How I choose MY book

My book was A Thousand Splendid Suns  by Khalid Hasseni

When presented with the AP reading list, I was basically drooling. Which is completely nerdy, I know I know. But to have a selection of so many books FOR SCHOOL? That's unheard of.
Anyways. I wanted to read Kite Runner, I heard the reviews of my peers and honestly it jumped out. Being a teenager I'm way too lazy to drive ALL the way to the library (sarcasm),  so I asked my Mom which stories she had on this list and low and behold she had not kite runner, but a story similar written by the same author. I obtained it and read it within 4 days. I loved it, the female empowerment made me respect my gender and the Pakistani culture made me appreciate mine.
I can't wait to start my next book. ( hint hint Sophie's Choice)

Pimp - My- Blog

Nobody says that anymore huh?
Well anyways after today's evaluation in class of our classmate's blogs I decided mine definitely need a revamp so I added a few new touches. Here's a tour:

Welcome to the newly decorate Mia RHS AP English blog, if you couldn't tell the color is slightly changed and there is an addition of a new symbol if you look to the right corner. That symbol, at first, I thought was the symbol for Om (which is an extremely cool concept so I was all for having it on my blog), unfortunately I did some research and I have absolutely no idea what it is :(. Ok moving on
Over to our right you can witness all my many stalkers, this is a new feature that'll give you a visual reference on how creepy the internet can be.
Above you will witness the brand new... Search Bar *Ooh Ahh*, just for your convenience.
Below you will find an annoyingly automatic music player. I understand, you're scrolling through internet, you want to listen to YOUR music but take a time out and listen to some of these. Mike Pinto's shades of brown has an amazing message and I adore the tune too. The married life is also a really cool song, guess what movie it's from...
Unfortunately that concludes our tour for today so just make your way through the gift shop to find the exit:)
That's a joke, you know, emphasizing on the consumerism tactics of America....not funny? too bad.


P.S. another motive was Javi said he could make his blog look better then mine. HA haha ha, funny Javi. Look at this master piece.

Vocabulary #2

accoutrements: additional items of dress or equipment
My mom was adorning an excessisive amount of accoutements when she wore a hat, glasses, jewlery, and scarf

apogee:the highest point in the development of something
I believe the Iphone has reached the apogee of techonology but they always seem to come out with newer models.

apropos:used to state a speaker's belief that someone's comments or acts are unrelated to any previous discussion or situation.
I laughed apropos in class while reminising about an earlier event

bicker:argue about petty and trivial matters
Javier Solis and I constatnly bicker about the least important things simply for the fun of bickering.

coalesce:come together and form one mass or whole
When water comes in contact with another source of water they coalesce to become a bigger puddle of water.

contretemps:an unexpected and unfortunate occurrence
The contertemp of our neighbor"s dog was saddening, he got hit by a car this morning.

convolution:a coil or twist, esp. one of many
The sentence was complicated, and had many convolutions and ambiguities.

cull:select from a large quantity
We culled a certain piglet because he was the smallest.

disparate:essentially different in kind
My sister and I have disparate fashion sense, I don't borrow any of her clothes.

dogmatic:inclined to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true
My mom is always dogmatic, all she ever talks about is what colleges want to her in our applications.

licentious:promiscuous and unprincipled in sexual matters
I find R rated movies hard to watch around my parents because of their licentious style.

mete:a punishment, or harsh treatment
The way the Russians treat homosexuals is a mete, it's completely uncalled for.

noxious:harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant
His noxious personality makes it hard for people to stay in the same room as him.

polemic:a strong verbal or written attack on someone or something
My mom uses polemics in her complaint letters to companies.

populous:having a large population
The hallways at school are so populas sometimes I am late to class.

probity:the quality of having strong moral principles
I admire my Dad's sense of probity, he is never subject to the opinions of others.

repartee:conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies
I;ve always thought repartee would be extremely fun to engage in, but I've never been clever enough.

supervene:occur later than a specified or implied event or action
Christmas will supervene this year because Santa has a stomachache.

truncate:shorten (something) by cutting off the top or the end
We truncated the tree in our front yard because it started to grow into our house.

unimpeachable:not able to be doubted, questioned
To my little sister our parents our unimpeachable, they would never tell a lie.

Beowulf Comprehension Questions

After reading the complexity of Beowulf a few students and myself decided to work together in answering the comprehension questions (see below for how it was split up.) We communicated through texted on who would answer what questions. My group provided tons of information I overlooked and I am very grateful of having the opportunity to work with them. Overall the portion of questions I answered took me about an hour, because I had to keep checking back in the text to find answers and I get distracted very easily.

