My Dashboard

I've decided not to experience with Netvibes. I feel like it'll just be another thing I have to worry about. The way I stay oraganized works for me. I use the calendar on my phone for important events that are coming up or in the near future, or something that I know I may forget. I also leave notes in my notepad on my phone telling me not to forget to do something. As for schoolwork, I just remember it. When I get home from school I run through a checklist in my head of what I need to do. On my phone I also have the blog(s) bookmarked so it's convienient. I also have them bookmarked on my laptop. So to stay organized, what works best for me is putting it down in my phone or just remembering it. 

Phonar14 Video

- Phonar: photography narrative
- It's about habits and establishing them from the start
- Rapid fire production; thinking through doing
- Thinking from habits you already have
- Need passion & camera to be a photographer
- You become a slave to habits
- Systems have become someone's solution to a problem; you don't realize it until you think out of the system
- Systems don't want us to think for ourselves
- A photo is fixed in time, it ages
- There is a difference between an image and a photograph
- A photograph is bound by the experience rather than the evidence
- Everyone who has access to taking photos is a photographer
- Most photographers, if everyone is a photographer, keep their photos on social media (Facebook)
- We crop photos into rectangles because they're easier to ship around, but the actual photo is much bigger
- If you want to change the world you have to start describing it differently
- After we get out of the shackles of media, stories will change
- Nonlinear decentralized media environment: online & offline
- Transmedia: story is told from multiple platforms (ex-book, movie, video game, etc)
- When you're a trusted source you can tell your story so you know what you're talking about and people believe you and people can tell you their stories
- Connections lead to platforms and change you into something greater than a supplier; has the potential to be greater than just photography
- Something fixed in time has value
- Some images are to be believed but then questioned culturally
- When you not only read images but when you create images you should question them
- Photography has the ability to change the world
- When we think about ourselves beyond a supplier and as trusted collaborators it strengthens us and allows us to explore
Connections to Canterbury Tales
- It's a story that incorporates many stories and we need to look at the bigger picture
- Every story has a message if you look at it from different perspectives
- There's more depth to a story than just what happened; the experience is even greater
- The journey is a collaboration just like this world needs to be
- Keep in mind all different sides/perspectives

