Feats of wisdom

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DnLlQBzs3Hy0%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&feature=youtu.be&v=nLlQBzs3Hy0&gl=US

Macbeth Notes

• Macbeth ponders the possibility of killing King Duncan over dinner.
• Lady Macbeth calls him a coward when he tries to tell her it probably isn't a good idea.
• Macbeth eventually agrees to kill King Duncan and devises a plan with lady Macbeth.  They come up with a plan in which lady Macbeth gets the guards drunk and Macbeth will kill Duncan and then they will take the kings blood and smear it on the guards to make it look like they did it.
• Although Macbeth did kill the king he is now fearful that someone other than himself will take th throne.(Banquoe). 
• Fleance is Banquo's son.
• Malcom and donablain (King Duncan's sons) go to talk to their father to find he has been murdered.
• Macbeth justifies that he killed the guards out of anger that the king is dead.
• Malcom and donoblain feer they are next to be killed and flee the scene to England.
• Macbeth gets another hint from the 3 witches that he should fear Macduff.
• When Macbeth hears that Macduff has fled to England to be with Malcom he orders that his wife and children be killed.
• Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to stay and fight and he listens.  This leads to his death by Macduff beheading him.
• Lady Macbeth kills herself from sleepwalking.

History of Macbeth

• Macbeth is an unususal style for Shakespear. He normally didn't creat such plays that dealt with psyco pathic killers and murder.
• The play begins with Macbeth and Lady Macbeth cutting open the body of a person that they have just murdered.
• Troughout the story there is the reacuring theme of what it really means to be difined as a man. Lady Macbeth wants to be more like a man and less like a woman so she will be able to kill more cold heartedly.  When the time comes to kill Duncan Macbeth says it is unmanly to kill another man in his sleep but Lady Macbeth argues that it would make him more manly and they argue.
• Shakespear got his story from Raphael Holinshed.  Who wrote the CHronicles.
• The name Macbeth means sone of life and is a christian name.
• Lady Macbeth was really refered to as the Grouch and she was the daughter of a man named biote
• Around 1950 the play was performed for the pleasure of king JamesI.
• The debate among many is whether the play is a message of despair or hope.
• The play was written by Shakespear in 1605-1606.
• Most of the time his plays took place during a time period of about 100 years befor his own but Macbeth took place 500 years befor his time.  It was durring a time in which the people of England had a very vague understanding about.
• He had his own privat theatre in the city of London which was uncommon. It seated only a couple hundred people unlike the big outdoor dome that seated thousands.
• The was written/attributed to King James of England who was also the king of Scotland.
• The play is not historicaly correct. Some facts and events were tweaked to satisfy the political status of Sakespears time.

Literature analysis mind map

http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show/149012358

Literature Analysis: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a story about two men, George and Lennie, who are in search of work, money, and overall better living.  George and Lennie seem to never have any luck when it comes to any of these things.  They can't keep a steady job any where or earn any money and Lennie is constantly getting into trouble because is dumb. Although Lennie is big and strong and hardworking his mental capabilities are a little below par so George is almost like the big brother who takes care of him and tries to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. 

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray."  Although nothing seems to go there way, George and Lennie still have this fantasy about how there life is going to be once they earn enough money.  Lennie loved to here George talk about what it would be like for them and we here about it multiple times throughout the story.  George describes it as them having a little house with a stove where they could cook their own meals, they would have a garden where Lennie could tend to the rabbits which he loved so much.  The only thing that is in their way is the money.  Later in the story an old man named candy who also works on the ranch is talking to Lennie and he offers to pitch in his fair share of the money if they let him tag along.  he isn't much use because he lost his hand due to and accident with a machine but he is determined that he can cook and keep the house clean.  Lennie and George are hesitant at first but then agree that the deal would benefit them all. 

George and Lennie's plans to live the life they have been dreaming of is close to coming true and both men are very excited.  Even though they get very close there plans fall through do to problems with Lennie.  He got in trouble with the bosses son Curly and killed his wife which caused all kinds of problems for them.  In the end George is forced to kill Lennie in order to put him out of his suffering.  It was the only thing he could do to save them both.

