"State Secrets in the Age of the Internet" Notes

• politicians such as Sarah Palin have want the government to take extra-legal steps against the website WikiLeaks disclosures' founder
• government employees warned not to download leaked documents
• some organizations that trade with WikiLeaks have taken away the services they once provided
• US arrested Julian Assange (founder) who is currently in custody in the UK and may face charges in Sweden
•  US wanting to prosecute Assange but he may not have committed an offense under US jurisdiction since he has the right to freedom of speech
• Assange aimed at attacking secrecy
• plan of no secrets in the states in impossible since it could be dangerous if some of the states information was disclosed to the public
• US shouldn't punish Assange in order to solve the problem
• it is better to debate laws rather than bend those that already exist
• US should do a better job at keeping secrets  

Literary Analysis The Kite Runner

General:
1) The kite runner tells  the story of a boy named Amir who grows up to be a man filled with regret and guilt. He experiences the rape of his servant but more than his servant Hassan was his best friend. Hassan and Amir shared a brotherly bond throughout their childhood even though they were aprt of different social classes. Baba, Amir's father, takes Hassan in like a son which he later turns out to be. Baba had had sex with  Hassan's mother who at the time worked for Baba. She was impregnated by Baba and he always felt the need to look over Hassan for he was his illegitimate son. Ali took Hassan in as his own son and raised him. Baba only provided shelter and essential necessities for Hassan and always gave him special treatment just as he did for Amir. Assef s the boy who rapes Hassan and the cause of such trauma in both the lives of Hassan and Amir. Hassan and his wife Farzana are killed and leave a son by the name of Sohrab. Amir finds this boy and takes him in as his own son. Sohrab is actually Amir's nephew and so the story ends with the opening of traumatized Sohrab to Amir.

2) This novel demonstrates the theme of guilt and compassion. Amir feels guilt because he did not help the young Hassan while he was being raped by Assef. For a while Amir also felt anger toward Hassan since he blamed his feeling of guilt on Hassan but Hassan had had no control over what had happened to him. Amir learns the feeling of compassion as he becomes older and begin to see the world in a different way. He sees how evil it can be and takes in Sohrab in order to finally appease his feeling of guilt. He pays Hassan by taking in his son and treating his as his own.

3) The authors tone is one of at times fast paced and at others serene. When Amirs faces Assef and fight him in order to take Sohrab with him the action is clearly described  The author tells of the ball in Asseft eye and the blood that gushes out. He describes Amir's wounds and the way the room was slowly being destroyed by each man's blow. The scene in which Hassan is being raped is described fully. Each move Asseef made on Hassan was painted in the mind of the reader by the author. The blood that dripped out of Hassan could be seen in the authors mind. The novel ends with Amir and Sohrab flying a kite together just the way Amir and Hassan used to do. The string is cut and Amir runs to retrieve the kite for Sohrab just like Hassan did for him. Amir is taken back to the day in which Hassan ran the kite for him and he screams out to Sohrab "For you a thousand times over."

4) Setting: The author describes the blood running down Hassan and painting the snow red. He creates the setting of an ally in which Hassan is raped. It is secluded and believable.

Indirect Characterization: The author makes Amir appear to be a spoiled and cowardly child. He hides his watch under Hassan's pillow in order to rid himself of him because he cant deal with the guilt of not having helped him when he needed it most he knew. He knew Hassan would have been brave enough to help him if he were in danger but he couldn't muster up the courage to do the same for him.

Symbolism: The pomegranate fruit and tree play an important role in the novel. The pomegranate tree becomes a place in which Amir and Hassan are close to one another and away from the world. It represents their friendship for at this tree they are one. The tree gives off the fruit that become the guilt and frustration that Amir feels toward Hassan after Hassan is raped. Hassan dares not fight back and takes in the dark feelings in form of pomegranates that Amir throws at him for he is loyal to Amir and loves him more than he loves himself.


