Assignment 26 - Anna Baskin

Reading essays in class anonymously was an extremely helpful exercise. I felt like I improved my writing, developed a new tone through the frequent exercises and also enhanced my creativity in how I molded my argument. I especially appreciated the encouragement to break away from the traditional five paragraph essay format, and the warnings about no-no words – while I knew some words were weaker than others, checking with a list was a concrete way to discourage useless words.

I did think that more description of what we are writing would improve our rhetorical analysis essays. I felt like we jumped into the first essays and continued to improve our writing, but learned little about how to analyze a work. Later in the year we critically analyzed pieces like “An Inheritance of Wood” in inner/outer discussions, and just before the exam we read sample pieces and you broke them down for the class. Both of these activities helped me learn to read the text critically, but I think they would have been more helpful at the beginning of the year, so we can practice these skills while writing our essays.

Assignment 26: Caili Harris

Overall, I enjoyed the class. However, one thing I wish we would have spent more time covering is the different rhetorical  devices and their uses. That’s the only portion of the AP test I felt nervous about. That said, I do understand a list of these was handed out, and I probably should have studied them more. However, I feel that more discussion of these devices would benefit the future students of this class. In addition, one thing that might be interesting to try would be to move around assigned seats more often to give students more chances to interact with a wider variety of the class. Overall though, I enjoyed this class in its entirety, those are simply the aspects I feel could be improved upon. Have a great summer everyone!

assignment 26- Matthew Street

Mr. Logsdon,

Surprisingly enough i really enjoyed your class and we did many things that i feel really helped prepare me for the AP test. The peer essay review idea is amazing and it really helped exemplify what a good essay was and what i needed to tweak with mine to make it as good as it could be. I do believe that we couldve done more with the practice ACT test like more actual english based learning and grammar and things like that but overall everything else felt all natural and good.
Thank you for being such a great teacher and for everything you do for us and i absolutely cant wait to have you again next year!!
Matthew Street

Assignment 24- Matthew Street

Well right now im just trying to get good grades so i can get into college which is actually so stressful like you dont understand. Also most of my goals are centered around swimming and how that can help progress my future. Right now i want to achieve my olypmic trial cuts in swimming so then i can attend the 2020 trials in omaha. This would give me the closest chance that i would have to becoming an olympic swimmer even thought its impossibly hard. I feel like my best shot to make any Olympics would be in 2024 or even 2028, but well just have to see. I really hope senior year is better than junior year because as a whole this year kinda sucked and i let my grades fall 2nd semester bc im dumb and irresponsible until it bites me in the butt which i am now learning is bad.

Assignment 23 - Matthew Street

This playlist is kind of a mood like its weird to explain but its just songs that i really like right now so yeah.

Freddy v Jason- Xxxtentacion and Ski Mask the Slump God

Dont let the rappers names fool you this song is actually a pretty chill melody, im not completely sure about the profanity but id give this song a solid 8/10 just due to how short it is but yes its a banger.

Lucid Dreams- Juice WRLD

This song is incredible like just listen whoever is reading this i 100% recommend this song its just so catchy and overall just a good song for any mood 10/10

L$D- A$AP Rocky

Well this is honestly one of the greatest masterpieces ever made by a rapper and i guarantee that if you listen to this song you will like it its such a beautiful song 10/10

The Story of Adondis - Pusha T

A Drake diss track that was dropped by Pusha T veryyy recently and i dont think ive ever herd more exposing heat come out of someones mouth like drake got utterly destroyed. 9/10 (its just a diss)

ACHOO! - Ski Mask the Slump God and Keith Ape

Well first off this song is hard as hell like they both go in and its just a barrage of heat. Keith Ape is korean and raps in korean and its fire as heck so listen 10/10

Assignment 22- Matthew Street

For me the college search has already begun and i am very deep in the process, having already narrowed down my top 5 schools and i know im going to one of them and im being pressurized to make a commitment in early school year this year maybe even late summer. I am being pushed by the recruiting process of swimming in college and the ordeals that come with it. At the Division 1 level of swimming, its not a joke, most of the people who are contacting me and talking with me mean business and on my first call with a D1 coach a while back i got a reality check. Yeah i realize college needs to be centered around my academics, but swimming takes up so much of my life and i realize it is way more intriguing to me than any school subject. Ill just put my college list right here : Cincinatti, Auburn, Penn State, Pitt, LSU. AS of right now it'll be one of those schools where i can swim and obtain a great education but a lot comes down to the border schools and my dilemma whether to include them or not.

Matthew Street- Assignment 21

An issue that i think is very relevant in today's society is politics and how these impact our lives on the daily. One thing i am very passionate about is the promotion of anti communist principles.

While it is true that i do have political bias as i am (surprisingly) pretty politically educated because that is something that intrigues me. I hate communism. I hate communists. I hate people who think that communism works and that we should give it a try because America is so terrible. Listen here fella, America is literally one of the most prosperous countries in the world. America came from nothing to THE global superpower. Someone cant argue this. Im from a 3rd world country and the quality of life there is horrible, living conditions are horrible, everything that you can think of is better in the US (except the food). This is due to the success of free market capitalism and the economic system of america in general.
Theres one major difference in capitalism and communism -- communism is for the lazy.
The American Dream is the driving factor of millions of americans to achieve all of their hopes and asprations, and it is very possible. My dad came from a family that was impoverished, and now hes the director of sales at the Valvoline HQ of the world, all because of his strive to be the best version of himself that he can.

Ok tbh i had this planned to be a full essay and i dont have the time for that but i feel like you can see where my argument goes from there i have to wake up in 5 hours to swim.
communism kills. alot. the end.

Assignment 20- Matthew Street

One thing i am sorta passionate about that is also nerdy is rubiks cubes, so, here goes my how to on solving a rubiks cube, which hopefully, makes sense.

1. First step is knowing the pieces (center edge and corner) and understanding how a cube works. The core of the cube never changes and the pattern is always the same (yellow opposite white, red opposite orange, blue opposite green).
2. The first step in sloving the cube is locating the white edge pieces (the pieces with white and another color on them which are only 2 colors not 3), and inserting them accordingly alinged with the proper center. for example, the red/white edge piece would be inserted in between the red center and the white center.
Proceed to do this until all 4 edge pieces are in
3. from here (im getting lazy w the explanation bc this is where it gets hard) you do a method called f2l in which you pair corner pieces with edge pieces to make a bar which you then insert in between the already solved centers.
4. After the first 2 layers are solved you move onto orienting the yellow side. you need to know notation which is impossible to describe in words and also algorithms which i will link here.
https://ruwix.com/the-rubiks-cube/advanced-cfop-fridrich/orient-the-last-layer-oll/
5. The last step in solving the cube is permutating the last layer (pll). you also need to know notation and algorithims but ill still link it
http://cubewhiz.com/pll.php

Well thats all you need to know but very loose, if you actually want to learn (anyone) im actually a good teacher in person and if you come up to me and ask ill help you out! have fun!

Matthew Street- Assignment 19

Over the course of my life I have received advice countless of times. This is probably something that everyone can relate to or the people in my life think I am a giant mess. Whether on not that's the reason, the advice is appreciated. Though I do consider myself an independent person, I often find myself searching for the wisdom of people far smarter than me. 

