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.

Act 1and 2: Character Analysis

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, a play written by Shakespeare (edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine), Helena is one of the four lovers the story revolves around. The two males of the four, Lysander and Demetrius, are both infatuated with Hermia, she only returning the affections of Lysander. Helena is caught up in a one-sided love for Demetrius whom had once returned her feelings and had in fact slept with her before devoting himself to Hermia. Things are further complicated as Hermia and Helena are good friends. (Lysander and Demetrius are enemies of love past and present.)

Helena's love for Demetrius knows no restrictions. Completely infatuated with him, she was willing to become a different person, betray her dear friend Hermia, and follow him into the woods risking death or harm, all for his love and acknowledgement even after he repeatedly scorns her. His refusals cause Helena to become increasingly determined to make him reciprocate her love, however with each stabbing rejection Helena also becomes more and more insecure about her appearance (in the beginning saying Hermia was prettier than she and later losing so much self-confidence to compare herself to a bear).

Helena is said to be thought of as fair as Hermia, so her equality to Hermia might be shown through similar lavish clothing. But with her decreasing confidence, she should be potrayed uglier, plainer, or more worn out: posture sagging, staggering steps, dark circles under her eyes, etc. This could also show how obsessed she is with Demetrius, so obsessed she loses sleep over him, wearing herself out by trailing after him exuberantly declaring her affections day after day. Helena mentions how lovely Hermia's eyes and voice are, possibly picking out some of Hermia's best qualities, one's she surpasses Helena in. Helena's voice could be rougher in comparison to Hermia's to show this.

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).

The Sustainability Fair

Our school held a Sustainability Fair yesterday, April 20th. The various booths helped to inform the kids at our school about what harmed our environment and what we could do to help the Earth and sustain ourselves.

One of the most popular booths at the fair involved answering questions about how long it took for a certain material to degrade, how much power they could provide, and various other facts that taught us how much reusing, recycling, and reducing waste mattered. Answers to the questions were around the area on colorful and creative posters so you'd learn more than that one answer while you looked around. (Some examples: By recycling an aluminum can, you can power a T.V. for 3 hours. 84% of household wastes can be recycled.) The prize was a plastic Starbucks cup that you could fill with soda at the cafeteria for 50 cents (as opposed to the usual 70-cent price). Inside was a slip of paper that told you "using it 1000 times would eliminate 405.26 lbs of green house gases, prevent 61.9 lbs of solid waste, and save $642.50 worth of cups!"

Another exhibit showed how much power we used and the alternatives we could use instead. Facts were put up, again, on bright posters that flipped up to show exactly how many people it would take to power a certain appliance. The front showed a picture of the appliance and it's name and when you lifted it it showed a certain number of 'working' faces with the number in bold below. In this way, you could visually see how much energy each appliance used and you could easily compare. Some examples:
~ Air conditioner: 56 people
~ Hairdryer: 60 people
~ Medium sized T.V: 5 people
~ Refrigerator: 23 people
~ Lawn Mower: 120 people
~ Computer: 11 people
~ Washing machine: 48 people
~ Dryer: 200 people
~Dish washer: 40 people
~ Game console: 8 people

The exhibit also had a bicycle you could ride that powered three light bulbs when pedaled and a number of hand-made, battery-powered stuff you could turn 'on' by taking a wire and touching it to the other end of a battery. One I particularly remembered was a whisk that when powered, would spin in a similar motion to a blender.

Some other interesting sites included:
~A booth that supported the use of hemp bags. (It takes 300 years for a plastic bag to degrade.)
~A worm tank that showed how worms can attribute to breaking down wastes. (Some things worms can eat: cardboard, dryer lint, vacuum dust, Kleenex, napkins, magazines, etc.)
~A display that taught about the old Hawaiian systems that helped sustain Hawaii. (The Kapu system prevented the overusage of the water and other land resources.)
~ A display that showed how Ms. Carroll's 5th grade class adopted three Sumatran tiger with money they raised by recycling.

Kiwi!

