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To Kill a Mockingbird Blog Post #3

We finished the book this week and it felt pretty great to check another thing off of my To Do list. So lets talk about the ending. 

Lifesaving Ham 

Scout was ham in her school play and I can’t stop laughing. It make me think of this: 

While a crappy part in a school play can suck, Scout’s ham costume actually ended up saving her life which was a very lucky coincidence. But we must set the life saving powers of he ham costume aside for just a minute to discuss the ending of this book. The ending leaves us with the age old question of “whodunnit?” But I would like to respond with the other age old question of “who cares?” I ask this question because of the speech Heck Tate gives Atticus at the end of the book,“I’m not a very good man, sir, but I am sheriff of Maycomb County. Lived in this town all my life an’ I’m going on forty-three years old. Know everything that’s happened here since before I was born. There’s a black boy dead for no reason, and the man responsible for it’s dead. Let the dead bury the dead this time Mr. Finch. Let the dead bury the dead” (Lee 276). I am choosing not to speculate anymore Mr. Bob Ewell fell on his knife and that is that. I am going with the story that everyone agreed to tell. Regardless of the consequences that would have been brought down upon the real perpetrator of this crime, the real crime would have come in bringing the Finch children under the scrutiny of the town once again. They have been through enough. The minute Mr. Ewell stopped breathing the whole Tom Robinson ordeal was finished and the children though not as young and sweet as they were in the beginning were free. No one had won in this ordeal and everyone had lost, two dead men one innocent and one most certainly guilty. 

Shooting Mockingbirds 

Who is the Mockingbird? This is one of the central questions of this text and I believe the answer extends far beyond this story and far beyond the boundaries of 1930s Maycomb County. This is an issue that is still relevant and probably more relevant than ever. I’m talking about privilege. I referenced this in a pervious blog post. I said, “Continuing on with Atticus’s character development we learned during this section of the book we learned that Atticus is a terrific shot. He was great shot when he was young but he set down the gun as he grew up and would not teach his own son how to shoot, he left that task to his brother, Jem’s uncle. But why? Well as Miss Maudie explained it he put down the gun when he realized that God had given him an advantage over other living things. This is not just a statement about shooting but really social commentary on privilege. Atticus is a middle class educated white male he has a leg up on most every other member of the community but he never uses it to look down upon anyone. He treats everyone and everyone’s situation with sensitivity an respect and never uses his position to put anyone down. He was not realizing that God had given him a shooting talent he was realizing his privileged place in society.” Now I like to look as it like this, the gun represents privilege, and the mockingbird represents those who do not have it. The white residents of Maycomb County use their “guns” to put the African American members of the community down and into a place of lower status. This is because they look at the world through the sights of their gun all of the time which blinds them to the perspectives of others. This human blindness is well described in William Jame’s essay entitled On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings. We are all blind in our own special way, Atticus describes this in the first part of the book, he says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This lesson remains throughout the entire book and is even more justified by William Jame’s essay.

A Thank You Note to Scout

I want to take this time to thank my assigned character Scout for what she has taught me throughout this story. 

Dear Scout,

Thank you Scout for squashing gender roles with your refusal to be what others expected you to be because it doesn’t matter if you act like a girl or dress like a girl. You were never confined by the boundaries of your gender or even your age. Thank you for be willing to understand the points of views of others and also being willing to learn from Atticus. Thank you Scout for showing me what it means to be brave by staring down a lynch mob and instead of resorting to violence you appealed to their human side. You an eight year old girl brought down a lynch mob simply because you realized their one fatal flaw, that they were human. Thank you for being sympathetic, intelligent, and though at times hot headed you were everything that you needed to be. It was a privilege to watch you grow up and in a sense experience this journey with you. So thank you Scout for everything. 

Lots of Love, 

Emma 

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Here it is the Moment You’ve All Been Waiting for...

Here is my first video! Enjoy!:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpnUDUmbgfo&t=1s

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To Kill a Mockingbird Blog Post #2

Ok so I messed up this week and it was incredibly embarrassing. So my over achieving little self read chapters 10-15 instead of the assigned chapters 10-14 by mistake. And not only did I do that I tried to discuss chapter 15 in class which did not go over well because no one had read that chapter which I realized when everyone looked at me like I had three heads and Mr. Heidt called me out. I apologize. I really should have realized that something was up because Chapter 15 is a very important and pivotal chapter which Scout plays a large part in and no one was talking about it. That is why I brought it up I was sitting there like “Why hasn’t anybody said anything? This is important.” Well now I know.

