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Ricky:Writing Center
Ella:How have your priorities changed from middle to highschool?

Writing Center Reflection

My trip to the writing center went exceptionally well. I met with John Harris, and he helped me improve my outline and transfer that outline into an actual paper. The reason this went so well was that my writing fellow had the same writing style as me, and since it is a rather odd writing style, he was able to help me in a way that most other people can't. This paper has been an interesting conversion for me, because my kind of writing is short stories and personal essays, so the extra help moving things along was a game changer for me.
He also suggested that I move my thesis to the front of my introduction paragraph, a change that I think made my introduction paragraph much, much better. Granted, I think my intro paragraph definitely needs more work, but any improvement is progress. I don't think that this paper would be going as well as it is if I didn't have the help of my writing fellow.

Prompt Response

James: Who is one person or a group of people that have inspired you to be who you have been today?

         I have one particular friend (a very recent friend, actually) who has inspired me to be a better person in a lot of ways. He has a such a drive mindset that makes him successful at pretty much everything, and he cares about literally everyone. He's humble, to the point where I bet if he read this he'd think, "Nah, this can't be me." It's just...the kind of person that I want to be in life.
        Besides inspiring me in that way, he also just pushes me to do stuff. One time I was stressed out because I had a paper due, somewhere around 3-4 tests, and a billion homework assignments in between, and he just texted me "Don't sit around and think about it, just get it done." So I did. Or when I was upset about my time in a cross country race, and he said that I should just "work harder in practice and it'll get there." Some people may think that he can be a little harsh, but I think it's just tough love because he wants me to do well. I want him to know how grateful I am for the impact he's had on my life.

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Sydney: LOTF Literary Analysis
Bea: Literary Analysis

free post

Being the writer I am, I struggle with writer's block from time to time, and one of the things I like to do when I can't think of something to write about is to go to a Random Word Generator.  This is exactly what it sounds like. It is something where I tell it how many words I want (any number between 2-10) and it literally gives me 2-10 random words. For example, I set it to six words and it gave me:
killjoydrimysskylinepoeticcredenzaamericana
To begin, I had no idea what drimys, credenza, or americana meant. So the concept of not knowing was a good topic, if you think about that for a second. Then, I could look them up and write about them. I could write about each word individually, or I could try to throw them all together. 
It's a weird way to get myself to write, but it works, and I use it. I've used it for a couple of other free posts this year, and it's how some of my personal essays I write at home turn out.

Lit Analysis Update

This literary analysis has been alright. It wasn't hard for me to choose a topic, because I've sorta had an idea of what I wanted to do this on ever since the words "Literary Analysis" have been put in my brain. And the outline wasn't hard, because it was literally me throwing words together and copying quotes. And writing the draft isn't too hard, because it's literally the outline with a couple of connector words. 

I think the hard part is yet to come, when I will have to revise my work. I have to find all of those issues where things aren't quite right, and force myself to fix them. I have to make myself give up those purposeful, literary device run-on sentences that, as those of you who have read my previous blogs know, I love very much, and keep my writing right where it needs to be. 

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JohnH:how to study for exams
Casey:Symbolism

How to Liven Up Your Room

If you're like me with white-painted walls and parents that don't like excessive holes in your walls (thereby there's very few ways to hang stuff up), you probably wish your room was a little less dull. Have no fear; here's a way to make your room very (very) unique.

You will need: 

• Adhesive putty
• Printer and some photos to print out
• thin ribbon or yarn
• scissors
• Paper Clips

Step One: Cut 3 long pieces of ribbon that will reach from one corner of your room to the other. 

Step 2: Using the adhesive putty (be generous), attach one going directly from one corner to the other, and one piece of ribbbon on either side.

Step 3: Print out your photos. You should make them size 4x6. They don't have to be on photo paper; mine were on standard office paper, but printer paper would look nicer. You need 10-12 photos per string.

Step 4: String the paper clip onto the ribbon by sliding it through. Twist it so the part that you attach to paper is pointing downwards. Slip your photo into this spot. (If this confuses you, I attached a photo at the bottom.)

