Dead Poet's Society

After writing four poetry responses with still a few to go, I couldn't bring myself to blog about poetry also. However, I decided instead to write about the only other thing we've done in English class lately: Watch Dead Poet's Society.
I liked the movie so far, and the acting was good for sure. I loved that all the boys looked like they were going to pave their own way in the liberal arts field instead of the professional tracks their parents picked out for them. My parents haven't pressured me too much for college or a career, but I know they'd be upset if, for example, I decided to try to be a professional singer. I admired that the guy from House tried out for a play knowing his father wouldn't approve, and I was definitely excited that he was playing Puck, my favorite character in any Shakespeare play (and also a character that I played in fourth grade, no big deal!). So overall I'm really enjoying the movie, but I had a few reservations that probably have to do with it being set in the 50s.

For one thing, the characters kept pulling instruments out of absolutely nowhere. I definitely saw a recorder, bongos, and a saxophone come into the picture to play random music during the film. I found that extremely weird and a little confusing.
Also, the boys make the decision to start the Dead Poet's Society kind of randomly. Robin Williams says a few short sentences about it, and they go smoke pipes in a cave like that night. It was a cool idea, but they seemed way too excited about reading poetry out loud. I like the rhythm and sound of poetry a lot, but I don't usually sneak out and go hide in a cave to read it to a bunch of people. That part was a little far-fetched to me.
I was also a little skeptical about the lack of repercussions Robin Williams faced for having such a wild, eccentric teaching style. Based on that boarding school's reputation, I can't see them really being okay with a teacher that far outside of the box.

As critical as all of that was, I'd like to reinforce that I really liked the movie so far, and I'm excited to watch the end. I understand that the plot might not be entirely airtight, but the story is really good and, like I said, I like all the characters so far. Anyway, thanks Mr. Mullins for letting us watch it! You're awesome!

March Madness

Today, I want to talk about the "hidden message" in poems. Yes, I'm aware Mr. Mullins told us that we shouldn't call it hidden because it should be easy to find. It could be my stupidity, but I feel like 90% of the purpose of a poem is hidden somewhere in a way. For example, the last poem I analyzed for homework was:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wasted by June Jordan

You should slice the lying tongue of your love
into a billion bits of bile you swallow
one bilious element at a time
while
scalding water trembles drop
by drop between
(you hope)
between your eyes because
you said you loved me
and you lied
you lied

All you wanted was to rid me of my pride
to ruin me for tenderness
you lied
to thrust me monstrous from the hurt
you fabricate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Obviously, on the surface this poem is about rejection in some form or another. But under the surface there is so much to analyze (which is probably why we have to analyze it in English class for homework, but you know).

There is alliteration (billion bits of bile), repetition (you lied) and onomatopoeia (drop) used within this short poem. There can be so much interpreted from these and other rhetorical devices. I think the "hidden message" is what's given away after careful analysis as opposed to a superficial reading. It may not be exactly hidden, but it is definitely harder to find. These devices add effect but I think much of it is also left up to interpretation by the reader.

Also, if anyone was wondering why I titled this "March Madness" and then didn't talk about it, UK's loss has left me speechless and I couldn't talk about it. But if you were wondering, I have Miami winning it all!

Poetry in Song

I've never been much for creative writing. I'm not really artistic or musical, besides singing, so I don't really know that much about poetry. I don't think I've ever written any besides what was required in school. So, when I found out we were doing a poetry unit, I was kind of scared. But I noticed on the list of poetry to read were several songs we had sung in choir, and that made me kind of hopeful. Here is one of my favorite songs written from poetry and the arrangement we sang.

Stopping By Woods On  A Snowy Evening - Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDH5R_BgheI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnmpKiort2g

 

Now, maybe it's just because we sang it for so long, but I feel like I understand this poetry more from listening to the song than any poetry I've seen in just plain words. The music makes it more interesting and way more emotional than any other poetry I've read. I think I might try looking up arrangements of other poems we read to try to get more of a feel for them. Either way, this made me a little bit more excited about our poetry unit coming up.

The next adventure

With graduation approaching for most of us, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the rapid changes our lives are going through in the next six months or so. My life is going to be completely different, and it's hard to believe I won't be at Dunbar with all the friends I've spent the past 12 years or so getting to know.

My family is moving out of the house I've lived in for ten years, and I'm moving away to live on my own.
We're graduating. It feels so strange to say and to think that in less than three months, I won't be a high schooler anymore. It is super cliche but very true that this semester has flown by. In two months I have to decide where I will be for the next four years. Some of you may know that I despise decisions and take hours to decide even where I'm going to eat dinner. So this is especially stressful for me.
In August, I'll be 18, able to make my own decisions and even order my own snuggie over the phone.
At least most of my friends are moving out of Lexington. I haven't decided where I'll be next year, but some of my friends have decided they're getting out of here. I don't know what I'll do without you all (Lookin' at you, Sanch) but I just hope we'll all stay friends no matter how far away we are.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about graduation lately, and leaving to live on my own. I decided the most stressful part will be having no one to make food for me. Luckily, that's what meal plans are for. And as sad as I am to leave Dunbar behind, I can't wait to be at college and living on my own. I just wanted to say thank you to all my friends who have made high school, well, still high school, but at least we've had some really unforgettable times and I love you all. :)

An open letter to teenagers on Twitter

Dear teenagers on Twitter,

I'd like to start off by saying that I am one of you. This entire letter is going to be hypocritical, because although I started off with a Twitter to get extra credit in math class, I have 2,500 or so tweets since Freshman year and am guilty of almost every known Twitter atrocity there is. But lately I've been noticing the many, many problems I have with Twitter and the way it makes people interact. Besides, this is my blog, so I'm going to complain about it anyway, because the last few months I have gotten so incredibly sick of Twitter I don't even know why I bother to read it.

