My University

Today was an interesting day, we started with conversations about the literature, more specifically about Beowulf. But as the class went on we went on a tangent and started talking about colleges and pretty soon about debts and how best to mange your student loans after school.This continued for a while and everyone at our table was very active in the discussion, but like most conversations we went off again and ending talking about music and what we like. Altogether that was our class period.   

Reading Notes Pg 31-60

Reading Notes Pg 31-60

Collaboration between: Hikaru Kasai, Michael
Hall, and Taylor Wall

From Tristia Book 10

• been here for 3 winters, looking out across the Euxine sea
• describes the people as hairy barbarians who you would hate when you see them but control most the land.
• the land is chaos and war, the man are believed to be descendants of Greeks but he questions why they wear Persian clothes.
• he is angry how he has to uses signs to talk and they mock his latin words.  
• he thinks back to his time in Rome and talks about the pain he is in, being taken from his homeland
• at the end he says,” Perhaps i did not deserve to be punished in such a place… I’m a madman. I deserve to lose even my life.. when I did injury to the power of Caesar the god”.

From Beowulf

Background: At the time of this story England was changing from pagan to christianity. Both religious ideas can be seen in the story. Stories of people facing monsters was very common.

Beowulf pages 39-40

The Wrath of Grendel:

• Grendel is born of Cain who was banished by god for killing his brother Abel
• He torments Hrothgar’s hall in Herot by going in at night and taking the sleeping men back to his cave and eating them
• Many tried to defeat him but he was immune to all mortal weapons
• Grendel ruled over Herot by instilling fear into the hearts of all men, and Hrothgar was left alone in his hall

The Coming of Beowulf:

• Beowulf, who serves Higlac the king of the Geats, hears of Hrothgar’s misfortune and decides he will take 14 men with him to defeat the beast
• He arrives in the Danes and decides they will sleep in the hall to bait Grendel
• Grendel comes in while they pretend to sleep and Beowulf uses his hands to rip off his arm and defeat him

The Monster’s Lair:

• peasants had seen Grendel and his mother wandering out in the marshes
• they believe they live in a lake that burns like a torch
• animals won’t go near it to save their own lives
• they ask Beowulf to pursue Grendels mother to her home and kill her

Battle with Grendel’s Mother

• The mother ruled the like for 50 years
• Beowulf dives underwater to kill her in a cave, but he gets caught and wrestles to beat her
• He attempted to stab her with his sword which didn’t work, and his armour protects him from mother’s attacks
• He finds a large giant’s sword in the cave and use it to kill the mother
• the sword is called a hilt, which is amazing according to Beowulf, the blood of mother melted the hilt
• He beheads mother after cutting her and carries her head and the hilt to shore to show his men
• before he leaves, he finds that the Mother kept treasure in her cave, which he leaves
• he returns to Herot and then to his homeland and becomes the King of Geatland for 50 years

The Last Battle

• after decades of his rule, a dragon threatens his kingdom since it tried to find the culprit who stole the treasure the dragon guarded
• he insists that he will fight it alone, and he confronts the dragon with a sword and shield
• the dragon breathes fire at him and he strikes him with his sword
• the men run away into the woods except for Wiglaf (Wexton’s son), who stays to fight with Beowulf

The Spoils

• Beowulf is injured by the dragon, and Wiglaf manages to deal damage and the dragon limps back
• Wiglaf’s hand is burned

The Farewells

• knowing that his wound is fatal, Beowulf orders Wiglaf to bring back some treasure that the dragon is holding to see what he has won for him land
• Beowulf tells Wiglaf that he should replace his role and build a tower named after Beowulf for the brave symbolism
• Beowulf dies in glory as a hero

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

I did the AlS Ice Bucket Challenge an donated to their organization, they are truly helping people and I hope that you too will support them. I nominated Hikaru Kasi, Taylor Wall, and Victoria Tonascia. Enjoy!

Reading Notes for pg 2-14

The Right to Your Opinion

The Right to your Opinion Notes

·         The idea of the topic is interesting, I have been known to argue with people, but I have only even been on the receiving side of that saying.

·         I like the idea that once you say that phrase then they have given up on the argument, it makes a lot of sense.