After rummaging through the mental files within the advice cabinet, I found a particularly powerful message from my mother. She once brilliantly said to me, "never interfere with matters of the heart." When I was younger this advice never resonated with me; it seemed simplistic, and vague and quickly swept over my naive mind. The older I get the more I recognize the weight to this statement. As love, foolishness, pain, and heartbreak become reality to me and the people I love, I cling to this advice with all I've got. 

Matthew Street- Assignment 18

1. Before finishing high school, one thing I would love to do is have at least a general idea on what I'd like to do with my life. As of right now, I have absolutely no idea on what I'd like to do in terms of work. I don't know what I want to major in, and have very few ideas. There are many things I can easily rule out, but not many I can rule in. If something were to happen to me, whether it be in school or something that happens outside of school, that gave me an idea of what I want to pursue with my life, I'd feel very confident leaving high school.

2. My goal for what I'd like to accomplish before finishing college is similar to the goal for high school. Before finishing college, I'd like to have an idea of what job I am going in to. Preferably, I'd like to have a job already lined up, but in today's business climate, I know it's very unlikely that happens, especially given I don't really have any connections. So realistically, I'd like to at least have an idea of what specific career I am going to pursue after completing college.

3. My goal for my life in general is to just be happy with whatever i do, and from there just see where things go maybe like buy like a million avacados. yes. thats my new life goal ill have fun trying to do it. 

Matthew Street- Assignment 17

Probably my favorite movie director is Quention Terintino (Yes i know i spelled that horribly wrong).
To  me his works (while extremely gorey) were insanely entertaining and include some of my favorite films of all time. These films include Pulp Fiction and Django: Unchained. Both of these movies implement the feeling of bad-assery, and they are both very violent, profane, and oh so really kick ass. Pulp Fiction has shootings, car crashes and chases, and an overdramatized drug overdose, while Django Unchained has the most bad ass slave of all time as well as one of my favorite shootout scenes in all of cinema. 
These two movies help shape how i think of cinema in our society and they both are great examples of what intriguing movies should be.

Assignment 26- Sarah

Overall, I loved this class. And I do not like English.

I appreciate that we got to express our concerns when we had them and that you listened to them. Our class was a good balance of fun and work.

However, there are a few things that could be changed to improve the class. Our visual literacy assignments didn't seem to serve a purpose other than another grade in the gradebook. I also wish we had gotten specifics earlier: typically you would wait to explain the specifics until people started asking about them. This is smart because it ensures that people will pay attention, however, sometimes in our busy schedule we would forget and then it felt like a very rushed project.

Our class discussions were normally very constructive, but they seemed extremely repetitive. The same people seemed to repeat themselves hundreds of times because people were making the same mistakes or they really focused on evaluating one piece of the writing. I think that it would be helpful to do things like where we traded essay between classes and did them in small groups to break up the repetitiveness of the class.

I felt very prepared when it came to the writing sections on the AP test, however I was not ready for the multiple choice. We did a few practice multiple choice tests in class, but I never really felt like they got easier. I think one way to improve that would to be to teach the type of questions they ask and how to go about finding the answer.

This was an unforgettable class and I am so glad I have been able to grow closer with my friends. Thank you Mr. Logsdon for providing an open and constructive classroom for us to learn.

Assignment 26 - Lauren Chatfield

I really like this class. It was very different that the format and plan for any other class I felt adequately prepared with vocab, essay practice, act practice, and practice with writing skills to aid me in being successful. When applying to college next year I will for sure use writing with style to help formal my essays.

I feel like I would’ve felt better going into the AP Exam if the week before we had taken a test in full (one day multiple choice and one day for each essay) so we could score ourselves holistically on the scale and get an idea of what to expect and what to anticipate we’ll get. I did like the discussion style grading we did however I found that students often gave destructive criticism instead of constructive. Students would comment on such dumb things that weren’t going to help the betterment of one’s writing. I did find this a flaw in that system but I’m not sure how that would be fixed.

I wished we’d had more Socratic seminars. It was nice to have relief from Ap practice constantly.

Assignment 26- Stone Poole

I had a ton of fun in this class and it was more challenging than I thought it would be. Overall, I loved   the class and thought the AP exam practice was very helpful to those who took the test and the essays we did were helpful because we got feedback on all of them so we could improve each time.
There are 2 things I wish we had done in class this year. First I wish that for each type of essay we did one together as a class first so we saw the process of doing one but we weren't by ourselves to do it. Second I wish we had done more with our visual literacy assignments. We had these big assignments and never did anything with the elements of them or discussed about visual literacy elements we had to learn them ourselves for our assignments and then that was it.
Besides doing a first essay with the class and doing more than just an assignment with our visual literacy assignments.

Assignment 26 – Dilni Abeyrathne

               To spend a year in this AP Language and Composition class has been an amazing venture for me. With a love of literature and writing, I was ecstatic when I first stepped foot into the room, excited to read, write, analyze. Quite honestly, I have thoroughly enjoyed the class and having you as a teacher.

                Before my words dance away from me, I shall provide some constructive criticism for the course. The class was highly enjoyable, but not without its faults, as is anything in life. For one, I would suggest spreading out the specific timed writings, by which I mean having the class do all three types of timed writing throughout the year, not simply focusing on one type for one period of time. I feel that mixing up the timed writings would allow students to perform better, as they would get a taste of each type periodically throughout the year. In addition, though I found the Congress Grading helpful, I feel that ultimately, students should be held more responsible for their annotations. I have seen many a paper returned to me that was absolutely devoid of any type of annotation. I know that I am not a perfect writer, far from it, so I would be very pleased to have as much constructive criticism as possible to improve my style, as I’m sure other students will. Perhaps this could be done by doing a check periodically during the Congress Grading to ensure that everyone puts down at least something on their paper.

                Although the multiple timed writings were extremely helpful, I believe that emphasizing the multiple choice section would have enhanced our confidence for the exam. Simply taking several practice exams will not help greatly, at least in my opinion. It is common knowledge that some students simply do not try on such practice exams, though most do. My solution would be to set aside some time periodically throughout the year to discuss the types of passages and questions that appear on the exam and how to tackle them in the most efficient way possible. I feel that this would greatly enhance student performance on the spring exam.

                Now, since my constructive criticism has had its time to shine, it is time that the more positive comments come up to the stage. First, I thought the Blog Posts were a fantastic edition to the class. As I’m sure everyone knows, essay writing has certain limitations with style, demanding in most cases a formal, professional tone. I have no hatred towards that, none at all! But, I found it a hindrance to my writing style at times. The Blog Posts helped alleviate that. With the variety of rich prompts, I was given the chance to write in my natural style, or experiment when I felt like it. I loved writing the blog posts – they gave me a certain respite from the rigid formality of timed essay writing. In addition, the fact that some of the prompts come straight from college is a major benefit. I feel less anxious now at the labors of writing a college essay.

                I also thoroughly enjoyed the Visual Literacy Projects. Though they did not exactly conform to the test, I found them an interesting endeavor, allowing my creativity to burn brightly. I especially enjoyed the drawing and film-making aspects of the projects. With my usual busyness, I rarely get to do either, and when I do get the change to do them, I am exhilarated. They allow me to unleash my creativity and imagination without limit, and I enjoy that extremely. I am especially happy that we got the chance to make some short films this year. It has been some time since I’ve last made a film, and I have enjoyed the chance this class has given me to reignite that passion. Though I don’t intend on being a filmmaker, I enjoy the moments of peace and happiness making a film affords me.

