Letter to My Future Child

This is a bit of a piece from my senior memoir:

   Hello my little darling still floating up in heaven, waiting for your turn to be brought into the world.  I long for the day I finally get to meet you; the joy I will feel when I get to lay my eyes on your tiny, little face.  Sometimes, I dream of what you might look like.  Are you a boy or a girl?  Are you going to have blonde hair? Will you have big brown eyes like your mama?  All of this really has no meaning to me because I know that you will be absolutely perfect.  When you are born, my life will be complete knowing that I'll have you for the rest of my life.  It's all so incomprehensible.  How can I possibly love someone so much who I've never met, let alone existed yet.  Just know, little one, that my love for you is never-ending and everlasting.
-Kaylynn B.

The R Word

How many times a day do you say rape? Hopefully none. But I've come to find that this word has become desensitized and goes through the mouth of most high school students I'm surrounded by. This is me saying STOP. Do you even know what rape is? It's the act of someone forcing another to have sex against their will. A SERIOUS topic, although most kids in my classes don't take it seriously. I hear this word used in phrases like, " Man I just raped that test" or "That team lost so badly it looked like they got raped in the ass". Let me explain something. You cannot force a test to have sex with you, and if you can, then you have issues. So why would you use that word? Because you lack the ability to put yourself iin someone elses shoes. Well, let me put you in mine. I was kidnapped and raped when I was 15. What I thoguht was a jog through my neighborhood turned out to be an experience I'd never forget. So now I'm asking this of all of you that abuse this word choice. Imagine what it's like to have a 30 year old man touch you. Imagine having to talk about your rape to the police in front of your mom...and your dad. Imagine missing three months of school and fearing the outdoors as a result of the rape. And if you can't imagine it, then do me a favor and TH
INK before you use this word.
Stephanie Rose

Down to the Last Few Days

Four years. That may seem like a reasonably long amount of time, but it's all gone before you know it.  As soon as we got into high school, we looked forward to the day we get out.  Finally, that day is quickly approaching.  Now that we're down to the last few days of our lives in high school, it's time to plan for the next step: COLLEGE. It's these next four years of our lives that are often the greatest, and it is important to treasure them because they'll fly by just as fast as the previous four.  Some people may be set on what they want out of their college experience (fraternity/sorority, business major, PhD, etc.); some may think they're sure but they end up changing their minds; some may have absolutely no idea what they want to do with the rest of their lives.  This is the time to make mistakes.  Change your mind 50 times- maybe not 50 unless you want to pay a ton of money.  If we go in to college thinking that if we make a mistake that our lives will be ruined, we are depriving ourselves from personal experience, which leads to wisdom. The best way to learn is by making a mistake, and changing for the better.  I hope all of you seniors have a great summer and receive the greatest experience from your college. Be sure to live it up!
-Kaylynn B.

Humanism

Humanism is based on what is title after - the human race. It essentially states that the common and supersticious beliefs of organized religion can be debunked and that we do not need a god to live ethical lives. Knowledge of the world is instead gained by observation and cold hard rationalism; humanism provides the acme of freedom of experience in order to appreciate being human.
Roberto L

Frankenstein Close Reading

"i feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollection of childhood"

I can relate to this sentence because some of the best memories I have are from my childhood. Looking back on the past with positive memories is always good but you can't dwell on the past too long.

I Am...

I am a thinker. I refuse to sit without thought like a slave oppressed from my own opinion: instead, I constantly change the way I think, the way I see the world, and the way I perceive myself and the world. I delve into my past, contemplate my present, and envision my future as a more positive place; as I return from a deep thought of realization occurs that my mind is such an intricate piece of human anatomy. When I contemplate I assert myself to ponder all things: reality and fantasy are seperated by a thin line. The very idea that thought process makes me who I am and I should always think at a faster rate than I know.
Roberto L.