Canterbury Tales I

Geoffrey Chaucer
- Middle class merchant, page in royal house, soldier, diplomat, royal clerk; medieval society
- While serving in the English army in France, he was taken captive and held prisoner; King Edward paid his ransom
- Early poems were based on European poetry
- Later work displayed insight into human character
- Inspiration may have come from his pilgrimage to Canterbuy
- Medieval literature: romance to comedy, rhyme to prose, crude humor to religious mysteries
Vocabulary
- Solicitous: showing care or concern
- Garnished: decorated, trimmed
- Absolution: act of freeing someone of a sin or criminal charge
- Commission: authorization
- Sanguine: confident, cheerful
- Avouches: asserts positively
- Prevarication: evasion of truth
from The Canterbury Tales: The Prologue
- Background: medieval Christianity, pilgrimages were popular ways to express religious devotion
- Canterbury is southeast of London and a major destination for pilgrimages
- People flocked the cathedral to pay respect to Archbishop Thomas a Becket who was murdered
- It's the return of spring with the rain, birds chirping, flowers and leaves
- This time of year, people want to go on pilgrimages; many chose to visit Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral
- He stayed at tavern in Southwark called Tabard Inn; diverse group of 29 travelers walked in
- Joined the group and in the morning they continued one
- The knight is the noblest and polite; his son acts as his apprentice; they both have great strength but are devoted to love
- The son fights for his lady; he sings, plays flute, etc. very passionate and responsible
- Accompanying them is the knight's Yeoman (freeborn servant); he is a forester
- The Prioress is named Madame Eglentyne; she isn't apart of the royal court but she acts like it(delicate and dainty); speaks French; compassionate towards animals
- The Monk loves hunting and horses
- The Friar is a member of the religious order that lives by begging; he hears confessions and assigns easy penance to people who donate
- He is popular with wealthy landowners, innkeepers, and barmaids; pays no attention to beggars because they won't help him; the donations he gets allows him to dress and live rich
- The Merchant borrows money and no one knows he's in debt
- The Clerk devours books rather than food
- The Man of Law, a lawyer, prepares flawless legal documents; appears busier than he actually is
- Franklin is a wealthy farmer; preoccupied with food
- Five Guildsmen (all artisans); with them is a shipman (cook) who stole wine from his merchant
- taffeta-clad Physician bases practices of medicine on knowledge of astronomy and the 4 humors; has good setup w/apothecaries; well acquainted with ancient & modern medical authorities but reads little scripture
- slightly deaf Wife of Bath; keen seamstress; jolly & talkative; gives good love advice
- Parson: gentle & poor; pure of conscious and true to the teachings of Christ; hates excommunicating; kind to sinners; accompanied by his brother the Plowman who works hard and loves God
- Miller: crude jokes and drinking; stout & strong; steals from costumers
- Manciple: stocks an Inn of Court (school of law); uneducated; manages his lord's estates
- Reeve is a good carpenter
- Summoner arraigns those accused of violating Church law; uses power corruptly for own good; uses position to dominate young women in his jurisdiction
- Pardoner; thinks he rides fashionably; disrespectful manipulation of the poor for his own material gain; despised by the Church
- Narrator apologizes for any possible offense; wants to tell the truth even if its disgusting
- The host (governor, judge, record keeper) of the group welcomes the company; wants everyone to be happy and entertained
- Each person will tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back; the most meaningful will receive a meal paid for by everyone else
- They start their journey and if anyone disagrees with the host, they will pay for everything spent along the way
-The knight begins the first tale

Bede Notes

Background
- Majority of Britains are illiterate
- Through the monastery, Bede had access to books and literature
The Situation of Britain and Ireland: Their Earliest Inhabitants
- Britain (Albion) is surrounded by Gaul, Germany, and Spain
- Opposite side of Britain is the isles of Orcades
- Britain is known for good pasture, rich in grain, rivers, shellfish, pearls, metals
- Nights are short in summer ; summer days and winter nights are long
- 5 books of divine law, five languages, four nations- English, British, Scots, Picts
- Latin is common medium through the study of the scriptures
- Original inhabitants were Britains in south; Picts in north
- Ireland is mild and healthy in climate, no reptiles, scented air; original home of the Scots

from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- East Anglia and Northumbria were split up by Vikings and those w/o property went oversea to Seine
- The king's best thanes died at the same time
- Anglia and Northumbria harassed Wessex with raiding bands
- 6 ships did evil in the Isle of Wight
- The English battled the Danes at sea and the English won
- That summer, 20 ships perished with men
- Alfred, the English king, passed away 6 days before All Saint's Day
- Athelwald went over sea to Essex with all the ships he could get, lured Anglian forced to break the peace
- Eohric, Aethelwald, Byrhtsige, Ysopa, and Oscytel died in battle
- The Kentish and Danes fought
- A comet appeared
- Alfred died; peace was fastened in Tiddingford

Declaration of Learning Independence

The declaration of learning independence allows students to learn as they please. We are given independence to explore and comprehend in the style that works best for us. Some may learn visually, through experience, or through listening to someone/something. This indepence we are given in this class gives each and every one of us the fair opportunity to take on learning in a way that works best for us. 

