End of Year Reflection

     I guess I'll end the year by talking about who I was and how I've come to be the person I am today.  Freshmen year I was just a soccer player who went to young life and got good grades.  However, the next summer changed my life.  The short version is that while at a Young Life camp in colorado I made the decision to follow Jesus.  It is safe to say that my high school career would've been completely different had I not traveled to colorado that week in June.
     I have been involved in YL and soccer since my freshmen year, and have taken part in many other activities as well.  From joining the IB program to participating in TOPSoccer, everything I've done up to this point has contributed to who I am today both academically and otherwise.  My experiences in the IB program have been overwhelmingly negative, but I have gained some intense time-management skills (that I seem to have forgotten) and learned how to function on 4 hours of sleep a night.  I have learned many things from my endeavors outside of school as well, but to prevent this from sounding like a cheesy college essay I will not list out all of my extracurricular activities.
     I do not regret anything I have done during my time at Millbrook.  I have definitely made a bunch of mistakes, but I have learned from them and have grown because of them.  I've made some amazing friends over the years, some quite recently, and I have learned that sometimes you just have to cut the toxic people out of your life.  High School has been one hell of a ride, but I'm ready to see what college has in store for me.

Something about Whitman

STEP 1) 

The first thing I notice is that this thing is a pain to read.  The handwriting is sloppy and there is almost no organization to it, aside from a page break between complete thoughts.  This suggests that he used this notebook to write down his thoughts as he experienced them, hinting at his idea that experiences are more valuable than formal schooling.  I was also able to read that somewhere in there he mentioned A. Lincoln.  This reflects his political views and also places the notebook into historical context around Lincoln's presidency.  My impressions of Whitman's notebook is that it is a valuable resource to peer into the mind of Whitman as he stored his thoughts and experiences in the pages.

STEP 2) 

After viewing the notes I think it is important to discuss the imaginary dialogue with Lincoln.  It is on a page titled "Brochure" and briefly states an idea of two characters (featuring Honest Abe) and an imaginary conversation between them.  This is interesting because it is a way for Whitman to discuss his political views during a time of immense racial tension with the fact that it is a fictional conversation as a caveat.  Next is his views on religion.  It is unclear whether or not these views were intended to be included with the conversation with Lincoln, considering the fact that his notebook is disorganized and jumps around.  He talks about reconciling "two religions – platforms", possibly referring to the divide in the country during the time of his writing.  He is explaining that he doesn't fully agree with either side, but instead cares about the fate of the Union as a single country.  This idea is reinforced in his writing about "libertad", which means "liberty" in Spanish.  This notebook tells us that he despises slavery, but does not agree with abolitionists actions that could tear the nation apart.  After reading the notes, his notebook reveals his political views on Lincoln and Slavery which was the hot topic during the time it was written.  

"Breathing dreams like air..."

What is the "American Dream?"  It is most commonly thought of as the conventional rags to riches story, starting from nothing and making it big in the land of opportunity.  Yet, in a modern context many have tried to manipulate the idea of the american dream to make it more nationalistic, and completely contrasting the ideals it originated from.  These are the same people who consider starting from nothing to be only starting with "a small loan of a million dollars," but I digress.  In the context of the 1920s, the american dream was all about the accumulation of wealth in a time of prosperity after the first World War.  But even then, new money was frowned upon.

I would describe wealth, not in terms of money, but in quality of life.  Whether or not you are satisfied with your relationships with those around you, and whether or not you are making a living doing something you love.  However, I understand that my definition of wealth reveals an underlying truth about myself, I have not had a difficult life.  Nothing has just been given to me, but I have never worried about where my next meal would come from, or if I could afford the basic necessities of life.  And therefore, I will redefine wealth to help eliminate my personal bias; to be wealthy is to live comfortably.  To be able to provide for yourself, and family if applicable, without making large sacrifices is something to be thankful for, and anyone who fits this description is wealthy.

In the context of the 1920s, American's idolize the rich, and look down upon the poor.  The Great Gatsby was set in a materialistic time where monetary value was the only measure for quality.  Therefore, those with excess things were seen as superior to those with less.  As for the poor, they had little money to their name, and therefore their lives held less value.  This is seen in the portrayal of Mr. Wilson, who is a clueless mechanic married to a cheating wife.  If he were not of such a low class, then he would be more intelligent, and his wife would be faithful to him.

My attitude towards wealth and poverty is very fluid.  On the one hand, there are the wealthy people who prey on the middle and lower class to grow their wealth.  But there are also wealthy people like J.K. Rowling who dropped off the Forbes list because of all of her charitable donations.  The same is true for the impoverished.  Some poor people will live off the system and are involved in questionable activities (street pharmaceuticals and what not).  I do not condone these people for their way of life, because for many people it is their only option to earn money; however, I cannot approve of their activities because they are illegal.  I firmly believe in creating opportunities for the poor because social mobility is a necessary aspect of successful society, and it just so happens to be the main idea behind the "American Dream."

What do you call a pollinator who was just released from prison?????

A FREEBIE!!!!! (Get it?  Bc it's a bee that is free lol)

The IOC to a tolerable degree

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8gJL5Fe7uUzNHp3MVBKRVJELVk

Hopefully that's ^^ where you'll find my recording (you might need to download it to play it).
And now for the other stuff.

