Well let us just go back to the beginning of the year shall we? First off I was never a fan of choosing to take the AP Lang class my junior year. I honestly thought it would be really hard considering that I'm better at creative writing instead of structured writing. I also was a little scared because my 10th grade teacher last year kind of used some scare tactics on me.
Thanks to Mr. Tom Tom, he made my feelings towards writing so much better. I've grown so much as a writer but honestly I've grown more as a student. I'm not saying that I wasn't so great of a student, in fact I feel that I am pretty good student. There is always room for growth and throughout the course of this class, I've grown so much. I've become more open-minded with a lot things and situations as well.Going into AP Literature next year, I know I shouldn't have a big problem. The way we analyze writing in depth and our Socratic Seminars really gives us an idea of what that class will be like. Those little elements Mr. T put within our curriculum gets us prepared very well and I appreciate him for that.
Of course all those things can help us with school but what about life? All of the the curriculum in this course can definitely benefit us. Honestly, within this society it is not possible to live without these concepts. I'm not saying that everyone should just be a writer but at the end of the day, everyone at least needs some sort of background and practice with analyzing and being known with a couple of authors and writers here and there.
Now let's talk about my point of view on specifics of the curriculum I've learned. I think the most difficult essay I did not feel was my strongest has to be the "Rhetorical Essay". I know I might be crazy but my brain always seemed to freeze considering that I had a hard time finding the rhetorical devices in the passages.I may be crazy again but the easiest essay I find being my strongest is the "Argumentative Essay". It's not because I like to debate, it's actually because I sometimes find it interesting picking the side that I don't agree with but I end up finding and brainstorming more information for that then my point of view. Throughout the course, I think my favorite book had to have been "The Things They Carried". The way the book was structured and also comparing it with the films related to the Vietnam War made me very interested in it. If I had to chose my least favorite book I would pick............Nothing. I would honestly like to mention that this has been the first year I have read all of the books my English teacher has given me and they all were interesting. Of course I still have my favorite though.
And now for the last question, anything else I would like for you to know..........Well I would like for Mr. Tom Tom to know that he was by far my favorite teacher on my schedule this year. He's always been so happy and entertaining every minute and he never missed a beat. He's very sincere and I think that he rocks for that because honestly school isn't the same anymore without that quality within a teacher. I love that you are passionate about what you do and there is never a dull moment with you. The entire year your class was really beneficial and to be honest I don't even think you should change it. But there is always room for more. I appreciate you and I hope you keep being the great English teacher that you are.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014
The Things I Carry
Okay Yes, I'm late with this blog post but come on this topic is absolutely AMAZING and I cannot miss out on it. Hmmmm. I never really thought so deep into what I carry everyday. Whether it's tangible or intangible. But after taking the time out to think about my life in a bigger perspective I find some interesting things about myself.
Physically, I CANNOT live without my cell phone. Yes I'm sure it's not a surprise because a lot of people feel the same way. Most of the time their reason is because it's how they communicate with people and music etc. I agree with all of those reasons but it's more to it with me. My phone is my stability. When I'm annoyed by my parents, my siblings, my friends, my teachers, or associates of some sort, I find myself going straight to the notes of my phone. Matter of fact I just checked my phone as of now and I have a total of 271 notes, not to mention this is just from my new phone I got in January of 2014 . I know it may sound a little bizarre but it's just that crucial. I feel that if I cannot open up to anyone else, I have my phone as my support system. No I'm not saying that I talk to my phone (that would be absolutely stupid) but I consistently use it to hold my inner thoughts that I could never distribute to anyone. Yes I have friends but it's just those things that I am afraid to be judged about ya know or nawwwww?
