maggieeeeeliz-blog

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Love and Legacies

Hey whoever still uses tumblr. So gonna keep it short for now but been thinking about Romeo and Juliet and what if it isn’t about romantic love at all but about how division kills us as the human race?

Anyways, I love ya tribe

Also Riya and I are currently talking and think there need to be a hashtag for anyone from any class who ever wants to blog from lit so here’s the tag

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

thank you

to whoever is reading this, 

thank you. thank you for listening. i didn’t often have much to say. there were days in class over the past two years that i didn’t say anything at all to anyone. but when i did say something (it was probably about feminism), you listened. oh yeah, i’m sorry i talked about feminism so much. who am i kidding, no i am not at all apologetic. for those of you who didn’t know, i didn’t really have any sort of outlet for talking about what i was thinking about. between 9:12 and 10:02 monday through friday. that was my outlet. so, thank you for listening. and to those who were annoyed, thank you for being annoyed. if it weren’t for ap lang and ap lit, i wouldn’t have reached for a lot of books that i did. i wouldn’t have pushed myself like i did. and if we’re being completely honest here, i wouldn’t know myself like i do now. and for that, i thank all of you. each and every one of you, no matter how big or how small, have had some sort of impact in introducing me to myself. we write to understand, and now that i’ve written, i understand much more than i ever knew that i could about myself and all of you, and i will take a little piece of all of you with me wherever i may go. when reading through my past blogs, i am reminded of who i was then and who i am now, and i am so thankful that i am who i am. i still remember sitting in front of my computer, inventing my blog & myself. that’s when i “became” bri the good. at first, it was just a play on the saying “be the good”. but not long after, it morphed into something that i was; “being the good” in and around me. it was such a hard four years. i developed anxiety. i loved. i lost. but i found myself. and i found each and every one of you too. and i thank you for that. 

bri the good is still going to be good. i think she’s even going to work on being great. and i wish you all the very best with what it is you do next. and regardless of who is reading this, i’m not going to stop blogging. right now, i’m currently looking at a stack of books that i bought before we were introduced to our final project, none of which i’ve touched. my summer plans include reading most of, if not all of these books, so wish me luck. i also plan on continuing to watch handmaid’s tale. and i plan on blogging about my english experiences at central michigan university. speaking of which, i thought it would be funny to share with you that my “writing intensive” class that i was placed in for the fall semester is “struggle for equality since 1865″, which i think i will do just fine in ;) i didn’t pick it. i swear. but i found it funny.

anyways, for one “last” time, thank you.

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Wow so I've literally posted with this hashtag three times and I've graduated yikes I'm lame oh well. I felt a need to share that my aunt gave me a book of Shakespeare's sonnets for graduation. I'm never escaping this class

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

just gonna leave this here

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

just gonna leave this here

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

A Tribe That's Tied

Hey tribe, So years from now when Tumblr is the MySpace of today I want to login and see all the little memories that I'll probably have forgotten by then. Memories of this one weird and fun and difficult class I took when I was 17 and in high school. I want to remember getting vintage soccer jerseys from the closet I want to remember Kreinbring stealing food I want to remember Lila turning to Bridget I want to remember playing kick ball And the learning tree Ben becoming Bean And every single person in this class It's funny how significant seemingly insignificant moments truly are. Anyways, just want to say thank you so much. Thank you AP Lit for being so unique. I'm grateful for every person. I'm grateful for our humble instructor and for every time we got rhet-or-RICK- rolled by him. I'm even grateful for having to re-do some papers because I know it made me better. When I think about what I'm saying goodbye to- I know it isn't rhetoric or language or writing or even necessarily the people, but it's the combination of them all. Somehow this class allowed us to be real. More real than we could be in other classes and although I hope it's not something that will go away, it's what I'll say I'm going to miss the most. Even so, I wish I could have gotten to know even more of y'all individually. I learned so much but still know there's so much more I could learn from all of you. We might not always have eachother, but we'll all have similar things there for us but we'll have the lessons we learned, the memories we made. And through this change Even as you're miles away Your writer's notebook is always there for you. As is mine. And so in some sort of a way, we'll still be tied.

