4th quarter final Benchmark
As
a 9th grade student, my writing portfolio shows a growth in me. This growth
doesn’t affect me in terms of height, weight or anything like that, but as a
person. As you progress through all three benchmarks and all the projects in
order, there is a change in how I write. They go from immature to an
understandable young adult with his opinions. Of course there are those
childish moments but can you blame me? No matter how much we grow up, our inner
child is clawing to get out. Don't be mistaken, all these writing pieces still
expresses who I am and who I have become, but each one shows a different side
of me.
With
growth, there come strengths and weaknesses. As of right now, some strengths
that I have as a writer is the ability to imagine and be creative. So
naturally, writing formal essays and papers that require a serious tone is
difficult. However, as I continue to grow throughout my years, perfecting the
art of writing a serious and very important writing piece of my goal here at
SLA. No one has ever got a professional job by being funny and making up
stories that are untrue, none that I know of anyways.
Producing
this portfolio was no easy feat. The most problematic part of constructing this
portfolio was making the projects that are contained in this portfolio. Each
one had it's own problems and issues. I can't remember a majority of them
because I choose not to. All I really know, and can really advise, is to never
procrastinate. It will be the end of good quality work and sleep, as you know
it. As I am reflecting on each individual piece, some of the problems might
come back to me and be listed. Lets get started!
The first ever benchmark of my freshman year.
In this benchmark the student has to pick a character out of the play "MacBeth" and
write about how (s)he changes throughout the story. Also, ten quotes are needed
to help aid the reader in seeing this change. I personally choose Macbeth
because I thought he was the easiest but I was horribly wrong. Did this
benchmark lacking in confidence. This was simply because it was “The”
benchmark, killer of sleep, destroyer of fun. This was also because we were
taking on Macbeth. First book of the year and we have to read Macbeth? But I
got through somehow and that feeling of success made my confidence skyrocket.
Take a look at my shaky start in English.
Henry Poeng
Thesis: Macbeth change of heart at the beginning of the play cost
him his life.
The Three Weird sisters in
Act One, Scene 3, approach Macbeth and Banquo. They hail Macbeth
first as Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and finally
King. Macbeth and Banquo are mesmerized in many more ways than
one. Macbeth then says “The Thane of Cawdor lives, why do you dress me in
barrowed robes.” This line shows how Macbeth feels about being
addressed as the Than of Cawdor. Shortly after the question is asked, the
witches vanish without answering anything. Macbeth and Banquo are
left to interpret what the meaning is. Macbeth sees the witches
prophesy as good news and is very happy but also very confused at the same
time. Macbeth just does not know in what way he will claim these
titles.
King Duncan officially
proclaims in Act One, Scene 4 Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. At that same
time King Duncan proclaims his son, Malcolm, Prince of Cumberland or in other
words his successor. Macbeth, who is very surprised when hearing
this, goes aside and starts speaking to him self. “Stars hide your
fire; let not the lights see my black and deep desires” was one of his
lines. This line that Macbeth said translates to, Heaven, please
don’t let anyone see my deep and dark desires. This specific lines
shows that Macbeth is shocked to hear that Malcolm was going to be king instead
of him self and there fore he is going to do something about
it. Then Macbeth’s ambitions start to show. He was going to be king
one way or another even if he has to kill someone for it.
In Act One, Scene 7 Lady
Macbeth confronts Macbeth and tells him of her plans to kill King
Duncan. Macbeth goes aside and weighs out the consequences of these
actions. After some seducing performed by Lady Macbeth, Macbeth changes his
mind and goes with the plan. At the end of the scene Macbeth says,
“False face must hide what false heart doth know.” This line means to
be a flower on the outside and be a serpent underneath. In other
words, look nice and innocent but conceal your feelings from the
public. At this point Macbeth becomes hesitant about what he’s
getting himself into but his ambitions start to take over.
In Act Two, Scene 2 Macbeth
has killed Duncan. He and Lady Macbeth are flooded with
guilt. Macbeth says that he heard voices shortly after he killed
King Duncan. The voices said, “Glamis hath murdered
sleep, therefore Cawdor shall not sleep”. In direct translation it
pretty much means that Macbeth killed someone who was sleeping, therefore he
doesn’t get to sleep as a price to pay. At this point Macbeth is
starting to go a little bit crazy, as well as Lady Macbeth. The
guilt is going to impact everything from this point on.
In
Act Three, Scene 2 Macbeth has hatched a plan to kill Banquo. He
indirectly tells Lady Macbeth who doesn’t really understand. While
telling Lady Macbeth, Macbeth says, “O, full of scorpions is my mind dear
wife.” This quote explains just hwa tkinds of things are going on in Macbeth’s
head. This indicates the type of thoughts that are going on inside of Macbeth’s
head. Evil
scheming thoughts that plan to destroy all his enemies. At
this point in the play, Macbeth is planning to kill anyone in his way without
hesitation.