Native Son Response

Bigger is unable to support his family and therefore feels helpless and ashamed. His mother makes it worse by blaming him when Vera passes out. Because of this persecution, Bigger turns to crime. He steals from blacks because he knows that stealing from a white man would be more of a crime. Bigger begins stealing because he needs to support his family. Although he steals he is still very fearful everytime he does it so he convinces Gus to do it with him.
Roberto L

I am

I am a wounded girl
No, I am not a rebel like those who chose to express anger over sorrow;
nor am I one of those "victims" who gave up on thier dreams.
I am a girl of worth,
of heart and soul,
of meaning and purpose-
and my heart may have grown three times bigger after it was broken.
I am experienced,
understand, because I have experienced more trauma than most at my age.
Like the caterpillar whose cacoon hatched too early,
it is as though I was thrown into a grown up world that I wasn't yet prepared for.
I am a wounded girl,
but my spirit is not broken.

Mrs. Elliott asked us to write a poem using the same syntax and structure as a sample piece we were given. This was my poem. :]

Happiness

I feel Jane Eyre takes a lot after the concept of "It's not where you are, it's who you're with." The materials don't matter, but the company does. Obviously high class is strived for no matter who you are but it doesn't come in a package with happiness. Then we can ask ourselves what is happiness exactly?

What is happiness to Jane isn't necessarily happiness to me. So, can two people really ever be content at the same time or do we give something up to act as though we are content with others?

-Breeana P.

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Jane Eyre Reading Response

"You think too much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, too vehement: the sovereign Hand that created your frame, and put life into it, has provided you with other resources than your feeble self, or than creatures feeble as you." "Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and kingdom of spirits: that world is round us, for it is everywhere and those spirits watch us..... angels see our tortures, recognize our innocence." "Why then should we ever sink overwhelmed with distress, when life is so soon over and death is so certain an entrance to happiness- to glory?"

To me, people like the idea of a white or black response but there is nothing that can be that simplified. Jane and Helen's views contradict each other which glorifies into an explosion of unanswered questions that pertain to the idea of actual life and purpose. Is it saying that death blooms into something good? Once you hit rock bottom can only goodness stem from there? Obviously, life and death are on two sides of the spectrum like Helen's views and Jane's views. But overall are the concepts of life and death so different? I used to be certain but now I'm not so sure. No life can guarantee freedom and happiness but can death? The cycle is never ending.

-Breeana P

Food for Thought

     After reading the blog for January 16th 2011, 17 and Baking, I realized that I will soon be in a position similar to hers, where she has to return to the "college life" and leave her loved ones behind. I like how she uses sensory detail in her writing, how she describes the setting of her story instead of blatantly stating where she was with no enthusiasm. I also liked how she had a story embedded within a story, which is similar to Frankenstein was written (where there was one story, then another story took place, then another). These literary devices are very useful in everyone's writing, and with great practice, your story may be perceived as a phenomenal piece of art...like Frankenstein.

Shanyce R.

Just a Thought

     After reading Jane Eyre, I learn that the author, Charlotte Bronte, used the motif of solitude, as well as abuse, throughout the novel. Reading these incidents repeatedly made me wonder if Bronte had ever experienced these types of hardships because it may be a fiction, but there is always a motive for the author to write. In this novel, it is difficult to find isolation without abuse in the midst of the occurrence. For example, when Jane is detained in the Red Room for retaliation against her cousin, John Reed, she is isolated from everyone in the house, and she sees it as abuse because she fears her uncle's ghost may haunt her whilst in the room. Jane Eyre's thoughts and anger must have clouded her mind while in the room, because what she thought may have been the ghost of her uncle, may have been only a figment of her imagination.
     Early last week, we, as a class, were given the task of comparing and contrasting the themes we came across in the novels we were reading. I chose abuse as my topic, because the connotation of the word then, and now, do not nearly have the same denotation. Abuse back in Jane Eyre's time seemed as if it was a regular event, and no one thought much of it; it was the way to earn respect from those who had lower statuses in society. However, now, abuse is seen as inhumane, and instead of being viewed as punishment, it's seen as a crime. On the other hand, solitude is perceived, for the most part, the same in both aspects. It is difficult to have solitude without abuse, or vice versa, because people need to have a social life in order to continue growing as a "normal" person in today's society, and somehow...I believe Charlotte Bronte was missing that part of her life.

Shanyce R.

To Be Of Use Response

The people I love best
strive to accomplish every task with their best ability
always with a positive attitude
that comes across as a warm light that shines over everyone.
They believe in the idea,
as a dreamer fighting
reckless but powerful.