From http://www.isfat.com/happyjunk/kiwi.php: "Kiwi!" is an animation about a Kiwi - a type of bird that cannot fly, who spends its whole life working towards achieving his dream. The kiwi strived to create the illusion that it was flying over a forest as it soared down through the sky from the top of a cliff. Thus, the kiwi spent what must have been its whole life nailing trees to the side of a cliff. All this, to fulfill its one dream of flying, even though it was technically unable to. There are several powerful messages behind Kiwi, but mainly, it makes you think: no matter how absurd and seemingly out of reach your dreams are, what's stopping you from achieving them? Kiwi's had a huge online success, with currently over 1.75 million views and 9000 comments on the online video site 'YouTube' in approximately just 3 days. The animation has been recently featured on YouTube and currently ranks in at the #1 favorited video in the arts and animation category of all time. As I'm sure you'll agree, "Kiwi!" is an inspiration to us all.

My own words now: This was also shown to me by the same friend who showed me the Elite Beat Agents scene. The kiwi strived throughout the video to make circumstances where he could do something that he normally wouldn't have been able to do. Relating this to the essential questions, because of the person (or bird...) it was and the qualities the kiwi had; being strong willed, determined, and persevering; it became something that seemed to be an impossibility. Who we are will effect who we will be. I also thought this was a great example of someone who expressed themselves well, not with language, but with the emotions and actions the kiwi displayed in the video. (This very vaguely is linked to the essential questions...)

Shaman: Lit Circles

We've read the third chapter in The Woman Warrior and have been assigned to do another literature circle post. (Mine is post is late.) The role I chose was Director for Drama. The role's description is to give instructions to actors for key passages.

Page 58 (2nd paragraph): Maxine finds the photo of her mother's graduating class.
Maxine will take the photo out of the metal tube and hold it clutched in both hands immediately sliding her thumb under her mother's face. The camera focuses on that face. ("I picked out my mother immediately.") She glances up at her mother and back at the photo a few times with a mildly surprised look on her face. ("Her face is exactly her own... She is so familiar...") She looks at the photo again this time looking at all of the people in it. The camera zooms in on different faces that are distinctly different from the mother's face that makes her look older and stern than the rest. ("...comparing her to other women./ My mother is not soft... My mother is not humorous... My mother does not have smiling eyes...") Maxine gives curious, slightly doleful look to her mother. ("I can't tell if she's happy.")

Page 66 (2nd paragraph): Maxine's mother, Brave Orchid, scoffs at her friends' fears of ghosts. She searches the 'ghost room' and plans to spend the night there to prove there's nothing to fear.
A group of girls huddle together in the same bed staring apprehensively in the direction of the ghost room. Brave Orchid calmly lies in her own bed. One of the girls whisper, "Did you hear that?" They hear a thump and shriek huddling closer together, some giggling nervously. Brave Orchid sits up abruptly and gives a irate glare to the group. "That was someone who fell asleep reading in bed; she dropped her book." A girl sits up on her knees and puts her hands on her hips. Annoyed she challenges Brave Orchid. "If you're so sure why don't you go out there and take a look." They glare at each other then Brave Orchid flings back her sheets grabs her lamp and walks casually out the door.
After awhile she returns to the room just as calm as she exited saying she saw nothing. Her friends marvel at her bravery, whispering to each other how brave she was. The girl crosses her arms; upset she had lost, and argues, "The haunting starts at midnight. It's not quite eleven." Brave Orchid bits her lip then hardens her features. ("My mother may have been afraid, but she would be a dragoness...") She fakes a yawn and says, "I'm so sleepy . I don't want to wait until midnight." The girl smirks and opens her mouth to reply but Brave Orchid continues, saying, "I'll sleep in the ghost room. Then if anything happens, I won't miss it." She gives a condescending smile while the girls rushed to her side offering luck and charms. The girl sits at her bed alone with a scowl.

Page 83 (1st paragraph) : Maxine asks her mother where her dog and nurse-servant were.
Maxine asks curiously, obviously faking causality, "What happened to your dog when you came to America, Mother?" Her mother answers bluntly, "I don't know." Maxine asks in the same manner, "What happened to the slave?" Maxine's mother answers with, "I found her a husband," speaking irately as if it were a chore to do so. "How much money did you pay to buy her?" Maxine asks more intensely. Maxine's mother answers curtly, "One hundred and eighty dollars." Maxine asks eagerly, "How much money did you pay the doctor and the hospital when I was born?" Maxine's mother scoff and replies, "Two hundred dollars." Maxine looks down, sad, and responds with a quiet, "Oh..."
Maxine's mother watches her reaction out of the corner of her eye, sighs and continues in a slightly softer tone, "That's two hundred dollars American money." Maxine looks up abruptly and asks hopefully, "Was the one hundred and eighty dollars American money?" Her mother replies, "No..." "How much was it American money?" Maxine asks hesitantly. "Fifty dollars." Maxine smiles and her mother continues in her previous curt voice on the cost of the slaves in China, how cheep they were finishing with, "During the war, though, when you were born, many people gave older girls away for free. And here I was in the United States paying two hundred dollars for you." Maxine still smiles and obediently listens to her mother talk.
(This was how I interpreted this passage. Maxine is jealous of the nurse-servant and upset her mother paid almost the same amount for them. Her mother sees this and throws her a bone then returns to her usual state. Maxine understands.)

