Farewell

My fellow AP English classmates:

(To the tune of Good Riddance by Green Day)
Another writing prompt, a thought stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the pen, directs you where to go
So make the best of this class, and don't ask why
It's not a journal, but a lesson learned in time

It's something simultaneous, but in the end it's right.
I know you had the time of your life.

So take the blog topics, and pre-writes in your mind
Hang 'em on a shelf in good health and good time
Novels of Nurses and Destroyers of the world
For what it's worth it was worth going blind

It's something simultaneous, but in the end it's right.
I know you had the time of your life.

It's something simultaneous, but in the end it's right.
I know you had the time of your life.

Thank you AP English, class of 2011! Farewell.

Should I Take AP?

The common question among sophomores. "To [do] or not to [do AP English.] That is the question." But my recommendation for most of them would be yes, you should for the 10 following reasons:
1. Whining rights. As the class in our high school with the most homework, you can whimper. A little.
2. Never losing the ability to write. Now that it is a full hour after my test and I have not lost any of the information that I needed for the test, I know I'll be able to write quickly and efficiently for the rest of my life.
3. Having Ms. Serensky as a friend. Given that over half the school is totally intimidated by her, you can use this to your advantage.
4. Being smart. Not only do you get better at English, but you just become a smarter person in general.
5. Freaky relations to your own life. Characters, events, and relationships from books literally BECOME your life. Weird? Yes. Cool? Yes.
6. Bragging rights. You can always use the line: "Why don't you call me up when YOU finish a 23 page data sheet!"
7. Inside jokes. They just come naturally. Ask any AP English 12 student about "Dear Journal..." and a smile will come over their face.
8. All the life lessons you can learn. The verbal lashing that came to us after we verbally abused a substitute teacher really taught us our place.
9. Applications to the outside world. Although you can feel like you are in your own little world in the AP English classroom, analyzing the effect of juxtaposition or symbols to something as simple as a Harry Potter movie can give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
10. The gratification of walking out of the AP test with a smile on your face, thinking "I rocked that."

Amy, Chasuble and Harding arrive at the rec center, looking anxious.
Chasuble: “Will the interment take place here?” (Wilde, 27)
Amy: Well, she “keeps tottering forward, mimicking life, but without much warmth, or soul, or even a pulse” (Currie, 200)
Harding: “You haven’t had the pleasure [of taking an AP Test]. Pity. An experience no human should be without” (Kesey, 188)
Chasuble: “But have you any grave doubts on the subject?” (Wilde, 27)
Harding: “It’s cheap, quick, entirely painless. It simply induces a seizure” (Kesey, 189)
Amy: “She’ll be trapped with herself. I’m hoping it will destroy her” (Currie, 92)
Harding: Hey! She “is a veritable angel of mercy and why just everyone knows that” (Kesey, 61)
Chasuble: “I am on my way to join her” because she looks like she needs me to give her all the answers (Wilde, 50). Join me, will you?
Amy: “There’s something exciting about the risk of it” (Currie, 203)
Chasuble: “You were always the most generous and forgiving” (Wilde, 26)

Everything Does Matter

My favorite book this year was Everything Matters! not in spite of the end, but because of it. Now, please do not get me wrong--I do not like watching death in any matter, nor do I think life is "a messy and heartbreaking and overall pointless affair" like Junior might believe, but I love the paradoxically realistic nature of the science fiction story. As much as I might poke fun at Ms. Serensky for saying that she does "not want to have to be a silver lining for anybody," I believe that Junior's outlook is in accordance to hers; he thinks that the reality, not any false hope, is beauty. He wishes that people "understood...that from the moment two cells combined to become one the were doomed," because then they could truly appreciate life in its entirety. Although one may have the mindset of Amy at first, who saw things as "beautiful and doomed and thus terrible," if this person reads Everything Matters!, they can learn to appreciate the beauty in things that are doomed. This was by far the best book because through it, I learned to find beauty in everyday experiences.

annual flowers (a.k.a. they die every year)