I love people who open themselves to the world,
a butterfly slowly developing, a young child's
attachment with their mother, with enormous care
who listens and learns but never judges,
who shows compassion, someone honest.

I want to be with people who fight
for what they want, who stand up and lead
who take on something new, someone
progressive with open ears to others.

The combination of dreamers and realists keeps stability
Balance controls reason with imagination
Allowing everyone to blend together, while
Still opening a door to independent success.

-Breeana P.

It's Time for a Change...Go to College!

I never thought that this year's College Week would have such a huge impact on my view of college. After Mrs. Elliott's descriptions of how much she loved college and how it changed her life for the better, I feel that everyone should have a similar opportunity. Whether you feel ready for a change of school experiences or not, you should go to college, because from what I've heard, the experience is phenomenal and the memories that are created will stay with you for an eternity. I hope that everyone attends a college, whether large or small, junior or university, private or public, and enjoys their time there. Remember to keep your grades high and reach for the moon so if you fall you will land amongst the stars.

Good Luck,
     Shanyce R.

Never thought it was true...

That you can change the way you think…the way you live…the way you see the world…the way you perceive yourself and others. You are stuck but all you can do is wonder. You think about the past, you see the present in an entire different way, you envision the future as a more positive place. You come back…normal yet confused - questions racing throughout your mind. Seemed simple enough didn’t it? You realize that the mind is the most complex system that can think and visualize more than we are capable of realizing consciously. There is a fine line between reality and fantasy and the human mind separates them while combining them at the right moments in perfect harmony. Always think…we should think at a faster rate than we know.
Roberto L.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

At the end of the story, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, it is clearly stated that Alice's Adventure was completely a dream. During dreams we enter into a state of darkness, which exposes us to mystery and the unknown. Throughout Alice's whole journey there was a sense of not knowing who she was, what the characters meant while speaking, and why the animals were acting as they were. The archetype of the color black allows 'darkness' to be associated with it so the reader understands inside knowledge about what chaos was occurring to Alice, and the unconscious thoughts that were spreading throughout her dreams. Looking down the rabbit hole provided her with complete darkness and not being able to see what was below. She was entering into chaos of the unknown, little did she know. By the end of the story she leaves back through the darkness as she slowly awakes.

Breeana P.

Introductory to Girls

I ask them to take a girl
And try to understand her,
Explore her inside and out
just like a novel

or simply use their words to ask her how she feels

I say try to put her pieces together
like a complex puzzle,
or explain what she's like as if she were the prompt to a persuasive essay

I want them to give her their ears and their hearts
and teach her to trust them,
but all they want to do is judge and criticize her
like she was some $7 matinee movie.
They begin to tease her, because they know
deep down she's too good for them.

By Stephanie Rose

What is literature to all of you?

As a warm-up for the upcoming essay we should all put what our basic ideas have been and see where that takes us. Here's mine:
Literature is the compilation of our darkest struggles and our greatest triumphs; it is the union of practical thought with a world created in our minds, it combines the human experience with the wonders of our imagination; it explains tangible concepts by intangible means; it is a portal to another time and place, and it is a reflection of our culture, and more importantly - our inner most selves.
So what do you think? agree? disagree? comments? And what is your literature?
                                                                                                                                                           Chris W.

Alice in Wonderland Drug Referencing

Although Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by novelist Lewis Carrol is not admittedly proclaimed to be a drug-related novel, references and quotes such "down the rabbit hole" give the story a connotation that can easily be related to the hallucinogenic drug commonly known as LSD. As the main character, Alice sits next to a river bank while her older sister reads to her she begins to drift into a dream-like state; while in this dreamy state, Alice sees a white rabbit run past her dressed in a coat and carrying a clock. Her dreamy hallucination implies that Alice is experiencing phenomena that seems other-worldly even before entering Wonderland.

While slowly falling, literally and figuratively, through time down the rabbit hole, strange objects float past her. The deeper she falls down the hole and into a different state of mind, the more strange and random the objects are.

Falling down the rabbit hole is now a common term for entering a sub-conscious state of hallucinations after inducing LSD. The novel helped develop appropriate slang for the mind-altering drug. Psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane released and acid rock single titled "White Rabbit" which refers to the novel by Lewis Carrol in its lyrics.

Roberto L.