Quotes

     I was having trouble thinking of a topic for this week's blog post and then all of a sudden it dawned on me, Quotes! I was looking around my house and I couldn't believe how many signs we have each with a different quote on them. I live in a old Victorian house therefore the signs are as an  antique, keeping with the old fashioned style.


      The quotes on the signs vary in length. Some of them are "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you will land among the stars" or "Don't be too busy making a living that you forget to make a life" or "Don't believe in miracles depend on them". They each have a different meaning and give you a little sense of inspiration before you leave for school, work, or any outing that could be stressful.

     Although I do like the quotes I mentioned, my all time favorite quote that is found in my house is "life isn't measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away". I saw this quote for the first time a couple of years ago and it has stuck with me. We are always told that life is too short, and honestly that is the truth. Life shouldn't just be about existing. It should be about having great moments and being able to remember them for the rest of your life. It could be your first time riding a bike without training wheels, losing your first tooth, or the way a boy asks you to prom, or the feeling you get after winning the championship game, or even just the girls nights you have with tons of junk food and sappy love movies with the people who are always by your side. These are just a few examples that could make life just a little more exciting.

      Yes, there is a time and place for everything. Sometimes you just need to be serious and follow the routine of going to work or school and getting done the necessary tasks but do not let life be all about a strict schedule. Let loose for a while and you could be surprised at what amazing things could happen.

 Now that I have told you about my favorite quote, what's yours?

Reading While Exercising

    After reading this title you may be a little confused, and wonder how it is possible. But it is indeed possible, and one of the greatest "multitasking" situations you can put yourself into.

   Being an athlete isn't always easy.. you have to worry about staying in shape, impressing the coaches, performing well on and off the field and most importantly being someone who can contribute and be successful in every way possible. When it comes to being the best you can be, it not only means putting the work in during the practice or game but also on your own time, when the coach isn't there to watch your every move. This may be hard or easy for some, depending on the person you are and how dedicated you make yourself. Another factor that plays a part in this process is weather. It may be beautiful one day therefore you can take that long run, or play in that pick up basketball game down the street. Other days it may not be as nice out though and working out needs to be done with other solutions. Luckily for me I have an exercise bike down my basement and when those clouds don't look too promising or it decides to snow 8 inches, i can put on some sneakers and ride the bike as long as my legs and heart desire.

    Now you still may be wondering how does this still have anything to do with literature, language or any other aspect of English.. Well the truth is when i ride the exercise bike, i also read a book. When i first heard that my dad multitasks with a book and the bike, i thought he was crazy. Then i decided to try it myself and i couldn't be happier I did. When i read that book, my mind is in another world. I get so wrapped in to the characters lives and the setting that i forget what else I'm doing. My adrenaline is pumping and i continue to go through page by page of usually a sappy love story, but one that i wish i could make a reality. I am currently reading the Glass Castle, in which is a novel about a family who travels like gypsies around the United States trying to stay away from the federal agents and surpass the consequences of past due bills and unpaid taxes. They are barely making ends meet and with 4 kids and 2 adults,  constantly scrounging up any food or money they can find to survive. Although I am only one of many that is reading this book, and I'm sure many would think I'm crazy,  I still can't help but feel sympathy for the characters wishing i could do something about it.

       This shows that stories really do have an impact on people's lives, especially mine. Reading is one of my favorite things to do and now that I can do while also doing another thing I love, makes it even 10x greater. Every book I read, I get more and more into it and have to force myself to put it down, in which also allows my work out to go longer and my body to feel more in shape!  I hope everyone else in life can find something, or two that they enjoy as much as I do reading and exercising and do it as much as they desire. I mean who wouldn't want to be wrapped up in a romantic, family, whirlwind love story and burn some unnecessary calories while your at it?

