Blogging Around: Round 2

I commented on Bill's post about Pachelbel's Canon in D Major:

Bill, I agree with you that this piece of music is a "must have". I am an ex-cello player, and I have played this song countless times just because I like it so much. I too noticed how even at modern weddings, this song is played because of tradition. It transcends the flow of time and it will always be a beautiful piece. Although, I do disagree with you on how much of history is forgotten. There are stoires, whether written or spoken, that have made it to today. Religious texts have hundreds of thousands of copies published in the world and they are all from hundreds of years ago. Just look at Bentley and all of the movies Mr. Williams shows us. Even though there are so many songs from the past, most are European and from the past 700 years.

I also commented on Lauren's post about A Christmas Carol and The Tragedy of King Lear.
Lauren, I just wanted to say that this connection is really interesting. If I'm correct, Poor Tom meats Lear in the storm scene, when Lear is temporarily banished by his daughters. Lear and company stumble upon Edgar, who really just tries to take advantage of the situation, but also provides a new perspective for Lear and what really is causing his distress and pain. In A Christmas Carol, the ghosts come to Scrooge and show him the real meaning of Christmas and just how much one can "get" from giving. Both men have light shed on their situations and then change to better themselves. I really liked this post, partly because of the approaching holiday, but also because it really got me to think about giving.

iMedia: The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory

Well...

This is quite the painting. I have grown up with a mixed education of art. Some people have told me that each piece of art has only one interpretation of what it really means, and others have told me that art is what it is, and still others have told me that art is what you want it to be. I personally am a fan of the two latter opinions, and I think that my belief in the freedom of art will be expressed in this blog post.

Salvador Dali provides art viewers with a very open ended piece of art in this painting. I will provide a little background on this painting. First of all, he painted this from 1952-1954, as a rerendering of The Persistance of Memory, which is his most famous work. In The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, it is said that Dali repainted this after the atomic bombs were set off to show the contrast between the setting in The Persistence of Memory and in The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, but there are so many other things that I see. The thing most prominent to me, are the clocks; they look like uncooked pizzas that were tossed and allowed to land on the most uneven of surfaces. But they also look like they're melting. I see that as how time goes by, no matter what you do with it, it melts and runs through your fingers and you can never pick it up, or get it back. To me, the sagging clocks illuistrate how the passing of time is inevitable. Another little interesting thing that I noticed is how the tree that is closer to the viewers is broken up into floating logs. When a tree is cut, you can see its age rings and how old it is. I seriously doubt that Dali was going for that effect but I saw it anyway. Also, going back to the melting clocks and melting time metaphor, the melting clocks are touching everything, showing that everything suffers the flow of time, except for the water in the background. I was thinkning about how we can see the effect time has on trees, on the earth, on people, but how we can't see it in water. If you put a glass of water in front of anyone, they couldn't tell you how old the water inside was or how long it had been there. This illuistrates that there are some things in this world that are timeless. In this painting, what stands out to me is how prominent this idea of the enormity time and it's passing, yet not everything is affected by it.

Here's a link to the painting: http://www.artinthepicture.com/paintings/Salvador_Dali/The-Disintegration-of-the-Persistence-of-Memory

(Don't worry, I tried to avoid talking about anything in the discription)

Connection: King Lear and The Power of Love

In King Lear, characters like Lear and Edmund made decisions that influence the play. These decisions were driven by love, and I want to connect these decisions to the power love has. Edmund tricks his brother Edgar and betrays his father to Cornwall all so that he can become Earl of Gloucester. His love for power was powerful enough to make him think that turning his back on his own family was okay.

Edmund was also torn between the love of Regan and of Goneril. Their "interests" in him caused him to lose his way and to act in a manner that pleases one or both of them. In turn, their intimate love for him caused them, or at least Goneril, to "lose" her husband. Also, their love for themselves was what drove them to lie to Lear and proclaim their "love" for him; they tried to outdo eachother in order to recieve the better half of England.

Cordelia is another story. Her love for Lear was so real that she would not make a spectacle of it in front of his court. She thought that it was silly to proclaim her love for her father in order to inherit what she deserved. Later in the play, she showed her love for Lear again when she went back to England with the French army in order to search for him.

As for love, it is a noun, a verb, an adjective and most importantly, it is an emotion. It can drive the happiest people to deep depression, and vice versa. It can cause people to kill for the right or wrong reasons and to make decisions blindly. A two person relationship full of love, or lust, can harm so many people. Love can do so many more things, but I only listed those that are directly related to King Lear.

