Music.

I love music, different kinds and styles, basically anything. I'm in band for half of the school day so I guess you could call me a band geek, but it's not even really that. Everyone that is in my band classes, or theory classes, or music history classes, all have a passion for music. It's amazing being able to not just play the literature that's set in front of us, but to also make music. It's challenging but so much fun at the same time. You get better every day, and never encounter the same notes of rhythms twice. There's always something to learn with music, it's always surprising me. And it's one thing to be able to play the music, but to also feel it, and become emotionally attached to it, to be reeling the audience in with your feelings, it's just a joy that you can't describe.

Writing Option 2: Analysis of Women's Role.

Women played a big role in the Athenian society. What Pericles says was basically that the men mostly took the women for granted. Without the women though, the men would not have food on the table, or clean clothes. Pericles also states that he was kind of sorry for the women because god made them women, and really they shouldn't be shoved down at all because they helped out a bunch in the society. Also, that when men criticize the women, they really do care about them, they just can't show it. The men take the women for granted, and never praise them because what they do is considered petty, even though what the women did was anything but petty, and they don't even realize that.

Mandela and Pericles.

1. Stephen Biko and the Athenian soldiers have a few things in common. In Pericles' oration, he states that the Athenian soldiers died nobly, and fought for what they had to guard and what they thought was right. They died for their empire, and had so much pride. They fought and died because they wanted the future to be better for their Athenians' future. In Mandela's speech, he states "It is the dictate of history to bring to the fore the kind of leaders who seize the moment, who cohere the wishes and aspirations of the oppressed. While not everyone could do much about Apartheid, Stephen Biko stuck his head out because he had pride in his people, and he knew it had to be stopped. He prided himself so much in his people that he didn't care if he died because if he did, he knew that he was going to leave a huge impact the future. He knew that if he stuck his neck out, he and his people would be on the road to a better life.

2. Mandela wanted to keep alive the memory of Biko because what Biko did was amazing, and he's a hero for speaking the truth to everyone and standing up for what he strongly believed in. Also, Mandela keeps the memory going because he knows that from what Biko did, things would begin taking a huge turn, and soon others would start to state what they believed in as well.

Think Through: Poems by Sappho.

1. Out of all of the three poems written by Sappho, I think that I understand "To Aphrodite of the Flowers, at Knossos". This one is my favorite, because it talks about leaving all you know just to go and experience something beautiful and great. You may have a great life as it is, but sometimes you have to take chances in order to find the even greater life that you could have.

3. In the first poem, "Some say thronging cavalry...", when she talks about Helen of Troy, it makes her think of her own friend, Anactoria, because Helen and herself have something in common. They both are suffering from one of their loved ones being away, Helen's love being off at war, and Sappho's love having moved away. They're both longing to see their faces. In the second poem, "He Is More Than a Hero", I think that Sappho has mixed feelings about the man she talks about. She talks about getting excited and out of breath when the man is around, but then she goes into how if she's around him a lot, she feels like she's going to die. I think that she loves him so much that she wants to hold on to him and keep holding because she fears of losing him. If she did lose him, she feels that she wouldn't be able to go on. So she could be thinking so much about him, and loving him so much, that she gets herself so worried about what would happen if he wasn't there anymore, and dreading life with out him. In the third poem, "To Aphrodite of the Flowers, at Knossos", Sappho describes such a wonderful, vivid place. It's so heavenly that even the goddess Aphrodite graces herself upon the land. The place that she describes is the most wonderful place that anyone could ever imagine, the perfect utopia.

4. 'She values intimate moments of friendship', and 'She appreciates the beauty of nature' best apply to Sappho. You can tell that she loves her friendship with Anactoria, and she misses her friend dearly. She shows that she misses her so much that she even relates herself to Helen of Troy. Also, she clearly appreciates the beauty of nature in her poem "To Aphrodite of the Flowers, at Knossos", the way she describes the land so intimately, and vividly. She makes the land come alive, and actually puts you there, in the poem, enjoying all of the aspects of nature that she describes.

6. If Sappho's poems were to be set to modern day music, I think that The Shins would do the best job with her poems. They are mellow, and often sing about nature, and struggles with other things in life. The mood of these poems to me, were mostly mellow, and laid back, while still getting to the point and addressing her opinions really strongly. They would definitely set the mood for these poems, making everything that she wrote come to life, and actually put you into the song/poem.

Italy and Italians.

I really don't know that much about Italians, but just recently (well, not really recently, the beginning of the school year) one of my really good friends moved to Florence for the year. She loves it over there, although I miss her a lot. She's always saying how nice the weather is over there, and that she loves the historic aspects of the town. She says she's almost fluent in Italian, and says it is a lot like Spanish, which she's just about fluent in as well. So, I guess that's basically what I know about Italy/Italians.

