Valedictorian Speech

I would like to thank all the parents, friends, and enemies that have come to celebrate the ending of a chapter, and the beginning of a new one. Since I know we are all anxious to begin truly celebrating this even by waiting in a line of cars that will make Houston rush hour look like a breeze, I’ll try to keep it as brief as they will allow me.

There has always been an age old question that we have been asked since we can remember. A question that a good number of us always have trouble answering, and it all started when we were children. When we were five, they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our answers were things like, Astronaut, President or in my case, a Policeman. They would laugh at our somewhat outrageous claims, but we believe them. We went out and we pretended to fly through outer space, or run an entire country, or in my case, cops and robbers. We had this guess of what we would be, but none of us truly knew. When we were ten, they asked again. We answered rock star, cowboy or in my case, a magician. After hours of singing, roping, and trying really hard to find the card you picked, we stilled could only guess what we were to become years in the future. But now that we’ve grown up, they wanted a serious answer. No more astronauts. No more Presidents. No more cowboys and no more magicians. We are expected to give a real answer. We are expected to be accountants, engineers, and stock market specialists. We are all graduating and they want an answer. Well, how about this for an answer- who really knows? This isn’t the time to make hard and fast decisions, this is the time to make mistakes. Take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Wander off the beaten path. Find where the sidewalk ends. Close your eyes, point to a place on the map and just go. Fall in love – a lot. Have your heart broken – a lot. Make a lot of money and lose it in the same day. Major in Theater because there is no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind and change it again because nothing’s permanent. Don’t. I repeat, don’t get a tattoo of your significant other’s name. Ever. Make as many mistakes as you can. That way someday when they asked what we wanna be, we won’t have to guess – we’ll know. We’ll know not only what we wanna be, but also what we are, and who we are. After all, until we know where we are, how can we know where we wanna be? The problem with everyone wearing a cap and gown on right now is that we all think we are adults and that adults don’t make mistakes. That is why we need to make as many mistakes as we can until we break down this idea that being an adult means the world relies on the choices we make. If we can make break down this idea that mistakes are bad, than maybe the next graduation class, and the ones after that, will be able to sit more comfortably than we are right now. To conclude, go out tonight and celebrate all the accomplishments you have had thus far. Try your best to forget the mistakes you made in high school, because if I have done my job correctly, you are all about to make a lot more. Thank you.

Character Foils

Foils in Shakespeare’s Hamlet hold extreme significance to the play as a whole. Without conflicting personalities or thought processes, there would be no conflict in the play at all. Here I plan on explaining the key foil within the play, Hamlet vs. Claudius.

Claudius (the new king) is a foil to Hamlet, but also holds some similarities with him as well.. The similarities they have helps characterize Hamlet. One similarity is that they are both devious. Claudius kills Hamlet’s brother and takes the thrown in one smooth criminal like movement. Hamlet seems to follow suit by going behind Claudius’ back and exposing him’s for the true killer he is in an extremely tedious and outdrawn scheme. However, these similarities only exist to show the resemblance in the family and how no one in this time period thinks honesty is the best policy. Now to show how they are foils. One of the differences between Hamlet and his Uncle Father is in their ethics. Claudius serves to benefit Claudius and no one else. He has no priorities other than keeping the throne. It could be easily arguable that Gertrude serves to be a trophy for Claudius more than a genuine love interest. Hamlet cares about other’s feelings, which is shown by him exhibiting clear grief for the death of Ophelia. When it comes down to it, Claudius is evil, and Hamlet is good(ish). The agendas of both may hold similarities in origin and practice, but the to hold even more differences.

The reason it is so important for these two characters to be foils of each other is simple. Hamlet and Claudius are the main dynamic of the play (with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern being a close second). Hamlet wants Claudius dead and Claudius happily returns the feeling. If the two were exactly the same, the play would be wholly predictable and boring to read, let alone watch in a theater. For the play to work as the tragedy it is, Claudius and Hamlet need to be as different as possible.

Cowards live, but why?

“A cowardly man
thinks he will ever live,
if warfare he avoids;
but old age will
give him no peace,
though spears may spare him.”

