Summer's Here....FINALLY

yesss! No more homework! Time to have some fun!

TTYL.

AMND: Performance Ideas

These are my thoughts, in preparation for the class acting we are going to be doing for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Honestly though, I wil act in whichever scene I need to.

Characters to play:
*Hermia:
Scene.o1 Confused, and distressed when she wakes up and finds Lysander gone.
Scene.o2 [Not in the second scene]
*Helena
Scene.o1. Dissapointed with Lysander, baffled by his sudden interest in her. Feeling lost, and undeserving of his "mockery."
Scene.o2 Mad at the other lovers, thinks that they have set her up. Feeling bad for hersel, downer.
*Titania
...I don't really care, as long as I don't have to try to change my voice and be a male character.

Scenes:
.o1 Act III Scene ii, 140-170...

DEMETRIUS
[Awaking.]

O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow,
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!

HELENA

O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
To set against me for your merriment.
If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But you must join in souls to mock me too?
If you were men, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so;
To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
And now both rivals, to mock Helena:
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
With your derision! None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin, and extort
A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.

LYSANDER

You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so;
For you love Hermia: this you know I know:
And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;
And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
Whom I do love and will do till my death.
[and so on...]

.o2 Act II Scene ii, 130-163

HELENA

Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?
Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
That I did never, no, nor never can
Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
But you must flout my insufficiency?
Good troth, you do me wrong,—good sooth, you do—
In such disdainful manner me to woo.
But fare you well: perforce I must confess,
I thought you lord of more true gentleness.
O, that a lady of one man refus'd
Should of another therefore be abus'd!

[Exit.]

LYSANDER

She sees not Hermia:—Hermia, sleep thou there;
And never mayst thou come Lysander near!
For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings;
Or, as the heresies that men do leave
Are hated most of those they did deceive;
So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
Of all be hated, but the most of me!
And, all my powers, address your love and might
To honour Helen, and to be her knight!

[Exit.]

HERMIA
[Starting.]

Help me, Lysander, help me! do thy best
To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!
Ay me, for pity!—What a dream was here!
Lysander, look how I do quake with fear!
Methought a serpent eat my heart away,
And you sat smiling at his cruel prey.—
Lysander! what, removed? Lysander! lord!
What, out of hearing? gone? no sound, no word?
Alack, where are you? speak, an if you hear;
Speak, of all loves! I swoon almost with fear.
No?—then I well perceive you are not nigh:
Either death or you I'll find immediately.

1oo1-Flatworld Reflection

1. What did you like best about the project and why?

I liked that we got to learn about students living in places outside our state, even outside our country. It was interesting to read their stories, and learn about their cultures. All of them were friendly and it was a good experience.

2. What did you like least and why?

My least favorite part was having to fill out the "comment rubrics." Many times, I would read through a story and then come to the rubric, but forget what the story was all about, then have to go back and read it all over again. I would have liked to comment on others' stories based on my first impressions and thoughts, rather than with the guide of a rubric. But for some of the students, if there was not the requirement of using the rubric, they would have given one word comments that wouldn't have been very helpful.

3. What was something surprising that you learned about the other students (from other schools)?

Hmmm...surprising. I guess I already knew this, but I saw how the other students deal with similar issues to us. In their stories, they wrote about topics and feelings that students here in Hawaii can also relate to. Nothing specific, but I did learn alot about the Korean culture through the many stories about family and war.

4. How do you think the project affected your writing?

Honestly, I don't know how much it has affected my writing. I don't think that I've become a much better writer than I was before. I did, on the other hand, have more time in this project to focus on the details and descriptions in my story. The quality of description and word choice was probably better in this story than in my other hastily written papers.

5. Describe the most challenging aspect of the project.

The most challenging part of this project was generating an idea in the very beginning. Sometimes it takes many drafts to find the one story that just has the "it" factor; to find the topic that you feel you can write so much about. In relation to the actual wiki space and all, the worst part of the project was other students being on time with the feedback deadlines. It was hard for me to revise my drafts on time, when other people had not given me feedback when they were supposed to.