P.S- Oh! I have a question for some Italians out there, don't think I'm like really dumb or anything, but do you guys really like spaghetti? This is always a question people ask, and I always think it sounds stupid, but I was just curious to the answer.

Think Through: Mahabarata

1. I thought Arjuna was a very quick learner and very skilled with a bow and arrow. He was born with this talent and that talent made him the best student of Drona's, as well as a hero.

3. I think Arjuna's quality to be skilled with weapons was admired in ancient India. That is always handy when going into a battle, or fighting in a war. Also to be admired is his devotion to his guru.

4. I think Drona kind of favored Arjuna. Even though the scolding the other students was necessary, he could have told them how to fix their mistakes. Also I think Drona didn't save himself from the crocodile to show the other students how skilled and levelheaded Arjuna was in the time of need.

5. I think this story is told to children to teach them to say calm in dire situations. Also to teach them to listen to their teachers and rewards will come.

6. Drona reminds me of a karate, or martial arts instructor. He knows exactly what he wants, and what is needed, and the students are supposed to learn from the mistakes of their peers. He doesn't speak much at all, and I think his reason for this is that silence is louder than words. You never see a martial arts instructor speaking much either, because they need to focus on the task at hand.

7. I do think this lesson is true because you'll always get rewarded for paying attention and learning from your teachers.

Writing Option 2: Remembering a Teacher.

I had a great pre-algebra and algebra teacher in middle school, Mr. Dinoia. In the same way that Drona was an excellent teacher to Arjuna, Mr. Dinoia was an excellent teacher to me. While being a good teacher was one thing they had in common, they weren't at all similar.

Drona made his students learn on their own, from their mistakes. He wasn't very verbal at all. When his students would make a mistake or give him the wrong answer, Drona would only scold them and move on. he wouldn't tell the student what they did wrong, so they had to guess at what their guru wanted. Also Drona wouldn't tell them how they could improve either.

Mr. Dinoia, on the other hand, was very verbal. He still made me learn from my mistakes, like Drona, but overall, they were totally different. When I would do something wrong, Mr. Dinoia would help me to get the right answer. He made me work for it which is better than just handing me the answer. I never had to guess at what his expectations of me were, he would just tell me exactly what I had to do. Also I wouldn't be scolded for a wrong answer, and he would work with me explaining my mistakes and how I could improve, which is very different from the method of Drona.

Ancient Literature and People.

Similarities and differences:

All of these ancient cultures were based off of the rivers. They all needed to have their civilization by at least one river in order to farm and care for themselves as well as livestock. Also many of them also used the rivers by means of transportation to other civilizations that were based off of the same river. All of the ancient cultures had means of communication.

Out of all of the ancient cultures the Assyrians were by far the most warlike and violent. The Akkadians and Babylonians based their cultures off of the Sumerians. While the other ancient cultures didn't provide many opportunities for women, the Sumerian culture did. In the Sumerian culture women could farm, take up crafts, become merchants and even join the priesthood. Most of these cultures had something similar to slaves to do the lower work for the empire. Along with this, they all also had means of different social classes.

The Egyptians believed very strongly in life as well as afterlife. They spent most of their life preparing for the after life by means of building extravagent pyramids. The pyramids were filled with all different kinds of artwork that the artists would decorate the insides of it. They pyramids became a focal point for Egyptian artistic creativity. The women of this civilizations had almost the same rights as men.

The ancient Hebrews had a sacred text called the Torah. This was basically like their bible. They built temples for worship, such as Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish society was dominated by males, like most cultures of the ancient Mddle East. The Hebrews fought a lot in order to keep 'the holy land', Jerusalem.

Think Through: Greek Culture.

1. The religion of ancient Greeks is different from that of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims because the ancient Greeks believed in many gods, not just one, polytheist versus monotheist. Also the ancient Greeks had no sacred writings or texts and no commandments.

2. The Olympian gods are like human beings because they showed human qualities. Qualities such as love, had and jealousy. The gods also had arguments and had a sense of competition just like humans. However, the Olympian gods live forever, they are immortal while humans cannot live forever.

3. The Athenian democracy had a group called 'the assembly' and this group passed laws as well as selected generals. Anybody could be in the assembly; the assembly also debated over ideas that were submitted hoping to be turned into laws. The Council of Five Hundred was another part of the Athenian democracy. Five hundred citizens were chosen at random to serve on this council and their duty was to propose laws.

4. The greatest thinkers of ancient Greece were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

5. Events that were included in the Olympic Games were one such as boxing, wrestling, the javelin and discus throws, and races of all kinds. All of these events are still included in today's Olympic Games.

