Master Piece Dance

Click here to check out my master piece project on dance! Enjoy :)

HHEEELLLOOOOO!!!!!

So I know it seems as if iv been slacking this semester, or I've died of senioritis, but fear you not I am still alive!!! (hold for applause) hahaha Well the problem is don't really have any computer connections right now, and I've tried blogging through my phone but whenever my posts is too long somthing goes wrong when I submit them. I have all the work done on hard copies and I've already showed Dr. Preston, but just so my fellow classmate can be caught up here's a picture of all the assignments that I haven't been able to post. Once I do have a computer again I will probably scan these, or spend a couple hours re-typing everything. 

Here are all the lit term assignments 

Here are all the other assignments too

AP Prep Post 1: Siddhartha

1.If you were the river, would you be enlightenment or would you knowenlightenment? In other words, what’s up with the river? What is it’s relation to enlightenment? (http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/questions.html)

2.What is it about the natural world that helps Siddhartha attain enlightenment? (http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/man-the-natural-world-theme.html)

3. Siddhartha features substantial activity and narrative action. At the same time, it is about one man’s largely internal spiritual quest. What is the relationship between the internal and exterior worlds of Siddhartha? How does Siddhartha negotiate these worlds? (http://danig14.blogspot.com/2013/01/1.html?m=1)

4.What kind of knowledge is valued in Siddhartha – carnal, financial, religious, or other? Is knowledge valued at all? (http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/wisdom-knowledge-theme.html#qa)

5. Herman Hesse’s novels before Siddharthafocused on alienated young men who rejected the cultures of their upbringings. However, these other novels did not feature the spiritual elements of Siddhartha. How do the spiritual elements of Siddhartha make it different from any other story of an alienated youth?

Hacking My Education

To name the things I would like to know and learn about my list would be endless. I took the time to browse through my classmates blogs to see what kind of things they would like to know,  and to see if I could find any similarities. Anyways something I want to know and I'm determined to learn about is what it will take to become a professional dancer. I want to know the skills and techniques I need to not let this dream stay a dream but become my future. I know classes are a for sure, I plan to continue dancing Folklorico at Hancock colleg and also take a ballet class to learn to basics to help me I other styles of dance. During the summer I went to a dance academy in Los Angeles. called Grandeza Mexicana, where we are taught dances of different regions of mexico by professional folklorico dancers. I made it a point to get to know my teachers to I can have them under my belt, and get their insight of being a professional dancer.

Allegory of the Cave Sonnet

Dancing shadows and a flickering flame
the murmurs and echoes from wall to wall
their life in the cave, everyday is the same
this is all they know, yet its nothing at all.

There had to be something greater
these chains and shackles held their thoughts
the cave is nothing but a dictator
Until one gave life a shot.

The shadows revealed their true colors
he couldn't believe what he saw
he couldn't keep this from his neighbors
the beauty of life left him in awe.

He shouted for his friends to come
he had to share the enlightenment
yet they remained in their shackles
they couldn't understand his excitement

He was just another echo and shadow on the wall
and just like everything else, he meant nothing at all.

Allegory of the Cave Questions

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
The Allegory of the Cave represents how everyone can be exposed or experience the same thing, yet we may still all perceive it in a completely different way, based on our backgrounds and what we know and what we don't know.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The shackles, the fire, and the array shadows on the cave wall are the key elements in the imagery used. 
  
3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
The allegory shows how people are learning something new, and you can't just have an idea or a thought put into your head, we all have the capability to learn, and learn in our own way. 

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and the cave represent how sometimes we feel limited to how much we can learn, not allowing the prisoners to expand their knowledge. 


5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
Pressure from others, or the fear of the unknown are my shackles, because I know there's so much more to life, I just don't know what it takes to get there.


6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
The freed prisoner was amazed by this world he never knew existed, and when he tried to share the excitement with his fellow prisoners, he was nothing but another shadow on the wall.  


7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
Once the prisoner is exposed to the real world, and realizes how how big life is compared to life in the cave. 


8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
The prisoner is free once the realize that there is more to life beyond the cave. They have to leave the comfort zone, and enlighten themselves. 

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
There is definitely a distinction between appearances and reality, because you can see something one way, but once you analyze it and see it for what it really is, it might not appear as it once seemed.

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
Our eye's and mind all have a different reality, reality is what you make of it. 

To Be or Not To Be...finally!