                At last, my words have flown – danced through my head to the computer before me. I sincerely hope my criticism has been of some use. It is not my wish to pull you down, rather, I only wish to help this class rise. This class has been truly wonderful, and I have loved every moment of it. Writing is my passion, and always will be. This class helped emphasize that passion. It has been a pleasure to have this class this year – and I mean every word I say. In all, I have but two things to say:

                You have taught us well. Thank you Mr. Logsdon, for everything.   

Assignment 26 - Gloria Dietz

I thought the class was overall successful in helping us prepare for the exam.
I really liked going over essays in class, but would like to have more helpful comments on the essays I receive back, so maybe you could try to encourage that more. I would’ve also liked doing the essay types mixed throughout the year rather than focusing on one type at a time, because the synthesis wasn’t really done till the last part of the year and by that time I didn’t really remember what I did during the first part of the year with analysis. I also didn’t really understand why we had visual literacy projects and it seemed kind of thrown in rather than actually part of the class. Lastly, I would’ve liked more time to go over the multiple choice section of the exam, because it felt like we made essays the focus aman didn’t really go over that part of the exam that much.

Blog 26- Erica Currier

I’m a English person. I hate math and science, I hate when things are black and white. I hate our school system for making me continue doing something I hate. But thankfully I had some reprieve in this class.

I love doing peer reviews because most of the best advice I’ve got on my writing has been from students around me. I quite enjoyed that aspect of the class and would recommend people that aren’t taking your class to take something like based on a similar premise. Mainly because as a writer you need to be humble. You need to understand things will always be “wrong” in your writing but I also learned that something you like someone else might hate especially when talking about writing. 

Coming from me this might not be a surprise, but I wish that we read more. This is because I think if we read a bit more the multiple choice section of the test wouldn’t have scared me as much. Because it is styled much like the Reading ACT. And I think discussion about themes amnd meaning is much needed because while yes we gained seminar we lost Sophmore English a class that I think would’ve helped quite a bit. 

Assignment 26: Theodore

At times, this class felt like a college class. Unlike some teachers, you didn’t hold our hands throughout the school year; we had to learn to fend for ourselves. After all, AP classes are supposed to prepare us for college. I also believe that you are willing to adjust the curriculum to reduce our stress, as long as our learning is unimpaired. You managed the concerns of Academy students well; we are not known for a sense of perspective about our grades.

I was going to discuss individual parts of the class, but I realized that I can easily summarize: (1) I liked almost everything. (2) I felt that each part of the class was effective, albeit in different ways. Of course, I cannot guarantee that everyone thought the class was effective. But it was for me: If I had written this blog a year ago, I would have included boring, unnecessary details about every aspect of the class.

Come to think of it, I do have constructive criticism for one part of the class — summer reading. While Writing with Style is an amazing book that significantly improved how I think about writing, I cannot say the same about The Teenage Brain by Dr. Jensen. But I don’t want to merely complain about it; I want to offer an alternative — The Moral Animal by Robert Wright. Every chapter of The Teenage Brain had the same idea: “Chemical imbalances in a teenager’s epithalamus or rhinencephalon or cerebralion predispose them to do drugs or crash their car or become depressed.” The message was horrifying yet boring. Jensen focused on the names of brain regions, but that information is worthless for improving our lives. I invented the word “cerebralion,” but you couldn’t tell because the name doesn’t matter.

On the other hand, Wright has roughly the same message — we are not as in control of ourselves as we think we are — but he explains why. Thus, I have found his concepts much more relevant than Jensen’s terminology. The Moral Animal touches on mature topics from time to time, but it is less disturbing than Jensen’s brutally clinical descriptions of ill-fated adolescents.

Note: If you have read The Moral Animal — which often discusses ulterior motives — you might guess that I have a hidden motive in recommending the book. I do. Since it’s a relatively benign one, I think you can guess it by 2021.

Assigment 26- Kristin

For the AP test, I liked how whenever we wrote an essay, we would read example scored essays before scoring each others' essays, but I think that the time for doing so could have been shrunk down a bit so we could have gotten to do a few more activities or done a bit more practice for the AP test as well as the other standardized tests.  We could have read all nine benchmarks for the first of each style of essay written (synthesis, argument, analysis), but after the first one, we kind of already had an idea of how they would be scored, so for the rest of the essays in that particular style, we could have read a few (maybe the three, five, seven, and nine or something like that).  We also could have spent less time on grading.  Grading every single person's paper seemed kind of excessive for every single essay (plus it used a lot of paper), but I did enjoy separating into small groups and grading a few, like we did for our last essay, so maybe we could have graded that way more often and used two days on grading essays rather than five.

I wish we could have had a couple more Socratic seminars, because I saw those as really helpful to learn how to hold intellectual conversations.  We become so used to addressing surface-level issues, and our everyday discussions can be relatively shallow.  But, when we're forced to dig deeper and think harder about our topic, we end up uncovering interesting revelations and having interesting, engaging discussions.

I would have liked to spend some more time on learning and perfecting grammar rules.  After a year of writing and grading essays, I noticed many more grammatical errors than you would expect from an advanced junior class, and I wish that we had spent time learning how to form sentences and express ideals in the best and most correct way.  I know you told us that AP graders don't put as much stress on grammar, but crafting words is a skill regularly used and needed in daily life, and I would like to improve my abilities of that.

Thank you for readying us for the AP exam throughout the year because ultimately, I think we were prepared to the best of our abilities.

Assignment 26- Clifton Grady

Typically, I dread English classes which often entail trudging through tireless readings that repeat themselves year after year spewing the prescribed English curricula of grammar and mechanics which many of us are well familiar with. This class took that perception of English class and turned it on its head for me.

Overall, I thought that this class was a very effective one. Particularly, I found the anonymous group grading of essay to be vastly helpful. Not only being able to get live, honest feedback on our essay, but also being able to have fluid, unbiased conversations with one another that gave insight into how others viewed language- broadening my horizon- but also allowed me to speak my ideas and get push back on those, really challenging me not only as a writer, but also as a critic and a thinker. This more than anything in my career as a student furthered my writing and thinking about writing and language. I can honestly say without a doubt that this was the best (and also my favorite) English class I have had the pleasure of taking.

To improve this class, I would include more practice for multiple choice questions. On both the AP exam and the ACT reading section I found myself pressed for time. Granted, I scored well on the ACT and anticipate a 5 on the AP exam, but I feel like a bit more preparation for these two tests incorporated into the class would have been greatly beneficial. I did find that the grammar practice for the English section of the ACT was very helpful though, so perhaps mixing between the grammar and reading by week as opposed to having a full semester of grammar and then just a short couple months of reading (paired with AP practice, mind you) may be a better way to prepare us for both exams equally.

And I don't know how often you get this, but it is well deserved...

Thank you, Mr. Logsdon.

Assignment 24- Clifton Grady

Junior year. Everyone says that this critical year in life is complete and utter hell. Leading to this point I was doubtful. I knew they just had to be exaggerating…right?

WRONG!

