End of the Year Writing Reflection

This is from my non-fiction essay for the book I had read over the summer. There was a lot wrong with it. For one, I had several SAQ's which hindered my ability to properly provide textual evidence within my argument. I also had several problems with actually responding to the prompt, such as not referring to language devices etc. This is probably the best starting point for my "origin". Since at this time I had only taken regular English classes so my writing wasn't quite on the expected AP level yet. I had a lot of improving at this point and that's where I had went in my journey.

I think this was one of my, if not the best piece of writing I had this year. This was from the last practice exam we took referring to Thomas Paine's statement about living in America. This I think shows a lot of the improvements I made. For one, where I cite evidence, I didn't use an SAQ (which was a frequent problem my writing had throughout the entire year). Also, within this whole piece of writing I had developed my argument very well since that was a constant work in progress I had during the year. I always had good ideas but trouble with explaining said ideas, and in this piece I feel that my explaining skills were infinitely better than previously. 

I learned a lot about writing. I think the field I learned the most in was argumentative essays, such as avoiding logical fallacies or using a variety of methods to prove my point. I think I was challenged in the sense that I had to change how I had been writing for the past several years. Change is never easy but I needed to make it happen to improve my writing. I definitely grew in terms of how I approach my writing, I didn't really pre-plan in the past but do it all the time now. I'm very proud of how I have improved in critically analyzing text and being able to funnel thoughts I have into words on paper. And as for the future, I think I still need constant improvement towards revising my essays afterwards. Due to past habits I don't really revise afterwards (which is bad) so I definitely need to make sure I always do that.

How Huck Finn Should Have Ended

The Short Version:

Huck: "Oh hey Tom, I want to free that slave, Jim, over there."

Tom: "Jim? Oh he's free, it says so in Miss Watson's will."

Huck: "Oh okay, cool."

The End.

The Ending Everyone Wanted:

After managing to ditch the Duke and the King at the graveyard, Huck and Jim continued along the river. The whole way they were laughing and enjoying themselves, having talks about superstition and what not. Overall enjoying one another's company.

They soon got to this town and decided to go get some supplies, they were in northern territory so Jim didn't have to pretend to be a slave. While they were heading over to the shop, Jim and Huck heard a voice call out to them.

"Jim!" 

They looked to see a black woman followed by two black men walking over. 

"Mama?" Jim replied, his voice shuddering.

They all gathered in for a big hug, tears rolled down Jim's face as he was happy to finally be with his family. Jim looked over to see Huck standing there watching and invited him to join in the hug. Huck figured he may as well since he didn't care if it was something looked down upon by society, so he walked over and joined their group hug. Jim was finally where he wanted to be.

The End.

The Ending that I would want to happen:
Huck and Tom slid down the lightning rod, this was the night they would break Jim out of his prison and get him to freedom. The shed he was kept in was guarded by several paranoid farmers with guns. They came over after hearing about the notes that were left at Aunt Sally's house. So Huck and Tom had to be very careful to get Jim out to safety. 

Well when they got down there, they followed the plan Tom carefully crafted, and got Jim out. However, when they were running along, a few of the farmers blocked the path. 

"Stop right there!" One of them shouted as they held up their gun.

Huck, Jim and Tom had no idea what to do. When all of a sudden, a figure came out of the shadows and body slammed one of the farmers, and kicked another one in the face. He then yelled:

"CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOOOKKKIINNNN!"

Then R.K.O'd the third farmer in the path. 

Huck and the rest of them were absolutely stunned, but Tom saw this as a chance for them to escape so they contiued on and-

"Wait hold on, you're telling me that The Rock shows up and takes out the three farmers?"
"Well, uh, yea"
"Of all people why Dwayne Johnson?"
"I don't know it just seems fitting."
"This is dumb, I'm gonna go make some waffles" 
"Wait! Darius, no come back...ah well, I think my ending is pretty good."

The End.

How to survive on the Mississippi River

"We catched fish, and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness. It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big still river, laying on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn’t ever feel like talking loud, and it warn’t often that we laughed, only a kind of low chuckle." Hold up Huck, would living on the river be that laid back?

During our in class discussion Friday, we got a bit off topic and began discussing whether or not those of us in the class would be able to travel on the Mississippi River like Huck and Jim. This got me thinking, what would one realistically need to do to survive on the Mississippi River? Now we are going to assume that the individual only has access to what Jim and Huck had access to. So for transportation, you would be using a raft.

