Blogging Around

Now that we've concluded the year's blogging and reflected on our experiences, Mr. Allen has asked me and my fellow students to 'blog around' other each other's blog posts and see what others had to say about blogging. Here it goes:

Corey wrote about how easy it was for him to write the blog posts, because he could just type whatever was on his mind and not worry about harsh grading. I agreed with his observations and reflections, as they were very similar to my own.

I commented:

"I agree with you entirely that blogging is a great way to, as you say, "putting what's on your brain into words." I also felt like I could really say whatever was on my mind without feeling judged or evaluated by anyone. Even though it's a class assignment, it didn't feel as rigid as other schoolwork. I also agree that blogging wasn't very stressful, because there weren't high expectations and because you don't have to pretend to be anyone besides yourself. You're right, too, that it did help our English grades. Thank goodness."

Jon talked about how blogging has helped him understand how and why he thinks the way he does. He said that he liked the ability to just write flowingly, yet wanted the prompts to be less specific and sometimes confusing. He said he would've preferred a blog where we could talk about whatever we wanted within the scope of Academy and/or English class.

I commented:

"Yeah, I would have to agree with you that, at times, the prompts were a little confusing and far-reaching, making some posts seem less natural than others. I do think, however, that to truly understand how we think, we have to be challenged and forced to think in ways differently than we're used to. Though I do think that it would have been fun to just write a blog about anything related to Academy/English class, I also value Mr. Allen's questions and prompts as good outlets for me to think in new ways. Hopefully we'll be able to continue blogs in future classes and learn more about our thinking and writing."

That's all folks.

Metacognition: Blogging

This year has been the first year that I've ever used a blog for anything. I'm really glad that I got this experience, as I had always wondered what exactly a blog was for. I realize now that it's really for anything. I've found it to be especially useful this year in English class as a tool for making points I don't have to opportunity to make in class, reflecting on the class, or just reflecting on my life in general. I really enjoy this ability to write to myself; I don't care who else is reading it, the audience I write to is me. Though I don't need a blog in order to write to myself, I enjoy the way it looks and the fact that others can experience my thoughts along with me.

I'm grateful that we've been asked this year to write in online blogs, not on paper, because I find it easier to say what's on my mind when I can type it out. Since I can type a lot faster than I can write, my writing can be more stream-of-conscience, which I think is a desirable trait in blogs. When I'm asked to think deeply and analytically, I need to get all my ideas down first and sort through them after. The blog has been a great tool for this type of writing, because I can just write and write without thinking about an exact prompt; it's my opportunity to ramble. Like I said, I don't write my blogs for anyone else but myself, so I don't care if I sound like I'm rambling, like right about now. Blah blah blah blah....

But seriously, I'm very pleased with my experience this year in English class with blogging. It hasn't been assigned too often that it gets boring, and so every blog seems original and natural. Yes, that is probably the key word: natural. Blogging this year has never felt forced or foreign, and always feels like my ideas just flowing from my brain to my fingers to the keyboard to the screen. Were there more specific prompts, I would probably have trouble. I'm very happy with the prompts that Mr. Allen has assigned us.

Unfortunately, this is my last real blog post of the year (besides a Blogging Around post), so I'll say goodbye now to all my loyal fans (namely, Mr. Allen and...well that's about it). Thanks for reading!

What if?: Life in the Veld

While reading and discussing Life and Times of Michael K over the past couple of weeks, I've been wondering what it would be like to just live out in the wild ('veld') like Michael K does, detached from the civilized world. At first, that seemed to me like a silly thing to wonder about, but after a while of pondering, I've actually come to realize how different my life would be if I lost all these things that connect me to the rest of human society: basically, most of my daily habits and actions.

One of the things that has struck me most about Michael K's experience in the veld is his lack of interest in interacting with other people. If I were to go and live in the wild, I would be without any family or friends, which I can't imagine doing because I love my family and friends very much and wouldn't know what to do without them. But let's say, for the sake of this hypothetical journey, that I do not find value in human relationships, and am perfectly fine with going solo. The next step would be to find food, which I would have no idea how to do, because the only food I eat is bought at a store or restaurant and is killed and prepared for me. I've never hunted and have only fished for sport, not sustenance. But let's say I happen upon a gun and/or some kind of animal trap, and find a way to catch food. I then would need to cook the food, which, because of watching Bear Gryllis on Discovery Channel, I would know how to do. So, I suppose, if I really worked hard at it, I could sustain myself for a day out in the wild.

