Morrie Aphorisms Project

The aphorism I chose was, " without love, we are birds with broken wings" What I think Morrie means by this is that love is a fundamental part of being a happy or satisfied person. Without it we tend to look for things to replace it. Things like gambling, drugs, money, etc. Looking for something better than love tends to take up most of people's life and can essentially leave them crippled. (In a figurative sense)  another way to interpret this is that the broken wing represents the lack of freedom that comes with not knowing love. Love  frees people to be able to show affection towards others and to receive the same affections. And the bird is the ultimate symbol of freedom, hence a bird with a broken wing so someone who is not free to show their emotions because they don't know love.

Probably one of the best (in my opinion) and most literal examples of this is Harry Potter.  In the book one of the most important part of the plot is a prophecy that claims that Harry is the chosen one and has "a power the dark Lord knows not" which is literally love.  The fact that Harry's mother loved him enough to die for him is the one thing that Voldemort did not expect and as such he was unable to kill Harry.  Since Voldemort it is unable to feel love he does not anticipate that anybody would love their child enough to die for them and as a result  is destroyed. This continues to be a reoccurring theme in all of the books as people who love Harry help him even though that tends to ruin their lives.  Voldemort continues to be basically blindsided by this as he can't feel love and can't relate to them.

 I really agree with this aphorism, because it kind of just makes sense to me .  I mean the majority of us wouldn't have survived past being infants if it wasn't for the fact that our mother loved us enough to keep dealing with all the stress that raising a child brings.  Then later on in life if it was for the support and love from friends and family many of us would've given up on a lot of things. So although some  people will say that putting love above everything else make somebody weak and easy to manipulate, in reality love is a driving force in our society. Its been shown in a lot of pop culture too.  The basic premise behind romantic comedies trying to find love, sure they find it in a funny way but they do find it .

I think my  on aphorism would be something like, " just deserves is called that for a reason, it is deserved"  this is something that I really believe in as I feel that somebody who does something deserving of punishment can't really complain because they did something to earn it. If they  decided to do an action then they should have to do with the consequences.

Socratic Seminar Reflection

The Socratic seminars have made me think deeper on things like death (which came up a lot), life, friends, society, and family. Very often during the seminars we often analyze these things wit extreme focus, and then we start to wonder about their possible meanings for Tuesdays With Morrie. Honestly without the seminars most of us wouldn't think too deeply on any of the topics brought up. Analysis of things we do and why we do them really made me think about how the reading affects our actions. Then reading more in the books would just add on to what we had discussed and would elaborate on the ideas brought up, making the seminars all the more interesting.

I noticed that, for me at least, there was a lot of participation.  I spoke a lot more than I did during other seminars before these, and  what I said was a bit more relevant to the topics.  I noticed also that for my goals they all kind of shifted around a bit. One day it wants to try to not talk over others, the next it had something to do with bringing other people into the conversation.  It all depends on how the day went and what I notice from other people in the group. Actively, I tried to see how I could bring up things from my seminar guys into the discussion, and I tried to consider more what other people were saying.

 As a class, the seminars started out with a lot of not so in-depth discussions on a multitude of topics, and then funneled  down to the main topics of the book and a lot of very deep conversations of them and their meaning. For example the last seminar that we had had the least amount of topics but we discussed a lot more personal effects of the topics and our opinions on. Then for participation when we're doing a lot better towards the end with everybody contributing at least a couple things.  We had the least amount of participation in the beginning, which overall was stillgreat, and the most towards the end.

The Perfect Day

For me a perfect day would be spent near Lake Michigan. We would get there early, abou nine or ten in the morning, to set up. A good majority of my extended family and friends would be there. Near the lake there is a grassy hill that leads down into the sand. That is where we would set up. People would bring blankets and chairs to sit on, and tables for the food. My uncle would brig his grill to cook, and his boat to drive out onto the lake. The younger people would spend hours swimming or being pulled on a raft behind the boat, and our parents would stay behind to cook and socialize.

