Remixing Mark's Comic

Remix:
http://www.pixton.com/comic/v6abreyo

Original:
http://www.pixton.com/comic/1m1m3eb4

My brain is dead. So it goes.

This the last independent blog post I need for College Lit, and I have absolutely nothing to say.

 "All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist." That is a quote from Slaughterhouse-Five. I wish that what the Tralfamadorians thought was true, because then summer vacation would already exist. I would definitely time-travel there if I could. 

Goodbye, College Lit

As College Lit comes to an end, I am realizing how much I enjoyed the class. It was much more challenging than any other reading class I have taken in school so far, which I liked. I have never thought so in depth about books and short stories as I did in this class. I think that was a very valuable lesson for me to learn. I know that in college I will be expected to think deeply about the material we read, and I feel like now I am at least somewhat prepared for that.

I also enjoyed the variety of material we read. A lot of it was very odd, but that made the class much more interesting. It was my first time reading a graphic novel. I wasn't a huge fan of the book, but I'm still glad I read it.  It was also my first time reading a play, besides Romeo and Juliet which I hated. After I read that book freshman year, I thought I'd never enjoy reading a play again. Reading Fences definitely changed my mind about that. I loved it. While we were reading Slaughterhouse-Five, I sort of hated it, but now I don't hate it as much. I was actually very enertained while I was reading it. Kurt Vonnegut is such a cool guy. For independent reading in Composition, I read Cat's Cradle, and it was so good. I'd definitely recommend that book to all of you. College Lit was honestly one of my favorite classes I've ever taken. The end.

Iranian soccer

In Persepolis, we have learned a bit about Iranian culture. It's been difficult for me to understand the oppression that Iranian citizens face because I can't relate to it at all, so I decided to research another cultual aspect--soccer.

Some history: The first year Iran played in the World Cup was in 1978, shortly before the 1979 revolution. After the revolution, soccer was sort of ignored because there were so many awful things taking place. In the 1980's Iran didn't even try to get a spot in the World Cup, and they didn't qualify again until 1998. That year, they played against the U.S. and won 2-1. It was a really important game because there were such tense relations between the two countries. The teams wanted to show that they were peaceful towards each other and exchanged flowers before the game.

Here is a link to an article about the match, written by Tom Vater:

http://www.tomvater.com/iran/world-cup-retrospective-axis-of-evil-match-usa-vs-iran-1998/

I thought this article was really interesting. I think Vater is from Britain, and he visited Iran to watch the match on T.V. Just in case you don't want to read the whole article, here is an important quote about after Iran won the game: "One fan told me, ‘This is the first time we have had a street party since 1979. It’s a great victory for us. But this is also a political demonstration. We are showing the government that we have power." 


It's sad to think that it was the only time Iranians really got to have much fun, but I also think it's awesome how countries all over the world can be connected by something as simple as soccer. That shows that Iranians aren't really that different from Americans. They get excited over sports, and so do we.


Here is a video of the players exchanging flowers:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvbMpUBMrns


The flower part is towards the beginning and the rest is just highlights, but the first goal is sweet so you should at least watch until that part.


I also looked up women's soccer in Iran. I was pleasantly surprised to find that women are allowed to play soccer, although something really bizarre is that the players have to wear a thing on their heads called a hijab. 


Here is a picture:





It seems so unfair that girls have to wear those even when they are playing sports! That would be really uncomfortable. That's just another example of how oppressive the government of Iran is.


Learning about Iranian soccer made me think of the country differently. Because of the way Iran is portrayed by the American media, a lot of Americans think Iranians are sketchy or scary. When I think of them as soccer players, they don't seem scary at all. They seem just like me!


Source: Wikipedia

pixtonnnnnnnn

Here is my comic! It is weird...


http://www.pixton.com/comic/5edkvwen

Slaughterhouse-Five

I had mixed feelings about this book. There were parts of it that I thought were funny, but other parts sort of annoyed me. I didn't really like Billy as a character. He just seemed so insane, and it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. That was cool at first, but by the end I just wanted to know what really was happening and what Billy was imagining. I think if I knew Billy Pilgrim in real life, I would want to yell at him and tell him that Tralfamadorians aren't real. It was odd how Billy was so sure of himself about stuff that probably wasn't true. I think if I read the book again I might like it more because I think I kind of missed the point the first time I read it.

war movie 2

Just kidding! I've seen Forrest Gump! I really like that movie. I think Mary O'Hare would approve of this film because Forrest is sort of an innocent dude and it shows the awful things he has to deal with when he goes to war in Vietnam. That goes along with what she said about the war being a "Children's Crusade". The movie shows how the war ruins soldiers' lives. Forrest's friend Bubba is killed and Luitenant Dan doesn't have legs, so it kind of ruins his life too.

war movie

i haven't seen any war movies so i can't blog about this. the end.