I have many dreams and goals that I carry. I definitely want to be better than my parents and grandparents when I get older. I don't think I've ever been so stressed out in my life because I put so much pressure on myself with this goal. I know I'm not suppose to, but without that pressure, I lose focus. I want to become a computer scientist, to be specific a programmer. I think I am the BIGGEST computer geek in the world. When I was 8 I removed a virus from one of my mom's client's computers in a matter of 5 minutes. I know that may not seem just so "Woooooooowwwwwww" but if you only just take the time out to think that it's an 8 year old taking viruses off a computer. If computer science doesn't work out for me, I find myself becoming some sort of singer. Now when you see me after this, don't ask me to sing.......okay I'm just kidding. Singing is something that I carry because it too also gets me through a lot of things. Don't think I'm depressing but I'm sure no one's life is perfect 24/7 no matter how happy and jolly they may be whenever you see them. Look at me! My life behind close doors is something I dread sometimes.
Wow, this is a pretty deep one. I feel as if my Martha is "God" but at the same time, no disrespect God, but I seem to always think of my Maja (Ms. Mione). She wasn't only my teacher but she was my coach, my friend, my counselor, everything you could ever think of as an older role model. She's always been just a breath of fresh air for me. I could talk to her just like I could be talking to God. In fact she was the one who opened up my eyes to writing down things that I feel at the moment. She also helped me through my grieving state when a fellow friend of mine past away my 7th grade year. I was completely distraught for a week and without her I probably would have missed the entire week but I managed to cope. It's almost like I didn't realize how much of an asset my Maja was to my life until I proceeded on to high school. I'm very thankful that she still manages to be in my life as of now.
If your reading this, what if I asked you three adjectives to describe me? What would you say? I'm just gonna take a guess and think you would say "Crazy, Honest, Active". If those aren't what you may have thought of, then I hope whatever they were was nice. I'm sure all of my friends could describe me as crazy. I'm a character. I try keeping everyone in high good spirits and attitudes. I really like that about myself. It's even great when I make friends with a stranger because of my personality in a snap of a finger. I feel like I am an honest person. I say what I feel if it needs to be conveyed. I do it in such a matter to where it doesn't come out rude or anything. Relationships or friendships without honesty and loyalty is pointless to me and I feel that everyone should be able to describe themselves as honest. And last but not least I carry the trait of being active. I like to engage in a lot of events and things that involves activeness. I think I'm mostly active within my school work and most of all volleyball. They are really important in my life so without me carrying it I wouldn't be able to succeed honestly.
Okay so memories. Well there's memories that do shape my life and mold me into the person that I haven't fully become yet but I'm still on the right track. Let's see, I remember this special individual, who is closer than ever to me came to me randomly after a week of some distance that "The next time something happens to you I hope you die." It's personal but I feel as if I can say this it's not so personal. But anyways I took this phrase into so many different ways. Should I keep this statement in my head as as a motivator or something that shall bring me down when I go into this state of being depressed or emotional? I've kept this memory to follow with me when I succeed at even the little things that may not matter to many but matters to me. I also keep the memories of my "Biological Father" walking in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out of my life. What kills me the most, is that it was always based off of money. I would ask my dad for like $5 and he would have the audacity to change his number and I would have to hunt him down on social media. Thank God for social media because without it I cannot imagine how I would be. He is my motivation to when I step on the stage for graduation wearing chords, my cap and gown and holding my diploma that he was what pushed me to get there. There are other small little memories as well that mold me like my sisters and their "not so good roads" with high school and college. They motivate me to strive for excellence and to leave Texas and explore the world.
Your lucky if you were able to read this because honestly, everything on this post is almost my life and I'm glad that I could share it. I'm thankful that I have that positive attitude of executing this. Okay I'm tired of typing now.............Until then -waves-.
Physically, I CANNOT live without my cell phone. Yes I'm sure it's not a surprise because a lot of people feel the same way. Most of the time their reason is because it's how they communicate with people and music etc. I agree with all of those reasons but it's more to it with me. My phone is my stability. When I'm annoyed by my parents, my siblings, my friends, my teachers, or associates of some sort, I find myself going straight to the notes of my phone. Matter of fact I just checked my phone as of now and I have a total of 271 notes, not to mention this is just from my new phone I got in January of 2014 . I know it may sound a little bizarre but it's just that crucial. I feel that if I cannot open up to anyone else, I have my phone as my support system. No I'm not saying that I talk to my phone (that would be absolutely stupid) but I consistently use it to hold my inner thoughts that I could never distribute to anyone. Yes I have friends but it's just those things that I am afraid to be judged about ya know or nawwwww?
