Reflection Blog

If you looked at my high school transcript you would see a clear theme for all the classes that I took over four years. Looking at the STEM classes I took, you would notice a long list of chemistries, computer sciences, and biologies--a handful of them AP classes. Glance over at the social sciences and languages and you would see the bare minimum. I took three years of spanish, humanities and advanced English for the first three years. You could safely detect where my academic strengths are--math, science, anything left-brained. It could also be identified where my weakness are, (language obviously) and why I’m not majoring in English next year. However, as you reached the end of my transcript you would see a class and, based on the previous 40 classes, would think it was a typo: AP Literature. Cause that makes sense, right? No. For some reason(s) I decided to take AP English this year. I was concerned about going to college without any high-level English courses under my belt. Also, I didn’t like the idea of some of my friends getting huge advantages when writing college essays. I know that last years class would have been best to learn craft, but this course helped a ton (I didn’t have a strong base. Ha.) Now looking back at it, taking AP english was a great choice. It expanded my English prowess and made me more of a well-rounded student.

Fiction v. Nonfiction

Up until this point, I had read only fiction independent reading books. My last book was Guests of the Ayatollah, by Mark Bowden. This book is a potrayal of the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979, where the US Embassy in Iran was stormed by an Iranian militia and held hostage to further their political agenda. The 53 hostages were held in the embassy for 444 days, a miserable 15-month span. Between Guests of the Ayatollah and The Collector (A similar fiction book I read last time), there were some very noticable differences between the nonfiction and fiction titles. The nonfiction authors have less creative freedom than the fiction authors. Given that the nonfiction books don’t reflect the event 100%, the author still has a timeline that he can’t veer from too much. This has two effects, one of which is that it makes the nonfiction books more realistic. Since the nonfiction books are based on an actual event, the plot events will seem less far-fetched than some of the fiction books (Come on Suzanne Collins, no one wins the Hunger Games twice). However, it makes nonfiction books less suspensful. For the same reason, because the events are totally realistic, the book will have believable and sometimes predictable outcomes.   

Winding up English Class

This is my last straight forward english class of my educational career (hopefully). I am sure that there are many of us in the same boat as me. I’m goin to Nebraska-Lincoln next year in the Raikes School of Computer Science and Business. My english requirements will be filled by a special class of the program with both business and computer science integrated into it. I am semi-anticipating it because english is not my favorite class (litotes for the win!) and not having a strictly english class won’t bother me at all. However, with the class scope narrowing, school will be much different. I won’t be taking courses in the traditional core class structure, with all of my social science credits fulfilled too. It shouldn’t be trouble, but you know how significant change can bring about hesitation.  

One thing is for sure, I will be happy that this is my last english class. Although it has been my hardest english class to date in high school, I have certainly had more fun being with my close friends and learned a lot more too. I admit to taking the easy way out until this year...which made this year harder. Darn. Luckily I am/was in good hands. Overall, english class wasn’t the beast I had expected it to be. I had good teachers  all four years and never got overwhelmed (which is not a testament to superb english skills). I guess I must say: it’s been real english. No, I don’t expect to part ways and never see you again...but my biggest concern in high school turned out okay.

There is No Place Like Nebraska

There is one specific poem that I will never forget. The poem--turned song shortly after--has been played by and for me thousands of times; ‘There is No Place Like Nebraska’. Writing a recent blog post about limericks, I had completely overlooked this because I am only familiar with it in song. The two-versed poem follows a limericks meter and rhyme scheme (almost), but is not meant to be a joke. The words, which will forever be in my heart, go:

“There is no place like Nebraska,

Dear old Nebraska U,

Where the girls are the fairest,

The boys are the squarest,

Of any old place that I knew.

There is no place like Nebraska,

Where we are all true blue,

We will all stick together

In all kinds of whether,

For dear old Nebraska U.”

This poem was later turned into a march by John Phillip Sousa. The two verses both follow the rhyme scheme ABCCB, and each line has between 6-8 syllables. In the song format, the C rhyming line are said faster, to make it sound more like a true limerick. As another similarity, both B rhyming lines use masculine rhymes, while the C rhyming lines both use feminine rhymes. I now present to you ‘There is No Place Like Nebraska’ in song form performed by the Cornhusker Marching Band. 

Hooray for English!

I walked into English today thinking that I would be walking out crying 90 minutes later from a near-impossible poetry in class essay. Much to my approval, Mr. Mullins had a surprise for us. When he announced what movie that we would be watching I figured it would be one of those school documentaries which I napped during. However, I was very pleased with Dead Poet Society. I haven’t really been a fan of old movies, and figured that such a movie about English wouldn’t attract me at all. Dead Poet Society (or the 50-ish minutes that we watched) was a very interesting movie. I think that part of it is due to that Robert Sean Leonard, Robin Williams and Red Foreman (no clue his actor name) are some of my favorite actors. 