6. The Greek language was so easy to use because they used letters to represent all the sounds in the Greek language. This caused literacy to spread throughout other empires for the first time in history

English.

The English language is very important everywhere. Almost anywhere you go people speak English. It's such a vast language and just about everyone speaks it. Here in Florida you take English classes in elementary school, middle school, high school, and you have to have English credits in college. It's really a fascinating language, as there are so many little tricks odd rules to abide by. I guess you really could call it 'American' because our English here in the States, isn't really proper English. I always love to hear people from England talk because even though it's the same language, it's not at all. Both languages are so diverse and unique that we really should classify them as two different languages. It's neat when you hear some slang words and you actually know what words they have derived from. If we just spelled phonetically I think that would take the fun and uniqueness out of what makes English English. There are also many movies that come quipped with subtitles or even have been dubbed over to be English. Me, personally, I love to watch foreign movies with subtitles. I think that when a movie has been dubbed over to be English takes a little of the effect out of it because you don't really get to listen and hear what other languages sound like and how different they are from what we're used to. It's a nice thing to have and most people enjoy it. For me, even when a movie is in English, I put the subtitles on just because I love reading. English is a great language to have on hand, seeing as basically everyone speaks it. I always think it's awesome when I meet people who are bilingual. I am currently taking Spanish, and hope to become fluent as well but if that doesn't work out, I know I'll always have my English.

Think Through: Egyptian Literature.

2. I would say the tone of the Book of the Dead would be really proud, and majestic. Nu really adores Ra and everything that he does. Nu thinks that nothing could be better than Ra, and all he wants to do is please him and show him the utmost respect; praise him. Certainly the God of the Sun should be praised, such as this, since he is the reason everything on this planet is alive and thriving.

3. The speaker thinks that Ra should be praised because he is the sun. Without the sun, we have nothing at all. The sun plays an extremely important role in our lives and our world, and though everyone knows that, I think it's often forgotten. Without the sun we could not be and nor could anything else.

4. The speaker describes herself as a bride waiting beside her love because that to her would be her perfect Utopia. She sees everything that she would like to see, and everything is exactly how she'd like it. I'm imagining that on your wedding day, things seem just like this, and for her to describe herself as a bride gets the point across that absolutely everything is to her liking.

6. 'Whenever I leave you, I go out of breath' gave me the strongest sense of the speaker as a person because I could really connect with him. To me he seemed just as scared and bitter towards death as sometimes I can be. I'm just afraid of being alone and missing everything on our beautiful earth.

7. While both 'Whenever I leave you, I go out of breath' and 'I'm going downstream on Kingswater Canal' mention her absent lover, they are both very different. In 'Whenever I leave you, I go out of breath' the tone and mood is really deep and dark. She fears death, and being alone. She doesn't want to leave her loved one, and the things that she loves on Earth. However, in the story 'I'm going downstream on Kingswater Canal', the mood is upbeat, bright, and cheery. In this story she is happy because she is in her perfect Utopia, and she is not afraid of dying because she knows that everything will be exactly how she would like.

8. Today, of course, nobody is ever really prepared for death. Just like the Egyptians we try and do appreciate everyday life, but I think sometimes we take it for granted. While the Egyptians extensively prepared for death, we really don't. Of course there are certain steps you take in order to prepare for death, but we don't build pyramids or anything that extravagant.

Quest Story.

One very common quest story would be The Odyssey. Throughout the story, Odysseus, the hero, was trying to return home to his wife, Penelope, after the war at Troy. He had to go through many obstacles on the voyage home. He made friends like Sicily, who at first hindered him, but later ended up helping him. Hermes was the one who went to the island of Calypso and ordered Sicily to release Odysseus so he could continue on his way. Another character who also hindered Odysseus would be the Cyclops that captured Odysseus and his crew to eat. But Odysseus formed a plan to escape and hid under Apollo’s sheep with his crew, and safely returned to his ship to continue his voyage home. Later in the story the sirens also hinder Odysseus, by using their hypnotizing voices to try to get Odysseus’s’ ship to crash. Thankfully Athena acted as Odysseus’s mentor, and gave him certain advice, such as to tie himself and other crew members to the mast of the ship when they passed the sirens, that way they wouldn’t be hypnotized by their voices.
Another common quest story would be Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. During the story you have your hero, Jim Hawkins, who is left with a map guiding them to Treasure Island. His friend, the doctor, helps him gather up a crew of miscreants, and a really great captain. Without the captain they would have never gotten to the island, found the treasure, survived, or had tips about when the rest of the crew was planning and when they would strike. The doctor Jim made friends with Long John Silver during the journey, who was a really sketchy character. He helped, and hindered Jim. You could never make up your mind about Long John really, because always at the last minute he would turn yet again. When Long John was on Jim’s side that gave Jim the advantage, because the whole crew would listen to Long John which really helped matters.

