Metacognition: Jane Eyre Writing Assignment

While writing my part for Jane Eyre, I had to think of it almost as a script. I first really needed the name of my person (I was the academy student) and I needed the personality. Once I had the name, I began outlining the kind of person the student was going to be. I made her attitude so it clashed a bit with the publisher's and Charlotte's. Then, as I started writing, I had to read and reread the statement beforehand, then decide how I would respond, and then shift that response to the eyes of the student. Once I had written it, I edited each part very carefully and used words that gave the person character. At the end, I looked over the whole thing to make sure everyone's part worked with each other in the dialogue. If it didn't, there were certain places where I edited. In the end, I was happy with what I had done with my character and the whole conversation.

Metacognition: Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is a book that happens to be timeless as well as fantastic. However, the font is small and the book is thick, and it takes a while for my eyes to adjust to reading it so closely. I was having difficulties in the beginning reading it, mainly because I struggle with most things I am assigned to read. But since I was aware of the reading quizzes coming up, I had to find a way to read it...and enjoy it. So I thought about how the book is a winding tale of romance. Romance is one of my favorite genres. So, thinking of it as a romantic story, I started reading it like a fairy tale. That definitely helped me figure out how to understand what was going on. I identified Jane as the Juliet and Mr. Rochester as the Romeo...with slightly different happenings. I liked this way of thinking because it helped me understand the love between Jane and Rochester much better. But I should probably work on how to read it more carefully.

360 Degrees: STRESS

I'm stressing a lot right now. As usual, I have waited until the very last moment to get all of my work done. Once again, I'm sitting at my computer breathing heavily and worrying about whether or not I'll have enough time to do this and how late I'm gonna have to stay up to do that. Stress is a sadistic torturer. It gives me that feeling at the pit of my stomach like I'm going to throw up all the suppressed thoughts of regret and disappointment I have for procrastinating yet again. As I rush through my homework, I get bouts of small panic attacks and try to calm myself down, while I know my mom is downstairs thoroughly disappointed that I have wasted this weekend just like all the others. And then I chew nervously on the end of my ponytail and wonder what possesses me to do these things over and over and over...

BUT

Stress also gives me the drive to do things ASAP and as well as I can. It may be a little rushed, but I'm only focusing on one thing and one thing only: my homework. I block away any unwanted distractions (well, as much as I can for, after all, I'm an extremely ADD-like human being) and I don't stop until I literally drop. Also, I must admit I quite enjoy the suspense and craziness of waiting until the last minute (oh shut up you know you do too!) I thrive on the feeling I get when everything is finally done and I can go to sleeeeeeep.

Of course, If you're looking through the eyes of a parent, you're not exactly happy-go-lucky. I'd probably be worried that my kid wasn't putting enough effort into school and that he/she needs some help organizing his/her priorities. Then there's also the view of a disgruntled group member or a friend who tires of hearing you freak out time after time about how much you have left to do. So how do these perspectives relate? They're all the catastrophic repercussions that happen because of a little procrastination, and they all can be avoided. But should they be? Maybe, just maybe, there's a point in between being so stressed you're sweating buckets and starting homework obscenely early. In this, we would get a completely concentrated person who still has time to do other things when they're finished with the unholy thing that is homework. I'd like to thing there is that compromise, so for once my Sunday can be nice and relaxing. But it probably won't happen. Nope.

An Inconvenient Truth: never again? not true.

After World War Two, the world was shocked at the terrible concentration camps that the Nazis had set up to exterminate all who were different, which includes Jewish people, Gypsies, the mentally handicapped, prisoners of war, and others who opposed them. Around eleven million people died from this horrifying scheme, six million of them Jewish. There was a promise made thereafter that this would happen "never again". Unfortunately, this promise wasn't followed through. Today, there are several smaller-scale holocausts going on in places like Darfur, Sudan. And, like before, we are watching from the sidelines and hardly doing anything. The fact that there is more that can be done occasionally keeps me up late at night wondering.