Not considering the cinematic elements that make movies appealling, I am legitimately intrigued with the Dead Poet Society concept. The in-depth and personal interactions that the characters have with poetry is very interesting. This movie sheds some light on the empowering and enthralling side of poetry, which is much more attracting than the view of intelligent, classy poetry that I hold. The structure and literary elements of poetry don’t do much for me, but I think this Dead Poet Society stuff is really cool. I’m excited to finish the movie!

Time for a couple Limericks!

My favorite type of poetry by far are limericks. What attracts me to them are their humorous and nonsensical nature. I did not know until today that the purpose of limericks is to offer comic relief, I had assumed that only the popular ones were side-splitting. There is a specific structure for limericks: an (AABBA) rhyme scheme and a definite meter sequence where the A-rhyming line have equal syllables and the B-rhyming lines have half(ish) that number of syllables (i.e. 10,10,6,6,10). One of the most popular limericks is the Popeye theme song:

I’m Popeye the Sailor Man,

I’m Popeye the Sailor Man,

I’m strong to the finish

‘Cuz I eat my spinach

I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.

I have searched the web and read hundreds of limericks (I got a little sidetracked) to try to find the most comical limericks. I have found that I enjoy reading limericks so much because the make me laugh and I don’t have to think. In my opinion, here are the 3 funniest limericks:

A young schizophrenic named Struther, 

Who learned of the death of his Brother, 

Said, "I know that its bad, 

But I don't feel too sad.

After all, I still have each other.

(Shout out to my fellow chemistry and physics fans)

Archimedes, the well known truth-seeker,

Jumping out of his bath, cried “Eureka!”

He ran half a mile,

Wearing only a smile,

And became the very first streaker.

There once was a girl named Irene,

Who lived on distilled kerosene

But she started absorbin’

A new hydrocarbon,

And since then has never benzene!

Holla if you got that last one. Ha! A complete list of limericks for your enjoyment can be found at http://freewebs.com/limericks/.

The Importance of Point of View

The Collector by John Fowles, my second independent reading book for this semester, has been my favorite book that I have read this year. I think being able to choose your books more freely for this inquiry project has allowed me to read more enjoyable books. The Collector centers on Frederick Clegg, an avid butterfly collector who has crippled social skills. He struggles to interact with everybody in his community; however, he has an intense infatuation with a local college student, Miranda Grey. Clegg has just won a fortune of money through a football betting pool and schemes to abduct Miranda for his own. The part I enjoyed most about this book is how Fowles uses perspective throughout the novel. The chapters alternate between Clegg and Miranda’s point of view. While one perspective allows a narrow, focused understanding for the audience, two perspectives allow a much broader range of emotions to be revealed to the audience. I found it fascinating to unearth the emotions of both the captor and the captive, far different from the one-sided point of views that are traditionally used in this genre. If you enjoy crime dramas, I strongly suggest that you read The Collector soon.   

An English Conceit

So how bout those new vocab quizzes, huh? No really...they are a legitimate topic of conversation. I actually like them better. They are less rote memorization and more practical knowledge to learn. I prefer the identification and short answer section (part two) of the quiz rather than the definition part. I think the second half would actually suffice for the entire quiz. I am just greatful that I didn’t have to spell these words--like I could spell ‘consciousness’ correctly without looking it up on dictionary.com. For real. There was one particular question that I enjoyed answering. I know, weird. But I thought the ‘create your own conceit‘ was fun. To expand on the good times I had creating my own conceit (and to further famliarize myself with the vocab) I have decided to write a conceit about English class. Enjoy:

English class is like an airplane ride. Just as English is needed to graduate, an airplane ride is needed to get to your destination. If done alone, it could be very boring and uneventful. However, if done alongside close friends, English class could become an exciting experience. If unsuccessful, well, no one wants to come back to high school. It seems that I want to get it over with as quickly as possible, but I’m not so sure I’ll miss it once it’s over.

An Open Letter

Dear People who Honk their Horn while Driving,

No, I don’t mean you people who honk your horn to warn someone or get someone’s attention. Honking your horn at someone not paying attention while driving is completely justified, don’t worry about a thing.

