End of the Beginning

What this senior year has taught me is that there isn't a true end for our education in life and the relationships we all have made with each other throughout the experience. There is only an end to the beginning of it all. We now have the tools for success, it is in our hands.

I find it kind of funny how no matter what the staff may say about not bringing beach balls or things like that to graduation, and students still bring them. This just goes to show that the graduating class has a mind of their own. If they want something to happen, they won't let some guy in a suit tell them they can't do that, innocent as it may be. I'm just as guilty as anyone else that brought something to toss up as my friend and I snuck in two bags of tortillas (yes in our pants) to toss up in the air. It wasn't to spite the principal or to make a mockery of the ceremony, but to just simply have fun with people I usually never would have laughed with and to celebrate a little early. Having minds of our own is more or less what makes things happen in this world, to move forward.

So to the class of 2014, it is now up to us to make these coming years truly count, lets make it our own. You can really do whatever you put your mind to, and if it is good in nature and you truly want it, it will happen.

Masterpiece Essay

Harms 1

Taylor Harms

Doctor David Preston

Expository Composition

1 June 2014

                                                Entering the Other Side

            The beginning of senior year would fill each student with excited, anticipation, and ambition for the year to come, some students more than others, but it was universal. Coming into the Expository Composition course I was under the impression that we would be doing a lot of reading of articles or books, to be responded to later on. Singing up for it the previous year, I just basically picked a class enei-minie-moe style, but I couldn’t have chosen any better as I now have learned. I had no idea of what was about to come. When Dr. Preston explained what the course would really consist of, I was shocked. Never would I have imagined a course that actually encouraged electronic usage in the classroom and the internet as a basic medium for most of our work. He would remind us still that there may be substitutes for mediums and the method of learning, but there is no substitute for raw hard work and the most basic and efficient style of learning: when it comes natural. When it is relateable and doesn’t feel like our previous connotation of the word “learning”.

        

Creativity: The Spice of Life

Writing is one of those things where you have to be in the mood for it. One day I can be totally into a topic and the next I fall flat, all because of the little things that made up my morning or just my overall level of motivation that day, but when I'm home I always seem to do well because I am in my own little area.

Creative writing is when an author just writes to entertain themselves or a targeted audience, using their minds as the basis for the story. It is important and fun to do this every so often because it makes you think a different way. It makes you able to generate situations and events in your head in order to achieve a theme or end result. This can help you to understand your own life, knowing what needs to happen in order to achieve an end result, or a goal. It does the mind good to analyze the order of events on paper, in order to be able to do it in your own life.

In relation to my masterpiece, creativity is what will set apart all the different projects. Everybody has their own subjects and things to present, and anybody can just slap together a slide show, but I don't believe in that. I believe that to truly understand it, and to make others understand it, everybody needs to present it in the way that enabled them to truly understand it, to bring everyone else down to their own level.

Masterpiece Interview

Here are the questions I asked three classmates in regards to their masterpieces:
1. What is your masterpiece on?
2. Why?
3. What is the significance of this project in your life/career?
4. How do you see this work helping you in life outside of school?
5. Has anything surprised you in your work?
6. What do you need to successfully complete your project and present it?
7. What have you learned that's worth teaching someone else?

Here are their responses:
Carlos Serrano
1. Boxing
2. He is passionate about it.
3. He would like to make a career out of it.
4. He would like to become a professional and to teach self-defense.
5. He was surprised about the amount of cardio involved.
6. He needs to record himself.
7. He has learned self-defense which is useful for others to learn
Alfredo Arriaga
1. Needs to find something to do.
2. Feels he needs direction right now.
3. Its significant to have a direction and purpose.
4. Collaboration to find inspiration.
5. It isn't that easy.
6. Find something to do.
7. To teach to start thinking early.
Jake Dickens
1. Becoming a wide range veterinarian.
2. He loves animals and has a passion for helping them.
3. Help him figure out his exact path to achieve this.
4. Be able to have a career in it.
5. It is MUCH harder than becoming a regular doctor.
6. He needs to finish documenting his internship.
7. If you want to learn about it, you need to go all in and go for it because there is a lot to learn.

