Reading List

The next part is to read a book related to my topic.
There are not youtuber books, but journalism is also an interest and so I decided to look that up.

Here is where I found A Reading List for Future Journalists and the books I'm interested in are:
Desert Solitaire (Edward Abbey)
The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien) which coincidentally I have at my house right now becasue my brother asked me to check out the book from the public library,and the one I'll most likely start out with
The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters, Volume II (George Orwell) this interests me becasue it's author, I have 1984 on my shelf and I really want to read it, so one of the two by him will probably be number 2 book
Roughing It (Mark Twain) Twain, yes
On Writing (Stephen King) So I've heard the name of him around a lot because he's an author of this time, right? This book helps your writing and it's peaked my interest

I want to read An Abundance of Katherines by John Green asap, though, too.

Masterpiece/Semester Number Two

     My topic is very loose right now. I have come to enjoy photography, video, and writing. Many of my previous posts show my interest in these subjects. I'm not sure how I want to tackle this, though. I could study the different mediums in which information is conveyed to us, or the artistic pov. Maybe how everything shapes our lives. I am not very sure at all.
     I was introduced to a couple of youtubers, Jack and Finn Harries, by Alyssa summer before junior year and was entertained enough to keep up with their videos, look at their collaborators, follow them on social media, find their friends who have blogs, and be in such awe at what they are able to do. These people inspire me to go out into the world. I have wanted to travel since I was a little girl, but watching these people online actually go out and do it gives me courage and confidence to pursue it. The cinematography and photography is just so good and I wish I could do that, too. They've had years and years of experience and I have not, so starting out I'm going to be terrible haha. I care because it's amazing stuff. So many of the people I keep up with help charities, like Project for Awesome by the vlogbrothers. I think I love this community so much because I can relate to the people online and like what they're saying, doing, showing me. I don't want to say I'm shy or quiet because I don't think I am, to others I might be, but I am more introverted, I believe, so by watching these things in the comfort of my own room makes me feel at peace, relaxed, and like an individual in a way if that makes sense. I love the creativity and freedom that these people have, I know that I would 'kill' to be a part of that group. Most of them are kick-ass photographers and make me want to cry with how beautiful their photos are.
     Okay, well if I educate on the youtube stuff I can maybe help the generation before me understand how the internet has not only helped with looking things up, but with giving people voices and finding their purposes in life. It connects the people of the world with one another. I know my parents wouldn't believe me if I said that I chatted with someone from England online today haha, but the reality is that I have that ability to do exactly that. It can encourage those who don't think that this stuff is worth anything to take a look. I would love to dedicate more time to dissecting videos and learning techniques for making cool stuff. I'm hoping that through this sort of topic or overall idea I might find what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Even though I really don't want to know because I have a fear of pinning myself to something I'll hate once it begins, finding my niche would be very exciting after a semester of mass turmoil about it.
     Academic disciplines needed will include the following: literature, linguistics, history, social studies, music, psychology, arts, sociology, transportation, journalism, media studies, communication, a bit of cultural and ethnic studies...
     Plan includes spending more time with the work of a select group of people's work and trying to find common traits, uncommon traits, uniqueness... I'm going to do a lot of observing to begin with. Then I'll look into the making of. Later I can move onto audience reception. This is cool, I'm actually making a plan about something! It'd be really amazing to actually talk to these people through the internet, but I will need a plan of action before contacting them.
     Uhhhh, I have no idea bout resources needed...yet.
     Tools... I might want to start a new tab on this blog for my ideas and progress. I might write it all in a journal, too. I like writing in a notebook and with this it might be something that I feel more comfortable doing even though it's old school. I'm feeling like a long analysis or personal journey of some soft that would flow in a journal much nicer than if I typed it, but with a new laptop I don't know.
     Very impressed at how I thought this all up on the fly, a plan looks like it's actually forming now :)

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays to all!
Best physical present has to be the new laptop I'm making this post from. I had no idea it was coming.
The other gift has been the friendships I've strengthened over this school year. The Christmas text messages meant the world to me.
I'm excited for the future semester and my last five months of high school, especially what we're going to accomplish in this English class!

