Hello 2014

New Year's Eve is my favorite holiday (if it's even considered a holiday). I love the whole spirit surrounding that day even more than the spirit of Christmas. In my family, New Year's Eve/Day is the big winter holiday. Russian people don't really celebrate Christmas on December 25th so NYE is the big hoorah. Santa (or Father Frost as he is referred to) comes and we open presents and have a big party and it's a blast. Since I come from a different culture it's fun to compare what Americans do for the New Year versus what Russian's do and I think resolutions is just an American think. My parent's have never once been like "OK. Time to sit down and brainstorm all the ways we are gonna be different next year". No. That just doesn't happen. So I think that this whole New Year, New Me nonsense is just in the U.S. although I might/probably am wrong. I think that the New Year is a symbol for change and that is why everyone is so quick to change. It's basically an excuse to completely change your personality over night. I think resolutions are cool and all and no matter how many times I have said, I'm gonna exercise or I'm gonna do my homework right away, it never happens. The people who can write and stick to resolutions? Kudos to them. I'm super jealous but I'm not one of those people. But basically, I think the whole idea of re-inventing yourself is cool and all but I doubt that many people follow through. 

HOOORAAAAY FOR 2014! 

yo

Sorry, laying in bed dying from the black plague. I will blog later. (maybe)

Reactions to School

1. You're annoyed because it takes up 7 hours of your day
2. Fury because your parents didn't tell you that it lasts 13 years
3. Anger because people don't know how to walk in the hallways
4. Annoyed again because you spent so much time at school yet you don't know how to pay bills or taxes or take out a loan, but I can graph a polynomial function!! 
5. Sometimes excited when you show up to class and your teacher has the word "Video" written up on the board
6. Hateful when you see the words "Test on Thursday" written on the board.
7. Stressed because you have 3 tests and 5 quizzes this week and you did absolutely nothing related to studying over the weekend
8. Jumping off the walls excited when your teacher says the test has been moved to next week (rarely)
9. Pissed because you have to wait 7 minutes in line to go to the bathroom 
10. Tired because it takes all of your energy to walk from Culinary to 4A
11. Calm because there are 3000 other people who suffer like you

Traditions!

I LOVE THANKSGIVING! I think it's a great holiday. Thanksgiving means it is now socially acceptable to blast Christmas music 24/7. Awesome. 

Ok. In my opinion, traditions are a great thing. I think they started (or at least in my family) because we wanted to remember something that somebody did. For example, my great grandma always made fish on Thrusday's, so now we all make fish for dinner on Thursday's. In the Gonikman house, Sunday is cleaning day (referred to as Sunday Fun-day). My grandma cleaned on Sunday's, my mom cleans on Sunday's which means that I clean on Sunday's. Although these aren't the super cool, super fun traditions like always putting up the tree on December 1st or making Turkey on Thanksgiving, they are still traditions. We do it because it's easy. We don't have to make up anything new, just do the same thing as last year. Although it can be boring sometimes, I don't think there is anything wrong with traditions and don't find them bizarre at all. It's just, I don't know, normal.

Happy Holidays! 

Blaaah Creativity

I seriously dread the word creativity. I hate doing school projects where any sort of arts and crafts is involved because my mind goes blank. I wasn't a creative child either. My imagination doesn't go far. I guess my brain just isn't wired that way. I think creativity is an awesome thing and maybe I just have to learn it, or maybe people are born with it but either way I lack creativity.

Since its like 10:30 and I decided not to write out a story about my video that I found because I'm really tired and lazy (judge me). So I decided that I would just do a short condensed version of what is coming to my brain as I'm watching this.

Basically, it's the year 2020 and the world has been attacked by Aliens who come from Mirror Planet. They cause chaos by flipping everything upside and creating a mirror image on top of us. People are trapped on one side with all the aliens who are basically releasing a "Purge" type lifestyle and the goal is to get to the other side of "mirror". It's not that easy though because these aliens are trying to kill you/ turn you into kung fu zombies. Once you complete the tasks that are set for you, you're safe and live on the other side like nothing ever happened. Catch is, you have a week or else you're turned into a kung fu zombie. THE END!.