Now, a total genocide would be bothersome to any normal person, but there may be different ways to look at it. The fact that the "never again" thing didn't go very well means that this could be a second chance. A second chance, that is, to stop Genocide. We have Holocaust museums and movies to remind us what happened, but the survivors of the Holocaust are growing older, and most have died. Plus, there are still many people (people with whom I don't and won't associate) who deny that the Holocaust even happened. This second Genocide could help hush those who are too ignorant and idiotic to face the truth right in front of there face. But, of course, it could go the total opposite way and we would end up with a Holocaust just as big as the one 70 years ago. There is also the chance that interference could cause an enormous conflict between invaders and the invaded. But if we, as one world, step in and stop the Genocide before it is too late, it could lead to a brighter future. It is getting later and later. Innocent people are dying. That just really puts a foul feeling in my stomach.

Dialectics: Moving Forward and Distraction

When something bad happens, something you can't get out of your mind, it is usually a good decision to move forward and forget. This doesn't mean picking up and running to a new place every time something happens to you, but it does entail trying other things and doing anything you can to move past whatever happened. That is where distractions come in. When you're distracted, it is much harder to wallow away in your sorrows than it is when you're staring at a blank wall, deep in thought. With me, whenever I am feeling terrible, I distract myself by watching t.v. or reading a book or something, and it really helps. Unfortunately, moving forward and distractions don't always match up. When there is a problem that can only be fixed head on, distractions will only slow the process down. Sometimes the distractions are the last thing needed to move on, and are even unhealthy. But, they bring a small sense of comfort and safety, if only for a little while. This shows what little things can do to make you feel great or at least better. And, in the long run, those little distractions could work wonders.

Blogging Around

Response to Taylor's post on voice

Taylor, what you say about voice is completely true. If I ever read a story where the voice of even one character has not reached it's potential, I toss the book and look for another one. Unfortunately occasionally I have trouble finding a voice of a character in one of my stories. If the character is somewhat different than I am, it's especially hard. In my short story, for example (which was bad, really bad) I couldn't figure out which type of voice my main character needed to have, and I still actually haven't. That's why I think the issue of voice is very important, and we should probably talk about it more in class.

Response to Graicey's post on timelessness

First of all Graicey, the words you used to explain why great literature is timeless were timeless themselves. "Good literature is like the sun, omnipresent and all seeing." really hits it. Alot of the timeless novels have lessons and experiences that we still would benefit from. Of course, as Graicey said, the life that both Conrad and Shakespeare experienced cannot compare to the face-paced life that we live, but regardless, the lessons on love friendship, and humanity are valuable. It makes me hopeful that people years from now will still be reading Romeo and Juliet or Heart of Darkness.

Best of Week:

The best thing that occured this week was the conversation about "Cathedral". Overall, I enjoyed reading that story quite alot, and the discussion we had made it more clear and easy to understand the characters. My favorite part of the discussion was the analyzation of the love between the husband and wife and the wife and Robert. The fact that the only name in the story was Robert got me thinking about this couple. They called eachother husband and wife, which seems very possessive and it gave out the feeling that they had become indifferent of eachother. At first, that made me a bit cynical, thinking that all marriages end up this way. But, even if there are so many marriages that end up this way, there are just as much that end up happy and well-lived. Anyway, it was just a really great story and a great discussion to get me thinking about that kind if thing.

Captured Thought: everyday routine

It starts with waking up at exactly 6:30. If I wake up earlier it either has to be 6:15 or 6:00. Then it's a shower with only half the lights on in the bathroom. Then, I brush my teeth to the rhythm of a song from Riverdance that has been in my head for 9 years. I get dressed, race down the stairs and put make up on in a specific order; foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow. I never really thought about why I do these things in a specific way, but now I think I know why. I'm an extremely superstitious person for alot of things, and one of my weird quirks is that I believe that if anything is altered in my routine, the world will be off balance. This works for me, because when this order is successfully completed, I tend to have a good day. But now, I realize, the reason I have a good day is not the luck the routine gives me. I have a mindset that the routine will make me have a good day, so I have a good day because I think I'm supposed to. It may be confusing, but it's true. What's funny is that even though I know about my issue, I'm not going to stop doing the routine; it helps me in more ways than one.