Big Question Intro

Something that always amazes me is the change that occurs amongst people from when they are young and careless to when they begin to form as an adult and the little things become much more important.  As you may know kids could have a care in the world about what their hair looks like, or who is watching them or even things such as school or church, for them it’s just another place to have fun.  But as always the limitations and guidelines for one person may be completely different for the person next store.  The friends, family, and over all environment of a child can effect who they come to be as an adult. 

Adolescence is the time in which a child comes to be an adult.  The time frame for theses years is different among cultures but is probably close to the ages between ten and twenty years of age.  During this time is when we come to know our selves more than we ever have.  Things such as sexual awareness, cognitive development, the ability to think abstractly, and most of all, our own self image come to be things that ate most important to us.  They are the things that influence who we are.

Many people have already looked into this field and it seems that for the most part everything that I have looked at is consistent with the ideas I have just stated.  Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist attributed the behavior of adolescents to their culture and upbringing.  This is very true because all cultures differ from others.  Other cultures probably do not hold the same values in sexuality and self appearance as we do in our western culture and you can see how we differ from someone who was raised in the Middle East, or any place foreign to us.  It’s possible that some other cultures may be similar as well but there still some differences amongst those who appear that way. 

G. Stanely Hall was a great American psychologist stated that the stages in which an adolescent goes through is a time of storm and stress.  I think that anyone who has already experienced this time in their life of is experiencing it can agree that this statement is spot on.  As an adolescent you experience so much stress form school, boyfriends/girlfriends, sports, clubs, family, friends, and more.  To many a lot of this stress is contributed what we call drama.  What is interesting is that Hall also said that, “Conflict at this developmental stage normal and not unusual.”  It happens that all this drama is important to our own learning experiences and has a huge part in shaping who we come to be.

Everyone has or will experience drama in their life at one point or another.  It is expected to happen and because our culture says so there is a place for it.  I think a great example of the effects drama could have on someone comes from the often yet unfortunate event that someone is cheated on during a relationship.  If a girl in high school finds out that her boyfriend has been   cheating on her it has a huge effect on the way she is going to approach relationships later on in life.  She might become a little jealous when it comes to hanging out with other girls, or it might take longer for a guy to gain her trust or she may never have the confidence to trust another guy.  To  an adult this situation may seem silly and maybe even pathetic do to the fact that it is some stupid high school kids going through a little drama that will not affect them at all later in life and they just need to get over it.  But it’s not that simple; because everything seems to have so much importance during this time the situation could seriously damage the mental standpoint of the girl.  In her mind her whole life is ruined do to her loss of the one she was going to love for the rest of her life as well as the humility of being cheated on.  There is nothing in the world that would change her feelings about it because it is what is most important to her at the time.

This is a very important question when people are dealing with psychology.  Doctors who study in this field often ask about the history of that person.  What they are looking for is any event that may have caused trauma to them.  What is amazing is that a lot of the time doctors retrace the beginning of these problems back to childhood and adolescent years.  There is so much stuff surrounding you as come to be an adult and if something of importance collapses or changes it could have a huge effect. 

Oh Captain my Captain

CONTENTS      BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Walt Whitman (1819–1892).  Leaves of Grass.  1900.

193. O Captain! My Captain!


1

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;  
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;  
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,  
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:  
    But O heart! heart! heart!          5
      O the bleeding drops of red,  
        Where on the deck my Captain lies,  
          Fallen cold and dead.  
  
2

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;  
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;   10
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;  
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;  
    Here Captain! dear father!  
      This arm beneath your head;  
        It is some dream that on the deck,   15
          You’ve fallen cold and dead.  
  
3

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;  
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;  
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;  
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;   20
    Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!  
      But I, with mournful tread,  
        Walk the deck my Captain lies,  
          Fallen cold and dead.  