https://vimeo.com/70573323

Observations

• A turkey has an average of 3000 feathers
• Lots of TV shows are focused on nationalities --> Russian Dolls, Shahs of Sunset, Jersey Shore
• Girls bathroom is always on the outside of the hall
• Trojan head has the names of cities in the district around it
• Quizzes/Tests on Fridays or Mondays are really annoying and I tend to do worse on them
• More houses put up decorations on Wednesday night
• American Girl Dolls are waaaaay too expensive
• I hate people who come into Caribou, sit down, and don't buy anything *cough, cough. Stupid, annoying middle schoolers*

Too early for Christmas

I love Christmas more than anybody on the planet. Seriously. I love the twinkling lights of the houses, and the Christmas trees, and the cookies, and the music, and the movies. I love pretty much everything about Christmas but what I love most is the timing. In my opinion, Christmas-y behavior is appropriate after Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving is when the movies should start, and the music can be played and the decorations can be put up. But, what I have noticed recently is that Christmas came too early this year, way too early.

I didn't really notice that Christmas was all around me until Saturday at the Mall of America. My mom and I had just walked in and a heard a little snippet of a conversation a middle aged man was having with his wife. "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" He yelled half laughing half serious. "I don't get! It's not even Thanksgiving yet! Why are the tree's up! What is this music!?". I didn't even know what he was talking about until I looked around. Christmas trees everywhere, ornaments hanging from the ceiling and Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" playing in the background. I was shocked. My first thought was "Damn, why didn't they just start this in September". And then I remembered, they did. Well not the MOA exactly, but Costco has had blow up snowmen since late September. A house just down the street has had lights up since Halloween. This is ridiculous. As I get older, I get more and more upset when people start celebrating Christmas early. Does this make me a Scrooge? I hope not but seriously, Christmas before Thanksgiving is just not right.

I don't know what it is. Is it my age? When I was little, I would have celebrated Christmas before Thanksgiving, hell, I would have celebrated it before Labor Day but now it just seems wrong. I think celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving makes Christmas a little less special so stop. If you're one of those people just stop. Thanks and happy holidays.

Outliers- Final BLA

For my BLA my group and I read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. The book focused on the stories of successful people in our past and what it was that made them successful. Gladwell's stories ranged from why the Beatles are successful to why the greatest hockey players are all born at the beginning of the year. There was not really a common factor to every successful person he mentioned but Gladwell did give numerous examples for many of the "variables" that contribute to a successful human. The book was split into two parts: opportunity and legacy.  Gladwell also mentioned that it is important to focus on not what a successful person is like but where they come from. The second part of the book focused more on the cultural aspects of successful people while the first part was based purely on opportunity/luck.

As mentioned Gladwell's book focused on a number of important people in our world. Because it was difficult to find one documentary about "successful" people my group and I decided to focus on one particular story. We decided to watch a documentary on Bill Gates and see the similarities and differences in how he was portrayed in the book vs. the documentary.

In the book, Gladwell focused primarily on the beginning of Bill Gates' career. Bill Gates was in the part about opportunity so a lot of focus was put on the opportunities that Gates got. Gladwell put a lot of emphasis on the a young Bill Gates and the head start he got at his high school. As an upperclassman in High School, a mother's club donated a software/teletype to the school for the kids to use. Gates and his friends spent a ton of time in that room often until about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. After a few years, it was estimated that Gates had reached the 10,000 hour mark- the "expert" number. Gladwell said that anybody who practiced an instrument for roughly 10,000 hours became an expert. Many studies have been done on the elite piano players, or the elite athletes and usually they all have one thing in common; how much they practice. They all usually practice for upwards of 10,000 hours of their life and that is exactly what Gates did. Those 10,000 hours were what made Gates successful in the eyes of Malcom Gladwell.

I decided to compare this to how Gates was portrayed in the documentary. The teletype was mentioned in the documentary but only in passing. They mentioned that Gates spent much of his free time in that room, plugging away at software, but how much time was actually spent was never mentioned. This particular story (the most important one according to Gladwell) was only mentioned for a brief 2-3 minutes in the documentary. The rest of the time, the documentary focused on what happened AFTER Gates had dropped out of Harvard and AFTER he had already practiced for 10,000 hours.

I may be a little biased because I have just finished reading the book but I think the time that Gates spent in the computer room was incredibly important to the success he is currently experiencing. The documentary leads people to believe that Bill Gates is just naturally smart and he got all this success randomly. But, Outliers really focuses on the root of what made Gates the billionaire that he is today and that is the opportunity. The teletype and the 10,000 hours spent in that room is the key to what made Gates successful. Without all the practice he might not have ever been able to do the things he later did. If the Mother's club hadn't donated the teletype well then Gates would have never discovered his love of software and would have gone on to become a lawyer like his parents wanted him to.