We as readers can see that all of these aspects of love are very prominent in King Lear. Lear's love for himself took him from bliss to complete sadness because he was so self important and so vile to others and those actions caught up to him. He put himself before his daughters and in turn, they plotted against him for their own reasons. Edmund betrayed his brother and turned his father agains his brother, which is just appalling. He also gave up his father to Cornwall, Regan and Goneril so that he could achieve power and respect, but in the end, he died and his actions were all in vain. Regan killed the servant because she was too proud to have someone so low directly oppose her belief of what is right and because she had the same twisted views as her husband. So, we can see exactly how Shakespeare's characters use and abuse love in this play.

Dialectics: Friendship and Loyalty

Many people may look at the title of this blog and say, "Hey, friendship and loyalty are the same thing!" Well there are several things wrong with these people. First of all, hey is for horses, and secondly, friendship and loyalty are quite different, though they relate to each other quite well.

Friendships are human to human relationships with many twists and turns, but loyalty can be as simple as how your dog feels about you. However, in relationships, your friends can or can't be loyal to you and people who are loyal to you can or can't be your friends. Although, what is really important is what the two ideas have in common.

Being loyal largely overlaps with being helpful, as does friendship. Going back to the dog analogy, humans help dogs live by sheltering them and guaranteeing them meals, and humans and dogs provide a companion to each other. Now some oblivious people may state that their pet is their best friend. Not only do they have interpersonal issues, but they also need to understand that friends should regard and treat each other as equals. In a loyal relationship between a person and a pet, the pet is loyal to the person, and the person is loyal to the bet, but in different ways. Pets are loyal to their masters because they feel loved by their masters and the pets can depend on them, and masters are loyal to their pets because they love their pets and they are always there for them. I obviously can't speak for the entire world, but I command my dog, and my dog doesn't command me back; therefore we are not equal; we are not friends. But that does not mean that I don't love my dog, in fact the opposite is true; I love my dog to death and I would do anything for him, which leads me to my next point.

Support and aid are both very central in friendship and loyalty. The armed forces are built on loyalty, and support and aid is a prime job the armed forces provide. While that support and aid is external, the soldiers within the armed forces are trained to support and aid each other, or in other words, function as a unit without necessairily being friends. Friends are also to be there for each other in times of need. Though there is a difference. The armed forces are trained to be loyal to each other, but friends that are loyal to each other are loyal because they want to be.

In a community, especially the global community that becomes more prominent with technological advances, both loyalty and friendship are beneficial and necessary. Being friends assists us humans in the task of bringing each other closer together, and by being loyal to each other, we ensure each others' saftey and well being. In short, both of these valuable traits can lead to many important ideas and other behaviors, including a better world.

Metacognition: MetroMedia Cable Math Project

The most recent project I have done was a math project we were assigned just last week. The project was based on a problem from our textbook; the problem was about installing cable to a family's house and finding the total cost of cable while placing the cable at different lengths along the road and through the customer's yard. The project required much ingenuity and many different processes of thought. I had to think very logically to solve the problems, but my logic was a little askew. I failed to comprehend how to substitute for a variable in the specific equation and for that reason, my answers were initially off. Then, I was aided by a classmate who showed me where and why I was wrong. I was surprised, because I usually understand problems like this one, but I forgot to use the Pythagorean Theorem. For another part of the project, I had to make a graph, with the assistance of my calculator, but I still needed to understand what the graph meant. I knew what the x value and y value stood for, but knowing thier relationship was key. The goal of the project was to find the minimum cost of installing the cable, and the length of cable that corresponded with the minimum value. I thought that if I could locate the minimum on my graph, I would be able to find the answer. I was correct and I used my graph to solve the problem. I then did a writeup to present my work and answer, but I was challenged by my teacher to make my writeup as creative as possible. I thoroughly described how I did my work and I put some serious thought into how to best present my project. In the end, I was required to combine logic and creativity to make the best of this project.

Blogging Around

My first comment was on Anna's blog about Assef and Bellatrix Lestrange, and how their childhoods, lives and beliefs on "less worthy or pure" people are shockingly similar:

Anna, I agree with you 100%; I thought of this connection too. You point out how Assef and Bellatrix both enjoy killing and torturing; how they are being commanded by others but how they are so adept at commanding. I also want to point out how in the end, they were bested by others of an opposite alignment, in both cases good people who were acting purely in the defense of others (Sohrab and Mrs. Weasley). Both Assef and Bellatrix had a warped belief of what was the good thing to do; Assef thought that joining the Taliban was his call from God and that Bellatrix thought doing Voldemort's bidding was the highest calling. I really enjoyed reading your blog, because as I stated earlier, I thought of this connection too and you came up with many points I missed, and those points made me realize the incredible similarity between these two characters.

