Easter 1916

1. By the assertion that "Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart," Keats is saying that by throwing oneself at a single goal and by disciplining yourself to only one focus, you can lose yourself in the process and sacrifice a far greater price than what the goal is worth, in this case, you heart, or soul. By striving for that one focal point, your heart will harden to others and to your own emotions and will become a "rock" in Keats eyes, or it will harden you and make you insensitive and bitter.

2. This poem is very similar to "The Second Coming" in that they are both abstract in nature and need the reader to decipher and interpret the meaning because it is vague. They both talk of negative circumstances and of violence, but the second coming is more broad because it is about an event that has not yet come to pass, and the Easter 1916 is about an event that has already happened and is now being reflected upon.

Frankenstien post

http://animoto.com/play/T0AnVxmH2KHthoB0rn7J9w

The above is the link to my video for the Frankenstein Unit. My video features depictions of ugly man made scenes with beautiful natural scenes. This shows the theme in the Gothic novel Frankenstein that man made creations are hideous compared with the natural. The beauty and superiority of nature is bolstered by the fact that the creature is man made, and simultaneously so hideous that he cannot bare even looking at himself. This theme is a strong under current throughout the book so I decided to base my animator video off of it.

The greatest Victim

After reflecting on chapters 3-8 in Frankenstein, I would have to say that Justine is the biggest victim of all. I can't imagine what it would have to be like having everyone you love thinking your practically a spawn of Satan,all while knowing your innocent. I can't imagine the terror of hearing the verdict after the trial and just randomly having evidence planted on you, (such as the necklace) with no way of explaining it. Although, I also felt bad for Frankenstein because he would have to live with the guilty of knowing he was the catalyst which triggered all of these terrible events. However, he didn't have to die and be condemned/ executed in front of an entire community like Justine did so she is still the bigger victim in my opinion.

Macbeth: end

Wow what a depressing Tale! Everyone die including many completely Innocent people. Also, I thought the "not born of a woman via C-section" was a little lame. For my every day connection, this tale reminded me of other Shakespeare tragedies such a Romeo and Juliet because innocent people die needlessly. Also, I noticed, as in other Shakespeare pieces, that there was an overload of ambiguity. Why does Lady Macbeth lose her nerve? Why do the Weird Sister's target Macbeth? What motives do they have in doing so? One thin i noticed about Shakespeare while reading this play was that he includes NO stage directions. this is actually very brilliant if you think about it because it allows the actors and producers to use artistic license to create something very unique and original with the same script. This is all part of the theme of ambiguity in all of his plays; it allows the producers AND the audience to interpret the way they want to, and allowing for more creativity.  

Leter to Macbeth

Dear Macbeth,

Forsooth! It is come to my attention that you plot to kill the good king Duncan in his sleep after getting him mighty plastered. I say that this is not in your best interest for many a worthy reason. First, you only plot this after hearing of the prophecy of the three Weird Sisters. Witches are not to be trusted, they only seek you downfall, do not follow the lead of such evil entities, but do as you inner conscience tells you to. Witches take their direction from that Great Demon who abides in Hell. Why take the words of such foul creatures to heart? Duncan has been a good king, never mean or unjust, never levying unfair duties on the towns people. He has even bestows a jewel on your wife and has treated you with great honor by placing the great title of Thane of Cawdor upon you. Do not repay such noble acts and gift with a knife to the torso. Tis not nice. King Duncan is your friend, and if one as close to im as you are plotting such a violent act, tis easy to presume that one like yourself would soon do the same to you. You are thought loyal to the king by in secret listen to magical females with beards who prod you to commit an act of unjust regicide. One you thinks to be loyal to you may also be hiding murderous thoughts for you in hiding. Forsooth! Do not act foolishly on the advice of she-males, act with your heart.

your humble servant,

Personal Body Guard of the King

Macbeth!

