Curation Progress Report Week 3

     This week was super busy for me, but I still managed to get some things accomplished. I found music, more outfits, some hipster sayings, activities that people in this movement partake in and other miscellaneous anti-mainstream things.
     The most interesting piece that I curated this week would definitely have to be the music I found, because not a lot of people have heard these songs or like heard of these bands; and that's what makes them anti-mainstream because like no one knows about them..yet.
     There actually weren't any obstacles I had to overcome this week that was entirely about the curation itself. It was more of other things going on, like homework and projects for other classes and prom weekend was coming up, so I just had to manage my time and actually find time to search for good things to use and evaluate everything I found to make sure it was good enough to post.
     The next three steps are: organizing everything that I've found onto their respective boards, find some more things that not a lot of people know about, and finally put the finishing touches to the Pinterest I made for this curation project.
      I hope to finish this project off with a bang.

Curation Progress Report Week 2

       A week has now passed and it was a week filled with accomplishments. I actually decided to change my place of curation; so instead of a Tumblr blog, I am now curating on Pinterest. I felt it would be easier to use the different boards to organize the different items that I have curated. I designed a Pinterest page called HipstrPrspectiv (because it can only be 15 characters long) that currently has fourteen items pinned onto different boards, according to what category they fall into. I have made boards for: quotes, outfits, music, and accessories, beauty, photographs and miscellaneous items.
       The most interesting piece of information I found this week on my search for the epitome of hipster/anti-mainstream, has got to be the fact that people who are part of this movement know about things before everyone else does. Like they are able to find things in their lives, around the world, or on the internet before anyone else can, and when that song finally plays on the radio or the rest of the world finds out about that website or teenagers catch up to that fashion trend, they have already known about it for a while. They know about things before they're "cool."
       Right now, the biggest obstacle I have to overcome is finding music that hasn't been played on the radio yet. Music that hasn't really been heard of. And evaluate each song to make sure it doesn't beautify drugs and alcohol. This will be hard for me because I only listen to mainstream music so this should be a challenge.
       The next three steps are going to be: finding music that narrates this anti-mainstream movement, finding more written information, adding on to the categories I already have.
       I'm doing pretty well on finding photos and I hope it continues to be that way.

Curation Progress Report Week 1

       This week, I accomplished a couple of things. First, I got my topic approved: the story of the anti-mainstream movement of the generation, also known as "hipsters," and how to become one. Then, I picked where I was going to build this curation: designing a blog on Tumblr called The Hipster Perspective. Next, I searched for pictures, quotes, information and anything else that had even the smallest thing to do with my topic. I collected some photos that I acquired from the internet that I may or may not post on my blog. I have to Evaluate these photos before I post, them to make sure they are worth posting. These photos include: outfits, music, activities and sayings.
       The most interesting piece of information I found this week were the different opinions and definitions of what people think anti-mainstream means or how they perceive and consider something hipster. Looking at other people's blogs on Tumblr and the things that pop up on Google searches, have been really interesting and there are so many definitions from so many different people out there about how and what they categorize as anti-mainstream/hipster.
       Like I said above, there are already so many perspectives of the anti-mainstream movement of the generation out there, so the biggest obstacle I need to overcome is to pick and choose the photos, outfits, music, activities and sayings that epitomize my view of the anti-mainstream movement. What I think exemplifies what it means to be a hipster and how to be one. My curation will be entirely about what a 17 year old girl, living in the north shore, thinks is hipster. And even though there are so many hipster things all over the interent, I haven't really seen something that teaches someone how to become a hipster. It will be challenging to put together enough information for someone who has no idea what this movement is and to narrate to them everything that comes with and how to live this kind of lifestyle; and to do it in an organized and easy manner.
       The next steps from here are: finding more music that I consider anti-mainstream, acquiring more written information about what this movement is about and not just posting pictures about it, and lastly, putting some sort of step-by-step way of how to become a hipster.
       Currently, the project has been going well, but I need to organize the items that I have started curating into a meaningful way.

