My Big Question

What does our future hold for us? How should we prepare ourselves for it? 

Roman, Kyle and Alyssa's Postmodernist Presentation

They showed a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air segment where Will Smith looked at the Camera and broke the 4th wall. They also show the set (stage) during the episode. That also broke the rules by show long the stage when you're not supposed too. Great job guys! 

My Slaughterhouse

 When you hear Postmodernism, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? Postmodernism is a really cool and interesting literary style of writing.  I think that postmodernism can be anything that breaks the rule of the old style of writing or it can have random scenes that don't relate to one another. In other words, a story that has no order of sequence and jumps around to different time or situations.  Slaughter House 5 was a great example of what I'm talking about right now. 

In the story of Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut a man named Billy that is imprisoned by the Germans during WWII and at one point in the book, Kurt is talking about how Billy is in this prison and then next thing you know he's talking about Billy during his childhood. This is an example of how the author uses Postmodernism in this book by not following the rules and putting the story in random orders. 

Another example of why Slaughter House 5 is a Postmodernist story is when the author would humor a situation by saying "So it goes" after something bad would happen to someone.  This is another example of how this story is a postmodernism story. Instead of being heartfelt about a tragic moment that just happened, he breaks the rules and makes the situation funny or joyful. 

And this is why Slaughter House 5 is a great example of a Postmodernist novel. It shows how to break the rules by not writing in order and how he uses irony by saying "So it goes" whenever something bad happens and he decides to humor the situation. 

Slaughter House 5 Reading Notes: Chapter 6

Billy is back again in the war, lying down in his hospital bed talking to Derby and Lazzaro. Lazzaro is talking about how he has his own hit list and that revenge is the sweetest thing. As he's talking, he tells Billy how he's on his hit list for killing his best friend. Billy already knows how he's going to die and says how he'll be talking to a crowd in Chicago and that Lazzaro will keep his promise to kill Billy. Then, moments later, Billy is shot in the head. Later, he travels back in time to the war and an Englishman tells the Americans that they are traveling back to Dresden. When they got there, they described it to be very beautiful. From then on, they were talking to Slaughter House 5.

Slaughter House 5 Translation - pg. 18

At the top of the page where everything is written in German, I translated it so everybody could understand it.

"From the dome of the Frauekirche (Church of our Lady) I saw this unfortunate debris between the beautiful urban order sown. Then I praised the sexton art of the builder, which church dome and a case had been set up as unwanted and bombproof construction. The good sacristan then pointed me to the Ruinene (a place that is in ruin) to all sides and said laconically concern: An enemy has done!

F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography Video

Here's the link to the video of F. Scott Fitzgerald. http://www.biography.com/people/f-scott-fitzgerald-9296261

Vocabulary: Spring List 6

Chronic: persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.

Sentiment: a view of or attitude toward a situation or event: an opinion.

Morality: principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.

Remorse: deep regret or guilt for a wrong comitted.

Defect: a shortcoming or inperfection.

Acquaintance: a persons knowledge or experience with something.

Sanity: the ability to think and behave in a rational manner.

Implication: the conclusion that can drawn from something, although it is not explicitly stated.

Alternative: one of two or more available possibilities.

Savage: a member of people regarded as primitive and uncivilized.

Phenomenon: a fact or situation that is observed to exsist or happen.

Vocabulary: Spring List 5

Brouhaha: an over excited response to something.
Cloy: to disgust or sicken someone by being so nice.
Demeanor: outward behavior.
Deference: humble submission and respect.
Enigmatic: difficult to interpret or understand.
Definitive: done or reached decisively.
Bumptious: self assertive or proud to a certain degree.
Choleric: Bad tempered or irritated.
Bulwark: a defensive wall.
Curtail: To impose restriction on.
Adamant: Refusing to be persuaded.
Profligate: Recklessly extravagant or wasteful in use of resources.
Mawkish: Sentimental in a feeble or sickly way.
Thwart: Preventing someone from accomplishing something.
Onus: Someone's duty or responsibility.
Requisite: Mass necessary for some circumstances.
Mollify: To appease the anger of someone.
Sartorial: Relating to tailoring, clothes or style of dress.
Presentiment: an intuitive feeling about the future.
Impromptu: Done without being planned.
Forbearance: Self-restraint.
Remit: To send.

Spring Vocabulary #2

Toil: hard working
Saccharine: excessively sweet or sentimental.
Gibbering: speaking rapidly or speaking gibberish.
Delinquents: neglectful or failing.
Insidious: intended to in-trap someone or something.
Strewn: to scatter or spread out.
Harlequin: conventional comedian.
Praetorian: resembling a roman guard.
Sieve: a utensil consisting of a mesh held in a frame, used for straining solids from liquids.
Veiled: in disguise.
Patronage: the act of buying something.
Kadence: the pace of something(metronome, a steady beat).
Profusions: an abundance or large quantity of something.
Vessel: a ship or large boat.
Sufussed: gradually spread through or over.
Centrifuge: a machine with a rapid spinning container.
Dentifrice: a paste or powder for cleaning the teeth(toothpaste).
Leisure: free time.
Phonograph: a record player.

Spring Post 1: Music is Literature

I think Music can be considered music. If you think about it, they're pretty similar to each other. The difference between a novel/poem and a rap or a song is that the rap is in a music form. The only difference I see is that one has tone/noise/sound to it and the other doesn't. Most songs usually have a story behind the sound. If you actually read the lyrics instead just listening to the music, you'll see that the song is a story. So music can be considered Literature.