story together. It’s the force that rips it from the inside out. Without it Romeo could just be with Juliet and they wouldn’t die, and that just wouldn’t  be much of a story.  

This struggle exists every where, in or outside books. Big or small, it is there. To factions fighting, it’s a concept that has been around forever, from to familys of cavemen fighting, to the wars in the east. Our society has , to a point, evolved around it, and it drives the improvement of tecnology and education. In a way, like the play, this conflict drives the world’s plot too.

Romeo and Juliet in the world

Almost every Disney movie ever is based off of Romeo and Juliet. all the fairy tales with princes and princesses at least. it seems like most love stories in general are based off of this play. out of all the stories my favorite is Rapunzel. i think its hilarious that a prince would climb a tower by his true loves hair. its very memorable as a story, and it draws a lot from romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet and me

It is sort of hard for me to connect with the play Romeo and Juliet. One of the reasons is because the diction Shakespeare uses is so abnormal. When characters talk like that, it’s hard to relate to, even if the character is totally relatable. Also, there is so much drama in the play that even if characters do relatable things, they do it in such a way that it seems unreasonable, no matter what the context. But I do feel like the relationship between the children and their parents are similar to my life. The parents love the kids and want what is best for them, but still keep their distance and let them live their own lives to an extent. However, I sort of have a feeling that this may change, but as of act one I can relate to it.

It has been really nice to read at home, then in class. The wording of the play is difficult enough that it’s helpful to hear it read. Reading it aloud also makes it easier to pick up on jokes and puns. Overall, it is a pretty hard to get the full meaning out of the book, but the smaller reading assignments and the in class reading really help my comprehension.

wrapping up late

The message in great expectations was pretty clear. Whatever happens, whether you move or become rich, you need to keep your humanity. If you abandon your family, or get to a point where you become ashamed of them, you’re doing something wrong. Wealth doesn’t matter if you get it from dishonest means or have to hurt people to get it, and that’s also building up some seriously bad karma. If you lose family, friends, or self esteem getting money, you’re just as poor as before.

Did not meet Expectations

I have a new least favorite book! It gets points for tedium, dullness and disappointment. Other books have been ruined by spoiled endings or over analyzing, but not this one. Great Expectations ruins its self by its self.

I guess it really started when pip left for London and was a jerk to Biddy. Those kind of made me lose respect for him as a character, and he really never recovered form that in my eyes. There’s also the issue where the story is really boring. Looking back on it, I think of a jelly donut: the batter is crusty and hard to get through and at the same time oddly substance less, but you suffer through it to get to the jelly. Finally you get through, just to find the jelly is grape, and from the eighteen hundreds. Then you get ill from two hundred year old jelly. It is a very sad experience altogether.

The characters besides Pip were tolerable, but I didn’t really sympathize with any of them. Also, the settings seem sort of boring and reused. But the mysteries, they were another matter. First of all, sophomores love to act smart, and uncalled for spoilers are apparently a great way to show off your intelligence. The second thing is, that if there is one thing I hate, it’s a book that spends four hundred pages setting up mysteries, and then solves them all unsatisfactorily in the last fifty pages, it really sucks. It’s also ridiculous because it seemed that like two hundred of those pages were unnecessary padding. By the end of the book I was just sort of skimming the book every night before I went to bed, then reviewing the chapters on spark notes. I finished on time, but I may not have gotten absolutely everything out of the very end of the book.

It's just like the photo!!!

This image (from Rupunzel) symbolizes the themes of Great Expectations in many ways. Pip’s only real main goal in life is to marry Estella. But she is locked in her castle by the old witch who is her mother. I’m actually pretty sure that Rupunzel was based off this story, but with a happier ending.

as for the survey...

I've been unable to get to the survey, but I'll try again tomorrow. If that doesn't work, I'm giving up :[

That reminds me of the time...

While reading through Great Expectations, I couldn’t help but think how much it seemed like reading Oliver Twist all over again. One reason for this might be that it was also written by Charles Dickens, so it has very similar imagery and the exact same time period. But there are other similarities too.

Dickens seems to be stuck on certain ideas. Both Pip and Oliver are young and childish. They both came from poverty, Oliver more so than Pip because he was an orphan. They were also both eventually adopted by rich people that they helped. This is supposed to be what happened to Dickens, but it gets old. Also, both stories have sort of dark and depressing themes. Pip is guilty, resentful, jealous, and ashamed, while generally bad things happen to Oliver. Also, by the end of Oliver Twist and up to this point in G.E. I sort of hate the main characters. They are both dishonest and whiney, like I would be too if I was in their situation, but it’s still not an endearing quality.