Final Assignment

My first idea was to bing plates, utensils, napkins because I don't have a family recipe or anything. It would represent myself in that I feel like I'm there for support, yet I'm under appreciated. (S/o to the sphinx crew who had me at the top of the leader board for a while) With the plates and cups I'm literally holding everyone else('s food) up. I also didn't know if anyone else was going to bring this stuff and we'd eat with our hands.

Then I guessed that I should also bring something else along and it wasn't until 7:30 pm that I found some treat ideas on, none other than, Pinterest! I went shopping at two stores with my mom an my sister for supplies. I came back home, ate, and began work before ten. I ended, the last one awake, at like 1:20 am. I can't remember when I stayed up this late for homework haha! My priorities...

Here's what I was doing:

We Are Righetti Update

As some of you may know, Lukas, Alec, and I have a blog called We Re Righetti to let he world know (after recent events) how great the students at our school actually are! Below is where you can learn what we're looking for! You can email your story to wearerighetti@gmail.com

"As Righetti students we are generalized into a general populous and when a small group of students makes poor decisions we all get made out as those students. The We Are Righetti blog is for the rest of the students to share their stories, accomplishments, challenges, and thoughts to show the rest of the community that we are amazing individuals with our own brilliant stories.  Share your story and show that YOU are Righetti."

Finals Week

Just in case anyone needs the schedule!

Okay well this should be an interesting week. I kind of have no hope for a couple of grades that are 3% away from the next letter grade. One of those finals is today, oh well. 

Literature Analysis #1

A Separate Peace by John Knowles
(one of my favorites tbh. I read this book freshman year and wanted to dive deeper into it in a literature analysis. It was one of the six or so books that I've cried reading [It started at remembering three, but then I started to think back at all of the 'cry books' and saw how large the list actually is]. I'm not going to lie, I started this analysis way, way, way too late. Although I have not given myself much time to complete, I have stopped to read the book again and with a much better understanding than before. It's amazing what three years can do.)

1. Inciting incident: page 52 Gene shakes the tree branch
2. Theme:  Competition brings out the best and the worst in people. Gene and Phineas were never really competing with one another, and even though Gene thought it was some big thing he knew that Finny was just amazing and didn't have to try at anything. It's all about jealousy and trust. I cringe at some of the things Gene tells Finny that are lies. He knows the truth about him causing the fall (page 59)and at Finny's hospital bed he denies being at fault. 
3.  
4. Edition: Bantam  1975

      "The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session!" page 24. Alliteration: It showed me the darker side of the story after reading back through it. Gene and Finny created a fun social group for friends of theirs to hang out with during the summertime. There's sarcasm and infliction of the tone in this. This book is pretty dark when you think about it. Humanity can be dark and cruel, but disguised as something full of pleasure.
     "If he jumps out of that tree I'm Mahatma Gandhi." page 49. Allusion: So obviously Gene wasn't Gandhi and he was basically saying what we say all of the time, kind of like "when pigs fly". Leper was supposed to jump off the tree branch into the water for his initiation into the society that evening and as Gene pointed out before, he was a chicken.

     "At his touch I lost all hope of controlling myself. I burst out crying into my hands; I cried for Phineas and for myself and for this doctor who believed in facing things. Most of all I cried because of kindness, which I had not expected." page 57-58. Gene shook the tree branch to cause Phineas to fall and shatter his leg. It was all his fault and he has the guilt and blame for it all, but nobody accuses him so he must live with it all, not even having to defend himself which is worse than denying it.

     "It would not be just a thunderbolt." page 61. Metaphor: Gene is talking about breaking the news to Finny that he was the one who did it. He can't just come out and shock him, he needed to ease it in the conversation somehow.
     "Listen, pal, if I can't play sports, you're  going to play them for me," and I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas." page 77. Phineas couldn't play sports again and was going to live through Gene. It's a big part of the story because it transitions from the boys being separated to almost one.
     "Not that it would be a good life. The war would be deadly alright. But I was used to finding something deadly in things that attracted me; there was always something deadly lurking in anything I wanted, anything I lived. And if it wasn't there, as for example with Phineas, then I put it there myself." page 92. 

