Growing up, I watched my mom go from an amateur cook to a proprietor of her own catering company. Always being around cooking or baking started my love for the food industry. When going through the college process, I considered majoring in pastry arts. After many talks with both my parents and Ms.Hirschfield, we decided I could always start my own catering business later on in life. I took my capstone as an opportunity to practice catering and event planning. I have helped my mom with events that varied from small dinners to graduations, but I never took the responsibility of an entire order on my own. At the beginning of the year, Darlenny came up with the idea to hold a sports banquet to congratulate all of the seniors for their hard work and dedication throughout their seasons. She knew that I was deciding on catering an event for my capstone and approached me about doing the desserts for her event as well as the dessert table set up. This process will include creating a menu, designing the dessert table, and the execution of the desserts. The sports banquet will be held on May 7th so I will update this post when my presentation is finalized. I hope this event will teach me about not only a possible career, but a newfound sense of responsibility. I look forward to stepping into my mother’s shoes and testing my ability to take on a catering event.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bpV441CvUFXa9FxUedkXpn7sC5mf5s3AIUV5nO-uUBQ/edit?usp=sharing

Bibliography

Default Name. “Cupcake Topper Tutorial.” YouTube, 14 Aug. 2013, youtu.be/jyo-SbEpPtY.

Family Circle. “11 Adorable Mini Desserts.” Family Circle, Family Circle, 12 Dec. 2017, www.familycircle.com/recipes/desserts/mini-desserts/.

“Find an Old Favorite, or Discover Something Deliciously New.” NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Recipes| NESTLÉ® Very Best Baking, www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/find/tollhouse?recipePage=1&recipesPerPage=24&recipeSortBy=LiveDate&recipeSortAscending=False. June.

“How to Plan a Dessert Buffet.” Practically Homemade, 12 Oct. 2018, practicallyhomemade.com/2018/06/05/how-to-plan-a-dessert-buffet/.

“How to Set Up a Dessert Table.” Amalfi Decor, amalfidecor.com/blogs/blog/how-to-set-up-a-dessert-table.

May, Cassie. “20 DIY Dessert Displays and Cake Stands.” Little Red Window, 1 Mar. 2016, littleredwindow.com/diy-dessert-displays-and-cake-stands/.

Meyers, Julie. “Tailgating Desserts.” Taste of Home, www.tasteofhome.com/collection/tailgating-desserts/.

Roenicke, Kelly. “Allergy Friendly Dessert Recipes.” The Pretty Bee, 22 Apr. 2019, theprettybee.com/category/desserts/.

“Top 5: Sweet Dessert Table Ideas For Your Party.” Frontpage, weddingphotography.com.ph/3155/top-5-sweet-dessert-table-ideas-for-your-party/.

Turk, Laurie, et al. “Home.” Tip Junkie, 5 Dec. 2018, tipjunkie.com/best-sports-party/.

I was only in seventh grade when my mom picked me up after school to go straight to the hospital. This time it seemed more serious than others, but I didn’t fully understand the circumstances. Not even a few days later, my oldest brother, Jesse, got a call from our family members that were at the hospital. I remember responding to him as he yelled my name with an attitude. I was annoyed by him rushing me to come to his room, without thinking of a reason why he would want me to run.

My mom wanted my two brothers and I to come say bye to my grandpa. I didn’t begin to cry. Instead, I grabbed a tastykake and got in the car with my aunt, who would drive us to the hospital. She tried to talk to us about our day and have a casual conversation, and I still wasn’t fully aware of what I had to say when I got to the hospital. Looking into the hospital room, I saw a few of my aunts and uncles standing around the hospital bed where my grandpa was laying down. They stepped aside for my brother Seth and I to come in. My brother must’ve went first because I remember being in the room when he started to speak. Whenever I recount what happened that day, I hear Seth’s voice in my head, “Uh grandpa… this is Seth… I love you.” I followed up just by telling him I loved him. I had never lost a loved one before, let alone have to figure out a way to say goodbye. When I turned back around to look at him after leaving the room, I felt like I was falling apart. The tears that were streaming down my face wouldn’t stop. Whether I went back inside to make another remark or stayed outside crying, there was nothing I could do or say that would change him being gone forever. Saying goodbye to someone makes you think about everything you could have done before that moment to appreciate them more, but it was just too late.

