Time Flies! by Jessica Danial

For our table projects this week, my group chose to do the play "Time Flies". It is a comedic drama about two may flies who find out they only have one day to live. Although it was very funny with its puns, satire and sexual allusions, the play reveals a real life message to the audience : Time Flies! It pretty much tells us to make the most of it and to not waste your time with apologies, regrets, and fear...if you have one day left, go to Paris! Well not specifically Paris but make the most of your time and do the things you dream to do. This especially relates to us this year because we are graduating high school and are about to start new lives, so we should make the most out of our last year and live it up (wisely of course).

Frankenstein Reading Response

Right now, the relationship between Frankenstein and his creature is like that between a teen mom and her baby. Frankenstein has no idea what the responsobilities were for his creature and is way over his head; yet, he went on with his creation. now that the monster is born, Frankenstein is overwhelmed and wants to do away with it. The monster on the other hand, has conflicting feelings-- his creator wants to kill him, what should he do? The relationship between the two is complicated. Also, this draws upon the issue of abortion. should people be able to get rid of what has already been created? or should one just take responsibility for one's action.

My Walk

So last week Mrs. Elliott discussed with us the effects of walking around before class to get oxygen to our brains, which would in turn able us to focus more in class. At first I was skeptical of this and didn't actually imagine it having any effect on me, however, I realized I was wrong as soon as i sat back down in my chair. When Mrs. Elliott passed out the assignment I immediately began to work on it and was in the zone. I was able to work efficiently and think much more clearly about the task and produce better response, I give this credit to that pre-class walk. Thank-You Mrs. Elliott

The Creature of Frankenstein: Friend or Murderer

The Creature of Frankenstein: Friend or Murderer

By: Nikki L.

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Shelley illustrates the story of Victor Frankenstein being fascinated with the creation of life and decides to create life in a non-living subject. On a cold and rainy November night, Frankenstein gives life to lifeless being that he had created from stolen body parts from dissecting rooms and slaughter houses. Thinking the creature would be beautiful, Frankenstein gave the creature life. After seeing how hideous the creature was, its yellow skin not covering its muscular system and its blood vessels, along with it being about eight feet tall, Frankenstein abandoned the creature hoping that he could live a normal life forgetting he had created a hideous creature.

Years passed by before Frankenstein gets word of the misfortunes back at home. Upon arriving back home, he sees the creature where his late baby brother has been found and comes to the conclusion that the creature had murdered his brother. However, Frankenstein does not tell anyone of this experiment and lets Justine take the guilt for killing his brother. Frankenstein kept quiet about the creature due to the fear of having no one believe him.

Frankenstein decides to ponder his thoughts in the mountains. He travels to the top of the mountain where he dwells for days about the past events, waiting for the creature to appear and show himself to him. The creature shows himself to Frankenstein and Frankenstein immediately attacks the creature accusing it of murdering his brother. The creature asks Frankenstein to listen and hear his side of the story before Frankenstein leaves and condemns the creature to solitude for the remainder of his existence. Frankenstein agrees to hear the creature’s story before judging him.

But will the creature’s story console Frankenstein to the point where he will love the creature for who he is and what is looks like, or will Frankenstein shun the creature away and take his revenge against the creature by killing it because he killed his brother and led to the death of Justine? Can the creature of Frankenstein be trusted as a kind-hearted friend or a murderer who has sought revenge against his creator for abandoning him? I believe that the creature will compromise with Frankenstein, who then begins to create the creature’s demand but before finishing the project, Frankenstein decides that for the world and the community, he will dispose of the project because he does not trust the creature will keep his promise once the creature gets his female companion and that if the creature does have a female companion, will the world be terrorized for centuries to come because the creature and his companion have created young monsters that will terrorize villages for generations.

Victor Frankenstein’s creation will not only cost him his life and sanity, but the lives of the ones he loves the most, including his dear father, baby brother, and wife Elizabeth whom he has known since he was a young boy.

But the most controversy question in the novel is whether the creature of Frankenstein is a friend that can be loved and trusted by others, or is a murderer who has a hideous face and is taking revenge of the town’s people for isolating him from the world and taking revenge on his creator for abandonment.

My Table

My favorite part about English class is my table, it consist of Me, Ryan, Scott, Dustin, and our leader David Bell. All in all, its a pretty dope set-up, we all talk trash on Dustin cause he's going to get back with S______ "again" and he gets all sad when we call him a ........... Ryan and Scott (when he tries) are the brains of our table and hold the dynamic of the group together. While David and I are the swag of the group, we're just completely awesome and do work. So all in all, i like English class, Mrs. Elliott is pretty sick and her swag teaching swag is untouchable.
On another note I like learning about poems they really expand on my horizon, especially the ones that are about who you are and where your from. These poems go tme to think a lot and i ended up writing one of my college applications on the basis of what we learned in class :)
-Jake Kent

Frankenstein discussion by Jessica Danial

Earlier in the week we discussed Frankenstein in class and how Shelley relates to her character Robert Walton based on the letters he wrote to his sister. What I found was that Shelley incorporated aspects of her life into Walton's stories and insights. When Walton would began to describe his adventurous experiences, he compared them to that of a child's: "with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat...on an expedition of discovery up his native river". This relates to Shelley's life in that her children would all pass away at a young age and she might have reflected her fantasies of a child's playfulness into her book. Also, she had an expedition of discovery herself when she began to read her mother's books and decided to become a writer herself. Walton's letters also revealed a sense of loneliness when he would tell his sister of his longing to have someone to talk to and it could be possible that Shelley herself felt lonely and found writing to be her way of expressing herself.