Help Us Help You

If you haven't been keeping up with my or my colleagues blogs, we are currently doing our masterpiece on Architecture, and our project in response to our visit to Cal Poly. We will be doing what so many students have been talking about for years: a classroom made for students, by students. We will have the literal dimensions and renditions of the current classroom (Room 608) with drawings from every perspective, and we will completely destroy it and start from scratch. Now I don't want to give too much away, but our new classroom to be revealed on the day of the Masterpiece Gallery will be something revolutionary, and hopefully a precedent for the design of future learning spaces.

Now it wouldn't be completely made by students if there are only a few opinions on the project, so please feel free to comment or contact me, Matt Berumen, Alfredo Medina, or Cecelio with any ideas you would  like to see in our classroom of the future and don't worry we will still cite our source.

Purpose of Design

There is and will always be a constant struggle between the essences of form and function. Something beautiful may not always be the most functional and something with pure purpose often times doesn't have the best looks.

Why? Why can't form and function coexist? Well they can. They exist in those tools or things in our lives that are successful. Take the iPhone for example. It has the power of the entire Internet and still fits in your pocket and has an appealing design, which leads to its success. Now the same can not be said about school. The typical school is based on rectangles, cutting off the outside, and security; and this leads to a place resembling a prison, making students and even teachers not even feel wanted. The very place they spend their days, seems like it doesn't want them their. How is learning supposed to happen if students can't feel comfortable enough to open up to new ideas. Although we can't change the literal structure of the school, we can change how we see it. We can solve the issue of isolation by going outside, boring shapes by arranging desks in new and interesting ways to stimulate student collaboration, and security by...... Well the high fences have no remedy, but it could help to know that they are only there for your safety.

Everybody has their favorite place to work and study, so why not add elements of those places to the classroom. Classes should have maybe couches, or an area outside to read or write. The schools of the future will need to literally be a home away from home so that students are comfortable enough with their surroundings to open up to see what the curriculum has to offer.

Five Steps

1. Apply what I learned at Cal Poly
2. Work with fellow students
3. Design a space of my own
4. Do further research
5. Connect with college students

Learning Space of the Future

This past Wednesday (4/16) I traveled with a few fellow students interested in Architecture up to Cal Poly for about 4 hours of collaboration and team work with real 3rd year Architecture students. It was a really amazing and eye opening experience of both college life and what really goes on in their studio. Coming in, I already felt welcome and like a fellow colleague. Also, I came with the assumption that it would just be another class with the typical student relationships, but I couldn't be more wrong. They are truly one big family. I could sense just how connected they were with each other because it is similar to being on a team, spending the bulk of your day together. They would tell us about how much fun they have in the studio even when they are hard at work at 2 in the morning, with other classes in just 6 hours.

How to Raise a Moral Child

There is absolutely no doubt that children are impressionable upon their parents or other forms of parents and role models. All too often a child's behavior is reflective upon their parents, usually focusing on one of the two; the one they identify with most. These behaviors can be good or bad and a child's social life can be determined by how their parents are. It's simple science and psychology really. When a baby (animal or human) is born, it has a natural instinct to find out how to survive from its parents or other figures they see as role models, and this is a root problem of peer pressure as well; they identify with the group, so they yearn to be like them.

One of these fundamental behaviors is cooperation and team work as it is natural in the wild; a necessity for survival many times. And from this interaction comes a symptom of generosity and morality. Having an understanding that doing good things, is a good thing. But how does a child know what is a good deed to be repeated and what is a lapse of good judgement that should be avoided?

The Crossroads Between Should and Must

One of my life long themes is that everything happens for a reason. Every little event and choice made accumulates at the present time to make you the person you are, in the situation you are in. Novels capitalize on the eternal theme of "good vs evil" or following your dream despite what others say or even just being yourself.