This Week’s Reading and Atticus

Well aside from my mistakes this book is getting really good. More and more things are happening and I am actually interested in an assigned book, which never happens. This week’s reading has been good but the stuff with Mrs. Dubose was weird. I mean she was a morphine addict? What? This is strange. Aside from the strangeness Atticus taught the kids a really good lesson about respecting people and helping them no matter their situation. This is a lesson that I think many people do not understand and if they did the world would be a better place. Continuing on with Atticus’s character development we learned during this section of the book we learned that Atticus is a terrific shot. He was great shot when he was young but he set down the gun as he grew up and would not teach his own son how to shoot, he left that task to his brother, Jem’s uncle. But why? Well as Miss Maudie explained it he put down the gun when he realized that God had given him an advantage over other living things. This is not just a statement about shooting but really social commentary on privilege. Atticus is a middle class educated white male he has a leg up on most every other member of the community but he never uses it to look down upon anyone. He treats everyone and everyone’s situation with sensitivity an respect and never uses his position to put anyone down. He was not realizing that God had given him a shooting talent he was realizing his privileged place in society.

Scout: Little Kids Always Asking Questions 

Kids ask their parents all kinds of questions some are cute and some are a little more awkward. Scout is no exception to this and serves as the reason for all of Atticus’s little lessons and his sharing of his wisdom with her questioning. One of the best examples of this is on page 108, Scout asks Atticus, “What exactly is a n***** lover?” Atticus goes on to ask who has been saying to which Scout says that Mrs. Dubose has been calling him that. Here is where Atticus offers his first lesson of this conversation, “N***** lover is just one of those terms that don’t mean anything... ignorant, trashy people use it when they think that somebody’s favoring Negroes over and above themselves” (Lee 108).  We used words like this, ignorant horrible words when we are insecure in our own status. When we lash out at other people it is almost always a direct reflection of ourselves. Scout then says, “ You aren’t really a n***** lover then, are you?” to which Atticus replies. “I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... I’m hard put, sometimes-- baby, it’s never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn’t hurt you” (Lee 108). This is one of my favorite quotes by Atticus and carries so much truth, anything another person can call you says more about them then it does you. Scout plays a major part in asking these questions that prompt these extremely important lessons that Atticus gives. 

Discussion

It wasn’t good and there’s not much more to say. No one really spoke Mr. Heidt completely overpowered the discussion. It wasn’t his fault no one spoke so he jumped in. I truly am at a complete loss for how to fix our discussions. This whole year has been a series of discussion trouble shooting and I almost feel like we haven’t gotten anywhere. I am sorry but I just don’t know what to do anymore, I can’t fix this. 

Questions for Next week:

Which characters could be considered mockingbirds and why? (we briefly discussed this question but as the story progresses does this become more obvious and how do the “mockingbird characters” progress?)

What does it say about Atticus’s character that he is willing to subject his family to hate from the other members of the community to defend Tom Robinson?

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To Kill a Mockingbird Blog Post #1

        I apologize for this blog post being kind of late but I leave for the airport at 5:45 tomorrow morning to head off to Puerto Rico and as of three o’clock this afternoon I had not packed a thing or done any trip preparation. Let me tell you preparing for vacation as a female is not small feat and involves packing literally everything that you own because what if it’s chilly and what if it rains, there are too many possibilities and I need a cute outfit for every single one of them. 

       So we started To Kill a Mockingbird last week and we had our first discussion today. And now I share with you a truly groundbreaking observation, I actually like the book. It’s good and actually kind of fun. Scout is an amazing and hilarious narrator. If you set aside the important themes that we are supposed to be tracking and all the things we should be analyzing and whatnot the book is truly enjoyable. It’s a fun childhood story from the point of view of a really colorful narrator. The character that I am tracking is Scout and when I was assigned her I was actually really excited. I had seen the movie and was already familiar with her character. I really enjoyed the movie because Scout and Jem have the cutest little southern accents. By making Scout the narrator, Harper Lee has a lot of freedom which she passes on this to the reader because in a sense Scout is gender neutral. The name Scout is gender neutral, Scout is a girl but acts in a way that is consider “boyish” which gives the reader some freedom to connect with the character on many different levels regardless of their gender. 

