Hw - 58 More On Parents.... Yay! (Not Really)...

I think it shows how unique we all are, the way we are raised says something about who we will become. What I think is interesting is that when we need our parents the most we are children and we are completely dependant on what they give us and provide us. But most likely we don't remember the years, months and days that we are most dependant.

When Rob came in and explained the story of how he came to know and love his daughter the entire class felt the sympathy and the compassion that Rob felt. But does it matter if when Rob's daughter grows up she wont remember how she got there or all of the diapers that were bought and changed? How do we know what parenting does to us, how do we know that parenting matters?

I didn't interview my mother or father. I remember fragments and broken thoughts on my childhood. I think we don't know how selfish our parents are or were until we are older. Many parents have children and then find themselves 'falling out of love' and separating because they feel that the relationship isn't working for them. But what about their child or children?

What does that say about parenting? How are we supposed to separate the actual lessons from parenting and the mistakes that our parents make when they are 'teaching us'. What happens when you don't agree with what they are teaching you?

I was taught to believe that age held the power. That just because you are older than me that earns you my automatic respect and obedience. I...don't believe that, as cliche as it sounds I say equality for all. Respect is earned. I think that is where alot of my 'adult' problems come from. I have no problem telling an adult that I think they are wrong, silly, idiotic or anything else on the spectrum of 'disrespect'.

But when it comes to parents, I think we remember two things, the things that we agree with & the things that we don't agree with. And from then on out we just take what we get and roll with the punches. I know that I always end up thinking about myself and not so much about what my mother thinks. For this I get scolded and I get told that I'm being disrespectful and blah blah blah.

The irony of parenting is that no one really knows how to do it. Its isn't something that can be taught like math. Parenting has many different styles and no one can really be sure which is right and which is wrong. It has become a very opioniated subject that happens to be seen and looked at so many ways.

Can a parent fail? Do they fail when you don't want to listen to them? This subject actually upsets me. I don't care much for parental topics at this time.

Hw 57 - "The Future Freaks Me Out"- By: MCS

Parenting? Uh..

When I think of that word, my initial thought is that 'I'm not a parent, so how should I know?' But we all are exposed to parenting for at least 18 years of our life. I feel as though there are always times when we wish our parents ...wouldn't be so 'parental'.

Something my mom always says is 'when you have kids you'll understand' does that mean that when you become a parent your brain automatically downloads all the things that you need to know in order to be a parent? There are so many things that confuse me about parenting that I become annoyed just by saying the word.

Now when it comes to little kids parents and adults seem to prefer them over teens and young adults. I think its because babies are most obedient and silent. Babies don't have a say in what is happening around them. So I think parents want a child or children that will listen to them...no questions asked.

Of course a teenager will want what we have cleverly named 'a cool parent' this is the type of parent that as cliche as it sounds understands the simple yet complicated mind of a teenager. Speaking from my own experience, I think that the older you get the more and more 'un cool' your parents become.

Why do parents think we can't wait to leave so badly?

I remember a quote from the book The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, "parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them, a mother's approval, a father's nod- are covered by moments of their own accomplishments" Is it just a natural instinct to want to get the hell out of dodge?

Bottom line everything comes down to parenting, its what we grow up with it can be the difference between alot. Parents splitting up and never talking to each other has a large effect on the kids that they are both supposed to be raising. It makes it hard to call a place home when it feels like hell.

Parenting backfire = rebel. end of story, "No mom I will not do that for you, but thank you for asking"

"We all become our parents" because when all else fails that is the teaching that you know.
"When you get older something happens, your heart dies"
"Who cares?"
"I care"
"Man are we gonna be like our parents?"
"Not me"
"Its unavoidable"

How scary is that.

Hw 56 - I Forgot To Add

We are all aware of the whole 'I control my life' thing that we were taught in 2nd grade. In some ways I do believe that you have some kind of control over your life. You control your actions and blah blah blah. Got it. But there is more than just you in the world.

There are always going to be other people in your life that push you towards things that you may or may not like. That's just the way that it is. I tend to think that the people in you're life are more important in your life than you are. I don't mean that impressing them is what is important.

I think that the small act of them being in your life makes yours that much greater. Life is a spectator sport, what's it become when there is no on to watch?

Hw: 56 - Interviews!!

Question 1: What are the roles that people play in your life?
Question 2: Who plays the most important role in your life? Why?
Question 3: Do you think that the people who play these roles enjoy their part?
Question 4: Are their understudies to the main parts?

Interviews:
Yazmin:

1: Close friends and family, they can be mentors I look to for advice
2: I play the most important role in my life because IN THE END I make all the decisions for myself.
3: I enjoy my part. I hold the key to my destiny.
4: My siblings and Kayla because they are the ones who push me to go further

------
Ian:

1: Alot, that's a hard question there is always the role that they want and then thereis the role that they actually get.

2: What do you mean by most important? We need farmers, Ali jo is really nice to me. Viacom keeps my bother away from me.

3: If they successfully play the role then hopefully they enjoy the role but its not always true. My brother tries to play the brother role but he's an asshole

4: Thinking about my dad, he didn't have a dad so I think hes doing a good job, my mom and Ali jo's mom are very different. my mom is short and mean. there are already roles that they are playing

-----
Hannah:

1: My mom and my girlfriend and my brother. I dunno they're all family

2: I think all of them play important roles in my life

3: I would hope that they enjoy their part

4: No. Because they are all unique and no one can replace them,.

Hw 55 - Just How Far Can We Go? (Edit)

New revised question:

How do we define and separate the different relationships in our lives?

There are 'guidelines' that the people who play roles in our lives follow. There are certain lines and and scripts that just don't mix. But why?

Hw 55 - Just How Far Can We Go? (Draft)

What are the barriers of relationships?

We can all seperate our relationships in to many different catergories we know that mom is mom and dad is dad, that friend is friend and that girlfriend is girlfriend. But how come these things don't mix. (Sometimes they do...) But excluding those cases, how do we define those barriers.

How come there are songs like this that are considered sexy. I think that 'friends with benefits' is the most common term of mixing one relationship with the other. Jumping from a platonic relationship to one more physical but less emotional.


MLA format coming and more research

Hw 54- Personal Test...?

ENFP: "Journalist". Uncanny sense of the motivations of others. Life is an exciting drama.


Part 1: I didn't know what the word uncanny meant, so I looked it up. Uncanny according to trendy dictionary app, means beyond the ordinary or normal; extraordinary. I think that a lot of us are a little extraordinary as cliche as that sounds to some extent it is true. I like to write but I can't really see myself being a journalist, but the idea of writing is a cool one.

As for the personality test, I have taken something like this before and have gotten something completely different. So it makes me wonder how accurate these things are. Are they actually analyzing your answers or are they just randomly putting groups of letters together. Because I bet that a lot of people can see themselves writing in the near future.

Part 2: I don't think that alot of teenagers are that concerned with the things that have to do with their future in the long term. Sure we don't mind being told things about ourselves but the percentage of kids that actually give a damn about what is going to happen 20 years down the road must be a small one. I looked a few of my peers and one of them stood out.

One of the students said that the personality test was a waste of time and that it didn't really tell them anything about themselves. Well where did the results come from then? Do the test mean to day that 'this is what you can look forward to?' or 'this is what you will become?' How much can a computer tell you about yourself, so you answer a few questions with answers that have very little variety.

I guess that just sums up Americans even more. We always like things fast and quick paste. If only we could jump to the future.

Hw 53 - Compare!

When doing anything personal, there is always a 50/50 split between the crowd of people taking the survey. Some of us jump at the chance to answer questions about ourselves. But then there are the people who shy away from sharing the personal information about us. I would say that I'm in the middle of the spectrum. Though I did not take the survey I had the same feeling of wanting to answer questions about me. But at the same time I had no desire to share my information.


When the results were given out in class, I found that it was interesting to see how many people said that most people like them. We all know about the social imbalance of high school and cliques. It actually didn't bother me to not take the survey, I have had my fair share of surveys to take and this one didn't make it or break it for me.

