Blog #29

Post photos of you at Exhibition Night!

Blog #28

Post three pics of you and your class working at the La Jolla Playhouse! Include short captions with each one explaining what is in the different pictures.


This is a picture of almost the whole class working in the arrangement of the Bookstore scene.












Costume and Wardrobe Rehearsals.










Hurrying people up who were changing from downstairs.

Blog # 27

The Play!
What stands out to you? Why?
What stands out to me so far in the play has been the way everyone works together as a whole class to get everything we need done. There has been little things that each group has done to contribute in a big way towards the progress of the play, but everything comes together to maintain it stable and easy to work with when the work gets put together. I have also seen this even in myself working with other groups that help me get my job done as well. When I accomplish my work on time it is beneficial towards other jobs that might work around it too, these are the things that other people mainly focus on as well. But after the whole process is done at the end we have a final product that we can actually say that we all contributed in one way or another.

What Acts or Scenes? What lines? Actions? Interactions?
One example of this process would have to be in Act 1 Scene 5, where it's one of the many transitions that we have to make on stage when we prepare the background from the Bookstore scene to the Cafe Luna scene. People who weren't even working with set design also helped out in moving tables and props. This was a great example of how we all worked together and communicated with each other even though it wasn't most peoples jobs.

(Aside from "be louder..." or "where does this go?") What constructive feedback do you have for actors, directors, managers, props, sets, etc. based on what you have seen?
A constructive feedback that I would consider to be most productive in this time around would have to be to stay on task and do whatever you have to do to get your own stuff done. Don't worry about others and getting their stuff done until your stuff is already done and set to work from for the play, then you can go around with people and see what other things you can do to contribute in the process of finishing what might come around your job.

Blog #26

Theater Job Progress

Lily-Kind of Bohemian style with a free flow and simple colored piece items for clothing but pop of color for accessories. Black flats or even boots with the casual everyday look. With natural make-up that is simple and just gives her a polished look. And same with the hair,simple like Stella.


Natalie- Edgy look its suttle but in style that doesn’t have too much bright colors but it’s still very stylish in a way that doesn’t catch all of the attention. Can have accessories and the most colors that would go into this would be gray, white, black, and one bright color.


Alexa- Rockerish Very in still, should focus on darker colors with metalics that have a shine to it and a leather jacket. Lots of accessories, boots maybe heels if possible and sunglasses which make her look badass. Wavy hair and straighten it towards the end. Make-up with bold eyes and clear face.


So far, I am most proud of the types of styles that I picked for each character. At first I didn't know how to start off, but then I looked up online to see the different types of styles that each character might have, making it easier for me to go off from. I thought about each and every style for each character making them rock every scene in the play in their own way. Another thing that I am also proud of, going off from this, would have to be the way that I made the lead roles stand out and the under roles stand out as well. This was a little difficult but I managed to describe the styles not so much that they would out shine the main characters like Lily and Vincent, but also make them have their own thing during their performances. Even though this was really time consuming, I finally got everyone to look the way they were portrayed in the play and give them a say in their character as well which helped me too. What I'm excited for in our exhibition that is coming up is seeing how everything turns out and looking at the different faces on the audiences that will be seeing us perform as professionals. I am really excited to see the outcome of our hard work and dedication that we put into this big project. I think that we handled the work well enough for people to be excited to see our performance and also to be surprised among other things that will be happening that evening. Another thing that I am really looking forward to is my job as the Costume and Make-up. I think that I can handle the pressure of being an actor as well as controlling another job trying to assemble with the help of my partner, all the characters outfits and make-up as well as mines. I am really excited but nervous at the same time knowing that it will be chaos in the back, but I know that at the end it will be worth seeing people appreciate the hard work that you have done throughout the whole play to make it work.

Blog #25

Internship Scavenger Hunt.

Answer the following, following your internship site visit.

Survival

* Where is your internship?

My internship is at King Chavez Elementary School.

* How did you get there?

I got there in Public Transportation, which is in the Bus.

* How long did it take?

To get to King Chavez it probably took me 45 minutes from my house.

* What did you eat for breakfast?

Two quesadillas and orange juice:)
* What food, coffee, or other survival options are nearby?

Near King Chavez there is a Panda Express, a Starbucks, a Little Cesar's Pizza Place and other local restaurants that I could walk to get lunch in.

* What can you eat for lunch in a normal day at internship?

I could bring a bag of lunch or if I crave any fast food I could just walk over to any of the restaurants that are close by.

* Where will you sit, stand, be, or work when you are internship?

I will have a desk next to the teachers desk where the kids can easily see me and ask me questions they have.
* Where are the bathrooms?

The bathrooms are right in front of the classroom that I will be assisting at.

People

* Who is your mentor and what is he or she like?

My mentor is

* What stands out most or seems most interesting about your mentor?

What stands out to me about my mentor is that she is pregnant and now I understand the reasons why I am going to be working with her and assisting her.

* Who are your other coworkers?

My other coworkers are the rest of the teachers in King Chavez.

* What stands out most or seems most interesting about your future coworkers?

That we are going to get along just fine becasue I mean were not going to see each other that often depending on the different things that we are going to be working on.

Work

* What is your internship project likely to be?

Giving a lesson to the kids for a certain amount of time during their class time and see how they react to it.

* What skills will you use at your internship?

I will use my organization, responsible, and adaptation skills that I offer to my internship that will also help me with my communication skills that is also a very important skill as well.

* What are you likely to learn at internship?

Basically how to interact with kids and for them to feel comfortable with us as well.

* What will you create at your internship?

A learning experience not only for me but also for the children that want to learn more, and I will be there to help them.

Thoughts

* What might present a challenge at internship?

Probably only waking up really early in the morning and taking the bus:)

* What is surprising about your internship?

I love they way that everyone gets along perfectly with each other.

* How will you stand out at your internship?

I will be the best that I can be in accomplishing my goal to being the best assistant to the kids.