        Atticus is another one of my favorite characters. He is wise and there is this air about him that I can’t really describe it is the way that he talks and Scout describes him. In the book Atticus says to Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . . until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” This relates to “the secret lives we live” which is something that we have been discussing in class. Atticus is right you can’t really know a person until you live their life. Everyone has a face that they hide from the world, or a “secret life” and until you see this and experience it you can never really understand them. 

       Our discussion today was meh. It just lacked. I blame it partly on the Socratic Seminar setup, it’s a smaller group but in a sense the socratic seminar puts you on the spot more. We hit some better things in the big group discussion. I asked a question that is not about literary analysis or the big themes of the book. I asked “do you like the book?” because I think it is important. Required reading usually sucks and I think that it is important to voice our opinions on the book. And honestly I’m just curious. 

Questions for Next Week:

Do you like the book? (I’m going to keep asking because I think it will be good to gage opinions)

Would you consider every character in the novel to have a secret life?

I’ll post again soon, I’m off to Puerto Rico :)

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20 Time Project Post: It’s About More Than Just Being Nice

Didn’t your mom ever tell you, “if you don’t have anything to say don’t say anything at all.” I’m sure she did, but if she didn’t some other person in your life has told you this at some point. Well I believe this, I believe the art of knowing when to shut up is a truly wonderful skill that few have actually mastered. Last week I decided to shut up because I realized that this phrase can be applied to things other than just being nice. So let me edit it to fit my situation, “If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything at all.” I was not going to waste your time with a blog post about how I have yet to do any actual work on my twenty time project and how I’m a horrible procrastinating slacker. Never say something that is not worth it. The words that you choose and the things that you choose to talk about should be strong and have an impact or at least be of some relevance. I did not have anything relevant to say so I chose silence. I apologize I know that you all were anxiously awaiting the arrival of my next blog post and I apologize but I won’t waste your time with something that is not worth reading and is not worth writing.

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Huckleberry Finn English Project

Recently in English we read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain after which we were assigned a project. For my project I wrote a folk song so without further delay here is my first and only adventure into song writing.

Huckleberry Finn (to the tune of Tom Dooley by the Kingston Trio)

(Spoken)

Mark Twain has authored many great novels

But none as great as this tale of a pure heart

This one tells the story of a Huckleberry Finn,

A runaway slave named Jim and all the trouble therein

On the river to Cairo, where Jim can be free

(Sung)

Down the Mississippi,

Floatin’ down on a raft

Down the Mississippi.

On the run from the law

Pap came to take his money, that is when Huck ran,

The widow spoke of selling, that is when Jim ran.

Down the Mississippi,

Floatin’ down on a raft

Down the Mississippi.

Leave your troubles on land,

Met up with Tom Sawyer, head full of tales

Trying to free Ol’ Jim before the story turns stale

Down the Mississippi,

Floatin’ down on a raft

Down the Mississippi.

On the run from the law

Down the Mississippi,

Floatin’ down on a raft

Down the Mississippi.

Leave your troubles on land,

Met up with Tom Sawyer, head full of tales,

Turns out Tom’s been a-lying, that’s when little Huck turned pale,

Down the Mississippi,

Floatin’ down on a raft

Down the Mississippi.

On the run from the law

Down the Mississippi,

Floatin’ down on a raft

Down the Mississippi.

Leave your troubles on land.

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20 Time Project Post #5

Well I presented my 20 Time Project proposal yesterday. Overall I think it was successful. The on thing that I really did not like presenting to teachers, I would have much rather presented to an audience. The kind of one on one interaction that I was forced into might have been good for me but it just wasn’t very much fun. Presenting for me is all about energy and that room was basically dead. When you present in front of a class there is that anticipation and nervous energy that you can channel into your presentation. It just wasn’t there I had to create my own energy which is difficult to do on a Thursday morning.

In terms of the feedback I got, I’m not going to use it. No one told me anything I did not already know and all of them gave me proficient which I feel is fair but a little low. I think the largest problem is that I don’t have an emotional appeal. Hobbies aren’t going to save the environment or help poor little shelter dogs, and to the people who are doing those projects I applaud you, they are great, keep changing the world (this is actually sincere I’m not being sarcastic, I know it may sound that way but I’m not being sarcastic). My project is very Emma-focused and THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, I’M NOT SURE IF YOU HAVE NOTICED THIS BUT I AM AWESOME. I did something with a social impact last year and this year I am going to have fun, I’m worth it. This whole social impact thing is straight up BS because while helping the world around you is great, but many of these gifted kids need to help themselves, as AP/ Honors students they are so focused on homework they have forgotten their own identity. Self love is why I am doing this project, it’s not about learning new things and getting off of my phone. I am doing this because I want to do it but not just that I want to entertain people. I always have. If I can make somebody laugh and smile it’s totally worth it. But you see I couldn’t have put that in my presentation because it’s shallow it doesn’t make the world around me a better place and change social attitudes and establish world peace. And if the real reason I am doing this project isn’t social impact-y enough so be it. Try and stop me.