·         The conversation about Drugs and the right to do what you want didn't seem to be as relevant as the early parts.

·         You only have rights that don’t interfere with previously place laws.

·         I didn't take much more notes because I wanted to just pay attention to the conversation instead of just writing everything down.   

Reflection on Week 1

Reflection on week 1

1.    I think the only thing that will affect my participation in class is my part time job constricting my time. I might be very limited on time for certain assignments so some might to be my best quality. Also I don’t have a smart phone but with the class wifi that’s not that big of a problem. 
2. I don’t really have a story about my best learning experience, I wish I had a clear-cut point but I think as I grow I simply learn with no special event.
3. I look forward to the availability of a very diverse set of topics that we will cover. It will be nice to change up topics and bring in topics and ideas that are not cover in most English classes. I worry about the lack of a structure but am slowly adapting to it.

Vocabulary #1

Vocabulary #1

·         Adumbrate - verb give to understand; describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of. My new boss gave an adumbrate of the procedures to follow.  

·         Apotheosis - noun the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god); model of excellence or perfection of a kind; one having no equal. Hercules was a apotheosis in the Greek myths.

·         Ascetic - adj. practicing great self-denial; pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic or the practice of rigorous self-discipline; noun someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline.

·         Bauble - noun a mock scepter carried by a court jester; cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing.

·         Beguile - verb attract; cause to be enamored; influence by slyness. The girl was beguiled by the boy sitting in front of her in class because of his hew hair cut.

·         Burgeon - verb grow and flourish. Through this class my writing will burgeon.

·         Complement - noun something added to complete or make perfect. This last piece will complement the puzzle.

·         Contumacious - adj. willfully obstinate; stubbornly disobedient. The little kids in the 1^st grade class were contumacious when the teacher left.

·         Curmudgeon - noun a crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas. My grandpa is a curmudgeon old man; he refused to take it medicine from his nurses.

·         Didactic - adj. instructive (especially excessively). The homework for that night was didactic and full of too much work.

·         Disingenuous - adj. not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness. The instruction that we recived from are math class was disingenuous and misleading.

·         Exculpate - verb pronounce not guilty of criminal charges. The judge exculpated the man because the evidence showed that he dint commit the crime.

·         Faux pas- noun an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation. When Jacob fell in PE it was a faux pas situation.  

·         Fulminate -  verb cause to explode violently and with loud Noise; come on suddenly and intensely; criticize severely. I hope that people will peer edit our works but wont fulminate our hard work.

·         Fustian - noun a strong cotton and linen fabric with a slight nap; pompous or pretentious talk or writing. Jake was a fustian tone in his essay about politics.

·         Hauteur - noun overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors. Eric has a false sense of hauteur when he talks about history.

·         Inhibit - verb limit the range or extent of; to put down by force or authority. People inhibit the progress of society by being closed minded and not hearing out other people.

·         Jeremiad - noun a long and mournful complaint. Eric likes to give jeremiad monologues to people.

·         Opportunist - adj. taking immediate advantage, often unethically, of any circumstance of possible benefit; noun a person who places expediency above principle. Opportunists embrace the phrase; the early bid gets the worm.

·         Unconscionable - adj. greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation; lacking a conscience. Conversations with some of my friends can lead to unconscionable arguments. 

Montaigne/Austen Essay

Montaigne/Austen Essay

            David Foster Wallace stated that, “What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant.” This idea that there is so much in our human lives that it is almost indescribable can be seen in Montaigne’s Essays, he used 107 chapters of stream of consciousness in order to try to explain what he thought was the critical parts of life. On the other side there is Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, which uses a structured narrative that shows the connections of characters. While both support Wallace’s statement, they go about it in different ways.

