Ryan McMahon, Period 2, 10/30/20, Day A

Blog #1 - Goal Setting & Growth

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

Right now, I am just trying to get through the college application process. I am applying to 10 colleges (I know it sounds crazy but I am a very neutral person and haven't even visited most of them due to Corona, so I can't eliminate many) so I have to write like 15 essays and fill out like 8 individualized profiles, it is really a lot of work. I have to attend virtual tours, college representative meetings, and virtual info sessions every day, I have to wake up early on the weekends to hop on college Zoom calls that I'm too tired to pay attention to, and I have to do the work for 2 advanced courses and 3 AP classes on top of that. My main goals are to just get all this application stuff over with and work on my school grades which have suffered slightly due to stress from deadlines and my parents. I would also like to be improving myself physically, emotionally, and mentally (reading more, regularizing my sleep schedule, working out more, and eating better) but as of right now I am absolutely swamped with work and can't handle anything else.

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

I spend several hours every day doing school work, I attend many college info sessions to learn more about my perspective colleges, I have to research and apply for as many scholarships as I can for each of my schools, and I am slowly but surely getting through all my applications and writing my many personal essays. I could be doing more (I often procrastinate schoolwork or put off essay writing until close to the due dates) but I am only one high school student. I just find resolve knowing that, come January 15th all this will be over and I can focus on just trying to enjoy the remnants of my shattered senior year.

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

Currently, the country is coming to a breaking point and everyone is mad about everything, every discussion turns to politics and talks about racial and socio-political issues, no one can just talk candidly about how they feel or their goals, they are too focused on the media, unimportant political squabbles, and other macro issues to focus on their personal relationships and life. The turbulent times our nation is in does not give me hope towards my goals. I doubt any of it will affect my process of applying for college but it may have serious implications for my future. Will colleges look kindly upon a straight, white, Christian, middle class, male, or will they say I am too privileged (though I know I am) and reject me or give me no scholarship opportunities? Will possible civil strife affect my chances at education and employment in my field in the future? Will someone dig up things I've said online when I was 12 and cancel me in the eyes of the public, killing my chances for the future? Will my family's opposing political views cause unneeded stress in my home (spoiler alert, yes)? Will a group of rioters sweep through my community and destroy things? Will we continue to have more of our constitutional rights taken away? Who knows, all I can say is that nothing happening right now paints a good picture for anybody's future.

Eve Mooney, Period 2, Assigned-10/30/20 Due-11/4/20, Day A

Eve Mooney, Period 2, Assigned-10/30/20 Due-11/4/20, Day A, Modern Mythology 2021

Write about your thoughts regarding the most current reading.

    The most current reading, “The Royal House of Thebes - Oedipus and Antigone” was very interesting because it was a story that gave a lot of insight to greek culture/perspective, and had less deity involvement. The deities were still involved of course, mainly with Apollo and his oracles' advice, but they did not directly intervene in the main story, except for Oedipus after he left Thebes. This allows us to learn more about the Greek characters themselves, and how they act within a society without much outside influence. It shows us more about what Greeks thought about topics such as  rulers, sacrifice, the afterlife, and feminism. 
    In this story, we see the expectations society puts upon rulers to protect their people and the consequences rulers faced for their decisions. Oedipus becomes a ruler, and is expected to punish himself to stop a plague and famine, because he has the power to do so. He does, losing his sight and stepping down from his position, along with his eldest son, and eventually being banished. The people do not try to dissuade him from any of this, as was pointed out in class, and that ties into the Greeks and their views on sacrifices. They seem to believe that sacrifices are necessary, especially for people in power, who are expected to do whatever is necessary to protect their people at least in these myths. For example, in the dark flower myths when they sacrificed people so that crops would grow again and in these stories with Oedipus and Creon’s son. It is thought-provoking to see their perspective compared to what society thinks today. There was also some insight on their justice system, for example Oedipus did not have any sort of trial, he just decided on the punishment, though that may have been because he was a king. 
    These stories also told us more about the greek afterlife beliefs, ones that are rarely mentioned due to the Greeks focusing primarily on living. They believed that if they did not bury souls properly, they would be stuck wandering on the wrong side of the river forever, so Antigone risked her life to bury Polyneices properly.  It shows the importance of these practices to the Greeks.
    Feminism may also play into this, with the women being more expected to be dutiful to her family. Oedipus’s daughters are loyal to him, while his sons are expressly not. Antigone takes the biggest risk to help Polyneices, with Ismene seemingly wanting to do the same but too scared, while Eteocles was the reason she had to do so. Meanwhile, Eteocles and Polyneices fought each other to destruction for the throne after starting a war. In the end, they say they love each other, but it is not shown by their actions. So, being dutiful may be an expectation mainly for women. Feminism is also addressed in the dialogue between the sisters. Ismene does not feel like she has any power in Polyneices situation, telling Antigone they are women so they must obey and are not strong enough to defy the state. When Antigone said she was doing it anyway, she was not confident in her ability to do so, she said she would do what she could and then give up. This, along with the fact that they were not involved in the succession argument, demonstrates women having a lesser role in society, being expected to be weak and compliant, so much so that they believe it of themselves, even as nobility. How much space her story was given is also a red flag, there is a lot of focus on the battle, Eteocles and Polyneices, and Creon’s son, with Antigone’s deed itself not being described very in depth with the plan, suspense, or carrying out of it, and the consequences are also not really expanded upon.

Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

    Some of the new information I learned in this class this year that influenced my critical perception was learning more about how Greek mythology developed. From what we read, we can  see how mythology developed like current religions must have. It allows us to perceive the Greeks as real people instead of distant societies. For example, the story of how Zeus got involved with so many women. When new towns adopted Zeus as their primary deity, they gave him their previous deities wives. This is a giant character flaw for Zeus,  and raises many questions. I wonder if that's what was intended at the beginning of Zeus’ creation, or if this flaw developed as more towns added wives, consequently influencing his character and the character of others around him like Hera. This also raises the question about current belief systems we know of, and how they developed. It has made me view them in different perspectives. Now when I hear old stories like these myths, I wonder more about how they developed, and look at them more critically. It is also very interesting how they used mythology to explain nature. For example, leaves rustling in certain ways due to deities will, lightning happening from Zeus throwing lightning bolts, and Demeter causing winter and spring. It makes me view the world differently, seeing how they tried to explain  the mystery of nature in the past. For example the explanation for the beauty of flowers. They thought them so beautiful that they must have come into existence in a climactic way, with the tales of Hyacinth, Narcissus and Persephone. I now look more deeply at nature, seeing the way the Greeks viewed it and the deep meanings they gave to each part. This relates to what we talked about in class on 10/30 as well. In class we mainly spoke about the Greeks' view on the cycle of life in these stories. It was said that the cycle of life gives limited time so it drives people to do things and gives life more meaning. Nature is part of this cycle, and this statement made me think of it differently, and want to appreciate it more. Especially because it is becoming winter, and the flowers are leaving until next spring. We live in a city, so nature is not as abundant as in other places, but from discussing this I now would like to seek it out more often.

How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

    Greek mythology's treatment of villains and heroes is relevant to modern society. The sphinx’s destruction was a footnote while the Eteocles and Polyneices' was lengthy and in depth. It shows that they painted things very differently for ‘villans’ and ‘heros’. The bad things that happened to villains were celebrated, and when they happened to heros it was tragic, as we discussed in class. In modern society we also paint these things in similar lights. For example, in media like movies and stories, though we are leaning more toward villains being developed and having audiences empathize with them to an extent, like the red lotus in avatar. Still, in modern society today we need to realize how we paint things with the other side losing people being shown as not very important. For example, in wars and other countries' issues along with our own issues, like the atomic bombs, the news does not take the other side into account and just focuses on the fact that we didn't lose, ignoring the excessive destruction. We need to be more aware of how we portray things, and the facts of each issue, not just how they are presented. 

