A Brave New World

1. London 2540. 632 years after the birth of Henry Ford. The world is in a perpetual state of happiness. Resources are a plenty (due to a population limit of 2 billion and death by age 60). Violence and crime are but an afterthought. Everyone gets along. In short, it's your perfect world, one not even Disneyland could match. But, much like Disneyland, everything is not what it seems. Each person is designated a "caste" as a zygote: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Gamma, Delta and Epsilon are forcibly stunted mentally and physically to do menial tasks and to all look and act exactly the same. Imagine an army full of Patrick Stars. That's what we're talking about. Alpha and Beta are allowed to develop normally and have the mental capacity to do anything with pluses and minuses attached to measure looks and thinking. It's just that Betas are given less demanding jobs than Alpha to emphasize the caste system. The unfortunate part of it all is that it's modeled exactly like Henry Ford's Assembly Line. Efficiency and profit are the focus. And those who are deemed unworthy are indoctrinated to hate books and knowledge (most notably by hearing messages in their sleep). Because knowledge is power. And knowledge might lead the lower castes to revolt against the higher castes. Combine that with most people simply being too high on soma to care, and you have a society that doesn't care about what its government does. And this leads us to Bernard. He is an Alpha-plus, extremely brilliant and decently attractive. But, for some unknown reason, he is shorter than most Alpha-pluses. In fact, he is about as tall as Betas. This leads him to develop an inferiority complex, and others to make fun of him. He only has one friend, Hemholtz, who is physically and mentally gifted even beyond an Alpha-plus. As he and  another girl, Lenina, visit the Savage Reservation, they encounter two people: Linda and John. Linda, it turns out, was the wife of Bernard's boss, and accidently got pregnant. Fearing the public shame, she decided to stay with the savages. There, she is sleeps with every man and is the subject of beating by the females. Tired of living as a savage, John asks if he can see the "New World". Bernard agrees, intending to embarrass his boss, the Director. He succeeds, but his fifteen minutes of fame shortly end. As such, he blames Johm. John has problems of his own. He does not agree with the sexual promiscuity of society, and as such is ashamed of his feelings for Lenina. His mother, consuming soma at unhealthy intervals, soon dies. This, coupled with the uncaring attitude of everyone else, soon sends him in a fit of rage. Bernard and Hemholtz arrive to help him, but only Hemholtz does while Bernard hesitates. Due to the riot, Bernard and Hemholtz are exiled. John is not. John, however, attempts to exile himself at a lighthouse and flog himself as punishment. However, others take notice and soon his whippings cause a sexual orgy among the crowd. Saddened by his actions of taking soma, John hangs himself.
2. The theme is a warning. A warning of what society might become if it focuses on only consummation and efficiency. A warning of technology and what happens when governments control it. And a warning of the pursuit of happiness, and how far you'll go to get it. Another theme is conformity vs. individuality. While John advocates individuality, society demands conformity.
3. The author's tone is jaded and sarcastic. For example, he constantly uses Miranda's speech from The Tempest "O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't." ironically so as to compare what John sees as civilization to what we know as civilization. There is nothing beauteous, nothing brave about civilization. Another example includes the ending.  John is trying to punish himself, make himself beneath everyone, and all it does is cause a sexual orgy among the populace. A final example includes the reversal of taboos in today's society compared to Brave New World's. In Brave New World, society revels in sex. There's nothing shameful about being naked. Drug use is common, and people fear the word "mother" and anything of literary value. In today's society, we shudder at the mention of sex. Being naked gets you arrested for public indecency. And we have the "War of Drugs". In short, society is blissfully happy, despite going against everything current society stands for, and for good reason. Because they are extremely high.

4. Satire - This novel continuously makes fun of society's focus on efficiency and pursuit of happiness and consumerism  all as a warning of what might happen if we continue down that path. Most notable is society's worship of Henry Ford.

Allusion - John is constantly making references to Shakespeare. That's because Shakespeare represents the antithesis of society. His work is power, everlasting. It contrasts with consumerism and promotes the individual. Much like John, Shakespeare is not needed for an ignorant society to flourish.

