True Fear

Today something happened to me that has not happened to me since my youngster days when ghosts hid in every shadow and every spider was poisonous, I experienced true fear. It has been a long time since I experienced true fear, I have become somewhat of a master of simply focusing on the positives of situations and it is difficult to be afraid when you ignore the negatives and try to only see the positives. But today, today was different, I found myself in a situation when there were simply no positives to be found. When Lizzie Halper's slideshow malfunctioned I knew it was only a matter of time before I was called up to help, in the past four years I have become somewhat of the go to guy for technology in our class. However I did not expect to be stumped, when I hit that brick wall I looked around and realized my truest fear, failing my classmates. When I realized there was nothing I could do I died inside, I've never cared all that much about myself really, I like to pretend I do because it bothers people, but really, I could not care less, it is everyone around me that always comes to mind first, and not always for the better, if I really dislike someone and I know I can do something to bother them then I'll generally do it before even considering what happens to me as a result. After realizing this I really started to think about how I think and how it affects my decision making (for the record I just changed effects to affects because I know not doing so would drive many of you crazy, especially Emily the apparently mini Serensky). For instance, as you all know we all came to school in rather unorthodox methods today, as many of you know marc Vitantonio, marc Golsmith, and I rode in a small wooden cart, affectionately dubbed the the bearded crusade caravan, rigged to Danny pecchio's car. As some of you may not know our little cart was rear ended on our way in, this would have nothing to do with this post if it were not for the fact that I have realized that the moment I saw the gator about to pummel us into oblivion the only thought that came into my mind was that marc was in that cart and that if I let go of it he would flip over, take the full force of the gator, and well... Bye bye marc. Now this may be an extreme example but never did I put into consideration that holding on to the cart made it considerably more likely to pulverize me. Fortunately we kept the front of the cart down and marc was forced upward rather than colliding with the gator and we all made it virtually unscathed. I find this mode of thinking rather interesting as I have also felt it was human nature to consider yourself first, therefore either I am not human, or it is not human nature to do so, both are probably equally likely. The moral of the story is that contrary to popular belief the darklord does care about others, and therefore may indeed have a soul. It is a scary thing to find you have always had a soul.

Lets Focus On the Positive

Well fellow AP English 12 Students,

I guess this is goodbye... well for some of you. Though I am quite disappointed to be leaving AP English, the end of an era, I'm just not the type to focus on what brings me down. Instead I am just trying to focus on the positive aspects which have prepared me to finally leave AP English. Finally the hostility will be gone, no more intense AP English Discussions where it is necessary to interrupt everyone to get an A, no more attacks for my mispronunciations of names and words, for the record I prefer to pronounce them as they are spelled, so Iago will always be I-ago to me, and I won't even get started on the other names. I won't get glares from everyone playing with me for putting ridiculous cards down in apples-to-apples, not knowing who the people are, and most importantly I will no longer be FALSELY accused of simple selecting the center most card... those with poor sportsmanship, you know who you are. No longer will I have to shield my eyes from the paper next to me in order to try to spare my self esteem as I see others' scores which were five or ten points ahead of my own. Going back to critical remarks I may never hear an attack for having such a large backpack, or pretending to be considering dropping it on the heads of unsuspecting freshman below, they just are not worth it Chase, it is not worth jail. So goodbye AP English Students, and if you want to survive I recommend you start using the elevator, go break a leg.

Adios,
Chase

10 Reasons Why You Don't Want to Miss Out

10. You will learn to face your fears, whether it be turning in your first SOAPSTone or just talking with Ms. Serensky you will learn to face your fears in this class.

9. You will learn how to write good college essays, I think this was one of the biggest perks of taking this class, Ms. Serensky actually sits down with you and helps you plan out an excellent college essay.

8. You will learn how to manage stress. This without a doubt the most stressful class I have ever taken, and it has lead me to some serious break throughs in managing stressful situations.

7. You will learn to budget your time, and eventually how to have a life when having one seems impossible. This leason is imperative for college, because if you are going to be successful, you're going to have to study, but you need to know how to have a goodtime too.

