Not UPenn Yet.

There are two reasons I like to visit Pennsylvania, the Amish village and the Hershey chocolate headquarters.  Interestingly enough I knew this from the get-go because, disregarding my visits the ski resorts, my first and second trips to Pennsylvania included going to the Amish town and then Hershey chocolate factory.  The third trip was to show my spanish aunt around and she loved it.  We were able to visit both Amish and the Hershey factory, which was a blast.  Being able to visit a faraway fairytale land is exciting because you know what is there, yet it is different every time.  Where do you like to travel?

Must Deal with the Cards Dealt

I would rather be prepared for something, than think of something last minute, however I have fallen victim to the last minute crisis in English class.  What occurred was that I had forgotten to print out my discussion notes, but it was not hard for me to contribute to the conversation because I had read the section we were assigned.  As everyone read out their annotations, my hands were frantically flipping through the book to summon a good discussion point.  Thankfully I had written a few key words and page numbers on the fold piece of printer paper I was using as a book mark.  I slide that out of its place, and just then it was my time to speak.  My task was to list the symbols found throughout the book, and hadn't realized I was supposed to ask and answer the question, so on the spot I had to come up with the meaning of a handful of symbols.

I started out strong, and then realized a note I scribbled on the paper that read, "p74 Estella and Pip are playing cards, and Pip ends up crying."  More of a summary I think to myself.  Then I start speaking, and I read what I had written down, now I say that I though the cards could symbolize something.  I racked my brain for what it could mean, and I came up with the perfect comparison.  Pip was a sad boy yes? An orphan.  He was with Estella and playing cards with her, but all she has intended to do is break his heart.  As they were playing cards, maybe the game could represent the quote that reads, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."  The five other students at my table, ohed and awed, and I was ecstatic.  One girl even told me she really, like REALLY, liked that comparison, and maybe it could encourage some people to procrastinate, but not me because I was paranoid that whole class period.

Modern Connection of 1984

1984 portrays the fear the nation withheld about advanced surveillance combined with public knowledge of their private life. One of the reasons 1984 is a prized work of literature is due to the fact that the future that George Orwell predicted is a parallel to present day, at least some aspects are.  Edward Snowden acts like the hero, or possibly a villain depending on your stance, because while to the government he is an unloyal citizen he is thanked for his bravery of exposing the government and unraveling that knot that revealed how much the government and corporations really know about us. Snowden and Orwell are similar because they both reveal to society what kind of world we are going to be living in with advanced technology surrounding us, both mention the extensive work it takes to expose this to the public, and both were knowledgeable about the subject.

Practice 1984 Writing #1

Discuss the idea of Room 101, the place where everyone meets his or her worst fear. Keeping in mind that for most of Winston’s time at the Ministry of Love, he does not know what he will find in Room 101, what role does that uncertainty play in making Room 101 frightening? Does the cage of rats break Winston’s spirit, or does it merely play a symbolic role?
 
In 1984 by George Orwell, Room 101 symbolizes the power of the Party, and Winston's spirit is crushed due to what the Party has behind Room 101 for him.

Room 101 is frightening for the readers and the people of the dystopia because of the overflowing amount of questions that it brings up.  The security guard would call a man or women to Room 101 and each time the people scream and fight, they even sacrifice each other by saying "take him, not me!" (Orwell 237) this leaves the mystery behind the door never ending.  Everyone in the waiting room for Room 101 is guilty of Thought Crime or disobeying the government (Orwell 232).  This just leaves room for the criminals to blame the technology because they have become desperate, "something is wrong with the telescreen...he's the one that's against the Party, not me"(Orwell 237). The Party has so much control over the people, because they are all paranoid that they are going to slip.  When Joseph Kony 2012 was infamous he would target children to be apart of his army, because they were the easiest to brain wash.  In this society as well children are targeted,  some children are apart of Junior Spies just to ensure that they grow up to be loyal to the government.(Orwell 233)  The technology runs the society and it is up to the telescreens to be an extra set of eyes to make sure everyone is in order.  Countless parallels can be drawn from the book to society, but one thing we can not say is that we are being watched just as much as in the people of the story are, because people of 2014 say things like "no cop no stop" when driving a car through a red light.  We need order and a government to keep us in line so the society does not become chaotic, but we do not need so much control that people can not be themselves respecting society.

When Winston enters Room 101 his spirit is crushed and he sacrifices the one thing readers thought he would never let go.  Winston lives a life where he is constantly watching for those watching him, he always has to be careful about the things he says and does, sadly it is near impossible to escape this kind of life, because of certain rules like the telescreens must be in every home, but he still attempts.  Winston tries to join the Brotherhood which is a group of anarchists where he lives in 1984 (Orwell 172).  Also, he sneaks out with a young girl named Julia who is also against the government, together they find an area to spend their time with one another away from telescreens in the country side (Orwell 139), Julia understands the importance of keeping this low key, however Winston decides to take it to the next level which leads to Julia and Winston getting caught and sent to the the Ministry of Love (Orwell 221).  The government plays with the minds of the people because although it is called Ministry of Love it contains Room 101 which is pure torture.  This goes with all the Ministry's of the dystopia, everything is not what it seems, which leads to people getting brainwashing into thinking that they are living the perfect utopian lifestyle.  Winston is able to break away from this in the beginning of the book, understanding there is more to explore, literature to read, and girls to talk too, but at the end of the book his soul becomes just as destroyed as everyone else when he realizes there is no way to get out of the governments watch.  Winston is destroyed by the government through torture, and he confesses that he would rather not have Julia, than the rats eat his face which is the climax of the book (Orwell 286).  The last lines to the book are that he loved big brother, which proves how he was a dynamic character in this book. (Orwell 298)

3 girls, 1 day after school, and 1 Big Mistake

Present Day
Mylah promised her mom she would be home in time for dinner with the family, however today was not a day she should have promised.

