Love, Rebellion, Responsibility

April 9, 2019April 24, 2019 kindkaylee1 Comment

Act 2&3 Impressions

My impression of act 2&3 was that there was a lot more drama and feelings that came through. The scenes were filled with love and compassion. While reading it was easy to see the longing that the two had for each other and how willing they were to risk it all to be together.

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Reading Romeo and Juliet could be confusing at times. I often felt confused by the language. This made me create my own imagination of the story. So when it came to watching the movies I was very excited, as I got to finally see if my imagination was similar. Watching Romeo and Juliet was also a lot more interesting to watch Baz Luhrmann, it was a more modern sense to the movie. A bonus was that Leonardo Dicaprio portrayed Romeo. Zeffirelli’s movie seemed more accurate to Shakespeare’s writing and vision.

One thing that is still confusing to me is the Romeo, Mercutio, and Tybalt fight. The whole situation did not make any sense. Mercutio fought Tybalt, and Mercutio died. Romeo was so upset about his friend’s death that he fought Tybalt. Then Tybalt was killed by Romeo. This was confusing because just a few moments previous Romeo said he loved him. Romeo had married Juliet the night before and they became family. Romeo told Tybalt that they should love each other now and end their feud.

Mapping out Juliet

Throughout the entire play, I’ve been taking lots of notes on Juliet’s character and how that interacts with her family. After reviewing my notes I have concluded that Juliet is a self-determining person. She doesn’t let other people’s opinions or directions control her. She would even lie to get her way. For example, Juliet’s father told her that she was to marry Paris and the nurse said that she should as well, knowing that she was married to Romeo. Juliet said

“Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!

Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,

Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue

Which she hath praised him with above compare

So many thousand times? Go, counselor.

Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain.

I’ll to the friar to know his remedy.

If all else fail, myself have power to die.” (Romeo and Juliet 3. 5. 236-242) This meant that she was completely disagreed with what she was told. She was going to get advice from the Friar but she knew that she couldn’t do wrong to her husband. She also says that she wouldn’t let the nurse tell her what to think and feel.

The Beginning of the End

Image result for mercutio and tybalt zeffirelli — Link

Back to the Mercucio and Tybalt fight, this is where the end of Romeo and Juliet’s future ends. I thought about a few more things. They were each other’s demise. They were both likable characters and were killed off pretty quickly. I think that they were killed off because they both have a good bond with one side of the family. This would make the Capulets and the Montagues very angry thought they were killed. The capulets would be very angry with Romeo in the Montagues would be very happy with Romeo for seeking vengeance for Mercutio. I think that their deaths were necessary to thicken the plot of the story. It will also create more tension for both sides of the feud as well as Romeo and Juliet.

Zeffirelli vs. Luhrmann

Image result for luhrmann mercutio and tybalt — Link

I think that both Zeffirelli and Luhrmann’s movies had good and bad parts of their representation of the hatred and misfortune of these two. The one that best portrayed it, along with being my favorite was Zeffirelli’s. I like that this one or more like the play and it was less modern. He had the actors act the way Shakespeare wanted them to be. The only thing that was different was that Zeffirelli made his fight scenes longer and more intense. The fighting went on for a while and they made a few jokes. Romeo later chased down Tybalt to fight and kill him. The rest of the scene was very accurate to Shakespeare’s play.

Whos fault?

After I have read a majority of the play with knowledge of what’s left I believe that the blame of how the events occur has to go to Romeo and Juliet. They both knew what they were doing would not go well with their families. They had their goal to be together and did not plan their future well enough.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet: First Thoughts

March 22, 2019March 27, 2019 kindkayleeLeave a comment

Romeo and Juliet is such an iconic romance story that almost all high school students end up reading it, at one point. Here are some of my thoughts…

First Impressions

I’ve read the first act of Romeo and Juliet and so far it has been exactly what I expected. The writing of Shakespeare is challenging to read. I struggled to read it the first time, and I also did not comprehend much of the text. This left me very confused and frustrating to continue reading. After I had read the entire first act for the first time, I found a solution to my problem. My teacher in my English class had given us a website that put Shakespeare’s words into more modern English. The website is called No Fear Shakespeare.

Image result for romeo and juliet first meet — Picture

Another thing I noticed was the feeling. When you hear of Romeo and Juliet you instantly think of this tragic romance of two star-crossed lovers. As I was reading I instantly picked up the feeling that Shakespeare wanted us to have. I could almost feel the pain that Romeo had when he couldn’t be with Rosaline. There was another moment of feeling that came through the text was when Romeo came across Juliet. There was almost a feeling of satisfaction when he saw her like he knew she was the one.

