Dear Classmates,

            This is a very odd night. The next time that I will be doing homework on a school night I will be in a state very far from here. It is a sad time because I must move past the bubble that has raised me. However, there is a touch of excitement in the air because we are all opening a new chapter of our lives. I have enjoyed my 12 years in this community very dearly and I could not possibly dream of a better place to spend my childhood. I have been so fortunate to spend my school career with 152 of you. We have grown together, learned together, been challenged together, and now we must all split apart. I just wanted to let you all know how much I have enjoyed my time in the Chagrin Falls School District. I have made friendships that I am sure will last a lifetime. There is a definitely a reason that Chagrin Falls gets highly rated by US News and World Report. And in all honesty, Ms. Serensky I think you deserve a lot of credit for that. One of the reasons your class is so unique is because you are willing to put in just as much work as we do. In my opinion, that is why you are able to achieve such great results with your students. You build a level of respect from the very first week. And although we act like we all do our work because we are scared of you. I think really we are scared of disappointing you. We know how much time you willingly invest in our education and we absolutely hate seeing you upset with us. Why else would somebody write a 30 page datasheet? Also, I think that we will not truly understand how valuable our two years have been with you until we are in the middle of our college career. You have truly taught us how to learn and how to think. And for me, you have taken me from someone who absolutely hated writing, to someone who secretly looks forward to crafting a well-written essay. Thank you very much to all of you my fellow classmates, and thank you so much Ms. Serensky. You have all made this an unforgettable high school experience for me. 

Farewell :'(

Dear my fellow classmates,

            It has been quite an honor to have the opportunity to learn from you and learn with you for the past two years. If you reflect on the progress we have all made as not only writers, but also as thinkers it is truly remarkable. We have had the good fortune to be guided by a revered and esteemed commander who although military like in her orders, always keeps our best interest in mind. She has pushed us all and challenged us in ways that we never expected. But of course, this has only made us grow stronger as individuals and as a group. We have all had our arguments in class discussions but it is a testament to the character of each of us that we can all remain on friendly terms outside the classroom. Someone once said that you will learn more from your peers than you do from your teacher and I think they may have actually been onto something. It has been a very unique experience these past two years being surrounded by so many intelligent people. I have enjoyed tossing ideas out into the discussion and having people either affirm my beliefs or absolutely tear them to shreds. Ms Serensky once told us that she does not want to teach college because she thinks that the senior year English class is truly a special gathering. I think she is exactly right, we have all grown up together in this small town and now we all have become prepared to move out into the real world. I hope that you all will not forget the foundation that we have built together and I look forward to reminiscing on our time in AP English over the many years to come.

Sincerely,

Thomas Donley

I hope this is not how you feel about us leaving.

You Have To Do It

Top Ten Reasons You're Decision Should Be SO Easy!

10.  You would never get to hear stories about Aunt Bobbie.
9. Ms. Serensky will forever remain as the intimidating teacher at the end of the third floor and you will always walk in fear when you pass her room.
8. You could try to formulate your own dream team.
7. You will be able to sit and laugh when you go on college visits and students complain about their English class. True story: I met a freshman at a prestigious school and he was all worked up because the day before his English teacher tested him on why the publication date of the novel they were reading was significant. This is one of the easiest questions ever!
6. You will always dread having to write papers and do analysis writing of any kind. When I was a sophomore I absolutely hated it, but no longer.
5. Your name will not come up on a google search because you will not have a blog registered to you.
4. You will never experience the joy of pulling an all nighter to work on a data sheet.
3. You will never fully understand the concept of practice makes perfect. It is true.
2. You will be scared to death of college English because you will never have the experience of working like you are in a college class. And you will never be able to be taught by someone infinitely more intelligent than you are.
1. You will feel like you never really challenged yourself in English and you will have a sense of regret when it comes time to leave on senior project. English is useful in every type of profession.