Friday Before Today
The game was about to begin.  Three girls were completely lost out of their minds on a Friday night sleepover.  "We need to be the people who do things that people look at and say that they want to be them." Alana exclaimed out of desperation for popularity.  "We don't need people who want to be us.  We just need to do something that make us happy that we are us.  Then everything will fit into place."  Mylah explained right as the theme song for Teen Wolf began.  After the TV show ended, and they watched 3 TV shows of what followed, the girls lied in Elise's queen bed until Alana said, "so what are we going to do?"  Mylah and Elise wanted to do something adventurous and then Mylah exclaimed that she had an idea.  She jumped out of bed and grabbed the Elise's Apple laptop on the night stand, then she started typing Brooke Brady Wood Witch Hunt.  She clicked on the first link and showed it to Mylah and Alana.  "We are going to do this."  The girls looked at each other with the illuminating light from the mac and it was a smile of agreement.

Present Day
It was the Monday following the Friday night sleepover.  All weekend the girls have been memorizing the chant which was:

In the Brooke Brady Woods is were the most danger lies.

I have come because I want to see what is so shy.

There are rules to the game, okay? 

I want to play.

In the Brooke Brady Woods is were people die.

I still wanna give it a try.

I still wanna give it a try.

I still wanna give it a try.

School let out promptly at 2:05 and they met up by the green hall staircase.  Alright?  Let's go.  By 2:10 the hallways were empty and the girls had finished touching up their makeup.  They left the school campus.  Mylah's phone rang and it was her mother. "As if I am going to pick this up!?"  The girls laughed and Alana grabbed Mylah's arm and said, "We have better things to do."  All the girls laughed as they walked down the beaten path toward the Brooke Brady Woods which honestly was not too far school.   They talked about makeup, boys, and how awful their parents were.  As they approached the woods they knew that the journey had just begun because rule two of the hunt was to walk 2 miles into the woods.  Rule one was too get there before the sun had set.  There was no backing out now.

Mylah explained that step three was to sacrifice an animal, or they had the option of slitting each of the players wrists.  They did a vote and finding an animal to sacrifice won hands down.  They tried to sneak up on rabbits, they tried to get their hands on little rodents, but their was no luck.  The woods were still lit up by the sun, but it was fading.  They were getting more and more desperate for something to sacrifice because they knew they would have to slit their wrists as a sacrifice.  Alana and Elise were desperately looking until they realized Mylah was talking on the phone.  They stormed over to her and Elise exclaimed, "we need to focus here so shut it down."  Mylah laughed and put the phone on speaker, "it is my cousin" she whispered.  Mylah's cousin began to explain how she skipped the step of the sacrafice and slitting the wrist and how it still worked for her.  She hung up the phone.  Ok, so Alana the next step?  Rule 4:  Circle around what is being sacrificed and chant the words.  The girls looked at each other and nodded, then began in unison.
"In the Brooke Brady Woods is were the most danger lies.I have come because I want to see what is so shy.There are rules to the game, okay? I want to play.In the Brooke Brady Woods is were people die.I still wanna give it a try."
"I am feeling really weird about this." Elise cried out, but Alana and Mylah continued."I still wanna give it a try."
"I agree, we should stop."  Alana tried to say quick enough so Mylah would not finish, but she did."I still wanna give it a try." Mylah let out a breathe she had been holding in; a breathe from the fear that had secretly built up inside.  "Wow I think it worked."  Mylah said as she fell upon Alana, which created a chain reaction to Alana, then to Elise.  They passed out upon each other in a circle.  The sun had set. 

Frankenstein's Creation

Mary Shelley is the author of Frankenstein, and what I haven't noticed before is that Frankenstein was written by a women.  This was during the gothic and romantic period, where ghouls and ghosts were all the rage.  Frankenstein is about a man who is brought to life with a spark of electricity.  What is interesting is the origin of this idea.

Mary Shelley was born and 10 days later her mother died due to complications in child birth.  Growing up with out a mother was difficult, but having her first 3 children die is truly heart breaking.  This kept Shelley thinking about life that brings death and death that brings life.  It is a deep concept, but she was trying to see if there were some other creative ways that it would be cool to bring life.  Thus Frankenstein was created as result of one of her day dreaming fantasies.

Frankenstein is foreign book -as in not originally written in english- and therefore we are reading it in my 10th grade english class.  The whole theme this year is books from another place abroad.  What is fascinating is for the longest time until about a year ago I thought Frankenstein was a non fiction story.

First Baptist Church

They told me if I accept Christ then they would accept me.  This made me content because I knew my baptism was considered an official acceptance of Christ.  I do understand that it also means deep within me I need to accept Christ, and I do.

I asked my friend Josh if I could go visit his church.  I like to explore different churches to see what kind of lifestyle I like.  I felt like I could really relate with the people of this church, however this might be because I found another diabetic and Josh.

Like other churches there were lots of activities to choose from, and I might go to one this week.  Another similarity, is that here they liked to sing, sit, pray, and sing some more.  I love to join in on songs and they make it so easy because the lyrics are projected on the screen.

I accidentally drank the juice they pass out before they said the prayer; that was embarrassing.  Also, when I was putting my small plastic cup into the circular cup holder I broke my cup.  If that isn't enough awkwardness for you then I just want you to know the pastor was making eye contact with my dad and I almost the whole time.

I really enjoyed my time at the first baptist church.  It was kind of like a prequel to what we had experiences with the second baptist church.  Especially since everyone was so nice I think it would be great to visit again.