            Michel de Montaigne wrote a series of essay about all things ranging from smells to cruelty. He wrote about how he perceived life, but rather than just a short novel about life as a whole he chose a different approach, to break each part of life into different parts and take a look at each one separately. To make his work even more different from other it was written through stream of consciousness, meaning he wrote whatever he thought at that time. Through his 107 chapters you can see into how not only he was as a person but also all of his person beliefs and ideals. The reason that his work illustrates David Foster Wallace’s statement is that, even though he separated the each part of life they still connected with each other and as a whole. With that you still see how each aspect of our lives and humanity as a whole are interconnected and intertwined. Also the second part of the statement that talks about how writing can barely scratch the surface is also shown, he wrote about over 100 topics with thousands of words, but still there is more. It goes to show that even with all that we have still barely scratched the surface just as David Foster Wallace said.  

            Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice also shows how our whole and life in general is interconnected but rather than using stream of consciousness, she instead used a structured narrative. She used the story of a family to show how each person’s life is connected to the next, and how people’s lives have effects on each other. Her difference from Montaigne is the style at which they both showed Wallace’s statement. Montaigne used stream of consciousness with many parts while Austen used a fictional story of a family as they grow. The crucial part is that they both show the connections between all people and all parts of life. To show even more about how everything can be interconnected elements of Montaigne’s essays can be seen in Pride and Prejudice.

            David Foster Wallace explained how most things are connected, this idea can be seen in both Montaigne’s Essays and Pride and Prejudice. There is a distinct distinction between the styles of the two pieces, Montaigne used stream of consciousness in order to dissect each part of life and explain his thought on each part, Austen wrote a story that used common themes with fictional characters to show how people are interconnected. While the two authors went about it different ways they still showed how the statement holds true.   

1987 AP Exam

Section 1

1. E c
2. E a
3. C
4. B e
5. D 
6. D
7. D e
8. B
9. B e
10. C
11. C d
12. B
13. D b
14. C
15. E a
16. B 
17. C
18. - e
19. B a
20. B-
21. B-e
22. A-e
23. E-a
24. D-a
25. D-c
26. E-
27. C-d
28. E-c
29. D a
30. A b
31. A d
32. - b
33. 0
34. 0
35. 0
36. 0
37. 0
38. 0
39. 0
40. 0
41. 0
42. 0
43. 0
44. 0
45. 0
46. 0
47. B
48. A
49. C
50. D
51. A c
52. B
53. E
54. B
55. D a
56. D b
57. C
58. E d
59. D e
60. D b
61. A

I didn't do very well on this part, mostly the last 2 poems because I found them hard to figure out. I think because of their different style of writing and vocabulary.

For the first essay I would have talked about how the author is telling that he believes that leisure is gone, and that the new innovations, which are suppose to increase leisure, are in his eyes creating more problems. For support I would quote the text and talk how his view of leisure and the new innovations differ, mainly how his is a slower pace. Coming to the conclusion that he likes a slow and calm pace rather than the speed of new technology perhaps.  

For the second I would use The Grapes of Wrath, but would be reluctant because I would like to use another but didn't recognize any that I could use efficiently.  I would talk about how the novel is breaking tradition by showing how the family is uprooting themselves in the hope of a better work life. It would be a pretty bad essay if I have to say so.

I CAN READ!?

I did this in one try and one take, it was 6:25 long with about 15 mistakes. To be honest I was not surprised at all by my results, I thought it was going to be even worse.    

Poetry #1

Poetry #1

1. The commercial uses the poem, The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski.
2. The use of this poem could be seen as ironic partly due to how the poems talks about being free and living your life the way you want to. Most corporations want to suck in consumers and convince them to buy their products. They wan to control people as well as their competing market, while the poem talks about freedom. 
3. From the research I did it would seem that a lot of his work focused on the realities and lives of normal and underprivileged people. Lots had sad theme,s while i see this one being more uplifting and inspirational; while still having some dark ideas.   
4. To find the answers for 1 and 3, i Googled " 2011 Levi's commercial poem" where I found an article that called it, The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski. Once I had that information Googled the specific poem and author where I found much more information.  

Essay #1

(I only made it 4 Paragraphs because i wanted to stay close to 40min and ran out of time) 

Michael Hall

Period 4

Essay 1

              Edward Said said that exile can be “terrible to experience…” but also a "potent, even enriching” experience, this can be seen through the novel The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The book tracks the story of a family as they go on a missionary expedition in the Congo. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is how the family reacts and adapts to their new home and how each person individually reacts to the new situation. Moving can be tough for people, even more for children. Simple moves to different cities are hard, but a move to another country with a completely different culture can feel like exile. But just like the quote says in exile people truly show themselves and their ability to overcome challenges. One example of this is the Leah, she starts nervous just like every one else but truly changes over the story and develops.