Literary Analysis of the patients medical history

Peering Over My Shoulder

McMurphy:  ‘“Chief, I’ll be d***** if I ever saw anything so slow!”’ (Kesey 249)

Jack:  ‘“Oh that is nonsense; you are always talking nonsense.”’ (Wilde 42)

Maxine:  “Imagine opening your eyes and seeing something like that first thing in the

                 morning.”’ (Lahiri 128)

McMurphy:  ‘“You know—that old clock up there puts me in mind of the targets at the target range at Fort Riley.”’ (Kesey 104)

Maxine:  ‘“That’s one way of putting it.”’ (Lahiri 135)

Jack:  ‘“May I ask then what you would advise…to do?”’ (Wilde 14)

McMurphy:  ‘“Can’t you even ease down the volume?”’ (Kesey 105)

Jack:  ‘“Well, I don’t see how I could possibly manage to do that.”’ (Wilde 15)

McMurphy:  ‘“do you want to know what I think? I think you are being very selfish.”’ (Kesey 106)

Jack:  ‘“Well, I won’t argue the matter. You always want to argue about things.”’ (Wilde 15)

McMurphy:  [looking at my essay] ‘“Is it a workable idea?”’ (Kesey 111)

Jack:  ‘“Nothing!”’ (Wilde 17)

McMurphy:  ‘“I’m rather enthused about it myself”’ (Kesey 111).

Jack:  ‘“My dear fellow, the sooner you give up that nonsense the better.”’ (Wilde 42)

McMurphy:  ‘“But I tried, though…didn’t I?”’ (Kesey 125)

Maxine:  ‘“Why on earth would they mind?”’ (Lahiri 129)

Jack:  [readdressing my essay] ‘“It pains me very much to have to speak frankly to you… but the fact is that I do not approve at all”’ (Wilde 48).

McMurphy:  ‘“Y’Know I was beginnin’ to think we might never get down to it.”’ (Kesey 273)

Jack:  ‘“I fear there can be no possible doubt about the matter.”’ (Wilde 48)

How I will feel during the AP test!

The Birth of a New Series

How can you not enjoy a tale of two worlds in which the parents battle with the children over endless societal and cultural issues? Well, I do not know because my favorite book this year is The Namesake. The Namesake unfortunately got a little bit of a bad reputation among our classes but after a little reflection I realized how much I actually enjoyed the book. First of all, the book is set in the fairly modern era so as a teenager currently, I can relate to some of the issues in the world that occur during the life of Gogol. Also, it was fun to see Gogol get accepted to Yale and then live the life that so many of us young people want to live in downtown New York City (at least for some of our younger years). The number of immigrants to the United States increases every year so I appreciated the perspective from one of these families. I now have a greater understanding for the difficulties and challenges they must face as they adapt to a new lifestyle as a family in a completely foreign country. I cannot fathom what it would be like to flatly have to tell someone, ‘“We have no relatives in this country”’ (79). I look forward to spending time with my family and I cannot imagine the feeling of loneliness and emptiness I would experience if an entire ocean separated us. Also, I never really thought much about the inevitable rift between parents and children as a result of the willingness of certain family members to assimilate into society at different speeds. I really enjoyed following the plot even though it was a little sad at times, especially when Gogol would realize, “He cannot remember the last time he and his father had spoken” (177). Jhumpa Lahiri includes several complex symbols and themes throughout the book and although it seems boring, I actually secretly kind of like to follow these hidden meanings and see how they progress throughout a book. Of course I could not forget the drama that Lahiri writes about when Gogol’s wife Moushumi cheats on him. I think we all took pleasure in ripping Moushumi to pieces as “she wonders if she is the only woman in her family ever to have betrayed her husband, to have been unfaithful” (266). We all criticized the characters in The Namesake extensively and this was very humorous and entertaining. It is not nearly as fun to talk about how much we like characters like in The Importance of Being Earnest because people do not express such strong emotions. However, when we hate characters, the discussions are so much more spirited and lively and because we grew very frustrated with almost everyone in the book, every class was interesting and animated. And honestly, maybe the reason that I liked The Namesake the most was because it was the start of the "Dear Journal" comments by Ms. Serensky. If I am not mistaken, I believe the "Dear Journal" series started with something like this, “Dear Journal, I will never be good enough. All I do is work for this woman and all she does is criticize me.” I may not necessarily have written this in my journal but I would tend to agree with what the quote is saying. Well, all in all, The Namesake was a well-written book with a plot that I actually enjoyed, complex characters we could all ridicule, and a host of symbols and metaphors. 

