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Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
2-16 Blog:Bronx Masquerade-Viewpoint Contrasts
As assigned, I have to compare and contrast the viewpoints of several different characters from Bronx Masquerade. There are a lot of contrasts here, so this shouldn't take long. Since introductions would waste some time here, let's get this ball rolling!
The first pair I'm going to contrast is Lupe and Gloria. Lupe is very similar to Gloria, but they have their contrasts. She feels unloved by her family and wants someone she can love and who will love her in return, and for that exact reason she is envious of Gloria and her baby, as having a baby may (in her mind) fix her feelings of unlovedness. Gloria is on the other side of that; she had a baby, and that did not fix the similar problem Gloria had. I mean, she loves the baby, but it did not fix the underlying issues. In a sense, Lupe is like Gloria from the past: about to make decisions that will make her end up with a baby (possibly).
The next pair I'm going to contrast is Devon and Diondra, who are, once again, very similar to each other. They're both tall people who are continually pressured about sports due to being tall; however, they each prefer different things to sports, and confront the pressurers in different ways via their poems. Diondra prefers art, and stands up to her accusers by literally accosting them with her poem;by contrast, Devon prefers literature and poetry, and, as more of a scholar is less like "Would you mess with me now? and more like "Look at the real me." They really defy stereotypes, which makes for an interesting read.
I would ramble on about contrasts for a while, but I need to wrap this up. Have a lovely short week, everyone!
The first pair I'm going to contrast is Lupe and Gloria. Lupe is very similar to Gloria, but they have their contrasts. She feels unloved by her family and wants someone she can love and who will love her in return, and for that exact reason she is envious of Gloria and her baby, as having a baby may (in her mind) fix her feelings of unlovedness. Gloria is on the other side of that; she had a baby, and that did not fix the similar problem Gloria had. I mean, she loves the baby, but it did not fix the underlying issues. In a sense, Lupe is like Gloria from the past: about to make decisions that will make her end up with a baby (possibly).
The next pair I'm going to contrast is Devon and Diondra, who are, once again, very similar to each other. They're both tall people who are continually pressured about sports due to being tall; however, they each prefer different things to sports, and confront the pressurers in different ways via their poems. Diondra prefers art, and stands up to her accusers by literally accosting them with her poem;by contrast, Devon prefers literature and poetry, and, as more of a scholar is less like "Would you mess with me now? and more like "Look at the real me." They really defy stereotypes, which makes for an interesting read.
I would ramble on about contrasts for a while, but I need to wrap this up. Have a lovely short week, everyone!
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Poetry Response
The poem I'm going to be responding to is "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. The plot goes like this: First, the father warns the son to be careful
of the Jabberwock, as well as some other beasts. Then the son takes a
"vorpal sword," sits by a tree and gets surprised by the aforementioned
Jabberwock. The son subsequently kills the Jabberwock, which leads to a
happy ending!
I think the author wrote it so he could try using Shakespeare's method of "insert random made up words into piece: become famous!" In order to do that, however, he needed people to notice it. Cleverly, he thought, "Why not have a man's son take a sword and slay a vicious beast? Everyone loves those stories!" We did love it, once we figured out how to pronounce the first and last stanzas.
This image here is a reference to the Sisters Grimm series, which has the mentally unhinged Little Red Riding Hood imagining the Jabberwocky as a dog, which is itself a reference to the poem. The stuff in the Jabberwocky's mouth is fire. Red is seeing this in first person, hence why she's not in the picture. To end this slightly lengthy post, have a nice day everybody!
I think the author wrote it so he could try using Shakespeare's method of "insert random made up words into piece: become famous!" In order to do that, however, he needed people to notice it. Cleverly, he thought, "Why not have a man's son take a sword and slay a vicious beast? Everyone loves those stories!" We did love it, once we figured out how to pronounce the first and last stanzas.
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Friday, January 22, 2016
Second Quarter Reflection
Well, we've nearly reached the other half of the year, so that means another reflection blog! I think I really improved this quarter, but that's just my opinion. Some of you may say otherwise, and I respect that. Now then, on to my actual improvements and accomplishments.
First, the area I've most improved on (at least in ELA): my argumentative writing, as I have now completed an essay with it (and the essay is good quality). Relating to that, the most challenging part of this quarter was me cutting slightly opinionated and satirical bits from that essay (which hurt me on the inside a bit, but don't worry). However, I managed to do that without making it sound like a fill-in-the-blanks kind of essay.
Something I've accomplished since the New Year that I'm proud of is acing all of those vocab quizzes, which sometimes can get a little complex. Fortunately, I've been staying atop those, and the accompanying homework. However, we have no more space on the fridge for the quizzes, which is kind of sad.
Happy 3rd Quarter everyone!
First, the area I've most improved on (at least in ELA): my argumentative writing, as I have now completed an essay with it (and the essay is good quality). Relating to that, the most challenging part of this quarter was me cutting slightly opinionated and satirical bits from that essay (which hurt me on the inside a bit, but don't worry). However, I managed to do that without making it sound like a fill-in-the-blanks kind of essay.
Something I've accomplished since the New Year that I'm proud of is acing all of those vocab quizzes, which sometimes can get a little complex. Fortunately, I've been staying atop those, and the accompanying homework. However, we have no more space on the fridge for the quizzes, which is kind of sad.
Happy 3rd Quarter everyone!
