allegory of a cave -- sonnet

Cold, rusted chains wrapped around the two.

Their company is stone.

Nothing to say, nothing to do,

together they're alone.

Shadows dance on the cave wall;

the only thing they know.

Some walk, some are still and some crawl

as something behind them glows.

The chains drop and they're free at last,

looking suddenly behind

to the place from which the shadows were cast.

"Could this all have been a lie?"

They look at the people and look at the flames,

until they feel the world's greatest pain.

tools that change the way we think

To me, there are two ways to see this:
1. Technology can disarm us from thought. Instead of somebody going through the process of figuring something out, they search it on the internet and suddenly thinking becomes an inconvenience. We learn indirectly and it shines a different lights on knowledge as a whole. To quote Good Will Hunting: "If I asked you about art you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo; you know a lot about him... but you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling."
That applies to our generation, where people think they know something because they have the information about it. Someone may know how tall the Eiffel Tower is when it was built and how long it took, but they don't know what it feels like too see Paris from 1,063 feet.

2. Technology is ultimately improving how people learn and communicate and find information about things, etc. Blah blah blah.

what i think about act iii

yeah, Hamlet is fucking crazy. I called it.

In act three, he puts on the play to watch the king's reaction, but doesn't observe silently. He loudly interjects during the play and asks the king and queen's opinion in the middle of it. Hamlet isn't subtle about his suspicions that the king killed his father at all. His insane actions even break up the play. After that, he yells at his friends and spills ALL THE BEANS too his mother and accidentally kills Polonius but doesn't seem to really care.

green eggs & hamlet

a) when it comes to what i know about hamlet as a story? i've been lead to believe that it's lengthy and treacherous. when it comes to what i know about hamlet as a character? nothing, but i'm happy to read and find out.

b) from romeo and juliet, i know that shakespeare is witty and renowned. a lot of high schoolers live in fear of shakespeare, but i find his plays to be more entertaining and less like loads of work.

c) to many high schoolers, shakespeare means endless translations and old english. also, iambic pentameters are kinda scary.

d) just point out the neat little things that make shakespeare awesome.

a belated scholarship hunt

today, i spent about two hours hunting down scholarships. so far, i've applied for:

• Cappex "A GPA Isn't Everything!" ($1000)
• Degreed "Pursue Your Passion" ($1000) -- had to write a short, 100-word paragraph about how getting this scholarship would help me to pursue my passion.

when i apply for more, this post will be updated

canterbury tales #1

• I still really like the depth of the characters that Chaucer used. Characterization is really important to me in a story, usually more important than the storyline itself. This is a reason most of the books I like are defined as "coming of age."
• To me, the Monk is the most interesting character, and I like him being compared to "a fish out of water, flapping on the pier."
• I feel like the Monk has a certain philosophy or experience to justify his consumption of meat and his wardrobe of elaborate furs. 
• Also, I feel like it would be much easier to understand the text if we knew in-depth facts about the culture of Chaucer's time period. 
• Chaucer describes the Friar as a cheery and happy person, always earning money and being carefree, never shedding a tear. As the description goes on, the impression is also given that the Friar is just a lonely beggar. 

netvibes (and symbaloo)

When Netvibes was presented to the class, I was unsure about it. It looks too busy for me, so I first used Symbaloo.

I like Symbaloo for its visual simplicity and it's simplistic approach. On the dashboard of Google Chrome, it's already set up similarly. When I open the browser, I see my most visited pages (Facebook, Tumblr, Bigcartel, Dr. Prestons English Literature & Composition blog). Seeing it that way in general is helpful because my homework and academic priorities are literally staring at me in the face. Symbaloo, on the other hand, automatically adds pages like the New York times in addition to Facebook and other popular social networking sites.

With dashboards that go this in-depth and have so many options, I'll definitely need to spend a lot more time with Symbaloo before I can use it to its full ability.

character study #1

I can't explain the desire to go elsewhere. It lives in all of us. When I drive on the 101, weaving in and out between mountains, I look at the towering hills and trees and wonder why I'm stuck inside a Honda. Distance draws you toward it in so many ways. It's so powerful but it can be conquered so easily. The act of travel alone is magnificent; seeing a place as you leave it. Passing a landmark knowing that the next time you see it, you'll be a different person.