Look at My Brain

Today in class, Shane Cheverez defined intelligence as the ability to learn and to solve problems using critical thinking, which is exactly how I would have defined. This is a sign of hope to all of the high schoolers in despair feeling they have low intelligence just because they don't get straight A's, but that is a whole-nother conversation.
I digress.
Anyway, how does my work in this class show my creativity, ability to collaborate and think critically? Well coming into this class, I hadn't really put a lot of serious effort into finding what I had wanted for a future career. I just began to listen in on everybody else's conversations on this, and they were in the same boat as I was. All we knew was what we liked to do and a couple of possible general fields, but with no way to really connect our passions to a definite career.

Through trial by fire, the Expository Composition program has helped us to finally find our home. A place to put our passions and talents to work. I had a general idea too, and when I found on that a few other students had the same one, it got me excited for it, and it was exciting to see everybody start to come out of their shells. We collaborated by feeding off of each other's energy. We thought critically by thinking for the future. We problem solved by using a combination of the two. Our inner thinking is best stimulated by sharing.

Preview of Coming Attractions

Today we talked in our groups about what we wanted to do for our final project, and there is a consensus that it has to have something to do with our big questions, paths of inquiry, and all of our resources. Basically we will have to show case how we have found ourselves through this course, which for a lot of us, will be difficult due to our abstract ideas.

Mine are pretty concrete though. Child Psychology and Engineering are two broad areas, but they can be made easily understandable with the right explanation.

Needless to say, I will pride myself on just how well I show the class that nothing in school is pointless. Everything has its purpose in the real world; be it learning how to grind out a boring work day, or to prepare yourself for that big meeting. Even dealing with teachers you hate translates as well into kissing ass to your future boss whom everyone hates, but depends on. Everything in nature has its place, just like everything in our human world.

Raising Digital Awareness

When building a website or blog, there are many things you should consider as to the amount and quality of content. What makes one so appealing is its purpose and value it serves. Websites enjoy traffic because that is how they get their product, which is viewers. They feel that the viewers are looking for something, so it is important that they view your site because you want them to see your ideas. As for my blog, I am doing this by providing genuine content that does has some value because it is just that; genuine. There is room for improvement though. I could post more often and with things more personal, with more insight to general ideas. I feel that human interaction is the most important thing because that is the fundamental purpose of the internet, and blogs themselves. Make your blog your own creation, and the traffic will take care of itself.

Literature Analysis #3

Splinter Cell "Fallout" by Tom Clancy
1. The novel starts out with Sam Fisher, a spy, doing training in San Francisco. He is then called in to travel to Maryland because his brother, Peter, was found barely alive, riddled with a deadly disease caused by a Plutonium Hydride chemical. Obviously an assassination, he is now fueled by vengeance as he must now stop a Islamic Fundamentalist and North Korean plan to eliminate the West, by destroying its oil supply with a strain of petroleum eating fungus.

Masterpiece Test

To prove my worthiness in my masterpiece field, I will need to demonstrate my knowledge of the fundamental purposes of my fields, not necessarily the technical items, but why they are so important, showing I have what it takes to be worthy of pursuing it. Experts prove their worthiness by their beliefs. They express what they believe through what they do. They are a role model by both what they say and do. A test that I need to pass would be one where I can prove how I could integrate my interest in child psychology, with Civil Engineering.

Test:
1. How can certain school designs affect how students learn?

2. What is one thing cities are designed around?

3. If you were working at an Engineering firm and you had connections in the schools giving ideas for a future school, would you design it with that in mind, or design it based on cost and personal preference?

Resource of the Day 3/17

Today's resource isn't so much about engineering or psychology, but about a passion of mine. Hiking, but more so, backpacking. A lot of people get these too mixed up but they are fairly different. Hiking implies a day trip, during a camping trip usually as something to do. Backpacking, however, I feel is more intense lasting at least over one night, carrying everything you need over many miles in usually hardly maintained

Resource of the Day 3/15

Here is a complete occupation guide to Civil Engineering from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A new thing I learned from looking at this is that Civil Engineers usually specialize in a few different subjects, but one that stood out was Geo technical Engineering. This is a branch of Civil Engineering that ensures that the very foundation in which projects are supposed to be done is stable and substantial. A very important part of any structure.
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/civil-engineers.htm#tab-1

Maybe He Knows What He's Talking About...