I'm super excited to start Macbeth! I went to see a live performance of it when I was in the second or third grade. It was extra cool because it was part of this outdoor Shakespeare festival and we brought our cat along to watch too. I remember the blood on Lady Macbeth hands' was super real-looking and everyone kept doing double takes at my family and I when they saw our cat with us on her little leash. I've never read the play though so this will be cool. I decided to look up a few Macbeth pictures for this post:

Post Pilgrim Presentations

Wow I've been loving these presentations! Lots of fun youtube videos that add, also I love the food, just saying. :)

I really connected to the summoner today, in present day I think the summoner would be a bounty hunter because they have to track down the "bad guys" or criminals for authorities. The summoner job also reminded me of court server who has to go out and serve court orders/ legal documents/ summons to court. Although, one big difference is that the present day ones are much less corrupt.

I was surprising to me that the knight was so high up in the pecking order. Usually soldiers are similar to  modern day plumbers: they are too stupid to get decent higher paying work so they are stock with the job that no one else wants. Although, after having that thought it also occurred to me that knights weren't just your typical mindless soldier, they had many other attributes not associated with common hired soldiers.

It strikes me as odd that the people in the gathering of pilgrims traveling together didn't kill each other. There were many couplings in the group that I'm guessing probably wouldn't have gotten along together very well. It was mentioned that the Yoemen and the knight were rivals for example. It strikes me as odd that everyone survived in a group for the entire pilgrimage.

Caterburry Tales

Well, so far not too much porn like I was expecting, which is good because I get enough of that from modern day TV, film and books. I loved reading the Pardoner's Tale today. While I was reading it seemed cliche in today's standards. Then I realized that this type of story wouldn't be cliche at all for the time period it was written in. This was probably a very novel and entertaining concept back in the day. I love how Chaucer uses irony instead of blatantly stating his opinion, it makes the punchline/ main point of the tales much more powerful. From the tales you can begin to understand just how strongly the dislikes the hypocritical state of the Church in he 1400's. The pardoner is almost a micro church Church which Chaucer uses to point out large abuses which the entire church is guilty of at this time.

Free Bee Post for Valentines Day

I'm pumped for starting Canterbury Tales, although slightly nervous too because I asked my dad about it and he told me that it was pretty much a 600 year old porno..... I guess I'll have to find out whatever that means in the coming weeks. Anyway, I was interested in the characters so I decided to look up a few images of the Tales online, this is what I got:




Well, these don't look too naughty so I guess that's a good sign! Also, Happy Valentines Day everyone, may your day be filled with heart shaped chocolate and sugar!!!!

Grendels view Point

I heard noises coming from the castle I had conquered, but saw nothing stirring within.
I entered the hall and  saw many men asleep on MY floor.
Anger burst open within me, I had fought hard for this hall once, why should I have to do it again?
I was also hungry, so I decided to fix both problems in one act, and eat my intruders.
I picked up a crunchy looking morsel in armor and ripped an arm off and took a bite,
then I ate the other leg, then the head. It was delicious. While enjoying my first snack, my food awoke the others.

The stirred and looked at me in fear. I went to pick up the second delectable, which was still asleep, or so I thought.  This one jumped up and brought his sword down upon me before I could even take one bite. I shouted the name of Cain in anger, and dropped the meaty looking man. He swung at me again, but this I dodged and tried to club him with my fist, but he was too quick. This enraged him and he brought the blade across my face while giving a battle cry. My first thought was too escape this fowl thing, I just wanted food, not a fight. For this man was of a different breed than the men that defended the hall before. This one did not run and hide like the others.

For a long while we battled, although the entire time I just wanted to escape, to crawl back to my pit and sleep. But every time I tried to escape I was perused and slashed at with his cruel blade. We made quite a clatter as we battle and swung at each other. I had many cuts and  had lost many pints of blood when finally this cruel man jumped on top of me and began togging at my arm. I tried to back against a wall and crush him between me and it, but before I got there a terrible pain shot through my back and in to my arm, until a horrid cracking a ripping noise ushered from my shoulder and that vile man fall to the ground with it in his grasp. I shrieked in agony and ran from the hall, hoping for death to take me quickly once I reached my swamp.