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20 Time Project Post #4

So this week I have made limited progress because I feel that it is has to start without doing my proposal and presentation. The one development that occurred was that I got my friend to agree to help me film it. My friend Lucy takes the Advanced Media broadcast class and she has access to a camera and all the necessary filming equipment and programs. She knows how to film and edit videos and also needs to film an outside project of her own, so it's a win-win.

When it comes to my research I really want examine the benefits of learning new things and having a hobby. My three driving questions will be: -What is the benefit of learning new skills? -What is the benefit of having a hobby? -How can learning new skills from our friends strengthen our personal relationships? I did some quick googling I found this article which really sums up what I wanted to research: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/career-coach-the-value-of-hobbies/2013/05/03/ffa53f2c-b294-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19_story.html?utm_term=.0ed169189871

In conclusion, I am really excited to start learning new things and filming these videos. I think that this will be a very good experience for me to learn and try new things.

[aluckygamble-blog]

20 Time Project Post #3

Ok forget everything that I have said up until this point, none of it matters because I'm scrapping the Podcast idea in favor of a new idea. I came up with this new and wonderful idea when I was trying to come up with a concept for my podcast. Ok so here's my idea  I want to start a YouTube channel where I have my friends and other people that I know help me try new things. I have comprised a short list of people that I know that could help me learn new things:

-Ellen: Ice skating -Kate: Tap dancing -Lan Mai: Taekwondo -My Dad: Beekeeping, woodworking -Felicia: Softball -Minnie: Field Hockey -Sara: Cheer leading

Now this is just a preliminary list it may be added to or taken away from. Now you have to understand that I have very little athletic ability, no balance, and humor is my only defense so really I think this is going to be a good time. My series will be similar to Buzzfeed's try guys series which has four guys try ridiculous different things. My series will be a little different because it will be more like mastering things I'm terrible at, which by the way it is a very long list.

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20 Time Project Post #2

Hey everybody how's your week going? Well that's kind of a hard question to answer because it's only Monday. Well things are going pretty good for me because I have made some progress on my project. I knew nothing about starting a podcast before today when I literally googled,"How do I start a podcast?" By the way this is a really good way to figure out stuff. The only flaw in my other wise perfect and wonderful plan is that to start a podcast you need a lot of stuff. Here is a preliminary list of what I will need:

-Microphone (I think I will need two, one for me and one for my guest) -Audio editing software (I think I'm going to use Audacity which is free) -Platform to post my Podcast (I think I'm going to use Sound Cloud) -Cover art (I think that I can use my Graphic design skills for this one) -Basic idea an premise (I seriously need this before I can even begin anything)

When it comes to my basic premise I really want to do something like John Oliver's show Last Week Tonight. In each episode John Oliver spends most of his time on a single issue and every time I watch his show I leave with  a good understanding of the topic and also laughing myself to tears. I want to do something like this where I examine one issue with humor but I would like to have a guest and look at less serious and political issues. I'm not completely positive about this but this is the direction I think I want to go.

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20 Time Project Post #1

I love talking. I always have. My first word was shoe and my mom told me that after I said that, even with my limited vocabulary, I never shut up. I don’t know what it is about talking, maybe I love the sound of my own voice or maybe it feels good to put my own ideas into the world but talking is my favorite thing to do. I will talk to anyone with a pulse, there’s a reason why people think I’m annoying. This ability I inherited from my Dad and he inherited it from his mom. Wherever we go they always strike up a conversation with someone whether it be with waiters, the people behind us in line, or the family at the table next to us in a restaurant. My parents put me in theater programs for my love of the stage but also because my fearless conversation skills are something that is welcome and embraced in the theater community. So when I sit here and consider what I want to do for my 20 Time Project I have to consider my first love: talking. 

