Find an article of any length that relates to a topic being studied in class. Your posting must include:
- A link to the article
- An explanation of why you chose this article/ how it relates to what you’re studying in English class at the moment (~50-100 words)
- A summary of the article (~200-250 words)
- Your personal thoughts on the article, for example whether you agree or disagree, how interesting it was, or how well it helped you understand a the topic from class. (~200-250 words)
- This is meant to be an academic extension of what you do in class, so your source must have some level of professional or academic credibility. No tabloids, please.
Mr. Pores English Postings 
March 15, 2016 at 4:35 am |
Leveille Shania
Mr. Pores
English, pd. 2
14 March 2016
Romeo and Juliet Law
I chose this article because I found it interesting that in the movie basically they broke a law and then the outcome was the creation of a new law, the Romeo and Juliet law. In class currently we have been studying Romeo and Juliet the movie and the book but I took this idea from the movie because I saw the scene were the two characters had sexual intercourse and I know that Juliet is only 14 and Romeo is 16. This means that Juliet is under aged and Romeo is not which makes this inappropriate.
Basically, this law is made so that people who aren’t necessarily the same age but are in love with each other have the right to be sexually active. Usually when there is an age difference such as fifteen and nineteen society finds it not acceptable for these people to be sexually active and if they were there is a possibility that it could be considered sexual assault. Most of the time when people of different ages have sex the older of the two is a registered sex offender but this can really affect people’s lives greatly, even if they did not sexually assault the person. Some examples of this are the struggle to have a personal relationship with a new individual and to be employed at certain places, because eventually they’re going to figure out your background and a lot of people do not want to be associated with the sex offender. In the end, this law makes it to where at a certain point people can apply to no longer be registered as a sex offender and the court will most likely remove them from the list because they did not actually commit a real crime but they would be effected forever.
I did enjoy this article a lot it was very interesting and informational. I believe that the creation of this law was a smart choice because it helps innocent people who are convicted keep moving forward with their lives and not have to struggle with being a sex offender for the rest of their life. This article helped me understand this topic further because I actually was really confused about how this law worked when I watched a movie but once I read this I understood it more thoroughly. Also, I have been a little curious about the age difference of dating and the activities they are allowed to partaken because I’ve known it’s been complicated but I’ve never actually taken the time to research it more. Plus it gave me more understanding of the struggles people go through once they’re registered as a sex offender. Even if they did not actually commit any bad crimes it could’ve been a misunderstanding or someone that was set up. In my opinion this isn’t fair and I believe that the Romeo and Juliet law gives people who have been falsely accused a fair chance to not have to live a life being falsely accused.
http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminal-law/violent_crimes/romeo-and-juliet-law.htm
March 17, 2016 at 10:10 pm |
Sara Eckmann
Mr. Pores
English Seminar p.2
16 March 2016
Independent Reading
Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/18/movies/all-world-s-stage-ruled-guess-who-why-shakespeare-resonates-with-modern-age.html?pagewanted=all
The article I chose was from the New York Times and was titled “All the World’s a Stage, Ruled by Guess Who; Why Shakespeare Resonates With the Modern Age”. I chose this article because we are reading Romeo and Juliet in English and I was curious about the popularity of Shakespeare and why students today, four hundred years after the death of Shakespeare, are still reading his plays and why they are still interesting to us. I was curious about how his plays have been popular for this long and been reinterpreted and redone so many times, as we can see in the Baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet we watched.
This article is about the popularity of Shakespeare today and why Shakespeare is still popular. First it discusses the multiple remakes of Shakespeare into different movies, plays, books, and modern themes while still keeping the same original storyline and idea. Many writers and directors have found their inspiration in Shakespeare and become successful and popular because of it. Shakespeare has been assimilated into our modern culture and even people who have never seen a play still know and use Shakespeare’s phrases and recognize his characters. The article questions how Shakespeare’s work can be so modern having been written four hundred years ago. As it says in the article, “The very style and structure of his work…prefigure our post modernist outlook.” Shakespeare’s discussion of romance, gender, reason, love, and family resonate with people today. Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan Era of the Renaissance which greatly influenced his writing. This was a time of discovery, innovation, and change. But, as the article says, “the Elizabethan era was marked not only by economic expansion and the unification of Britain, but by the unsettling effects of progress.” This, the article concludes, is part of the reason Shakespeare’s writing is so modern and is still so popular with people today.
I enjoyed reading this article and it expanded my view on why we read Shakespeare. I have read multiple works, including Macbeth, Hamlet, and now Romeo and Juliet, of Shakespeare in school and this helps me undress and why. I found this article very interesting and the perfect article to do my independent reading on. I agree with the article on why Shakespeare is popular today and how it has stood the test of time. This article gives a reason to read Shakespeare in school and on your own. It definitely helped me to understand a topic from class since we are reading Romeo and Juliet. I think this made what we are reading in class more understandable and made connections for me. I was glad to find this article because it connected perfectly with what we are doing in class and it was also interesting to read since I had wondered the same thing myself and this article helps to explain it. So, overall I enjoyed reading this article and it helped me to understand and appreciate more fully what we are doing in English class.
March 18, 2016 at 1:02 am |
Zachary Plaster
Mr. Pores
Seminar English
17 March 2016
Independent Reading Assignment
This article relates to what we learn about in class since it is about gang violence. Gang violence can be related to the violence between the Capulets and Montagues. This article gives another point of view on gang violence and how it affects the community with problems it might cause.
The article talks about how a man and two children were shot when a fight between gang members escalated into a gunfight. It occurred in a South Los Angeles park. The shots were fired at 9 p.m. around August 22, 2013. One child, a 12 year old, was grazed by a ricochet bullet on the elbow, but his skin wasn’t punctured. The other child, an 8 year old was shot in the ankle and the man was shot in the arm, reported by the Los Angeles Police Department. None of the wounds or shots proved to be fatal. However, it still opened the eyes of the community of the gang violence and how it is affecting the community and the people of the community.
This article showed me how gang violence just doesn’t affect the gangs, but also the community and the people of the community. This explained the Prince’s dislike of the civil brawls between the Capulets and Montagues since it isn’t just the houses having fights in public; it is also the consequences it can prove on the community. This article was good at explaining the violence and how it can affect people not involved in the gangs but are around when a brawl starts. This also explains why the Prince would go to such extremes to stop the brawls by killing or exiling the people in the brawl.
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/22/local/la-me-ln-2-boys-man-shot-suspected-gang-fight-20130822
March 18, 2016 at 4:01 am |
(My formatting looks like it has changed, such as the play name not being in italics. Anyways, I’ll hope for the best.)
Stack, Lauren
Mr. Pores
Seminar English, Period 2
17 March 2016
The Lovers: The True Story of Afghanistan’s Romeo and Juliet
During our study of Shakespeare, I have come to see that Romeo and Juliet is a timeless work. In each character, there is a piece of yourself that you can connect to, which is one of the main reasons Shakespeare’s work resonates with so many people. I myself believe that no matter who you are and the setting you are in, there is a piece of Shakespeare in you. When researching to find an article relating to Romeo and Juliet, I was intrigued to see a real-life, modern day version of the famous play. Despite being illiterate, unable to count to ten, and never seeing a television set, the real-life Juliet and her Romeo share a story that is one that looked as if it came right from an adaptation of the play. There was no knowledge of Shakespeare with these people; they acted on love and human nature, which Shakespeare clearly captures.
“The Lovers”, written by Rod Nordland, tells the story of two star-crossed lovers. Ali and Zakia live in Afghanistan and come from different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Her parents believed that Zakia was their property and theirs to marry off to whoever they pleased. Because of their differences, Ali was not even a candidate. Ali was living with his family and communicated with Zakia during secret encounters in their neighboring farms and by telephone. Zakia eventually moved to a shelter for women to avoid being married off by her parents. Then meeting and talking with Ali became even more difficult. The pair had agreed to elope and run away together, but because of local laws and customs it was nearly impossible. The women’s shelter was guarded, streets were patrolled by police and men who would take the law into their own hands if needed. Zakia had told Ali she would escape multiple times before, so when she said she would meet with him that night, Ali was skeptical, but kept faith. With the help of her roommates, Zakia was finally able to escape the shelter in the dead of night and get through the town without alerting anyone. Ali, his father, and a friend came to the edge of town in a car to pick up Zakia. They needed to leave the town they were in, otherwise, Zakia’s family would come after them for blood. When the two lovers finally met in freedom, Zakia took Ali’s hand in hers while they got into the car to be taken into hiding. In Afghan culture, holding hands is practically forbidden, so what drove Zakia to take Ali’s hand was true love and lack of respect for strict societal rules surrounding them. Now, Zakia and Ali live peacefully with a young daughter with their undying love intact.
This article left an emotional impact on me. The true love between these people overcame adversity and societal standards, just as Romeo and Juliet did in Shakespeare’s play. These people’s actions displayed how in tuned to human nature and emotion Shakespeare was and how he was able to weave aspects of people into his characters while creating a believable story. Romeo and Juliet’s love is timeless and universal. Whomever reads it can connect to the play, no matter the background they come from. The same applies to this couple. They came from Afghanistan. They live in modern times. They weren’t wealthy. Yet, they were simply a pair of people in love like a couple from the pen of an Englishman from the 16th century. Their love story will forever be engrained in time and the hearts of people who read their about their miraculous story like me. They overcame unimaginable challenges and in the end true love triumphed. This wasn’t necessarily the case in Romeo and Juliet, but it gave readers an idea of what would have happened if Romeo and Juliet hadn’t killed themselves. The story of Ali and Zakia restored my faith in love and humanity after reading the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet. True love has no challenge it cannot overcome.
Link to article- http://mashable.com/2016/01/26/the-lovers-in-afghanistan/#PlAjvvj9Zkqj
March 18, 2016 at 4:19 am |
Andrea Tran
Mr. Pores
English, Per. 2
17 March 2016
http://thoughtcatalog.com/mary-mcmahon/2015/08/love-at-first-sight-is-real-and-heres-why/
I chose this article because Romeo and Juliet is based on this idea of love at first sight. In my opinion, there’s no such thing as love at first sight so I decided to research it. I feel like if someone feels like they have experienced love at first sight, it’s merely lust. I believe that there is absolutely no way that Romeo and Juliet could’ve fallen in love simply by looking at each other.
Summary:
The writer of the article that I read clearly believes in love at first sight. In the article, Mary McMahon, the writer, describes love at first sight not as actual love at first sight, but the feeling of wanting to love the person which is not how many people view love at first sight as. From the way I interpreted the article, love at first sight is what brings you into a relationship with someone. It’s the spark that starts the gradual process of falling in love. McMahon begins the article by explaining and going over love in general with situations such as a relationship or with your parents or with things like food. She then describes how love is something all humans experience and that we should cherish the moments no matter who or what it happens with. After, she writes about how when we are in love and are comfortable with someone, we usually forget at what point we had fallen in love with them. McMahon states that movies and novels have romanticized love, but that love at first sight can happen. She describes the feeling of love at first sight as a gut feeling when you see someone for the first time that makes you feel like you really want to know a certain person and be a part of your life.
Personal thoughts:
Although the writer did describe love at first sight in a way that I’d never heard before, I still disagree with her. When you see someone for the first time, you only know what they look like. You cannot know their personality, their interests, etc. Going with her description of love at first sight, the only reason why someone would want to get to know someone and get close to them is because they are attracted to their looks. There is no other remotely possible reason, literally. When it comes down to it, most of our brains just want to have a mate. And when our brains are attracted to someone’s looks, of course we’re going to want to get to know them. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet had this supposed true love at first sight. In the play, they literally kissed after one small conversation. I’m sure that the situation would be very different had Romeo found Juliet unattractive or vice versa. That “love at first sight” feeling that both of them got was probably just lust. I cannot think of any other possible reason. In the little talk they exchanged before they began to kiss, they learned very little about each other. And then they decided to get married soon after which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. How can decide that you want to spend the rest of your life with a person you’ve literally known for a day? What if after Juliet and Romeo got married, Romeo revealed that he was a serial killer? I’m sure that if that was true and Juliet had learned that after she saw him, she probably wouldn’t “love” him anymore.
March 18, 2016 at 4:23 am |
(Formatting is probably messed up so I made a hard copy also)
Victoria Rednoske
Period 2
Seminar English 1,2
3/17/2016
Independent Reading
Link: http://www.utsa.edu/ovations/vol8/story/shakespeare.html
I chose this article because a while back, we watched a video on why we still studied Shakespeare. I was able to relate with what some people had to say and I was interested in the video itself. I do have intentions to read more Shakespeare and watching the video told me the benefits of doing so. This topic relates to what we are studying in class because we just finished reading and watching “Romeo and Juliet” as well as memorizing and reciting our monologues.
In “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?” by Cindy Tumiel, she asks, how is Shakespeare, a long deceased poet, still such an important role in today’s culture? She talks to Mark Bayer and Alan Craven about their opinions and they both agree on the same thing; Shakespeare’s themes still resonate today. While interviewing Bayer and Craven, Bayer points out that the audience may not understand human psychology, yet the complexity of characters allows the audience to relate because of connections to events and themes that were relevant to what was going on around them. Since we still experience war, tragedy, and humor today, Shakespeare’s work is still very popular. Many people are intrigued to go and watch his play’s and their reactions were exactly what Shakespeare intended on how his play’s were to be experienced; with lots of expression towards his characters. Tumiel notes that it is required to study a Shakespearean play in an English course. Because of this, many students learn to love his work and continue to appreciate literature from other time periods. Bayer says that since individuals aren’t used to the Shakespearean language, they have to read a few plays to begin to understand them, and because of that, they end up enjoying it.
I definitely agreed with this article. Everyone knows a piece of Shakespeare without completely realizing that it is Shakespeare because it has grown to be such a big part of our culture. I also agree that at first, it was hard t understand the language used, but after reading modern translations, getting more familiar with different words Shakespeare uses, and reading more play’s, I have finally began to understand the language much more clearly. I can also say that I have much more interest in Shakespeare now that I am able to understand his work compared to when I didn’t understand it. I found it interesting that it was a requirement to study Shakespeare in English. I never knew it was mandatory and that it was part of the reason why I always have studied Shakespeare in my previous years. It helps me understand our topic in class because it gives me the understanding behind why we are learning about Shakespeare. After reading this article, I am definitely going to continue learning about Shakespeare and continue to read and study his plays. I also think it would be a good experience to go and watch one of his plays and really enjoy what Shakespeare wanted us to enjoy most.
Tumiel, Cindy. “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?” Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare? ddddddN.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
March 18, 2016 at 5:13 am |
Independent Reading Article:
https://www.utsa.edu/ovations/vol8/story/shakespeare.html
I chose this article because I have always wondered why we study Shakespeare in school. For example, reading Macbeth in middle school was so dark and depressing that I was confused as to why we would be reading this. I thought this article might help me to understand why we study Shakespeare and through that help me to enjoy it more. The article relates to what we are doing in class because we are currently studying the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet and also reciting monologues from some of his other plays.
The article, “Why do we still care about Shakespeare” by Cindy Tumiel highlights the many important reasons why we still study Shakespeare in modern times. First, Tumiel explains how Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist, greatest poet, and greatest prose writer in the history of the language. She claims, “He has a presence like Lincoln or Washington in American History.” Also, it is noted that one of the reasons Shakespeare is so popular today is that, “Humans still experience love, loss, be-trayel, war, humor, and tragedy which gives Shakespeare a foothold in modern times.” These days his plays are still ones people can relate to and understand which is why people still enjoy watching them and reading about them. The article also says that Shakespeare most likely did not envision his works as a fodder for high school English classes. Shakespeare wrote his plays on topics that were popular in his time. Although they are still popular in our time also, he did aim towards audiences of his time. Finally the article indicates that, “One could plausibly argue Shakespeare has been manufactured into what he is today through popular culture.” Meaning that the incorporation of Shakespeare in school curriculum and many other places has helped fuel Shakespeare’s mystique. Shakespeare is very important for students to learn about because he is a great example of an extremely influential playwright.
This article really helped me understand why we study Shakespeare and I agreed with what it said. Before reading it I wasn’t quite sure what the point of studying Shakespeare was but the article helped me realize how influential he is in our time. Even though he didn’t write his plays for our modern age his plays still resonate today. According to the article, “They are filled with rich language, treachery, honor, bravery, and political intrigue.” These are things that are still interesting to people these days which Is why his plays are still popular. The article was also very interesting and it kept my attention throughout the whole piece. I agreed with the notion that academia has helped fuel Shakespeare’s mystique. This is because anyone who hadn’t heard of Shakespeare before will for sure learn about it in school. Therefore, almost everyone has heard of Shakespeare and knows of at least one of his most famous plays. I really enjoyed reading this article and learning more about the astonishing influence Shakespeare has on today’s society.
March 18, 2016 at 5:32 am |
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/to-be-or-not-to-be-shakespeare-127247606/?all
The Article That I chose was To Be or Not to Be Shakespeare, By Doug Stewart. I chose this article because I thought it was interesting that since Shakespeare had little documented records, as only 6 samples of his handwriting have survived, he could have really just been a pen name that someone had written under, which was still unknown to this day.
The article, To Be or Not to Be Shakespeare By Doug Stewart, Focused on how Shakespeare had little evidence proving that he was a poet/playwright, and how his name could have just been a cover-up for someone else’s writing. Doug started by stating how very little evidence of Shakespeare life exists, as none of his original writings, and only 6 differently spelled copies of his name are currently known to the academic community. Doug next went into who could have really been the man behind the quill, and first suggested Francis Bacon, whose followers, the Baconians, claim that Francis hid secret messages throughout his (Shakespeare’s) work. Another suspected person that Doug suggested was Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. The reasoning behind Edward is that he has been educated well, and would be able to express knowledge in the inner working of the royal court, as shown in Hamlet and King Lear. Doug ends this by showing that there is no direct evidence connecting Edward to Shakespeare, and how all written work of Shakespeare was likely reused as paper was scarce and expensive in the 17 century. Doug concludes the article by stating that the real man behind Shakespeare’s work will most likely never be known, but how he would still love to find out.
The article that I chose, To Be or Not to Be Shakespeare By Doug Stewart, was an article about the possibility of Shakespeare not really being Shakespeare, and how his work may have been by someone else. I liked the article, as it presented the information like one of the shows on the science channel that I like, which is where there are a bunch of possible connections between thing A and thing B, but by the end of the show, there were never any direct connections made, but you still learned a lot of things about the topic subject. I personally agreed with what Doug had to say, as it all made sense, and had a lot of quotes and links to other evidence. I never actually checked out the other articles, as Doug’s writing summarized them into nice little packages that fit into his explaining style well. The article helped me understand the topic of Shakespeare better, as it made me appreciate his work more, as I do not really know if the work was is. It also made me more interested about reading deeper into the texts, as there are always insights to be gleamed off of further analyst.