Then when the food was ready we would come back and dry off. Then, sitting together, everyone would eat and talk. People would lay down and sunbathe until everyone was done. Then we would go out on the lake again. Later, when the sun was setting, we would all help to clean. We would load everything onto the cars and start driving home. When we arrived, me and my family would gather around in the living room to watch a movie. Afterwards we woul all get ready and go to sleep.

I remember that when I was really young we did this all the time during the Summer months. Everybody would go, and we alway came home exhausted but happy. Sadly, the visits waned out as we started to age. These used to be the highlight of my week, but now I can't even remember the last time one of these days happened. I suppose these kinds of things go with time, but I sometimes wish that they didn't. The nostalgia is strong in this one.

What 'Tuesday' Has Inspired You

 I think that Tuesday which has inspired me the most is the second Tuesday about feeling sorry for yourself. This one especially effective me when Morrie talked about  how he only allowed a little bit of time for self-pity and how lucky he felt that he had enough time to say goodbye to the people you love. This is especially astounding when you think about how he's dying, how he's going to die. And to think that he can lucky woman most people nowadays  moan and groan about the simplest of things and yet he doesn't feel sorry even though he's most likely going to suffocate to death. It makes me feel almost as though most people don't deserve to feel sorry for themselves as much as they do. Don't get me wrong people suffer all the time, but when a man who's dying the way Morrie  is dying says that he's thankful for it it kind of puts everything into perspective.  I think that if people, especially young people, decided to do every day with Morrie does they would feel so much happier in their day-to-day lives. I hope that one day I can look back on everything and think that I lived just as happy life is Morrie seems to believe he is living.

 I think the  message is especially important for people like Mitch, rushing through life and constantly  bemoaning how miserable they are, and yet they don't seem to be very miserable when considering how bad things could be for them.  They especially can't seem to be able to understand how Morrie could be happy in the situation like this. I plan example of this is a page on page 57 with Mitch thinks, "I studied him in his chair, unable to stand, wash,  to put on his pants. Lucky? Did he really say lucky?"  Which clearly shows how shocked he is that Morrie seems to be perfectly content with how his life is. He sees his old professor withering away and most likely expects him to be upset and better, but knowing Morrie  as he had  is it really a surprise to him? Or is it just that he's forgotten things that Morrie taught him?

 Really, with all of the great messages in the last five chapters it was a bit difficult to pinpoint the one that really hit me the most. However re-reading the passage it's actually kind of obvious.  In a time when people seek sympathy for, and get sympathy for, the simplest things it really is important to remember that our lives can always be worse. Besides, even if they do get worse that's no excuse just stick your head in the mud and cry about  how bad everything is. ALS is an extremely severe disease, yet look at Morrie! He seems to be a lot happier than the majority of the people around him. He is the one who most people would assume deserves to be the most upset, but he recognizes that having self-pity won't help him in anyway. So he decides to live his life the best way that he can. And really isn't that something that we should all strive for?

Tuesday's With Morrie Bucket List

There are a lot of things to think about in just the first few pages. The ending is pretty much told to us. Morrie is going to die and as much as we might want it to, that won't change. The finality of that fact, and the fact that Morrie is not afraid of hi own demise, is a bit jarring. In most stories the death of a protagonist is seen as something to avoid at all costs, so it is really refreshing to see how calm the characters in Tuesday's With Morrie are about death. They, or at least Morrie, sees death in something that is a part of life, and that it is not wise to live life in the fear of death.  In a way to celebrate that, I have made a list of things that I hope to do before I die.

BUCKET LIST

• Travel the globe
• Get a tattoo
• Swim in the ocean
• Meet a celebrity
• Graduate high school 
• Graduate college
• Get my driver's licence 
• Go skydiving
• Make a family 
• Change someone's life

It's probably not the most interesting bucket list to ever be created, but I don't want to miss any part of it. I don't mind missing one or two, but I think that meeting my goals will give my life purpose. Otherwise, what am I living for? 