But living the remainder of my life in the wild, that is out of the question. Despite the fact that I would need certain medicines and an education, I truly don't think that it is possible to just live out in the wild in this postmodern system that we affectionately call America. There are certainly laws against just running free in the wild, as most of the forests and parks are managed by the US or state governments. And since, in my opinion, humans crave advancement and progress, I don't think I could really ever be fulfilled just living from day to day with no real purpose.

That brings me to my final thought about Life and Times of Michael K, which is that even Michael, who just wants to drink water from a teaspoon lowered into the ground, cannot even manage to just live out in the wild. Though we said, in our discussions, that Michael escaped the system, I tend to believe that, in some ways, he did not. He ends up, at the conclusion of the book, in the same place where he started: back in the city. Even Michael, who found a way to survive and even reach a level of self-actualization, could not be allowed to remain where he was. The system just strengthened its hold. So, when imagining myself living in the wild, I come to the decisive conclusion that I cannot, and no one can (at least not in Western society), escape the system.

Blogging Around

I've decided to once again "blog around" my other classmates' blogs. I feel that, with school being so busy, I don't always get time to talk to everyone in class as much as I would like, so I'm hoping to get a deeper understanding of what's going on with them by reading and commenting on their blogs. Here it goes.

Margot T's blog is called "Best of Week: Michael can LIVE," and sums up as well as expands on the discussion we had in class this past week about the last page or so of Life and Times of Michael K. Margot observed how the discussion developed into an important observation about how Michael sees himself being fulfilled, and why that is so significant to the entire story.

I commented:

"Margot, I actually found your initial observation that you made in class to be very important and insightful. It is crucial, after deeply exploring Michael K's god-like qualities and his effects on other people, that we remember that he is merely human, and lives a very simple life; we should beware over analyzing his simplicity, as that is one of the beauties of this book. I also really liked your strong emphasis on the fact that he escaped the system through nonconformity, not through any real conscious effort. He was clearly more concerned, in my opinion, with living his life to the fullest in the way he deemed fit, rather than waging war on the system or actively revolting. That would not be escaping the system, but merely falling deeper into it."

Lauren's blog post is called "Carry it Forward: Service Project." In it, she reflects upon her experience in 5th grade cleaning up the forest preserve, using lessons learned from that to help her and the rest of us prepare for our upcoming trip to do the same. She advises us, above all, to have a positive attitude in order to make the project both enjoyable and worthwhile.

I commented:

"Lauren, I'm really glad that you've had this experience in the past and can share your wisdom about this project with the rest of us. This advice will really help us make this service project the best it can be. I especially liked your emphasis on maintaining a positive attitude. It's common knowledge that we Academites do a lot of complaining, so I too worry that we might go into it with a negative outlook and therefore make the project less fun. Yet I do believe that our class will make the best out of it and truly have a good time, because it is such a great opportunity to be outside and make a difference in a creative way. I was actually just saying today how it would stink if it rains the day we go, but now I see that it can be fun even so. Unfortunately, I'm reading this after we already chose a project, but fortunately, I voted for this one and it was chosen."

Metacognition: Short Story Writing

This past week, I finished writing the first full draft of my short story, Pink Slip. It is about a man who works on Wall Street and gets laid off because of the current recession. He decides that this change will allow him to see more of the world and enjoy life, so he goes home to his wife in a very excited mood. She, however, is furious, and the remainder of the story takes the reader through their conflict and how they come to terms with it, though don't fully resolve it. I've been working on the story for months now, and it's nice to see it finally coming together, though I think it still needs some work before it's publishable.

In writing the ending of my story, I thought long and hard about how to conclude the story without solving the married couple's problems, but also without leaving the story too open. I knew, with advice from Mr. Allen, that they could not just agree with each other and live happily ever after. So I decided that their fight would end with some event that would transition them both into a new place in their relationship, one that could handle the conflict they were going through without necessarily solving it. When I first sat down to write, I had no idea what this event would be, but as the words started transferring from brain to fingers to keyboard to computer screen, the ending became more and more clear to me. I decided that the wife would try to leave, but seeing as her car had been repossessed, she couldn't just drive away, so she just begins running. The protagonist pursues her, and soon they are in an all-out race. This makes them both more jovial and competitive, a more effective dynamic for their marriage than the mere traditional working-husband-with-housewife routine. Once he stops chasing after her because he is remarking at her beauty, she returns to her anger, though recognizing along with him that their relationship can work in their new circumstances.

This was probably the first time in my fiction-writing career that a storyline came to me so clearly, effortlessly, and successfully. I'm sure that the ending can be tweaked a little, but all-in-all I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I guess I've come to appreciate my instincts when it comes to writing. I always thought that Mr. Allen was being crazy when he said that the characters will actually "talk to you," but I believe that I experienced some of that as I wrote this story. I felt I understood my characters well enough that I knew exactly what would be a good ending for them. I'm very pleased that this story worked out the way it did.