6. You will learn the game of life, or as we call it, the game of simultaneous disappointment. Serensky will teach you the hard lesson that life really just is not fair and that sometimes you just have to be prepared for disappointment.

5. You will learn how to write. Just know this, for those of you who read this and think "Oh come on, I already know how to write," you're wrong, and if you think you're right... well then you're just an annoying narcissist.

4. You will learn how to participate in an English Class without sparknotes. To succeed in English you are either going to have to learn to actually do the work, or find a far more complex method of cheating (if thats even possible which I doubt).

3. You will eventually become friends with the most intimidating teacher in the school. Whether or not you're actually friends you probably will not really know, but you will atleast think you are friends and thats all that matters.

2. You will get to laugh at everyone else when they have absolutely no idea why you are speaking weirdwhen you are actually receiting quotes. Now you know why we were laughing at you.

1. I know it's surprising, but you will have fun. I do not know the source but when I look back on my past two years of AP English I know I have had fun and that it was completely worth it, it is a lot of work, but Ms. Serensky knows how to keep your spirits up.

Get These Voices Out of My Head

*Inside Chase's head during the English AP Test
Lady Bracknell: [To Chase] "'This shilly-shallying witht he question is absurd'" (Wilde, 9)
Junior: [To Lady Bracknell] "'Wait a few minutes'" (Currie, 258)
Lady Bracknell: [To Chase]"'I should be much obliged if you would ask Mr. Bunbury'" (Wilde, 9)
McMurphy: [To Lady Bracknell]"'What's this thing?'" (Kesey, 69)
Junior: [To McMurphy] "'Makes as much sense as anything else'" (Currie, 229)
McMurphy: [To Junior] "'I told you I'm not up on this talk" (Kesey, 69)
Lady Bracknell: [To herself] "'I think it is high time that [he] made up his mind'" (Wilde, 9)
McMurphy: [To Chase] "'Questions ain't bonebreakers, they ain't sticks and stones'" (Kesey, 68)
Junior: [To McMurphy] "'What difference does it make?'" (Currie, 244)
McMurphy: [To Chase] "'You don't have to answer, do you?'" (Kesey, 68)
Lady Bracknell: [To McMurphy] "'The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound'" (Wilde, 13)
McMurphy: [To Junior] "'Chief, you're our last bet'" (Kesey, 142)
Junior: [to McMurphy] "'I know what it says...is true'" (Currie, 49)
Lady Bracknell: [To Junior] "'I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me'" (Wilde, 14)
Junior: [To Lady Bracknell] "'Whenever it tells me about the future, things always happen exactly the way they're described'" (Currie, 49)



Does Everybody Have to Die?

Without a doubt my favorite piece of literature we have read this year was Everything Matters! by Ron Currie, Jr. There are many reasons for this, I enjoyed the scientific phenomenon of dual universes, was fascinated by the use of an entirely omniscient narrator, and I have always been fascinated by the idea of apocalypse. However I have to say that none of these were either of the two main reasons I loved this novel. Firstly, Ms. Serensky's claim that I "connect a lot with Junior" left me constantly pondering what on earth she meant. Does she believe "the Polish army of [my] emotional self has fallen to the Nazi war machine of [my] intellect, and [my] relationships with most people...are cool and slight," feeling that I am just a machine without any emotional ability which seems somewhat necessary to excel in English (58)? Or does she believe that in a few years I will be "out drinking every night," caught up in an emotional roller coaster which will lead me to make horrible mistakes such as playing with four hundred pounds of C4 (97)? Or perhaps she believes that soon I will be holed up in some "observatory in New Mexico" attempting to prove that the world will end within our lifetime (132). Just what does it mean that she believes I am like Junior? I guess a better question is if I want to be like Junior. Now the second thing that led me to love me this book was the speculative discussions that resulted from the ending. I love speculative discussions because they really just turn into arguments and secretly I love to argue, I just hate interrupting people. However I was distraught never to actually get to have my most anticipated argument, to challenge Ms. Serensky on the claim that "Everybody is going to die." You may all believe death is set in stone but I am not so naive to believe that, how could I be when we have managed to more than double the average life expectancy in the past few centuries and we are constantly lengthening it faster and faster. Recently there was a study on medicine tested on worms in which the worms with the medicine would not only live longer, but the worms which took the medicine would still be as active as younger worms without medicine. Now although we are not worms what this essentially means is that if this medicine was adapted for humans not only could we live much longer, but people in their 80s would be able to move like people in their 40s today. My belief is that we will continue to increase our lifespans at a faster and faster rate, until eventually we are extending them before we ourselves can die. Thus putting immortality within our grasp as long as it is not interrupted by unnatural causes. So I do not believe that Everybody Dies, so the real question now is... If not everything ends, then does everything really matter?

