What I did This Week

This week in class it seemed like we had a lot to do, because of everything that has been going on in our other class, as well our English class. It was nice just to have free time to work on anything that we had to complete at the time. My main focus was finishing up my annotated bibliographies, reading my third inquiry book; as well as figuring out what our group wanted to create for an abstract. This week during class I worked on finishing my annotated bibliographies.

The third inquiry book my group and I read was called Plumville. It was really interesting and about a medium read. It was basically about this two friends, one who was a African American girl, another who was a Caucasian male. They grew up in a period where racism still existed. The girls mother worked as a maid for the boys family and everyday her mother would go to work, she would bring her daughter along with her. The two grew closer in friendship because of this. But because of they different share the same race, the boys mother thought it would be best if her mother did not bring her to the house anymore.

This broke up a friendship that would hurt the two kids for years. Eventually hey both moved on with their lives, and met again in college. This time sharing something closer then just a friendship. I recommend people to read this book it was really good.

What I did Over Break

Over break a part from Thanksgiving I pretty much relaxed and took it easy. I worked on a little college stuff here and there, but overall I was usually either on the phone, sleeping, or at my Grandparents house. All and all I enjoyed my break. It was nice to just sit back and relax for a while. Of course I had some homework to complete.But it didn't end up taking as long to finish as I had originally expected it to take.

The night of Thanksgiving my Mother, sister, and I traveled to Merced on bus and a train. This was my first time on a train so it was kind of exciting. That excitement slowly went away though, when I realized how crowded and uncomfortable they can be at times. It was nice getting out of San Diego for a while; to see something different.I wanted to check out UC Merced while we were there, to see what the campus looked like and the town that it was located in. I was shocked to notice that is was surrounded by farm land. Unfortunately, by the end of the trip at Merced I realized that the town itself I could never see myself being a part of even through those four years in college.

My Thanksgiving Plans

This year for Thanksgiving I plan on going to the store with my Mother the day before Thanksgiving, like we always do. After that we usually head over to my Grandparents house and help my Grandmother prepare the Thanksgiving meal for the next day. Usually around 7 or 8:00 we leave and head home to start our own thanksgiving preparations. My Grandmother and Mom always split up preparing the Thanksgiving feast. But one things for sure my Grandmother always has dibs on preparing the Thanksgiving turkey. That is mainly due to my Mother not eating turkey. Her favorite meal to cook for Thanksgiving though is cornish hens, wild rice, and corn. I know not much of a feast, but that's why on the day of Thanksgiving we always makes our rounds. Round number one starts at our house of course, and we eat a little bit there, then around 12:00 head to my Grandparents house where the feast is really at. That's where you will usually find the stuffing, wild rice, ham, strung beans, candy yams, roast, mashed potatoes, potato salad, etc. After that I pretty much spend the rest of the day hanging out around their house watching TV, listening to music and just enjoying the day. 

My Week in A Nutshell

This week I wasn't in school, because I was sick and didn't feel good. But I got a lot accomplished when it came to my tragedy creation. I decided to go along with the comic book sketch idea. I have a series of 6 sections now. Each of them sketched by yours truly. It was hard though, because I wanted to make it nice and clean. So I tried my very hardest to not make any mistakes. I started sketching each of the objects and figures in my comic book using a pencil. But when all of my pages are finalized, clean, and neat I'm going to go back and trace over each of the objects and figures with a ball point black pen. One thing that I hope I will be able to do before this project is over with, is to put a frame around each of the pages. Not like an actual frame that you would buy in a store, but one that I could put on using Photoshop. I think that detail added on to them, would really make them pop. 

What I worked on this Week in English Class

This week I accomplished a lot in class. I was able to finish my rough draft of my tragedy essay in class and then by the time I was home the only thing that I had to complete was my works cited page and in text citations. As well as that I also finalized my plan for my visual aid component for this Tragedy Project. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to create a painting. But instead of one big painting I am planning on doing a comic book like painting, that will include a series of 10 boxes, back to back. The only trouble that I am having with this though, is my story line behind tragedy. I know that I want the overall meaning of the story to be that bad things happen to good people, and thats why some things are considered such a tragedy. My initial thought for a story was going to be that I could show a girl or boy who is well respected in their neighborhood, does a lot of community service, always is willing to give a helping hand, etc. Then one day there was a shooting in a neighborhood that she was giving her community service at, a child was walking across the street and a man was aiming a gun right in front of her, in order to shoot another guy. The main character of the story leaped in front of the girl and before she could move out of the way, the gun shot had already hit her in her chest. If anybody has any advice on how I could improve on my story or overall idea for my visual component I would gladly appreciate it.

What makes something a Tragedy?

I think what makes something a tragedy is if the event or thing that occurred was something that could have invoked hope and good for the future. Because I feel that if the something or someone that is considered a tragedy wasn't something that other people really looked up to for inspiration or hope, then it wouldn't be thought about if something occurred that prevented it from carrying on. Also a tragedy could be anything that brings out an emotion in someone, a sadness. Because of course people aren't going to feel the same way about everything that occurs. But I think that the majority of people would agree that even though something may not be a tragedy to them, there is a good chance that it will be a tragedy to someone else.

What type of art expresses tragedy the best?

When it comes to how tragedy is expressed, I believe that it depends on the person. If your the type of person that is better at writing out your feelings on paper then you are about talking about them, acting them out, etc then of course writing would be the best way to express you tragedy. However, if the question were, "What is the best way in which tragedy can be expressed/displayed to a large group of people?", then I would feel that film would be the best way. Mainly because film has the combination of all sorts of different elements. For example, music, art, acting, etc. Also I feel that since so many people watch films nowadays it would be the best medium to use in order to display something as big as a tragedy.