March 18, 2016 at 5:49 am |
Karine Kim
Mr. Pores
English Period 3
18 March 2016
Independent Reading Assignment
I chose this article because I have always loved reconstructions of significant historical monuments. The Old Globe was a much celebrated theater, and it was the birth place of Shakespeare’s amazing plays. It is extremely intriguing to imagine where people stood to watch the play many years ago, and where the actors acted. My monologue is the prologue from Henry V by Shakespeare, and that is the first play that was done after the reconstruction of the Old Globe in London was created.
In the article, “Globe Theater’s Replica Just As Bard’s Fans Like It” from Chicago Tribune, Richard Christiansen describes how the reconstruction of the Old Globe became created. Sam Wanamaker was the actor-director that created the idea and dream of the reconstruction. For two decades, he did not have any funding. However, money started to “creep in” as Christiansen puts it. There were donations of substantial amounts such as 1.55 million dollars from philanthropist Gordon Getty, as well as small amounts from people in the United States. Chicago architect Daniel Coffey says, “There was the lure of Shakespeare, and, of course, there was always Sam.” In 1995, England’s National Lottery gave Sam a grant of almost twenty-million dollars. The reconstruction was finally completed in 1997, five years after Sam Wanamaker’s passed away because of cancer. It is built as close in design as possible to the original that was constructed in 1599. There is no roof, and the theater is octagonal in shape. There is enough room for 1,500 people. 1,000 seated and 500 standing on the ground, called groundlings. At the time that this article was written, it was not yet known if the Globe would function as a museum, showing Shakespeare plays just as they were in the 1500’s, or as a theater, adapting to contemporary demands. This all would not have been possible without Sam Wanamaker’s perseverance and the many contributors that trusted Wanamaker.
This article was written in chronological order of how the reconstruction of the Globe came to be. Therefore, it was informative and easy to understand. Now I know how much this Globe means to certain people. To Sam Wanamaker, the Globe is his whole career. I find it disappointing and sad that Sam Wanamaker never got to watch a single play in the Globe. If I ever have the lucky chance of visiting the Globe, I will remember this article. To add on to the article, since it has been a while since it was written, the Globe is currently being used as a unique sort of museum. It is a theater, but a museum as well because the audience can enjoy the performance with natural lighting, live music, and outdoors, just as people did in the 1500’s. Although this article was well organized, it introduced too many people too quickly. Many people were important to the creation of the new Globe. However, the article should have emphasized certain people more, as they contributed greatly to the reconstruction. Sam Wanamaker’s daughter, Zoe Wanamaker, recited the prologue of the very first play performed in the Globe. This was a great fact to end article, as it leaves the readers feeling content because we know that Sam Wanamaker is well appreciated.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-06-09/news/9706090196_1_sam-wanamaker-shakespeare-repertory-hero-king/2
March 18, 2016 at 5:54 am |
In English class we are currently learning about the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. Part of the conflict in the story is the epic feud between the Capulets and Montagues. They both have the same goal in mind (have money, have family/friends, be successful, etc.) but hate the opponent. This is the exact same way in our politics today. People running for president want to win but unlike being fair and doing their best, they have to be petty and knock their opponent down even through all the competitors have the same goal of doing right to their country.
The article starts off by explaining that President Obama was routing for Hillary Clinton and that Bernie Sanders campaign was ending soon, meaning that he should drop out of the race. This was a bad time for this to happen since Bernie was trying to convince voters that he could come back from Hillary’s giant lead. President Obama tried to keep his opinion about Clinton vs Sanders on a low level although he clearly stated his opinion about Democrat vs Republican. He said that Democrats need to come together to prevent an opening for Republicans. Mr. Obama, when saying his opinion to the world, tried to say that he was not endorsing Sanders nor Clinton but he praised Clinton to a point to where everyone knew what side he was on. Sanders is trying to make a comeback though he has many obstacles such as President Obama high endorsement to Hillary and her large lead on the polls.
I personally thought the article was quite boring although politics are not my thing. I think that the whole thing of people running and trash talking other candidates is pointless. I want to vote for you because you have the most to offer, not because the other candidates are so bad that you are the only one left to vote for. I think the election is one big show and although has a democratic way of it working, the democrat/ republican system is going to tear our country apart. I mean look at the Montagues and Capulets. They kept making things worse until it reached baking point and the whole system collapsed. If we want our country to be great, I think that the democrat/ republicans shouldn’t just want the opposite of each other. They should be able to work a little more civilized. There is a reason Romeo and Juliet is a Tragedy play, let’s just hope the U.S doesn’t become one as well.
March 18, 2016 at 6:32 am |
Article: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1229&context=etd
Alyssa Jamotillo
Mr. Pores
English, Period 2
18 March 2016
Article Essay
The article I read was about the four humours that has been portrayed in Shakespeare’s work. I choose this article, because the 4 humours made me curious and wonder how they represent the different characters in Shakespeare’s work. I have a basic understanding of the four humours, but I want to know more about them.
In this article it explains the four types of humours, which are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. The four humours were first hypothesized by the Hippocrates, the later Galen. The ideology of the four humours was then adopted by Elizabethans and called it the four temperaments and instead of saying blood or phlegm they called it Sanguine (blood), Phlegmatic (phlegm), Choleric (yellow bile), and Melancholy (black bile). These temperaments can be found in many of Shakespeare’s work like Henry IV part 1 and Hamlet. The author starts explaining in depth how some characters represent a temperament. One example is when he explained how Hamlet represent melancholy and to contrast of Hamlet being melancholy, Laertes is Choleric. The author explains how studying the characters in literature from the past we can have a better understanding of how people may have acted and they may have treated diseases in the past. Since they believed in these four humours they believed that when you are ill, you have an imbalance of these fluids.The authors also writes about how the four humours corresponded with the four elements. Melancholy or black bile corresponds with the earth element with its characteristics being cold and dry. Phlegmatic or phlegm corresponds with the element of water with its characteristics being cold and moist. Sanguine or blood corresponds with the fire elements with its characteristics being hot and moist. Choleric or yellow bile corresponds with the fire elements with its characteristics being hot and dry.
This article was very informative. It went into detail about the four humours and helped me understand how Shakespeare uses it to create characters. I somewhat agree with this article, since I relate to some of theses humours, but I am a mix of these humours. I am a mix of melancholy and phlegmatic, but some of the characteristics of these humours don’t apply to me like how I am not that cold of a person like how they melancholy explained. I like how the author explains how Shakespeare uses these humours to create characters, which made it more fun reading Romeo and Juliet, because it was fun trying to figure out which humour each character represent. It was also fun reading about the characteristics of the four humours, because I enjoyed relating myself to the characteristics of the humours, for example when the author explained how melancholy is known for being inconsistent and I very inconsistent like in athletics, one day I will be really lazy but the next day I want to run and play It was interesting knowing that this mentality was also used to diagnose a person and this also a reason why bloodletting was used to treat sick people.
March 18, 2016 at 7:13 am |
Independent Research Assignment
I choose this article because it is about why we should care about Shakespeare and why it should still be taught in schools. I thought that this related to what we’re doing in class because even though I like learning about Shakespeare, I still wondered why it’s taught in most schools.
In the beginning of the article, the author talks about how even though Shakespeare lived and died hundreds of years ago, his work still plays a big part in today’s society. She states that his plays have been performed all over the world, in many different languages, some of even been turned into movies, and his work is still studied in schools. The author then goes on to quote a college professor who taught Shakespeare and who claimed that Shakespeare has a presence in American history just like Lincoln and Washington do. They also stated how many of the themes relate to people’s lives, such as love, honor, bravery, heartbreak, and death. And many people who have never even seen any of his plays still know the plot of Romeo and Juliet and can recite lines from other popular plays. Another way Shakespeare is taught to people, is in prison. Many people in prison who decide to be educated learn about Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Ceasar. The author also talked about another college professor who encourages his students to think about it from the point of view of the audience of the time, which was 16th century british people, and how they had a different way of living than we do. In conclusion, the author talked about how Shakespeare is taught all over the world because he is a classic writer who created very complex stories and character for his time.
My personal opinion on this article was that it was very good and well formatted. I though that it was very interesting because it helped me look at Shakespeare from a different point of view that I hadn’t thought of before and actually understand why Shakespeare is still so popular and widely known. I never thought to think about how it was written in the 16th century and to think about how they weren’t as educated as we are, so for someone in that time to create these complex plots and characters, was really an amazing thing. I think that’s why Shakespeare is still very popular today, because he really was the greatest writer of his time. I definitely agreed with this article because I think Shakespeare should still be taught in all schools, and that it relates to peoples lives. It helped me understand the topic from class because before I enjoyed learning about Shakespeare, but I didn’t know why we read Shakespeare instead of some other author. Now I understand why we learn about him and read his plays. I think it’s important to learn about Shakespeare because his stories talked about issues that no one talked about at that time.
https://www.utsa.edu/ovations/vol8/story/shakespeare.html
March 18, 2016 at 2:04 pm |
Remember to Remember
How was I going to start this off again? Oh, yeah, memorization! Remembering information is critical to survive in the world, and to do that we need memory. Memorization is imperative in recalling old facts and being able to remember and absorb new ones. Schools and teachers are making a point to emphasize the importance of memorization and the necessity of it to do well in school and careers. If memorization is practiced often, it can open new pathways of the brain, allowing one to make connections that, before engaging in brain training, would not have been made. Memory allows for a more steady flow of information and processing in the brain when thinking about something, which is useful in many situations. Many occupations and events require peak mental condition and memory capacity beyond the average person’s. For example, it is imperative that a surgeon or a medical worker does not forget a procedure or how to correctly sterilize an instrument. This forgetfulness could be fatal, which is why it is important to reinforce memorization early on in life. Nursey rhymes were made to do just that. These simple, rhyming poems give young children some memorization experience, and could possibly help them later in life. Along with helping in everyday life, memory can reduce stress. If you are sure that you know something, you are less likely to stress out about it and relax. This is just one of many other ways that memorization helps improve everyday life and the quality of it.
Memorization is necessary to learn more and grow mentally. Having a reliable memory results in room for other knowledge, reduced stress, and shortcuts for future learning. More knowledge results in more thinking power and known facts. There are multiple types of learning shortcuts; those established by your brain, and those learned as shortcuts. For example, a mnemonic is an established shortcut to help you remember certain things, events, or sequences. The phrase “King Philip Came Over From Great Spain” can help people remember the organism classification taxonomy (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species). That is just one example of a pre-established mental connection. On the other side, there are self-made shortcuts, possibly connecting new events or developments to old memories to establish a connection between them that only you could have formed. Those are also useful and applicable to learning. Overall, memorization is critical to how we function and can alter us and our lives.
Vocabulary:
– Immutable: unchanging over time, set or established
– Rote learning: a memorization technique based on repetition
– Associative learning: a connection is formed between two objects or events
– Active learning: an engagement in related activities to promote retention
– Mental health: one’s psychological or emotional state
– Hippocampus: the part of the brain responsible for emotion and memory storage
– Episodic memory: a unique memory of a certain event
– Spatial memory: the memories responsible for remembering an object’s orientation, position, and location
– Short-term memory: memories than can only be recalled for a few seconds before they are forgotten
– Long-term memory: memories that are stored in your brain and that can be called upon at any time
Sources:
– In Praise of Memorization: 10 Proven Brain Benefits – BestCollegesOnline.com. (2012). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2012/07/23/in-praise-of-memorization-10-proven-brain-benefits/
– Memorization is Not a Dirty Word. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/memory-medic/201305/memorization-is-not-dirty-word-2
March 18, 2016 at 2:18 pm |
Jonas Schulson
Mr. Pores
English, Period 2
March 15, 2016
Independent Reading/Research: Shakespeare
Link to article: http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/william-shakespeare
I chose this article about Shakespeare because we were reading his plays, and monologues in class. I wanted to learn and discover more information on Shakespeare. This was because I was interested in what may have brought him upon writing poems, and plays, and such. Also, I wanted to discover what may have influenced him into writing a specific poem, and how his life impacted his writings.
“Considered the greatest English-Speaking writer in history” (page 1), Shakespeare is a household name that is recognized around the world, and in classrooms. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a market town roughly 100 miles northwest of London, on April 26, 1564. His father served many occupations including farming, wood trading, leatherwork, and many more, before falling into debt in the late 1580’s. William was the third of eight Shakespeare children, three of which died during childhood. No records of Shakespeare’s education have survived, but it is likely that he attended a “well-regarded” local grammar school. At 18 years of age, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway who was eight years older than himself. The couple had a daughter, Susanna, and then twins, Hamnet a Judith. Susanna and Judith lived to an old age, however, Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet died at the age of 11. Despite being married to Anne, it was likely that Shakespeare lived apart from her most of the time while he pursued his writing and theater career in London. It is believed that not until the end of his life that Shakespeare moved back in with Anne. After 1592, Shakespeare began working as an actor, wrote several plays, and spent enough time in London to write about it’s geography, cultures, and diverse personalities with great authority. It was towards the end of his career that Shakespeare wrote his most famous of plays, including “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet,” and “Macbeth.” Shakespeare passed at the age of 52, due to unknown causes on April 23, 1616. Shakespeare is believed to have influenced the English language more than any other writer in history.
Since we are studying Shakespeare’s monologues and plays in class, I wanted to discover more about him. This article on the history of Shakespeare kept me interested the entire way throughout. The author did a fantastic job organizing the writing, as it was written in a chronological order, and instead of a lengthy essay, the article was greatly focused on the most important pieces of Shakespeare’s life. I discovered many various facts about Shakespeare as both a man, and a boy, and how that may have influenced his writing. For example, some believe that “Sonnet 18,” one of Shakespeare’s most recognized sonnets, was about the death of his only son. Quite obviously, this was a very tragic event in Shakespeare’s life, and so this may be the way which he expressed that moment. Another important moment in Shakespeare’s life was when he married Anne Hathaway. This was likely to also impact his writings, such as in “Sonnet 145.” Despite reading this article, I have an urge to learn even more about Shakespeare, and how his life determined what he wrote on papers hundreds of years ago. Shakespeare’s background and childhood influenced his writings that we all enjoy and learn about in the modern day.
Works Cited
“William Shakespeare.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
March 18, 2016 at 2:22 pm |
Wilkinson, Robyn
Mr. Pores
English, Period 2
17 March 2016
Independent Reading Part Four
The article “Humans Interbred With Hominins on Multiple Occasions, Study Finds” by Carl Zimmer of The New York Times, is an article about new research and breakthroughs regarding our ancestry. In the article, Zimmer begins by giving a brief synopsis of two ancient homo sapien-like species that we now believe humans have bred with. These two species are Neanderthals, and Denisovans. Zimmer then proceeds to recap studies that prove that humans have mated with these other species. This research actually suggests that humans mated more than on one exclusive time with the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Interestingly enough, it was discovered that the Denisovans’ genes could be traced back to essentially one group of people; the Melanesians. This has left scientists speculating over the range of the earth in which Denisovans actually live. The article concluded by saying all of these discoveries are just stepping stones to discovering the true and full history of the human genome.
I enjoyed the article “Humans Interbred With Hominins on Multiple Occasions, Study Finds” by Carl Zimmer from The New York Times, for a few reasons. To begin with, I found the topic the author was discussing to be very interesting and relevant subject. Secondly, I liked Zimmer’s writing style, in which he gives the reader short bursts of information interspersed with either professional or personal analysis. A part of the article that I found particularly interesting was when he theorizes about how the Melanesians ended up with the Denisovan genes, despite not having lived near them. Overall, I really enjoyed Zimmer’s style, the way the information was easy to follow, and the healthy amount of raw information in this article.
Vocab:
Hominims: Any of the modern or extinct bipedal primates of the family Hominidae, including all species of the genera Homo and Australopithecus.
Neanderthals: An extinct species of human that was widely distributed in ice-age Europe
Denisovans: Another type of ancient human
Forbears: Usually, forebears. ancestors; forefathers
Genome: The haploid set of chromosomes in a gamete or microorganism
Interbreeding: Breed or cause to breed with another of a different race or species
Bolstered: Support or strengthen; prop up
Pathogen: A bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease
Lineage: Lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree
Geneticist: A person who studies genetics
Works Cited
Zimmer, Carl. “Humans Interbred With Hominins on Multiple Occasions, Study Finds.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Mar. 2016. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
Link:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/22/science/neanderthals-interbred-with-humans-denisovans.html?_r=0&referer=https://www.google.com/
March 18, 2016 at 11:25 pm |
http://neatoday.org/2014/11/25/deeper-learning-moving-students-beyond-memorization-2/
Ok this is my article for my independent reading #4
-Kate Encio Period 6
March 19, 2016 at 2:38 am |
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/essays/importance.html
I chose this article because it explains why Shakespeare is important to learn, study, and analyze. This relates to what we are doing in class because we are currently learning and studying Shakespeare (reading his plays, memorizing various monologues, studying sonnets, etc.) and I wanted to know why this was such a big part of the curriculum.
The article opens with stating that studying Shakespeare provides a solid and in depth foundation necessary in order to study classic and modern literature. The author provides an analogy, comparing the importance of knowing “the conditions and circumstances of colonial America and pre-Revolutionary times” in order to fully understand the Constitution, which is still extremely importance today, to knowing the history of literature- largely of which consists of Shakespeare- in order to comprehend today’s literary works. The author goes on to provide an fie lines from a passage from a Shakespearian play, Richard III, showing the depth that only five lines can contain, and the insight into the character and plot that consistent analyzation and study can provide to the dedicated reader. The author then describes the grammatical changes that Shakespeare made to the english language. He invented a number of words that are used very commonly today, such as “amazement”, “dislocate”, “premeditated”, “dexterously”, “windle”,”lackluster”. Also, Shakespeare made changes to grammar- he used the pronoun “he” instead of “it”, a change used today as well. The author concludes with stating that Shakespeare was a master of words, and that he could put just the right words, phrases, sentences, and scenes together to make a reader or viewer feel all kinds of emotions.
To some degree, I agree with this article. I think that it is important to learn the basic history and impact of Shakespeare, and to study his plays and sonnets to a certain amount, but I don’t believe that Shakespeare is the fundamental foundation for learning about and studying literature following that time period, including classic and modern literature. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the article- the level of passion with which the author wrote about Shakespeare was amusing and engaging, and it was cool to learn about the various ways that Shakespeare impacted the English language. The article was also helpful in helping me to understand why we were learning about Shakespeare in class. Before, the difficulty and almost foreign writing style of the text had painted Shakespeare in a negative light entirely in my opinion, and I personally saw no point to studying it. This article helped me understand that studying Shakespeare helps build a history and background knowledge of the English language and of classic literature, so I can better understand the works that I read and analyze in the near or far future. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the article, and I would definitely recommend it to someone who is confused as to why learning Shakespeare is important and fundamental.
(I hope this is where we are supposed to submit.)