Book Blog 4/13/16

Warning: spoilers (duh)

The book that I read this week was Dorthy Must Die by Danielle Page. I finished it so I will do my best to leave out major (minor ones will be included) spoilers for those who are interested in it. The book is basically a re-imagining/sequel to The Wizard of Oz. In the book a young girl, Amy Gumm, from Kansas is swept up by a tornado and dropped in Oz. Except its nothing like the Oz she had heard of. Everything is upside down and backwards. The good have gone bad, and the bad just might be good. That is about as far as I can go without going into spoiler territory. Warning: the book has quite a bit (a lot) of gore. I'm not kidding. People's arms are ripped off, the trademark cute furry animal is brutally killed, and someone is melted. You have been warned.

Prompt #1: Describe your least favorite character and explain why. Describe your most

favorite character and explain why.

The spot for least favorite character has to be a tie. It's between Dorthy and Gert. Dorthy is a horrible person in this book. She is malicious and enjoys torturing people for the smallest of things. Especially the people who serve her. She is the main antagonist and the reason behind almost all of the pain in this book. My other least favorite character is Gert. She is one of the protagonists and the leader of the rebellion against Dorthy. The only problem I have with her is her methods. She is the type of person who believes that the ends justify the means. She was willing to even inflict psychological torment on the off chance that it would give Amy the power boost that she needed. All in all definitely not one of the best leaders

My favorite character has to be Glamora. She is also one of the main protagonists and the twin sister of Glinda. Glamora, unlike certain characters, doesn't pretend that she is anything other than herself. She is straightforward about why she does things and never sugarcoats the truth. Glamora has admitted multiple times that her motives aren't pure and are she isn't ashamed about it. Most importantly she has depth. Her reason for fighting isn't just, "Whats happening is wrong!", she fights for revenge. She was betrayed by the one closest to her, and she intends on repaying the favor. Blatant disregard for hero tropes in fantasy books are uncommon, so she definitely stands out as my favorite.

Prompt #2:List five major events in order from which happened first to last.

1. Amy is caught up in a tornado that takes her to Oz.
2. Amy is captured and taken to the Emerald city. 
3. Amy escapes and flees to the headquarters for The Order Of The Wicked.
4. The Order takes Amy on her first mission. (spoilers ensue)
5. The ball at the castle takes place.

 

3rd Quarter Reflections

Of the books you have read this quarter, which is your favorite? Why?

My favorite book from this quarter was definitely Shadow and Bone. It has some of my favorite aspects of literature in it. It is a fantasy, with some action and adventure in the mix. Best of all the characters and relationships between them are realistic and not forced. The conflicts make sense (in that universe) and there are more motivations than '"she's the good guy" and "he's the bad guy". All that added in with the supernatural abilities of certain characters makes the book amazing.

In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in ELA?

I think that so far in the quarter I have done a lot better in the vocabulary tests. I will be the first admit that my spelling is bad on the best of days, and event on the good tests I would just barely get a 3, that plus the fact that my handwriting is horrible, and its no surprise that vocab isn't my best subject. However, I am doing a lot better now. I put in a little more time to studying, so I expect my grades to continue going up. Hopefully this trend continues, as now I am getting 3s and 4s.

What is something you have accomplished this quarter that you are proud of?

Something that I did this quarter that I am proud of is, going up to present to the class and not making a fool of myself. I tend to get very nervous when I do any kind of public speaking, so finding out that we had to present our butterfly project to the class was like a nightmare come true. I wanted to avoid this at all costs. Even so I had the few points that I would bring up prepared just in case. When I did get called up I was terrified that I would slip up and forget what I was going to say. Thankfully nothing like that happened, so I'm pretty glad. Even more so because I got a good grade for it.

What has been the most challenging part of  3rd Quarter for you, and what did/can you do to help overcome this?

The most challenging part of Quarter 3 was keeping up with all of the blogs. There were a lot of them recently, especially this last week. That added on to the fact that we haven't been able to take our IPads home all week made finishing all the work very difficult. The easiest way to fix the problem would probably be to use a home computer, there might be certain things we have downloaded on the iPads that my home laptop couldn't get access to. Thankfully we aren't expected to do homework over the break, or a lot of us would be in trouble.