A lost smile....

Walking down the hallways and all I see is gray. Gray faces each slightly different but with the same emotion. As I keep walking I see one bright face. This face illuminates the faces of those around her, even mine. Then I walk by illuminating those around me. The effect of one smile is exponential. Going from a mere smile to a multitude of happy individuals. Day in and day out the same event occurs. This one person as happy as can be never had a gray face.

This girl, Breanna, is the lost smile and due to a tragic event that's one illuminated face gone. This missing smile creates more absences of smiles.

Next time you walk by a gray face one smile makes a difference. Imagine a person going through difficulties at home, they don't want to remotely deal with negativity anymore.

Rest in Peace Bree.

Werds #3

exposition- The initial portion of the story that gives all of the information needed for the rest of the story. Initial buffet of information for a story.

expressionism- The representation of inner feeling in art, literature, or music. Usually intended to be unrealistic

fable- A short allegory with animals.

fallacy- An erroneous mistake in an argument, post hoc, red herring, and circular reasoning.

falling action- portion of the story after the climax.

farce- a rude comedy that is meant to be absurd.

figurative language- imaginative language used to describe characters or events.

flashback- when a prior event is told in the present.

foil- contrasting characters in a story. Tybalt and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet were good examples.

folk tale- oral tradition for stories.

foreshadowing- a literary device used to foresee an event but isn't outright blatant.

free verse- poetry without structure or rhyme.

genre- category of art, literature, or music.

gothic tale- story that is dark and gloomy, usually violent and gruesome. 

hyperbole- exaggerated figure of speech

imagery-  vivid description to convey an image

implication- meaning of a story that the reader supposed to arrive at

incongruity- deliberate juxtaposition of polar opposites, the result is inappropriate. 

inference- coming to a conclusion base open information of the story.

irony- an incongruity between what is said and what is meant.

Differences

Coming from Mrs. Johnson's art class, to Dr. Delrio's class I note several differences. For one, noise... There is so much more noise and vibrancy in Delrio's room. Some people are loud, the art pieces on the walls are even louder. Its awesome. I am excited to have switched my classes so that I have the opportunity to experience true art.

Large Pip, Medium Pip, and Small Pip

            Role-models to some are viewed as people that are amazing people. Some commit philanthropic deeds to communities, while others provide ideals that are viewed as inspirational. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Pip is an orphaned boy that tries out a variety of people as role models to make up for the lack of guidance he had as a young boy. His lack of directions shows the various sides to Pip. Pip encounters people that make up the different sides of Pip. Characters like Joe, Jaggers, and Magwitch each are very different but when their characteristics are morphed together, there is Pip.

            Magwitch, although a living being, is an apostrophe to society. Magwitch is a criminal, constantly scaring Pip and bullying him. After the story rolls forward, Magwitch opens up to Pip and we see that Magwitch had the same feeling of being orphaned. This is the first connection to Pip that we see. From first glance the audience sees Magwitch as a dark person with little significance, until Dickens characterizes Magwitch. At this point the audience can visualize the connections between Pip and this beast of a person.

            Mr. Joe Gargery also is part of the composition of Pip. Pip’s dreams and aspirations show the child within him. Joe has this aura to him as he is a romanticist; he trusts others and thinks via emotion like Pip.  Joe is also a blacksmith with an abusive wife. His character is not financially sound and with an overbearing wife there is quite a connection to Pip. As a boy Pip was not wealthy at all constantly struggling as an orphan, this connection to Joe is pretty blatant, but the connection between Mrs. Joe and Estella is hidden. Joe stays with his abusive wife and oddly never leaves her; Pip replicates the same principle with Estella. Estella is cruel and heartless to Pip but Pip can never seem to get away. This little Easter Egg placed by Dickens shows that Joe is also a piece of Pip.

            Lastly Jagger, the dark-side of Pip, also makes up the protagonist in this book. Jagger is the foil of Joe but nonetheless has some correlations to Pip. The difference between Jagger, Joe, and Magwitch is that Jagger is more like the older version of Pip. Jagger is cold and calculated, untrusting of others, and wealthy; all of these characteristics become “Older-Pip.” Toward the end of the story Pip cuts himself off from everyone and becomes a snob. Pip as an adult is somewhat wealthy up until Magwitch’s death.