What I found most interesting was the fact that so many people think that others like them. What occured to me after I put so much thought in to the results was 'how many of them were being honest?' I think that alot of us probably go through a survey in the same manner. We look through 50% of the boring questions and then when we get to the 'interesting' part we buck up and turn to honesty.

I think that comparing things such as surveys, helps us to see things more clesrly and deeper. I think that looking at different things and cross comparing things is a way to kind of 'read between the lines' it makes things so much more interesting
than they were before.

What I think is very interesting about teen surveys is the amount of times any sexual questions come up. I think it says alot about what people see in teens. I think that many adults would agree that most teens only think about sex and are very well versed in anything sexual. To some extent that is right, but they can't really know unless they hand out surveys, but who says we are being honest?

Hw 52 - Lights, Camera, Action

While in the womb we were being downloaded with all the conversational skills that we will ever need. We know just what to say when the time comes and we always have different versions of the same script, just in case plan a doesn't work out.

Take something like meeting someone who could be a potential friend, We have the exact script for that, but as the relationship changes so does the script that we need in order to deal with the situation at hand. Given there are things that might call for an improv act but usually we have got it all under control.

No matter what we will always need people around, we like people; maybe not all the time but most of the time we don't want to be alone. What's the point of a script if it just sits on the nightstand all day? Out purpose is to be social, we want people to see us for who we are so that they in turn like us and continue to want to be around us.

Sometimes we will meet a writer or director that we don't like and don't want to be around. But no matter how much we actually dislike someone else's script we always find ourselves around them because we need to feed of their attention. As shallow or pathetic as that sounds, its true we are like little attention whores (sorry for the harsh term).

Why is that? What makes attention so important? It kinda connects to being single. In movies and media single people seems to like being single because that can mess around with dozens of people without being tied down. So it seems like they could care less about attention, but at the same time they need a different person to adore them every night.

Same goes for relationships and friendships, we gotta get our attention fix anyway that we can no matter the cause. We need to get an agent, get an audition and hopefully get to play a part in someones movie.

Hw - 51 Thanks Death Cab For Cutie!

I was listening to this song and got the idea for Hw 51 below.


"Expo '86"

Sometimes i think this cycle never ends
We slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again
And it seems by the time that i have figured what it's worth
The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse.

But if i move my place in line i'll lose.
And i have waited, the anticipation's got me glued.

I am waiting for something to go wrong.
I am waiting for familiar resolve.

Sometimes it seems that i don't have the skills to recollect
The twists and turns of plots that turned us from lovers to friends
I'm thinking i should take that volume back up off the shelf
And crack it's weary spine and read to help remind myself

But if i move my place in line i'll lose.
And I have waited, the anticipation's got me glued.

I am waiting for something to wrong
I am waiting for familiar resolve
I am waiting for another repeat
Another diet fed by crippling defeat
And i am waiting for that sense of relief
I am waiting for you to flee the scene
As if you held in your hand the smoking gun
And on the floor lay the one you said you loved.

And it's strange
They are basically the same
So i don't ask names anymore.

Sometimes i think this cycle never ends
We slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again
And it seems by the time that i have figured what it's worth
The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse.

The squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse [x2]

Hw 51 - This Has To Be One Really Tall Ladder

Topic: We use school to move up the ladder, we climb up to reach our desired level only to fall again or find ourselves disappointed.

Intro: My face = me = my identity
Okay, so we all know that each and every one of us likes to be looked at as an individual. We like being on our own (or appearing to look like we are on our own) we roll in packs but only so we can be singled out. The packs that we roll in are specifically chosen so that we are unified and we don’t blend. This is what school is about. School is about you being in a place where you can say “hey… LOOK AT ME” without really saying “hey look at me”.

Teachers go through the same thing, though it seems hard to believe. The only difference is that teachers actually get to say “hey look at me” but it’s more in the form of… “This is going to count for your class work grade” yada yada yada. And this is how they force our cooperation. Teachers don’t roll in packs, they on the other hand like to prosper and have the luxury of the identity of the ‘lone ranger’ they don’t need no-boday to do nuffin.

We all end up disappointed in the end because we never really get what we want. We get tiny portions of what we want and then it is swiftly taken away. Take teachers for example, they all want to be in control of the class by any means necessary. That could mean they are standing up there making a fool of themselves, dissin’ the other students, making jokes, handing out zero’s…whatever it may be they need to do things that get them noticed. Teachers are like little 13 year olds begging for attention.

Now, don’t get me wrong we students are just as bad or maybe even worse. It’s become a teen routine to act like we have authority when we really don’t. It’s amazing how many of us like to walk out of class or curse out teachers or make fun of them on our blogs, we all want attention. It’s just harder for us to realize that we haven’t reached that step in the ladder…yet.

When a student walks in to class late like he or she is the man or woman, and they make a mockery of themselves by laughing and joking about it they are trying to place themselves on the same tier as the teacher. But this action, of ‘jumping the line’ actually bumps you down further than where you actually started from. This action brings you lower than you actually were. It’s a shame isn’t it?

The Card Game:Is anyone really winning?

The answer to that would be yes, we are the losers. Yes that’s right the losers we are at the bottom of the food chain. In theory we work harder than the teachers. We have to juggle work, social time, leisure time, ‘study time’, etc. It is a very hard task to pull away from the very engaging task of favorit-ing a group on Facebook. Teachers have no idea.

We students for the most part all feel the same about school yet we do nothing at all, we actually have the power we just fail to use it. We are the Robin to this superhero equation. We have the niche of servant, for lack of a better term. Okay we have been told that we need this in order for us to excel and to get a good job like mommy and daddy “but excuse me teacher I can promise you I won’t be needin’ no quadratic maff for ma everyday lyfe” and this student is probably right. But besides making a scene in front of the class this student will probably go home and crack open a textbook or search a Google page or allegedly copy(hey if you can’t prove it I ain’t do it) from someone in gym.

Now teachers on the other hand are…winners. This is true because they don’t really do anything. No matter if we get the nonsense lesson plan they threw together over their morning coffee or something they thought up while riding from their brownstone somewhere in Brooklyn. They get their papah no matter what. This is true…I promise. Now most teachers don’t gloat about this, this piece of information is only shared under two conditions.

1: the students are too oblivious to even contain anything the teacher is saying and most likely won’t remember this piece of crucial information either.

2: The teacher is already seen as an asshole, so this snarky condescending comment probably won’t hurt his or her rep much.

We all know that grades matter, above a 65 means that you have ticket outta here. But if not I hear that credit recovery is actually fun and easy. This doesn’t mean that student’s fail on purpose although some do; this just means that the motivation to do work fades when you realize that the Wii isn’t going to play itself. This probably won’t help your grade but everyone needs to practice hand-eye coordination. When teachers grade no one really questions it we just take it for what it is because ‘te-cha knows best’. Who’s to say that the teacher only bothered reading their favorite and gave everyone else ‘what they deserved’.

This does nothing but show you who is at the top of the ladder and who is and will remain at the bottom. But if you become a teacher’s favorite you throw a grappling hook to the pocket of a teacher and you gently move up a few tiers while no one is looking…or so you thought.

We Are Robots: I Know What You’re Thinking Cause You Told Me To Think It

Here’s the kicker, no matter how much we hate a teacher we will always follow him or her. The only difference is how much we try to hide the fact that we are actually retaining the things that we learn. What does it say about a student who will make it known five times a day that they obviously hate a class but will always be one of the first ten people in class every day? It says that he or she is well trained, ‘wike a good wittle doggie’.

The moment that proves this shows up in at least one class per day. This is a probable scene, there is a problem on the board and the teacher will stand in the front of the class and no one will raise their hand to answer the problem. Why? Either they don’t know the answer because they didn’t spend yesterday afternoon studying or flipping through notes, instead they got to the last level of HALO3. (This is probably not a bad way to spend an evening). Or they know that they are minions, but they don’t want to be desperate minions as well…cause that just screams desperate man.