Step 5: Repeat step 4 until you finish all of your photos.

STEP4:

Finished Product:

Symbolism

About two weeks ago, I was struggling with friendship and fights.
I was in tears, and I had nowhere to go, so I sat on a bench outside the cafeteria and tried to drown my problems in the apple juice they serve with lunch. (For the record, it only gave me a stomachache, so don't try it.) I wasn't sure which friends were my real friends anymore, and I was so totally lost. Confused. Destroyed. Insert various negative adjectives.
But then, this boy showed up. "Hey, I noticed you were upset, do you want to talk about it?" He sat down on the other end of the bench and put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm not good at this, and I don't even know your name, but if you need anything from me, I'm here."
That one small gesture led to me being happier than I had felt in nearly a month. I still have no idea who this guy is, but nevertheless it helped me more than he realizes.

(The boy in this story symbolizes hope.)

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Kaelyn:Critical Scene in Lord of the Flies
Anna: LOTF Response

free post

Sarah's prompt (it's here if you want to check it out) was "How have your priorities changed from middle to highschool.

I feel like my academic and extra curricular priorities have remained the same as I transitioned into highschool. I've always had ambitions, maybe to the point where I've been a little too hard on myself, and I've always strived to just...do well. But what's changed are my social priorities. I still don't concern myself with being the most "popular" or "coolest" or whatever people worry about these days. What I've started worrying about is just what people think of me. I constantly feel like people are judging me, and I'm über self conscious. I don't think its at an unhealthy level, but its definitely increased in a negative way.

LOTF scene

***hey, just for you grammar nazis out there, there is a run on sentence in here, and I want you to know that it is quite purposeful. Literary devices, people.***

" 'I tell you, I got the conch!'
Surprisingly, there was silence now; the tribe were curious to see what amusing thing he might have to say.
Silence and pause; but in the silence a curious air-noise[...blah blah blah...]
'I got this to say. You're acting like a crowd of kids.' [...blah blah blah...]
Now Jack was yelling too, and Ralph could no longer be heard above the noise."
(This is the scene just before Piggy dies.)


This scene is absolutely pivotal (I bolded, underlined and italicized that for a reason, folks) because it marks the point in which Jack's clan becomes like 90% animal. When they're yelling and screaming and booing and they just want him to shut up so they can continue their fun, and and all they want is to be able to hunt Ralph and kill him and put his head on a stick like they did with the Lord of the Flies, and honestly why is Piggy still saying stuff, it's not like anyone is listening they're all yelling and screaming anyway. We've seen a gradual change in personality (mood? psych setting? something?) before, but this is that final stretch that we see where they have almost nothing but pure thirst for blood.
I'm not saying this is the most pivotal , because there are some more important ones, but honestly, I most of the über-important scenes are way too gory for me to write about. But this one is the final psych change in LOTF before rescue, which influences the entire turnout of the novel.

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Ryan:What do you do in your free time, or do you have none?
Sarah: How have your priorities changed from middle to highschool

PRompt

Think about the first thing that pops into your head. Describe the things in your life that may have brought this thought on. (NOT the thought itself.)

Right now, the first thing that pops into my head is stress. Moreover, stress and confusion. 

I can tell you where the stress lies. It lies with school, it lies with sports, and it lies with social interactions. It lies wherever I don't feel comfortable, and it lies where I feel that I'm going to lose somewhere I am comfortable. It lies with relationships, friendships, and enemies; it lies with everything I connect with. 

But what I can't explain is the confusion. I know what I am confused about (relationships XD) but why I am confused about it is what I can't place. I am confused about my confusion. It's very fitting. 

I guess these things come with highschool, and I guess they just come with life and general, but I'm still getting used to it. I have no idea what's going to come, so I guess I just have to push past all of the stress and confusion and just keep moving forward.

