Juarez 1

Fabian Juarez

Dr. Preston

Ap English

2 June 2017

My Journey

                        “I found all of that in the streets I just didn’t happen to find a gang. I found all of that within myself but it was still in the streets.” -ENEM graffiti artist

                        Throughout the course of this class I noticed my thoughts were being changed slowly but surely, they did. For the first time, I was building connections to characters that were in the stories. I would get into the stories so bad to the point where I wanted more. I would see the number of pages left to read get smaller and smaller every day and that would make me worry because it would barley be getting to the good part and then I find out it’s almost over. When we read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury I oddly saw myself in his character Montag. I saw how Montage wasn’t afraid to go up against the system and he was willing to do anything to get away from them taking his privilege of having a different view on society.  He lived in a world very like mine in many ways especially the fact that going against the law is seen very bad. Doing illegal activities doesn’t make you a bad person just as praying a few times won’t guarantee you a spot in heaven. The worlds me and Montage live in hide the true powers that everyone has, that everyone was born with. Passion, love, perseverance, and things like that are all things that are within everyone but it’s up to you to bring it out and it’s up to you to find in what way you want to represent that. It’s also up to you how you take the challenges life throws at you because of your desires. Montage had his whole world against him but he still pushed through and in the end, it was worth it because he was united with people just like him. He went from a world of being lonely to now having people that understand him, but if he would of gave it up he would have never even known about their existence. It was crazy to see how many connections I made with this English and my life as a graffiti writer. For the first time, I wasn’t looking as books as just books but now I was looking them representations of the authors themselves just as I look at graffiti pieces not as just pieces but also as the person who painted it. Both people spend their time in perfecting what they write so that they can broadcast it to the world in a beautiful way and in way everyone can understand it.

                        At first, I didn’t feel connected to the class at all really. Most these people in this Ap class all do extra-curricular like sports and clubs like that after school, but me, I just like to go home. I know I don’t do that kind of stuff and that kind of put me down in way and made me feel like on paper I wasn’t going to be better than them. And then to top it off the man teaching the class is a Doctor which made me want to express myself to him less because I figured he has probably seen it all.  I knew he was highly intelligent and I was nowhere near his level, but so wasn’t anyone else in the class. I would pay attention to everything that would be said in class and I would find myself always in deep thought about the certain topics but I was always afraid to speak up and say it. As time went on and as I stared to speak to Dr. Preston more he taught me that it’s not about the numbers and grades but more about what kind of a person you are and what you have to offer. I learned from him that everyone has something to bring no matter how big or how little. This was something I’ve had in mind for a long time but I never took in account for myself. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby the main character Nick says that he was taught to not judge people. I was raised the same and because of it I got the chance to meet some off the coolest dudes in this planet. I would have never expected that a 30-year-old would be the one doing all this amazing beautiful art but I knew something was up when I caught him sneaking into the train yard. Sometimes you really do have to see it to believe it and that’s the amazing thing about people you never know what they can do because everyone has untouched potential inside of them. I always had an understanding of these things but I never real thought about it in a deeper way until I got to Dr. Preston’s class.

                        So now my journey as a hero is complete. I overcame, I conquered, and I changed.  These are generally the thing that a hero does in the story. In my eyes, I am a hero because I made it through so much without fucking up my life and I had the option several times, but thankfully I chose right.  I embarked on my journey with few items but on the return, I came back with handfuls of knowledge and wisdom. A lot of ideas and thoughts have stuck to me and that was mainly because I’m a writer, not the type that writes novel or anything, but the type that writes his name and thoughts everywhere. I write my name on anything and everything and it’s all for the public to see and to challenge them to think.  We are taught to conform and to settle for things and ideas that we are told on a daily day to day basis. We think of these things as normal only because we just don’t know any better or its either that people are afraid and they think they can’t do anything about the situation. Everyone in this world is human so that never makes anyone better than you. You might be different but no one can be better than you.  You have the potential and tools all that is left is for you to go to work.