March 19, 2016 at 4:57 am |
https://student.societyforscience.org/article/teenage-brain
Meader, Ashley
Mr. Pores
English, Period 6
March 17, 2016
Independent Reading Assignment #4
The article The Teenage Brain by Amanda Leigh Mascarelli describes the biology of the adolescent brain, and relates this to how teenagers often make rash and seemingly risky decisions. I feel as if this relates to Romeo and Juliet, a play whose main characters are both teenagers who often make hasty decisions. I think the science in this article is applicable to young adults across the ages, often regardless of culture or country, and I think it provides a deeper understanding into why Romeo and Juliet made the choices they did.
In The Teenage Brain, Mascarelli describes the evolutionary reason to a teen’s seemingly impaired rationale. She looks into the advantages of trying new things and taking risks. This kind of behavior can help prepare adolescents to enter the real world, and helps them practice independence from their parents. This is very beneficial, because it teaches teenagers to think for themselves and gives them an opportunity to learn from mistakes. Although adolescents sometimes take this experimentation to a dangerous level, it overall prepares them for life without their parents’ guidance. To elaborate, Mascarelli takes a look into the different parts of the brain. In a study performed by Eveline Crone, teenagers lie under an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine, where magnetic fields are created that scan which areas of the brain are more active than others. While they are under the MRI, the adolescents play lottery-type games, where a reward is presented if a certain combination of images is spun. They also play games that require decision making. When compared with brain scans from younger children or adults, it is revealed that in teenagers, a certain part of the brain is more active. This section of the brain, the ventral striatum, is responsible for reinforcing behaviors that earn a reward. Because this part of the brain is more active, the impulse to perform these reward-earning behaviors is stronger. In fact, the hyperactivity of the ventral striatum is only reinforced by the release of excess dopamine, a chemical of the brain responsible for making us feel good when we receive a reward. Dopamine levels increase during adolescence, and this combined with the overactive ventral striatum can often cause logic to be ignored. This “logic” takes place in the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s conductor. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for thinking and allowing communication between different parts of the brain, but also develops much more slowly than other areas. Finally, Mascarelli details the process of synaptic pruning, where the prefrontal cortex decides which synapses are useful and which are not. If it finds any of the latter group, it will destroy those synapses and focus increasing efficiency in ones that are more useful. This can be seen with learning new languages. “For example, as people grow older, they become more proficient in their native tongue but find it harder to learn a language they have never spoken before” (Mascarelli 1). Synaptic pruning gives adolescents the ability to make decisions on their own. This process, combined with an active ventral striatum and increased dopamine production, is responsible for a teenager’s sometimes impulsive mind.
I found this article to be very informative and interesting. The information was presented in a linear manner, and promoted a clear understanding of what goes on in an adolescent’s mind. It provided an in-depth look at the forces influencing a teenager’s decisions. The information was also supplemented with pictures and diagrams, making it an overall fun and interesting read. However, I would have liked to read more information about how synaptic pruning takes place, and what exactly goes on in the brain during this process. I think this part of the essay was a bit short, and could use a bit more detail. Regardless, this was a very informative and relatable article that will help me understand the actions of myself and my peers. Additionally, I think this article helped explain the decisions that Romeo and Juliet made in Shakespeare’s classic play. These two characters make quite a few hasty and dangerous decisions, often letting emotion influence them greatly. Although at times the two acted very irrationally, it is understandable that they would be experimenting with life at that point in their lives, acting out the evolutionary script designed to help them become more independent.
Works Cited
Mascarelli, Amanda Leigh. “The Teenage Brain.” Student Science. Society for Science and the Public, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.
March 20, 2016 at 3:31 am |
Lipkin, Sophia
English p2
3-18-16
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north/2012/03/01/Pressure-to-excel-can-create-too-much-tension-for-teens/stories/201203010358
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is constantly pressured by her parents. Her parents want her to marry well, even if she does not want to marry the person. Even towards the beginning of the story, Juliet is pressured to marry Paris at 13 years of age. Today, many children are pressured by their parents or peers to do well, whether its getting into a good collage or marring into good “blood”. Just like in Romeo and Juliet, parental and societal pressure causes stress on their children.
High school students are constantly under pressure to get into good collages. Many fill their schedules with as many advanced courses and extracurricular as they can. Some students handle the pressure well while others cannot handle multiple activities and advanced classes. Sadly, many students are pushed to their breaking point in an attempt to get into the best collages. Students are constantly pressured by their peers to take more advanced classes and activities while collages add more extracurricular spots on applications, pressuring students to fill all the spots. Academic success is the greatest factor of stress in students. Within the last few years, parents have been given online access to their children’s grades. Often, parents start pressuring their students to get the highest scores on every assignment and quiz. Normally, a few bad grades do not affect your class grade much because they become cancels out by other assignments. Driven by the desire to help their children get into good collages, parents then push their children and increase their stress levels. Meanwhile, students are attempting to meet the expectations of their peers, parents, and society. Many students face the problems of trying to balance social lives, homework, and extra activities and have no time to relax. At the same time, other students are pressuring them to fit in which causes some students to resort to drugs and alcohol as stress relief. Between peers, collages, and parents, teens have a very hard time balancing their schedules without becoming extremely stressed.
I agree with this article and it helped me understand how Juliet was feeling when her parents told her she had to marry Paris. She was already scared that she would not be able to see Romeo again when her parents told her she had to marry Paris. One thing kept on piling on top of another until she had no idea what to do. Even though it seemed that she wanted to kill herself because she didn’t want to marry Paris, I think that the stress of everything was a bigger factor. She was worried about Romeo’s survival, trying to find a way for them to run away together, trying to be a good wife, and worrying about her family when her parents forced her to accept Paris’s proposal. The stress from all of that is enough to drive anyone mad. I feel that she really wanted all of her problems to be solved, and felt that killing herself was the easiest solution. I understand her stress, even though I would not choose the decisions she made. As a student, I constantly feel stress to do well in school and do extra activities as well as spend time with my friends. The article helped me relate to Juliet and helped me understand how she was feeling throughout the play.
March 21, 2016 at 8:24 pm |
Ashley Casden
Mr. Pores
English, Period 6
March 17, 2016
Independent Reading: Love and Hatred
Love and Hatred, by psychologist Dorothy Rowe, observes how the emotions of love and hate move people to act certain ways or to do certain things. This is related to Romeo and Juliet because it was the great love between the two teens that lead them to commit suicide. It was also the hatred that the Montagues and Capulets shared that causes the other characters to interact with each other with such strength.
The article first explains that love and hatred are not inverses of one another. Instead the two emotions have many similarities such as people being attached to both those they love and those they hate in contrast to the indifference that is felt between people who neither love nor hate one another. It explains that we know ourselves by our relationships with the people who we love and the people that we hate. The article states that, “Our greatest need is to become and be the person that we know ourselves to be.” In other words, people long to be what we think we are, or should be, at our best. The article states that when, especially in adolescent years, people do not believe they know themselves, their possessions, or relationships, define who they are. In extreme situations, such as in the play Romeo and Juliet, the need to be who you truly are can lead to problems such as Juliet committing suicide to avoid living with Paris and without Romeo.
The article also mentions that, at every moment in a person’s life, they’re analyzing how safe the world is to them. When we think we are in danger, our mind will come up with many possible ways to get out of the danger including using hate, guilt, and despair. The article explains that in Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt’s attempt to save himself from danger using his anger as well as his swordsmanship skills. Tybalt will do anything to preserve himself, even going as far as to kill Mercutio. The article is concluded as it claims that Romeo and Juliet is more than a simple love story as it is also a story where hatred tied people together as strongly as love does.
Despite the fact that this article was very interesting, I do not agree with many of the points it makes. Rowe offers little proof to back up her psychological assumptions of how the loving or hating relationship between people is important because it helps us define who we are. I strongly disagree when Rowe said, “The person we know ourselves to be is our most important possession.” While this statement could potentially be applied in tales such as Romeo and Juliet, there is neither proof nor reason to believe that it is true often. There are various situations where this theory can be proven incorrect.
Despite my disbelief of the validity of this article, it did help me better understand the story of Romeo and Juliet better. One such area where this article helped is when the article explains that Lady Capulet’s personality and opinions rely heavily on those of her husband. That helped clear up the confusion I had encountered when Lady Capulet wouldn’t listen to Juliet’s protests about marrying Paris once the lord of the Capulet house made up his mind.
All in all, this was an interesting article that helped me understand Romeo and Juliet more. However, I dislike a few of the points that the article made in its efforts to explain the relationship between love, hate, and peoples self-imagery.
Works Cited
Rowe, Dorothy. “Love and Hatred.” Royal Shakespeare Community. N.p., 2008. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Woodbury, NY: Barron’s, 1985. Print.
March 21, 2016 at 11:50 pm |
Independent Reading
Article: MailOnline, Natasha Courtenay-Smith for. “Betrayed by My Best Friend.” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, January 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
I chose this article because a main theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is friendship and betrayal and I thought it was an interesting to read about the impacts of being betrayed. This article relates to the book because at first Huck takes friendship and loyalty very seriously throughout the book, especially with Jim. Huck’s friendship with Jim seems unbreakable since he tries so hard to help Jim escape knowing the consequences that it would bring him. At the end of the book, Huck decided to leave everyone, including Jim and lives on with his life like if his friendship and all the adventures he had with Jim didn’t really matter.
The article was about two women, Jackie Barber and Alison Moody, who were best friends. They both had husbands and lived a happy life together. Jackie’s husband, Graeme, didn’t really enjoy hanging out with Jackie and Alison; he didn’t like Alison but he accept Jackie’s friendship with her. Graeme and Jackie were happily married for 27 years. Jackie and Alison did everything together, they had each other’s back, even their children were friends. When Alison’s husband died in a boat tragedy, Jackie spent months supporting her best friend through her depression. Jackie had given Alison a good necklace to give her hope and told her: “You will get through this and there will be many good things for you in the future.” The necklace meant a lot to Alison, she wore it everyday. Jackie paused her life for Alison, they spent much more time together and Graeme was there often too. Alison then went back to her home in Cyprus to relieve herself. One time, Graeme told Jackie that he had to leave to Dubai for his work and Jackie believed him. Jackie’s other friend had connected some points about Graeme and Alison. When Graeme got back home from “work” Jackie wanted to talk. He admitted that he had an affair with Alison. It didn’t make sense to Jackie because Graeme had always said that he didn’t like Alison even as ma friend. After that, Graeme and Alison moved in together and left Jackie betrayed. When Graeme and Alison broke up, Graeme never apologized for what he did and even missed his daughter’s wedding.- Jackie said “I comforted her when her husband died; she thanked me by stealing mine.”
I think this article was very interesting because Jackie had so much trust in both Alison and Graeme but they betrayed her when she was just trying to help her friend. It made me realize that no matter how long you’re with someone or how memories you’ve shared, it can all be thrown in the trash in an instant. It also has taught me to have self respect and not pause your life for anyone. It’s okay to help out a friend but not to put your life and career on hold for them. I personally think that if you’re willing to do something behind your partner’s back, your love for them isn’t strong enough and should leave them for both your own good and their own as well. This article can make anyone believe that love doesn’t last forever, in friendship and relationships, only love for yourself. It’s sad to think about how much Jackie did for Alison and how Alison repays her with stealing her husband with no regrets. Even worse, Graeme doesn’t care about Jackie and his family even after being married for 27 years. Jackie’s story can relate to many people. Many have been betrayed for trying to do something good which hurts a lot but at least she can now start a new life without fake people.
March 22, 2016 at 12:15 am |
Yee, Dylan
Mr. Pores
English Per. 6
March 15, 2016
“In Defense of Romeo and Juliet: It’s Not Childish, It’s *About* Childishness” is directly related to what we are learning in class. We are learning about the actions and consequences of Romeo and Juliet and their affect on others. Not only that, we are also learning about Shakespearean writing and his interpretation on things. This article talks all about these things with an overall interesting argument.
“I Defense of Romeo and Juliet: It’s Not Childish, It’s *About* Childishness” by Noah Berlatsky is about an argument started up by Alyssa Rosenburg: is Romeo and Juliet childish? Rosenburg says how the play is terrible and that it’s about childish ideas of love. She reminds us Juliet is only 13 years old. That was no accident either. Shakespeare made it clear throughout the book about her age. Berlatsky explains, “If you cast someone that age in the role now, the result is queasy. If you cast someone older, you end up with an adult actor behaving like she’s a tween. Romeo’s age is uncertain, but a lot of what he does is immature and adolescent as well.” He goes on to saying that the lovers haste to marry is juvenile and is a childish fantasy of love at first site. But Romeo and Juliet aren’t the only immature characters in the play. Berlatsky points out how Romeo’s quick decision to marry Juliet, isn’t much different from Lord Capulet’s quick decision to marry her to Paris. Now Berlatsky is going to give Shakespeare some love as he says, “…the point of the play isn’t so much the exhilaration of young love or the dunderheadedness of young love. Rather (as often with Shakespeare) the point is the language itself: the dazzling, disturbing rhetorical force of old/young, corrupt/innocent, experienced/naïve.” He states that the uncomfortable way our childish protagonists act, is what Shakespeare wanted all along. So is Romeo and Juliet really childish, or a brilliant, well thought out play to make the reader assume it’s childish?
This is a great argument and I think this was a well written article. I would definitely recommend reading it. This article really got me thinking on this topic and will always make me think differently of this story from now. I have always thought that Romeo and Juliet is one of the most established and intelligent plays ever written, but now, I don’t even know. People could probably go on for days why it is or is not childlike. On one hand, so many characters in the play are immature and act before they think. A lot of them do things with no regard of the possible consequences that may happen in the future. But on the other hand, that’s what Shakespeare wanted and what he wanted the audience to think. Plus the whole “love at first site” thing, I think people forget that back then, they believed in eye beam. Romeo and Juliet’s eye beams aligned up, making them meant for each other. But at the end of the day, should we really question Shakespeare? He was a smart man with a brilliant mind and luckily he put those skills in words. We should just enjoy his pieces. That’s what I have to say about this dispute.
March 22, 2016 at 12:22 am |
Zachary Gelber
Mr. Pores
English, Period 5
March 13, 2016
Emerging Morality: How Children Think About Right and Wrong
By Sandra Crosser, Ph.D.
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=118
In this article, Sandra Crosser discusses how children view morality and justice. Being much younger and inexperienced, their views are quite different from that of an adult. The article is related to our current topic of study, as it connects with the moral decisions Huckleberry Finn makes in his adventures. Huck lives in a society where slavery is the norm, but in an attempt to save his slave friend Jim, he must question these societal standards and decide what he believes is right.
Children generally view morality through a series of stages. At very young ages, they are primarily egocentric and see the world in absolutes. If someone does something bad, regardless of their intentions or the severity, they must be punished. Furthermore, they believe justice is always served, and punishment will be given regardless. This thought process often unintentionally promotes superstition, as coincidental events are often linked as punishment. Huckleberry Finn exhibits similar behavior, believing his moral quandary over helping Jim is a punishment from God: “And at last, when it hit me all of a sudden that here was the plain hand of Providence slapping me in the face and letting me know my wickedness was being watched all the time from up there in heaven, whilst I was stealing a poor old woman’s nigger that hadn’t ever done me no harm, and now was showing me there’s One that’s always on the lookout…” (Twain 208). There was no divine figure that put Huck into his current predicament, but due to his naivety, he assumes so. Furthermore, children are very egocentric, meaning they have a difficult time taking another perspective. Small children will likely struggle to imagine what a veteran or a rape victim may have gone through. Similarly, Huck struggles to see life from Jim’s eyes and doesn’t understand the evils of slavery.
I enjoyed this article as it offers a detailed explanation as to how a child views morality. It’s interesting as I can see how I thought similarly when I was a kid. I used to never question authority or adults as I subconsciously believed them to always be right. I viewed them not as people but as some powerful figure. Today, I can see they are just as human as I am, with similar faults and flaws. I used to think that justice should always be served, no matter how petty the crime. Even in high school, I still get angry when someone cuts in line at lunch. Although it doesn’t truly matter, I can’t help but desire some form of comeuppance for their actions. I always believed rules should be followed, but upon reflecting on my early childhood, I realize that rules should be molded to best fit everyone. Just because it is a rule does not mean it is beneficial. By adapting the rules to suit everyone’s needs and desires, we can create a better community and society. In conclusion, I very much enjoyed this article for the unique perspective it offered of a child’s moral mindset.
March 22, 2016 at 12:53 am |
I choose to research the topic of Shakespeare, and who actually wrote the sonnets and plays that are said to be his. I remembered that in class, Mr. Pores talked about how some people believe that Shakespeare did not write his most famous works, and thought that his whole career was based off the writing of someone else. I picked an article titled, “Was Shakespeare Actually Shakespeare?” from the Shakespeare – Online website resource. I choose this article because I am interested in finding out if one of the most famous poets of all time was actually faking his way through all of his success.
“Was Shakespeare Actually Shakespeare” is an article discussing some of the different pieces of evidence that may be starting to prove that William Shakespeare is not the real writer of his said to be works. It starts by stating some of the conspiracy theories that people have thought of to prove that Shakespeare did not write his poems. Lord Francis Bacon is one of the many men believed to have written or taken part in the writing of Shakespeare’s works. People believe that the unusual wording of Shakespeare’s work pertains to Bacon, rather than Shakespeare. A different theory that some groups have is they believe that an actor who shared the name Shakespeare could have just as easily been the real writer, William Shakespeare. Although there is no real documented evidence that the actor Shakespeare was William Shakespeare, it does give you something to think about.
I found this article very interesting, even though I do not completely agree with it. There is no real evidence to prove that William Shakespeare was not the real Shakespeare, so I do not think we should doubt one of the best poets to ever live. Even if William Shakespeare did not write all of his said to be plays and poems, whoever did write them is just as amazing as William is said to be. We should praise William’s work instead of scold him because people think he stole someone else’s work. We have been trying to figure out who wrote the poems, but still haven’t figured it out in years. I think whoever wrote the pieces should be praised, and since William is the one who is said to be the author, we should praise him for the sake of the real writer.
March 22, 2016 at 2:53 am |
Cathrina Majd
Mr.Pores
Honors Am. Lit. Period 5
13 March 2016
Independent Reading/Research
Link to article: Kristof, Nicholas. “Slavery Isn’t a Thing of the Past.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Nov. 2013.
Explanation: I chose this article because it relates to part of the topic that we’re discussing in class right now. We’re discussing the book The Adventures Of Hucklelberry Finn by Mark Twain, in class and the book also discusses slavery quiet a lot in it. There’s a character named Jim and Twain uses this character, Jim, to show the life and the human life of a slave. We never really hear or read about the human life of a slave and this book really discusses this.