Today's (well yesterday) in class essay assignment was a welcomed challenge. I hadn't done a full 2 and a half page essay in 35 minutes in awhile, not since last year when I was prepping for the AP test. I felt that I definitely understood the prompt, and it felt good to finally feel prepared for a test like this. I read the articles and paid attention to the lecture, and I'm glad I did. Typically I just zone out and wait for the period to be over, but it was interesting so I paid attention.

Anyway, I felt that I did fairly well on it overall. I understood the prompt, and how to get it done. Before, I hadn't really seen myself as much of an entrepreneur, especially in regards to my masterpiece topic. When Dr. Preston explained his version of an entrepreneur, it clicked in my head that everyone is in entrepreneur in the exchange of thoughts and experiences that hold value for other people. Now, everything makes a bit more sense. Although I'm still confused as to what exactly he means by a 'project', I now see a bit more value with what he says about everyone having a 'product' to sell.

Resource of the Day 3/11

Today we look at a fusion of my two fields. This is how I could apply civil engineering and design skills to help students in the learning process. Believe it or not, the environment in which a student learns and lives is absolutely influential on their success in the future. This study conducted throughout 2008 tested the effects of three different school designs, each with different methods of lighting, classroom capacity, and hallway traffic systems. I think it is truly interesting that there is a correlation between the effective education of students, and the very structures in which they learn.
http://sdpl.coe.uga.edu/research/TannerResearchAward.pdf

I, Entrepreneur

The expert that I had previously designed the 10 questions for, has no name. I haven't found that one expert that I truly admire and respect. Frankly, I don't really want to have that one amazing idol that makes everyone else look bad. I enjoy diversity. I feel that the entire community of Engineers or Child Psychologists collectively make one sentient being. If i just have that one person, I am only seeing the successes of the things that one person has tried. I want to know the successes of all things tried and put to the test. However, the entire community of either field is filled with entrepreneurs. They are hired because they have a quality that the company needs. Being hired to a firm or starting your own is simple economics; supply and demand. In the real world, an entrepreneur is the supplier, and the public, the demander. Services are exchanged based on need and functionality and the ones that have true value are the ones that stick around. Take Apple for example. It had a very bumpy start and nearly went out of business, why? Because they didn't provide the correct supply of what it was trying to provide. When it finally met the expectations and later surpassed them, it sky rocketed to the computer giant it is today.

Blog Review Disclaimer

To all my classmates viewing my blog tonight, just know that I have a fairly busy schedule so I may not have every post possible, but I assure you my posts are of good quality and my real answers.

10 Questions

Here's a list of 10 questions I would have, should I ever communicate with an expert in my field:
1. Why did you choose this field?
2. How do you value your work aside from a salary?
3. When did you decide that you wanted to do this for a living?
4. How did you make up your mind?
5. What is some advice you would offer a student thinking of pursuing this field?
6. Do you have any regrets?
7. Are you truly passionate about this work?
8. What has inspired you?
9. If you didn't get paid, would you still do this?
10. Are you happy with the daily life this career has influenced?

Resource of the Day 3/4

Todays topic is Civil Engineering and the resource is a project called the Alameda Corridor. It is a 20 mile stretch of freight line connecting the Port LA and the Port of Long Beach consolidating rail traffic. This stimulates the economy because transporting freight by rail is far more efficient than by truck. More can be carried at a cheaper price, getting more goods to their destinations, quickly.

http://www.asce.org/People-and-Projects/Projects/Alameda-Corridor/

Resource of the Day 3/3

Of the few topics I am researching, todays is in regard to Child Psychology and this article comes from a resource recommended by Dr. Preston in an email conversation we had the other day as I was clean out of ideas.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140228160616.htm

This article from the University of Warwick is about the relation between child nightmares and the rate of psychotic traits in children. There obviously must be a relation because they can affect each other creating a snowball effect. The quote that really grabbed my attention was, "... according to new research that shows that children reporting frequent nightmares before the age of 12 were three and a half times more likely to suffer from psychotic experiences in early adolescence." this is an astonishing fact and definitely requires further study in order to find a treatment, improving the lives of the children affected.