So I finally figured out how to upload it! Thank you to those who showed me how! haha I messed up a little bit, but it's al good! enjoy :)

Sonnet Analysis #1

it's not much but it's a good start!

A Poetic Inquiry

Going back to my big question, I started thinking of all the other questions that never left my mind. For some reason I felt kind of guilty in a way to change my big question, like I was abandoning it, then I realized that nothing should just be limited to one question. Soy new big question is, why can't the world change?
Now that that's was finished, finding a sonnet to math my big question wasn't really my cup of tea! Reading the sonnets it was hard to keep up and understand them, but after reading a few things started to clear up. I found the sonnet Transfigured Life, and I don't know if it was the title, or the stanzas, but this sonnet made sense to me. I actually felt accomplished that I was able to piece together the sonnet and make connections to my big question.

Transfigured Life

I looked back on my Big Question from the beginning of the year, What can truly make me happy, and I feel the need to change it. The question on my mind now is, why can't the world change? Why does there have to be wars, death, poverty, sadness? Why can the world change for the better? Soooo I found this sonnet that I think connects to my big question, it's called Transfigured Life.

As growth of form or momentary glance

In a child's features will recall to mind

The father's with the mother's face combin'd,--

Sweet interchange that memories still enhance:

And yet, as childhood's years and youth's advance,

The gradual mouldings leave one stamp behind,

Till in the blended likeness now we find

A separate man's or woman's countenance:--

So in the Song, the singer's Joy and Pain,

Its very parents, evermore expand

To bid the passion's fullgrown birth remain,

By Art's transfiguring essence subtly spann'd;

And from that song-cloud shaped as a man's hand

There comes the sound as of abundant rain.

Tools That Change the Way We Think

How does use of the Internet, media, and/or technology change the way you think? Focus on your memory, your ability to concentrate, your sense of time and priorities, and the subjects/topics that interest you most. 

Before I knew anything about open source learning, and being in Dr. Preston's class I felt like going on the Internet meant I was cheating, or cutting corners. I had the idea that if I needed to research something then I should be taking the time to read about it on my own or ask my teachers about it, not just Google it and find the quickest answer. However, despite of how my patients had crunched down, the internet has made everything so much faster and easier! It gives me thousands of perspectives, ideas, examples from minds all over the world with just one click. The technology in our generation is unbelievable! Its amazing how something in the palm of my hand can hold all my important information, pictures, music, banking, stocks, and contacts. I guess some would say technology has made people more lazy because we can do what ever need at home, where as before we would have to to wait or go across town to check our saving account, or buy tickets to the Dodger Game. Nonetheless, I would say technology and internet has helped me realize that there's not only one answer to every questoin, and it has helped millions of people connect to each other everyday.

Thoughts on Hamlet

Going into Hamlet I didn't have any background on the story, except that the Lion King has story line connected to Hamlet, and I knew someone was gong to die. I mean come on it Shakespeare, someone always dies in the end, and its always the good guy. Anyways I guess it would be expected to sympathize with Hamlet in the beginning because of his father's death, and knowing his Uncle was to blame, and that his mother is now married to his uncle the murderer. At first I was convinced that Claudius was the bad guy and Hamlet had to avenge his father, yet during our class discussions, i realized that we the reader never got any back ground on ghost Hamlet, or why Claudius killed him. Was there a reason? What King Hamlet the real bad guy, and Claudius actually did the right thing? From that point, I realized that I didn't know much about any of the characters, and I was already on team Hamlet. Reaching Act III Im starting to believe that maybe this whole revenge idea, and the though of killing someone, was infesting on Hamlet's mind too much, and was draining away his sanity. Because a sane person doesn't just kill somebody (Polonius) on accident and then just blow it off as if it doesn't matter. Nonetheless, I wouldn't say I sympathize fro Hamlet that much anymore, but I still want him to get his revenge on Claudius.

