Today's Socratic Seminar

Today's Socratic seminar was like a seminar on Socratic seminars.

What I mean is, it was a bunch of people giving their opinions on others opinions about having opinions.

And whilst talking about changing opinion, opinions were changed.

The word opinion is starting to look strange to me.

I think we have a good group for variations in perspective, so this year's going to have some VERY interesting discussion.

The Laughing Heart

1987 AP Test Essays

Here is a link to my Dropbox! I am planning on talking to you about Dropbox as a resource. I really like it, personally.

Things I will learn, have learned, want to learn

If there is ONE thing that is going to ruin me in the class it will be not getting enough sleep. I've never had an academic class 0 period, and now that its THIS class...I'm terrified. I babysit, and when I work in the evenings I might be out of home until easily 11 o'clock. Since they're toddlers, it will be very unlikely that I will be able to do homework while they're awake. I'm probably just being paranoid.This will, hopefully, provide incentive to learn how to manage my time better. This seems daunting, but CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. I'm going to work my ass off.

As for a lesson that I've learned...lets just say there was this guy. Let's say that there was drama involved.  But that's not where I learned my lesson. Every summer, I volunteer for an organization called Royal Family Kids Camp. RFKC is a non-proselytizing Christian organization that puts on a week long camp for foster children who have been victims of neglect, abandonment or abuse. While I was at this camp this past summer, I had brought an old flannel shirt that aforementioned guy had given me to sleep in. My job at the camp was to watch the kids at night, so I was doing so. One of the little girls mentioned to another "I don't have any pajamas." My heart immediately sank, and I knew what I had to do. I gave the little girl that shirt, and she wore it the rest of the week. That crappy old flannel, from a crappy situation, touched that little unloved girl and made her feel loved. I cried that night. I suppose the lesson to be learned from this is not that everything happens for a reason, but rather, sometimes things can turn out bad but still have good come from them. The thought makes me smile.

Poetry Assignment #1

1. From what poem/author does this commercial borrow (without credit)?

The poem is called The Laughing Heart by Charles Bukowski. Apparently, it’s very controversial.
2. Why might the use of this poem by a corporation be considered ironic?

The use of ANY poem by a corporation is ironic, first of all. Poetry is such an intimate, almost spiritual art. Corporations are notoriously soulless conglomerations. The fact that a jean company is using both a popular poem and footage of the youth riots to appeal to a young audience is laughable because the group that is being targeted is probably the least likely to “conform” or however its put nowadays.
3. Does the poem reflect the reputation of the author? Why/why not?

Judging by the website in his honor, this man was either brilliant or completely insane. Likewise, I’m still deciding whether I believe his poem was brilliant or complete insane nonsense. So yes, I’d say this sums him up nicely.
4. How did you find the answers to #1 & #3? Describe your research process and your sources in detail.  

What I ended up doing was going on the Google and typing in “Levi’s Go Forth commercial” and scrolled until I saw Walt Whitman’s name. I then found myself on this website (http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2009/levis-go-forth-in-america) which named the poem as the “America” poem by Walt Whitman. I then found this, (http://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/poems/318) but I was pretty sure this wasn’t the poem. So then to Youtube comments! And BINGO Youtube user Hogochogo posted something snarky about how this was a poem by Charles Bukowski. Not Walt Whitman at all! And I found the poem posted on some hipster’s blog. (http://milan-poetry.blogspot.com/2007/03/laughing-heart-charles-bukowski.html) This identified the poems title as The Laughing Heart. I then confirmed this with another Google searches which led me to other blogs, and videos of poetry readings. This was indeed the poem I was searching for.

I then Googled the poet and came across (http://bukowski.net/) and his fans are clearly awesome people. The introduction to the website was very witty, and not what I was expecting from a deceased (yes, he is dead) poet.

What's your secret?

People are so beautiful.

Additional Thoughts on that essay

Thinking we had much more time than we actually did, I accidentally spent a bit too much time thinking of what I was going to write as opposed to actually writing it.

So it goes.

If I had just a bit more time, I would have finished tying my thoughts from the first paragraph into the conclusion. I feel like I got most of my thoughts onto the paper. My essay just seems a bit incomplete because I did not get a chance to summarize it.

After I left, I didn't think much of the essay until I got home. Upon rereading the prompt upon your blog, I thought to myself "It would be nice to read 'Good Old Neon' in order to further grasp what the quote meant." I guess that's a pointless endeavor. Then again, so are most of my adventures. I'll put it on my to-do list.

Anyway, the interruption was most unfortunate. I think it just sort of fried my brain and made me forget a lot of the points I was going to make. It was reminiscent of every fire alarm that has ever gone off at a bad time (and we go to Righetti, so that happens a lot.) I wouldn't ever purposely stop myself in the middle of an essay again. Even when I'm at home, I write it all in one shot. That's just my preference.


Here's some dolphins set to some Sondheim jams. Enjoy!