Saturday, March 20, 2010

Prompt 3

Prompt 3:
1991. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.

In the love tale in the city of Verona, two families clash and fight for what is theirs. They share a similarity but differ in many ways. The stars of the play, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, have shown what the true meaning of "till death do us part". The opening of the play shows two rival and very controlling families head to head in a fight for the death. It seems that nothing can bring these two families together but a forbidden love forms between the two youngest of the families. Romeo is from the family of Montague and Juliet from the family of Capulet. These two love birds form the link between the two families. Some how everything goes wrong in this love tale but in the end the two families are brought together by their children's love.

The contrast between their families supports the difficulty of how it was so impossible to get these two families together. For how long, they would fight in the streets of Verona and occasionally getting one of their own killed. Especially after the death of Mercutio, any union between the families seemed lost. But it shows how strong Romeo and Juliet's love was and how powerful it was in the end. Even though they ended both killing themselves, it brought together these unwilling families. Shakespeare demonstrates in this famous tale that love conquers anything. He shows us how even the most unlikely love can bring people to their knees. But he also shows another inspiring lesson, to put aside differences for the sake of others. Prince Escalus is constantly trying to bring peace to Verona's streets between these two families. He tells both of the Lords that they need to settle their differences before someone gets seriously hurt. They both don't listen and end up grieving together.

In the end, the "two star crossed lovers" brought together these unlikely families with their last act of killing themselves. Shakespeare has brought the a new meaning of love to the world through this tale. Without their differences, Romeo and Juliet wouldn't be the same as it is today.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Prompt 2

Prompt 2:


Choose a character in a novel or play of your choice (from the AP List!) and write about the conflict(s) that arise since they are in conflict with the society they are from. This may be socially, religiously, and/or morally. Dig deep! You should also address whether your character comes to a good/bad fate due to this conflict(s).


In the world of Medea, chaos breaks loose after one misunderstanding turns into a plot for murder. Medea, the main character whom is hurt by betrayal, goes into a spiral emotional downfall which leads to the death of her two sons, a princess, and the king. In Medea, a woman's rage causes a devastating impact on the society. Society rejects her view of "motherly love" and her reasons for murder. Only Medea sees the justice that her actions have brought her. She got her revenge and does not regret it. There are many different reasons why the society she lives in rejects her actions both religiously and morally.

"Thou shall not murder" is one of the ten commandments in the Holy Bible. Medea goes against this commandment when she turns on her husband, Jason, and decides to destroy everyone around him including her own children. She plots to poison the princess which also will lead to the death of the king. To close her plan, she decides to take her own two sons' lives and carry them away so Jason can't have them dead or alive. She obviously does not follow the rules that God laid down for man when He first made him. Only she thinks that she is justified in killing all those people. In the play, the society believes in Gods and Goddesses. They might not be the same as the society that we live in today but it does show they have some religious beliefs if they have a God to answer to. Medea is associated with the goddess, Hera, whom is Zeus' wife and a very jealous woman as well. Hera is constantly hurt by Zeus' flirting with other women and marrying behind her back. Thus, the reader can see why Hera and Medea would be alike in some ways. But even Hera doesn't murder anyone to get back at Zeus.

Medea has no moral in the play due to her murdering almost everyone in it. She feels no remorse for her actions and shows a few characteristics of a sociopath. A sociopath is a person that views their own actions as right and has a deceiving personality. Till the end of the play all Medea's actions were due to Jason cheating on her with the princess. She views her revenge as justice because Jason ruined her life so she can ruin his. She murders her own children and uses the fact that she doesn't want Jason to have them to ease her pain for doing it. She is only driven to ruin Jason as much as she can she does not realize the harm that she is doing. She deceived more than one person in the play with her "innocent" act. She plays up her nice side to the king to allow her a few more days in the city even though she was plotting already to murder him. She acted like she understood about the whole marriage between Jason and the princess was to help her and the kids but in reality she was still very angered by it. Lastly, she sweetens her sons before she kills them. She acts like she is a very loving mother and then approaches them with a knife while they are pleading. All her actions demonstrate the messed up mind set that Medea has. No society would accept a murderer let alone a psychologically disturbed person. Plus, killing the head of the society wouldn't be acceptable to anyone in their right mind.

She is a woman that is driven by her emotions and causes more harm to herself than anyone else. She murders the people that are closest to her and the people that would've helped her if she was willing to reach out. She set her own faith by causing the whole mess.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Assignment 3

For week #2: Two things! Write them in ONE blog!Miesha:

"My Talent is Perseverance"
*What is your talent/gift?

