Spellbound

Words I didn’t know how to spell before watching Spellbound :

1.     Feasible

2.     Bushido

3.     Iridescent

4.     Mayonnaise

5.     Dissent

6.     Heuristic

In my life I do have something similar to the National Spelling Bee. It is called school. Not only school but, your future. Everybody in life wants to be successful. Successful can mean a lot of things. For some people it is money, for others it is a family or happiness. At the end of the day we want all of it. If you don’t do good in school then doors to be successful might not be open. Even though we are all still 15/16 years old, all of the actions and discussions we make today will affect us in the later future. School puts a big pressure and responsibility on my shoulders. It is our only responsibility so, I want to do my best as possible in it. School isn’t something that you have to study a year for. School or at least high school is something we have to work and push ourselves at everyday for the next four years. 

Reflection NOV 2012

Reflection:                                                                                     Sophie Steckerl

In my Op-Ed article I had some positives in my rubric. After all the practice we have had this year about commas, compound-complex sentences, spelling, and capitalization in Mr. Ferrebee’s class, I got a 3.5 in that bench mark. I have improved my grammaticism extremely over the past couple of months. Now I understand why we spent so much time practicing our grammar. Thank you Mr. Ferrebee, I am greatly appreciative.

*An example of a plus in my article would be:

In my opinion a human rights group has all the “right” to go into countries like Russia, that haven’t had a good history with human rights and, try to change and observe what is going on in that country. 

I also had negatives in my Op-Ed article. I didn’t use pathos, ethos and logos as strongly as I should of. My title, structure, and arguments were also lacking strength. Sometime I was off topic, for example in my introduction: We have been learning and discussing topics like: women’s rights, fear, power, politics, religion, torture, revolution, capital punishment, human rights, government oppression, globalization, family, and education. With ever negative in life there is a lesson. I would like to raise my grade because I know I am capable of much more than a 2.5. 

PATHOS

Pathos, Pathos is feeling, emotion, and reliability. Weather it is being in a happy, bubbly and positive way; or in a heartbreaking, I-need-to-give-back kind of way. In the picture above you can see how the Nike logo is stamped on a child’s foot. He looks beat up, tired, and chained down. The caption is also impacting.  You feel sorrow, remorse and heartbreak by just looking at this ad. You also feel that you should never buy from Nike again. This is what pathos is, trying to make the audience feel an emotion in order to buy a product, believe in a cause, etc. 

LOGOS

The advertisement above shows Verizon and AT&T trying to show which companies has better 3G. You can see that this is logos, but it is not clear logos. Logos is the logic the fact. Verizon published an ad saying they had about 99% of the 3G in the United States, and AT&T had only 1%. Then AT&T published a picture showing they had about 65-70% of the 3G in the United States. The logic in these ads is simply not there. It makes no sense, either one is lying or both of them are. Which makes Verizon and AT&T both unreliable sources (ethos). 

ETHOS

You can see the use of ethos in this advertisement. This ad is telling you to obviously donate money. Sometimes donating money to organizations or charity can be “shady”. You might not now were your money is going or if it really is going to help people in need. That’s were ethos come in to play, a “credible source”.  UNICEF is known all around the world to help people in need. By donating to a reliable organization like UNICEF you know your money is going to a good cause. 

Op-Ed Article and Response

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/world/europe/human-rights-watch-says-its-moscow-researcher-threatened.html

For the last couple of weeks we have not only read Persepolis, but we have been learning and discussing topics like: women’s rights, fear, power, politics, religion, torture, revolution, capital punishment, human rights, government oppression, globalization, family, and education.

This last month a researcher in Human Rights Watch’s office in Moscow Russia was repeatedly threated because of her pregnancy. These threats were sent via cellphone. Investigators also say that the group threatening her has been eavesdropping on her telephone. They also knew things like where she lived, and what she was doing; which is a total violation of privacy. These threats were serious enough for the Human Rights organization to leave Russia as a whole. This is not the first time the organization has been threatened. For the last couple of decades Russia has suffered with this topic of human rights. The government of Russia was very strict, and heartless. They did innumerous counts of violent acts among their citizens. In my opinion a human rights group has all the “right” to go into countries like Russia, that haven’t had a good history with human rights, and try to change and observe what is going on in that country. Human Right’s group is calling this the latest example up rising pressure against rights and civic groups in Russia. 

The Passport

 The Passport:

When I first read the title: The Passport, I thought things were going to get better. When you think of passport, you think of freedom, but freedom is far from what this chapter is about. Uncle Taher has another heart attack. A passport is not given to his wife so he can be operated on overseas. So they went to a friend, Khosoro, and asked him to make them fake passports. While at his house an 18-year old girl comes out of the basement. She is in hiding because she is a communist. A couple days later Khosoro’s house was ransacked. The 18-year girl was arrested and killed. Khosoro fled on a horse to turkey. Three weeks later Uncle Taher passed away. That same day his real passport arrived.

 I believe that the picture below represents what Marjane and her family were feeling at that moment. They felt trapped. In the picture you can infer that the person can’t move, that their hands are handicapped. You can also see that the wood is in the shape of a word bubble. I believe this means that they don’t have the freedom of speech, which is what the Iranian people where going through. 