Think Through: Gilgamesh.

1. I was really dissapointed that the serpent ate the thorn stick out of Gilgamesh's hand. I was really happy that he had found it, after all that he went through, he deserved it. But also, his quest turned him into a better man. Before, he was greedy and all of his power had gone to his head, when he returned though, he was a man who was nice and wiser. So even though he didn't get what he was looking for, the quest turned out to be good for him.

3. Gilgamesh can't accept the fact that humans die because he thinks that when people die they basically surrender to the earth, letting it eat them up and cover their heads. He thinks it's almost like a sign of weakness. Also he thinks that everyone should see the sun until they've had enough of it. He also fears death, which is part of his thinking. Also he's scared of what awaits him in the after life.

4. I think that Gilgamesh is proud of his city. He has so much pride in where he lives, and who built it. I think when he showed it to Urshanabi, it was almost as if he got to brag a little bit.

5. I think the most important event in the story was when Gilgamesh's friend, Enkidu, died. This event took such a toll on Gilgamesh, it effected him through most of the story. It's what drove him out on his quest to find immortality, and it's what caused him to make most of the decisions that he made.

6. In the future, Gilgamesh I think will be the ideal king. He won't be so greedy, and he won't let his power go to his head. He's much more wise then he was before he started out on his quest for mortality. His people will be very satisfied with the man that he has become.

7. Some different attitudes that people have towards death would be most of them are frightened. They don't know what will happen to them after they're gone. The world will keep on spinning and going on, even after they've stopped. Also some people learn to accept it. Everyone's time will come, and you just have to make the best of the time you have here on earth. Some people become angry as well. They don't understand why it has to be them that dies. They really just need to realize that everyone will die some day, it's not just them.

Abortion.

Abortion has always been a very sensitive topic. Some people don't agree with it at all, but on the other hand you have the people who are totally pro towards it. As for me, I'm all for it. I think that if you become pregnant at an early age, and you realize that you have made a huge mistake, and don't want to ruin the rest of your life because of one mistake, then you should be able to go and take care of it. Sometimes it happens to the best of students, who have a future and plan on going to college, and set the standards really high for themselves, but then they go and make the mistake of having sex and that could cost them their future and the rest of their lives. But also, I believe that if you are that kind of person, who dreams of college, you should not risk having sex and having the chance of ruining your future. Some people see it as 'killing another human being', but I don't see it that way. For me I don't think that you can kill something that hasn't really even had the chance to live. Not trying to offend anyone, but that's just what I believe, and my way of thinking. And, I also think that abortion should be your choice, and you should be able to choose that decision.
(district weightlifting meet wednesday 9th)

Global Warming.

This year I've noticed that it has been getting hotter and hotter outside. I live in Florida, and I know that our seasons aren't a drastic change, but we've only had maybe one or two cold fronts that lasted a couple of days. Usually we get a bit of a temperature change going into winter, but not this year. On Christmas eve morning, my family and I went swimming in our pool. Christmas eve morning. Don't you think that it'd be cold so close to Christmas? But unfortunately, it wasn't. Also, my relatives who live up north, Washington D.C and Wisconsin, they say that it hasn't snowed once up there yet. This is so obvious that global warming is taking a toll on our world. I think that others really need to see this, and start acting on it. After all, this is our world and if we don't take care of it, who will? If we don't take care of it, then it won't be here for the generations after us. This is our earth, and if it's not here, then neither will we. People should make a bigger attempt to recycle, and carpool, or even spend the little extra to own a hybrid car. Global warming is a serious issue, and we need to treat it like one. A couple of months ago, I watched a movie called "An Inconvenient Truth". It's Al Gore's movie about global warming and what we can do to help, and if we don't, what would happen to our earth. It changed the way I see global warming now, and I highly recommend everyone to see it. Before I saw it, I knew that global warming was a problem, but I just thought, "oh, global warming won't affect me, it won't happen until I'm dead". And I'm sure that others think that same exact thing, only it's not true. Antarctica is melting faster than ever, and Greenland is as well. With these two places melting, the oceans are rising. If they melt too fast, many countries will be underwater, including my state, Florida. I know that I'm going to be around a while, and I don't want my time to be shortened because of global warming. Generations after us are going to want to live on this beautiful planet, Earth. And it's not fair to them if we ruin it before the even get a chance to see what a wonderful place this can be. So do yourself a favor, and for the people after us, and do what you can to reduce global warming. Don't think for one second that it's not a serious issue, because anything concerning preserving our world is a serious issue. RECYCLE!
-AP