Characterization:

1) In the novel Hassan in indirectly described as a loyal friend. He stands up for Amir when Assef and his friends are harassing both Amir and Hassan. Hassan also lets Amir take his anger out on him when AMir throws the pomegranates at him. Hassan does not deny having stolen Amir's watch for he does not want to make Amir appear as a liar and Hassan enjoys learning from and serving Amir. Amir is a coward but redeems himself as he gets older. Amir does not help Hassan when he need him most. He blames Hassan for getting raped and making Amir feel such guilt. Amir becomes a strong man and returns to Kabul where he finds and takes Sohrab only to make him his own child and give back to the dead Hassan.

2) The only time the diction really changes is when different characters are speaking. Assef is one that speaks cold and perverse words. Amir is a mixture of good and unintentionally bad a Hassan is completely good. Hassan speaks wise and peaceful words of love and loyalty toward Amir. The novel shows things from Amir's point of view and so showes a biased side of things. We see what amir is thinking and feeling and learn about hte character through his eyes. The book shows a mixture of emotions adn changes fro Amir goes through these changes as he gets older.

3) The protagonist Amir is a dyna,ic character. He starts off as a spoiled boy who is incapable of dealing with pain and problems. He is used to having life easy and to getting what he wants without having to try hard to get it. He has luxuries and he has servants who do as he pleases. After Hassan's rape he becomes angry with the feeling of guilt and takes it out on Hassan.  As he grown up to be a man he realized what he did was wrong for now he know the world and sees it in a different way. He faces his problems and fights to redeem himself  He fights for Sohrab and triumphs.

4) I absolutely love this novel. I couldn't directly identify with the characters, but they were definitely true characters. The problems they were facing such as war and discrimination are problem that exist in modern times. they show qualities humans posses such as anger, fear, and pain. The rape scene was a true painting of what occurs during war. Children are hurt and corrupted by the evils of war. Some become so messed up they commit unspeakable things and their childhood is taken fro their hands. The characters were able to portray the effect of war and the different reactions of people to different problems.

Tools That Change the Way We Think

As technology improves we become more and more dependent on it. We use it for homework, we use it for work, we use it for entertainment, etc. For some technology is a life saver and for others it consumes time that could have been used on something productive. Internet and media broaden your view on issues of the world. Some of these issues include things that matter such as politics and natural disasters but others only fill our minds with things we could easily go without knowing. These are mostly seen in media where they discuss the lives of those "famous" individuals. We fill our lives with the problems of others simply because they are "famous." Internet can serve as a huge distraction just as much as it can serve as a great source in which one can go to for help. Our entire AP English course is based on using technology and our blogs but at the same time i often find myself wasting time on YouTube. Technology can be as harmful as it can be helpful. You can learn so much from the internet. It can help you understand the world around you, it can help you achieve goals, and it can help you through obstacles. It makes the finding of information a lot simpler than it used to be back when people had to read through large books in order to find answers. Today one can just type in a topic they want to read more about and thousands of results are just a click away. People in the past went far with the limited amount of tools they had. We can get far but some may find it difficult to do if they did not count on the tools offered. It is true that we have become lazy and we rely greatly on finding easy ways out. Technology has created these easy ways out and most of us use them on a daily basis. It is good to keep it all balanced. We continue to rely on textbooks in school which requires us to search for answers we need. We can combine the search in books with search in the internet and this keeps gives us balance. Technology, internet, and media serve as ways of entertainment. Entertainment often lowers our stress levels and can have a positive effect on our lives. 

Notes on Hamlet

     I was never reluctant to reading Hamlet. I actually looked forward to reading it. I spoiled the play completely from the very beginning because I read a quick summary of the play but this helped me understand it a bit more. I haven't been surprised by the events but still like the play. It's not as difficult to understand as Romeo and Juliet was (in my opinion) but I liked Romeo and Juliet a lot more. This is mostly because it's a tragic yet romantic play whereas Hamlet is just tragic and full of desires for vengeance. It was a bit obvious that Hamlet was going to seek revenge against Claudius, the man who killed his father but the way he went about it was surprising and awfully clever. He set him up with the play he has the players put on and went from there since this helped him make sure he wasn't committing an injustice. I see us continuing the play from here, obviously, but the tragic side of the play will now begin to unfold bringing it to its end.