What we students don’t like to admit is that we actually like a lesson; it’s rare that we actually admit this aloud. If we admit that we like a lesson that means that we admit that we like the teacher and if you admit that you like a teacher that means you’re eligible for several things. One being peer investigation, now this is major. If the pier investigation shows that you are in fact a teacher’s favorite you can either move up the ladder or down or both depending on who is judging. From a student’s point of view we don’t like it when other students are smarter than us so we are most likely going to view that as a demotion in the tier but we will secretly or sometimes not so secretly want to be you.

What All Of This Means: Uhhhh
Now to a teacher the point of school is to pass on knowledge to the students…and to make that papah… But most teachers fail at the first part of this because if they have been drilling a lesson in to our heads for 3 weeks and then when we are tested can produce nothing but vague bland answers that poses a problem. It means that the teacher isn’t really doing their job and if we fail they will be stuck with us for another year and odds are they don’t want that outcome either. (That’s where the emergency 65 comes in to play, the quick pass is given to the top 3 students who really don’t do any work but the teacher would much rather die or quit than see these 3 students in their class again so tada…you pass! E for EFFORT!)

We are in a cycle; there will be the students on the ladder whose mission is to buy and use their grappling hook, there are the students whose mission is to stay as low as possible ‘real unda the radar type shit’ but secretly and allegedly copy in gym, those who like to move up ONLY if they earn it. The thing is no matter what you end up sliding back down, because the favorite student will eventually graduate and will have a fresh new spot at the bottom in a new school, the people who earn it will have to start from scratch and find a new group of friends to study with on Saturday and the emergency 65 student will be turning 21 soon.

Hw 50- Read Em' And Learn

Mr. Gatto.
Summary: Gatto explains that he was an expert in boredom, that he was surrounded by it everywhere no matter where he went. Boredom is most obvious in the schools; students would be bored based on several reasons like, the teachers being just as bored as the kids or work being pointless and redundant. Gatto explains that his grandfather told him that it is his job to entertain himself when the feeling of boredom was upon him.

Response: Grades, yeah they matter. Well, what can we say we have been taught to understand that school is important and to be successful in this society we need money and power. The only way to achieve such a dream is to attend school and become obsessed with the double digit number that we receive after 3 months of being obedient. I think that it seems silly to try and identify the things that make us bored in school. Since nothing really happens when we do, no matter what we will continue to show up every morning and do our work no matter if we are bored or excited to be there, it is something that must be done.

Mr. Gatto
Summary: Gatto explains the rules that he teaches to his students in his classroom, rules that he would like all his students to know and follow. Gatto goes in depth explaining that he is the only authority figure in the classroom. He says that students belong in the classroom and should stay there. If they lose their way they are assigned numbers and will be returned to where they belong. Gatto demands that all his students be engaged in his lessons and to be fully interested in whatever he is teaching. In short, he as the teacher is in charge.

Response: Wow. These rules seem really absurd to me. Just the way that he ‘demands’ that students be interested in whatever he is teaching is just something that I can’t imagine. I know that teachers are the authority figures in the classroom but usually that is never really been pushed upon the students before. Rule 4 is something that I have always been familiar with. The teacher is the one who makes the lessons without the input of the students. I wonder why that is, if the students have to learn it then why don’t we get a say?

Mr. Freire
Link won’t load.

Ms. Delpit
Summary: Delpit talks about how kids need to have a foundation of things before they enter the school so that they know what the hell is going on. It isn’t a smart thing to drop your child off at school and just assume that they will know what is being taught, because to them the things that are being thrown at them will make no sense if they have never seen it before.

Response: I think that this is a great idea, to actually teach the child something before you thrown them to the wolves. What is better than you actually informing your child of the things that they will learn instead of a stranger? It offers the child to have an advantage and a chance to actually learn something and understand what they are staring at 6 hours a day. Delpit acknowledges that in order to be something [have power] in this society you have to be smart, starting with getting good grades.

SOF Educators
As we all know SOF is a little SOFt compared to someone like Gatto. I mean what Fanning said was true, we have always been granted second chances over and over again. Our teachers are nice and often put up with the immaturity that is presented upon them every class. But I can’t tell if they are bored or not. I think the students that attend SOF are a lot like the students in that super teacher film with the marine teacher. We have character and we are very diverse in attitudes etc.

Why do we need education? I think that a lot of us just take what we can and we
don’t question. Sure there are commotions in class but that is just something that delays us from actually learning what we can. For the most part we like our teachers…well some of them. I think that in a lot of ways SOF is different and in a lot of ways SOF is the same as other schools. We have teachers who are full of themselves we have teachers who place themselves above us and believe it or not we have teacher who actually want their students to like them.
The values of school in my opinion haven’t really changed much, we are still learning things that most of us won’t ever use and we are still being tested and we still hunt teachers down for our number grade. .. but hey, we are preparing for college right?

Hw- 49 Oh, Cry Me A River...

The message that we have been getting about savior teacher films are that the teachers always have something to offer that the kids never knew they needed. Which is fine, but it confuses me on how the teachers know what the kids need and how they will come to need this knowledge in the future. Of the films that we have seen it has become a trend, a new teacher being told to teach a 'helpless' bunch of kids.

What isn't highlighted is the affect that the kids have on the teacher as well. Which I think is just as important as the savior teacher role. In Ester and Gavin's film the beginning is pretty much the same as the other films, a bunch kids that would much rather spend the class talking. Not to mention the brand spanking new teacher who thinks that they are capable of handling a bunch of teenagers as well as the class who thinks that they know everything and are above direction.

Since their film stared out very typical I was expecting the ending to be hopeful and the kids would all rejoice and love their new teacher for all the knowledge that they have learned. But the ending surprised me. The teacher returned back to old habits and lost hope before the kids did. This was also a nice twist. It makes me think that the film is saying that there is no hope or that hope is short lived. Eventually your life will catch up with you.

I think that the film is saying that there is a fantasy land and then there is reality. It was a dream, or wishful thinking that brought the new teacher to believe that he could tame a group of students who were already grounded in their ways. But the reality of his problem was too much to handle, and the reality caught up to him quicker than he realized. It was quick as well.

In the other teacher films the teacher never gave up, they kept pushing for something within the kids. They did things that caught the attention of the hopeless kids until one class they didn't have to try anything else to gain attention or respect. In our society teachers are looked up to. Other adults look up to teachers to help to save their kids from the dangers of other teens and magazines. I think that in film a teachers job is very much exaggerated.

I have been in school for 13 years and I plan to be in school for at least 4 more years. So far I have yet to encounter a teacher who has had a class like the one in Freedom Writers for example. I think that savior teacher films are desperate pleas for teachers so that students will look at these other students and realize that they dint want to be compared to gangbangers and with therefore strive to be more than that. These films are lies and exaggerated stories. Man up teachers, life isn’t that bad.

School Lyrics: College Kids By: Relient K

"College Kids"

someone please save us, us college kids!
what my parents told me is what i did
they said go to school and be a college kid
but in the end i question why i did

i'm poor, i'm starving, i'm flat broke, i've got no cash to spend
sell all my books for front row tickets to dave matthews band
my girlfriend's at another school, i know this year will test her
i called, found out she had three other boyfriends last semester

and that's why i say
oh no! not for me, not for me
call it torture, call it university
no! arts and crafts is all i need
i'll take calligraphy and then i'll make a fake degree

80 grand later i found out that all that i had learned
is that you should show up to take your finals and your midterms
the party scene is kinda mean, i think it's sick and twisted
the navy showed up at my dorm and claimed that i enlisted

and that's why i say
oh no! not for me, not for me
call it torture, call it university
no! arts and crafts is all i need
i'll take calligraphy and then i'll make a fake degree

don't get excited. she'll say "no" without a doubt you see
and i've decided college girls just won't go out with me
they make me nervous and they always catch me off my guard
like cell phone services i drop out cause college is too hard

it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
good grades aren't what they seem
i think he knows the dean
it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
he says he's proud of me
but college always was his dream
and i would always say it's not for me

oh no! not for me, not for me
call it torture, call it university
no! arts and crafts is all i need
i'll take calligraphy and then i'll make a fake degree

someone please save us, us college kids!
what my parents told me is what i did
they said go to school and be a college kid
but in the end i question why i did

do what will make you happy
do what you feel is right
only but one thing matters
learn how to live your life

[in background:]
(phi, beta, delta, cappa
someone please save us, us college kids!
what my parents told me is what i did
they said go to school and be a college kid
but in the end i question why i did)

do what will make God happy
do what you feel is right
only but one thing matters
learn how to live your life

Hw 48 - Treament for the Happy Student

EXTERIOR: Diner, about half full 11:30am

Greg talks with his father about taking up a teaching job at a prestigious school that is hiring for the first time in 12 years. His father is stern and unmoving. Greg has never had his fathers approval in anything that he has ventured out to do ever since he could remember. he knew that this meeting would only end in disappointment.