How does Shelley incorporate aspects of her life into this weeks reading?

To Be of Use Mock Writing by Chanel Chu

The people I love the best

Say whatever they want

Without worrying about getting weird responses

And laugh to the most ridiculous of jokes.

They are at most peace when together

The rosy cheeks of their faces

Exploding from excessive laughter.

I love people who are honest to themselves; Gandhi against all others

Who stick to his opinions, with unrelenting force,

Who believes firmly in his morals and upbringings that he was raised with

Who tell it like it is, to anyone to everyone

I want to be with people who protect

No matter the case, who step up in front of me

And refract all harm and eliminate danger

Who are not pusillanimous poltroons and hazard flee-ers

But stand in a chivalrous stance

When the fears come in or the nightmares reign

The character of the world is difficult as calculus

Complex, it is this and it is also that

But what I love about you all

Is the diversity, that strengthens, entertains, and ameliorates.

Quote from Ulysses

A Quote from the Poem Ulysses

By: Nikki L.

“To sail beyond the sunset and the baths of all the western stars, until I die.”

Now where do I begin? Let’s start with the sunset and stars. Ulysses believed that one can go beyond the horizon to reach one's goal even if it takes a lifetime to reach. He wanted to be successful in everything he did and he didn’t want to give up on trying to reach it. Ulysses sailed beyond the seas and stars to have an adventure that took over a decade to complete and when he did achieve it he felt empty because he had no purpose to accomplish a task once he returned home.

Ulysses wanted others to understand that it was okay to go for an adventure and to reach the point of almost finishing the adventure because that is the purpose of one’s life, to accomplish your desired goal and to never give up in trying to reach it.

No where do I end? Ulysses wanted to accomplish his goal throughout his entire life, or until he died. Ulysses finished his adventure before he died but once he accomplished it, he felt like he had no purpose in life because his adventure in Troy and returning home had lasted for over a decade, but now that he his home, all he does is relax, tend to his duties of his estate, and protect his family.

Quote from Alice

“Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head though the doorway.”

            This quote from the first chapter caught my attention when I read it. It has both an allusion and archetypal elements incorporated into it. The allusion refers to the Garden of Eden from the bible. It represents the perfection of the garden yet how no one can ever reach it, hence why Alice cannot get to it either. The first archetype is the dark hall. Darkness usually represents evil, death, or lost soul, which actually foreshadows the plot of the book in that there will be evil afoot and Alice will get lost at some point. Alice wants to get out of the dark and go to the place where there is light and natural beauty which is the archetypal element of journey. This foreshadows Alice’s journey into finding “the light” or ultimately finding herself. Finally, the archetype of nature represents maturity and fertileness, which probably pertains to the fact that Alice will mature and become a woman after her journey.

Any other opinions on this quote regarding its meaning?

Alice in Wonderland Mock Writing: Anorexia

 Alice in Wonderland Mock Writing Chapter 2 Page 14-15

            By: Chanel Chu

Oh my, what am I saying?

            Just then, my hips began to grow wider, becoming tighter and tighter in my jeans: in fact, I was now 2 sizes bigger and ten pounds heavier, and I at once grabbed the celery and water bottle and hurried off to the gym.

            Woe is me! As much as I exercised and dieted, restraining myself from eating, to look at the scale fearfully and with one eye open; but to lose all the weight gained, I felt more hopeless than ever: I sat down and began to cry, every night—hoping the fat would shed away.

            “This is all your fault,” said Chanel, “why did you have to eat so much,” (I might as well say this), “the only person to blame for your weight gain is yourself. Stop eating this moment, I tell you!” I continued on the same, bawling gallons of tears, until I was surrounded in a pool of guilt, regret, and remorse, 120 pounds heavy, 175 centimeters high.

            After time I heard a voice calling from afar, and my interest dried up my constant tear flow. It was what seemed to be a mirror image of myself approaching, gliding on air, except well- dressed, beautiful and thin: she came, “Oh! Quit your tears, the tears! Oh! It is not a bright thing for a smart girl to starve herself.” I felt so alone and desperate that I was ready to ask advice from anyone, whether the person or thing is real or not; so, in a shaky and quiet voice, “Excuse me, how can I be like you? I’ve had enough of this you see, but I have not achieved the results desired.” The image glowed brightly, lowered herself onto the floor with bare feet and ran away into the darkness as fast as she could—yelling, “you do not need to ask, you already know the answer.”