I personally think that the book does a better job at getting to the root of what makes people successful. Most documentaries and films and other books make it seem like all these people are just naturally smart, and naturally have all these abilities but in most cases that is not true. There is some great opportunity hiding in the history of that person and Malcolm Gladwell does a great job at figuring out the root of successful people. I really enjoyed the book and think that everybody should read it because the facts and ideas that Gladwell brings up are just so crazy and hard to believe but when you really think about them they are true and can be applied to most successful people!

AIRPLANES

Everyone is afraid of something. If you tell me you're absolutely fearless you're a filthy liar. EVERYONE is scared of something, EVERYONE has something they are uncomfortable with. It's the truth.

Now, I could type up a list of every little thing I'm scared and that would range from spiders, to frogs, to haunted houses but that would just be boring. So, since I'm in a class where analyzing is key, I decided that I would analyze my fears and see what exactly is it that I'm scared of. Is it truly frogs or something completely different?

I am incredibly afraid of flying. This is rather ironic because I have flown over the Atlantic Ocean 15 times and am on an airplane at least once a year if not more. I'm not one of those weirdo's who the second the plane starts moving begins screaming bloody murder and insists on being taken off the plane. If that was the case, I would never have been able to fly across the ocean that many times. But seriously, I am really scared. I can't really calm down until I am completely off the plane on solid ground. It's not a fear of enclosed spaces or a fear of heights. It's a fear of having the plane

break down and hijackers. Now, I know this is rather ridiculous because I have a greater chance of getting into a car accidents than having my plane break or getting attacked by hijackers but those statistics don't help. I still can't help thinking that the guy sitting next to me on the plane is about to whip out a gun or that noise I just heard is the sound of the engine failing. I think that the reason I'm truly scared is because I am not in control. I don't know what is going on inside of the cockpit or what the person next to me is doing. I am rather independent and nosy so I like to know anything and everything. When I'm on an airplane that is just not possible. Also, living in a country where 9/11 caused so much pain and damage does not help me while flying. Also, not gonna lie but I'm super scared of dying and for some reason I associate planes and dying. 

Also rather ironic, my goal in life is to travel the world so I have no idea how I plan to do that if I'm scared of flying. Better learn to get over that. 

Here Comes Another Garbage TV Show

It's not a secret that TV shows have been progressively getting stupider and stupider. Whatever happened to those great long running shows like ER and Law and Order? It seems like now, all people care about is what dress Kim Kardashian wore or who that oh-so steamy guy from the bachelor picked to be his fiancee. Now, I'm not completely immune to the plague of reality TV. I have watched my fair share of the Kardashians and have watched all seasons of the Jersey Shore, but there is one show, just one reality TV show that I will never, ever, EVER watch again. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a new type of garbage. Unfortunately, I am not analyzing the content of the show (which is awful) rather, the effects of such a TV show and the possible frameworks for interpretation.

So I think everybody here knows who Honey Boo Boo is so I'm not going to go into a deep summary because frankly it's not necessary. I think the effects of a show like Honey Boo Boo can be both positive and negative. I know many people who for some weird reason actually like watching Honey Boo Boo and think it's a great show. But why? Not going to lie, but it's probably because they are funny people. But not funny like ha-ha nice jokes. Funny as in ha-ha you did something dumb so I'm going to make fun of you. And that to me is not OK. In my opinion the show's producers have this show just to make fun of and stare at the family, like animals at a zoo. Who wants to be treated that away? Also, this show is adding unnecessary stereotypes to our culture. People who don't understand might think that all Americans act like that when many clearly don't. To me, shows like these only give negative stereotypes to Americans and I don't appreciate such shows appearing on my TV screen.

Also, lets inspect this through a classicist point of view. Some people might view this to be very rude and disrespectful because we are making fun of the poor people of our nation. I don't know how to look at this. I mean yeah, we do have a TV show where we are basically ridiculing a family but it's not BECAUSE they are poor. The show is for a different reason the purpose that I personally don't understand. So, I think now that the show has been going on for some time it can be seen as though a poorer family is being made fun of but I don't think that was the original purpose.