So, I pack a bag. Several tee shirts, jackets, a few toiletries, a few good books, a large notepad, and a notebook. Wherever I'm going, I'll want to write about it.

an observation (part of my character study)

before I sat down to write my character study, I was fascinated by a large praying mantis. For over half an hour, I looked for a cage for the mantis, stuck branches and leaves in it, and just spent time staring at it in a fixed awe. It had a broken wing, and I wondered if there was a way to fix it. Without knowing, I did something that probably closely emphasizes my own character.

what a character

Lancaster Dodd

            In the film, "The Master," Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays Lancaster Dodd, or The Master, who leads a religious group that facilitates the redemption of a depressed sailor suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after WWII. Although he is wise, educated, and glorified within his religious group. He shares his wisdom casually and subtly. "What a day!" he'll exclaim. "We fought against the day and we won. We won."

            I'm intrigued by Lancaster Dodd because of his unordinary, yet insightful view of religion and life in general and the hurdles he has to jump through to become the Master that his church reveres.

declaration of learning independence

Keeping careful track of time has always been a thought in the back of my head. Maybe if I keep track like that, I can use my time more effectively, and therefore, live for efficiently. With time investment portfolios, I can do that. I can see how I'm using my time and see how if effects how I get things done and, more importantly, how i feel about the things I accomplish. With collaborative working groups, I can even see how other people feel about the things I accomplish. I don't rely strongly on the opinions of other people when it comes to the things I do, especially when it comes to creative expression, but I do believe in constructive criticism and I do believe that collaborative working groups can be utilized to prepare myself for the types of things I want to do in the future.

literary analysis #1: ham on rye by charles bukowski

#1 - #2) Ham on Rye is a coming-of-age novel in its most raw form. Before you think about any other popular coming-of-age novel with the word “rye” in its title, this book isn’t about a teenage kid smoking cigarettes and calling everybody phony. The novel starts with the protagonist, Henry Chinaski, as he describes his first memories, and tells alarming stories of his adolescence in LA during the Great Depression. It follows him as he describes his middle school experiences, stained with blood and alcohol. He experiences pain and alienation from a wildly severe case of acne, having to visit treatment centers frequently. Because of this, he is often compared to Frankenstein’s Monster.  After teenage years full of turning points such as Henry standing up to his father during a beating, and discovering the dangerous  muse of alcohol. The story ends with an cynical but enlightened Henry Chinaski as he begins to write more and go to school less.

#3) Charles Bukowski's style and tone is very flat and direct. He describes things in depth, but doesn't use flowery words or descriptions. The subject matter and the way he depicts it is very brutal, simple, and gruesome at times

"Then my father began beating my mother. She screamed and he kept beating her. I climbed out a winter and tried to get in the front door. It was locked. I stood in the backyard and listed to the screaming and the beating" 

pg. 53, First Ecco edition (2002)

"Igor passed the bottle. Good stuff, it really burned the membranes of the throat. Igor drove his car like a tank, right through stop signals. People blew their horns and slammed on their brakes as he waved a fake black pistol at them."

pg. 239

"Sitting there drinking, I considered suicide, but felt a strange fondness for my body, my life. Scarred as they were, they were mind. I would look into the dresser mirror and grin..."

pg. 274

#4)

• "She kept coming, a steamship of a woman." metaphor, pg. 64
• "He was like a mongrel dog, starved and kicked." simile, pg. 94
• "Something happened. The bath towels knew it, the shower curtain knew it, the mirror knew it, the bathtub and toilet knew it." personification, pg. 121
• "I watched people from afar, it was like a stage play. Only they were on the stage and I was an audience of one." analogy, pg. 122
• "About 38 but with pure white hair pulled tightly into a bun behind her neck. Her nose was sharp and she had deep green eyes behind rimless glasses. I felt that she knew everything." imagery, pg. 151
• "I was like some jungle animal drawn to the light and looking in" simile, pg. 193
• Henry writes and describes in-depth stories about airplanes and pilots, as a way for both him and the reader to escape from the depressing and vile things happening in his life. pg. 146-148.

beowulf essay

Batman vs. Beowulf

            Other than being known as heroes, Batman and Beowulf are practically polar opposites. This is mostly due to the fact that they come from very different cultures and time periods. As Batman protects the modern city of Gotham, he wears a mask and not out of modesty. The city of Gotham looks down on him and sees him as less of a hero, but more of a criminal fighting crime. In the setting of Beowulf, the people fear not mere crime, but they fear vicious and demonic monsters that kill during the night. Now try to imagine Bruce Wayne attempting to fight Grendel. On the other note, I’m pretty sure that Gotham and America in general would be terrified of a massive, drunken Danish warrior with a sword in one hand and the bloody head of a she-demon in the other. In 6^th century Europe, however, Beowulf is revered.