CONTENTS      BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Steve Jobs

After reading about the life of the great Steve Jobs, one of the two founders of Apple, my perspective on technology has taken a major shift.  I used to hate computers and technology but I have come to realize that we have so many resources that are made available to us that we should take advantage of.  I think that most people think of Jobs as clean, calm, collected, and appreciative person when really it is quite the opposite.  Jobs was one of the most charismatic people of his generation.  He strived for success and lived somewhat of an intense and crazy life.  As a young adult he got into drugs such as LSD which he said was one of the most enlightening and important experiences of his life.  He was always smart and witty and sometimes had trouble fitting in with people at the time.  Technology had not yet taken off and it was hard to find others that were as passionate about it as he was.  He was also hard to get a long with a lot of the time because he pulled so many pranks and angered so many people, but he didn't care.  Soon enough he found someone who was just as much into tech and pranks as he was.  his name was Steve Wazniak.  They later came to found Apple in a garage neat Pal;o Alto California.  It has developed into one of the largest and most successful companies to have ever been made.

Although Jobs most notably known for founding Apple the company that he first took pride in was the animation studio known as Pixar.  He helped to create movies such as Toy Story and Monsters Inc.  he saw this company as one of his biggest accomplishments.

Something that made Jobs different from every other CEO in the world was his passion for what he did.  He stated, "It's never about the profit but instead about the product."  He was one of the most meticulous and controlling person you would ever meat.  Everything mattered to him.  He stressed for hours, days, and weeks over things as simple as how rounded the corners of the iPhone should be or what kind of lighting he should use when he presents a new product.  One of his most notable qualities was his passion for simplicity.  He felt that phones such as the Android were to complicated for users.  He once tested the ipad by giving it two a four year old and watched him.  Soon enough the kid was downloading games and playing them without his help.  If a four year old can do it then anyone can.  His lust for control and quality is what shaped Apple into what it is today. 

Jobs had a very unique character about him.  A lot of times people at Apple hated working with him but they always came to appreciate what he did.  he pushed people to their limits and if they didn't preform they were fired and not in a nice way.  He would often walk into a meeting were a team of engineers would give him a demo of the new product and he would scream at them saying that it sucked and that the were all screw ups and that if they didn't do better the whole company would be in ruins.  Jobs believed in complete control.  he designed the way that stores look today with the sleek looking glass entry ways. He wanted to guide the complete consumer experience so that they know exactly what they are getting.  The entire Apple company is built around making the consumer feel like they are a part of something big and important.  He even stressed over how the products were shipped and what the box looked like and what appears after you open it.  If you didn't notice every Apple product is packaged the same way, you open the box and their is or beautiful new iPhone with its slender tone yet dominant presence.  His demand for the best quality and presentation always gave him an edge over his competition.

Something that many people may not know about Jobs is that he followed a very strict and simple life style.  He believed in Zen Buddhism and followed strict dieting regimens that sometimes included not eating for almost a week.  He was famous for knowing the best vegetarian and vegan restaurants around the world.  He especially loved Japan which was the only place he ate real food, mostly sushi.  For most of his life he believed that if he ate only fruit and nothing else that he would remain clean even without the refreshment of showers.  Even though many of his co-workers often said he was rude, angry, and he stinks like pig poop he still believed in it whole hearted.  Every year Jobs read the book, The Life of The Yogi, so as to refresh his memory on what he was trying to accomplish. he often walked around barefoot and entered meetings with big business managers smelly and oddly dressed.  He truly believed in simplicity, even when it cam to money. 

"It's not about the profit but the product."  Jobs was true to his words.  He never cared about the money, he simply didn't need it or want it. he already had a lot and didn't to be seen as someone like Bill Gates who was in it for the money.  Although Gates was a large competitor of Jobs he fully appreciated his character and beliefs about the importance of the product.  Jobs had so much pride when it came to new products.  almost every time something new came out he said it was the best thing he had ever created.  He lived to push technology to new grounds and he most definitely accomplished it.

He also had an interesting view on education.  He believed that kids should first of all not have to pay for it and second that the system we have in place today is crap.  he did not believe in power points and suggested that if you have to use a power point to teach something then you have know idea what you are teaching because you are just reading whats on the screen.  He believed in discussion and debate over what should be done.  He wanted ideas, thoughts and plans to develop through constant questioning.  He once had a meeting with Obama, that his wife set up and that he did not want to go to, but never the less ended up going against his own will.  He torched Obama about education and told him how everything was wrong with it and that it sucked.  He had no fear in telling the president of the United States that he was doing a sucky job at the time.  He also developed the idea of transferring textbooks onto the ipad which is supposedly coming soon. 

