MY BAD STEPHANIE

Sorry this is so late. To be honest, I completely forgot about my computer until today. Anyways, to answer the prompt:

1) Most Beautiful Work Award: I think that the writing I am most proud of is my essay on The Scarlet Letter. Even though in-class essays have never been my strong suit, I think that I actually presented my thoughts really clearly and I used surprisingly big words for the short period of time with which I had to work. I'm proud of myself for being able to form thoughts eloquently on paper without sitting at home for hours editing them.

2) Lesson Learned: I've learned a lot about not writing from a third party perspective. I've always hated writing in first and second person however for our tragedy paper, writing in first person was very necessary. I had no problem getting through all of the "they say" paragraphs but the second I needed to say "I", I became really unhappy with how that sounded. Writing in first person has always sounded unprofessional to me and I had a hard time adjusting to doing so. However, I actually liked the way my tragedy essay turned out and I think that I managed to write in first person without it sounding childish... or like a blog :)

3) Lessons I'd Like to Learn: I should probably learn how to prepare for in class essays ahead of time. While I did well on my essays, had I actually spent time to think about what I was going to write or say before the second I walked into third period, I could have done a lot better. Oh, and I have no project ideas because I suck at being creative :)

Senioritis

This week I only went to school for two days out of five so writing about what happened is sort of escaping me. However, I did start my third book, Never Let Me Go for Stephanie's class and I've been putting off completing my common app and USC application. I suppose eventually, I'm going to have to get over the fact that college is just around the corner and actually finish applying. It feels as though if I continue to procrastinate, time will do so as well. Calculus has been really overwhelming and I think I'm really frustrated because I promise to quit any job I have if they ever ask me to solve a problem like the ones Will is trying to get me to comprehend. I plan to be an English or International Relations major. Neither of which, require the ability to be able to find the derivative of 5x^2-4x+12x^-1/2. As much as I like Will, and I see a relevance for math in the world, it is just not something I have any interest in. I think that's the only thing I'm looking forward to about college: being able to choose what I study. I love learning and there are so many things that I'm interested in, why would I want to waste my time taking tests and racking my brain over topics that I have no interest in pursuing? I guess I'm just having a severe case of senioritis and with 102 missed periods this semester alone, I am probably the worst case ever recorded. Although, I can't say that I'm proud of it or happy with what it's done to me. I used to like going to school, now I can hardly drag myself out of bed in the morning. I just hope this is a temporary thing and that I am not the only one in my class feeling this way.

Tainted Futures

This week we wrote our second essay based on our books that we've read for our Inquiry Project. While this essay was a little bit harder to write than my first one on The Scarlet Letter, I really think that my essay turned out well. My question was "How are people changed through their relationships with others?" and the book I wrote my essay on today was Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. The book follows a young girl named Ruth Ann Boatwright, or Bone, through her childhood in South Carolina in the mid 1950's. She was born to her unwed mother at the age of 15. From birth, she was labeled an illegitimate bastard and her mother constantly fought to make sure Bone thought better of herself. However, nothing Bone's mother could do would protect her from the physical and sexual abuse of Bone's stepfather, Daddy Glen. I wrote my essay about how the abuse transforms Bone from a healthy little girl who was not affected by her harsh label, into a self-loathing young adult who engages in several unhealthy habits and lifestyles in search of the love she does not get in her home life. I think that my essay turned out really powerful because I ended it with a question. "How does a young girl escape the abuse of her stepfather without forcing herself to maintain a victim everyday for the rest of her life and poisoning her own happiness?" While the wording of the question is specific to the book, I think that this is a really relevant question to a lot of people. Although hopefully Bone's experiences of abuse are not the kind that most people go through, I think that most people have been in some sort of situation where they blame themselves for something that is not their fault. My essay, in short, asks how do we go through life, and often horrible experiences, without tainting all of our good experiences to come?

Tragedy Creation

This week we've been wrapping up our Tragedy Project in English. We turned in our essays and worked on our Tragedy Creations. I wrote my essay based on three of our class readings: Aristotle's idea that Oedipus Rex was the perfect tragedy, Krutch's the Tragic Fallacy, and Arthur Miller's Tragedy and the Common Man. I then used my own thoughts to reflect on the authors' words and describe what I believe is necessary to make the perfect tragedy. I also worked on my Tragedy Creation. I decided to write a short story that I believe illustrates tragedy. My story is about a young immigrant who came to the United States with her daughter. Since in my essay, I stated that a story was more tragic if the struggle was not caused by the person suffering, I decided to use immigration as a good example. This also exemplified my point that in order for something to be a tragedy, it needs to point out a flaw in society instead of a flaw within the individual. I also used a woman who is undergoing financial problems so that she would be relatable. Although many readers are most likely not illegal immigrants struggling to make ends meet in Los Angeles, I think that recently, especially with the economy crisis, that many people can make a connection with someone, male or female, U.S. citizen or not, that is working hard to support her family.

The Imperfect Tragedy

This week we've been studying the tragedy of Oedipus Rex, or Oedipus the King of Thebes. This play has often been referred to as "the perfect tragedy", however I would disagree. While, I do think the story has an extremely tragic ending, I felt like throughout the centuries, the play's ability to connect with the audience has greatly diminished. Not only do we no longer have prophets to foretell our futures, but we no longer have such divine rulers that obtain so much power. While reading Oedipus, while it did have a much more enticing storyline than Crito or The Apology, I felt like I had no application of the story to my life. There was no relevance. I think that one of the main points of a play is to be able to capture the audience and reel them into the story, however I felt that Oedipus was lacking this quality. It was just something to read, but it left no lasting impression and sparked no thought process about my own life. Perhaps, I was just not adequately reading the play, but I feel like should I go back and repeat the process, I would still maintain the same monotone feeling about the script.

Is there something that I was not doing in order to be able to absorb all of the aspects of the reading? I'm hoping that throughout this year, considering the fact that we will be reading a lot of older literature, that I will be able to learn how to better involve myself in the stories that we are trying to become a part of.

From Progress to Digress

This week in English, we spent a lot of time focusing on ancient Greek philosphers. So far, we've read two of Plato's dialogues which revolve around Socrates. The first was The Apology and the second was Crito. The Apology was Socrates' defense statement that he made to the jury of Athens while he was on trial for corrupting the youth and going against the Greek Gods. I thought that the concept of someone being on trial for corrupting the youth was almost humorous. With all of the "corrupting" influences that we have in today's society that are aimed directly at young people, it's amazing that such a thing could have ever been considered criminal. Billions of dollars are spent on marketing teams who are paid to find out exactly what it is that young people want and how to convince them that their lives are inadequate without the selling product. If the Athenian jury were to see American society today, I'm sure that the verdict would be Hemlock for everyone. However, when California was in such a heated state over Prop 8, many supporters argued that teaching the possibility of homosexual marriage in classrooms would be unacceptable and would give young children the wrong idea. It seems to me that as seemingly far as society comes, the more similar it seems.