How Great Expectations is nothing like my life

When the end of chapter nine talks about iron and gold, thorns and flowers, I believe that this is symbolic of pips transformation as a character. The metals represent pip because he is going to be apprenticed to a blacksmith. It kind of shows how he is turning from something common and mundane, like iron, to something rare and precious, like gold. Because apparently pip means bud, the thorns and flowers also represent him. Maybe it represents how his life gets better, or maybe how he blooms or something. I can’t really peg what’s different about pip because honestly, this book is all kind of blending together for me.

If I had a personal life turn around moment it would probably be around the beginning of the sixth grade, when I figured out I actually had to do my work and make an effort in school in school and stuff. But I think the main reason I think of school is that it’s hard to think of my life as a chain. It’s defiantly more of a timeline. With school, it’s easy because each year is a link. I don’t know how it shaped my life though. How do you even shape something with a chain? I don’t know. I just have problems with the chain metaphor.

I don’t understand

One thing I don’t understand is when Mrs. Joe is talking to Pip about Joe. She says “Young as I was, I believe that I dated a new admiration of Joe that night” (chpt. 7pg. 48) I don’t understand what that means at all. Obviously they were dating, but what does it mean ‘a new admiration’??? it’s a mystery to me.

i'm sorry

sorry I spelled your name wrong Jake, I was sort of distracted while i typed my last blog... so yeah, won't happen again, I promise

Group Essay Collaboration

Alright… so Keenan and Josh since you have to read this …yeah so my paragraph.

First thing: I didn’t change any of my primary sources. As you know all my sources are about Cecily so as long as you don’t use any quotes from her you’ll be fine.

Second thing: Keenan, I can’t find your blog so I can’t comment on it but, assuming you read this, please change the hook, the one we have is pretty bad. Otherwise, your paragraph looked good.

Dishonesty

Dishonesty is a key theme in The Importance of Being Earnest, hereafter referred to as TIoBE. One way this ties into the play is through the humor. Being dishonest can often be ironic and lead to many chances for comedy, such as epigrams. Like when Cecily says it is hard to be away from someone you just met, but she and Algernon are already secretly engaged. Satire of society is generally scattered around TIoBE, as is dishonest behavior. They often overlap, but aren’t directly related as far as I can tell. The entire Earnest/Ernest thing is one giant lie heaped on another. John lies about having a brother so he can party, while both Gwendolyn and Cecily are sort of engaged to men who aren’t earnest in any sense of the word. That’s about as dishonest as you can get. The relation to the pursuit of pleasure is fairly obvious. Both John and Algernon have alter egos that they say they need to take care of, and then they can go party.

            In my opinion Wilde is saying dishonesty can make or break you. Lying and having alter egos has yielded some pretty positive results in the story so far, like Algernon being engaged to Cecily. I am, however relatively certain that all the deception will catch up with everyone. For example, Gwendolyn is in love with Ernest, not jack. However, I don’t think Victorian society could function without people occasionally going “Bunburying”.  

A.F. evaluations

Britta-

Poem

Very thorough, spans entire book. Shows irony and plot points.  Generally well done, also it’s written so it sort of resembles propaganda.

Conor-

Portrait gallery

His idea was unique. His actual project doesn’t show all that much. However it was well set up and he explained it in the same post.

Maddie-

Picture

The actual pictures she drew weren’t all that great. Also I couldn’t read some of the captions for it. As for effectiveness, it seemed to be a flow chart on the story of A.F. but I couldn’t read it, even blown up from the blog.

Jake-

Picture

Well done quality wise, but confusing. The picture wasn’t very effective because it was hard to understand. You would have to have read to the book to understand it even at all. I read the book by the way.

Nic-

Picture

It was hand drawn which was against the rules, but besides that it was good. It showed irony with napoleon wearing cloths and drinking. Also it implied the connection between A.F. and communist Russia.

Josh-

Song

Hilarious! Shows irony and plot points. A for effectiveness!

Enola-

Movie

She didn’t show it in class. Pretty well done but didn’t show any irony or foreshadowing. Not as well done as other movies (Jameson)

Aaron inc.-

Flowchart

Pretty effective and gets the job done. What’s up with the owl? Generally well explained.

Daryl-

Picture

Very well explained. Shows irony and plot points, but not foreshadowing. Shows parallels with the Russian Revolution.

Olivia-

Picture

Well explained. Shows irony but not foreshadowing. The actual picture could be better/ more polished…

As for my project people seemed to have liked it. I read a lot of positive reviews about it. In general I think I put about an even amount of work into it as everyone else did. I really regret not being to fit my comic to my blog better. If I could change one thing it would be how it was too big for the blog…

Animal farm project