Last Blog Post :( Macbeth Big Idea

        One of the big ideas we discussed was what a character will do to get what he wants and what the consequences will be. Back when we did a post on the two statements we had to chose, I analyzed the one on whether or not ambition is a desirable trait. It has turned out in this play Macbeth's ambition was a negative trait because it drove him too far, so far as to kill Duncan and many more after. Macbeth's ambition has blinded him and thwarted his conscience, leading to his impulsive acts of murder. Because of his ambition to be king, there were major consequences.
         Very abruptly, the repercussions for killing Duncan caught up to Macbeth. He ended up killing his own friend Banquo and losing much of his sanity. He started out in this play as an honorable man of high status and skilled fighter. But by the end of the play he was living a tortured life by the encumbrance of his guilt and fear of being struck down. He lost all those who were loyal to him, which contributed even more to his demise in the end of the play, because no one wanted to fight for a wicked and corrupt ruler. In short, Macbeth's attempts at achieving the position of king caused the consequences that would lead to his defeat.

Reading/Work Log

Portfolio- probably about 6 hours

WHAP text- 1 hour 30 mins

Macbeth Quote

“We have scorched the snake, not killed it.

She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice

Remains in danger of her former tooth.

But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,

Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep

In the affliction of these terrible dreams

That shake us nightly. Better be with the dead

Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,

Than on the torture of his mind to lie

In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave.

After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.

Treason has done his worst; nor steel nor poison,

Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing

Can touch him further. (Act 3 Scene 2 pg.93)”

                In this quote we can see Macbeth’s jealousy of the dead and his dread for how his life will be. When he says, “We have scorched the snake, not killed it” he means that even though they have gotten rid of Duncan, they will only have to kill more people to stay where he is without everything falling apart. Even though they have killed Duncan, the ‘snake’s tooth’ is still threatening and everything can still be ruined by Banquo. Macbeth wishes he was with Duncan and dead because he has to live in fear and guilt. He fears what will happen to him if people start to find out what he’s done. His guilt comes from killing Duncan.

                The fear and guilt he has from killing Duncan, is deteriorating his mental state. He says that he would rather be dead with Duncan, who they ‘have sent to peace’. In doing this act of treason ‘to gain our peace’, they unintentionally made their own lives torturous. They live with ‘life’s fitful fever’, plagued by nightmares, and in perpetual fear of being avenged for their actions. This quote tells us the state which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are living in, what got them there, and what they have to do to keep their heads above water.

Reading Log

Portfolio 30 mins

Maximum Ride 1 hour

Macbeth studying and scene preparation 30 mins



Reading Log

Things Fall Apart, 4+ hours, Chapters 10-25

Rhetorical Situation Transformation project thing, 15 mins

A Rhyme Myth and a Vaction Destination in Whales

         Every time you hear someone say there isn't a word that rhymes with 'orange', I have a word to prove them wrong! Don't worry! I'm not going to say 'door hinge'. I don't believe that counts because it's two words. This word is 'Blorenge'. You may have heard it before if you've ever been to Monmouthshire Southeast Whales. Its a hill in the Brecon Beacons National Park and a great place to visit! I've never been there but from what I've seen of it while researching for this blog post is that is quite a destination. Whether you're there for the hang gliding, paragliding (Is there a difference? I don't know), hiking, fell running, or sight seeing, there is always a scenic view for everybody to enjoy.
          If you ever go to Blorenge you can join the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club or participate in a fell running race. For those of you who are not associated with the fell racing community or don't know what that is, fell running is off road running where the course has an increased difficulty due to the rugged terrain. So.. basically it's just running up and down a bunch of hills. If you are there for the sight seeing there are a plethora of things you can go look at. Such as the grave of the only gold medalist from Britain in the 1952 Summer Olympics, Foxhunter, a showjumper horse. Also there are is an old church you can go see, as well as lots of hills, rocks, and an abandoned tramway for a nearby limestone quarry built in 1796. Cool right?
          There is also a definition in Urban Dictionary for blorenge saying "Blorenge is the only word in the entire world that rhymes with orange...and it's made up to help those people who are out to prove everyone wrong accomplish their goal." There is also one for 'blorange' saying "where someone dyes their hair blond but it looks orange."