              Exile can be terrible, think of leaving all you know and going somewhere that is completely different. For any person that is a daunting task, it can be even harder when it’s a child who is only accustomed to one place. Leah is that child, her and her family moved to the Congo from the US, and immediately where hit with the realization that they were under prepared. First impressions are very important in any setting, and they immediately saw completely new people, habits, and culture. This is one of the major struggles with moving, the fear of the unknown and the loss of the comfortable. To start all the girls including Leah were both frightened and fascinated by the new world they were in.

             The quote also says that exile can enrich a person’s life; this is very true for Leah. She was one of the first to adjust to the world and enjoy it. As their time in the Congo went Leah began to learn more and more about the local culture and customs. She began to love the outdoors and began to learn the basics of survival. As she does she begins to embrace this new life and regrets that she did not learn these skills later. This is evident when she insists on being able to participate in the major hunt. Unlike most people who would miss their old lives, she decides to embrace it and move forward. By doing this she is turning the rift that she faced in her life into a good situation.

             Exile is always considered a horrible punishment, and it can be, but according to Edward Said it can also enrich a person’s life. In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, the character Leah shows that even when a person’s life is completely changed and you move to a completely new place that you can still prosper. Even after movie she adapted to the environment and stayed for a long time trying to help the problems that she saw in Africa. Truly the “exile” that she went through gave her a greater appreciation for other cultures an enriched her life.

Big Question?

Big Question

I had a hard time thinking of a big question, but I landed on a quite simple one. What is truly important in life? While it seems simple, it is interesting that the answer changes over time. Not only that but also it changes based on your personal beliefs and ideals. Well I thought it was interesting.  

Scholarships

Scholarships

Caption U Student-Athlete scholarship-The $2,000 CaptainU Student-Athlete Scholarship is open to all student-athletes who plan to attend a 4 year college.

Requirements:

• Students must be currently enrolled in high-school or junior college
• Students must be planning to attend a four year university

American Veterans United- This scholarship is available to the child or grandchild of a United States military veteran. Applicant must have a minimum GPA of 2.5, supply two letters of recommendation, and write an original essay of no more than 300 words on "Explain why you value your freedom based on the sacrifices made by our veterans

Requirements:

• child or grandchild of a United States military veteran
• 2.5 GPA
• sponsor's DD-214

Poisonwood Bible Notes

Michael Hall

Notes: Poisonwood Bible

Book 1 Genesis

            The first book starts with Orleana Price reflecting back on a memory she has from her extensive time that her and her family spent in Africa. In 1959 the Price family left to go on a one year missionary trip to the Congo. Nathan price, the father, is a minister who decided to take his wife, Orleana, and four daughters: Rachel, Ruth May, Leach, and Adah, on a mission to spread Christianity to the indigenous people of the Congo. They move to village of Kilanga where they are welcome with a big feast of goat stew. Right of the start the family are faced with many new people and experiences. Fist they family have to adjust to their new house and environment, it is nothing like the home they left. Second they have to adjust to the people in the village. At the beginning, the girls are afraid to go outside and adventure, instead they just observe the people outside. At the same time the villagers are curious about the Price family. Most of the family has a hard time adjusting to their new situation, Orleana doesn’t have the appliances that made many tasks at home very easy, and Nathan is having a hard time getting people to attend his sermons and get baptized. In order to persuade people to go to his sermons he sets up an Easter church service and picnic where they made and served fried chicken for the villagers. The picnic turned out to be a big success, but the family still had a hard time adjusting and even more when their housekeeper Mama Tataba quite due to here and Nathan arguing.