Best of Week: 6 Sense Technology TED Talk

       This week we continued the TED talk presentations, but the one that stood out the most to me was Taso's about the new technological beak-through that his TED presenter came up with.
       The innovation is called 6 sense technology, I think, and it makes technology more human by integrating the computer with our lives. Now that may sound bad, but it's actually a pretty cool thing. The way that this technology works is that you have sensors on your fingers, a computer and a projector on a necklace you wear and maybe a small computer in your back pocket. You are able to use virtually any surface as a screen and are able to transfer documents and other such things from the 6 sense device to anywhere else you want it and everything is done all with your hands; and that's how easy it is and that is how he made technology more human.
       This technological innovation has got me thinking about how far the human race has come; and in all honesty, I'm pretty surprised we've come this far. I mean we don't have flying cars yet, but hey, I can work with this new cellphone/computer. It also makes me think about how much this will change the technology we use and how we create things in the future. If this technology was developed three years ago, think about how incredible it'll be ten years from now; I'd like to see Apple beat that one.
       If someone told me about this innovation, I probably would not have believed them until I saw it for myself. When Taso played the TED video of his presenter demonstrating how to use the 6 sense technology, I literally was staring at the screen in awe. I would have never thought that someone out there actually developed something like this; it was just too unreal, like something out of a movie. I now have so much faith in the human race, because if we could develop something as awesome as this, we could hopefully develop some pretty radical things in the coming future.
       What's really exciting about being part of this generation is that that are so many new things and innovations that people are coming up with right now and we're like the first people who can actually obtain these things and use them. It'll definitely be interesting and fun to see what people come up with in the next couple of decades. I'm just really excited that I get to be a part of all of this.

Metacognition: The Mashup Process

       Creating a mashup was a very different experience for me. At first, I thought that I was doing it wrong, but I figured that a mashup is supposed to feel wrong, right? I mean, I was putting quotes from here and there, pictures that had something to do with my two topics, I was using sources in the Humanities curriculum, and sources outside of the curriculum, and everything just felt wrong; but in the end, everything felt right, everything blended together and formed one meaningful mashup.
       My thinking while doing this mashup was at times all over the place and very random, but I would like to say that it was intellectual most of the time. I found quotes about solitude and writing from different parts of the book; I must admit that I stumbled upon the quotes, but they ended up being meaningful quotes that I actually really liked and that's how they ended up in my mashup. The pictures I found on Tumblr, were sprinkled all over the place and I just happened to find them which was really interesting and thought it was a hint from the universe that I should put them in my mashup. The sources that I found outside of humanities, were quotes and pictures from things that played a huge role in my life; Taylor Swift is my idol and I wanted to incorporate her in my mashup because when I feel alone (or solitary) her and her music always seems to be there for me. John Green is my new favorite author and I've only read two of his novels, but they were so incredibly written then I could just sit here and read them again and again and I can't wait to read his other work.
       I think the way that I found the parts of my mashup was very natural, and they sort of just came to me in a way, I didn't go looking for them. When we got the assignment, I also kind of knew then what i wanted to put in my mashup which made things easier; for example, the three quotes that I used for the parts from the Humanities curriculum came from three works that we studied that I really enjoyed.
       If I was asked what I wanted to change anything about my mashup, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm proud of what I did and I believe I thought of some pretty creative things to mash together.
       Because this was such a new assignment to me, I was really surprised that I was able to get myself to focus. A mashup has a very random nature to it and it was surprisingly easy to keep my mind on track and not veer off into tangents while creating a mashup about writing and solitude. I was also kind of surprised at how creative I got while creating this, because being a fourth quarter senior, my mind is totally out of school mode right now.
       I really liked how my mind just kept giving me ideas while I was working on this project. It surprises me that I have so much stored in the back of my mind that I don't use and they all just come springing forward when the time comes. I honestly would have never thought about half of the stuff I put in my mashup if it wasn't for my creative thinking. So, I was really surprised that I got through it and came up with some pretty great things to loop together.
       Overall, creating a mashup for Letter to a Young Poet was a fun new experience and it showed me that my mind isn't tuned out all the way yet.