    The self sacrificing part of the myths was also interesting in how it compares to today's society. In class we mentioned that today we would tell someone in Oedipus’s situation to not punish himself to fix the plague, but would we really? In a lot of our media, heros are generally self-sacrificing, and that is a quality that is praised and expected from leaders, or at least from good leaders in media. For example, in the Avengers Endgame Movie, Tony Stark sacrifices himself to save humanity from Thanos, and the Avengers, along with other heros, risk themselves to save common people often. They have power, so they are expected to use it to protect those who can't, just like Oedipus was expected by his people to fix the plague and famine because he was capable of doing so. Greek mythology may be more in tune with our current society than we may have expected, at least in our stories.

Amaanah Othman, Period 8, 11/3/20, Day C

 Amaanah Othman, period 8, 10/ /20, Day C

What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

I have very strong beliefs and opinions about issues such as inequity and oppression. Growing

up as a tan skinned Muslim, I experiences a lot of discrimination on Staten Island. One time,

when I was younger, my sisters, her friends, and I went to eat brunch at a restaurant. My sister

and I were a lot darker at the time, and one of her friends wore a hijab. As we started eating, we

were met with verbal assaults by multiple people. They commented about our skin color, the

friend's head scarf, and said extremely racist statements. The workers and the manager

watched on the sidelines and did absolutely nothing. Instead, actually, we were the ones that

were forced to leave the restaurant, though we did absolutely nothing. I can write an entire

essay on the racism and islamophobia I experienced and witnessed all around me, however, I

use them as an opportunity to learn and grow. I don’t let people like that get to my head, and I

know that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being darker, or a Muslim. I grew up in very

diverse settings, such as my schools and my community, and a pretty diverse family. My

elementary school and middle school were filled with people of all kinds. It was an amazing

experience, I learned about different cultures and the different struggles that other minorities

face. My family is also made up of Hispanics, Europeans, Asians and south East Asians. Along

with very close family friends that were African American or Caribbean. I was introduced to just

about everything and could never see why someone would hate another just because they’re

different. As cheesy as it sounds, I found these differences fascinating and interesting.

Thankfully, these opportunities allowed me to have an extremely open mindset. I have become

a devout person who stands against any form of oppression, anywhere. I’ve attended countless

BLM protests, I’ve shown my support to LGBTQ+ people, and I try my best to educate and raise

awareness. What is going on currently, regarding black people in America is disgusting to me.

Something that was brought to light during these times was that the civil rights movement was

not too long ago, and not much critical progress has been made since. When I think of the civil

rights movement, even knowing it occurred in the 60, I think of a very long time ago. Realizing

how close it was, and realizing that were lacking in improvement made me extremely

disappointed. I believe equity should be used to help people climb up, and progress, to make up

for all the years that these people were shut down or limited. I believe our government does limit

and maybe even inhibit the progress of civil rights and opportunities in this country. They

continue to offer no significant changes or aid to black Americans, especially in lower income

neighborhoods. I’m my opinion, their approach to black Americans in low income

neighborhoods, is to keep them as they are. We should focus on providing resources to help

people out of their situation that generations of systemic racism forced them in. The government

should distribute resources based on the needs of these recipients if we want to see any

change happening. In addition, there seems to be some type of privilege or power that is given

to the police over citizens. These past few months I’ve seen countless videos and articles about

cops murdering unarmed or innocent people, most of them being black Americans (and other

poc), disabled people, or someone with a mental illness. If a cop, someone who swears to

protect citizens and calls for justice, murders an unarmed or innocent person, they should

immediately be investigated and prosecuted. There’s absolutely no reason for cops to be not

receiving any consequences. Cops who are responding to a mental episode should be

accompanied by social workers. Cops are not trained to deal with these types of episodes,

which we can see with the many cases of cops responding to episodes with bullets in

someone's chest. Though it is not every single cop, the police force is extremely corrupted and

has been given too much power.

How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences and

how these can influence your perception of self and others?