Connection: Post Modernism and Music with meaning

Yes, I am quite aware that I write about music alot. Now, that we've got that cleared up, I believe there is a connection between music with meaning and post modernism. One of the components of post modernism is the reasoning that "Since you can’t escape the system (get outside of it), one may find a strategy within the system to create space for oneself that could lead to something different, meaningful". A good example of this is of music that expresses ones disdain for the "system" or just lets a person break free. There are many different songs that express anti-government, war, certain laws, and more things. This would be by an artist in hope to let out his/her anger and possibly gain some followers or people who agree with them. A great example is Green Day, with the songs "Wake me up when September ends" and "American Idiot". It is no secret how anti-American they tend to be, but their accusations and frustration is ok, because they let it out in song. Music is one of the only things that the "system" has a hard time getting to, and hopefully it'll stay that free.

Metacognition: English

The things I have learned this year have improved my skills as a reader and writer and have sharpened my opinions on various things.

I've always written things differently. I don't like strict five paragraph essays or word minimums. All I want to do is write my feelings down on a page. This english class has actually helped me make a compromise between them. I had trouble writing the last essay we wrote, but that was only because of the topic. If it was about Harry Potter or music, I would've had the time of my life. And then I love writing these blogs. I honestly feel like I can talk about anything and just spill it out, and that's a comforting thought.

Then, every time I read King Lear, I spoke it aloud in order to understand it more. It really works wonders. I managed to pass the majority (haha) of the reading quizzes because of that. It also helped me memorize my lines for the skit we had to do.

One thing I still need to work on is how I prepare for different things, because I am still waiting until the last minute to do things and it has not served me well. Ok, I'm done writing for now. Nighty night.

Blogging Around

Mackenzie's blog on "The Show" by Lenka

First of all, I absolutely love that song. When I first bought it, I listened to it at least 15 times. And, whenever I listened to it, I would picture this girl (sometimes me) caught up in the middle of two friends fighting, the progress going around her, her teachers yelling, and everything in between. She would just shrug her shoulders and start skipping and dancing and just having a good time. This vision makes me agreewith what Mackenzie is saying about being confused and caught up in a billion different things at this time in our lives. I know I'm caught up in a hell of alot. But, as Lenka reminds us to enjoy the show. If we don't, we'll be miserable in the end and life will have wasted time on us. Whats the point of living if you can't enjoy it?

Anna's blog on Levi's commercials

When I first saw this commercial, I thought it was amazing. It was inspiring, powerful, uplifting, and it made me feel like a hippie for some reason. Naturally, I thought the commercial was raising money for some stellar organization raising money for some good cause. Then, the end came, and it said Levi's jeans. I was thunderstruck! Like Anna, I was surprised at the sudden change in advertisement strategy. I'm not going to repeat them, but every single adjective that Anna used to describe this commercial was 100 percent correct. Plus, the use of Walt Whitman, a fantastic poet, made me want to go buy a pair ASAP. It was wonderfully artsy and reminded me of how companies focused on nudity to gain customers can rise up and make a commercial like this. Also, like Anna, the historical happenings and references made me feel empowered, almost as if I could do the things they could do in the commercial. Well done Levi's!

iMedia: STOMP

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLzlJ8Cb1Ao&feature=related

Whenever I went to the movies, the first thing that would play would be this commercial for Dolby Digital. At first, It was a catchy tune that got me all pumped for the movie. Then, I would see it again, and again, and again until I could snap and stomp along to the entire commercial. Finally, after seeing it at least 100 times, I couldn't wait for the stupid thing to be over. Yet, when the commercial was replaced, I missed it. And now, I realize, I missed it because of the connection it had with me. I loved music, and that was, however strange and unusual it could be, music. I love music, and I always will. I love how you can express who you are, what you are, and what you want to be with merely a verse. This is a great example of expression through music. The people of STOMP see the beauty of small things in life, and what use they can be. Old basketballs, kitchen equipment, car keys, and trash cans are all ordinary dull things. What we don't realize is their value. Plus, it's pretty awesome to be cool enough to pull off banging a trash lid just to make noise. Now, strangley, I've watched the video 5 times in a row, and I'm not tired of it.