 CHARACT "Finny in a light blue polo shirt and I in a T-shirt. I noticed that people were looking fixedly at him, so I took a look myself to see why. His skin radiated a reddish copper glow of tan , his brown hair had been a little bleached by the sun, and I noticed that the tan made his eyes shine with a cool blue-green fire." page 39

"Edlwin 'Leper' Lepellier" page 49

Personality Test

     So as I've been sitting at my computer, sort of avoiding my schoolwork, listening to/watching the live stream for p4a and texting my friend, Jaymie, she suggested a personality test to me that she took. I took it and we compared our results. We've been discussing for the past forty-five minutes, actually. It's pretty accurate and interesting! It gives you explanations in a lot of areas. She's gotten two friends and her parents to take the test, I challenge you! http://www.16personalities.com/
     My result was ISFP and gave me a confidence boost because it basically told me what I've been realizing this year! I'm more creative and can't do the whole 9-5 office job, I'd rather be into photography- I've literally been saying that for moths now! I kind of do have a sense of knowledge about myself and it told me that I don't do well with the same thing every day, just like I've been saying. It was great reading what I think now, after months of self-realization and it's pretty awesome that what I say isn't just crazy stuff. Check it out for yourself :)

I change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else.

Bob Dylan

the Season of Giving

     Okay, so normally I don't like stories my mom tells me, and right now I'm trying to do homework, but she didn't stop talking a minute ago so I listened to her. Yesterday she was on the bus going to my basketball game in SLO and after missing the first one she was able to get on the next one. On this bus she somehow was by a man who was showing people his stomach. I was trying to tune her out but then she mentioned something about a large sum of money, an amount I didn't even know she had, so I made her tell me again.
     The man was just discharged from a hospital and had something to do with his intestines being out. He was showing the people on the bus the clamp on his stomach. Apparently he was a homeless man who didn't do drugs, but he'd been in an out of prison for twenty years. My mom could really relate to that and gave him money.  A lot of money. The sum of which made me very upset when I heard the amount at first. Did she not realize what that money can go to? My graduation stuff, my laptop I'm saving for, anything for me! Then after hearing about how he carries his sleeping bag to the public library to sleep and that he can no longer do that, how the hospital kicked him out for not having insurance and the workers didn't even care if he came back to the hospital for the clamp coming undone, how he was holding his own intestines at some point, how he has nowhere sanitary to sleep at night, I understand why my mom gave him the money. She said that he gave her a hug and said, "God bless you." She told me that she was thinking that he already had.
     Then I realized how selfish I was. This man had his organs in his own hands at one point, had no clean home to go back to, and I was complaining about my mom giving him money! I hadn't heard the whole context surrounding this action. This is how life is. This is life. Like I can't describe how this story makes me feel. I felt anger then remorse and guilt. I had just donated to charity for p4a and I got mad at my mom for practically doing the same. What's wrong with me? Well this definitely made me step back and think. Who am I and what do I want to accomplish? I think of myself as a good person and now I don't think so as much. I think I wouldn't have had the same kind of reaction if I had really been listening the first time. Everything happens for a reason. So I need to understand the bigger picture and not think so much about myself so often, especially in the way of complaining less. It seems to me that all I talk to my friends about is why my life sucks and my school struggles. I promised not to complain to them anymore on Friday, actually.
     Back on track, though, this also made me think of what time of year it is. This year has felt the least like the holidays than the past Halloweens, Thanksgivings, and Christmases I've had. Holidays just aren't the same anymore. Maybe it comes with the time period we now live in or just with growing up. But, as the phrase (somewhat) goes, 'tis the season to give. We should all learn to be more empathetic and selfless because it's the right thing to do. We are so selfish and it's nice to let someone have a sliver of what he or she deserves as a human being. The holiday season has been built up to be a time of joy and happiness. The parade was a good example of giving because of the canned food crowd members brought for the ones in need in our community. You don't know what other people go though and the smallest actions could make the greatest difference in someone's life. Please give more and be less selfish, advice to myself and to everyone else reading this.