Let's talk a few numbers real quick: The Mississippi River is approximately 2,350 miles long and the average speed is about 1.2 miles per hour. That would take roughly 1,958 hours or 81.5 days to travel on. So it wouldn't be a short trip.

Now, what basic skills would one need to be able to survive? Well for one, knowing how to fish/hunt to acquire food and how to properly clean it. Making a campfire with would also be essential, not only for cooking but to prevent hypothermia as well. Now unfortunately, it would be impossible to travel using only what Jim and Huck had since drinking the river water would cause illness. Unless of course you're that hardcore.

Not to mention all the other dangers that would be along the way. From mosquitoes to alligators, there are plenty of natural hazards. But things like bears and snakes are mostly on land right? And aren't I on a river the whole time? Well, one would have to set up camp on land so you can start a fire, also, there are several portages (areas where you have to carry your canoe to the next section of water) along the way as well. So knowing how to deal with these hazards is also something one would need to know.

Overall, there would be more to it than simply floating down a river on a raft. One would need to know a plethora about wilderness survival. Also, if you dislike getting dirty, you may as well just stay home. And if snakes aren't your thing, better stop before you even start. However, if you think you can survive for 80+ days on a river and don't mind getting dirty, then you may be able to survive the Mississippi River.

How Movies Can Be Better Than The Book

Every year when a new movie comes, most of the time it is based off of a book. After that movie comes out you will hear all the fans of the book say "Oh my gosh the book was SOOO much better than the movie". So why do books get more praise than their movie counterparts? And does this mean that the movie has nothing about it that is better than the book?

In the past two weeks of Ms. Nagi's class, we read the play "The Crucible" and then we also watched the movie version of it. And when you watch the movie, there's several details that are left out. For example, Mercy showed up a few times in the play but in the movie she barely had any screen time. From a movie perspective this makes sense, because the producers wouldn't want a 4 hour movie so they cut out less important details. Also, they wouldn't want the audience to be confused so that's another reason some details don't make the cut. And Mercy barely being included is a perfect example of this, her part in the play is very minor and has little to no impact on events that happen, other than being one of the girls crying witchcraft. So why would the movie makers want to put time and resources into something as minor as that?

 Also, there are a lot of characters in the crucible and it's a little hard to follow along on who's who at the beginning of the play. However, in the play you can just flip back a few pages and re-read it to understand who's who, but if you're watching in the theater  you can't just rewind the movie. But even after all this, it makes sense why someone would still dislike the movie version. People in general dislike change very much. In English class, we never got assigned seats, but we all just sat somewhere on the first day of class and just continued sitting there even when there's nothing to stop you from sitting else where. So it makes sense that  when there's change in someone's favorite book or play, that they will dislike it very quickly.

But do movies have nothing about them that's actually better than the book? I think so. One of the biggest things that movies have over books is the power in which the actors can say the lines. For example, John Proctor's famous speech about his name: "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"

As you read that quote, you know it's supposed to be dramatic due to the inclusion of all the exclamation marks. But it isn't nearly as powerful as when Daniel Day-Lewis performed that scene in the movie version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYMLA84HobU

So there are pros and cons to both the movie version and written version of stories, but rather than bickering on which is better, we should all just appreciate how wonderful these stories are.

Andrew Miller's The Ordeal

Act I:

Denny was the smartest kid in Ms. Nagi's 11 AP english class. He got A's on all his tests and homework, meaning he had the highest grade. However, unknown to all the students in Ms. Nagi's class, Denny was actually getting his answers from Nidhi! She would text him the answers during class, and he would write them down on his test or homework. But suddenly one day, Nidhi hadn't texted Denny the answers, so here we find him at his desk praying to his phone he would get the homework answers soon.

(Denny's best friend Abdullah walks in)

Abdullah: Is everything alright Denny?

Denny: Step off Abdullah!

Abdullah: Did Nidhi not send you the answers today?

Denny: (wildly trying to get out of his seat to chase Abdullah) I said step off! (He is overcome with sadness and begins to cry, he goes to his desk and gently caresses his phone)

(He is sobbing over his desk holding his phone, when Evan walks in and sees him)

Evan: Denny?

Denny: Wh-what (furiously wipes away his tears) I-I wasn't crying.

Evan: Denny you don't need to hide the fact you were crying.

Denny: I swear I wasn't cryin- hey wait a minute. Why did I see you with Abdullah, Pedro and Blake in the media center yesterday?

Evan: Uh we were just chilling.

Denny: But it looked like you were all writing something down after Abdullah would say something.