My second response was to Alex's blog about Afghanistan and how NATO supports the United States' occupation of the country:

Alex, I think that you nailed those connections you made to Kite Runner and Charlie Wilson's War. I agree with you on the fact that our intervention may cause harm to this country but I hope it does not. In the article, President Obama said, “This is not an American battle, this is a Nato mission,”. Assuming that we can hold the president to his words, then I think its safe to trust that if there is a third party (NATO) involved, that it will not allow the situation in Afghanistan to get out of hand, and that, like Mr. Williams said, it will encourage construction/government/education projects after the US leaves Afghanistan. But this, we can only hope.

Connection: Kite Runner and Flags of our Fathers

These two books are seperated by genre, with plots seperated by 40 years and cultures that have been very different for a long time, share a concept that is central to both of the main characters.

In The Kite Runner, Amir witnesses the raping of Hassan, and holds that information to himself for 25 years. On that very day, he was selfish enough to let his fear get in the way of his relationship with Hassan; he took the kite to his father, which was "my key to Baba's heart." (71). He did not stand up for Hassan, and he ran from that alley, but he never got away. Amir never shared that memory for 25 years, and he was haunted by it for most of his life. He tried to let his feelings out, but he was still too afraid to talk to anyone about Hassan. He finally allowed his emotions to escape when he told Soriya.

In Flags of our Fathers, the author James Bradley writes about his father, John Bradley, who was one of the six men who put up the flag on top of Mount Suribachi, which is the highest point on the island of Iwo Jima, (Here is a link to the very photo: http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/08/21/mn_rosenthal105.jpg) Once this photo was developed and produced, the U.S. government used it as a symbol of success to show the people of America how America was doing in the war. The reality of the photo is that the mountain was actually captured the day before, and the flag that John Bradley and the other five men put up was just a replacement flag. So John returned to America after the Americans won the battle of Iwo Jima, and was sent on a tour around the country with the two other men in the photo that survived the battle. He was able to leave battle, but he could not leave the memories of that island behind. He was haunted by images of his best friend's sexually abused body and the bodies of countless others. He would wake up at night crying, having dreamt about Iwo Jima, but he never asked for help. His immediate family was the only group of people that knew of his problems, but he forbade them from telling anyone.

In both stories, Amir and John keep memories of terrible things to themselves. While John did not have to be ashamed of his memories, he was just as intimidated by what he saw as Amir was. The genital dismemberment of John's friend led John to hate Japan and its people until the day he died, and Amir's witnessing of Hassan's rape allowed Amir to see the true evil in Assef. Both of these realizations deeply influenced who Amir and John became. Amir feels certain that if he stood up for Hassan, that his and Hassan's lives would have played out much differently. And if John hadn't seen his friend's disfigured body, he wouldn't have hated Japan to the same degree that he did. They both tried to run away from their fears and bury them, but in the end Amir chose to face the fear, while John did not.

Best of Week: Assef Discussion

This week in class, we talked about Kite Runner in many ways, but none of the discussions we had were as interesting to me as the one about Assef. During that discussion, we tried to justify Amir's definition of Assef in the terms of a sociopath, but upon further review of the term, we saw that it did not fit Assef well enough.

The definition of Sociopath is as follows: A person with a social disorder. But to me, Assef seemed to enjoy the pain he inflicted on others and as a result of that, I disagree with Amir's labeling of Assef. Assef's problems seem to go much further than a lack of social skill. I think that Assef likes causing physical, social and mental discomfort.

Assef seemed to be making attempts to teach as well. When he raped Hassan, and when he beat Amir, he had intended both actions to mean something to the victim and all who watched. He tried to convey the message that he was not a force to be played with.

All of these ideas show me that Assef is socially insecure with himself, and that he asks for attention in the most horrible ways. The boy idolized Hitler, and as a man, he was much dirtier. I doubt that Assef could be labeled with a single word.

Change of Mind: Beat by Beat

I have been reading and writing since I was just three years old, and for as long as I can remember, reading has been one of my favorite things to do. As all readers do, I enjoy stories with plots and meanings, but I never really enjoyed books for their writing prowess.

As for writing, I never enjoyed it as much, simply because I am prone to writer's block and I always find that I have to dedicate so much time to making my work acceptable. My mother is quite the writer though; she is a contributor to the Glenview Journal, and she has written a few stories for children, but she has never been published. I usually turn to her for guidance and help when I need writing help because I admire how she can give such emotion to her writing, and I try to put that in my writing as well.

Then, one day in class, we were presented with Mr. Allen's "book" Beat By Beat: The Rhythm of Great Writing, in which he showed us the potential that one can give a story by implimenting rhythm in their writing. As soon as I read this, I realized how much I can do on my own, just by modifying the very structure and rhythm of my writing. Now, I will really try to put emotion in my writing, not just with powerful words, but with words that bring powerful rhythms to my writing.