Symbolism - Soma symbolizes happiness at all costs. Society symbolizes an emphasis on efficiency over morality. And Shakespeare symbolizes a society that placed an individual over conformity.

Characterization

1.Direct - "For whatever the cause (and the current gossip about the alcohol in his blood-surrogate may very likely  for accidents will happen  have been true) Bernard's physique was hardly better than that of the average Gamma.  He stood eight centimetres short of the standard Alpha height and was slender in proportion.  Contact with members of the lower castes always reminded him painfully of this physical inadequacy."  pg.64

"The dress of the young man who now stepped out on to the terrace was Indian; but his plaited hair was straw-coloured, his eyes a pale blue, and his skin a white skin, bronzed.

(pg. 116)

Indirect - ""'He's so ugly!' said Fanny. 

'But I rather like his looks.'

'And then so small.' Fanny made a grimace; smallness was so horribly and typically low-caste.

'I think that's rather sweet' said Lenina."

-Page 46

Also, by quoting Shakespeare, John indirectly characterizes himself as an erudite. The fact that he is able to quote correctly shows that he understands connections, something that society in Brave New World cannot.

2. Syntax does not change. Reason being is that the story is somber. No reason to change that.

3. Bernard is a flat character. He is an outcast who is only concerned with bettering himself through society. He is also Mr. Harvey Two-Face. On one hand, he loves that he is not a drone to society. However, he is also fearful of announcing his rebellious thoughts, meaning he is a coward. John is round. At first, he is idealistic, believing the world to be better than it is. However, as the story progresses, he finds that all is not as it seems. As such, he starts regressing to a reclusive, almost insane state until he kills himself so as to escape society.

4. Honestly, I felt like I met a person. What I liked about Bernard is that he, much like everyone else, is two-faced. Different faces for different situations. And I liked his insecurity, because I don't know anyone who isn't at least a little insecure. He (as demonstrated by his usage of John) is also heavily flawed. 

Tale of Two Cities Notes

- Dickens borrowed a major plot-line in Tale from his play "Frozen Deep": both Sydney and Richard in "Frozen Deep" are flawed characters seeking retribution who sacrifice themselves so the girl they love can live the rest of her life.
- Also, was smitten with Lucy, so the main girl was named Lucie.
- While he found London vile, disgusting, and full of crime; he also found that he could not write effectively unless his stories involved London or resembled London.
- Fell in love with Paris on first sight.
- Became a public reader as a way of earning more money.
- Novel was published episodically, much like Half-Life 2 Ep. 1 and 2, with the exception that it was actually published timely and efficiently.
- Social critique of the treatment of the lower class by the economic elite.
- Treated his book like a TV episode or like Mass Effect 2. Played each "episode" by ear and did not truncate his novel into sections.
- Felt it was the best story he had ever written at that time.

- Dr. Tony Williams is fairly dry and boring. It's like watching paint dry with 2001 A Space Odyssey  playing in the background while feeling my hair grow.

What's the Story?

For A Tale of Two Cities, I feel that Dickens wrote the novel as his way of interpreting the French Revolution and how the attitude of the French bourgeois is eerily similar to that of the English. And, as demonstrated by the attitudes of the Revolutionists, there will be consequences if you continually stomp on the lower classes. By continually comparing the French to the English "There was a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of England; there was a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France." he is sending a warning, if not a social criticism, of the English elite. Also, by continually juxtaposing antonyms in the beginning phrase "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" he is able to establish the idea that life isn't the same for everyone. While it may be the best of times for the bourgeois, it may also be the worst of times for the lower class. In an essence, it is a foreshadowing of events to occur later in the plot. And finally, there is continual foreshadowing. Whether it be the wine spilling, or Lucie and Carton hearing footsteps, there is foreshadowing of things to come, events beyond our control. Which leads to the French Revolution.

