It's Getting Steamy in Here

Allow me to start by acknowledging the fact that most of us definitely pick up on the subject matter of this post when we're reading our English books.  Whether we talk about it or not, our ears perk up like little terriers whenever we stumble across that certain "steamy" section of the reading.  You know what I mean... you feel yourself losing focus while annotating... and just then... when you least expect it... WHOA. THIS JUST GOT SEXUAL.

Jillian

It's not as if this is a once in a while occurrence.  If you think back to every book we've read, there has been at least one or more passages dealing with the subject of sex or with sexual overtones:

1. Othello: "You rise to play, and go to bed to work" (2.1.14) - Check
2. The Namesake: Gogol's various girl friends and subsequent "encounters" - Check
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: McMurphy's prevelant sexuality - Check
4. Amsterdam: Page 12 quote - Check

So... what's the deal?  Why do all these writers (including Shakespeare, mind you) insist on including some allusion to sex or integrate it into the story?  Is it because they know English students will read their books and and want to create awkward moments in class discussion?  Is it because they thought the book was boring and needed some excitement?  Or maybe because it is such a touchy subject and it will make their book more "edgy."  Thinking with some maturity, I'd say these reasons are incorrect.  Rather, the authors feel that the topic of sex is just another part of life.  How characters deal with it reveals something about them, in one way or anther, just like any other subject could.  So, now that I really think about it, it shouldn't seem very unusual that the subject reappears in literature so often. But nonetheless, I'm not sure if we will ever be able to reach that day as teenagers where the awkward embarrassment we all feel when we read and discuss these sections will ever go away.  But it can't hurt to try I suppose.

They See Me Bloggin', They Hatin'

Well hello there, whoever you are... really, because you could either be Ms. Serensky, a fellow classmate, or a mysterious internet surfer like our friend Cheryl, who felt compelled to comment on Mary Beth's blog.


I know what you must be thinking.  "Chris, why is the title of your blog an allusion to a popular 2000s hip-hop song?"  Well I'll tell you why.  It's because it popped in my head and I thought it was funny, that's why.  A rational which, in a way, reflects a lot of what the blogging experience evolved into.  I'd say that the majority of the effects of the blog project, whether it be their content in particular, the blog banter show, or just discussions in commons along the lines of "did you read so and so's blog?," were that of humor.  The person or people who could make the funniest posts of the night would most certainly receive the attention of our fearless leader the next day in the opening five minutes of class.  And I know that we've all had that objective in our sights at one point or another, because I know that at least I have.  Simply scroll down to one of my first blogs in which I address this desire.  But the fact that so much funny content and previously hidden talent has been revealed by the blogs proves that this project has been beneficial.

Considering that this is a school project, a final exam actually, I feel as if we might have even had "too" much fun with these weekly writings.  I never truly resented signing into Blogger, which is not something I can say for some other school assignments.  So excuse me while I shamelessly brown-nose, but I feel we do owe Ms. Serensky some credit for the creating of this project.  Nice work, Ms. Serensky, and thank you for catalyzing all the good times we've had on the blogs.

The Change

Over the years of high school, one thing that has always blindsided me is the start of the new semester.  With all of my attention focused on studying for finals, turning in extra credit, and finishing off any assignments before teachers submit grades, I always forget that in a matter of two days my whole daily routine from 7:40 AM to 2:50 PM completely shifts.  The people I see, the classes I'm in, the order I go to them, when I eat, and when I get to relax/churn out some last minute homework in commons all see moderate to radical change.  For most students, the biggest change besides single semester classes ending and beginning is when their lunch period occurs.  At least for me, this is a huge deal.  For one, lunch's simple purpose of giving a person their energy through food has a lot of importance.  Without the in between meal, we would all be asleep by 8th period English.  Secondly, that half period (I'm assuming most of us are in an AP science class) usually works as a checkpoint for the day.  When we receive schedules, we typically compare how we have "this, this, and this" before lunch, and "this, this, and this" after lunch.  No matter if it's 4th, 5th, or 6th period, lunch is the midpoint of our routine.

But for AP English students, because we're weird, what we worry about the most is what new students will be in our classes.  Will it be a big class or small class?  Will I be able to talk in discussions?  Will that one person who talks all the time be in there?  Will that one person who always interrupts you be in there?  Who will be in my writing group?  With discussions, yes, naturally the dynamic of the class undergoes a change with the new semester.  But it is also one we should welcome.  Hearing new voices and opinions can be refreshing, and being able to share your views with new people should interest you as well.  So when next Monday rolls around and we find ourselves in new seats with a few new faces, remember to welcome the change, and not waste your energy panicking... because you'll need that energy to panic when we get our next data sheet assigned.

