Week 3

"Don't bother to be better then your contemporaries or your predecessors. Try to be better then yourself."

-William Faulkner



My mother has a bookshelf. Actually, strike that she has many bookshelves. But the biggest one is the one in our living room. We have high ceilings and the giant oak bookshelf reaches the very top of them, and takes up a whole wall. It's filled with books from all three Brontes to the man of the hour Mr. Faulkner.

My mother (along with bookshelves) also has a theory: Most great authors are genius', and raging alcoholics. I think it's safe to say Faulkner was both. But most importantly I think Faulkner really summed up what we [the next generation] is trying to accomplish. There is always a constant battle, with classmates, siblings, friends, but most importantly there has to be one with yourself.

Every person out there has to compete, for something. Whether it be a raise, or a house. Everyone out there is competing against one another. And for what? To be better then everyone else. But as children weren't we told to be the best person we could be? Somewhere in the rat race of our everyday lives, we forgot this important fact. To challenge ourselves. At the end of your life don't you want to know that you were the best person you could be?

I think Faulkner really captures this idea in his quote. It also really pertains to us as Seniors. We are constantly pitting ourselves against each other. For what? 5 years from now you aren't going to remember that kid in math class got into UCSB and you only went to Cal Poly. Faulkner understands (as I'm starting to), that it's up to you to challenge yourself. And do it because you want to, not because of someone else.

Week 2

"Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My God, do you learn."

-C.S Lewis

I came across this quote earlier this week, and it really got me to thinking of all the things we talk about when in AP Lit. Through our reading of literature, this semester, and last the works have focused around a huge events in a characters' lives. Last semester we watched as Siddhartha, found his way into the world looking for knowledge and wisdom. We took note as we watched Hamlet lead up to his own demise. We sympathized when Oedipus struggled with his destiny, and when Antigone was left to stand up for what was sghe felt was right. But most recently we have being watching as "the horror" plays out in Heart of Darkness.

I think the 'experience', more or less, that we should be taking from these works, is what is happening that leads these characters to do what they do. To not have to go through the pain and suffering that they do, but gather the experience and lessons from it.

I suppose that some would argue that the only way to learn a lesson, is to be face to face with it. But I would argue the fact that if a work is written well and from the heart, that it can teach you just as much, if not more, then a face to face experience. Heart of Darkness is a beautiful example of this fact.

Obviously, all 5'6 of me is not going to go trooping around the Congo, shooting "brutes", but I can learn from this book how devastating my greed, and treatment of others can lead to some bigger issues. All of these problems start from a single person dehumanizing others, and it leads into something almost unstoppable. For hate is easy to create, but hard to stop.

Lessons I have learned and experiences I have taken from these novels, have taught me valuable lessons. Lessons that I'm sure will carry on in the rest of my life. As C.S Lewis put is "My God, have I learned."

2nd semester week one

I'm addicted to the idea of opportunity. I guess what goes hand in hand is the addiction to possibility. Either way, these two things are my sole basis for doing anything in my life. I like to think of the possibility of being a doctor, or an author, or traveling the world. But when it comes down to the actual process of doing something I don't want to anymore, because there could be a better opportunity out there for me.
I'm obsessed with the thought of missing the chance to do something in my own immediate world. I have an issue with sitting still, and just relaxing because there could be the possibility of doing something else, something exciting or life changing. I want to go to every event, meet everyone, because with these new things comes new possibilities and opportunities. It'll go on like this for a while, but once someone asks me for a commitment to do something, I almost always back out. Why? Because there could be a better option out there for me.
I guess some would call it selfish. That I want the best of everything, and I can't settle. And in a way those people are right. Completely and totally right. I just don't want to miss out. Carpe Diem. Seize the day. Because if I don't, someone else might jump on that opportunity and then I'll never get the chance.
Preferring to think outside the box is a talent of mine. Everyone sees the world differently, and in my world everything shines. You don't have to understand or believe me, but really it does everything has a sort of glitter to it. The world has always looks so exciting to me, everything is there for the taking. Because if I don't take it, someone else will, and there for I have lost the opportunity.