Summary of Article: This article is about how slavery is still happening today, it just isn’t like it used to be, but it’s still slavery. It talks about how the movie “The 12 Years a Slave” is receiving a lot of reviews. Even though we’re in the 21st-century now, its still hard for us to face all the slavery that had happened in the 19th-century. The article talks about how the United States has about, what we can call, 60,000 modern versions of slaves. Although slavery isn’t the same as it used to be, it is still considered, and should be considered as slavery. The article discusses how slaves now are Illegal Immigrants that are forced to work without pay because they’re threatened with violence and have no other choice. Its still pretty easy to find slavery now even though it’s not as widespread. The article deliberates about a 15-year-old girl that worked in an orphanage in Nepal and how she met some great people whilst there. She came back later with her family to visit the orphanage again, but they were told that the people she met in that orphanage had been sold to brothels abroad. This just shows a form of slavery that is happened today.
Personal Thoughts of article: I think this article was a pretty big eye opener. I really thought slavery was a thing of the past and that we were thankfully done with it. But sadly, it’s not over. I mean I think its great that slavery isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it’s still horrible that today, still, people are being treated horribly and being sold to work without pay. This article is showing people how slavery is still a big deal and that it should be treated as a big deal so for once and for all slavery will be over. I really enjoyed reading this article since it really shed a light on the slavery in this century and how there are slaves now that are still being treated the same as they used to in the 19th-century. This article also helped me understand the issue of slavery that is happening in the book. The same matter that happened to Jim in The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, when he was sold, is still happening now to this day. As discussed in this article about the people in the orphanage being sold also. We really need to discuss the issue of slavery that is happening now more, because if we don’t then slavery is still going to be happening until the end of time. I know for a fact I don’t want slavery to be going on anymore, I mean it should have never begun in the first place, but we really need to put an end to slavery for good.
March 22, 2016 at 3:14 am |
Article Link: http://humantrafficking.csmonitor.com/labor-trafficking-overview
Aidan Fitzpatrick
Mr. Pores
HAL Period 5
Due 21 March 2016
Modern Slavery – A Summary
In “Modern Slavery: Labor trafficking is everywhere and nowhere,” Stephanie Hanes, the author, describes a situation involving five abused Mexican men found to have been used in human trafficking. They were working for the Great New York State Fair for up to sixteen hours a day and this case brought America further to the reality of labor trafficking. Studies show that many are tricked into working for bad wages and long hours in almost every sector of the economy: “One study from San Diego County, Calif., for instance, estimated that 38,500 undocumented Spanish-speaking migrants were victims of trafficking in that municipality of about 3.2 million” (Hanes). There are many solutions being formed, however. Coalitions, treaties, and new law enforcement are developing to fight labor trafficking. Companies like Patagonia Clothing have created stronger migrant worker standards after they found labor trafficking in their factories. All of these efforts, however, are not enough. The first step in taking action against labor-trafficking is increasing public awareness.
Why I Chose This Article
I chose this article because the topic of labor trafficking connects to slavery in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Today, however, slavery has taken a different identity and is not really known among consumers. In Twain’s time, slavery was widespread across the South and most Americans knew about the institution. Since its abolishment, slavery has become more hidden, but in plain sight. Someone mowing a lawn could have been trafficked or someone washing dishes could have been trafficked. One may never know, but in Twain’s time, slaves were depicted as any person of African descent. Now slavery is not characterized by race, necessarily, and has become more ambiguous. The poor are preyed on now in labor trafficking whereas Africans were preyed on in slavery long ago. Even though both of these institutions are somewhat different, slavery then caused public outrage and labor trafficking now is causing increased outrage. However, not enough legislation has been created to benefit those trafficked. As the article said; we need to increase awareness to fight labor trafficking.
Personal Thoughts
I became interested in this topic because it relates to a book I am reading. In this book, Cloud Atlas, one of the six storylines describes the effect of corpocracy on the future of civilization. Poor people sell their body parts for drugs and companies profit from this. Clone workers are recycled for their protein and fed to consumers who aren’t aware where exactly their meat came from. Corporations are widespread and constantly lying to people. This relates to the labor trafficking crisis and how evil some corporations can be. However, some companies are trying to stop labor trafficking and I am glad about this. However, how long will it be until corpocracy takes over and the lives of people don’t matter anymore? I don’t know, but hopefully it will never happen. When I first read the article, it baffled me how there still exists slavery today in America, land of the “free.” I was aware of sweatshops in third world countries, but not in America. The efforts to stop this illegal practice reassure me of the future, although a future without slavery is quite distant.
March 22, 2016 at 3:15 am |
Nick van Daelen
Mr. Pores
English Period 6
17 March 2016
Independent Reading 1
LINK: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/oct/23/shakespeare-identity-anonymous
Why I chose this article
I chose to read an article about Shakespeare and the conspiracy theories about him. I have heard that there were many conspiracy theories regarding whether Shakespeare actually wrote all of those plays but I have never seen any evidence or explanation of why people think that. Another reason that I chose this article is because it relates to what we have been learning in class. In class we have been reading plays by Shakespeare including Romeo and Juliet. We have also memorized monologues from plays that were written by Shakespeare.
Summary
First, the author of this article questions how “one man could write such universal plays?” (McCrum 1). Then, McCrum explains that a movie was made showing that all of the famous plays we think were written by Shakespeare were actually written by someone else. But he does not mention who could have just yet. Next, he steps back and explains what we do know for sure about William Shakespeare. We know when and where he was born, who he married and when he died. But other than that we don’t know much else for sure. We thought we knew that he wrote all of the famous plays and poems but we can’t be sure about that anymore. People now believe that Shakespeare is not an original but an impostor because they do not believe that his “poetic genius” could be real. One of the main reasons that people believe conspiracy theories is because there is “such an unbridgeable chasm between the complex brilliance of the plays and what they suggest about their author’s education and experience” (McCrum 1) They are saying that there is no way that anybody with the level of education that Shakespeare had, could create such astonishing plays and poems. This is the main reason why many people believe that either the Earl of Oxford or Edward de Vere wrote the famous plays that William Shakespeare took credit for.
Analysis
I enjoyed reading this article about conspiracy theories about Shakespeare. I have always heard that there were people that believed that Shakespeare did not actually write the famous plays such as Romeo and Juliet or Macbeth but I never knew why they thought that or who they thought did if it weren’t William Shakespeare. The article was well written for the most part, but there were some things that the author did that I did not understand. First of all, the author ends the introduction with “the writer of Macbeth or The Tempest is not, in fact, a man named William Shakespeare, but …” (McCrum 1) He does not tell us who until much later in the article. I thought that this was a little bit strange because if somebody were to read the article just to find out who people think did write these plays, they would have to look through the entire poem to find what they are looking for rather than it being in one of the opening paragraphs. I can see that it may intrigue the reader but I personally think that he should have said who at the very beginning and then back up his claim with evidence throughout the rest of the article. Overall, I thought that the article was very interesting, but I would still change a few things about it.
March 22, 2016 at 3:18 am |
Link: http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20050131/emotions-make-memory-last
Independent Reading
The article I chose for my independent reading was based off the topic of memory. The main idea of the article I chose was about how the way someone is feeling can impact how well they learn or how well they remember something and how emotions play a large role in whether or not we remember something . This article relates to what we’re are studying in english at the moment because we are currently trying to memorize shakespearean monologues. This article would help me understand how learning and understanding what the monologues mean would help me memorize them easier and for longer periods of time.
In the article, Emotions Make the Memories Last, by Miranda Hitti of WebMD.com, the article went over why emotions help you remember something and a study that proved this information to be true. First, the author states, “When the emotions are aroused, the brain takes note.” (Hitti 1) This means that if you feel a strong or powerful emotion about something you’re more likely to remember it in more detail. The author also states that this is true for both positive and negative emotions. Next, the author goes over a study in which women were shown emotional pictures to see how well they remembered them. The researchers that conducted the experiment said, “Women are physiologically more reactive to emotional stimuli and more likely to report intense emotional experiences.” (Hitti 1) The women were shown 180 pictures and were told to rate the pictures as positive, neutral, or negative. The next year, the women took a follow-up test and were shown 90 new pictures and 90 old pictures. The women remembered the positive or negative pictures more than the neutral ones. This proves that emotions do play a role in how well you remember something. Finally, the author talks about what parts of the brain were active in the women while they were taking the test to further support the fact that emotions affect memory. While the women were taking the test they were being monitored through brain scans. The brain regions that were active during the test were the amygdala and the hippocampus. The researchers that conducted the test said, “The same areas also successfully encode emotional memories.” (Hitti 1) Since emotional areas of the brain were used when trying to remember something, this supports the main idea that emotions play a large role when memorizing something.
I thought that this article was very interesting and informative. I thought this because before reading this article, I had no idea that emotions affected your memory in any way and that emotions also determined how easily and how long you remembered something. I also didn’t know which areas of the brain were responsible for emotions and memories, so learning about this was very interesting. Another thing I liked about this article was that the author included a study done on this topic to help support the main idea of the idea. The study gave me an understanding of how an idea like this could be properly tested. This article also helped me understand what we’re currently studying in english. When I had to remember my monologue, I didn’t completely understand what the monologue meant and I was confused whenever I was reading it. However, this article showed me why it would be important to understand your monologue and to comprehend what it is saying. Without this comprehension, the emotions you would be feeling while trying to remember your monologue would be mostly confusion. These emotions wouldn’t make a positive effect in helping you remember your monologue compared to understanding the monologue and being able to make an emotional connection with it.
March 22, 2016 at 3:31 am |
Kate Encio
Mr. Pores
English Seminar, Period 6
16 March 2016
Independent Reading 4
In the article, “Deeper Learning: Moving Students Beyond Memorization,” by Luke Towler, is an article explain how memorizing is not the best way to process information when you are learning. Experts think that the best way to learn is to apply school knowledge and use this information to solve real-world problems. They call this process, “deeper learning.” Researchers revealed that students, who attend schools that teach deeper learning, are likely to graduate high school with a richer education than those who go to non-network schools. Linda Darling-Hammond says, “These students tend to learn more deeply and they tend to perform better, not only on traditional achievement tests but also on assessments of more complex understanding.” Instead of just reading out of the textbook and having to memorize facts, deeper learning teachers slightly change the curriculum so the students have to make connections to real-world situations for a deeper understanding. Deeper learning also can provide internships that can support students in making a decision on which career is best suited for the student. “This opportunity is valuable, because it helps students discover hat they like or don’t like, helping them to focus on long-term professional goals,” says Brooke Teller, a teacher at Casco Bay High School. Deeper learning not only goes above and beyond memorization, but it also adds complexity to the material, so that students can be more successful in the future.
The article, “Deeper Learning: Moving Students Beyond Memorization,” relates to what we are studying in class because we are reciting monologues written by Shakespeare. We were given these monologues, after we had watched and read one of Shakespeare’s popular plays, Romeo and Juliet. We were required to memorize and recite our assigned monologue to the class and show our understanding of the monologue. The reason I chose to write about this was because we had to memorize our designated monologues.
I thought this article was right for thinking that memorizing information doesn’t really teach you anything, but I feel that sometimes memorizing things, such as vocabulary can also assist you with what you are learning. I agree that deeper learning can be beneficial to students’ education in many ways. Deeper learning not only can provide you with internships and valuable education, but it can also help you when deciding a career path. Linda Darling-Hammond said, “The focus on memorization, fueled by standardized testing, has obstructed learning.” I disagree with her statement because I think that memorization can be helpful when learning new subjects. The idea of deep learning is smart, but I think that memorization can also be really helpful to students. Instead of ruling out memorization, schools should balance it with deep learning, so students can learn more efficiently with the two ideas combined. I thought this article was very informative and is filled with many interviews with teachers who teach in the deep learning curriculum. I also thought this article was interesting because it made me wonder if my high school teaches deep learning. I’m not sure if they teach that type of curriculum, but it would be really beneficial to many students at my school. Also, if my teachers taught deep learning, I would have the knowledge needed for me to graduate high school. Ever since I started school, I realized that memorizing vocabulary and key topics could really help me in all my classes. Overall, deep learning and memorization should be encouraged in all schools; therefore students can be successful in the future.
Works Cited:
Towler, Luke. “Deeper Learning: Moving Students Beyond Memorization.” NEA Today. National Education Association, 25 Nov. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. .
Link to article:
http://neatoday.org/2014/11/25/deeper-learning-moving-students-beyond-memorization-2/
March 22, 2016 at 3:52 am |
Patric Berard
Mr. Pores
March 14, 2016
Period 6
Why I chose/How it’s related to our class
I chose the article, “Why do we still care about Shakespeare?” by Cindy Tumiel. In the article, two literary scholars from the University of Texas at San Antonio talk about the importance of Shakespeare in modern society, and why Shakespeare’s plays are as popular as they are now, as well as why they were popular back when they were originally performed. I decided to use this article because I didn’t quite understand what about Shakespeare’s works made them as amazing as they are accepted to be. This ties into what we’re learning in class because we’re currently reading a lot of Shakespeare, and learning a lot about him.
Summary of Article
The article “Why do we still care about Shakespeare?” by Cindy Tumiel, addresses the question stated in the title itself. In the article, two Literary scholars by the names Alan Craven and Mark Bayer talk about why they like Shakespeare’s works, and why Shakespeare is enjoyable to both modern audiences and audiences from hundreds of years ago. A very common point that is made, is that Shakespeare is enjoyed by many, and has been popular for so long, due to its very basic and timeless themes and diverse characters. As Alan Craven said, ” The language is rich, the characters are complex and many of his basic themes – love, treachery, honor, bravery and political intrigue – still resonate today.” The basic themes allow the stories to remain relevant hundreds of years after their original writing, because many of the same issues exist today. The diverse characters allow for all sorts of people with very different personalities and backgrounds to enjoy the stories, as there is enough variation in characters for everyone to relate one. This idea is clearly shown throughout the article, one example is when the author explains how Shakespeare is sometimes used in educational opportunities for prison inmates. “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a play about the conspiracy to assassinate the Roman emperor, is one of the works regularly used to introduce inmates to literature and learning, Craven said. The plot and themes involve murder, political treachery and justice. ‘These are all things that people in prisons would relate to and be interested in,’ he added.” The fact that even prison inmates can relate to these plays, shows that basic themes from hundreds of years ago, such as political treachery and justice, are still relevant today, and that diverse characters can allow everyone to relate to the story. In summary, the main point made in this article, is that Shakespeare’s stories allow people from any time in history, and of any personality, to relate to them.
Personal thoughts
I found that this article really did help me understand why Shakespeare is still so popular today. And I can also say that I personally agree with a lot of what they said. The idea that the basic themes of his stories makes the story accessible to people of any generation, is one that makes a lot of sense, and it made me appreciate “Romeo and Juliet”, which we just read in class, much more, as I found it impressive that the story still kept its meaning so many years later. Besides just learning more about Shakespeare’s writing, I also found the article very interesting. I enjoyed a few of the examples given to explain the concept that Shakespeare’s writing was relevant to everyone. For example, I found it very interesting that Shakespeare was often used as part of prison education, due to the fact that they could relate to the characters hardships and such. I also found it very interesting how clear it was made that Shakespeare was originally intended to be experienced as a play, and that it is really the only way to truly fully experience it. This made me think a bit, because it isn’t like the acting quality was going to be all that great back then. Then when I read that Alan Craven said, “That is exactly the way Shakespeare intended for his plays to be experienced, Shakespeare wanted audiences to react. He wanted people to cheer and boo at his characters.” I understood more. The play format gave (and still gives) the story more excitement, and the audience could express their feelings more. Overall, I liked this article, and it definitely helped me understand the importance of Shakespeare, and its reason for popularity.
https://www.utsa.edu/ovations/vol8/story/shakespeare.html
March 22, 2016 at 4:04 am |
Brenn Bragado
English Pores
Period 6
March 13, 2016
Independent Reading I
Article: Yeonmi Park, “My Escape From North Korea: How I Moved On From a Life of Horrors”, from http://www.rd.com/true-stories/survival/escape-from-north-korea/
I choose this article as it describes a scenario in real life of humanity facing and dealing with conflict, connecting it to the central question. I felt that this was quite similar to the play Antigone, in which we read together in class, as the both protagonists suffer through pain to try to achieve to their goal, and defying the ruling government in doing so. Antigone and Yeonmi Parc had determination and were using their moral rights to fight against the law for their free will and best interests. In Antigone’s case, she defied the king’s orders in order to bury her brother, who she loved and felt that he died with honor. For Yeonmi, they went against the North Korean government and attempted to escape. In the two scenarios, they were captured and punished. Yeonmi and her mother were sold as servants and slaves, Yeonmi in particular had to deal with mental issues as she was trafficked and her mom was raped. After two years, they were able to escape and share the state of North Korea and its problems with the world, along with other topics. Antigone, however wasn’t as lucky, but she was able to free herself from the oppressive rule of King Creon and trigger an action that will teach Creon a lesson, as the rest of his family falls around him. The article also mirrors off the corruption in the government seen in Antigone, as well as having an empowering female protagonist.
In the article, Yeonmi Park had to face not only physical adversity, but also the struggles she had controlling her emotions and actions. It starts off with Yeonmi sharing details of her childhood in North Korea, how they were taught to follow the government blindly and were prone to much propaganda. It also stated the roots of why her family wanted be liberated from North Korea as they were exposed to Eastern movies, such as Cinderella and Titanic, as well as stories about South Korea, which gave them a sense of freedom and hope that there is a better world. After providing a brief summary of their initial escape and capture, and how they were treated while being sold off as servants, she then talked about her journey to Mongolia, after connecting with a Protestant mission that specializes in helping North Koreans escape. Yeonmi’s group was on foot in –27 F weather trying to cross the border and it took them four days to make it to the Gobi desert, after which they had to cross miles of frozen sand. She talked about how other defectors helped them overcome their tripe, such as when a man gave her mom a pair of shoes to keep them warmer. After a while of trudging through the barren wasteland, Yeonmi starts to have doubts and how easy it is to just stop it all and give up. Almost attempted to do so, a train appears as salvation and they were taken in by the Mongolians, who took them to Seoul. There, they were put in a resettlement center, after proving that they were not spies during interrogation. Finally, Yeonmi and her mom moved to a small town in South Korea, free from the reigns of the north Korean regime. Yeonmi, with her gained wisdom, went to go on to make speeches and attend interviews, sharing that story with the world.
I enjoyed reading this article, following the events along as the author recollected her memories. It was really moving to see how she overcame the troubling situations and keep herself stable. Reading that was a good catharsis, as the reader could feel bad for Yeonmi, feel her pain, and then become relieved as Yeonmi, despite young, was able to push through. It seems to be effective, as my mom had mentioned to me that it caused her to tear up when she first read it in the February issue of Reader’s Digest. This helped me understand the idea of drama and tragedy connecting with real life, and how often literature often reflects life and vice versa. Being close to literature, this article didn’t hold up much in a professional or academic sense, as it was more of a cultural article and a true survival story. It was, however, coming from a primary source, telling her experiences first hand. It also provided me with an example of how humans face conflict, where in this case, was that you should push on, not give up hope, and release inner dark thoughts and feelings to in order to focus on resolving the problem.