I have many dreams and goals that I carry. I definitely want to be better than my parents and grandparents when I get older. I don't think I've ever been so stressed out in my life because I put so much pressure on myself with this goal. I know I'm not suppose to, but without that pressure, I lose focus. I want to become a computer scientist, to be specific a programmer. I think I am the BIGGEST computer geek in the world. When I was 8 I removed a virus from one of my mom's client's computers in a matter of 5 minutes. I know that may not seem just so "Woooooooowwwwwww" but if you only just take the time out to think that it's an 8 year old taking viruses off a computer. If computer science doesn't work out for me, I find myself becoming some sort of singer. Now when you see me after this, don't ask me to sing.......okay I'm just kidding. Singing is something that I carry because it too also gets me through a lot of things. Don't think I'm depressing but I'm sure no one's life is perfect 24/7 no matter how happy and jolly they may be whenever you see them. Look at me! My life behind close doors is something I dread sometimes.
Wow, this is a pretty deep one. I feel as if my Martha is "God" but at the same time, no disrespect God, but I seem to always think of my Maja (Ms. Mione). She wasn't only my teacher but she was my coach, my friend, my counselor, everything you could ever think of as an older role model. She's always been just a breath of fresh air for me. I could talk to her just like I could be talking to God. In fact she was the one who opened up my eyes to writing down things that I feel at the moment. She also helped me through my grieving state when a fellow friend of mine past away my 7th grade year. I was completely distraught for a week and without her I probably would have missed the entire week but I managed to cope. It's almost like I didn't realize how much of an asset my Maja was to my life until I proceeded on to high school. I'm very thankful that she still manages to be in my life as of now.
If your reading this, what if I asked you three adjectives to describe me? What would you say? I'm just gonna take a guess and think you would say "Crazy, Honest, Active". If those aren't what you may have thought of, then I hope whatever they were was nice. I'm sure all of my friends could describe me as crazy. I'm a character. I try keeping everyone in high good spirits and attitudes. I really like that about myself. It's even great when I make friends with a stranger because of my personality in a snap of a finger. I feel like I am an honest person. I say what I feel if it needs to be conveyed. I do it in such a matter to where it doesn't come out rude or anything. Relationships or friendships without honesty and loyalty is pointless to me and I feel that everyone should be able to describe themselves as honest. And last but not least I carry the trait of being active. I like to engage in a lot of events and things that involves activeness. I think I'm mostly active within my school work and most of all volleyball. They are really important in my life so without me carrying it I wouldn't be able to succeed honestly.
Okay so memories. Well there's memories that do shape my life and mold me into the person that I haven't fully become yet but I'm still on the right track. Let's see, I remember this special individual, who is closer than ever to me came to me randomly after a week of some distance that "The next time something happens to you I hope you die." It's personal but I feel as if I can say this it's not so personal. But anyways I took this phrase into so many different ways. Should I keep this statement in my head as as a motivator or something that shall bring me down when I go into this state of being depressed or emotional? I've kept this memory to follow with me when I succeed at even the little things that may not matter to many but matters to me. I also keep the memories of my "Biological Father" walking in and out and in and out and in and out and in and out of my life. What kills me the most, is that it was always based off of money. I would ask my dad for like $5 and he would have the audacity to change his number and I would have to hunt him down on social media. Thank God for social media because without it I cannot imagine how I would be. He is my motivation to when I step on the stage for graduation wearing chords, my cap and gown and holding my diploma that he was what pushed me to get there. There are other small little memories as well that mold me like my sisters and their "not so good roads" with high school and college. They motivate me to strive for excellence and to leave Texas and explore the world.