Perhaps Ms. Serensky believes I will turn out like this.

Top Ten High School Moments

10. Joining AP English
  I still remember making my choice to join AP English and how unsure I was if it was a smart choice. Over these past two years I am fairly certain I made the right choice, but at a serious cost. A serious amount of time and my life has gone into this class tot he point where I do not really have one anymore, when my friends want to do something and I can not because I am working on AP English I always think, "'It's me okay? I'm the zombie'" (Currie, 201)

9. Completing my first Data Sheet
     After completing my first Data Sheet such a powerful sense of accomplishment and relief washed over me I will never forget it. Now looking back at it I look at others and see what they have that "I'd like one of...for myself. A life" (Currie, 186)

8. Oli called out Ms. Serensky
   It was our first week of AP English 11 and Oli had not left yet, and I remember vividly as Ms. Serensky walked around the room happily talking about how she would not have to make lunch that night since it was friday. Suddenly Oli turned to her and said with a smirk "you still have to make it Sunday." Ms Serensky looked so angry, and I remember thinking something along the lines of, another "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" (Kesey, 285)

7. I nugged Moen's backpack, with cookies
     I kind of feel bad for it but during finals of sophomore year in a commons I took Moen's backpack, nugged it, threw cookies in it, and shook it up. It was probably the most mischievous thing I have ever done. People have always said that that they "often wish that in public, at any rate, [I] had been more demonstrative" of my mischievous tendencies (Wilde, 10)

6.  Ms. Serensky compared me to Junior
     I remember Ms. Serensky comparing me to Junior and not knowing whether to be flattered or insulted. On one hand she basically called me a genius, but on the other she has predicted that next year I will become depressed, become an alcoholic and drug addict, and basically will destroy my entire life. Now I wonder which Junior Ms. Serensky feels I am like. Only one thing is for certain, I too have used the sentence "You know how I'm always spacing out, and you get pissed off because you've just asked me a question" (Currie, 89)

5. I asked Ms. Serensky to let me go find my books
     I will never forget when I had to ask Ms. Serensky if I could go find my books because my friend had nugged me. It was quite a disaster, though now I look back at it with laughter at my own stupidity. Now I must say from that experience I learned "the vital Importance of Being Earnest" with my teachers (Wilde, 54)

4.  Receiving my Nickname
     In soccer I was given the nickname which has transcended me throughout all four years of my high school career, Dark Lord. At the time I assumed that nicknames really did not mean anything whatsoever. I was foolish, and naive... "Everything Matters" (Currie, 292).

3. Bringing Michaela to School
     Next would be my memory of bringing my five year old sister to school with me one day to tell Mr. Maas I would be missing his class to babysit. Walking around school with a five year old in my arms at 7 in the morning was a rather bizarre situation. I had considered going to see my other teachers as well to catch them off guard for fun, but considering how I looked as if I had an illegitimate child, but at the time I thought it was "better if they don't see me" (Kesey 3)

2. When McQuade stood up to Mr. Kerul

     Without a doubt, the second most memorable event in my High School career was when Ian McQuade called out Mr. Kerul, my least favorite teacher, for accusing his students. His interjection did "not seem to me to be a grave objection" (Wilde, 49)

1. Ms. Serensky's first "Dear Journal"
     The most memorable event in my entire High School career had to be when Ms. Serensky first did her impersonation of Thomas writing in his journal/diary. Thus Serensky found herself "surrounded by [her] dozen people...swinging a laughter that rang out" (Kesey 250).