March 22, 2016 at 4:19 am |
Cindy Le
Mr. Pores
Honors American Lit Period 5
21 March 2016
Independent Project #2
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stronger-the-broken-places/201401/the-real-reason-opposites-attract
This article refers to the real reason that opposites attract. I specifically chose this article to emphasize the different polar sides of the bond between each character in The Huckleberry Finn. For example, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn had two very different personalities, yet they obtained a close bond and admired each other: Huck is carefree and practical whereas Tom is very dependent on others and likes to do things with imagination, Huck is logical and Tom loves to daydream, Huck is an outcast yet Tom is a conformist.
The article “The Real Reason That Opposites Attract” is written to emphasize that a little tension between two personalities will bring them closer to connect and also closer to success. “While these needs and desires may appear to be mutually exclusive, they not only can co-exist with each other, but in the process, generate a “tension of the opposites” that produces the passion that sustains, deepens and enlivens relationships,” said Linda and Charlie Bloom on Psychology Today. Although security and safeness are a few certain qualities that is an essential to relationships, without a slight pinch of excitement, adventure, and risk, then everything becomes a bore. In order to maintain this balance, one must be able to peacefully maintain the polar opposite side and refrain from compromise. Once one has been able to achieve this, developing the kind of flexibility that passionate relationships require will be a success in the near future.
Personally, this article wasn’t much exciting news to me but this really did support my ongoing question of how Huck seemed to look up to Tom and his adventures while Huck had a tendency to disagree with Tom’s extravagant ideas. This article allowed me to understand the way these characters felt within and how they managed to cooperate with each others differentiating personalities. It allowed me to understand the characters on a more personal level. I agree with this article’s argument because I do believe every relationship is healthy if there are imbalances. As many people would say, too much of good is bad. Companionships that bring new different perspectives allow a variety of knowledge and understanding, and I think that will maintain a healthy and successful bond.
March 22, 2016 at 5:00 am |
Vivian, Avila
Mr.Pores English SM
period 6
March 16, 2016
Independent reading assignment
I choose this article because for the past few weeks we have been studying and analyzing Shakespeare in class. We read his most recognized piece, Romeo and Juliet and watched the movie adaptation by Baz Luhrmann. Both of these medias gave different insights and feelings about the classic. To stay attentive and involved on this topic, we completed summaries in class based on our comprehension of the independent reading done at home. And after watching the movie we wrote a film critique that contained our own take on the movie adaptation, as well as our response to critics who also reviewed the film. This article emphasizes the impact Shakespeare has today, in modern culture.
No matter how little or great contact Shakespeare has had on our lives we have all heard his famous phrases, and we use his wording in our everyday lives. Without realizing it he built up the English language and created it so that we could express ourselves in extraordinary ways, with a sense of passion and sorrow like his plays and sonnets. This article points out how the artist Nick Lowe is inspired by his plays, and he implements quotes from his extended works into his music. It is estimated that Shakespeare used around 15,000 words throughout his plays, most of which he created himself. His words are not only used to express ourselves but to also give meaning to our surrounding environment, he created words such as “bedazzled and gloomy” which can be used to perfectly describe the word around us. Shakespeare’s magnificent works extend from stories of love and passion
to evil and misfortune, that have unforgettable characters that undergo profound situations that change their fate.
I really enjoyed this article because it described how his plays have film adaptations and numerous writers are inspired by his works. His vast vocabulary has shaped the English language in many ways so that we can express ourselves in fascinating ways. This relates to what we studied in class, his most famous work, Romeo and Juliet because I believe that this play shapes our societies ideals of love and romanticism. It is a very intriguing piece of art that connects themes of fate and passion, all in one story that highlights the characters strengths and weaknesses. I also enjoyed this article because it emphasizes how we use his phrases and words unwillingly. Shakespeare’s work have also become a base for new novels and TV shows that tie in elements of love, rage, hope and many other themes. This article helped me get a better understanding of Shakespeare because it extends the works of art that his plays and sonnets have impacted and inspired throughout the world. All in all Shakespeare is a well known writer all around the world that is still spoken of and looked up to today.
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140527-say-what-shakespeares-words
March 22, 2016 at 5:02 am |
Newton Le
Mr. Pores
English Period 2
March 18, 2016
I chose this Shakespeare article because I want to know more about his life, mainly before he got his start in writing. This article relates to what we’re learning in class because it is about the one and only Shakespeare! The most influential writer in the history of the English language.
This article is about how a poor Englishman became one of the most famous writer in the world. In the beginning of the article it talked about his life before he became a writer. William Shakespeare was born on in a town called Stratford-Upon-Avon. He went to the local grammar where he learned how to write and read Latin. He later married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18. Anne Hathaway was pregnant during the time of the marriage and she gave birth to her daughter, Susanna. Three more years later she gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith. Unfortunately, Hamnet died at the age of 11 while his siblings, Judith and Susanna, lived till an old age. William Shakespeare lived to be 52 before he died of unknown causes. Scientists who want to research Shakespeare’s body aren’t even allowed to examine the body. Shakespeare left his wealth to his daughter, Susanna. His wife, Anne Hathaway, just got the second best bed! William Shakespeare is buried inside the Stratford Church. Two of Shakespeare’s colleagues published a book with a collection of his plays in 1623 called the First Folio, which contains 36 of Shakespeare’s plays. During his life he wrote around 37 different plays and a huge collection of sonnets.
I thought this article did an excellent job of displaying the life of Shakespeare in a shortened and condensed way. I also like how they included a video at the top for people who are too lazy too read, cough cough. The way that the article was formatted in my opinion was perfect and the words that they used didn’t confuse me at all, unlike Shakespeare. The article helped me understand who Shakespeare was as a person. It brought light to many unclear parts to his life. For example, I never knew that Shakespeare has a wife and three kids and I also didn’t know that his only son died at age 11. That one fact made me feel more sympathetic towards him and also more relatable. I also didn’t know that he didn’t go to a university. The way he wrote his plays and sonnets seemed like it was written in a university level. He wrote his stories that conveyed many emotions to rise from people all across the world. In conclusion, the information that this article gave me about Shakespeare changed my perspective towards him and his work in literature.
http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/william-shakespeare
March 22, 2016 at 5:14 am |
Link: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/about-us/history-of-the-globe/rebuilding-the-globe
Simon Tan
Mr. Pores
English, Period 1
17 March 2016
Independent Reading #4
I chose to write a summary on the article, “Rebuilding the Globe”, because the Globe Theatre was where William Shakespeare performed his plays. He plays an important role in the world through his plays and stories that he has written that contain plots that captivates the audience.
This relates to my English class because we are currently learning about Shakespeare’s plays. We finished reading “Romeo and Juliet” not too long ago. While reading the play I learned that Shakespeare wrote his plays with great detail and precision. Learning about the Globe Theatre will allow us to learn more about Shakespeare.
The article is about Shakespeare’s Globe and how it was created and what it took to build it.The idea to rebuild Shakespeare’s Globe was started by Sam Wanamaker after his first visit to London in 1949. Wanamaker was an actor, director, and a producer. Twenty-one years after his visit to London he found the Shakespeare Globe Trust which is devoted to the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre and the creation of an education center. Wanamaker spent about twenty-three years raising money and researching with Theo Crosby on the appearance and construction of the theatre. Wanamaker died in London on December 18, 1993. Three and a half years after Wanamaker’s death, the theatre was completed and opened in June 1997.
Nobody knows what the original Globe looks like, but painted panoramas, written accounts, building contracts, and a sketch of the Swan theatre give people an idea on what the interior was like. In 1989, an archaeological excavation of the Rose Theatre uncovered that Elizabethan playhouses were buildings shaped as polygons. Techniques that were used during the 16th-century were used to help make the construction of the theatre as accurate as possible. The stage used existing buildings from the time period and advice from actors and directors to help with the design.
The reconstruction of the Globe Theatre couldn’t have been done without the help and dedication of Sam Wanamaker who devoted most of his life to recreate Shakespeare’s theatre. Even though the new globe might not even be an accurate resemblance of the original theatre, it was meant to give people a present model of what the original theatre might’ve been.
I think that this article gives a lot of important information about the recreation of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. It explains a lot about how Sam Wanamaker devoted most of his life to this project and the degree it took to recreate the theatre. This article will help people learn more about the project to recreate the theatre that Shakespeare used during the time period when he was still alive. It also helped me understand that people still don’t know a lot about Shakespeare’s time period and the type of environment and community it was back then.
After reading this article, I would like to go to London and visit this theatre one day. I think that it would be a good experience for me to visit a historical landmark that made a significant contribution to the English literature throughout the world. I would also like to see how the theatre was built and what it looks like from the outside and inside since parts of the theatre was built using techniques from the 16th century.
March 22, 2016 at 5:26 am |
Jillian Tan
Mr. Pores
Honors American Literature, Period 5
21 March 2016
Catch Me If You Can
“Catch Me If You Can” is a 2002 American biographical crime drama film, based on the life of Frank Abagnale, Jr., known in the world of deception as a former confidence trickster, check forger, and impostor. Before his 19th birthday, Frank Abagnale had successfully performed cons by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Louisiana parish prosecutor, and a Georgia doctor. His primary crime was check fraud. In fact, he became so experienced that the FBI eventually hired him to help catch other check forgers.
The film begins in 1963, when teenager Frank Abagnale lives in New York with his father Frank Abagnale, Sr., and French mother Paula. Frank Abagnale Sr. is denied a business loan, which leads to their forced evacuation from their home to a small apartment. Paula carries on an affair with a friend of her husband, which Frank finds out about. His parents eventually file for divorce, and Frank runs away. When he runs out of money, he begins to rely on confidence scams to get by. Frank’s cons improve to the point where he impersonates an airline pilot. He forges Pan Am payroll checks and succeeds in stealing over $2.8 million.
Meanwhile, Carl Hanratty, an FBI bank fraud agent, begins tracking Frank. One day, Carl and Frank meet at a hotel, where Frank convinces Carl that his name is Barry Allen of the Secret Service. Frank leaves, and Carl realizes that he has been fooled. Later on, at Christmas, Carl is still at work when Frank calls him and apologizes for duping him. Carl rejects his apology and tells him that he is getting close to catching him. Carl laughs when he realizes Frank actually called him because he has no one else to talk to. As Carl continues to investigate, he realizes that the name “Barry Allen” is from the Flash comic books and that Frank is actually a teenager.
Frank expands his con to include the identities of a doctor and lawyer. In Georgia, where he pretends to be a doctor, he meets a nurse named Brenda and falls in love with her. He eventually admits to her the truth about himself, and asks her to run away with him. Carl tracks Frank to his engagement party where Frank has left Brenda to escape. But before doing so, Frank has asked Brenda to meet him in two days so they can elope. Two days later, Frank sees her waiting for him, but also notices agents in disguise who are waiting to arrest him. He realizes that he has been set up and escapes on a flight to Europe.
Seven months later, Carl shows his boss the forged checks made by Frank all over Western Europe. He asks permission to go to Europe to hunt Frank down. His boss refuses, so he brings Frank’s checks to printing professionals, who claim that the checks were from France. He remembers from an interview with Frank’s mother Paula that she was born in Montrichard, France. He goes there and locates Frank. He tricks Frank into coming with him by telling Frank that the French police will kill him if he does not go with him. He takes Frank outside where the French police escort him to prison.
The scene flashes forward to a plane returning Frank to the United States from prison. In this plane ride, Carl informs Frank that his father has died. Frank is grief-stricken and escapes from the plane. He goes back to his old house, where he finds his mother with the man she left his father for, and a girl who Frank realizes is his half sister. Frank gives himself up and is sentenced to 12 years in prison. When Frank points out how one of the check evidences is fake, Carl convinces the FBI to offer Frank a deal by which he can serve the remainder of his sentence working for the bank fraud department of the FBI. Frank accepts the deal, but misses the thrill of the chase. He even attempts to fly as airline pilot again, but is cornered by Carl, who insists that Frank will return to the FBI job since no one is chasing him. Days later, Carl starts getting nervous that Frank has not yet arrived at work, until Frank shows up and they discuss their next case.
The ending reveals that Frank has been happily married for 26 years, has three sons, and lives in the Midwest. He is still good friends with Carl and has caught some of the world’s most elusive money forgers. He even earns millions of dollars each year from creating unforgeable checks.
The film brings a sense of awe to its audience with its account of one of FBI’s Most Wanted. The excellent, action packed crime caper features stunts similar to the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The presence of fraud and deceit in both stories is relatable. The king and duke are similar to Frank in the way that they are all “con men.” They defraud people after gaining their confidence, used in the usual sense of trust. They may have had different reasons as to why they “conned” people, but one fact remains: they committed crimes for their own selves. On a different note, Frank goes on a voyage to escape from the harsh reality that his parents are separating. Similarly, Huck runs away, and even stages his own murder, to escape the horrible treatment he experiences at the hands of his father. The story line is similar as both Frank and Huck deal with the tough real world by going on their own adventures. Frank manages to get by through his confidence tricks, while Huck braves the Mississippi River with his good friend, Jim. In a different perspective, Frank and Huck are both young boys seeking for a change in environment. Frank goes into bolder and braver situations as he pretends to be a pilot, doctor, and a lawyer. His upbringing makes his adventures more broad and diverse. Huck, on the other hand, deals with real life situations. Although he remains himself throughout most of the novel, he does pretend to be a girl, among other characters, to get out of certain situations. He brings more serious, legitimate reasons as to why he pretends to be someone he is not, while Frank pretends as a coping mechanism perhaps.
In conclusion, the stories of “Catch Me If You Can” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” are different but through several perspectives, a huge similarity among the characters, especially the protagonists, suggests otherwise. The lives of Frank and Huck are comparable in numerous ways. Therefore, it is not difficult to connect the dots between these two stories.
March 22, 2016 at 5:57 am |
Jennifer Estrada
Pores
Honors American Literature
19 March 2016
Independent Reading Assignment : The Romantic Age
For my independent reading assignment, I chose an article that discussed the romantic age in great detail, because of the book we recently read– The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain. In the book, the reader is introduced to Tom Sawyer, a troublesome boy with an active imagination that embodies romanticism. I wanted to inform myself about this era, so I can attempt to see why Tom is so enwrapped by this ideology, which prevents him from thinking logically.
The article examined the Romantic Movement and its emergence. It argues that the movement was created as a response to the 18th century. That time period experienced a series of attacks to the belief of the individual self. For instance, during the rise of urbanization, large-scale mechanized corporations rose up and altered the way of work. The factory system it entailed had regimented hours and placed mindless, repetitive tasks on workers that consequently made them feel as if they were interchangeable parts in a detached process, destroying all feelings of individuality. This century also saw the rise of philosophers that were skeptical about the existence of individual self, such as David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Despite these challenges, Romantic writers, artists, and philosophers were able to spread the notion of individuality through their art, which primarily focused on self-analysis and self-reflection. They consisted of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, and Ludwig Van Beethoven. They sought to analyze the mind’s relationship to the world, and believed that the mind was able to shape what was out there, causing nature to become a focus of romanticism. This included the external word (trees, hills, etc) and the internal world, such as the inherent character of an individual.
I personally agree with the aspect of romantic ideology that states how we shape what we see. We give meaning to this world. A tree would just be a tree, if were not for our ability to feel emotion and view it as the tree in our backyard that we grew to love, using its branches to create swings and create memories with it. The article helped me understand Tom Sawyer and why he is the way he is. His imagination is so powerful that he sees the world as his oyster. Although at times it prevents him from thinking rationally, he is able to partake in an adventure and create amazing memories that he will recall when he gets older. Given the fact that Tom is merely a boy, it is natural for him to want to seek excitement and imagine crazy scenarios out of the ordinary. Prior to reading the article, I felt as if he was too engrossed in fiction, which prevented him from seeing reality. However, now I am fascinated by his ability to give meaning to the world and envision a different perspective. I am inspired by his way of thinking and will incorporate it it into my life, with a fuse of logical reasoning.
Works Cited
“Notes on the Romantic Age.” Notes on the Romantic Age. N.p., 12 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. .
March 22, 2016 at 6:52 am |
Mia Pearson
Mr. Pores
English Period 6
March 21, 2016
Link: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140527-say-what-shakespeares-words
Lately, our class has been studying Shakespeare and reading Romeo and Juliet, so I thought the article I used would be appropriate. It discusses how William Shakespeare influences the way we speak now. People all over the world know about Shakespeare, and his works have greatly influenced a lot of the modern world. For example, not only is our spoken language is influenced by him, but modern works of art like movies and plays often use themes and ideas from his works. Towards the beginning of our Shakespeare unit, we watched a video about shakespeare, and every person in it had heard of him or studied some of his work.
This article discusses how Shakespeare influences the way we speak now. The author mentions that Shakespeare added a lot to the English language, and without him, our vocabulary would be a lot different. He invented more than 1,700 new words that we still use today, just by merging existing words and make English words out of foreign vocabulary. He changed nouns into verbs, verbs to adjectives, connected words that had never before used together, and added prefixes and suffixes to words. He gave us creative ways to express feelings of joy, as well as sadness and despair. However some scholars think that people give Shakespeare too much credit; that he only made some words popular and didn’t invent as many as people say. They talk about how a lot of modern media features allusions to famous Shakespearian quotes; many song titles and lyrics are quotes from Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The article made it clear to me that there are very many famous quotes and phrases invented by Shakespeare that people say every day.
I happened to like this article a lot; I learned lots of interesting new information from it and it made me want to do more research on Shakespeare. I think what intrigued me the most was how many words Shakespeare invented; because it made me wonder: What kind of words would we use if Shakespeare never existed? I had never realized how much of the media borrows Shakespearean quotes and phrases until I read this article. I liked how the author included some examples of Shakespeare quotes, phrases and words. There are so many phrases that Shakespeare created that I say all the time, not knowing he was the one who created them. I agree that Shakespeare’s work was and still is creative and clever, and can be interesting to any audience. Many people study works of Shakespeare at some point in their life or experience the themes of his plays through modern culture. For example, there are very many adaptations of the very famous Romeo and Juliet love story, some of which I never noticed until we started studying it. I enjoyed this article quite a lot, because it helped me understand why we learn about Shakespeare and how much he has shaped our language and culture.Lately, our class has been studying Shakespeare and reading Romeo and Juliet, so I thought the article I used would be appropriate. It discusses how William Shakespeare influences the way we speak now. People all over the world know about Shakespeare, and his works have greatly influenced a lot of the modern world. For example, not only is our spoken language is influenced by him, but modern works of art like movies and plays often use themes and ideas from his works. Towards the beginning of our Shakespeare unit, we watched a video about shakespeare, and every person in it had heard of him or studied some of his work.