So what can I do to incorporate my love into my 20Time Project? A podcast. Now I would have to do a lot of research and figure out what I would need in terms of microphones and software but I’m really excited about it. I’m not really sure what the main premise of my podcast would be but I like to think that I am pretty funny so I’m sure it will be great.

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A Poet’s Guide to Carpe Diem

Imagine having a teacher who's funny, creative; who rips apart textbooks, stands on his desk; and yet, a teacher who truly believes in the power of language. Imagine having the fantastic, yet flawed, English teacher Mr. Keating of the movie Dead Poets Society. In some way watching Dead Poets Society made me believe in the beauty and power of language and poetry too.  And that happened even in the face of the fact that I used to hate poetry. I despised it, but that  was because I didn't understand it. I did not understand why someone would take the time to make words rhyme and transform their thoughts into verse. As to the source of that confusion;  I blame the way that I was taught.

Poetry was thrust upon us in a violent matter and then systematically dissected right before our eyes.  Mr. Keating taught me that poetry isn't some mechanical device meant to be disassembled and reassembled at will. He showed me this when had his students tear out the forward of their book which explained the way in which poetry was to be graphed. Mr. Keating most notably said, “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion”(Dead Poets Society).

 By this proclamation Keating taught me that poetry is humanity; it is the essence of being alive. It is love, heartbreak, the passing of time, war, peace, freedom, and humor. Poetry is when a fellow member of the human race pours out a part of their soul, a part of their humanity, in order to further explain the human experience to the rest of us. We do not need to violently dissect the poem to search for this.  It is right there in front of us in the words that pour out of the poet’s soul onto the page. I believe some very human part of us understands this or at least sees the outright beauty of words coming together to describe the human experience. In Dead Poets Society, the character of Keating is built with a deep desire for life and passion for poetry. And with this passion Keating uses poetry as the foundation upon which he builds his lesson of Carpe Diem. In the first class he tells his students, “Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary”(Dead Poets Society). From this point on he makes it his duty to teach his students how to live, how to seize the day, and how to make a difference. 

This should also force us to examine the question,  how can poetry and language serve as the ultimate guide for how we  approach and practice Carpe Diem?

It is believed that there are three elements that create the notion of Carpe diem: identity, time, and decisions.We can look to poetry for examples of these three elements. In Walt Whitman’s exultant ode, “O me! O life!” Whitman examines identity, he says “Answer. That you are here-- that life exists and identity; That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse” (Whitman). Through poetry Whitman is able to proclaim his existence upon this earth. He is able to “sound [his] barbaric YAWP over the rooftops of the world” (Whitman). Because he is in “ode mode” Whitman is actually commanding us to do the same.  But in order for us to seize the day we must first establish our identity so we know how to seize our day and what our own verse may be. I recommend letting out a good barbaric “YAWP!!!!” to start and figuring out the rest from there.

The next element of Carpe Diem is time.  In his poem, To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time, the poet Robert Herrick reminds us of the ever fleeting existence of time. “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today, To-morrow will be dying”(Herrick). Time is essential to Carpe Diem. It shapes the whole philosophy. We would not have Carpe Diem if the human race was immortal. We seize the day because we only have so few of them. The average life expectancy is about 78 years which means you only have about 28,470 days. Unless you are a newborn reading this essay, my guess is you’ve already used up quite a number of those days, maybe even wasted some of them.. Mortality is a key element of the human experience and we use poetry to describe the human experience. Poetry is here to teach us and to remind us of our mortality. So we must take Robert Herrick’s advice: “Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may, go marry; For having lost but once your prime, You may for ever tarry” (Herrick).

Full Robert Herrick Poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/44272

The final element of Carpe Diem is decisions. At the beginning of every Dead Poet’s Society meeting the same Henry David Thoreau quotation is read, “I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived”(Thoreau). In this quotation, Thoreau explains the way in which he decided to live so he would not come to the end of his life without full experiences and pride in how he spent each day. Deciding to partake in the activity of Carpe Diem is half the journey. Carpe diem is much more than seizing the day. It is deciding to actively live or as Thoreau says “live deliberately” rather than passively, by making every day count, everyday new and interesting. The other side of this is the decisions we make day-to-day that determine where our life will lead us. For this we can look to Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken he says “Two roads diverged in a wood And I/ I took the one less traveled by/ And that has made all the difference”(Frost). In this poem Frost examines the decisions that he has made  and how they have lead him to where he is in his life. Decisions such as the ones that Frost writes of are going to write the verse that you  contribute into the powerful play that Whitman describes.

