[Spoilers ahead for Animal Farm. Be careful. ]
In chapter five, Napoleon unleashed his dogs to chase after Snowball, driving him out of Animal Farm. Trusty Squealer came by to put the animal's doubts at rest by stating,
"I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
Now, there's something fishy about his reasoning here. In Animalism, all opinions should be regarded equal to other opinions. After all, isn't that what all animals being equal means? However, this directly contradicts Squealer's following sentences by essentially saying that other animal's opinions will be disregarded in case they make the "wrong decisions". According to the logic here, Napoleon is the one leading the farm and is therefore most qualified for making decisions.
I myself am not too impressed with the reasoning here but I must admit that the effect of manipulation Squealer covers over the animals is well done.
Those poor animals...
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
What makes a leader?
Let's see here, what makes a good leader? Is it intelligence? In my opinion, no. While intelligence is needed to critically think and analyze how to deal with situations, Basing leadership on simply how clever they are might yield disappointing results. First off, it depends on what kind of intelligence they have. I myself make no claim to understand intelligence in the slightest, but there has been theorized to be multiple forms of intelligence by others in the past.
A good leader should be empathetic to others and an excellent listener and thinker. Good social and verbal skills would be a plus.
In my group, I'm almost ashamed to say that since we didn't know what being a leader entailed, we simply selected Vinh, who eagerly volunteered to be the leader.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Question of the Day + Class' report of December 3, 2013
Class report of December 3, 2013!
I was chosen to be one of the three 'student leaders of the day' and two of the tasks that needed to be rationed out was to write the daily report of today's session on your blog and to volunteer the 'Question of the Day' that correlates to our lesson.
[If you want to skip this great wall of text and jump to the answering the question of the day, then go for it. Sorry for writing so much but the board did say "detailed"... ]
The class day started out with Saurabh holding the door open so everyone to enter. That was really kind of him. After we were all seated down, Miss Kritzeck, our teacher, had a discussion with our class about the act of opening doors open for others. Do you think we should do so? Is it right? If someone doesn't acknowledge your gesture do you feel unappreciated and/or angry? After a few responses from students, it turned out that most did not notice that the door was held open for them.
[Which, in my humble opinion, I think is fine. People are occupied and might not notice everything with so much going on. I do "acts of kindness" (--as Miss K. puts it--) for other people. Not for me. ]
Then she directs the question as to why she's making the student leader holds the door open for everyone. Is it to build a sense of community? The conversations deviate into students making attempts at naming everyone in the classroom. Privithi just nearly made it; she was so close! Yet lack of luck made it so that she messed up at around the last people left.
Miss Kritzeck talked about third period being very displeased with this new rule and all the students were "up in arms" protesting passionately about why they shouldn't have to do this. Raeek too opposed this decision and constructed arguments as to why third period may be upset toward this new development. Most were sound however at his last point he said something that none of us could comprehend very well. Sounds of "huh?" were erupting across the room. Miss Kritzeck followed up by saying that Raeek's "point" was not even a point. She then apologized to the people sitting at his table (that would be Valerie, Shreya, and Saurabh) for having to deal with him. [T-that was a bit cruel...]
Miss K further asked our opinions as to what opening doors for our class might have to do with Animal Farm. There were plenty of well thought out and unique interpretations of it. I was impressed by one saying that opening doors for others might be a symbol of power. Once they're in a classroom whose door was opened up by you, they're under your control and they know it. It was sort of like "Hey! You're under my influence now. Just letting y'all know."
Afterwards we stamped our last night's homework and wrote the definitions of the vocabulary words given from the study guides chapter 1-4. Our homework today is to make sure you fully understand chapter 1-4 of Animal Farm and to finish the study guides if you're still not done. Bring your ID cards tomorrow so we can finally check out the books. Also, remember to add Miss Kritzeck's blog on to your Reading List to keep in touch with her.