Love at First Sight

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In the paragraph above I mentioned how the feeling came across when Romeo and Juliet met. This was obviously love at first sight. This leads me to question what love at first sight really is. Personally, I have never experienced love at first sight, but I do believe that this happens. Love at first sight seems to be based on a visual aspect of someone. While reading this I thought that love couldn’t be true if it was all based on looks, until I read “O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.” (Romeo and Juliet 1. 5. 118) This showed how he truly loved her. He knew he could get in trouble because she is supposed to be his enemy, but she is worth it to him.

Juliet Capulet

There are three forces in the play, there is love, hate, and family. I have been taking notes on the Capulet family. Juliet’s family so far has had a huge impact on the story. The Capulet’s have a feud with the Montague family. This makes it impossible for Romeo and Juliet to be together. Juliet is a very self-determined girl. Her family has a lot of things they try to push on her but she doesn’t let them control her. She will follow her path, even if it upsets her family.

Say	Mean	Matter
The Quote:	The Meaning:	How it Relates:
“My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathèd enemy.” (Romeo and Juliet 1. 7. 138-140)	The only man I love is the son of the only man I hate! I saw him too early without knowing who he was, and I found out who he was too late! Love is a monster for making me fall in love with my worst enemy.	She knows that she isn’t supposed to love him. Juliet knows who he is and that her family will not let her be with him.

Luhrmann vs. Zeffirelli

There are two Romeo and Juliet movies that I have seen clips from act one. Even though these are the from the same story and have the same script they are two very different movies.

The different stories of Romeo and Juliet have their differences, one example of this is the when Romeo met Juliet. When Romeo and Juliet meet in Zeffirelli’s it is at the party it’s almost exactly like the original story. In Luhrmann’s, Romeo and Juliet meet in a more modern and casual way. They were divided but turned a corner meeting eyes, after seconds of talking they kissed. They were clearly in love and show passion towards each other. In Zeffirelli’s the two stared at each other from across the dance for a while, later Romeo pulls Juliet behind the curtain. They talk for a bit and later kiss.

A second example is the setting, Zeffirelli’s vision and Luhrmann’s vision of the story make like they are two different stories but they contain the same plot. The setting of the movie is what separates the two apart the most. In Zeffirelli’s movie, the setting, costumes, and music all were set to look like the original time period. In Luhrmann’s movie the setting, costumes, and music were all set to a more recent setting.

As I continue to read I question, how are the two families going to react to their love? What type of preventions will take place to keep them apart?

Impulse, Accidents, and Dreams

March 3, 2019March 27, 2019 kindkayleeLeave a comment

A few years ago, on my birthday, my mom and I decided we wanted to go to Disney World. My mothers birthday is only a week after mine, so we decided that as a special birthday treat for us we were going to leave for Disney the following day. This became chaotic very quickly.

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My mother and I rushed to get everything together. We had to pack all of our clothes, get a hotel, get a plane ticket, and get all of our Disney plans together. The next twenty four hours were super stressful, because we didn’t want to forget anything. Luckily we got everything done, but it wasn’t perfect.

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We didn’t have time to shop for the right clothes to wear, so we had to bring what we had. We got a hotel at a Disney Resort but it wasn’t close to anywhere we wanted to go. We had to sit all the way in the back of the plane.

Image may contain: 2 people, including Richard Gentleman, people smiling, people standing and outdoor

Our trip was so much fun even though we didn’t plan it out as we normally would. Looking back at there was so much I would change if we thought it out. We would have had the right clothes, a better hotel, good plane seats, and would have not been in such a rush.

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One of the most important things that happened to me that actually happened by accident was getting my dog, Levi. A few weeks prior, our family dog passed away. His name was Sheamus. He passed away very suddenly and left our family heartbroken. We swore that we were never getting another dog again because we couldn’t ever feel this pain again.

A woman, who was a breeder for Shih-Tzu emailed my mom and said that she heard about Sheamus. She offered to give us a little puppy, she believed that he could help us. We weren’t sure we were going to take him home. We all got in the car and went to her house. She lived about three hours away and was only ten minutes away from my grandmother’s house.

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Getting there was an adventure, and at times we thought we were going to turn around and go home. Somehow we ended up on this woman’s front doorstep. She opened the door, and lead us to her puppy. She said his name was Levi, and we instantly fell in love.

