Close to the End

Everyday I get up counting the days left until graduation (35 counting today). Although I cannot wait until school ends I know when the time does come I am going to miss high school. Don't get me wrong I am definitely not going to miss getting up early, or the annoying security guards who think that they have the most important job in the world, but the people that I have developed a close relationship with. Looking back at the past four years I realize that without the friends that I was able to make I would not have been able to get through high school without exploding. My friends have always been there for me when I needed some help, and now that school's almost over I am just starting to realize that all these people that I have grown to like will soon be leaving to embark on their own separate journeys. Now that it is April most people have a general sense as to what college they will be attending next year, and even though I am overjoyed to get out of this city I know that soon after I leave I am going to miss friends I constantly hang out with. Although 35 days seems like an eternity away, when you stop and think about all the experiences we have all shared together in high school and all the people you know that you will never see again, 35 is really just the blink of an eye. We only have a certain amount of days left for this high school experience and therefore instead of constantly counting down the days until graduation we should take this small amount of time we have left and spend it living the last days of high school to the fullest. I for one know that for the rest of the school year I plan on enjoying myself as much as possible and hanging out with my friends as much as I can before we all separate, so that twenty years down the road when I look back at my high school experience, I can look back with pride knowing that I made the most of it.

Jehan T.

I AM

I wrote this paragraph long time ago when we began reading Native Son and Invisible Men. So I hope you guys enjoy reading it.

I AM

I am an ambitious girl. No I am not an over achiever like those who strive for an A; nor am I one of your ideal students. I am a girl of substance of dreams, and hopes, ambitious and desires, and I might even be said to have childish mind. I am ambitious, understand simply because I  believe in my dreams. Like those girls you see sometimes in movies, it as though I have been in my own world, dream world. When they approach me they see only my naiveness, themselves, or figments of their real world-indeed, everything and anything except my dreams. 

-Semarn K

Native Son

Native Son happens to be one of  my most favorite books that we've read this year.  I found it very interesting and it kept me on my toes.  However, Bigger's character annoyed me on many levels.  He just seem to fill the stereotypical role of the arrogant, black man.  Knowing that his father is no longer a part of their lives, he does not want to step up and become the man of the house.  He is reluctant to get a job and is ashamed of his family all due to fear.  He acts as a coward; Bigger is afraid of success so does not feel the need to try.  He fears white people, and believes that none of them are good-all just trying to oppress the black race- so sits around waiting to fail.  However, Bigger did  grow on me; after he was incarcerated, it seem like he finally begin to learn and understand life, which was of course too late. He was way too ignorant and set in his ways and didn't realize it until time was up.  All in all I really enjoyed this book and believe that it will remain one of my favorites for quite a while as Richard Wright's writing style was simply astonishing.
-Erin P

What is literature?

Have you ever read a book and were ashamed at how much you enjoyed it? I know I have. Today in class it really troubled me to think of all the extracurricular reading I do, and how none of it really fits in the highly esteemed class of "literature". When I think of that term, I really think of classics like The Pride and the Prejudice , Huck Finn, Grapes of Wrath or some other so-called timeless piece thats really a snooze to get through. So I got this crazy idea, lets redefine literature. Who says it has to have some life changing relevancy, or be filled with extended metaphors and symbolism. Why can't literature be something we just enjoy, whether its Twilight,Green Eggs and Ham, or even Snookie's Autobiography. Whatever it may be, who's to say that it isn't real literature. I just wonder who is on this 'book committee' calling all the shots (probably the same lunatics who gave that Oscar to The King's Speech)? I just challenge and really encourage all of my classmates to look away from these so-called classics and really find a book that you enjoy and read on your own for this assignment that we're getting ready to embark on.

Good Luck!

-Talor T. :)

Thoughts of Jane Eyre

Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags (Chapter 12).


Quotation above taken from chapter 12 of Jane Eyre, shows the reader Jane's beliefs on female independence through her thoughts. Jane desires to see more of the world and have more interaction with its people. While she appreciates her simple life at Thornfield, she regrets that she does not have the means to travel, and she expresses her thought by addressing lower and upper class women. Through this novel we see that Jane posses the desire to gain independence and freedom from the suppressing society that she lives in. In the quote she says "women feel just as men feel" in this part we get the sense that Jane beliefs that men and women should posses equal rights, "making puddings and knitting stockings", this part shows that Jane beliefs that women should not just stay confined to household chores. We as a reader see her proving her statement when she works as a teacher and learns to survive on her on. From reading Jane Eyre, I gained an understanding of women's point of view in England during that time, I believe that Jane has powerful characteristics that allowed her to survive in the male-dominated society and rise above others to achieve her true love.
                                                         - Semarn K

For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls

      My table group did our project on the play "For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls," and it so far is one of my favorite assignments from this class. Primarily, my liking of this project pertains to how funny I thought the play actually was. I was not expecting the play to be as crude as it was at parts but I mostly enjoyed the innuendoes that are not as easily spotted. For example, I found the line, "If some sailor misses his boat, that's no reason you have to put him up in your room, You're too big-hearted, son," especially funny (especially because I had to explain it to Tori.) 
     I liked the project itself because it made me look deeper into what the play meant and forced me to try to understand the main themes the dramatist was trying to convey. I agreed with the idea that society can create images of what people should be, in this case, the idea of the perfect "southern belle" or "functional family," and this became apparent with Amanda not being happy with her life and not always being able to compose herself in a perfect, lady-like fashion when frustrated. I think the play also touched on the idea that no family is perfect and it is unhealthy for society when families try to portray themselves that way. Although the Wingvalley family was a particularly over-dramatic family, it was so that the audience would understand the idea through rude comedy. 
     From a technical aspect, I appreciated the project because it allowed me to become familiar with new forms of internet composition, such as GoogleDocs, which I enjoy because I like to seize as many opportunities as I can to become more tech-savvy because I think it is a useful skill to have. I thought the media was easy to use and I am glad I can add it into my arsenal of computer knowledge. 
     My only complaint would be the short amount of time we got to work on the project, because I wanted to make a video of us acting out part of the play because it would have been funny, but no day in the week worked for all of us. Other than that, I greatly enjoyed the project.




-Bobby R.

drama

Our class shared some thoughts on drama and I wanted to share some points I learned from this class experience.

- comedy lies between satire and romance
- two kinds of comedies are scornful comedy and romantic comedy
- these expose human folly
- comedy and tragedy are both examples of drama
- force and melodrama are oversimplified extremes
- tragedy is a plot that involves a chain of the protagonist to fall into a state of misery
- realistic drama is based off of how believable the play is delivered
- nonrealistic and realistic describe dramatic presentation
Necessary Nonrealistic Conventions:
- audience must believe a room with 30 or less sides actualy has four
- characters with different nationalities all speak the language of the audience
- the actors all face the audience
- plays strive for differing degrees of realism
- drama has 3 additional aspects that serve to add another dimension to the work.
- dramas utilize real life people and the quality of the play relies havily on their performance.

-Angela H