A Not-So-Typical Graduation

This past Thursday was the 8^th grade graduation at Sears School.  And although completing 8^th grade is not a very big deal at most schools in the United States, in the North Shore, particularly Kenilworth, it is.  Let’s just saw that after the ceremony there’s a convertible parade for the graduates.  Literally, dads of the graduates use their convertibles, or rent some, to drive the students around town.  And not only that, but all the families with 8th graders get professional signs made with a personal saying and a picture (for example, "Congrats Jake!  Good luck in high school!  We love you"...)

The weird and sad thing is, I used to think this was normal and that many schools celebrated afterwards with a type of parade like this.  In fact, I remember when I was younger watching the convertibles go by, and how I couldn’t wait for that to be me.  What color car would I ride in?  Who would I be assigned to sit with?

When your in 8^th grade, the oldest in your school, you feel like your on top of the world, or at least at Sears.  And this parade gives you an even better reason to believe so. 

Anyway, this year was not my graduation (obviously), but my youngest brother, Cole’s.  My family, relatives, and friends all got together to watch the parade and see Cole wave at us as the cars drove by.  And behind my smile and wave back, I couldn’t help but to laugh to myself and think how not normal this was.  But I’m not saying that it’s stupid.  Of course, myself, and the rest of the town love this tradition.  However, I can understand why other people may see it as strange, even “ridiculous” or “showy”. 

This tradition, as fun as it is, is definitely weird to look at from the outside.  If you tell people what your 8^th grade graduation was like, and about the parade, they’ll most like laugh or roll their eyes.  It just goes to show how different perspectives can be, and how some things we don’t even think twice about, just consider them typical or normal, can be seen so differently.  I think sometimes, or maybe its just me, but sometimes people from here live in this “bubble” so to say, and that we sometimes forget to distinguish that some things we do are not like most of America at all.

A "White" World

Last weekend, I saw the movie Bridesmaids.  It was honestly one of funniest movies I’ve ever seen.  But besides that, I actually found a connection to what we were talking about in class, when discussing Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. 

One common theme Fitzgerald portrays is class, and he uses many indicators to emphasize how much of a role class system plays in the novel.  One example of this is his constant reference to the color white, when describing someone in the upper class.  White dresses.  White golf clothes.  White…  And those who don’t exactly fit in socially tend to not wear as much “white”, or try hard to wear white to fit in.  For example, the first time Nick Carraway is invited to one of Gatsby’s parties, he makes sure he wears “white flannels”.  This upper class society mirrors the typical white, country club playing tennis society. 

In exactly the same way, the movie Bridesmaids hints at the differences between those in the upper class, and those who aren’t.  Not to give the movie away, but to provide a quick summary, the movie is about a woman, Lillian, who is getting married, and her best friend from when they were kids, Annie (Kristen Wiig), and her new rich best friend Helen are helping plan her wedding.  However, Annie and Helen don’t get along that well, mostly because Helen has so much money that she is buys everything for Lillian, making Annie feel inferior and worthless as a friend.  However, all Lillian wants is for her friends to get along, so she asks Annie to spend a day with Helen.  In this scene, Helen takes Annie to her country club to play tennis.  Helen and the rest of the club members are wearing all white; whereas, Annie is in a bright yellow outfit, making her stand out.  She seems out of place in this “world”.

Both The Great Gatsby and Bridesmaids emphasize social class, and use certain indicators, such as the color white, to portray those who are in/ fit in the upper class, and those who do not.

Track Your Happiness

Last week in class we talked about happiness and life goals.  We all agreed that we make goals (sometimes in the form of lists) for the ultimate goal of happiness.  However, happiness is hard to define because it is so relative.  After reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picult, I used to think of happiness as a sort of mathematical equation.  "Reality divided by Expectations.There were two ways to be happy:improve your reality or lower your expectations."  Being a person who likes math because there's almost always one definitive answer, I thought putting such a term into a formula made it a lot easier to measure.  However, after thinking about what happiness really is, and discussing in class, I have found that it is hard to determine how happy a person can be.  Many factors can influence a person's happiness, and people's emotions change so much it's hard to tell.  But Mr. Bolos mentioned an interesting survey called "Track Your Happiness".  It is a free online survey in which iPhone users can sign up to receive texts (you pick what time and how often), to ultimately determine your happiness.  I signed up for it, and have taken a few of the surveys already.  I'll let you know how it goes, but if you have an iPhone, I highly recommend it because it is really interesting!

