Post 17: Poisonwood Figure 8 #1 (Genesis)

Today, we met in our discussion groups consisting of 4-5 people per group to discuss "Genesis," from, "The Poisonwood Bible." My group first established each of the characters, and their voices in the book. We described Rachel as not belonging in the family (since the rest of the family are devout Christians, with the father being a priest), Ruth May as being innocent (well, she's a 5 year old, so she'll believe everything told to her, even when her friend said the tribes in Africa would attack her). The only thing we said about Leah was that we thought that even though her twin sister, Adah, is mute, that we think Adah is much smarter. (Alex pointed out that Adah could come up with a verse correctly whereas her twin sister could not, and I pointed out how Adah came up with various palindromes).

Now that I look at how I just described Rachel, perhaps she is the lone copper person among four gold petroglyphs on the cover?

The next thing my discussion group talked about was what we thought the Kilanga residents would react to the father trying to convert all of them to Christianity. I said that I thought he would repel them from religion since even when he first came to Kilanga, he criticized them to ideals of the Bible they were ignorant to. I added that the family even had to have a picnic to increase attendance to sermons. Alex added on that he thought the father's garden was a foreshadowing to what he thinks the response will be for the Kilanga residents: the father's garden thrived in the U.S., but when in Africa, he had to succumb to growing a garden in a way where the conditions around the garden supported it.

All in all, I think we had a great discussion today, and the discussion made me realize several things about the book thus far that I had not noticed previously.

Post 16: A 10 minute reflection on my SAT essay

My essay was definitely disorganized: I started off with a definite statement and halfway through writing the essay, I realized that I knew of examples where I did not think that the media affects me personally. Therefore, I started off with one statement yet ended with a compromising statement. When I changed my view midway through the essay, I should have gone back and revised my essay statement on what I believed in. My Asian history teacher, Mr. Kakos, used the analogy of a funnel as the first paragraph: you have to lead the reader in the right direction and funnel down to specific examples in which your body paragraphs. Using this analogy, I guess what you could say I did was I had two funnels, and therefore could not guide the grader of my essay in the right direction- having only three minutes, the grader would probably get frustrated because it would be confusing, resulting in a low score.

Aside from that, I also think that I need to have better transitions between paragraphs: I support one point and then suddenly just play the devil's advocate, and contradict everything I'd just said. This would make sense if I declared I was going to do this in my introduction paragraph, but since I did not, the reader would be confused.

I think I also need to incorporate either more vivid descriptions (without sounding like I'm trying to impress the grader too much), and more descriptive vocabulary. As my essay is right now, there would be nothing stand out about it: there would be nothing to catch the reader's attention both point wise and description wise. I would probably receive a low score because of this.

It was an eye opener to take the perspective of the grader of the essay, where time is of the essence and therefore, essays must be graded accordingly.

Post 15: Lexicographer for Book One: Genesis

Format: *= word was seen twice, **= word was seen three times, etc.
(_) page number inside parentheses

brindled (1): having obscure dark streaks or flecks on a usually gray or tawny ground
copulation (1): noun form of: to engage in sexual intercourse
imperious (1): befitting or characteristic of one of eminent rank or attainments
: intensely compelling
confederated (13): to band together
contingency*(14): event or condition
: an event (as an emergency) that may but is not certain to occur
flout (15): to indulge in scornful behavior
surmise (16): a thought or idea based on scanty evidence
pandemony(23): (sp? I looked it up again in the book and it's spelled this way, yet there are no entries found in my dictionary). (probably related to:) pandemonium: hell
katydid (28): any of various large green American long-horned grasshoppers
edification (33): the act of instructing and improving, especially in moral and religious knowledge
dubious (33): of doubtful promise or outcome
gallimaufry (34): hodgepodge
aphasia (34): loss or impairment of the power to use or comprehend words usually resulting from brain damage
parable (39): a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle
penance (42): an act of self-abasement, mortification, or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin
pestilence (58): a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating
desultory (59): marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose
castigated (59): to subject to severe punishment, reproof, or criticism
latent (61): present and capable of becoming though not now visible, obvious, active, or symptomatic
deluge* (61, 63): an overflowing of the land by water
palpitated (67): to beat rapidly and strongly
regaled (68): to entertain sumptuously
enema (69): the injection of liquid into the intestine by way of the anus
finagled (69): to obtain by trickery
putrefaction (70): the decomposition of organic matter
bedraggled (71): to wet thoroughly
bovine (73): ox-like, cow-like
putative (74): commonly accepted or supposed
: assumed to exist or to have existed
semaphore (74): an apparatus for visual signaling

Post 14: SAT Practice Essay

This is from an SAT practice essay:

I believe that the media definitely impacts my sense of what is good and what is not. Oftentimes, when I watch TV, I do homework during commercial breaks. That obviously, is because I intend to watch the show and not the commercials since the show is more interesting. However, I won't lie to you. The commercials which do catch my attention the most are those which have that hot model, or with that really fast, luxurious car. This is because the media, and the society we live in says that these things are cool, or are hot. Honestly, if that model was overweight, I'd probably be disgusted by the commercial; maybe switch the channel, or even be turned off of that product. There's a voice in my head which tells me being this judgmental on looks alone is a bad thing to do. I mean, I don't know that lady: I've never talked to her, or got to know her, and the size of her waist doesn't change her personality or anything. However, that voice in my head is silenced by the cacophony of media advertisements and what the media tells me is right.

