Linsanity

 Throughout high school, I've learned many things.  Obviously, I've learned a lot of academic related topics (even though I probably forgot the contents of 90% of classes I took). But, as all seniors have been in the schooling system for some 13 years, I've learned a lot more than just courses I took.  I think starting from elementary school, I learned the value of relationships. At the time, the grade was split into small friend groups, and there wasn't really any big friend group. As such, I became very close with a small number of people. This dynamic taught me trust, reliability, and set up my relationship building in the future. In high school, I really became close with my mom and it proved to be very valuable. I learned countless things from her that I wouldn't exchange anything for.  Once I entered middle school, I learned what things actually matter. I remember really caring about my appearance and what phone I had, yet now looking back it all seems trivial...

 1. 1984 by George Orwell Not gonna lie I was reading this book earlier this year when we were told to read a book for the AP exam but I put it aside. It offers profound lessons in terms of society and government, and each character is intricately crafted (according to the internet), especially that the main character is just a normal guy.  2. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien It appeals to me as a place where you can be transported into a fantasy world and forget about everything. Although it is lengthy, I think that only adds to the complexity of the story.  3. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky This book includes themes of morality and human nature. Many people rate it as highly valuable and I'd like to read it for myself. 4. The Little Prince A short but valuable book. It might be considered a children's book but also is great for adults. This one I can finish for sure.  5. Van Gogh: The Life There's a lot to learn from someone else's life, especially ...

 Reading the play English by Sanaz Toossi this week made me think of a few things. Firstly, in the play, English is viewed differently by each character, and thus it acts as a lens into deeper meaning. For example, Marjan and Elham are learning English for career purposes, while Omid and Goli are in the class for personal reasons. The English language is powerful in the play in that it is a open door. Learning it may provide many new opportunities, but it also requires sacrifices as one enters the door.  The play really made me think about assimilating into a new culture and society and the effects that has on one's identity. As a child of immigrant parents, oftentimes I think my behavior may not be American enough, or Chinese enough to satisfy the "crowd". Although for the most part, I can participate and reside with both sides of my cultural identity, for some aspects you have to choose a side. Having to constantly flip-flop between these creates some personal identity ...

 Last week in class we read "A Story", a poem about a father trying to come up with a story for his son before bed time. I believe the main message of the poem is about the difficulties fathers (or mothers) experience trying to please their kids and also not being able to let them go as they grow old. The poem does a good job being generalized so that it is relatable to many people, with the simple title and lack of names. While the child only innocently wants to hear a new story, this task is very challenging to the father. It causes him to create a whole scenario in the future where he struggles to let his son leave. The child never meant to cause pain to the father, yet the father takes it upon himself to do everything to support his son.  The author implies that this kind of relationship is unhealthy. As in the last lines, he states that the two sides add up to silence, where nothing is accomplished and only remains in a cycle of stress.  Yet this poem also comments o...

I grew up with less expectations and influences than a lot of my friends. While my peers grew up with strict rules and forced extracurriculars, I for the most part had the freedom to do what I liked (except swimming). As a result, I was pretty independent for my age, and although everyone might be on the same page now, there comes another opportunity to change: College.  As near graduates from high school, I think we can all agree that the shift to college (or other paths) is one of the largest shifts in our lives. We move into a period of more freedom yet more responsibilities and more individuality. In high school, I am influenced externally by my friend group, parents, and teachers at school. Internally I am influenced by many of the same people but indirectly, such as competition and expectations. In college, these will all have less of an effect. There won't be large influences, but I hope to mature into the "real world" smoothly. As a college student, I'll be fo...

 The best present out of the 12 days of Christmas is undoubtedly the 3 French hens. I'd go as far to say, even with the 5 gold rings included, the hens are still a better option.  First of all, days 8-11 are probably considered human trafficking if you were actually gifted them, so they can be removed from the equation. If you weren't already arrested for such a crime, supporting 8+ people would be quite heavy on the bills, not to mention the need for a mansion of a home. And who would want to hear 12 drummers all day/night? From a monetary perspective, 5 average gold rings would cost around $1000 total (200 per ring from Google). If we assume that the 3 French hens have a full lifetime ahead of them, lay an average of 265 eggs a year, and have 4 years of productive egg-laying, we reach a sum of 3180 eggs. And, because they graze in the backyard and are healthy, we'll consider them pasture-raised. At today's market price of 6$ a dozen, that's $1590 total.  Yet, the ...

 After reading Recitatif and its themes of differences in perception, I couldn't help but wonder the extent of this in our lives. Last week when we were doing the graphs on the structure of the story of Three Girls and Flowers, almost everyone in my group had unique looking graphs; it all comes down to perception. We all read the same piece and were given the same task, yet produced different answers. I believe it all boils down to our memories and past experiences.  This parallels what we're learning in AP Psych right now: the fact that memories causes perceptual sets (biases) in everyone. When you think about it, we are really just our memories. They are what we did in the past and they affect how we will act in the present and the future. This is what makes us unique; the fact that no two people have the same perception of life. Sometimes, people's perception of things can be starkly different, as in Recitatif. Although Roberta and Twyla were both at the incident with Ma...