Metacognition: Jane Eyre Writing Assignment

For the Jane Eyre writing assignment, I was in a group with Jon and Mitchel H. The topic of our dialogue transcript between Jane Eyre , Charlotte Bronte, and an imaginary academy student was The Quest for Personal Enlightenment. My group chose that prompt because it was something we had touched on briefly as a class, but that we wanted to explore further. I personally was quite excited to delve into this topic, which I believe is one of the most important themes of the story. And since this was not only a group project, but a dialogue between characters, there was so much room open for discussion and deep, critical thinking; it seemed the perfect opportunity to satiate my inquisitiveness about this topic.

From the minute our group began working, I could tell that the project was going to go smoothly. Our ideas meshed very nicely, which is not always easy when dealing with three strongly-opinionated people like us. We formed three questions that addressed the larger theme of the dialogue, dividing up the work into three pieces that interested each of us individually but also as a whole. We began working, quickly and efficiently, always with an ear open to help each other when we needed to bounce ideas off of one another. This dynamic was one that I had never before experienced in a group project, and one that fit well with my natural dislike for group work and collaboration: it's not that I dislike working with people, but I just cannot stand projects in which I am stuck doing all the work while others sit back and occasionally tell me what to do as if it is their right to do so. It was amazing, in this setting, how easily my thoughts came to me, and when they did not, how easy it was to turn to my group members for assistance.

We finished our individual sections within a little more than an hour, and from there we all read over each others' work, making small grammatical and spelling corrections and asking permission from the writer for making content corrections. This process was also fairly smooth, as we had already bounced enough of our ideas off of each other while writing that the editing was almost purely syntactic. At that point, within just a few hours from the first brainstorm, we had finished the project. That speed with which we completed such a seemingly demanding project astounded all of us. We compiled our portions in an entire essay, about 7.5 pages long, added the finishing touches, and sent it to Mr. Allen hours before the due date and time. This project was a both intellectually and emotionally rewarding experience.

iMedia: Nick Vujicic Finish Strong

A few months ago, my mom sent me this video that she received through a string of forwarded email messages. I'm not going to lie, I usually don't read or watch these forwarded messages because they tend to either be completely silly or just a waste of time. But that day, I was feeling down, and needed something to lift me up. The subject of the email was "Inspiring," and so I clicked on the youtube link. What I found was this incredible story of a guy who lost his arms and legs and now inspires others to use all their strength and never give up, because even he can get up after he falls down. The subject of the email was quite fitting, to say the least.

The most important point that this video conveys is that our problems can all be overcome, despite how insurmountable they may seem. You will notice that Mr. Vujicic does not rely on other people's generosity, but rather on his own personal strength. Though I don't think it's a bad thing to accept other people's help, which I'm sure he has to do daily, it's also important to use your own means to succeed. When he falls down in the video, he could have asked others to help him up, showing an important lesson that others will always be there to help you. Instead he showed how self-determination can be just as effective in solving your problems, and that it makes you feel more accomplished when you do so.

This lesson can apply to many of the problems we face as individuals, as a country, and as a world. One example is the economy. We all know how bad the economy is and we know it will take time to recover. This leaves us all in a state of uncertainty, vulnerability, and for many, poverty. How can we help ourselves out? In a bull market and a thriving economy, only 50% of people born in poverty ever make it out. So now, when charities are struggling and very few people can afford to give to those less fortunate than themselves, the poor have an even tougher task ahead of them if they hope to lead a more comfortable life. They now, more than ever, have to rely on their own abilities and determination. The middle class, too, which is struggling as well to avoid poverty, must keep lifting themselves up and staying upright, despite having no arms or legs (financially). In our world, there are many more examples of situations when our own strength must be used to get us out of our worst troubles.

I was very inspired on that day that I received this video, and I hope that you all are inspired just the same. For more videos and information about Nick Vujicic, visit www.lifewithoutlimbs.org.

Dialectics: Partisanship and Bipartisanship

As the economic situation continues to beat down on our nation and the world, the politicians in Washington DC are wondering how best to handle and fix the problem. In this struggle to better our country, much conflict has arisen; Representatives, Senators, political parties are vying for their ideas to be heard and enacted. Since January 20th, the Democratic Party has controlled both chambers of the Congress as well as the White House. The Republican Party, with its members in the Senate numbering just enough to, when unified, stymie a bill's advancement, is now a definite minority party. Some might think that this seems easy, because the Democrats can just do whatever they want. But since the Democrats still need marginal Republican support in order to get things done, and since this is in fact a two party country, things get complicated. I'm wondering whether partisanship, sticking to party lines and disagreeing constantly with the other side, or bipartisanship and compromise are the way to go.