iMedia: Frank Gehry's Architecture

      Frank Gehry and his architecture has taken the "norm" out of the word normal. As one can see, the building to the left and to the bottom are not normal looking buildings. The one to the left looks as if it will collapse at any moment because of the weird bend, but it's called art. The building at the bottom looks like it's from the future. Even though we are not used to seeing buildings like this, Gehry's architecture has changed the way buildings can be built, and his creativity has changed the way we think. If you Google "Frank Gehry Buildings" you will find some of his best works and some of the most interesting buildings you have ever

seen. By watching a documentary about him, we were able to see how his creative process works. He basically takes random pieces of paper and puts them on a model in weird and awkward angles and wa-la, we've got ourselves a fantastic new building.
     What I'm getting to is that by seeing Gehry's work and being able to see how he creates it, gives students like us hope. Hope that maybe one day, things that we create- whether it be "normal" or not-will change someone's view. Gehry's work was unlike anything before, it's very modern and sometimes it's hard to understand, but his awkwardly shaped and futuristic looking buildings has made him a sufficient load of money. Architecture was something his old teacher told him wasn't for him, but now he's made well-known and well-liked buildings, and he's doing something he absolutely loves and he gets paid for it, so what's better than that?
     Gehry has also paved a way for others to create whatever goes on in their mind, to make something of themselves and maybe one day, their art can be appreciated as well.

Blogging Around

Justine: Connecting the movie Once to other Hollywood movies. Deliberating on similarities and differences.

I agree with you, that the movie Once was so different from some of the movies that I usually want to see or watch. It was kind of a nice change from the typical love story from those Hollywood movies because most movies have gotten very predictable and they're not that fun to watch anymore. What happened in this movie was definitely unexpected because I was totally predicting that the two main characters were going to end up together. Like you said, the way he showed her that he cared about her was something new, but still cute at the same time. I also agree with your point about Once and other Hollywood movies; Hollywood movies are now being filmed in a way for the audience to feel like they're watching a home video and for the audience to feel that the story is real. It was something far-fetched from the movies I am used to watching, but it was nice. Great job on your blog!

Rachel: Talks about the inconvenient truth about technology, how it evolved and how it may be hurting us more now than helping us.

Everything you said about technology was so true. I do believe that technology has become a total obsession than a helper. I could never, never, never get rid of my iPhone because it's like a part of me. I just couldn't imagine life without it and I keep wondering how I lived without it before; that makes me sound like a totally iPhone obsessed person, but I bet half the teenage population would agree with me. I almost never just use my phone for texting now, it's always for social media apps and games. It is definitely a need now. I think we should take a break away from technology as well and get back to going outside and hanging out with friends in one place instead of talking to each other and staring at a computer screen all day.

Change of Mind: Postmodernism

       Before going over the Modernism and Postmodernism chart in class, I payed no attention to those two words; to be honest, I didn't really know what those words meant. Then, we went through a very organized chart that differentiates between Modernism and Postmodernism. I took an interest in the Postmodernism side, because it's from 1945 to the present, the time period in which I lived in and am living in now.
       In "The Individual" part of the chart under Postmodernism, two ideas spoke to me. The first, "space is corporate" (Allen) was something I didn't think about before. I didn't look around and notice all the ads that were plastered in every open space or the arenas, buildings and other places named after companies. When I watch the Blackhawks play, the rink is covered in advertisements from all their sponsors and there isn't a space left untouched by corporations. By talking about this, it helped me realized that space is corporate, companies own almost everything we use and the places we walk into everyday. The second, "mediation of experience: what is distant can be close and what is close can be distant" (Allen). Another idea that I also did not think about before discussing it in class. I admit that I'm the person that is always on their phone, but then again, so are my friends. We all have iPhone's now, so we get anything instantly and we can access anything when we want to, it's all in the palm of our hands, literally. But, I guess that's the problem isn't it? We distance ourselves from the people close to us who are there then and there, by using our phones to connect with people who aren't there.
       The section, "Worldview" changed the way I see the world today. Two more ideas, changed my mind on my worldview. I learned a new word: Pastiche, it is the coexistence of the past and present (Allen). We examined how the people from the past influenced the way we built, created, and mastered things in today's society. How architecture from ancient Greece can be seen on modern buildings, how we took old inventions and made them better and more efficient. The little things from the past are sprinkled here and there and now I know that they're there. Then, there is the idea that "the distinction between economic and cultural breaks down" (Allen). Commercials are supposed to help sell a product, but nowadays they seem more like a public service announcement and they use like 3/4 of the commercial to talk about something other than the product... like the Chrysler Superbowl commercial... was that supposed to be about the car or a farmer?
       Lastly, the section "Truth" and the fact that it is "impossible to have historical authenticity" (Allen) changed my mind as well. I always thought as a kid and even now, that places like Disneyworld and places where we can go on cool safaris were really fun! but apparently places like that destroys historical authenticity, because instead of visiting the actual place we can get the fake version right here close to home. I understand that they're trying to make it convenient so we don't have to travel to those far away lands, but I would actually much rather see the real, true thing in person where it's naturally supposed to be.
       So, by going through the Postmodernism side of the chart and seeing all the examples, my mind has been changed and I look at the world in a different perspective.