LOTF response

[Piggy:] "I don't agree with all Jack said, but with some.  'Course there isn't a beast in the forest.  How could there be?  What would a beast eat?"
"Pig."
"We eat pig."
"Piggy!"
"I got the conch!" said Piggy indignantly.  "Ralph--they ought to shut up, oughtn't they?  You shut up, you littluns!  What I mean is that I don't agree about this here fear.  Of course there isn't nothing to be afraid of in the forest.  Why--I been there myself!  You'll be talking about ghosts and such things next.  We know what goes on and if there's something wrong, there's someone to put it right."
He took off his glasses and blinked at them.  The sun had gone as if the light had been turned off. [...]
"Life," said Piggy expansively, "is scientific, that's what it is.  In a year or two when the war's over they'll be traveling to Mars and back.  I know there isn't no beast--not with claws and all that, I mean--but I know there isn't no fear either."
Piggy paused.
"Unless--"
Ralph moved restlessly.
"Unless what?"
"Unless we get frightened of people." (83-84)

This paragraph begins with the obsession with pigs that we see so many places in Lord of The Flies. Pig. Pig. Piggy! But then it goes much deeper than that. Piggy and Ralph show another obsessiveness: the obsession with rules. "I got the conch!...Ralph, they ought to shut up, oughtn't they?" They need those rules for anything and everything to work, so when one of them is bent, they think that all heck will break loose. 
Then Piggy says that "life is scientific," and that he knows there "isn't no beast," which can mean several things. It could mean that he doesn't think the beast exists, in any way, shape, or form. It could mean that he doesn't think that the beast is a physical beast, and that this "beast" is just a concept floating around. (Similar to Simon's views.) Connecting this with earlier passages, I'm not sure which one. It seems like the latter when Piggy says, "Unless we get frightened of people." But in an earlier passage, it seems like the former when Piggy calls Simon "batty" for suggesting that the beast could be within the boys.
"Ralph moved restlessly." Is he restless because he's nervous, or because he's bored. Ralph could agree with Piggy, and Ralph could not agree with Piggy.Ralph and Jack's relationship notwithstanding, it is difficult to place where Ralph lies with this whole "beast ordeal" at the time of this scene. 

Comments

Ricky:Human Nature
Mak: Side Effects May (And Will) Vary

Human Nature

The prompt for this blog post was to explain what I believe about human nature. Whether I thought it was good, bad, prone to change, etc. I feel as though I want to believe that human nature is inherently good, and at times I do believe that, but that is not always true. I think that human nature cannot be defined as a certain characteristic. All of our lives, we are taught that everyone is unique, that we are all different, and that those differences are okay, and yet here I am trying to put all humans into a particular category of good or evil.

Suppose humans are, in fact, inherently good. How do we define what "inherently good" means? We often hear the phrase, "The world isn't black and white." Setting aside the concept of "people" for now, if we look at a particular person, they cannot be just one or the other. They may be a kind person, but they have most likely told a lie or two in their life. If a singular person cannot be put into a category of just "good" or "evil," why do we expect an entire population to be put into the same category?

Or am I wrong? Is human nature a separate thing from the nature of humans? Or is human nature set by the majority of actions, and not hindered by the minority? 

I don't want to say what I think human nature is, for the above reasons, but I must for the sake of the prompt handed to me. I suppose that human nature can be seen as good but vulnerable. Vulnerable, and fragile. There is evil in the world, and there are evil people in the world, and evil can work its way through the cracks in good, creating the patchwork of emotions we see.

These beliefs have come to me over a long period of time, over many years of contemplating this exact question. I have seen people so good I consider them to be near saints, and I have seen people so evil I question what made them so. I watch massacres on the news, and I think that human nature makes peace impossible, but I also see charities raise millions of dollars, and I think humans inherently want to help. I also see the little things. I see someone kick a puppy, and I think humans are mean, and I see someone help someone else carry something, and I love this human world. No one taught me to believe this. I figured it all out by watching CNN. And it is a belief that is still developing with every action I see.