* What will you do to make the most of this opportunity?

I will put as much effort as I would in school regularly.

*Are you satisfied with your internship?

Yes, alot! I love kids and I want to do something that will help as well as me.

Blog #24

Internship

* What are you looking forward to most about your internship experience?
What I am looking forward to in internship is to gain experience and knowledge that will help me
later on accomplish whatever it is I want to study in the future. I want to learn how to interact better with younger kids and try to put a positive role model for them to follow and see what I am trying to do for them. I am really looking forward towards meeting all types of kids and getting to know them really good so that we could build trust and they could come to me whenever
they need any help.
* What are you most concerned about in your internship?
The thing that I am most concerned about in my internship is the way I will be received in King Chavez. I wonder if any of the students will like me because tomorrow is going to be literally the first day that I would be seeing the students that I will see for three weeks starting in January.
* What type of work do you plan to do, what are your hopes for your project, etc?
The type of work that I plan to do during my stay in King Chavez Elementary school would be to help out the teachers with the kids and try to help them with whatever they need help in. I also hope to work on a project that will not only help me gain something from my internship but also help the kids in King Chavez learn from what I have taught them.
* What are your goals for your site visit?
My goals that I have set for myself on my site visit tomorrow are the following. Be friendly and kind to the students weather they have a question or not. Be loud and clear whenever I respond to a question, and also be specific in every aspect of the answer. Ask thoughtful questions that relate to the schools way of teaching or helping the students. Have a big smile on my face the minute I walk in the classroom making the children feel comfortable with me observing them. I have set and hope to accomplish all of theses goals by the end of the day tomorrow. These goals will help me develop a better relationship with my mentor and other peers that I will be working with for the whole three weeks of January. I think that this site visit will help me introduce myself to the children and tell them what my intensions are with them and what I am here to help them with.
* What questions do you have about internship?
Some questions that I have for internship are the following. In what grade level will I be working
in? How many kids are going to be in a classroom? What type of help is going to be needed throughout my time interning? How many hours a day will I be working for? At what time am I going to start, and at what time do I end? All of these questions will be very helpful to be answered by tomorrow so that I could be ahead of schedule and know exactly what I need to start working on the very first day of internship.

Blog #23

1. What has been the most successful aspects of your role in the Theater
Project? The most successful aspects of my role in the Theater Project would have to be practicing my role as the barista amongst the other characters. We spend our time practicing during class doing acting excersises that make us talk in the same tone of voice or exaggerate when our character becomes angry. This helped us as actors not be afraid of expressing our emotions and become the actual characters that we are playing. Another successful aspect that I have been doing for my other job as a costume and wardrobe person is writing down the differnt outfits that the characters are going to be wearing every new scene that reflects a new day in the play. This has been very helpful to portray the scenery of the bookstore and every other scene that includes the characters being more confident or trying to be someone else in order to fit, for example the characters Colby and Max, since Max is an exchange student he wants to be like Colby so we had to incoperate the theme of Max trying to dress like Colby, making every scene that they appear in more and more alike.

2. What has been the most challenging aspect of your individual role in the
Theater Project? The most challenging part in my individual role as an actor in the Theater project would have to be when I try to pronounce the long words in some of my lines, I sttuder trying to say it right over and over again. This affects the other actors during practice because then the flow of the scene doesn't come out fluently and it makes the whole thing akward. I overcame this challenge practicing many times over and over again at my house until I got the right pronunciation. Another challenge that I have faced during my second job has been trying to make sure that I am always on task with every little detail that includes change of wardrobe for any new day or the different types of personalities that the characters portray throughout the story. It has been difficult because most of the characters built up their confidence making their style of clothing change as well, for example Vincent, the main character, starts off shy in the beginning and becomes more confident in himself as he tries talking to the girl he really likes. I have to pay attention to these details and make his clothing stand out more.

3. What questions do you have that will help you complete each aspect of
your Theater Job as well as possible so that we have a fantastic
Exhibition? When are we going to go shopping for the extra cloths that we will need for the actors?

When will we have the money to purchase the remaining clothes that we will be needing?

4. What are you thankful for in your first semester (so far) as an 11th
grader? I am thankful for having students in my class that have helped me progress through this class. I have grown as a student that can work well in groups and amongst other that need help or want to help me as well. I have also grown throughout my work and tried doing the best that I can while working on essays and projects. I am also very helpful that I have been progressive throughout the whole semester and I have tried become more responsible and turn in all my work on time.

Blog #22

Playing my role as the Barista girl.

Blog #21

What was the Federal Theater Project? Why was it created?
The Federal Theater Project was created to attempt a combat towards the Depression during that time. It offered unemployed actors and people who were in the artistic film industry to have job opportunities. Harry Hopkins, leader of this project, also wanted to incorporate “free adult uncensored theater.” People who wanted to join in on this project had to follow a set of requirements which were to get on the welfare rolls first, you also had to be homeless and not have a penny with you at all. The people that were involved made mini plays throughout twenty-two different states in the United States. They were usually performed in schools, and community centers. Even though the performers were only paid a minimum of $22.73 a week, the FWP employed many of the talented American artists. After several years of continuing with this project, in the course of three years they achieved to have over twelve million people attend performances in the city.

Explain two reasons why the Federal Theater Project was important in the history of the United States.

Glenn Hughes, the first regional director of Washington State's Federal Theatre
Program, who also worked to improve and expand the drama program at the
University of Washington. (Courtesy of the Museum of History and Industry photograph collection.)

Poster for Federal Theatre Project production of Androcles And The
Lion, November 1937Courtesy Free, Adult,
Uncensored

Harlem Federal Theatre Project Production of MacBethImage Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Blog #20

Select a specific piece of work that you are creating for the Theater project—choose something that you are in charge of, something that you are leading, or something that is yours.