Everything Ends

My favorite poem from this year in AP English was "Sestina" by Elizabeth Bishop. I liked this poem simply because of the style of the Sestina where it repeats the same ending words in each stanza, and because when I was reading it "something suddenly click[ed]" (55). This of course was significant to me because prior to this poem, every time I sat down to write the essay it made "me want to cry" (54). With "Sestina" I finally moved past my strong hate of poems and felt far less miserable while writing my essays. For some reason as I read about that crying grandmother who seems so depressed, and thought about what could possibly be her reasoning behind her depression, I realized that "everything ends, and everything matters" (292). Even those things which seem to have no significance at all, change something when they end.

Starting off Multiple Choice High

I would have to say my all time favorite day of AP English 12 would have to have been winning the very first multiple choice game with a perfect score with Sarah Greenlaw, Lizzie Burl, and Nicola Zollinger. Though as with all the multiple choice games my favorite part was watching as each team "flew over the cuckoo's nest" as Ms. Serensky slowly introduced teams (285, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). Until she finally reached ours and I put the rest of my team in an awkward position, which I do every time, by sitting there quiet and nonchalant, waiting for the game to start. As always the whole room threw me that little look, the one that says, "You are not nearly as slick or stealthy as you think," we know you care about this game (102, Everything Matters!). Then the game started, and as each question went by our table grew more and more excited as our possibly perfect game neared completion. The game alone seemed to drag on forever as we slowly, and agonizingly slow it was, went over each question. Finally, when that last answer was revealed and we learned we had achieved the impossible and earned a perfect score for the game, well I just could not understand how it was possible. I seriously questioned if I really deserved all those extra credit points, or if I had just been smart enough to pick a good team. To be honest, I think it was probably the second one, when you put me next to Sarah my strict analytical brain just does not do the trick in English. I often wonder if perhaps the following loses were our team's fault, or more mine for misleading the team at times, and I would have to admit that I do more than my fair share of that. I suppose these games have finally taught me, "the vital Importance of Being Earnest" with oneself (54). Somehow I doubt it.

This was the third hit on Google Images for "quiet and nonchalant," perhaps I should only add pictures of tiny dogs from now on...

All Tragedies Matter

[Enter Lane with Reggie close behind, Lane appears rather distraught while Reggie appears to have a rather conniving face on]
Reggie: Lane...
Lane: "Yes, sir" (The Importance of Being Earnest, 4)
Reggie: Firstly, Stop calling me sir. It's weird, I'm your friend, you are no servant of mine. Secondly, I'm telling you it's time we got back at Algernon for the way he treats you.
Lane: Reggie, you're being rather ridiculous, all he did was Bunbury my sister... Ugh
Reggie: Something has to be done... "I'm-a blow that motherf**ker up" (Everything Matters, 109)
Lane: Reggie, that's completely ridiculous, how are you going to get a bomb anyways?
Reggie: I don't know, I'm gonna get real weird with it, I'll use cucumbers or something to power one, speaking of which did you get those cucumbers I asked you to? I just love cucumbers.
Lane: "There were no cucumbers in the market this morning, sir. I went down twice" (The Importance of Being Earnest, 8)
Reggie: "Least you finally bein' honest" (Everything Matters, 113)... What a pity, I really do love cucum... Lane, stop calling me sir!!! Well that's ok, I've actually been saving C4 from a guy I know over these last four years, just for this occasion?
Lane: You've been planning this for four years?
Reggie: Yep, I'm a lunatic. I thought you knew that, and I thought we were friends.
Lane: [pulling out a gun] I'm afraid I can't let you do this, I'm a member of the HSACHSB - House Servants Against Crazed, Homicidal, Suicide Bombers.
Reggie: [looking rather confused] Why on earth do YOU have a gun?
Lane: I'm a member of the neighborhood watch as well, now say goodnight. BANG! [Reggie squeals] HaHaHa I got you!
Reggie: That was not funny Lane
Lane: If you're so ready to blow yourself up why are you so afraid of dying?
Reggie: Whoa, whoa, whoa... Who said anything about me blowing myself up? You're going to do it.
Lane: Then I must be stopped [puts gun to his own head]
Reggie: No wait [Lane pulls the trigger and blood goes everywhere]... One down, one to go, told you I was going to get crazy with it Lane... [pulls out his own gun and shoots himself]
Algernon: What was that?!?! Oh dear, Lane!! Come clean this up! Lane!!! Where could that man be [exit Algernon]

