Midweek, we touched on the subject of the connection between art and literature. It was a topic I found very interesting, as someone who is deeply interested in both. We watched a TED Talk in which the woman who was speaking told us the stories that she gave to art, and how she was selective in the art that spoke to her. Friday we had actually talked about how we use art to communicate in one of my previous classes as well, and I enjoyed that the topics of my week overlapped. In AP Lit when we were given the option to do it ourselves, I enjoyed it. I think it's actually fun. Being able to look at a painting, where they're only giving you the story at surface level, it gives you an opportunity as the viewer to give any story you'd like to a painting, however it speaks to you. I loved giving the paintings stories. I learned that it's actually quite fun, and it makes you look at paintings a bit deeper than you would normally. I always actually found it hard to focus on art, as when the meaning wasn't straight forward, I was easily frustrated and bored by the painting. But this activity helped me actually enjoy art and find a way to create backstories for them, which made it a more fun experience after all. I'm glad that the activity both left me with a new idea of storytelling, as well as a new way to deeply appreciate art.
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This week in class, I was gone for half of it. I came back Wednesday, so anything up to that point I can't say I learned anything other than I really, really don't like bronchitis. But Thursday we engaged in an activity that made us consider the difference between a story and literature, and what we get out of both of them. I thought it was genuinely very interesting, as I had never thought about the idea before. I always just used the terms story and literature interchangeably. I thought "well yeah, it's a book. A book is literature, and most books are stories." Now I have learned that maybe isn't exactly correct.
We looked at a small document explaining some examples of how stories and literature interact with each other, and how one benefits the other and vise versa. The set of paragraphs brought up an interesting point when they began talking about film, and how film can lose what we get through literature while keeping the story. The film will focus on the story, because that is what they are able to present visually, but some of the literature gets lost in translation. I really thought this was interesting and it really opened to my eyes into what we get through light fiction, and what we get through literature. A story that is entirely plot driven may not be considered literature whatsoever, while a piece of literature that's beautifully written may have no plot whatsoever and therefore doesn't tell a story. Aside from that, I also picked up a second book after finishing my first, which I have found to be a much easier read. While the topic matter I find a bit less interesting so far, I find the book a bit more simple to comprehend, which is resulting in a quicker read. My reading rate went up from 144 to 192, which I find to be very interesting. When thinking about the ideas that we learned on Thursday, I realize that these books are a very tasteful mix of literature and story. Both novels that I've taken up have interesting stories. They craft a narrative that is both entertaining and thought provoking, while still keeping a sense of poetry about the entire novel. Evelyn Waugh's choices of wording and description lean artful rather than straightforward, and causes the leader to really lean into the narrative to understand what exactly he wants you to understand. But while he does this, he still incorporates a story that is extremely well thought out, as well as something that the reader will no doubt find appealing once they get into the meat of it. I think that I picked a very good author for myself, as his books fit nicely within my tastes. I look forward to finishing this book as well, and going forward with a bit more of an open mind when it comes to the literature of the work versus the story itself. In AP Lit this week we watched a video about writing, and the different ways that people become better writers. I genuinely forgot about the video until I began writing this blog. I began this blog in class on Friday, and I had no idea what to write it about at all. And so I wrote about half a sentence and then gave up and went on with my day. But now as I have begun writing this blog again, I am laying in bed on my side, in my pajamas, and I remembered that video. We talked about the line "Always wear socks while writing!". The idea itself made us all laugh, but when we talked about how they really meant that we write better when we're comfortable, I now understand completely. I feel like comfort is such an important part of writing. A lot of people have difficulty writing when it's noisy, or when they're alone, or even when their chair is too hard. I think the idea of writing best when you're comfortable is not an idea that many of us should take into consideration.
We also did an exercise in writing an AP Literature standard essay about a poem we've been analyzing, The Eagle. I found it interesting that though I knew exactly what I wanted to write, I couldnt. I now think this is because the classroom has not yet developed into a comfortable writing environment. This, of course, will change as the weeks progress and I become more accustomed to writing in that setting. But this ties back in to my idea about writing better in a setting that you the writer find comfortable. I am wondering if I was told to re write that essay now, what would happen. Now, I am on a great deal of Nyquil and I'm battling bronchitis... So I'd say maybe not now now. But if in this setting I was given the same task, how would I perform. It's an interesting thought, and I think that though the idea we watched was a bit goofy, and that was just a small part of it, it really stuck with me as something to take into serious consideration. Over the past few months leading up to this week, I've hear so much about the first week of senior year. That everything changes. That you find who you really are, and you prepare yourself for who you're going to be in college. I'd like to say that looking back on my first week, I hope this is true for me. I want to grow, and I want to become the person, academically and spiritually, I know I can be.
This first week of senior year, a common thing I've heard is "I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm going to college." In AP Lit, the first day, this is what I heard the most. Why? The idea that these people are diving head first into their futures with no idea where they're going frankly terrifies me. I think this comes from a lot of places deep inside me. Past trauma and events have molded me into a person who is horrified of not having a plan. In class this week we talked about our futures, and reading, and our goals. I enjoy talking about my goals and my future a lot. It scares some people but it's one of my favorite things to talk about. I am so unhappy with my present, I love to talk about the future. Standing in that circle, I was scared to talk about exactly what I wanted to do, so I didn't. I think this happens to a lot of kids. They have passions, they have plans, they have purpose. But their peers make them feel as if it's not okay to know what you want. It's cool and it's comfortable to not have a plan. If you ask nearly any senior in the school, "What is your plan for the next 5 years?" and they will comfortably answer "I don't know, probably college" with a laugh. And everyone else laughs too. Because that's what we do. This first week of class brought forth a lot of old fears, and new fears. Old questions I've been asking myself for years, and new questions too. Will I succeed? Will I die before I can make it to the end? What lies ahead for me? Is there a big picture that everybody else gets and I don't? Am I just an idiot? Doing the activity where we learned our reading speed, for some reason, really helped me move forward. I constantly hear from my peers that I'm the "dumb friend". And that it's okay that I'm not very smart, because I'm pretty and I'm good at other things. But for some reason that activity itself reminded me that I am smart. I know that reading quickly does not make me smart. Just like reading quietly doesn't make others dumb. But, the activity reminded me that I can read a lot, and I can comprehend what I am reading, and I am not dumb. I will no longer dumb myself down for others. I have the ability to comfortably read 8 books this trimester. And god dammit I think I'll do it. I hope that my reading ladder is tall, I hope it is long, I hope that I can look down from the top of that ladder and wave down at the old me. The me that believed that I was dumb. The me that thought that my life -- and the circumstance I've come to face -- has made me weak. I believe that in this class, I will grow, and I will pave the road to my future more seriously then I've ever done before. I'm going to start that journey by reading my first book of the trimester, and finishing this essay of a blog post. P.S. I'm so sorry when I looked back at this it was so long but I promise the rest of them probably won't be this long sorry you had to read all that that was basically an essay of rambling I hope that's okay. |
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