To Be Or Not to Be

      To be or not to be…This is a line from the famous story “Hamlet” by the one and only Shakespeare. For most people this brings joy and most of all, their inner nerd comes out, but for me I couldn’t be more miserable. I think about that famous line and its literal meaning in which is to live or not to live and when Shakespeare comes to mind, I would choose not to live. I understand that Shakespeare was one of the greatest writers to ever walk this earth, and his writing is filled with scholarly motives and themes, but to me it couldn’t be more difficult or boring to read. We are in the 21^st century, I am not worried about men who wore skirts, and rode horses and had obnoxiously long hair, or about women who constantly wore dresses and crowns and married there uncles or brother in laws, like students would be during this point in time.

        This also brings about the aspect of poetry. Every one of Shakespeare's writings is in poetic form, and it just makes the story drag on. First you have to worry about the iambic pentameter and syllables and then come grammar, spelling, and best of all, big words that only higher level thinkers would be able to define. Yes, I am in AP English and I should be enlightened by this “brilliance” of writing, but I don’t find it anymore relevant than the fly buzzing around the room.

         What I like to read is the more modern books like the one we started recently called “The Stranger”. It is about a boy who has lost his mother and is kind of alone in the world. He has a very passive and somber tone about him, in which is also like many characters in Shakespeare work, including Hamlet himself, but the recent story of the boy Meursault is far more interesting and worthwhile. It is told in plain, modern English in a style that everyone could relate to. The author of the book Albert Camus establishes the novel with a narrator, who was made like a realistic every day person that says what is on his mind, and it is things that me and everyone else reading can understand and have comparable feelings with. No this book isn’t as “nerdy” as Shakespearean work but it is still has great scholarly merit and shouldn’t be taken for granted when it comes to reading in a higher level English class..” Other books like this including To Kill a Mockingbird and Angela’s Ashes (When reading these types of books I am more likely to think “to be” instead of “not to be), should be looked at more closely rather than historical poems of stories about times that haven’t been apart of society in hundreds of years.  

2013: The Year of Miley Cyrus

      Well if you haven’t realized already, I am a HUGE fan of Miley Cyrus. I don’t just like her because she’s had the chance to twerk on stage with Robin Thicke, or because she got to date Liam Hiemsworth, or even cause she has a lot of money. I like her because she’s her, and she won’t let anyone tell her differently.

       Ever since she was a little girl she loved acting and singing. I mean hey who wouldn’t be talented with these skills when you’re the daughter of Billy Rae Cyrus? She was always the girl who everyone looked at watched with amazement. Her smile lit up a room and her talents kept their attention. She always did what felt right to her, therefore she changed her birth name from Destiny Hope Cyrus to Miley Ray Cyrus. It first started as a nickname of “smiley miley” but then it was decided that she would just go by Miley. This was impressive to me because she did what she wanted to do and didn’t let anyone stop her even at an early age.             

        Her confidence began to grow as she was the big hit of Disney Channel, the girl with double identities. By day, she was Miley, the sun loving, teenage California beach girl who loved to hang out with friends and have a good time. By night, she was a sensational pop star named Hannah Montana, who drew in many screaming young girls and tunes that would never leave your mind. The way she interacted with her fans of the show, the countless autograph signings and meet and greets she was involved with, showed that once again she was confident with herself and had a genuinely caring attitude toward all her fans.

         But her way of life in 2013 has never made me more proud of her. She was enrolled in the cast of the Last Song, in which was an amazing movie. It is actually one of my all time favorite films. She then realized acting wasn’t her thing anymore and she began to focus on her music career. She was living in Philadelphia for a few months and her outlook on life changed forever. She said in a interview, “I just loved how I was able to walk my dogs down the street, or even grab a coffee at the local coffee shop without the paparazzi all over me like they would be in LA.” This made me realize that she really is just a normal person, who although has a lot of fame, cares about the little things in life that many people take for granted. During her time on the east coast, she cut her beautiful brunette hair off and decided to rock a short blonde look instead. This made a lot of people mad because supposedly “she wasn’t pretty anymore” but to me this made her even more beautiful. She knew this act would cause uproar but she showed her confidence to world by stating, “I don’t care, I feel like myself more than ever before.” Her short hair, acts of twerking in music videos and various live performances, and lack of clothing she prevailed began to become the talk of the century. Opinions started to arise everywhere, most of which were very negative. But then there was me. I loved the new Miley, and not because she was doing “slutty or inappropriate things”, cause I mean I don’t think I could pull of wearing little to none on stage while licking a foam finger, but, I loved her because although everyone was against her, she kept doing her thing and never gave up. I admire those traits more than anything.