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| This is an antler mirror. Just wanted to point that out. |
Book Talk 1/21:Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos
Transcript
The book my book talk is going to be on is Dark Dude by Oscar Hijuelos, a realistic fiction novel. Dark Dude is set in modern day New York City, but transitions to the modern day countryside in Wisconsin. The main character is Rico, a part Irish Cuban who, because of his more Irish appearance, takes a lot of flak at school. He's an aspiring comic book writer and guitar player. He had to hitchhike to Wisconsin, and thus experiences a sort of cultural shift, thus creating the conflict. The mood shifted frequently, but it was kind of depressing for the New York chapters, and happier for the rest of the book. A theme of Dark Dude is family. Rico's family, whether physically present or not, affects him in almost every chapter.
(pause)
Now then, onto the review. I found this book interesting because it gave me more of a glimpse into a life somewhat less fortunate then my own. The thing I remember most is the concept of Dark Dude, the made-up hero that lends the book its title. It's an African American twin who gets fused with his white counterpart when they get struck by lightning, giving them the power to shift between light and dark, and I'm assuming some more form-specific powers here too. I would recommend this book to lovers of more cultural books, as this has that in spades. You should get it because, even if you're not into cultural identity type books, Rico's view of Midwestern style is...interesting, to say the least. That's all for now.
[end]
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Blog For Week 12-14-15: The Six by Mark Alpert
Prompts used:
• Write an obituary for the protagonist or antagonist.
• Discuss why you like or dislike what you are reading.
The book I recently finished was The Six by Mark Alpert. It follows a group of six terminally ill teens who get all their memories transferred into robots as a result of this project called the Pioneer Project. This whole mess was created by a rogue A.I. called Sigma (∑) trying to nuke us. Long story short, I have to write an obituary. Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk!
R.I.P.
Sigma
2020-2020
Our dear nuclear A.I. friend Sigma was possibly destroyed yesterday when he transferred himself to a nuclear missile and detonated somewhere over Russia. He is not survived by anyone as far as we know, as he deleted all his rivals. The funeral service will be held at 192.168.1.1. Rest in Programming.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Why? First off, the main character is extremely relevant to me, as I have a friend with muscular dystrophy. Adam, our main character, has muscular dystrophy as well. I also like technology in books. The gold nanoprobes and X-ray lasers are not only critical to the plot, they're pretty excellent bits of technology, which makes for good reading. Finally, there's the whole teens-get-superpowers cliche. While it is exactly that, The Six does it better than anything else, ever.
I will also include a picture of a Pioneer robot.
• Write an obituary for the protagonist or antagonist.
• Discuss why you like or dislike what you are reading.
The book I recently finished was The Six by Mark Alpert. It follows a group of six terminally ill teens who get all their memories transferred into robots as a result of this project called the Pioneer Project. This whole mess was created by a rogue A.I. called Sigma (∑) trying to nuke us. Long story short, I have to write an obituary. Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk!
R.I.P.
Sigma
2020-2020
Our dear nuclear A.I. friend Sigma was possibly destroyed yesterday when he transferred himself to a nuclear missile and detonated somewhere over Russia. He is not survived by anyone as far as we know, as he deleted all his rivals. The funeral service will be held at 192.168.1.1. Rest in Programming.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Why? First off, the main character is extremely relevant to me, as I have a friend with muscular dystrophy. Adam, our main character, has muscular dystrophy as well. I also like technology in books. The gold nanoprobes and X-ray lasers are not only critical to the plot, they're pretty excellent bits of technology, which makes for good reading. Finally, there's the whole teens-get-superpowers cliche. While it is exactly that, The Six does it better than anything else, ever.
I will also include a picture of a Pioneer robot.
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| My drawing of a Pioneer Robot. |
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Blog for Week 11/30/15: Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
The book that will be the main focus of this blog is called Outliers, a nonfiction book by Malcolm Gladwell. Rather scripted introductions aside, onto the summary!
Outliers is about success. However, instead of being just a book of success stories, it focuses on why these people were so successful. Is it more than hard work? Yes, in fact! Loads of different factors that you might not have thought of as significant contribute towards success in weird ways. This also indirectly shows the path to success in many fields, by looking back at it throughout history.
One interesting passage I found was this: "To become a chess grandmaster also takes about ten years. And what's ten years? Well, it's roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness." This is interesting because I'd have thought you'd needed just natural talent to become a grandmaster of anything. Now I know better. I mean, I never would've guessed ten thousand. I wonder if this ten thousand hour rule works with science.
A rather interesting thing I learned was that IQ doesn't completely affect success. I mean, you would think that the more IQ you have, the better you're going to end up, right? Well, only up to a point. Once you hit that point though, anything more doesn't really matter. What you really need, as shown in the book, is savvy. Street smarts are crucial to navigating the world and using it to achieve your end goal. If you can't bend the world around you to help you achieve, you will not succeed.
Outliers is about success. However, instead of being just a book of success stories, it focuses on why these people were so successful. Is it more than hard work? Yes, in fact! Loads of different factors that you might not have thought of as significant contribute towards success in weird ways. This also indirectly shows the path to success in many fields, by looking back at it throughout history.
One interesting passage I found was this: "To become a chess grandmaster also takes about ten years. And what's ten years? Well, it's roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness." This is interesting because I'd have thought you'd needed just natural talent to become a grandmaster of anything. Now I know better. I mean, I never would've guessed ten thousand. I wonder if this ten thousand hour rule works with science.
A rather interesting thing I learned was that IQ doesn't completely affect success. I mean, you would think that the more IQ you have, the better you're going to end up, right? Well, only up to a point. Once you hit that point though, anything more doesn't really matter. What you really need, as shown in the book, is savvy. Street smarts are crucial to navigating the world and using it to achieve your end goal. If you can't bend the world around you to help you achieve, you will not succeed.
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