Now here goes the Question of the Day. When someone does something generous to a stranger without any prompting, do you think that the stranger is obligated to at least acknowledge the gesture? Why or why not?
Be honest, here! I'm curious as to what you think.
I was chosen to be one of the three 'student leaders of the day' and two of the tasks that needed to be rationed out was to write the daily report of today's session on your blog and to volunteer the 'Question of the Day' that correlates to our lesson.
[If you want to skip this great wall of text and jump to the answering the question of the day, then go for it. Sorry for writing so much but the board did say "detailed"... ]
The class day started out with Saurabh holding the door open so everyone to enter. That was really kind of him. After we were all seated down, Miss Kritzeck, our teacher, had a discussion with our class about the act of opening doors open for others. Do you think we should do so? Is it right? If someone doesn't acknowledge your gesture do you feel unappreciated and/or angry? After a few responses from students, it turned out that most did not notice that the door was held open for them.
[Which, in my humble opinion, I think is fine. People are occupied and might not notice everything with so much going on. I do "acts of kindness" (--as Miss K. puts it--) for other people. Not for me. ]
Then she directs the question as to why she's making the student leader holds the door open for everyone. Is it to build a sense of community? The conversations deviate into students making attempts at naming everyone in the classroom. Privithi just nearly made it; she was so close! Yet lack of luck made it so that she messed up at around the last people left.
Miss Kritzeck talked about third period being very displeased with this new rule and all the students were "up in arms" protesting passionately about why they shouldn't have to do this. Raeek too opposed this decision and constructed arguments as to why third period may be upset toward this new development. Most were sound however at his last point he said something that none of us could comprehend very well. Sounds of "huh?" were erupting across the room. Miss Kritzeck followed up by saying that Raeek's "point" was not even a point. She then apologized to the people sitting at his table (that would be Valerie, Shreya, and Saurabh) for having to deal with him. [T-that was a bit cruel...]
Miss K further asked our opinions as to what opening doors for our class might have to do with Animal Farm. There were plenty of well thought out and unique interpretations of it. I was impressed by one saying that opening doors for others might be a symbol of power. Once they're in a classroom whose door was opened up by you, they're under your control and they know it. It was sort of like "Hey! You're under my influence now. Just letting y'all know."
Afterwards we stamped our last night's homework and wrote the definitions of the vocabulary words given from the study guides chapter 1-4. Our homework today is to make sure you fully understand chapter 1-4 of Animal Farm and to finish the study guides if you're still not done. Bring your ID cards tomorrow so we can finally check out the books. Also, remember to add Miss Kritzeck's blog on to your Reading List to keep in touch with her.
Now here goes the Question of the Day. When someone does something generous to a stranger without any prompting, do you think that the stranger is obligated to at least acknowledge the gesture? Why or why not?
Be honest, here! I'm curious as to what you think.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Thanksgiving Thanks
Thanksgiving. What a happy time for so many families across America. You feast together with your loved ones and heartily dig into a numerous number of luxuries; pies, mashed potatoes, pasta, yams, salad, bread, corn, apple, cranberry, and of course-- turkey. But Thanksgiving was a day about celebrating differences in culture too. Depending on what family you're from, you might be eating food from your own family's ethnicity or just trying out all kind of new dishes.
And if you feel that your Thanksgiving dinner isn't that great of a meal, (All my life, mine was too. I ate cup noodles last year. Alone. ) know that the first Thanksgiving had mostly just deer, corn, shellfish, roasted meat and cranberries.
Abraham Lincoln asked us to give thanks to our blessings on the fourth Thursday of November. I'm thankful of the wonders of the universe. I'm crammed into a consciousness that I can't comprehend one bit. I don't think it makes much sense at all and I doubt it'll ever make sense. In addition to that, I can not express my gratitude enough for stories. Books, television shows, audio recordings, experiences-- anything that can house a story is something I'm thankful for.