INTERIOR Motel Room 2:00pm

Greg has always had trouble keeping jobs ever since he was a pool boy in his youth. Greg swore to quit smoking but always found that he had spares whenever he felt that his nerves would overwhelm him. He spent days pacing back and forth in front of the telephone surrounded by clouds of indecision on calling the school out of fear of seeming to desperate.

INTERIOR Principal's Office

Greg gets the job and begins just before the students return from the summer. He is both amused and surprised that he 'had what it took' to get the position. He comes home with happy news only to find that his girlfriend of 3 years has left him for his best friend. By the time the actual job starts Greg is swimming in a pool of depression.

INTERIOR Class Room

Greg is teaching an existentialism elective to the most oblivious and happy students that he has ever come across. The students are not brought down by Greg's ever constant sour mood. Greg presses on with new interesting and depressing lessons to bring down the spirits of all of his students, to open their eyes to the real world.

Hw 47- Ideas...

Ideas:

Teacher that has had years of experience, believes that he can tame any class with his mastery of knowledge. This teacher is hired for a new course that has never been offered at this school (so that technically it's like a first year).
Most likely we would need a formal classroom setting. Chairs in order, etc.

Students coming in from lunch late, in the middle of the lesson. Being disruptive and talking. The teacher gets their attention by relating to the topic that the students are talking about. Ex: tv show or song.

Plot:

The main idea is that the teacher teaches the students something new that they can apply to their own personal lives. From that the teacher usually learns something as well. In most cases the teacher sees his or her own life differently. I think that we should have our teacher connect to the whole class in stead of just one student.

Cast:

We don't need to have a alpha student since we all don't listen to one student.

Hw 46- Its Really Really Easy

So, I wanted to get the idea across that we are... taken care of. We like tips and instructions just as well as a shortcut. Examples are appriciated and if we can get the teacher to throw in some sort of cheat sheet we'll take that too. There are hundreds of books out there in costume. Chicken Noodle Soup for the teen soul, is a series of books that help teens, preteens and children to deal with friends, enimies and the other obstacles that surround the domain that we call school. Chicken Noodle Soup (CNS), branches out from middle scho to high school etc.

CNS, comes with chapters and chapters of stories and examples of what to do in certian situations that happen all throughout teen and preteen schooling. Some of the books come with annotated stories. Some with comments from the author and some with q an a's. The books are laid out so easily for the reader. The author nails down every last detail to the T. Of course each book comes with the cliche subtext ' being a teen is a challange'. Each book is cleverly labeled and laid out is catogories: friends, love, tough stuff, living lessons, etc.

These books are just an extention of how we are spoon fed everything. We never really learn how to do things for ourselves, we are taught things and we don't move on from there. We are then given books that baby us even more than teachers do. The books and examples go as far as giving exact situations that happen in school. Almost as if we don't even have to handle the things that happen to us because someone has written down a simple set of instructions that simply walk us through and tell us everything that we need to know in order to 'get through it'.

Hw- 45 Back In My Day...

Okay. So what I gathered is that both of these fellas were the fathers of a particular form of education. Which a lot of people assume is so different from one another.

I looked at the short article that compares both style of teaching. The debate seems foolish since the article states "Hirsch worries mostly about elementary schools, Sizer about high schools" this quote right here should automatically nullify any of the arguments that the teaching styles have against each other.

Hirsch apparently believes that "Students should be able to read and know basic number facts by the end of the first grade" which I believe that many kids can do by the end of first grade as well as basic math. Sizer believes "Students should leave school as well-informed skeptics, able to ask good questions as a matter of habit". To me that idea seems a little far fetched.

When you look at most high school students today the idea of "oh these kids can ask some pretty good questions" is not one that comes to mind when you see freshmen smoking directly outside of school. I think that the teaching styles from 1st to 12 grade differ on a wider spectrum than most people realize.

When kids are in lower grades the independence is in full effect and they still want to hold on to mommy's ankle for as long as they can. As we get older we tend to whisper and sometimes yell f*** off as we shut the front door behind us and welcome the idea of leaving for college.

Honestly I think that both of the ideas of Hirch and Sizer has been lost over time. I think that since TV programs have become something that a lot of kids and teens watch the task of studying has become something that is almost archaic. More and more kids are having a harder time focusing and having an easier time blaming the teacher for various reasons (though sometimes valid).

A lot of the ideas of knowledge has been lost over time and it seems a little weird that the people that argue about it are a long ways out of both middle school and high school. School social norms and styles are always changing so getting the opinion of someone who graduated high school in 1999 no longer has a valid opinion when it comes to high school or middle school because most likely it isn't what it was like 10+ years ago. That's like a 12 year old giving stock market options.

I think that to a point kids care about their education but not to the point to look up or even care about the history or the foundation of their schools.

Hw-44 You're Gonna Go Far Kid

We are officially at a point where we mostly wonder why we are stuck in school to begin with. By this time we can't really point out why we need school. We as students can say all the things that bother us about school and the people that are assiociated with it. Why is it so much easier to say "homework is pointless" before saying "I'm lucky my school has a GSA" I think it has become a social norm to hate school. It's something that is not to be questioned.

How did we get here?

School is hyped up to a point where if you have never been you antisipate the greatest thing ever. And as it so happens school is the greatest thing ever but something happens in between getting bullied or failing a class where your motivation seems to be on an eternal downfall. In Obama's speach he says that you have to believe in yourself and never give up. If you give up you not only give up on yourself but you give up on your country. Wow... really?

School is the place where the most judgement happens. Either you're too skinny or too smart or too fat or too dumb or ugly blah blah blah. In a place like that how can you be motivated to always believe in yourself? As previously discussed school is a place where the eternal contest of cool is being held. 'if you can't stand the heat get outta the kitchen' is the high school anthem.

Socially there is so much going on that even the slightest thing can manipulate the direction of your mood. Thus it becomes easier to shatehat we hate about school before listing what we love. Everyone loses sight of what school is for. But then again have we ever really had a clear understanding of what school is there for?

We have the cliche definition of why we need school but how can we know if what we have been told and taught holds truth? No matter what there is always a way to disprove what has been drilled into the various spaces in our heads.

I wonder what the alternative is for when we don't believe in ourselves? What happens then? Does the country stop to check up on us? Do we stand united? Not at all. I believe it's because all our lives we have stood alone. School pushes the 'every man for himself' clause on us and that is what sticks with us. We fight till the death in an endless cool battle, or we end up trying to prove our worth academically and even if you're in the 'i don't give a damn' crowd there are even people competing for who doesn't care the most.

School is a game but the players never win. But hey believe in yourself champ.

Hw - 42 Uh...Important Things aka Significance

The American school system babies its students thus preserving the immaturity in its kids. We never really grasp the idea of 'growing up' we have become used to a childish routine.

I think that this topic is important because the better half on teens are stuck in this realm of immaturity. Is it our fault? When I look back on how the school system is we have been hand fed, burped, and put to bed for the last 13+ years. Its all we have known. Daily reports on lateness and reminders on who is passing or failing. Let's not forget the "Timmy do you have your homework today?"'s. I know personally that teachers ask on a daily basis about work and projects and yada yada yada.