Page 95 (6th paragraph) : The villagers stone a crazy lady for signaling Japanese planes.
Villagers hurl rocks angrily shouting. The crazy lady cackles, whooping as she jumps out of the way of the stones. The villagers close in and some rocks hit the crazy lady and she yelps as they do. "Here. Here," Brave Orchid says sternly, pushing through the villagers. Reassuringly she tells them calmly, "I'll get her mirrors." The villagers calm down and watch as Brave Orchid holds out her hand and orders as if she were talking to a misbehaved child, "Give me your headdress." The crazy lady stares up at her grins and shakes her head rapidly. "See? She's a spy. Get out of the way doctor." One man yells pointing accusingly at the woman. Brave Orchid stands still. "You saw the way she flashed the signals. She comes to the river every day before the planes-" "She's only getting drinking water. Crazy people drink water too." Brave Orchid says.
A cup shatters at the woman's feet and she jumps up with a yelp. "Are you a spy? Are you?" A woman screams crazed. A grin breaks across the crazy lady's face and she narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Yes." She says in a slow and sure tone. The crowd looks at her in fright and anger. "I have great powers. I can make the sky rain fire. Me. I did that." She makes exaggerated hand gestures and slowly raises her voice, screaming the word "Me. I did that." "Leave me alone or I will do it again." She waves her hand as if she were banishing them then turns and runs toward a river she had been slowly edging to the entire performance. Just as she turns a stone rams the back of her head and she falls to her side without a sound.

Hawaii is haunted...

We were assigned to post a Hawaiian Ghost Story. Here are a few "Haunted Hotspot" on Oahu (all stories from http://www.carpenoctem.tv/haunt/hi/):

Pounder Beach- Kukuna Rd.
It is said that the old foundation of a house, on top of the rock, is haunted by a woman that died trying to save her drowning child. She walks aggressively trying to find her child. She seems angry with anyone and everyone. Late at night, the child's cry for his mother can be heard, as well as the pitter patter of the child's feet. Children who look like her child have been taken by the mother's ghost.

Alakea St. and Merchant St.
For nearly a century, Hawaiians have considered this area haunted by Wai-lua, or the Night Marchers, ghosts that come out at night to take over the streets and play games. The sporting specters have terrified generations of natives here, but few Haole, or Caucasians, have witnessed the phenomena.

Hale Lokelani
This dorm used to be a children's hospital during World War II. There are reports of doors opening while dead-bolted in this building. There have also been several ghost sightings in rooms here. People have also heard strange noises in the middle of the night.
Room 208 - The outline of a cross that was once removed still remains. There are reports that an exorcism was performed here. There are also rumors that a suicide occurred here. The sound of radio static can be heard coming from speakers without wires in this room. Students sleeping here have awakened because they feel someone putting pressure on their bodies. They also have feeling of being choked.
Room 319 - This room was once a morgue for soldiers during World War II. People have seen the ghost of soldiers here.

Highway 3
A couple was driving on this highway when a police man pulled them over. He approached the car and told the couple that the children that were playing in the back seat of the car should be wearing seatbelts. The couple looked at the policeman strangely, because they had no children. The policeman looked in the back seat, but it was empty. When the couple arrived home, they checked the back seat again, and found little hand prints all over the back window.

Kalihi Valley
It has been reported that if you drive past the bridge entering the forest, you can hear a soft sound saying, "Come Here." While driving at night, you will see a red cross burning. It has also been reported that the gear in your vehicle will change to neutral when you return.

Waikiki Parc Hotel - 2233 Helumoa Rd.
An employee, that recently passed away, still punches in for work. His magnetic punch card has been cancelled, yet the machine still records someone punching in with his card. This has happened on several occasions; strangely, the records only show him punching in, never out.

