Thin Cities

       The city of Opuesto is made up of two half-cities. One lay in ruins, but you can still see the structures that used to stand, the other lay in same condition as it was when it was first built. In one city the sky lines are crowded with nails that have been banged into the wood. Everything from the skyscrapers that rise above the city, the steam boats, to the walkways that the inhabitants cross as did their ancestors thousands of years prior are made of wood. The other half of the city is made of metal and lay in pieces as people every day move to the half made of wood. All that is left of the city made of metal are the schoolyards that are deserted and a few homes that people with ghostly faces reside in.
       I learned that the half-city of Opuesto, with its foundations made out of metal, was never meant to be permanent only a temporary residence while immigrants flooded these cities. They stay in the side made of metal until their new home is built out of wood. Every moment I tell you of this half city, another piece of metal begins to decay. And so every week, men dressed in uniforms remove the scraps that have decayed overtime. Here remains the half of Opuesto where the strongest material lie and the material will never die.

To see the next city in our project, click HERE

Invisible Cities

So far reaching the "climax" of Invisible Cities by Calvino, I have mixed feelings about the story. Moving away from the orthodox structure of a book and towards another direction throws me off. His way of dividing the book doesn't make the story harder to read but is just different. However, I do believe it benefits the stories of the individual cities and the book as a whole. Aside from the structure of the book, I enjoy the book. I personally admire Calvino's choice to describe each city and the individuality it adds. Every city is different in its own unique way which adds to the story by making you want to learn more about each of Polo's adventures. I believe the description is able to hold my attention throughout the story, instead of wanting to know what happens next which follows with a typical plot arc. Without a plot, the story does seem a little repetitive with learning of a new city almost every page which makes the story boring at points. But, the separation with the conversations between Khan and Polo brighten the story.

Their Eyes Were Watching God Prediction

This story has left us with the relationship of Janie and Tea Cake having signs of strength but also rough patches. The story being told in the past began with Janie coming back home alone with the overalls she wore from the muck. I think this foreshadowing depicts Janie leaving Tea Cake. I think he is going to either cheat on her or take her money similar to the past women in the village who have run of with younger men. I think she is going to react to it by not showing submission and staying with him like she has before, but leaving him and going back home.

A Blessing In Disguise

This years spring has brought joy to many people and especially those living in the North East. This years winter was longer than usual, brought harsh weather, bone chilling winds and large amounts of snow. However, in turn this spring has brought comforting weather with highs in the seventies which to me is perfect weather. It has been consistent so far and a nice break from the unpredictable and long winter we had this year. With most students in Pennsylvania high schools having off during the brutal winter weather we had this year, George School classes were still in session. Treading through the snow was terrible and draining. But, now that the snow is all gone and we are having great weather, George School's campus looks great. The flowers are blossoming, activities are resuming once again and the campus is miraculous!

Mary Gaitskill "The Little Boy"

