LEARNING [in a] BRAVE NEW WORLD

I know this is a couple days late, but it is better late than never.

Discussing our perspectives of what we have read in our groups has actually made me take on new perspectives of a Brave New World. There were little context clues or things that I didn't catch before like the Shakespeare's Tempest allusion and Ford T references. I never connected the fact that Ford invented the process of mass production and in Brave New World, mass production is one of the many accomplishments of the people.

Learning this way also spreads information easier than just on blogs because not everyone has the time to check every class mates blog and read what they had to put for their thoughts on Brave New World. While you can thoroughly explain on here what your thoughts were on the previous chapter, talking in the groups gave opportunity to express and dissect answers.

Le Dix Question

Well I think I would like to aim my questions towards a traveling enthusiast who explores the many cultures with compassion.

1.) What country or place was the biggest culture shock to you and why?
2.) If you were to recommend a place to travel right this second, what country would it be?
3.) Every country has a different perspective on America and it's people, what countries were the friendliest and which countries were more hostile?
4.) How do you go about affording all these travels and making every place you visit a special experience?
5.) Many people can't tell the difference between compassion and passion, what would you say is the defining difference between the two?
6.) When traveling, how did you communicate with people who didn't speak the same language as you?
7.) There are many ways to traveling abroad, what are your strategies and how have they benefitted you through out your years? What was a moment in your life where it was a failure?
8.) If you could teach one lesson to every culture, what lesson would that be?
9.) What do you think is the most difficult topic to portray to other cultures that would teach them a lesson?
10.) When does traveling become something that is more than just an experience? How has your perspective changed through out the years and is there ever such a thing where you travel "too much"?

Benchmark Project

So I don't know where to start... I guess we can go from the beginning.
It all started with a trip Down Under.
(yes this is a selfie of me and the Sydney Opera House)

It was the first time I was out of the country and the first time I've traveled outside of the country without my family. I've never sat on a plane for so long until(... you must read until the end for me to finish the sentence). Australia for some reason was my favorite country and still is, so visiting this country really was a dream come true. Honestly. What I got out of traveling was a symptom called wanderlust. The sudden urge to travel to places you've never been to. And that's when I started to plan my next trip; Uganda. I wasn't even finished with my 17-day-expedition in Australia when I started planning to raise money for going to Uganda with a fellow Honors English teacher of mine.

(My fellow gang and I during free time)

Traveling to Uganda brought me many firsts such as traveling with a small group that had many possible but unlikely risks. Camping. Sitting on a plane for a full day and experiencing culture through poverty. This trip had shown me the greater things in life and made me want to rid all of my clothes and preserve water when I got home. But how realistic is that? Very realistic to a certain extent. Yes I did get rid of some clothes and I preserved water for a couple weeks but it just wasn't the same. What I missed so much about Uganda was how compassionate and appreciative the people were no matter how little they had. They showed amusement to the smallest things such as a balloon, and it helped me realize that life is made up of the little things. The fascination of a phone to a young kid is a wonderful innocence to observe and experience. It really took me back to when I was young. Now, this trip was almost like a social experiment to me too. What did Uganda have that we didn't? And what did we have that they don't? It may all seem very simple as the answer is technology, but when observed more in depth, it became clear that the answer lied in the human relationship between people. Even if they had low quality phones and such, people still made an effort to communicate and make face to face interaction. They didn't even have road signs, street lights, and paved roads in Uganda, yet they knew where they were going EVEN IN THE DARK! I feel as if sometimes these people aren't given enough credit, and are done no justice with those commercials of starving kids. Not everyone in "Africa" (I put it in quotation marks because Africa is not just all dark-skinned people) is a bone thin starving person. This inspired me to think of not what they need but how they could be innovative with the materials they have. After this trip, many things had came to mind. How could I help improve their living situations? When can I go back to Uganda? And where will my next destination be? 

(Goal: To fill this out before it expires)

Above you see is my passport, my teacher Mrs. Byrne suggested a goal of getting my entire passport filled out before it expires. I have about 7 years left and possible 10 or so countries to visit before it is completed. I've visited only 3 countries, but I've been trying to find ways to raise money to go to Europe this summer. Anyways back to the whole point of this benchmark post. My big question before I entered Senior Year is "Does life happen by chance or by fate?" As I started realizing that it's a mix of both, kind of like a symbiotic relationship. Fate is determined by whether or not you decide to make a move in life while chance is given to those moments where there is neither action or intention to commit something. If that made sense to you, I gave you an A+. So how does this all lead to my senior project? Well let's tie the ends together.

I present to you my senior project launch draft. It tells about everything I hope to accomplish before I graduate along with my passions and hopes and dreams.

But do you honestly really want to know what I wrote about? Because if you do, I'll just link you a previous post where I've about this launch project, I could also write another post with my launch paper word from word. Here is my sorta summary to my senior project. Anyways, I've created this website with my friend Erica that focuses on human compassion and exploring. 

I've created a list of things to also do before we graduate and some tabs on exploring and adventures.