Well, kinda. This year has been a rollercoaster ride for sure. Sleepless nights of key terms, unimaginable headaches trying to understand what exactly it was we learned in AP chemistry that day, lots ( and lots, and lots…) of homework, projects and readings and lab reports and practicing and rehearsal. It was a cumbersome year.

But it was also much more than that.

Junior year also brought some amazing moments. Placing first place in our division at a national marching band competition, feeling the satisfaction of finishing all of those burdensome assignments, making some unforgettable memories with friends, getting to play lead trumpet in the all-state jazz band. These were also parts of my junior year. It was unforgettable.

Filled with good and bad, this year was packed so dense that it’s hard to fathom everything the last year has brought. It’s been good, it’s been bad, it’s been ugly, but it’s certainly been long, and I can say with confidence that I’ll never forget it and I will certainly not dread the memory of it, but I am glad to see junior year go.

I look forward to attending the Governor’s School for the Arts this summer studying trumpet, as well as to (hopefully) having a senior year as eventful as this one, but perhaps without all the stress. Pinpointing where I want to go to college will be an adventure, as will the rest of life, but I look forward to it all.

Assignment 23- Clifton Grady

I really love music, particularly jazz. I am a jazz musician myself so I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the topic, so I present to you…

Clifton’s jazz playlist the will put you in a good mood no matter what* 

1. Sing, sing, sing- Benny Goodman This is one of the most popular jazz standards of all time. The unmistakable drum beat into to the infectious tune that makes you want to go back in time and swing dance, this song never fails to put me in good spirits.

 2. Birdland- The Weather Report Okay, this song is both jazz and rock, more of a fusion song, but I’m gonna put it one here anyway. This song is a classic and there are plenty of versions of it out there that are all great— the original performed by the Weather Report, one by Maynard Ferguson, me featuring Jaco Pastorius, and probably others I’m forgetting. It’s a great song that’s a lot of fun and every time I hear or play it I have a ton of fun.

 3. MacArthur Park- Jimmy Webb This song is just great, one of my all-time favorites. There is a slow section and a fast section which provide contrast and overall just make the tension and intensity curve of the song really engaging, and as a trumpet player listening to Maynard Ferguson’s version of this tune (which is the version I recommend) is astonishing, as he is perhaps the greatest lead player who ever lived. The song is also just really catchy and always makes me smile when I hear it.

 4. La Fiesta- Chick Corea This song is fast and loud, and it’s just really fun to listen to. This song is a jazz standard in the Latin style, so it adds yet another aspect of variety to the list. Again, I recommend the Maynard Ferguson version— the trumpet playing (along with the rest of the band) is phenomenal.

 5. Groovin’ Hard- Don Menza This song is another piece that has become standard jazz repertoire. It is a classic example of a laid back swing tune and it just really fun to listen to. It’s an exciting song with great solo breaks, big and loud moments, as well as some quieter parts to allow your ears to relax. I recommend the version of this tune performed by he Buddy Rich Big Band. Buddy Rich was one of the greatest drummers who ever lived and his band was top notch in everything they played, but this tune is a great example of one of their standards.

 I do not use Spotify for my music so I can’t put my list on there, but a quick google search should turn results for all of these songs.

 *results not scientifically proven nor protected by any guarantee

Assignment 22- Clifton Grady

My life experience has been one that I feel not many experience. If any of you haven’t caught on by now, yes, I am a minority. Not only am I a minority, but I also have a life threatening disability. Despite this though, I prosper on as anyone else would. Being a minority, a lot of stereotypes come to my mind as I try to realize how people may perceive me. Personally, I have never (to my knowledge) experienced racism directly. I have always been a gifted and talented student, and when I lived in Maryland that meant going to a special school altogether beginning in first grade. In this school, I was surrounded by other kids who just didn’t look like me. But I really didn’t let this affect me very much at all. I made friends and grew up as normal, I was just in an environment where my peers were racially different from me. This has been the case for essentially my entire growing up. There are very few nonwhite people who I consider good friends simply due to the environments I have been in. I have been told I am a “white” black person, and sometimes this frustrates me. I feel as though race and personality should be mutually exclusive things. Just because I come from a background of financial wellbeing, a good education, strong family values, and I speak properly (admittedly, my knowledge of slang language is so lacking that sometimes I find difficulty in communicating with peers via text messages), that shouldn’t indicate that I am white, as I am clearly not (at least not wholly. Yes, my mother is white, but no one looks and me and tries to figure out exactly what I am. Society takes a quick glance and categorizes me—black.). This has made my life a bit of a confusing one. I know exactly who I am, but society does not, and convincing people of who I am has always been a challenge. People either see me and pinpoint me as black, or talk to me and determine that I’m so-called “white.” All I want to be is me, and I feel like my background provides a sense of uniqueness to any societal niche I find myself in. I understand both black and white culture, and I feel like someone like me could serve as a much needed bridge between two races seemingly at war in times like these where racial tension is more quarrelsome than ever.

Assignment 21- Clifton Grady

The biggest obstacle I ever faced was actually a fairly recent one. I fell I’ll around Thanksgiving of sophomore year and continually got worse and worse as time progressed. I was losing weight at an alarming rate (something particularly frightening for a person of smaller stature like myself), I was always fatigued, I had to pee upwards of 60 times a day ( I wish this was an exaggeration), I was constantly thirsty… clearly something was wrong. This all culminated after what was one of the best weekends of my life—but that is a story for another time. Saturday morning I had a concert with the all-district jazz band. The concert went well, but my thirst and fatigue were ever present, and still I had to pee. At the end of the concert, I rushed to the bathroom to pee, and it is here where things went awry. I passed out, and upon waking up fifteen or so minutes later, I knew something was wrong. I told my mom what I had been trying to avoid—I needed to go to the hospital. I was terrified, and honestly much of those days were a blur to me, but what I do remember is something that will affect me for the rest of my life. That day, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Coping with this disease has been cumbersome over the last year, but I have made a deliberate effort not to let it affect my life any more than it has to. Is it a pain in the ass to have to stick a needle in my arm just about any time I eat something that has carbohydrates (which is basically EVERYTHING)? Sure. Is having to make sure that glucose levels in my blood are stable annoying? Of course. But does this change who I am? Absolutely not. I haven’t stopped doing anything I enjoyed before my diagnosis (except for maybe mindlessly snacking on carbs) and I haven’t made any major lifestyle changes either ( to my benefit I already lived a fairly healthy life with enough activity and healthy eating to help me maintain my condition). As the saying goes, “it is what it is,” and I don’t let it or anything else affect me any more than it has to. Taking this attitude through life has helped me maintain relatively low stress levels and to be a relatively happy and productive person. Despite having to face this major hurdle over this last year, my outlook on life hasn’t changed, and neither have I.

Assignment 20- Clifton Grady

How to play a Bb scale on the trumpet

Step one: take the mouthpiece and insert it into the mouthpiece receiver of the trumpet (this is connected to the lead pipe). Then, perform a quarter turn on the mouthpiece to ensure it stay snug in the trumpet, but not so tight that it gets stuck.

Step two: Raise the trumpet to your lips. You never want to bring yourself to the trumpet, but rather bring the trumpet to you. This is to emphasize your control over the instrument, and to ensure you maintain proper posture when playing. This will help you produce a nicer tone.

