Blog #16: Bye Bye Bye

AP English this past year has been a lot of work. I think it's a lot of work I can do if all I had going on in my life was school work, but I do so much more than that outside of school. I have a job, I'm in all the plays, I'm Yearbook Editor, I'm a WyldLife Leader at Beaumont Middle School and I'm Senior Class Treasurer. That's a lot to take on on top of AP classes. For the most part I've done really well throughout my years in high school. Even first semester of senior year I did decently in most of my classes, but the work load in AP English was just too much for me to handle. As soon as senioritis kicked in second semester, and it is a real thing I promise, I was just down for the count in AP English. I just couldn't do it anymore. My grades this semsester went down the drain. I was too lazy and I couldn't force myself to do anything. I think this happens to a lot of seniors and not just myself though so I don't even feel that bad. Over the years my mom has kept pretty good track of my grades, making sure I was always turning in things and whatnot. This year she slacked some too and at this point she doesn't care anymore because she can't make me care. She just told me the other day "I won't even look at your grades again as long as you don't fail one." Which if I don't turn in missing things in AP English and do well on whatever else we have left of this year, then I actually might. I guess the moral of my story is that I should have known I would have been really busy and fall under senioritis' spell and planned accordingly before this year. Advanced English may or may not have been more my speed just based on those two things. All I know is now, I want to graduate high school like right this second and am really ready to be out of here. Goodbye Dunbar!!!

Makeup Blog #15: The Group Project

Surprisingly enough, I didn't hate the group project. I think it was relatively easy and pretty interesting actually. My part in the project was the reasearch on the significant people and their works as well as the make it memorable aspect. Reading about all the poets, knowing their stories and what made them write the way they did was rather inspirational. I also kind of like poetry I realized. I mean, I hate writing it and let's be honest some of it is crazy weird and therefore I'm not a fan, but a majority of it is really good. Some of it just kinda hits you when it's deep. The make it memorable part of the project was cool in my opinion. I was at Lauren Delventhal's house when I was trying to learn how to do the cup part of my song. Let's just say videos on youtube are almost impossible at following because they go to fast and they aren't going your speed because obviously they aren't with you. I had to have a friend of mine teach me. After I got that down, I had to practice singing the song with the tempo of the cup which no matter how many times I practiced was almost impossible. I can barely do one thing at a time let alone do two things at once like that. I was actually really nervous about doing it in front of the class because I never thought I could do it all that well and I could never memorize the freaking poem no matter how many times I sang it. It was rather frustrating. But, in the end it was okay and I think our make it memorable was pretty dang memorable! (But, hey, that's just me!)

Makeup Blog #13: Independent Reading Project

The issue that I've had all semester with the independent reading essays is that my books don't exactly help in any way shape or form. I feel like I have to get really creative with my answers if I want to even be able to write an essay over my guiding question. I don't know if this is cheating or not, I don't think is because we've had the same guiding question over all three books, but the night before I read this last one (which I loved I might add) I had to sit and come up with how it answered my question for a solid 45 minutes and I think I only really came up with like one or two ideas that I wrote about. When we first made this project at the end of last semester I probably should have come up with more than one guiding question. I also think maybe my question was too specific because none of my books even touched on it. My topic was all about why people get divorced but I made it more specifically about how much money and communication affected divorce. Yes, my books were about divorce but they didn't exactly take you through the divorce and get to the hity gritty of why the couples couldn't stay together any longer. This last book especially was barely about the parents, it was more about the child they had together and their seperate dating lives after their divorce. It was really hard picking out books for this project so I don't think I could have picked any different books, but still. I found the independent reading essays rather difficult and I'm glad they are done.

Five Thoughts on the Poetry Unit

1. I have noticed that I, as I'm sure many girls do, prefer the poems about love and whatnot. I've always had a really hard time dealing with my own feelings. I can't express them well or tell others how I feel in a non-awkward and idiotic way. I guess I'm better at writing, but even still I can't describe how I feel in the same way that some of these poems. They are extremely relateable and it makes reading poetry and writing a response about it easier.

2. I've come to realize that a lot of the poetry I read is a lot like song lyrics. It's pretty amazing at how many poems I have read that have actually been songs I have sung in choir, etc. Music is kind of my thing so it cool to see how different forms of art relate to each other and are similar.

3. The figurative poems we're reading in class are almost impossible for me to understand. If there is some underlying meaning or message I'm supposed to get before I come into class, there is just no way I'm going to know it unless I google the poem and cheat. I'm really glad we haven't had a question on any of the reading quizzes that asked what poems really meant because I would have failed every last one of them.

4. Suprisingly enough, I am rather enjoying the poetry unit. I wouldn't enjoy writing poetry, but it's pretty inspiring to see how amazing some writers are. The poetry unit has probably been one of the more inspiring units because the pieces are so beautifully written and sometimes what they poems are talking about are just more beautiful as well.  I would also have to say that I've noticed how much I like the poems that tell stories. One of my favorites that I've read has come out of the book "Perks of Being a Wallflower." Its great (in my eyes) so you should read it.