A major display of this dialectic between these two options occurred during the creation and negotiations surrounding the stimulus package that passed just less than a month ago. Obama introduced this package in order to create millions of jobs and get the economy back on track. The House Democrats then created an $825 billion package that was aimed at doing just that. Republicans immediately resisted because it contained too much spending and not enough tax cuts for their liking. As the bill made its way through committees and subcommittees, Republicans made their way to the TV shows to argue against the package. The Democrats, however, because of their majority, passed their bill without one Republican vote. The bill then went to the Senate, where it was introduced with slightly more tax cuts and slightly less spending, which ultimately brought three Republicans on board. That was enough, and the bill passed. President Obama, on February 17, signed the bill into law.

This whole process deeply troubled me, and continues to even today. The majority of Americans voted for Democrats on November 4, yet tens of millions voted instead for Republicans. It is sad then to see how little these votes end up counting when a Republican's voice doesn't get heard, and doesn't technically need to be. Yes, in the US, majority rules, but we must differentiate between that and a one party rule. Republicans come to DC with just as many ideas as Democrats do, and they deserve to be heard out and have a real impact in the outcome for our country.

Yet, at the same time, I saw that Republicans offered very unconvincing alternatives in the case of the stimulus. In the House, the Republican package was 100% tax cuts with no projected cost to the government. Not only is that fiscally irresponsible and economically dead-headed, it has been proven ineffective time and again over the last eight years. After all, there's a reason that Democrats gained huge support after the Bush years were over. The Republicans kind of screwed up. Not to mention that the Democrats were elected based on an agenda of change and progress, and they have a responsibility to keep that promise.

So I'm not really sure which way is the right way to go. My values tell me bipartisanship, because, as they say, two heads are better than one. Reason, on the other hand, tells me that, until the Republicans come up with some new and feasible ideas, an aggressive Democratic party must keep moving to get things done without hindrance. I hope, eventually, that the Republicans will come around and the Democrats will be there with open arms when they do so.

Blogging Around

Jenna's blog post, entitled "Best of Week: School Board Issue" identifies Mr. Allen's challenge to us to defend Cathedral despite the characters' drug use as the best idea/question of the week. She claims that this story clearly doesn't center around the use of drugs and alcohol, but rather they just help establish the setting and the characters' frame of mind. She also points out that we, as TV-watching teenagers, are exposed to much more information about drug and alcohol use than in a short story in English class.

I commented:

"Jenna,

Your defense of Cathedral and its mention of drug and alcohol use was a great articulation of not only everything we discussed in class, but great points of your own as well. I definitely agree that we are exposed to a fusillade (good use of vocab!) of drug imagery, paraphanalia, etc in the media and in high school. It seems futile to worry about an old short story in English class. In fact, I tend to think that reading about drug and alcohol use in candid and educated ways actually helps teens decide to say no to drugs moreso than just not talking about it.

I also think that, in the end, the story casts a negative light, and rightly so, on drug and alcohol use. The narrator tells us how lonely he is at night, just smoking pot, drining boos, and watching TV. This affects his relationship with his wife, and even gives him crazy dreams. None of that really appeals to me, or should appeal to anybody.

Good job!

Daniel"

Jamie's blog post, entitled "What if?: We got graded on collaboration," explores the idea of education centered more around collaboration between students to study and learn rather than the final product, like a test or presentation. She noticed that we, as a class, collaborated very well preparing for our daunting Heart of Darkness test. If only we could be graded on that awesome work instead of a test.

I commented:

"Jamie,

I agree with you that collaboration should take a more central role in both the educational experience as well as the grades. I'm very interested to see how that would work out, seeing as that would require Mr. Allen to basically be on skype with us, observing our chats. That grading process would have to be refined, of course, but I think your proposal is note-worthy.

I can't help but think that many of our teachers would have a real problem with grading based on collaboration. I think Mr. Allen is probably an exception among most teachers, who feel that the only objective way to evaluate students is with a number and a letter. So I believe that many teachers would have to be replaced (or just reeducated).

I believe that your idea will eventually emerge as a more prevalent form of education and evaluation. Until then, it's all tests. But I think we can use our collaboration to help our test grades.

Great job!