Elite Beat Agents - A Christmas Gift

Elite Beat Agents is a rhythm game developed by iNiS for the Nintendo DS. The main characters of Elite Beat Agents are members of a fictional government agency responsible for helping those in need. When someone facing a crisis reaches the end of their rope and cries out for help, the agents arrive on the scene to help them succeed. Through the dancing of the agents, thepeople they assist are instilled with motivation that helps them overcome various obstacles. (Info from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Beat_Agents.)

I don't own a DS or Elite Beat Agents, but a friend showed me this one stage, "A Christmas Gift," in which the agents assist a young girl in reuniting with the spirit of her deceased father (<-- that description was from Wiki too):

I just felt like posting it. There was a better video of it, but I can't seem to find it... And so this doesn't seem like a completely random post, I'll state now that this does relate to the "Who am I?" question in the fact that family is a part of who you are.

This stage in EBA shows how losing someone can affect you and how even when that person is 'gone' they still watch over you and have a part in your life. Maybe not in the sense that they actually control the wind to blow out their birthday candles or come back from the dead to give a really late Christmas present, but like how what they've done for you reflects in your future actions and choices.

White Tiger: Lit Cicles

Our class is doing literature circles for the second chapter of Woman Warrior, White Tiger. The role I chose was lexicographer, someone who looks up definitions of words we may not know. (Definitions are from http://dictionary.reference.com/) I didn't separate the posts, so this is just all the vocab I looked up.

-alighted
To settle or stay after descending.
Page 19: She was combing her hair one morning when a white crane alighted outside her window.

-ideograph
A character or symbol representing an idea or a thing without expressing the pronunciation of a particular word or words for it.
Page 20: In the brush drawings it looks like the ideograph for "human," two black wings.

-opaque
Not transparent or translucent; impenetrable to light; not allowing light to pass through.
Page 20: The bird would cross the sun and lift into the mountains (which look like the ideograph “mountain”), there parting the mist briefly that swirled opaque again.

-timberline
The elevation in a mountainous region above which trees do not grow.
Page 24: I walked in the direction from which we had come, and when I reached the timberline, I collected wood broken from the cherry tree, the peony, and the walnut, which is the tree of life.

-self-immolation
Voluntary sacrifice or denial of oneself, as for an ideal or another person.
Page 28: I had met a rabbit who taught me about self-immolation and how to speed up transmigration: one does not have to become worms first but can change directly into a human being.

-quarries
Page 29: In quarries I could see its strata, the dragon’s veins and muscles; the minerals, its teeth and bones.

-strata
A layer of tissue.
Page 29: In quarries I could see its strata, the dragon’s veins and muscles; the minerals, its teeth and bones.

-tooled
To form, work, or decorate with a tool.
Page 35: The saddle was just my size with tigers and dragons tooled in swirls.

-culled
To pick out from others; select.
Page 36: I accepted all the gifts- -though I could not possibly carry them with me, and culled for travel only a small copper cooking bowl.

-relinquished
To let go; surrender.
Page 36: The villagers relinquished their real gifts to me- their sons.

-abreast
Side by side; beside each other in a line
Page 37: Often I walked beside my horse to travel abreast of my army.

-fiefdoms
The estate or domain of a feudal lord.
Page 37: When I won over a goodly number of fighters, I built up my army enough to attack fiefdoms and to pursue the enemies I had seen in the water gourd.

-palanquins
A covered litter carried on poles on the shoulders of four or more bearers, formerly used in eastern Asia.
Page 38: They had climbed out of their palanquins to watch their husband fight me, and now they were holding each other weeping.

-gestation
The period of development in the uterus from conception until birth; pregnancy.
Page 39: As a fat man, I walked with the foot soldiers so as not to jounce the gestation.

-palpable
Capable of being touched or felt; tangible.
Page 41: The leader stared at the palpable sword swishing unclutched at his men, then laughed out loud.

-inaugurated
To induct into office with formal ceremonies.
Page 42: We beheaded him, cleaned out the place, and inaugurated the peasant who would begin the new order.

- accosted
To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request.
Page 43: When no one accosted me, I sheathed the swords and walked about like a guest until I found the baron.

-reprive
To postpone or cancel the punishment of.
Page 44: there was one last-minute reprive of a bodyguard when a witness shouted testimony just as the vise was pinching blood.