Since the start of superheroes in comics dating back to the Great Depression and World War II, they have continued to gain popularity through movies and TV shows. People of all ages still watch superhero movies and many younger children wish to meet one. The only downside to this is the fact that these superheroes they see in comics or movies aren’t real. Batman isn’t roaming the streets of Philadelphia trying to find his parents’ killer and Captain America’s frozen body wasn’t found in Atlantic City. In reality, these superheroes’ abilities show what people really want from society. They want someone they can look at as their protector who can jump between rooftops to catch bank robbers. Superheroes reflected America’s fears and gave them a chance to feel invulnerable.

Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, was written as a student who grew up to become a soldier. He fought Nazi troops and was viewed as a US hero in order to go against Nazi Germany’s propaganda. During the war, Captain America and his sidekick Bucky were a key symbol of hope for people. It seemed like after the war their popularity died down. In an article from Britannica, the writer says, “As the war wound down, the market for patriotic superheroes began to shrink, and Captain America and Bucky were literally put on ice.”  This suggests that people were no longer in need of these superheroes giving them something to look up to and a future they could wish for. These seemingly perfect figures were only popular when people felt in danger and would much rather read about an “ideal” story where someone comes to save them all, rather than trying to deal with what was happening during the war.

These superhero idols weren’t just used for hope during World War II. In an article by The New York Times the author says that superheroes started to reflect political realities when Justice League was questioning President Lex Luthor’s decisions to invade Qurac or Marvel heroes having to register their abilities with the government. The Superhuman registration was viewed as an invasion of privacy by the government since they had to give up their hidden identities. People don’t deal with these same exact issues where they have to give up their superhero identity to the government but invasion of privacy is still relevant to what the government can access through phones. When they see these superheroes dealing with issues that are in the world today it makes them feel like their situation could turn out the same way. The superhero simply saves the day and makes everyone feel safe again. It distracts from the fact that people feel like there is no way they can intervene in the situations people face today and make things better in the same way a superhero is supposed to do. That sense of safety and not having to worry is something that they don’t have so all they can do is look at a false situation and ignore the reality.

Captain America: Civil War came out in 2016 and shows two different superheroes with opposing views on how the country should be run. An article by Vox talks about how the original comic from 2006 was during the time of America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These disagreements between two superheroes that were friends show the reality of today. Whether it’s decisions over the country or disagreements with friends, people still use the stories as an escape. A point that supports this is shown in an article by The Atlantic where the writer says, “If American culture is indeed in a state of decline, these are the stories built to survive its demise.” The central idea of why the story relates is to provide that alternate ending of what could happen. People often want to forget about the reality and hope that a miracle will just fix everything back into place.  

Although people who aren’t superhero fans might not think that superhero movies or comics matter much, its influence goes beyond entertainment purposes to help people cope with the harsh reality of the world. These happy endings give people hope for their own issues. Things do not always go as planned in the world or exactly how people want them, whether it’s about politics or society, and the writers of these comics create a superhero born into that kind of environment that can overcome anything.

Works Cited

Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Captain-America. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.

Gustines, George Gene. The Superhero as Society’s Mirror, From World War II to Iraq. The New York Times Company, 14 July 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/07/14/arts/design/14comi.html. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.

Abad-Santos, Alex. Marvel’s Civil War and Its Politics, Explained. Vox, 3 May 2016, www.vox.com/2016/5/3/11531348/marvel-civil-war-explained. Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.

Petaccio, Carmen. “How Superhero Stories Reflect American Anxieties.” The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/03/twilight-of-the-superheroes/475236/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.

Married to Money

Comparing The Taming of the Shrew to My Fake Fiancé

The Taming of the Shrew shows that marriage as an economic institution has been around for a while, or in other words, both parties do it for the money involved. In this play, Baptista, a father of two daughters, Bianca and Katherine, has to deal with multiple suitors trying to gain the attention of his two very different daughters. Bianca is the youngest so she must wait until Katherine gets married. Multiple suitors want Bianca, who is seen as the more level-headed sister, while Katherine only has one man who thinks he can change her ways. Shakespeare wants the reader to see that emotions don’t really play a primary role in marriage. Money plays the main role in which man gets to marry one of Baptista’s daughters. The more money they have, the greater chance they have with getting married to one of them.

In the 2009 movie My Fake Fiancé, Jennifer and Vince meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and decide to get married for the monetary benefits. Both of them were in need of money and didn’t have any real feelings toward each other. Like The Taming of the Shrew, money has a primary role in the movie. These texts reveal that, while men are not as expected to offer money to the future wife’s family, marriage is still viewed as an economic institution rather than solely being based on love.