Who was Shakespeare

     William Shakespeare, from Stratford-upon-Avon, England, was an English playwright and poet. Born on April 23, 1564, Shakespeare became a popular figure due to his numerous plays and sonnets. He was born into a family that was well off. William, Shakespeare's father, was a successful local businessman and his mother Mary was the daughter of a landowner. At age 18 Shakespeare married a woman by the name Anne Hathaway. He had three children with Anne but one of his boys, Hamlet, dies at age 11. Shakespeare spent most of his life in London writing and preforming his plays. He did not mind spending time away from his family to which he came to only during lent when theaters were closed. He wrote 154 sonnets that dealt with things such as lost love. Shakespeare's plays dealt with tragedy, comedy, and history. They have been studied more than any other piece of English writing and have been translated into an innumerable amount of languages. He died in 1664. His life is not very clear to use to this day but his plays and sonnets have been left only to be discovered by generations to come.

http://www.biographyonline.net/poets/william_shakespeare.html

     From what I have seen, most student dislike Shakespeare because they find his work challenging. There are exceptions to this of course. Some students enjoy Shakespearean work and enjoy trying to understand it.  It's all about learning to read the words of Shakespeare. It's about learning to make connections to literature that is out of most students' comfort zone. After is is understood students can see that it isn't such a difficult concept to grasp.
     I have always found Shakespeare's work to be mysterious and puzzle like. It is not easy to understand but the more of his work I read in school, the more I understand it. His plays are not to complicated when it comes to plot analysis. It's the language understanding that used to throw me off. I have improved a lot in my Shakespeare understanding.

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

     I started using Facebook not to long ago. At first it seemed pointless and extremely boring. I began to acquire friends and Facebook became an addiction. I spent hours on it. Hours thrown to the trash because nothing I did on Facebook helped me in any way. I continued to use it and I continued to waste more and more time every time I logged on. I got over it though. I spent hardly any time on Facebook now.
     Facebook can be beneficial though. Some of my classmates have created groups in for our AP courses. In these groups people exchange information and help each other out om homework and studying. Facebook can also be used as a place in which one can network and meet people that can actually contribute to your life in a positive way.
    With the article I see most pre-teens and teens join Facebook just for fun. They want nothing more than to interact with friend and view pictures of each other. Although this seems like fun, some of them fall victims of bullying and harassment. Things like pictures and videos of teenagers can be uploaded to Facebook and can lead their their lives to ruin or maybe even end them. Parents must be very careful and must monitor and limit their children's activity on Facebook.

Vocabulary List #9 Remix

     During the time of ancient Rome, great creatures roamed the Earth. Creatures responsible for destruction but mainly for their infamous Saturnalian sabotage. These creatures were called Pythious. They were at the peak of activity during the month of December for during this month, the Romans were greatly engaged into their celebrations in honor of Saturn. Pythious needed humans in order to have their babies. They used human blood to feed their young but they themselves ate humans whole. The Romans had been trying to rid themselves of such demonic creatures for hundreds of years but were abortive each time. Pythious continued to raid their days of festivities with loud bruits and violence.Romans had also tried making peace with the evil creatures but this only resulted in contemptuous treatment from the Pythious since they were uncivilized creatures and were unwilling to  compromise.
     Romans were tired of the violence and mistreatment and so the King made a dictum against the Pythious. This dictum would surely ensconce the problems between the Romans and the Pythious but the Pythious would not give in without a fight. The iconoclastic Pythious cared not for human power. Young Romans found themselves in medias res for they were the Pythious' main target but they were also the ones that would be facing the creatures in battle.
     The young Roman soldiers were maladroit yet brave and honorable. Some were even found to be a bit maudlin but these were the younger soldiers. All the Romans wanted was to modulate the situation but the creatures wanted war and war they got.
     The portentous beginning of the war was only prescience into how bloody it would be. Many Pythious and men were killed. Both sides fought hard and with passion. The war was insalubrious for even those that were not actually fighting.  The traumatic war finally came to an end.
     Both sides came to a quid pro quo in which the Romans would sacrifice only one human each December to the Pyhtious god and the Pythious would stop tormenting the Romans and would search the world for other people to feed on. This was the ultimate touchstone for both sides which turned out be successful. The deal was later vitiated and the only ones that truly benefited from the whole issue were those waggish individuals who did not care about it in the first place.