Connection: Humanties & Sociology

       Lately, I've been noticing that some things I'm learning in one class are very closely related to something I'm learning in another class. It's like de ja vu, but not really. Anyways, a new semester means new classes, which means everything must feel new, right? wrong. I thought that by switching some of my electives, I'd get some new information, but turns out, the history and english departments are put in the same wing of the school together for a reason; because they mysteriously go over some of the same topics.
       In Sociology we're talking about social "norms" and deviant behavior. In an article we read in class, social "norm" is defined as what a society expects an individual to behave and deviance is defined as behaviors that go against a society's rules. Then, we elaborated on social control -which is how a society keeps people from breaking the rules- and came up with external controls (authority figures), internal controls (morals), rewards and punishments. The people of a society conform to these rules in fear of punishment; which means that conformity and "going with the flow" both play huge parts in how people act, but deviant behavior comes from nonconformity and going against the flow.
       What does this have to do with humanities you ask? Well, to start off the new semester in humanities we discussed challenging the status quo.We had to read a letter Martin Luther King Jr. wrote while he was in Birmingham jail, and annotate for sections in which he talked about how one should and why one should challenge the status quo.
       So, the two things I read have multiple things in common. External forces were involved in both passages: police officers, parents and other authority figures keep the inhabitants of a society in check, while MLK talks about how external forces (like policemen, politicians, white people) are keeping African Americans from fully practicing their God given rights. Internal forces also play a role: people decide to take part in deviant behaviors because they lack internal morals, MLK talks about how morality should help African Americans in their fight for equality. Those who commit deviant acts are punished to maintain order in a society, MLK lists many occurrences in which African Americans are punished for being born a certain color, which is absolutely unfair.
       Most importantly, these two passages taught me that sometimes conformity isn't the best thing one can do; because nonconformity and challenging the status quo can lead to changes that a society may need.   

Blogging Around

Maura blogged about getting organized. She explained how she always lost clothes due to a "monster/black hole" in her dresser and what she did to kill that monster and get her dresser drawers in a more organized manner.

Maura, I liked how you used a clothes-eating monster as an excuse for losing your clothes.. haha just kidding! Losing clothes is nothing new to me either, so I'm pretty sure there is also a monster/black hole in my closet. Whenever I reorganize my closet I always make piles for clothes I want to keep and those I want to donate as well. Feeling guilty about giving away certain items of clothing always keep me from finishing my task right away, but in the end, I always think that someone out there probably needs this sweater or this pair of jeans more than I do. I am such a neat freak all the time so I get the piles of clothes into nicely folded stacks in no time like you did! After accomplishing something like the task you described, I feel much more relaxed and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders just like you said you felt. Overall, great blog entry because I was able to relate to everything you explained!

Justine thought that the best of the week of November first was the video of the starlings. She talked about the process her group went through to come up with a myth and a scientific reason as to why and how the starlings fly around the lake the way they do.

Justine, I agree that each week is very different in humanities. I thought that the most interesting idea that week was also the video about the starlings. It was so cool to watch them fly over the lake like that and without colliding. My group got their creative juices flowing and we found that the only thing hard about the assignment was picking ONE of the endless amounts of myths we made up. I like how you brought up that this activity helped us see like the people back then who actually believed in myths. It was also interesting the way you ended your blog by saying that we still don't know everything because I love the saying, "we learn something new everyday" and there have been many times that that statement has been proven.