6. Offer some advice to future participants.

Let's see...advice...I suggest that you keep up with the deadlines of the project, and give feedback to all of your partners on time. Make sure you try to give constructive feedback as well. Being vague, for example, "it was good..." or "that part sounded weird" doesn't help the writer at all. Given good feedback on time will make them respect you even more, and be more willing to give you good feedback as well.

7. Other comments.

I think that we definitely had enough time to work on this writing assignment. It didn't seem so much like "work." This project was a new, fun, and different way of story writing and editing.

Character Analysis: Hermia Take 2

In Act II Scene II of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia and Lysander get lost in the woods. Lysander suggests that they rest until morning, and Hermia replies,

HERMIA:
[Be] it so, Lysander. Find you out a bed,
For I upon this bank will rest my head.
LYSANDER:
One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;
One heart, one bed, two bosoms, and one troth.
HERMIA:
Nay, good Lysander. For my sake, my dear,
Lie further off yet. Do not lie so near.
(2:2:45-50)

Here Hermia shows her responsibility. She doesn't want to be "tempted" if she were to share a bed with Lysander. For "love and courtesy" (2:2:62), she wishes that he "lie further off in human modesty" (2:2:63). Lysander respescts her wishes, and they fall asleep.

Puck comes along and mistakeingly annoits Lysander with the love nectar, causing Lysander to fall in love with Helena and forget all about Hermia. Interestingly, it seems like Shakespeare was foreshadowing this when he had Hermia say to Lysander just before falling asleep, "Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end" (2:2:67).

When Hermia awakes, she is frantic and scared, yelling for Lysander but he does not appear. A clueless and worried Hermia immediately exits the scene to find her lost love.

Hermia would be acted out as confident in the first half of this scene. But when awaking from her sleep, and not finding Lysander near, fear would consume her, and be clearly evident on her face. Worried now, and no longer feeling safe, she would hurredly rush off.

Mi Post Sobre Hermia

HERMIA

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermia (the daughter of Egeus), is madly in love with Lysander. The problem is that her father will only allow her to marry Demetrius. Both Lysander and Demetrius are in love with her. She is described as a beautiful young woman, living in the town of Athens, Greece.

Thesus, the duke of Athens, gives her a choice: she can either obey her father and marry Demetrius, become a nun, or be sentenced to death. Being the strongwilled and independent woman that she is, Lysander and she make plans to elope outside of Athens, where the law will have no hold on them.

Hermia doesn't obey her father the way he wishes she would. She is not afraid to stand up against him, and declare that she will not marry Demetrius. This shows her strength and strong will. She would choose Lysander even with the chances of being killed.

So far, Hermia is portrayed as a very strong woman, who is consumed by love. She is the childhood friend of Helena, who is in love with Demetrius (but he does not love her back.) Hermia also doesn't seem to act as if she cares that much about Helena's problem with Demetrius. When Helena speaks to Hermia, telling her of how beautiful she is, and how she wishes she were more like her, Hermia's confidence gets boosted. Hermia claims that she doesn't try to make Demetrius fall in love with her, but the more she pushes him away, the more he pursues her. Helena is obviously jealous of Hermia, but it seems as if Hermia is too blind to see it. It is like her vision and commonsense is clouded by her love for Lysander, especially when she decides to tell Helena about their plans to elope. I don't think that this was a very wise move on behalf of Hermia, but it seems like she was very excited and without sense, just blurted it out.

I see Hermia as a very beautiful young woman, whose gaze always holds a sort of twinkle/far away look. This look, because she is always thinking about Lysander, and not really paying attention to others when he is not around. An actress would have to play Hermia with an "effortless" air about her. Anything she did should seem simple and effortless. Just as Hermia's beauty is something that comes naturally without her needing to work at it.