*What are you going to do with it?

*Compare your talent with Miesha's

Literary Connection: Jesus' Parable of the Talents NOTE: In ancient times, a measure of gold was called a talent: There once was a master and he had three servants. He goes on a trip and gives gold to each of them. The first one spends it having a good time, the second one purchases a rug in the market place. The third one goes out into the fields and buries it. When the master returns, he asks them what they did with the gold. The first one says, "I spent it and had a great time with my friends." The master says, "Very Good." The second one says, "I purchased a rug in the marketplace." The master says, "Very Good." The third one says, "Master, you will be most proud of me! I buried it in the fields and here it is!" The master beats him and send him out of his house.What do you think is Jesus' point? What lesson does he teach and how does it connect to you and Miesha? How does this story work on more than one level? This post is due by Tues, January 19th! Be sure to do it by the 18th to do comments!


"Your gift is compassion." My mom said this while getting out of the car.

I've been searching for what my purpose was in life. I finally realized what it was. Compassion. I always cared about helping people and try to make everyone around me happy. Usually compassionate people would go into a medical field like being a surgeon or a doctor. But I want to use my gift to help people in a different way. The way I want to make a difference is through technology. In the future, I hope to become a biomedical technician and come up with new ideas and modify the old to create all the necessary technologies to help the doctors heal people. It's not a direct line to helping people but eventually I will be making a difference in other people's lives. I do believe that the way the world is going, technology will become very advance and technology will be needed more than ever. I am a very compassionate person and I love helping others. I tend to put all my friend's and family's needs before my own and will always try my best to help them in anyway possible.

Meisha's talent and my talent is different. She strives to do well in school to make her brother proud and uses it as a way to get out. She has gone through so much through out her life and still has the strength to keep fighting. I have been privileged and sadly spoiled all my life. I never had to fight for my life or anything to get what I aimed for. Yes, I do work hard to get to the point where I want to be, just like Meisha, but unlike her I don't have to worry about trying to keep out of trouble or family issues. Her talent comes from her experiences and struggles to keep up with everything. While mines comes from my beliefs and convenience of finding a major.

I really like this parable. Jesus is trying to tell all the people of God that if you bury your "talents" and never use it, it'll just stay the same and go to waste. It's like not living up to your potential in life. You have to do the best YOU can and not the best there is. Jesus is trying to get everyone to be proactive and make them get out and do something so they're not just sitting around wasting their lives away. It connects with Meisha and I because if we didn't work hard to make use of our talents, we would end up doing nothing and getting no where in the world. This story connects with people in different ways. Some would think it's talking about actual money and connect it with the saying that you have to spend money to get money. But others would argue and say it's talking about life and how if you don't do the most with it you'll end up in the dirt.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Prompt 1

Task: Read the following prompt and answer to the best of your ability!

Choose a symbol used in a novel or play of your choice and discuss its function in the world of the work. Be sure to give the title of the work and its author in the Introduction paragraph. You should strive for 4 - 5 paragraphs. Good Luck! After posting, read and comment on 4 other postings. Your comments should be helpful to the writer and may be things you noticed, something for them to think about, and some words of encouragement. You must complete your essay and your comments by Tuesday, January 12th!


I know this sounds weird but...a symbol that I think is an impact on the world is Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. He is the symbol of the perfect man in a lot of girls' eyes. But he also is a symbol for expectations. Most of the girls today have all these high expectations for relationships and romance but it is just an idea in their head. That's where Edward comes in. He is just the perfect guy that will protect you with his life and be there to support you through anything. He is the highest expectation there is for guys and they have to deal with that competition with their girlfriends.

In the book, he is portrayed as a god-like creature and is idolized by all the humans. He is special even among his own kind and captures the heart of Bella Swan. Even in the book, guys are trying to be like him. Like how Mike is always trying to be more like Edward so he can catch Bella's attention all the time. All the guys at Forks envy Edward with a passion because of his smooth ways and dreamy looks.

He puts the bar so high for all guys to try and reach it. It kind of sucks for the guys because it's near to impossible to even try to be perfect like Edward. His perfection is so unatainable for "human" guys that he has to be a supernatural, mythilogical being. So he existing is saying that a perfect guy is out of this world and won't happen unless he is part god. But I think if you look up to his ways and how he acts and thinks, any guy could be probably one of the best boyfriends in the world. Expectations are supposed to be easy to live up to. They are things that you strive to come close to.

