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).
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
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
~ A display that showed how Ms. Carroll's 5th grade class adopted three Sumatran tiger with money they raised by recycling.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
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...)
Monday, March 19, 2007
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.
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.
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