Vocabulary #4

obsequious - adj. attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner;attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery
Ex- They were served by obsequious waiters.
beatitude - a state of supreme happiness
Ex- All of our actions are to be directed toward such beatitude.
bete noire - a person or thing that one particularly dislikes
Ex- Uncle Edward was my father's bete noire.
bode - verb indicate by signs
Ex- Their argument did not bode well for the future.
dank - adj. unpleasantly cool and humid
Ex- Walking into the dank basement sent chills up my body.
ecumenical - adj. of worldwide scope or applicability; concerned with promoting unity among churches or religions
Ex- The local churches are sponsoring an ecumenical services on the green.
fervid - adj. extremely hot; characterized by intense emotion
Ex- The candidate made a fervid speech that held the audience's attention.
fetid - adj. offensively malodorous
Ex- The fetid water of the marsh made me sick.
gargantuan - adj. of great mass; huge and bulky
Ex- The giant almost flattened the travelers with his gargantuan foot as he walked through the forest.
heyday - noun the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
Ex- The paper has lost millions of readers since its heyday in 1972.
incubus - someone who depresses or worries others; a situation resembling a terrifying dream
Ex- Debt is a big incubus in developing countries.
infrastructure - noun the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area; the basic structure or features of a system or organization
Ex- Access what damage you can and rebuild the critical infrastructure system.
inveigle - verb influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
Ex- We cannot inveigle him into putting pen to paper.
kudos - noun an expression of approval and commendation
Ex- Kudos to everyone that put the event together.
lagniappe - noun a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase)
Ex- Jenny gave her favorite teacher a lagniappe.
prolix - adj. tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length
Ex- He found the narrative too prolix and discursive.
protege - noun a person who receives support and protection from an influential patron who furthers the protege's career
Ex- He was an aid and protege to the former senator.
prototype - noun a standard or typical example
Ex- The firm is testing a prototype of the weapon.
sycophant - noun a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
Ex- I thought you wanted a competent assistant, not a nodding sycophant.
tautology - noun useless repetition; (logic) a statement that is necessarily true
Ex- John's English teacher told him to avoid tautology in his essay.
truckle - verb yield to out of weakness; try to gain favor by cringing or flattering
Ex- The student truckled to the bully who would push him on the playground.

