Not Saying Goodbye Quite Yet

I do not want to make this a goodbye blog because that simply would not make sense. In a short term perspective, I will see all of you at graduation, senior activities, graduation parties, and blossom very soon. But also in the long term perspective, I know that many of my fellow AP English classmates are the people I am not going to let fade out my life. Moving on from high school is a really bizarre feeling because you know that even after you leave everything still keeps moving almost exactly the same without you there…the only change is that now the overwhelming feeling of not belonging in that building in the way you did before. It is pretty much the perfect definition of bittersweet as we try to let go of this familiar lifestyle and plunge headfirst into the new life changing circumstances of college. So, I am not saying goodbye to anyone yet…but I would like to say thanks to Ms. Seresnky and all the AP Englishers for an amazing two years.

I would like to end my blog with three of my favorite quotes  (Ms. Serensky-feel free to use these gems on the board next year if you want J)

“"so often times it happens, we live our lives in chains, and never even know we have the key." -The Eagles

"In order to discover new oceans, you must let yourself lose sight of the shore."-anonymous

"Sometimes good things falls apart so better things can fall together."-Marilyn Monroe

Time of My Life

Time of Your Life-AP English Tribute

Another soapstone done,
and a book stuck on the shelf.

Complaining consumes again,

As Juniors try to cope.

So make the best of this AP 11 test
and don't waste time.

It’s not an option,
but a duty to succeed.

Ms. Serensky’s voice rings in your head,
and forces you to endure.
I hope you wrote the essay of your life.

So take the data sheets
and poetry papers from your binder.

Put them where you want,
to cherish or to burn.

Stickers on papers,
and funny quote sheets stay.

For all this work,
it went by so fast.

Now the AP 12 test is past
and it’s all come to an end.
I hope you learned all you could.

It's simultaneously disappointing
to have to say goodbye to English.

I know I had the time of my life.



TIme of Your Life-Green Day



To: 10th Grade Honors English Student

Deat Tenth Grader,

Just do it. It is impossible to describe exactly the way that AP English makes you smarter, a better studier, a harder worker and all around more balanced person…it just does. I feel like we do not give the class justice as when we stomp around the halls complaining about soaptstones, data sheets, papers, too many quotes to memorize, and all the rest of the work. But all of those things are just part of the day-to-day struggle that do not even come close to comparing to the amazing feeling at the completion of a paper, a discussion week, a month, a year, or even two years of work. Accomplishment does not really mean anything unless you actually work for it, so in AP English you know that the accomplishments are real. We all know that there are some joke classes in this high school, so why not take one that actually challenges you? Why not accept the struggle and the workload and learn how to push yourself like you have not had to before? Why not get over the idle laziness and fear and attempt to expand yourself as a student and person? I swear I am telling the truth when I say that this letter is not short because I am tired from the AP 12 test we just took, it is short because there is not really any way to put into cohesive words why to do AP English. Challenge, struggle, eustress, learning, work, dedication, commitment, raised expectations, overcoming, successs. Just do it.

Love,

Carolyn 

Rodney, Jack and Harding

Rodney: “I don’t know what that means”(Currie 131). (peering over Carolyn’s shoulder at AP test)

Jack: “I have no doubt about that”(Wilde 3).

Rodney: “ Take it easy”(Currie 52).

Jack: “What?”(Wilde 15) (aggressively)

Rodney: “ I don’t want you here. I’m sorry to be rude”(Currie 135).

Jack: “You always want to argue about things”(Wilde 15).

Rodeny: “I don’t like making conflict with anyone”(Currie 132).

Jack: “You never talk anything but nonsense”(Wilde 18).

Harding: “the cracked pots of mankind”(Kesey 238). (mumbles this to himself while rolling eyes)

(moment of tense, uncomfortable silence before shifting their attention back to Carolyn)

Rodeny: “It’s an off day”(Currie 135). (watching Carolyn struggle).

Jack: “Why on earth do you say that?”(Wilde 5).

Harding: “You underestimate her!”(Kesey 64).

Jack: “There’s a sensible, intellectual girl!”(Wilde 18).

Harding: “You see my friend” (Kesey 83) (points at her completed test).

Rodney: “Really? Already?”(Currie 135) (shocked)

Harding: "Yes"(Kesey 190).

(they exit the testing room)

Jack: “Charming day it has been”(Wilde 10). 

Jack

Harding 

Rodney?

Favorite Book

I love One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for a whole array of reasons. I really find mental illness and the history of psychiatric treatments fascinating. The period of time in the 1950’s and 1960’s when 1 in 3 families admitted a member to a psychiatric ward, where the doctors knew very little about how to deal with the patients, really interests me.  It is a unique subject because it shows science going down a dark path with high mortality rates from lobotomies, patient abuse, “brain buring” (electric shock therapy), and other experimental procedures, and then taking a turn for the better as modern science advanced (178). So basically, I just find the content that this novel deals with really interesting. Also, Ken Kesey is the man. I would be lying if I said that the author of this book discovering the Grateful Dead, holding crazy acid parties, hanging out in a insane asylum, and driving a hippie van around the country, did not make me love this book before we even read it. No matter how you look at it, this guy rocks. Also, the writing style depicts another reason why I love this novel. The creeping feeling of doubt in everything the narrator says makes the book seem even more crazy and content appropriate as Kesey brilliantly leaves some facts unclear. This helps his point that “it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen”, and this whole idea really appealed to me (8). Throughout the entire book, a detached, eerie feeling put the audience in the characters shoes as you “float…more lost than ever” through it,  and this made the vibe of the book really unique (136). This novel also prompted some undeniably great class discussions and comments. For example, when Ms. Serensky posed the question, “Does anyone know anything about Cuckoo birds?” and Thomas responded with something like, “Don’t they come out of clocks on the hour?”. Without this book, such an epic interaction could not have taken place. Lastly, something that may sway my personal love of this book is the fact that we concluded studying it by watching Inception…enough said. Overall, I loved the experience of reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Top 10 Most Thrilling Academic Moments of my High School Career

1) First Day of High School: it does not seem like much because there actually was very little academic learning that went on, and in reality “You did nothing” that first day…but it still seems list worthy (Currie 292). After receiving about a hundred of those various colored sheets outlining classroom rules, curriculum plans, and safety precautions, the thrill of starting off as an actual high school student blew my 14 year old mind.