In Act Three, Scene 4 Macbeth
has killed Banquo. After slaying Banquo, Macbeth is not guilty and
doesn’t really regret what he has done. Macbeth killed Banquo
because Banquo has a gut feeling that Macbeth was attaining all this power by
unfair means. Macbeth says this after the deed is done. He says that
he is, “Stepped in so far that, I can wade no more.” In direct
translation, this means that Macbeth has gone so far into his evil deeds that
he can’t turn back so he just going to keep on going. At this point
in the play Macbeth has become pure evil and nothing can stop him, not even him
self.
In Act four, Scene 2 Macbeth
is talking to his subjects, who are of course working for him out of fear and
not love, when he realizes something that the Weird Sisters had done to make
him be in this situation. So he says “Time thou anticipates my
dreaded exploits.” In the quote he says “anticipates”, which means predict,
“Dreaded exploits,” which means evil deeds. This means that time or
another thing has predicted his evil deeds. Therefore he accepts his that this
is “fate” and continues to go forth with his plans.
In Act four, Scene 3 MacDuff
and Malcolm are ranting off about Macbeth in England where they have fled off
to live. They are venting their anger towards each other. This anger
would have never started if Macbeth didn’t betray them. With all this ranting
MacDuff says,“ No one in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more
damned in evils top Macbeth.” This quote means that, no one sent
from hell can be more evil than Macbeth. This quote shows what other
people think of Macbeth.
In Act Five, Scene 3 the
10,000 men from England are approaching. Macbeth is mad at all the
servants that keep coming to warn him. In an attempt to shut them up
and maybe bring courage upon himself, Macbeth says, “I’ll fight till from my
bones my fleshed be hacked” This line means that Macbeth will fight to the
death no matter what. He has nothing to lose and is blinded by his ambitions
to realize what he’s getting into.
In Act Five, Scene 8 Macbeth
is fighting Macduff in a final attempt to protect this throne. After
some intense fighting Macduff is on the verge of winning. Realizing he’s going
to die on the spot, he says, “I throw my warlike shield.” This means
he’s going to sacrifice him self and die here and now instead of facing the
consequences and bowing down to Malcolm. In a final attempt at attacking
Macduff, Macbeth is slain. At this point in the play, Macbeth is
dead. This just proves that since Macbeth is so stubborn and naive, he threw
away everything he had for everything he wanted but ultimately failed in the
end.
In conclusion, Macbeth had a
very dramatic change of heart that widely influences the whole
play. Just one act and all his inner ambitions are
arisen. Throughout each act, his cold-heartedness
grows. Towards the end, his thoughts are clouded with evil, and he
has nothing to lose. Therefore, Macbeth has the meatiest change throughout
the whole play. As a secret message towards any potential readers, Shakespeare
show how taking all the wrong turns to get what you want will bring failure
upon your life.
(Q2 Benchmark)
This was a fun project to write. In this project, students had to compose a
memoir vignette (snapshot of their life) that changed them in some type of way.
I chose to write about an experience that was like none I ever had before. It
was about violence, but not that punch-kick violence. This violence involved
shooting and killing. It was a coincidence that this happen, because when I
first heard that we were getting this project, I was struggling to find that
snapshot of my life. The second I heard that we were doing a vignette, I was
all over it. I remembered a majority of every detail that happen that day with
relative ease. Making a story out of it was just amazing. I felt like I was
soaring in imagination with this one, even though it was 100% real. Check out
the creative process at work.
Henry Poeng
Orange Stream
An Ordinary Day In The Neighborhood
“Uncle,
are you okay?” My dad’s response tone to this question showed both surprise and
shock. “Yeah I’m fine” he said reassuringly. “What wrong?” then asked. “I just
had this horrible dream… there was a shooting in front of your store and
someone died. I couldn’t really make out who the person was but he was
important.” My dad’s face went grim. “Alright calm down, we are all fine here.
Chill out and get some sleep okay?” Click. My cousin had hung up and my dad put
the phone down.
December
30th, 2010. 12: 47 am. Everyone in the family except for me was
ready for some sleep. (opener) It was tiring just like any other day. My dad
just got out the shower, when he got a phone call. It was my cousin, who was
planning to visit soon from Connecticut. His voice was heavy, he was breathing
deep, and he seemed shaken. He explained to my dad that he just experienced a
nightmare. In the nightmare, people were shooting each other in front of our
store. My dad was surprised to hear this but laughed it off nevertheless. My
dad comforted him and told him to go back to sleep assuring him that everything
was fine. My cousin warned my dad to be careful. I was in my room starting a
recently assigned English benchmark project. (Foreshadowing)
December 31th,
2010. Not much was expected on this New Years Eve. It was just another boring
day of hard work and some extreme grumpiness. The previous night, I didn’t get
enough sleep, but that didn’t stop the customers from flooding in like there
was no tomorrow. Just what you would expect on a party night,
right? Little did they know. (Foreshadowing)
It was around 7:45 pm when
the most unexpected thing happened. I was taking care of a customer
and brooding(vocab) about
how to get out of work, all at the same time. Work being: selling customers
whole cases of beer, candy, cigarette, soda, etc. I live in a beer store so
this is an everyday thing. All this brooding left me bemused and
started an awkward situation. The customer I was serving got angry and started
to become insolent(Vocab) towards
me., which was perfectly fine until it got way out of hand. He kept
going on and on, screaming, cursing, and trying to escalate the tension. (Magic
3) Being very adept(Vocab) at
conflicts like this, I just ignored him and went about finishing the
transaction. Then, just outside the front of the store, BAM! (Onomatopoeia)
Sirens blared, breaking the awkward silence that followed.