Connection: Goneril, Regan and the ugly stepsisters

I'm not saying Goneril, and Regan are ugly (well, Goneril's a couger but I don't even know where to start with that), but the sisters from King Lear and the ugly stepsisters of Cinderella are very similar. They are all power hungry, and stop at nothing to get closer to the top, even if they have to push eachother out of the way. Their priorities and desires are jumbled up, and result in selfishness. And, they are all fools in a certain way. Another thing similar is that both pairs of sisters have a third sister, This third sister is the most independent with her thoughts, and is the one who is much kinder and selfless. She also ends up achieving the most of her dreams in the end. Cinderella marries the prince, Cordelia is set free of all the turmoil going on with her other two sisters. The moral of the characters has an influence on women to stand up for themselves and to be as selfless as possible througout their lives, which is important. One might think that the Grimm Brothers took some ideas from good old Shakespeare...

360 Degrees: Rock and Roll

It's amazing and basically shaped the entire end of the 20th century. Many people, particularly the ones from that generation, think it turned music from fluffy crap to hard core good stuff. Or, to the people happy with the charlston it could be an anathema to this world and a bad influence on the younger generations. The reason why there are druggies and crazy rebels. The reason the Vietnam war was so opposed. Or, It could be the greatest thing ever heard. Or just noise. These are probably the most common opinions for those opposed and for Rock and Roll music. How did some simple songs about life become the most controversial and life changing things in the '60s and '70s? Why were most of the older people afraid of it? Surely they had some life changing music in their days. I decided to do Rock and Roll because of the new movie "Pirate Radio" about a bunch of people who decide to illegally broadcast Rock and Roll in the time when The UK's government banned it from the radio. What if they banned Rock and Roll for good, so it was never heard from again? How different would life be? Can one genre change the world? I guess so!

Metacognition: History Essay

I would really love to say that I have a well-structured and organized writing process. But I honestly don't. I do study what I must write about, but for the rest, I usually sit down, think about it for a few minutes, then start pulling things out of thin air. If you ask some authors what their writing process is, their eyes will go blank and the only thing they will think to say its "ummmmmmmmmmmmm.....". Seriously, I asked an author once. Anyways, for my History essays I usually brainstorm beforehand, write down a few things, and then memorize it for the next day. Sometimes it works perfectly, sometimes it doesn't. It tends to surprise me. I probably should improve my use of transitions and grammar. After I complete an essay, I read it over. And with this one particular essay, I read it in a southern accent! I have no idea why and what made it come along, but it did. That was probably the most surprising thing about my thinking ever. But I did like the process I used, because afterwards, I said it in a British accent and it sounded better than ever.

Blogging Around

For Lauren's Best of Week post:

I'm right there with you Lauren. I feel completely cheated from the real story. It's not fair to treat everybody that happens to live around here with "the western mind" kind of story. Life is not a pretty picture painted with simple texture and dull colors. It's a freaking mess! Whenever a book ends in ultimate closure, like the Harry Potter series, or any fairytal you can name, my imagination wanders onto what could have been. What if Harry became a suicidal drunk, plagued with the images of his close friends' deaths? (Granted, this is probably why they wrote Harry Potter Should Have Died). What if Cinderella and Prince Charming rushed into a hopeless marriage, and both of them leave it more distraught then before? It's just not right! Closure is something that makes you feel all warm and safe, because everything is good again. But sometimes, I think everyone needs a little bit of a reality check, or we're all gonna go around thinking that life will always end in one big closure. Well guess what? It doesn't.

For Bill's Connection post:

First of all, Bill, I congratulate you for having excellent TV show choice. Bones is my favorite show. It is more than just a crime show. It's intelligent, quirky and hilarious at the same time. Anyway, the juxtaposition is a perfect symbol of the lives of Temperance Brennan and Seely Booth. And, throughout the series, there are many more, which just makes the show more an more intelligent. It's strange at sometimes how indifferent and unconnected Brennan can be, and how sometimes that all melts away when she's with Booth. But, the minute he leaves, the bones of her life come back to her. I think it's amazing that you were able to connect juxtaposition to my all-time favorite show. It actually makes me understand the whole idea more now.

Connection: Starting Over and Sunshine Cleaning

I was extremely bored last night. It was a three day weekend, and I had just eaten my weight celebrating the end of the dreaded Yom Kippur. I was sitting upstairs at my computer, trying to think of something to do. Naturally, I went to the free movie website and randomly typed in something. The result was Sunshine Cleaning, a movie that I've been wanting to see for quite a while actually. It's about two sisters; one a single mother with a dead-end job, the other an unemlployed, lost and depressed young woman. Together they decide that enough is enough, and they start their own company. It's a very moving story, with a touch of comedy, considering their line of work is cleaning up bloody and hazardous crime scenes. Nevertheless, they help people get through that difficult time in their life. In the end of the movie, both sisters have a better outlook on life and what they should do with it.