Step three: Form your embouchure. The embouchure is essentially the shape of your face when playing the instrument. To do this for trumpet, form your mouth as if you are saying the syllable “mmm” inside of the mouthpiece, keeping your lips together fairly tightly allowing enough flexibility in your lips to allow them to vibrate.

Step four: Blow warm air through the tiny hole between your lips (the aperture) so as to make them vibrate. You want to keep your throat as open as possible, as if you were trying to fog up a glass. You want the air to be fast and in a steady stream, but also as warm as possible so as to produce a dark, opulent sound. You should produce the pitch Bb.

Step five: You should proceed as above, but now pressing down the valves and slightly speeding up your air as you go up the scale. The first note is to be played open, followed by C (first and third valve), D (first and second valve), Eb (first valve), F (again, played open), G (again, first and second), A (second valve), and then Bb again (also played open).

Congratulations, you now know how to play the Bb scale on the trumpet.

Assignment 19- Clifton Grady

One of the best pieces of advice in my life came in the form of what I took to be an offensive insult at the time. It was freshman year and I was clearly the runt of the litter as far as trumpet players were concerned—I was godawful. Despite this, I aspired to be really good, particularly at jazz. So one day, I asked my jazz band director what I needed to do to get better at jazz, and he told me “first, I think you need to get better at your instrument.” It was harsh, I felt discouraged, and eventually that turned into motivation. I practiced, and practiced, and practiced some more. That summer I did almost nothing but play my trumpet. I came back better than I ever thought I would be, and I even got into our school’s top jazz band as a sophomore. Fast-forward to no and that same kid who just wanted to learn how to play jazz is lead trumpet in the all-state jazz ensemble as well as principal trumpet in the all-district symphonic band. What I learned from all of this was a lesson that is applicable to all facets of my life—start with the fundamentals. I am very much a person who likes to delve right in and throw caution to the wind doing whatever impulsive creativity and a racing curiosity drive me to. Learning to appreciate slowing down to learn the fundamentals has equipped me with a new patience, as well as a new understanding of how I can master any craft I set my sights on.

Assignment 18- Clifton Grady

Before I finish high school, I would love to finish writing a song. As I have stated in blogs prior to this, I love music, and composing is a pastime of mine. My biggest problem is that my mind is always racing at a thousand miles a minute, and I can hardly contain my thoughts. In this roots my tendency to abandon certain ideas for what I deem to be better ones. This is problematic because I am always devising these so-called better ideas, and hence I never finish anything. And so it is my goal to actually finish something one of these days. If only I could find the time…

                                

Before I go finish college, it is my goal to attend at least one “real” party. Now I know this might strike some as a surprise, but I am not exactly the partying type. I much prefer retiring to my house with family or a friend or two and watching tv, playing video games, eating food, and having a good time in the company of a few people who are important to me. This being said, however, this recluse feels as though he should arise from his burrow at least once in college and experience a “real” party. And I don’t want to go small either—I want a party with it all. Not that I would necessarily participate in all (or most, for that matter) of what said party has to offer, but just being able to say that I experienced it is something that I wish to do.

 

And for the last item, being one thing I wish to do before I finish living, my choice is a pretty easy one to make. Since I was a little kid, I have been fascinated with the architecture, history, and culture of Japan, so naturally, it has always been a dream of mine to one day visit (and perhaps live in) Japan.

 

Assignment 17- Clifton Grady

One of my favorite film directors is Quentin Tarantino. Because someone in my life had not seen any Tarantino movies, we actually watched a few together recently so as to educate this person, so I will use two of those movie—Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds—to talk about this director. A hallmark or Tarantino’s movies is sensationalized violence. These movies, one about hitmen and one about Nazi’s in France during WWII, both depict this trademark of his quite well. Particularly, Pulp Fiction has shootings, car crashes and chases, and an overdramatized drug overdose, and Inglorious Basterds depicts sensationalized war violence, scalping, and one of the greatest depictions of Nazi slaughter in film (not going to apologize if I offended any Nazis). While Pulp Fiction looks at this violence and conflict through a more personal lens, Inglorious Basterds does so through a personal lens, but with more of an emphasis on the overarching conflict with Nazi Germany and the Allies having more of the conflicts be war driven rather than personal.

Assignment 20- Erica Currier

How To Cross Stitch
Step One- Buy a Cross Stitch Kit
Now I know it will be tempting but get a small kit at Hobby Lobby before you jump into anything bigger. Buying a kit allows you to have all the materials you could need for this beginning cross stitch.
Step Two- The Pattern
Once you are home with your very own kit open the kit. The first thing you will notice is the pattern. Each symbol correspond with a different color floss and familiarize yourself with this language of symbols and numbers, it’s quite important.
Step Three- The Floss
 Once you have looked over the pattern find the middle and then find the floss that correspondes with that symbol and separate two strands from the 6 that can be found in every skien and cut a length that spans from right under your elbow to your pointer finger.
Step Four- The Stitch
Another great part about kits is they come with a directory of every stitch you could ever need to use in that pattern. Follow those instructions and if you have any questions leave you question on my blog post.

Assignment 24- Richie Lane

My junior year was kinda a wreck if I'm being honest. I had less motivation than I ever have before, which is unfortunate because this was my heaviest and arguably most important year. I waited till the last second to do a lot of work, and waited until after a lot of things were due as well. My grades shouldn't end up being too bad, but they definitely could have been better. I've been very stressed about college and what I will need on my ACT and what my GPA needs to be in order to get scholarships to the schools I want to go to. I visited Ohio State and Michigan State, both of which I loved and really hope I can get a scholarship to go to. I learned the same lesson I learn every year, don't wait till the very last second to do things, because it just makes it a lot harder. Also try to get along with your teachers, because they are likely the ones you'll be asking for a letter of rec. I got along with my teachers, but I doubt any of them will be jumping to write me a letter of rec because of my work ethic this year. Oops. I did get a 32 on my ACT, which I'm pretty proud of. It's also kinda annoying though because everyone knows I haven't tried very hard this year so they get mad when they hear what my score was. But I'm very proud of it, and I know I'm smart enough to earn that score and maybe even a higher score. This summer will be very calm hopefully, since I haven't had a chill summer in 4 years. Last year I did an exchange program, the year before that I took an online class, and the year before that, I did a summer lacrosse travel league. All took up most of or all of my summer, so nothing like that this year. Just vacation and relaxing.

Assignment 19 Erica Currier

I’m moody. It’s the truth. It runs in the family, my mother, sister and I all are quick to anger. But much like a cliche teenager I tend to bottle up the anger and just stew (I, mich like the Hulk, am “am always angry”). I also have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. It’s why even sitting down to write these blog posts is hard sometimes because I am terrified of what might happen. Which is totally unfounded and crazy but I still have issues. My parents are awful with helping me deal with my disorder. Often simply telling me there is no reason to stress but once again the best advice I ever got about my situation was from a teacher who was actually speaking about responsibility (something I often jump to) and he said “if you don’t live what you do no one else will either.” And that was life changing to me because for the first time no one was pushing me to become a doctor or a lawyer but to follow my dreams and if that means being a editor at some publishing company or a florist than that is what I’m going to do. I know that I will live with anxiety my entire life and unknowingly a teacher gave me the best advice a scared teen could receive.