It is a tragedy that Steve Jobs is no longer with us.  He lost the battle to cancer but because of his own stubbornness to not eat the foods he needed in order to stay alive.  He was very strict about his dieting.  Still he left us with an empire of great technology and wisdom that should be seen as a learning tool.  His story has inspired me to become more involved with technology and his passion has inspired those who were around him to carry on his legacy.  I think that one of his best quotes to take away from his life story is this, "If your not busy being born, your busy dieing."  There is nothing more simple and true than that statement.

Refined Big Question

How does an adolexcent create a sense of identity through which others come to know him and he comes to know himself?

A.J. Franklin
Period 2

Self search

I searched A.J. Franklin on a couple different sites and didn't really get anything that I thought was that good except for their is a guy who is a good singer.  So instead I searched my real name which is Alex Franklin and found that their is a popular basketball player named Alex Franklin and he took up pretty much all of the search sites I went to. There wasn't much else except for stuff about this basketball player.

A.J. Franklin
Period 2

Thinking Outside the Box

Plato and Sartre both created a story that are very similar to one another.  Both express the idea of self entrapment due to lack of knowledge or not realizing what reality truly is.  They convey this message through their stories which can be seen as extended metaphors.  Plato uses the idea of the cave and the men in shackles to show that they believe what they see is reality but in fact all they are seeing is a representation of what is real.  In Sartre's "No Exit" he describes the idea of a living hell through the experiences of the three people being put in a room together who all in a sense hate each other.  I think that an important point to take away from both stories is that in order to fix this problem of the unknown everyone needs to be willing to share and teach the knowledge that they have.  I think a great example is our own class.  We have created a huge network of students who are sharing their knowledge with each other and it helps those who can't quite see reality get a little closer to the truth.  An example of this would come from Plato's story in the cave.  One of the prisoners is set free and leaves the cave and sees reality.  He then goes back to the cave and tells the others who haven't seen reality what is is about and what it looks like.  At first they don't believe him because they believe that they are in reality because it's all that they have seen.  But soon enough they come to realize that he is right and that there is so much more to what you can learn and come to know than what you all ready have.

A.j. Franklin
Period 2

AP Lit Term: Analysis

Analysis: A method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny.
I like to think of analysis as breaking something down into its original components so that you can see the basics. One example that came to me as I was thinking about analysis was when we talked in class about how it is important to be able to analyze information that is given to you on the web. You can't just believe that everything you read is from a credible source so it is important to know how to spot those sights that are credible, and those that are not.

A.J. Franklin
Period 2

The Big Question

What defines a person? Is it the way they dress or who they hang out with at school? Is it defined by the way they talk to others through media such as facebook or anywhere online? Is it the way they act around their parents, or their friends?

A.J. Franklin
Period 2

Hamlet Essay #2

In many stories you here about the epic hero saving the day over and over again but eventually they are faced with the challenge of their own self destruction.  Along with the hero comes his flaw or downfall which he himself can’t seem to realize he has. What makes Hamlet so different from a character like Beowulf is that he is so concerned with himself and the choices he is making that he is his biggest self critique.  The way that he presents his thoughts to us in passages such as his soliloquy of To Be or not to be, shows us that he is looking for mistakes he has made and is looking for a way to fix them and fix future ones.

            Throughout the story Hamlet is constantly questioning his own decisions and thinking.  He plays through the events that have unfolded before him and asks him if he is following the right path.  He might not have chosen the right one since his choices eventually lead to his death but the way he presents his thoughts fives us a good idea of what he intends to do.  In stories such as Beowulf and Julius Caesar the hero of the story has no idea what is happening because of their own inner flaws.   They never show us what they are thinking about, only the actions that are currently taking place.  Hamlet uses a unique style of language in that he is constantly thinking about his own thinking.