Grendel

Hey everyone just a heads up my AP Composition Blog is not my British Literature Blog. For my first blog post, I am researching the history of the name Grendel, the name of the demon which took over Hrothgar's palace. Also, I included some images of Grendel I found online for kicks, enjoy! I though this would be interesting since Grendel sounds feminine to me for whatever reason. 








Alright, after an extensive search I can't really find any sources of the name Grendel. I'm hypothesizing that this is because the epic poem Beowulf predates almost all other writings and records of English, so it makes sense that no record would be found on the source of one name within it. Although, if any were found it may source back to Cain somehow since it states that Grendel is a spawn of Cain.

Final Blog Post

So glad term 2 is done! I think I'll miss AP Composition the most though, because I'm sure not going to miss MoPro! Special thanks to Ms. Cardona for NOT putting the final on the last 3 days of the term like everyone else, THANKYOU!

BLA Final- Half the Sky

I just finished watching the documentary Half the Sky.

WOW

It was also breath taking like the book, but to a slightly lesser degree. The book had more hard core evidence and facts, as well as more heart wrenching stories to add to the effect. The movie was forced to be limited because of time constraints, which is understandable. However, the lack of evidence provided in the movie made it far less powerful. One thing that was better in the movie though is that the viewer was able to see some of the physical faces talked about in the book. The visual piece missing from the book made the reader imagine the horrific events which may have made the events inaccurate to a certain extent since the reader had to fill in the blanks for themselves, so the movie may have led the viewer to a more accurate picture of the situations depicted.

One powerful moment for me was during the first segment of the movie when two women were watching a film of a young girl being circumcised. The looks on their faces said it all. Although they did not show the movie itself, they filmed the women while they were watching it and the looks on their faces spoke of the horror and trauma they were witnessing. It was terrible. I can't imagine being violated like that and being put through that sort of torture. What frightened me the most was when they interviewed a local who said that she would not let her son marry a girl who had not been cut. That disgusted me. They stigmatize these young girls for not going along with ritualized torture. It was also shocking when they interviewed a 19 year old in Kenya who said that she was essentially exiled from her village because she got pregnant before she was cut. Her baby was supposed to be executed because she came out of an uncut vagina. Really people? I'm going out on a limb here and guess this practice was first thought up by a man.

The practice of female genital cutting literally has NO purpose. None. usually with any practice it's done for a good reason, unfortunately that's not the case here. Male circumcision for example is done for disease control and prevention. A male has a significantly reduced chance of being infected with an STD if he has been circumcised. Also, studies of African populations show that circumcised males have exponentially reduced AIDES rates when compared to uncircumcised males. Women married to circumcised men also benefit. Cervical cancer rates drop in the wives of circumcised men since less germs enter a women's body during intercourse from germs trapped in the foreskin, which is removed during a circumcision. To boot, the foreskin also doesn't have a very large blood flow, or very many nerve endings, and can be easily removed at birth. Female genital gutting however has none of these positives, but is still preformed on millions of girls a year according to the video. Shockingly enough, the video said that most were preformed on girls aged 5-9, this needs to stop.I never knew labor could be made any more painful than it already is. Jeez I have a hard time handling my menstrual cramps some months, I can't imagine going through an obstructed labor that was deliberately obstructed by someone through cutting earlier in my life. 

I had a huge emotional reaction to this movie mostly because I'm a girl. I'm so lucky to not have been born into a country where I'm a second class citizen just because of my gender. This movie almost made me want to start hating men. All of the problems listed in the book and movie were deliberately caused by a male superiority complex in men around the world. I know it's wrong to blame ALL men for these issues, but I couldn't help feeling resentful toward men in general  after reading the book and seeing the film. This movie has really motivated me to go out and fight for women's rights, since I'm a girl too and these are practically my sisters.