Everything
was dropped. “Holy Shit!” (dialogue) screamed a good majority
of people. My mom and I went to peek out the window to see what was going on.
It wasn’t the most pleasant sight. A green dodge mini-van looked like
it was going down the wrong way on Walnut St. and went into a sudden halt not
far off from the intersection of Walnut St. and Frasier. Strange thing is, a
patrol vehicle looked like it caused the crash. Imagine this, a Green dodge
minivan pointed towards Jehovah’s Witness, which is directly left of my store,
at a 90-degree angle, a good size dent in it with a police car perpendicular to
the vehicle. (Imagery) The first thing that came to my mind
is, “This is not good.” (Dialogue) So I walk back to attend to the
waiting customers.
Fireworks
went off, or at least that’s what I thought it was. Running back to my mom I
asked “What’s going on out there?!” The response blind-sided me in the
face like somebody was running and just tripped into a wall. (Simile) The
driver of the green Dodge mini-van gunned down two cops! My mom and I ran to
the back of the establishment and notified my dad and my brother of the
situation. My brother looked at me like he just watched a good show of
SNL and said, (Simile)
“Please… it was only
fireworks don’t get so worked up” (Dialogue)
“But, Richard! Come look!”
(Dialogue)
With some proper begging he
came and took a glance. Turns out, the scene changed, and there
was way more then just one police car out there. Around 25 + vehicles, Officers
out, and guns pointed. It looked like a lustrous (Vocab) clump of red and blue in the night, which was
very appropriate for New Years. (Imagery) Then they open fired,
emptying about a magazine into the suspect’s car, at least that’s what the news
said. POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! (Onomatopoeia/ Rep 4 Effect). I
was scared out of my mind. It looked like an old western movie. A standoff was
happening right in front of my house! I was in shock and awe. So many things
raced through my mind. Will we get out of this alive? What happened to the cops
who got gunned down? Are they okay? This is exciting! I’m hungry, so
tired… sleepy, sleepy… and so forth. (Rep 4 Effect)
The fun part is how stupid we
all acted. My dad, who arrived rather late, ran outside and looked into the
car, as did about 15 other bystanders, my-self included. Dumb move, I know.
Difference was, I was about a quarter-block away from the car. The cops started
yelling and shooed us all away from the danger zone.
Everyone pretty much piled up
in the store. A good majority of them were very irritated because they were
disrupted from their holiday festivities. The customers pretty much
notified their family, sat around, or tried to make a quick transaction so they
can get out. (Magic 3) Just goes to show you that even in crisis some
people are still extremely selfish. My dad, who did not want to close shop just
yet, decided to play along with the selfish customers and go sell them ice.
This involved him going back outside again. Bad mistake. He was held outside
behind a wall in safety. My dad called shortly after we noticed that he was
missing. He told us to be wary (Vocab)
of the situation and to lower the bulwark (Vocab)
that is the front gate. Daring not to disobey, we evacuated the store and
lowered the gates.
A mere five minutes later, my
dad called on the phone. He told my brother and I to grab a case of beer so we
can sell it to a customer who was buying it the “back-door” way. We thought he
was joking, until we saw our dad approaching the back yard with a customer in
tow. After making the transaction, we all went back inside. Around this time a
copper chopper arrived to the scene rather low.Using the mounted spotlight,
it circled around the suspect’s vehicle and made light of the situation. (Pun
Intended/Humor)
Naturally, in situations like
these, you want to feel safe right? You know that feeling when you want to grab
something sharp and deadly, or just go hide somewhere to feel safe? That’s
exactly what I did. Upon re-entering the house, I ran to my room and totally
missed the light switch. Groping (vocab)
around in the dark, I grabbed my metal softball bat and a metal baseball bat. I
know it seems stupid, but it made me feel secure. Others didn’t think so. A cop
noticed me with the bats and told me “What are you going to do with those
bats? Going to hit a bullet out the park? You can’t even swing with
one hand!” (Dialogue/Humor) That comment made me feel stupid, but I
felt safe so it was okay. Putting the bats away, I went to go watch what else
was unfolding.