My Super 5

Erika Packard: Child Psychology (Expert, wrote article)

Helen L. Fisher: Child Psychology (Expert, wrote article)

Gregg Fiegel: Civil Engineering (Cal Poly Professor)

Yarrow Nelson: Environmental Engineering (Cal Poly Professor)

Alypios Chatziioanou: Transportation Engineering (Cal Poly Professor)

Resource of the Day 3/2

Todays resource will be a career review of a Landscape Architect

http://www.princetonreview.com/careers.aspx?cid=179

Vocab:
Environmental: the aggregate of surrounding things, conditions, or influences

Preservation: to keep alive or in existence

Restoration: the act of restoring

Urban: of, pertaining to, or designating a city or town

Survey: to take a general or comprehensive view of something or space

Masterpiece Essay

                                What Is My Piece to Master?

Welcome to My Network

At this moment, I am pretty invested in studying Civil Engineering and it is a definite path of inquiry, but I have also had a passion for helping people in emergency medical situations. I also have an interest in psychology, so here is the list of people I want in my network for collaboration and conversations:

1. Matt Berumen: Architectural Engineering
2. Angel Vega: Paramedic
3. Tiana Mcmann: Travel Journalism
4. Shane Cheverez: Physiological affects of doing certain activities
5. Alfredo Medina: Renewable Resources and Engineering
6. Jorge Garcia: Time Management
7. Gabi Pereverziev: Human Compassion

Welcome to the Interdisciplinary

Everything has its certain degree of disciplines, for sports it could be staying motivated, for a police officer keeping a cool head, and for Civil Engineers, a whole host of disciplines. Most of the work is done in an indoor office environment with the occasional visits to job sites. Being stuck in an office for most the day with people you might not even like, this takes people skills and learning to work with a team. It is tedious work, having to make sure every minute detail is in order because one mistake can create massive problems financially and the endangering of lives later on. It is rewarding because you get to see your creations come to life; from idea to object. You also but teach yourself to never give up, there is a solution to every problem, it's just a matter of finding it. Thats the beauty of this field; that everything is based upon simple fundamentals so it pays to have a good base of the simple things. The most important discipline of all, is to love what you do and do what is right. If you genuinely enjoy what you do, the success will come along in the pursuit of being the best you can be.

Resources: 1

Looking up Civil Engineering on Google wasn't quite enough to find the information i needed, so i just looked up different aspects of the career such as education and daily life. I got directed to different websites such as the Bureau of Labor statistics and the Cal Poly website and even a personal blog post describing the daily life. What my research suggests as to where i should look next is the future outlook of the career and also how i can incorporate other passions as hobbies to fit into my daily life (as if i landed a job in the far future).

Launch Pad

Before my time in Preston's class, I hadn't really given my future much thought, which only is hurting me now as I am entering a strange new world of actual choice and freedom to think those crazy thoughts. I still don't have a definite set plan for what I want to do in the future, but that is a beautiful thing. I have the freedom to dream again, to have a crazy idea, research it, get shot down, and go after it again. During my time here, I have found some sort of direction, and currently I'm torn between two ideas. One supported by passion and one supported by future financial stability, but the best thing is is that I could combine the two. I love to travel and document them with pictures and I also love animals, so I had the idea of being a nature photographer but try to specialize in taking pictures of endangered animals in their natural habitat. The only thing is that to get quality pictures, it takes good equipment which can be expensive and travel fees which are ridiculous so I came to the conclusion that this is a hobby. My other idea was Civil Engineering. It is in demand, pays well, and I can still travel with the Engineers Without Borders program that unites many workers from many nations to help those less fortunate around the world. How can I use tools from this class? Social networking will play a huge part in developing a profile for my photos and for collaborating with engineers abroad. I have been researching these for the past week so I do need to go into them more into depth. These two ideas can be promising when used together, or even by themselves. I would like collaboration with fellow students or anyone with a similar idea.