Dicken's Map

1) I am reading A Tale of Two Cities, which happens to be 320 pages long. That means I need to read an average of 50 pages a day in order to finish it, and give myself enough time to fully review the book.
2)A. A Tale of Two Cities opens with "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." one of the best-known passages in English literature. What does Dickens mean by setting the stage with such polarities? For whom was it the best and the worst of times? Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities in the late 1850s. Why does this passage continue to be quoted today? In what ways does our own present period merit such an assessment? Found here.
B. How does the author use imagery, syntax, and diction to show his intent in the following passage from A Tale of Two Cities?

But, though the Doctor tried hard, and never ceased trying, to get Charles Darnay set at liberty, or at least to get him brought to trial, the public current of the time set too strong and fast for him. The new era began; the king was tried, doomed, and beheaded; the Republic of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death, declared for victory or death against the world in arms; the black flag waved night and day from the great towers of Notre Dame; three hundred thousand men, summoned to rise against the tyrants of the earth, rose from all the varying soils of France, as if the dragon's teeth had been sown broadcast, and had yielded fruit equally on hill and plain, on rock, in gravel, and alluvial mud, under the bright sky of the South and under the clouds of the North, in fell and forest, in the vineyards and the olive-grounds and among the cropped grass and the
stubble of the corn, along the fruitful banks of the broad rivers, and in the sand of the sea-shore. What private solicitude could rear itself against the deluge of the Year One of Liberty—the deluge rising from below, not falling from above, and with the windows of Heaven shut, not opened! 

There was no pause, no pity, no peace, no interval of relenting rest, no measurement of time. Though days and nights circled as regularly as when time was young, and the evening and morning were the first day, other count of time there was none. Hold of it was lost in the raging fever of a nation, as it is in the fever of one patient. Now, breaking the unnatural silence of a whole city, the executioner showed the people the head of the king—and now, it seemed almost in the same breath, the head of his fair wife which had had eight weary months of imprisoned widowhood and misery, to turn it grey. Found here.
C. In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake.  Choose a scene in A Tale of Two Cities that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the complete work. Avoid plot summary. 
D. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote:
“Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate’er it touches”
        Using examples from A Tale of Two Cities as support, you should defend or challenge Shelley’s assertion.
E. Choose a complex and important character in A Tale of Two Cities who might - on the basis of the character's actions alone - be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

3) The best way to test us is, I feel, is to have an essay. Tests are too easy and too limited, and (as with multiple choice) allow students to get answers correct even if they never knew the material beforehand. They also force upon the student the teacher's interpretation of ideas, which may or may not agree with the student. An essay allows each student to encompass their viewpoints and back them up, which allows for more productive sessions and varying viewpoints as opposed to one.

Lit Terms 6-30

Analogy - a comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them

Analysis - a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny

Anaphora - a device or repetition in  which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences

Anecdote - a very short story used to illustrate a point


Lincoln told a story of Ethan Allen, an American Revolution war hero who went to Britain after the war. (And who oddly enough has a furniture company named after him.) After he arrived, the British, still upset about having lost the war, put their measly Brit minds together and came up with a plot to try to embarrass Allen by putting a large portrait of George Washington in the only outhouse where he might encounter it. They had hoped Allen would be upset about the indignity of George Washington being in an outhouse. That night, after dinner and conversation, Allen made his way out, candle in hand, and did his business. He came back in as high of spirits as ever.

“Didn’t you see George Washington in there?!” they said.

“Oh yes,” said Allen. “Perfectly appropriate place for him”

“What do you mean?” They said.

“Well,” he said, “there is nothing to make an Englishman shit faster than the sight of George Washington."


Antagonist - a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative

Antithesis - a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness

Aphorism - a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life

Apologia - a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology


"Good evening.

This afternoon in this room, from this chair, I testified before the Office of Independent Counsel and the grand jury.

I answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer.

Still, I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private. And that is why I am speaking to you tonight.

As you know, in a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information.

Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.

But I told the grand jury today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or to take any other unlawful action.

I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that.