Prologue: Rise of the Danish Nation - #4 of Celebration of Herot
Ian Steller

#5 of Celebration of Herot - Beowulf fights Grendel's Mother
Edmond Yi

Further Celebration at Herot  (lines 1651-1798, pp. 68-71)

1. Beowulf gives to Hrothgar the head of Grendel on a stick, to guarantee himself safety.
2.After Hrothgar tells Beowulf of the his struggle with Grendel and Grendel's mother in his past. He then tells Beowulf about Heremod, a past ruler, he tells him about the miserable life Heremod lived because of his hauteur to provide an example of what could happen to Beowulf if he let's his ego take over him. Heremod was banished from the world he lived in and ran away to Jules, where his betrayal pushed him into such a depression that he died of sadness  Hrothgar teaches the lesson hubris to Beowulf with his story as a warning to Beowulf. 
3.After Beowulf returns Hrunting to Unferth. Hrunting was the sword Beowulf used against Grendel's mother, unfortunately the sword provided unuseful to Beowulf and he was forced to discard it.

Beowulf Returns Home (lines 1799-2199, pp. 71-79)

1. Hrothgar predicts that because Beowulf is the greatest hero of all men that at some point he will return back to Danes and fight for them once again.

2. When Beowulf returns he is received by Hygd, the kind and generous queen. Modthryth is the complete opposite of Hygd, she poses as a juxtaposition to increase the kindness of Hygd to the readers. Unlike Hygd Modthryth hurts her people, and refuses to care for them.

3. Hrothgar wants to marry his daughter Freawaru to Ingeld so Freawaru can pose as a peace weaver and unite the Danes and Heathobards. Unfortuantely Beowulf believes that his will only further the conflict between the two people. This shows us the deeper psychological sense of Beowulf we haven't seen before. We see that he actually cares for the Danes.

4. Beowulf doesn't create an huge lies in his account of his adventures. Yet he does emphasize the ferocity of Grendel to impress the listeners.

5. After the story Beowulf gives Hygelac all of his treasures. In return Hygelac gives Beowulf many gifts, including 7000 hides of land and a throne. Hygelac also gives Beowulf the greatest treasure of the Geats, a golden sword.

The Dragon Wakes

Eli Esparza

Beowulf Attacks the Dragon - Beowulf's Funeral

Javier Solis

I'm upset because for some reason this didn't post to my blog last night:(

My opinion isn't (a) right!

Notes

• An opinion is not a fact, neither Jack or Jill are right or wrong, therefore there is no right answer and no right violation. 
• Epistemic- Knowledge, understanding
• The minute somebodies mention that they have a right to their opinion the subject changes. 
• Fallacy of equivocation: slipping between different meanings of words in an argument that would be valid only if the word were used with the same meaning throughout. 
• If we are entitled to rights, then we are entitled to duties that right entails.

Seminar

• Interdependence:
• living in a society
• responsibility to respect others
• Network:
• more then a one to one relationship
• Arguments seek truth
• Schema
• organizing structures we use to make sense of the world. (mental file cabinet.)

"Fiction is the lie that tells the truth"

Reflections on week 1

1. I believe the only factor that would inhibit my ability to perform to my full potential in this class would be my schedule. I'm busy. All. The. Time. I barely have time to eat dinner, let alone write an essay. Even when I do have time I try to spend as much as possible with my family because next year I will barely see them at all. It's difficult trying to balance everything. I've definitely never been in such a homework intensive class, that pulls away a lot from life.
2. My favorite learning experience was learning about the culture in Guatemala this summer. One night I stayed out until 1230 and sat in the center of town with two locals, we talked for 5 hours (or I should say they talked) about everything from modern day Guatemalan government to the origination of the Mayan religion. The way they talked with such compassion for their country really interested me and although I didn't understand everything they said I was able to comprehend that this subject was something very personal to them. I think from that experience I learned that although other cultures lack technology or wealth they make up for it in passion and dignity. After that I felt pity towards the country I lived in, how we will never have a background that strong to draw back on, we will never have a togetherness to pull us all together.
3. For this class I am most excited to learn everything I need to know about college. College is so exciting to me, anything that has to do with it holds my attention undoubtedly. I hope after this course I am able to travel off to college having all my questions answered and know exactly what's in store!