-filiality
The relation or attitude of a child to a parent.
Page 45: From the words on my back, and how they were fulfilled, the villagers would make a legend about my perfect filiality.

-deigned
To condescend to give or grant.
Page 48: The boss never deigned to answer.

-opulent
Richly supplied; abundant or plentiful.
Page 49: He leaned back in his leather chair, his bossy stomach opulent.

-wont
Custom; habit; practice.
Page 49: Surely, the eighty pole fighters, though unseen, would follow me and lead me and protect me, as is the wont of ancestors.

-anthropology
The science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind.
Page 52: I read in an anthropology book that Chinese say, “Girls are necessary too”; I have never heard the Chinese I know to make this concession.

-concession
The thing or point yielded.
Page 53: I read in an anthropology book that Chinese say, “Girls are necessary too”; I have never heard the Chinese I know to make this concession.

Hero

We were assigned to write about a hero in our lives, fictional or non-fictional. I wish I could think of someone original to write about, but since I can't, I'm going with a "my-friend-the-hero" approach.

Kelli moved out of the state to the mainland right before high school. Even before her move I admired her. Kelli had a easy-going personality; she usually went with the flow and often "winged it" and hoped for the best. This in no way means she agreed with everything. When there was something she felt strongly about, she could argue with you for weeks. Her laid back persona also doesn't mean she sat around waiting for things to happen; she was often the spark in our conversations and could easily rant about a wide variety of subjects. She to say she kept things interesting was an understatement. Kelli kept things insane. Whether she was describing a new anime or muttering about the angel and demon on her shoulders she kept everyone interested, happy, and at times, confused.

Then Kelli moved to the mainland. Living a fairly sheltered life in private school in Hawaii, she was overwhelmed by the conflicts of Mainland public schools. The normal stress of high school was amplified with her being new and from a completely different school environment. There was a time things got really hectic as she made friends who involved her in their problems. Somehow she carried the stress of her new life and pulled through everything, a little more stressed now, but still possessing the same spark.

I admire how she can adjust so quickly and pretty smoothly into a completely different environment even with the usual transition-into-high-school stress as well as her amiable personality. She's shown more strength than any fictional super powered hero has ever shown (A cliché line to end my cliché post. ^^;;)

Methods Of Characterization

In class we learned the 5 Methods Of Characterization and were assigned to apply them to one of our characters from out Flat World Tale. I'll be using the unamed main character/narrerator.

Appearence
She's a 13 year old full Korean girl she but doesn't look very asian due to her unusually large eyes and while she's fairly pretty and has a pretty good fashion sense she doesn't wear anything too risky.

Inner Thoughts and Feelings
She isn't sure whether she want to be closer to God. She's afraid to be a devoted Christian because she fears she might not be accepted by her friedns and classmates. She's frustrated at not being able to communicate or understand the people around her. She gains spiritual enlightenment but is still sturggling with coming out and annoncing her faith with pride.

Environment
The retreat is a good place for her to attempt to learn more about herself, but the time, place, and language all work against her. Her assumed school environment is a place where religious views are too heavy subjects and considered strange, different.

What they say
The girl starts out not saying much but agreeing and following Nina. At the end she voices her own opinion. It's just a word , but she does say "Yeah" with her own voice and not Nina's.

What others say about them
A chaperone scolds her on her unwillingness to get as much as she can out of the retreat.
Nina says to her that the retreat was almost bearable with her.

Actions
She does some regretable things at first directed by Nina and the frustrating circumstances; but eventually gets something out of the experience and starts to grow both with God and as a person.

Flat World Tales: Summary

This is a story I'm thinking about posting for the Thousand and One Flat World Tales Project.


Told in first person, a girl is sent by her parents to a week long Korean Youth Retreat the week before the start of school. Mildly annoyed at first, she arrives at the church with crossed arms and a scowl. Her plans of a relaxing last week of freedom from school were ruined with a week of “spiritual bonding” with about 50 other kids ranging from 9- 17 years of age. Of course, these weren’t just any kids, they were kids of vast majority spoke only Korean while she spoke none. Communicating would be impossible as would understanding anyone.