Something Else to Think About

I think it's safe to say that we all had our minds blown by the ending of "Shutter Island."  Despite hints throughout of DiCaprio's character having something a little quirky with him, we almost entirely buy into his story, or Dr. Cawley's story/game rather.  While the film is very well executed and tells the story very well, I believe it plays off of a very important cultural and historical stereotype, one that it would potentially cause it to fail without having.   What I'm referring to is how we all agree that all mental health care in the 1950s was horrific and might have had good intentions, but just aimed to get rid of the "problematic" people in society.  This is of course something that we explored in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with Kesey's directing his audience's sympathy towards the inmates of the asylum (with McMurphy as the protagonist), and consequently their anger towards the ward (with Nurse Ratched as the antagonist).  Having just read this book, obviously we all had our doubts when it came to the hospital's intentions in the film, not to mention the (now understandable) shady behavior of Dr. Cawley. By playing off of this stigma, the film has great success without a huge risk of plot holes by basing the plot on such a subject.  As such, the end of the film leaves you questioning various things, including if all institutions where alike in their maltreatment.  It shines a light on the origin of their problems back then, that some people truly are insane, however you define it, and the problems they cause require solutions.

Coming Soon to an English Class Near You

After rereading my last post, I'd say that I sound a little whiny and disgruntled.  The exhaustion school imposes and the impending return of it just doesn't get me very excited, because tomorrow is going to be a horribly rude awakening back into reality from this two week long dream.  But nonetheless, I still will have to complete the consistent homework assignments, no matter how much I resent them.  So when I checked in my English binder for next week's schedule and saw "Shutter Island" typed in Monday - Wednesday, my jubilation was immeasurable.  At this point, I know we will have work to do, so I won't even mind if we have to take notes.  It's because movies have this wonderful quality of simply feeding us visual and auditory information that our brains interpret with ease.  No endless pages of words, packets of numbers and symbols, textbooks of terminology and diagrams.  Just images and sounds from the world around us, captured in an artful, entertaining, and potentially educational manner.  But I'm not going to be naive...  You see, I'm trying to accept that school is going to happen tomorrow right now, rather than accept it in the middle of Calculus first period, or maybe never and fail every class I'm in.  So when I say I won't care if we have to take notes and prepare for a discussion, I mean it, because we all know Ms. Serensky has to have a trick up her sleeve.  The relaxing and care free attitude during "The Namesake" has a mere fraction of a possibility of recurrence, so we all might as well accept tomorrows fate now.  Just appreciate the fact that we get to see a (from what I hear) excellent film in class tomorrow.

Uhhhhhhhhhh

Well, here we are again, blogging.  I can't really tell you how many times I told myself "Ya know, I should open up my back pack and do some of that homework we have over break," only to proceed to stare into the TV and play the new Donkey Kong game I got for Christmas, glance at my phone with a text from a friend offering to hang out, and then within a few minutes leave my house and my inclinations to do school work behind.  If I remember correctly, It took me until the first Wednesday to touch my back pack... but don't worry, it was only to move it up to my room because my brother and his wife were coming home to spend Christmas with us.  I later opened it and cautiously peered in on the following Monday, only to be delayed until Tuesday to actually pull out a binder.  I was met with the inevitable.  Biology project.  Calculus holiday assignment.  Data sheet.  Blog.  Spanish reading.  Art projects.  All immeasurably insignificant to me during this time of temporary freedom.  After all, when else could I play these new video games, teach myself the way around this new bass guitar, and hang out with my friends every night?

The first time I actually tried to do some work was actually painful for me.  The thought of doing school work right at that moment was so demoralizing that I just had to step away, compose myself, sit back down, and open up Facebook.  Oh, that was so much better.  But as I tried to figure out why this experience was so difficult for me, especially when I don't remember it being so in the past, I realized the only difference is that this is senior year - what has been the most difficult year of school by far.  The extreme amounts of work and its extreme difficulty had truly taken a toll on my brain, and the equal and opposite reaction was extreme relaxation, and extreme lack of actual thought.  I've been in my own little mental asylum for two weeks, and while temporarily enjoyable, it will be very much regretted tomorrow morning around 7:40.