One more thing. I'm thankful for what have been and what is. Any life or any tale is something remarkable. I'm thankful for the perseverance of any living or non-living thing that ever was once here. And hey! I'm thankful for you actually reading this right now. That's pretty impressive in itself.
And I kind of am a bit happy that there is something other than nothing, even though still no one is sure why.
[But of course, I have to acknowledge that Thanksgiving is a completely sole American holiday. A small apology to anyone who's from Britain or Canada. ]
Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I sure hope you're not like me and is out there having a great time on this November 28th, but even if you're not.. No. I can't offer anything positive about spending it alone and doing it nothing. At least we'll be in it together?
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE.
Now go have fun! Sleep well and don't die admist your dreams. You wouldn't want to let the bugs bite and devour you whole whilst you sleep.
With love,
Hannah Wu
And if you feel that your Thanksgiving dinner isn't that great of a meal, (All my life, mine was too. I ate cup noodles last year. Alone. ) know that the first Thanksgiving had mostly just deer, corn, shellfish, roasted meat and cranberries.
Abraham Lincoln asked us to give thanks to our blessings on the fourth Thursday of November. I'm thankful of the wonders of the universe. I'm crammed into a consciousness that I can't comprehend one bit. I don't think it makes much sense at all and I doubt it'll ever make sense. In addition to that, I can not express my gratitude enough for stories. Books, television shows, audio recordings, experiences-- anything that can house a story is something I'm thankful for.
One more thing. I'm thankful for what have been and what is. Any life or any tale is something remarkable. I'm thankful for the perseverance of any living or non-living thing that ever was once here. And hey! I'm thankful for you actually reading this right now. That's pretty impressive in itself.
And I kind of am a bit happy that there is something other than nothing, even though still no one is sure why.
[But of course, I have to acknowledge that Thanksgiving is a completely sole American holiday. A small apology to anyone who's from Britain or Canada. ]
Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I sure hope you're not like me and is out there having a great time on this November 28th, but even if you're not.. No. I can't offer anything positive about spending it alone and doing it nothing. At least we'll be in it together?
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE.
Now go have fun! Sleep well and don't die admist your dreams. You wouldn't want to let the bugs bite and devour you whole whilst you sleep.
With love,
Hannah Wu
Sunday, November 24, 2013
On Socialism.
Well, it turned out I was right. The next book we'll be analyzing for this class is going to be Animal Farm which correlate directly to the Russian Revolution of 1917. My partner, Adrianna Marquez, and I were assigned a topic to study and we chose "socialism".
It was difficult finding images of socialism that aren't biased comics, because how do you show an idea? I had to settle for prominent events and figures instead. I would also like to issue an apology on the belatedness of this presentation. I'm earnestly sorry about that.
And here, I present to you a handy guide that I hope will prove at least somewhat enlightening. Alternatively, you can view the powerpoint here on google documents.
Just in case anyone forgot, Helen Keller was a girl born blind and whom later learned to become literate and speak through her teacher, Anne Sullivan.
If you find any errors here then please correct me! You'll be doing me a favor. And if it turns out that you can't visit the google document page, then please contact me as well. I know it's a lot to ask, but I'll really appreciate it.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog. I wish you well.
Sincerely,
Hannah Wu
It was difficult finding images of socialism that aren't biased comics, because how do you show an idea? I had to settle for prominent events and figures instead. I would also like to issue an apology on the belatedness of this presentation. I'm earnestly sorry about that.
And here, I present to you a handy guide that I hope will prove at least somewhat enlightening. Alternatively, you can view the powerpoint here on google documents.
Just in case anyone forgot, Helen Keller was a girl born blind and whom later learned to become literate and speak through her teacher, Anne Sullivan.
If you find any errors here then please correct me! You'll be doing me a favor. And if it turns out that you can't visit the google document page, then please contact me as well. I know it's a lot to ask, but I'll really appreciate it.
Thanks so much for visiting my blog. I wish you well.