            Another aspect of Hamlet’s use of language is that he never holds anything back from the reader.  You constantly know what he intends to do with his next move and how he is going to execute it.  He provides a lot of dramatic irony because only himself and the reader know what is going on but the other characters have no idea.  His language even differentiates him from other characters within the play.  Other characters don’t provide you with what they know like Hamlet is able to and it makes him a very unique character among many.

            Hamlet’s character utilizes his own self reflection to overcome his flaws and in the end he may have been killed but he accomplished his overall goal.  His use of language provides the reader with the experience of his own thoughts about himself and not others.  This is what makes Hamlet so different from other epic heroes.

A.J. Franklin
Period2

THe Major Concept

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One of the major concepts that I have taken away from this class is that technology is a resource that is readily available to us and it is important that we understand it and use it to our advantage.  Media is takeing over and is the future for our generation.  The more we know and understand about technology, the better off we will be.

A.J. Franklin
Period 2

Literary Analysis #2

1.  Kafka on the Shore is a novel that takes you through the barriers of reality and into the world of magic realism.  In the story there are two main characters who's paths will inevitably meet.  Kafka Tamura is a fifteen year old boy from Tokyo who decided to run away from home because of his relationship with his father who was sometimes abusive.  Nakata is an elderly man who has a strange role in the story.  He is able to talk to cats and they can talk back to him as well.  As there lives begin to mesh in the story they find themselves on the search for the gateway to the spiritual realm.
2.  I think that a central theme or medium of the story would have to be that sometimes things are much different than what they first seem to be.  Throughout the story events unfold that you might think are non relevant but then as you look back and think about what really happen, you understand the true meaning. 
3.  the tone of the novel is very mysterious and exciting.  Because the story is written with magic realism you never know what could happen on the next page.  With people talking to cats and others trying to kill them and use them in order to make a flute the story can get confusing at some points.
4.  The main literary elements that I could see in this story are foreshadowing, allusion, and magic realism.  Magic realism played a huge role in the story.  It developed the characters along with the entire storyline.

Tools That Change the Way we Think

With all of the new advancements in media, technology, and the internet I have discovered that it is a lot more tempting to take the easy way out or the lazy rout when it comes to getting answers. Rather than trying to think my way through a problem or trying to truely research something down to the finer points, I choose to type the first three letters of a word that is meaningful to my search and then let the media, technology, and internet do the rest. It is way faster and much more simple to accomplish a search that way. The truth is that I had no idea that doing things that way was only giveing me a small percent of the whole. Now that I know how the concept of a filter bubble works I feel that it is important to inform my self of all the information that is truely their.

A.J. Franklin
Period 2

Literature Analysis: The Things They Carried

1. The Things They Carried is a story written by Tim O' Brien.  The main plot of the story is the journy he takes when he is drafted into service for the vietnam war.  Each chapter describes a different part of his journy, and he shares the hardships that he is foced to face.  Through his own journy he also tells the story of the men he was with while in the war. 

2. I think that one of the major themes in this book is to be courageouse.  Not in the sense of charging the battle field with blazzing guns but in the sense of forgiveing yourself for the mistakes you have made and survive what you must in the best way possible.

3.  The authors tone is very relaxed and easy going.  It is like he is telling the story to a friend whom he trusts and respects and knows is willing to listen.  His diction is not very complicated and his style is easy to read.  although he writes the story in this manner, his message is very clear and important.  The stories he shares about the battle field and the horrible things he had to see and experience gives the book a feeling of true reality.  There is no BS comeing from the stories he tells and you can tell as you read about what he has gone through.

4.  Some literary techniques that helped me to further understand the promt was his diction, syntax, , and characterization.  His use of less comples diction helped me to understand what was going on.  he simply explained everything that he needed to in a simple and organized manner.  His syntax was also very clear and easy to understand.  Everything lead into another part of the journy or the nest story he was going to tell about his time in the war.  Lastely his characterization was absolutely perfect.  For each character he provided backgrounds of their lives outside of the military as well as their rolles inside the military.  He talked about what they liked to do, what they prefered to eat, who the girl was they were talking to back at home, and so on and so forth.  Over all a very good book to read.