I have also been wanting to create videos that show our potential of our talents of helping people and using my video skill. 

We even have a little bio about ourselves and our mission.

So I guess you can call me crazy. Or out of mind. But really all I want is to help people. Using my talents, her talents, everyones talents. We all are part of the same world situation. We all can help each other. What I'm trying to accomplish is enjoying these last few months while making something out of myself and achieving my goals and others goals too. I want to make a meaningful few months, accomplish the incredible, give back, and build a portfolio and work that I can hopefully show to future employers. What I need to do now is finish what I've started, started what I've been meaning to finish and start getting this project rolling. A major part of this project comes out of the help of YOU! Yes you, my peers. I need advice, lots of it, for videos for critique for acting, for quite alot of things actually. This project cannot run without the help of others. So please, if you want to join this movement or help with my senior project that would be splendid. I promise I have some good things in store (: This will conclude my benchmark project.

POST 100!!!!!! Is going to be Melody Monday #19

Sooooo I hit 100 posts today on blogger, where's my email notification saying I did? Jk jk (you'd understand if you had a tumblr). Well so today I've chosen a song that is quite an uplifting one. I believe this song is very video worthy and makes you want to go out and be passionate about compassion and travel the world. Experience the wonders of life and people. This song is called Resolution by Matt Corby. Spread this song around. It's seriously so uplifting, that it's made my monday a bit better. Now check it out.

Resource of the Day: Matador Network

http://matadornetwork.com/
Focuses on the aspects of traveling and helps people with discovering places to travel to and what to do in situations.
I felt that this resource was really beneficial because I love traveling and I actually wanted to incorporate a part time travel piece on my website!

Le super Cinq

Deanna Byrne: She's been a traveling enthusiast herself and very passionate about being compassionate. I recently went on at an expedition with her to AFRICA which was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. She has connections to many people to and is a very kind spirit.

David Preston: Well he is my english teacher and he is very big on collaboration and building a network. So you know what this leaves? Someone who provides MANY connections to MANY things. We're also currently collaborating on a project together, so using him as one of my super five is beyond suiting.

Lisa Malins: She's great with everything, technology, people skills, action, and so on! She would be the first person I would look to when it comes to help with building my website and such.

Cathy Cachu: My aunt, who happens to be a former rotary president, is also a person with many connections. Through her I was able to get hooked up with a job I started freshman year AND find ways to make money through her gift basket business. She is a person I would look to for connections and how to make money so that I can fund my trips that I want to make. She is super cool, and well yeah!

My peers: They are a big part of my project. I need their help in order to accomplish some video projects and activities. Using them is perfect because they can help give advice to younger underclassmen too!

Melody Monday #17

Technically found this on monday, but hey who keeps track anyways? These past few weeks have been downers and I needed something uplifting. SO here is a song by J-Cole. I don't usually listen to this music, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to this type of music. ENJOY PLEASE.

I, JURY

ERICA M: The strength of her essay was powerful and made mine seem like a little ant. She uses excellent literary techniques to capture the essence of Bernard in Brave New World. Erica not only gives examples but she clearly elaborates and it shows her comprehension on understanding Brave New World.

JACOB H: I really admired that he wrote about Lenina because I was going to write about her but then I did not know exactly what to write. So he gave me a good understanding of her importance in Brave New World. He used many great vocabulary words and I really actually am liking reading about the different perspectives of other students.

COLTER K: Colter's essays are honestly one of my favorite things to read. I have known him since I can remember and he's always been one of those people who are very eloquent when they create essays. This essay, he was actually very straight forward to the point but straight forward in a way that it flows and is not choppy and out of place. Overall, Colter is one of those writers I look to for suggestions.

ELI E: His essay got to the point of comparing I just felt that he could have elaborated more. Though honestly, it was a good essay and he did a good job on comparing reality to "fiction"

DANNY L: He chose a very interesting topic about writing about the objects in Brave New World. Although he did not elaborate very much on his points, he at least address elements in the book that people may have been confused on.

OVERALL, I think everyone did a great job. I enjoy peer editing because I get to see the different perspectives my peers provide that I do not originally see. That is one thing that I am bad at is getting perspective. But it's okay.

This is definitely my Essay...

Choose a novel or play in which cultural, physical, or geographical surroundings shape psychological or moral traits in a character. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how surroundings affect this character and illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole.  Do not merely summarize the plot.

         To conform to society means to restrain the brain from extending its full potential growth of knowledge and experience. In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, society is meant to be restrained and restricted from unleashing the true natural wonders of the mind to gain an order of unity. In didactic terms, unity is beneficial and can accomplish things because “together we stand, divided we fall”. But in ideal terms, the more unity there is, the more entropy is caused. The idea of having less entropy has left Bernard Marx in a rut. Marx, which alludes to a German philosopher, lives in a dystopian community where the caste system separates and predetermines the fates of all individuals. Through his eyes, readers are able to understand the corruption of being an individual and the sheer consequences acted upon people because of what they naturally are.