Along with losing a week of lazy T.V. watching and internet surfing; she finds the camp grounds barely proved livable. There was a recreation room, while large enough to hold the 50 kids and chaperones, was an open air room, meaning no walls to prevent bugs and other things from getting ‘in’. Below the recreation room were two bathrooms, one for the boys and one for the girls, containing a total of two sinks, three bathrooms, and three showers. Next to the bathroom was a room for sermons and while this time it was a closed room, it could probably just barely fit them all. Outside in the back was a labyrinth of about 10 or so small tents set up side by side. Cabins were available, but not for use as tents were supposed to “bring them closer together”.

Glaring at the banners in the recreation room she notices some are in English reading “The Change”. Scoffing at the somewhat cliché theme she meets Nina, who voices her opinion about the title, echoing the girls thoughts. Nina, like her, was forced there by her parents and was not enjoying the trip so far. Unlike her, Nina did understand and speak Korean.

They spend the next few days of the retreat complaining about the food; mouthing the praise songs; ignoring the sermons, Nina even goes as far to sleep during one; mocking and barely participating in the lame activities; talking back to chaperones; and making fun of the “dorks who were actually enjoying the retreat”.

The girl grows increasingly frustrated that she can’t understand anything being said to her. At one point, a chaperone asks to talk to the two girls and reprimand them for not following instructions. The girl argues irately that she couldn’t understand instructions. The chaperone responds that she could have asked someone and that this was not the only incident. She proceeds to scold them on how they’ve been acting and threatens to send them home if they don’t “take on a better attitude”. She sends them to separate tents to think about whether they’d want to stay and shape up or go home.

The girl reveals in thoughts that while she wasn’t completely devoted to God, she did have some faith and was somewhat interested in growing closer to God. While this was the perfect opportunity, she provides excuses, like the language barrier and the unfit environment, to defend herself. In the back of her mind she argues with herself that she could have tried before. However, reputations of extreme Christians have always been associated with the lower part of the social ladder at school.

She’s interrupted by the chaperone that lets her and Nina out and asks for their answer. They both answer that they’d stay and behave, mainly because being sent home early would not rest well with their parents, however, they continue to mock the retreat, but only to each other in whispers.

On the last night before going home, they have a ceremony where they re-enacted the feet washing ritual that was supposed to show them how to love, respect, and accept each other. After that was done, they formed a chain and hugged one another. Some girls started to cry and since the girl was well informed of the story already, she could understand the significance of this action and reached a moment of enlightenment. She started to tear and turned to see what effect this had on Nina. Nina scoffed and rolled her eyes saying, “Some girls are so emotional.” After a moment, the girl agreed, muttering a half-hearted, “Yeah.”

The next day they rode back to the church and said their goodbyes as them got picked up one by one. Nina’s car pulled up and she waved bye saying the retreat was almost bearable with her there. The girl hears Nina’s parents asking how the retreat was and Nina answers with a heartfelt description on how the retreat “really changed herself and how she viewed the world.” The girl parents arrive soon after and asked the same question Nina answered not too long ago.

The girl ruminates on her trip and how she could have made it a better experience. She disproves her excuses realizing she could have overcome some barriers with a little effort. The sermons did have English translations that she and Nina were too lazy to read; the praise songs didn’t have to be sung exactly right for her to be able to praise God; and she could have asked for translations from Nina for the instructions. She is glad that she was able to get a worthwhile experience from the retreat. Even if it was just one night of spiritually growth, that one night enabled her to understand what it meant to show love and understanding, helped her find God in her heart, and form a bond with not only God but the kids at the retreat.

She’s interrupted by her parents who ask the question again and she answers with a simple, “Yeah.” It was the same word she spoke to Nina last night, but this time it carried a different meaning, and meant a lot more than a hundred of Nina’s fake sugar coated lies. She had changed.

No Name Woman: Maxine

In The Woman Warrior, No Name Woman, Maxine is told a story about her aunt. Afterwards she imagines what her aunt was like and describes different scenarios her aunt could have been in. Maxine's description and imagination reveals a lot about herself.

"For warm eyes or a soft voice or a slow walk-that's all-a few hairs, a line, a brightness, a sound, a pace, she gave up family. She offered us up for a charm that vanished with tiredness, a pigtail that didn't toss when the wind died. Why, the wrong lighting could erase the dearest thing about him." (page 8)

"If I made myself American-pretty so that the five or six Chinese boys in the class fell in love with me, everyone else- the Caucasian, Negro, and Japanese boys- would too. Sisterliness, dignified and honorable, made much more sense." (page 12)

These two quotes show that Maxine values family and her lineage over romance and love. In the first quote, Maxine scorns her aunt for choosing a man over family. She belittles her aunt's love for the man, saying that qualities in people weren't permanent. You could see someone amazing at first glance but with "the wrong lighting" they could change entirely.