I reflect on my values, beliefs, and experiences by letting it shape who I am. I use it to help me

grow as a person, and I use it to learn about the struggle of many. Though I experienced racism

myself, and saw my friends and family experience it, I have learned that being “different” or a

minority is not bad. I never ever hated being a bit darker as a child, because darker skin is as

beautiful and lighter or white skin, and it does not correlate with anything “bad”, as racist people

love to claim it does. However, the islamophobia did hit me pretty hard. A lot of the time it had

me wanting to either convert or just denounce religion as a whole. Growing up, I’ve accepted

the fact that I’m Muslim and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. Since then, I plan to fight

for the rights of all oppressed and struggling people, and I won’t let anyone tell me otherwise.

Furthermore, I would never let the color, religion, background, sexuality, or gender of a person

determine whether they are a “bad” or “threatening” person. You have bad and good people in

EVERY group, it is not limited to just a few. I would like to continue raising awareness, showing

my support, and fighting for the people.

Elizabeth MacDonald, Period 5, 11/2/20, Day B

 

Elizabeth MacDonald

Period 5

11/2/20

Day B 

Modern Mythology 2021

                                                    Goal Setting and Growth 

 

1.  At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

Currently, the biggest goal that I have for myself is to apply to college and hopefully get accepted into some good schools. I have just finished some of my applications because I applied to some schools through early action.  For other schools, I still have to finish my applications and supplemental materials.  So, my primary goal as of now is finishing all of the extra questions and essays required for the schools that I still need to apply to.   I am applying to a total of 14 schools for engineering.  I am applying to different concentrations of engineering for different schools because I am not exactly sure what I want to be doing for the rest of my working life.  It is a really big commitment, but applying to college is something I know I want to do regardless of what major I pick. Going to college has always been my goal because I want to expand my knowledge and pursue higher education.  I would like to reach my full potential academically and I think that applying to college right now is an important step to achieving that goal in the future. 

 

2.  How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? 

I have tried to pace myself and my work with college applications since the beginning of August.  Some of the work can be very tedious and repetitive, but I have demonstrated resilience by continuing to work little by little and not leaving all of the work to do right before the due date.  I can sometimes find it hard to pace myself with work because it is so much easier to procrastinate and leave the work to be dealt with another day.  Because of the pandemic, I have had more free time to spend on college applications. Still, I surprised myself with how I was able to get everything done, and I think it was because I knew how important it was and because it is a goal I really do want to accomplish.  The biggest deciding factor is that college is not something I have to do, but is something I want to do.  I am almost finished now, but I still have to stay determined to complete the applications I have left.  I am hoping to finish sooner rather than later so that I don’t need to worry about college anymore, that is until the decisions come out.

 

3.  How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal?

The times we are living in right now have shown me that the world is subject to change and that all we can do as a society is try to respond in the best way we can.  Right now, the world is learning to adapt and to innovate.  It is a time in which knowledge and new ideas and plans are needed more than ever before.  This makes me perceive my goal of applying to and attending college as even more important than before.  I want to be a part of the change that improves our world.  I think that gaining knowledge and opening my horizons in college is the first step to becoming a productive and valuable member of society.  Right now we are depending on experts and innovators to help the world respond to a pandemic, and one day I want to be able to help the world too.

Catherine Prigov, Period 8, 11/3/20, Day C

Sandra Lu, Pd 5, 10/28/20, Day B

Sandra Lu

Period 5

10/28/20

Day B 

Modern Mythology 2021

                     

                                                    Goal Setting and Growth 

1.  At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

    Before this quarantine, I was part of the track team. For 4 years, I’ve been aiming to make it to states. I really enjoyed spending time with my teammates, who shared similar passions and struggles with me. In addition, I really enjoyed going to school and having small meaningful interactions with my peers and teachers. 

    At this current point in time, I want to improve both my mental and physical health because  I’ve been struggling to stay motivated and active. Even with only three hours of school each day, I seem to find myself procrastinating more than usual. When you are in a comfortable environment, it just seems foreign to be in a school mindset. With my main goal of overall bettering my health, I plan to have mini goals to help accomplish this. These mini goals would include fixing my sleep cycle, exercising more often and regulating my emotions. 