My first issue with the Twitter world is how important it is to have a lot of followers. Why do you care? It's not like there's a winner. It's not like you take your Twitter followers, multiply it by 100, and get your salary. More than that, it's not like you're actually friends with half the people who you follow anyway. You can only keep up so many friendships, and if you follow 4,000 people, I'd be willing to bet that you don't even read half their tweets anyway. If you do, I feel sorry for your teachers because you probably don't have time to do any of your homework and they have to try to teach you anyway.

Would it be so hard to check your grammar? I'm not going to get picky about prepositional phrases or dangling modifiers or any of that, but how hard is it to use the right you're/your? I'm not going to elaborate on this one because it would take way too long, but come on people. At least act like you're educated.

It's so tempting to #subtweet everyone, all the time, because there's so much to complain about on Twitter and let's be honest, this is high school, everyone hates everyone anyway. But you know that every single time you subtweet, someone is going to get upset because obviously they'll know it's about them. So just don't start it. Yes, everyone is annoying or stupid or tweets too much or really needs to stop talking about how great their boyfriend is once in awhile. But if you really don't like it, unfollow them and shut up.

I'm almost done, I promise, but one last thing: Hashtags are fun, but let's limit ourselves to like, three per tweet. I think even the worst of us have enough self-control for that. For example,
"So ready for the #weekend! #pumped #party #fun #excitement #friends #goodtimes #memories"
could probably be shortened to
"So ready for the weekend! #friends #fun #goodtimes"
or even just
"So ready for the weekend!"
And then I would hate you less.

So, that was my rant about Twitter, and even though no one on Twitter will ever see this, I needed to get some of that off my chest before I snap. And yes, to anyone reading this, I am probably either unfollowing about 95 people or deleting my Twitter here in a few days. Because I have no faith in the future of America if our follower/following ratio is the most important thing in our lives. So, teenagers, let's step up and mature a little bit, because we're about to go into the real world, and I'm pretty sure no one cares about how many followers you have.

(Oh, and Mr. Mullins, I'm sorry this is so mean, but I tried to base it off the ones on the website you put up and they were worse!)

Sincerely,
Me

Stressed out

So, Mr. Mullins posted a link to this article: 

It's incredibly long, so you don't have to read the whole thing just to understand my blog (I would recommend it though, it's very interesting). I'm just going to focus on a couple of paragraphs:

"Some scholars have suggested that we are all Warriors or Worriers. Those with fast-acting dopamine clearers are the Warriors, ready for threatening environments where maximum performance is required. Those with slow-acting dopamine clearers are the Worriers, capable of more complex planning. Over the course of evolution, both Warriors and Worriers were necessary for human tribes to survive.

In truth, because we all get one COMT gene from our father and one from our mother, about half of all people inherit one of each gene variation, so they have a mix of the enzymes and are somewhere in between the Warriors and the Worriers. About a quarter of people carry Warrior-only genes, and a quarter of people Worrier-only."

Essentially, this is saying that Warriors, or those with a gene that allows them to clear dopamine from their brain faster, can make decisions faster and stress less during tests. Worriers, with a different gene that clears the dopamine less slowly, are better at planning out things but tend to worry and stress much more about tests. 

Obviously, I do not know much about the science behind this, but speaking from personal experience, I would consider myself somewhere in between a Warrior and a Worrier. I don't really mind tests and almost never stress out about them (which would be a Warrior), but I also feel like my brain is working extremely quickly while I take them because I always finish very early, which indicates that I am a Worrier. There is definitely a spectrum between these two, and speaking from personal experience, I would say that magnets (most of my friends, that is) tend to be on the Worrier side (Some more so than others). That could also be due to the fact that most of them actually care about school, which for some reason is atypical. 

Anyway, my point is that seeing this research cleared up a lot of my observations. I've always wondered why some people stress the way they do, because I don't really worry that much, but people who are just as prepared as I am for a test may seem to panic and start pulling out their hair because they think they missed a negative sign... 

If anyone actually reads this blog, which I seriously doubt will happen unless your name is Mr. Mullins, comment: are you a Warrior or a Worrier? 

Written letters

This article, posted by Mr. Mullins, discusses why written letters are important: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-gasda/signed-sealed-delivered_b_2679701.html?utm_hp_ref=books

As well-written as the article is, I would like to respectfully disagree, and add some of my thoughts on the subject.
The first point the author makes is a personal one; he states that he corresponds regularly by snail mail and it is a rewarding, romantic experience. My belief is that, for the most part, this is a generational comfort that comes from a lifetime of e-mail-less letter-writing. It reminds people of the past, and brings in some nostalgia along with the kind words that letters can bring.
The next point he makes is that great writers have long written letters; to their family, their loved ones, and themselves. This might just be me, but I don't understand why this "writing practice" is lost when you write letters in electronic form. It's the same amount of practice with technique and style when you write on the computer as it is when you write on paper. I mean, they'll be typing their books on a computer, most likely, so it's probably better practice anyway.
It could be the fact that writing makes my hand hurt because my pinkie is deformed, but I feel like hand-writing a letter when you could type it out is the equivalent of long dividing huge numbers when you have a calculator sitting RIGHT THERE. It takes forever, it hurts your hand, it's way more work, and seems pointless when you're done.
Also, excessive letter-writing kills trees. 
All that being said, a hand-written or handmade card is much, much better than an e-card or a text. But writing a letter and taking two weeks to get it back just to have idle conversation seems like a ridiculous waste of time to me. So, there is definitely some merit to hand-writing things, and I'm not trying to suggest that paper itself is entirely pointless, but overall I disagree with a lot of what this article said.