Gaitskill's story of The Little boy was well written and I discovered it to have a much deeper meaning after my class and I analyzed the story. Coming across the central conflict in the story, the pieces came together in understanding the story and message. The conflict in "The Little Boy," was about the disconnect between how Bea really feels about her ex- husband and what her daughters perceive. Throughout the story, the motif of Megan having a disconnect with her mother after not leaving her abusive husband, by saying, "You had nothing but contempt." This idea of showing Bea's weakness and submission to her husband proved her love for him and the unbreakable bond true love forms by the author. Her husband Mac is portrayed as the stereotypical man who can't express his true feelings to his wife who he is supposed to love and feel comfortable around, but expresses himself through rage and violence. Mac's malicious acts towards his wife, acting childish and having an affair with another woman left the Bea's children and the readers confused of why she wouldn't leave her husband sooner. Through analysis, we understood Bea's rationalization and forgiveness of her husband. Bea is conflicted by having her love clash in front of her which complicates her life. Her daughters say one thing, her heart says another, and her husband acts indifferently. Bea is truly in love and love never dies. The story has many flash backs to the past and then settling down in the present. The author uses a family in the airport to trigger these moments. A family consisting of a woman, Lee Ann, and a son, Michael, cause Bea to remember the good times she had experienced as a mother. Now in her seventies, Bea's husband has died, and the conflict and the denial and refusal to let her daughters opinion come between the bond that her and her ex-husband shared has left her lonely and a bad relationship between her two daughters. That little boy, Michael, reminds her of the good times she had as a mother and wife. Michael is used as a prompt that makes her think of the good times when her kids were little and her life had purpose. Michael's family is complicated and messed-up through the portrayal of Bea. She describes Lee Ann's family as a single mother and the production of her son through mishap or misfortune. Lee Ann treats Michael poorly by hitting him when he does not act correctly in her opinion, but his appearance brings meaning to Bea. He makes up a story of his father of being in the army and tells Lee Ann this. After finding out his mother this him once more and admits to Bea that it was a lie and his father was not in the army. While his story was made up it still symbolized Michaels attempt to make his life more interesting in better and Bea enjoyed this. Her life similar to Michaels helped her to see a brighter side. His father being in the army made his life more enjoyable and complete, and Michael just being there made Bea's life that much more less lonely.

A change in fashion

Steven Millhauser’s, A Change in Fashion, played on the idea of leaving eroticism and the things that are sexy to the imagination. His play on thought and imagination along with what I believe, the criticism of the fashion industry is so well written and composed, that it is believable in some ways. This satirical essay suggests that by covering the body creates eroticism for the opposite sex. This satirical essay uses the idea of creating a dress that covers a woman’s body so that their figure is not shaped to create desire for men. This idea of a headdress that is very conservative that has parallels to a burqa in the Muslim culture, spikes the mind’s eye and creates eroticism to passer byers. I personally enjoy this play on eroticism, stemming from ideas that lingerie is viewed as sexy and erotic because they have clothes covering the “desired” parts and those parts are then left to the imagination. I believe by drawing this parallelism to a culture that us as Americans view as extremely conservative is humorous in its tone. This essay depicting Hyperion’s fashion as erotic and sexy is saying that our culture of leaving almost nothing to the imagination is even less erotic and less sexy than that of the Muslim culture. So, fully covering the body arouses people because the complete figure and features of the woman are left to the imagination and we have no idea what lies underneath the dress. This satirical tone and using our feelings and thoughts as human beings is really enjoyable while reading it, because typically covering the whole body might not seem erotic. However in this essay, leaving what her body might look like to the imagination is what we see as humans as erotic. This story suggests that leaving everything about the woman’s body to the imagination is very erotic and suggestive. Millhauser’s less serious tone is contradicting to fashion and the culture that is evolving in America today. I believe his humorous tone criticizes the fashion industry, but is also making a joke about what “really” is erotic. I thought this was a great story and enjoyed reading about something so conservative that is really extremely erotic.

Black Hoodie

Reading black hoodie brought a lot of emotions, relating to the serious case of prejudice and racism in many countries, but also incorporated humor through the eyes and the perspective the author gives us by the narrator. The artistic choice this author used in this story by using terms and talking how any person would in real life was a choice that I appreciated a lot. It was a funny story that, I believe, eased some of the tension and stigmas brought forth when any person would talk about these political issues. However, I do believe there are areas in the story that I find jump out at me when I read the story and leave me a little less fulfilled and good after I finish the story. Some of the language the author chooses to use seems to me a little uneasy and incorrect when he is describing Nigeria’s parents. We talked about this in class and now I do realize this is eye opening only due to my biasedness living in the United States of America. What we perceive as politically correct and non-politically correct is different as you move from country to country. Adding this effect to the story adds a little more realism to the tale that the author is trying to portray. Although reading this story I did enjoy it a lot, using a constant tone of humor for this topic, I personally view as maybe not the best. However, I have not read the entire story so the voice might change or the author chooses to wrap it up more seriously at the end. All in all I think it is a great story and enjoyed reading it a lot.