“I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;

If wealthily, then happily in Padua.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 76-77)

In this scene, Hortensio is sort of pitching an offer to Petruchio about marrying Katherine so that he can be able to marry her younger sister Bianca. Petruchio is being very straight forward in his response about his opinions on marriage and money. Now that he is in Padua, he wants to find a wife that has money so that he can continue to live happily. This part of the text shows the importance this character believes money has in a marriage. Rather than saying he will be happy meeting the woman he will eventually marry, he says that he will be happy when he marries a woman with money. This sets aside all other aspects of the woman like her looks, her personality, or if she even loves him. Jennifer and Vince find themselves in a similar discussion about money when they first meet each other.

In “My Fake Fiancé,” when Vince and Jennifer first talk about how many gifts the bride and groom are getting, Vince says “I guess in theory It’s like a savings account. We’re supposed to get that money back one day when we get married.” Both Vince and Jennifer view the wedding as something that is just bringing in money for the bride and groom. Rather than talking about the couple being in love, they focus on what the couple is going to be receiving because they are getting married, such as money or gifts, and how they will benefit from that. It makes them think of their own future wedding in a similar fashion when comparing it to money they will receive back. Like Petruchio, they value the monetary aspect of getting married.

“I promised we would be contributors

And bear his charging of wooing whatsoe'er.”

“And so we will, provided that he win her.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 218-220)

At this point in the play, there are multiple suitors trying to go after Bianca. As stated before, Katherine must get married first. Hortensio and Gremio are still trying to talk Petruchio into marrying Katherine in order for them to be in competition to win over Bianca. They even go as far as saying they will cover Petruchio's expenses. The discussion of who will “win” either sister is highly based on how much the man can provide for her as well as offer her father. This applies more to Bianca since she is the only one with more than one suitor. This is more of a business deal rather than a competition of who can win over her heart. The discussion of who will “win” Bianca plays in societal idea of what it means to be husband and wife. That the husband should be able to provide for the wife and the wife should please the husband. That wives should aim to be “trophy wives” or simply let the man do all the work and bring in all the money. The situation between Jennifer and Vince is completely based on the money they will bring in from wedding gifts.

In this scene, Jennifer and Vince are discussing the fact that Jennifer just lost furniture during her move and Vince owes someone over 10 grand due to gambling. In order to fix this, they decide to stage a fake wedding. Vince says, “It’s perfect. I’m in. We stage a fake wedding. We invite everyone that we know. You register for all the stuff you want to replace, I get to keep all the cash.” Both Jennifer and Vince are agreeing to use the wedding as a way to support themselves financially. Like the suitors, money determines their future actions. If not enough money is offered from the suitor, they can not get married to Bianca. If it weren’t for the money involved, Jennifer and Vince wouldn’t be discussing a marriage. In this case, the societal roles of the husband having to provide for their wife does not apply because they don’t plan on forming an actual relationship after they get what they wanted from the fake wedding.

“Be patient, gentlemen. I choose her for myself.

If she and I be pleased, what's that to you?

'Tis bargained 'twixt us twain, being alone,

That she shall still be curst in company.”

(Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 321-324)

When the other men see how Katherine is talking to Petruchio, they begin to question whether or not they have a successful relationship. Petruchio thinks that the “bargain” made over the couple, specifically between him and Baptista, should be kept to themselves and not important to the other men. It doesn’t matter how rude Katherine is to him as long as he still has an amount of money agreed upon with her father. Petruchio’s opinion shows that the qualities of the woman don’t really matter to him as long as her or her family has money. He doesn’t see the negative behavior of him or his wife as a reasoning for the marriage not to work since they are both pleased with having money. Jennifer and Vince fall into a similar situation when they reveal that neither of them are happy with the other person’s attitude.

In this scene, Jennifer was finally able to get in contact with Vince in order to talk over a deal that will make money for the both of them. Although this deal involves a marriage, her and Vince aren’t very fond of each other. This doesn’t stop them from going through with the plan. Like Petruchio, they know what they are getting themselves into and the behavior each will have to deal with but they still get married for the money. To both of them, whether or not they actually like each other is important. Petruchio knows about Katherine’s bad attitude from what Bianca’s suitors told him and Vince and Jennifer already butt heads at the wedding when they first met.

The similarities between the movie and the play show that over the years, the audience can still relate to that topic. This idea of marriage being an economic institution leads to people getting into relationships for the monetary benefits. Families during the time of Shakespeare’s writing would want to get married for the wealth while the modern day version of it was Jennifer and Vince using the wedding gifts to benefit themselves. Even though the play and the movie were created centuries apart, the ideas of marriage as an economic institution are still relevant to people today.

Works Cited

My Fake Fiancé. Dir. Gil Junger. ABC Family, 2009. DVD.  