The Sheep

The Sheep:

The chapter, The Sheep, is when the plot line takes the turn of the worst. The boy she really likes is moving to the United States, Mohsen was murdered, Anoosh is put in jail and is later executed, and she loses faith in G-d.

After reading this chapter I was left with many questions. One of them being, will she ever see the boy she likes again, and if not will she have another “great” love? I would also like to know if her family would ever be given justice for what the government of Iran has done and put them through. My last question is will she ever regain faith in her religion and in G-d.  

Persepolis

Persepolis

In the chapter Persepolis Marjane discovers some old family secrets. She discovers that her grandfather was put in jail. She learns about how cruel the Kings of Iran really were. And with that she learns that the kings control the government, and the government controls the people. Which means that the government doesn’t want the citizens speaking. 

This chapter reminded me of the book Sarah’s Key. It reminded me of this book in many ways. For starters the family in Sarah’s Key also had a secret that not many in the family knew about. Another reason why it relates is because, governments all around Europe controlled the people. Argo people in Europe were not allowed to speak up. They had to keep their opinion and their way of life “hidden”; just like in Persepolis. 

THE VEIL

The veil:

In the chapter the veil Marjane’s life quickly changes. Not only her life changed, but the whole country of Iran changed as well. Even though she does not know why, she is forced to wear a veil. This was the beginning of the Islamic revolution. I have never been forced to wear a veil, but I can relate to this. When we are little we are always forced to put on the clothes our parents want us to wear. I remember every time I had to go to the synagogue my parents made me put on my silver ballet flats. The back ends of the shoes were sharp because of the silver glitter, and would scratch the back of my heel every time I walked.  I never understood why I had to wear the silver ballet flats, I just knew that every time we had to go to the synagogue I couldn’t wear my Dora the explorer sneakers; instead I had to wear my silver ballet flats. I guess you could say that Marjane didn’t ask questions about wearing her veil; she just knew that she had to wear it even if she didn’t like it and it made her uncomfortable. 

Reading Blog: Tablet XI

     Tablet XI reminded me exactly of the story of Noah's Arc. Beginning to end is almost identical. Noah also had a very similar experience to Utnapishtim. They both mysteriously heaed voices telling them to build a giant boat and to put two of every animal on it. Both waited for a flood to come. Whipping out the entire Earth. Utnapishtim waited for the water to go down for around two weeks. Noah waited for 40 days and nights. As seen in the photo above BOTH stories tell about birds that where sent to find land. I believe these two stories represent the beginning of civilization. I have also learned that even though our world is revolving around science now a day, God did and does have a huge impact on the world and how it was formed.

Gilgamesh's QUESTion

I believe this picture represents what Gilgamesh is trying to find out of life. In this picture you can see a pool; but not just any type of pool, an infinity pool. Infinity pools are pools that fall of the edge and look as if they were, well, going on forever. Or in other words infinity. Infinity is a good word to describe what Gilgamesh is looking for. To live forever. Another inference you can make from this picture is wealth, happiness, sunshine... paradise. Which even though is not directly said in the book, I believe Gilgamesh is trying to find his happy place. Maybe it's not even a place; it could be a partner a hobby etc. But Gilgamesh is looking for something that motivates him to get up in the morning, to be positive, to be all around happy again.

Reading Blog: Tablets VI-VII

I don’t understand why the palace prostitute is cursed. So what if he was turned into a rich respectful person? Instead of cursing her they should thank her for making Enkidu a household name around Uruk. Will they realize that in the end? Will Enkidu be cured from his sickness? 

RESULT:

The palace prostitute is cursed because, in other words she "tamed" Enkidu. She was the one who changed him into a civil human being, instead of the cave-man he was before. Later on Enkidu does take back his curse, but, you can infer there is still resentment. Unfortunately Enkidu does pass away. Enkidu's passing, like everything in life had a positive side. The bright side is that it makes Gilgamesh question himself about what he really wants out of life. Leading him into another "quest".

Reading Blog: Tablet V-VI

You can see that in tablets IV-V there is a basing strongly on dreams. Enkidu and Gilgamesh go on a "quest". Not just any quest, but a spiritual/mental quest. His destiny, will be determined by his dreams. Dreams can mean many things, but they are also hard to separate from reality. I can relate to how Enkidu is feeling. About a year ago my brother came barging into my room while I was asleep, screaming, “Look what I bought”. Little did I know it was a puppy. Once I awoke I went to go tell him about my dream; when I went into the kitchen I could not believe my eyes: my brother washing a baby Labrador. 

Reading blog: Tablets l-lll

Reading blog #1.

Tablets I-III reminds me of the 1990 movie Pretty Women.  Pretty Women is a movie about a classy businessman who falls in love with a prostitute. In these three tablets (mainly in the first); Enkidu is mesmerized by a palace prostitute. She transforms him into a civilized human being instead of the wild animal-man he once was. Who knows if they will have a happy ending like Edward and Vivian. 

My Picture

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. I found it a year or so on tumblr. I love how the photographer captured a moment of tenderness between two generations. The photographer has made me believe that these two people are father and son. I also think they are at the beach by the way they dress and the clothes they wear. The colors black and white make you take the photo seriously. You can obviously see through this picture that these two people love each other very much.