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Writer's notebooks in Panama City!!!

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

if you're struggling watch this quick little video of a girl dressed as a chicken nugget. Very cute. Very worth it.

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Relieving (ish) But Rough

Finally inputted my rough drafts into Eli which feels good to finally have like a finished draft sort of but also is stressful because I'm pretty sure it’s awful and needs a lot of work and this blog is gonna be pretty short and to the point because since I’ve gotten home (which was after theater)  I've had to practice music and done this and still have to prep for Mr. Avondale, talk about the poem and do a bunch of AP Physics. I should also probably be working on organizing some upcoming events and would of course rather be in my basement doing more music or decorating journals or writing my own blog but tis senior year I suppose. Okay none of that was relevant but honestly it’s somewhat dictating how I feel about this process if I'm being honest which is technically what we are supposed to discuss and write now how I feel about what I’m writing definitely correlates with everything else going on which I know is also true for many other people. But like I really truly do know that in the end it’s going to be okay. I do. Life is good, it’s just exhausting and sometimes overwhelming. Lit is good, it’s just exhausting and sometimes overwhelming.

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Annoyed with Analyzing Arguments

Alrightio so as I'm continuing to write about my criticisms I am continuously frustrated because I need to argue against one and the one I thought I could argue against most I still have some pints to argue with but honestly feel like I'm trying to convince myself that they're wrong as I'm going! I'm just really unsure! It's kind of really frustrating because I want to just know exactly what I'm doing and where I'm going with these but the progress feels relatively slow and my thoughts feel somewhat scattered and I don't want to write something I actually don't think just because I need to. I don't want to write something I don't actually think just because I need to. Hoping to even further wrap my head around everything and have a better idea of what I think. It's also frustrating because I was honestly feeling good about my progress and the two sources I had analyzed in the "Mostly Agreeing" part (at least for a rough draft) and now I feel like I need to reevaluate and possibly even restructure. Maybe I'm just in a sour mood because I got 3.5 hours of sleep last night and am on a car ride? Maybe I do actually know what I'm doing? Holding out hope lol!! I shall update as it all progresses

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Interwoven Ideas

So when I first chose my criticisms and read their descriptions and etc. it looked like they were all gonna look at different aspects of the book but um guess not. So basically all of my criticisms focus on the dual narrative structure of the book but all take slightly different approaches in what they think it portrays about how history is told and ethics and etc. So yeah, I honestly wish I had more variety- I truly did think I had found it- but hopefully this variety is enough to help my perspective. Quite frankly, it’s taken me a while to grasp these ones so I somewhat can’t imagine trying to grasp even more at this point and it’s not like the structure of my book has a limited number of questions to discuss because it was kind of confusing as heck to understand at some points. Also I’m not like enraged by any of my criticisms. To some I think ehhhh that’s not really what I think (or what I think I think- I’m still somewhat on the thinking process even as I write), but I haven’t wanted to shred any into pieces or throw them into a fire or use them as origami paper. But I’m honestly not sure if that is good or not. It would probably be easier to argue in some way if I was enraged (aside from giving respect to their argument in the body paragraphs).