Amaris Ortiz

Pahomov

English 3

08 January 2018

My Hair

If somebody named a friend of yours, what’s the first word you would associate them with? People think of their friends and just automatically associate them with a quality or something they like.

For me, my memorable quality has always been my hair. One of the first things people thought of when they heard my name is “oh the short girl with the long dark hair." Growing up, I never thought of cutting it. I was always afraid of looking different if I changed to short hair. I would rather just avoid a possibly dangerous or embarrassing situation than face it head on. Except these were just assumptions in my head rather than actual dangerous situations. As I got older, I began to get tired of having the same boring long hair. I tried to get rid of this feeling by temporarily dying it colors like green or red just for fun. But even through these small changes I still felt like a needed a bigger change. The same change that I was once afraid of.

When I was about 10 years old, I was at my abuela’s house in Puerto Rico and a conversation came up about my hair. It was late at night and we were all sitting around in the living room watching TV before heading off to bed. My family was asking if I wanted to continue growing my hair and me, being the person who didn’t want change, said yes. My aunt suggested trimming my hair for the first time so that it could grow healthier. She wasn’t a professional and had never cut hair before. It was a spur of the moment idea but I didn’t really mind. So she grabbed a pair of scissors and only cut about 2 inches off of the end of my hair. Trimming my hair really didn’t make a difference in how I looked because my hair was still super long. Everyone around me seemed to be making a big deal out of what happened. It was the first time I ever had my hair cut even the slightest bit. They suggested saving the hair for memory but I thought that was a weird thing to do. My dad jokingly asked me if my head felt lighter and soon enough we just went back to our nightly routine.

I never thought of this association with long hair as a bad thing until I cut most of my hair off recently. My hair was always something people mentioned in conversations. If I was meeting new people or making a new friend I’d be asked questions like “How long does it take you to wash your hair?” or “Have you ever cut your hair?” These are all things that people have been asking ever since I was younger and since I wasn’t good at talking to new people I didn’t mind it. After cutting my hair sophomore year, I didn’t know what people would identify me with anymore. I started to think that there wouldn’t be anything else that would set me apart from others. I never thought that would be something I’d worry about. I liked the new hair cut myself but I didn’t know how other people would react. I had gotten used to the association and constant questions. Now that people aren’t identifying me with my hair as much anymore, they make other comparisons. “You act just like your brother.”

Right after I cut my hair, the most common reaction I got was “Why?” Almost every person had asked me why I cut my hair or why I didn’t like having long hair. To this day, I still get asked this same question. People seem a bit disappointed when I give them my answer. “I don’t know I just got tired of it and wanted to change it up.” I repeated this answer to different people before I started to realize that they wanted a different response as if there was another reason as to why I did it or I just didn’t like my hair. I started to feel like I had to change my response for people or like I was forced to give them this elaborate story about my struggles with long hair. Of course there were certain things I didn’t like about it but I didn’t feel like my main reason for cutting it required a long deep story.

This summer I cut my hair even shorter than the first time. I was in Puerto Rico again and even though my hair was already shorter than normal, I told my mom I wanted a few more inches off. My mom was a bit worried at first because it was unusual for me to want to keep cutting it. I wasn’t worried about the comparisons people would make when I went back home or the questions I’d be asked, I just did it. I felt more in control of what I wanted after deciding to cut my hair even shorter. That feeling of being in control shows how different my situation was from when I was worried about what people would think to then deciding to focus on myself.

It seems like if a change is made, the people around it will try to adapt to it after a while. It was a shock to people that I cut my hair so short after such a long time of only trimming my hair. But after a while, they just moved on to making other comparisons. These small problems we build up in our mind really may not be that big of a deal to others. I thought it was a bad idea to cut my hair and have people constantly ask questions about why I did it but eventually, you remember that some of the changes you make about yourself are for you and not about the emotions of others around you. They will change or adapt and you will still be the same person you were before that change or even a better version of yourself no matter how big or small the change was.

If you personally identify yourself with something like “I’m known for having bright colored hair” or “I’m the funny one in the class” make sure you don’t get too wrapped up in your association. If you overthink a situation you may start to lose yourself. If you are in a situation where you want to do better or you want to be something else but you feel obligated to follow that thing you identify with yourself or others identify with you then maybe that isn’t really you. I loved my long hair when I was younger but I started to become unhappy when I felt like I was forced to keep it long. I am still that same girl, my hair just isn’t as long anymore. I decided to try new things and you never know, maybe I’ll decide that I want to go back to my long hair. I don’t want to become attached to an association so much that I feel like it controls my decisions.