            After analyzing Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, I firmly believe that dickens wrote this novel to use an extended metaphor to analyze an individual and the characteristics between an individual. Throughout the story there are conflicting characteristics within Pip and on top of that he tries to find himself.

Le Lit Terms List 2

Circumlocution: the beating of the bush of words, utilized to make speech seem like there are just far too many words being used. 

Classicism: any piece of art, writing or music that has ties back to ancient Greece or Rome.

Cliché: A term that is stale and overused by society. 

Climax: The peak of a story. The good part of the story.

Colloquialism: informal speech of the zeitgeist. Today yolo and swag are colloquialistic words of my generation.

Comedy: For plays it describes a story with an outcome without death. Nowadays it means that the story better be funny to the audience.

Conflict: A point of tension.

Connotation: the meaning received from a word or phrase that is not its dictionary definition.

Contrast: When two things are opposing.

Denotation: The definition of a word or phrase given by a dictionary.

Denouement: The point of resolution after a story. 

Dialect: The forms of speech used by characters in a particular setting. In uneducated poor regions characters usually have terrible grammar while rich educated characters have good grammar.

Dialectics: formal debate over universal truths

Dichotomy : A break between two opposing things

Diction: The types of words used in literature. Like the dialect of the writer.

Didactic:  the act of teaching things to others.

Dogmatic: school

Elegy: A mournful eulogy in the form of poetry or music.

Epic: A really really really really really really really really really long poem used to explain the journey of a hero or nation.

Epigram: smart-aleck aphorism.

Le Siddhartha yo

1.      See how, in the beginning Siddhartha is following a traditional “devotional” path. Why isn’t this enough for Siddhartha? Do you agree that he should leave? Why?  http://arapahoe.littletonpublicschools.net/Default.aspx?tabid=2905

2.      How is rebirth represented in Siddhartha? http://www.enotes.com/siddhartha/q-and-a/how-rebirth-represented-story-different-from-377988

3.      What has caused Siddhartha "to feel the seeds of discontent within him"? Siddhartha believes that he has obtained all the knowledge that his father and teachers can offer, but it is not enough. www.summit.k12.co.us/.../STUDY%20GUIDE%20QUESTIONS%20AN...‎

4.      If you were the river, would you be enlightenment or would you know enlightenment? In other words, what’s up with the river? What is it’s relation to enlightenment? http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/questions.html

5.      What purpose does self-denial serve in Siddhartha? What about self-indulgence? http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/questions.html

Brains and stuff

   Well some of you may know that I want to be a neurologist or a neurosurgeon. This idea stemmed from when I was in junior high and I found out that my grandpa had Alzheimer's disease. This is a disease that deteriorates the brain, and the affected person forgets everything. People usually die of complications with this sickness like forgetting how to breathe. This disease saddens me because my grandpa whom has seen me grow up doesn't recall my existence. He is helpless too as he forgets routine tasks and begins to revert to a toddler-like mentality. I feel lime it is my calling to make a difference in the lives of those affected by this tragic disease.
   By learning about the control center of the human body I will be closer to my dream of helping people with Alzheimer's.
   Although I want to work with neurology because of my grandpa, I also want to work with it because brains are pretty dang cool. The different connections of nerve cells in the brain create channels of information that stores the entire life of a person in an organic super computer. The brain can access data faster than some computers today, and they only require organic material to keep on functioning. This sensitive organ is about the size of your fists and has enough storage to store your whole life and every language.
   The brain also has psychological factors that are affected chemically. People with depression or bi-polar disorder have certain chemicals around their brain that cause them to act abnormal. People are born with the same organ, but develop in an environment that affects how they are going to live the rest of their life differently. A child born into an abusive family is left imprinted with this behavior and is stored into his brain. He cannot be changed and will live his life a certain way because of these events. While Kim Kardashian is a whiny baby as an adult because of her family.
  Learning how the external and chemical factors on the brain affect functioning of you and I is something that I want to explore.