I’m talking to you--people who honk their horn out of frustration because you are late or just angry in general. I’m sorry that you thought that you had the right of way at that four way stop, but you did not. Either learn to drive or get off your high horse. You aren’t more important than any of the other drivers out there. And I highly doubt that 12 more seconds won’t make or break your day. If you are that late, you can’t blame anyone but yourself. 

So you are just angry in general? Please tell me how your rudeness is going to motivate me to speed up or get out of your way. You will find out that most people will SLOW DOWN because the don’t appreciate your conduct. You should just not honk your horn at all. I’m sure you are representing yourself greatly and setting a wonderful example to your kids: if you don’t like it, throw a temper tantrum. 

Please, lay off your horns.

Sincerely,

Us courteous drivers. 

The Importence of Spelling

               Have you guys read the artical about schools not correcting spelling? What is up with that! A school system in Los Angeles is expirementing with a new teaching technique where they do not correct spelling mistakes until late eighth grade. Their rational behind this method is that not correcting mistakes will maintain the moral of the students and give them more confidence. This confidence, in theory, will invigerate the students to learn and a bunch more bolony. I think this is rediculous. That late in ones educational career spelling becomes a habit. And how much confidence will be lost over mispelled words? It won't hurt to try but don't expect inteligent, literate students to come from this program. 

               I am going to try to give an example of how this might backfire, by playing out an example of how I might have been effected by this program, given that I can't spell dissapear or embarass correctly without spell check in the first place. Now you may (or may not) have noticed my amateur spelling throughout this blog. I have counted at least 10 common spelling (or homophone) mistakes made throughout this blog. These mistakes would be easily confused and not neccesarily go against current English phonnetic rules. A student graduating from this school system would likely continue to write like this the rest of there lives. Nobody wants to read or critique work like this. It's EMBARRASSING (nailed it). Lets stop this before it starts. 

Hand-Written Letters

I read Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Matthew Gasda for this week’s blog. I have to agree--hand written letters have disappeared with the development of electronic mail and texting. Beside the inpersonal birthday cards I routinely get, the last serious hand written letter I received was from my grandma and grandpa for my birthday. I was an in depth, sincere letter for my birthday. I really appreciated it. For some reason, hand written letters seem much more personal and meaningful than stock letters (the same reasoning why hand-made goods or more special, perhaps).

Although the new communication forms are beneficial in several ways, they also have their setbacks. For texting and e-mail, time is a definite plus. Sitting down to hand write a letter takes much more time than does quickly typing out a text or e-mail. Cost, is another advantage of new technology. Texting and online communication are (essentially) free. They require no materials and little (or none) processing fees. Stationary, however, costs significant money, as does stamps to mail the letter.

The nostalgic and memory purposes of hand written letters excels that of online communication. For a scrapbook or any memorabilia, hand written letters are much more ideal. Like I was talking about earlier, letters are much more personal and emotional. Hand-written letters have a much greater impact on the recipient. Although I don’t receive many hand-written letters, I prefer them to online forms of communication and would much rather prefer them. 

Mr. Stoltz in the Hizzle

I heard that Mr. Stoltz was teaching Thursday in class, and I was not sure what to expect. Mr. Stoltz has been our student teacher for awhile, but I have never heard him talk very much. I was not sure how he would do, because speaking in front of people can be intimidating. I have to say- Well done Mr. Stoltz. Your first day teaching for us was awesome. I hold this belief that student teachers are evil and out to get my soul (the result of an unfortunate student teaching encounter during 8^th grade), and Mr. Stoltz sure proved me wrong. Atta Boy. I think that Mr. Mullins and Mr. Stoltz should co-teach. Or tag team it. Forever. That would be pretty cool. I think between the two they could make AP English educational, and even more fun (if it could get more fun!). But really. We got a good 1-2 punch in our classroom. It’s kind of like Big Bang Theory (not quite sure where I’m going with this…I tried to think a better, more relevant literature example, but alas, it wasn’t to be). You got Sheldon (Mr. Mullins), who is the expert of his field and could still accomplish his goals alone, but Big Bang Theory wouldn’t be as funny. Throw Rajesh (Mr. Stoltz) in there, less experienced but still knows what he is doing, and Big Bang Theory becomes even more awesomer. I wish I had a picture of Mr. Stoltz, so I could insert it here. But I don’t, so I’ll stick with BBT references.