Reading Response

I just finished a book entitled The Flip Side. Written by an olympic gold medalist, it is about a girl who hides that she is an aspiring olympic gymnast from everyone, and it eventually is released and it destroys her life. (It's a lot more complex than that, but you don't need to know that for this blog post.)
The author does something that I noticed but I doubt many other people would even care. She alternates between a chapter about her school life, and a chapter about her gymnastics life. Then, when it is released, they become one. It's basically a parallel plot, but only one person. It's kinda cool,to be honest. Other than that, its a pretty stereotypical romance novel, minus the olympic level gymnast part.

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Ian: Reading Response
My Wild Weekend featuring Jackson Sate vs. Southern

Free post

It is difficult for me to place

Where things went

 Awry

What did I say

That made a

Response impossible

People 

Can be so

Mean sometimes

I guess

He isn't

Worth it

Anyway

Response to A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings was very difficult for me to read for a variety of reasons; however, I thought it was a well-written story with a beautiful theme about unacceptance. The only vibe I got was really dark the entire way through, because of word choices anywhere from"killing crabs" to "a cry of pain rather than a cry of fear." No one was kind in the story, and everyone was judging the old man or judging each other or judging the world.
Scenes towards the end when the old man was in pain caused my skin to crawl. I couldn't believe the idea that an angel could be mistaken for something evil or demonic. And when he was ignored because there was a lady that turned into a spider, I was actually done. In its own odd way, this story has outlined most of human nature. Though not all humans are inherently evil, most will do anything for personal gain.

Response

How to Rig an Election: the Legal Way  by The Week Staff.

Gerrymandering is a term that describes the intentional clumping of a certain party's voters to a particular area, causing an easy win for the other party. Eighty of a hundred thousand voters would probably be put in two districts out of six, leaving only twenty thousand for the other four, according to The Week staff.
I don't agree with this at all, but I also don't think that it is ever going to change. My opinion is that politicians are inherently selfish and lie all the time, but that is what makes government work! The corruption of one side balances the corruption of the other. And since it will never happen that both sides will coexist without corruption, this is as close as we will get to equality.
Gerrymandering should be outlawed, yes, but since those corrupted politicians are the ones that would have to make the laws, it will never happen.  Never! It is the same as politicians voting on their own salaries. It isn't right, but it won't change.

Comments

Kaelyn:never let me go-reading response
Sarah:free post

Writing

Why is it that when we need ideas the most the good ones are hard to come by? Why is the curse of writer's block insistent on becoming apparent when we have a blog post due Monday? Will writers ever be able to summon creativity on demand? Will we squirm under pressure forever? 

When will it end? Have I found so little to write about that I have resorted to writing a blog post of questions? Will I ever be able to control my stream of thoughts, or will it have its own mind forever?

Reading Response

The book I am reading right now is called Winning: It's Not Everything. It's the Only Thing. It's about a girl who is going through great lengths to win homecoming queen, hurting a lot of people in the process.

I am a very competitive person, but I never hurt people. I certainly would not do so for something as frivolous as Homecoming Queen. (Sorry if that offends anyone on the Homecoming Court.) But the author takes it from almost ten different points of view. You have the girl herself, Alexandra, the sidekick puppy, Samantha, the enemy, Sloane, the girl she's using, Ivy, and the new girl, Erin. Plus several other random points of view. It's interesting to see other points of view than the one of the protagonist.

This book is very interesting, mostly because it's like a mean girls book, but from the mean girls POV. I haven't seen anything else like it. I don't really recommend it to anyone, though. I want to know how it ends, but had I known what it was really about I wouldn't have picked it up.

