Humanities Portfolio 2011

​This year was insane. The changes I went through - that all of us went through - in all aspects such as character, writing, views and knowledge were immense and I can’t say that any of us are the same people that we once were when we first walked through the doors of Room #307. We grew, over the course of this year in the subjects of English and History, because of all the readings, pieces we had to absorb and spurt back out into unique and creative such the benchmarks and papers.

Looking back, I laugh. At times, there were moments when I couldn’t tell when an assignment was for History or English - because it could fell in either category. Like with the Prisons, the resources that were given to us were filled with facts that talked about the history and events that occurred. One would think this would be for History, but instead it was English. Responding to this on a forum on Moodle made me question why, but then again, it does make sense. The two fields go hand-in-hand, so why not incorporate them together in topics such as this one.

Being fifteen and sixteens year olds in the U.S., one could make a reasonable argument that our minds have an already set path on certain issues plaguing our world. But then, the real information is introduced and everything just goes haywire. Like with Religion Unit, when had to choose a topic like marriage and choose several religions and look for the correlations and differences between them. It was a chance for us to immerse in “contrasting” religions and see, first hand, how similar they really were. "To love someone, no matter their sexuality, no matter what religion they practice is what is the basis of a healthy, long-lasting relationship. If you love someone, go for it. If your soul mate is the same gender as you, don’t sweat it. And, if the two of you have different views on God, life, etc., know that the road ahead will be bumpy, but in the end, it’s worth it." (IronReligion2010) And with the Cortes Trial and the Sweatshop Trial, having to go out and research by oneself opened my eyes to how cruel the circumstances were for the victims, how could such catastrophes occur and where the blame lie. Which goes to show, once exposed, the truths push to go further, to want to make us want to know more.

Creativity just happens to be middle name, so of course I had to enjoy the more inspiring and imaginative parts of the school year. I, myself, am personally fond of Poetry, but being asked to make a page full of our own was a new idea to me. "My process doesn’t come naturally. I just need a song, a phrase, a word that give me just enough spark to make it happen. I type unconsciously. My mind wanders and my fingers just know how to voice my thoughts." (Poetry Page Intro) It required a lot of re-writes, though, in the end, I must say, I’m pretty darn proud of that work. Then, there was (what I like to call) the Descriptive Saga - a collection of scenes based on our lives, which eventually became a paper. To be honest, I was probably sugar high (because it was the beginning of the school), but I still cannot believe that I wrote that well, so long ago. And, the Monologue Project? The one when we had to choose a country, make up a storyline, and write about characters, their problems and simply come up with several scenes. I love writing, don’t get me wrong, but writing over three thousands on one topic can only keep one sane for so long. Still, I can’t say I expected any less from myself.

It was fun, sophomore year. I got a chance to tackle matters, completely fresh ones at that, and thoroughly make the most of every obstacle - project - thrown my way. And, I’m happy with my final results. Each of pieces required tremendous loads of effort, determination and work. And sure, I side-tracked in pretty much all of them - due my short attention span and a serious case of procrastination - but, yeah, I manages to do it somehow, thanks my friends, these classes and of course, Mr. Block. So, without further or do, I close the chapter of this school year.

Until next we meet, Annisa. ^^
words.words.words.
words.words.words.

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