Sincerely,
Hannah Wu
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Behind the Blog.
Before I make my first official post, I would like to have a little "about the author" display. First, I would like to make it clear that any interpretations or poorly worded essays you may see in the future comes from the fingertips of a mere and completely average high school student. I am most definitely not a studied scholar. I will frequently make atrocious grammatical errors, so tread carefully.
Chances have it that the only people who will be reading my blog are
I don't have a definite favorite book, but I do like the Iliad. The insults, the battles, and the complexions of Achilles' character snared me right in. Right now I am reading multiple books in a very slow pace. One nonfiction book I'm reading is "The Emotional Life of Your Brain" by Richard J. Davidson. It's on neuropsychology and it talks about his personal discovery of what he calls "emotional styles". From what I understand 27 pages in (No. I am absolutely not slow. I'm very quick.) is that we all have distinct way on how we react to things; which we owe due to particular regions of the brain. From what he's saying, it is completely possible to rewire how you think and feel.
Another lovely tale I'm reading right now is "The Vintner's Luck" by Elizabeth Knox. This one is a lot harder to process. This book takes place in the 19th century in Burgundy, France, and follows the story of a winemaker named Sobran Jodeau. On one particular day each year, we get an insight into his life; from age 18 until his death. The prose is difficult to digest and is oftentimes unclear on what is happening, but I think I'll keep reading.
In terms of digital photography I can hardly say that I understand the technicalities of it. Yet, I would sometimes go out somewhere and takes pictures of mostly nature, particularly birds. I don't exactly like taking pictures of purely birds, but I do know of one or two places where hawks go to hunt and I can take a shot of a bird in flight.
Of course, these few things don't really inform you much about myself as I'm sure those who has the luck to read and photograph are in the billions. At the moment I'm starting to drink tea. I'm liking it so far although I prefer it cold. That's something I'm going to have to change.
To add on to this useless pile of info about myself; around the end of last year I was fairly inflexible--only able to touch my toes and nothing more. But in the summer I started to just mindlessly stretch a bit when I'm sitting or lying down and it got to the point where I'm now able to do the splits.
This is all fairly bland, isn't it? Apologies, but I don't know anything worth noting about myself.
Thank you for reading this and I hope I didn't sound too pretentious writing this lot of words. I sincerely hope you have a wonderful day or evening! Rest well.
To add on to this useless pile of info about myself; around the end of last year I was fairly inflexible--only able to touch my toes and nothing more. But in the summer I started to just mindlessly stretch a bit when I'm sitting or lying down and it got to the point where I'm now able to do the splits.
This is all fairly bland, isn't it? Apologies, but I don't know anything worth noting about myself.
Thank you for reading this and I hope I didn't sound too pretentious writing this lot of words. I sincerely hope you have a wonderful day or evening! Rest well.
Regards,
Hannah Wu
Introduction.
Every blog needs a preface. I'm filling that requirement now with this post.
To start off, welcome to this humble abode on the internet. I've been meaning to make a blog for a while now and my English course has given me the chance to start off. I am still muddled on what exactly the prime purpose of this blog is going to be, so of right now I lack a premise. (Hence the title.) I do have just the inkling that since this is an English class after all, I will be analyzing hopefully great pieces of literature. The book we will be reading next is Animal Farm.
Regardless on whatever direction this blog will go, I want to genuinely thank you for stopping by.
Thank you.
-- Hannah Wu
November 20, 2013
To start off, welcome to this humble abode on the internet. I've been meaning to make a blog for a while now and my English course has given me the chance to start off. I am still muddled on what exactly the prime purpose of this blog is going to be, so of right now I lack a premise. (Hence the title.) I do have just the inkling that since this is an English class after all, I will be analyzing hopefully great pieces of literature. The book we will be reading next is Animal Farm.
Regardless on whatever direction this blog will go, I want to genuinely thank you for stopping by.
Thank you.
-- Hannah Wu
November 20, 2013
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