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Is Troy a tragic figure, a hero, or a villain?

     In my opinion Troy in the short play fences plays the role of the subtle villain. Throughout the book Troy expects a lot out of his sons and part of the reasoning behind his justifications for doing so comes from his own childhood. In particular Troy’s relationship with his son Cory best exemplifies this aspect of his person. Cory wanted to become a professional football player and make a career out of it. In most situations if the kid is good enough most parents would encourage such dreams or at the very least be happy for their children’s passion towards such a huge life choice. Instead Troy goes out of his way to destroy Cory’s dreams. Even though Cory was doing everything that Troy mandated him to do in order for him to be allowed to continue playing football Troy went and got him taken off of the team’s roster. The expectations that Troy set for Cory were supposedly based off of his own childhood and upbringing however it's not really clear whether or not Troy ...

Top three things we did in English this year

     Over the course of this year in AP lang there were many moments, classes, and assignments that are actually pretty funny to look back on. However there were definitely some that stood out over the rest, over the year I thought that the group of guys that we had was definitely one of the most entertaining of all the english classes as everyone knew when to just joke around and when to actually lock in and get some not so top-notch grades on our assignments.  For me the third most entertaining class that we had was the class where everyone was reciting their excerpts. On one hand there were some kids who had memorized every word to a tee, and on the other hand there were some kids who didn't memorize anything. Specifically, Lee was extremely confident going into the recital assignment saying that I would at max take him about an hour or two, but then when the day came, he royally fucked up. It was funny as hell. On top of that I found the recital project to actu...

Honest Movie Review

     For me the movie O had many ups and downs with how it represented the play Othello. In one aspect I felt as though the movie stayed true to the play given the shift in setting and the troubles that can come with reinacting some of the outdated major plot points. One of the major plot points that stuck out to me in particular was during the party scene where Cassio loses all of his reputation when he stabs Roderigo. For one this scene felt extremely fictional as no one in real life would ever stab anyone else for calling them names. On top of that, in a modern day setting, you would never just sit out for two games if you stabbed someone, instead you would probably be going to jail for a good bit of time. This point in the play definitely had the roughest time fitting in with the change in setting, but than again, when you really think about it, there were little to no other routes for the director to take that would have stirred all of the characters in the same way ...

"Write as if everyone you know is dead."

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      For many, I think that the idea of writing as though everyone you know was dead would be a very hard thing to do. The main reason that this would be so hard is that simply, hopefully, not everyone you know is actually dead and they may actually end up reading whatever you wrote. One of the prime examples, from McCurdy's memoir, of writing as though someone were  dead, was with her father who was almost entirely nonexistent throughout her childhood. This is extremely apparent as the father is mentioned in her memoir only a handful of times and when he is mentioned it is always in an uncomfortable situation where he is the background character. While reading you notice that the father is still alive to read about how Jennette viewed him while sharing that view not only to the world but also to the father himself. This is where the difficulty in writing about people's flaws comes into play as the writer is battling with the conscience that there is,...

I'm Glad My Mom Died - personal reflection.

    People missing out on their childhoods happens all the time in aspects of either not being able to attend events with friends constantly or not being able to make friends in the first  place. In  I'm Glad My Mom Died it shows the extreme version of this spectrum where Jennette goes through the first chapters of her life with little to no contact with a normal childhood. More specifically she is thrown from dance practice to dance practice and form audition to audition with no time to enjoy what she wants. For me I this aspect of her life was something that I went through as well, yet, to a lesser degree. When I was younger my parents thought that having a sport to play year-round wasn't only normal but thought that it was also the only real way to stay healthy physically and mentally. Growing up there would be periods of about 2-3 weeks where I wouldn't be playing sports and where every other weekend and school week was spent on a field. When I was younger, ...

Gulliver's Travels Relevant Satire

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      In Gulliver's Travels, there are many pieces of satire that are still very relevant. One of these satires is the Acadamy, in which perfection is never achieved, as people from the Acadamy always mess up in some way shape, or form in their pursuit of perfection. This piece in my opinion is very accurate to the modern day as it can be applied to many aspects of our day-to-day lives. For starters, companies constantly do unnecessary things in order to be more advanced than one another, in turn changing and releasing things that aren't needed. An example of this is Apple where there seems to be a new phone being released constantly with minor improvements to the last that simply isn't worth the price tag. This makes some people turn away from the company as they see it as a cash grab more than an improvement, similar to how some of the residents dislike the Acadamy after they "improve" the already functional water wheel, and in th...

What would Jonathan Swift mock in the modern day?

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          In the modern day, I think that Jonathan Swift would make fun of the higher education system and its primary flaws. Mainly for starters the debt that is accumulated in getting various degrees. For a society that is reliant on a successful and potent new generation, there isn't much help being given to receive the proper titles and experience in order to immediately be assimilated into the workforce. A few decades ago, it was customary for your employer to pay for your master's degree so that way you would be more of a help to the company and get a free education. This practice is no longer customary and hurts everyone involved. Coming out of college you'll be lucky to secure a job with 6 figures right off the bat. The train of thought has turned into profits instead of benefits which hurts almost everyone involved. The idea that you need money to make money has affected many as it greatly limits the capabilities of people all over the world. A g...

Is abstract art overrated?

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      In my opinion, abstract art is one thousand percent overrated. From the moment you hear the word art, you think of a great composition of detail, style, and meaning. Abstract art on the other hand throws detail and style out of the window, only using quote and quote meaning in the piece. With abstract art, you aren't necessarily making anything worthwhile either. The main point I'm getting at is for there to be any worth in the piece the audience would have to create it themselves. Abstract art isn't something that anyone can do either. Many artists never start out with something abstract as their first piece and only do so once there is a healthy amount of reputation behind their name. This shows dishonesty in the community of abstract artists as "good" drawings aren't good unless the person throws reputation and explanation behind it. Everyday use of images and drawings is important and should all include some immediate response in the mind. This respo...

Is it blue and black or yellow and white?

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         This picture below is known as the dress paradox by many people online due to the fact that at first when you look at it the dress seems to be blue and black, however after a closer inspection of the image the argument emerged of the dress being yellow and white. Personally, after looking at a few optical illusion examples I now think that the dress is yellow and white, but many argue the opposing side. Behind this controversy are many people with too much time on their hands and people who just want to be right, in the end, though everyone in the end just wants to know what color the dress is. The only arguments that have been and are used are comprised mainly if not entirely of logos. Personally, I think that both sides of the argument are extremely intriguing as one is trying to use scientific knowledge to reveal a possible truth while the other side is trying to look at its face value taking it for what it simply seems to be. To anyon...

Would you rather dance or sing whenever you hear music?

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                          If I were required to either sing or dance whenever I hear music I would definitely choose to sing. I think when you're on your own there isn't really any downside to doing either or but it's when you are in the public scene that both of these options look less and less fun. Worst case scenario you're at a funeral or getting lectured and all the sudden you start hitting the gritty. On the other side though you could simply be humming, being much less of a nuisance for everyone around you while at the same time not embracing yourself horribly. As another example let's say you are at the club or a party and a song that everyone likes starts blasting, would you rather be yelling and singing to the song like everyone else or would you rather be awkwardly dancing silently while everyone is jumping and raving around you. In the need I think that both of these options are really horrible, ...