Evan: Well Abdullah was rapping to us and we wanted to remember some of the lines he said, so we wrote them down. 

(Denny was awfully suspicious of Evan at this moment, but figured he'd stop asking about it)

Denny: Listen Evan, there's a group of students in class who want to be the smartest kid in class, so they'll do whatever it takes to overthrow me. I think they may have cheated on our last vocab and grammar quiz. 

Evan: Cheating!?!? That seems a bit over the top Denny (Evan is slightly sweating and his body language has shifted) couldn't they have just studied?

Denny: Impossible!

(From across the room, Kaylie walked over after eavesdropping on their conversation)

Kaylie: You could always call in Darius, Denny, he's very good at detecting whether or not someone has cheated.

Evan: How can he possibly do tha-

(Before Evan could finish Darius was already there next to him)

Darius: Did someone say...CHEATING!??!?!?

Denny: Yes, I believe a few students in here cheated on our last vocab and grammar quiz.

Darius: I suppose I could have a looksy. 

(Darius pulls out a Sherlock Holmes hat and over-sized magnifying glass and equips them. He then checks underneath each desk in the classroom)

Darius: Nothing written under the desks.

(Darius then goes and checks the whole floor for any suspicious pieces of paper)

Darius: (gasps) Well, well, well, what do we have here.

(Darius is holding a piece of paper that says "Prepositional phrases" on it with the rest of the text cut off)

Denny: Whose desk was that by?

Darius: It was by Abdullah's desk!

Denny: I knew it!

(Darius and Denny run out of the room with ludicrous speed, holding the piece of "evidence" they found. Shouting things like "The marshal, I'll call the marshal!" and "Glory to God! It is broken, they are free!" and other random quotes from the Crucible)

Evan: Uh-oh (texts a group chat on his phone called "Da Sqwad")

(On the text message) Guys...we have a problem.

To Be Continued

The Origin of a Meme

In English class recently, we've discussed origin stories. Stories like, "World on the Turtle's Back" and "Genesis" that helped the people who read these stories understand the origin of our world. So with all this talk about origin, it got me to think "How does a meme start?". At that point I turned to the Google to find out. After a bit of looking around, I found that there are several different ways a meme can start. So here are a few ways a meme originates.

What is a Meme?

In case you are unfamiliar with memes, a meme is kind of like a running joke on the internet. Memes are usually something relatable and humorous, and can even describe a certain "feeling". Some memes last longer than others and some are more popular. Hopefully this makes sense if you were unfamiliar with memes in the first place.

Real Life Events

The first potential cause for a meme, is a real life event. Take for example the most recent meme, Ken Bone. During the second presidential debate, many people on Twitter began making memes related to one of the audience members who asked a question. Why him? You may ask, and that's the thing, is memes from real life events usually happen when people notice something funny or out of the ordinary, and then meme-ify it. So in this case, Ken Bone's mustache and red sweater seemed to draw a lot of attention to it.

Another example of a real life event was during the Super Bowl 49 halftime show featuring Katy Perry. It was during this performance when the millions people watching witnessed "Left Shark". At one point during the show, Katy Perry was singing with two dancers at each side of her wearing shark costumes. The one on the left, however, seemed to be a bit confused since the way it was dancing was completely out of sync with the other performers on stage, and it was hilarious. This is another example of people noticing something out of the blue and creating a meme out of it.

A Viral Video

Viral videos aren't usually a reason for a meme, but it does happen occasionally. One that got a lot of views and attention is the  "Leeroy Jenkins" video from 2005. In this video, a group of people playing a game known as "World of Warcraft" were planning out an attack on a boss. However, one of the players in the group was AFK (away from keyboard) and didn't hear his group's plan to take down the boss. When he got back to his computer, he ran straight into the room while yelling his name "LEEEEROOY JENNNKKIINSS!". This ended up killing his entire group and ruining their plan to kill the boss. Now, "Leeroy Jenkins" is a meme to describe someone running in without planning. And this is how it is with many viral videos, they have something comedic and relatable which spawns a new meme. (The part where he runs in starts at 1:23).

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Websites

Now this origin is pretty broad, but there's multiple websites that are known for creating new memes. You may have heard of sites like ""Reddit" and "4chan", which are forum sites, allowing people to discuss various topics. Both of these websites have been the origin for memes like Pepe the Frog, Dat Boi and various other memes. Why these memes get so popular on these websites is unknown to me. But it could be that since the people discussing it share similar interests, they all find it funny and create memes from it.