                        Out of all the authors we had a chance to know the one that appealed to me the most was Ralph Waldo Emerson.  At first, he seemed boring to me but as I kept reading his essay on Self Reliance there were certain things that just stood out from his writing. These things were all things that a graffiti artist would say. It pretty much is a very sophisticated way of presenting what graffiti is if you ask me. An author tries to piece together his thoughts so that it can be presented in a way that makes sense to other people. This brings me back to the idea that everything is remix, because it is. Everything is art is a thought I developed on my own after realizing how much work is put into perfecting things. An English teacher will say there is an art to writing an essay just how a soccer coach could tell you there is an art in scoring a goal.

                        Throughout the year, the level of trust Dr. Preston bestowed upon us was very high and I see that it is for a reason. It really was to separate the people that really want to learn from the people just want to pass, I think. At times, I do believe that I earned, but for the most part I didn’t honor it as well as I should have. As far as my classmates go I believe that the majority of them did earn and honored the trust that was given to us. There were several memorable moments from this year, but the moment I remember the most was the first day of school when I heard Dr. Preston cuss in class. At that moment, I was still kind of in shock because you normally don’t hear stuff like that coming from your teachers but it was at that moment when I thought to myself, “Hey, this guy might actually be kinda cool”. I didn’t do as well as I wanted to this year but I was still able to deliver somewhat at the end of the year. I didn’t become the “information sponge” that I wanted to become at first. I’m still her thought and I luckily, I have one more year to prove how bad I really do want it. There are several things in life that you can’t learn in the classroom that you must learn by experience. Surprisingly I found myself learning about life in my English class.

Gatsby chaper test 1-4

Ch.1 

How does Nick describe himself? 

What is the thing that preys on Gatsby that nick refers to in page 2? 

Ch.2 

Where is the valley of ashes?

Why has Nick not said anything to daisy about Tom's mistress? 

Ch.3

Why does Nick pay so close attention to what goes on in Gatsby's house ? 

Why does Nick go to the cocktail table ?

Ch.4 

Is Gatsby lying about going to Oxford ? 

Why does Gatsby keep calling Tom "sport" ?

Great Gatsby Notes 

Hello 2017!

     Since last year I've grown to be more independent and I've grown to be more artistic. Since last year I grown to be a person who in general is cool with everyone because I learned that everyone has something to offer and shutting them off only messes me up in the long run. I look at everything as an art now which was something I wasn't seeing last year.

Jimmy Santiago

After reading Jimmy Santiago's Immigrants in our own land I thought that it was a very descriptive insight on how life is for someone that is facing life behind bars. I like how he is giving us some idea of how an overlooked group of people feel. To me this is the best kind of writing, the kind that exposes life through other peoples eyes. I like how I can't relate to what is said in the poem but I can feel everything he says life as if I was actually going through it. I'm having troubles coming up with what the over all theme is for this poem is. The tone is very serious tone that really makes you think as you read through the poem. The devices he uses play a huge role in the impact of this poem, I think that they create some powerful mental images that really give you a sense of what life is on the other side.

Fall list #5 

A Gun Is Nearly a Hug Spelled Backwards 

     I agree with E.M.Forester's idea that personal relations are more important than patriotism because personal relations are pretty much crucial in life. I believe that patriotism is also imortant but personal relations should be chosen over patriotism anyday of the week. Personal relations are mostly important for our own well being because we as humans always feel like we should have this kind of connection with someone and if you have people you can do that with then I would say you are probably more happy than someone who decided to not have any personal connections. Personal connections are on a level that patriotism can never get to because of how complex personal relations are. Patriotism is great and all but it's not as practical as personal relations for your life in the long run. 

Fall vocab #4

Vocab #3

Bad Words.

     Bad words are only bad because of the fact that we are all taught about those words as a kid and we were all told that it is wrong to speak with those words. Bad words do have a time and place and cannot be used in just any sentence. Although they usually always have a bad context they shouldn't always be know as "bad word". They should just be known as word that should not be used all the time. I think it is mostly society that makes these words appear more bad than they actually are. Bad words are actually in a way good because they can have a stronger meaning than the "normal words we would usually use. Someone can get hurt and say "oh my", it'll still show pain but if someone said "fuck" it would add alot more detail to what happened although it is still practically the same thing.