Assignment 23- Richie Lane

I have a playlist called APUSH which is basically a bunch of songs I listen to when I'm studying for APUSH or want to hear songs about the greatest country ever.

1. Eye of the Tiger-Survivor: This is the first song on the playlist because it gets me hyped up when I'm about to grind homework for a few hours. It also is on Rocky which is the ultimate comeback story and super American.
2. Highway to Hell-AC/DC: This is near the top because it's another hype song and also sums up what my night is about to be like because of all the homework. It's American because it's a rock song by AC/DC which says all it needs.
3. Born in the U.S.A.- Bruce Springsteen: This is an obvious addition to an American themed playlist, still near the top because of its upbeat tempo.
4. Rock You Like A Hurricane- Scorpions: At this point I'm probably getting pretty tired of studying, so this gets me energized again because its super loud and heavy rock.
5. Livin on a Prayer- Bon Jovi: Halfway through the playlist... We're halfway there, and at this point we are living on a prayer that I'll get all my work done.
6. Back in Black- AC/DC: We are getting later into the night at this point, past the halfway mark, and the guitar in this song is just super American and gets me hype.
7. Don't Stop Believin'- Journey: We are getting towards the end, and I'm probably wanting to give up at this point, but this song keeps me going.
8.Gimme Shelter- The Rolling Stones: No American playlist is complete without the Stones, and this song is meant to bring the study grind to a close, slower and with much more vocals than all the screaming I've heard so far.

There are more songs in the playlist but I think these are good checkpoints throughout the night to let me know how I'm doing.
https://open.spotify.com/user/richieklane/playlist/0QRnDkB8Ivv12UxHss4L0V?si=6pKfM2MuShSHETudK-gFYQ

Assignment 24 Neil

Successes?
Started dating a really nice and caring girl, made some music I'm proud of, was president of philosophy club.
Failures? Math Class, Latin, Arts and Humanities
Lessons Learned? S= Videltat +1/2(at)^2
Risks taken? I turned my blog posts in very late, and all at once, not a wise choice.
Mistakes made? so many, so so many, something happened this year that made it ridiculously hard for me to remember the difference between mirrors and windows, I ate a pizza someone left a Fazolis and they had eaten a bite already. I got confused for a performer the other day cause i was wearing 3 striped shirts. So many.
What will you do in the Summer? I will get a job. times up for broke boy hours.
What do you want for your Senior year? closure
How do you plan to reach your goals? I plan to commit to the things i love & not waste time on the things I don't.
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Assignment 23 Neil

https://youtu.be/Q8k3qB61lhk
You are not special.
My dad had been playing this game and in a players bio was the sentence "you are not special" and a link to the first song, the rest of the playlist was to try and capture and recreate the feelings i associated with the first song.

Julian Casablancas+The Voidz - Human Sadness

the first song its place is inevitable in this list because it is the basis on which I made it.

Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz 

similarly noisy, this song was recommended to me by a total stranger who had witnessed me comment the first song on a post for recommending music. Still don't know the guy but the song earned its place here.

Radiohead - Videotape

earns its place for its deceptive syncopated time (the piano is actually playing on the ands, not the down beat) and for its spooky verse about "pearly gates" which can be likened to Casablancas line about the field beyond right and wrong.

JUNKY - BROCKHAMPTON

the song has phases similar to the first song and also contains a verses about some family issues like the dead dad ballad that Human Sadness is.

LCD Soundsystem - New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

I am not sure if this song should be in this playlist but I am obsessed with it, its about being insignificant, its a social commentary and it is split into two parts, all features shared with the title of this playlist and the song for which it was made. Additionally both this song and the first song are very very different from their artist's typical discography.

Roar - The Comfort Of A Laugh Track

this song switches more than bohemian rhapsody features droopy guitar solos and a somewhat depressing feel and shares human sadness's obsession with disappointing those around you.

Zach Hill - The Sacto Smile

unintelligible verses and a tempo driven by, as far as i can tell, someone blaring radio static at max volume. Seems legit.

Death Grips - On GP

weird interpersonal relationships with your neighbor and some great guitar. earns its place for its overall noisy-ness and outsider's narrative. also it goes hard.

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Assignment 19 Neil

I have often considered the words that I believe permanently changed my trajectory in life they were "no homie, like this." I was on my to New Mexico from Kentucky. (I apologize I've probably mentioned NM in half my blog posts)We had experienced some car trouble and visited a mechanic in Texas. After the repair he stuck out his hand to shake mine
Except it was not to shake mine,
It was to do the little slide thing

yeah this thing but not as sarcastic obviously. If you're thinking that this is just the most mundane occurrence you're totally correct. But for the first time I had been informed that manners were sometimes a matter of context. manners are sometimes not in good taste. And if manners depended on context. what else did? the moment taught me to always consider the context, No matter how black and white something seems. and that is a lesson that i cherish having learned.
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Assignment 18 Neil

1. The number one item on my bucket list before I finish high school is finishing high school. Or passing I should say, my grades are garbage, which given how late I'm turning in this assignment should be fairly obvious. I would like it greatly if before my high school career is over I passed.

2. Before I graduate college I would like to fix a big machine, I don't have a specific machine in mind. A thresher or like a clock tower, something bigger than my bathroom and louder than god's revolver.

3. Before I die I'd like to feel as if i have put something new into the world. not just fix something, make something. make a machine or art or music. that would be an achievement to die for.
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Assignment 22- Richie Lane

Something I feel I rarely notice in today's society is an unbiased point a view, particularly in politics. It seems that everyone, from the age they are old enough to hear their parent yelling at CNN or FOX, has a strong opinion on today's politics. You either love Trump so much you would blindly follow him into any war he may start, or you hate him so much you spew toxic rage on Twitter that closely resembles the very actions you criticize. In the two years he's been in office, I truly don't believe I have heard a single person say "He's okay, I agree with him in some aspects and disagree in others." But doesn't it seem like that should be the more common answer? How often is it that you hear of someone that you resonate with so much that you wouldn't dare question a single one of their actions? And how often is it you hear of someone you despise so deeply that you gag at the sound of their name? But it seems that is what we have in today's society. Everyone has such strong opinions, but rarely are they informed enough to justify having those opinions. But I believe I was raised into the unbiased minority I earlier described. Unlike most or all of peers, along with most adults I know, I was raised to develop my own views. Never once did I hear my parents or family discuss politics, or point at the television while president Bush was giving a speech and say to me "See that man? We don't like him or anything he or his party stands for." Now, do any parents say this? Yes, actually. Many of my friends are actually pressured into their parents' parties by their parents themselves. But I am thankful I never experienced this. My parents knew that when I was old enough, I would decide on who I sided with, and whether they agreed with it or not, they would respect it because they knew I developed that opinion all on my own. And right now, I have no opinions on the politics that plague our televisions. And why should I? I, nor any of my peers, are old enough to develop formulated opinions on these politics. We can't vote, and there is a reason for that. We are not mature enough, nor do any of these policies have any affect on us. Yes, they affect our parents, and that can in turn affect us, but nothing in the political ring directly affects us. And that's why every time I hear some kid in the hall screaming about how much he loves or hates Trump, I simply brush it off as another child parroting the same things he heard at home. I will not begin to respect or discuss the political opinions of my peers until we become adults and we actually have something to discuss.