This article discusses how Shakespeare influences the way we speak now. The author mentions that Shakespeare added a lot to the English language, and without him, our vocabulary would be a lot different. He invented more than 1,700 new words that we still use today, just by merging existing words and make English words out of foreign vocabulary. He changed nouns into verbs, verbs to adjectives, connected words that had never before used together, and added prefixes and suffixes to words. He gave us creative ways to express feelings of joy, as well as sadness and despair. However some scholars think that people give Shakespeare too much credit; that he only made some words popular and didn’t invent as many as people say. They talk about how a lot of modern media features allusions to famous Shakespearian quotes; many song titles and lyrics are quotes from Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The article made it clear to me that there are very many famous quotes and phrases invented by Shakespeare that people say every day.
I happened to like this article a lot; I learned lots of interesting new information from it and it made me want to do more research on Shakespeare. I think what intrigued me the most was how many words Shakespeare invented; because it made me wonder: What kind of words would we use if Shakespeare never existed? I had never realized how much of the media borrows Shakespearean quotes and phrases until I read this article. I liked how the author included some examples of Shakespeare quotes, phrases and words. There are so many phrases that Shakespeare created that I say all the time, not knowing he was the one who created them. I agree that Shakespeare’s work was and still is creative and clever, and can be interesting to any audience. Many people study works of Shakespeare at some point in their life or experience the themes of his plays through modern culture. For example, there are very many adaptations of the very famous Romeo and Juliet love story, some of which I never noticed until we started studying it. I enjoyed this article quite a lot, because it helped me understand why we learn about Shakespeare and how much he has shaped our language and culture.
March 22, 2016 at 8:28 am |
Nicholas Anthony Petersen
Mr. Pores
Honors American Literature
21 March 2016
The Challenges of the Mississippi River
The article I chose relates to what we are studying as the Mississippi River plays a major role in Huckleberry Finn. While the river is a symbol of freedom to Huck and Jim, I thought it would be interesting to research the challenges that the Mississippi River may pose.
Summary
Through “How Drought on Mississippi River Impacts You”, Johnna Rizzo discusses how droughts along the Mississippi River have a greater impact than one may realize. While to an average person, the river going down a few feet in water depth isn’t significant. However, this means that barges will have to significantly reduce their load. This significant reduction in load across many barges adds up to billions of dollars in goods not reaching their destination on time. What once sounded like a simple inconvenience can lead up to disastrous results. Johnna Rizzo also describes how collisions and even oil spills affect the traffic flow of the Mississippi River.
What once was a fun adventure for Huck and Jim now sounds like a complicated and troubled transportation network. Johnna Rizzo also describes some real world examples of these problems that people face on the Mississippi River. In winter months, the barges failing to deliver road salt to northern towns and cities could result in loss of vehicular traction on icy streets of those municipalities. Oil barge collisions, such as the one near Vicksburg, Mississippi, result in disastrous oil spills. Overall, the conditions of the river can provide obstacles to keeping a consistent flow in our economy.
Opinion
After reading “How Drought on Mississippi River Impacts You”, I was shocked at how much problems arise from river transportation. Before reading this article, I just believed ships carelessly cruised down rivers and effortlessly kept our economy going. However, I now know this is not the case. What really surprised me was how incremental changes in the water levels lead to exponential decreases in goods being transported. I now have a lot more respect for anyone who deals with transportation on the Mississippi River.
With all the problems associated with river transportation, I wondered why it was still in use. However, other modes of transportation do not have the ability to transport as much as a fleet of barges can. While it is not an ideal mode of transportation, the nature of the items being transported warrants this cost-effective method. Especially for oil, since it is one of the top used commodities in the United States. This article has increased my understanding on how river transportation plays a huge role in our economy, despite the setbacks it may have.
Link
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/121207-nation-mississippi-river-drought-environment-economy/
March 22, 2016 at 1:49 pm |
Bach,Kenneth
Mr. Pores
English, P.2
3/16/16
Link:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140416-do-shakespeares-poisons-work
Independent Reading:
The Suspected Poisons used in Shakespeare’s Tragedies
The use of poison in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, intrigues me to research what types of poisons could have been on his mind when he wrote this famous tragedy, or any of his other memorable plays. His clever use of a “sleeping poison” to outwit the Capulet family with Juliet’s “death” got me interested in what that could have been in that vial that was given by Friar Lawrence.
There are three suspected types of poisons used in Shakespeare’s tragedies; Henbane for Hamlet, Viola Tricolor for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Atropa Belladonna for Romeo and Juliet. In Hamlet, the ghost of the dead king tells about his death from having poison poured into his ear when he was sleeping. Shakespeare used “Hebenon”, which might not be a real substance, but it could have been hemlock, ebony, yew, nightshade, and henbane, which is chicken poison. Shakespeare described the symptoms to be skin related, so they would all be eliminated. However, there was an experiment that showed that a drug would have different effects when applied in different body orifices. The king had a hearing loss and his ear was damaged, so henbane could be a plausible substance to actually produce different symptoms when inserted in a damaged ear. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare writes about a wild pansy called Viola Tricolor that was used to drug Titania into falling in love with a peasant bearing the head of a donkey. This flower includes active substances that don’t really cause the user to fall in love, but it will cause asthma and respiratory problems. In Romeo and Juliet, the suspected substance that Juliet takes to make her fall into a death-like sleep could have been Atropa Belladonna, or the sleeping nightshade. John Gerarde, author of “The Herball or General Historie of Plantes”, wrote that a moderate amount will cause a deep sleep, and overdose will kill the user. However this plant couldn’t have been used since the coma is induces doesn’t have a slow enough heartbeat to be mistaken as death.
The suspected poisons in this article might be the closest substances, in real life, to Shakespeare’s poisons. I think that all of the effects of the poisons are too good to be true, especially since it’s during the Elizabethan Era. A poison that can be inserted through the ear and cause terrible skin affects can be a really useful choice for taking out that guy you’ve always hated and to watch his body be just a pile of rotting skin. A deep sleep that could make the user be mistaken as dead would be very useful for lots of purposes, like faking your death to avoid taxes or to make a movie with realistic death effects. Shakespeare’s version of a Viola Tricolor pansy would basically be the main ingredient of a love potion that could be used for good or very evil purposes. The love effects of the Viola Tricolor is strong enough to make a Queen of the Fairies think that a peasant with the head of a donkey, is attractive enough to fall in love with. Also it makes the user love the first thing that they see after awaking from the pre-effects of the substance. Whenever Shakespeare uses a poison in his plays, there’s a good chance that the poison isn’t even real.
March 22, 2016 at 2:47 pm |
Sydney Patchett
Mr. Pores
Honor Am. Lit, Per. 5
18 March 2016
The Confederate Flag Today
It is March 18, 2016, and startlingly—it is still an issue whether citizens should be allowed to wave the Confederate flag in public view. I’m certain that the ideology possessed by the owners of these century old banners isn’t related at all to the desire for reminiscing on their Southern heritage, but more or less publicly portraying that they support the racist background associated with it. Nevertheless, in light of our recent studies of Huckleberry Finn and the topic of slavery, I chose an article concerned with the moral contention of slavery in the 21rst century in relation to the waving of the Confederate flag, the symbol of the rebels in the American Civil War.
The article begins by describing a gruesome shooting in which nine black churchgoers were murdered by a white gunman. The event occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, coincidentally enough the original state to first secede from the union. Continuing, flags all over the country were set to half-staff in memory of lives lost, but the Confederate flag flown over the capitol of the U.S. was locked in place at full staff, although it is considered “a symbol of racism and hate”(Huff 1) to numerous activists, politicians, and regular citizens. Hanson discusses the history of the Confederate flag in America, disproving the many excuses that it is simply a war flag, waved in remembrance of the confederate soldiers who lost their lives. They cite multiple prejudice-based groups who have used the flag as an emblem, including: The Dixie-Crats (a political party dedicated
To maintaining segregation in the states), and the notable Ku Klux Klan. It has been used as a tool to depict intolerance of integration by many institutions. It was not only adopted by Georgia into their state flag (later removed in 2003), but The University of Mississippi began incorporating it into activities during Truman’s civil rights proposals (CNN 2). In conclusion, the flag’s ties to racial injustice and slavery are inarguable as discussed by the cited examples in the article.
In my personal opinion, to wave a flag that has a history of ignorance, prejudice, and racial intolerance is embarrassing to our country, and mocks the values in which we hold true. The United States is the country of immigrants, it was developed by people all over the world coming together with one common goal, freedom. The white supremacy ideology it grew past centuries ago need not be treasured or held to any higher value than what it was, a time in history that American’s are ultimately ashamed of. It represents the inability of our government to control the nation; and in my opinion, it should only be portrayed in museums that dignify its true meaning.
March 23, 2016 at 3:41 am |
Jeff Livers
Mr. Pores
Seminar English 1,2
Period 1
3/16/16
Independent Reading
https://source.wustl.edu/2006/08/brain-imaging-identifies-best-memorization-strategies-details-differing-parts-of-brain-used-in-each/
I chose this article because in class, we are currently working on memorizing our monologues from Shakespeare. This requires a great deal of memorization so I was interested in looking at an article about memorization and how different people use different techniques to memorize certain phrases. This article talks about the brain on different learning strategies so it would go great along-side what we are learning in class.
This article is about a group of researchers from Washington University, that look at different learning strategies. The article was published in 2006, so this was around the early stages of MRI’s (brain scanning). MRI’s were going to be used in order to look at how the brain reacts to peoples techniques and strategies for memorization. The researchers found that the subjects typically used two main strategies when it came to learning new information. The people used in the study were “29 right-handed, healthy young adults, ages 18-31, all of whom had normal or corrected-to-normal vision and reported no significant neurological history.” (Brenda Murphy). The subjects were given two things to memorize, and they used four strategies to memorize them. Visual inspection, verbal elaboration, mental imagery, and memory retrieval. The people who used the first two strategies were shown to have better results. The brain activity was recorded from the MRI while the memorization test was being used. People who used word based learning strategy, had more activity in the left anterior of the brain. People who used a visual based strategy had more activity used in the left posterior of the brain. We all memorize and take in information in different ways from one another. Hopefully it’s possible for older patients with Alzheimer’s to develop similar strategies and gain some memory back.
This was a very interesting article. I didn’t know that different ways of memorization could use different parts of the brain. I also found the way they described the different learning and memorization techniques very interesting. I think this was a great article that mostly did a good job of presenting the information that they gathered. I think the article could’ve done some things better. For instance, the information was presented in a strange and choppy order that didn’t flow to well. I found myself having to reread parts from later in the text, too make sense of something in the beginning. Also, I don’t really see the point of the study in general. They never really made that entirely clear what the whole reason they were doing this. At times in the article, it also seemed like they were more focused on using the new MRI technology of the time, rather than conducting the experiment effectively. Overall, I think they did a good job of doing research and drawing some conclusions and how the information that they discovered could actually help others in a real life situation. They were curious if you could give similar techniques to Alzheimer’s patients to help them remember certain things. This article did a good job.
March 23, 2016 at 3:58 am |
Matthew Lok
Mr. Pores
Honors American Literature
Period 5
3/21/16
Independent Reading Assignment
“How Gullible Are We”
By Hugo Mercier
Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/social-design/201109/how-gullible-are-we
1. Why I Chose This Article
Throughout Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the titular character drifts along the Mississippi, trying to escape the grasp of society. In almost every chapter where Huck encounters other humans, he is often placed in some sort of conflict which he must overcome. Almost always, Huck resorts to lying and other forms of trickery in order to escape a negative situation; many of the other characters freely lie or withhold information, most notoriously the duke and King. Even Huck’s dearest companions, Jim and Tom Sawyer, are guilty of this; and constantly, such deceit is readily accepted by many of the people encountered in the story, and few have saw through the guise of others. This raises a major question: Are people too gullible? While some may argue that the character’s gullibility may simply be part of Twain’s social commentary, I chose this article in order to gain a better understand on why humanity can be so trusting.
2. Brief Summation
In his article, “How Gullible are We?”, Hugo Mercier begins by listing a series of common stereotypes that accuse various groups of peoples of being gullible. Continuing, Mercier quotes Thomas Reid, a famous Scottish philosopher. According to Reid’s theories of human nature, sharing of information is a major component of human learning; thus, humans have a distinct nature to both tell the truth as well as accept the assertions of others. However, Mercier refutes this theory with a comparison between insect and human society. Insects within a colony tend to share a common goal, and therefore have no reason to deceive or mistrust each other. In contrast, Mercier argues that while teamwork is often seen among humans, it is mainly due to the individual human’s desire to benefit him/herself; additionally, Mercier uses the example of a hypothetical early hunter. The hunter, being as trusting to outside information as Reid asserts modern humans are, is easily killed for his gullibility by his mischievous hunting partner..
Mercier then uses an analogy to help develop an alternate theory to trust: countries do not attack each other in fear of retaliation; likewise, humans do not deceive each other in fear of discovery. Thus, he asserts that the self-awareness of the listener, or as social scientist Dan Sperber calls it, epistemic vigilance, acts as a natural deterrent to deceit, and therefore allowing humans to trust each other. Mercier then goes on to discuss why humans accuse each other of being overly-trusting. Mercier asserts that the term “gullible” is often misused as to describe those with different opinions, rather than people who will believe anything. Using conspiracy theorists as an extreme example, he asserts that they are not gullible in the sense that they believe anything, but instead lack trust in the majority. Mercier concludes his article by asserting that people are too conservative in their thoughts, and highly unlikely to accept any conflicting assertions of others and change their beliefs.
3. Personal Thoughts
I felt that the article was well written overall. Mercier used an abundance of easy analogies while avoided complex scientific terminology, thus making the article accessible for a wide range of readers. His assertions were fairly interesting, and provided interesting insight as to human nature. Asserting that humans have a level of shrewd judgement that while unused, provides a passive deterrent to lying, is a unique theory that contradicts more conventional belief that humans must actively use their own discretion to prevent lying. However, this theory raises an issue: are fundamental human relationships based upon fear? Many experts in various fields, as well as those involved with first-hand experience in intimate relations, all assert that trust is a central tenant in society. However, if Mercier’s arguments hold true, then human civilization is based upon the fear of others. Additionally, Mercier does not explain why the characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are so readily trusting. If the theory of epistemic vigilance were true, the characters would display a greater doubt to the many incredible lies brought forth by Huck and his associates. Likewise, this vigilance appears to weaken over time in the real world; people you know for a long time may be deceiving you, but you readily accept what they say based on prior trust. In many cases, infidelity can be identified early-on if the victim had been maintained their epistemic vigilance over the cheater. Thus, Mercier does not address how one’s vigilance can be lowered, which in my opinion, should have been addressed. Nonetheless, this article proved insightful in understanding basic human psychology, and was minorly beneficial to understanding the trusting nature of humans, both real and fictional.
Works Cited:
Mercier, Hugo. “How Gullible Are We?” Psychology Today. N.p., 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.
March 23, 2016 at 11:03 pm |
Javier, Maravilla
English Period 2
March 12, 2016
Independent Reading Assignment: Swords
I choose this article because in book of Romeo and Juliet, their weapons were swords to fight against each team such as the Montagues and the Capulets. They were never peaceful towards each other. They would always fight each other due to one person saying something wrong to the other team and there would just be a big battle with swords and hurting the city due to their actions. But in this article the Dad had a fight with his wife using a sword and stabbed her and ran away which relates to the Teams fighting in Romeo and Juliet.
The article was about a Dad and a wife having a fight between them and the Dad decides to stab his wife with a sword right in front of their children. I’m guessing that it was a big argument because in front of his children and stabbing his own wife is a huge deal. He also decides that he must run away from the scene. His children called 911 that their mom was getting stabbed by their dad and that they didn’t want their mom to die. They were searching for the dad and soon or later they finally found the dad, Canales, and was arrested for suspicion of murder and was soon taken to the Los Angeles Airport and was put in jail right after that day.
I thought this article was really interesting because what kind of person would stab their own wife and just run away from it. He also did it in front of their own kids which was really strange. But what was a good thing is that the children were able to call 911 that their mom was bleeding out from getting stabbed to death. This article was also interesting because this video was featured in the top show of America’s Most Wanted but I have never seen that video on that popular show. I just really hope that his kids now really hate him and should just go and find him and kill him for being a dumbass.
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/16/local/la-me-ln-arrest-lucy-preciado-sword-mother-20131116
March 27, 2016 at 4:25 am |
Nikola Ristic
P.2 Mr.Pores
3/26/16
Where Did the Odyssey Take Place?
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/odysseys-end-the-search-for-ancient-ithaca-112739669/?all
The article I have linked is an investigation of where the Odyssey actually took place, more specifically a quest for where Ithaca, the kingdom of Odysseus, truly is. I believe it connects to what we are learning in class in the way that it brings a real world connection to what we are studying. The knowledge of the fact that one of our society’s oldest myths potentially might be a reality is awe inspiring.
The article is about a British management consultant, Robert Bittlestone, a man who believes that he has discovered the home of Odysseus, and he has the proof to back it up. The article shows in detail how Bittlestone has found proof in the text, and how the island actually matches up to the proof. It also shows the geological changes that caused others to glance over the island earlier. The isthmus that previously was on the island is now submerged, which leads to the assumption that what was once one island is now two, which threw off researchers. The rockfall that may have ruined the flat ground as well as seismological activity may have raised the island. The underwater tap that supplied the water for the pig farmer is in place, which further contributes to the legitimacy of his claims. The fact that other ancient cities that have been found in Homer’s stories, such as Troy, Sparta, and now Ithaca, leads to an incredibly exciting question – did the events of the Iliad and the Odyssey actually happen? The idea that our most ancient legends may be true is such a ridiculous idea that you cannot help but feel a sense of wonder and excitement, to the point of an almost giddy childlike feeling, like a 3-year old on Christmas morning. Many people, like me, grew up on these stories, and as a result, the wonder that people feel from this is incredible.
In my opinion, the article is quite enjoyable, as the author is able to make us believe that our oldest dreams are possible realities. Throughout the centuries, numerous researchers were trying to locate the actual island of Ithaca which they did not believe was the current island that goes by the name of Ithaca in Greece. They placed the events of the book to Greenland, Bermuda, and as far as Estonia and the Baltic. However, it seems that Bittlestone truly connected the content of the poem with the geography of the region, and went further than researchers before him. I find it fascinating that someone who is not an archaeologist or a literary scholar, but a management consultant has gone to such lengths and found so much success in what appeared to be an unsolvable problem. I felt like the article was engrossing and quite interesting and it helped me understand the reading from class in the way that it allows me to have a grasp on the concept of these things actually happening. My impression of the article is that it is a chance to make fantasy a reality. Overall, i quite enjoyed the article due to the fact that it was accurate, well written, and brought life to a dream everyone felt was long lost.
