Final Essay (of High School :]): The Bildungsroman

The Journey

This course was more than just a trip from a point in time to another; it was an experience and one worth remembering. I came into this class a boy and left a man. I believe that my peers, I can only speak for my period, have earned the trust allotted. We never did anything ridiculous like alter the blog in a negative way, adding good content, and kept the flow going. I can’t say it was “earned” as we were given that trust on the first day but I can say we did utilize it and not abuse it so we earned and maintained the privilege to the end. Our unspoken contract was honored in every manner. We went through the perils of standardized testing, applying for college, and the AP tests only to be meet with the next challenge of actually getting into a college.

            Some of us got our first choice others were meet with sorrow. In between this time however we got reintroduced to the things we enjoy. The passion I have been reintroduced to was being an autodidact. I used to learn a lot on my own but was limited the last few years to only podcasts and YouTube videos I found interesting as I was always busy with school, sports, volunteering, family etc. This year for my masterpiece I got to explore on my own and learn about things I cared about. I learned about the Prussian System instead of just going through the motions of it, which I really enjoyed. The commonality of the masterpieces however varied the topic and presenters, was the excitement for what the people did when they weren’t ordered to do for some arbitrary purpose. No one made a masterpiece on anything they weren’t curious about. Helping people was the most common thing people had an interest in with Stevie, Ephraim, Judith, Sierra, Hannah, Sierra, and others focusing on whether that be via volunteering or pursuing a career in medicine.

I can’t say after this year or high school in general or even beyond that to life as a whole, that I am a hero. I can say however over the course of this year I went through a lot and came out a better person. No I didn’t slay any dragons or become a king for a day only to die but I did make it out somewhat intact. I answered the call to adventure by deciding to go through this convoluted process of applying to college and did accomplish something by getting into a school I wanted to go to. Can I say I returned enlightened... not as enlightened as the Buddha but definitely with more knowledge; college will hopefully be a similar adventure at learning. My learning sadly will not dawn upon me in the form of an epiphany or divine intervention but slowly over time by my own will. And now I stand ready to face my next challenge in New York and hopefully return even more glorious and not end up like Beowulf’s encounter with that dragon. Shout out to my favorite books and to that good humor today from Miles and Emilio’s group video was very funny. Those novels that felt so true to me were Ayn Rand with Atlas Shrugged, George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Shakespeare in Hamlet. 

Presentation

Today I did my presentation on the System Part 1 of 5 Education from Prussia to America. If anyone has any questions or comments after seeing it just message me or post here.

Links to Video (only had time to show the first in class)

Milgram Experiment
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTX42lVDwA4

Nuclear Savage
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wqdRIt1EnkY

The Cost of Human Lives
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4iFYaeoE3n4

Zero Sum Gain

The primary difference between economics and politics is one is win-win and the other is win-lose. Macbeth as a medieval politician can only gain off of others loses. He can instead of killing Duncan conquer more land and united more people but even that would come at the loss of someone else's land and sovereignty. Instead of being able to trade and work up, which makes a stale drama, the more interesting is a tale of betrayal and corruption; everyone working together and being happy does not keep the attention of people who know their lives are hallow.

If the play went with this exposition then the plot would be about a man trying to work his way up by most likely a skill and it would try to benefit everyone. The tone would probably be less grim but may look down upon things like trading as people did in the Middle Ages. The theme would mirror the rest that you can get ahead and bring others with you instead of leaving the rest in the dust.

The Colonel: Inspected

1992 Prompt: In the passage below, which comes from William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem “The Prelude,” the speaker encounters unfamiliar aspects of the natural world. Write an essay in which you trace the speaker's changing responses to his experiences and explain how they are conveyed by the poem's diction, imagery, and tone.
Everything for “The Colonel” starts out normal. The line is bold “WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD is true” to emphasize and to foreshadow what is coming. A man sitting by his wife and daughter as described in the first few lines until the lines percolate in, “Broken bottles were embedded in the walls around the house to scoop the kneecaps from a man's legs or cut his hands to lace”. More input such as, “The parrot said hello on the terrace” is reminiscent of Poe’s “The Raven” as the eerie bird lands speaking to the Colonel.
Word choice is important in this poem the variety is great and it makes the poem flow easily. After reading once many would notice this author’s simplicity this piece contains no fancy diction and is basic and not wordy like many other poems. Going over it the most complex vocabulary is nothing extravagant, the “govern” due to the dual meaning employed which seems to go into the politics of the area and we can infer from the scenes that follow the Colonel must enforce the law of that land.
The tone set by the author is one of a great shift which starts out slow and normal and ends in a fast paced horror. In the first paragraph there is the line about the validity of the coming events and a standard description of what the Colonel’s family is doing: wife bringing dinner, son gone for the night, and daughter filing her nails. The maid comes in to bring some more food and all seems the same then it is quickly changed by the parrot. Knowing the directness of this poem the parrot is literal and unsurprisingly so are the human ears which the Colonel dumps of the table and pours water onto. This drastic change in the atmosphere changes the speakers tone on the country and he is told by one of its officers to stay out of the human rights department and to screw himself.
“The Colonel” by Carolyn Forche is an interesting literally piece that puts the author in an position as a guest in the house of a tyrant. This poem explores the rights of man in Latin America and the inevitable involvement of Americans and is elaborated with blunt diction, startling imagery, and a unique tone.

Trolling with the Torero

Originally I was supposed to spend a few days in Southern California but it quickly turned into a week and I only returned today. I ended up traveling to see family and two schools I got into had an amazing time wish I was done with high school already but we must endure a few more months, and not to mention everyone’s favorite the AP tests! In all seriousness I wasn’t able to do much and expected more time once I returned but will still bring a rough outline of what I am going to write for my Masterpiece. I am fairly tired today but will complete the Spring Break homework here shortly and the table of contents for my masterpiece hopefully within a week.

Masterpiece: Thoughts

We all wish for anything in life one size could fit all, a formula could explain everything, or magic words could solve everything. People are not subject to these things so why should the organization that governs them? More developed thesis coming over the break.

Tobermory thoughts on the Final Line

     "If he was trying German irregular verbs on the poor beast," said Clovis, "he deserved all he got." 

To analyze this quote is difficult due to the obscurity of how it is composed. My initial assumptions after reading it and not the entire story was “irregular German verbs” referred to some form of exorcism. I say this with little context of the piece of literature it originates. Based on the time the author resided we can infer Germany was the nation that was growing strong and rivaled Britain. The tone was pessimistic and ironic in its outlook on human nature and the characters.Germans had rightfully earned a reputation for being militant and efficient from the strict Prussian school models and recent drives for imperialism. So German words could be alluding to something along the German religious tradition or martial discipline. 

After thoroughly examine "Tobermory" the last line is about the main character Cornelius trying to train another animal this time in Dresden to learn to speak but in German. This could be significant due to rumors on how the author was a spy so if he could teach a German animal to act as a sentinel to gather intel on that nation. Another thing to question is the name Clovis. I over read his name in the story maybe it is mentioned in another story by the author or a well known story.