Why Jack Went to Remedial English

I will never forget that absolutely horrible last day of AP English I experienced, it was that day alone that drove me into the remedial English class I attend today. As all bad days go, the class itself began on a sour note, I do not think I have ever entered a classroom so terrified as entering Ms. Serensky's domain with my backpack inside-out and without a single one of my English books. I sat down next to Dom and I whispered to him, the following dialogue ensued.
Me: Dom... I don't have any of my books. Someone stole them.
Dom: Well just tell her the truth...
Me: Dom, "the truth isn't quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl" like Ms. Serensky. You must be mad (16)
Dom: Well then I suppose you will have to make something up then
Me: Damn... Uhh Ms. Serensky?
Ms. Serenksy: Yes Jack? Is there a reason you're interrupting my Blog Banter?
Dom: Bad move dude
Me: Well... It's just... I kind of left every single one of my English books in my locker...
Ms. Serensky: [Glaring] Well then go get them

As I left that classroom with my tail between my legs I had no idea what was in store. Of course no sooner had I entered the commons and started interrogating my classmates did I learn who had done it, and of course it was Chris, Mr. Popular, who had taken my books. It was just as I was entering the classroom that I realized... I was screwed, I'd been caught in my lie. So I walked in half terrified half furious and told Chris --You stole all my stuff and nugged my backpack? -- Chris just laughed, I died a little inside -- "You are hardly serious enough...One has to adopt  very high moral tone on all subjects... That, ... is the whole truth pure and simple" (6). However it was then that Serensky attacked -- Jack, this is the second time you have interrupted my Blog Banter, is there a reason that you feel that you are so much more important than everyone else? -- My tail went back between my legs -- It's not that  feel more important, Mrs. Serensky, you see "my backpack keeps getting nugged, its getting pretty bad" and Chris here stole all my books -- And here was the worst part, Ms. Serensky laughed and told Chris he was as funny as ever, not a hint of sarcasm. I sat down at my desk about ready to cry myself into tomorrow when I heard my phone began to blast. Ms. Serensky turned a shade of red I thought only existed in cartoons. I answered, listened to the message, and shrunk down into my seat as much as possible, but it was too late. Ms. Serensky attacked.
Ms. Serensky: Interrupting my Blog Banter again are we Jack? What was so important this time?
Me: It was about my brother...
Ms. Serenksy: Ahh I remember Ernest, he was so well behaved, not at all irritating or annoying like his younger brother. How is he?
Me: "Quite dead" (26)
Ms. Serensky: Dead?
Me: [Teary eyed] Yes, he died in a chemical fire this morning, at least according to the call I just received
Ms. Serensky: Well then, at least he still is not bothering anybody, still being up shown by your brother. Now get out of my classroom
Me: [Bawling] Yes Mam.


I never went back to that classroom, Indeed I do not think I ever shall...

My Voice isn't as Good as Yours

Dear Junior,

I am sorry to inform you that I have no interest in you whatsoever, if you could read this to that voice inside your head though, then that would be wonderful.

Now then Dear... Voice,

I have recently arrived at some questions that I could sincerely use your help with solving. As many of my peers have likely guessed by now, I too hear a voice inside my head (don't tell anyone or I will be joining Chief Bromden in the loony bin). Now then, in the novel you claimed "Everything matters" (292). The voice does help me a lot, but it likes to trick me too, and recently it has been rising some odd questions about my AP English 11 class last year. It has been claiming that the only reason why I have been having trouble is because I have become rusty on what I learned last year. So my question is this, how do I know what matters most. Last year in discussions I let my morals not to interrupt others control me and I kept quiet, but now every time I let that happen I lose points. So tell me which matters more, my grade or my morals? Also you claim that sacrificing yourself for others benefit "is the very definition of heroic" (191). So does my sacrifice of my own grade to allow others to save their own make mer a hero, or just a fool? I certainly do not feel like a hero, and more like a fool, yet when I do interrupt others to speak I always feel bad. Now I know what you are thinking, why don't you just ask the voice in your head but sadly it only knows math (now you know why I do so well in that one class). Oh and don't try to pull that "we in fact only know one thing for certain" excuse, remember theres a voice in my head too and it says you are lying, you know everything (8).