After decades of profit, the typical cookie-cutter Disney princess movies are no longer money makers. What do audiences want today? Moana is the first Disney princess without a love interest and people believe that this means Disney has finally realized what these princesses mean to girls. It is not about showing young girls beauty is everything, it is about showing them that they can achieve things that they might not have thought they were capable of. Disney’s Moana might have been the perfect mixture of culture and feminism people were looking for. In today's society women are looking to be independent and not ones who want to wait for a man to do everything, and Disney's Moana is the character that most represents that. The most successful Disney princesses are now the ones that show young girls they don’t need a love interest in order to be happy or achieve their goals.

When it debuted in 2016, Moana earned over $600 million worldwide in the box office. The movie tells the story of the adventurous daughter of a Polynesian tribal chief who decides to sail out and find an artifact that will be able to help her island. An article written by Vanity Fair, a magazine on pop culture, stated that “Co-directors John Musker and Ron Clements worked with a team of anthropologists, cultural practitioners, historians, linguists, and choreographers from islands including Samoa, Tahiti, Moorea, and Fiji.” They put effort into making sure that the geographic and ethnic information they were putting into the movie was true, even though some things would still be exaggerated. By contrast the 2009 movie The Princess and the Frog had a lot of disapprovals. Throughout that process, people took offense to the role that the main character Tiana was given and the ways the directors portrayed New Orleans. Not everyone is going to love the way directors portray their culture, but most responses were happy with the different details they incorporated. More research was needed in the creation of Moana in order to assure that they would not get the same angry responses.  

The plot of Moana also differs from the typical Disney princess movie. Although movies like Beauty and the Beast and Mulan are led by an independent female, they always include a love interest, with the girl settling down with the guy in the end. In an article by Kos Media LLC, an online blog, they said “Moana is not defined by a love story-in fact there isn’t one in the film, leading many to claim this is the latest in Disney’s move to embracing diversity and feminist heroines.” This movie shows actual struggles choosing between standing up for a thought or listening to others as well as doing what people expect or doing something bold. It is understandable that a young girl isn’t going to suddenly think about sailing across the ocean to save an island, but it encourages young boys or girls to dream bigger no matter the age and not worry about love. It also dives into a deeper issue as the end of the movie reveals that the main supposed villain, Te Kā, is the product of selfishness and neglect.  The topic of neglect is more likely to appear in the life of a child, whether it is through being treated poorly by others, or seeing it done to someone else. Rather than using this neglect to hurt others, reaching out to someone who is being affected by it and trying to make the situation better for them is the right thing to do. Moana realized that the “villain” was a product of neglect by the people, and helping them out brought benefits to her village.

The physical difference in this new princess also matter. As many have noticed, Moana also doesn’t have the the distinctive qualities of a Disney princess with the tall slim build. An article by The Huffington Post mentioned that it felt like companies were finally starting to realize the effect they have in shaping young minds. The article also compared it to Barbie and diversifying their dolls. Disney has been criticized for increasing body image issues among young girls which is why they were more conscious when creating Moana. In the creation of the movie, animators changed Moana’s body to look more like an athletic young girl rather than have a nearly impossible body shape that young girls can’t relate to.

When asked, Disney fans might say that they think Disney is caught up on having movies that involve many races, not having something be stereotypical to gender, or body shapes that different people can relate to. But on closer inspection, it took them 80 years to have a Disney princess movie that was solely about the main female character and not a relationship, as well as having a princess with a more realistic body shape. Moana is a step in the right direction for not just Disney but also other companies to look up to and see how they can have a better influence on younger kids.

Works Cited

Desta, Yohana. “The Year Disney Started to Take Diversity Seriously.” HWD, Vanity Fair, 23 Nov. 2016, www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/disney-films-inclusive.

Misick, Bobbi. “Controversy Over 'The Princess and the Frog.” Essence.com, www.essence.com/2009/11/30/critics-dispute-princess-and-the-frog.

“The importance of "Moana".” The Odyssey Online, 30 Aug. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/importance-moana.

Powell, Dylan. “Deep, rich 'Moana' transcends the Disney mold.” The Valley Vanguard, 5 Oct. 2017, www.valleyvanguardonline.com/deep-rich-moana-transcends-disney-mold/.

“'Moana' continues the evolution of the Disney princess.” Daily Kos, www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/28/1604706/--Moana-continues-the-evolution-of-the-Disney-princess.

Moss, Rachel. “Disney Has Finally Created A Heroine With A Realistic Body.” HuffPost UK, The Huffington Post, 26 Sept. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/disney-moana-has-a-realistic-body-type_uk_57e8c8cfe4b0e81629aa0935.

Amaris Ortiz

Ms. Pahomov

English 2

31 March 2017

Do We Benefit From Traumatic Experiences?