Comments

Riley:(no post title)
Ella: Reading response 9/26

Reading Response

The book I am reading currently is called Kill the Boy Band. I picked it up at the library because I thought, "Hey, I hate boy bands, I would like this!" but its actually the opposite of what I thought. It's actually about some girls that were fans of the boy band that went too far. It's still really good, though.
I still have to wonder. What defines a "fandom?" What gave them this idea? And, most importantly, do the fandoms in real life go too far as well? I don't know. I like certain bands, but I haven't been to a concert yet, and I don't own any merchandise except for their albums.
I haven't gotten far enough along in the book to say much more than this, but so far I would recommend this to anyone.

flash fiction

First it was jokes next to the workbench. Then it was hiding in a corner.  No one else knew the damage that one little object could do, but I did. And I ran from it; I ran from it when no one else did. Everyone laughed; they said I was being irrational. But I wasn't. I remembered a time in which that little object caused immense pain and suffering. No one else could remember such a day, but I could. I could see it vividly before my eyes again and again.  And I refused to go near any staple gun ever again.

Comments Week 4

John H: Dear a 14 year old
Trevor: (no post title)

Dear 10 year old

Dear 10 year-old:

I know that it is hard, being ten. People will try to treat you like the child you aren't anymore. But listen to them. When your parents say you aren't big enough to go to a gokart racing track, it is only because they want you to be safe. When your teacher tells you not to tumble on the playground, it is only because they want your limbs to remain intact.
At the same time, it is time to tell your mom to forget the babysitter. It's time to start biking around the block by yourself. You're double digits now! Take some freedom. Develop your own personality. And whatever you do, don't let anyone, anyone, manipulate you.

Response to Personal Narrative

Usually, I prefer to avoid commenting on my own work, because the whole process is rather difficult. How does one talk about his or her own writing without selling himself short or, on the opposite extreme, sounding arrogant? But, I felt the need to say something about my narrative, because the story I am telling means so much to me. 
To give a general idea, my narrative describes two fights between me and a friend of mine, one in which I am angry at him and another in which he is angry at me. I then explain that we fight all the time (really, all the time!) and describe how our entire friendship relies on the concept of forgiveness.
My thoughts while writing this piece were set strictly on forgiveness. There are some hints at swallowing feelings, but, in my opinion, to achieve forgiveness the first thing you must do is swallow your feelings. I used a lot of words that I don't typically use in everyday speech, because I was trying to subtly emphasize that it is not an everyday friendship. I used dialogue to vividly describe what our fights are like. I added lines like, "It wasn't okay, but he forgave me anyway" to the mix to show how high the levels of forgiveness were. Yes, I mostly freewrote this, because that is how I write, but not a single word on this paper was not carefully weighed and tested before it reached the page. 
Before I began to write, I told myself one thing.
"I will do this friendship justice."

Thoughts

**Before writing this, I read and deeply considered the poems and quotes found on this website.**

      It is amazing, not in a good way, how quickly one's attitude can change towards the world.
As students of a teacher that was lost in 9/11 write, it is easy to change your perspective from "don't forget" to "remember." It is easy to change from taking everything for granted to taking nothing for granted. It is easy to change from a trusting environment to security everywhere.
      But it is not easy to forget. It is not easy to forget the lives that were lost. It is not easy to forget the shock that I have not personally felt but have felt through others. It is not easy to forget that not everyone is good, not everyone is kind, and not everyone is concerned with the welfare of others.
We will always remember, and we will never forget.

Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana

Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana cannot be done justice by any words other than its own. I know I said the same thing in a recent post about Girl Against the Universe, but it's very true. It's general premise is that there is a planet a long way away called Terra Nova which is a mirror planet to our own. Each of us is present on Terra Nova; however, when faced with a decision it is likely that we would have made a different decision on Terra Nova.
Khorana depicts the life of a teenage girl during an event such as this spectacularly well. She captures the idea of trying to balance this news while still maintaining a normal social life. She uses phrases that intensely magnify the significance of everything.
However, I thought the book was a calm novel until I got to chapter twenty-five. Before this, it was just little bits of news and how it affected her family. Khorana focuses mainly on Tara's small town. But in chapter 25, Khorana goes deep. She vividly depicts a scene in which a woman known to have a specific double on Terra Nova is burned alive by an angry mob. The imagery is so good that I have not yet been able to get this image out of my head.
Khorana is not capturing the science fiction aspects of Terra Nova. She is capturing the effects of something like Terra Nova on earth, and it is a refreshing perspective I have not seen anywhere else.