Book Review: Hostage by Elie Wiesel

For my first independent reading book, I chose Hostage by Elie Wiesel. My inquiry project is about the effects of hostage situations, so this book is very appropriate. I selected this title because it appeared to be focused around a lengthy hostage situation involving anti-semitism shortly after World War II. I was correct about one thing...it was about a lengthy hostage situation and all that. Shaltiel Feigenberg, a middle-aged Jewish story teller, was abducted by a revoltuionary Islamic organization. Shalti was targeted because of fantasy newspaper articles written by him that this organization has miscontrued to align with their agenda. The book, however, is of equal parts suspense and political plot events. While the Israeli and American governments were considering the abductor’s demands, Shalti and his two captors discuss international politics (not a friendly conversation, although). This component of the book I did not like. I was very intrigued with the abduction scenes, but I was equally bored with the political conversation in the middle of the book. I had to trudge through that particular section of text (like the 60-page long cave scene in the Hunger Games). I have not finished reading the book, so I cannot form my opinion of the book as a whole. However, it better have an eventful ending.  

Left Behind vs. The Road

I have read only one other book with an apocalyptic disaster plot, Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Both it and The Road have similarities beyond the plot, but also many differences.

Similarities: 

Both books are focused around isolated groups. In Left Behind, four children are left alone and have to rely on each other to survive. Also, both books have widespread fires destroying everything. The characters in Left Behind are seeking for something, too. They are trying to find their family in the midst of the disaster.

Differences:

The cause of the apocalypse is known in Left Behind. The series (12 books in all) is an interpretation of the rapture, where all believers vanish from Earth at the same time. All the instantaneous disappearances cause many disasters all over the Earth, especially fires caused by abandoned machinery operators, airplanes pilots, etc. In Left Behind, all the children stay local. They ravage through the city for their relatives instead of embarking on an adventure. Unlike The Road, there is an end in mind in Left Behind. All the children are anticipating a return of the people who vanished (as prophecized). The Left Behind series is very riveting and worth reading. It does not have the horror and gore that The Road has (which I enjoy) but still very suspensful.  

Jake's Take of Found Word Poetry

This semester has been fairly steady so far in AP English (I do like a consistent class schedule, but it limits the topics I can blog about). I fear that everyone will blog about The Road so I am going to try my best to be original. 

So how bout that found word poetry? That is not something you do everyday. Actually, it was the first time I tried that. I am glad that Mr. Mullins allowed us to experiment with new things in the middle of this unit. It freshened things up a bit from the usually class discussions (which I had no problem with).

The trouble I have had in poetry is being able to create such vivid and impactful imagery. I can handle meter and poetic structure well, but I have never been able to grasp the emotional component of poetry. Conveniently, found word poetry did that for me. It gave me all the wonderful imagery and vocabulary that I lacked. Not saying that I have created a poetic masterpiece, but I do think that I got closer to the root of poetry. I enjoyed using the quotes from the book and rearranging them to fashion a poem of my own. I hope it is a sign of good things to come for this semester.  

Top Ten Fails of Twenty-Twelve

Nothing makes me laugh more than sports bloopers. Since we are starting a new year, I have decided to make a Top Ten Sports Fails of 2012. Enjoy.

10. Kent State Wrong Direction: Kent St LB Andre Parker picked up a fumble during a game and ran in the wrong direction. Even sadder, the other team tackled him.

9. Replacement Refs Touchdown Call: During Week 3 of the NFL, the referees determined that Golden Tate caught a touchdown pass as time expired. However, Greg Jennings caught the ball and Golden Tate hugged him... apparently it still counted.

8. Mark Sanchez Butt Fumble: Jets QB Mark Sanchez fumbled after running into the rear of his own player. The ball was returned for a touchdown by the defense.

7. Fake Basketball Flop: Faking an Injury has become a new fad in sports. However, it must be reasonable for referees to believe it. This guy's was not.

6. Nick Young Lay-Up Towards... Nothing: NBA Player Nick Young had a fast break opportunity during a game. He attempted to make a lay-up and... well... he did not.

5. Javale McGee Confused: Wizards player Javale McGee was caught not paying attention and accidentally ran to the wrong end of the court. McGee is often criticized for his bonehead plays during games. I can't blame his critics.

4.  Appalachian State Free Throw: Appalachian State basketball player Brian Okem was shooting the second of his two free throw attempts. So close, Brian.

3. U.S. Open Birdman Appearance: Golf is usually a game of gentlemen and respect. Not for this fellow. He thought the U.S. Open Trophy Presentation would be the best time to practice his game calls.

2. Atlanta Fan Dunk Fail: It is safe to say that I'm not surprised this happened. I wonder why the Atlanta Organization chose him to participate. I applaud him, though. He believed he could dunk that ball. Gravity had other plans.

1. Javale McGee Missed Dunk: Mr. McGee has made another appearance on my list. I think this is the funniest sport fail of 2012 because McGee did not come close to the basketball while looking like a buffoon.