Looking forward to hearing back from you,

Chase

P.S. Gerald says hi

Serensky's Worst Nightmare

Two o'clock has finally rolled around after six and a half long hours of school and we all are expecting it to be an ordinary day in English, so of course we are all rather surprised to see Ms. Serensky standing outside her room with a rather irritated look on her face. We cautiously enter the room terrified of what is in store when we find a rather confusing scene before us, our oh so lovely circle of desks has been replaced by one rather large curled table, almost as if someone had come in and attached the desks to make one ridiculously long table. However that is not the most odd thing which we observe, no the most peculiar change is that all of our ordinary seats have been replaced with big bouncy balls, like those exercise balls that come up half way up your waist. Even Ms. Serensky's chair has been replaced by a large blue bouncy ball. So of course everyone is staring unsure of what to do in this completely absurd situation. Naturally it takes Henry's built up irritation at having lost his precious desk to ask the question on everyones mind, "Where are our desks?" Ms. Serensky's explanation is almost as bizarre as the situation itself, apparently the administration has accepted a grant to experiment with the application of bouncy balls as seats in classes to see if students pay attention better in class with such a simple way to exercise our pent up energy, they also hope that doing so will slightly decrease child obesity rates. Naturally, our administration felt it would be smart to test it out on highschool students in difficult classes, after all it might improve our ap test scores. What follows is a problem of epic proportions. Not only do students continuously lose focus and lose their thoughts in discussions as they become more and more distracted by their new seats, but many of the students fall off them, of course this is humorous the first dozen or so times, but after everyone's favorite, Chris, falls and cracks his head open on the floor the red blood oozing from his head quickly soaks all the humor from the situation. As the administration watches paramedics rush in and their parking lot rapidly degenerate into a cluster of flashing lights they wonder, "what have we done?" Unfortunately having accepted the grant the balls can not be removed. Despite increased caution those flashing lights will enter our drive many more times before May rolls around. An entire class has entered the ER over a 2 month span due to head trama, and a few poor souls have been paralyzed. Before long a number of lawsuits have led all the ball producing corporations into bankruptcy and the world is finally free of these apparently dangerous menaces.

This disturbing story was inspired by Michaela Plante's Kindergarten Class which spent a day using bouncy balls for seats to experiment with the same idea above. No children were hurt in doing so however I am extremely concerned by the completely hypothetical possibility given above and feel such ideas should be prohibited.

The Problem with Giving Blood

As some of you might know today was the blood drive. I have no idea how many of you have given blood before but today I found quite possibly the largest flaw in it of all the issues they deal with. Today I made it through all the tests, my iron was acceptable, my pulse and blood pressure were not too high, all the questions I had to answer checked out fine, and I made it through the worst part of the procedure, which is most definitely the finger prick. Next we went to the little bed like stretchers, I have no idea what to call them, to get ready to give blood. There everything went fine as well, they found a good vein and got the needle in, and the blood started flowing out of me steadily, but then everything went wrong. My blood flowing through the tube really started to slow down and after about five or ten minutes I was told that they were sorry but my blood had clogged in the tube or needle and therefore what blood I had given would not be able to be used. Now this really frustrates me, it is not as much the hour of time I spent going though preliminaries to give blood, I could have easily been denied right at the end for not having good enough veins or one of those generic problems, but I have no idea how much blood I pumped into that bag. The idea that their system allows however much blood I managed to pump out, I am assuming I at least filled the bag half way, gets destroyed really irritates me. One would think that they would have developed a system by now which allows for the use of different amounts of blood. Currently I know that they already have chemicals in the bags to make the blood usable, so the blood can only be used if you fill the bag, but wouldn't it make much more sense to add the chemicals later in some special plant so as to not waste potentially hundreds of pints of blood which clots up halfway through the procedure or can not get it pumping quickly enough? How can they be happy with this enormous loophole in their system? The entire thing seriously irritates me so I am asking one of you, at least one of you I assume plans to be some sort of doctor, to fix this large problem and to make the system work better, to save potentially huge quantities of blood, to help the world. If you need somewhere to get started I would think that the chemicals could be maxed out in the back with the amount needed to prepare the entire bag, but still separated inside the bag and able to be carefully pumped in so as to prepare lower amounts as well.

