Aphorism project

           The aphorism I chose was, "Sometimes you can't believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel." In general I just thought this quote was very powerful. I think Morrie was trying to say you can't judge things by the way they look or their labels or anything else; you shouldn't look at everything with clouded eyes. He was saying you have to try to look deeper than the surface. You can't just go around seeing things and judging things not knowing the whole story or only seeing things from your point of view. Basically what Morrie is trying to say is to put all differences aside and look at things with understanding and empathy.

             I can relate this aphorism to several different things. However, I'm just going to relate it to one thing. A few days ago I saw a video called "I am not black and you are not white" the whole point of the video was to get people to stop seeing things with labels. I feel that this relates to Morrie's aphorism because the message was to basically see things with your heart, not just your eyes. The message of both the video and the aphorism is to look at things label free and judgment free. Basically we just need to look and see things with an open heart and an open mind.

              I completely agree with this aphorism and its message. I agree with it because the message is just so positive and powerful. I believe that everyone believes what they truly feel, we would have a much more peaceful world. I think this because people are so quick to judge, even if they don't know the whole story or something like that. People have clouded vision because of what they are taught and what they think they believe. Deep down I know if people dug deep and saw things without bias or clouded vision, there would be a lot less problems.

"Uncloud your eyes, look at things with your heart." -Lilly M.

Socratic Seminar Reflection

These past four Socratic seminars have really made me realize that Tuesdays With Morrie was really deep and metaphorical. The aphorisms became more intense or deeper because of these conversations. We went more in depth with his point of view of life. His way of thinking shows me that in order to be a good person you just need to be loving, compassionate, caring, forgiving, and follow the right things. 

              Trends I noticed with myself during the seminars were that I would only speak once or twice, but I was really listening. My goals didn't necessarily help me, expect the last seminar was slightly more successful for me. I guess as we kept doing them, I became more comfortable with the idea. Even though I didn't contribute as much as I should have, I really understood the other points my classmates were making. They really helped me with finding a deeper meaning of the book.

               Some trends I noticed in the seminars were that we changed topics very quickly and people kept interrupting each other. Even though we did those things, we were still able to have in depth conversations about the book or similar topics. I also noticed towards the last two seminars we didn't necessarily feel the need to talk about the book. We talked about related topics. We were having one big, real conversation which is really what a socratic seminar is about. All in all, the seminars were successful.

Tuesdays With Morrie

In the novel Tuesdays With Morrie every chapter is about a life lesson. Each Tuesday is a new chapter and lesson. These lessons include the world, feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, death, family, and emotions. These are all powerful and important lessons. They have all spoken to me on a personal level. However, the one that impacted me the most was Death.

        The Tuesday about Death just really opened my eyes about life and the way we live it. The quote that really blew my mind was, "The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” This is basically saying you should have a life you love so much that you would have no problem dying tomorrow because you are completely satisfied with what you have done and accomplished. This could also mean there is no better time to live in than the now. Morrie is just trying to tell us to live for the right reasons.

        Another Tuesday that really inspired me was Emotions. Emotions play a big part of our lives. We have feelings for evolutionary reasons. Sometimes we do not wish to feel, or at least do not wish to have bad feelings. Morrie's take on this really interested me, "If you hold back on the emotions--if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them--you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails. But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your heard even, you experience them fully and completely." This means if you avoid your emotions it makes everything worse. Pretending like bad emotions don't exist is like pretending you don't exist, it doesn't end well. Avoiding emotions like these cause them to bottle up and they will eventually explode out into one big meltdown that could last as long as you've been holding things in. All Morrie is saying is, to not be afraid to feel, feeling this way is something you can't avoid, so you might as well fully experience it.

Tuesdays With Morrie

         This book seems like it is going to be a favorite. I love books that make you think like this one does. The story really makes you look into your own life and reevaluate it. I'm definitely going to apply some lessons in this book to my own life. However, as cheerful as Morrie is, the book always leaves me in a weird mood. It leaves me like something or someone very important has left my life until I continue reading it again. I like that feeling only because I get it from a book. This book also taught me that time is limited, the best time to live is right now. So, I'm starting to try to do that.

           Morrie makes me realize that it is extremely important to live as much as possible. There's no time for dwelling on the past and being unhappy. He explains this through his interview and his aphorisms. He also taught me that our culture today is not helping us live, it's putting us down and making us feel bad about ourselves. I am starting to apply this to my own life as well. I'm not comparing myself to rich people with no talent, I'm not putting myself down because I'm not like them. This makes me really excited to see what other aphorisms can help me improve my life.

Bucket List

Go to college

Live in California

Go skydiving 

Go shark cage diving

Go scuba diving

Go bungee jumping 

Go white water rafting 

Go hang gliding

Go zip lining

Go cliff diving 

Go to as many concerts as possible 

Travel as much as possible

Have a career that I enjoy

Try things I might not be comfortable with

Go on countless adventures

Take pictures to remember the adventures 

Go ghost hunting

Go to coachella

Float in the Dead Sea

Celebrate Holi in India

Be the best person I can be

Try new things

Take risks

Be happy :)

Reflection Blog

        This quarter I have made many improvements. In English Language Arts, I feel my writing has definitely improved. I feel that the more I write, the better it is. I've been very proud of my AOWs, blogs, and other essays. I feel that this quarter especially my writing has changed. With all of the argumentative units and essays my writing has become more formal. I also don't just write quickly I can now write with quality at the same time.