I can only tell you I was motivated by many factors. First, by a desire to protect myself from the embarrassment of my own conduct.

I was also very concerned about protecting my family. The fact that these questions were being asked in a politically inspired lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, was a consideration, too.

In addition, I had real and serious concerns about an independent counsel investigation that began with private business dealings 20 years ago, dealings I might add about which an independent federal agency found no evidence of any wrongdoing by me or my wife over two years ago.

The independent counsel investigation moved on to my staff and friends, then into my private life. And now the investigation itself is under investigation.

This has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people.

Now, this matter is between me, the two people I love most--my wife and our daughter--and our God. I must put it right, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so.

Nothing is more important to me personally. But it is private, and I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It's nobody's business but ours.

Even presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.

Our country has been distracted by this matter for too long, and I take my responsibility for my part in all of this. That is all I can do.

Now it is time--in fact, it is past time to move on.

We have important work to do--real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real security matters to face.

And so tonight, I ask you to turn away from the spectacle of the past seven months, to repair the fabric of our national discourse, and to return our attention to all the challenges and all the promise of the next American century.

Thank you for watching. And good night." - Bill Clinton


Apostrophe - a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly

Argumentation - the process of convincing a reader by providing either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself

(Skip to 7:14)
Assumption - the act of supposing or taking for granted that a thing is true

"Never assume because you make an ass out of u and me."

Audience - the intended listener or listeners
"I aimed for the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." - Upton Sinclair
Characterization - the means by which a writer reveals a character's personality

Chiasmus - a reversal in the order of words so that the second half of the statement balances the first half in inverted word order

"We remember what we want to forget, and forget what we want to remember." - The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Circumlocution - a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but few would have served

Classicism - art reflecting ancient Greece and Rome; tradition

Cliche - a phrase or situation overused in society

"YOLO" "Swag" "n00b" 

Climax - the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the point of greatest interest or intensity at which plot question is resolved or answered

Colloquialism - folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation

Comedy - a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed to provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter

Conflict - struggle or problem in a story causing tension

Connotation - implicit meaning going beyond dictionary definition

Childish vs. Youthful

Contrast - a rhetorical device by which one element is thrown in opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity

Denotation - plain dictionary definition

Childish vs. Youthful

Denouement- loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, conclusion

Poetry Analysis

One resource I used.

Poems:
"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
"O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman
"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden
"Democracy" by Langston Hughes
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost

Paraphrase: I was too busy with my life to focus on dying. So death granted me the pleasure instead. He, Immortality, and I were the only ones in the carriage. Everything that I had done before death, gone. The carriage takes us throughout the world, while I watch events transpire without my existence. It's been many years since this day, but I will always remember this day, and the fact the horses are taking me towards Eternity.
Purpose: Emily Dickinson was going through a troubled time, and as such relied on writing as a way of "venting" her feelings. In this poem, she has come to accept death, and views it only as an extra journey to Eternity.
Structure: For the most part it's xAyB "The carriage stopped for me... and Immortality." "A swelling of the ground... The cornice was but a mound." Of course, that all goes down the drain with "Feels shorter than the day... Were towards eternity." but for governmental purposes, we'll say it's xAyB.
Shift: There is no noticeable shift in tone or narration. Only occasional details that the narrator picked up along the way.
Speaker: The speaker is in narrative first person who is recounting what it was like on the day he/she died.
Spelling: Contains a lot of hyphens, meaning that there are continual breaks throughout the poem.
Tone: The tone is very somber. The narrator just died and is experiencing how the rest of the world is going about without him/her. Also, it's somewhat accepting. Not once do we hear from the narrator any complaint about death, nor fight against it. Rather, it's something inevitable. So why fight?
Theme: The theme seems to be the embracing of death, and the fact that death is simply one extra journey towards Eternity. For example, not once do we see the author make a fuss about dying, nor complain about him/her not being ready. It simply happens.
Title: "Because I Could Not Stop for Death"