Annotations:

Notes:

Grading:

Don't judge a book by its cover...

    Obviously all of the covers contain the name of the book, Never Let Me Go, and the authors name, Kazuo Ishiguro.  All four have different cover art, yet for the most part, they all portray similar ideas.  They all portray an idea of being trapped, either by a physical or mental barrier.  They use nature and barbed wire as physical barriers.  And this along with the title, implies that the story is about someone who will never be let go from their prison, whether it be physical or otherwise.  
  The two covers I will be comparing are below:
          
       When I see the picture on the left, the first thing I think of is imprisonment, the barbed wire makes me think of a barbed wire fence either designed to hold people in, or keep people out.  It uses a cool color scheme which gives a negative connotation to the page.  When I see the picture on the left I think of a false sense of hope.  There is a boat on the shore of a vast expanse of water, the water is a physical barrier but the boat provides a way to escape.  However, upon closer examination I noticed that there are no oars with the boat, and therefore it would not be possible to use the boat to escape.  The false hope comes from the boat offering an escape but not actually providing one.  This picture uses a warmer set of colors, and a yellow hue in the sky to provide a sense of hope.  Without reading the novel, the first picture would make me think that the book has something to do with the health of prisoners.  The barbed wire makes out the shape of a humans vital organs, but after reading the book, I know that it is referring to the clones and the donation of their organs.  Also, the barbed wire signifies the clones lack of choice in the matter, they're sole purpose is to donate their organs.  The second picture makes me think the book would be about escaping from some sort of physical distress.  However, its relationship to the text is that it represent the illusion of choice that the clones are given.  When they are raised they are taught to be creative and imaginative, yet when they fully mature they are harvested for their organs.  They grow up thinking they will become productive members of society, when in reality they will only serve one purpose.  The clones are being portrayed from the viewpoint of normal humans in the leftmost picture.  They see the clones simply as growing vital organs that need to be contained until they are harvested.  While in the other picture, we are looking from the clones perspective, at their false sense of hope.  The boat is a metaphor for their illusion of choice and free will.  The leftmost picture hints at a culture of seeing humans as objects, and using them for personal gain.  This comes from the fact that it portrays the clones simply by their vital organs.  The other picture hints at a lying and deceit.  This is because it portrays a boat that offers freedom across the water, but in reality does not allow anyone to leave.  Both covers provide an image of a barrier, and no way to escape.  They are shown from opposite perspectives using contrasting color schemes to portray the feelings of the clones versus those of the regular humans.

Who is Ted and why is he talking?

As you can probably already tell I am quickly losing my enthusiasm for these things.  I wasted all my energy coming up with the title and I'm just gonna get an 80 on it anyway so heres another mediocre post.  Enjoy.

https://www.ted.com/talks/aspen_baker_a_better_way_to_talk_about_abortion/transcript?language=en

That's the Ted talk^ 

     In the Ted Talk the speaker, Aspen Baker, discusses how and why controversial topics, like abortion, are difficult to talk about.  She stresses the importance of sharing personal stories about these issues, and how important it is to be a good listener to someone sharing their personal story.  The term she used was pro-voice, Baker and her organization called Exhale listen to people, so that their voice is heard, and they can finally feel like someone cares.  She talks about what it takes to be a good listener, and that it's not about agreeing with the storyteller, but it's about understanding them and putting yourself in their shoes, and that's where she says that empathy starts.  

     In her talk, Baker heavily uses both ethos in pathos, in a very successful way.  She opens up by sharing a very personal story about her own abortion, and how it has affected her.  This use of ethos gives her credibility because she's actually had an abortion, and she has that first hand experience that helps her connect to other women going through the same thing.  Even though I have never been in that situation, her talking about how much having her pro-voice friend there to listen to her helped her, has caused me to believe in and support being pro-voice.  She also appeals to the audiences emotions using pathos when she talks about abortion and violence toward women.  Due to the various camera angles, I know that her audience was profoundly middle aged women, and her emotional appeal would definitely connect with them.  She mentioned that pro-voice makes it possible for everyone to be treated with respect, which will connect with many people emotionally because respect for others of the opposite sex and/or race is not as present as it should be in this country.  It is clearly an emotional topic that she is appealing to, as seen by the Women's March on Washington yesterday.  The video was recorded before the march but this just shows that it is still very fresh.  

     I'm going to be honest when I analyze my relationship with the talk, the main reason I clicked on that particular video is because it was one of the shorter videos that I saw.  However, it was definitely not the shortest video on there, and I did choose it for a reason.  Firstly, it discusses abortion, and this is a very controversial topic that I knew I would be able to write a lot about.  It is something that makes you question what's right or wrong, and the level of control that the government should have over women's health.  I am not sure how it will connect to texts that we will study in the future but it does connect to the duality of human nature.  It connects because both sides have a specific view of good and evil in when discussing this issue. 

That is all. 

But wait, there's more!

Mrs. G I gots an assignment 4 u.  Watch this ted talk and report back.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_strange_answers_to_the_psychopath_test

I didn't watch it but it talks about the line between crazy and sane... hmm