J. Alfred Prufrock

The Love Story of J. Alfred Prufrock
I found my print out of the poem from sophomore year and used it for the discussion and reading. My notes all over the place really helped. Unfortunately I lost the papers momentarily and in two days I can post photos of the poem. For now, here is the link http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/173476

In class we talked about a lot. Large group talk turned into a lot of little chats then came back to the big talk a few times. Here are some of the main points that I took from the discussion this past week.

• J. Alfred Prufrock: the name is so big and grand, like John Hancock or someone else important in history, yet he hasn't amounted to anything really. Miles pointed that out. Alyssa and Imanie pointed out the irony, I believe.
• Prufrock is like evaluating his life and all the chances that he never took, all of the missed opportunities that he missed, everything that never happened he now regrets.
• It's sad how he's an old man now, full of regret. An old man rolling up his trousers, maybe from shrinking in his old age, but mostly getting ready to walk on the beach, as the poem ends. Alec mentioned how walking on the beach is a romantic thing that couples do and that he is all alone now without a woman.
• the yellow smoke is feline and womanish. It's also man-made problems that he's been consumed with.
• the teaspoons he measures his life in are his own perception of time. We wondered why there wasn't another item used to measure. Teaspoons are so small, meaning that his life dragged on for a long time possible
• The women "coming and going speaking of Michalangelo" could have meant a lot of things: they were educated women, they were always coming and going in and out of Prufrock's life, they were into another man besides him, comparing him to the masterpiece
• Lazarus could have been alluded to because he was given life again. Prufrock kind of realized himself way too late in his physical life and even though he has new realizations, his born-again-self won't be long lived. We related a bit to Christianity- like does Prufrock want to go to heaven?
• Liz and I talked about how in touch with reality he was throughout the poem. Was the dreaming? Like in the end when it says that "they wake us and we drown" or how he changes a lot during the whole thing. Is he physically growing old throughout? As a whole we all decided that he was old and going through his whole life.
• It's pretty sad as a whole. He's not able to act on his feelings inside. He wanted to be loved and never got it. Like Hamlet he struggled internally to act instead of just waiting for it to happen and he never did. Now's he's stuck with the sad realization of it and there's nothing he can do before he dies. Hamet was a character who, after all of this pain and agony, was able to fulfill his own wishes and complete his mission. Poor Prufrock kind of sucked at taking action. He had his whole life and nothing. 

Project for Awesome 2014

Project for Awesome going on NOW!!!
It's raising money for charity in exchange for cool stuff from/about John and Hank Green
I donated $15 and during that time the 2015 calendar was half off, so I now found a calendar for the next year! I'm very excited because I like yearly calendars and I have been worrying since it's almost January. Glad I could donate to charity and receive something I need :)
People make videos (these are normal people not sponsored to do so) to promote their favorite charities and the most voted on videos within a time period get money donated to those charities.
It runs from yesterday until today/ and you can donate through the sixteenth, I believe

Hank Green explains it here!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMDKaLvaRy4

EVERYTHING about it here!!!!
http://www.projectforawesome.com/

Where you can donate here!!!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/project-for-awesome-2014