My mom had no choice but to get him. He helped us get through the pain of losing Sheamus, and helped us learn to love dogs again. We ended up getting Levi a little sister, Lucy Lu, and now our family is complete. I can’t help but wonder what my life would be like without them.

Everyone knows “A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep.” Dreams help people get through their pains and troubles. In dreams whatever you wish for, becomes a reality. I believe that my dreams will come true someday. I also believe that whatever someone is going through, as long they keep their head up, they will achieve their dreams. Much like Cinderella, she had rough days and her dreams are what got her through the day. Your dreams do not have to be unrealistic or like a Disney movie, but we all have them.

A have had many dreams and some of them have become true. They all aren’t life-changing dreams. Some of them are small things that I wanted in my life and would put a smile on my face. Sometimes dreams even put a better perspective into my reality, and helps me see my life more clearly.

Class Work · Class Writing

Anthem by: Ayn Rand

December 13, 2018January 10, 2019 kindkayleeLeave a comment

Anthem was written by Ayn Rand. Ayn wrote her book in a very interesting way. I have never seen a book that was written with all plural pronouns. instead of saying “I did” it would say “we did”. When describing other characters it would always say “they” and never he or she. The characters also did not have normal names. For example the main character’s name is Equality 7-2521, all of the character have a name and a “serial” number. These two things made reading the book very difficult to understand at first. After I realized what Rand was attempting to do I finally understood the book. Image result for anthem ayn rand

After I overcame these complications, I could easily read the book. I really liked the character development throughout the entire book. Equality 7-2521 grew and changed for the better and in some ways for the worse. I agreed with his belief that the people should be able to freedom and their ego. I disagreed with him leaving with the Golden One to live a life together. He said that maybe some day in the future he would go back to the State and try to fix it. The ending was not as satisfying as I wanted it to be. Overall the book has a developed plot, interesting characters, and is a challenging read. Image result for anthem ayn rand

Throughout the entire book Equality 7-2521 was pitched to be a hero. There was struggles he overcame and goals he accomplished. Most of the things he did was selfish. He had high hopes to help the society and free them. In the end he ends up only helping himself and his love, the “Golden One”. His intention since he met her was to be with her. At the end of the book he said “For the coming of that day shall I fight, I and my sons and my chosen friends. For the freedom of Man. For his life. For his honor.” Equality 7-2521 has the potential to be a hero. He has goals to go back and save mankind. Where the story left off he escaped and started to raise a family. He also was learning long forgotten words and making himself more wise and powerful. He left his “brothers” behind, this is not hero like. Most heroes fight the “villain” until they are defeated, this is not the case for Equality. Equality hints that he is going to go back and change the society, until he does this I do not see that he has really followed the hero’s journey.

Image result for man hiding in woods — This is what I think it looked when Equality 7-2521 escaped.

Image result for hero clipart — This is what I picture when I think of a hero. Someone who swilling to do anything to defeat the “villain”.

I believe that in life we all have the chance to be a hero, and we all have opportunities to be the “villain”. In the poem “Invictus” the poet wrote how we decide our own fate. I completely agree with that. Every decision we make effects our fate. We decide if we are going to be the hero in the story of our life. We decide if we are going to be the villain in a different story. I believe that your fate is never locked in place and there is always something you can do about it. If there is a chance for me to be a hero I will take it. Invite that girl to your table, let him join your group, listen to Susanna’s problems, and make let them know you care. There is a million thing you could do a day to be a hero to someone.

My story has barely begun.

I’m going to make my story mine.

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A great Anthem blog post

“Invictus” the poem

Reflections

WTC and Creativity

November 9, 2018 kindkaylee1 Comment

After doing a writing training camp I realized that it has made me a better writer. It taught me creativity and flow in writing. I learned how to rewrite pieces so they have a flow that was understandable. While trying to create this flow you had to be creative. When writing there are things that need to be rewritten to make it easier to read. When we are creative we can find ways to move around these challenges. I am so excited to practice my writing with these new tips and ideas.

