Fo'Shizzle keep it Ri'zzle

1.  Which essay did you feel was the most difficult to write?  Why?
I felt the Synthesis was the hardest because I was really confused by the prompt during the AP test.
2.  Which essay did you find the easiest?  What made it easy?
I found the Rhetoric Analysis the easiest because finding rhetoric devices was something we practiced from the year before.
3.  What novel/book did you enjoy the most?  Why?
In Cold Blood was the book I enjoyed the most because it provided an interesting premise and lots of twists.
4.  What novel/book did you enjoy the least?
Frankenstein. I don't know what it was about it, but I couldn't read a single page of the book without forcing myself.
5.  Anything you would like for me to know?
Turn down for what, Mr. Thomas. Turn down for what.

Over all, I greatly enjoyed this class. I can't express how happy I am that I got Mr. Thomas as a teacher instead of another teacher. I've grown not only as a student, but as a person in his class. The Socratic Seminars contributed to that. I've learn that voicing my opinion isn't something to be shy of, and to be courteous  of other opinions. I'm really happy with what I've taken and given to Mr. Thomas's Class. I will always remember the time I spent in this class because it has shaped my character. I really really enjoyed this class.

The Things They Carry. Don't take this literally, they carry more than just material objects. They carry hopes, dreams, and memories all at the same time. So what is that you carry?

For starters, I always carry my phone. I know this is a typical thing, but it signifies who I am, and who my friends are. Plus what would I do with out it? We live in the 21st century. I mean I'm practically insulting my grandparents who had to use, and I'm not lying.... A phone with a cord..... C'mmon Really? A non-wireless cord? Wow...

But like I said before, people tend to carry more than just material objects. Dreams are something we all carry. For some it's going to the NBA, others becoming rich, however the dream I carry is to be a father of a happy family. I know it's kind of lame, but being happy is an important part of life. Since I didn't grow up with a father, I knew I would want better for my kids.

Relationship wise, I suppose the person I "carry" is my cousin Darius. He always seems to achieve exactly what he wants, and I sort of envy him for it. If he can be happy, I can be too right? Well that's at least how I want it to work. Because of that, I push to achieve what I want.

Personality wise, I carry a lot of things. But the first three that come to mind are Stunning, Charming, Stud. But... Give me a few more seconds and my adjectives that describe me become more genuine. Mellow, Idealistic, and caring. Although my dreams are all ooey gooey, I tend to keep my emotions in check. That's where the mellow part derives from. Despite not showing my emotions, I do have some. I do care for those that I consider friends, but good luck getting me to show it through facial expressions. I'm a rock. I'm quite happy with who I am, and I'm sure my friends are too. Why else would they be so close to me? Besides being a stud, more or less. Being mellow though isn't always a good thing as I've proven in many cases. I tend to shy away from leadership roles as I don't feel like dealing with responsibility. I know, being a father is a huge step in being responsible. But like I said I'm mellow, it's whatever...

We as people carry lots of memories. It's what shapes our character. I'm going to throw out the race card, and say that a lot of my character comes from my heritage. Although I've had the fortune of being shielded from things like segregation, and racism, my family made sure I knew what those older than me went through. Even though they're not my memories, these stories from the struggle for equality have really shaped what I believe in. They're important because it's necessary for African American's to know where they came from, and why we're here. We're doomed to repeat history if we don't recognize the significance of it in the first place right?

Cultrally Abstract

Cultrally Abstract

Personally, I cannot explain my culture. I know I'm more than one dominant ethnithicy, however it's not very important in the eyes of others, and apparently I've adopted that way of thinking. I hail from German roots from both my Mother & Father's side of the faimly, yet we don't hold any traditons concerning it. Our family has been cultrally diffused into becoming the typical middle classed family. Yet I still feel anxious when people ask me what I am. I want to say my faimly's from Germany, but all I can say is "I'm Black" Plain and simple.

However, I've done a pretty good job of following my parent's dominant heritage. I understand the struggles they went through growing up and respect them for it, yet I don't feel that's the world we live in anymore. Don't get me wrong, segregration, racism, and hatred will continue to exist in our society, but not to the same extent of being shot for what you believe in. And because of the sacrafices made by others of my ethithicy, I can't be anything but proud of who, and what I am without disrespecting their legacy.