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

The Corruption of Criticisms

If you read my last reading blog you might recall me explaining my less than enthusiasm about finishing my book. I know that probably seems lame in a sense because I know there’s a whole lot of people who don’t really care much for reading or finishing books, but personally, with just about every book we’ve read this year, I’ve gotten excited about the symbols and themes and ideas and I like trying to piece those parts of the puzzle together. Now I guess here’s why I’m flustered. I should probably preface by saying that I didn’t finish my book before reading my criticisms but I truly had about only 1/5th left. Although I totally appreciate how much insight the criticisms have given me, I feel like reading them before finishing somewhat through off the process for me. Because my book is structured so uniquely, it took me a while to figure out what what going on and once I did, I was able to recognize more and more symbols but as I started reading my criticisms, realized I truly hadn’t gotten to process them for myself. For example, I knew that structure was a huge piece of how Foer was trying to talk about perspectives, but I hadn’t had the time to really process further and further about that with everything else going on both for school and life and everything and so when we were asked if we agreed or disagreed (even loosely), I honestly didn’t really know what to say because I didn’t have a formed opinion of my own. And quite frankly then I just felt kinda stupid honestly which made me more frustrated. As stupid as it may sound, I wish I could have developed my thinking more, had more time to piece together the puzzle myself without looking at the picture. Anyways, so now as I’m still chugging away at my criticisms it’s a bit difficult because I feel this need to keep working on them but am also trying to form an opinion at the same time but I’m not really sure what I think because even as I completed the book the way I looked at it shifted based on what I had already read in my criticisms so I’m not fully sure what to do except keep working at it. When I think about it, this is a pretty lame struggle in the grand scheme of things, also probably one of the most nerdy, AP kid struggles ever, but nonetheless, it’s true and I didn’t know how to put into words what exactly it was that was bothering me until we were talking with a partner today in class. Well, gotta keep annotating and writing. Temporarily signing out, Maggie

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Flashlights and Finishes

So I finished my book. I finished it with a flashlight carefully wrapped around a ponytail in the middle of my head because our power was off, but desperate times call for desperate measures ya know? (I guess you could say I was completion was "illuminated") Anyways, so he book ends in a middle of a sentence... THANKS A LOT ... just kidding I honestly don't really care very much because I appreciate its purpose. I finally started to get more of a grasp on my book as I finished it. It was really interesting to watch how Alex's writing style merged to become more and more fictional, how he couldn't quite cope with reality. I think one of my favorite chapters to read was one where Alex was writing Jonathan and explaining how he hates that Jonathan can't write a happy ending. I found this so interesting because he formerly was all about the facts, not really caring about any pleasure in it. I wish I was currently feeling more excited about my book. I usually get super pumped about the different ideas I come across while reading- both with Handmaids and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close especially this year and absolutely love blogging about it, but I'm going to explain more about that as I discuss more about my criticisms.

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Dudeeee, different perspectives can be totally hard to get, mine has shifts too and it took me forever to understand what in the world was going on. I mean it sounds like my shifts are actually probably more organized than yours so that sounds like an extra challenge, but nonetheless haha. Your book seems really interesting! Also, I love and appreciate your voice in your blogs!

I’d like to throw myself off of a high Wuthering Height

The reader of my audiobook is super cute and I really like how they read it. I have been following along in my book and looking through the words at the same time. It makes a lot more sense.

Now that I’m not confused and flipping words around and actually experiencing Bronte’s writing I really enjoy it. She uses a lot of amazing language to set her scenes and make the rooms and the people feel real. She makes the people feel like they have real feelings and I can understand what they’re feeling. But at the same time, I feel the same confusion that Mr. Lockwood feels while he hears the story as well. The POV switches are still confusing but listening to it instead of reading it helps because they have a female reader and a male reader so when I skip over words that show who is talking they show the switch right away. Also there are some points in my book where it says “Heathciff” instead of “Heathcliff" and it really threw me off. It took me a little while to figure that out for some reason.  I AM S H O O K I CANNOT BELIEVE ISABELLA AND CATHY FOUGHT OVER HEATHCLIFF AND THE HE RAN OFF WITH ISABELLA like dude we all know you like cathy. this is not something you’re good at hiding. but when she ran away with him i literally gasped because dude. you don’t do that. it got me really good. in her letter to nelly it sounded like she didn’t want to marry him and regretted her decision but felt trapped. like she had to stay there and it’s sad bc she either felt like she had to marry to be “independent” or have power (which was true) or heathcliff is making her stay with him and both answers make me sad. Isabella’s letter to Nelly is super shady and i don’t know how to feel about heathcliff. for some reason i liked him a lot a lot at first but i’ve been steadily more annoyed with him and his choices and i don’t see where he’s coming from and i don’t understand him at all. it’s just ah Joseph. I LITERALLY NEVER KNOW WHAT HEA SAYING ITS A CONSTANT !??!?? wHENEVER HIS CHARACTER IS AROUND I DONT GET IT. i think brontë is using him to show like someone uneducated and it feels like this is in scotland and he’s got a pretty thick accent. even when the audiobook reads it i’m ? because wowee does he make no sense. it’s interesting that she put that character in the story though because he is SO different from everyone else and yet his presence makes sense somehow. it’s weird. i like it.