Just Six Words

I actually feel I accomplished something

Shhhh! Be Quiet!

Today in class Ms. Serensky told us all we were not allowed to speak to each other or really make any noise, meaning be silent and work diligently on your paper. It was when I got home that I asked myself, "Why was this so difficult?" Why is it that even for the quietest people, being quiet when told to do so seems so impossible. Even I, I consider myself fairly quiet, with Ms. Serensky sitting next to me at the table, could barely manage to keep my mouth shut for the class. So why is it that it is so difficult for us to be quiet when told to do so? Is it a built in desire to never do what we are supposed to? I do not think so, I seriously doubt the reason I had so much difficulty staying quiet was because I wanted to be a rebel and break Ms. Serensky's rules. Is it simply because we do not like to be quiet? This one I dwelled over for a bit, but I feel there are some people who actually do like to be quiet, who would prefer to sit there and listen rather than talk. No, I think the root of the problem which makes this task so difficult is that when we are told to do so we all notice it is quiet. I have had plenty of moments when an entire room is silent for a fair amount of time, but once someone notices it is quiet that is when suddenly they have an urge to break that silence. Not to mention there is something humorously absurd about silence. We have all experienced that moment when suddenly an entire room falls silent and for really no reason at all it seems really funny? I will never really understand why silence is so hilarious but I have noticed its effect on people, perhaps just the awkward sitution silence creates is the cause of this. In my opinion if someone wants a room to be silent, it is necessary to somehow make everyone believe they want to be silent rather than telling them to do so, because telling them to be quiet will just make them want to talk more.

A True Hero

Last night I watched the movie Defiance, in case you are not familiar with the movie it covers the true story of four brothers who formed a group called the Bielski partisans during World War II, these brothers formed a hidden Jewish community in the forests of Poland to protect them from the genocide lead by Hitler. Over the course of two and a half years they managed to keep over 1200 Jews hidden in their community, saving them from genocide. Today during our discussion of the selfish acts of Clive and Vernon, Tuvia, the oldest of the brothers who became the leader of the community, kept returning to the forefront of my mind, as I considered what the world would be like if everyone aspired to be more selfless like Tuvia. To bring over twelve hundred Jews to safety at your own expense is simply inspirational, and I feel that both Clive and Vernon's acts of selfishness are inexcusable. Imagine the world we might live in if everyone acted as Tuvia did,  the disasters that could be avoided, the lives that could be saved. If everyone attempted to act as selflessly as he did then I imagine this world would be a far better place.

DA TANK

I was walking into a restaurant this weekend when I passed a truck with the license plate "DA TANK" on it, I was not sure why it had caught my attention at the time but four minutes later it suddenly hit me, That license plate should be on Ms. Serensky's hummer. However as the night progressed I began to try to think of a better license plate for her hummer, and began to develop a goal to come up with the best license plate possible for her hummer, here were some of my ideas:

• PARDONME
• YHAVERDS
• GOT  GAS
• U R NXT
• GLBLWRMR
• CATCH UP
• 2FEWMPG

Feel free to add to the list.

One Excellent Experience

In my opinion the blogs were a great experience, they provide another means of discussing points from the book, something I often have trouble with during class as I dislike interupting people. Not only that but it provided an outlook for people to give their more embarassing points, points they would not bring up in class because of utter embarassment. I for one seriously enjoyed the blogs, I loved reading others points and stories, the blogs were an excellent opportunity for creative writing which we do not always get the opportunity to write during class. I feel the blogs were an excellent addition to our English class and that they are worth keeping around for another semester.

