T minus 3

With about 3 months before I attain glorious freedom, I surprise myself with how uncertain I feel. I'm ready to move on and meet new people, but I'm going to miss everyone that I've known throughout high school. How long will it be before I begin to forget them? I might say I won't forget a person but obviously, given enough time, our friendship will fade. I'll make new friends, but I don't want to lose the old ones either. Oh well, that's probably why Facebook was made. On to more serious matters.

One of the things I hope I'll have in college is an awesome roommate. I've heard horror stories from some friends who just couldn't handle their roommate. They ended up bunking with some other friends in a completely different dorm. I think I'd cry if that happened to me. At the same time, I wonder how good of a roommate I'll be. I can see it too; my side of the room will be a mess, while the other person will have everything neatly organized. Being completely serious though, I really hope my roommate is someone I'll end up talking to a lot about a variety of topics, like scientific ideas, current events, and etc.

Nexus

People all strive for communication. They congregate, discuss, and converse with others on a daily basis. Nexus talks this to an entirely new spectrum. Nexus itself is a nano drug that allows people to communicate mind to mind. It becomes possible to feel what another person is thinking. However, it's possible with this technology to control how people think and their actions. this is something that extremely frightens government, and it should, as it is a very scary ability. This is the main topic that the novel disccusses. Should it be limited because it can be used to control others, or spread to allow more personal communications? I believe that it should be spread so the public can use it. There may be some side effects of doing so, but it will allow people to connect with one another in new ways. Being able to communicated mind to mind would allow so many social problems to be shattered.

Confessional Poets

Part of the Postmodern "movement", the confessional poets were an important corner of the movement. The confessional poets were about writing about their own feelings and self-expression through poems. Since this was a very deep kind of poetry, many of the poems were autobiographical, or at least had some examples drawn from the poet's life. The most important aspect of this group was what they wrote it about. Basically they exposed themselves to the world, and demonstrated who they were. I think this is the most impressive ability of these poets. They had the courage to share their traumas with a world of strangers. I have a hard time expressing how I feel, so for people to be able to do so with ease is impressive.

As part of the Postmodern movement, confessional poetry endured, but it also faded. At its most popular, the public adored it, but its attractiveness was lost eventually. It's disappointing that it did fade, as I think if the topics that confessional poets discussed were brought up more often in today's society, people might be more open-minded.

Dead Poets Society

After watching the entirety of Dead Poets Society, I was impressed with how deep the movie was to me. One of the boys, Neil Perry, was a child that was completely dominated by his father. His father demanded absolute obedience, and he gave it to him without question. There were times when he protested, but his protests were shot down by his father's shouting. Eventually, he takes his life when he's unable to pursue his dream of acting. His teacher, Keating, is blamed because he was accused with encouraging Neil to become an actor. Some might agree with that, but I strongly disagree; Keating was helping Neil discover what he really wanted to be. That may have been acting, but I can't understand why Neil's father was so adamant in refusing his wish. I think this movie deeply explored how people can really "seize the day". Normally that's used as an excuse to do something rash, but this movie explores what I think the phrase was really meant to emphasize, do something that will leave you changed. These students accepted poetry into their lives as something new, and made it their own. At the end of the novel, they were beginning to create their poetry, and Todd managed to leave his shell. In a way, I wish people followed carpe diem and embraced much more change.

Free Thinkers

While watching Dead Poets Society in class today, I had the sudden realization: few students today are free thinkers. Yeah, this movie is not completely realistic, but few movies are. The teacher's encouragement though, to open their minds, is one I think students do not receive in today's schools. Although things may be different than the 1950s, students should still learn to have an open mind. Students just aren't taught that today. Math, English, science, and even humanities' classes, we're simply learning how to pass tests and whatnot. Even though we do think in English, it's more about how to pass the AP test and not really about appreciating literature. We try, but there's really not enough time to do both. And since appreciation can't exactly be measured, it's an impractical thing to teach.

Favorite Poets?

Many people have a favorite author, or artist, or musician. When it comes to poetry, I have something similar to that. Most of the time, as I explained in an earlier blog post(I think), I don't particularly enjoy reading poetry. It's a very mood-dependent type of activity. However, if forced, I'd go for Shel Silverstein's poems every time, simply because they're awesome. Here's an example:

"Hammock"
Grandma sent the hammock,
The good Lord sent the breeze.
I'm here to do the swingin --
Now, who's gonna move the trees?

Next to the poem, there's a drawing of a child holding one end of a hammock with the other end wrapped around a tree. Unfortunately, there aren't any other trees around for him to hang the end up on. I enjoy his poems since they're so simple to understand. Yeah it's because they were meant for kids, but who cares? No difficult meanings to divine, no obscure vocabulary hooray! And not only are all of his poems childishly amusing, but he looks like a boss. Look at him.