When I arrived back at the
place of entertainment, anyone who was viewing the little show had a face that
could make even the most secure in mind cry. Amassing (Vocab) some courage I peeked over the
window, heart racing. The scene had changed. With the spotlight illuminating
the car, some of the higher ranked cops gathered in a circle at the
intersection of Frasier and Walnut St. They appeared to be scheming on how to
handle the rest of the situation. Out of nowhere, down the dark alleyway of
Frasier St. was a heavily armed officer, otherwise known as a S.W.A.T (special
weapons and tactics) operator. Walking down slow mo, or at least that’s
how I saw it. He looked extremely intimidating. This man was dressed in all
black with armor and bullet proof pads spread across evenly all over his body,
thick helmet on his head, attached with a helmet visor. In his right hand, a
riot shield, in his left, an assault rifle. I can only guess that it was a
M416, but that’s just from background gaming knowledge, which made it even more
exciting. (Imagery) His face was made of stone. (Metaphor)
They call him the crisis
negotiator, negotiator for short. His job was to approach the suspect and cause
a diversion for a S.W.A.T team to arrive, or talk the suspect into
surrendering, or both. From my perspective, it seemed like both. I can only
assume that being a negotiator, you needed to be shrewd (Vocab) andconscientious
(Vocab) of the suspect in critical situations.
My dad, my brother and I took
this given opportunity of peace to talk to my dad’s friend who happened to be
an officer at the scene and likes to visit the store when he’s off duty. My dad
was at the door speaking to his cop friend, who coincidently had his patrol
vehicle right in front of the store entrance. My dad was chatting away with his
friend, while I was talking to my brother, who was just as excited. He told me
to go and listen in. Being his younger brother, I had to comply.
While I listened in, my
brother was broadcasting what was going on to my other brother who was in
Florida at the time. I found this superfluous, but what the heck, it was
exciting. Apparently, the showdown on Walnut was being shown live in
Florida, which I found extremely strange. My dad was talking to his friend. We
got the gist of the situation. Apparently, the cops were waiting for S.W.A.T.
to arrive, there were 200+ personal surrounding the perimeter and all branches
of law enforcement were deployed. This was the first event in Philadelphia law
enforcement history of its caliber. All of a sudden, the radio exploded with a
sharp command that was lost in a sudden burst of confusion. We ran back
inside. “Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic!” I constantly told my
self. (Rep 4 Effect/Dialouge)
After a quick break, we all
resumed our position in front of the window and stared at the scene. Nothing
interesting happened just yet so I went to back to getting some work done.
Unable to keep myself away I ran back just in time to get blinded by a burst of
flares. The flash looked like a firework that had gone wrong. It looked like an
extremely bright light with flares coming out the sides with a loud pop that is
redundant now and days. This special item causes disorientation of
anyone unfortunate enough to witness it. Good thing I was behind the window. I
just witnessed a flash bang. (Imagery) I peeked back up to examine the
next set of events. Assuming that the suspect was disoriented, S.W.A.T moved
towards the car and took out the suspect. He was dead and covered in
blood. It looks like someone missed a paint ball gun filled with red
paint balls horribly. (Imagery) One can only guess how much anguish (Vocab) he suffered
in that one-hour period, barricaded in his car. The scene at the
time was surreal because
so much was happening at once. I was inept (Vocab)
when it came to things like this, but this has only made my mentally stronger.
After the dramatic event over, all the bystanders went back to what they were
doing, including me.
Refreshing the page on a news
site for 10 minutes straight wasn’t the smartest thing, but it was worth it,
just to see what was going on from the news reporter’s
perspective. The reports say that the two officers that got shot
were in good condition and had been released from the hospital. A sigh
of relief went around the crowd that was around the computer. (Imagery).
All the excitement left me tremendously enervated. Crawling to bed, I took the
time to reflect on what was just witnessed.
With this reflection came
inner thoughts. What you do will follow you for life, but how you repent for it
is what makes the difference. Shooting cops will be the end for you. Be
prepared for the unexpected because this is the type of world we live in. Think
of the possible consequences before doing anything. As I slowly drifted to
sleep, I whispered to myself “This is just another ordinary day in the
neighborhood.” (Dialogue) and dozed off.
III
III
III
III
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Down here!
This is just for kicks: :D
Now this is the story all
about how
some guy got flipped, turned upside down
and I'd like to take a minute just sit right there
I'll tell you how I almost pulled out all of my hair.
In West Philadelphia born and raised
In a beer store is where I spend most of my days.
Selling, taxin, relaxing all cool
And enjoying this day off from school.
When this one guy, who was up to no good
Starting causing trouble in my neighborhood.
He robbed one gas station and the cops got scared.
They said “get out the car with your hands in the air”
The cops called for some back up, when it came near
The crazy driver shot the two cops with a frightening sneer.
If anything, I could say this scene was super rare
but I thought oh heck no, it’s safer in there.
Then back up pulled up round seven or 8.
came out and said “yo dawg get the tazer.”
Hey Look at that! S.W.A.T is finally here.
Extracting the body with guns in the air.