            Aldous Huxley presents readers a world full of controversial topics of today. Having polygamous relationships and being sexually active at young ages is a social norm. But what is even more odd is the fact of having parents, which is slurred as an unspeakable word. Lenina Crowne, another character, is criticized for her monogamous relationship with a guy named Henry, which in today’s society would be socially acceptable. Lenina is then talked “sense” into by her friend Franny and says to go out and enjoy the gifts given by other men. This indirectly infatuates her mind that what Lenina is doing is morally wrong. Huxley’s purpose of doing so is to create a contrast between a worlds that is currently making history to a world that could be the next history. Huxley wrote about theories that were fifty years ahead of his time. With him portraying his theories through caste systems, soma, mass production and etcetera, a dystopian community is not far from what history could become.

            Though, not everyone is easily influenced by their predetermined faiths. Bernard confronts an elder about what he is experiencing and how he thinks it’s a fluke in the system. This corrollates to how even in a uniformed society such as the government in the United States, not everyone is going to agree on terms on what high officials determine. Even though there was a great gap between the time periods of now and the future setting of this novel, what Huxley predicted is on the verge of becoming reality.

Lights, Camera, ACTION!

Watch your fellow classmates participate in a parody video of four well known songs to our generation. This video was created out of pure fun and intended for entertainment as well as a possible $1,000 AVID scholarship. Enjoy!

I AM HERE

YES.
I
AM.
USING.
THIS.
COURSE.
PRODUCTIVELY.
I have actually started my senior project before he assigned the senior project. I have several projects running through my mind. One of them is the typical scrapbook/video of all my high school years through pictures/videos. The difference though is that when I was a sophomore I started an album where I took a picture everyday and ever since have not stopped. I am now on my third 365 day album. The first one was to record for fun, my second one was about focusing on doing kind things and experiencing new things (which was semi-successful in a way where I almost was too busy to even think or record these things) and now my senior ish album is dealing with new adventures to experience before I go to college and my journey there (similar to the first one but I have more of a purpose). My other senior project deals with me interviewing seniors to give advice to younger classmen, interviewing them about best advice, and things they want to do before they graduate. I also want to capture the best and worst moments of high school and such. I don't know how I can do that but it's possible. I also want to record these experiences seniors want to have. I could also split this idea up into two parts. My other idea was to have a blog with a collaboration with my friend Erica to focus on things and we can do vlogs every week or so. You know what I might just do that. Okay. Next idea is since we are all working on passing the AP exams, why don't we connect with other classrooms around the world and see how they are studying. From this we could probably meet new people and such. And lastly, (or so I think) I have been working on a  collaborative project since last semester. SHHH. That's how big of a deal it is. Collaboration is key for all of this and taking your learning into your own hands is also great, we can learn by networking and interacting with the folks all around. My big question was actually does life happen by fate or by chance and I am actually still trying to figure it out but I might have a gist of what could be the right answer.

(PICTURES WILL BE INSERTED SOON)


I have less than four months. I CAN DO IT!!

Brave New World

Palestinian American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said has written that “Exile is strangely compelling

to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place,

between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Yet Said has also said that exile

can become “a potent, even enriching” experience.

Select a novel, play, or epic in which a character experiences such a rift and becomes cut off from “home,” whether

that home is the character’s birthplace, family, homeland, or other special place. Then write an essay in which you

analyze how the character’s experience with exile is both alienating and enriching, and how this experience

illuminates the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or one of comparable

literary merit. Do not merely summarize the plot.

My plan would first be to develop a list that displays the main characters of brave new world and from there differentiate which character has more experience relating to the AP topic. I would organize it in such a way that the there would be 2-4 body paragraphs. The first paragraph would be to describe and compare the alienation. The second paragraph would be to explain the benefits and didactics of the alienation. The third paragraph would be analyzing the whole process and what the "higher" meaning is. I would then start to write and continue until i get writers block.

Lit Sixxxxxxx

Simile: literary technique to describe things in comparison using like or as
soliloquy: a speech given by one character to oneself
spiritual: a higher or “other” feeling giving that goes beyond  ones senses
speaker: who is telling the text, who is auditing the story
stereotype: a label or category given to a person based on common trends that may or may not be relevant to race and preference.
stream of consciousness: Performative utterance. A way of writing without a filter about what is going on in one’s mind.
structure: how the story is set up.
style: the technique to how an author writes
subordination: to place in a lower rank
surrealism: create potential of the unconscious mind
suspension of disbelief: human interest and truth blended into truth
symbol: something that refers to a bigger meaning
synesthesia: a senses impression
synecdoche: part is made to represent a whole
syntax: how a sentence is written to create a deeper meaning
theme: what is a common occurring subject that comes up
thesis: a sentence or two that describes the summarizes the selection
tone: the voice in which an author is writing in.
tongue in cheek: not meaning what is written
tragedy: dramatic type of event that shocks both audience and characters in story
understatement: stating something that doesn’t add up to the full potential of a subject
vernacular: the spoken language
voice: who is speaking and what are they trying to say
zeitgeist: spirit or mood of a period through beliefs and ideas