         She is still the fun loving Miley that she always was. She still has incredible talent abilities. She still loves her fans more than anything. She is just showing her art in a different way, and she needs to be respected. She was named one of the most interesting people of the year, and I couldn’t agree more. Her confidence and respect for herself will always be my favorite traits about her and I will continue to be a devout fan to her. I can’t wait to go see Miley perform live in Philadelphia this spring!

Tradition

     Tradition is a very popular thing for most people. It could be school, family or friend related. Whether it is something that is original to everyone or is unique to your own life, it still has relevance and if it is adamantly followed it will make its way down to future generations.  These traditions will sometimes be lost along the way but as it’s passed down, it turns into a story, and story is what drives our human minds. Whether the story is fiction or nonfiction we are prone to intently listen and add in our own details as we repeat the anecdote to someone else. For me tradition brings out many colorful and interesting stories and will always hold a special spot in my heart.

        Being the family oriented person that I am, when I think of tradition my mind automatically wanders to great ones that are made with the people I love the most. Around Christmas time each year, everyone in my house is in a cheerful mood and we do many festive activities. My step mom is a personal chef for a living, therefore each year she bakes the most delicious cookies and each one of my siblings and I help her roll out the cookie dough, or add in the last chocolate chip. Although this could be tiring and messy at points, it is something that everyone can enjoy and the taste is priceless.

     Another Christmas time activity includes our family trip to Philadelphia. We wake up bright and early, quickly get dressed and make our way into the city. We first see the light display at the Macy’s Department store, and then we walk around the beautifully decorated city and stop at the Comcast Building. We see a 3-D show of a Christmas theme story and ravish at all the amazing new scenes each year. Then we walk through the Christmas village at Love Park, stopping at the stand to get some freshly made peanuts. Finally, we walk to a nearby restaurant and end our day with a marvelous dinner. Although it may seem repetitive at points, Philadelphia will always be one of my favorite places to go in during Christmas time and each year I find something new that sparks my interest that I didn’t pick up the year before.

       These are just a few traditions that occur during the holidays in my family, and they are ones that I wouldn’t trade for the world. Everyone says that December is the most wonderful time of the year, and for me that is 100% true, but not for the amount of presents we get, but for the valuable time I spend with the most important people in my life. I love telling people about these traditions and feel emotions of excitement and comfort when the words spill out of my mouth. Story is an intriguing part of most people’s lives, and tradition is one of my favorite branches of it. I hope I can continue to tell these stories of valuable traditions to my children and grandchildren and they follow the same ones and add in their own twist as well.

The Effect of Sayings

        Think about your favorite movie. Do you like it because of the characters? Do you like the setting? Or is it just everything about it that sparks your attention? Well most of the time, in my opinion, what catches peoples eye or ears is the small sayings that are proposed throughout each film. They usually have a comical purpose, but sometimes could be used for other ideals.

         Some sayings or phrases are what make the movie so popular. Take for instance, Mean Girls directed by Mike Waters. This is a movie about a girl from Africa, Kady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), who transfers to a school in the United States and she has to go through the struggles of the “new kid”, trying to find where she belongs. As with every high school, there are the Jocks, the nerds, the “Emo” kids and everyone in between. This may have a typical story line, but the character’s lines couldn’t be more comical. The popular girls say a boy named Damien “is to gay to function” or the dumb blonde Karen questions Kady’s nationality and says “if you’re from Africa, why are you white.” Or when they are having a retreat in the gymnasium, a random girl blurts out “I just wished we lived in a world of rainbows and unicorns.” These all may seem irrelevant, or seem to be nonsense, but you can’t think about this movie without referring back to these sayings. This movie has turned into a “must see” just from these small phrases.