Searching for the Thrill of It

            

10.       Defeating Mr. Brownlow in a political argument over the advantages to a privatized health care system. Of course he would never admit to this but ask the members of my class who had the more logical and legitimate points in the discussion. This feat is a rarity because when someone can choose when both parties of an argument may talk, winning can be rather difficult. This victory came after a slump of mine in the class so after I won, I was, “back as loud and full of brass and swagger as ever” (Kesey 107).

9.         Ms. Serensky recognized the Dream Team as an actual entity. I cannot recall the exact date when this took place but as soon as Ms. Serensky actually started to refer to Alex, John, Sam, and me as the Dream Team, I knew we had actually accomplished something special. I figured that when the Dream Team was mentioned she would retort with, “They are hardly considered a thing,” but fortunately I was wrong (Wilde 52).

8.         Achieving an 8+ on the AP English semester exam my junior year. At this stage in my literary career As were only dreamed of because they were never actually within reach. Then somehow on the biggest test of the year (aside from the AP test) I pulled out the best grade imaginable at the time. After getting the test back I told my fellow students, ‘“In a few days you’ll get the hang of it”’ (Lahiri 32).

7.         Being able to write with confidence and without hesitation. This actually occurred for me in the months leading up to the AP test my junior year. I always hated writing and it is for this reason that I value the moment when writing turned from a chore to just another task that I could accomplish without stress or frustration. Finally, writing was no longer “a perpetual wait, a constant burden a continuous feeling out of sorts” (Lahiri 49).

6.         Induction into Cum Laude. This was a very proud moment for me because I was recognized with the top twenty percent of my class for achieving a high GPA throughout my high school career. This accomplishment was especially significant because it was the culmination of several years of fairly hard work. While we were at the ceremony that night I started to think about how, “one must be serious about something, if one wants to have amusement in life,” and I happen to be serious about my education because this brings me amusement as you will read about shortly (Wilde 40).

5.         Springfest 2010. During springfest 2010 I was fortunate enough to be called up on stage several times and the reason this moment ranks at number five is because I was very proud to accept several awards in front of the school. One award in particular sticks out because when I got up on stage a certain someone, who may or may not be in the Dream Team, thought they deserved the award instead of me and they looked at me “with a look of the clearest hate I ever saw” (Kesey 99). This hate made me even more proud of my accomplishment.

4.         35 on the ACT with a 36 in math and science. I’m not sure how much explanation this one needs. Not to be too cocky, but I believe the numbers speak for themselves so I’ll let you do the math. I remember the painful anticipation of waiting to access my test scores: “There’s nothing worse. It makes you sick, it saps every bit of strength you got” (Kesey 60). But, let me tell you, that strength comes back awfully quickly when you see a 35 on the computer screen.

3.         National Merit Finalist. This was a very big accomplishment for Alex, Sara, and me because of the wonderful privileges we were given after we were recognized. NOT! We did not get any privileges for this except maybe a picture or two in the newspaper and a little time on the signboard, which I must say helped make this one of my more thrilling experiences. Also, it was a nice thing, “for it to be typed on applications to five Ivy League colleges” (Lahiri 99).