TAD Essay

Different subjects share many similarities in their level of thinking and comprehension. In order to complete the task in these subjects, many levels are followed to be able to reach a conclusion and call that task a success and complete. Throughout my short career at George School, I have applied many steps in coming to a conclusion like a direct proof or syllogism, similar to that in mathematics or after trial and error come to the conclusion like in biology. However there are some steps that are skipped, applied or forgotten when it comes to problem solving or finishing a task. I have noticed this and how it differs from subjects, but two subjects that seem the farthest apart may contain the same aspects of higher level thinking. Bloom’s Taxonomy depicts what has become almost second nature to us as our education continues and we do the objectives on a chart without even consciously being aware we are doing these tasks. In this essay I will talk about and explain the process in which I went about completing my one hundred lines of poetry in English and completing my health presentation. In English we were assigned to write a hundred line poem in any style possible as we were given vast opportunity and freedoms in how we went upon doing this assignment. My knowledge of poetry opened doors on the different styles and meters that I could apply which lead to the creative aspect of this assignment. Creativity during this project comprised a large portion of this project, but it was through the analysis of a poet I gained influence and insight on a particular choice of style and then through synthesis was I able to find my creative and artistic choice. Breaking down information, synthesizing it and then creating a solution from these prior steps are common in English. When I go about interpreting poems or stories in English, this all arises from creative thinking. During this assignment, we developed a topic and constructed our poetry. Using free verse led to the construction of lines that were personal and deep as they were there to express a detailed image in the reader’s mind. Inventing the poetry from scratch and rewriting the poem after mistakes were found, is how I reached my final product. In English, every step we take in coming towards the final product is found in creativity. My Health presentation was about steroids and inhalants. Again like in English, and most other subjects, the first step in going about this project was applying my knowledge about these two substances. However, unlike English I feel that creative thinking is less common in health and there are more interpretations from facts. In the health presentation, we organized, planned and presented our presentation after analyzing the information. I believe that in Health, being creative is less often an opportunity than in English, because I believe that we derive information from what we discuss and offer. However, when we did use synthesis, we designed a visual aid to express emotions in the bland facts that we were performing to the class. Performance took time to perfect as it took a lot of organization and planning. Although Health does incorporate creativity into its subject field, it is not used in the same way as in English and remains parallel to it. But, how we use creativity in those specific ways heightens the intellectual thought process in the same way as in English. Health and English class lay on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to creativity. I now realized creative thinking is used more in English than in Health. When we read something in English, our creative thinking is our interpretation and perspective unlike Health where what we believe is from statistics that have no area for a different perspective, because they are accepted by everyone as an answer. Creativity is useful in English in whatever we do, because there is always room for a different point of view and this is usually encouraged. In health, we can learn the facts and understand them, but this is as far as we move on Blooms taxonomy chart. Through creative thinking in English conclusions, interpretations and hypothesis are formed. In Health, analysis and synthesis of information is how we understand and come to an end. In Health and in English, what we do on our levels of thinking are very different. In English creativity is important and a portion of finding answers. In Health, the facts are already given so there is no room for trial and error or creativity in what we mostly do. Creativity is not particularly useful in Health, however what we do in Health is similar to what we do in Math. Interpreting information, constructing something from what we were given and then developing something is how they are similar. While they are different in many areas, creativity is still used. Although creativity is used in both subjects, how we are creative and synthesize is different.

Spring Break

Spring Break this year was less eventful then years in the past, however it is always nice to get a break from school. I stayed home for most of the break, but for the last week I went down to North Carolina to visit my sister. While I was there I hung out with my sister who I hadn't seen since Thanksgiving and experienced the college atmosphere with March Madness going on at her school during my stay. While I was in North Carolina I was able to accomplish a lot, relax and take my mindset off of school. Visiting her and the campus was fun, but it was less lively than times in the past, because most students were depressed and sad as their basketball team was upset first round in March Madness by Mercer. Duke losing busted my bracket and many others, but it was further destroyed by upsets by teams like Dayton and Harvard. But all in all I had lots of fun during my break and look forward to the summer.