A specific piece of work that I have been doing throughout the play is being an actress in the class play that we have been working on. I know that other people have been working on this as well, but ever since we have been working on the mini sketches in class and practing our lines, I have been doing my own wrok at home. For example I have been practicing how to get some of my emotions to be real and so much fake. This will come in handy when the director puts me in a minor role, even though its a minor role I want to give my best and show that I have been practicing hard in the process of being a good actress in this play. In many of the sketches I didn't feel all that comfortable in the beginning, but as soon as I discovered that if I wanted to contribute to something important in the play, it began with practicing some of my acting skills. However, I have had some dificulties with my acting skills, I mean I have to admit that I'm not the best actress either, so in a way it's a struggle with every new role that I try to fit into. For example, I also have been trying to do some improv movements that will get me to know what I could use in my surroundings and work with them to my advantage. I like this strategy because I feel more comfortable acting out what the character is supposed to be in that moment. I would also like to use this in the play more often and try to always keep that in mind within the actors as well.


With each example, explain how and why your work is changing. Then, explain your next steps to bring this specific example of your work to fruition in the best way possible.

Blog #19

Post a minimum of three professional examples of work that relates to your specific theater job. For each, post an image or a video example.

For each image or video, identify and explain the significance of at least one specific aspect of the professional work that relates directly to your work. Explain how this particular element informs your work in the Theater project.

Titanic Video


This part really caught my attention and defined what a true scene of love was supposed to be like, from this movie and forward I learned how to tell if the love seemed real or fake. This was one of my favorite scenes in the movie because, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet did a great job of being the professionals they were and did a great job of catching the moment. This made it their love seem really believable outside the movie, which is something many other actors in my opinion don't dominate that love scenes that easily. I also consider the fact that the scenario made the moment even more special and romantic.

300 Movie


I watched this movie a long time ago, but a specific scene that caught my attention was at the end where the whole movie was a story being told from the perspective of the kings right hand. This final speech was very well written and acted out. There was much emotion coming out every powerful word he said to describe the bravery of his king and how he fought for his people’s freedom. I loved the way that he walked around and used his surroundings to connect with the people that were lined up in the back; he spoke loud and clear, making it so that everyone could catch his emotion. Even though there wasn’t any physical emotion that was showed, the actor used a great way of bringing to life the words and phrases that he expressed referring to his king.



Even though there is not talking on the behalf of Ophelia in the play Hamlet, the video
shows everything that the actress has to offer in this play. There were many
emotional scenes in the whole play, but throughout her specific scenes, as you
can see, she goes on and beyond with what the moment is all about. The whole
point is to make the audience feel the emotions that you are feeling as an actor
and portray them as well as they can. In my opinion these videos are very
helpful for me in trying to explore my emotions from the inside and bring them
to life in the character that I will portray in our class play.

Honors

Theater Reviews
What makes a good play? That question captures everyone’s attention. Really there is no way of specifying what types of literary elements there can be in a play to make it successful. There is only one way of trying to crack down on what makes a good play. I have been reading articles in the New Yorker and they have been of a great resource to me. An example that I figured out from reading The Current Cinema: Academic Questions by Anthony Lane, was that not only plays are based on the same idea, but they are also driven from various conflicts that movies are trying to reenact today. This review was based entirely on the movie Bad Teacher which was released a while back. This movie had many literary elements that have worked throughout the script and surprising there was specific literary elements that were ideas pulled out from an original play and film called “Nasty Fish.” This idea of choosing the titles according to how great of a play they have written was mentioned most of the intro, which lead to me thinking that this would sound very interesting in how you could actually put time into the title of a play or film since it’s really important to capture the moment of what the whole story in the play would probably be about from the moment you read the play until you actually think about why they chose that title and how it all relates back into the central theme. Sometimes just by reading the title it gives you that urge of figuring out what the play might have in store for your once you watch it. I think that this will be a great element to explore and incorporate into our own play. I know that even though we are in our first stages of the play, it might be a good idea to start thinking about titles that attract the kind of audience that we want to come to our play. For example we could play around with the kind of theme that we want to stick with and show it once you read the title. In the theater article that I read, it also tried to combine foreshadowing words to a grade that it wasn’t so much exaggerated with what the play was going to be like because the whole point isn’t to spoil the play.
Another one of the literary elements that I found reading a theater review written by John Lahr called “Wild at Heart.” This was a very interesting play to read it had many visual ways of seeing characters personalities on and off stage. He talks about capturing the moments where the characters feel very vulnerable and delicate to the point where everything they desire and want becomes harder to reach once they get close to what they want. The sentence that caught my attention was when he mentioned that the characters are in the need to feel worthless so that it builds up throughout the story and becomes an element that can be analyzed while understanding the whole theme.
“Guares’s accomplishment is to capture the bright effervescence of his characters’ desires, as well as the punishing dark fact that everything they want seems to be worthless, making him feel worthless. “
What I mostly liked was how he explained his point and made it clear through character development and how each character became what the story made him. This is one of the basic themes that accomplish the way that the characters personalities flow and not become sudden strangers when a conflict appears and they start reacting in a totally different way than they are intended to, according to how their character is portrayed. I think that this could help make our play more visual and support how the play writers originally described the characters personalities and make people see their change or also how they kept being the way they were from beginning to end. For example, if we have Vincent being sweet and shy at the beginning and all of a sudden towards the middle for no reason he becomes angry at the world. This is something that we would most definitely change and we can try to fix it by making little conflicts that Vincent is involved in, so that when there comes a point where he can’t take it anymore, he just explodes with all this madness. My point being is that everything has to fit together so that change of character doesn’t lose its path and he/she goes with it.
Another literary element that I chose thinking that it could be a great support for a play, also being in the same article, was when John talks about the theme that a play has. He referred to a play called “The House of Blue Leaves.” Which I think is a very catchy play that makes various types of people connect with it. While reading what his opinions were on this play, I honestly agreed one hundred percent with everything he was saying. For example, when he talked about a main theme, that I think most famous people probably went through while trying to get fame, it was an interesting theme that catches your attention because it’s a story that relates to you.
“I’ll be too big for any of you.” Guars characters’ imaginations have been entirely overrun by the imperialism of the famous, whose success demeans and defines their every ordinary moment. “When famous people go to sleep at night, it’s us they dream of, Artie,” Bunny says. “The famous ones-they’re the real people.”
This signifies many things that we can focus more on in our play as well as making the characters be more believable and tell a story that they can actually pull off. Not everyone can be as determined as the people who assume a different personality to make the audience believe it and actually bring into thought that he’s a normal person living a life that the play gave him/her. I think that our theme in our play is very specific and detailed. It’s really clear and flows properly with how the characters personalities are. This literary element that I found has already been incorporated in our play since it’s based on a theme that revolves some peoples everyday lives, for example waking up and opening your local business, drinking a not so fresh cup of coffee, running late for a class etc. These are things that people catch upon and to