Vocabulary List # 9 Defiinitions

abortive: failing to succeed; unsuccessful

bruit: noise; din; clamor

contumelious: insulting display of contempt in words or actions; contemptuous or humiliating treatment

dictum: an authoritative pronouncement; judicial assertion

ensconce: to settle securely or snugly

iconoclastic: attacking or ignoring beliefs and long-held traditions, etc., as being based on error, superstition, or lack of creativity

in medias res: in the middle of things

internecine: of or pertaining to conflict or struggle within a group 

maladroit: unskillful; awkward; bungling

maudlin: tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental

modulate: to regulate by or adjust to a certain measure or proportion 

portentous: ominously significant or indicative

prescience: knowledge of things before they exist or happen; foresight

quid pro quo: one thing in return for another

salubrious: favorable to or promoting health

saturnalian: the festival of Saturn, celebrated in December in ancient Rome as a time of unrestrained merrymaking  

touchstone: a test or criterion for the qualities of a thing

traumatic: of, pertaining to, or produced by a trauma or wound

vitiate: to impair the quality of; make faulty; spoil

waggish: roguish in merriment and good humor 

Hamlet Act III Scene I Remix

Claudius can't seem to understand why Hamlet is acting so strangely not that he truly cares but must look like he does. He's confused.

Gertrude doesn't understand what is wrong with her son. She wants answers because Hamlet is her son. She's a concerned mother. She's confused. 

                                           

Guildenstern and Rosencrantz have tried to help the King and Queen by talking to Hamlet and trying to cheer him up but the are now in a worse position than they were before. They are worried. They are confused.

Polonius thinks he knows why Hamlet is acting strange. He thinks he is love sick but he really doesn't know. He's confused.

Ophelia is just standing by following orders and being used to decipher Hamlet's gloominess. She's confused.

So  these characters are all being played by the clever Hamlet who has them all wondering why he's been acting weird and why he's been so sad lately. They are all just completely confused. 

Midterm Autopsy

I think I did alright on my vocab midterm. I could have done better but i guess that was my fault. I studied but maybe if I had studied a bit more then i could have obtained a perfect score. There isn't a different approach I can take to do better on the final other than study study study. Practice makes perfect and so practicing the words over and over again will surely get me a perfect score on the final.

Vocabulary List #8 Hamlet Summary Act 1

     A the beginning of the play we are introduced to Bernardo, Francisco, Marcellus, and Horatio. These characters are watchmen who seem to be standing in abeyance when they should be keeping watch. Bernardo tells Horatio of a ghost that has been beleaguering the watchmen during midnight. Horatio does not  believe Horatio but is quick to change his mind when he witnesses the ghost. Horatio is in a state of shock and seems queasy at the sight of the ghost. The ghost seems to be a fastidious spirit since he will not speak to the watchmen even when they dare demand it. The ghost gambols away every time the watchmen want it to tell them what it wants.
      Back at at the castle, Hamlet's uncle Claudius has recently married his mother even though it has only been two months since his father's death. There is no trace of ambivalence in Hamlet's words for he knows he is against his mother's marriage, but is willing to deal with it. Hamlet viewed Claudius as a debauch affecting his mother for she used to be a pure and happy being while she was with his father but now she is a n incestuous women.  Hamlet was told by his mother and Claudius to get over the death of his father. Claudius thought it was unmanly of him to continue mourning the deceased king.
     Claudius gave Laertes permission to go back to France since the wedding was over and he had a life to continue. Before leaving, Laertes told Ophelia she opt to stay away from Hamlet because he was only going to hurt her. He told her Hamlet was young and only looking for fun. She told Laetes she would and then Polonius joined in. Polonius also told her to stay away from the young Hamlet. He said he would do her no good. He described him as an inchoate teenager who didn't know what he wanted. Hamlet would only use her for eclat and and self-satisfaction. He thought of Ophelia as being a malleable young girl who would fall victim to Hamlet's devious plans. The secretly refractory Ophelia said she would stay away from Hamlet but inside she had different plans.
     Hamlet was told by the watchmen that a ghost of his father had been haunting around and so he was quick to investigate such claims. Hamlet encountered the ghost and talked to him privately even tough the watchmen advised him not to. What the ghost claimed would mark the beginning of a cataclysm. The ghost claimed to be Hamlet's father. He told Hamlet that eh had not died from a snake bite like people had claimed. He had actually been poisoned by his very own brother who had now become his true nemesis. With his words, the ghosts imbued Hamlet into avenging his death. Hamlet now had carte blanche and had to keep it.The philistine Claudius had betrayed his own brother and had married his former wife. Hamlet told the ghost he would please him and would make Claudius pay. No simple lampoon would ever be enough to avenge the king. Hamlet would have to take more drastic measures. Hamlet's savior-faire allowed the ghost to leave in peace for he knew Hamlet would obey his request.
     The watchmen wanted to know all that was said between Hamlet and the ghost but Hamlet would not budge. He made them swear they would keep quiet about the ghost and the less than picaresque watchmen swore they would not say a word.