Yesterday in philosophy we started learning about Existentialism. Literature is a main form of communication for Existentialists. Franz Kafka was an Existentialist, and a lot of the things pointed out in class fit into The Metamorphosis.


One of the main points of Existentialism is that people must make choices all the time. At first I thought the fact that Gregor turned into a beetle sort of went against that idea because it wasn’t his choice to turn into a beetle, but it actually made a lot of sense when I thought about it more. Existentialists believed that conformity was “bad faith” and that it was the worst possible thing. In Gregor’s life before he became a beetle, he totally just agreed to what his parents wanted him to do. It wasn’t his choice to work all the time; he only did it because his parents told him to. Existentialists thought that choices would eventually create a purpose for humanity or something, so maybe Gregor transforming into a beetle symbolized that his life of conformity as a human was so meaningless that he was more like a bug.


Something else Mr. Brehm mentioned that reminded me of The Metamorphosis was a play called Rhinoceros which was written by Eugene Ionesco. I looked it up and I guess everyone in the town turned into rhinos except for one guy who stayed human, so he was kind of the opposite of Gregor. I thought it was interesting that multiple Existentialists wrote about human to animal transformations.

Group

A group that I am part of is the soccer team. I like being on a team with lots of other people because it makes practices and stuff a lot more fun. I would get bored just practicing by myself all the time. Having other people on my team also motivates me to try harder because I feel like I have a responsibility to my team and not just to myself.

Families in Fences and True West

In class, we have begun to read fences and are almost done watching True West. A similar theme in both stories is a messed up family relationship. In Fences, Troy isn't very close with his kid. It said that he wasn't there for most of his son's childhood. Lyons always asks Troy for money, and he is kind of taking advantage of him. He seems to know that Troy will always give in and pay him, so he doesn't have a job or anything. In True West, Austin and Lee have been apart for a long time. Lee has been living in the desert, and Austin writes movie scripts. When they meet up at thier mother's house, they dont' get along very well, but Austin tries really hard to make Lee happy at first. I think Lee takes advantage of that when he makes Saul choose his script over Austin's. Lee has a much stronger personality than Austin does, so he has more control over the situation.If Austin had been more forceful with Lee from the start, the situation wouldn't have gotten as chaotic as it did.

Metamorphosis ending

The ending of this book wasn't what I expected at all. I was kind of expecting Gregor to turn back into a person... but that didn't happen. When Gregor first turned into a bug, his sister was the nicest to him, but at the end, she thought he needed to die. Gregor thought he needed to die too because he realized how much suffering he was causing for his family. Gregor dies soon after his family agrees that he has to go, and the reactions of his family were very strange. When they find out, his dad says, "Now we can thank God." After that, they all cried, but didn't do anything else. It was sad that they weren't even more upset about Gregor dying because even though he was a disgusting beetle, he was still their son/brother, although for them it was probably a relief that they didn't have to worry about Gregor anymore. At the very end, Gregor's parents are thinking about his sister's future and about her finding a husband. This shows how different their plans for Grete are than they were for Gregor. The parents were totally dependent on Gregor, and he had to live with them and work to pay off their debts. When they mention Grete getting married, it shows that she will be allowed to be independent from her family and that they will be independent from her, unlike the situation with Gregor. I think that is really significant in demonstrating how the family changed throughout the story.

The Metamorphosis

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor turns into a beetle. His family and manager are very scared and disgusted by him. Do you think they know the giant beetle is Gregor, and if so, do they think it is his fault that he turned into a beetle? I'm not sure they know it's him, but I was kind of confused, so maybe that actually did. Also, it is mentioned multiple times that Gregor's parents owe his boss some sort of debt. What sort of debt do you think this is, and do you think it has anything to do with Gregor being turned into a beetle?

Introduction

Hola! My name is Julie. My favorite books are all of the Harry Potter books. My favorite movies are all of the Harry Potter movies. I have no idea what my plans are for after high school. Some of my hobbies are soccer, horseback riding, and sleeping. My favorite food is pomegranates, and I am afraid of fish.