Honors

Hamlet
Hamlet has been the most significant play that has survived the critics and transformed its meaning throughout the years. This play is based on an interesting concept that has caught audiences all around the world and shows that plays have an actual meaning to the way scripts have been written and also how each character is thought very intensively and analyzed from every aspect. Shakespeare did an overall great job in writing this historical play that impressed the many theatrical writers whom later on buildup from this play. In Hamlet many critics see different types of historic significance to how the character Hamlet was based. He tends to feel many emotions but they all add up to one thing which I think most of the characters in the play want as well. Ambition is something that I have seen throughout this whole play, it just seems that the characters scripts were written to play out like if they were really not interested in the same ambition that made Hamlet’s uncle murder his own brother and keep the throne.
I believe that in Hamlet the literary significance that acts out throughout the play is the ambition and power for something they all have a desire of and are willing to risk it all to obtain it. However, once obtained the feeling of having it all fades and is left with consequences that just lead up to death and committing suicide. An example of this is in Act 1 Scene 5
GHOST
You must be ready for revenge, too, when you hear me out.
GHOST
His most horrible murder. Murder’s always horrible, but this one was especially horrible, weird, and unnatural.
HAMLET
Hurry and tell me about it, so I can take revenge right away, faster than a person falls in love.
GHOST
I’m glad you’re eager. You’d have to be as lazy as a weed on the shores of Lethe not to get riled up here. Now listen, Hamlet. Everyone was told that a poisonous snake bit me when I was sleeping in the orchard. But in fact, that’s a lie that’s fooled everyone in Denmark. You should know, my noble son, the real snake that stung your father is now wearing his crown.
HAMLET
I knew it! My uncle.
This scene to me really showed me how Hamlets character was very gullible and the ghost persuade him into seeking revenge for his father, but with this inside of him he knew that once taking revenge he would be next in line to become the new king and forget all about how he got to this point. Shakespeare might have made Hamlet intentionally ambitious and clever to a point that while reading the play we couldn’t have seen him act like one more of the bad guys. This opened my eyes to look deeper into every character in as many perspectives as I could, not only to see if I could interpret them in another way, but also to see the other side of how characters might be acting to get to what they really desired from the beginning.
Another obvious example that gives out a characters ambition to something in the play is, Claudius. He has the nerve to just scream it out into the whole palace by simply just marrying his own brothers wife, who also ambitions not having someone to protect her and her kingdom. This has all been to great use in the scene where Claudius orders Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet, checking up on him to see if he can try to get Hamlet out of his way and go on with his plans for ruling his kingdom.
According to Hamlet his objective was to seek revenge on his father’s unexpected death, but, with this came the many different types of desires that everyone else wanted to obtain from him as well. Even though nobody quite successfully obtain what their main thing was from the beginning of the play, they just ended up dead for the same reason being that they all had the same desire to obtain power and gain other personal ambitions from it all.

Blog #17

I have now read and analyzed our digital class play. I have found some interesting literary devices that seem really catchy and make the play be more specific, these literary devices that I have found are the ones that I chose, and which are, allusion, Onomatopeia, and hyperbole.
Reading the play to me was very entertaining and actually pretty funny at times. Especially when I got to the part in the play where I knew that it was a perfect example for what allusion was, which is used when you are refering to a famous person or event. I found this literary device in Act 1 Scene 2 Page 3.
VINCENT
I did the same thing. Did you notice that the whole 12th chapter is in Iambic pentameter?
I thought that this was a really good use to which refers back to a famous peron or place. Iambic pentemeter is known for a metrical line being commongly used in traditional verse and verse drama, it also descibes how the rhythem of the words flow in that particular sentence. I think that the readers reading this play will think that we actually know what we are talking about since we are talking about books that the characters have read in a play that was written by students who read other plays to come up with this original one, which is coming out fantastically great. It also makes people who dont know what an iambic pentameter is, look it up and see it as a reference to what the dialogue was trying to explain in that particular conversation that Vincent was having with a proffesor who had read the same book that he had in the past. I actually think that we should have more of these famous or intelectual parts that could be included as kind of funny or just really smart. It makess the play set a tone where everything can reference back to something that relates to what the characters might be talking about.
My second literary device that I havent found yet was Onomatopeia which means to use words to imitate the sounds they describe. I think that we should start using more of this since it really paints a picture in the readers mind and sets the setting straight if somoeone might get confused while reading it. For example in Act 1 Scene 1 Page 1.
(GRANT has already started drinking and now realizes that he is drinking three day old coffee. He does a spit take/spits it back in the cup.)
I think that this part was an over all great description of what he was doing and what was happening in the scene, but in my opinion I want there to be more of this Onomatopeia through out the play, since it makes sense to describe each scene while changing it with specific details. This will actually also help the readers understand where the conversations took place and also define why they act the way they do.
In Act 1 Scene 1 Page 2, there was an interesting literary device that the play had which made it seem exaggerated and told alot at the same time.
GRANT: you are such a hermit. You almost never leave, and when you’re here you don’t do anything.
This to me defined hyperbole which is when the author uses specific words and phrases that exaggerate and over emphasize the basic crux of the statement. I think that this was of really good help to understand how lazy the main character was in a sense that I could understand it and see that he also wasn't the most athletic person as well. I really like this literary device because I feel like we can play around with them and see peoples reactions to it.

