Extra Credit Project - Money Corrupts Video (Partnered with Evan Ricks)

Accomplished Essayist?

Before I came to high school, I had probably written about five essays. I didn't have a lot of experience and one thing I really struggled with was proper essay format. This year (thanks to the Gilman Method) I've improved greatly in this area. I had also never written an essay about a book and we've done a lot of that this year!
But I can still improve. I think that writing an original thesis is quite difficult and I continue to struggle with that. It's also hard to write intriguing body paragraphs that still relate but are not repeating the thesis.

Summer Reading?

Two books I'm looking forward to reading are:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It's about the son of an Indian zookeeper who is in a shipwreck on his way to North America and he ends up on a lifeboat with a tiger.
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. A thirteen year-old girl, Anna sues her parents for the rights for her own body after refusing to give a kidney to her sister Kate, who suffers from acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Dreams

A lot of times, I'll have a really vivid dream and the next day I'll think that dream actually happened. This is the only time i really think about my dreams. I think I relate most to Mercutio because he thinks dreams don't have any significant meaning. Of course, I've had dreams that turned out in some way or another to be true but I would say that's just coincidental. I feel like throughout the book Romeo is just looking for places where his dreams happen to match reality.

Culture Shock

The play "Romeo and Juliet" is referenced all the time in modern culture. One example I found is in music. I came up of three songs that clearly give allusions to this play. Although I could only think of three off the top of my head but I'm sure there are countless other songs.
In "Cherish" by Madonna, one of the lines repeated many times is "Romeo and Juliet/They never felt this way I bet" Madonna is referring to the true love Romeo and Juliet found and expressing her jealousy of it. Their devotion is one of the main aspects of the play that people tend to remember.
My next example is a song by the band We The Kings called "Check Yes Juliet." The title immediately provides a reference to the play but there's many others in the lyrics. "I'll keep tossing rocks at your window/There's no turning back for us tonight." This describes the scene we read in class today where Romeo comes to visit Juliet and she talks to him from her balcony. This scene has become a classic romantic scene that happens all the time in movies.
And, of course, there's "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. The whole song is basically about the ball scene where Romeo first sees Juliet and the infamous balcony scene. If you watch the music video like I just did, you'll notice the antique-looking clothing much like what might be worn in Shakespeare's time.
A uniting theme for these three songs, is their jealously for Romeo and Juliet's love. I think that's what most people remember in this play. They are willing to die because they're so in love which isn't something most people would be willing to do.

Extra Credit!

I really didn't want to take this class. I mean, I've always done fine in English but I've never enjoyed it that much. But last year, my fabulous block teacher (Samantha Chandler) encouraged me to take it. I was pretty nervous going into Honors English this year and didn't know what to expect. And truthfully, I probably would have wimped out of it if I knew what was coming. There's been a lot of things that have challenged me this year. One example is memorizing poems. I never thought I could memorize a poem as long as Dover Beach but somehow I did it and still have it memorized! It definitely was a confidence builder to be able to recite it in front of the entire class. My favorite thing we've done this year was writing those short stories in January. It was really fun and not too hard. My least favorite part about English is DGP. Probably because I'm just bad at it and Jacob is a very harsh grader.

Skit Ideas

1. When Pip first meets his convict in the marshes. I think this would make a good skit because it gives background on Pip and foreshadows some of what will happen later on in the skit. It wouldn't be hard to do because there are only two characters.
2. The first time Miss Havisham and Estella meet Pip. This would be an interesting scene to act out because both Miss Havisham and Estella have entertaining personalities. It's also a key scene in the book because it changed where Pip's life/ the story was headed.
3. When Abel comes to Pip's apartment. I think this scene is extremely important because it's when Pip finally finds out who his benefactor is and Abel's life story. It begins to sum up the story and connect the characters. This might be a bit long to act out but it would be worth it.