Above consists of the 16th piece of advise given to us from the vikings. It’s meaning is pretty clear even in old English, but basically says this: A coward thinks he will live longer if he avoids conflict and battles; but he shall gain no peace from growing old, even if avoiding conflict keeps him alive. In today’s slang, this may translate into a rough usage of “yolo” before bungee jumping of a bridge over a shallow river, but there’s so much more complexity to it than that. The word “warfare” is referred to in the text, but I don’t see it as completely limiting the meaning to battles, but rather simple decisions and risks as well. Take the narrator from the poem The Road not Taken by Robert Frost. When put in the position to choose which road that he will go down, we as readers see the meaning behind this advice given. The narrator could easily have picked the road that everyone else seemed to travel, for it virtually guaranteed safety and smooth treks. However, as most of us know, the narrator instead decides to take “the one less traveled by.” We as humans often weigh our decisions on a risk/reward basis. Basically, does the reward outweigh the risk? If so, the decision is made. However, many people fail to see the the risk is the reward, and vice versa. Of course living by safety and guarantees will land you further in life, but where’s the risk? Risks in life are rewards within themselves, and taking the risks is what makes us human in the first place. You may be questioning the validity of this side of the argument. If so, refer back to The Road not Taken, the narrator chose risk over safety, and “that has made all the difference.”

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536

 

Reader discretion is advised

I want to start this off with a firm warning that if you are sensitive in your opinion on what has happened recently, this may not be the blog post for you. I know that there have been terrorist attacks in many places recently. However, I will be focusing on the ones that happened in Paris.

I would like to first address the reason I believe that the attacks in Paris have been more socially acknowledged by society rather than the attacks that happened in places such as Lebanon and Turkey. France is by no means a third world country. France is rather developed and mirrors the United States in a lot of ways, therefor when Paris was attacked, it was a shock to the entire world. Until recently, when the city of Paris is mentioned, thoughts of peacefulness, cheese, safety, and wine come to mind; not danger, explosions, terrorism, and fear. I feel like that is why social media seems to be covering those attacks as opposed to attacks in Lebanon where it happens so much the world had become numb.

Next I would like to address the unnecessary attack on Syrian refugees. Many people, whether uninformed or informed poorly, are convinced that these attacks were brought on by Syrian refugees. This not only has little proof to its accuracy, but rather has more evidence pointing in the OPPOSITE direction of that argument. Fake passports were found on the suspected assailants bearing identities of Syrian citizens that had died months ago. It is most likely that the terrorists posed as Syrian refugees to gain passage into France. Of course, that to anyone would sound like a good reason to deny any Syrian refugee safe passage in order to prevent further acts of terrorism. It is a very valid argument, and I have no preventative measures against that other than not letting the refugees enter. A friend of mine tried explaining to me that “If I gave you a bunch of grapes, and told you that one was poisoned, would you eat them anyway?” Well newsflash friend, humans aren’t grapes. I have a better metaphor for you. A veterinarian is called to care for five very sick dogs, but is told that one has rabies. Does the vet refuse to care for any of the canines, possibly leading to the death of all of them? No. The vet does all that they can in order to save as many as they can. As should we. If these refugees’ situations are rough enough to travel treacherous journeys to escape their homeland, refusing them passage could very well lead to their deaths. I guess our government believes that it is better them than us.

Even heroes have the right to dream

“Superman (It’s Not Easy)”

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naïve
I’m just out to find
The better part of me

I’m more than a bird,
I’m more than a plane
I’m more than some pretty face beside a train
It’s not easy to be me

I wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
‘Bout a home I’ll never see

It may sound absurd but don’t be naïve
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed but won’t you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
And it’s not easy to be me

Up, up and away, away from me
Well, it’s alright
You can all sleep sound tonight
I’m not crazy or anything

I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naïve
Men weren’t meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

I’m only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
Inside of me, inside of me [2x]

I’m only a man in a funny red sheet
I’m only a man looking for a dream
I’m only a man in a funny red sheet
And it’s not easy.
It’s not easy to be me.

The song I have chosen is Superman written and recorded by Five For Fighting. I picked this song because the lyrics really stand out to me. As a senior in high school, I often do my best to stand out from the mass of high school students. Parallel to the beginning of the song, “I’m more than a bird, I’m more than a plane, I’m more than some pretty face beside a train” I make myself impossible to be mistaken for others like me. Even if I’m “only a man in a funny red sheet” I know that people will remember me when I’m gone and my goal is to be one of a kind while I’m still here.

The other side of the lyrics I find meaningful is the chorus, “I can’t stand to fly, I’m not that naïve.” I know my boundaries, but that doesn’t stop me from pushing them. The lyricist follows one of these choruses with “I’m just looking for the better part of me” which is really meaningful to me. I often do just that. I think about how I can better myself and surroundings. Even though at the end of the day, I’m just a man in a funny red sheet.