(Over exaggerated)
Trying to this project was an
adventure by it self. This was probably from reading the confusing Odyssey, to
watching a confusing movie. But I took on the challenge and made it through. Of
course with some bumps and bruises here and there (If you catch my drift).
Anyways, the third quarter benchmark consist of the comparison between Odysseus
and Everett from the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou”. This is done by
using comparison and evidence from both the movie and the books to compare and
contrast these two characters. The two characters didn’t have to be between
these too, but I was having a huge writers block so finding a good match came
to late. Take a look at writer’s block!
(Q3 Benchmark)
3/7/11
Henry Poeng
Odysseus:
Great teller of tales, Trojan War hero, and main character of The
Odyssey. Everett: Master Tactician, Leader of the Soggy Bottom Boys, George
Clooney and main character of O Brother Where Art Thou. Odysseus and Ulysses
are both selfish at times, and overcome their conflicts in the same manner.
But, it’s how they are assisted on their journeys that make the
difference. Although these two are very similar in their
personalities, they have a different approach to their respective journeys.
Everett and Odysseus show
similarities in their selfishness during several points of their adventures. In
the movie O Brother Where Art Thou, Everett risks the life of his crewmates in
a vain attempt try and persuade Delmar and Pete to go and get his hair gel from
the back of a burning car. Everett shows that he’s going to put himself first
instead of considering the life of his loyal crewmembers. This had to potential
to get all three of them killed. In The Odyssey, Odysseus said
“Cyclops- if any man in the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you,
shamed you so—say Odysseus, raider of cites, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’
son who makes his home in Ithaca!” (Book 9, Lines 558-562). Unlike
Everett, Odysseus actually puts his crewmates in grave danger. As a result, he
got them all killed in the end. But, this also shows how they are like in their
thinking, and how selfish they both can be.
O
Brother Where Art Thou is heavily based off of The
Odyssey. There are several hints that show this in the movie. One
would be the prophet, who tells Everett how to get home, much like in The
Odyssey. However, they are actually different. The
Odyssey Odysseus was thrown off course so many times that it is hard
to keep count. It is believed that the main source of all his interludes was,
for the most part, the Greek gods. Poseidon, earth shaker and king of the seas
had a deep grudge on Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus, his son, and being
associated with Athena. As you may know, Athena and Poseidon HATE each other
very much. Using everything in his power that didn’t involve direct interaction
between him and Odysseus, Poseidon further delayed his return trip home via
storms, monsters, etc. Athena on the other hand was on Odysseus’ side, protecting
him and only him throughout a huge chunk of the epic. If you think carefully,
do you see this happening at all in O Brother Where Art Thou? Nope. In O
Brother Where Art Thou there aren’t any gods, or some supernatural other
worldly power to veer Everett and companions off course, or further then along
for that matter. He got home all by himself without the need of the Gods.
In The
Odyssey, Odysseus overcame his challenges by first, thinking of some well
thought out plan, then eventually needing Athena’s help towards the end of
executing the plan. For example “Naked threats- and Athena hit new heights of
race, she lashed out at Odysseus now with blazing accusation: “Where’s it gone,
Odysseus- your power, your fighting heart? The great solder who fought for
famous white-armed Helen, battling Trojans nine longs years- nonstop, no mercy,
mowing their armies down in grueling battle- you who seized the broad streets
of Troy with your fine strategic strokes! How can you- now you’ve returned to your
own house, your own wealth- bewail the loss of your combat strength in war with
suitors? Come, old friend, stand by me! You’ll see action now, see how Mentor
the son of Alcimus, that brace fighter, kill your enemies, pays you back for
service!” (Book 22, Line 234-246). As long as this quote might be, it has a
huge significance. Without Athena, who knows where Odysseus might be right now.
Some might argue, that without the Gods, Odysseus might have not gotten home at
all or vice-versa. This may be true, but we haven’t really seen the famed
Odysseus “Master of tactics, Great teller of tales” in action without the help
or intervention of the Gods. In O Brother Where Art Thou, Everett gets through
all his challenges by himself. From escaping the chain gang, to making “old
timey” music and sort of getting his wife back. He did it all himself that is
what someone should be respected for. That is a huge difference in terms of
showing character traits and applying it.
In conclusion, Odysseus and
Everett might share the same qualities with each other, but the manners in
which they achieve their goals are quite different. Sure you might think, “Oh,
well if Odysseus didn’t have Athena, he would have never got home.” or, “ Oh,
well if Poseidon wasn’t messing with him so much then we would have gotten home
safe and sound.” which could be very true. My point is, if your going to talk
about someone else’s abilities and what they are doing, then talk about it
right, not with some sort of handicap. That to me is just plain unfair. It’s
just like saying “Yeah! I totally made this turbine with the help of my twenty
friends so appreciate me more because I want more credit!” It’s the same deal
with Odysseus, but must admit that he is insanely smart and strong. Although
these two are very similar in their personalities, they have a different
approach to their respective journeys.