2.         Never getting a B on my transcript…yet. Well, once again this thrill speaks for itself. Unfortunately although it is thrilling now, it was not so thrilling while I was accomplishing this (that might be a slight exaggeration). But I definitely get a little satisfaction from knowing that I have not earned a B yet in any of my classes. Although people like Mr. Maas have outright told me they are trying to do everything they can to give me a B, I respond by calmly speaking to my transcript, “nothing that [he] can possibly do can alter my eternal devotion to you” (Wilde 17).

1.         Deciding to go to Duke University for my undergraduate education. All kidding aside, college is a very exciting time because of the learning opportunities available. I find it very thrilling to be surrounded by many incredibly intelligent students at Duke (like in AP English) where I feel confident that I can further my education and quench my intellectual vitality. Also, I look forward to the many exciting years of national championships and meeting new people from all over the country and the world. This is a truly thrilling endeavor and I owe a big thank you to the many teachers who have made this experience possible for me especially you Ms. Serensky. Often times you give me a hard time for my choice of clothing and to that I simply respond, “If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being immensely over-educated” (Wilde 30).

Duke Chapel

The Recurring Theme of Patriotism

My favorite poem from this year was a very easy choice for me. Just by looking at the current title and background of my blog, you should be able to guess it already; it is “Lady Freedom Among Us” by Rita Dove. My love for this poem started with the very first time I saw a picture of the statue named Lady Freedom on a handout from Ms. Serensky. Immediately I thought that Lady Freedom was “the most cultivated of ladies, and the very picture of respectability” (Wilde 50). The speaker in the poem targets people with unenthusiastic and negative views of America to emphasize that the right to freedom and democracy makes the United States one of the greatest nations on earth. The speaker wants people who take freedom lightly to remember the struggles our country has endured to preserve freedom. It is no secret that I am a very patriotic person so it should come as no surprise that I loved reading a poem about the positives of America. And although Lady Freedom’s gaze has seen some blemishes in American history, like the civil rights conflict with Martin Luther King Jr., Dove wants Americans to never forget that freedom makes us one of the greatest countries on earth. And it is this freedom that is exactly what she, Lady Freedom, represents. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights that Lady Freedom protects while standing atop the Capitol. These are the type of pillars that nations will continue to survive with forever, and currently, “Few girls of the present day have any really solid qualities, any of the qualities that last, and improve with time,” but Lady Freedom clearly possesses both (Wilde 47). Dove continues to urge Americans to thank the government for its success in preserving democracy and freedom for over 234 years. People all over the world willingly fight for democracy every day, especially within the last several months in Northern Africa. However, we have been fortunate enough to be afforded this privilege since the signing of the Constitution in 1787 and, “this is a matter of no small importance to me,” and I surely hope it is not a matter of small importance to you either (Wilde 51). I am very sorry to do this to you, but I must analyze my favorite two lines from the poem, “she has fitted her hair under a hand-me-down cap/ and spruced it up with feathers and stars” (Dove 12-13). Dove uses the “hand-me-down cap” as a synecdoche for Britain and since hand-me-downs have a negative connotation, Dove suggests that maybe America does not deserve the praise they receive for gaining freedom from England. However, Dove juxtaposes the positive diction like “spruced it up” with the “hand-me-down cap” in order to convey that America exists as much more that a mere “hand-me-down.” In fact, America exists as a free and independent country. Essentially, when Britain wanted to be our brother, America responded with, “I have no brother, I never had a brother, and I don’t intend to have a brother” (Wilde 48). America stood up to Britain and assertively took the stage as a new world power. Also in Dove’s original quote, she uses the “feathers” as a symbol for the bald eagle and the “stars” to represent the flag of the United States. Both the bald eagle and the American flag create a sense of patriotism from Americans. The feeling of patriotism, which I love so much, allows Dove to create a positive and jovial tone and assert that America exists as far more than a mere “hand-me-down,” America rules as a SUPERPOWER.

Lady Freedom on top of the Capitol Building