5. I DON'T WANNA DO A GROUP PROJECT. This weekend I'm going to a wedding out of town and next weekend the senior class trip to San Francisco is

from Friday to the following Tuesday. I just don't have any time!!! Also I'm really not that smart and doing group projects makes me notice just how not-smart I am because everyone else in my group is like a genius and I'm not and never will be no matter how hard I try and it's so depressing because I want to be smart but I don't retain information well and I'm not creative and I suck. Okay, there is the end of my rant. Any further complaining I have on the subject will be done to my mother.

The Name's Shakespeare... William Shakespeare.

Many of you may be surprised to know that I have strong feelings for a man named William. William Shakespeare, that is. No, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed or the brightest bulb in the bunch. Shakespeare is not something that comes easy to me in any way, and like most of you, I have to look up a lot of his plays and poems on No Fear Shakespeare on sparknotes.com, but when you really dig deeper into his words, I can completely understand why he is considered one of the masters of his art. I am very drawn to Shakespeare, mostly because he feeds on such raw human emotion. I think he's the best at using language to make you feel how he's feeling. His words pull me into whatever he's describing and whether I've felt the way he's feeling or not, I completely understand what he's talking about. The fact that he's wonderful at not only writing plays, but also poems and sonnets is also really compelling. He's multi-talented and that's not something a lot of artist and writers can say for themselves. The other day I was reading some poems on the internet for our Poetry Responses and I came across one of Shakespeare's that I ended up writing about. Of course, it was beautiful (it's Shakespeare, let's get real) but this sonnet was actually quite... funny. I was shocked! The poem was about how much a man loved a woman and everything about her was perfection. He tells her that he loves her and then throughout the poem she is practically holding her tongue on how she really feels about him. In the second line, she says "I hate..." then notices how upset he is, feels guilty, and he ends the piece when she says "not you." I just thought that was quite clever and humorous coming from someone like Shakespeare who is known for his sappy love stories and twisted tragedies. I guess that goes along with the fact that he's multi-talented. Of course there are many reasons why Shakespeare is the best of the best, but I found a quote that pretty much relates back to why I like him so much.

"His grasp of the human condition is perhaps unmatched in literature."  -Terry W. Glaspey 

 

 

Sad to Be Ahh Arone in da Waaarld.

For the past week I have thought nothing but "breathe", "walk", "sing", and "speak in Asian accent". I have spent most of my waking moments in the theatre working on Thoroughly Modern Millie. The average time I've been getting home is at 10 this week. Naturally, all I can think about is the musical. I didn't know what to blog about and to be quite honest I'm so extremely exhausted from the three performances of today that I don't think I can even read the blog suggestions without falling asleep. Considering the fact that the English class has an option to see the musical and it's being performed in school I think it's appropriate for me to blog about Millie and blog about why I think people should come. First of all, musicals are such hard work. They take so much time, effort and money to put on. The drama department makes a good portion of their money from the in-school shows. Also, let's face it, my character is awesome. I'm the villain for once in my life and I love it. I'm a ginger and I get to pretend to be Chinese. How unbelievably cool/funny is that? My accent is absolutely awful and so stereotypical that I'm sure everyone will find it humorous. Not only am I the villain, but I have henchmen. ASIAN HENCHMAN. They seriously speak Chinese the whole time. (Besides me) they are everyone's favorite characters. The cast is full of some really great characters and some really amazing talent. If these reasons alone don't make you want to come see the show then I am absolutely not above begging. Please, please, please, please, please come see it. Honestly, I think there are some really funny aspects to the show and if nothing else you get out of two and a half classes. If you really want to you can make fun of me during class and I'll pretend not to hear you.

Tough Love

When I was a kid, I was made fun of for being fat. At the same time that was happening, Sally was being made fun of because she had buck teeth, Ini was made fun of because he was the only black person in my Catholic school, Joey was made fun of because of the mole on his chin and Claire was made fun of for not wearing makeup.  Some people said some awful things to me and those other people growing up, and I'm sure there were specific kids who were more relentless than others, but I don't think I would call what they did "bullying". Let's face it, elementary and middle school is a time when kids are just mean to each other. They don't understand how what they say can affect other people in negative ways. Even as a high schooler we are being taught to cry "bully" anytime someone is mean to us. Babying kids at the elementary and middle school levels doesn't allow them to learn and grow from these experiences. Maybe back then what other people said to me hurt, but I wouldn't go back and change any of it. I learned to stand up for myself. (Even if that meant getting a behavior card for pushing Nick down at recess!) I learned to be strong and handle my own problems. I learned to bounce back and not let people get me down. I learned to not find my self worth in other peoples' opinions about me. I just grew up. If I had of been taught back then to report someone being mean to me every time it happened like kids are taught to now, it would have taken me a lot longer to learn any of those lessons. I'm not saying bullying is acceptable and shouldn't be reported, but there is a difference between being mean and being a bully. Of course, I believe if a student is being specifically picked on every day to an extent to which they no longer feel comfortable at the school (or wherever the location) then yes, action should probably be taken. But being mean to each other in the growing up years is just something that happens. Also, I liked the articles definition of what bullying actually was and what it entails: a power imbalance. I think the power imbalance is key because it sets a better picture of bullying versus friends teasing each other. Growing up is difficult and unfortunately teasing and being mean to each is just part of it. That doesn't mean we should call everything "bullying".

This article also made me realize I'm much more of a "tough love" type person. I'm gonna feel sorry for my kids when I'm older.