We get stuck in this routine thinking that teachers, these 'superior' people who essentially control your high school career with a simple number or letter. I think we get so used to having everything all done for us until we reach the point where we get a huge slap in the face telling us the grow up. We let things and places like high school become the pinnacle of our lives because we think this is where it all is. Having teachers grade your work and cut you slack.

Why is this all that we know?

Take a look at our society, everyone is obsessed with age. Preventing it or relishing it is something that we can see everyday. How many movies have their been where some old guy is disappointed with his life *gasp* until one day he gets a magical chance to re-do his life. We have been filtered to believe that age is bad and that when it comes we need cosmetics to make it all go away. Here we have this obsession with time...all the time.

How many seniors will say "I can't believe its over" Granted you will miss your friends and the popularity or whatever. But I think its deeper than that. Leaving high school means growing up. High school, middle school and elementary school were places that let us crawl around, roll around, fall in love, act a fool without consequence or worry and now we are scared out of our minds.

Some of us appear to be embracing the fact that we can get the hell out of here. Some of us like the idea of being on our own. But is that just another childish idea? Something that lets us run away from mommy for a while. A mini adventure that allows us continues to roll around to get dirty to rip holes in our jeans.

We all say things or have heard things like "We are wasting our youth in school!" or "Everything is easy when you're young" Why does it have to be that way? Why do we all end up wishing we could rewind the clock just a little bit? We are in this mindset of valuing the 'glory days' so when reality comes zooming by to slap us in the face we don't know what to do. We wake up wishing that we could go back.

That leads me to think about why there are so many of us that are immature. It seems that we have been taught to value our young years and hating the birthdays after 29. Its weird but I think alot of us might miss the 'goo goo gah gah' phase.

Is this a bad thing? It looks like we have only been doing what we have been taught.

Hw 41- Color Me Stupid *Edited*

Now that we are actually looking at school on a 'closer' level we seem to be questioning everything that we hear or see. It looks like we all dread school, more often that not you'll walk down the halls and hear someone complaining that we don't have nap time anymore and that the math that we are learning is pointless. Recently it has become clear that it is easier to find reasons to dislike school rather than to embrace and enjoy.

When you ask people "Hey, why do we need school?" you can expect the cliche answer of "So that we can get into college and get good jobs" Why is that the one answer that everyone seems to know? Was this something that we have been taught? How come it's so easy to remember the lunch menu but no one can recite the quadratic equations? We say that we need school to get smarter and blah blah blah but it looks like we just dumb ourselves down.

I think its because we dread growing up. For so long we have had everything drilled into our heads, constitutions, chemical bonding, geography, geometry, biology...it has become this routine that we are generally fond with and the thought of actually having to get off your arse is a scary one. If you think about it there is an undertone of 'grow the f*** up' in school, its just that some of us have become too wound up in the lovely-ness of immaturity.

It seems that the older we get the more babied we have become, we are more and more dependant on our teachers to do and say basically everything for us so that we don't have to think. Where has our motivation gone?

"Tips on how to keep your child motivated." Mama's Health. 2009. Mama'sHealth, Web. 24 Feb 2010. .

Mama's health.com suggests that there are things that can be done so that your child continues to be motivated for school. Simple things like being interested in whatever is going on at school or simply helping your child to develop better studying habits.

Johnson, David. "Color Psychology." Infoplease. 2007. Infoplease, Web. 24 Feb 2010. .

Info Please. com explains how certain colors help to evoke certain moods. It makes me think of how drastically your mood can changes when in school just by walking into a different room when in school.

(most of the sources I used were pretty similar to those listed above)

How everything ties in: Our entire 13+ years in school have done nothing but help to baby us into thinking that everything gets handed to us, therefor this causes us to loose our motivation about school because everything has been made so easy and accessible that we go limp. Not to mention the large setting changes that affect us on a daily basis that constantly throws us into to mood swings.

This could all be connected to how our concentration is lost over time because we have been filtered to believe by our peers that playing our role in school and saving face is more important that actually paying attention in class. School has become a pathetic popularity contest which causes our list of priorities to become screwed up.

Addition:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2172364_maintain-immaturity-throughout-life.html

Who knew? tthis site provides pointers on how to mainteain and manage the immaturity that surrounds your life. The site puts a good spin on it basically saying that having a bit of immaturity in your life can actually be a good thing. It doesn't really connect it to school but it does give some kind of insight.

Hw 40- The People Make The Person

Talking about school doesn't seem to be interesting to alot of current teens because we don't really have anything to look back on. I believe that when talking about school with older people you strike them back to the 'ol glory days' and how they used to chase the pretty girls or how they had the times of their lives. But then you get the sour adults who tell you about how the starting quarterback gave them daily swirlys.

Which begs the question...What makes school fun? or not fun?

I got this idea by from watching movie to be honest. One movie in particular The Wood which is basically about a bunch of guys that are looking back the 'glory days' and how they may or may not have let the loves of their lives slip away.

My first interviewer...Lets call him Thomas.

Q: What was your favorite time of the school day?
A: The morning...No wait the late afternoon.
Q: Why?
A: (forced laugh) One being 16 had alot to do with it. I mean who likes to be cooped up for hours shuffling from room to room. I mean I also liked lunch too. But its embarrassing to say that I liked getting out of school so that I could see my girlfriend.
Q/R: Aw, that's sweet. So would you say that knowing that you would see her made school fun?
A: Not really, I had to wait until after school to see her so in that context school just seemed like something that had to be done in order to so what I really wanted to do.

My second interviewer...Lets call her Suzie.

Q: What's the most important thing that you remember about school?
A: I don't know. (laughs) It was so long ago girl!
Q: Well would you say it was classes or friends or relationships...?
A: Work I guess, I was very studious. I liked to get my assignments in on time. I liked making sure that everything was done when it had to be done. I remember having one close friend but she moved away in my junior year.
Q: If you had to use one word to describe school what would it be?
A: Necessary.

My third interviewer...Lets call him Ben.

Q: If you had to describe school using one word what would it be?
A: Uh...hard?
Q: Why would you use that word?
A: Well its my first year of college and I think I went into it in a stereotypical mindset that once I reached this step in my life that I would be free to do what I wanted and that somehow it would be easier I guess.
Q: Huh, if you could eliminate school as a component in your life would you?
A: No...Yeah...(laughes) parts of it.
Q: Which parts?
A: The parts where I was failing or taking tests or fighting with my friends or single.

My fourth interviewer...Me.

Q: If I had to describe school in one word what would it be?
A: Weird.
Q: Why?
A: Because we all follow rules but we can't really place the origin of them, we wasted the youngest years of our lives in school to then waste more years of it paying for it and in some cases are not even promised a job. Mostly we are defined by numbers and our ability to remember.
Q: Would you say that school is fun?
A: Sometimes. I feel like school is made up of the people. Sometimes its fun to be around people and sometimes its not...

Part B

When I was interviewing Thomas and Suzie it got me to thinking about youth. I think that in someways when reminiscing about school we come down to one question: was it fun? I would say that we enjoy our time better when we are having fun and enjoying ourselves. Since we spend a good chunk of our lives in school being talked at, we tend to judge school as fun or not fun. Making a connection it seems like we remember school as fun relating to our popular status. As shallow as it sounds it seems to be true.

But why?

Is something only fun when you have people doing whatever you say and staring at you on a daily or hourly basis? Hmm... I think the things that make school fun is mostly the people and possibly the grades. I mean if you want to get somewhere in life (depending on the society that you are living in and what you have been taught to believe)

I think the people part of school is the most interesting part of school because no matter where you go in life you are going to meet all different kinds of people and alot of us can learn and pick up some people skills. We might not need trigonometry or chemistry as much as we need to know how to get to know people because you'll never know who you might meet or who might change your life. It seems to me that we all have this view of 'BOO School!!!' but somehow we all show up at 8:30 (sometimes later) to be talked at for hours without knowing why. And we have never thought to question it.