Conversely, there are situations when I do not believe the media can affect my sense of what is right and wrong. An example of this is video games. Many times, the media has said video games distort a person and make them do gruesome things. Joe Lieberman has openly discouraged young children, or even teenagers from playing "gory" video games. His speaking out, along with many parents across the country have definitely influenced my mother. "Turn off that video game!" she shrieks across the house. I however, do not think that the media really gets to me. I think that no matter how gruesome the game, I can still play it without being affected.

What I've come to believe through this essay is that us, the viewers of the media, always have a say in what to believe. Even if most of the country conforms to commercials about hot women, fast cars, and the negative influence of video games, when it comes down to it, is it really better to fit in, or do what you think is the right thing? I know that I want to follow what I believe in life, but maybe I am just not mature enough yet to see past that waist, or that car, and so I lay onslaught with the same commercials, evoking the response from me intended by that company.

Post 13: Reflection

When I first opened this blog, I was asked to pose the essentials questions we are exploring in sophomore English. Those questions were: 1. What kind of a world is this?, and 2. How should I live in it? Through many posts about philanthropy, and through the, "This I Believe" statement we had to record, I have began to find my own voice and values.

I'm not sure if I will ever find an answer to these essential questions. I am not sure if I will ever discover who I am, and what I believe in. Currently, I believe that my problems are petty compared to many other's problems in the world. Recently, my tennis coach had to quit his job to take care after his mother who was diagnosed with cancer. Additionally, Mr. Johnson, a teacher beloved by many passed away on the boat trip. I used to think that my life was unfair: that I should be taller, or that I shouldn't have any teachers I don't want to have, or that my family should be better off financially. However, it's become apparent to me that all of these problems which I thought I had were worthless compared to everything else negatively affecting the world today. At the point when I realized my prior ignorance to what problems really are, and what is just my extravagance, I felt worthless; as though I could not make a difference in the world. I saw these unfair things happening, and I couldn't do anything about it.

Conversely, now, my thinking has began to change. Perhaps, if you made a difference in just one life, or just a hundred lives, that difference; that legacy that those people take from it could make all the difference in their lives. At this point, currently, I almost think of it as an obligation to help others, even if I do not think it will make a difference. I realize how privileged we are at Punahou, and I know that all of us will one day be able to accomplish great things. I feel the obligation to try make a difference in other's lives (not for self satisfaction of course, but rather), because I know that if I make a difference in someone's life, that I was not the first to be able to make that difference. In other words, I want to honor someone underprivileged who could have accomplished the same feat I did of helping someone, since I know that that person could've made the same difference, and in that sense, I do not want to squander the opportunities I have that they do not.

Post 12: "Peace With Inches"

One of the rituals I have before I play an important tennis match is to listen to a speech from, "Any Given Sunday," recited by Al Pachino. Here is the most momentous part of the speech in my opinion:

"You find out life's just a game of inches. So's football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the *censored* difference between winning and losing... I'll tell you this, in any fight, it's the guy who's willing to die who's gonna win that inch."

Throughout tryouts, this speech resonated in my mind. Honestly, this tryout yielded a lot of pressure on me in the last two matches, since both matches were directly related to my rank on the team for the rest of the year. Last year, since I was a freshman trying out for the first time, it was as though all the pressure was on the other players; the returning players. However, this year, since I was returning, I let the pressure get to me, which resulted in sub-par performance. However, the biggest difference between how I played in tryouts this year and how I played in tryouts last year was how I played on the big points, such as "no-ad" deuces. Last year, when I would win 2/5, this time around, I won 4/5. Two points is the difference between winning the set 6-4 and losing the set 4-6. Inch by inch, I had to work hard to win those matches.

My coach told me that tournaments are won months before they are played. He has never really explained it to me why this is so, but I think that this is because the mentality which someone has all the time determines how well they do, and how much they improve.

Post 11: Description of the Academy Quad

Ants creep up the non-placid surface, crevice by crevice, inch by inch. Trees as wide and tall as some buildings, reach out to touch the sky. The tree is encompassed by a semi circular, condescending step-like pattern: brushed designs on the concrete on top, with porous lava rocks residing underneath.

This tree in the quad I just described can be related to the community at Punahou. The tree resembles everything which transverses here. The tree is reaching out into the community, pulling in students regardless of background. Here at Punahou, we are all equals. Regardless of status, if we want to succeed, we all have to work equally hard. In that way, we are like the ants, working up the tree. From the bottom, the daunting height of the tree seems impossible to scale, but as we assist each other, we become capable of many things we wouldn't be able to accomplish without each other's assistance. Whether trekking a tree as a mere ant, or doing everything possible to get into a top college, if nothing else, I hope that what I will leave behind at Punahou is helping the community improve as much as I can. Right now, I am at the bottom of a seemingly insurmountable tree. But hopefully by working together, one day I will be able to look down at the accomplishment I achieved. And it all starts with an inch.