Two Statements

1. Who we are--our essential character and temperament--is fixed and unchangeable.
              I disagree with this statement because things can change people, traumatic events or gradual changes in a person's interests. All people have a natural character and temperament, but what if they experienced something terrible like a parent dying or being scarred by the experience of battle? Then they might change.
2. Ambition is a positive, desirable trait in a person.
               I agree with this statement to an extent. I do believe that being ambitious is a good trait since it allows a person to reach the goals they've set for themselves. But in a case like Macbeth's, his ambition might take him too far in order for him to get to his goal.

Reading Log

Things Fall Apart 2 hours

NC Literary analysis 1 hour

NC Letters From Nyasha 1 1/2 hours

NC Vocab 30 mins

NC Title Analysis 30 mins

Reading and Working Times

Maximum Ride - 30 mins over the course of the week

Studying for poetry test 45 mins Thursday and Sunday

Research paper 20 mins Wednesday (I think..)

AP World History Textbook reading 1 hour 10 mins Thursday 

25 Seconds Of Courage

       I felt like I completely failed at writing that poem in class on Valentine's Day, so I wrote this. Enjoy.

25 seconds of courage, that’s all I need

Why am I like this? It’s not as bad as I think

1, I can’t do this, my feet slow their speed.

I’ll change my mind, I’m already at the brink

2, What if they judge me? , I’ll stutter or shake

I know I can do this but still I quake.

3, I’ll be fine, but if I fail...

Not him, but his friends that make me go pale

4, I’m still moving forward, I should be proud,

Look at me! I’m halfway through the crowd,

5, This’ll be easy, he’ll talk to me and I’ll talk to him,

I’ll make him laugh and he’ll make me grin.

6, A fourth of my time is over by the time I’ve arrived,

He says “Hey”, so far I’ve survived

7, 8, I open my mouth, ready to reply,

But I know people are watching, Dang it! I’m too shy

9, 10, 11, 12 Here I go, I’m talking,

Once I start it’s as easy as walking,

13, 14, 15, 16, He starts to laugh then talks a bit,

My chest pounds, but I think I’m gonna make it

17, 18, 19, 20, I can’t believe I was ever afraid,

As I listen to him, the surroundings begin to fade.

21, 22, 23, 24, Conversation’s over, I think it was a success.

Now I’m sure he won’t like me less.

25, I turn around and start to walk away,

I’m so glad I did this. He’s the best part of my day.

         Alright I hope that wasn’t too cheesy.... but I tried ok? Anyway in this poem used end rhyme with the rhyme scheme starting out as an ABAB but then turned into a CCDDEEFF and so on for the rest of the poem. I tried to have an anaphora of the words ‘I’ and ‘he’ but I don’t know if it’s as obvious as I intended. The diction of a lot of the words in this poem was to make it sound like the thoughts of this girl.

Let it Go By Idina Menzel

        The song Let it Go by Idina Menzel from the Disney movie, Frozen, is probably one of my favorite songs right now. In the beginning of the song cacophony is used to make it seem bitter towards her past of concealing herself. Assonance and euphony are used to make her sound sad by stretching out the words. Also the anaphora of the word ’don’t’ in the third stanza shows how many rules she has had to follow her whole life and how much she wants to get away from them. These things also continue on through the rest of the song but their purpose changes as the song changes.

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I’m the Queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know
Well, now they know

            In the line “No right, no wrong, no rules for me” the anaphora of the word ‘no’ emphasizes her freedom and that she doesn’t have thing controlling her anymore. The sound patterns such as cacophony, assonance, and euphony that I mentioned earlier are now used to make her words happier and allows Idina Menzel to sing even louder and puts more power into the words. Disney songs almost always make it so that they are packed with rhymes. Whether they are slant rhymes or not or if they are internal rhymes or end rhymes the whole song is rhyming so that they are catchy, easier to remember, and pleasing to the ears of people of all ages.

Reading Log

50 mins reading in class Maximum Ride for the week

1 hr 20 mins Maximum Ride on Friday after school (I had to wait around a while)

Reading/Working Log

 ATD Discussion Posting- 1 hr

ATD Discussion Comments- 30 mins

Read wordly wise book and poems in class- 20 mins

Monday morning The Iliad- 15 mins

Research Paper Rough Draft and Reading/Working Log

                This might sound very cheesy, but I don’t feel like I have a ‘connection’ with my paper. I usually feel really proud of a paper I’ve written at this point and I usually know my paper by heart but now I feel like I didn’t even write it. Also it was almost too easy… I barely had to write anything. I mean, it’s all in my own words, but all I had to do was copy from my outline and notecards, paste, and modify. Of course, this may just be me over reacting or looking at it from too close of a perspective.