"Shoot for the moon even if you miss, you will land among the stars." -Les Brown

This quote examplifys how you can still try to shoot for the big prize but as long as you try you will still walk away with something. It doesn't matter if you get the prize in the end, you gain a lot more through out the journey to reach that goal or dream. Most times you are aiming for a goal that will only gratify you for a short period of time. But in the end, the thing that you remember most is the process you go through to get that goal. Take graduation for example, it is the main goal in high school. Graduate. Go to college. All that jazz. But hearing your name being announced in front of your family and friends are only like two seconds. But the memories that come with that is through out all 13 years of trying to get there.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Assignment 2

Assignment #2:
After reading this book review, what do you think your experience reading this book is going to be like? Do you tend to look at book reviews before you purchase a book? Do you use book reviews to influence your book purchases? Are you more apt to listen to a friend who recommends a book to you? Your response should be at least 250 words. Everyone, please respond to at least 4 of your classmates' responses. Go for other people than the ones you responded to for Assignment #1

This book seems to memorize all its readers. I'm already moved by the few stories of a couple students already and it's only the BEGINNING of the book. This book is going to be an eye opener for me. You never understand or realize what is going on in other places in the world until you find out the details behind the appearances. Now, in America, most people don't think the world is dangerous any more. The mistakes of the country are in the past like slavery and woman rights. But even now the people in the country are ignorant to what is actually going on in more dangerous communities that are like Crenshaw. This book will open the eyes to everyone about the fight that these kids have for their lives. I think this book will be inspiring. It'll help me remember to not take my life for granted. In our community there are so many opportunities for us. Sometimes we pass them up for nothing and move on when we miss them. But the students at Crenshaw can't afford to pass them up. They live for any opportunity that comes their way.

This is what I got from the book review by Mark Welch. I usually don't look at book reviews because everyone's opinion on a book is different. But if a friend recommends the book or a teacher, I would consider it more because they know me more than a stranger on a piece of paper. It would feel more personal and usually my friends like generally the same things and have common interests, so if they thought it was good, more likely I will think so too. The book reviews wouldn’t influence my decision to purchase it much. I would just think that other people don’t know a good book when they read one. But it would make me read the first couple pages before deciding to buy it just because I want to see if the book will be able to hold my attention.

A perfect example of my friends influencing my decision on what to read is Twilight. Sorry to get a little off subject. But I never wanted to read the book because it looked too long and I didn’t know what it was about. But when the twilight explosion happened last year with the movie, my friends were all telling me about the book and how good it was, so that got me hooked into reading that series. I even borrowed my friends worn down Twilight book to start.

Assignment 1

Assignment 1:
Read pages 1 - 61 in the text! Write a response to the 1st 61 pages with this prompt: What is Crenshaw High School like in comparision to Mililani High School? You may write in terms of the community, the layout/enviornment of the school, and the students/faculty/teachers? This needs to be at least 300 words. You may use quotes from the text to support you. I want you to go and look at at least 4 responses from your classmates and to comment on them as well! Have fun!!

Crenshaw High School is totally different yet similar in some ways to Mililani. The biggest difference is the environment. At Crenshaw, gang fights and shootings are all normal things for the community on a daily basis. They have daily stabbings right outside the school. Almost all the students have done something illegal at least once in their lives. There is so much brutality and suffering in the community of these kids that it makes our school look like heaven. Mililani is a safe learning environment. This year, I haven’t seen one fight. I have heard of a few but they are nothing compared to Crenshaw’s reputation. The community in Mililani is a lot closer than Crenshaw’s as well. We have a more “aloha” kind of feeling. We help each other when in need and we’re a very hospitable community. There are no territories like how the gangs at Crenshaw have their own streets and you get shot if you walk on the wrong street. We are just one big community. Not separated by gangs like the Rolling 60s, Eastside 97th Street Crips, or the Ness Gangster Bloods. Crenshaw needs constant police attention while if there were police on campus at MHS, people would be wondering what the heck happened.

Even though Crenshaw is one of the scariest places on earth in my opinion, it still has those driven students that want to do well and go on to do bigger things with their lives. In a way, I see them with more drive than our students. I think it’s because of their environment that they are driven so much more than Mililani kids. In Mililani, you’re taught to do well in school and go college to get a job. Mililani kids are settling for going with the flow and see where it takes them. There are so much students going to community colleges instead of UH or mainland schools. But at Crenshaw, all the students in the gifted program are striving to get scholarships and rise above their situation in life. They teach us that we can reach the highest dream by working hard to over come any obstacles and challenges that come our way.