Hw - 39 Re-do

Interesting Questions
1. Why is there a power structure in school?
2. Why are we defined by our numbers?
3. Why do we all have the same 'school dreams'?

Fascinating Questions
1. Why do teachers wear the badge of 'I've done this already, I don't need this'?
2. Why is there so little time in between classes?
3. Why is it bad to cut class?

Powerful Questions
1. Why is there so much homework?
2. Why do teachers like to be nosy?
3. Why can't we call our teachers by by their first names?

Ideas...
1. School is like a 'legal prison'
2. This idea of school has been passed down for so long we no longer question it
3 The only reason people like school is to show-off
4. School is just another way to meet people and prove yourself
5. School is like a stage, where the teachers are our directors

Part B. Why do teachers have all of the power?/ Why do teachers wear the badge of "I've already done this, I don't need this"?

To begin with us 'kids' have been brought us to believe that adults need to be respected by all those uh...below them. I find that this statement can be true sometimes but not when you want to be equal. Like those teachers who say 'don't call me by my first name' Why not..? We all have first names, why are we being reduced to calling you by your last name? Are you ashamed of your first name? I think that this gives teachers the rush of being in charge, of being the authority figure. But they don't want to admit this. They say its a term of respect. Why can't we share the power? I'd like to see some of the students prepare a lesson plan or two. Instead of teachers wasting their time teaching us how to count the amount of atoms in Au.

As well as the very unfair chain of power, teachers feel as though when students feel the need to have a tiny bit of free time the teachers often gets uptight and yells something like 'one mic' or 'we are wasting your time' or '...I don't need this' or 'the homework is going to be on this material' right... No matter what happens in the 55 minutes the teacher doesn't lose any pennies from their paycheck.

Does that mean that teachers really care about their jobs?

or

They have to be in control the entire period, so when the attention isn't on them...that becomes a problem.

What's also weird is how teachers take forever to grade things, but they are constantly giving out more and more work to students; which results in a longer period of ungraded work. But God 'fahbid' we ask what our grade is... all hell breaks loose. 'True Story'.

Why do teachers think that we need this?

I'm sure that if you ask a teacher "Why do you do what you do?" or "Why is it important for us to learn what you're teaching us?" or "When are we going to use this math?" We will most likely get some generic answers about how this material is a part of the core curriculum and that we must learn this to graduate in order to get in to a good college blah blah blah. Or something like "I'll address that after school, for now get back to work please"

I don't think that we will ever get the answers that we want to any of the questions that we have about school. We all have the image of getting a 'good job' and going to a good college and for so long that image, that idea was all that we needed for the motivation for school. I mean for some reason we think that its such a bad thing to cut class or school. We fear and dread being late or absent and having to catch up on days of homework. We can't evade that call home. We drag ourselves here every morning but we don't really know why. We just know that we have to or else. School has become a place where a large question mark hovers over and we have lost the energy to wonder why we come here and why we invite ourselves to the sold out show we call our lives.

Hw - 39- We Go To School To Get Smarter And Work Harder...Right?

Questions about 'Skewl'...

1. Why are we defined by our numbers?
2. Why do teachers have the power?
3. Why are teachers exempt from being late?
4. Why do teachers get to hover over students but students can't hover over teachers?
5. Why do teachers wear the badge of 'I've done this already, I don't need this'?
6. Why does school start at 8:30am?
7. Why is lunch so short?
8. Why can teachers have phones out but students cannot?
9. Why do students have to ask to go to the bathroom in some classes but don't in others?
10. Why is there so much homework?
11. Why do students like to be nosy?
12. Why do teachers like to be nosy?
13. Why do we have double periods?
14. Why is it bad to cut class?
15. Why do teachers play roles?
16. Why is there a food chain in school?
17. Why are we forced to work in groups?
18. Why do we have assigned seats?
19. Why are we tested?
20. Why can't we text in class?
21. Why can't we call our teachers by by their first names?
22. Why do we need permission to leave early?
23. Why do we need late passes?
24. Why is there so little time in between classes?
25. Why don't teachers do their own homework?
26. Why can't everyone get a 100%

Part B. Why do teachers have all of the power?/ Why do teachers wear the badge of "I've already done this, I don't need this"?

To begin with us 'kids' have been brought us to believe that adults need to be respected by all those uh...below them. I find that this statement can be true sometimes but not when you want to be equal. Like those teachers who say 'don't call me by my first name' Why not..? We all have first names, why are we being reduced to calling you by your last name? Are you ashamed of your first name? I think that this gives teachers the rush of being in charge, of being the authority figure. But they don't want to admit this. They say its a term of respect. Why can't we share the power? I'd like to see some of the students prepare a lesson plan or two. Instead of teachers wasting their time teaching us how to count the amount of atoms in Au.

As well as the very unfair chain of power, teachers feel as though when students feel the need to have a tiny bit of free time the teachers often gets uptight and yells something like 'one mic' or 'we are wasting your time' or '...I don't need this' or 'the homework is going to be on this material' right... No matter what happens in the 55 minutes the teacher doesn't lose any pennies from their paycheck.

Does that mean that teachers really care about their jobs?

or

They have to be in control the entire period, so when the attention isn't on them...that becomes a problem.

What's also weird is how teachers take forever to grade things, but they are constantly giving out more and more work to students; which results in a longer period of ungraded work. But God 'fahbid' we ask what our grade is... all hell breaks loose. 'True Story'.

Why do teachers think that we need this?

I'm sure that if you ask a teacher "Why do you do what you do?" or "Why is it important for us to learn what you're teaching us?" or "When are we going to use this math?" We will most likely get some generic answers about how this material is a part of the core curriculum and that we must learn this to graduate in order to get in to a good college blah blah blah. Or something like "I'll address that after school, for now get back to work please"

I don't think that we will ever get the answers that we want to any of the questions that we have about school. We all have the image of getting a 'good job' and going to a good college and for so long that image, that idea was all that we needed for the motivation for school. I mean for some reason we think that its such a bad thing to cut class or school. We fear and dread being late or absent and having to catch up on days of homework. We can't evade that call home. We drag ourselves here every morning but we don't really know why. We just know that we have to or else. School has become a place where a large question mark hovers over and we have lost the energy to wonder why we come here and why we invite ourselves to the sold out show we call our lives.

Hw - 38 - To Be or Not To Be?

Well since the holiday of love is coming up, lets focus cool around that. We all know from last year that Americans find someway to milk money out of anyone who has a job, a wallet or parents with a job and wallet. What we don't realize is that Valentines Day forgets about those...other people. You know? The ones not in a couple...

Third Wheel Skit

Characters:

Bob- The star uh... Rugby player. You know he's all 'buff' and not to mention 'brolic' good looking...blah blah blah

Jamie- Bob's girlfriend for a shocking 6 months! Smart and on her way to the honor roll...not there yet

Jennifer- Jamie's best friend since 7th grade, they have gone through everything together...just about everything.

Setting: The rugby field, after practice. Jamie runs to Bob who is smiling waiting for her embrace.

Bob: hey honey, you didn't have to wait for practice to finish

Jamie: Eh, why not? We will end up spending the day together anyway.

Bob: [now hugging her] True, just let me get changed. Can you meet me at the car in about 10 minutes?

Jamie: [kisses him on the cheek] sure thing.

-Meanwhile, Jamie rests on the hood of the car. She greets her friend Jenifer as she walks up to her-

Jamie: Hey, hun what's up?

Jennifer: Hey. I was just in the computer lab finishing my history paper.

Jamie: Sounds like fun. Have any plans tonight?

Jennifer: [shrugs] No,not really.

Jamie: Aw, but it's Friday.

Jennifer: I think I know my days of the week. What are you doing tonight?

Jamie: I think Bob and I are gonna go catch a movie, early v-day treat.

Jennifer: Oh...

Jamie: [readjusts her book bag] Do you wanna come?