In the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding, Golding tells the reader a story about a group of schoolboys that end up stranded on an island without adults. Throughout their time on the island, the boys must find a way to be rescued. In the real world, some people put their children into this type of situation as a learning experience. William Golding is trying to show the reader that although this experience may have been scarring, it brought the boys knowledge that has helped them mature faster. This suggests that humans benefit from difficult and even traumatic experiences because they begin to have a greater appreciation for life and often have the motivation to act for the benefit of their future and others around them.

At the end of the novel, a naval officer arrives on the island. He begins to question Ralph on who is with him and who is in charge. “And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy (202)”. At this point, Ralph snapped back into reality. He begins to cry because he knows that he is no longer the same 12-year-old boy he was when he got involved in this situation. Ralph associates his time on the island with bad experiences as he thinks about what he has lost rather than the knowledge he has gained. The words used in this scene show Ralph’s distress from the outside mentioning his “filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose.” The word filthy is also used once the naval officer arrives on the island and Ralph becomes “conscious of his filthy appearance (200)” now that there is an adult present.

Similar to the novel, there is an initiation in the Maasai culture of Kenya and Tanzania known as Enkipaata where a large group of boys approaching manhood travel to the woods to camp out. These boys are sent to a village wrapped in a blanket with minimal supplies. The blanket will become filthy throughout their time in the forest so the boys receive a new one at the end of the four months as a symbol of their manhood. They wear white clay on their faces to show that they must fend for themselves, similar to the masks the boys in the novel made. This part of the initiation is not only used as their recovery from the circumcision, but as a way for them to learn how to provide. They must work together to choose a leader, which is considered to be an unfortunate role since they must “shoulder all of his age group’s sins”. One point that stood out to me was the fact that the boys had to approach the situation with the “attitude of a raider.” In Lord of The Flies, their way of acting as a raider was titled as being a savage. For the boys approaching manhood, it was seen as a good thing to make them more prepared, while for the schoolboys, the savage attitude made them seem barbaric.

This human behavior could be seen as barbaric just like the boys from Lord of The Flies. There is a cultural pressure for boys to undergo this possibly life-threatening journey. This stay in the woods is also seen as a break for them to recover from the circumcision, but is it really any better than staying with your tribe while you recover? More than 400,000 boys have been hospitalized for complications throughout their circumcision healing process. Those who have refused to take part in this initiation have been severely beaten or even circumcised by force. This ceremony has even gone as far as ending in death. It was a common occurrence for someone to die of dehydration, blood infections, or heart failure.

Before the boys were rescued by the naval officer, there were various ways they reacted to the trauma, which could have been the cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This includes hyperarousal, reexperiencing, and avoidance. The boys reacted to the trauma through hyperarousal and being very impulsive or angry. They resulted in violence many times whenever they felt betrayed or like they were in danger. In chapter 11, there was a big argument between the two newly separated tribes. They were arguing over who was the real chief until Roger struck Piggy with a boulder. This caused the conch, their form of unity, to break into a thousand pieces. Because of this, Jack said “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone―(181)”. Jack has felt threatened by Ralph ever since he decided that he wanted to be chief and now that the conch is broken he feels as though Ralph no longer has power over the tribe. Simon in particular, dealt with hallucinations in Chapter 8. As he was sitting across from the pig’s head on a stick, he began to have a “conversation” with the pig, and the pig said “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast.” This pig symbolizes the power of evil that evokes the way people act. It is often compared to a Satanic figure that brings out the beast in people.

Lastly, after they get past the struggle of trying to make their life the same as it was before the traumatic experience, they have to understand that their mindset is going to be completely different from what it was before. The boys in the Maasai culture learn about this idea of getting over the trauma to be able to begin to have a greater outlook on life and take this as a learning experience. The schoolboys from Lord of the Flies are in a very different predicament because they weren't able to prepare their minds for the plane crash and learning to survive on the island although they still took away many life lessons. As for Ralph and Jack, they took away leadership skills. It may take a while for them to recover but they will know how to provide for their future families if they were ever put in a difficult situation.  

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of The Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Gregoire, Carolyn. "The Surprising Benefit Of Going Through Hard Times." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Jan. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/post-traumatic-growth-creativity_us_568426c0e4b014efe0d9d8e8>.

"Maasai Culture | Ceremonies and Rituals." Maasai Culture | Ceremonies and Rituals. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.maasai-association.org/ceremonies.html>.

"12 incredible African tribal traditions." CNN. Cable News Network, 05 Dec. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/05/africa/incredible-tribal-traditions-africa/>.