Vocabulary #2

 

Exploring with Satire!

Why do we need war ?
    This a question men and women have asked since the first people would roam our earth. War is just simply a conflict between two opposing sides that are now willing to do whatever for what they want. No one wants to ever even imagine having be war but yet that thought will always be pending since not all of us on this earth on peaceful terms. Most of the time the lives lost in battle don't matter to the general or commander because to him or her that was just another order. I find it pretty insane how a whole group of people can be lead on to war and actually fight because someone told you to. That's like the math department at school declaring war at the science department and now all the students in those classrooms will have to go to war with each other. To me this just doesn't make sense how in the world do people actually want to find in war. Its outrageous how the ideas or choices of one person can lead to the deaths of many innocent people who never really asked for it. I'm pretty sure if one day the government would one day ask for votes on the declaration of war there would never be a war obviously because no one wants to war on purpose.  Just because you live there or take part in it that doesn't mean you should have to end the fight they pretty much started. I mean if I was there I wouldn't want to kill anyone and I'm pretty sure other soldiers will feel like that too but since you are already in the moment all you want to do is live so you have to fire back. It doesn't have to be this way though instead of declaring straight out war with full armies we should label the politicians and or generals from both sides who started or provoked the conflict from the start. I believe that the responsible parties should fight in a bare knuckle brawl to the death. They will all start in one place then once the alarm sounds both side are free to go and fight to the death. The side with the last politician or general will be declared the winner of the war. Can you imagine how much money that would save every country ? That's millions back into our education system and the US infrastructure since there is no need for millions of dollars to be spend on weapons and weapon research since we will live in a world that does not require them. Even better think about the countless lives that will be saved from not having to war not just from our side but from foreign sides also. Although the politicians' and generals' lives will be lost it will be a great sacrifice and they will always be remembered as American heroes. even though they were the cause of everything. This is our only solution to our problem of war because world peace is not yet to even be at our reach.

Literature analysis of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

1. The story starts of in therapy session where our character Holden Caulfield, goes on to tell us his story of how he ends up there. He starts off at Penecy Prep in Agerstown,Pennsylvania in where we find out that he is completly failing most of his classes because of his lack of effort. From here, due a series of events and emotions Holden feels like the best option for him at the monent would be to leave to New York City until Wednesday after his parents have recived the news about him not doing well in school. He then finds his way out of the school, on to a train, then takes a taxi to a hotel and is now in New York City. Holden ends up going in and out of bars and stuff because of very different reasons. It is now pretty late in the night and he walks his way to his hotel room. While in his room he lay there in deep thought about his brother Allie mostly who passed just a couple years before. The next morning he proceeded to get breakfast and then he goes for a walk and buys a record for his sister, Phoebe. Hoping to catch his sister at the park he goes but there is no sign of her. Holden had also set up a date with an old friend named Sally which he totally blows off and gets called a "royal pain in the butt" , by his date. After meeting with his old friend Luce at bar he poses a bunch of immature questions which made Luce leave. Holden is now alone and drunk and he goes out for a walk to the duck pond, as a result of this he got icicles because he had previously splashed water on himself in order to lower the effects of the alcohol. Leaving Holden worried he now wonders what he should do and ends up going back home to see if he can catch his sister Phoebe. After sneaking in to his house he looks for Phoebe and talks to her for a while before he called an old teacher who offered Holden to spend the night. He then goes back to Phoebe and dances with her before being interrupted by the opening front door. Quickly Holden tells he his plans of leaving New York and heading west and also receives the money that Phoebe generously offered. Holden is now on his way to Mr. Antolini's house to spend the night. Once there him and Mr. Antolini go on to get into some very deep conversations before finally going to sleep. He awoke to Mr.Antolini stroking his head and then finds his out of that apartment as quickly as possible. Although it is late Holden goes to sleep at a bench in the train station until the next morning where he then tries to find a way to get the money his sister has borrowed and then meets her at the museum. She comes with suitcases hoping that Holden will be okay with her going with him. He ends by telling us that he was at the zoo and then does not continue from there. He does tell us that he went home after all and that he end up getting very sick and now that bring us back to rest home in the therapy room.