Paraphrase: O Captain! My Captain! We have won the war, you have steered the ship in the right direction. I can hear the people cheering, I can hear them call your name. Yet you, the great and mighty captain, are dead.
Purpose: This poem is meant to lament the death of the great and mighty Lincoln.
Structure: The poem follows a rough ABAB cDeD scheme. However, unlike "Because I Could Not Stop for Death", there isn't a clear outlier in the poem.
Shift: The tone of the poem switches continually. During the ABAB stanza, the tone is happy, exulting, exhilarating  You feel like the you've just conquered the world. However, during the next cDeD stanza, the tone shifts to more something more somber, more melancholy. This is due to him juxtaposing the victory of the Civil War to the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Speaker: The speaker is in first person, and is mourning the death of his captain, Lincoln.
Spelling: The spelling is fairly simple. Then again, it comes as no surprise considering Whitman despised words derived from a thesaurus because he found them pompous, and not respecting of the average man.
Tone: The tone switches from something happy to something melancholy, because Whitman keeps switching from the victory of the Civil War to the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Theme: The theme of this poem is the death of Lincoln and how the country can move forward after the death of a great president. He is lamenting his death, while also praising the end of this great Civil War.
Title: "O Captain! My Captain!"

Paraphrase: Every day my father would do what it took to make our lives more comfortable, and yet I would never thank him. Despite his occasional anger, I would never show him appreciation. But how could I know when I was so young and naive?
Purpose: This sonnet is Robert Hayden's love letter to his dad. About how as a youth, he was so unappreciative of all his father did for him, and only later in life did he come to this realization. This is his way of atoning for his past mistakes.
Structure: This is a more contemporary sonnet, with fourteen lines but no rhyming scheme in sight (if there are rhymes, it is through pure coincidence alone).
Shift: The tone of the poem shifts from nostalgia and remembrance to fear (chronic angers of that house) and then to almost a sort of passiveness, attributing his ungratefulness to nothing more than a symptom of youthfulness.
Speaker: The speaker is in first-person remembering his past and how he never gave his father the love he deserved.
Spelling: Very colloquial language. Definitely should be something anybody can at least read, if not analyze.
Tone: Mostly a sort of reminisce of all his father did, with a sort of sadness that he never really thanked him for all he did.
Theme: How often in life have we gone about never appreciating what our parents do for us out of pure love? How often are we ungrateful for all our parents do?
Title: "Those Winter Sundays"

Paraphrase: I have every right to democracy as the next guy. But, the only way I can get it is through action, because change doesn't come by itself.
Purpose: Langston Hughes was continually subjugated to the Jim Crowe laws, and as such was calling out the injustice of the government and its "democracy" and how people need to do something to create change.
Structure: The poem goes aBcB abCdC AbACC aBcB AbA.
Shift: The tone nor the language change throughout the poem.
Speaker: The speaker is first person
Spelling: The language is very colloquial.
Tone: Hughes is very stern and very controlled because he is pointing out all the various hypocrisies of the people proclaiming "democracy" however, he has to control what he has to say because anything he uses can and will be used against him.
Theme: The theme is about hypocrisy and how Langston Hughes wants to experience democracy much like every other white person. It's also about change, and how you have to create change, because it won't happen on its own.
Title: "Democracy"

Paraphrase: While I would love to stop for nature, I cannot. There is some journey ahead that I must fulfill.
Purpose: To talk about the beauty of isolation and nature, two of the more unappreciated things in this world.
Structure: AAbA AAbA AAbA AAAA
Shift: No noticeable shift.
Speaker: First person
Spelling: Colloquial spelling
Tone: Serious and reflective
Theme: Some themes of this poem are isolation and nature. How people give themselves no time to appreciate nature, and its only upon isolation when man truly appreciates her beauty.
Title: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Lit Terms 1-5

Allegory - a tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities  a story that uses symbols to make a point.

So.....
Simon - religion
Jack - anarchy
Ralph - democracy
Piggy - science
Ralph - violence
Alliteration - a repetition of similar initial sounds, usually consonants, in a group of words

Allusion - a reference to a person, place, or event, or literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize.