When it my time comes to teach my kids about our culture. I want them to understand that who we are as parents, should not define who they are as people, but they should look to understand us as people to better understand themselves.

Oh the Horror

Edgar Allen Poe's short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher", is very well know as the father of horror stories. But what made "The Fall of the House of Usher" so great that a lot of people decided to base their stories off of it? In his story, Poe used multiple strategies that later on became a key component of horror stories. Five of the components that I would use if I were to write a haunted house story are the creepy setting, imagery, looking through a narrator's perspective, weird behaviors, and a vague ending.

The first technique Poe used was the unclear ending. What exactly happened? Did the sister and the main character's friend actually die? Did they even exist? That was absolute brilliance from Poe. He did not guide you through the story. This allows many different interpretations of what actually happened, which will leave the world guessing until the end of time.

Another techniques I would steal from Poe is his use of extreme detail to describe the house. He described not only the appearance in such great detail that the image is burned in my head, but he described the feelings that the house was giving off. He did an excellent job of putting the reader at the doorsteps of that house.

The last technique is the background characters given for each charter. this allows the reader to understand fully who these characters are and why they are in the predicament that they are in at the start of the story.

I must be doing something wrong

Good - Bad, Nice - Evil, There's always something to fight the light. But without darkness, the light cannot shine. So in a way, What we think is "good" is dependent on what we think is "bad". In the story Young Goodman Brown, the story presents a deep question. Is it better to show your sins openly, or hide them and deny what you do.

Nowadays, the supernatural has become acceptable and desirable. All forms of entertainment is base on the mysterious supernatural. A lot of time our fascination for the unknown is driven by the motive to escape our man made scientifically explained home to a place where your not in control. For instance, getting lost in a the television series Supernatural will do that for you. The series provides an opportunity for the viewers to be exposed to the best and worst of both worlds.

One of the reason for this continuous growth of America's obsession with the occult is tied in with our want of a happy ending. Hollywood showed us through movies, like "World War Z" and "Warm Bodies", that even through all the struggles, there will always be a happy ending. We use these movies as an escape from our real lives and hope that we are able to live the lives of those people on the big screen where everything always ends up the way they wanted to.

We probably would never be able to see vampires or zombies in real life, but it never hurts to hope for it to happen, right? For all we know, the supernatural is probably way more real than the world we are living in now. There could have been a vampire in your science class all along and you most likely would not have known about him.

 



Anti Heros

 

Let's face it, in the American society we're only used to one thing. Happy endings. No matter how bad things seem to get, nor how impossible it might seem, we will always get our happy ending. However, apon the fortune of hearing this claim, writers now like to smash our American ideology, creating scences where there is no happy ending. Why? Because they love the satisfaction it gives them.

 

Take the commonly know show Family Guy for example. The Fox Broadcasting Company insted on killing Brian, a main character in the show. However, our society would not allow it. We could now allow for them to kill a main character on a well know show. Not that way. With all the feed back from fans, The Fox Broadcasting Company gave in, and brought Brian back into the Family Guy life, avoiding the wrath of the American people. Even then, we got our happy ending. But how is it possible to keep things intresting if we know that in the end, everything will turn out well for our heros? Well that's where Anti-Heros come into play.

Anti-Heros, are not typical heros as you can guess from their name. They're heros with flaws. Refering back to Family Guy, Peter Griffan would be an Anti-Hero. Despite his attempt to do good, he often makes the situation worse for himself and those around him. Ichabod Crane also shares the graceful tittle of Anti-Hero.

 

But Here's the thing: with "Sleepy Hollow," Irving is making fun of Gothic, Romantic, and Romance literature all in one fell swoop. Irving is doing all he can to make us see that Ichabod is not a noble knight or Superman. He's not going to be saving any princesses—heck, he's too afraid of the dragon. And this guy isn't the devil-may-care Byronic anti-hero, like Batman. No, Ichabod is the uncool kind of anti-hero.

 

Although the relation between the Ichabod Crane, and Peter Griffan is very distinct, they both employ an amazing aspect to their corresponding stories. If we were to switch them with a cliche hero, that's perfect in ALL aspects, how intresting would the story be? How could you keep yourself entertained knowing exactly what the character will do, and how his actions will be affect the rest of the story? Anti-Heros are great to keep our American intrests in check, without disrupting our happy ending.