 I could never eat the same anymore. To me, it was an imaginary enemy, one that lived in the shadows and simultaneously hid its dangers. With its insidious nature, it seeped into the grocery store, infecting many of the products. It was only when I became reminded of it every time I ate that I became aware of its power, and I was forced to confront my greatest fear: seed oils (those who know). Maybe its effects are only placebo, but it meant eradicating it forever, I would go to the ends of the world. 

 The "seed" that I chose this week to write about is... writing. We did a WNB entry on who we are as writers in class.  Gratitude of the week = walking at 8pm in current weekly weather With the rise of technology, I think writing has become more and more obsolete and in my opinion, less useful. I'm willing to bet almost no one in class said they wrote "for fun" or recreationally. I think this in part to the modern school/work culture, which is pushing people to grind more and be more successful. Most activities people do fall into two categories: work and recreational, and writing does not fall into either. Writing doesn't help people (unless you're a professional writer or journalist) make more money, and there are also many other activities people would find more enjoyable. Writing is not the only activity that is gradually becoming less popular. The modern mindset closes a lot of doors.  On the topic of writing, I believe we should just abandon handwr...

  With the year coming to an end, I’ve been prompted to reflect on my 11AP journey. Only when I look retrospectively on the year did I realize the amount of progress this class has instilled in me. From scoring 80s on essays to 90s, from mindlessly reading to being able to analyze text, I’ve genuinely felt so much more comfortable in my abilities as a reader and writer as a result of this class. Of course, this progress was made possible and was facilitated by some important figures in our English classroom. First, I’d like to thank all my fellow AP Lang students. To my tablemates in the second semester–David, David, Tyler, Daniel, thank you for making 11AP all the more enjoyable. In times of confusion or need of assistance, I could come to you guys for aid and encouragement. When I wasn’t sure of the meaning of a word, or the purpose of a piece, or even what the homework was, I could get answers at my table and thus save embarrassment from asking Ms. Valentino. When it came time t...

  After reading Videotape, I was struggling to find the purpose or meaning behind it. It just seemed like a pointless essay that no one could relate to. I mean, who really likes to see people die? Yet, it proves a good point: the transience of life and desensitization of death. The essay prompted a question in my mind. Should death be shown? In our society, death is something that is always censored and not shown. especially to kids. Real, human death is never shown on any main stream news or videos. As a result, to me, death is something that has always seemed cursed in a way. Imagining a moment of someone filled with life, and the next they are devoid of that vital energy is almost too much to handle. Like something you weren't meant to see. However, with this censorship of death in media and society, there is a resulting fear of death. In my opinion, people shouldn't fear death. Thinking of ways that death can be more "normalized", removing some censorship comes to...

Due to the testing this week and next week, I will come up with a verdict on its usefulness and practicality.  First, it is important to note that most tests are designed for a lot of people, thus they are supposedly standardized. Of course, the main goal of testing is to gauge students' ability/knowledge of something. There are many forms of testing, and some of them will be better in gauging ability than others by nature. For example, a driver's test result is probably pretty accurate whether someone can drive or not, while something like the SAT does not really indicate whether someone is a good reader/writer/mathematician.  Tests like the SAT do not always promote better reading/writing/math skills, but instead promote learning how to take the SAT, if that makes sense. It rewards learning the format of the test, learning the types of questions that will show up, and taking the test over and over (collegeboard is a greedy monopoly, but that is a topic for another time). Som...

 Question 4... I think our responsibility as humans on this planet is to respect other life forms and the environment to the best of our ability. It should be the number one priority that we have as a civilization, since without a healthy planet we put ourselves at risk, not to mention every other organism, who definitely did not have a say in our choices.  Let's not forget that humans are also animals. We do not live separately of other animals, and we have just as much right to use the land as they do. Since we are so powerful, it is important that we look out for other species and the environment. The planet gave us the materials and resources to thrive, so we should try to protect the very thing that keeps us alive.  Yet today, we see a large portion of harm coming from large companies fueled by corporate greed. In this way, humans are flawed since we only aim to gain power, forgetting to respect nature along the way. An example is soda companies, who create millions ...

Remember the video we watched in class of that guy talking about microaggressions. The guy stated that microaggressions are something that people of color experience constantly and throughout their entire lifetime. While I'm not denying that they exist, I feel like he is overstating their severity. And sure, they can be harmful, but he is also overstating that in my opinion. To me, if someone were to say "where are you from" or "you speak good English", I would think the problem is them and not me. I wouldn't take offense to the extent that the professor believes it to be a "major event". But I can't speak for everyone. Maybe times have changed since the video was posted, but for the most part I feel like people are generally careful not to offend others. From my own experience, it isn't like a "climate that is full of microaggressions", and as big of a deal as he makes it out to be.  Also he defines microaggressions as varying fr...