Full Robert Frost Poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/core-poems/detail/44272

Keating says that we write poetry because we are members of the human race. This is the same reason that we Carpe Diem. That is why we can look to poetry as a guide. Our fellow members of the human race have laid it all right out there for us with every critical element:  identity, time, and decisions. Poetry has all the answers we need to start seizing the day we just need to take the leap; make our lives extraordinary (Dead Poets Society), sound our barbaric yawps over the rooftops of the world (Whitman), gather our rosebuds while we may (Herrick), and go into the woods to live deliberately (Thoreau), then we’ll already be there.

Now maybe I’m crazy.   Maybe it’s crazy to think that we can just go around sounding our barbaric yawps and gathering our rosebuds. Maybe it’s a crazy, romantic idea to follow the words of people who speak in rhyme. Maybe Carpe Diem is a silly romantic idea that doesn’t work in the practical world. Maybe Carpe Diem is just about being lazy and it’s about doing whatever you want whenever you want rather than moving forward (Londer).

I suppose there’s no harm in taking a minute to entertain the cynics of the world, those who take the easy way out by pointing out the flaws in a grand magnificent idea that encompasses the very essence of living. Carpe diem is not a romantic idea, there is something in it for the realist and the romanticist. Carpe Diem is practical, doing as much as you can in the time you have, is almost economical like making as much money as you can in the time that you have. Carpe Diem isn’t lazy. It may be considered a rebellion because, yes, it does involve some element of doing whatever you want; but lazy, never. Going out there and deciding to live is brave and beautiful but definitely not lazy. And yes Carpe Diem is crazy but so is human existence.  Just think about it, by sheer chance billions of years ago, just the right molecules collided together. We ended up with little single cell organisms that were alive and through millions of years of just the right evolution the human race was invented and here we are. It is crazy.  We live, we love, we go to war with each other, and we elect leaders. Human existence is crazy, so it’s only fitting that the way we choose to exist be a little crazy too. It’s easy to be cynical so I challenge you to give it a try, believe in something for a change, ignore the faults. Go out there, look to poetry for guidance and make your life extraordinary. Carpe Diem might just surprise you.

Though we cannot be in Mr. Keating’s English class we can learn from him and the great poets he brings with him on how we can practice Carpe Diem and make our own lives extraordinary.

[aluckygamble-blog]

Haroun and the Sea of Stories Post #3

So we have come to the end of this book and I really liked the ending. I mean who doesn’t love a good happy ending? Haroun’s mother returns and  music returns to their house. I read this story through the lens of satire and I couldn’t think of a better way to read this story. Satire is fun and entertaining. It doesn’t take anything too seriously.  But looking at the way that my peers read this story gives me a completely different perspective. Especially the hero’s journey group because truthfully I was absent for everyone else’s presentation. The hero’s journey looks more at the plot where as in the satire group focused more on the characters. The plot was something that I took note of but I never really appreciated the plot.

“Outside, in the living room, his mother had begun to sing”(Rushdie 211). I think that this is one of the best last sentences of a book. It brings it all back to the beginning of the book and is heartwarming and uplifting. The discussion went really well. We covered some really interesting points and I think that it worked a lot better than the first attempt. I think one of the factors in making this discussion was the fact that we were not as pressed for time as we were the first time we tried this discussion format.

I think one of the best parts of this book is that I have a newfound respect for stories as a powerful driving force for change among other things. This whole "fictional stories are morally good lies" thing is just so hard to discuss. We always just end up digging ourselves into a deeper pit. I don't consider stories lies at all even morally good ones because there is no illusion of truth. When you read Harry Potter you don't actually expect a letter from Hogwarts, no matter how much you may want it.

In conclusion I have enjoyed my time with this book it was something different that most people don't read in school. I had fun with this story it was weird but made amazing observations about life, parenthood, and the magic of stories. I just want to say thanks to the one and only Salman Rushdie, I think it's really cute that you wrote a book for your son and it's a really good book by the way.

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Reflection

For this project my group and I decided to create Pokemon cards for some of the characters in Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Since we were reading this story through the lens of satire we thought would do a project that involved characterization. Satire relies on big and exaggerated characters that mock people in real life. I have never really done a project like this and it was really interesting to try something new. The overall concept was really interesting and different from projects I have done in other classes and from the projects that my classmates did. The thing that I found really satisfying about this project was that I came up with the original concept. It feels really good to have an idea that you came up with executed and to succeed. The only thing that I found really difficult about this project were the technical difficulties that I experienced while trying to create the pokemon card. Here are the design specs:

Make it Beautiful

You can figure this one out.  Whatever it is you do, make it meet some standard of beauty.  Beautifully comedic, beautifully artistic, beautifully insightful, beautifully critical....

