Art

The first thing that caught my eye on the online art gallery was "Lazy Good Nature" by Arthur Fitzwilliam. This portrait contains a dog and small woodland critters relaxing on the ground.

I understand this piece to connect with America in the sense that sometimes we need to just simply "chill." Too often life gets caught up in a hectic mess that leads to the necessity of being lazy and laying around. We see the dog in the picture with a sort of "screw this" demeanor. It's this relaxed look that makes me reflect on Americans.

Cuatro Mas Dias!

It seems odd to me that we are at the very end of our time together. AP Comp was has an extremely different tone to it than any other class that I've taken. It was the only class that I've taken where the students have gotten really pissed at each other, but several moments later it was like nothing happened.

This discussion based class has taught me a lot about other people. There was an array of different opinions and beliefs on a wide variety of issues. I saw how people initially reacted to the readings and clips, as well as other people's reactions to their responses. From a different stand point, observing the AP Comp class is almost like a sociology class.

On a different note, I have to say that I enjoyed this class overall. It presented frequent challenges that made me find new ways to get around them. I learned how to communicate more effectively, find alternate readings, and how to BS things that I neglected to do.

It's a mystery of where we'll all go from here, things will come and go, but I will remember AP Comp.

I Need Justification

To all those who witnessed the events on Thursday, March 18, after the field trip, this blog is for you.

First off, I know what it looked like. Most of you probably thought I was ditchin' school, when in fact I was coming out to enjoy the nice weather with all of you. It had nothing to do with the fact that I was really bored in the library, I had stuff to take care of at home, or even me being slightly hungry. It was for the simple fact that I heart you guys and I wanted to spend time with all of you!

Just because I share a property line with the school, and I have the shortest distance to travel to school out of everybody, doesn't mean that I ever feel the need to go home and chillax. In other words, what sort of reasons would I have to leave?

With the above being said, I am pretty sure that all of you can now conclude that I didn't have the intentions of leaving school early, but rather that I wanted to bond with the AP Compquistadors!

CHOICE Book!

It's kind of a long story, but ever since November I have been wanting to read the book One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick. I've always been a little hesitant to start a book, but this whole choice idea about our next book got me motivated enough to tackle this.

On a different note, I enjoy the idea that we don't have regular check-ins, annotations, and long, drawn out discussions. To me this is more of a relaxing assignment. The only stresser we have is the one deadline. I don't even mind the fact that we have a literary analysis following this, because I'm just happy that this is a book that I actually want to read.

Ultimately, I am feeling optimistic about this; the freedom and relatively low stress add up to something manageable.

Remarks Concerning: Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America

Benjamin Franklin proved how much of an "outside the box" thinker he was through this excerpt. His unique disposition of the Native Americans definitely makes himself his own identifiable person. He stands out from the rest by being one of the first to not interpret them as savages, but, more insightfully, as just simply different.

The common notion of the day regarding the Native population was inspired by their relatively barbaric acts. In reality it was the ignorance of the settlers that brought such a negative reputation. It is so easy for someone to take one look at a person and make a quick judgement. Due to this ignorance, the actions of a few Natives became the common label for the entire populous of the unsettled land.

What those people were missing was perspective. Most people didn't take the time to try to understand the motives of the Natives. The general fear that is involved with an invading group of people, consuming the natural resources at a less than conservative rate, was enough to make the Natives act sporadically. After all they were just defending their territory. What they did to the settlers was in no way comparable to what they did to them in the end.

This was one of the first pieces that I read that didn't involve an incredible amount of ignorance. Multiple factors were considered that resulted in an informed, well written text.

I Hear Dejope Singing

I hear Dejope singing, the magical spin of the machines;

The ones of despair, hope, and luck;

The woman on her last dime, the old man betting his 401k;

The bells ringing as they hit the jackpot;

Screams of joy and happiness, and with it, the envy of others;

The silent clicks of the wasted spins;

The anticipation for the big win;

The prolonged wait for nine triple sevens;

I hear the gambler's, the high roller's spirit in every spin.

On Self-Reliance

"A Man is relieved and happy when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace."