Jenifer: Uh, I don't know.

Jamie: Oh, come on it'll be fun! All of us watching a great movie. It's been a while.

Jennifer: I know its been a while, but I don't think you guys want some awkward third wheel hanging around when you guys want some personal time.




1. What insights about cool does the art integrate? What do you hope people will realize or question from their encounter with your art?

This brings me back to the idea of 'contradicting cool'. Because in a way it was nice of Jamie to invite her friend since she didn't really have plans. But it was also cool for Jenifer to decline the offer to give her and her friend's boyfriend some time alone.

I think I want people to realize that cool can be looked at in several different views and that everyone who thinks that there is this supreme cool might just be wasting their time. I want people to question why there are so many different ideas on how and what cool is and why they all are not 'cool'.

2. Describe the process of making the project - how'd you do each step? If it was a group project, what did you contribute?

I knew that I wasn't going to do a video project from the start. I wanted to write something that people could easily relate to or could at least make a connection on. Since V-day is coming up I thought it would be best to do something that had to do with couples...

3. Does making art seem cool to you? Why or why not?

Sure. I like the idea of art, I just don't think that my 'art' is what other people would see as art. The 'universal idea' of art is painting and drawing etc. I would say that making art is cool, because it gives you a chance to express yourself at a different angle with words or pictures or drawings. Artists are cool and hot. But like the contradicting ideas that we all have of cool, they can be applied to any and everything that we have different views on.

Hw - 37 Whatever You Do Don't Break Character

Intro: Screws fall out all the time, The World's an imperfect place.

To some extent we all care about being cool. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live or how much 'papah you get'. We have our definitions and our idols, we have our rap songs, our instrumental songs, our repetitive songs and of course our love songs. What's odd is that this idea of cool has got our backs against the wall. As Cage The Elephant says "The alters callin’/But my legs won’t seem to stand /Guess I'm a coward /Scared to face the man I am". We alter, we make up and tailor our idea's of cool to our pleasure.

Paragraph 1: What Are We Doing?

What the hell is cool?

There are so many possible cool answers to that question that its ridiculous. Why aren't we all cool? Are we? John Smith was cool. Its weird that if you fit in and look like everyone else you're cool, but if you stand out and rebel you're also cool... Which path do you choose? I love how the stereotypes play in here. When you're black its somehow cool to cut class and go to gym. When you're white its somehow cool to act black. But if you're black its uncool to act white... Results may vary.

Why do we even have to act? Good question.

You can't really tell if you is you or you is someone else. Given we can't really build ourselves without taking a peek at someone elses blueprints. How do we even know what we want? I think it has alot to do with desire. Its obvious that we all are not the same. We all possess different labels, and we 'roll with' different people, but why? Are some blueprints better than others? No one is original, but yet we call people 'biters'. Its weird that most of the time we don't even remember where our style came from. We build ourselves but we can't keep track. But 'God fahbid' we see someone wearing something that we have or saying something that we said. 'That's a fight on my block'.

Its weird how we think we have the freedom to jump around. When we really don't.

We think we do, but the minute someone steps out of their perforated edge box, there's going to be a problem. This is fact. That's somehow makes Person A a fake. Its like Person A didn't get his 'cool promotion'. In order to move up that ladder you have to be brought up by someone who's 'rep' is up there. Its tricky. But also a rags to riches story is often appreciated.

How can anyone be cool if all of our definitions vary? Everyone loves the star basketball player...I could care less.

Paragraph 2: Screw The Dictionary

How do we see ourselves? I think we like to see ourselves in our own definitions of cool so that we are infinitely cool. Take a topic like love. Something that most teens encounter, (some of us more than others). Everyone sees love in a different light. Its not cool if a guy doesn't 'wanna hang wid da fellahs' to be with his girl. But its soooooooo sweet when a girl remembers the first word she ever said to her crush.

What's with the double standards?

Lyrics like "this is the first day of my life /I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you /But now I don’t care I could go anywhere with you /And I’d probably be happy" from Bright Eyes are sweet, this guy is cool. But Romeo who says: "See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!" is somehow 'whipped'. Is it how we play our roles that make us cool? or are some roles just eternally doomed? Its odd that we don't see this. Its like being cool requires us to step outside of ourselves, but no one really does that. Maybe none of us are cool. With the ever changing definitions of cool, soon it'll be pretty cool to not be cool.

Its like we don't fit cool. Cool fits us. Its almost like there is no universal cool.

Paragraph 3: Gah. Its Not Working!

Take this: "Armed with an eye for contradictions /She sees completely through me.... /Armed with a plethora of insecurities /we keep each other amused.." We try so hard to say 'this is who I am' but then why is it so easy to tear down someones entire image with a few words? We don't want to look fake or be called on our bluff. We don't want to go over 21. Is it even possible to be completely 'true'?

That would mean that we have to know ourselves.

But we all know that change is constant, we adapt and transform who we are in order to fit the quota of someone elses definition. I don't think that it happens on purpose. Like when you sit at a table with people, and one person takes a certain form, its as if by magic everyone else begins to take that form. Its true. (I can't remember who told me that, it was either Gavin, Esther, or Amanda.)

How odd is it to realise that you are acting like someone else? If that's true who is the person you're following acting like? When we figure this out what does that say about us? Maybe its because we don't want to admit that we are not original and that we in fact are just like someone else. We create the image of who we want to be and we go with that. We pretend that this figure, this figment of our imagination is us. Like Jack from fight club. "Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility!"

"All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I f*** like you wanna f***, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not."

As messed up as that sounds we are all a little like that. We create some better version of ourselves and we challenge ourselves to become what we wish we were. But if it shows that we are putting on a show then we are pursuers of cool have failed, and must start again.

This is where it comes in handy to be able to recreate what cool is. What happens when the person that we create becomes cool, but its not the 'you' that 'you' wanted to project?

Conclusion: What Mirror, Where?

So we've explored cool, what now? Nothing. We will continue to run to the stage when the audience screams encore. We love the roses that are thrown at our feet. We like to be on the stage while people look up to marvel our performances. But its not only up to the 'players' the audience too is stuck in their roles. The players have their understudies and there will always be a new audience.

We still want what we want. Even if we have to list it. "I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnng jacket /I want a girl who gets up early /I want a girl who stays up late /I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity /Who used a machete to cut through red tape /With fingernails that shine like justice /And a voice that is dark like tinted glass"

People can change. But we wont. We will still look up to this idea of cool no matter what angle we see it. Tomato, Toemahto. The thing about the theater is that there will always be new roles, hot new directors and someone looking to prove themselves.

Roll Call. Who do you want to be today?


Works Cited (Just the links, not MLA style)

http://classiclit.about.com/od/romeoandjuliet/a/aa_romeojulietq.htm

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/brighteyes/firstdayofmylife.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love

http://www.lyricsmania.com/back_against_the_wall_lyrics_cage_the_elephant.html

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/motioncitysoundtrack/makeoutkids.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/cake/shortskirtlongjacket.html

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=biter

Hw 36- Comments

To Ian:

Thesis: A hero's journey is a blue print in which corporations and governments use to control the masses.

Revised: Often, the path that a hero takes is pioneered, processed and given to the preformers of cool.

First Paragraph: hoildays are days in which poeple do actions and try there best to mmake there lives for that day match a pictuer they seen in a coloring book or some thing. there is never that much of a surprise in the sense that your day should be like xyz what ever that might mean if it is gifts , candy , giving money , fire works or what ever there is a preconviced notion on how the day should play out any thing less sucks.

Revised: Holidays are times when people dress up and imitate something that seems much cooler than they actually are. Its almost as if life has been dumbed down to something so simple that it seems like our days have little to no meaning at all. It really is something to think about. Why has pretending become a hobby?

Thoughts: I think that Ian's paper is interesting and it has great tone and an awesome topic. I just think that his ideas should be a little bit clearer for the reader. Otherwise, it's am awesome start and an interesting paper.