Hint, hint: This song is an allusion to a famous Broadway musical.

Ambiguity - something uncertain as to interpretation

Is Shepard alive? Was it all a dream? Is he indoctrinated? Is that even Commmander Shepard?

Anachronism - something that shows up in the wrong place or the wrong time

This is a painting of Orpheus by Cesare Gennari. What you'll notice is that Orpheus is holding a violin, an instrument that wasn't even invented until the 16th century. 

Spring Semester Plan 1

Throughout my life, one thing has always bugged me. Not just a little, tremendously so. So much so that it's like a giant itch on your back you just can't reach. You see, I'm Japanese. Half to be exact. And yet I don't know how to play the piano. GASP! You mean an Asian doesn't know how to play the piano?! I know, I know, it irks me as well. But that's something that I can hopefully, over the summer, amend. Along with obtaining a summer job. Need a little cash here and there to sate my appetite. And (hopefully) seeing Kaeptain America and the 49ers in the Superbowl for the 6th time.

AP Prep Post: Siddhartha

1.If you were the river, would you be enlightenment or would you know enlightenment? In other words, what’s up with the river? What is it’s relation to enlightenment?

2. What does enlightenment look like in Siddhartha? Is it a feeling? An attitude?

3. What purpose does self-denial serve in Siddhartha? What about self-indulgence?

4. How was Siddartha able to put aside social expectations to pursue his path to enlightenment? Results?

One of the key themes in the book Siddhartha is the difficulty an individual has trying to pursue individual goals amid strong societal expectations.

Explain how Siddhartha was able to reach a point where he could put aside societal expectations. As a result, what aspects of life were made available to Siddhartha? Please cite examples from the book.

5. Siddhartha features substantial activity and narrative action. At the same time, it is about one man’s largely internal spiritual quest. What is the relationship between the internal and exterior worlds of Siddhartha? How does Siddhartha negotiate these worlds?

http://www.shmoop.com/siddhartha/questions.html
http://www.gradesaver.com/siddhartha/
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/siddhartha/study.html

All I can say is that, after reading these questions and others, holy hell do I need to go back and re-read Siddhartha. My mind is about as blank as an etch-a-sketch, the only difference being I haven't been shaken constantly.

What's In this for Me?

I want to be prepared for college. Far too often do I read of students who come into college unprepared and are overwhelmed by the amount of work and responsibility that come with a college education. My dad even knew a man who had a mental breakdown while in college. He also knew another who was a ladies man yet flunked out of Cal Poly. In short, college is a big thing. And I want to go in as prepared as possible so I'm not one of those other "stories".

Fall Semester Reflection

1. I occasionally read other people's work, though it was not frequent. No time to read blogs when there are video games to be had! However, the experience was interesting, to say the least. Especially since there are so many different writing styles (from Hayden's prolix syntax to Jason's succinct diction, to name a few), it's certainly interesting to jump from one style to the next.
2. Without a blog, it's tough to say how my views might be expressed. Would I talk about video games as much? That one's hard to say. Would I say anything at all? Would I just be another shadow, hiding from everyone else, wanting nothing more than to never be seen again?
3. I would say that publishing my work still hasn't changed my view about assignments. It's still something to complete. The only difference being is that everyone else can see my work, so it's not like I go around and play pretend that I didn't say something when it's pretty out-in-the-blue. Other than that, it's still no real biggie for me.
4. Personally, my experience hasn't been changed all that much. I'm still not a fan of the physical classroom, but perhaps I'm just not catching the "open-source learning" vibe that others are. Perhaps this isn't your grandma's and my class either.
5. I would think that the word "pioneer" is a bit strong for a man of my stature. However, if I had to describe myself as that way, I would probably compare myself to Lewis and Clark. Exploring an unknown area with a guide who knows everything there is to know.
6. Usually, though, most people think I'm over exaggerating and making my contributions seem bigger than they are.
7. And in return I simply ignore what they have to say.