April 3, 2016 at 5:34 pm |
Donovan Todorov Period 2 English Mr. Pores March 16, 2016
Independent Reading
I chose this article because it was very interesting to me right from the start and when I read the title. This pulled me in and made me read more since independent writing could help people with mental illnesses. It was also very interesting to me because this year we have been studying a lot of independent writing and just writing about what is on our minds so it is interesting that it relates to what we are doing in class.
This article is mainly about how writing can be considered as a type of therapy and that it can help people with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety get all of their emotions out. There are different types of writing therapy; there is story writing and then just free writing. They said that free writing is usually the most effective type of writing therapy because the people get to release what is on their mind at that instant and this will help them find out what is wrong. Also writing can help us deal with our very day problems because at some point in our lives we are all sad and we need a way to express our emotions and writing is the best way to show how we feel. Eventually this will have a long lasting effect, your sleep will improve, your blood pressure will be closer to normal, and your immune system will be stronger. The end result will be that doing these writing exercises when depressed will eventually improve your overall emotional, psychological, and also emotional health. These writing exercises will not only benefit the mentally ill but it will also improve the daily lives of people who need to blow off some steam or have had a stressful day.
I strongly agree with this article because it is proven by some studies that were taken that writing anything, just any regular story or just what’s on your mind, will improve you emotional, psychological, and physical health. In class this year we have been writing in our journals and we have been writing about what is on our minds or whatever else we want to write about. After finishing the writing assignments I actually felt better and more relieved just because I wrote down what was on my mind without thinking or revising it I just did it. The article was very interesting because it said how anyone from an addict to a person with a mental illness to even a normal person who just had a stressful day was proven to feel better after using writing as a type of therapy. “…the process of writing down feelings and experiences is a way of releasing them instead of internalizing them.”(paragraph 3) This is showing that how when some people are afraid to talk about their feelings with another person they can always just write them down on a piece of paper instead of keeping their thoughts to themselves. I really enjoyed this article and I also found it interesting how it was related to what we have been doing in class throughout the year.
Harlow, Anne. “Writing As Therapy.” Writing As Therapy. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016. .
ARTICLE LINK: http://www.poetrysoup.com/article/writing_as_therapy-1421
April 5, 2016 at 6:21 am |
I dont know if i went throught the first time so ill do it again
Benito Hurtado
Mr. Pores
English Seminar, Period 2
4 April 2016
Independent Reading Assignment
Link to Article: http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/344820/Romeo-and-Juliet-True-Love/
The Article “True Love” relates to Romeo and Juliet because it defines what true love is, giving details and examples, then comparing those definitions to what went on in Romeo and Juliet. This article was also chosen because Romeo and Juliet repeated that they loved each other so many times however their actions proved to show the opposite and this article explains this argument with details from text and strong facts to prove the author’s claim.
The article “True Love” has three portions that build on top of each other in a very simplistic yet factual manor. The first of these sections layout the definition and building blocks for true love and the attributes of a relationship that make it true/authentic love or romantic love. The article also goes on in this section retelling the traits, both physical and intellectually, of the two main characters in Romeo and Juliet: Romeo and Juliet. The author also compared the two characters to humans of the same age in this century to help the reader relate to what was being said. The second section of the article describes in detail the relationship of Romeo and Juliet and how their actions really did not reflect on what they spoke. She, the author, explained that the relationship was really not as sincere as most may have thought it was. They really never progressed from the teenage relationships of today that rarely make it far and if they do, they are usually very unhappily married. And although they said they loved each other over and over again, their actions never reflected what they said because if they really loved each other they would understand that their physical attraction towards each other was really not that important as much as the true friendship they could have shared. The third part of the article explained that there was more to a healthy relationship that how pretty, handsome, or physically attracting in a relationship.
I would defiantly agree with this article because I believe that physically attractions are really nice, they are not the most important part of a relationship, especially one that you get married to. Although I do believe that physical appearance plays a major role in the start of relationships because most people want to be with someone who looks decent and presentable. I also agree with what the author said about how Romeo and Juliet were more occupied with each other’s looks and made that the focus of the relationship rather then trying to further it and make something good out of it. As we see at the end of the book, the both die which is not a good end to any relationship. This helped me further understand the topic of Romeo and Juliet because of cleared up wrong ideas I had about them and how truly shallow they really were and why it is important to wait for you mind to fully develop before engaging time and effort into a relationship that could prevail to be a very important one in the future. The topic was very interesting because it was a topic that applied to what we are learning in class and everyday life. It was also interesting because I may have use this information in the future and I paid attention so that I could use it when needed. I really enjoyed reading this article.
April 6, 2016 at 1:24 am |
Ari Weizman
Mr. Pores
English Seminar, Period 6
16 March 2016
Independent Reading 4
The article I chose was from the New York Times and it is called “An Ancient and Proven Way to Improve Memorization; Go Ahead and Try It”. I chose this article because we are currently working on our monologue in class so I was interested in techniques to have a better memory.
This article talks about imagining what you are trying to remember. In the article Austin Frakt takes try to remember a 10-item shopping list. Austin Frakt tells you to visualize it, visualizing all the items you need by adding motion, sounds, smells, to help imagine. Austin Frakt goes on explaining how Joshua Foer wrote a book about how he trained to win the United States Memory Championship. In Joshua Foer’s book he points out that we’re good at recalling images that we barely notice. Austin Frakt responds to Joshua Foer by clarifying that the research backs this statement up. He describes a research where, after people viewed thousands of images for a few seconds each, studies found that they could could correctly identify over 80% of them from images they had not seen. Austin Frakt goes on by saying that although we think people who can win memory championships are different than us, science shows that the brain anatomy of memory athletes and those without exceptional memories are the same we think memorizing is boringwork because we’ve been taught to do it with repetition. This memorization technique is actually the opposite of what you should do. Austin Frakt says that the best memorizers place crazy images and scenes in their heads. Austin Frakt concludes by telling us to imagine that grocery list again.
I thought the article was very interesting. Through reading the article I realize that I have been implementing this technique when I memorize something. For example when I was first trying to memorize in math the quadratic equation I made it into a song, and during the test I remembered the song, which allowed me to remember the equation. I think this was a great article that presented the information they gathered. I thought it was interesting that we can remember images so well after just looking at each of them for only a couple seconds. I really like how Austin Frakt used Joshua Foer as a source because it would seem that he is a highly credible source to talk about recalling images. Before reading this article I tried to remember my monologue by just repeating the sentences enough times until I could remember them, but now I understand that this is not the most efficient way to memorize it. This helped understand the topic in class because it will help me not only improve my memorization for the monologue but also for future tests that I would have to remember information. I can use this knowledge to envision how the monologue would be portrayed in the play to better prepare me to perform it.
April 6, 2016 at 2:17 am |
Joaquin Caso
Mr. Pores
HAL, Period 5
19 March 2016
Huck Finn’s Real Subject Article
The article, “‘Huck Finn’ is not about race: The real subtext of Twain’s masterpiece” by Laura Miller, explains and analyzes several thematic opinions regarding the novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. I chose this article because it deals with the novel directly and provided another point of view on the novel’s theme.
The articles begins with Miller proving contextualization on the book and it’s concurrent history of banning. According to Miller, the book was originally banned and criticized for its portrayal of violence and how it led to delinquency in young boys. The author quotes the book, “Huck Finn’s America: Mark Twain and the Era that Shaped His Masterpiece,” by Andrew Levy. This book provides a deeper understanding of the context in which the novel first appeared and how its context has changed throughout the years. Miller continues by stating that Levy, while gathering information for his book, found many newspapers and magazines from the time that “Huckleberry Finn” was written. He found that contrary to popular belief, race, was not the main theme of Twain’s book. According to her, “the novel emerged from and spoke to a society that was obsessed with wayward children, particularly boys, and most typically lower-class boys spurred to delinquency by the violent stories they read in dime novels.” Society from the novel’s time were primarily concerned with the violence shown in the novel. Miller continues providing a little review of Mark Twain’s personal life and how this affected his writing of “Huckleberry Finn.” She explores Levy’s point of view regarding the characters of Huck and Jim and what they represent. Finally, she concludes the article by addressing Andrew Levy, his writing of the book, and how times have shifted from the time that the novel was written.
Personally, I believe that this article is mostly Laura Miller promoting the author Andrew Levy. Though I’ve never heard, seen, or even read about the famous book they address I suppose it is quite relevant to the context of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” I do, however, agree with Miller’s point of the theme of the book. Back in the good ol’ days, racism, though still prominent, was not the primary issue in society. However, it was prominent at the time, for Mark Twain was advised not to use the n-word (nigger) during his cross country tour. The article was good, for it transported me back to the 1880’s and I experienced what it was like to be a young boy at the time. I didn’t had an Xbox, I had dime novels to read from. There was no TV either, so my source of daily violence and entertainment was, of course, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” It all makes sense now. Parents have always been careful on what their children look at and it is no wonder that “Huckleberry Finn” might have caused a certain panic in parents. In conclusion, the article was very good. The author expressed a passion for the novel that many literature fans seem to have. It helped understand the novel more by providing me with historical contextualization and another point of view of the themes that Mark Twain conveys in his infamous novel.
Link to Article:
http://www.salon.com/2015/01/06/huck_finn_is_not_about_race_the_real_subtext_of_twains_masterpiece/
April 6, 2016 at 3:59 am |
Logan Quessenberry
Mr. Pores
English Per. 2
17 March 2016
Independent reading #1
Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415664/Romeo-Juliet-runaway-teens-safe-Chicago.html
This article interested me because it’s a real life example of how Romeo and Juliet would’ve acted in their day. The teens willingness to run away from home for love, although insane, is interesting to me. I don’t understand how two people can be so infatuated so as to do what they did. It relates to my English class as I am reading Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare.
The article is about Jayden Thomas, a thirteen-year-old girl, and her boyfriend Braxton Wood, a fourteen-year-old. According to the article, which was published in September 8th in 2013, The couple was seen in a parking lot adjacent to a gas station near Wrigley Field on the morning of the date of publication, when an anonymous caller called the Chicago police, the police found them in the back of Braxton’s mother’s black 2005 Ford Explorer. The SUV battery was dead and the SUV itself was out of gas according sergeant Tim Edeling of the Chicago police. The teens told the sergeant they were going to the local Starbucks and enjoying the lakefront. They fled with eighty dollars between them along with a few sellable items such as a video game console, a coin collection, and other sellable items. Their parents do not support their relationship which lasted six months before they left, saying they do not know why they would run away but that their relation ship was too serious. Sarah Kiley Braxton’s mother said,” They can’t live on their own. They are 13 and 14 years old. They didn’t want to do anything but be with each other. It was pretty intense for a 14-year-old.” The Couple said they could not live without each other, and were told they would not be going to the same high school.
This article was pretty interesting as these two kids around my age ran away and proved to be difficult to be find until they were found at brought home. This just goes to show how strong young love can be. I do not think these teens did the right thing in their case. I personally would’ve just been content to be together after school and that would give them more to talk about if they were not together the entire day. However, they must have been very infatuated with each other to run off for two weeks and make it to Chicago. They obviously care greatly for each other, even though their parents are unsupportive of the two of them being together. Their parents probably understand that they probably will realize they will not want to be together much longer. Only six months together and they are willing to run away to Chicago, which is impressive even though it is very much insane. I agree with the parents on this one the relationship is way to serious for two kids my age. I do not agree with the children as they can not face the world with only fourteen years of life experience.
April 6, 2016 at 11:41 pm |
Classics
I chose this article because I am interested to know how a book is considered a classic. I’ve always wondered why most classes only read classic book and not very current books. I wasn’t really sure what made a book to be considered as a classic. It relates to what I’m studying in English class at the moment because we have read the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet is considered to be a “timeless classic”, and so are the other books and plays we have read in class.
The article begins with defining what the word classic means. It is legitimacy, depth, and age. It describes two perspectives on classics. Classic is considered a genre, but it could be hard to separate literature into a wide genre like classic. One explains that novels are considered classic on how well they address society, civil rights, economics, and more as well as entertaining the reader. The other real idea of a classic is “one that entertains and one that has age”. The article continues to tell the attributes of the a classic. There are different perceptions of a classic novel, so it should be narrowed into one genre. The work should be memorable and it should go into depth. The literature should touch the audience and leave an impression on them. This just shows that it would be difficult to just pick out what is classic and what is not, because it could be arguable. In the article some high school students were asked to list some classic books, and why they think they are considered classics. The students listed some books and answered that they considered them classics because they were told the books were classic. None of them really knew why a book is considered to be classic. In the end, literature is worthy of the term “classic” if it has a worthy message.
I agree with the second perspective of a classic, when a novel or literature is just enjoyable and just overall a good book. I feel like a lot of time time it seems like it is defined by things in the first perspective like relating to how the book addresses the time and problems it’s based on, but if you really get into the literature people see the classics as just enjoyable and entertaining. I’m interested to see what books that have come out recently will be considered classics in the future. I feel like with literature like Romeo and Juliet it is hard for some students like me to understand at first. It is considered a classic and it’s one of the plays that very many high schoolers read for english. I think it’s considered a classic because it fits both perspectives. People enjoy the play and it also gives a good background on what is happening in that time period. I also feel like an author or playwright could be a classic because of the style and ways they write. This article helped me understand why english classes study these specific works. I feel like classic shouldn’t be a genre because it seems like more of an opinion. If classic is considered as an enjoyable, in depth, timeless book it could really be any book. It seems like classic should be a big genre for a lot of books, but in reality there aren’t that many books that are truly considered classics.
Link: http://cas.umkc.edu/english/publications/youngscholarsinwriting/documents/CLASSIC.pdf
April 7, 2016 at 12:28 am |
Rose, Allison
English 1,2 Seminar
3/15/16
Donald Trump’s Views on Gay Marriage
I chose to read an article on Donald Trump’s views on gay marriage because I thought it was relevant to our class and what’s happening in the world. In class we just took an online survey that asked about bullying of LGBT people in our school. And in the United States, its looking like Donald Trump could potentially be president and make changes to the current gay marriage policies.
Donald Trump’s views on gay marriage are somewhat cloudy. The article talks about him being almost uncomfortable with the idea telling us that he said, “’It’s never been an argument that’s been discussed with me very much. People know that it’s not my thing one way or the other.’” and, “’I just don’t feel good about it. I don’t feel right about it. And I take a lot of heat because I come from New York.’” But he also thinks that since the supreme court made gay marriage legal, that the citizens should have to abide to it. He says, “’ You have to go with it. The decision’s been made, and that is the law of the land.’” He’s saying that since the law states that gay marriage is legal, that we all just have to follow it. So he has mixed feelings. He doesn’t feel good about it or necessarily want LGBT couples to be able to marry, but since it’s the law, he has to follow it.
Personally, I think that all people who want to be married, should be able to be married, so I disagree with him when he says that they’re wrong. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion so I can’t argue with his opinion. It’s just a surprise to me that he’s not very open about his opinion on gay marriage because he screams out his opinions on everything else. But I do like that he accepts the supreme courts’ ruling and is willing to follow the law.
http://www.republicanviews.org/donald-trump-on-gay-marriage/
April 7, 2016 at 4:23 am |
http://www.folger.edu/shakespeares-life
I chose this article because I learned many things about Shakespeare’s life from it. It is interesting to learn about what inspired him to truly write works of art, and where his inspiration and courage came from.i learned about his children, and where he gained so many beautiful character names, and the gaps in his life are rather interesting. I chose this because it related heavily to what we’re learning about in class.
This article starts off with information about Shakespeare’s birth, he was born around April 23rd, in 1564. Historians do not know the exact date of his birth though, the first known record of him was his baptism, on April 26. Historians simply assumed he was born a few days in advance. William was his parents oldest surviving child, two were birthed before him, but they died in infancy. He had three younger brothers, two younger sisters, one of which died at seven. His father was a leatherworker, then a mayor. When William was five, his father stepped back from public life, and we don’t really don’t know why. After Shakespeare completed school, he married Anne Hathaway. They had many children together, and Shakespeare lived in London, and she lived in Stratford. Their relationship may have been strained. Shakespeare’s only son, Hamnet, died at age 11. Near Shakespeare’s final years, he wrote Two Noble Kingsmen, and died because of a health decline. In total, he wrote around 41 plays, and 154 sonnets. Many have been lost.
I think this was a very informative article about Shakespeare’s life and death. There are many mysteries about the mans life, and it just leads me to wonder, why did he have such an interest in tragedy and death? Maybe it was seeing the birth and death of his siblings, or it had something to do with his possible failed relationship with his wife. Whatever it was, Willian definitely experienced some real unique events in his life, to feel things so deeply, and be known as a genius of his time.
April 7, 2016 at 9:57 pm |
Mark Savercool
Mr. Pores
Hrs. Am. Lit.-Period 5
March 19, 2016
Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201204/society-doesnt-create-morality-and-neither-do-individuals
Independent Reading/Research
The article that I chose for this independent reading assignment is “Society Doesn’t Create Morality and Neither Do Individuals” by Arthur Drobin. I chose this article because it relates to the subject of morality, which is present throughout the novel Huckleberry Finn. In Huckleberry Finn, Huck questions the ethics of society, and goes against it’s conformity, despite risk of punishment. This article explains how our morality and ethics play a role in our daily lives.
In this article, we are explained how there are three domains that encompass social behavior: the personal domain, the domain of social conventions, and the moral domain. Children exhibit behaviors related to all three of these domains. Children are interviewed in order to distinguish the domain they are speaking form. For instance, a child was asked whether being loud is right or wrong; the child said that it was wrong. The interviewer then questioned why, in which the child responded “Because there are rules on it.” This child was speaking from a social conventional perspective. In another interview a child was asked whether hitting is right or wrong, for which the child responded the same: “Because there are rules on it.” The interviewer then asked, “What if there were no rules on it?” The children responded saying that it is wrong because “it can hurt and make them cry.” This child was thinking from a moral domain. The author then goes on how, from a social perspective, some actions in different cultures are acceptable. Every social system function is different among every culture. Social expectations vary; it may be socially acceptable to belch while eating in some cultures, while in other cultures, such most places in the United States, it may not.
I find this very interesting because we are given examples of how morality affects us personally, even when we are not aware of it. I would like to put emphasis on how different actions are socially acceptable in different cultures, for I find this to be an important characteristic in the formation of society. People in a society set different expectations on each other, such as when Huckleberry was expected to return Jim to Miss Watson, but did otherwise. In this part of the story Huck was thinking from a moral domain. This presents a major flaw in any society’s view for it may disapprove of one’s moral reasoning, bringing me back to when Huck decided not to return Jim to Miss Watson. His society had him believe that doing the morally right thing was wrong, and that he may go to hell for it. Huck then concluded that society was wrong and went to find Jim. This leaves me to deduce that human morality and ethics can provide more influence than social expectations
April 13, 2016 at 5:00 am |
Jennifer Estrada
Pores
Honors American Literature
19 March 2016
Independent Reading Assignment : The Romantic Age
For my independent reading assignment, I chose an article that discussed the romantic age in great detail, because of the book we recently read– The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain. In the book, the reader is introduced to Tom Sawyer, a troublesome boy with an active imagination that embodies romanticism. I wanted to inform myself about this era, so I can attempt to see why Tom is so enwrapped by this ideology, which prevents him from thinking logically.