Lastly, the constant repetition of “It’s hard to be me” is something I feel is extremely relatable. No matter who you are or what your background is, life get’s hard. I feel like everyone has at one point or another had these exact words cross their minds. I feel like as a society we often turn things into a competition, toils and burdens included. At the end of the day it isn’t important who has had a rougher time, because even heroes have the right to bleed.

Wealth “Distribution”

The video provided talked about the distribution of wealth in America. This was based off a poll taken in which thousands of people were asked how they thought the wealth was distributed, and how what the ideal distribution would be.

This pertains to both books that we recently read in class. First off would be the Great Gatsby. This video gave me a better idea on how the idea of wealth would have an impact on the characters. I understood that both families were “rich” buy I did not know however, the amount of wealth they might have had. If the families were in the top 20% they were extremely wealthy, to the point where they wouldn’t have to work probably for the rest of their lives. This is how we transfer to the most recent book, the Grapes of Wrath. The Joad family, along with many farmers, can easily represented as the bottom 1% of the chart, reduced to pocket change. This gives a broader understanding on just how much the Joad family struggled throughout the novel, and just how little they actually had.

The video would rely on both ethos, pathos, and logos to relay its meaning on the distribution of wealth. The logos part is given within the poll recorded in the video. Since he pulls most of his information and reasoning from this published chart, his logical reason is solid. His ethos, or credibility, comes from his ability to not take any side in the argument. His facts and opinions stay strictly down the middle, making it hard to argue his credibility. His pathos is unique however, being that it comes from the reader itself. This video will invoke strong emotion from anyone that watches the video, but more so if the person is further on either side of the scale. People in the bottom half may find this video strongly truthful and accurate, whereas slightly more wealthy people might blow this video off, not thinking it as a big deal or accurate at all.

Many thanks

I know most people are going to go the traditional route with, “I am thankful for my family and friends,” but I’m afraid that that is exactly what this one is about. My life has changed drastically in the past few months and my friends and family have been there with me every step of the way. Recently being in a high school play, my dedication and commitment was highly tested. What with the not leaving school until 8 each day or having to dye my hair, no one can say I wasn’t committed. That isn’t the story though, the real story are the friends that helped me both academically and emotionally through all of this. I know you are reading and thinking, “What’s so emotional about a play?” and I honestly couldn’t tell you, but trust me it gets emotional. My own mother went out and bought the hair dye that would change my hair into what you see today, and although she has made it known to anyone that asks that this hair choice is, “stupid” and “unreasonable,” I know she supports it none the less.
Veering off the beaten path now, there is something else I am really thankful for. This may seem vain in some cases or over thinking ones self, but I am severely thankful for the changes I have made for myself over the past year. I have started to eat healthier, exercise more, and release the negativity from my surroundings. I know this sounds like an adults new year’s resolution list, but for me it has had significant beneficial effects. My relationships between friends are better, I have next to no drama in my life, and I couldn’t be healthier.
These are all things I am thankful for, and things I am just happy about in my life.

Talented Inside and Out

Ok so normally I don’t like to talk about my talents because I’m worried I will look conceited or vain, but since I have to I will. I am going to split this assignment in three parts, my physical and mental talents, as well as miscellaneous.

First comes the physical attributes of myself that I am proud of. An overall view of it would be to say that I am physically fit, but I want to take it a little deeper than that. I have a insanely high metabolism, which means that my body will digest quicker and if I don’t eat enough eat at any excess muscle tissue(which makes working out pretty useless after a while). Although most would look at this as a bad thing I enjoy the perks that tag along. I stay light weight wise which allows me to: run faster, have higher stamina, defy gravity(sort of), and do all kinds of awesome physical maneuvers that would be harder without my metabolism. That doesn’t mean I just sit around though, in fact, I work out on a weekly basis to keep myself fit. This includes running and doing parkour around my house and neighborhood. I often aspire to go on a national obstacle course know as “American Ninja Warrior” and although the name sounds silly, many take it quite seriously.

Next up is mental capabilities I am proud of. Although I have my slow moments(but who doesn’t I mean come on), I am normally a very observant person when it comes to things happening around me. I am especially good at reading people and their emotions, which has lead me to be a pretty good judge of character. I am also extremely empathetic, which means I can easily share emotions with someone or something. I like being empathetic because it helps me connect with people on a deeper level and has often lead to me being that one friend everyone goes to for advice or just to talk about whats on their minds. Overall I am very happy with my mental sharpness because it has helped me out in a lot of interesting situations. I am able to think on my feet and get myself out of precarious scenarios which would have otherwise ended up very bad.