        Something I am very proud of this quarter is my "Night vs film" blog. I was proud of it right when I finished it. To be honest I've never really worked that hard on a blog before. I think I was just so intrigued by the topic I felt determined to do a good job. I feel that blog also made me realize that my writing has improved. The essay was more formal than I thought it would come out to be. I am still extremely proud of it. 

          The most challenging part of this quarter was keeping up with everything and really enjoying or getting myself into the topic. With all of the Holocaust stuff and making up old work I was struggling to keep up. However, I feel that I really pulled through towards the end of the holocaust unit. Other than really putting myself into the holocaust unit, I haven't been really interested in the other topics. Along with keeping up I just didn't really care that much about the stuff we were learning. As well as getting more caught up I also got myself more interested in the end of the quarter. I feel that those two things really go hand in hand.

TKAM Comparative Analysis

To Kill A Mockingbird Comparative Analysis

Prompt: What do you think is the most important difference between the written and filmed version? How would you prove or disprove that one version of To Kill A Mockingbird is more effective in delivering its message than the other?

           I think the most important difference between the written version of To Kill A Mockingbird and the film is the over all details. The film had all of the main events the Boo Radley house in the beginning, school, the trial, and when Boo saves Scout and Jem. The film also had less characters or didn't go in depth with minor characters and their contributions to the story. The book was much more detail and somewhat more personal. The book had descriptions for each new character, no matter how important they were. In the novel the reader got to know more about the town of Maycomb, Miss Maudie, the Finch family, Mrs. Dubose, Tom Robinson, the Radley family, and many other characters. The reader was also able to go more in depth with Scout and her personality. The film had some narration, but not as much as the book. Though the movie definitely had subtle displays of minor characters and the events over the seasons, for example when Atticus shot the dog or when Mrs. Dubose made her appearance yelling at the the children in the beginning. However, overall the main story is pretty conveyed in both versions.

          In my opinion the written version of To Kill A Mockingbird was much more effective of delivering its message. I think this because the film was slightly more vague and subtle when it comes to the morals of the story. For example Atticus had a very short talk with Scout about “walking in someone else's shoes”. The film also glossed over some minor but still important parts of the book. Events such as: Mrs. Dubose and her death, Miss Maudie’s house catching on fire, the hole in the tree lasted much longer than it did in the film, Scout and her family, etc. the film just displayed the most important messages but with very little detail compared to the novel.

           The book was very personal to me. It portrayed the morals with amazing detail and personality. The film only had one so-called “Mockingbird” which was Boo Radley. The book had several: Tom Robinson, Miss Maudie, Scout, Jem, Atticus, etc. All of these characters had their own little contributions to the messages of the story. The book also really depicted how Jem and Scout were growing and maturing throughout these events. In the book Scout and Boo had a much more personal relationship. In the end of the novel you can really see how Scout was in Boo’s shoes. She all of the past events of her life from the Radley porch. She felt a connection with Boo that is unexplainable. All in all the book was much more effective in displaying Harper Lee’s messages.

         

Out of My Mind Blog

Out of My Mind Blog

Ch. 4-6

Prompt: Select a quote from your reading that you liked. What made you pick it? How

does it make you pause and think?

       Even though I am not that far along in this novel, there were several quotes and phrases the author wrote that made me stop and think. These quotes really open up your mind about being able to express yourself through words, and not letting labels define you, and how easily we take advantage of our capabilities when others are greatly misunderstood and struggling because of appearance.

        The first quote that really popped out to me is, "Words have always swirled around me like snowflakes-each one delicate and different, each one melting untouched in my hands.”(page 1) This really stood out to me because of the figurative language and the imagine it created in my head. This also really shows how beautiful and fragile words can be. We don't always realize it, but words and expressions are very powerful. Having that ability to express ourselves through language is a gift that not everyone receives unfortunately. This quote is also on the first page, which is definitely how the author brought me into this story. The author did a great job of sucking the reader in and making them want more. 

         The second quote is when Melody's mother takes her to the doctor to see if she is able to attend school. The doctor gave her options of keeping her at home or sending her away. Melody's mother was appalled by this. She said lots of powerful things, the best one in my opinion is, "[A] person is so much more than the name of a diagnosis on a chart.” This quote really spoke to me. It shows how Melody is so much more than her disabilities. This also applies to any sort of label, whether it's a diagnosis or just what people call you. This is just something more people need to realize.

         The final quote is also about words and ability to express them; "Every word my parents spoke to me or about me I absorbed and kept and remembered. All of them. I have no idea how I untangled the complicated process of words and thought, but it happened quickly and naturally. By the time I was two, all my memories had words, and all my words had meanings. But only in my head. I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old.” This is much like the first quote. It shows how we take advantage of our everyday abilities and freedoms. Imagine what it would be like to be in love with words, but never spoke a single one. That's sounds like one of the worse things that could ever happened to a person. It's not just people who don't have the ability to speak, some don't have the rights. Several countries around the world control people's right to speak out. It just shows that words are extremely valuable and easy to take advantage of.