I AM HERE

This grading period, Bailey and I came up with an awesome idea for our masterpiece project, (technically, she did.) we decided to take all of the books we've read, not on the AP list, the ones that we actually enjoyed reading, and explain why they are important too. Of course the AP books are all so filled to the brim with enlightening information, but these books we read really meant something to us. I think I've been doing fine this grading period, not as full speed as previous ones though. It's finally hitting me that I am a senior and that school will be over and college will start soon. I still don't feel like a senior, but I feel that downtime is coming up soon, and that happens every year around this time.

Lit six

Simile: a literary technique used to describe things in comparison using the words like or as
soliloquy: a speech given by one character to themself
spiritual: a higher feeling that goes beyond ones senses
speaker: who is telling 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. Almost like an assumption based on what you think you know about someone. 
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 summarizes the selection
tone: the voice in which an author is writing in.
tongue in cheek: not meaning what is written, being literal?
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: spoken language
voice: who is speaking

Zeitgeist: the mood of a period through beliefs and ideas

hafta/wanna

I've never really been one to just slack off completely, but I've noticed my fair share of people who give up before they even start. I always wondered, why are you doing this to yourself? You could do so much more. In high school, you don't really seem to care what happens academically until the very last year, and once that last year comes, it's either too late, or you have senioritus and don't want to participate in anything. You start thinking about the future, grimacing at all the decisions you have to make and all the paperwork you have to fill out.
I was contacted right before my sophomore year of high school by one of the tennis coaches at Cal. Lutheran University. It wasn't allowed yet to start recruitment, but I wrote back anyways. I started thinking way to hard about college, and the future, and I was just a sophomore, what was I supposed to know? How was I supposed to know what I wanted to major in? Then my junior year, all the emails and letters and phone calls started filing in, and it was even WORSE. My parents asked me constantly, "Did you reply to that coach from that college yet?" No, mom. Thanks for reminding me that my future is calling though. I didn't want to deal with it. But I think it helped me with starting sooner, and getting athletic scholarships before anyone ever did. And it pushed me to do what every student didn't want to do until the very last minute. It feels better now because I've narrowed down the colleges I want to go to.
I think that once graduation hits, everyone will be ready to go to college. I know I'm ready right now. There's no point to high school anymore, I feel, except to go to prom and wear the cap and gown and all that senior crap. I DON'T CARE JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE.

Launch/Draft

• What am I passionate about?  What do I want to do?
• How can I use the tools from last semester (and the Internet in general)?
• What will I need to do in order to "feel the awesomeness with no regrets" by June?
• What will impress/convince others (both in my life and in my field)?
• How will I move beyond 'What If' and take this from idea --> reality?
• Who will be the peers, public, and experts in my personal learning network?

Most people who know me would expect me to say that I am passionate about tennis. This is not true. Being passionate about something to me means that it's just so important to you that you can't picture yourself without it. I am actually really passionate about writing. I really like words, and putting my thoughts into something that people can understand and relate to, because everyone is just looking for words that make them feel less alone in the world. That's why I read. I relate to the words, and I feel understood by the author. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing to become what I want to be, but I think I want to be some sort of writer, maybe even a photographer for a magazine. That would make me so happy. It's ridiculous that I want to do these things, because I've been confused for the longest time with what I want to do when I get older.

The tools from last semester, such as the essays we wrote, and our vocabulary lists could both be extremely helpful in writing. I write practically every day, I just don't tell anyone. So sh.

To "feel the awesomeness", I'll just need to do anything to get an A. A's always make me feel like I did everything correctly.

I think just letting people read the things I write down could convince people that I can write and write things that are relatable to others. That's all writing is really about, to me. Writing what could make other people feel understood in their heads, because that's all anyone really wants. Is to be understood.

Well, I definitely DON'T want anyone to read anything I write down. But I think that some of the essays I write are decent enough to show to people to get to where I want to be.

Not sure what this means, but my friends will probably be the ones I ever let read my words, so they'll be the critics of it all.

Lit terms 5

Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form.

Parody:  an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist. 

Pathos:  the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.

Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.

Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.

Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.

Poignant:  eliciting sorrow or sentiment.

Point of View: the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing.

Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary.

Prose:  the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern.

Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist.

Pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.

Purpose: the intended result wished by an author.

Realism:  writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straight forward manner to reflect life as it actually is.

Refrain:  a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus.

Requiem:  any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.

Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement.

Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.

Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade.

Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.

Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax.

Romanticism:  movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact.

Satire:  ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general.

Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.

Setting: the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur.

Lecture notes

Dickens:

•romanticism

-doubleness of character

-"streaky bacon": the author combines sentiment and humor

•subject matter

•themes/tones 

Heller (Catch 22)

•Postmodernism: used humor

<WAR

-hopeless despair

-humor

•narrative structure

•diction/syntax

A catch-22 is that you need money to go to college, but you need to go to college to get money. 

Quote:

"Moral was deteriorating and it was all Yossarian's fault. The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them."

•quite ironic in the second half of the sentence

Lecture notes

Dickens:

•romanticism

-doubleness of character

-"streaky bacon"

•subject matter

•themes/tones 

Heller (Catch 22)

•Postmodernism

<WAR

-hopeless despair

-humor

•narrative structure

•diction/syntax