2) First Football Game with High School Marching Band: I think that because band is a class during the day, and has really expanded my music knowledge throughout high school… this should count as an academic moment. Despite some well-deserved fear of our instructor and still slight inability to play our instruments…this first game was simply a thrill. As nerdy as it may sound, Marching Band made some of my favorite high school memories and there is not doubt in my mind that after that first game, “I was ready for more”(Wilde 31).

3) Winning during Ms. Beach’s Beach Bingo: to review for the final exam, Ms. Beach made this really interesting Bingo game with characters and quotes from all of the books we had studied that year. After much anticipation, making shirts, and doing some good trash-talking before the game day to other classmates…it becomes clear why being a winner and getting to choose a prize (which ended up as an awesome troll doll pen) makes my top 10 thrilling moments. In high school “it isn’t easy to be anything”…especially a prize winning Beach’s Bingo Bud (Wilde 7)

4) Getting my Computer Graphics piece picked for the art show: I am not trying to deny anything here, I know that my brother sucked most of the visual art talent genes from our gene pool. So, when Ms. Serazin chose one of my pieces for the art show, I was truly thrilled and honored. It really shows how “anything, anything, anything is possible”(Currie 302).

5) First Chinese Field Trip: a first in the line of many fun excursions including eating at Hunan, going to shady grocery stores and restaurants downtown, going to the downtown library (for the foreign movies section?), in-school field trips to make Chinese food in the home-ec room, or making a mini china town somewhere. This first field trip started everything and cannot be excluded from my best academic moments of high school for obvious reasons. This first thrilling field trip helps me think back to how “those were good times” (Currie 152)

6) First Day of AP English 11: all the scared juniors walk into Ms. Serensky’s class and suddenly our lives change forever as we do that one writing exercise and realize we have stepped onto a whole new level. This class suddenly starts preparing us for college in a new, frightening way, as we realize that AP English “is a little world Inside that is a made-to-scale prototype of the big world Outside”(Kesey 50).

7) Passing the AP Calc AB Test: I am not exactly a math brained person, so you can imagine that Calculus and me just did not mix well. Throughout my entire Junior year, I struggled through almost every unit of Mr. Maas’ class. Somehow, I fought my way through and pulled off a 4 on the AP Test…so the first time seeing this score has to make my top 10 moments. So even through I was extremely doubtful of my ability to not epically fail this test…”nothing is guaranteed”, and somehow I passed (Currie 264).

8) First Data Sheet Turn-in: that unparalleled, amazing feeling of setting that huge piece of work onto Ms. Serensky’s desk and finally having time to eat, sleep and do anything else but analyze, has to make my list. Our obsession over making those papers “the visible personification of absolute perfection” led to endless distress…but it all was worth it for that ending thrill (Wilde 31).

9) First Blog Banter Appearance: the famed blog banter not only gives the mentioned student personal pride and satisfaction, but also excitement to blog again and see if they can keep up their streak of success. My first blog banter appearance occurred after writing my Inception related post and the “ritual of [my] existence” in English class suddenly changed as Ms. Serensky mentioned this entry (Kesey 64). This thrilling moment of hearing my name and work mentioned for the first time in that line up definitely deserves a spot on the top 10 moments list.

10) Finally Choosing a College: Since this one actually happened only about 3 hours ago, this has to take the cake for my most thrilling academic moment thus far. Finally sending that conformation email and realizing that all the stress, toil and drama over figuring out the right school has ended. Making that permanent decision left me with a feeling that “I was flying. Free”(Kesey 324). 

Favorite Poem

My favorite poem from this year was probably “Sestina”. I like reading poems with interesting structure and style, and this specific style I did not even know existed until we studied this work in class. The closely tied stanzas of the poem with the repetition of certain words really appealed to me. I also like poetry that uses metaphors and personification to explore the meaning, which this poem also contained. I think this may also be my favorite from the year because I decided to attempt to write a sestina for a previous blog, so I gained an appreciation for how difficult it really is to write in such a specific style. Even though this poem was sad, I think it strove to “seek the meaning in sorrow” as it explored the Grandma and child’s opposite ways of dealing with some ominous depressing occurrence (292). Somehow this poem had a slight tinge of hope and happiness even with all the downtrodden imagery, which made it really brilliant and complex. Also, the poe dealt with the complex idea that  “Everything ends” (292).  This pessimistic point can sometimes weigh down a work, but I liked how in this poem it was seen as in inevitability that must be overcome as the characters dealt with their sorrow. This poem also used trivial main subject words like “stove”, which really made me like it because it used concrete small ideas to represent the bigger message it attempted to convey. This poem seemed to answer the question “Does anything I do matter” as it used small ideas and actions to symbolize bigger ideas, giving a positive answer to this question(9). Overall, studying this poem left me satisfied with the hidden meaning it conveyed and also I am glad I was exposed to this new style of poetry.