Comments Weeks 1/2

Bea: School Stress
James: The Water Moccassin

Trevor: (no post title)
Riley:Friday Night(week2)

"You Want to Drive the Bot, Laura?"

"You want to drive the bot, Laura?"

"Heck, yeah!"

I'm in Mr. Bowman's classroom, at a robotics meeting, with about ten people there. His room is very grey. Grey walls, grey tables, grey equipment. But it's oddly comforting. Especially if you're a math geek.

The guy that offered to let me drive the bot hands me the controller. "Stay back while you turn it on. If it blows up it'll take your head off. Oh, and if you fully accelerate, it'll go through the wall. If you need to shut it off, hit space."

If I mess up, I'll kill someone. Great words of encouragement.

So I take the controller. The robot is about two feet high, black, and with an arm that goes up and down.

I move it around.

I aim.

I fire.

The ball I was shooting goes right in.

Another boy sitting near me snickers. "Beginner's luck." So I try again.

I move it around.

I aim.

I fire.

It goes in again.

The boy chokes. "I can't do that."

Mr. VanKirk says, "You're a natural."

And I feel like I could make any bot do anything.

Harry Potter

I have decided to reread the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Rather than give you my thoughts on the one I am currently on right now (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), I have decided to discuss the first four books as a whole. I have read these books once at eight years old, once at eleven years old, and now. Each time I have read it, I have found new connections, new ideas, and new meaning.
Rowling starts with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. This book is painfully cheesy in a way than can only be compared to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Although the rest of the series is impossibly entwined, Sorcerer's Stone seems to have no real purpose other than to introduce a few characters. The next book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, doesn't really improve a whole lot in a cheesiness sense, although we do see an aura of "don't be cocky" with Lockhart and a true horcrux. We are even introduced to Lord Voldemort. 
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is not cheesy at all and has true value. Sirius plays a role of innocence and integrity that never disappears. We learn truth. We learn to find out for ourselves what truly happened instead of taking the word of everyone else. 
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is long and a bit dull at times, but overall is quite good. We see examples of distrust being a gift, for the world is not often inherently kind. We find ourselves staring at first glimpses of death. Death we could not prevent. We watch those who care about the boy who died mourn, and we cannot help but mourn as well. 
People may say, “They’re just books,” but they’re wrong. They are so much more than books. And I haven’t even touched the last three.

It Pays to Watch Your Words

The girl was quiet-

                    -nearly silent.

The girl was good at many things-

                    -but school and art were on the mark.

People laughed at her-

                    -"you're a nerd," they said.

She hated this-

                    -as anyone would.

But she moved on-

                    -like no one else could.

And 20 years later-

                    -she's a CEO.

The boss of all those people-

                    -that ever laughed at her.

Thoughts on Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes hit me in the heart like someone slapped me. The basic premise of this book is that a girl blames herself for numerous accidents that happened in her past and thereby refuses to take part in any social events, fearing that something bad might happen. (Consider this a form of PTSD.)  She goes to a psychologist who gives her challenges to complete her goal. (This is referred to as "shrink homework" throughout the novel.)

Usually, I am not a realistic fiction reader, so I was quite skeptical of this at first. But as I read, I noticed things. I noticed how Stokes writes thoughts like speech. I noticed how she writes about one person in a vastly different way than she might write about another. Stokes doesn't write in the traditional way where the protagonist gets SO CLOSE only to have it all collapse in front of her. No, Stokes writes it so that the protagonist climbs so high the accident only makes her see more truth than ever before. 

No, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to think that everything is my fault, so I will not pretend that I can. I have never been to a psychologist, so I can't even pretend I know about that. I can only say that Paula Stokes can, and she uses it brilliantly. It is a story of overcoming pain without being a tear-jerker. I wish that I could simply say how great it is, but I cannot. I can only recommend this book to you, and hope that when you read it you get the same meaning out of it as me.