Wavin' Flag: "Justice Has Been Done"

Almost ten years ago, our country experienced the deadliest attack on our country, September 11th.  The man behind the horrific tragedy that killed more than 3,000 people was Osama bin Laden.  Today, May 1, marks his death.  He was killed in a firefight inside Pakistan, ending a 10-year manhunt for the world's most wanted terrorist.

Tonight,  as a country, Americans are celebrating his death, relieved, or experiencing other emotions.  Families, friends, neighbors, and fellow Americans gather in recognition as this day will go down in history.  As my family sat around the TV to watch Obama's speech, my dad went and got the American flag my cousin in the Air Force sent us (a flag that had been flown in Afghanistan).  My dad waved it around the room, in excitement.

And everybody will be singing it
And you and I will be singing it
And we all will be singing it
...They'll call me freedom just like a wavin' flag

My family, and thousands of others, watched Obama's speech in relief.  Al-Qaeda's leader is finally dead; Obama commented that "Justice has been done."

Junior Theme: DONE

Today, marks the end of junior theme... or at least until revisions come around.  Regardless, it feels good to have have turned in the paper!  After countless hours of reading articles, pulling quotes, conducting interviews, writing, peer editing, and editing more, I feel relived to be done!

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the process.  Actually, I liked it a lot.  While at times I got tired of reading some of the articles, and at times I could not physically look at the computer screen without hurting my eyes, I felt it was a great experience.  I loved being able to research any topic of my choosing, and thought it was so interesting how each of us choose such a wide variety of topics.  It was so cool to see that by the end, we all were experts on our individual topic.  I thoroughly enjoyed this project because of the independent study/ research aspect, and because it was unlike anything I've ever done before.

After weeks, days, and hours of working on this project, I can certainly say I feel accomplished to be done.   While there were days when I felt so frustrated and lost and unsure where to go with the research/ paper, I was able to steer through and complete the task.  And, I would just like to say, good job to everyone who finished their junior theme!!

Junior Theme: Blog #4

This past week has been exciting, yet also a bit frustrating.  After researching a ton, and really getting to understand my individual topic, I was looking forward to presenting my work through my paper.  However, easier said than done.  As I am finishing up my paper now, I am starting to go back and take out some excess detail, clarify others, and make some sentences more concise in order to have empathy for the reader.  I have found this particularly hard because I feel like sometimes when we know a topic so well, we forgot that others may not be as familiar, and are not as empathetic.

I also conducted my interview last week, and felt it went well.  I interviewed Mr. Ottaviano, the assistant principal of administrative services at New Trier.  Although his job entitles many different types of work, one of them is that he is in charge of school safety and all lockdown procedures.  He works hand and hand with the Winnetka police department.  However, after transcribing the recording, a somewhat lengthy process, I have only found a few quotes that I will actually use in my paper.  Nevertheless, I'm really glad I had the opportunity to talk to him, and felt he provided the best information he could in regards to my topic.

We are approaching the final hours of this huge project.  I am finishing up some editing and what not, and looking forward to turning it in tomorrow!  Good luck to everyone as they finish up their papers!

Junior Theme: Blog #3

Over spring break, I visited a few colleges and then went skiing with my family.  I also had time to work on junior theme.  It was nice to have the free time away from school, with no homework other than some reading for junior theme.  With this time, I was able to read a whole book, start another, read through a few articles, and watch a film on a school shooting, “Elephant” (directed by Gus Van Sant).  I have started to keep track of important quotes and statistics as well.  It was nice to have this time to learn more in depth about my topic before I tackle the actual writing of the paper.  This next week I hope to begin the interview process; I am starting to brainstorm who I will interview, as well as what type of questions I plan on asking.  However, this part of the project seems a little harder for me because I’m still having a tough time deciding exactly who to interview.  Again, my topic overall topic is “school shootings”, and my specific why question is “Why are school shootings on the rise?” So far, I was thinking of interviewing either a police officer or a faculty member of one of the schools in the district.  That way I could maybe hear about if/ how serious school violence seems to be around here, compared to other districts, or maybe if they an increase in violence over the years?  Or not only has it gotten more frequent, but is it also more severe?  However, I’m not positive those would be those most beneficial interviews.  Anyone have any suggestions?  If so, please let me know, thanks!

I plan on working heavily on the interview process, as well as continuing to read through more and more articles to make sure I am seeing as many relevant sources as I can.  Hope everyone had a great break, and good luck with the rest of the junior theme process!