Literary Analysis #1

Kill Shot by Vince Flynn

1. The story begins with Mitch Rapp, a CIA assassin, sneaking his way into his target's hotel room in Paris, France. The target is Libya's oil minister. Just as he fires the first bullet, it is actually a trap. Men flood the room bullets flying and he escapes after killing 9 including the original target. Wounded and near death, he finds safety in an empty warehouse. In the morning the bodies are found and Washington looks where to point the finger at the CIA which would cause an international crisis. Rapp's handlers now must deny any accusation and hope he doesn't get caught, even if that means killing him to ensure he isn't captured by French authorities.

"We're not going to make it"

I was just getting onto the Internet to log on to blogger to finish my literature analysis when I saw something that caught my eye. On MSN I saw 'My wife just looked at me and said, "We're not going to make it"', it seemed like such a jarring quote that I had to explore it. It was a story about how a woman in labor was forced to give birth on the side of the highway because of such heavy traffic. They couldn't reach a hospital in time so they had to do the next best thing. This just re-iterates the fact that even though our travel system is one of the best in the world, it still experiences inefficiency. Our infrastructure is aging and requires maintenance and innovation to keep our growing population able to get where they need to go. This gives my aspiration of Civil Engineering a better sense that this is something we need, and I can be one of the many to bring it. Nobody should have to give birth on a gridlocked frozen highway outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Maybe if the roads were safer or there was an extra lane, she would've gotten the proper care. Needless to say though, the baby and mother are doing great. Here's the article:
http://www.today.com/moms/grace-snow-dad-baby-born-atlanta-roadside-report-theyre-very-2D12024237

Vocabulary List Spring #4

accolade- award, honor, or laudatory notice
ex: The play received accolades from the press.

acerbity- hardness or severity as of temper or expression
ex: He looked at him with acerbity.

attrition- a reduction in numbers or strength
ex: Our club is facing attrition due to members moving away.

bromide- a person who is boring
ex: The teacher was a bromide.

chauvinist- a person who is blindly and aggressively patriotic, especially with military glory
ex: The veteran was a chauvinist.chronic


expound- to set forth or state in detail
ex: The scientist expounded his theory.

factionalism- self-interested; partisan
ex: American politics is full of factionalism.

immaculate- spotlessly clean
ex: The house was immaculate.

imprecation- curse; malediction
ex: He said their names with imprecation.

ineluctable- inescapable
ex: The prison was ineluctable.

mercurial- changeable; volatile; erratic
ex: He had a mercurial nature.

palliate- to relieve or lessen without curing
ex: Chemotherapy can only palliate cancer.

protocol- customs and regulations dealing with a diplomatic formality
ex: The president has to follow a lot of protocol.

resplendent- shining brightly; gleaming
ex: The sun over the ocean was resplendent.

stigmatize- to set mark of disgrace or infamy on
ex: The crime of the father stigmatized the whole family.

sub rosa- confidently; secretly
ex: The girls gossiped with sub rosa.

vainglory- excessive elation or pride
ex: The star athlete expressed his vainglory.

vestige- evidence of something no longer in existence
ex: Fossils are a vestige of animals.

volition- the act of willing, choosing, or resolving
ex; The decisive man had volition.

Hafta/Wanna

 Obligations are the things we have to do in life. They are the "haftas". The things we want to do are the "wannas" and to succeed, you "hafta wanna" do whatever it takes to reach your goal.

In the article Committing to Play for a College, Then Starting 9th Grade the author discusses how colleges are beginning to recruit women soccer players earlier and earlier, even before they set their first foot in High School. The author quotes many parents and coaches commenting on the absurdity of forcing this athletes to make life decisions at such an early age, and for good reason. Instead of letting them figure out what they want to do or where they want to go, these college recruiters are basically telling athletes what they are going to do, should they accept the offer.