Hamlet (The Madman) Essay #1

     Hamlet is not a madman, he is a genius. Hamlet expresses himself through his soliloquies and that is all that the background information we get, but those glimpses of knowledge only reveal Hamlet's feelings, the real magic still happens behind the scenes, inside Hamlet's mind.Through inductive reasoning we can infer that Hamlet's actions come from deep thought even though the audience isn't exposed to the thought process. We must work backwards to find that Hamlet actually knows exactly what he's doing because we've been trained to think that he's crazy from the stigma attached to the name of the play. Hamlet's actions and words don't go unplanned, through body language and crafty speech Hamlet is able to fool the other characters and even modern audiences that read the play.
     All of the reviews and "crap notes" tell us that Hamlet is crazy. They do so because the other characters in the play think so, too, and they're not going look deeper into the story. Hamlet, in Act I scene V, states "I have sworn't" after the ghost of old Hamlet tells him to get revenge. Young Hamlet had agreed to kill Claudius from the start. He had his head on straight and wasn't crazy. His first soliloquy was dramatic because that's how he truly felt and some of his early actions were due to his grieving a father and dealing with a betraying mother. He stated that to Rosecrantz and Guildenstern in brief when he caught them in their act of work for the king. He wasn't sure whether or not to trust them so he told them part of the truth. Some of his other actions like going to Ophelia half-dressed and seemingly confused were crafted. He knew that Ophelia was going to tell her father everything and therefore let Polonius into the know, or so the other characters thought. Hamlet wanted to plant an idea into Polonius' head so that he could tell King Claudius, who was going to believe Polonius. In no part of the play is the audience directly told of his motives, but he had sworn to kill his uncle and by making Claudius and everyone else around think that he's not all there anymore they're not going suspect that Hamlet is actually knowledgeable of pertinent information and has a plan.

Poetry Essay #1

     Working Together by David Whyte and The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost differ in content but also share one strong common trait. Although Whyte writes about the visible and invisible working together for a common cause and Frost about a decision choosing between two roads, both poems have an a narrator thinking about the intangible, what they don't know for sure is out there.
     The unknown is acknowledged in both poems. Whyte speaks in terms such as "The visible and the invisible" and "intangible" to speak about what he doesn't know. These elements are unseen and yet still have an impact us and influence our decisions. For example, in The Road Not Taken Frost bases his decision on whether he will travel the road more or less popular, and chooses the road uncharted with lesser certainty. By factoring in the unexplained, both poems end happily. There is no awe or curiosity in knowing everything, life has lost substance without wonder.

Hamlet Essay #2

     "Now cracks a noble heart." Shakespeare crafts Hamlet in an innovative and genius fashion. This quote is one if the most honest and informative lines in the play and is able to, in such a small amount of words, convey a lot about the will to succeed. Hamlet died fulfilling his self-prophesy and although it took an unorthodox path, he did it for the right reasons. 

     These are the first words spoken after Hamlet dies in the end of Act V. 

Intro to Poetry 12/2/14 And REMIX

Working Together

1. The significance of the title is that in the poem, the tangible and intangible work together to create something great

2. The tone is a light one with a lot I positivity and guidance

3. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right and realizing/ recognizing  the world around me- awareness

4. There was a shift, indeed. From "I am thinking of the way" to "easily holds our weights"

5. Theme is that if we trust in what we can and cannot see everything will turn out alright

These questions helped to clarify what I was feeling and thinking while reading through the first time. I didn't know about the airplane part at fist, going back through I was able to ask questions of my classmates and catch what I did miss.

GROUP REMIX
CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR GROUP REMIX OF THE POEM

Quick Hamlet Poetry Notes:

• To be or not to be - 11 syllables, inversion, weak/feminism end
• 5 feet, 2 syllables each- iambic pentameter
• only people who mattered spoke in IP

Frustrated and Almost Out of Time

Why do I hate myself and the world so often when I try so hard to make things good and right? 

Is it because no matter how hard I try or how much I do I keep falling behind?

I admit to losing a lot of motivation this year and thinking things are less than they really are. I do avoid things but I can't change it. I've been struggling and I think I'm burnt out. I don't want to say I've peaked, but looking at work I did two years ago compared to now makes me want to I back and be good again. I'm in a constant struggle and I like to tell myself that it's been getting better when it hasn't. I can't stand looking at all of the work I have to do between today and tomorrow, today and Friday, today and next Friday. It is hours and hours of work and I keep telling myself it'll be okay and I'll get everything done in time but in reality, I see no way. I can't stay up anymore, I can't wake up early, I have lost the ability to physically push through to get work done. It makes me feel  weak. I used to be able to, no problem. I spend more time frustrated than actually doing the work and I can't get myself to actually work because I just end up lost and confused anyway. It's a constant battle with myself and I'm losing, I'm always losing. 

Thanks for tuning in to my thoughts and I hope you took at least one thing from this.