The power of words

Someone called me a name today, and it hurt. I then started thinking about how one little word can literally obliterate one's entire day. And then it brought me to the thought that one little word can make someone's day worth living and encourage them to go out and do something amazing. So everyone, THIS IS PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.

It's super duper ridiculously X 10,000 easy to bark out something hurtful when you are mad, but hold it in. When that little word sits in someones mind and begins to rankle it will end up doing infinitely more damage than you were intending. I think we all know from fighting someone before that even if that person comes back with 5,000 compliments the only thing remembered the next day is that one insult they threw at you while they were in a rage. So be careful with your words. Maybe think about dropping a compliment randomly everyday for someone, who knows what greatness it will inspire.

Also I have to make a gender comment. As a girl I know that we are stereotypically more hurt by words than guys. Because I'm not a guy I  can't prove or disprove that, all I want to say it: Does it matter? They still will hurt the victim in the long run, so hold it in, or you'll regret it later. Hatred can only feed on itself.

Snow Flake Day

Ug every year we have to go through this same terrible ritual. I kid you not, first block two girls got into fighting match over their snow flakes because one girl lost hers in 5 minutes and then started yelling at the guy to get it back, at which point girl #2 sided with the guy. Ug. also, if I have to hear one more dirty hymen/virginity joke SOMEONE is getting punched. Hopefully not you. This brings up a bigger issue though about gender roles. Its "bad" if a girl loses her "snowflake" but OK if a guy loses his "snowflake?" What happened to quality?

Mission Statement

For my revised revision essay, I'd say  the main focal point is to make people think differently about abortion and its impacts. I want to make the argument less direct and more personal in order to bolster the argument, while watering down its harshness. My mission statement is: Give respect to the unborn. My first copy of the revision essay was lacking the personal piece so my goal is to put that personal aspect back into the writing while still making my main argument clear.

Dark Humor

If you like dark humor, you'll like this video clip. I think it's funny because it goes from a tender moment to death to a stark contrast with happy music. This contrast is humorous, also it's so terrible its funny, enjoy! Sorry if this is pushing the envelope for anyone.

Pet Peeves

OK I have a lot of pet peeves but it's not because I'm super judgmental or anything. Honest. It's not you it's me. Anyway, one of my biggest are the people who say the word "like" way too many times in each thought or sentence. One time I was put into a school group with a girl named Kelly and in one sentence she managed to incorrectly use the word "like" a total of 15 times, I succeeded in not smacking her with a dictionary.

It also gets me extraordinarily annoyed when people sit around and complain loudly about their problems and never do anything about it or even worse, dig themselves in deeper. My mom once sat on the couch drinking tea and watching TV and started loudly complaining about how she had no time for anything. I stifled a sarcastic remark.

Also it gets on my nerves when people show up to track or cross country meets and smoke. I mean, WTF! If you had just done a very physically exhausting task and were dying for air I wouldn't walk up and blow smoke in YOUR face so don't do it to me. Jeez.

My biggest pet peeve of all is definitely when people act misogynistic and say anything along the lines of "men are better than women" or when I hear someone say to a pregnant women "I hope it's a boy." Really? That's disgusting. I take that personally, parents should love their children regardless of their gender, and it's despicable to say otherwise. Some people act like it's a bad thing to have a daughter. Excuse me? Are they saying I should have been aborted because my dad didn't give me a Y chromosome?

Hilarious!

Here are some spoofs on common movies. They are just abbreviated for comedic affect, or have a twisted ending that makes way more sense. Take a look, enjoy!

How The Wizard of Oz Should Have Ended

The Matrix in Five Seconds

The Titanic in Five Seconds

Lazy Teenagers?

I read a news article today that hit a nerve. This general theme was that teens today are too stupid, too lazy, too sexual, or too fat. It generalized every teen in the US as a 600 pound, middle school dropout prostitute with a drug problem. WOW, REALLY?  