Fogg, Ally. "The death and deformity caused by male circumcision in Africa can't be ignored | Ally Fogg." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 25 Aug. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/25/male-circumcision-ceremonies-death-deformity-africa>.

Amaris Ortiz

Ms. Pahomov

English 2

31 March 2017

Do We Benefit From Traumatic Experiences?

In the novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding, Golding tells the reader a story about a group of schoolboys that end up stranded on an island without adults. Throughout their time on the island, the boys must find a way to be rescued. In the real world, some people put their children into this type of situation as a learning experience. William Golding is trying to show the reader that although this experience may have been scarring, it brought the boys knowledge that has helped them mature faster. This suggests that humans benefit from difficult and even traumatic experiences because they begin to have a greater appreciation for life and often have the motivation to act for the benefit of their future and others around them.

At the end of the novel, a naval officer arrives on the island. He begins to question Ralph on who is with him and who is in charge. “And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy (202)”. At this point, Ralph snapped back into reality. He begins to cry because he knows that he is no longer the same 12-year-old boy he was when he got involved in this situation. Ralph associates his time on the island with bad experiences as he thinks about what he has lost rather than the knowledge he has gained. The words used in this scene show Ralph’s distress from the outside mentioning his “filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose.” The word filthy is also used once the naval officer arrives on the island and Ralph becomes “conscious of his filthy appearance (200)” now that there is an adult present.

Similar to the novel, there is an initiation in the Maasai culture of Kenya and Tanzania known as Enkipaata where a large group of boys approaching manhood travel to the woods to camp out. These boys are sent to a village wrapped in a blanket with minimal supplies. The blanket will become filthy throughout their time in the forest so the boys receive a new one at the end of the four months as a symbol of their manhood. They wear white clay on their faces to show that they must fend for themselves, similar to the masks the boys in the novel made. This part of the initiation is not only used as their recovery from the circumcision, but as a way for them to learn how to provide. They must work together to choose a leader, which is considered to be an unfortunate role since they must “shoulder all of his age group’s sins”. One point that stood out to me was the fact that the boys had to approach the situation with the “attitude of a raider.” In Lord of The Flies, their way of acting as a raider was titled as being a savage. For the boys approaching manhood, it was seen as a good thing to make them more prepared, while for the schoolboys, the savage attitude made them seem barbaric.

This human behavior could be seen as barbaric just like the boys from Lord of The Flies. There is a cultural pressure for boys to undergo this possibly life-threatening journey. This stay in the woods is also seen as a break for them to recover from the circumcision, but is it really any better than staying with your tribe while you recover? More than 400,000 boys have been hospitalized for complications throughout their circumcision healing process. Those who have refused to take part in this initiation have been severely beaten or even circumcised by force. This ceremony has even gone as far as ending in death. It was a common occurrence for someone to die of dehydration, blood infections, or heart failure.

Before the boys were rescued by the naval officer, there were various ways they reacted to the trauma, which could have been the cause of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This includes hyperarousal, reexperiencing, and avoidance. The boys reacted to the trauma through hyperarousal and being very impulsive or angry. They resulted in violence many times whenever they felt betrayed or like they were in danger. In chapter 11, there was a big argument between the two newly separated tribes. They were arguing over who was the real chief until Roger struck Piggy with a boulder. This caused the conch, their form of unity, to break into a thousand pieces. Because of this, Jack said “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone―(181)”. Jack has felt threatened by Ralph ever since he decided that he wanted to be chief and now that the conch is broken he feels as though Ralph no longer has power over the tribe. Simon in particular, dealt with hallucinations in Chapter 8. As he was sitting across from the pig’s head on a stick, he began to have a “conversation” with the pig, and the pig said “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast.” This pig symbolizes the power of evil that evokes the way people act. It is often compared to a Satanic figure that brings out the beast in people.

Lastly, after they get past the struggle of trying to make their life the same as it was before the traumatic experience, they have to understand that their mindset is going to be completely different from what it was before. The boys in the Maasai culture learn about this idea of getting over the trauma to be able to begin to have a greater outlook on life and take this as a learning experience. The schoolboys from Lord of the Flies are in a very different predicament because they weren't able to prepare their minds for the plane crash and learning to survive on the island although they still took away many life lessons. As for Ralph and Jack, they took away leadership skills. It may take a while for them to recover but they will know how to provide for their future families if they were ever put in a difficult situation.   

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of The Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Gregoire, Carolyn. "The Surprising Benefit Of Going Through Hard Times." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Jan. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/post-traumatic-growth-creativity_us_568426c0e4b014efe0d9d8e8>.