Assignment 21- Richie Lane

All challenges are relative to who you are. What may be incredibly difficult for you may be a breeze for someone else, and vise versa. One of the largest challenges I've ever faced, and one I am facing right now, is school. Of course, for most of my peers, this is not a great challenge, because they have managed their time correctly, and at this point in the year, their grades are quite set in stone and they just have to cruise through these last two weeks. I, unfortunately, do not have that luxury. I have several blog posts, visual literacy projects,missing homework, make-up tests, and humanities essays, all which must be turned in within the next 7 days, some sooner. To me, this is a challenge. Of course, it wouldn't have been a challenge, had I done all those things when they were assigned. Alas, I did not, and that brings us to the preset dilemma. As of last night, I have completed the two visual literacy projects and a couple missing assignments. I am taking active steps to solve this problem, and I will spend the next few days pounding coffee and energy drinks while I get all of this work done at the last possible second.

Assignment 26: Joseph Craven

     AP Lang has been a mixed bag of emotions for me this year. On one hand, the work load was relaxed compared to my other AP classes and I had plenty of free time in the class. On the other hand, there would be bursts of work that seemed nearly unmanageable and the routine essays of the class got really repetitive over the year. Perhaps my main complaint is that the critiques from other classmates did nearly nothing to improve my essays. Rather, tips on proper essay writing that came from the book and even your comments helped a lot. After all, I feel that my essay writing ability has improved over the year, which I guess means the class was a success. However, maybe next year spend more one on one time early in the year regarding essays and give more talks to the class as a whole as to how to fix large problems in essays. This would prevent the monotony that comes from reading 30 essays in a row while still allowing people to improve their essays in line with the AP standard.

Assignment 26- Anne Douglas

First of all- thanks for being an awesome teacher and contributing to making my junior year a great one!
Overall, I think we were well prepared for the AP test, and our writing improved throughout the year, but here on some tips that could make this class even more effective:

• Include lessons throughout the year on how to improve our writing including grammar, rhetorical strategies, syntax, vocabulary, etc. 
• I liked the small group grading of the essays that we did for the last timed writing. I found smaller group discussion more engaging and feel that grading less essay was just as effective as going through ever single one.
• More prep lessons for the ACT and SAT would be helpful.
• While the timed wiring and grading is effective, it became very tedious and disengaging. More variety in this process would be beneficial. 

Assignment 24- Anne Douglas

16 more days. The number of days left in my junior year stresses me out, but also makes me extremely excited. This has been a long year, but a good one. The key word to describe my junior year is balance: This year I worked on balancing my school, health, friendships, relationships, work and everything else. 

Overall, I think I've done a pretty good job but theres always room for improvement. This year I had many personal and academic goals. I aimed to maintain a (semi) decent GPA, and extra curricular activities, as well as focused on being a more conscious world citizen and better friend. Speaking of friendships, junior year has been a year of great ones. I made amazing new friends, became closer to the ones I already had, and sadly lost some old ones.


Many changes are coming in the next couple of months. As I enter the crazy time of college applications and the decision making process, I will keep with me the things that have made my high school experience what it has been: my amazing best friends, classmates, teachers, coaches, parents, and much more.

Assignment 23- Anne Douglas

The perfect playlist for the final scene of my movie in which I'm riding in the passenger seat of a vintage car, driving down an empty highway with the windows down, looking out the window reflectivley.
1. "Sedona" by Houndmouth. One of my favorite songs of all time- a folky tune genuinely written by an underrated ban. This is the exact song you want to listen to with the windows down, smiling off into the distance.
2. "Take it Easy" by The Eagles- a classic, in my opinion. This song truly optimizes Americana. I always turn this song on when I'm in a happy, but relaxed mood, and it always does the trick.
3. "What Would I Do Without You" by Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors. I love this song. Im realizing now that this playlist is a combination of all my favorite songs, and I'm completely fine with that. This song has the sweetest message, but delivers it without the cheesiness often found in love songs. Every time I hear this song I grin, and it'd be a great concluding tune for my movie.
4. "Famous Flower of Manhattan," "I Wish I Was" and "Laundry Room" by the Avett Brothers. Honestly any song by The Avett brothers is perfect for this playlist. I highly recommend them to anyone, even if folk isn't necessarily your thing. Each of these songs have a similar romantic tone, with smooth acoustic guitar and beautifully written lyrics.
5. "Sounds like Hallelujah" by The Head and the Heart. Exactly the song you want to listen to driving without a care.
Other songs that would fit perfectly on this playlist:
- "Girl from the North Country" by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.
- "Heavy" by Birdtalker
-"5 Years Time" by Noah and the Whale.
- "Charlie Boy" by The Lumineers
-"Wildflowers" by Dolly Parton
-"White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes
and many, many more.

Assignment 26 - Erin

To be quite honest, the AP Lang exam was the one exam that I spent the year dreading. The idea of having to write three essays in the span of two hours just made me want to tear my hair out because writing isn't something I am particularly quick about. I can think through math problems and questions about history like there's no tomorrow, but when it comes to producing my own ideas my gears tend to grind to a halt. However, when the day finally came for the exam I didn't feel as frustrated as I expected to.

I think that the sheer volume and variations of essays that we read and discussed as a class (from the benchmarks to our own) really helped me to prepare and grow as a writer. As much as I despise writing timed essays, it did pay off to hear what other people had to say about my work. And the benchmarks helped lay a foundation of understanding what the graders will be expecting of my test. The class format of completing a timed writing and then spending time critiquing each others' work every few weeks wasn't something I initially thought of as helpful, but I see now (post-exam) how it improved me as a writer. I rarely spoke up during essay scoring because I prefer to listen, but even just listening to everyones' own perspectives was beneficial.

All in all: I was dreading the exam. We read and scored a LOT of essays. I got constructive feedback on my work. I felt better about the exam.

Assignment 26 - Brenden Knuckles

Man, what a year in this class. I thought it was very fun, very relaxed, and made me realize how much I still despise English classes. One of the greatest things you did this year, for all of us (me especially), is you really heightened our writing ability and skill. And I honestly think that that sort of skill is integral to our adult lives. Being able to write out well thought-out papers and do it in an entertaining manner is something that is useful in all fields. 

What I didn't enjoy however was just how the stigma of bad writing became. At the beginning of the year I was consistently getting 4's on all of my essays. Regardless of how much effort I put into it. Spend 3 hours on it at home? 4. Write it in its entirety 20 minutes before class? 4. And not only that, but my mom would get mad at me thinking I'm not "trying my best" by legitimately trying to write to the best of my ability in that class. It is truly disheartening for me. I have absolutely no clue as to how to fix that sort of thing, but if you do, that would be very appreciated. 

But anyways, yeah, your class was very great. I appreciate how you made my writing better and that I became more confident in my writing skill because of that. Thank you. 