Like I said, I think the show is dumb but my opinion doesn't matter. I think the content is dumb and I don't get why these people are on TV but that doesn't stop me from believing that these people are being exploited for the wrong reasons. It doesn't matter if the producers say it's just for "fun". It's rude and offensive.

Analysis of Lyrics

I'm really lame and have absolutely no taste in music. I honestly listen to anything that KDWB plays and if that makes me "basic" I really don't care. Fight me. I definitely have a few songs that piss me off because they are over played and annoying (Roar by Katy Perry) but there are some that I also really like. Recently, I've been listening to "Alone Together" by Fall Out Boy and I just sat down to listen, to actually listen to the lyrics. Not gonna lie but this was kind of hard.

First of all, the title is an oxymoron. I'm really proud of myself for being able to notice that. Alone together.. what? How does that work. Yep oxymoron. 

I also just read through the lyrics and realized that there are only 5 parts to the song and the rest is being repeated. I don't know what's up with that. Is F.O.B lacking originality with this song? Come on. 5 versus? Kind of disappointing. Also, the main point of this song is that this guy wants to be alone with this one girl. Just the two of them. Ok. That makes sense. There is also a metaphor because F.O.B compares his heart to a stallion, which I personally don't get. Anyways, like I said in my opinion this song kind of lacks creativity because there are only 5 versus. But I still really like it. Why? Because of the message. Of only one of the 5 versus. I think it's super cute to just be alone with one single person whether it's your boyfriend (blech, mushy i know) or with your friend. I also think it's super cool that the song's title is an oxymoron. But, my favorite part of the song is the instrumental version, not the words. And I know that kind of defeats the purpose of this assignment because it's supposed to be an analysis of the language but hey, I just really like the song and the message. 



"Alone Together"

I don't know where you're going
But do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin
And we're starting at the end

Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs
Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.

You cut me off, I lost my track
It's not my fault, I'm a maniac
It's not funny anymore, no it's not

My heart is like a stallion
They love it more when it's broke in
Do you wanna feel beautiful?
Do you wanna?

I'm outside the door, invite me in
So we can go back and play pretend
I'm on deck, yeah, I'm up next
Tonight I'm high as a private jet

'Cause I don't know where you're going
But do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin
And we're starting at the end

Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs
Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.

My heart is like a stallion,
They love it more when it's broke in
Do you wanna feel beautiful?
Do you wanna?

I'm outside the door, invite me in
So we can go back and play pretend
I'm on deck, yeah, I'm up next
Tonight I'm high as a private jet, yeah

Yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs
Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.

I don't know where you're going
But do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin
And we started at the end

Pet Peeves!

A little while ago in class we talked about my pet peeves and this got me thinking: there is a crap ton of things that I don't like.
Enjoy my list

• Mismatched Socks
• Pajamas out in public
• Clingy People
• People who can't get lunch by themselves.
• When people touch my hair with their greasy hands
• Those hideous rubber hunter boots
• Crocs
• People who don't shut up
• Those kids in your class who think they know everything
• Super aggressive people/those who walk by and hit you for no reason as a "joke"
• People who come into Caribou Coffee, sit down, and don't by anything
• Those individuals who continuously argue with me when I know I'm right
• Being criticized by my peers- not your job, an adult can do that
• When girls go to the bathroom in groups- do you need help flushing the toilet?
• When tv shows kill the best characters
• People who say that there was room for Jack on the door in Titanic. THERE WAS NOT. I have watched the movie like 22 times and there is a point where he tries to get on and the door starts to sink. There might be ROOM but it can't support both of their weights. Jeeeeez.

          

The Perfect College Essay

I went to this seminar last week about how to write a good college application essay. The professor said the key is to write about how you overcame a challenge- college's love that stuff. The essay has to show that you had a struggle in your life and how you dealt with it. This got me thinking, I'm 16 and nothing has really happened to me. I mean nothing serious at least. Nobody has died (thank god), no near death experiences (yet), and no... well nothing. Nothing has happened in my life that is worth writing about.

So, if you're one of those unfortunate (or fortunate in a normal world) people who has had nothing horrible happen to them, what the heck are you supposed to write about? College's have heard millions of times about how "I failed a test and ended up getting an A in the class" or "My dog ran away and it was really hard".  What else can you write about? I'm sure you can pick a different prompt but the classic "list a time when you overcame adversity" always pops up. I think it's a really important question to answer. It shows colleges that you were capable of overcoming a challenge in your life and it also shows how you dealt with the situation, not that you just gave up.