Poetry

I remember the days when all poetry meant was create a limerick or acrostic. How I miss 2nd grade. Today though, we have the fun experience of learning about extremely confusing, yet lyrical verses. There are so many different ways to classify poems: sonnet, English sonnet, Italian sonnet, and so on. So many literary terms that spawned from it as well. There's verse, iambic pentameter, and rhyme. I'd like to take moment to brag. I know what a couplet is. Moving on, reading poetry has become increasingly complex. Gone are the day when all one had to do was listen to the rhythm. Instead, we get to find the author's real meaning and find a theme for their writing.

Despite my negative ramblings about why reading poetry has become exponentially more difficult; the truth is I kind of enjoy reading and thinking about it. It's certainly a provoking experience, and it's exercise for my brain. To demonstrate my abilities at poetry, here's a limerick.

I am a young child
Who wants to grow up in the wild
I will swing from trees
And never drink any English tea
Tarzan's my name, write that down in my file

Multiple Choice: Questions from the devil

I look at the multiple choice questions I have today and weep on the inside. Why must choosing a, b, c, or d be so difficult? I remember three years ago, multiple choice was cake. I could probably been half-asleep and gotten 100% on an entire test. Flash forward, I'm wide awake and scoring about an 80%. Embarrassing.
Although in my defense, multiple choice has become extremely complicated since I've been in AP  Junior/Senior English. These days, all those little buggers look like they have the same answer (Why does this word have a "w" in it?). Take one of those Beloved questions. A) sarcastic. C) irony.
According to dictionary.com, Sarcasm: harsh or bitter derision; irony
What's the right answer to that? C. While this is just one question, that doesn't mean the other questions aren't something similar to this. I just think this means multiple choice questions are becoming more subjective than they were in the past. At this point, I'd almost prefer to write an essay than complete 100 multiple choice questions. At least then I can explain my own answers, even if they don't make sense.

And if anyone actually read this, has anyone else seen Becca's blog? I'd bet money that she basically face-rolled across the keyboard to get that title. :)

Glasses

I have a secret. I have a burning desire to wear glasses. Not just any glasses. Hipster glasses. Although I may not have known this term when I set out to wear glasses, over the past few days, I've succeeded in wearing said "hipster glasses." With eyesight that's 20/20 (surprisingly). I don't need glasses. But I want them anyways! I couldn't tell you why I want them, it's just a craving, similar to how girls crave chocolate practically 24/7. Despite what Becca Schladt says about them, I can tell they're pretty popular. Number of people who wore them in orchestra: 10. In calculus today: 4. In zero hour: 1. But I have faith. One day, people will accept them, even Becca. She once tried to stop me from saying "sour" when bad things happened. Fast forward 2 months? She's saying it too. That's what I call winning. And although my glasses may not be complete just yet, I'm still going wear them proudly in class. 

Dearly Beloved.

Beloved is one of the more confusing novels I've read. I can understand how it's won the Pulitzer Prize, which is only given to American authors. It's so complex that the people should feel pride if they completely understand it after reading it once. One of the biggest mysteries that I discovered was that it's also a supernatural fiction novel. Yes, I'm sure we discussed this in class at some point, but I don't remember recall that, and so, it took me a decent amount of thinking to realize that this is also a mildly supernatural novel. I even wrote a reading journal about how Sethe should have discovered that Beloved is clearly an illusion. There's no way she's real, because she's supposed to be dead! And now...almost 24 hours later, I realize that I'm totally wrong. I feel sheepish.













But really, I'm not sure how I feel about Beloved. It might be that it's so confusing, that it's confused me on how I feel about it.

Secrets secrets are no fun...

Today in zero hour, we watched a video about this man who had a website dedicated to people mailing in secrets that they were keeping. They were kept anonymous obviously, so no one would be offended. They weren't all bad secrets, there were actually some pretty funny ones. One that we saw, was sent in on half of a Starbucks cup. It read: When customers are rude to me, I give them decaf. I may never know who that person has, but they have my undying respect.
But what really made me think was how people were unafraid to send them to this website.Sure, no one will find out that you sent it in, but you'll  know. And from my experience, knowing I did something that I probably shouldn't have is worse than someone else knowing. If you break something cheap, people might say, "Oh, just forget about it." But if you broke it, ran for it, and got away, then only you know what happened. I don't know about other people, but I get this feeling of guilt, that I should've stayed and apologized. Basically, I shouldn't have run away. So, when I'm telling someone a secret, I feel like I shouldn't have. They trusted me, and I'm just holding it out for the world to see. Alternatively, they could be exposing their own secrets instead of other people's, but I think most people would find that too personal to do.