The creative Macbeth piece was probably my second most favorite project as a 9th grade freshman in English. I basically went all out in both creativity and fun. For this project we had to make a character journey of a character of choice. It could be creative. I chose to do a keynote that was very entertaining, to me anyways. From music to a clever rhyme scheme, and getting everyone intrigued at how I produced such a wonderful project. Alas, I cannot show the keynote, but if you are interested please email me. This wasn’t much difficulty in making this project. It simply flowed in my brain until the project was done. What you are about to read is the poem part of my project.
(Creative Piece)
Macbeth and Banquo are
marching back as heroes, embarrassing everyone: making them zeros. On the way
back there was a surprising mental attack. They meet three weird sisters, full
of warts and blisters. They hailed Macbeth as thane of Glamis, Cawdor and King
here after. So Banquo is confused. He asked the weird sisters to state his news. They declare him the
fountain of kings. It was strange for Macbeth and Banquo to hear these things.
The weird sisters soon after leave, making Macbeth and Banquo puzzled on what
to believe. Ross and Angus enter the scene, upon their face was
great amounts of gleam. Bringing them with news of his promotion, Macbeth
says “The Thane
of Cawdor lives, why do you dress me in barrowed robes.” Macbeth
declares that he will later probe. So continues the story, turn to
the next slide to read of Macbeth’s rise to glory.
Macbeth and Banquo return to the castle where King Duncan waited
with no type of hassle. Macbeth was proclaimed Thane of Cawdor, a title the
traitor had, not long before. This proclamation had Macbeth convinced. Soon
after Malcolm was made the newest prince. A successor to the throne, someone
who has worthy shown. Macbeth goes incognito, off the side, planning something
evil. “Stars hide your fire; let
not the lights see my black and deep desires” . He has
plans for these infrequent criers. Macbeth’s ambitions start to show, something
that will be explained in the next slide, so come on, lets GO!
Lady Macbeth shows warm
welcome to Duncan and his subjects. Behind her face: Ambition. With one goal in
mind, with one mission. To get rid of King Duncan and Malcolm, his son. She and
Macbeth are planning to declare their lives done. “False face must hide what false heart doth know.” Macbeth
and his wife must hide what their heart shows. Late in the night,
when all is retired, Macbeth and his spouse continue with the plan they
have conspired. Silence.... a hoot is heard. The deed is done. The guilt has
begun. Macbeth comes in with bloody hands, Duncan is dead, by his wife’s
command. Then they both go crazy, their minds a little hazy. “Glamis hath murdered sleep, therefore
Cawdor shall not sleep”. Macbeth has stole Duncan’s life, like a
thief. Therefore he shall pay, with lack sleep of during the absence of day.
Now, lets continue this story. It’s going to get kind of gory.
Macbeth has become king by unfair means. How do you become King
when it has not been past down through your genes? Banquo is very suspicious.
He is about to come across something meaty and delicious. Macbeth finds out and
becomes rather vicious. Macbeth starts to plan and scheme. How do you get rid
of someone that was once on your team? With murderers that have stealthy skill.
They will dispose of Banquo and Fleance with a silent kill. “O, full of
scorpions is my mind dear wife.” Macbeth is going to kill Banquo
without thinking twice.
Banquo is no more. Covered from head to toe in fresh slimy gore.
Looking more disoriented than ever before. Fleance has ‘scaped! Running in the
wind, looking back as he swore. The murderer's make their return to Macbeth’s
castle door. They enter the party that was held on the ground floor. The news
given to Macbeth was both great and poor. He was happy to the very core, but also
mad that the assassins' had done only half their chore.
These two acts we will remember for our lives. Macbeth
is alone, sitting and thinking at his throne. “Time thou anticipates my dreaded exploits.” Many evil
deeds were committed, a dark aura is emitted. Many miles far far away, are two
people that Macbeth has betrayed. MacDuff and Malcolm talk about many tragic
deaths. So much so that MacDuff says “
No one in the legions of horrid hell can come a devil more damned in evils top
Macbeth.” Back at the castle, a war is waged. His majesty is
enraged. “I’ll fight till
from my bones my fleshed be hacked” Little does he
know, that he will never be backed. Ten Thousand men march, revenge burning in
some. They are here to get rid of this tyrant scum. Let the battle
begin and on the next side we will see who wins.
(Independent
Reading Review Project)
In
our English class, we were given two independent reading projects. The one that
I am presenting is first of the two. This basically consists of an introduction
to the book, a paragraph or two about the book, a personal connection, some
conflicts, an opinion about the book, and a recommendation of the book. This
was particularly hard on me, because I never really like doing book reports or
reviews. I struggled but manage to pull through somehow and get a good grade. Read on to take a look at a New York Times
best seller.