Assignment 25 (Makeup Assignment) - Brenden Knuckles

Everyone I know has an interesting story. Something in their life that was so life changing and out of nowhere that shaped them into the person they are today. I don't really have that. Is that a bad thing? No. Maybe I just don't remember it, I truly have no idea. What I do know is some of my talents. I can type quite quickly, and actually learned how to type through personal experience; never taking any typing classes that legitimately helped my typing ability or learning from someone else. Just using the computer a lot and learning the keys makes me a typist that is much faster than the average person. I still do look down at the keys every once in a while, but that's because I don't use the "home row" strategy. I just let my fingers do the work themselves. No need to stay in one place. Also, I'm above average at Guitar Hero too. I've played Guitar Hero since I was about 5, and still play it off and on today. It's truly a great experience and highly, highly increased my hand-eye coordination. Except for typing, obviously. But I can write things down without having to look down and check for errors, or just be able to smoothly move things around due to that heightened hand-eye coordination. I think those types of games are really amazing and teach a very good skill to have while also having lots of fun doing it. Those sorts of games are the gifts of modern society.

Assignment 24 - Brenden Knuckles

Junior year is pretty neat, man. Taking 5 AP classes out of 6 possible is truly a great experience to behold. Not only that, but I'm taking 5 AP classes next year, too. I feel as though Junior year just shows how far we've come at this point in time, along with showing that we are easily capable of handling the hardest year in high school as well. And for the record, I am most definitely not taking 5 AP tests in my Senior year. I'm mainly prepared to have that parking spot as a senior, because then I can show up whenever I feel like and also leave without looking like a doofus. Two of my largest mistakes done this year is the AP Physics C: Mechanics and AP French tests. After wasting a bunch of time learning for these tests, I realized how much effort is needed to be put into it, which is the effort most people are not  willing to take. Not only that, but having a test (Physics C) that you don't fully know is truly a life-changing experience. Granted, I feel good about my results on the French exam, I still regret ever taking it. Junior year really is a moving and nice experience for all to experience the joys of college.

Assignment 23 - Brenden Knuckles

I call this playlist: The Perfect Playlist for Any Road Trip Type Occasion/The "Dad" Playlist. 

1. Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

-Truly a song ahead of its time. A song that brings in a feeling of progression and adventure whilst also listening to a really good song. I find that just the overall sound of the song (sounds really weird, I know) creates a good feeling. 

2. Chuck Berry - Route 66 (John Mayer's Cover) 

-First off, before I say anything more, who doesn't love John Mayer's voice? I mean, come on. Have you heard that man sing? This song also adds to a sense of progress and just having fun while traveling from one place to the more desired one. 

3. Gorillaz - DARE

-I mainly added this on here because I absolutely adore Gorillaz. The band is able to create a sort of new pop-funk tune that can easily be played at any occasion where fun is involved. 

4. Daft Punk - Get Lucky

-Who doesn't like this song? Really? I would personally like to meet a person that thinks this song is not insanely dance-worthy and funky as anything. 

5. Earth, Wind, and Fire - September

-Again, a song anyone can dance to. Everyone knows this song. A song needed for any occasion, and just any time in life too. Use it for inspiration, use it just to have fun, anything you want. This song works for all of it. Except for a funeral, obviously.

The Playlist Itself

Assignment 22 - Brenden Knuckles

When I was around 3-5 years old, my circumstances were anything but normal. Dealing with numerous health problems and constant trips to the hospital, it really gets tiring after a while. I believe that any sort of terrible circumstance earlier in life truly creates a more humbling future. What I found after remembering such circumstances makes you put the world into perspective -- sure, I might've had it bad earlier in life, but there's always someone going through worse. I've never taken anything as superior because I, at one point, didn't have much. That sort of thing is most definitely unusual as well. Also I don't think that feeling bad for that sort of thing is really necessary, because I barely even remember that at all. At this point in time it's not important to me as it was whenever it happened. Oh, the joys of how you never remember any memories when you were young. I can almost guarantee that someone here has gone through worse, and I think that they also have a humbling perspective on life as well. 

Assignment 21 - Brenden Knuckles

Man, I've failed quite a bit in my life. No, that's not really a sad thing, I just can do that sort of thing easily. What has always been a challenge to me, during sophomore year specifically, was finishing Mr. Wise's Cornell Notes the day they are due. Now that's a challenge. I strive to make it harder every time they're due in that class to finish it on time, it was pretty great. Has it taught me to do work better and on time? Nope. Should my toxic friend group be to blame? Most definitely. Will college change that? That will be found out soon. School has and will always be a series of challenges for me and everyone else who goes through it. There is never a grace period in the academy related to homework, except after AP tests. So, as such, we have become much better at juggling multiple classes with their respective stack of assignments you need to do. I think any sort of challenge in life always has a lesson behind it, making you become a better person because of that. But that's just what I believe. 

Assignment 20 - Brenden Knuckles

Have you ever wanted to know of the best ways to open a lock that might be stuck on your locker? Or maybe you're trying to get revenge on your friend? Today I'm going to tell you the easiest way to hack open a combination lock.

What's needed for this to work is to get a small rectangular piece of aluminum -- easily cut out of an empty soda can left over from last night. After you've cut out this small rectangle of aluminum, you will need to then create small right triangles (two to be exact) on the base of the rectangle itself, Going from a |____| shape to an |_|\_/|_| shape. After cutting out the triangles, make sure you take the two outermost flaps -- the uncut ones -- and fold them inward onto the rectangle. Once you finish that up, you're ready to open a combo lock. Take this new piece of metal you've made and wrap it around the metal bar connected to the hole within the lock. Make sure that the pointed piece (the one in the middle) is shoved within this hole. Now, after doing that, push down on the rectangular piece of aluminum whilst also pulling up on the metal lock bar. After doing that and making sure you have enough strength, you should be able to open a lock. 

Assignment 19 - Brenden Knuckles

I've obviously never had any sort of depression or "sad moments" that lasted for more than a short amount of time in my life. I've made sure to keep a positive outlook on my situations and to just deal with what's thrown at me. The only piece of advice I rely on whenever something goes wrong or it's not really going well in my current situation, is the saying that "Everything always gets better." Because from how I view the world, it really does. Every problem I've had or bad circumstance will never last forever...because things need to move on. 

What amazes me this day in age is the sheer number of mental disorders and depression victims living in my current generation. Not stating that they're false, it's really just interesting to me. I do indeed understand that depression or any life-altering mental disorder is most definitely something that needs to be treated and to make sure these people stay okay, but I want to find out how this happened. What I want to know is how this many people, specifically in the latest generation, has some sort of mental illness. Whatever it is, though, will always get better at the end of the day. 

Assignment 18 - Brenden Knuckles

I've never really had a bucket list in my life. I've never had anything to say," Yeah, I need to do that at some point." Maybe that's why I'm doing these blogs now, I'm not really sure. 

But I digress. My bucket list is, at this point, just being made up right now. What I definitely need to do before high school is to not lose anyone in my friend group. Luckily for me it hasn't happened quite yet, but I have most definitely heard stories of people losing their entire friend group from freshman year to senior year, and that's not what I want in life. Keeping a good amount of friends in your friend group will most definitely help in the future. 

What I also am in need of before college ends, after keeping my friends, is to actually know what I want to do for college. What really makes me mad about the academy is how they shove college down your throats, because I highly doubt that anyone has their perfect plans already created with their perfect college in mind -- really? You're telling me that a 17 year old kid actually already has their life planned out for them? The correct answer here is most definitely not. It's truly a shame that the academy thinks we can do that. 

There's a bunch of things everyone should do before they die. I can't really pinpoint the most important one, but maybe going out of the country to a European place I've never seen before, or just to explore a new region in the world. This sort of thing is definitely on other people's bucket lists, so there you go.