In the second quote Maxine is stern on the fact that she should only attract Chinese boys and that being a sister to all boys was better than being loved by boys of different heritage. This shows she values her lineage over love. "Sisterliness, dignified and honorable, made much more sense." This part of the quotes sounds like she is also describing the nature of Chinese women, showing she commends Chinese behavior and prefers it to love.

"The work of preservation demands that the feelings playing around in one's guts not be turned into action. Just watch their passing like cherry blossoms. But perhaps my aunt, my forerunner, caught in a slow life, let dreams grow and fade and after some months or years went toward what persisted." (page 8)

The idea of her aunt having to let dreams grow and fade might have grown from a dream of her own that she had to let go. In her imagination her aunt at one point finally "went towards what persisted". Perhaps she wishes she had gone towards a dream that eluded her and conveyed it to her story to see one scenario where the dream was chased.

Descriptive Cynical Love Quote

It's four days after Valentine's Day butI felt like posting this... interesting qoute from Neil Gaiman:

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love."

It reminded me of the descriptive passage in the begining of The Woman Warrior, where the villagers attack the aunt's house. And just because this post looks kind of bare with one quote, here are a few more cynical love quotes:

~"Your heart is my piñata."
~"We say we love flowers, yet we pluck them. We say we love trees, yet we cut them down. And people still wonder why some are afraid when told they are loved."
~"True Love burns the brightest, But the brightest flames leave the deepest scars."
~"The greater your capacity to love, the greater your capacity to feel the pain."

Family Story

A few winters ago, my aunt, uncle, brothers, and I went on a skiing road trip. My brothers and I were getting bored so we started talking about what we were going to do when we got there. My older brother stared talking about how he was going to snowboard down the biggest slopes right away. My aunt asked if he had snowboarded before and he said no. "But I'm a natural!" was how he replied with a convinced grin. She laughed and told him he was just like our dad.

When my dad first went skiing he found he could ski fairly well, or at least well enough to stay upright, and started showing off. Some guy saw him and said to my dad that anyone could ski on the bunny slopes and that he couldn't handle the larger slopes. My dad took the challenge and the two of them went to the top of a fairly steep slope. Luck prevailed, and my dad was able to get down the slope with ease, or at least looking like he had done so with ease.

Some people who had overheard them were at the bottom and congratulated my dad. He of course acted like it wasn't a big deal. The challenger wasn't impressed. He took my dad to a steeper slope and demanded he ski it with him. Again my dad was lucky enough to get down in one piece. Nonchalantly he asked if "that was all". They guy was pretty irritated that my dad was doing so well, so he took him to the steepest slope in the resort, so steep it was practically vertical.

A couple of the bystanders decided to try the slope too, all bursting with confidence seeing my dad, who had never skied before, do so well. They all gathered at the top and skied down. If you could call it skiing. Not only was this the steepest slope, it also had the most trees. People were crashing so often, they were more tumbling down than skiing. Things were still going well for my dad and a few other experienced people, but at the bottom of the slope was a huge puddle. Every skier slipped into it crashing at the bottom. Except my dad who had been going so fast, he skied over the puddle getting only the bottom of his pants wet. While he had every reason to gloat, he didn't find it wise to stay when there was a bunch of angry injured and wet skiers on his back.

My brother pointed out this seemed to support his theory that he could handle the slopes without prior experience. But my aunt reminded him that the other skiers weren't as lucky as my dad. And even if my brother was as lucky, he was also influencing my little bother and I who might not be as lucky. The moral of this story would be that even if your bad decisions won't necessarily hurt you, they might lead others to follow your actions and get hurt.

No Name Woman: 2 Quotes

Our class started reading The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. From the first chapter, No Name Woman, we were asked to choose 2 quotes to analyze.

"Chinese-Americans, when you try to understand what things in you are Chinese, how do you separate what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, your mother who marked your growing with stories, from what is Chinese?" (page 5)

This quote is somewhat different from the rest of the chapter. It describes her personal feelings rather than just random thoughts and ideas. Here she describes how being 'Chinese-American' makes it hard to identify yourself. She tries to categorize all the experiences and aspects of her life that make up who she is into her American part and the Chinese part. What's strange is that in the quote, she begins to describe all these things that look to be part of her Chinese side, but at the end it says: "How do you separate... , from what is Chinese?" implying that those are the parts of her that are 'American'. This might have been written this way to further exaggerate how everything she had was mixed up in the Chinese-American girl she was.

