End of the Year Reflection

1.  Which essay did you feel was the most difficult to write?  Why?

To me, the essay that I had the most difficult time writing was the argumentative essay. What threw me off was the different formatting. Having to write two essay with a similar format and then writing the argumentative essay with an almost opposite format was really confusing. 

2.  Which essay did you find the easiest?  What made it easy?

The synthesis essay for me was somewhat easy because of the fact that everything was given to you and you don't need to know any other outside information. The only thing that made the synthesis essay difficult is that you're given a bunch of sources and you're required to analyze it and understand it in a short amount of time.

3.  What novel/book did you enjoy the most?  Why?

The novel that I enjoyed the most was The Things They Carried because it was honestly the only book that I've actually read and finished. 

4.  What novel/book did you enjoy the least?

The novel that I enjoyed the least was In Cold Blood. No matter how hard I tried reading it I just could not read it. It was too boring.

5.  Anything you would like for me to know?

I enjoyed having you as my AP Lang. teacher, Mr. Thomas, and thank you for all the you've done throughout the school year. 

The 5 Things I Carry

Physical- One thing that I always need to be near me is time. Yes, time is not a physical item, but time is such a precious thing. Whether it is from a phone, from a computer, or from a watch, I need to be able to tell time. I am only going to be here for a short while, and I want to make the most of my time while I am still here. I also do not like wasting my time on something that I know I am not going to enjoy looking back on later in my life, so while I still can, I would want to accomplish much with by using my time wisely.

Dreams/Goals- Like everyone else, I want to be successful. Success that I will be grateful of for eternity. What is different is that what the world calls "success" is not what I call success. To me, success is not being rich or having fame or owning all the luxurious things in the world. What I call success is to know that I am doing the things that I have been called to do and be happy with what I have.

Relationship- There is only one relationship that I truly value. That is my relationship with my God. Nowadays it seems like it is rare for someone to truly hold on to their faith, but I do not mind being different. To know that I am loved by someone so much that it is not possible to love me more is the most amazing feeling in the world. That love is what keeps me going each and every day.

Personality- Three adjectives that I would use to describe myself would be determined, strong-willed, and passionate. I do not like to give up easily. I feel like I am disappointing so many people if I give up on something. Along with being determined, I also like to do things my way. At first I will do things as I am asked to do them, but as time goes one, I tend to put my own twist into it and not let anyone else do it a different way than how I do it. Last, is that I do things out of love. I only enjoy doing the things that I do when I am allowed to do it with love (this usually does not include anything school related).

Memories- One of the most significant memory I have is moving here to the United States. I was only nine years old when I moved here. I was not old enough to establish my own identity by then, but all I knew was that it was a chance for me to start over. Even at a young age I already knew that I have made some mistakes that I will regret for the rest of my life, but moving gave me a chance to leave all those mistakes and regrets and simply start over.

The Third Option

It seems like everyone today is trying to find their own "identity". Everyone wants to fit in and belong, but at the same time they still want to honor and continue to practice their culture and traditions. The thing is that this world is not the world that makes you choose between two options. We're allowed to have our own opinions and be able to pick and choose between what we like and what we do not like. Personally, this topic is not something that I struggle with. Even though I grew up in the Philippines for the most of my life, I am fortunate enough to grow up with accepting parents that supports me in the decisions that I choose to make.

 

When I first came here, I did not really know what to expect. I did not know whether or not I was going to continue to live the way that I have been living my whole life, or if  I had to start a new one. Luckily, I was welcomed into this community where everyone was just like me. They were all Filipinos that had grown up in the Philippines and ended up immigrating here in America. They have basically already picked and chose between Filipino and American culture. They already did the work for me. They gladly helped me with my transition, and they are still here in my life to support me as well as my family. 

So how do we do it? How were we able to adapt to this American society and still keep our own culture? It's simple, really. We just do what is comfortable to us. We do not care of what other thinks because it is not their happiness that concerns us.We are a group of people that watches the Superbowl and celebrate Thanksgiving just like anyone else, but we still observe our own Filipino holidays like The Saints' Day and the Filipino Independence Day.