The article examined the Romantic Movement and its emergence. It argues that the movement was created as a response to the 18th century. That time period experienced a series of attacks to the belief of the individual self. For instance, during the rise of urbanization, large-scale mechanized corporations rose up and altered the way of work. The factory system it entailed had regimented hours and placed mindless, repetitive tasks on workers that consequently made them feel as if they were interchangeable parts in a detached process, destroying all feelings of individuality. This century also saw the rise of philosophers that were skeptical about the existence of individual self, such as David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Despite these challenges, Romantic writers, artists, and philosophers were able to spread the notion of individuality through their art, which primarily focused on self-analysis and self-reflection. They consisted of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, and Ludwig Van Beethoven. They sought to analyze the mind’s relationship to the world and believed that the mind was able to shape what was out there, causing nature to become a focus of romanticism. This included the external word (trees, hills, etc) and the internal world, such as the inherent character of an individual.
I personally agree with the aspect of romantic ideology that states how we shape what we see. We give meaning to this world. A tree would just be a tree if were not for our ability to feel emotion and view it as the tree in our backyard that we grew to love, using its branches to create swings and create memories with it. The article helped me understand Tom Sawyer and why he is the way he is. His imagination is so powerful that he sees the world as his oyster. Although at times it prevents him from thinking rationally, he is able to partake in an adventure and create amazing memories that he will recall when he gets older. Given the fact that Tom is merely a boy, it is natural for him to want to seek excitement and imagine crazy scenarios out of the ordinary. Prior to reading the article, I felt as if he was too engrossed in fiction, which prevented him from seeing reality. However, now I am fascinated by his ability to give meaning to the world and envision a different perspective. I am inspired by his way of thinking and will incorporate it into my life, with a fuse of logical reasoning.
Works Cited
“Notes on the Romantic Age.” Notes on the Romantic Age. N.p., 12 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. .
April 14, 2016 at 11:33 pm |
Lieu, Timothy
Mr. Pores
English 1-2, Per. 2
5 April 2016
Independent Reading Assignment
I chose the article “The Mystery of Shakespeare’s Identity” because we were studying and watching one of Shakespeare’s plays, Romeo + Juliet. The reason I chose this article rather than any other one about Shakespeare is that I’ve always heard the theory that Shakespeare wasn’t the person that actually wrote the plays but instead someone else had. It was interesting because we’ve attributed so many works that have earned so much praise yet there still might be that thought that we’ve been rewarding the wrong person this entire time.
The whole article discusses some of the topics about William Shakespeare that are debatable at the moment. There are two groups of people in this debate. The Stratfordians, who believe that Will is indeed the author of all those famous literary works, and the Anti-Stratfordians, who believe that there isn’t any solid evidence that points towards the fact that Will is the one that wrote the plays, poems, and sonnets. The topics vary greatly and both sides are represented equally to show a neutral audience. When there’s one piece of evidence supporting one side, there’s a rebuttal that is equally as good. An example being the Stratfordians say Shakespeare’s contemporaries mention him in the play writings while the Anti-Stratfordians respond with no one actually knowing if Shakespeare had spelled his name that way and the only known signatures of Shakespeare are spelled several ways along with being very messy. Towards the end of the article, the writer brings up to mind whether or not the plays that were written would have a different effect or meaning due to a different author. The writer clearly states both sides agreeing that the playwright is a very important matter and that subject could drastically change the meaning of the plays. The writer concludes with the world of academia including this topic in study as before the theory was just crazy people talking gibberish whereas now it’s a legitimate topic that could change a set of amazing literary works.
This article really informed me a lot about that theory of another person writing Shakespeare’s works instead of Shakespeare himself. It was also definitely very interesting to learn about all the different things that could’ve led to the plays being written by a different person. The article had also made me think more about the things that Shakespeare would’ve gone through during his time. It also put me through some of his background information and also reminded me that during the time these plays were very insignificant. But if all those literary works were created by a different person, that would definitely be interesting. The Anti-Stratfordians provided good candidates and I think that’s really neat how there actually is good work being put into this theory. The article also reminded me how Shakespeare at the time wasn’t any revered person and what he experienced was life as an insignificant actor who liked to write as a pastime. That put in my mind, a different perspective of his works since he didn’t write all these plays to be an amazing work of literature, he wrote these plays to pay the bill.
Link: http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1661619,00.html
April 18, 2016 at 4:32 am |
Problems Soldiers Face When Coming Home from War
I chose to write about the struggles that soldiers face as they come home from war because I thought it related to how Odysseus is struggling to come home to his family after the Trojan war. This topic relates to the world because many soldiers find themselves facing a lot of problems after they come home from war.
The article starts off talking about the three things that soldiers go through when they come back from war. (To mend debilitating and sometimes invisible wounds. To seek an education or to find meaningful employment. To step back into relationships with family and friends after an experience that sent home a different person.) These things ae hard for soldiers to do when they come back from war because they are so different from how they were before they left. The article says, “Many in the service call the transition from serving in a war to adapting to civilian realities the “new normal,” a different way of life in which men and women reel from the physical and emotional pain of health problems, ruined relationships, unemployment or lost opportunity.” When they come home from war all they can do is try to adapt to the changes that have taken place when they were gone. It shows us how relationships and mental state are affected. It also shows the financial situation a lot of veterans are in.
I thought that the article was really helpful. If I was a family member of a soldier who has come home from war and was completely changed, I would try to understand. This article explained really well what a soldier has to deal with when he/she comes home from war. I liked how the article gave examples of real veterans going through these issues, it gave credibility to the article. It also showed the severity of the issues they face. It gave you real insight into the life of a soldier after-war.
http://publicsource.org/investigations/troops-returning-face-more-struggles-back-home#.VxRHzXbSldg
April 19, 2016 at 4:10 pm |
Your opinion on the article is very truthful and addresses all the problems discussed in the article. I also agree with your opinion ,that when soldiers come home from war they come back completely changed. I also like how you talked about some of the real veterans going through these tough issues. I found the article very interesting and liked how you linked the book and the article together, i wouldn’t have been able to think of that. What i found most interesting in the article is that when soldiers come back from way, they usually come back to broken relationships and many lost opportunities. I find that very unsettling and sad because these men and women are leaving to fight for our country and usually come home broken and with nothing. Lastly, I agree with Allison that the article gave real insight into the life of a soldier after-war.
April 19, 2016 at 3:59 am |
Vivian Zhang
Mr. Pores
English Period 2
17 March 2016
Independent Reading/Research
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/11621/
In Romeo and Juliet, the daughter of the Capulets, Juliet is forces to marry a young nobleman by the name of Paris, or she is to be disowned and abandoned on the streets. Arranged marriage is a problem that many women face, and that’s why I chose this topic to discuss. Arranged marriage happens mostly in the eastern countries such as India and have been the past of many countries in Asia. This marriage is decided by one’s parents and they are to be wed before a certain age, even if it means they will never meet before the wedding. Many women and even men find this unjustified and feel that only they are the one to decide their fate.
In the article, “Is Arranged Marriage Really Any Worse Than Craigslist”, many parents have gone through a very wealthy marriage and hope that their children will too. Whether they were Indian or not, families have been surfing across the web for a suitable mate for their child. This is all happening behind their child’s back. Completely unaware, they could only hope for someone who could raise a family and hold up a long lasting relationship.
A girl by the name of Anita Jain has already lost her brother to a girl that her parents have found on a newspaper they picked up and is trying to do anything she can not to end up like him. Anita grew up near Sacramento and her father has stayed up all night looking into dating websites and is willing to marry her off to almost anyone. But a marriage without love is empty and to Anita, had no meaning. She finds this really unfair because her parents have met before they were wed, but she and her brother have never had a girl/boy friend and that’s not for them to decide. Although in America, the free country, arranged marriage was still occurring in many households even though most U.S. citizens would be shocked at the idea of it; to them it just didn’t seem right.
Letting others decide your fate is not something that will get you through life in the way you wish to live. Although it may be hard to control what your parents think is best for you, you can always try to convince them little by little and take charge of your life. I strongly agree with Anita because I feel that we are the ones that should be responsible for finding someone to spend the rest of our lives with. If they are the ones to decide, there is a high chance that we will not be the happiest child and will never get the satisfaction of experiencing something one out own. As for Anita, she also lived in the United States, making it more unjustified that she does not get to choose who she wants to marry, even when she’s already and adult. It is a free country after all, and there is still plenty of time to meet someone new that you would be happy with. If Anita starts to become more independent and show that she is worthy of carrying out her own future, her parents won’t have to spend all night looking through dating websites finding a suitable mate for their daughter. Changing yourself into a different lifestyle may be difficult depending on how you were raised, but if you are to rebel against what you feel is wrong, there is always a chance that you will succeed.
April 20, 2016 at 1:04 am |
Kaylee Williams
period 5 honors american lit
Mr. Pores
Despite the newer trends, our society has always been divided by gender. We are raised differently and treated differently. A reporter at the New York Times wrote an article on a study of teenagers from different countries basically trying to find out who is happier girls or boys. Overall a lower amount of girls from all over the world reported to be happy with their lives than the boys. Mainly the study looked at the habits of teenagers in countries and the percent of them that were turning to drugs and alcohol which the uses of such substances are frequently a result of unhappiness. Overall the percentage of teenagers who smoke or drink were usually pretty close in number. For example in Croatia, Malta, Bulgaria and Italy 16 percent of 15-year old boys reported to drink at least once a week and only 9 percent of girls reported to drink at least once a week. Yet, in Greenland 53 percent of girls and 51 percent of boys said they smoked tobacco at least once a week so the numbers are pretty close. The only time that the results between the two genders seemed to have a gap was on the subject of sex. In Bulgaria 40 percent of boys said that they were having sex on a regular basis versus the 20 percent of girls who reported to be having sex on a normal basis. The article puts an obvious point on the fact that peer pressure is present in both gender groups yet it seems that the girls are subject to more which makes them the worse off group. In summary the study found that boys are indeed the happier gender.
This article grabbed my attention because the ever popular topic of girls versus boys. I enjoyed this article due to all the statistics it provided, I was admittedly glad that the punch line of this piece wasn’t “and thats why boys are better”. Being in high school I have witnessed peer pressure a lot and though it has never really effected me to a large extent I do know that the pressure does get to many. I liked the way they polled topics that some may not believe have a direct relation to how happy a teenager is. I do believe that the reckless behavior a teenager engages in is most likely a result or reaction to what is going on in their heads and lives. Overall I found this article really interesting due to the topics they chose and how they openly compared the results of the boys and girls without their opinion or bias leaking through.
Article MLA Citation: “Study of Teenagers Asks: Who’s Happier, Boys or Girls?” Well Study of Teenagers Asks Whos Happier Boys or Girls Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.
May 4, 2016 at 5:50 pm |
Dimitrije Kostic
Mr. Pores
Honours American Lit
March 21, 2016
Independent Reading Assignment
The article published by the New York Times relates to the topic of mass histeria, which we studied while we were reading and watching excerpts from The Crucible. In class we looked at an example of this hysteria from the Salem Witch Trials, in which several young women claimed to be possessed by witches, and blaming their neighbors. This lead to the execution of 20 people, and over 200 were accused. The article I have selected analyzes more modern cases of mass hysteria in the 1900s and their prevalence compared to earlier times.
The Hysterical Hot Zone by Elaine Showalter was originally published in 1997 but remains relevant to this day. The article summarizes the history of hysteria, which the author calls “hystories” which over time have evolved into: “In the interaction between 1990s millennial panic, new psychotherapies, religious fundamentalism, and American political paranoia, we can see the crucible of virulent hysterias in our own time. The heroes and heroines of 1990s hysteria call themselves traumatists and ufologists, experiencers and abductees, survivors and survivalists. As their syndromes evolve, they grow from microtales of individual affliction to panics fueled by rumors about medical, familial, community, or governmental conspiracy.” Showalter explains signs of hysteria prevalent even today, although many others believe that our societies have evolved or developed and are not affected by seemingly ludicrous ideas such as witch hunts. In summary, the article shows a trend from mass hysteria with almost entire town populations growing into a craze, to more individualized epidemics becoming more widespread in a society.
The points argued by Elaine Showalter prove valid points, and even 19 years late have their prevalence. Today some researchers have classified events, namely school shootings, as a type of hysteria. The authors ideas about such things hold true; they are sensationalized by media, have become ever increasingly prevalent in society after they gained this media foothold, and tend to be acted upon by an individual instead of majorities of towns or populations. The most interesting part, personally, was the relevance of the author’s ideas, just like many great observations hold true to this day. Looking back at the events of the Salem Witch Trials, we view it as foolish and have a hard time believing that people died for superstitious things, but will we be able to spot such an event from happening in our time? Showalter provoked my thoughts on this matter and gave relevant insight to this subject. Now, with this additional information, the events we covered in class on mass hysteria do not seem as absurd, but may be rooted in psychological issues prevalent within a strict Puritan society. Or who knows, conspiracy theories may be true, and the hallucinogenic bread that may have caused life-like illusions may be true.
Works Cited
Showalter, Elaine. “The Hysterical Hot Zone.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 1997. Web. Mar. 2016. .
May 6, 2016 at 10:11 pm |
Kameron Woo
Pores
Honors American Literature
3/20/16
Independent Reading Assignment
The article A Teacher’s Troubled Reflections on the Big, Still River by Dana Parsons deals with the controversy of the n-word in Huckleberry Finn. During our own unit on Huckleberry Finn, we went over this same controversy, but this article puts a spin on the perspective by setting it from the point of view of a teacher. Because of this, it offers more information to base opinions off of towards this problem.
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn was controversial to many americans because of its use of the n-word as common vocabulary. Over time this problem carried over into schools and created a large problem about whether or not to allow the use of the novel. This problem is shown through the eyes of a teacher in this article. The article looks at the problem from many different perspectives. At first, the teacher, Roseanne Aulino, explains how saying the n-word in class was uncomfortable for her at first. However, later on while she was teaching she realized that the n-word added more depth to Huckleberry Finn. This is because it allows for a discussion about the n-word, such as why it is so controversial in the first place. Aulino believes that this is one of the most important parts of the books because it allows children to discuss their feelings about the word in an open way.
I agree with the article in the belief that the n-word strengthens the overall message of Huckleberry Finn. In the book the n-word is used many different times as a common term to refer to African Americans (Which is a lot of times because one of the main characters, Jim, is African American). This results in the word to become part of the common vocabulary used in the book and we almost become jaded to the term while reading it. But, when we actually stop to think about what we are reading, we actually realize the degrading terms that the characters refer to African Americans. I think that this tries to help us relate to characters that use the n-word. When words become part of common vocabulary we can use words that may be very offensive without thinking about what it actually means. This is a common problem in today’s society. One example of this is a few years ago it was very popular to use the word “gay”, which refers to someone who is sexually attracted to someone who is the same sex, to refer to something that is stupid. This was used for very common everyday situations. However, everyone slowly started to realize how offensive the language was, and mostly everyone stopped misusing the word.
25, August. “A Teacher’s Troubled Reflections on the Big, Still River.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 1995. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.
June 6, 2016 at 3:13 am |
I chose this article when I was thinking about what hell is and my mind travelled to what actions caused you to qualify for hell. I did some research and came across this article which helped answer this question. It relates to what we’re studying in english because in english we are learning about all the rings of hell and what the people had to do to get there.
The blog post starts off with the writer speaking about what the point of her writing is, she says she often gets asked why hell is even there if god is supposed to love all his children. She hopes to explain to people why hell is necessary to humans and gods love. She talks about what exactly hell is. She says it’s different for each person down there because they each committed a different sin. She says committing a sin is what gets you put into hell. If you commit sins left and right you are put into hell. If you commit sin but try to make up for it and pray for forgiveness then you will most likely be let into heaven. She says hell is necessary for god’s love because his love does not mean you will get into heaven. He gives you the freedom to make good choices and if you do so then he will let you into heaven. He loves everyone, even the people in hell. He just cannot accept them into heaven because they chose to go against his will knowing this would place them in hell. She concludes by going over all the main points she made in the blog post one more time.
This article made a big impact on me. It opened my mind a little bit about christian beliefs. I never fully understood what hell meant. I thought that the people sent to hell weren’t loved by god and they were sent there on god’s decision. But i now realize that christians believe that you make the choice to live by god’s word or to sin. And god doesn’t want to send anyone to hell but does because you broke the rules knowing the consequences. You get sent to hell when you make the choice to live a sinful life and not to seek forgiveness from god. I thought that the way the writer expressed her beliefs was very convincing. She really had me believing in her stories. I also liked her writing style becasue it was very personal and i felt like she was talking right to me.
June 16, 2016 at 1:32 pm |
Michael Relly
Period 6
English 1,2
21 March 2016
Independent Reading No.1
Upon doing a brief Google search for a captivating Shakespeare article, I ultimately stumbled upon this one. I’ve never understood why the poet was so important. Why study his work over an even better contemporary author? I hoped that this video would answer that question. This topic relates to what we are studying in class because we just finished reading and watching “Romeo and Juliet” and reciting Shakespearean monologues.
In “Why Do We Still Care About Shakespeare?” by Cindy Tumiel, the main question is, how is Shakespeare, a long deceased poet, still such an important role in today’s culture? She talks to Mark Bayer and Alan Craven about their opinions and they both agree that Shakespeare’s themes still resonate today. While interviewing Bayer and Craven, Bayer points out that the audience may not understand human psychology, yet the complexity of characters allows the audience to relate with them due to connections to events and themes that were relevant to what was going on around them. We still have war, tragedy, and humor today, so Shakespeare’s work is still very relevant and popular. Many people are intrigued to go and watch his works for the same reason. Tumiel even goes so far as to note that it is required to study a Shakespearean play in an English course. Forced to be immersed into the man’s sonnets and tragedies and comedies and whatnot, many students learn to love his work and continue to appreciate literature from other time periods. Bayer says that since individuals aren’t used to the Shakespearean language, they have to read a few plays to begin to understand them, and because of that, they end up enjoying it even more.
This article was good. I too have never truly understood the relevance of Shakespeare, and even after reading the article, I still don’t. However, the message of Shakespearean tradition, coupled with the mandatory use in the English classroom allows me to realize that there’s clearly something important about this man’s writing, so I had better get started learning it.
Link: Link: http://www.utsa.edu/ovations/vol8/story/shakespeare.html