A Sustainable Hawaii

In English class today, we went to look around at the Sustainability Fair our school put together. Here is some info. that I got out of the experience:

~*~
ON CAMPUS:
-We are reusing water from the Lily Pond
-85% of the 50 golf carts we have on campus, are electric. An idea, is to add solar panels to the carts, and eliminate the need for gas.

ON CAMPUS COSTS:
new biodegradable utensils: 5.1 cents EACH!
old plastic utensils: 1.4 cents each

Solar water heater for pools and showers
when working: $1,500
when not working: $7,000

As you can see, we make trade offs. In some ways we are saving money, and in other ways, the tuition is going up! But on the positive side, biodegradable utensils help the environment.

~*~
How long does it take for these objects to disappear from the environment?
Orange peel- 25 months
Magazine- 25 years
Cigarette- 40 years
Plastic bottle- 120 years
Aluminum can- 200 years
Styrofoam- 500 years
Glass- FOREVER

~*~
WORM TANKS:
-Help the environment
-eliminate the need for water-wasting disposals
-25%-40% of our waste is worm-recyclable
-Filled with Indian Blue Worms, not regular earthworms

~*~
SUSTAINABILITY WEBSITES:
O1. www.planetgreengame.com
o2. www.rainforestsite.com
o3. www.stopglobalwarming.com
o4. www.daversitycode.com
o5. www.climatecrisis.net
o6. www.earthday.net
o7. www.nrdc.org

Use Your Voice

Here are some key passages with brief explanation from the last Chapter of The Woman Warrior, A song for a barbarian reed pipe

.o1

"I hated the younger sister, the quiet one. I hated her when she was the last chosen for her team and I, the last chosen for my team." (pg.173)

"Why won't you talk?" I started to cry..."You don't see I'm trying to help you out, do you? Do you want to be like this, dumb (do you know what dumb means?), your whole life? Don't you ever want to be a cheerleader? Or a pompom girl? What are you going to do for a living? Yeah, you're going to have to work because you can't be a housewife. And you, you are a plant. Do you know that? That's all you are if you don't talk. You'll have no personality and no hair. You've got to let people know you have a personality and a brain." (pg. 180)

"Sometimes I hated the ghosts for not letting us talk; sometimes I hated the secrecy of the Chinese. 'Don't tell' said my parents, though we couldn't tell if we wanted to because we didn't know." (pg. 183)

"I thought talking and not talking made the difference between sanity and insanity. Insane people were the ones who couldn't explain themselves." (pg. 186)


I believe that these four quotes are all connected. In this chapter, Maxine beats up on the silent girl in her American and Chinese schools. I think she does this because she realizes how similar they are, and Maxine doesn't want to be like or be compared to the younger girl. The same things that Maxine yells at the girl about, are the same issues that she fears will happen to herself, if she doesn't speak up and use her voice. Maxine tries to help the girl from becoming a "dumb plant," the same way she would have liked someone else to have taught her when she was younger.

Maxine sometimes feels oppressed when the ghost or her parents tell her not to talk. She views insane people as people who do not talk. Maxine does not want to become that kind of person, and that is why she feels so strongly about using her voice.

.o2


"Be careful what you say. It comes true. It comes true. I had to leave home in order to see the world logically, logic the new way of seeing. I learned to think that mysteries are for explanation. I enjoy the simplicity. Concrete pours out of my mouth to cover forests with freeways and sidewalks. Give me plastics, periodical tables, t.v. dinners with vegetables no more complex than peas mixed with diced carrots. Shine floodlights in dark corners: no ghosts." (pg. 204)


When Maxine leaves home, she is able to make sense out of the things she used to be confused by. Things seem simpler. The complex "forests" of thoughts that she used to have, become clearer and more organized as she covers them with "concrete." All the talk-stories and myths that her mother used to tell her become mysteries in her past. I don't know,...I'm still kind of confused by what this means, but that's what I get from it right now.