Make it Relevant

The driving question should be “Ok- so what? Who cares?” Even if the point is “It adds beauty or humor to this otherwise mundane existence”, that’s at least something.

Make it Poignant

The root of this word is “to prick, to sting, to pierce”, and although its connotations are often negative or sad try to think about how you are going to make a serious impression on your audience…how will you evoke an emotional response? Because that’s what makes things sticky

Make it Unique-

Get inspired, perhaps take an idea and repurpose it with your own spin. In doing so you are appropriating and “Remixing”--one of the highest levels of thinking in the digital age.

Make it Transparent:

Whether the project itself is digital or analogue students should share to their peers and the wider public (usually via blogs and Twitter). I hope this shapes your decision-making in the creative  process, knowing that your audience will be global and that you will have “stage time” for your labour.

I think that as a group our project met the design specs really well. If I were a teacher I think that this project would meet all of the design specs and I would score it perfectly. If I were to do this project again I would probably try to find a different website to create the caricature and work more on making the pokemon card look better. It looked good but I feel like I could have done more.

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Haroun and the Sea of Stories Post #2

Another week another blog post. I am enjoying the book as I was when I made my last blog post. But, If I am being completely honest my brain hurts. This book feels like I have just drank from the Sea of Stories and there are a million characters and places and events swirling around in my head I just can’t take it any more. I can see why this is a children’s book because stomaching this book as a young adult is overwhelming, when you’re five you don’t have to understand the allusions and political commentary this book offers. I would seriously consider reading this story again because I would definitely enjoy it more if I didn’t have to annotate every 5 pages. There is something to be said for literary analysis but I don’t feel like we’re doing the book justice. 

Throughout the book I have noticed in my annotations that three characters have the word “butt” in their name, this is probably because on the inside I am three years old. All of the character with the word “butt” in their name transport Haroun somewhere for example Mr. Butt the bus driver takes Haroun and his father to the Valley of K. Now after a quick google search, turned up no interesting meanings for the word butt or meanings in different languages, I was forced to think deeper. Why are there so many butts? How can I make sense of all of these butts? Looking through the lens of Story at the Level of a Story, you can acknowledge that this is a children’s book and the name connects the characters in an obvious yet comedic way. 

The Satire in these chapters was on fire. I mean can we talk about Prince Bolo. I am literally in love with him. I mean talk about a big character. My favorite part was page 99 when the narrator remarks that the titles of the books were all changed to include the Prince’s name. That made me die! It’s just funny and entertaining which is what satire is supposed to be. Out of all of the character in this book I think that Prince Bolo fits the most perfectly into the way that satire uses caricatures. 

This weeks discussion was good but I felt as though splitting up the class so much it felt like none of the discussions had enough time. Other than that I feel as though the class responded well to the new format and some really wonderful points were brought up in each of the discussions.

I am so sorry this is so long, I just have a lot to say.

This week’s picture is dedicated the my favorite, Prince Bolo.

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Haroun and the Sea of Stories Post #1

So this week in English class we started reading Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. This book is a children’s story written by Salman Rushdie for his son. My first impressions of the book were are pretty positive. I enjoyed the silly characters and the interesting country of Alifbay. It definitely reads like a children’s story which I enjoy. I have been assigned to read this book through the lens of Satire. This is a fun lens to read the story through because it doesn’t take anything too seriously. Satire can be found when the narrator talks about the politicians, they are exaggerated and ridiculous. Even certain scenes in the book are satirical for example, the way the narrator describes the bus station in the Town of G, where the bus drivers play with the people by turning on their engines and turning them off.

Today's discussion was very productive and for the most part went very well. I remember in the first discussion, which I was not a part of, they were discussing allusion. The group said something about allusion and that allusions weren't meant to bee seen which I disagreed with but because we were having a Socratic seminar and I wasn't a part of that group so I could not comment. This is why I think that we should not do a Socratic seminar type of discussion and instead open up the discussion to the entire class. I am really looking forward to the rest this book has to offer.

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Books I Want to Read

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Emma by Jane Austen

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

In the Country We Love by Diane Guerrro