Best of Today: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

We watched this movie in class and I thought it was pretty funny but very confusing. The movie tells a different view of the story Hamlet. I think it is interesting the different understanding you get from this movie verses Hamlet. You get details about the personality of these two guys and when Hamlet is brought up it seems like he is just straight up crazy. When you do not get all the information about a person then when you hear someone say that he is crazy you start believing it. When we watched Hamlet we saw his personality with the public and when he was by himself. You could tell that he was not crazy, he was just holding so much emotion and pain. This movie reminded me how important it is to look at things in different ways and perspectives.

Best of Today: The Arts And Their Interpretation

What can we truly know about the creative powers of the human mind? In this reading he says the answer can be found at the juncture of science and the humanities. Homo sapiens relates to the ones born from natural selection. Natural selection is a science term based on only the strongest will survive into the next generation. Mind has evolved through generations based on natural selection. Culture also has been passed through generations. Generations has changed culture, mind and exc. Creative powers of the human mind has been shaped with science and through humanities.

Best of Today: The Arts And Their Interpretation

Today we read about the combination of art and science and the brain finding patterns to make sense of a subjects detail. Edward Rothstein compares their creative mind by breaking it down into steps. He says that it begins with objects that look dissimilar and we try to find patterns using what we already know.

This is very true for me and many others. When someone comes to a question or a problem that they haven't experienced before, they relay on what they already know. If they can connect a question to other events and find certain patterns then they can use current knowledge to answer other problems or questions.

Metacognition: What's on your mind

These mind questions are a really great excersize for the mind. Although the questions are sometimes very weird, I like answering them because it streches my mind. I have never been asked these types of questions before and so I really like doing these everyday before class starts. The coolest thing is hearing other peoples answers and seeing how different we all think. Although some questions are kind of personal and confusing, I still try my best to share my asnwers.

Connection: Hamlet

In the play Hamlet you see the main character have two different characters. When he is with other people he acts goofy, powerful and confident. When he is alone his character becomes depressed, lost and unhappy. He hides his true feelings and acts like someone else when others are around.

This relates to me and many other people. When I am with a big group of people everyone acts a certain way. When I'm with a friend one on one they have a completely different personality. They open up and deep down they are either really unhappy, or dealing with a lot of personal problems. I do the same thing, I use comedy to hide any pain or problems I'm going through. When I'm by myself I dont have to hide any emotions and I am truly myself.

360: School

Like many students I have learned to hate school and was pretty good at it. I would go to school because I had to. I did not even call it school. I would call it prison and hate waking up every day. Class was boring, maybe because I would stare into space and day dream about what I was eating after school.
High school is almost over for me and i just realized that its not school that sucked, it was my attitude towards it. I go to school in a good mood and participate with the activities and class discussions. I found out if I actually try and keep myself busy that the day goes by fast. If I let myself thing negative thoughts about class then obviously it wont be enjoyable.

Carry it Forward: Hamlet

When Hamlet's mother gets married after her husband passed away only a month ago, Hamlet has to personalitys. When he is with his mother he holds back his anger and acts with out emotion. When you see him with his family he does not show his distress and grief that he has for his father, and his mothers marriage to his cousin.
When everyone leaves the room, he finally expresses himself, and you see that he is sad and hates his mother getting married so soon. He is unhappy and many people dont see it because he keeps to himself. This kind of behavior is dangerous, for it leads to depression and possibly suicide.
I am the same way as Hamlet, I dont like to express my feelings and like to keep my private life to myself. Reading this book i reliaze that this is not a solution to your problems. If you keep everything to yourself it will just end up into a big mess. Now im trying to open up to my friends and family. I am trying to trust people and it really does make me feel happier.

Research: Shakespeare

Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564. His father was a businessman and served as a mayor. Shakespeare grew up in a nice house with several of his brothers and sisters. He went to school to learn how to read and write and studied Latin. He never went to college. Instead he married at age 18 to Anne Hathaway. She was eight years older and Shakespeares neighbor. The had three kids, a girl and girl twins.
In London he was an actor and got most of his education at. By 1952 Shakespeare had written many plays that pleased the audience. He was also an amazing poet, but he always went back to the theater. He joined an acting company called Chamberlain's Men and continued there until he retired. Some of his private poetry was published without his consent. He died in Stratford on April 23, 1616 and buried at the local church where he was baptized. His work was always a controversy at those times. People started really noticing his works over the past years.

Chute, Marchette. "Shakespeare, William." Reviewed by Jay L. Halio. The New Book of Knowledge®. 2009. Grolier Online. 24 Apr. 2009 .

Captured Thought: Art and Creativity

In class we always talk about creativity in art literature music and exc. I personally love to draw but always thought I was horrible at it. I love to just doodle and draw whatever that comes out. When I draw real life I find it difficult to make the lines perfect and make the drawing look real life. 

I was watching a television show where a teacher said draw me as perfect as you can and do not miss any details. One of the students said that art should be a drawing of how one person perceives it themselves. I was like wow this is a lot like humanities class, we talk about how a drawing tells a lot about the artist. The best type of art is when someone is creative with it, and makes it their own drawing by using own feelings and emotions into the drawing. It has so much more meaning and can truly be a piece of art. It really makes sense when you look at modern art and you can see how society was back at that time period. Many people might not understand it but if you take time on a piece of art you can learn a lot and appreciate something different. 

360: Modern Art

When ever i looked at modern art I always thought it was uncreative and to simple. I could not understand it nor did I want to. In my english class we look at a bunch of modern art, and when we looked at Picasso and first I thought it made no sense.

when we looked at in class and talked about, it made more sense to me. I look at this now and i can appreciate it. I think it is very creative and has alot of meaning behind it. This painting below is called The Guitar Player and is called cubism, a type or art. Its like a little of cubs put together to make a painting. I think it is really cool and I really like this painting. 

Connection: Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King, Jr.

In class we read a letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. when he was in jail. In the letter he says "I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth." I have always looked up to Martin Luther because he has been in horrible situations and tried to make changes without any violence.

In my conflicts resolution class we talk about genocides and the how to resolve them. It is common for the government to use the army to stop genocide. The army will go in the country and use violence to stop the conflict. Once the genocide is over things usually settle down for a little, but the overall conflict has not been solved.

If you look around now you see people of all race being treated equally. Martin never used violence and look at the change he has made. He gives people hope that not all people are bad and that to make a change or be noticed you dont have to blow up a building, but to use your voice. I believe that if people would to use their voice instead of a weapon to make a point that we wouldnt be having genocides and conflicts

metacognition: Zimbabwe Conflicts

For this project I had to research about Zimbabwe and there conflicts and how they could be solved. While i was researching i found out that Zimbabwe had many problems that were linked back to past events. So in order to figure out why they are in this situation I had to look back into history. This reminded me about Sophies World, and how Alberto told Sophie that they had to look at history to learn about philosophy. This has changed my way of thinking towards history. I hated history but now I love it because it helps explain current issues.