Metacognition: Organizing My Room

          On a beautiful, sunny Sunday, I spent exactly fifty-three minutes re-organizing my room. I threw away unneeded papers, put clothes back into my closet, cleared the desk space of random objects, and put everything laying around back into its designated space.
          Before actually starting this project, I felt super lazy and not motivated at all because it's a lot of work re-organizing my bedroom and I just didn't feel like doing it. During the process though, I got more motivated and I didn't feel lazy anymore and I was on a roll putting things back where they belonged and being able to see my actual desk and floor made me feel good. After organizing my entire room, I felt proud of myself for accomplishing such a big task all by myself.
          This project made my mind feel more organized and peaceful. I wasn't worrying about the mess and all the random objects cluttered around my room. My thoughts were just more relaxed I guess and I didn't feel as stressed as before.
          I now know that I have too many clothes, I keep papers that I don't really need, I own a bunch of random things that pop out of no where and that I should really just put things back where they came from after I use them because that would be easier than re-organizing my room every week. I also realized that I have a lot more storage space than I thought I had.
          Nothing really surprises me about my thinking anymore. I mean I always think about things ahead of time, like what outfits I'm going to where that week or projects and homework I need to do. If something needs to be done within a certain amount of time, then it's always on my mind until I get it done.

iMedia: Stand Up To Cancer

    The video on the left is of Taylor Swift singing her song called Ronan. She wrote this song for a little four year old boy who died of cancer earlier this year. It's quite an emotional song and the lyrics are so heartfelt. 

         She performed this song on the televised event Stand Up to Cancer. This matters because it is so important for people to support this event. It's a great cause and it really does help those people who have cancer. I know that hundreds of people die every day because of cancer and not many of them get media attention like Ronan did, but by watching the event and donating any amount of money, you can help someone out there. 

        This matters to me because even though I have never had a family member die of cancer, my heart goes out to those families who have; especially those who've lost kids to it because they still had their whole lives ahead of them. I really wish that I could do way more than just donate money and advertise and tell people about this because I really want to help people who live with cancer, who fight for their lives everyday.

        It should matter to others because no one can do something huge and life changing by themselves, but if a group of people get together and try to make a change, then something significant will happen; it may sound cliche, but the more people that stand up to cancer, the more lives will be saved.
        There are so many people out their fighting for their lives because they've been given a certain amount of time to live, while others go through everyday without a second thought about when their final day will come. People should donate to charities for cancer so everyone can get a chance to live their lives for as long as possible.

Best of Week: Aesthetics

       When Mr. Allen wrote the word Aesthetics on the board in class on Monday, I had no idea what that word meant to me. The definition: the structure and rules of appreciating beauty. As I stared at the words written on the board, I realized that I never thought that there were rules about appreciating beauty. And that I never knew about this wonderful word. I was enlightened.
       This made me think about how I have gone through seventeen years of my life without knowing such a thing as aesthetics. Maybe the word has come up before, somewhere in these seventeen years, but I don't remember ever using it or working with it. It makes me think about how there could be any rules to appreciating beauty? I always thought that one could find beauty in whatever they found beauty in, and that was it. It makes me wonder what the rules are.
       Aesthetics hasn't really connected to my knowledge until we went through Sophie's World and picked out quotes and phrases that- I guess- represented the rules of appreciating beauty. So, because I have never heard of this word until now, that is the only thing that I can connect to my knowledge.
       Once again, aesthetics doesn't really connect to me beliefs because I believe that there aren't any rules to appreciating beauty.
       I am really glad that I've learned this word because now I can see the books I read, the paintings I look at, the music I listen to and everything else I happen to stumble upon in my life, in a different, more artistic way. Aesthetics has opened my eyes to the world around me.

Metacognition: Creativity Essay

       When I sit down to write an essay, I used to always plan every single detail; from the attention-grabber, transitions into new paragraphs, ending sentences, order of paragraphs, and finally the conclusion. Lately though, I have found that I don't really plan like that anymore; I read the prompt, come up with a couple of ideas, and start typing what's going on in my head, onto Microsoft Word. 

       There are many things that surprise me about my thinking while writing an essay like the creativity essay. For one, the most random things go through my head and surprisingly more often than not, those things turn into some pretty great ideas. More than half the thoughts I put into my creativity essay were random things that popped into my head while writing it. Another thing that surprises me about the way I think now, is what I said before: I barely planned the creativity essay to be completely honest. I understood the prompt, picked a class I thought was really boring and just went to town. Ideas just seem to flow out when I sit down and write now- which means humanities is actually making me more creative than I was.