Vocabulary #1

adumbrate 
She adumbrated that she didn't want cheese on her hamburger but because the waiter wasn't paying full attention she got it anyways.
apotheosis 
Barack Obama reached the apotheosis of American politics when he became president.
ascetic 
Monks are usually considered ascetic because of their great devotion to their practices.
bauble 
His essay contained a lot of bables which made it way too long.
beguile 
He beguiled her into doing his homework for the rest of the year with his irresistible smile.
burgeon
The price of Twinkies burgeoned when the company went out of business, everyone wanted one.
complement 
The color blue really complemented her dazzling eyes.
contumacious 
He was contumacious towards his teachers, therefore he refused to do all his homework.
curmudgeon 
She was considered curmudgeon because her lack of sleep caused her to snap at almost every person she came into contact with.
didactic 
She tried to be didactic towards him by letting him learn the hard way from his actions instead of warning him beforehand
disingenuous 
She acted disingenuous when confronted by the Principal about who pulled the fire alarm at school, in reality she knew exactly who did it.
exculpate 
He was exculpated from the fire alarm incident when no ink was found on his fingers
faux pas 
I found myself in a faux pas when I laughed so hard milk came out my nose.
fulminate 
Many Americans are fulminating against the hatred against homosexuals in Russia.
fustian
I found his writing quite fustian, he used a biased view to make himself look better. 
hauteur 
He was considered hauteur because he constantly posted photos of himself online.
inhibit
The bird inhibited his daily walk because he was forced to change into a clean set of clothes. 
jeremiad 
My mom writes jeremiads to companies when she finds something unsatisfactory in their product.
opportunist 
I would consider you an opportunist because you're always up for anything.
unconscionable
Her work was unconscionable, she simply repeated the sentence in many different forms and then declared it a paragraph.

Essay #2

      

    

How would you describe life?

      Life is the biggest mystery we will ever know. Many try to describe it, but there is just too much that it's impossible to explain it with our simple human language. Michael Montaigne in his essays tries to describe almost every idea he has about life, it's messy and all over the place but by reading his essays it's evident that Montaigne believes he can describe life, and he does try his best, contradicting David Foster Wallace's statement. Jane Austen on the other hand is a direct example of the statement in her novel Pride and Prejudice, she simply describes one story that outlines a moment in a life during the 1800's. Although Austen and Montaigne are both accomplished authors their style of writing is very different.
       Montaigne is known in his essays for his use of stream-of -consciousness which shows the reader directly how his brain his thinking. We are able to witness as Montaigne jumps from topic to topic through out all of his essays Montaigne also uses many quotes from ancient writers to convey his message, this elevates his writing to a classic by relating major quotes into one work. Another technique used by Montaigne is his conversationalist tone, he breaks the 4th wall countless times through out his essays, for example,“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” In this quote Montaigne use of the word we involves his reader in his writing, creating an exciting interactive experience for the reader. 

       Austen has a very different style of writing compared to Montaigne. She writes a story through the view point of a fictional character. In this case we are not able to see Austen's view on life as clearly as we see Montaigne's. Her story is also told from first person perspective and she never breaks the fourth wall, and although this doesn't create an interactive experience her use of dramatic plot line keeps the reader entertained. Like Montaigne, Austen makes references to class historical points. She makes subtle references that the story takes place during the Napoleonic war in Europe. Her use of historical fiction makes the story more realistic because it provides background information. 

       At first it appears that Austen and Montaigne couldn't be any more different in writing styles but after further inspection some similarities pop out. Both authors show the discrepancies of life, the error behind the superficial facade. Another similarity is the uniqueness of both essays, no matter how hard one may try there is no possible way to replicate the time and effort but into the thought of all these ideas. Austen and Montaigne's works have survived through the ages because of there perspectives of lives that forced others to think differently on the way they act.

1987 AP Test

Unfortunately I did not achieve a 3 in the AP test and I believe this for various reasons.

• I don't think I've acquired the hang of AP tests yet, last year I scored very low also. The use of time-management plus energy-management makes me overwhelmed so I tend to stress out and over think problems causing me to get the wrong answer.
• School just started back up again, this was the first test I've taken since finals last year and I'm not use to the rigorous use of my brain which caused me to give up and skip problems I found extremely difficult. A brush up on literary terms is greatly needed if I wish to do better.
• It's a weekend, and I'm a teenager. Need I explain more? The first weekend after summer has ended I believe is the laziest weekend of the year and extreme amount of homework I have has worn me out.
  