Blog #16

In some respects, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a play about nothing—I mean, we all already read Hamlet and we all know what happens to Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, so really what could this play be about?
This play could be mostly about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's life while they weren't in the castle dealing with all the problems that were occurring. I think that it's going to be mainly about them portraying regular scholars and how they live their life goofing off and being the best friends that they happen to be. I am also starting to think that someparts are going to relate back to the parts that were in the play Hamlet. Everything has to make sense in between the acts in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ar dead, because your supposed to read Hamlet the play first in order for you to follow this new play of small characters not including Hamlet.
So, really, what is this play all about?
So far now, while reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, everything is starting to make a little more sense, since they are trying to act out a play while being in a play. Which basically means that this book is all about a play trying to portray another play inside a play, I think? Well my point being that it was sort of what I had predicted before. I knew there was going to be many inside jokes on how the play Hamlet connected to Rosencrantz and Guildenster are Dead, since they were small parts in Hamlet. Now, I understand the book and try to pay attention to the small details that make sense when you try to connect them and say, hey, isnt that why in the play Hamlet......

Blog #15

What are the most important concepts that you took away from reading Hamlet?
The most important concepts that I got from reading Hamlet the play, was that not every story has to have a happily ever after ending to it. It could just be basically what reality was doing to them and how in real life it could end up in. This to me was very interesting because I had never really thought of a story that could have that kind of a tragedy in it since every story foreshadows a happy ending. Another thing that goes into this is the way Shakespeare wanted to make his characters, they were really wierd but had reason to be, in a certain way they were from the situations that they went through which made them act like they did. I picked up on this really quickly and figured that when you want to make a character interesting or more into the story give him a very non common role that not everyone sees everyday.This pulled me in very quickly and gave me a different perspective on the way the characters in story treat the other characters.

What are the most significant concepts that you learned from creating your digital essay?
The most significant concepts that I learned from creating my digital essay would have to be the way of the whole process and how everything was planned out from the beginning and rushed at the end. I learned that responsibility had to be enforced more. This could have helped us more in the process of finishing our digital essay. Even though we were responsible, we just weren't quite as much dedicated to it then we should have been. Another concept that I learned from the digital essay was that even though it was a short video that reflected the answers to our questions, it was also something that I had fun doing because I got to act out parts that were very interesting and out of my own personality.

Blog #14

1. To what extent is Hamlet pretending to be mad, and to what extent
has he actually slipped into madness throughout the play? How do you
know?
6. What significance is Ophelia to Hamlet... and to Hamlet?
7. Explain the roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet—pay
careful attention to their placement in and around key scenes.
8. Explain Hamlet's conflicted feelings about suicide.

blog #13

Quotes for the Interrogation Scene.
Hamlet already planned how he was going to confirm his suspicious of his uncle, his plan is to get actors and plan out the scene of how he murdered his father, and if he turned pale or even if he flinches he will be accussed.

HAMLET
May be the devil, and the devil hath power
T' assume a pleasing shape. Yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds
More relative than this. The plays the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.

CLAUDIUS
And can you by no drift of conference
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?

ROSENCRANTZ
He does confess he feels himself distracted.
But from what cause he will by no means speak.

GUILDENSTERN
Nor do we find him forward to be sounded.
But with a crafty madness keeps aloof
When we would bring him on to some confession
Of his true state.
ROSENCRANTZ
Madam, some actors happened to cross our paths on the way here. We told Hamlet about them, and that seemed to do him good.
ROSENCRANTZ
Madam, it so fell out, that certain players
We o'erraught on the way. Of these we told him,
And there did seem in him a kind of joy

CLADIOUS TO ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN
Friends both, go join you with some further aid.
Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain,
And from his motherصs closet hath he dragged him.
Go seek him out, speak fair, and bring the body
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this.

Explain how it leads to the creation of a fantastic final product.
This leads to the creation of our digital essay because it’s an outline of what Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have to do with what they see Hamlet doing and they are testifying against why he’s crazy. Which relates when we record my question with one of my groups other questions, basically connecting them all to be related in Ophelia’s or Polonious’s death. (We don’t know which one relates better to our testimonies yet)

List potential challenges or speed bumps that may arise in the next few days.
Some potential speed bumps that may occur during the process of our digital play would have to be the completion of the film since some of us have everything answered and ready to film but we can’t film until everyone has something to say where as some of the others don’t even have their answer questioned. This might be hard for us since we have a limited deadline for the digital essays to be due. Another struggle that we might have would be, getting extra actors to play different parts of our interrogation. We are planning on having a script, but the problem is that we don’t want it to be obvious that they are reading off of the script while filming.

Detail back up plans and potential solutions that you already have created, just in case you need them.
Our plan B, if our original theme fails, is to change the theme to a court scene which matches with what our questions are answering, but also flows with what the scene is meant to feel like. We want it to be real and still relate to what is going on in Hamlet as well.