Your lucky if you were able to read this because honestly, everything on this post is almost my life and I'm glad that I could share it. I'm thankful that I have that positive attitude of executing this. Okay I'm tired of typing now.............Until then -waves-.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Haunted or Naw
Hey there you! Did you get scared for a second?....No?....How could you? Well I think you should know that I wasn't afraid of it either. I mean look at it. It's just so cute. I am sure your wondering why I asked that silly question. It was only because I was "hired" by Mr. T to be an author of a Haunted Story. Of course I was excited..............No I wasn't really. Let me be the first to say that I feel as if scary stories, scary movies...just ANYTHING SCARY isn't very interesting to me. For example, I watched this movie called "One Missed Call" starring Halle Berry. I love her to death but I seriously just found the movie really pathetic. It takes a lot to get me scared because obviously I'm just such a brave soul.
So as the very great author I am, I would definitely get some ideas from other amazing authors in order to find out how to make my work even better. As a class, we read this short story called "The Fall of The House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe. This story alone gave me all sorts of ideas to execute. The five most amazing techniques Poe used in his story were: his use of figurative language, his visual of the haunted mansion through imagery, his descriptive setting, his amazing suspenseful attributes and last but not least his use of questions.
Now I know your asking "How would you incorporate this in your story?" Lucky for you, I will give you a little insight on this. Well first I will use his incredible technique of figurative language. From similes, to metaphors, to symbolism and anything else....THEY WERE JUST ALL INCREDIBLE. I would definitely like to add in some personification as well to create some sort of suspense considering that the story is haunted.
Second, I would definitely include some really, really, really scary visuals through imagery. What's a haunted story without a scary image?.......Uhhhhh a story. Duh! How else could you be frightened in a haunted story? Diction is a very good factor when executing this. Descriptive detail is very important when creating a story....a haunted one at that.
This leads us to my third choice, a descriptive but dark setting. NOW THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR! Let's just say if I were to write this story on a Sunny Day would you think at any time it would be scary? I mean it could possibly be scary just depending on how I put it together but most of the time it wouldn't. Personally, I would think giving the setting a bit of a dark, dull and deathly outlook to it just as Poe did within his story. Maybe add a little suspense to it by saying that the area is "literally in the middle of no where".
Hey, it fits right in to my next choice which is creating suspense. This was one of Poe's very effective ideas. Can I honestly say that I was pretty creeped out the whole time. I mean who couldn't have been pretty creeped out. Maybe I am just easily afraid of crazy stuff like this. My biggest thing would probably be, as I said before, personifying certain objects or things. What better way to create suspense then to humanize un-animated objects to spice things up a bit. Ehh...Ehh....ok moving on.
Last but not least, I would finally add the famous one of all time, QUESTIONS. You can always make a story more frightening and curious by making the readers think. If you read at the end of the story, Poe uses questions in order to determine if the reader's believe if the house was even real or not. I personally was a little upset about that because now he made me question a lot of things. But at the same time he did such a phenomenal job with keeping me tuned in to the story.
That's all the time I have left. I know that's a sad story. My fingers are cramping though. Hopefully one day I actually decide to write one of these kinds of stories and I could be as good as Poe.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
USA's Obsession of Finding Faults of Our Leaders
http://www.beautycoatedlife.com/2013/08/im-jealous-of-college-freshman.html
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/united-states-of-america/images/33748624/title/usa-photo
In this crazy country I live in called the United States of America, we have a lot of leaders, strong at that, who carried us so far to be who we are. Hey that kind of rhymed.....but back to the subject. No matter how good or how strong or how great or how dedicated or how fantabulous they may have been, there was always some people thinking far beyond the positivity and focusing more on the negativity. When I say negativity, I am referring to the admiring figure's faults. Leaders, such as Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. and our very own current president....President Barack Obama, have all been and still are great leaders and figures for our country. But most individuals don't condone that.
