Cycle 26: Performance Ideas

Here are my ideas for the upcoming final project our class will be performing using A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Characters interested to act as:

• Lysander
• Demetrius
• Hermia
• Helena

I would be interested in playing the role of one of the lovers. First off, the role of the lovers is something I could relate to more than being a King or Queen. The lovers face challenges that would be fun to act out. Playing the role of Lysander or Demetrius would be quite challenging because they are male parts, but these roles fun and exciting. The scenes I would want to act out would have to be when the lovers are having an argument. Acting out an argument would require emotion and seriousness, somethings I am willing to try.

Cycle 26: Flatworld Reflection

After completing our flatworld writing project, here are some of my ideas on this project:

1. What did you like best about the project and why?
I liked the fact that we were able to connect with different schools not only from around our Country, but around the world as well. This project connected students from different areas of the world by sharing stories about themselves. Without this project we probably wound not have been able to meet so many students from other schools around the world.

2. What did you like least and why?
The part of this project I liked the least was the way the feedback system was set up. It was sometimes confusing on who to give feedback to and when feedback was due to the other students.

3. What was something surprising that you learned about the other students (from other schools)?
I was most impressed with the students from Korea. The students from Korea were able to write unbelievably well, and for some of them that is not even their first language.

4. How do you think the project affected your writing?
I feel my writing changed for the better. By having writing partners in Korea, it taught me to be more descriptive with my writing. Most times things would have to have been explained in good detail, otherwise other students would not understand what was happening in your story.

5. Describe the most challenging aspect of the project.
The most challenging part of this project was the time differences between each of the schools. Because Korea, for example, was almost a full day ahead of us, they were often waiting on our class to finish.

6. Offer some advice to future participants.
Patience is the key. Because this project involves students from around the world, there is obviously going to be some sort of confusion. I would also suggest to try and give the best feedback possible, it really helps the writer if good feedback is given.

7. Other comments.
This is a worthwhile project. It was an interesting way to learn about other cultures from around the world, and still be able to improve our writing skills.

Cycle 25: Character Analysis of Helena (continued)

After finishing Act II of A Midsummer Night's Dream Helena feelings towards Demetrius stay the same. The more Helena continues to pursue Demetrius, the more Demetrius pushes her away. In this scene Demetrius tells Helena "Stay, on thy peril. I alone will go" (61). And still after this was said by Demetrius, Helena is still madly in love with him. For Helena to continue to chase after Demetrius after she constantly gets turned down shows that Helena has a strong frame of mind. This also shows some stupidity on Helena's part, who in their right mind would pursue a man that they had no chance with? But, love often blinds a person from what is normally a clear choice. And love is obviously blinding Helena.

Earlier in scene II Robin Goodfellow anoints Lysander with the nectar that makes him fall in love with the next person he sees. Later, when Lysander awakes the first person he sees in Helena. Because of the nectar Lysander starts telling Helena his feelings for her. But, Helena tries to remind Lysander how he truly loves Hermia and not herself. By doing this I feel Helena showed a great deal of friendship toward Hermia. Helena could have easily jumped right into Lysander's arms, but she tried talking Lysander out of it. This shows the bond of friendship between Hermia and Helena.

Also in this scene Helena makes a direct reference to herself, allowing the audience to know how she really feels about herself. Helena says, "no, no, I am as ugly as a bear, for beasts that meet me run away for fear" (61). By saying this, Helena shows the audience how little she thinks of herself. To say those things about herself shows that she does not believe in herself one bit.

Overall, Helena is going through a lot of hardships. Hopefully as this story progresses Helena will be able to gain more self confidence and will start believing in herself.

Cycle 25: Character Analysis of Helena

This past cycle our class started reading A Midsummer Night's Dream which was written by Shakespeare. When reading the first two acts of this play the major characters that were introduced were Hermia, Lysander, Helena, Demetrius, Theseus, Hippolyta, Egeus, Oberon, Titania, and Robin Goodfellow. Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius are four lovers. Hermia and Lysander love each other very much and want to get married, but Egeus, Hermia's father, forbids his daughter to marry Lysander and tries forces Hermia to marry Demetrius. While Demetrius loves Hermia, Hermia's good friend, Helena, is madly in love with Demetrius, who will not get Helena the time of day.

The character that interests me the most is Helena. From the reading, Helena appears to be Hermia's best friend. But, although a friend Helena's jealously and desperateness towards pursuing Demetrius overpowers Hermia's and Helena's friendship.

Hermia
I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
Helena
O, that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
Hermia
I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
Helena
O, that my prayers could such affection move!
Hermia
The more I hate, the more he follows me.
Helena
The more I love, the more he hateth me.
Hermia
His foly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
Helena
None but your beauty. Would that fault were mine! (19-21)

In this scene Helena complains to Hermia how Demetrius does not love her. It almost seems as if Helena is so desperate she would do anything to be loved by Demetrius, even if that ruins their friendship. Helena appears to me to be living in Hermia's shadow. Helena must feel as if she acted more like Hermia, then Demetrius will love her. In Helena's personal feelings about herself, she constantly puts herself down because Demetrius shows no love to her but rather to Hermia.

If I were to play the character of Helena I would have to show emotions of rage, jealously, and desperateness all at the same time. Helena's rage comes through when no matter what she does Demetrius just does not seem to notice her. The character Helena must express frustration. Jealously must be shown when playing the role of Helena because throughout the two acts Helena is jealous of Hermia because she is able to capture the attention of Demetrius. Throughout the play so far, Helena goes through a lot of hardship.