I had immense difficulty coming up with what to write, even with the blog ideas on the board. I didn't have experiences relating to a lot of the things, like an ethnic name, stereotypes. I feel like these weeks where there isn't a required prompt is a lot harder to write about. Ironically, having the freedom to choose a topic makes it more difficult.  So these few times at swim practice, things would get rough. We would have sets that would pretty much be straight aerobic swimming for an hour, with little rest in between. Each day I saw coach write something like this on the board, I would feel a little bit nervous, or get the thought that I didn't want to do it. But we kind of didn't have a choice but to swim it. And so the set starts, and I quickly die. Everything hurts, I'm getting lapped, I feel dizzy, and my goggles are full of water. But it's at these moments where I truly learned how to push through things. I put my head down and just swam. Before you kno...

Link to article This article by the Onion satirizes microplastics, including the continued production of plastics and the view surrounding this subject. Also this is a slideshow format article, where each slide is a common question about microplastics and the Onion gives a satirical response to that question. Throughout the slides, The Onion uses hyperbole, perspective, and humor to produce the sarcastic and satirical tone.  Responding to the first question of "What are microplastics?", the Onion replies with "Seventy-sixth at best at best on the list of existential threats currently facing the human race". In this slide, the Onion satirizes the view that because microplastics aren't an immediate threat, they aren't dangerous at all. Alongside, by not giving an expected answer of something like "small plastic debris" or "synthetic compounds under 5mm", they criticize the mindset of people who only base their judgement on a single metric o...

I want a world where men and women are paid equal. I want a world where pollution didn't exist. I want a world where everyone is nice. I want a world where Detroit looks like Iceland scenery. I want a world where unicorns exist, and also one where I can meet Winnie the Pooh. In my world, unicorns poop rainbows and cry gold, and I want everyone to have a unicorn. I want a world where I'm 6'4 and 240 pounds while being 8% body fat, and I also have the strength of a silverback. I want a world where money grows on trees, and a world where I can trade that money for time. I want a world where I control the laws of physics. I would like to eat ice cream and pizzas without gaining a single ounce by changing how thermodynamics work. I would like to situationally turn off gravity so I could float and fly just like birds and planes. I would like to change Einstein's theory of relativity so that I can control time.  I want a world where war didn't exist. I want a world where w...

 Growing up I never really played with action figures. Instead, my entertainment came from three things: Legos, Super Smash Bros on the Wii, and playing outside. Also it seems like  literally  everyone on here is writing about Legos. Legos were a lot more popular than I realized.  To me, Legos was a medium through which I could be creative. Although I followed those boxes with instruction books a couple of times, I much more enjoyed making other stuff with them. I was really into machines, like coin sorting or gumball machines. It was a lot more cool to me creating something that could be useful and wouldn't just be sitting looking pretty. Outside of Legos, I was also into building stuff in real life, like blanket forts in my room or a wood shelter in my backyard.  Creation was always the most fun: Spending a lot of time on a project and then seeing it completed was really fulfilling. On the other hand, playing with action figures just seemed pointless. It was j...

 Pretty much everywhere around the world parrots the same stereotype: When it comes to emotions, men are expected to not show any. And this is how we came to the myth that men don't have emotions.  Personally, throughout my life, I have rarely seen any men cry. If you ever do see a man cry, it feels like seeing something you're not supposed to see. Seeing your dad cry feels like the world is ending. But, the same can't be said about about women. Although, seeing a woman cry is still sad, it doesn't feel nearly as taboo. Because of societal norms and expectations, these stereotypes continue to exist along with its adverse effects. In reality, men and women don't have much emotional difference. Some many years ago, the idea of stoicism was created; The idea of enduring hardships without complaint. Rightfully so, times were a lot tougher then. In times of war, famine, and disease, crying doesn't help the situation. If you think about Greek statues or paintings, the...

The Maus books were very enjoyable and informative. I think the graphic novel format largely contributed how enjoyable it was. Also, without the pictures, a lot of the symbolism wouldn't exist. As we analyzed in class, reoccurring motifs are mostly symbols or images in the panels. The pictures contribute to creating a deeper meaning that the words may not be able to do alone.  The comic style also helps to make learning about the Holocaust easier. Compared with real pictures, the style makes the story a little more digestible, while not taking away from the gruesome but necessary depictions of its events.  One of the book's greatest features is the animal metaphor. By using vastly different animals, Spiegelman shows the clear racist ideologies in the war. For example, cats vs mice in the book clearly show the German's superiority. Yet in reality, they were all humans. thus having minimal differences. In this way, the book puts an emphasis on race relations and conflicts, bu...