http://gifsoup.com/view/149684/martin-luther-king-jr.html
My favorite, Martin Luther King Jr., was the leader of the Civil Rights movement in the U.S from the 1950s to his assassination in 1968. Yes that's right. He could have kept going. Why do I say this? Only because of the fact that he wasn't assassinated for something positive but he was assassinated for his FAULTS! People dreaded the fact that he was determined to fight for what he believed in, which was equality. They got scared so I mean what was a good way to kill the cause? Kill the person who formed the cause.
http://giphy.com/search/barack-obama/1
Here's another leader as I mentioned above, President Barack Obama. Me personally feel like Obama is a pretty decent president but I mean at the same time he does have some flaws but I mean we all have some right? Some people just seriously HATE him as a whole, which I feel is pretty ridiculous. Things like "Obama being a president but still paying off student loans he had in college" "He started a gang when he was in college and he seemed to be one of the worst members in the gang" "He's not even from America so how would he know what America desires" "Taking our guns away is the stupidest thing ever" are all faults people who have entirely no life spend studying instead of admiring the good he does attempt as a leader for our country for almost 8 years. I tell you my country is just so complicated. We are what you call "a tough crowd"
http://giphy.com/search/andy-sandberg/2
In conclusion, I'm going to take the time out to rant for a second about what people's views were on equality. I've always been curious about why was equality not something a lot of people wanted. What did people want, to be racist all of their lives? Geez!!! Look at us now! I mean were probably not completely labeled as equal but I mean we're doing a heck of a job being equal when we do. I guess that's it for right now. I can go on for days but I do still have a life at home. But until then............
Monday, January 20, 2014
Characteristics of 2 Anti-Heros
Hello World! Thank you for taking the time out to feast your eyes into my world. You could have engaged into any and everything else but you’ve decided to read what is written by little old me. Lucky for you, you are reading my first blog post ever. Why did I say that ? Only because this blog post is actually for my AP English Language Class. My thoughts and views are very interesting, so enjoy.
http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130403170335/disney/images/8/80/Ichabod-mr-toad-disneyscreencaps_com-4493.jpg
So I was told, by my English teacher Mr. T, that I need to pick a modern day anti-hero and compare their characteristics that they share with Ichabod Crane. So in this little big head of mine I go to search and think of all the possible modern day actors/actresses/characters I know. I decided to choose a very fierce woman full with attitude. Drum roll please............I will be talking about the one.... the only..... Jennifer Hudson playing Effie White in the movie DreamGirls. With that being said let's go ahead and kick it off with characteristic number 1.
http://sniperslovenest.blogspot.com/2006/12/dreamgirl-says-gay-is-sin.html
In the movie DreamGirls, Effie White plays a woman who is very big in so many ways. For example, she's big in weight, heart and her incredible voice. But instead we're going to pay more attention to her appearance and weight. Her weight was her biggest flaw. It eliminated some of her opportunities and chances of becoming the star she had hoped to be. The guy she had hoped to be her lover and the one to get her spotlight was being discriminating to her about her weight. He end up picking Deena Jones played by Beyonce Knowles as his star because how beautiful and SKINNY she was. Ichabod Crane problem was being very thin. Well technically it wasn't really a problem for him since he end up being with Katrina Van Tassal and not Brom. But wait it was only for a short period of time because he ends being dead (or missing) at the end. Proceeding on to the next characteristic..................
http://nmwritersbloq.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/the-name-game-once-again/
Both of the characters can be known as being very brave and strong. Effie shows her level of being strong when she cries out to her almost lover how dedicated she is to continue her career with no regrets. He denied that offer. By her now being a mom, a single mom at that, she used her talent to pull herself together and reclaim her career as a solo act. Crane also is very strong too, well not all the way. He keeps persevering to what he's aiming for through all the obstacles Brom has put him through. It is really shown at the gathering the Van Tassals hosted. He stuck with all of the complications thrown his way. But eventually he was broken down by the headless horseman scene before he died.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/ddcdc4373e4aa0399d774040a39822c8/tumblr_miao1eqyGw1r1ult6o1_500.gif
That's all the time I have but trust me I'll be back this week for another blog assignment. I know this one was a little rough but trust me it will only get better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)