Reflections

October 29, 2018October 31, 2018 kindkayleeLeave a comment

October 24th, 2018 #3

Over the last few months and throughout this marking period I have learned a lot. It took me a long time to feel comfortable in my English class. This was the first class that I have ever taken that was grade less. This took me a while to figure out. I feel that I have been very successful in some areas and have areas that need work. I am hoping to receive an A. I have grown and tried new types of writing. I have even created this blog. I was not sure that I would like to put my writing out for anyone to see. Now I feel totally happy and comfortable in this. Also every Monday we spend our class learning how lead and talk in a class. It is all opinion based. When we first started I thought that my class would judge my opinion but I realized that people were interested to hear what others had to say and were judgement free.

Independent Reading

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

October 18, 2018March 27, 2019 kindkaylee1 Comment

Jamie

Jamie is a young boy growing up in the projects of Chicago. He is a budding ornithologist who keeps vigil at a window overlooking the barren wasteland of an inner city courtyard. Clutching a stolen library copy of Peterson’s Field Guide to Birds, he hopes to one day see something other than garbage bags fly past. One day he thinks he sees a big bird so he decides to go investigate it.

One part of the story that really disturbed me was when Jamie found the bodies in the alley way. Since his mother was busy with one of her friends he just ran outside. He thought he saw a bird land but there was a boy, a girl, a woman, and a baby. They were all piled on top of each other. Jamie stood there and waited until the Policeman came and pulled him away.

This is what Jamie saw falling, as he looked out the window. This was very weird to me that a parent wouldn’t notice or care if their young boy was wandering around. The story also never said if the mother found out that he found a pile of dead bodies. I really hope to find out more about Jamie and his mother.

This is a great character summary

Independent Reading

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

October 15, 2018March 27, 2019 kindkaylee2 Comments

Connecting to the Book

My thoughts on the book so far are very positive. I haven’t gotten into the book too far for multiple reasons. One, I’ve been very busy but, my time is going to be more open. Two, I wasn’t really connecting to the characters at first. Third, The story started off slow in my opinion and I was worried that it wouldn’t get as deep as I wanted it to. I am finally getting to the parts that I really wanted.

When I read a book it’s really important to me that I can connect to the book and the characters. I don’t like not sharing the feelings with characters when this happens I feel like someone who is there but they don’t know why. When I find a book that I can’t find a way to connect it scares me off and stops me from reading it.

Image result for left out png — This represents how I feel reading while not connected.

It took me several chapters to finally connect to this book. I’m so excited to read more of this book. One thing about this book that I love is there are multiple perspectives to connect to. This book gives you multiple chances to connect to the book. Some books it takes longer to connect than others.

An article explaining this connection in more depth

Independent Reading

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

October 8, 2018October 18, 2018 kindkayleeLeave a comment

Chapter one

As I was reading the first chapter I noticed and wondered a few things. The first thing that really stuck out to me was that after Rachel’s grandmother picked her up from the hospital, she said that she minds her manners around strangers. Does that mean she believes her own grandmother is a stranger? I wonder why she is a stranger. Is this an intentional thing? I also am wondering if there is a real reason she is a stranger.

This really made me wonder because when I think of a grandmother I think of someone loving and warm. Someone who will always see you as a child. I think of someone who spoils you with presents and love. I think of someone who you have known since you were a child. Even if you don’t see your grandparents that often, I believe that they are not stranger. Image result for grandmother and child art

When I think of a grandmother I don’t think of someone who is a stranger. Also I don’t think of someone I can’t be myself in front of. I believe that you should be respectful and caring towards but also someone trustful. I am hoping that as I read further I see that she starts to feel a different way about her grandmother.

A great summary

#thegirlwhofellfromthesky #Rachel #grandmother #stranger #newgirl #wondering #manners #intentional

Independent Reading

THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY

October 5, 2018October 23, 2018 kindkaylee3 Comments

I have recently started reading The Girl Who Fell From The Sky. This is written by Heidi W. Durrow. I came across this book in my school’s library. It had a very interesting title and cover that made me want to try the book. I also thought the summary the book showed that it would be a great read.

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This is about the main character Rachel. She became the only survivor of a family tragedy on a Chicago roof. The start of the book is when she got picked up by her grandmother in a hospital. Rachel now had to move to her house. She lives a new strange city and with her strict African American grandmother. This is Rachel’s first time in a mostly black community. She doesn’t look like the rest of them. There is constant attention on her light brown skin and blue eyes. Rachel is not used to this. She has to grow up and grieve as she is learning about her new way of living.

Rachel learns that her mother’s mystery and tragedy may be her uncertain identity. She was raised by her mother to think of herself as white, she is now expected to act as a black. She keeps asking herself, why should she be defined by her skin?

A great summary!