The above quote brings life to the thought that "you get out of it what you put into it." I chose this line because it applies to everyone, in every situation. How many times have we felt satisfied with ourselves when we accomplished something? How many times have we been disappointed or dissatisfied when we chose to hold out on something?

Whenever I find myself wrapped up in something that requires a vast amount of time and energy, I make sure that I put my best effort into it, because I have been that person who decided to take a break, slack off, or half ass it. The times that I didn't put in 100% effort, I always felt like I was wanting more; like I was missing something. However, the times that I did put in 100% effort, I realized what I had been missing before. It was that assurance that I did all that I could. In other words, I was relieved and happy because I put in everything I had.

On Common Sense

So far, not so good. The readings that we've had in class have been somewhat bland. I am not too terribly interested in the historical texts that have been assigned. For me, personally, it seems like Kunkle is cracking a whip rather than assigning homework.

However, as a nice contrast to the historical writings, Common Sense popped up. This has been the first reading that I actually read. What I mean is that I didn't skim each paragraph trying to get the main idea; I went through each paragraph picking out the minute details.

The writing style seemed so much smoother than the others. Thomas Paine linked ideas together very well without compromising anything. His statements seemed logical in comparison to John Edwards. When I finished reading it, I actually felt like I learned something; everything flowed and it was very comprehensive.

Corporate Sponsorships

Corporate sponsorships for schools? **** Ya! The timed writing, that everybody loved, had me thinking about how awesome it can be.

I know that the first three sentences may have made me sound ignorant, but then again most McFarland students have never known what it is like to attend a school that can't afford a smart board for almost every room. It's pretty obvious that we have money pouring out all over the place when we have teachers joking about how they never use their smart board. The things that we have here at McFarland High prevent us from seeing the necessary compromises that organizations must take.

The main reason why I came off so strong was due to the fact that I have been to multiple schools, and I have spoken with other students from a much greater variety of local high schools. My common observation is that Madison area high schools do not have the academic advantages that we have. Smart boards, new text books, multiple computer labs, and other things, that we have here at McFarland that aid us in getting ahead, are non-existent at other schools. They simply do not have the same advantages that we have.

However, if giant corporations want to paint murals of their logos all over the hallways of their schools, then I say why not? If a student can get a better head start with the aid of new funds, then who can say no? I know of the arguments against corporate sponsorships such as: compromising school identity, a reduction in the learning environment's integrity, and, for lack of better words, brain washing.

Well the hard reality is that the student who goes to a corporate sponsored high school will have much better learning opportunities than s/he would at the school that didn't make any sacrifices for the overall advancement of education. And in regards to the issue of "advertisement overload," welcome to capitalism. What I mean is that companies have their logos all over the place; the typical student is so numb to the everyday bombardment of advertising that it really doesn't matter where they come up.

This is capitalism, this is our society, this is life, get used to it.

Racial Progress

The very exciting timed writing prompt that we most recently did got me thinking of the progress that we've made when it comes to equality. No longer is someone free to scream racial obscenities, or to deny certain things to one another due the color of their skin.

Now the framework for true racial equality has been set up. Laws have been set up to ensure that we, as a nation, make forward progress to unity. Though the remnants of the past still linger in the form of bigotry and prejudice, their presence has been greatly reduced.

The speech that the timed writing was centered around was directed at incorporating the Black population into the Union's military during the Civil War. Just by looking at today's standards and the amount of minorities in the military is enough to make one question whether or not they were ever excluded. I don't know any statistics, but what I do know is that the boss for the Marine Corps Recruiting Station is Black, and that a lot of the "higher ups" for our recruiting district are also Black. A third of Madison's recruiters have Mexican heritage and half of all of the recruiters represent different minorities.

The point that I am trying to make is that the evidence of racial inequality is surely fading in our nation. What seemed like a big deal at the outbreak of the Civil War then, is now a simple mundane thing that goes unnoticed now. From my point of view, the walls that society set up to keep the races isolated are crumbling under there own weight, and as time passes by, they will be non-existent someday and there will be a blend of cultures.