                I think I could use some help on my transitions. Also, I find that at some points I’m just saying the same things over and over again. Then at other times I felt like I wasn’t elaborating enough because I didn’t think I have enough room for elaboration. While I was writing I didn’t want to get to the point when I needed to write my introduction and conclusion and already be at the end of my 6th page. Now that my paper is done I realize I can be more descript wherever it is necessary. I would like to know where I need to explain more, where my major errors are, and if there are any places I could modify my ‘voice’.

Reading/Working Log

Rough Draft- Over 3 hours

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian- 30 mins

No, You Can't Touch the Sky

               The sky is the limit, so close you can touch the sky. Well actually no you can’t. This is a very pessimistic thing for me to say but I was having this conversation earlier today with someone and I found it kind of interesting even though it is quite simple. The sky is not the limit. There is no limit. The sky is not a barrier or wall separating the world from space. It’s just the atmosphere that slowly gets thinner until it reaches space. So the limit is wherever space ends. But nobody knows where space ends. As far as we know it just goes on forever! Plus humans have made it far beyond the sky making that saying false anyway.

                The sky isn’t necessarily something you can touch. Yes, I know it’s a metaphor to make a point about how high of an attitude a person is at, but still it doesn’t make sense. In my opinion we are always touching the sky. We are surrounded by air, always in contact with it, because it is made up of gasses. The gases are part of the atmosphere, which is the sky so we really don’t need to go very high to touch the sky. It might seem like a solid blue thing, but it’s just the color the atmosphere reflects back at us.

Topic Explainations and Reading Log

           I’ve always been interested in world religions and what effect they have on their followers. Another thing that I’m especially interested in is the effect peoples different physical characteristic have of their opportunities and acceptance. The Hindu caste system fit that pretty well. Especially the Brahmans and the Dalits since they are the most different of all the castes. They were treated completely differently by their skin color (race) because of Aryan invasions in Northern India who then made the natives work for them which formed the lowers castes. I wanted to know if the abolishment of the caste system had changed the treatment of the lower castes or effected the status of the Brahmans. Turns out that it did to an extent. Caste problems still exist and Brahmans are highly respected but things have still changed.

          The caste system has been a huge part of Hindu culture since its development. This means that it has a standing impact on Hindus in the past and in the present. It has caused the poor treatment of the Dalit people and privileged lives of the Brahmans, simply because of the difference in skin color. This custom was brought through Aryan invasions where the lighter skin Aryans over took the darker skinned northern Indians, making them the lower class. The Dalits were excluded from society and made to do the jobs considered ‘polluting’. In more recent times people started to rebel against the caste system because of the human rights violations against the Dalits. The caste system was abolished by the Indian government and the treatment of the lower castes has been significantly improved. But, even though there have been improvements violence against Dalits and discrimination by color still exists. Also it has weakened the authority and power of the Brahmans.

Reading Log

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 1 hour 30 mins

Detailed outline and Thesis 2 hours

Reading/Working Log

Maximum Ride 20 mins

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian 2 hours

Annotated Bibliography ... Too long

Notecards 1 Hour

National History Day Project Research and Reading Log

           My topic is the effect of the abolishment of the Hindu caste system of the social status of the Brahmans (the highest class) and the Dalits (the lowest class). The caste system was officially abolished because people felt that the Dalits weren’t being treated fairly and didn’t have the same opportunities. The abolishment was supposed to have made things equal between castes and has been somewhat of a success. Dalits have begun to have similar lives to those of the other castes. At the same time it has also decreased the amount of religious authority and power the Brahmans have over the other castes But its long past has made it a permanent part of Hindus’ culture.

          For my research I still need to find some more useful sources for my annotated bibliography. I also need to eliminate the non-useful ones that don’t provide much detail, just the basic information. Before I can do anything else I need to finish my annotated bibliography. I’m going to analyze my sources for the note cards and start putting them into the categories I’ve come up with. Over the weekend, I’m going to have to work on compiling information into notecards a good bit.

Reading Log

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian 5½ hours

Maximum Ride 2 hours

NHDP Annotated bibliography/research 1 hour