2. I believe that the theme of this novel is loneliness because through out the story this what he mostly dealing with. Ever since the beginning he showed us that he was one of those kids who is not always at the games where everyone else was. When in new York he keep trying to meet people and meet up with old friend but in the end he always ends up alone and in some thoughts about his life. He is a very lonely person and you can tell he does not mind being alone for one thing since he decides to go to New York City all by himself with. Holden deals with his loneliness in may different ways throughout the story showing us very many different sides of Holden.

3. Well based on the author's tone I believe he is a lot like our character Holden. I think he is not the type of person to get up early. I think he is probably a very bitter person who mostly enjoys time alone and is always is not very optimistic. I feel like he would want coffee with a lot of caffeine to keep him awake throughout the day because of his late nights. I would imagine he's not a person of much exercise but he might enjoy walking by himself or meditation also. I believe he most likely does not eat breakfast because he thinks he does not need it. I can't really pin point any excerpts from the text but the things that made me think this was the was the main character Holden was describing his world. I feel like the author really gave me a sense of who he is through Holden in the ways he described a lot of thing and the way he see's the world.

4.

The Conscious of a Hacker

     I can really relate to this article I feel like me and the author relate because we have very simpilar ideas. He was using computers at an age computers were pretty new and not every was familiar with them. I think hacking is all about making a statement. By doing something illegal you show that you have no regards to the law system and the consequences that come with them. In a particular art form named graffiti, you will find that the artist will have very similar to the hacker. Graffiti is also illegal and they are not very many artist out there just as there are aren't that many hackers. I believe its all about not being afraid when it comes to these two topics . This article puts you in the mind of the hacker and I really found this articale interesting.

 Vocabulary list #1

A Modest Proposal 

   This articale is satire because it is clearly someone that is pointing out a problem in society and he is also posing a way to fix it. He starts off by really getting our attention by creating a picture in the readers mind about how serious the problem is. He really grabs the audience's attention by saying something thatvsounds ridiculous to make something he is going to say less ridiculous. This author did it in a very organized and sophisticated way. This article is to be viewed by government official the syntax of this document is very serious. I find the ideas in this article very extreme.

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

     I totally agree with Louis Ck because he is completely right about our generation taking so many technological advances for granted. The fact that we can get in touch with people on the other side of the world in seconds is completely mind blowing compared to how long it would of taken back then. I like when he commented that people don't like waiting for their phones and said that the message goes all the way to space. We don't even take the time to even think about things like that because were so used to things being like this. Technology is a field that is constantly expanding and things will only continue to advance. Pretty soon in the future we'll be looking back to the things we have now and reflect about how hard we had it. I believe that this is just a cycle and it will only keep on going.

Satire or not ?
I believe that this is an example of satire because there is an exageration when the guy with the suit asks what did he major in and the graduate replies "Debt'.
 
This is another example of satire because it is an exaggeration of what is happening in the US.


This is another example of satire because it is trying to convey the point that the government is no paying as much attention to education as it should be by using exaggeration.

The right to your opinion
     This article had lots of information and ideas which I have never thought about. An idea that really stood out to me was the fact that we have the human right to be healthy. In the document it is stated that a healthy state would mean having complete physical, mental and social well being. So in other words everyone's right as a human to be healthy has been violated because I believe that there is really no way to be at a completely healthy state. If there is I am sure it does not last long and then our right will good back to being violated and there is nothing we can do about it. Although I may have not understood the article fully I can still understand the parts of this and see what parts of it can spike a lot controversy.

Welcome!

My name is Fabian Juarez and I am 16 years old. This will be my blog which I will post in throughout the school year. This whole blogging thing is new to me but I should adapt to it eventually.