  After taking this AP test I am definitely going to pay attention in class, I need all the help I can get. I'm impressed by Dr. Preston's gain of a 3, honestly I'm impressed when anyone passes an AP test, they're extremely difficult. I would say the area I need to work on the most would have to be my vocabulary and literary terms. I won't lie, there was probably an above average of words I was unable to comprehend. All in all I really hope I improve this year, because this test was almost embarrassing for me.

Essay #1

Alienating Adah

Adah Price is the silent hero in the novel Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, literally. Born with a genetic disorder Adah deals with alienation from the moment her deficit was discovered. Throughout the novel we witness as Adah's disorder affects her lives and the lives around her in both a negative and positive light. Adah's appearance forces her to be exiled by her family, surroundings, and ultimately herself. 

Adah is isolated from Western Society because she limps when she walks, this limp also isolates her from her family as well. The Price family is very naive, obviously from the decision to move to Africa on a whim yet another huge point. Their daughter has the ability to comprehend knowledge beyond all of their abilities combined. "but Adah can't, she is bad on one whole side and doesn't talk because she is brain-damaged and also hates us all," this quote recited by Ruth May shows the misconception of Adah the family has. Adah is not brain damaged, in fact she has the ability to create palindromes just from hearing words. They can't see past her outer appearance which is ironic because the Price family supposedly live by the way of God, accepting everyone into their hearts. 


Prejudice plays a major role in the Congo community throughout the Posionwood Bible. The Native isolate the Price Family because they refuse to adapt to their way of life and the Price Family isolates the natives because they feel superior to them. In contrast to the Price Family the Congo community exile Adah not because of her disability but because of her skin color. They associate her paleness with the stubbornness and oblivion shown by her father. In reality Adah Price is the only of the Price who adapts to her surroundings and by the end of her stay in the Congo begins to accepts the views and beliefs of the town in which she resides.

The most ironic part of the whole story is that Adah's physical ability holds her back mentally isolating her from her true self. "I never much imagined myself as a woman grown, anyway, and nowadays especially it seems a waste of imagination," this quote said by Adah shows her pessimistic attitude towards herself. In the end the story reveals that possibly throughout Adah's whole life she has had the ability to rid herself of the limp but her mental state held her back. Adah exiles herself from all the opportunities life could have held for her.

A main theme shown through out the Poisonwood Bible is the effect isolation has on a person. In Adah's case the exile from her family and community made her ultimately exile herself. In the end it is evident that if Adah had not had this exile in her life she would not have gained the knowledge and dedication for her life in the end of the story which proved her alienation an overall enriching experience. Adah was the total embodiment of the story, without her it would be a completely different novel. 

Poetry #1

1. The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski
2. The use of this poem is ironic because the general message is not to be influenced by the pressure of others when that is exactly what the corporation is doing. They're trying to influence you to buy their product and use the poem as a way of pressure.
3.This poem is the exact opposite of Bukowski's reputation. Bukowski is known for his straight forward approach to the harshness of reality but in this poem he sets an uplifting tone about the wonders life has to offer.
4. Google was my best friend for questions 1 and 3. I listened to the commercial and typed in a line from it into the search bar. "Your Life is Your Life" and of course it popped up right away. Then for question number 3 I searched for a biography of Bukowski and was able to get and overview of his general writing habits. For number 2 I relied solely on inference.
Number 1 I got from this website:
http://milan-poetry.blogspot.com/2007/03/laughing-heart-charles-bukowski.html
Number 3 I got from this website:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/charles-bukowski

My BIG question

After reading all my classmate's big questions mine seemed a bit a juvenile but it's still a question I hope some day to understand!

These were my questions:
Why is the word 'lisp' so incredibly hard to pronounce?
also..What happens beyond space? It has to end somewhere right?

And the wonderful Jake Hoffman and Lisa Malin graciously replied with these theories:

Jacob HoffmanMay 22, 2013 at 9:35 PM

Hey Mia, well there are a lot of different theories. For example one of them is that the universe is expanding at a constant rate which would mean there has to be a edge of sorts. However this theory cant be proven due to the fact that viewing that far away would only show you the light and heat signatures given off billions of years ago... so to be honest nobody really knows and it cant be proven any time soon

Lisa.KMJune 9, 2013 at 5:52 PM

Well, another viewpoint is that it isn't the *universe* that's expanding, just the matter contained in the universe. Space is infinite, but the amount of matter is limited, and has been expanding outwards since the Big Bang. Technically, there would be an "edge" of the expansion of matter, but that wouldn't be the edge of the universe because space would continue beyond that edge (there would just be nothing in it).