Overall, people should not be forced to pick between the American culture and their own culture. The thing is that there is a third option, and in this case, we are allowed to combine the two. Who says that we are not allowed to do what we please? Why should we care what people say?

Haunted House

It is because of Edgar Allen Poe's short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher", that horror stories are so popular and so common today. But what made "The Fall of the House of Usher" so great that a lot of people decided to base their stories off of it? In his story, Poe used multiple strategies that later on became a key component of horror stories. Five of the components that I would use if I were to write a haunted house story are the creepy setting, imagery, looking through a narrator's perspective, weird behaviors, and a vague ending.

Creepy settings are a must in any horror stories. They are what lets the readers know what type of a story it will be. Poe started "The Fall of the House of Usher" by describing the where the story took place and how the readers should imagine how the mansion and its surroundings would look. That type figurative language can also be called imagery. Poe used imagery throughout the story to keep the reader's attention and have them continue to be interested.

Having a limited view or viewing from someone else's perspective is another important factor. In "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe had us see the story from a narrator's perspective. This creates suspense and grabs the reader's attention and makes them want to keep reading in order to find out what is coming up. The characters' weird behaviors also tie in with the limited knowledge of what is going on in the story. The other characters are able to do anything and everything that they want, but the only thoughts that the readers will be able to know is the narrator's thoughts and how they believe things happened. This is important because it brings another level to the suspense of the story.

Last component is the vague ending. The lack of closure lets the readers explore within their imagination on what could have been. "The Fall of the House of Usher" ended with such vague ending that the readers are left with millions of ideas of how they think the story would actually end. 

These five components are exactly what I would use to create a perfect horror story. Each factor leads you one step closer to success, which is the reason why I would want to use them.

Occult

America's pop culture seem to have a growing fascination in the occult. People are constantly craving to know more about the supernatural. It is as if they hope that the things not of this world could actually exist for their own amusement. People are constantly wishing that maybe, just maybe, a vampire or a witch will miraculously come into their lives and "shake things up", and they will be able to become a part of something supernatural. 

There are multiple ways that we satisfy our hunger for the supernatural, such as reading books like Twilight or watching TV shows and movies like "The Walking Dead" and "The Exorcist". Our increasing demand for things involving the occult only shows how much we have let it become a part of our daily lives. Even though this may be great news for some, having an obsession over the occult only shows how we have let ourselves fall into the traps that the greedy businessmen have set in order for them to gain more money.

One of the reason for this continuous growth of America's obsession with the occult is tied in with our want of a happy ending. Hollywood showed us through movies, like "World War Z" and "Warm Bodies", that even through all the struggles, there will always be a happy ending. We use these movies as an escape from our real lives and hope that we are able to live the lives of those people on the big screen where everything always ends up the way they wanted to.

We probably would never be able to see vampires or zombies in real life, but it never hurts to hope for it to happen, right? For all we know, the supernatural is probably way more real than the world we are living in now. There could have been a vampire in your science class all along and you most likely would not have known about him.

Anti-Hero

America's society today seem to have an inevitable attraction to a faulty hero. One of the first anti-hero ever introduced in American Literature would be Ichabod Crane. Like any other anti-hero, Ichabod Crane was the protagonist with a bit too many flaws.

Ichabod Crane would not be the type of person that anyone would probably want to be around with. His principle and motives and life are undeserving of any type of praise. Although he may be charming, he is also manipulative and greedy. Things does not get any better when the readers find out about his insane attraction to Katrina Van Tussel, or Katrina Van Tussel's wealth. As identified, there are so much things that are wrong with Ichabod Crane, yet we still find our ways to love him in a way.

The musical comedy television show, Glee, greedy character, like Ichabod Crane, known as Santana Lopez. Santana Lopez is a not-so-typical cheerleader that faced a lot of trouble because of her harsh opinions and point of view in life. She is a girl that is able to find her way through difficulties with her charming and manipulative trait.

Anti-heroes have things that most people despise. Just like how Crane and Lopez are both charming, manipulative, and greedy, but we still love them no matter what because of the fact that they are who they are.