Cycle 24: Sustainablity Fair

On Friday our school held a sustainability fair. The purpose of this fair was to educate the students, as well as faculty, about our environment. Not only was this fair open to our school, but to the public as well. Taking a break from English, our class decided to explore this fair and discover what it was all about. In this fair there were many booths, presentations, and games which we could earn from. Some of the demonstrations that caught my eye were fuel cells, how worms help our environment, and how our school is trying to sustain a more environmentally friendly campus.

When living in such a demanding world, pollution and waste rates rise. When walking around the sustainability fair I learned of a partial solution for this problem, and that is the use of fuel cells. Fuel cells are an electrochemical energy conversion device. Fuel cells produce energy that does not cause pollution. Fuel cells are sometimes called batteries because they provide energy. But in fact fuel cells are not batteries because they are not discarded after use, rather fuel cells use external sources such as fuel to produce more energy. The positive impacts fuel cells have on our environment is that they do not pollute, they are much quieter, and a lot more durable. In California, so buses run off of fuel cells. These buses are much more environmentally friendly.

I think worms are dirty, slimy, and gross. But after yesterday, I learned they can be very useful to our planet. Worms are useful because they eat our garbage. With worms, water wasting disposals could be eliminated. At this demonstration I learned 25% - 40% of household waste is worm friendly. But, not every type of worm can dispose of our household trash, only Indian Blue worms get the job done. These worms are also photophobic, which means they are afraid of the light, so just because you do not see them does not mean they are not there.

Because our school is so big, it uses many resources each day. At the sustainability fair I discovered ways ours school tries to cut back and limit the uses of our planet’s resources. Water, energy, and electricity are the major resources our school uses daily. To limit the amount of resources we use we try to find more environmentally friendly solutions to get the same results. Instead of using fresh water to water our plants and grass, our school uses the water from our lily pond. Also, plants and grass are watered at night to prevent evaporation and waste of our water usage. On campus, our newer built buildings have the technology to turn off the lights and air conditioning automatically while no one is in the room. This saves much electricity and energy. To heat our water, in our locker rooms for example, our school depends on solar water heating, saving a lot of energy and cost. With solar water heating our bill goes from $7000 a month to $1500 a month.

Attending this sustainability fair has opened my eyes to how many resources humans use. Although it would be hard to just stop using these resources it was great to learn how save and preserve as much as we can.

Here are some links to find out more about sustainablity:
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/calculators/default.asp
http://daversitycode.com/
http://rainforestsite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4
http://climatecrisis.org/

Cycle 22: Character Analyst - A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe

A role I chose to be this cycle was the character analyst. The character analyst's job is to acknowledge what is figured out about the character's in this section. The section our class was assigned to read was A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe, the last section of The Woman Warrior.

After reading A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe I realized the character that is most mentioned is Maxine. During this section the reader learns about Maxine during the time that she goes to school. As a reader you learn Maxine was a shy girl, as were all the your Chinese girls, when she first started going to school. So shy in fact that her teachers thought she had a IQ of zero and they made Maxine repeat kindergarten. But as this section unfolds it shows how Maxine evolved into a talkative, over-powering, smart young adult. After reading the part of this section when Maxine is going through school, I picture Maxine to be a bully.

"If you're not stupid," I said to the quiet girl, "what's your name?" She shook her head, and some hair caught in the tears; wet black hair stuck to the side of the pink and white face. I reached up (she was taller than I) and took a strand of hair. I pulled it. "Well, then, let's honk your hair," I said. "Honk. Honk." Then I pulled the other side -"ho-o-n-nk"-a long pull; "ho-o-n-n-nk-a longer pull. I could see her little white ears, like white cutworms curled underneath her hair. "Talk!" I yelled into her cutworm. (177)

Although Maxine might have had the intentions of helping this girl, it did not come off that way. It suprised me that Maxine acted in such a manner. After reading this section I learned that Maxine can be tough, but still trying to be helpful at the same time.

Cycle 20: Shaman - Feminist

One of my roles for our literature circle this week is the feminist. The feminist tells what is stated and implied about the about the role of women in this section. The section of The Woman Warrior we are reading this cycle is Shaman.

I have read about half of Shaman so far, and by reading this section you learn a great deal about Maxine's mother, a.k.a. Brave Orchid. This chapter starts off with Maxine looking at her mother’s medical diploma. From there Maxine’s mother added with Maxine’s imagination paints a picture for the readers about Maxine’s mother’s experience in medical school.

During this time period women are just starting to explore what options they have in order to give back to the society. Maxine’s mother decides to put herself through medical school with the money Maxine’s father sends to her from Canton. While Maxine’s mother is telling her story, Maxine is looking at the metal tube that holds her mother’s diploma and various photographs.

• There are no snapshots of my mother. In two small portraits, however, there is a black thumbprint on her forehead, as if someone had inked in bangs, as if someone had marked her.
  “Mother, did bangs come into fashion after you had the picture taken?” One time she said yes. Another time when I asked, “Why do you have fingerprints on your forehead?” she said, “Your first Uncle did that.” I disliked the unsure-ness in her voice. (60)

Although women were given the freedom to pursue a career, this quote proves that women were still not fully respected. As Maxine’s mother explained how her brother put a thumbprint on her forehead this implies that men still mark or label women.