OK, just for the record, two summers ago I went for a 143 mile bike ride with my brother, I did my first century when I was 13, I've done the MS150 bike tour 5 years in a row, I go running every day, and I've lettered in both track and cross country. I get over all good grades, I read the unabridged 1600 page version of Les Miserables, I memorized pi out to the 80th digit for fun, and I've gotten over 100% in a class before. Also, I'm currently still with my FIRST boyfriend and we've been together 2 1/2 years, and I've never done drugs.

Asides from me, none of my friends have done drugs, only two of them have ever flunked a class, and none of them have gotten pregnant. Just saying. Take that CNN.

Rhetorical Modes

Topic: Longing

Narration: I felt emotional longing the first time in kindergarten when I had to wait after school everyday for my parents to come pick me up for two hours or so. All I wanted was to go home to eat and sleep. I had felt physical longing many times before for food and sleep and such, but that was the first time when I had felt emotional longing. I have felt even more intense emotional longing since then, I've moved six times so each of those moves induced more longing for my friends and for company.

Description: A love sick girl sits in her window seat and stares out on a rainy street and dreams of a young man. She remembers the day before while they had been out on a romantic date together, and wishing it was still the previous night. She misses him tons and dearly wishes they were together right then. She hasn't been able to think of much else for almost the entire day, stuck in her thoughts of them together and her longing for him.

Example: My parents keep trying to persuade me that the only way to break the longing cycle with my boyfriend is to get super busy with chores and homework so that my mind is completely absorbed with them. This will push all other thoughts out apparently because then I'll have no room to think about my boyfriend. This isn't a very permanent solution though, it just holds it at bay for a few hours while I'm preoccupied with chores. 

Comparison/Contrast: Longing and just plain wanting something are different but subtly so. Wanting something is more shallow and flesh deep. Longing includes more emotion and depth. I can want food, but I do not think and dream and cherish food every time I come into contact with it. When I long for something, it's hard to make it leave my mind for an extended period of time. The opposite of longing would best be put as dreading, you are anticipating something, but instead of positive of anticipation it's a negative anticipation.

Process Analysis: Longing has one main section to it, although this one section a beginning middle and end. In the beginning, it starts with occasionally thinking about a person or thing, and gradually begins the middle stage of consistently thinking about it/them, which develops into the third stage of craving and feeling lost without the object of the longing.

Division of Analysis: Longing can envelope your entire life ans suck you down if one does not control it properly. It can leave you hopeless and stuck until you are reunited with the object of your longing. Your attention must be slowly torn from the point of interest and redirected toward other things. Longing is made of focus, distraction, re-thinking of old thoughts, visualizing the item of your longing, and cold hard craving. These can lead the longing victim in a loop of unending and insane uneasiness and dissatisfaction.

Classification: Longing is very frequently linked to love and passion and the "ewy-gewy" dreamy Disney version of love when two lovers are separated. However, a person can long for a variety of things. Sometimes a wake up at 3:00 a.m. longing for pizza, or a child may long for his/her mother, or a person may long for a pet that just passed away. Longing fits many different situations.

Cause and Effect: Longing starts out with a deep attachment to something that grows, and then the object of attachment is removed, leaving an empty feeling and a craving for the missing item or person. The person has set up a life style around the item so when it is removed, the person feels deeply effected and lost without its presence. Their emotional happiness is disturbed and cannot be immediately reestablished without the missing object or person. 

Definition: Longing is the deep emotional craving one feels toward another or an object. There are deep ties rooted in the person's brain that now link them together with the item or person. Longing can bond two people together and make them not want to be apart. Longing is a negative feeling, but it is closely linked with positive ones when the longing is answered with a reuniting of the object or person.

Argumentative/Persuasive: Longing is essential to every day life. Without it, people would not bond, no incentive systems would work anymore, and society would cease to function. A longing to be with a loved one holds the world together. If a child wonders off from his mother, a longing to be safe and with her again ensures a better chance that he will look for her in order to be safe again. Without this gut reaction the young one might wonder off and die without the nurturing of the parent, if this happened enough, the population would decline. A longing for food ensures people want to eat, so that we don't starve to death and are incentivesed to look for food.