Henry Poeng
Orange Stream
The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo
By: Stieg Larssona
In an epic show down
between the past and the present, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is challenged
to solve it all. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is indeed a
movie. It was released 2009. Not only that, but it got a lot of buzz from news
sites like Yahoo, CNN, etc. That’s what tempted me to read it. Also, it has an
interesting title name. From what I’ve read in the reports, it said that it was
a suspenseful, crime theme, which is something that I don’t normally read. So I
decided to take a chance and change my genre.
The book, The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a mysterious crime story, which takes
place in Sweden.
Summary:
Mikael Blomkvist, a
journalist, publisher, and co-creator of Millennium magazine, published an
article against Swedish billionaire, Hans-Erik Wennerström. After a libel case
against Hans-Erik, Blomkvist is sentenced to three months in prison. Facing
professional disgrace, Blomkivist quits his job at Millennium
magazine. Approached by a lawyer shortly after leaving the court house, he
is offered a freelance job, assigned by Henrik Vanger. Henrik is the former CEO
of Vanger Enterprises, which is a massive company in Sweden. A few days before
the encounter, Henrik Vanger hires a young girl in her twenties by the name of
Lizbeth Slander, to dig into Blomkvist’s life history. She is a genius hacker,
with a photographic memory, and just scary in general.
Blomkvist goes to the Vanger
estate, located in Hedeby island, several hours away from Stockholm, which is
Blomkvist place of residence. Arriving at the Vanger estate, Henrik explains
the assignment to Blomkvist. Blomkivist was to write a book on the Vanger
family history, but also to find a serial killer that killed Harriet Vanger,
Henrik’s niece. Henrik promised a hefty reward with juicy details that could
bring down Hans-Erik Wennerström. Reluctantly, Blomkvist agreed to the offer,
seeing no other choice. Blomkvist accepted what could be the scariest
assignment of his life. Together with Lizbeth Slanders, they will hunt down a
serial killer from the past.
Some conflicts?
-Blomkvist vs. the media
(Person vs. society) The media is making a huge deal out of the libel case and
how badly he failed.
-Slanders vs. herself.
(person vs. self) Slanders appears to be trying to find her self.
-Blomkvist/Slanders vs.
Serial killer (person vs. person) Blomkvist and Slanders are out on a hunt for
a Serial killer that have been murdering several females by using lines from
the bible.
-My favorite character in
this book is Mikael Blomkvist.
He is to my hero because of
his courage and how professional he is. I could learn from this guy, excluding
his sex crave of course. You will learn about that as you read the book. By
courage, I mean he is brave, intelligent, and very wise. By professional, I
mean he is intelligent, handles himself well, and has good management skills.
You can learn a lot from this guy.
-I believe that readers
should take into the account that the book is trying to say, be fair to women.
If you read carefully, the whole story is about women being abused and killed
all the time. For a theme, I would say “Everybody should be treated equal. No
matter what”
My relationship to the story
and the people in it?:
None. What Lizbeth and Mikael
went through just makes my life seem boring. If I recall correctly, I haven’t
been raped, attacked by strangers, put in political shame, solve cold-cases, or
a computer genius. I haven’t experience the thrill of traveling from place to
place looking for a serial killer, writing a biography about a wealthy family,
or experience three months in jail. If anything, would like to relate most of
their lives. But that’s just not happening.
-Opinion?
I think it’s an excellent
book that will keep you coming back for more. Even though it’s rather lengthy,
and it uses a lot of big words. Overall, a well written crime story with a
great story line. Now personally, if I could change something in the book it
would be how the frame stories are integrated. It get confusing sometimes
trying to keep up with past and present.
-Recommendations?
I would recommend this book to
anyone that can handle good amounts of suspense, drama, action, sex scenes, and
plain weird stuff. Also, lets not forget lots and lots of detail! Plus, it
would make the book even more amazing if you have a great imagination. That
just makes the book an even better experience to read since it is filled with
so much detail.
(Journals)
Considering how I don’t
really remember the prompts, I’m going to go try and explain each one as best I
can. The first prompt was just to talk about how our Thanksgiving break was. The
second one was to explain what you think an adult is. The third one was to
explain how winter break went. Last but not least, the fourth one was explaining
what criteria do you think a person needs to be a “Hero”. Some of the answers
that I wrote were short because I didn’t know what to write. But I did the best
I could in that current moment.
11/29/10
The Thanksgiving break was
“okay”. On Thanksgiving I had to work and serve the customers and their needs.
Friday was my birthday. Not the most interesting day of the year. Pretty much
work, work, eat, party, sugar rush, sleep, fat. Saturday was confusing. I don’t
even remember what happened or care to remember for that matter. Sunday
however, was fun. The family got together and had a Thanksgiving feast. A well
deserved feast at that. Soo much food, just loads and loads of
food. It was amazingly fun too. It was great playing ping-pong and
pool with the people I barely see. Overall, the break started real slow but
then picked up like a rocket taking off.
1/24/11
Too me, an adult is someone
who has past 21 years of age. An adult is someone that is mature and accepts
hit or her responsibilities. Someone that is proactive and not reactive. An
adult is someone that can balance out life and fun. In a general sense, an
adult is someone who is seasoned at life.