Vocabulary Spring List #2

apostate- a person who forsakes his religion, party, etc.
ex: A priest is the opposite of an apostate.

effusive- unduly demonstrative; lacking reserve
ex: The jolly man extended an effusive greeting.

impasse- position in which there is no escape
ex: Being stuck under a rock is an impasse.

euphoria- a state of extreme happiness and self-confidence
ex: The kid in the candy store was in a state of euphoria.

lugubrious- mournful, dismal, or gloomy
ex: The cloudy day was lugubrious.

bravado- pretentious swaggering display of courage
ex: The cocky person demonstrated their bravado.

consensus- majority of opinion
ex: The council has come to a consensus

dichotomy- division into two parts
ex: There is a dichotomy of our nation's political parties.

constrict- to draw or press in; compress
ex: The tight shirt was constrictive.

gothic- a dark or medieval style of architecture using lots of sharp points and ribbed sides
ex: The old church had a gothic style to it.

punctilio- a fine point, particular, or detail, as of conduct; strictness or seriousness
ex: They really seem to show a readiness to stand on punctilio and ceremony.

metamorphosis- a complete change of form or structure from one stage to the next
ex: The project underwent a metamorphosis towards success.

raconteur- a person skilled in relating anecdotes and stories interestingly
ex: The storyteller was really a raconteur.

sine qua non- something essential
ex: He was the sine qua non to the friend's party.

quixotic- extravagantly chivalrous and romantic
ex: Romeo is a classic example of someone who is quixotic

vendetta- a prolonged and bitter feud or rivalry
ex: There was a political vendetta.

non sequitur- reffering to a conclusion after logical reasoning
ex: The courts ruling was of non sequitur.

mystique- framework of ideas constructed around a person or object
ex: The Bible has a mystique around Jesus and his life.

quagmire- an area of miry or boggy ground whose surface yields under the tread
ex: A quagmire of financial indebtedness

parlous- perilous; dangerous
ex: He went on a parlous journey

I, Senior Project/ First Draft

In our discussion in class today Dr. Preston was lecturing on how this course is so much more than a class. It is an instruction manual with tools included. He is providing us with everything we need to truly hack our education and make this course our own. He basically said how no matter what we want to do for a career or whatever our passions our, you are able to tie it into the class. He also reinforced the notion that even though he is a teacher and we are the students, our relationship is more than that. He is there to support us and wants to make sure that when we graduate in June, we will have taken advantage of every second of class we had and to set us on the path to success and happiness.

Vocabulary Spring List #2

Accoutrements: Additional items of dress of equipment.

Apogee: The highest point in the developement, the climax.

Apropos: Being at once opprotune and to the point.

Bicker: Argue about petty and trivial matters.

Coalesce: Come together and form one mass or whole.

Contretemps: An unexpected and unfortunate occurence.

Convolution: A form or part that is folded or coiled.

Cull: Select from a large quantity.

Disperate: Essentially different in kind; not allowed comparison.

Dogmatic: Inclined to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true.

Licentious: Promiscious and unprincipled in sexual matters.

Mete: Disponse or allot justice, a punishment, or harsh treatment.

Noxious: Harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant.

Polemic: A strong verbal or written attack on someone or something.

Populous: Containing many people or inhabitants; having a large population.

Probity: The quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency.

Repartee: Conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or repplies.

Supervene: occur later than a specified or implied event or action, typically in such away as to change the situation.

Truncate: To shorten by or as if by cutting.

Unimpeachable: Not able to be doubted, questioned, or criticized.

Visual Storytelling

It's said that it is always better to read a book before the movie, and I feel that is completely true. The book gives the audience a completely different feel and meaning that movies just cant provide. Books allow you to use your imagination and to characterize using your own judgment. Movies give authors, or in this case producers, the chance to tell the story the way that they want it to be told. With actual physical examples of characters and situations.

There are many different techniques that make visual storytelling effective.

Life After...

Our entire high school career all adds up to one moment; the moment where we can finally start living. All four years the end is on our minds and there are basically two feelings about it. There's the feeling of anticipation and excitement for all the people that know just what they want to do and are ready for the freedom of adulthood. Then there's the feeling of despair and fear for all those that either have no idea what they want to do or aren't ready to leave the high school atmosphere.

