Masterpiece - Change of Plans

Dr. Preston may not know this, YET, but I did plan on changing my masterpiece one last time. I didn't feel my last project was realistic, or that it would in any way keep going if I were to leave it, so I panicked and gave up on it. I now feel that I have no time to start that last project so let's just leave it in the past. My new masterpiece idea may still be somewhat book related in it's final form. The idea is to document a small part of every senior, to write down a small portion of their story, to actually get to know who I am graduating with. This entire idea came about when I was walking to class with my friend, Brandi Anderson. I always ask her the randomest questions, as I do with many people, which is why I did NOT believe when Preston said that on average people only ask 5 questions a day or something like that. But anyway, that day I commented on how we pass so many people daily in the school hallways, and how I don't know half the people on campus, and how they could be facing so many difficulties or moments of grandeur and we wouldn't even know it! Crazy, right?! So I asked her if she knew most of the kids we were graduating with, the answer was no, not very well. But Brandi, being the ridiculously awesome person she is said, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could meet every senior?" *Or something along those lines, my memory tends to betray me. But that is how the idea came about, now it is just up to me to make it a reality.

Some steps Brandi & Yesi helped me come up with in the past few days: 

1. Get a list of all the students in the Class of 2015 
2. Think of some good & thoughtful questions
3. Begin talking to people in my classes
4. Begin to talk to friends of friends of friends, etc. etc

*Must get at least 5-7 kids per day 

 

Some issues: 

• If the final format is meant to be a book, how will others see it if they are interested? 
• Where would I get the money for printing this book? 
• Should all the stories be posted on a blog instead? Maybe both

 

For the third Literary Analysis assignment I decided to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as it has a lot to do with traveling the "uncharted territory of high school," which could tie into my masterpiece, and it has also been on my bucket list for awhile. 

3rd Annual Latinos Unidos Conference - We Are Multicultural

"Join us at the 3rd Annual Latinos Unidos Conference! This year's theme is "We Are Multicultural" and everybody, including parents, are invited to our event! We will explore various cultures around the world through workshops, speakers, and artistic performances! We will also promote the pursuit of post-secondary education through our cultural enlightenment. Free entry, breakfast, lunch, and T-shirt provided! Buses will go to Guadalupe (Mary Buren Elementary) and Santa Maria (Santa Maria High/Pioneer Valley High) for free transportation. This day will be remarkable! You'll never forget the amazing experience you'll have and people you meet at our conference. See you there! Please spread the word about our event!

Be apart of the movement Saturday, March 21st, 2015 from 9 AM to 5 PM at Righetti High School"

-Edgar Rodriguez, President of Latinos Unidos

fear of eye contact

fear of eye contact
 

This article explains the meaning of eye contact through various cultures. It means an entirely different thing in Latin American culture, than in the US, or in Japan. It is easy to understand why eye contact can be misinterpreted, especially between two different cultures. 

This is the age of easily accessible information

Happy World Book Day!

Sadly, Jo was kidding. 

Buuuut Happy World Book Day, a celebration of authors, illustrators, books, and READING. According to the website below, 14 million children under the age of 18 are given vouchers, these vouchers will then turn into books at any local bookstore. The children are allowed to pick one of ten choices. It is just a way of getting children into new content and new authors, it allows them to explore and divulge into different reading categories, it gives them a free book, and hence, a new world to explore. 

http://worldbookday.com/about/ 

Brave New World - Chapter 6

• Restatement: "Odd, odd, odd, was Lenina's verdict on Bernard Marx."
• Dogmatic: teachings through hypnopadia > '"A gramme in time saves nine," said Lenina, producing a bright treasure of sleep-taught wisdom."
• Personification: Bernard wanting to walk and talk, his need to check out the storm, his need to feel more human and more "me" > "the black foam-flecked water heaving beneath them, by the pale face of the moon, so haggard and distracted among the hastening clouds."
• Characterization: (of Bernard) > "More on my own, not so completely a part of something else. Not just a cell in a social body. ... what would it be like if I could, if I were free - not enslaved by my conditioning."
• Characterization: (of Lenina) > '"It's horrible, it's horrible," she kept repeating. "And how can you talk like that about not wanting to be a part of the social body? After all, every one works for every one else. We can't do without any one. Even Epsilons . . ."'
• Anecdote: story the Director relates to Bernard about losing and searching for the girl at the New Mexican Reservation
• Personification: "...the fence marched on and on..."
•   "...they're perfectly tame; savages wont do you any harm."

Brave New World Interview Essayito

We are not currently in what Aldous Huxley calls a brave new world. However, we are quickly heading in that direction. The society he depicts in his novel is one where the individual does not exist, a world where you belong to everyone and everyone to you. Huxley says in this interview that the first sign, or the first limiting force is overpopulation. It can be easily seen that we are heading in this direction. We are putting so much pressure on limited resources, attempting to maintain our population alive, we want to keep an unlimited amount of humans alive with limited resources. Overpopulation can easily be seen in the novel, 96 IDENTICAL TWINS. 

Technology is another huge issue that Huxley hits on in the interview. He goes on to explain that technology can aid us, but it can also CONTROL us. The idea of technological advances controlling us can already be seen, in a sense. If you look around our world, this generation, and all those under this generation, cannot live without a phone, a computer, a television constantly on in their presence. Innovation associated with technology is also associated with power, Huxley believes technology will not be used in correct or even moral ways in the near future. Even now we are constantly pushed to "try this new product" or "choose this over that," who's to say it won't eventually lead to political or social propaganda, a way to control the public and to brainwash the people. Technology can also be used to distract the people from what truly occurs in the world, from all the corruption, injustice, and immoral actions of those who are in power. Technology works to make our lives easier, to ease our minds of petty problems, and in the process eliminates our ability to think for ourselves.

Organization, or over organization, also limits the amount of freedom and individuality we hold. Once something is organized, once it is set to be done a certain way, it becomes a routine, once it becomes a routine we lose all emotion, and all freedom associated with the task. We must get things done efficiently and correctly, we must be organized, the system must have "stability."