Honors History Essay

Musicals
Musicals are a way of expressing yourself and what you are capable of doing on stage, they express the every move that you make in a creative and visual way. Musicals have such passion to them that makes everything even the more real. It’s something that makes a play fun to watch which they actually help get the vibe of the play more exciting and interesting. Musicals bring emotion, drama, passion, thrill, and much more things that can excite you to go and watch a musical yourself. I think that musicals are important in history today, because they have been developing throughout the years and have gotten stronger ever since. This is due to commitment and dedication, which play writers that work well with song composers and choreographers have done to bring musicals all the way to the big stage. Now, their collaboration has been more modern and adapted to our times as the 21st century advances.
Musicals have been climbing their way through fame ever since the mid 1870’s where it began with a really good written play and someone decided to just put a mix in to it and make it more fun, but it also got the theme through as well. It then was a big eye opening scene towards what Broadway was later on. Now, musicals have an important role today all around the world where they have been presented in London, New York City, North America, Latin America, and locally where ever you live. Even though it may seem relevant today that we see musicals as TV shows such as Glee, it has been happening all around, with teenagers that put on their own musicals, or just a group of adults that would like to fulfill their acting, dancing, or singing skills practicing musicals. This is a great way to put them into practice all together and make a phenomenal musical that people might want to watch as entertainment.
Musicals are very catchy and fun, they bring out the many talents that people have on only one stage. There are different types of musicals, which make them all the more interesting to watch and learn from. There are musicals that tell a story which makes the theme into songs that play with what the story is about, they are very fun and creative to watch. Since you never know how a story can be interpreted in a musical, you’ll just have to wait and be amazed at what you will experience in one of the many stories. It’s just the way that you see it and feel it. Once you get hooked on to a musical you’ll want to see more of it and expect much more singing and dancing rather than just acting the whole story. It’s like a beat, once you get the rhythm you’ll want to play the chorus over and over again.
Musicals are always very popular since they play modern songs which relate to common people today. This is a strategy that helps become more useful to catch people’s attention and make them interested in what they are watching. It makes them feel part of the musical and find a character that they can really relate to when they are later reviewing what they saw. A great example of musicals as movies is “Chicago” which has all the tricks in a musical perfected. It has all the qualities that make you be intrigued and excited with every scene that they perform. It has a theme to it and goes on with mini conflicts that make space for the singing and dancing performances that get the rhythm of what’s going on in the story. There are many movies like this one, but there’s nothing better than experiencing a live performance where you can feel and see the little details which make you feed on the energy of the performers.
Musicals have gone through so many changes that have made them go worldwide and been recognized throughout the world today. They have many qualities that make the stories have an interesting concept to it, and feel like your experiencing a thrill while watching the real life actors right in front of your face. They make you remember every scene that you experience in the play. It’s something that comes alive in your imagination, and which you can actually pay to see somewhere near you. Musicals just have been successful ever since there have been theaters around, and hopefully they will be around much longer.

Honors English Essay

Romeo and Juliet
Many love stories have their own endings which have been created through drama and many actions which are mainly towards the main characters. In Romeo and Juliet the theme is about true love and it always being a sacrifice even for the peace amongst enemies. Their true love became more passionate rather than hatred over time, this was without knowing that both of their families were sworn enemies even before they were born. They didn’t choose to fall in love with each other, but they fought for their love and sacrificed even their own lives to be together forever. Romeo and Juliet fell in love the moment they saw each other for the first time. They had no clue what type of background they had and neither of them knew that they each belonged to families that had never lived in peace amongst each other. Their family’s history couldn’t prevent what they were feeling and it’s something that they couldn’t help but to feel true love and passion inside their hearts. But, however there always has to be a little thing that makes everything seem so hard to overcome.
Romeo and Juliet had lives before they met. Romeo was a rebellious guy that never listened to his parents and always wanted to have fun with his friends. He belonged to parents who cared much about their reputation and always perfection. Having Romeo beside them was shameful and distracted them, so they always kept him away. This made Romeo a strong man and someone who could fight threw anything to get what he wanted. Rather than just forgetting what he felt for Juliet, he fought for her sacrificing many things to be by her side. For example, when he ran away, he didn’t just do it so he wouldn’t go to jail, but he also did it for her, so that she could be with him and they could run away together and start a new life. Love makes you make the any sacrifice worth the wait for your true love but it’s something that can bring consequences or better yet it could help two families in need of peace.
Love was really unexpected between them. It was as fast as the blink of an eye, and ended the same way. Juliet had a reputation as an obedient daughter who rushed to the orders of her parents. This may have actually given her the many problems that she faced and built up the courage to sacrifice her own life, even for the one she loved who as well did the same. For example, when her father told her that she had to marry a man that she didn’t love, it was very devastating for her since she had already married Romeo and she didn’t want her father to force her in to marrying a guy that she was never going to love. She always knew that her heart belonged to Romeo, but indeed this cost her to rebel and not be the innocent girl that she had always been. Not only did she do this for herself but she also did it for love towards Romeo.
Romeo and Juliet play a big part on the behalf of their family’s peace. They were the ones who put a stop to their family’s madness once and for all. But, this sacrifice wasn’t at all what their happily ever after story expected to go through. They realized that they had been separated through worst. Their death was a surprise to everyone, including the one person who helped them out the most. He had fulfilled their love in the eyes of god. He was the only one who cared to realize that their true love could pass any barriers that people might put against them. This included Juliet’s cousin who by orders of his aunt made sure to keep Juliet far away from Romeo, putting Romeo the difficult task to encounter all these problems and try to keep his calm. This then became more than a problem. It then became a tragedy that separated them for a while, but it didn’t stop them from trying once again to be together.
Everything that Romeo and Juliet have done is for their true love and passion that they have for each other. At the end nobody could do anything to separate them, this was what true love went through. They sacrificed themselves for the many things that they believed in, which was love and dedication for staying together in good or bad moments. Their final moment was together even though it wasn’t planned, they made their special goodbyes worth every single word. Sometimes you just have to do what you got to do in order to get what you really desire. This is what Romeo and Juliet went through, they came about any type of problem that was at risk of separating them. But it was at a cost that was life changing for both. Nobody could even have expected that their parents called it truce and finally had peace amongst each other. It was almost like a never ending rivalry. But, however, true love always has a sacrifice even if it means having peace amongst enemies.

Blog #12

Blog #11

What Act and Scene or portions are you producing for your digital play?

