Southern Wonderland (Post 3)

Carlos Fuentes grew up with the notion that "Mexico" was one of those places that a child hears about in a bedtime story. It was a land of fairytales, a seperate reality so far off from the present that was the United States, that his native language and history were of the least importance. What mattered to him was, at the time, was being popular; it mattered that he be accepted and seen as another person. He essentially became this, and the physical appearance difference became almost nonexistant. Everything was going just fine in his advancing world, until Lázaro Cárdenas announced the nationalization of the oil reserves. When all of Carlos' world turned against Mexico, he was grouped with them, even though that is a life he never knew. Suddenly, the realization of Mexico as an actual place, much less, a place where he was from, materialized over the course of a few months. While traveling with his father in his diplomatic duties, Carlos encounters things that would tie him back to his past, and allow him to better reconnect with his roots. In Chile, Carlos discovers how the Spanish Language, which had been lost to him for a good portion of his conformist childhood, becomes "the language of the free men." Argentina became the antithesis of his experiences in the United States (on a surface level) as conditions were very poor due, mostly, to the political unrest at the time.

I Could Tell You Stories, But Then Again... (post 2)

Inflection is a funny thing. The way something is said can make the difference between "I Love You!" and "I HATE you." This leads me to my main point, writing lacks true inflection, and as such, much speculation is cast upon what is meant when something is said. In this case, "I could tell you stories" ranges from being reminiscent of all the good times one has had, or it could be significant of the person's profession (R.J. is awesome). In other cases, it could be a person's attempt at starting a conversation in an awkward situation. At any rate, the ambiguity of the phrase is belied only by what the stories might entail. These "stories" are the person's attempt to, in a short time, give another a general background of themselves, possibly to ease the tension; to "break the ice" of sorts, and generate a more relaxed forum where a person can just talk. This could be to get advice from an impartial 3rd party, to reaffirm themselves (to boost their own ego), or to invoke sympathy in the other person.

Reactions to AP English Language (Post 1)

After a week and a half of class in AP English, my experiences have been both pleasant, and oddly reminiscent of Great Books with Mr. Priest during sophomore year. This coincidence could probably be explained by similar subject matter that has been covered thus far. Discussions about topics such as the facade that people put on in different social situations has so far been an almost carbon-copy of discussions held last year. This is not, however it may sound, a bad thing in the least bit. A continuance of the knowledge we gained last year, despite what I anticipate to be twists in both structure and method, would make the learning process in regards to English both interesting and fun.
Although we have had several days off for team building activities, I feel that a thumbnail sketch of the class can be drawn from the topics discussed to the general comportment and flow of the in-classroom experience, and in that right, would not only be fair, but also possibly beneficial to the overall outlook on the class. Cynical as this may sound, its true intentions lay in meaning to say that the class has so far been a pleasure and seeing the class maintain a level of enjoyment over the course of the year would not disappoint me.

Yay Sprinkle Dirt

Hahahahahahahahaha... i win.

www.tigerhomes.org

Do you enjoy Coca-Cola?

I don't.

Pepsi is good.

Arizona tea.

And water.

mmmmmmmmm... water.