"Maasai Culture | Ceremonies and Rituals." Maasai Culture | Ceremonies and Rituals. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.maasai-association.org/ceremonies.html>.

"12 incredible African tribal traditions." CNN. Cable News Network, 05 Dec. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/05/africa/incredible-tribal-traditions-africa/>.

Fogg, Ally. "The death and deformity caused by male circumcision in Africa can't be ignored | Ally Fogg." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 25 Aug. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/25/male-circumcision-ceremonies-death-deformity-africa>.

Why are you doing this to yourself? You’re my best friend and I’m not going to let you put all of your energy towards some boy. He pays no attention to you and you keep pouring your heart out to him.

Stop telling yourself this. He is clearly entertaining other girls. At the end of the day I’m always the one you come running to when Josh isn’t responding and doesn’t want to talk to you. That seems to be the only time you’ve been talking to me lately.

You keep saying that. No, you haven’t been busy, you’ve just taken all of your time and put it towards him. I just can’t understand why you’re doing this.

I know you have work and school, I have to do just as many things as you do but I always make sure I check up on you and see how you’re doing. Not once have you checked up on me Sofia. Every time we talk it has to be about him. It's never about me or how I am doing. Your life revolves around him.

No, I don’t have an issue with you coming to me for help. You can always come to me with whatever you need. I just don’t like that fact that it's never about you or what you need, I want to know how you’re doing and what has been going on in your life, not what he has been doing. You deserve better. He is clearly causing so many problems in your life.

You think I’m jealous of you? That is not what this is about. I have no need to be jealous of you obsessing over someone like him. I don’t even know why you would say something like that.

I am the one causing issues? Do you not realize what he is doing to you? You should be on my side right now but you’re deciding to choose a boy over our friendship. Do our 8 years of friendship not mean anything to you Sofia? Do I not mean anything to you? For the past 3 months he’s used you for his own convenience. He talks to you when you’re there, and when you’re not, he moves on to the next girl. You’re just too absent minded to realize it. You get distracted by anything he does and it makes you forget about everyone else around you.

This isn’t about jealousy or anything like that, this is about your health. I am not going to let you continue down this path. If you trusted me and valued my opinion as a “best friend” you would not be sitting here thinking I would approach you about this because of jealousy.

If you honestly think this low of me then I don’t know if we can make this friendship work anymore. Josh has changed you entirely and you’re not the same person I thought I’d known for 8 years.

I am trying to say that if you don’t value my opinion in this situation and you want to choose him over our friendship then so be it.

How are you going to make it up to me? There is no way to fix how I’ve been feeling these past 3 months without you. Something like this that has been happening for this long can’t be fixed over a trip to the mall or taking me to the movies. You can’t just throw money at a situation and make it better. You have no consideration for how I feel.

Rationale

One of the main reasons why we chose to do a playbill is to be able to show our creativity and our take on Macbeth. We wanted to be able to change it to how we would imagine it in modern day times. We felt like the playbill would be the best option to do since we would be able to work on it over winter break without having to work through our schedules and see if we can meet up one day. Most of our work was completed outside of class. We would meet up during lunch in the library to finish what we could. One of the things we had to do when we first decided to do a playbill was to plan what was going to go on each page. We planned it out first so that we could know what we wanted to put in our playbill and then change up the pages without having to make major edits.

In order to get our playbill to look just like any other playbill that you would get when attending a play, we looked at different examples online of real playbills. We tried to make sure our playbill looked as realistic as possible by also including pictures of our actors and the different costumes they would wear in our modernized version of Macbeth. The pictures of our actors were pictures that we took during work periods, lunch and also advisory.

When we first started the project, we settled on making our version of Macbeth more modern than the original Macbeth written by Shakespeare. We thought this way because it would then be opened to a bigger audience. Not just the typical adults coming to see them, but we would have kids our age more intrigued about Macbeth and would like to learn more about it after watching the play as well.  As we were working on this, we also learned a lot. We learned that the right collaboration is a big part of working together. We also learned that playbills are not as simple as you would have thought. We worked very hard on this and we are proud of our final product. A lot of time went into making it and putting all the parts together. For example, trying to convince a bunch of teenagers for pictures was probably one of the hardest parts. You would think they would just do it but no that's not the case at all. After a while we got all of the pictures we needed. Another hard part was trying to figure out the ages we wanted to use and who we wanted to play each character. Overall, we agree that this was one of the best projects we have done because we enjoyed working on it. It was not stressful at all because we could be as creative as we wanted and we had plenty of time to do it. We hope you notice all of the hard work we put into this creative project.