Vocabulary List #8 Definitions

Abeyance: temporary inactivity

Ambivalent: simultaneous and contradictory feelings

Beleaguer: trouble, harass

Carte blanche: full discretionary power

Cataclysm: a momentous and violent event marked by overwhelming upheaval and demolition; event that brings great changes

Debauch: to lead away from virtue or excellence

Éclat: ostentatious display; publicity

Fastidious: having high and often capricious standards; difficult to please

Gambol: to skip about in play

Imbue: to permeate or influence as if by dyeing

Inchoate: being only partly in existence or operation

Lampoon: a harsh satire usually directed against an individual

Malleable: capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer or by the pressure of rollers

Nemesis: a formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent

Opt: to make a choice especially to decide in favor of something

Philistine: person guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values

Picaresque: of, relating to, or being a type of fiction dealing with the episodic adventures of a usually roguish protagonist

Queasy: causing nausea

Refractory: resisting control or authority

Savior-faire: the ability to say or do the right or graceful thing

Midterm Reflection

1) Most of it went quite well actually. I was happy to see the entire midterm was matching. It could have been more difficult but it wasn't. There must be some kind of vocabulary god that convinced Dr. Preston into making the test so simple.
2) There were a couple of words I was a bit hesitant on but i gave it my best shot and hopefully got them right.
3) I'd say about 2/3 of the content will stick to my mind but sometimes I come across vocabulary words I think I don't know anymore but I surprisingly remember.
4) I think I did a good job studying but I guess next time I could study a bit more to eliminate all hesitation on any one answer that may throw me off.

Dear Ophelia,

I understand you are having boy trouble. It's common among teenagers so don't worry yourself to much. Although it may seem like a polemic topic it isn't really that much of a problem at all. Boys are noxious beings but not all of them are the same. You must choose wisely. I'm sure you are a resplendent young lady and any boy would be lucky to have you. Now, if you feel the right one is Hamlet then go for it. If he's the one that makes you go into that rare state of euphoria then he's worth it. Love can sometimes be seen as an impasse for one cannot escape it once one has fallen into it. No vendetta can possibly defeat love. It doesn't matter what size the grudge may be. Your brother has a different perspective from what you are telling me. He doesn't see what a flamboyant young man Hamlet is. These fervid feelings you have for Hamlet must be fulfilled and being with him will bring you that self-fulfillment. Your gargantuan love is all you need to overcome any obstacle no matter how big it may be. Kudos to you for having the courage to share this with the world.

Best of luck,
Liz

Midterm Study Strategy

I like the old-fashioned way of studying, flashcards! I find it simple and effective. You write the word on one side and the definition on the other. I go through all of them once s separate them into three stacks. The first stack has the ones I don't have to study because I know them well. The second stack has the ones I kind of know but could study a bit more. The third stack has the ones I don't know at all and need to be urgently studied.