I see it as a chance to finally start to make your life, yours. You have the  necessary requirement of a high school diploma to start a path to wherever you want; to continue your education, to go straight to work, or to simply find yourself. I see it as a chance to clear the fog of life with action. To go out and discover new things and to achieve understanding with travel or education.

 I'm rather adventurous and excited for the things to come and that often distracts me from the things that are happening in the now. I'm a daydreamer, thinking of all the things I could be or all the things I could see. Growing up hiking, camping, and fishing, I love the outdoors. I enjoy just the simple activity of meandering throughout the mountains and "getting lost" as my dad and I like to call it. I think after my high school career is over, I'm going to spend a lot of my time just going out on my own just to see whatever there is to see. I'm the one that is excited for the future, and I'm going to take full advantage of my free time before a JC.

As much as I'd like to think that I look into my future, I have done little in the actual preparation for the things I need to do. I have all these thoughts of the things I want to do, but the things I need to get done in order to have a rich fulfilling life are stacking up. I only have a broad idea of where I want to go, with little knowledge of my path. I have a general idea of what I would like to do, but I am wrestling with the idea that "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." the things I love, aren't exactly the ones that will keep me safe financially. As excited as I am for all the things to come, I am also apprehensive about what I should commit to. I'm not exactly sure of what I want to, which supports my anticipation of a chance to find myself and to discover just what I want to do.

My advice to everyone reading this be them a student or full grown adult, is to not stress about the future. Eventually everyone finds their passion or whatever they were meant to do. Everyone has a purpose which they will find, so don't worry. Live in the here and now, and enjoy everything there is to enjoy.

The Choice

Coming into High School I was faced with numerous decisions and choices to make. What classes to take, should i challenge myself with hard ones, should i join sports, what do I even do here. These are choices that everyone faces, but one of the most difficult emotionally was who to hang out with. I knew i wanted to at least try to do a sport, but that would entail leaving my old friends for basically a new family. I had to compare the options, basically comparing the benefits and risks. Being on a team is a huge commitment that takes some emotional toll because of the difficulty or time commitment. Basically I chose to benefit myself, by playing sports. My friends would respect me for the decision, so in the end it was a win-win.

Vocab #1 Performance Review

Well by following Preston's method of doing vocabulary, I've seen good results this semester so far as well as last. I did fairly well so the way i do it is working. I simply post the words, definitions, and examples onto my blog which helps me remember because the physical action of watching the screen as i type the definitions makes it easier to remember. I review them the night before and i do just fine. I'm happy with my results. I would recommend this method to a person that needs to do something physically to help them remember it. To people who can just read it and remember it, well they are lucky people. But whatever works, works. A method is only strange if it doesn't work.

Vocabulary: Spring List 1

adumbrate- to outline or sketch
ex: His story adumbrated a character is our minds.

apotheosis- elevation of a person to the rank of a god; ideal example
ex:  The poem is the apotheosis of lyric expression.

ascetic- a person who dedicates their life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals and practices
ex: Philosophers often are ascetics, trying to make sense of the world.

bauble- a showy, usually cheap, ornament
ex: Christmas tree decorations often are just pointless baubles.

beguile- to influence by trickery or flattery: mislead
ex:  Weight loss commercials beguile customers with exaggerated results.

burgeon- to grow or develop quickly; flourish
ex: After the Revolutionary War, America would burgeon making it the country it is today.

complement- something that completes or makes perfect
ex: A fine wine is often a complement to a nice dinner.

contumacious- stubbornly perverse or rebellious
ex: Teenagers often are contumacious against their parents.

curmudgeon- bad-tempered or difficult person
ex: The mysterious curmudgeon was actually just a sad old man.

didactic- intended for instruction; instructive
ex: The teacher had an efficient didactic way of teaching.

Hacking My Education

Well its been over three weeks since my last post, so hello everyone and I hope you had a great holiday season.

In order to make complicated things easier to understand, we divide up its composition into little bits and pieces we can understand. We "hack" the material we learn to make it work for us. By doing so we gain so much more than a skill or knowledge.