I'm a junior in high school and it's about time to start thinking about colleges. I know I still have about a year before I need to start submitting applications but still. What could I write about? The closest thing that I can think of at this point is that one time in 6th grade when I fractured my spine, but even that wasn't a big deal because it wasn't a life altering event. It was kind of hard on me, but I wasn't hospitalized or anything. I just wore a back brace for 3 months. This gets me thinking, maybe it's not about the actual event rather, how you write about? Maybe, colleges will think you're phenomenal if you write a great essay about how hard it was when your dog ran away. I don't know. I'm worried about this aspect of college. I have absolutely NO idea what I would write about. I NEED IDEAS!!

Satire Video

DISCLAIMER: This is late because I was absent the day this was assigned. Also, this video has nothing to do with my opinions on Gay marriage. It's just a video I found on youtube. The purpose of the blog post is to analyze the satire not the concept of gay marriage. k cool.
________________________________________________________________________________
The purpose of this video was to show that all the reasons that people are against gay marriage are.. well wrong , hence the name of the video " 10 reasons why Gay Marriage is wrong". The person who put up this video made a list of the 10 most common reasons that people are against gay marriage and then inserted his own satirical examples. For example "Gay marriage is unnatural". He then followed up with explaining how this is a "valid" response because Americans are against everything unnatural. This video was very funny and sarcastic and I think it did a good job at getting the audience's attention and proving the point. I liked how humor was added in, which is obviously one of the main points of satire. The rest of the video was structured in this way:
argument (gay marriage is wrong)
10 reasons why gay marriage is wrong and the author's/video makers own remarks.

As mentioned I thought the reasons were hilarious.

Here's the video.

Afraid of Fire

Zach had been afraid of fire since he was a little boy. It was the weirdest thing because his dad was a firefighter and was in burning buildings constantly but Zach? He wouldn't even let his mom light candles in the house. He hated everything about fire. The smell, the warmth, the "feeling" of having something burning next to him.
One time, Zach's friends decided to pull a prank on him and invite him to a party. That party had a bonfire pit and there was a fire burning in the middle of the backyard. Zach tried to be brave and not freak out but after his friends starting messing around and almost pushed him into the fire Zach totally lost it. It's safe to say he no longer hangs out with those people.
For most people, fire is calming. It brings a sense of warmth and peace to a situation. But for Zach it brings fear and anxiety. He can feel his lungs and throat tense up when fire is near him. He can feel his nose start to burn when the smell of smoke reaches his nostrils. When he feels the warmth of the fire his whole body feels like it's scorching. All of his senses are intensified by 100 times.
Because of his feelings towards fire, it was a real shock that he even ran into that house that day. It was late on a Friday night, Zach was coming home from his friends house. From far away he could see some orange in the distance and as he was pulling up closer to his neighbors house he saw it. The raging fire in the garage of his next door neighbors house. His first instinct was to run, run away in the opposite direction but then he remembered. Lily, the 8 year old girl who he baby sat so many times before was in that house. Alone. Her parents were out for the night and Lily was alone upstairs. She was probably so scared. So what did Zach do? He ripped of his jacket and ran. He burst through the front door and he heard a screech. It sounded like a truck's tires slamming against the asphalt. Zach realized it was Lily standing at the top of the stairs screaming and crying. "JUMP!" He yelled back. Lily, trusting Zach made a run for it and jumped into his arms. They both ran thought the scorching hot flames. Zach could feel the smoke piling up in his lungs like bricks but he didn't stop. He had to help Lily. He could barely see anything because the smoke was cutting his eyes, but they finally made it to the front door. The fresh air was cold like ice. It was the most relieving feeling. Zach was so incredibly happy and proud of himself for saving that little girl. He had just faced his fears in the most intense way possible. 

My thoughts...

This week in class, we spent a lot of time discussing homeless people..? Yeah. Homeless people. I didn't even think I could spend a whole week talking about them, but I did and I'm not gonna lie I really enjoyed it. We read a series of articles for homework all with different ideas and then in class we started watching the film, the soloist.