      The main thing I like about my thinking is that it has no limits. I think about the most random things. There is an unlimited amount of ideas in there. I can think about anything and everything. And yeah, I guess everyone's minds can have no limits, but I don't know that for sure. So, all I'm saying is, my mind can take in and come up with almost anything. Once you read my creativity paper, you'll know what I'm talking about; the different paragraphs in that essay show so many sides of my mind, especially the creative side that humanities has brought out. 

      I think it's really good that my mind is so open and expandable. It can basically adapt to anything. It really helps me stay open to new things. And it definitely helps me a lot while writing essays; my thoughts bring up interesting ideas that I use in my papers and it also brings forth interesting ways to communicate those ideas. 

       If I had to choose one thing that I would want to work better, I would chose my intellectual thinking. I find that I have a hard time finding math and science interesting, so I don't pay that much attention to those classes. They are classes I need to graduate and I would like to raise my grades in them. Creativity doesn't really play a big part in those classes so that doesn't help me a lot there. I just want my mind to be more intelligent I guess. 

        All in all, this is what goes on in my head, how I think and what I would like to work on. 

Blogging Around

Deena M: In her blog, she talks about her journey through switching from a private to a public school; the things she dreaded and the good things that came out of the change.

Deena, I could kind of relate to your situation because I grew up in New York and that's where I went to school before third grade. I loved my life there and that's the only life I knew, until one day my parents sat me down, too, and told me that we were moving to Glenview, Illinois, a suburb I have never heard about before. I was really young then and obviously I didn't have a huge say in it, so I packed my bags and moved with my family. I dreaded the same things you did: how much will my life change? will the kids like me there? will it be hard to fit in? so many questions ran through my mind. Looking back at it, I'm glad my parents made me move because I've have met so many amazing people here that I would like to stay friends with for the rest of my life. I remember meeting you in sixth grade and we became really good friends! I'm glad you and I moved because we would have never met each other and all our other amazing friends and we wouldn't have the incredible memories that we do today if it didn't happen.

Maria G: She brings up the question that Mr. Allen asked us all on the first day, "what makes you extremely happy?" and she says she knows that one day, some time in the near or far future, she will find what makes her happy, and that's what makes her happy.

Maria, I just want to start this comment off by saying that I honestly really liked this blog entry. When he asked us this question on the first day, I was going to say the same thing you did, but he said to say something else so I said vacations and Bridesmaids instead! After reading your entry though, I realized that I have been thinking about that question, too. I think the question came up at a decent time because if he hadn't asked it, it wouldn't be thinking about it now that we are starting to decide what we want to do with the rest of our lives. Just like you, when my relatives asked me what I wanted to do in college, I would always reply with, "I have no idea," but after exploring the majors at multiple colleges and seeing inspiration in the world around us, I think I've got my list of choices down to a top 5, but I won't go into that. Oh, and I also love to read and design! Those babies laughing videos are so great and they make me happy every time I watch one. I'm glad you found that by not knowing what your future holds, but knowing that one day you'll just know that you've found something that makes you mind-numbingly happy, makes you happy! Harvey MacKay once said, "find something you love to do and you'll never work a day in your life," and that's what I want to do.