Daniel"

Best of Week: Story Fragments

The best thing we did this week was the completion of our assigned story fragments, the first step in the process of writing a short story.  Mr. Allen introduced the idea of story fragments to us on Tuesday, showing a way to get our creative juices flowing and begin a short story without encountering writer's block.  He identified the hardest part of writing a story: starting.  I have to agree with that.  It's always difficult to begin a story, as you don't know how much you need to introduce to the reader, which scene best captures the character, etc.  His solution is a story fragment, which is merely a piece of the story which goes into the story's premise without being labeled as a beginning, middle, or end.   This allows us to establish the character and plot to a certain extent which just being an outlet for all the ideas we have about a topic that often get overlooked in the writing process.  This one page fragment can then be turned into a true short story, with a beginning, middle, and end.

I was shocked at the ease with which I could write my story fragment.  I sat thinking for a few minutes about possible ideas, searching my mind for widowed images - images that we remember in our minds because we cannot understand them - and came upon a memory of walking along the streets of Lower Manhattan and seeing a homeless man hiding behind a newspaper.  I don't know why that picture sticks with me, but it does.  So I began writing a story for this man, and my fingers couldn't keep up with my brain.  I was so pleased with my result, which took a total of about 20 minutes to write, that I read it to my mom, which I almost never do with anything but a final draft.  She really liked it.  

So now I'm thinking about how I can apply this technique in other aspects of my writing and my life.  I am now reassured that picking a topic and running with it can sometimes result in a great foundation to build upon.  I shouldn't push away thoughts that keep returning just because they don't immediately fit in a final draft.  I also shouldn't fear my widowed images.  If I can't understand them now, there's a good chance that I will be able to understand them after writing about them.  I really enjoyed looking at writing as a way of expression rather than a solely a way of presenting your polished thoughts.  I certainly see myself using this technique in the future.

What if?; A world without Postmodernism

Throughout much of this semester in English class we have discussed Postmodernism in order to grasp this important philosophy of our era, as well as in the context of Heart of Darkness and short stories.  On Friday, as the class searched the text of Boys, by Rick Moody, for elements of Postmodernism, I couldn't help but wonder what the world would be like without the knowledge of this articulation of our existence.  Would we see the world in a different way?  

I began with the basic tenant of postmodernism: we are all part of a corporate system of ideas that limits our authenticity and originality, and makes commodities of our lives.  Now if I didn't see it that way, would I live my life differently?  I don't believe my life would be drastically different, yet I do think that I would be more prone to succumb to the system.  This leads me to the next aspect of postmodernism: since we cannot escape the system, we must find a way within the system to find meaning.  Perhaps without knowing that the system exists, I wouldn't know how to make meaning for myself.  

I also wonder how my view of stories like HOD and Boys would be different without an understanding of postmodernism.  My feeling is that I would make similar observations - the harlequin is independent and scrappy, for example - but that would be it.  I wouldn't be able to use that information to conclude other things based on a postmodern view of the character.  What postmodernism offers, it seems, is not a new fabrication of human life, but rather an articulation of the life we already know.  In this way we humans can find meaning in the system just by knowing about the system.  

Connection: Dehumanization in Heart of Darkness and Israel

One of the central themes of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is the dehumanizing portrayal of Africans.  First published in 1899, the story follows a man named Marlow's journey from Belgium to the Congo River and into the heart of the African ivory trade.  Throughout the tale Marlow witnesses near-slave treatment of Africans by European traders, who consider Africans merely part of the machinery of the trade process.  Elements of this unilateral, stereotype-based view of nonwhites that ultimately leads to extreme dehumanization can be found in Israeli-Palestinian relations, especially in the last month or so.

Though neither faction, Israelis nor Palestinians, have complete control over the other, their relations center around the erroneous idea that people of the other faction are just terrorists plotting to kill everyone that is against them.  Even more so, they consider each other's citizens as merely statistics on a death toll sheet.  This view, which shows itself on one side more so than the other sometimes, explains their failure to make peace and their continuous military conflicts.  And, on top of that, the past 8 years of American dehumanization of Muslims in general only boosts the attitude.

So what can we learn from Heart of Darkness and the late 19th century that can help us today?  Well, first of all, we can learn to identify other examples in our society in which two opposing sides fail to recognize the other as anything but inhuman (just look to Washington DC for further example).  By identifying these situations, we can find solutions that bring both parties back to human levels of interaction.  Just as Kurtz in Heart of Darkness tries to reveal the truth about the ivory trade, so too do Israelis need to begin reaching out to Muslims as neighbors, not arch enemies, and vise versa.  Only when these two sides have enough pressure from the outside to relate on a more mature level (much of which will come from the tone in the Washington DC) will they be forced to reconsider their failed policies of "peace."  I truly hope that Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts don't get stymied like Kurtz's efforts to reveal the evils of European treatment of Africans.