             Elf, a popular movie among the holidays, is also famous for its sayings throughout the film. This is about an elf that works in Santa’s workshop, but isn’t your typical average helper. He is abnormally tall and has trouble doing things that come so natural to typical elves. He is eventually sent to the North Pole to find out who he truly is. Some of the most comical parts of this movie include “We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.” When they are talking about the diets of their daily lives. Or “ You sit on a throne of lies!” also “I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.”This refers to all the people he comes into contact with in the real world.  Finally the most famous line of the whole movie, “You stink. You smell like beef and cheese! You don't smell like Santa.” This comes about as he comes in contact with “Santa” at the local mall. All of these small phrases may also seem dumb, but they interestingly enough make the whole movie. This has become one of the most watched Christmas movies of all time, and will continue into the following generations.

             Mean Girls and Elf are just a few of the many movies that are filled with various sayings that have everyone locked for the rest of their lives. Next time you sit down to watch a movie, really take into consideration all the funny or quirky sayings that not only stick into your head, but also give the movie an even better effect. You not only realize that these phrases are used throughout the film but also out of everyone else’s mouths around you as well. It’s amazing what the directors of each movie know what will catch their audience’s attention for the rest of their lives.

The Influence of AP English

         I have to say, Sterling High School has a lot of great teachers. They really care about your education and do what they can to better your path for a more successful life for when you graduate. Going along with the teachers, they are great at the subjects they pursue as well. I personally believe that taking AP English has allowed me to expand my horizons and allow myself to be an advanced student, rather than just your typical high school student.

        In junior year AP English, we focused a lot on our writing skills. Mrs. Hewsen taught us how to add just the right amount of detail into our writing without being too “flowery” or too “shallow”. She also taught us about the various literary elements as in rhetoric, paradox, anecdote, similes, metaphors etc. We were not taught the definitions but also taught how to add them into our writing, allowing for all of us to seem like very scholarly individuals. Although, many complained about the repetitive essays we had to write every day on numerous topics, in the end they were a blessing in disguise. They gave a big advantage to me and from talking to others, they felt the same. We were able to go in to the AP test and feel confident with each word that we wrote down on the paper. Another effective part of AP English 3 included the amount of partner interaction within the classroom. We read a lot of short stories and not only did Mrs. Hewsen read them to us, we read them aloud to each other and explained our interpretations of them, seeing any similarities or differences. This allowed us to become open minded and see different points of views without always arguing against it. It was also helpful to role play certain stories like Macbeth. We would put costumes including holding swords, crowns, and capes. This made it seem realistic and more interesting than just reading it from the text book. Ms. Hewsen’s love for teaching English and helping her students really allowed me to enjoy English and perform better on my AP test than I ever thought I could.

       Now as I am enrolled in senior year English, my perspective has continued to grow as English continues to become my favorite subject. This course focuses on more stories. I am an avid reader, but I usually pursue romantic types like Nicholas Sparks, but obviously we aren’t going to read that in class. We just recently finished The Odyssey and to my surprise it was very interesting. Mr. Carty was able to read the epic with such an animated tone, and explain with such detail that made it very entertaining and easy to understand. He really focuses on our questions and how to make us better listeners and how to focus on the important details of the book. We are now reading Dante’s Inferno and although it is a hard concept to grasp, we thoroughly talk about the characters and the important details of the novel. Another effective part of this year’s English, is the AP practice worksheets. I feel that continuously looking at harder materials and trying to figure out an answer higher level questions allow my brain to work harder and will be used to this material by the time we take the AP test again. The conversations we engage in, whether they are about the story we are reading or just about another topic of English, really catch my attention and I really enjoy coming to the class every day. Mr. Carty’s influential character and grasp of the stories and language allow me to become a highly educated student and continue my progress to do well on the AP test this year.