Book 2 The Revelation
             This part of the story starts with Orleanna reflecting on her time in Kikongo after they lost their house keeper. She tells how her day was full of supplying the family with their basic needs. As she worked to keep the family feed, Nathan began to become obsessed with his goal of converting the native people to Christianity. As the months went on they started to learn about the people, culture, and land of the Congo. Leah took rapidly to the native land and culture. Soon the family starts to to more adjusted with the area. They girls start to have lessons with their mom and start to make friends with the village kids. Ruth May is the first to start playing with the other kids teaching them, "mother may?” While the others play, Leah begins to learn practical survival skills from Pascal, a young boy. As her father travels and spreads his beliefs Leah becomes jealous and mad that she doesn't get to travel like him. Later Ruth May breaks her arm from falling from a tree and they take her to Stankeyville for treatment. While there Nathan talks with a doctor about the effects of US and european influence in the country. Not long after the local school teacher, Anatole, cone to the house and tells then that the chief of the village is getting mad at how many people are going to Nathan's services. His services become more popular after Adah is walking and attacked by a lion but manages to escape. Most of the people say that Jesus that saved her.  At the start of the new year the price family get a surprise visit from the last missionaries, the Underdowns, they warn them that there is an election coming and that they needed to leave. Nathan says that they won’t leave until his "mission" is complete.

Book 3 The Judges
            This book starts with Orleanna reflecting on how her and Nathan meet and when Nathan was drafted in to army in WWII where he received a traumatic head wound. In 1960 Orleanna and Ruth May are both very sick and the other girls have to take care of the family and realize hard hard their mother works. To make things even more difficult the family now doesn’t have any support for the missionary program anymore. Now they have to survive with the few supplies they have. As time goes on they start to recover and get used to the change, but Orrleanna begins to question Nathan. She starts to think that her and the girls need to get out of Africa. One day the last missionary, Fowles, comes to town. Nathan doesn't like him because they differ on my beliefs.  The chief of the town, Tata Ndu, starts to come to the Price family house for often and the family is confused until they hear that he is looking for another wife, Rachel. To keep her from marrying him, they decide to pretend to be engaged to Axelroot, an American pilot. One night the village gets infested with ants and everyone fears for their lives.

Book 4 Bel and the Serpent
            To start this book Orleanna talks about the overthrow and coup of the Congo government while they lived there. After the invasion the ants, the villagers came back and found that most of the food was eaten and they had little water caused by the drought they were in. The village lost faith and called a vote on whether to keep Christianity where Nathan lost. Next they announces a great hunt, Leah asks the elders if she can join and I shut down, but with the help of most of the young they hold a vote an she is allowed. Even with the towns approve her and Nathan fight about it. At the hunt there is a debate about how killed an antelope, Leah or the chiefs son, which erupts in chaos and arguing. That night Nelson tells them that he is suspicious of some of the people. The girls set a trap to catch anyone who is trying to harm him. The next morning they find the footprints of Tata Kuvudundu and a green mamba snake that bites Ruth May and kills her. The woman and children from the village surround her body and pray. The children began calling out “Mother may I?”

Book 5 Exodus

            After Ruth Mays death Orleanna feels that her and the girls need to leave. That night they walked out of the village and head into the neighboring town of Bulungu. On the way Leah gets malaria and has to be carried, when they get there she stays with Anatole and decides to marry him and stay. For the others, Rachel and Axelroot fly to South Africa, where they live together until she marries an attaché to the French embassy. Orleanna and Adah take a truck to the capital and eventually fly back to the US. Adah studies medicine and visits her mother. As time goes on the all go on with different careers but still are haunted by the death of Ruth May. Nathan stills tries to baptize the people of the Congo. In the 80’s they all regrouped and see how each has changed, they talk about how Leah heard that Nathan died by villagers.

Book 6 Song of the Three Children

            The three girls have all grown through their time and now have different outlooks on life and Africa. Rachel regrets that she never had children and that made the decision to not go back to the US. She thinks that Africa can’t be changed, it is what it is. Leah thinks about how European nation have come and created so many of the problems in Africa and wishes to heal those wounds. She lives on an agricultural station trying to help the people. Adah works to help people all around the world by working to cure diseases, namely Ebola and AIDS. The three girls all grew to have different views of the world based of their shared experiences in the Congo.