Next up is miscellaneous, these are talents that use a lot of both mental and physical capabilities listed above. Fist off is that I really enjoy and have been told that I am good at singing. I like singing because music to mean is a lot more than just notes and words, and being able to personally project music is such a confidence booster for me and makes me very happy. Next is I am very good at acting. I enjoy snapping into another character because portraying someone other than yourself is a difficult art to master. That is probably why I love it the most, there is always room for improvement and it is indeed an art.

Those are the talents I am especially proud of. Hey Mr. Lindner here’s a link to the previously mentioned obstacle course I would like you to check out it is really awesome and my goal is to go on it and complete all stages.

Relatable song

Refrain] (x2)
Sur ma route, oui
Il y a eu du move, oui
De l’aventure dans l’movie
Une vie de roots
Sur ma route, oui
Je n’compte plus les soucis
De quoi devenir fou, oui
Une vie de roots

[Pont] (x4)
Sur ma route

[Couplet 1]
Sur ma route, j’ai eu des moments de doute
J’marchais sans savoir vers où, j’étais têtu rien à foutre
Sur ma route, j’avais pas d’bagage en soute
Et, dans ma poche, pas un sou, juste la famille, entre nous
Sur ma route, y’a eu un tas d’bouchons
La vérité : j’ai souvent trébuché
Est-ce que tu sais que quand tu touches le fond
Il y a peu de gens chez qui tu peux te réfugier ?
Tu peux compter que sur tes chers parents
Parce que les amis, eux, disparaissent un par un
Oui, il m’arrive d’avoir le front au sol
Parce que Dieu est grand et, on est seul, on meurt seul

[Refrain] (x2)

[Pont] (x4)

[Couplet 2]
Sur ma route, on m’a fait des coups en douce
L’impression qu’mon cœur en souffre, mais j’suis sous anesthésie
Sur mon chemin, j’ai croisé pas mal d’anciens
Ils me parlaient du lendemain et que tout allait si vite
Ne me parle pas de nostalgie
Parce que j’t’avoue que mon cœur est trop fragile
J’suis comme un pirate naufragé
Oui, mon équipage est plus qu’endommagé
Je sèche mes larmes, j’baisse les armes
J’veux même plus savoir pourquoi ils m’testent, les autres
Si y’a plus rien à prendre, je sais qu’il m’reste une chose
Et, ma route, elle est trop longue, pas l’temps de faire une pause

Taken from http://lyricstranslate.com/en/sur-ma-route-my-way.html-0#ixzz3GRTFJDvb

       I don’t know if I did the quote thing right but there’s the song. This song is called sur ma route by the french artist Black M. This song is about a man finding his way through life. In he refrain he compares his life to a movie, and how different things happen and he feels alone though all his adventures. I can relate to that because every now and then I will look back and realize that my life is a lot different than it was a month or a year ago. Sometimes it actually feels as if I am going through my life by myself without peoples help.
      In the first section after the refrain, he talks about being stubborn and choosing to stay alone and leave his family, and how his friends slowly disappear one by one. Sometimes I get the feeling that although I know a lot of people and have a lot of friends, I don’t have a lot of people that I can go to if I really need help.
     Basically, the entire song is about going through life almost though a collection of movies. Different scenarios and and situations that only have one thing in common. You. Overall I find this song really relatable because there are a lot of things in my life now that weren’t before and things that were in my life before that aren’t anymore.

Response to the suspended book list

I find the fact that the High School would ban these books absolutely terrible. Although the books had some scenes involving matters of adulthood, the central message of these books isn’t “lets go have sex while we do drugs because are parents beat us.” We just finished the scarlet letter, but reading it didn’t make me want to go have an illegitimate baby and torture myself until I die with what could be a horrifying chest piece. These books we read in high school are chosen because of the message they teach. We don’t just read random books that have no significant meaning other than to kill time. It may just be me, but this article actually ticked me off. I understand some parents are kind of touchy about what their kids read, but that doesn’t mean that they should take it away from all the other students. Just have your kid read a different book instead. I am not angry at all at the parents reasons for their reasons, but their actions were extreme and uncalled for. That is how I feel about the books getting suspended from the reading list.