"The work of preservation demands that the feelings playing about in one's guts not to be turned into action. Just watch their passing like cherry blossoms." (page 8)

"The work of preservation" refers to her aunt's or any woman’s duty to be reserved and loyal and "demands that the feelings playing about in one's guts not to be turned into action" simply means that they should not act on impulse or any emotions in general. In other words, the women in China at that time were expected to be self contained, prim, and aloof; and were expected to keep opinions and emotions to themselves; "watch their passing like cherry blossoms." The simile accompanying this thought hints depression. Cherry blossoms are thought to be beautiful in Asian culture and the passing of something that wonderful, like a feeling not let out, sounds pretty remorseful.

Moodle

My English class experimented with a site called "Moodle". It allowed us to turn in assignments, make and discuss on boards, and create collaborative wikis. Recently we discussed in class the positive and negative things about Moodle as well as what we wish we could do on it and the different ways we could use it.

Some positive were that we could discuss with our classmates on it through boards and messages, by turning in assignments with it we would save paper, there was a lot we could do on it, and it was a safe and private environment we could communicate.

Most negatives were technical difficulties. Some negatives were that you could only post or edit wikis one at a time otherwise your work would be lost; depending on what internet service you used, it might not have all the features; and it lagged a lot meaning it was more likely that you'd lose your work due to the first negative. One of my group partners also mentioned that it was a bit plain.

The 'what we wish we could do on Moodle' were pretty much based off the negatives: We wished it would be able to take in info from multiple people at the same time, that it was compatible with all or at least most internet services, that it was faster, and that it could be less plain, possibly more personalized like a blog.

There are many different ways to use Moodle. The obvious ways are posting and discussing English topics; using the wiki to make stories, poems, etc; turning in assignments; and messaging each other for homework, questions, etc. Some creative ideas we came up with were editing each others papers and posting homework incase you were sick or forgot.

Moodle, in general, is a great way for our class to share ideas and stuff like blogger.com, but in a safer more private environment.

Lost Sister by Cathy Song

"You find you need China:/ Your one fragile identification,/ a jade link/ handcuffed to your wrist." (Part 2, paragraph 3, lines 1-4.)

This quote is from the poem Lost Sister by Cathy Song. Our English class read this poem together and we were assigned to explain what this poem reveals about our essential questions: Who Am I? How can my use of language help to develop self and voice?

The girl in this poem, Jade, first talks about her life in China and how her life there made her feel restrained and restricted. She then escapes this way of living by moving to America where she describes how it felt to be free and throws away her old life and old identity. Her victory is short lived as she begins to see the hardships of life in America and at the same time loses more and more of her Chinese heritage, a part of her identity.

Our experiences shaped who we are. The quote states how Jade realized that she couldn't just throw her past in China away. It was a part of who she was, something that would always mean something to her, metaphorically handcuffed to her wrist as a reminder or her roots. Our 'self' is created by everything we did, do, and will do in our lives and our past is a significant part of that.

Introduction

Hello. My name is Herena. For a lack of a better way to introduce myself, I'll rant about how my name should be Helena but because l and r in Korean are the same character it became Herena. ... ... ... Okay, I guess that's done. This intro will be pretty basic and brief seeing as how I lack the creativity and energy to write something incredibly clever.

So I suppose I should just go with the original 'stuff-I-like-and-stuff-I-dislike' tangent. Lately, playing the piano has been a pretty good stress reliever. I've been playing for about six years but never really liked it (, that might have had something to do with me never practicing,) but it turns out banging on piano keys is actually pretty fun, even if you can't play well. Which is good since 'playing well' is about as far as you can get from my piano playing. Listening to music is something else I like. Then again so does pretty much everyone else... I don't like any specific genre, I pretty much listen to anything (, YouTube makes this possible,) but Good Charlotte songs are a favorite. Other things I like: surfing the internet, hanging out with friends, and the spell check on Microsoft Word.

This is a lot more text than I originally planned this intro to have... I guess I'll end with the reason for this blog: English class. In general, this blog will be based around answering the questions, "Who am I?" and "How can I use language to express myself?"