1/3/11
My break was okay I guess.
Same deal. Wake-up, text, shower, work, text, sleep. Boring right? 100%. The
holidays are the worst for me. Wake-up early, work until 12 am, and then drop.
But it’s for a good cause I guess. One day, something broke the cycle. On the
31st of December something crazy happened. My mom and I were
manning the fort. MY dad and brother were in the back. Then all of the sudden,
we hear a lot of sirens outside. MY mom and I looked out the window. WE saw a
dodge mini-van pointed towards the church next to my house. Two officers were
walking towards it. It was a strangely ominous scene. Then all of the sudden,
the driver-side window cracked. A gun was fired off. Both the officers went
down, guns blazing. It seems that the assailant was struck. My mom went to go
tell my dad in a frenzy. I went to go tell my brother. I sat there in shock and
awe. Hopefully I can turn this story into a project.
2/2/11
A hero to me is someone that
is special. A hero is someone that sets a good example for someone good or bad.
Someone that gives others hope and meaning in their life. You don’t have to fly
or have super powers to be a hero. All you need is a sense of hope and the will
to go on. That’s what I think a hero is.
The Myth project was
given when the students were done reading the Odyessy. In the Myth project, you
are supposed to pick a Greek god and explain what he or she is. What they
represent in Greek culture, and what they mean today. Also, you have to
research myths about them and write about it. I picked Poseidon because he
seems so cool. I know it’s not a legitimate reason but it’s my reason. Take a
look about Poseidon God of the Seas.
(Myth Project)
Henry Poeng
Orange Stream
Greek God: Poseidon
Symbols: Trident, Horses, and Dolphins
Qualities: God Of The Sea, Earth-Shaker, and Rapist.
Family:
Parents:
Cronos (Father) and Rhea (Mother)
Brothers:
Zeus, Hades.
Sisters:
Hera, Demeter, and Hestia.
Lover
of: Any Female he can get his hands on.
Enemies: Athena and Odysseus.
Where are they from?:
Athena is the Brainchild of
Zeus literally. She was popped right out from his brain when he had a headache,
but that’s a whole other myth. She is the enemy of Poseidon because she was
given the city of Athens instead of Poseidon in which Zeus promised him. Also
it would appear that Athena has a polar personality compared to Poseidon.
Poseidon being hot-headed and
Odysseus is a Greek hero that fought in the Trojan War for
Achaeans. He is responsible for the Trojan-Horse that ended the 10 year war.
The reason he is the enemy of Poseidon is because he blinded one of Poseidon’s
many sons, named Polyphemus, who’s mother is Medusa.
Earth-Shaker, Creator of
Horses, God of the Seas, these are just a few epithets that describe Poseidon.
Quick to anger, and quick to love Poseidon is. Some say his short temper is the
cause of earthquakes, horrible storms, and droughts. He is known to hold long
grudges against those who anger him.
Before
the god’s there were Titans, known as the “elder gods”. Cronus, son of Uranus
and Gaea overthrew his own father. After dethroning Uranus, his mother Gaea
made a prophecy. The prophecy stated that his own children would overthrow
Cronus. Living in fear Cronus ate his own children as they were being born. All
but one was consumed. Rhea, Cronus’s sister wife hid the last born, and fed
Cronus a rock covered in a blanket. When he became an adult, Zeus made a plan
to take revenge on his father. By making Cronus vomit out all of the children
he consumed, Zeus would rally them and overthrow Cronus.
In
the previous events, six children were born in this order: Hestia, Hades,
Demeter, Poseidon, Hera and Zeus. Out of the six, three were males:
Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. While having no active leader to rule, a lottery was
held between the three brothers to decide who rules what. Hades, eldest of the
three, became God of the Underworld. Poseidon became God of the Sea. Zeus
became god of the Sky and Supreme ruler the gods. Hades got the shorter end of
the stick.
During
the Trojan War, some of the Olympian gods were split. Siding the
Greeks was: Poseidon, Athena, Hera, Hermes and Hephaestus. Sided with the
Trojans were: Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis and Ares. I like to call them the A
team. Poseidon was sided with the Greeks because of a broken
promise. Poseidon helped build the epic walls that surrounded the
great city of troy while on punishment from Zeus. The King did not pay
Poseidon, who was disguised as a mortal while building the walls, for his hard
manual labor. As punishment, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack troy, only
to be thwarted by Hercules.
In
the midst of battle the Trojans killed Poseidon grandson. This only infuriated
Poseidon even more. As result he joined the battle disguised as a mortal
seeking his revenge disobeying Zeus’s strict orders not to interfere. Hera, was
in the middle of seducing Zeus when he heard the battle cries of Poseidon, he
realized that he was being tricked. Containing his rage, he sent Iris, a
messenger god to warn Poseidon. Poseidon disobeyed at first, but then
eventually backed-off, not because of fear, but because of respect of Zeus.
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