This movie made me think about the "start fresh" topic we've been discussing on and off for a couple of weeks. It started with The Kite Runner, when Amir claims America was a place to bury the past, but to also look towards a brighter future. As cowardly as it sounds, I believe this is a good way to heal a broken soul, depending on which way the soul was broken. Yet, there are hardships along the way, for every story that has a theme like these two do. The person has to adjust to a new life, and try not to think about the extreme change they just made to better themselves. They also have to try harder to mke things at least alright in this new, strange environment. For instance, Amir has to live with the immense guilt over what he has done, long after the move to America. Norah and Rose, the sisters in Sunshine Cleaning, deal with the hardships of a new career, a new life for themselves, and a bigger picture than the one they had before. Only God knows how hard these things can get.

It may be a last resort, but if I was completely and utterly lost, and there was nothing left for me here, I would pick up my bags, move somewhere else, and start fresh. It's very romantic/dramedy movie-like, but hey, I'm an actor. I could relate the "start-over" phenomenon to several other things, but that's the gist of it. It is also one of my favorite ways to end a story I am writing (which, again, ties this to english). Anyway, the movie was awesome, and I recommend seeing it, especially if you're in the mood to here the f-bomb dropped every five seconds.

Best of Week: Parents actually mean well!

In my opinion, the most memorable and important idea of the week was stated during the discussion of whether or not Assef was a sociopath. We were talking about the signs of a sociopath, and if he was truly evil or just mentally impaired in some sense. But many people, myself included, thought that it was, in fact, Assef's parents fault for making him the way he is. We discussed how his parent's seemed to be afraid of him, and how at Amir's party they cowered behind him. It was almost as if they were the children, as someone pointed out. This led me to think about the storied I have heard that are similar to that of Assef's. Of course, not many did the terrible things that Assef did, but they were still corrupted human beings. They steal, they murder, they abuse, and they do much more, and many of them put the blame of why they are the way they are on their parents. This is also a recurring theme on TV shows that have to do with murder and injury (Bones, Medium, Grey's Anatomy, etc..).

This newfound thought made me really appreciate the fact that, even though they're strict, my parents are good parents and really only want what's best for me. Plus, they don't back down, even if I'm in the worst mood ever. I'm pretty sure I'll appreciate them even more later. Maybe I'll even stop being disrespectful to them. Well, maybe a little less...

Carry it forward: The Kite Runner

As books go, there's either the one that's a bore, cheesy, and absolutely horrible, or an ok one that you will probably never read again, or the remarkable, compelling story that has you gripping the pages. The Kite Runner is most definitely door number three. It is chock full of the naivity of a child, the humility of grown men, and the obstacles that we take upon in not-so-everyday lives. But what really hit me was the calm, serenity of Hassan that was almost Ghandi-like. Although they seem to be best friends, Amir is really not very nice to Hassan. He always sees him as a second rate human being that deserves less affection than he does. Yet Amir means the world to Hassan. And it's not like a servant-master devotion. I believe Hassan is more devoted to Amir than any other human could be. He takes blame for several things Amir does, he doesn't shoot back an insult when it is fired at him. And, in order to serve his best friend, he had the worst posible thing done to him. And what does Amir do? Nothing. And even after that horrible incident (which Amir witnessed, and did nothing), he is still devoted to Amir, which is shown when he takes the blame for the things he "stole" from Amir's presents, knowing full well that Amir had planted them there. And I'll bet that even after Hassan and Ali, his father leave, Hassan is still loyal to Amir.

I must admit that I was confused by such an attitude from such a young person. Usually, 12 year olds are ok kids, but they have a selfish core to them. Hassan has a remarkable soul that would be a surprise in an adult. He had the respect for position, family, and honor that many people could never achieve. And, I don't think I could ever achieve his level of goodness. Hassan's tolerance and ultimate devotion serves as a great lesson for the future. He was an unbelievably nice person, and it makes me want to be more like him in the future.