2. How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal?(or these goals)

    With more time in my hands, I sort of came to terms with the fact that I was struggling with my mental health. Now I receive support from the people around me and began practicing self-care methods. Practicing self-care sort of raised self-awareness for my not so good behaviors and things I do that causes more harm than good. One of these things, I later came to realize, was track. It was very hard to stop running without the fear of disappointing those around me because of this fear, I never ran for myself. In addition, it was very hard to give up something that I dedicated so much time to. When I eventually stopped running, I lost the courage to run. Now reflecting upon my goals, I realize that I gave up one goal to achieve another. I gave up running to try new hobbies that are less draining and much better for my health. These new hobbies can keep balance with my work and fun time, especially helping with my procrastination. As much as these hobbies are good distractions, I set up mini goals for each day in a small journal. 

3. How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal?(or these goals?)

    The world around me is also suffering from this pandemic, especially our mental health. Our mental health is not checked on nearly as much as our physical health. This gives me courage to seek help especially with the promotion of self-care all over the internet at this time. I sort of came to terms that my goals and passions are allowed to change, I don’t have to stick to goals that were harming me. As much as it was devastating to give them up, it has brought me peace. Losing valuable time with friends, has allowed me to reflect on myself more.

Nicholas Lofaso, Period 5, 10/28/2020, Day B

 Nicholas Lofaso

October 28, 2020

Day B, Period 5

On Goal Setting & Growth

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

Right now, I am really just focused on finishing all of my college apps and staying on top of school work. I am applying to 20+ colleges, so I have a lot of supplements to write in the next 2 months. I set a personal deadline of December 23rd to submit my last application because I really want to have a stress-free Christmas and break, so I will have almost no free time over the next few months as I work to finish everything. I’m glad now that I started working on my personal statement over the summer—it took months for me to finalize it, so I can’t imagine the stress I would have been under if I procrastinated until now to write it. 

I submitted my first early action applications over the weekend and it was a great feeling. Seeing the Common App show them as submitted is more motivation to work on the others—making progress makes me want to finish them all. I’ve found the supplements to be much easier to write than the personal statement, too. They are much simpler; they typically follow a similar structure to each other and have a clear question that they want an answer to, unlike the personal statement’s more open-ended structure. A lot of them ask why you’re interested in the school, for example, so I just do some deep research into offerings at the school and connect it back to myself. 

This week, I want to make a schedule for when I’ll write the supplements for each school I apply to. I am totally inefficient when unorganized, so I really need a set plan of action to tackle the 20 essays that need to be written soon. I also have a lot of work for school, so I have to continue to balance both college applications and school. Once application season is over, I plan on taking Christmas break to just relax. It will be the first time in months where I don’t have much to worry about, so I’ll use it to watch any shows I’ve put off and just unwind. By January, I would like to seriously think about my career—there are so many I’m interested in, and I’d like to have it narrowed down much more by the time I have to pick a college. I’m also excited to pick up some new hobbies then—I want to start playing the guitar, get into astrophotography, and cook way more. This excitement for what will come in just a few months is really helping me get through these stressful times. 

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? 

No matter how stressful the whole process of applying to college may be at times, I feel like I have remained relatively calm and dedicated the entire time. There is so much to keep track of now, especially without having people remind us in person because of the pandemic, and there are times where it seems like I’ll never finish everything I have to. I do the best I can though, and it usually works out in my favor—I’ve missed one scholarship deadline, but I think that was the only error I’ve really made so far. The thought of the holidays coming up soon also makes me really excited and means that time will go by relatively quickly, so if I ever feel like this will never be over, I just remember that we really don’t have too long until the holidays and therefore the end of applications. 

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal?

I feel like school being mostly remote has been both a blessing and a curse when it comes to applying to college. It’s great because I have so much more time to work on apps—I don’t have every class every day, I don’t have to commute, and I have no after school activities to keep me from going home any days. However, it’s also made this whole process kind of lonely. Normally one of the best parts of school is being around other people who are in the same situations as you, but it is not like that this year. We have all this work and stress yet can rarely see our friends or anyone else from school, and all of the fun events planned for the year had to be canceled. I stay focused on the end goal of the whole process, but sometimes it’s hard to do that when you’re on your seventh hour staring at the computer of the day, with still way more to go.