THE PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCE IN HAMLET

• Hamlet is all talk, but no walk
• things are easier said then done
• J.L Austin's theory of performativity; How to Do Things with Words
• describes how language doesn't describe an actions but acts in being spoken
• performative language divided into 3 main forces:
• locutionary force: language to deliver a message
• illocutionary force:what is done in being said ( denying a request, giving an order)
• perlocutionary force: what is achieved by being said
• performative language is not only what is done in the play, but tells us about the character
• Harold Bloom; "self-overhearing" 
• Shakespeare's characters over hear them self, and gain self knowledge
• "the royal road to individuation" 
• Hamlet over thinks himself; is this self revelation or creation?
• the audience only gets what they see and hear
• Shakespeare's characters had to present there inner selves to the audience though speeches & soliloquies

Filter Bubbles

• a) What new information did you learn from the video?
• b) How does this information make you think differently about what you see online?
• c) What questions does this video raise about the Internet in general?
• d) How can you improve the effectiveness of your searches?

a.) Before watching this video, I had noticed that website like Facebook and Youtube do request topics or videos for me to see based on my history. Yet, I never realized how much information it was holding me back from learning. I learned that based on your device, location, and previous searches, Google can in a sense customize you search feed based these factors. 

b.) Knowing what happens behind the scenes of the internet, it's kind of hard to believe the internet now. Not that they're giving me false information, but it feels like they're holding me back from the things I should be informed on, rather than whats happening on the VMA's. 

c.) Based on the video, I wonder how much smarter the internet can get. Its already predicting what I should watch, and what I should, or would like to know, so how much more can it predict? 

d.) Searching subjects other than your personal interest, like whats really going on in the world, and how these event can affect us, I think if we were exposed more to this, then we won't have to worry about why Kanye West and Kim Kardashian named their baby North West. 

What I think about when I think about ACT III

Reading act III I couldn't help but think of how much this would make a good TV show. At first I had my set that Hamlet isn't insane about this whole thing with his father's death, and the murderer being his uncle, I believed he was just in a really emotional state, and that should be expected from anyone. Yet once they're all at the play and he's shouting and interrupting the players of what happens next and who's doing what, I think that was Hamlets turning point. I think that is when he hit the wall, and the through of killing his uncle took over his mind. Leading into Polonius' death, even though it wasn't intentional, i believe a sane person would've been affected from killing an innocent person, and with Hamlet the second it was done, he didn't even think back on it.

vocab #8

Abase (v.) : behave in a way as to belittle or degrade

Abdicate (v.): to renounce or relinquish a throne

Abomination (n.): something that causes disgust or hatred

Brusque (adj.): abrupt or off hand in speech or manner

Saboteur (n.): a person who commits or practice sabotage.
sabo= sabotage

Debauchery (n.): excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.

Proliferate(v.): increase rapidly in numbers, multiply
Anachronism (n.): something or someone that is not in its correct historical history or chronological time.

Nomenclature(n.): the names or terms compromising a set or system.
Nomenclature is similar to genre.
NoMenclauture= names 

Expurgate (v.): remove matter thought to be objectionable

Bellicose (adj.): inclined or eager to fight.

Gauche (adj.) : lacking social grace, awkward, tactless.

Rapacious (adj.): very greedy.

Paradox (n.) : a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd.
paradox=proposition

Conundrum (n.): a confusing and difficult problem.

Anomaly (n.): a deviation from the common rule; someone abnormal who doesn't fit in; an odd or peculiar condition.

Ephemeral (adj.) : lasting a very short time; short-lived.

Rancorous (adj.): full of or showing resentment.

Churlish (adj.): rude behavior.
Precipitous (adj.): extremely steep.

Green Eggs and Hamlet

a) What do you know about Hamlet, the "Melancholy Dane"? 

I don't know that much at all about Hamlet, except that the movie the Lion King follows the story of Hamlet.

b) What do you know about Shakespeare? 

I know freshman year we did a subject on Shakespeare, the most I remember is that he was married to Ann Hathaway, he constructed 37 plays, and 154 sonnets, and he was from Stradford.
 c) Why do so many students involuntarily frown when they hear the name "Shakespeare"?  

I think the main reason we all get shaken from hearing Shakespeare name is because we all know his work is difficult to understand, and that it take a period of time to understand his true meaning. 
d) What can we do to make studying this play an amazing experience we'll never forget?

I think if we remixed the play into a way that fits our generation, and putting our selves into the story that would really help us understand the meaning, and get us connected with what Shakespeare was trying to get this audience to know. 

Vocab 7

For my group Jasmine had the idea for all of use to out the ending together on our ether pad so here's what we got! riiiiiggghhhhtttt here!

if I just had more time

Overall, I think its obvious I needed more time to study. I think if I would've at least spend 15 minutes each night to review the vocab list I would've been more than prepared for the test. Although I think just knowing that it was a midterm and only have a few days to study for it, I think I already had it in my head that it would be too hard.

Tale of a Canterbury Tale

So Jasmine, Lauren, and I discussed the story about the monk through the etherpad here, and this is where the magic happened! haha