The part that we are going to interpret is Act 3, Scene 4. This Act is basically about how Hamlet is revealing himself to his mother and fighting with her about why she married the king's brother. The biggest part that we also have to interpret is when Hamlet murders Polonious thinking it's Cladious behind a curtain.

What Theater Jobs are showcased in your group?

The theater jobs that are showcased in our group are Robert and Jaime as both documentarians, Jasmin as the play supervisor, and me as wardrobe and actress.

This photo represents Robert in the scene where Polonius is hiding behind the "curtains" in Gertrades room and is dead. The thing that went well for this scene was that we could find a place that Roberts feet could peak out since in the play Poloniou's feet stick out from the curtain and that is why Hamlet sees him right away. The challenges that we faced during this was that Jaime was supposed to be Hamlet and be there, but since she was absent we had to make the scene anyway. Me and my group managed to do a great job of putting everything we were going to do together, this worked out very well and we got almost everything that we had for that day finished. In this part the most interesting part of it was at the beginning when we didn't know how to act dead or anything so we just took it how we thought it looked best.

This picture demonstrates behind the scenes of the making of the actual scenes we were supposed to do. Since our theme is humor and only behind the scenes footage of what happened in Hamlet, Jasmin and Robert got in a fight and I took a picture of them being mad at each other and arguing about what part they wanted to play. The thing that was going well in this scene was that they acted really naturally make it seem like Jasmine was really going to hit Robert with the water bottle. But, one of the challenges that we faced while taking the picture was that Robert and Jasmine were really fighting over who got to be who and I didn't know what to say so I just went along with whatever they said, but I got some ideas through as well. My group was collaborating as usual in this scene since it was really easy to take the perfect picture. The thing that was really interesting to me in this picture was that even though that it seems real and in real life Jasmin and Robert weren't mad at each other, deep down inside them they really didn't stand each other.

In this picture I was supposed to be portraying Gertrade and how shes really uptight so I just shrugged what they were telling me and they took the shot however I was posing. This went really well since I knew what I was supposed to do and I just went with what I thought Gertrude was going to do if they asked they had asked her to do the same thing I did in the confessional booth. There was only one challenge that I think we faced with this picture, which was the fact that it was supposed to look like a confessional booth and instead it looked like we filmed both scenes in the same place that we did Roberts scene. Me and my group collaborated very well, we each listened to various ideas that we had and made them work together so that our work could look best. The most interesting part for me would have to be having fun and staying on task at the same time, it was very fun coming up with humorous scenes and at the same time make them work for the Act and scenes we were trying to interpret.

Blog #10

What stands out to you most in your eleventh grade experience at our school?

What stands out to me the most in my 11th grade year so far has been all the responsibilities I have been going through. There have been more assignments that I have to complete on my own and learn how to keep myself on track so that I could finish them on time and get full credit. I feel like this year, the teachers expect more from you and can't tell you what to do anymore because you have to be more independent and stay on task by yourself. I guess I'm learning how to be more mature and on task with my assignments since Junior year is an important year that everyone looks at when your applying for college.

What stands out to you most about your Humanities class?

The thing that stands out to me the most in humanities is the Honors section of the class. I like being in this part of the class because it makes me feel like I can challenge myself to do better in humanities and get credit for it. I have also noticed that we do interesting assignments that involve what we are focusing on in class, but we get to look deeper in to the meaning of the project which helps me understand it better. It's also something that I can do in my free time which I really like since I get to manage my own time and work on it according to when it's due, but also focus on the assignments we are working on sepratly in class.

What have you read that made you think this year (in or out of school)?
A book that I have read during the school was "They Poured Rain On Us From The Sky" This book really stood out to me because it made me realize that there was more to life than just what I was living in today. This really made me connect to school and stay in school for the better, it's made me focus more on school and appreciate what I have right now. My goal right now is to finish high school and go straight to college. This has been an eye opening book that I recommed to many others that like reading books based on true life stories and what is happening around the world.

What have you noticed about your growth as a writer?
What I have noticed about growing as a writer has been the way I write my ideas now. I go straight to writing and never pay attention to my mistakes, otherwise I loose my train of thought. This has really helped me because now I write more fluently and never leave anything that I have to say behind. This also works whenever I want to get something done fast and detailed, I just write what I have to say and then go back and find the mistakes I made and correct them, and also make sense with what I'm trying to say.

What goals do you have for your next month? What is your plan to reach towards these goals?

For my next month the goals that I have set for myself are that, number one, stay on task and pay more attention to the due dates on big assignments like honor which nobody is going to be telling me when they are due all the time. My second goal is to try my hardest to get things finished before and not wait until the last minute or get stuck doing something else. And my last goal for next month is to expect more from myself and not depend on others, such as the new project that is coming up has to be a really big and so I want to show how good I am working in the area that I have been assigned to in the play. I want to give my all and also go beyond what is expected of me.

Blog # 9

This represents Hamlet madly in love with Ophelia. He has to show her how much she loves her in a madly manner because then he will convince people that he is really crazy. Even though so many people oppose to their relationship because their not in the same hiarchy, they still have love for each other. This aspect of the book really strikes me because Hamlet is supposed to balance the love with her and make himself seem like hes crazy. It's something that maybe he will do really wrong or else he will do it really good. And I have chosen this picture because it shows that he wants to kiss her in a passionate but crazy way while holding her with a strange strangling position.

This picture shows many emotions on Hamlet and it represents how hes become madly crazy. Well at least thats what he pretends to do to get everyones attention towards his craziness and not his intelligence. This really striked me because Hamlet was not supposed to know that his uncle killed his dad but since the ghost talked to him and only him about what had happened, he wants revenge now. This picture stood out to me because of the way he looks deep into the scull of the skeleton head. It really shows how hes going to plan his craziness.