Book 7 The Eyes in the Trees

            The girls are walking through are market where they are being watched over by the spirit of Ruth May. As they go Orleanna sees many symbols that remind her of her lost daughter, one being a small boy that she sees. Towards the end the spirit says that she forgives her mother and that she needs to forgive herself, there ending the story. 

Pride and Prejudice Notes

Michael Hall

Notes: Pride and Prejudice

·         Mr.Bingley, a wealthy and notable young man moves into Netherfield Park. Mrs. Bennet, mother of 5 daughters: Jane, Elizabeth Mary, Catherine, and Lydia, tries to introduce her daughter to him in the hopes that he marries one.

·         A ball is held in the neighborhood and all important characters come, the Bennet’s see this as a time to meet Mr. Bingley

·         At the ball Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley friend, is introduced and show to be cold and overall unfaltering mostly to Elizabeth who over hears him decline to dance with her.

·         During the ball Bingley meets Jane, one of the daughters and instantly falls for her looks.

·         After the ball both Jane and Mr. Bingley keep talking about each other while Elizabeth talks about how Darcy was rub and proud.

·         As time goes on Jane and Mr. Bingley’s affection grows for each other, at the same time Mr. Darcy grows a liking to Elizabeth while she still sees him as proud.

·         One day Jane receives an invitation to dinner at Mr. Bingley’s, she goes but gets sick, as part of her moms plan, and stays after to get better. Her sister worries and walks to see and finds her sicker than thought before and stays with her.

·         As they stay Darcy finds himself more drown to Elizabeth, but doesn’t make a move because of the low social class of some of her relatives.

·         Once Jane recovers, they head back home her they hear that their cousin, William Collins is coming to talk about inheriting their land, when their father dies, due to the estate being entailed. Collins talks about how he plans to marry one of the sisters, he proposes to Elizabeth.

·          The group head to Meryton, where they meet the new officer Wickman, and they are told about past conflicts with Wickman and Darcy.

·          They all go to a ball at Netherfield, where they are many talks about an engagement of Jane and Bingley from Mrs. Benne

·         After the ball Collins proposes to Elizabeth but when she refuses he and her mother get very angry. In the mist her friend Charlotte Lucas gets engaged to Collins, not for love but for financial security.

·         Soon after the Bingley group leave for a long trip to London while jane is stuck at home.

·         Jane receives a letter from Bindley’s sister saying that they are staying in London and not returning. Jane is devastated and goes into a depression.

·         That Christmas Mrs. Bennet's brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner come to visit and invites Jane to come to London with them. 

·         After London Elizabeth heads north to Hunsford and a brief visit to Miss De Bourgh, there she sees Darcy and has many heated discussions with him.

·         Elizabeth hears how Darcy help Bingley get out of a bad engagement, which she assumes is Jane’s and is horrified. Later that day Darcy checks on her health and proposes to her, first she is flattered but then mad when he tells her why he has reservations. She then tells him all the problems she has with him.

·         The next day he gives her a letter that tells how the two biggest problems she has with him are both false, breaking up Jane and Bingley and treating Wickham.

·         At first she doesn’t believe it but as she recounts the actions she relives that everything Darcy said was true and that she was the one wrong, but once she makes this realization it is too late. Darcy has already left.

·         The militia is set to leave once Elizabeth and Jane get back and Lydia is invited to go with them.

·          Later that summer Elizabeth accompanies her aunt and uncle on a trip to the north where they decide to go to Dary’s estate,  Pemberley,

·         Later Elizabeth finds out that her sister, Lydia, has run away with Wickman. Darcy comforts her but she worries that because of this he will never want her as a wife.

·         Mr.Bennet spends a long time looking for the runaways and eventually finds them, and gets them to agree to get married.

·         As she realizes how she loves Darcy, she sees how he would never want to marry into their family.

·         Elizabeth found out when Lydia and Wickman came home that it was Darcy who found them and paid off his debts.   

·         Word comes that Bindley is returning and that Darcy is accompanying him, as time goes Jane and Bingley began to talk again and not to long after he proposes.

·         Elizabeth is visited by Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt, who tells her that there is a rumor that her and Darcy are engaged and tells her to end it.

·         Not too long after Darcy visits Elizabeth and they both express their love for each other and agree to be married.