"Time Flew" - Final Meta Post

I'm sure that people are going to reminisce on how quickly the year has gone by in this post, how it seems like it was just yesterday that we were introduced to Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor, how quickly the time has flown since writing our first blog post, how amazing it is that Junior year is almost over. In fact, I'm pretty sure I would say that, too. But the other day on the Seniors' last day of school, I overheard some of them talking and saying how quickly their high school careers had gone by. As I walked past them I thought, really? Because as a Junior right now, time is going anything but quickly (except of course when I need it to go slowly so that I can study, then it goes quickly).

I'm not going to pretend that the year has not gone quickly, because in some ways it does seem like I was walking into AIS for the first time just yesterday. But then I think about all of the hours of time I have put into this class. The hours spent reading and writing my parallels, contrasts, and questions. The time I spent agonizing over papers, trying to find things to fix, trying to be more empathetic for the reader. The weeks I spent researching Junior Theme, and then later re-reading everything when picking quotes that I would actually use. 90 minutes of class every day. Not to mention the thirty-something blog posts I have done.  And all that time spent on just this class.

Now I'm not trying to be all negative, because I have thoroughly enjoyed American Studies. I think it has allowed me to improve on my writing skills, my "joining in the conversation" skills, and I think it has  made me more confident to voice my opinions, or blog about them. Blogging is a whole different world. One where I can get anonymous people posting comments on a post, one where friends can laugh at me because I blog for homework, one where classmates can share honest opinions that can be very helpful. Blogging allows me to say things that there aren't time for in class, as well as to take what I learn in class and apply it outside. For that reason, I'm going to ask that my teachers read the post Are You Maya Moore's Mom? I think it shows me taking elements from a class discussion and applying them to my surroundings outside of class.

I just want to say thank you to Mr. Bolos and Mr. O'Connor. Being a part of your class this year has been really fun, I truly appreciate the effort and time you both put into making our class valuable as well as a blast.

I had to end with a fish joke...

Gender Inequality

As I was watching one of my favorite shows, "Chelsea Lately," tonight, she brought up a recent controversial story. Nobel Prize winner V.S. Naipaul made some very sexist remarks in a recent interview about how women could never write as well as he can, and that they have a "narrow view of the world." It's important to note that he is around 80 years old, so he was brought up in a different time, but is what he says socially acceptable by today's standards? His remarks reminded me a lot of our final essay prompt, so in case anybody is doing the final through the lens of gender, this might be a good "gravy" source. 

Here's a link to an article right HERE

Is Richer Nicer?

This post is long overdue, I meant to write it at least three weeks ago, but I find myself just now taking the time to create it.
In class, we spoke about neighborhoods, specifically train stations within a town. We watched people state observations about the Kenilworth Train Station to determine what could be considered a mark of it being a train station in a high class neighborhood.  Things like a nice waiting room, potted plants, and a roof over the bike racks demonstrated that Kenilworth is wealthy. We then proceeded to watch a video Mr. Bolos had filmed of the Union Pacific/West Line. We took notes on many things trying to find similarities and differences to the town of Kenilworth and its train station.
Some of the observations included lack of nature, home size (bigger or smaller), how industrialized the area was (if there was a factory), and even little things like the decorativeness of street lights. It's incredible what those little details bring. And when we had our class discussion after watching the film, the word "nicer" was used a lot.
Mr. O'Connor kept correcting people by saying, "you mean 'higher income,' right?" Everybody would backtrack and say yes, I meant higher income. But my question is, is it so wrong to make the two adjectives interchangeable?
When I think of a "nice" neighborhood, it can always be described as "rich" or "wealthy" as well. "Nice" neighborhoods, in my opinion, have good schools, up-to-date and taken care of buildings, security, green space, good-looking homes, etc. All of those things require money as well, so then, aren't "nice" and "wealthy" almost synonymous in that case?