All-State Orchestra and College

Perhaps one of the most exciting events of the school year for me, All-State Orchestra is a mash of music and friends, two of my favorite things. Practically three days of fun and sound, All-State has always been a fun learning experience for me. It has been difficult, but that's just part of the challenge. My excitement is somewhat larger than when I first auditioned successfully for All-State. After all, last year, I failed to make it. Since it's going to be my last time, I know I'll greatly miss attending this event.

Anyways, in my quest to go to college, I've had a fair amount of interview, and being completely honest, I've come to enjoy them. They're intimidiating at first, but I always end up relaxing after introductions are made,, probably because I intensely dislike introductions. I think they are stilted and stiff, but I suppose that's the nature of the interviews.

First Independent Reading Book

One the most interesting books I've read this year, Dune's an interesting mix of science fiction and religion. Of course it's not a real religion (Judaism, Christianity etc.). Dune concentrates on how most religions began, with a single person/idea. A boy named Paul (which I think is a really generic name) ends up becoming some sort of prophet for an entire universe. The Dune storyline doesn't end there, but this book is something like a prequel. What I really enjoy about this book is how it sucked me in. And that it's based off things that sound plausible (as long as you don't think too hard about them). But the story is a very powerful one. Although it does follow a commercial fiction story, there are surprises that break away from the trend. Most commercial fiction stories involve a person who has everything, loses everything, and then manages to get everything back with interest. And yes, that's what happens here, but even at the end, the main characters loses some things. For example, most endings have the hero living with their romantic partner (if they get one) for the rest of their lives. Dune? He has to marry a stranger in order to preserve order. Dune is just a book I would recommend for everyone. You might not like science fiction, or even plain fiction, but at least give this book a try.

The end of The Road

It's been a long road, fighting off bad guys, starvation, and disease. And now the boy and man have finished their journey.All this time, I've been saying that The Road  is a terribly dull novel, and isn't worth reading. I take back about half of everything bad I've said about it. I find most of the novel to be rather uninteresting, but the last little part of this story makes it worth reading entirely. The sheer sadness from the man's passing is touching. I Yeah, so that sounds a little strange, but what I'm trying to say is that the death of the man was so touching that people should read it. It's probably more than a little morbid, but I think it's an unexplainable part of human nature. The analogy I can think of is bad, but it might help explain how I feel about reading The Road's final section. Baseball games, football games, and basketball games are all a part of American society. Practically everyone watches at least one of these, and if not, they watch something else, like tennis or swimming. But when you watch them, people aren't really doing anything. Actually, they're probably eating unhealthy foods and creating a mess (sadly, I'm guilty of this). But if someone were to ask why, the most probably answer would be something like "just because" or "it's something you do". The reason why I think people should read The Road, or at least the ending, is exactly that. Because everyone should.

And...today in class, I checked the wrong box by accident. I said I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I'd like to take that back.

Fire

The Road's world has strong ties to fire. Modern society was completely destroyed by fire, and it is often used in the new world to hurt other people or in a terrible way. Take the Blood Cults, they often use fire to cook their meat, generally the flesh of other human beings. Or, people use to destroy buildings, homes, etc etc.. But for the man and boy, fire is something totally different.Fire serves as a protector; it keeps them warm, kills poison and whatnot that's in the canned food they heat, and at night, often helps keep the boy from becoming too scared.

But fire also is something different for the duo. The man often tells the boy that they're "carrying the fire." And from what I can see, they really are. Greek myth says that Prometheus carried fire down from Mt. Olympus and gave it to mankind. And then he got punished blah blah blah. That's not the important part. In a way, that's what the man and boy are doing in The Road. They're carrying a metaphorical fire. They're carrying hope (or basically any other positive feeling). The two are the only "good" people that are present in the story.

The Road

The Road is completely about the man and his son, and how they are always walking down a road. While the act of walking down a road may be mildly dull, there are dark ideas that really make a person think. Look at the man's love for his son. He can be seen as one of the best fathers in the world: gives his son everything, protects him, and looks out for him. No matter what, the man's priority is always his son. He ended up shooting a person because he threatened his son, and he abandoned another child because the man knew he couldn't look after two kids.
At the same time though, his love is slightly obsessive. The man frequently thinks about how the boy is the only thing in his life that keeps him going. The boy even asks his father what he would do if the boy died, and the constant reply is he'd die too. They even have a plan worked out. The gun is intended to allow a quick end in case the pair ever gives up. Whenever the man has to leave the boy behind, he gives him the gun with the words "You know what to do." Aka. Avoid being captured by the bad guys. The man may not want to leave his son to be left behind. There might not be much to live for, but society can always rebuild, and with so few people left on Earth, every single person becomes important.