Here are my opinions on each reading and the movie:

Million-Dollar Murray: This reading was an excerpt from a book written by Malcolm Gladwell. First of all, I must say that I really enjoy Gladwell's writing style. I am reading "Outliers" for my BLA and I'm really liking it. This reading was Gladwell telling a story about Murray Barr, a homeless man with enormous potential. He was a homeless man who under close supervision had the potential to become a functioning member of society. Gladwell's argument was that just giving a couple bucks to homeless people won't solve the problem long term. The point is that it is better to SOLVE homelessness rather than MANAGE it. Gladwell talked about a scenario where apartments were given to homeless people as long they followed the rules. This sparked an idea for a company that I could start. Basically, it's gonna be a company (funded by, I don't know who yet) where homeless people will come in and get an apartment. Along with this apartment, they will start attending classes where they learn everyday skills like interview skills, using computers, etc. The company would partner with some other organization that would provide jobs for the homeless people. Once the homeless people start making some money, a little bit of each paycheck will be deducted for "rent". As more and more money is accumulated, the cost of rent will be higher and higher until the "no longer homeless people" are capable of living on their own. I honestly think this could be the best idea ever and I could become super rich from a company like this but let's be honest, it will never happen. Not all homeless people want to be helped, so that is what makes this situation so difficult.

Dumpster Diving: First of all, groooossss. I can never ever think about digging through dumpsters to get food. However, I gotta owe it to this guy, his writing style is really good. It's crazy how he can make an informative article from something as weird as dumpster diving. In a way, I felt bad for this guy but at the same time I was like "hey, whatever works for you". This article was actually really helpful if I were to ever become homeless. I learned that canned foods are almost always good, and good food is often thrown away by college students around breaks and holidays. So, if I were to ever be in the position to dumpster dive, I know that I can rely on this article. But, I think it's crazy how in depth and almost "professional" this guy is and he gets dysentery about once a month. That is something that I would NOT be able to handle. Like I said. GROSS.

The Soloist: This movie is seriously hitting some spots. It is an amazing film! First of all, can we talk about what a great actor Jamie Foxx is? I can only imagine the skill that is required to play a schizophrenic. I think this movie is trying to prove that not everybody who lives on the streets is an alcoholic or drug addict and it's wrong to think like that. This movie shows very clearly that some of the most talented people can end up homeless because of certain circumstances. For me, I felt like this movie was another classic example of "don't judge a book by its cover". Because, when you see a person on the streets you're automatically like "it's their own fault" or "not my problem". But this movie shows that it's often not anybody's fault and some of the most talented people will end up on the streets. Like I said, I am feeling really moved by this film and I can't wait to see the ending! 

Rhetorical Mode Answers!

Congrats to those who got all 5 Rhetorical Modes right!
The answers were as follows:

1) Definition
2) Example
3) Description
4) Cause and Effect
5) Narration

Which Rhetorical Mode am I using?

Try to guess which rhetorical mode I'm using!

Answers will be posted later.

COURAGE!

1. Courage is the ability to do something that one is afraid of. Courage can be both physical and moral. Physical courage can be seen in times of physical pain, death, loss, or hardship while moral courage is the ability to do the right thing. To be courageous means to do something that you know is difficult for you.  In the western tradition, thoughts of courage have been linked with philosophers such as Aristotle and Aquinas. In the east, Tao Te Ching gave his ideas on courage.

2. The Cowardly Lion is a prominent character in the story of Wizard of Oz. He was portrayed as being scared of everything, even Dorothy’s little dog Toto. Since the Lion was able to stand up against his fears he shows courage. In the movie when the Lion goes inside the Witch’s castle to save Dorothy he is showing an incredible sign of courage because he is doing something that he is afraid of.

3.He had been afraid of fire since the age of 3. He wouldn’t go to bonfires with his friends or let his mom light candles inside the house because the warm, thick air around the fire made him feel overwhelmed. He didn’t like the smell of ash going up his nose or the warm air against his body, but he knew that when he saw that burning building he had to run in and help. So he threw of his jacket and faced his fears. The smoke hit his face and jabbed at his eyes like knives. He couldn’t breathe because the smoke was being shoved down his throat. But he finally got to a little girl in her room, picked her up and carried her out. He had finally faced his fears in the most intense way possible.

4. Feeling courageous is caused by facing your fears. When one finally does something that they have been afraid of for a long time that person will often times feel courageous and as though they can do anything. After finally completing the task that has plagued a person for many years, that individual will most likely feel very confident, happy, and proud of him or herself. After finishing that task, the person will most likely not have a problem doing it again because they are no longer scared.