Countdown

High school can be described as many things. Intellectually stimulating may be low on the list for some people, but I've found the top 10 best intellectual acheivements that I have experienced throughout high school.
9th grade:
10. Mrs. Ashkettle chose me to act as Ralph in The Lord of the Flies simulation in our classroom. Maybe because I was the only one in that class who talked (or at least was the only one awake during first period) but I thought of it "as a priveledge, a great honor" to be chosen not only as the leader, but the intelligent leader (Currie, 8).
10th grade:
9. Understanding reflections and refractions in AP Physics. I cannot to this day brag because my understanding of this subject is still a little faulty. It seemed like I saw everything "in a way that is not an acurate reflection of" itself (Currie 162), but I got the concept enough to get a 4 on the exam.
8. AP Tests in general. This is the first year of schooling I felt challenged and I realized it was for a purpose, not just "pure sadism on the staff's part" (Kesey, 189).
7. Completing the ENTIRE research project mostly by myself. No offense to my partners, they would agree, but with me, "they both guaranteed their trip was safe as pie, safe as pudding, not a thing to worry about" (Kesey, 209)
6. Using my Creative Writing notebook as a journal. I was used to writing without freedom, but "it [became] more than a moral duty to speak one's mind" (Wilde 37) as, suprisingly, I found out I have a lot to say.
11th grade:
5. Guiding my own teachings in AP Chem. In the period and a half, we had a lot of freedom, and I thought, "this world is good enough for me" (Wilde, 25) but I found that with freedom comes responsibility.
12th grade:
4. Finishing my data sheet before the Harry Potter 7 midnight release. I knew that without this project finished, "Idle merriment and triviality would be out of place" (Wilde, 21)
3. Being awarded with cum laude. I never felt praised for my academics, but it was nice to know that "I was obliged to be looked at, too" (Kesey, 277).
2. Getting the top Multiple Choice Score in AP English for the third quarter. Multiple choice has NEVER been my thing. I've always banked on my essay, which I guess "would simply be an easy way of passing our problem on to another" issue, so it's nice to know I have more brain power than I thought!
1. FINISHING. Guys, we have 4 real days of school left. I am the last person to admit to senioritis, I'm still quite motivated, but "there is is joy in this fact, greater joy and love in this one last moment than [we] experienced in the entirety" of our journey.

Children, Tears, and Almanacs...What Could Be More Enjoyable

Yes, for my favorite poem of the year, I, of course, choose the saddest one. For some reason, I am always drawn to sad movies, books and, now apparently, poems. When I first read this poem, I felt...well confused, as I do with all poems, but as I dug a little deeper, I knew it evoked raw sadness, "the sort of pure, inconsolable grief that only children are capable of" (Currie, 286). I have always cherished innocence and think it is the key to happiness. The fact that the girl from this poem barely had a chance to see innocence evokes that kind of sadness from me. I just wish for this child to be "separated, however temporarily, from [her] awareness of the" tears she can percieve everywhere (Currie, 266). When the almanac "plants tears," it truly shows how much the girls innocence is being taken away by her environment. Although some people may believe that children "should be aware of the trials ahead so that [they] may appreciate the effortless" nature of childhood, I think they should be ignorant of their innocence (Currie, 3). This is the only true path to pure, childlike happiness.

The Dream Day In AP English

Everyone knows that the best day in AP English includes a movie. Even if you have to take notes, that movie is a gift from the gods. In an alternate universe (or, you never know, sometime in the near future), we all sit in this well known room attentively, waiting for the movie to begin. For, we know any small misbehavior may threaten our privilege. I sit near the back, not on purpose, but it gives me a clear view of Ms. Serensky and her practiced hands, grading our in class essays from the previous day. As the movie wears on, I see a flick out of the corner of my eye. I turn to stare at Ms. Serensky. She is reading my paper. About a minute into it, "she swipes at her eyes with the back of her hand." Is my paper really that bad? Is she that upset with my reaction to her teaching techniques that I've actually brought her to tears? I feel deflated as the movie ends, knowing I have to face the big fat 2 on my paper. I flip over the paper she has placed strategically on my desk. I see a 9. I am in disbelief. A 9. "I [feel] like I [am] flying. Free." I look to see if she commented on the back. One sentence presented itself: "That certainly seems a satisfactory [analysis], does it not?" Yes, I think. Yes it does.