Connection: Edward & Clara and Edward & Bella

          I am connecting Edward and Clara's relationship in The Shadow Catcher, to Edward and Bella's relationship in The Twilight Saga. Even though their stories are decades and worlds apart, I found multiple similarities between them.
          Starting at the beginning of their relationships, both couples started a "friendship," you could say, through an accident. A gun shot rang through the forest, startling Edward and causing him to fall off a roof and Clara ran to him to provide some care. Bella was in the school parking lot and had a near death experience when a fellow classmate almost ran her over with his car, but Edward came to her rescue, stopping the car.
          After these accidents, their "friendships" seemed to blossom. Clara talked to Edward about her life, she read him books and they bonded by talking about art and portraits. Bella and Edward also talked about their families and their lives while out to dinner one night, and the one special moment that bonded Bella and Edward was when Edward played Bella a song on the piano called "Bella's Lullaby," which is a form of art.
          Another thing I found that these two couples had in common was when the men left. Edward Curtis left Clara the morning after they slept together. Edward Cullen left Bella in the second book, New Moon, because he didn't want to hurt her anymore. While they both had different reasons, they both still left the women that loved them.  And of course, just like in every love story, even though they were left behind, both Clara and Bella went back to their men.
          Lastly, both couples took the next step in their relationships without a second thought: sex. It's a subject I won't get into too much, but it's important because it was a huge step in both relationships. It was the moment that helped Clara decide that she really did love Edward and it was the same way for Bella when she and Edward did it in Breaking Dawn.
          The one way I think that these two relationships inform each other is that one relationship lacks, what the other has. Edward and Clara's relationship may not be fully developed yet, but I can tell that Edward Curtis does not love Clara the way Edward Cullen loves Bella. At this point, honestly, I can't find something the Edward and Clara's relationship has, that Edward and Bella's relationship doesn't, but I guess we'll see what we find in the next chapter, Clara and Edward.
          This relationship provides an insight for me into two completely different relationships, yet I found multiple similarities. It was interesting to be able to look at a relationship between two people in the 1900's versus a relationship in 2008. It gave me two different perspectives on something that I don't normally think about.
         

Best of Week: We Live in a "Post-Idea World"

          After reading The Elusive Big Idea by Neal Gabler this week, I realized that I strongly agree with him. "Ideas just aren't what they used to be" (Gabler) and it's so true; no one is coming up with incredible inventions that would help our environment or help the economy get better or end world hunger. I mean there might be people out there in the corners of the world doing these things, but we don't know about them because the media is focused on the new iPhone 5 that just came out. Alexander Graham Bell- who invented the telephone- or Benjamin Franklin- who discovered electricity- would not be impressed with the new innovations we are coming up with in the 21st century; which are mostly next generation Apple products and new cars. I think we, as the human population, should focus on things that would help our being.
          One of the things that made me think while reading this article is when Gabler says, "to have gone backward intellectually from advanced modes of thinking into old modes of belief." I think he means that nowadays, instead of thinking about how to solve a problem with a new solution, we look back at how people did it before us and use their methods. Secondly, he brings up the point that "at a time when we know more than we have ever known, we think about it less. [...] We are certainly the most informed generation in history" (Gabler). This is definitely true because we can access so much information from the internet that instead of thinking about how we can answer a question, we can just type the question into Google and get the answer right away. Lastly, I think the most significant thing he mentions in this article is, "it is certainly no accident that the post-idea world has sprung up alongside the social networking world" (Gabler). This makes me think about how the only thing I hear people talk about these days are what's going on on Facebook or who's tweeting what or what pictures people reblog on Tumblr. I feel like people are just so unoriginal these days because they see things on those social networking websites and that's where they get their ideas; I feel like these sites keep us from being creative and limit the ways we can expand our minds.
          The one thing that I could relate to in this article and about living in a "post-idea world" is the idea that, "among the young- [...] ideas are more difficult to express" (Gabler). This is a connection to myself because I do find it hard to be creative, especially with the my Mindbook, but I'm trying my best. When I use twitter, it sometimes makes it hard to express ideas because of the 140 character limit.
          In the end, I totally and whole-heartedly agree with everything Neal Gabler talks about in his article. We do live in a world where creativity is slowly fading away and it is harder for people to express their creative sides. Hopefully, better sooner than later, instead of moving backwards from thinking, we can move towards it again.
         

Carry It Forward: "The Writer"

Yesterday in class, we discussed the poem The Writer and how Richard Wilbur uses the starling, and the narrator to give readers different perspectives.  We also talked about how Tim O'Brien used different perspectives to try to help his audience understand the Vietnam War in his book The Things They Carried.

The whole perspective idea is valuable to me because I think that it makes writing much more interesting and fun to see a work of art in multiple, completely different perspectives. I think it's important for readers to be able to see a story or a painting in different views so they can understand it as a whole. By reading a story or a piece of writing in different perspectives, readers are able take out different meanings from the text and recognize the depth of the writing instead of just seeing it in a general view.
I will definitely be doing some more writing after high school and I'm considering maybe even writing a book after college. Being able to really think about the idea of different perspectives has really inspired me and now I want to include different perspectives in my writing this year and in the future. It's brought another element of writing into my mind and I really want to work with it. I think the idea we discussed yesterday, will improve my writing tomorrow (as in the rest of my life).