Literature Analysis #1

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1. The story opens in London, 600 years in the future where nearly everyone and everything is industrialized. Everyone takes orders from a few people at the top of a World State. Humans are grown in a lab and divided into various castes. They are conditioned to believe moral "truths"- consumerism is the main focus. The main job of everyone is to keep the economy stable and strong. Sex is casual. A narcotic called soma is part of the everyday lifestyle. There is no sadness, individuality, no families, no literature, and no religion. Conservative Bernard has a date with unorthodoxed Lenina. While they are at the Savage Reservation (a place completely opposite of "The Other Place") they meet a boy named John (who turns out to be the Director's long lost son) and his mother. Bernard uses John as blackmail to the Director so he doesn't get exiled; the Director resigns. John isn't impressed with the civilized world, and the fact that he isn't allowed to quote Shakespeare. John refuses to have sex with Lenina and calls her a whore. His mother, Linda, overdoses on soma and dies; no one understands why he is so sad because to them, death is no big deal. John causes a riot and Bernard and Helmholtz try to help him but end up being exiled. Johns runs away to an abandoned light house, flogging and starving himself. Everyone comes to watch and take part in an orgy where John ends up having sex with Lenina. The next morning he hangs himself.
2. Brave New World has a few themes; science as a mean of control is a quite apparent one. Biology, psychology, and physiology are misused in the control of reproduction, Soma, and entertainment machines. The World State's control over human activity destroys even the scientific progress that gained it such control. Another theme includes consumer society. The attitudes and behaviors of the world in the book are extremes of our society today where people's happiness is based off the ability to satisfy their needs. Freedom and confinement is another strong theme emphasized in Brave New World. People are in a constant state of imprisonment of happiness. They are condition to not feel negative emotions. They are imprisoned by brainwashed sayings, drugs, and promiscuity. 
3. The tone of Brave New World is satirical, parodic, and dramatic. The book is a satire of society today.This society is made to be seen as wonderful and prosperous while the book really is a warning of the completely controlled society. Students even turn pale and sick when hearing the word "mother." In chapter 13, Lenina forgets to give a bottle its immunization. The text dramatically says, "Twenty-two years, eight months, and four days from that moment, a promising young Alpha-Minus administrator at Mwanza-Mwanza was to die of trypanosomiasis." Also at the end of chapter 3 it says, "Slowly, majestically, with a faint humming of machinery, the Conveyors moved forward, thirty-three centimeters an hour. In the red darkness glinted inumerable rubies." Brave New World combines dark drama with healthy puns and parodies such as "Orgy-porgy" or "Thank Ford!"
4. The author used a parody of a utopian society to create a disutopian society. Irony is also used in the book in which the reader knows things that the characters do not, and that this new world is an extreme version of our society. Being able to identify a metaphor too strengthened my understanding of the book. The Director continuously referred to the people as insects in saying, "This hive of industry." The author used symbolism of soma to represent the use of instant gratification to control the people. Multiple allusions to Shakespeare are present such as, "O brave new world that has such people in it." Another example from chapter 11 illustrates the authors use of visual imagery when describing characters and scenes- "Finally–and this was by far the strongest reason for people's not wanting to see poor Linda–there was her appearance. Fat; having lost her youth; with bad teeth, and a blotched complexion, and that figure (Ford!)–you simply couldn't look at her without feeling sick, yes, positively sick." Personification is also used, as it is seen  in a sentence in chapter 18- "Eternity was in our lips and eyes." In that same chapter, the author also used a hyperbole when Bernard asked the savage if he had eaten something that had made his stomach upset due to his ill-looking face. Hence the Savage responded with "I ate civilization." Precision of language is present in Brave New World. Society is described in which scientific exactitude is everything: "eighty-eight cubic meters of index cards". The story is mainly narrated from the third person point of view of Bernard of John."'In brief,' the Director summed up, 'the parents were the father and the mother.'…'These,' he said gravely, 'are unpleasant facts; I know it. But then most historical facts are unpleasant.'"
(I read the book online so I can't cite the pages)
Characterization
1. An example of direct characterization includes, "The mockery made him feel an outsider; and feeling an outsider he behaved like one, which increased the prejudice against him and intensified the contempt and hostility aroused by his physical defects..." A second example of direct characterization is, "Tall and rather thin but upright, the Director advanced into the room. He had a long chin and big rather prominent teeth, just covered, when he was not talking, by his full, floridly curved lips. Old, young? Thirty? Fifty? Fifty-five?" An example if indirect characterization includes, "'And then he spends most of his time by himself-alone.' There was horror in Fanny's voice." A second example of indirect characterization is, "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta." The author uses both approaches to further the novel's themes and his purpose/message he wants the readers to take in.
2. Yes the author's syntax is adjusted when focusing on a character. The syntax becomes more lyrical to express a specific character and how they feel and think. An example of this is clear when John talks about love and Shakespeare.
3. As the protagonist, Bernard Marx is a dynamic character(at least for a time being). As the start of the story Bernard is reserved. He stayed away from soma, avoided confrontation, and wasn't a sexually active man. After John came into his life, Bernard completely changed and became outgoing. He now took soma, hosted parties, and attracted women. Bernard shifted from being timid to being narcissistic. By the end, he has lost his popularity and is back to being dissatisfied with his life. Bernard is a flat character and can easily be described in one sentence-someone who is consumed with misery. 
4. When reading Brave New World I felt like I was meeting a character rather than a person. The way Bernard dealt with situations he faced wasn't compatible with how one would react today. His responses were unrelateable "Bernard gave his orders in the sharp, rather arrogant and even offensive tone of one who does not feel himself too secure his superiority. To have dealing with members of the lower castes was always, for Bernard, a most distressing experience. For whatever the cause...Bernard's physique was hardly better than that of the average Gamma. He stood 8 centimeters short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in proportion. Contact with members of the lower castes always reminded him painfully of his physical inadequacy." I personally feel that the author just seemed to describe characters.