To Francesca: Okay so what I'm getting is that you're focusing on how teens are often targeted to project this image of cool. I agree. I think that you opened up your paper well. I like the questions but maybe you should save them for when the reader has had more time to adjust to what you're getting at. Your intro should just state your thesis, something like: teens are used to project the image of "cool". You have some great ideas maybe you should tie in moew images of cool and how we can possibly escape the trap? Good start.

Hw - 35 My Hot Draft of My Cool Paper

Intro:

The movies, the books, the shows, the songs and mostly people have shown us that "cool" is a chase. We are all running, jogging, skipping (you know who you are), walking and rolling towards this glowing mixture of a silver and gold platter of coolness. What we don't accept is that WE WILL NEVER (yeah I mean NEVER) REACH IT. Dress it up how you like, change the angle of the picture as you see fit but its never how we want it to be. Cool is a state of mind, we dress it up & design our own definitions as we see fit.

Leading You On:

There is the image of the "cool" guy that we all have in our heads. You know the universal 'All American Bad Ass' He's got the big Harley and wears that leather jacket year round. We have been tricked to think that this guy is cool. Who made him cool? Why do all the girls mindlessly flutter in his direction? Its because he fits the image of what cool is.

If its sooooooo easy why aren't we all cool?

Dunno. The image of what "cool" is seems to change faster than people can spontaneously change to fit the next image. Its a matter of anticipating the next move of the opponent. Which might be harder. If you know what "cool" is you can make yourself into what its defined as. We depend on cool...no we depend on the image of cool. If you fit the definition of the word you become the word. Ta-da! We used to be forced to think that there was only one way to be cool. Now.. not so much. Cool is mostly what you make it out to be. Go be a Rebel With A Cause.

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice:

Creating a new definition to cool is not an easy task. Most of us see cool as how much we get noticed by our followe...I mean friends. When you're making your new mixture you've got to think about what people already concieve as cool and put your own twist to it. This usually never works, because when people "add their own twists" it just ends up being a bulls*** ripoff of the original. Like

Girl that doesn't give a s*** ---> Girl that doesn't give a s*** but goes to SGI

I mean we can't all be original. But we get so caught up in the scene of "look at me" we don't realize that we are just making carbon copies of ourselves. Once people realize that cool is all in your head we might actually get somewhere. What's really cool is how many cool definitions there are and how many people fit the guidelines of that.

What's weird is how every kind of cool is judged. Who the hell gave anyone the right to judge cool? What gives us our basis of cool? Babies are cool. They don't give a s***. We should all just not give a s***. It sounds all glorious, but even that makes us all the same.

Autograph:

As teens its in the contract to be...teens. To buy up everything we see and to say that "I Is The Way I Are". Teenagers are often blamed as the pioneers of cool. Are we? Sure you might see the uh 'occasional' guy with his pants low enough to see his boxers. But its not his fault that other guys catch on to it and call it their own. How can you be sure that you aren't forging someones signature when you button up your plaid shirt in the morning? or when you decide to tip your baseball cap to the right?

Is it too much to ask who are we really? Does changing my color ink make me fake?

Conclusion:

- Solution
- Quotes

Additions:

- Quotes!!

Hw 34- X Marks The Spot

I think its funny how there are both many ways to define cool as well as one universal definition. What gets me confused, is how there are "bad cools" and "good cools" only depending on your culture map of course.

Now to the rich preppies, its cool to wear sweater vests and tousle your hair in the wind. I'm sure that in Brooklyn its much more cooler to drink 40's at the chicken joint.

What I don't get is who decides what kind of cool is good and which is bad. I think that the deciders of this comes from the society that you live in. Here in this capitalist society, the whit--er.. I mean the right thing to do is go to college (if you don't get daddy's company) and get a job, then eventually have people working for you.

Now, to me it seems that's more often than not, Black people get rich by:

a) playing basketball
b) rapping and/or singing
c) Playing basketball and/or singing then making a reality TV show about the drama surrounding their life.

I mean don't get me wrong, whatever floats your boats. But it seems like there is ONE culture map and and that ONE culture map is passed down. But once in a while (literally only once in a while) some rebel or some outcast breaks the chain.

The break in the chain results in that one person breaking the norm and proving a point by making an example out of themselves. I believe that alot of making a new culture map is at least 70% of self motivation. It also seems that we like to trade off our culture maps.

Like the White kid who thinks that "Fiddy Cent" is "fresh. Or the Black kid that likes sushi. Now for some reason, breaking norms is so ABSURD. It's ILLOGICAL! WE CAN'T HAVE IT. Is it cause we get bored at looking at our own maps. We revert back to kindergarden and the whole "I want his toy" routine.

What if thinking about cool makes us uncool? Obsessing over how you look or sound or how you want to appear might make it look like we all try too hard...what the hell?

Does cool mean you have to be like the people that surround you? Imagine a group of teens all the same interests and tastes. And one of them, just one of them starts to like something different and starts to get in to different kinds of works and blah.. all of a sudden an so and so is an outcast.

It makes me think that it is forbidden to even think about changing your social map. Its almost as if we are locked in to the roles or the class structures that we are born in to, its like a gang... Once you're in you're in for life. And if you manage to make it out alive you have to go through some kind of crazy initiation to join another gang.

Why is it that "lurking late" is bad and "inheriting" is good? I mean its like we live in a society but we don't understand it. This place is like a mind boggling, crazy, f***** up never ending game of Life.

Your roll.

Hw - 33 Only The Cool Kids Can Outline

Outlining my cool ass paper.

Thesis? ... Maybe: being cool keeps us from being ourselves.

Thesis? ... Maybe: cool is a state of mind, we make design definitions to our benefit.

Thesis?... Maybe: coolness is a tragic social trap that pushes us into constant circles.

Thought: If we all have different definitions of cool then how come we all aren't cool?

Is it possible to think of or know of all of the definitions of cool? Why is being cool so important. We want to feel important and be important. Focus: on how teens play up/down the idea of "cool". Connect cool to music, TV shows, people, catch phrases, tattoos.... Why is cool important? Who makes cool important?

Um... that's all I can come up with now.

Hw 32- Psst... Once Upon A Time

I believe that there is such a thing as reading too much in to something. People who get tattoo's have their reasons. But I think that it is believable for someone to get a tattoo and not be in pursuit of the attention of others.

On the other hand tattoo's can be a total "attention grabber". First impressions are golden. I believe that society has made many people believe that tattoo's come with EPIC STORIES! so naturally you want...no you need to know them. You think to yourself how awesome and cool it would be to know someone that has an EPIC STORY! to tell.

Knowing someone that others see as cool automatically makes us cool. Being cool is being SOCIAL. It makes you much more interesting when you can share your EPIC STORIES! about meeting EPIC PEOPLE! This act of speaking makes you popular and wanted.

But no one likes to be a sidekick, you want to be Batman. You want to run the show. This causes the chain reaction. You now want a tattoo of your own so that you can be Batman and some poor schmuck will be your Robin.

This leads you to have an EPIC STORY! of your own. We like this outcome.


There is also the theory of how cool means being close to the people around you. Take celebs for instance. Like 1/2 of the band Tegan and Sara. Tegan (In the picture) has several tattoo's. I think she's cool for other reasons but lets focus on her "tatt's". It makes fans feel like they know "celebs" when we know their EPIC STORY! behind their tattoo's.

Having EPIC STORIES! makes us feel important. We only feel important when other people make us feel important. This is key. We have to get noticed without seeming desperate for people to look at us. We are always silently screaming LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME trying to get people to pick up on our signals.

Now, what would make people look at you and automatically want to talk to you?

A TATTOO!

All we ever want is to work our way up to the top. We want our very own Batcave and we want to drive our own Batmobiles. We like to feel in charge because we figure that not alot of people have the chance...better yet the right to be in charge. So being in charge makes us feel different. Like outcasts. "Wow I'm actually in charge. No one else knows what this feels like. I'm different from everyone else not in charge"

But in the end we are all outcasts with the same dream.