5. My best friend was so incredibly afraid of Chuckey from Chuckey Cheese’s when we were little that it was hilarious. Everybody would always have their birthday’s there and she would obviously be invited. She would be having such a great time but when Chuckey came out she would run to her dad and start crying. I never understood why she was so scared because Chuckey was always so nice. But finally, when she turned 5 she decided she would have her party at Chuckey Cheese’s. We could sense the fear when it was almost time for Chuckey to come out, but when he finally did, she wasn’t scared. She had a great time with him, and didn’t want Chuckey to leave. She had such a great time that the next year, for her 6^th birthday, she had her party at Chuckey Cheese’s again.

Analyzing the Cowardly Lion

Blog Post numero dos is about analyzing speeches!!
As I understand it, AP Comp is about analyzing language and looking into the different techniques that are weaved into either written or spoken text. So far, a lot of emphasis has been put on rhetorical techniques so I will be analyzing the rhetorical techniques in the Cowardly Lions Speech on Courage from the Wizard of Oz.

I'm really excited because it's one of my favorite movies!

Time for some analyzing!

There is obvious repetition in the speech. The lion's main point is to show that Courage is a necessary attribute to have which is why he continuous to repeat the word.
I also noticed that in the second line "What makes a flag on the mast to wave" the syntax is a bit off. In other words, I don't think that in normal, everyday dialect a person would speak like that. I think the reason the Lion chose to say it like that is to add attention to his speech (or in reality because it rhymed with slave).
As the speech is being presented the audience can feel the courage building up inside of the lion. This can be seen because with every word and sentence his words become louder and more rough. This is to show the effects of courage. The Lion's courageous attitude can also be seen with the way he walks around and moves his cape all around the place. Finally, the Lion also makes an allusion to the 7 Wonder's of the World in his speech.

WHO AM I?

Hiiiii. So I'm writing my first blog for my AP Comp. class. It's pretty exciting because I have always wanted to start a blog and have millions of followers and become internet famous but it's obviously not going to happen because my life is truly boring. You shall see this in the following summary of my life.

I was born in the middle of the night, in the middle of February in the middle of Siberia. That's right. Novosibirsk, Russia is my place of birth. Whenever I tell people that I was born in Siberia everyone's like "OMG. Did you live in an igloo?! Did you see bears?!" NO. Novosibirsk in the 3rd biggest city in Russia and very modern as you can see in the following pictures. (Green building is the main train station - the apartment where I lived is to the right of it) So, when I was 2 and a half years old my parents and I moved to Minneapolis and I have been living here ever since.

My childhood was not that exciting. I just kinda hung around the house and bugged my parents. When I was 5 I started Kindergarten (i don't know if i spelled that right- don't judge) at Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion school. Yep. So I'm fluent in 3 languages. I must say that it has proven to be very helpful and I'm so grateful to my parents for sending me to that school. I feel pretty special that I'm capable of communicating freely in those languages. During elementary school I started rhythmic gymnastics. It's more of a European sport and very few people actually understand the rigor and the work that the sport requires. I did gymnastics until I was 11 and then I fractured my back. WOOOOT! Back brace for 3 months. How exciting. When I finally got the brace off I couldn't even touch my toes so that was it for gymnastics. I was pretty bored just sitting around at home so I picked something unique but that didn't strain my back. So I started ballroom dancing! 

Ballroom dancing is another sport (yes, it actually is a sport) that very few people know about. I danced anywhere from 4-5 times a week for about 3 hours. I had a permanent dance partner named Geordie and we competed all over the country. We went to competitions in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix, and Baltimore (Seattle and New York were my favorite). Just because I'm bored I will insert a link of me and Geordie dancing. NO laughing.

So yeah. That was me.... I actually quit dance 2 weeks before school started. I was super busy and I got a job at Caribou and I just didn't have the time to commit. It's sad not being able to go and just dance anymore but who knows, maybe I will pick it up again next summer just for fun.

Other than that, nothing too exciting has happened in my life so I guess I will just post a few pictures of myself and my boring life.

Spain 2012

My sister Vika and I in Mexico

Okay. So I just put way too much effort into writing this blog post and I still have other homework to do. So I'm gonna be done. Ok. Bye.