Kevin Chen 3/30/20 Period 2 - Blog #3

Monday, March 30, 2020
Kevin Chen, Period 2
Modern Mythology
Blog #3


Write about what you learned in your online English lessons:

From the moment that I opened “Interview with the Vampire,” I knew that I was in for a treat. I read page by page without actually considering the underlying messages and themes that the novel was trying to portray. From lesson 1, given the quote from Louis about how he felt about taking Lestat’s blood, I learned how this symbolized a homoerotic relation. The first time I read this I hadn’t considered this may be related to one’s sexuality. While discussing with Ms. Fusaro last Monday, I learned more by clarifying things with her. Now, vampires and sexuality go hand and hand. The blood which gets sucked out, it can come to represent purity and one’s virginity. Vampires don’t stop their thirst for prey to any certain human, they go for all indiscriminately. After reading the article about morality, I was convinced that vampires were justified in breaking human ethics and morals, primarily because they aren’t humans! Lesson 4 was very informative. The summary that Anne Rice created Claudia to express a cold, unfeeling character that is masked by both childhood and feminism. I had read the book to see Claudia as a mere young child that ultimately had their innocence and human side taken from them, but this brought light to a new perspective. Claudia is “everything and nothing.” This made things more clear to me, now I understood that the character of the vampire child is confusing in the sense that she is neither a child, from her 5-year-old human appearance, nor is she a woman, which her actual age as a vampire approaches the 65-year mark. The lessons clarify many issues that people may have been confused about during the reading, and what I have typed is but a small portion of that valuable knowledge.

What is like working from home?:

I actually wasn’t really looking forwards to working at home via “Remote Learning.” Being glued to the computer screen for most of the day to complete assignments from multiple classes isn’t exactly what I would find to be optimal. There are classes where the teacher doesn’t assign the work till the morning that we see them. For me, I always want to get an idea as to what we would be working on, which this mythology class does so well, but the morning of. Though I don’t exactly save the assignments till the moment it is due, I’ve witnessed people struggle to cram the work in long after it’s assigned. With attendance being a poll for most classes, I have seen myself get in a decent amount of sleep. At school, I would usually be hungry till seventh-period lunch, but at home that is a different story. I can actually snack on some chips at ease, and use the bathroom whenever possible because I don’t need to ask any authoritative figure. All in all, working from home is surprisingly enjoyable and fun.

Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now:

Well, for starters, it does seem that everything is entirely chaotic at this moment of time. At the moment I am typing this response, the United States has surpassed Italy, Spain, and China for the most confirmed amount of Covid-19 cases in the world. It is actually mindblowing to see that we have reached over 100,000 cases. New York also is the state with the most amount of cases which leads to paranoia. My mother is extremely worried about the extent to which this virus will spread around. I have been on lockdown within the borders of my house for the past week, which I most dreadfully despise. Despite my many attempts to persuade my mother to let me out the front door to go on even the shortest distance run, she straight out rejects that notion within a moment’s time. I can promise that I won’t enter within a block’s radius from anyone on the streets but she believes that the virus is airborne and that the moment you step out the front door, you will pose a great threat to the family. My father works five times a week and even before he steps into the household, my mother prepares Lysol spray to sanitize the air around him. She is very cautious, which protective gloves, a face mask, and bags are prepared at all times. I also notice through social media and the news of increased assaults and insults towards the Chinese-American community, along with the other Asian communities. This is extremely insulting to witness and it sure does envoke a feeling of anger within me. I personally faced discrimination, in my own backyard! My neighbor noticed me doing some light reading on a beautiful day, but he decided to be a despicable being by blasting the national anthem and star-spangled banner on his loudspeaker. I was infuriated. At the moment, I was trying many attempts to contact 311 to report the loud noise disturbance but they hadn’t picked up. My parents strongly advised me to let the man be, but this was extremely disrespectful to disturb the peace of the neighborhood by playing patriotic music. We are all Americans and should be united at this time, not show such hate.