I chose this picture because it really shows the way people can back stab each other. It represents the way that Hamlets uncle killed his own brother which was his father. This really got me thinking because everything that is happening is because of this betrayal. In the book it describes only the setting when Hamlets uncle claims the throne so it doesn't really describe how his uncle killed his own brother.

Blog #8

What stands out to me overall in this American Icon Project is that there were many emotions found during the written artist statement that helped the writing feel more real and straight to the point. I really liked this because I like reading writing where there is a lot of emotion and passion to convince the reader how much they know about whatever they are writing about. This helped many students in their writing because it taught them how to be more descriptive and be simple at the same time. An example of this would be me, who at first didn't know what to write about but then found many emotions that she just had to put on paper so that they could be read by people that wanted to know why my family was my American Icon.

The experience during this project is very over whelming because without knowing it you can make someone feel the connection your feeling with your American Icon. This is something many writers tend to fail on but a lot of us did a great job on figuring out how to organize our paper so that it all made sense as to why we chose who we chose. Personally I think that my work survived the critiques of it being boring and not convincing. I think I did a great job convincing people that I knew what I was talking about and made them feel the scenery that I was describing.

My thoughts on the book being close to publication is very nervracking because even though we are not professionals we tried our best to do what we could in making this the best book ever. We focused a lot on "Make Meaning Early" because it's something that many authors tend to do in their writing, and I think this was great because it says that we could also become professional writers as well.

Blog #7

The best elements about this project had to be the completed version of everyones photo and artist statement put together in the comons. This really showed how our hard work and enthusiasm paid off. Now everyone can see what we had been doing for the past 3 and a half weeks. I really like the way this project turned out because it's not only some project that we do to get a good grade on it, but it's also a project that helps for everyone to know a little something about you and who you see as an American Icon. Another big element from this project was how we expressed our feelings and passion for whatever our Icon was. This to me was the most fundumental part because without it nobody would want to keep reading our artist statements that had no emotion to it and didn't quite paint a picture to the readers mind about the reasons why we chose who we chose to be our American Icon.

What stood out to me were the photos accompanying our artist statements, becasue they all showed the emotion that we brought to life in our writing. It was a basic picture that we made it feel alive when people read our artist statements and knew what it portrayed. A good example that I liked was for instance Tony's, where he had a great picture of himj and his instrumentss that went perfectly with his artist statement that talked about his passion for music and how it had been from generation to generation. http://anthonygiardinelli.over-blog.com/

Blog #6

Cherishing the Moments

Karina Felix

“Stop! You’re splashing me!” As chaos is in the air, the phone keeps ringing. As I pick it up, someone’s already on the other line saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah come over and bring food so we could play.” My cousins were inviting other cousins to come and play at the house. Moments later, All types of screaming were being heard around the house, whether it was fighting or just having laughs here or there.

That day, the humidity in the air was quite relaxing and unbearably warm. My cousins and I sat in the water smelling the hot grill, cooking the great traditional Mexican foods; carne asada, beans, rice, enchiladas, and it goes on. There were many more kinds of smells in the air. There were many things that we were all busy doing, but it felt very special to me, and proved that we were more together than ever. Being together while having fun playing in the water and eating hot enchiladas, which by the way is my grandma’s special dish, we were gathered once again.

We aren’t the typical normal family, one in which that everyone seems to have their own life and nobody actually ever gets along with each other. My family and I have a great relationship with everyone, and we can talk to whoever is there whenever something’s bothering us. Whether it’s small or big, we will always be there for whoever needs it. I will certainly know that they will never turn their backs on me.

Whenever we have unexpected visits at the house, people tend to be surprised and ask if we are having a party. In response we tell them that it’s typical to find us like this almost every weekend. It’s like a party for us celebrating that we care about each other and seem far away from the family conflicts and problems that we might be having in our personal lives. This is mainly due to the fact that we are straight forward to each other and never keep secrets that might affect us all. We strongly believe that there shouldn’t be any type of negativity inside our little community. We have all learned this from being a religious Catholic family that goes to church every Sunday.

People tend to say that I have the perfect family, but it’s totally the opposite. We are so imperfect that we are perfect for each other. I admire the many things that my family has accomplished. Whether it’s my brother and my cousins accomplishing their education to the fullest or just us having a great day. For us it’s big, which means having a variety of foods and smells that my aunts and grandma prepare, and screams and conversations all over the place by my uncles watching a soccer game, or just seeing them playing on the pool table, cheering and making jokes about each other. We feel proud for the smallest accomplishments but make them feel big in a way that everyone feels accomplished.

We always have a great time whether it’s for a celebration of someone’s birthday or even if it’s just a simple lunch that we are going to share as a family. The point is that we are together and we always will be, even though we will all grow up and have our own families. We will cherish the memories that we shared in my house and pass them on to our kids, teaching them that family will always be there whenever they need it the most.

Blog #5

Some writing tips that seem helpful to me are make meaning early, Sensory detail, the hook, and starting my essay with a conversation or me speaking. This helped my essay be more interesting and more to the point because at first my drafts were boring until they got to the body paragraphs where they were more into the point and seemed to catch the readers attention. Later when I incorperated these tips on my writing I got the readers hook and made people interested in reading what my artist statement is about.

I would like our editors to focus more on my way of putting my paragraphs in order and making them flow well with my story. What I'm worried about is having my essay not make sense and have everything all over the place. Our editors will help me a lot by also focusing on my sensory details that I have been using. I would like them to correct me if there is too much sensory details or I have to put more since my essay already has a lot of scenes where there are descriptions of my family and how I feel about them.

What I am hoping to improve in my writing is the way my paragraphs flow together and combine to one main thing, which is my family. I am also hoping to improve the boring words that I always use in my writing and come up with new interesting words that mean the same thing but combine two or more words together. For me it's like making my writing shorter but keeps the same message that I want the readers to get. It's a way that I can also grow as a writer since I'm trying new words out and including them into my words, which I think will make the reader seem that I know exactly what I'm talking about.