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Taken By Translation

So a unique part of my book is that the character Alex is a translator for Jonathan. What’s also interesting is that the reader can see what is and isn’t fully translated. They can see what is and isn’t being communicated to Jonathan. It’s also interesting because the whole book is written from different perspectives which in a sense, is again, different translations of an underlying story. It’s actually kinda trippy how simultaneously there is one and a million different stories being told in this book. One of my literary criticisms I know talks some about this and so I’m interested in seeing more of what it has to say about it all. Another interesting thing is that the style in which the book is written almost feels as though the whole book as translated into English. One of my favorite sayings that Alex uses in the book is when he talks about sleeping and refers to it as “manufacturing zzz’s.” I think that Foer does this to create various motifs in a subtle way, a way that shows how different perspectives can reveal different insight. In the case of “manufacturing zzz’s,” I think that Foer is trying to discuss the idea of what is made and created verses what is and how can we distinguish between the two, particularly in fiction. I know that the phrase technically refers to sleeping, but as with most things, also refers to something(s) else. 

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

Similar Symbols

Alrighty so this is a shorter blog, but since we’ve all read “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” I wanted to say that the similarities between this book and it have become more and more apparent. Of course, there are major differences, but it’s been interesting to even notice some themes and ideas that must be really important to Jonathan Safran Foer and even some symbols and ideas that I remember from his other novel as well. 

One of the first things I find so interesting that in both books, he is writing in response to a major historical event, and tragic ones at that. One is 9/11 (as you know) and in my current book, it’s the Holocaust. Both also heavily involve a search for understanding of both of these events and their relation to specific families. It’s also been interesting to observe that in my novel, Foer again uses structure in a very unique way. There are various narratives strung throughout as he did in “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” as well. The dialogue is unique in each narrative down to how the dialogue is annotated. Both even have one of the narratives (debatably even more in “Everything Is Illuminated”, written as letters. 

Alright so some similar symbols/ideas I’ve also notices is the idea of closeness and space. This obviously had a huge part when we read “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and again has appeared more and more as the book has progressed. Both books also contain a lot of discussion of love- what it truly is, how it can actually be shown, etc. There is also almost a sense of time going backwards or trying to reverse things if that makes.

I guess this blog isn’t actually thaaaat short lol. There’s so much in this book. Once again, Foer as given me a million things to think about and no way to truly unravel it all.

[maggieeeeeliz-blog]

In my book they refer to someone as a hero too! Was actually gonna just write a blog about it so perfect! In my book, part of the story contains the author himself writing himself as a character who is traveling to Ukraine with a translator named Alex. What's interesting is that when Alex refers to Jonathan, often times he refers to him as "the hero." Like you, I'm not fully certain why this is yet but I'm super curious. I think it's really interesting beside technically it's the author referring to his character self as a hero. Simply thinking aloud I wonder if Foer is trying to show how people want to be to a character in a story or log to be a hero. I also wonder if maybe the reason Alex refers to him as a hero is because he is an author who gets to write and maybe that's something he values a lot but that doesn't have as much value where he lives, or something that he doesn't have the opportunity to do. Like Catherine in your book, I suppose Jonathan could be seen as an unexpected hero for he doesn't seem to be the most traditionally hero like character, but not necessarily in an underdog sort of way. I'm also curious to see if it's all foreshadowing for something bigger or if it's meant to be the way it is

Northanger Abbey 1

So the exposition to this book is very mysterious because the narrator/author writes as this all knowing being and how Catherine (the main character) is going to be some big unexpected heroine. The number of times that the author describes Catherine as a heroine is like 20 in the first forty pages. It’s annoying.

Anyways the narrator writes this exposition very short and to the point just making the reader understand the story enough it feels paced like she just wants to get to writing about the point where Catherine is a hero. Im really eager to see what continues to happen and how she becomes a hero.