Hiruma~<3

Primary school!Hiruma is bratty love ♥

We don't have time to waste asking for things we don't have. We can only look for the best way to fight with the things we have.

We can't waste time wishing for things we don't have, all we can do is find the best way to play with the cards God dealt us.

Midsummer: Performance Brainstorm

Our class is starting a performance project where we'll act out a scene from the play we're reading, A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is a brainstorm about what characters I'd like to be and why; what scenes I'd like to act out and why; and my ideas on how to carry out these scenes (and why xP).

Preferred Scenes and Characters:
Theses are scenes that really caught my attention, but I don't mind doing other scenes or other characters not mentioned.

Act 1, Scene 1: lines 130-227ish
The conversation between Hermia, Lysander, and, towards the end, Helena following Theseus' decision. Either of the two female characters would be fine, I'll play anything that accommodates to my partners’ choices. I like how in this scene there are a lot of short lines or passages that go back and forth between the characters; i.e. the "course of true love" passage between Hermia and Lysander, the "sway the motion of Demetrius' heart" banter between Hermia and Helena.

Act 3, Scene 2: lines 38- 111ish
The scene where Hermia confronts Demetrius and demands to know where Lysander is (Oberon and Robin Goodfellow watching). Again, this is a scene where there aren't giant passages to memorize... Hermia being the only girl would be my preference.

lines 124-365 (A smaller passage within this...)
The huge fight where everyone's turned against each other, probably one of the most interesting scenes. Again: there are short lines going back and forth between the four lovers. Either Hermia or Helena is fine.

Ideas for the Scenes:
Props: I can't think of any props you could use besides maybe the background or clothes. If it's a scene with Robin and the nectar, he could be carrying a vial or something. Bottom could have a mask for when he turns into a donkey. Oberon and Titania could have crowns. Titaina could carry a doll or something to represent the little Indian boy. Lysander and Demetrius could have swords and Hermia and Helena could be wearing jewelry.

Flat World Tales: Reflection

After finishing the Flat World Tales Project, a wikispace writing project where we met and collaborated with schools from Colorado and Korea to write and revise stories about our culture, here are my thoughts on the project:

1. What did you like best about the project and why?
The only requirement for this project was that it had to relate back to our culture. I liked how it gave us that wide range of options to write pretty much whatever we wanted. My experiences in English consisted of mostly analytical papers on whatever text we were reading and maybe a short story now and then. It was great to go through the semester working on a big story writing project and learning the small things in a story that matter.

2. What did you like least and why?
The feedback sheets were a bit repetitive. I'd write about how they could improve or change one thing or how well they did in a certain area, and essentially the same question would come up a few lines below. It felt like I was writing things over and over again and giving the writer a lot of nothing to read.

3. What was something surprising that you learned about the other students (from other schools)?
To be completely truthful, I was surprised to learn the kids in Korea could even write in or understand English... It was more surprising to see how well they could write, grammar put aside. Their stories had interesting plots and more importantly amazing details. The storylines they chose allowed them opportunities to intertwine emotional scenes and they fully utilized those opportunities using similies from their culture, details, and descriptive vocabulary.

4. How do you think the project affected your writing?
I'm guessing it's helped me, for one, to recognize the specific aspects of writing that I should focus on correcting. Looking at other people's papers and giving feedback on whatever we were working on that week helped me to understand and exercise recognizing the good and bad parts of a story in that one category. Following the feedback from other school to fix my own story in these particular categories further helped me exercise how to revise. Having other people read my story showed me things I didn't catch before. Overall, I think this project did help my abilities to revise my writing.

5. Describe the most challenging aspect of the project.
It was hard to apply the advice and feedback to my story. Unless it was something really specific, like someone saying I should change a certain word or sentence into this word or sentence or pointed out a specific point in the story that needed work, I couldn't figure out what I could do to make it sound good or better. When people said things like, "Your transitions need work" or "It's not very original", I wasn't really sure what to do or how to fix it.

6. Offer some advice to future participants.
If you don't think you're getting sufficient feedback, ask other people whether it's someone else working on the project, a friend, your teacher, etc. And if someone gives you great feedback, ask them for more feedback later (after putting them on the star feedback list), maybe making a deal to give them feedback too. Keeping up with deadlines is also important. Seeing as how every week is something new, in order for you to get the most out of this project, namely getting as much (hopefully good) feedback from kids you normally couldn't get feedback from, you'll have to meet the deadlines.

7. Other comments.
Podcasts: While the time in class was plenty for most of the people in our class, I think there should be a more convenient way to work on it out of class for those who might have needed more time. (Me.) The podcasts, or at least mine, didn't fit in PAI or my flashdrive so I could only work on it in that one room we worked on them in class. Most of the times I tried to work on it in there, a class was working inside and even when there wasn't a class, there wasn't easy access to headphones. Maybe use the Language Lab? (Easy access to headphones and usually has computers free even when there is a class.)

Act 2: Character Analysis

In Act 2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Helena continues to fawn over Demetrius, and as mentioned earlier, follows him determinedly into the woods and pleads her love. Back and forth they banter, Demetrius with cold harsh words of repulsion and Helena with devote acclamations, desperate begs. In the second scene of this act she also repeats how unattractive she views herself as opposed to Hermia.

I stand by how she should act in these points as how I mentioned in my last post: "Acting-wise, Helena should say her lines hopelessly and bitterly when she talks about Demetrius' love for Hermia (actions could include clenched fists, envious looks towards Hermia, looking down sadly, etc) and increasingly desperate when devoting her love to him (actions could include chasing, grabbing and holding onto Demetrius, yelling when speaking, ignoring everything but Demetrius, eye contact with him, etc)."

A new emotion or situation Helena is introduced to in this act (scene two) is receiving love and responding to it. Lysander, under the spell of the nectar of an enchanted love flower, falls in love with Helena and declares it to her. Helena is hurt thinking Lysander isn't sincere, that he's mocking her. Already countlessly emotionally wounded by Demetrius' scorn she explodes ranting shortly about how she, already frustrated with the unrequired love of Demetrius, thought him to be "of more true gentleness" (Act 2, Scene 2, line 139). She exits with a finally line, "O, that a lady of one man refused/Should of another therefore be abused!"(Act 2, Scene 2, lines 140-141).

Helena doesn't believe he loves her for many reasons. She's seen how much in love he was with Hermia, he hadn't ever hinted towards romantic interest in her, and possibly with all the hate she had been receiving from Demetrius, her self-esteem or hope in love may be so diminished that she may not be able to even fathom she'd ever be loved.

While Demetrius is announcing his love for her, Helena should look perplexed: confused blank/vacant expression, cocked head, awkward body stance (as if she doesn't quite know what to do in this kind of situation), then slowly transition into an angry state by the end of his segment: glaring up at Lysander with clenched fists, strong bold body stance, leaning forward (as if to threaten him). Her lines should be yelled carrying anger obviously, but hurt as well. She might move her hands aggressively as she speaks. At the end of her harague, pausing to glare at Lysander for a few moments, she should abruptly turn away and exit the stage with a disgusted noise.