Fear of Failure and Judgement

Another Quarter has gone by and yet again I find myself confronting my least favorite part of the year, a practice AP English multiple choice test. These tests have always been my weak point, in math there is no best answer, just a right and a wrong answer, it is when you take out that definite portion and suddenly everything falls apart for me. I always get to that spot where I have got two answers and I can not decide between the two, and it seems like I always pick the wrong one, but more than anything is my missing of seemingly obvious tones which I just seem to overlook while taking the test. However it is not actually the test itself that I fear, but the multiple choice game that follows. Do not get me wrong, I have loads of fun playing the game and watching as our scores fluctuate leading us to discover who wins those precious extra credit points, but while we are deciding on our answers I watch as my answers seem to never match up with anyone else, and slowly die a little inside as I see all the simple ideas I missed. Alas I slowly watch as my test falls apart right before my eyes, and I lose all faith in my abilities to comprehend English properly. Although I know that when I get my test back my score will most likely be significantly higher than I expected it to be, I always confront these same fears before taking the next test.

Another Book Bites the Dust

Tonight as I have worked on my Data Sheet I realized something, I am honestly going to miss working with this book. Although I never noticed it before, I actually enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed trying to guess what may happen next in the novel and I enjoyed connecting with the characters and discovering my own bits of insanity. I also enjoyed the discussions, trying to decide what was wrong with the characters and why they acted the way they did. However, more than anything I will miss the anticipation and enjoyment of watching Shutter Island. Since we got the calender at the beginning of December which told us we would watch Shutter Island after reading the novel I got completely psyched, and the movie delivered. I am not sure I have ever had my mind quite so blown, never did I suspect that Leonardo was actually crazy and had been a patient on the Island all along. I can only hope that the next book we read will be just as entertaining and that if a movie accompanies it, it will be excellent as well. I really will miss reading this book.

Teamwork: An essential ingredient to success

Tonight as I mourn the knowledge that tomorrow I will return to school, I go through the long list of reasons why school may not prepare us as well for the future as it seems. However, tonight one idea keeps resurfacing; does school prepare us well enough to work in teams? Throughout history teamwork has likely led to more success than any other tactic. Whether it be the amassing of armies to conquer inferior civilizations, the groups of pioneers who worked together to settle in the west, or the teams today which man the space shuttles which have taken us to the new frontier, teamwork almost always seems to lead to success.

So I must ask the question, before heading off to college, are students even close to being prepared to work in teams, I do not think we are. Sure we all have the basic ideas of how to work as a team, but I feel that most students are nowhere near being prepared to work as a team effectively, most likely we would tear it apart as we struggled to take the leadership role. I feel like any other one of the many subjects we study in school, team work must be learned as well, an although learning is generally best done through experience, I feel more often than not that we are not getting that real experience of working as a team in high school. Sure we have a few projects here and there where we work as teams, but we always just team up with our friends and goof around a strong majority of the time, and how is that preparing us for the teams we will have to work in in our careers. I feel teamwork needs to be threaded into school curriculums, whether it be through multiple coordinated projects which teach us teamwork, or inventive classes which effectively teach us how to work efficiently in a team. in order to properly prepare us for our futures we need to learn how to work as a team, but does school really do that for us right now?

The Changing of the Times

This New Year’s Eve my family watched a Twilight Zone marathon, and watching this television show of another generation seemed a perfect example of how people's demands in entertainment have changed in recent years. These days we all look for colorful special effects, and realistic costumes and such, so it seems preposterous that people could be satisfied with the portrayal of aliens using humans with simple antennas coming out of their ears, or for some random box to have the ability to reveal the future. It seems ridiculous that people could be so easily entertained, yet what I feel stands out even more it how the plots have changed since then. These days almost any successful television show has twists and turns, keeping the plot hidden and unknown. However, thus far these plots have been rather simple and ordinary. I can easily ascertain what will happen next in the story. As entertainment standards grow, older shows become humorous, as the plots and technology seem so simple and lack the complexity we look for in today’s entertainment. So I am left to wonder what our future holds for entertainment, and what technological advances will leave our current entertainment seeming pathetic and uninteresting.