Close of Business

Graduation is tomorrow.  It's a bit surreal, to be honest.  This blog has been fairly quiet for the past month or so, and for good reason.  I've been keeping busy with the 2013 Peer Assessment (to a degree of both success and failure) and our senior project.  Last night I pulled one final all-nighter to close out high school.  This year has been a crazy mess of ups and downs.  Fortunately, for the past few weeks the ups have definitely outnumbered the downs.  For all that's happened, I'll look back on these past four years in a positive light.

So what now?  For me, this blog has rarely transcended its origins as a "simple" course blog.  Because of that, it would be odd to continue it after the year has ended.  Ultimately, the best use of this blog has been as a portfolio of sorts for my work.  That said, I'm not done with blogging altogether.  I intend to continue posting on my second blog, Stilawip now that summer has all but begun.

One last thing:
For my fellow classmates in the graduating class of 2013, thanks for the memories!

My Top 3 Posts

At 442 page views, my 1987 AP Exam practice was by far my most visited page.  Granted, this can probably be attributed more to Google than the quality of the post.

My All the Pretty Horses literature analysis garnered 128 page views, and I think it was actually one of my better posts.

Finally, my essay on performative utterance was one of my favorites.  I think it was one of the few that was both relatively well-written, and completed in a reasonable amount of time.

AP Exam Essay Practice #5

Both "When I Have Fears" by John Keats and "Mezzo Cammin" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow deal with the theme of life's potential.  At first glance, they are extremely similar.  Both seemingly mourn the loss of dreams.  However, careful inspection reveals that the poetic techniques used by both poets points to two distinct messages.  Broadly speaking, the core of these differences is in perspective.  Keats writes of the future, while Longfellow writes of the past.  This relatively small difference cascades into many more

AP Exam Practice Essay #4

Given that The Road by Cormac Mccarthy takes place in a barren wasteland, it is remarkable how richly developed the characters are.  However, this is at the heart of the novel's theme, as McCarthy explores what it takes to cling to humanity in an inhumane world.  With so few characters to work with, he needs to make them count.  He does this by making the two only main characters -- the nameless man and his son -- foils that play off each other and in the process enhance their development.

AP Exam Essay Practice #3

When describing what would initially appear to simply e a windy street, Ann Petry goes to great lengths to craft a vibrant setting in the opening of her novel, The Street.  Despite the introduction of Lutie Johnson taking place only after several paragraphs of exposition, this sequence is instrumental in establishing her relationship to the world around her.  This methodical set up is accomplished through masterful work of both vivid imagery and extended personification.

AP Exam Essay Practice #2

Here's my essay for today (meaning April 30, so yesterday?), in all its flawed glory.  I cleaned up little mistakes as I found them, but I likely created even more with typos.  Admittedly, I was really sleepy today so the essay is a lot less focused than I would have liked.  Regardless, I would appreciate feedback!

AP Exam Essay Practice #1

Part bildungsroman and part allegory, The Poisonwood Bible follows the radical changes a vicious environment inflicts upon young Leah Price.  While the characters are certainly strong and well-developed, the alien jungle the Prices find themselves in is ultimately what drives the plot and theme of disillusionment.  The influence of this powerful setting is seen best through Leah Price.  Her evolution is cleanly broken down into a phase of sheltered idealism and one of bitter cynicism.