            When it comes to villains, there are actually a few similarities, specifically the sense of inner humanity. In Beowulf, the terrorizing beast is given a name – Grendel. Grendel is given human characteristics and seems to be driven by emotion. When Grendel was killed, his mother even grieved and retrieved her son’s ripped-off limb for the same reason we’d keep ashes or a possession of our relatives. The same goes for Batman’s enemies. In the latest Batman adaptation, Bane is a villain who grew from an average man, molded and masked into a powerful terrorist. He cares deeply for a select few, and will fight loyally and triumphantly for those people. With this sense of humanity within a villain, a whole new light is shed on the concept of evil.

            A major difference between the two heroes is that Beowulf kills, while Batman religiously avoids ending anyone’s life. Batman puts himself onto this specific pedestal of morality after seeing his parents killed with his very own eyes. Beowulf, however, is a warrior at heart. To him, bloodshed is synonymous with victory and glory. With the warring that occurred during the early, early times of Europe, it makes sense for their hero to be intensely combative and hell-bent on triumph. Beowulf will rip off an entire limb of a giant enemy with his bare hands, and people will love him for it. Batman, however, strictly keeps himself from ending the life of anyone, no matter how evil or threatening that person may be. In this way, heroes can be seen in a completely different light, and heroism’s definition suddenly becomes slightly blurred.

vocab #4

accolade: praise or approval; a ceremonial embrace or greeting.

acerbity: sourness or bitterness of taste; harshness or severity of manner or expression.

attrition: the process of wearing down by friction or gradual impairment.

bromide: a trite or commonplace remark; a tiresome or boring person; a sedative.

chauvinist: extravagantly patriotic; blindly devoted to a cause; or (noun) a person like that.

chronic: continuing over a long period of time or recurring often.

expound: to explain in detail.

factionalism: party strife and intrigue.

immaculate: spotless; without blemish or fault.

imprecation: a curse; the act of cursing.

ineluctable: not able to be avoided, changed, or overcome.

mercurial: characterized by rapid and unpredictable changes of mood; fickle or inconstant.

palliate: to make less serious or severe by glossing over; to relieve without actually curing, mitigate.

protocol: customs and regulations dealing with official behavior and etiquette; a type of international agreement; an official account or record.

resplendent: shining or gleaming brilliantly; splendid or magnificent.

stigmatize: to brand or mark as in some way discreditable, disgraceful, or ignominious.

sub rosa: in secret; confidentially; privately.

vainglory: excessive pride in and boastfulness about one's own accomplishments or qualities; a vain show or display.

vestige: a trace or visible evidence of something that once existed but is now lost or vanished.

volition: the power to choose, will, or decide; the act of choosing, willing, or deciding.

vocab #3

Apostate - someone who forsakes his religion or cause


Effusive - expressing feelings of gratitude, pleasure, or approval in an an unrestrained or heartfelt manner.


Impasse - a situation in which no progress is possible, especially because of a disagreement; a deadlock


Euphoria - a feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness.
 
Lugubrious - looking sad or dismal


Bravado - a bold manner or a show of boldness intended to impress or intimidate.


Consensus - a general agreement among a large population of people


Dichotomy - a division or contrast between two things that are or represented as being opposed or entirely different


Constrict - to make narrower, especially by encircling pressure.


Gothic - of or in the style of architecture prevalent in western Europe in the 12th-16th centuries, characterized by pointed arches, rib vaults, and flying buttresses, together with large windows and  elaborate tracery.


Punctilio - a fine or petty point  of conduct or procedure


Metamorphosis - A change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one,by natural or supernatural means.


Raconteur - a person who tells anecdotes in a skilled or amusing way


Sine qua non - an essential condition; a thing that is absolutely necessary.


Quixotic - exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic and impractical.


Vendetta - a prolonged or bitter quarrel with or campaign against someone.


Non sequitur -  a conclusion or statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.


Mystique - a fascinating aura of mystery, awe, and power surrounding someone or something.


Quagmire - a soft, boggy are of land that gives way underfoot; an awkward, complex, or hazardous situation.


Parlous - full of danger or uncertainty, precarious.