Best of the Week: Revolutions

Throughout this week and the weeks before it we've been discussing the concept of revolutions in King Lear. I thought that this was a very revolutionary idea (I apologize for that one) and in my opinion, the best of week. After we had pointed this concept out in class, it became very apparent in Shakespeare's writing. Some of the revolutions that take place in the story involve Edgar and Edmund, Lear and Goneril+Regan and Edmund and Gloucester. Also the idea of fate and fortune that appears in King Lear plays its way into the notion of revolutions as well. Throught the book many characters say "fortune turn thy wheel" or some variation on that. Fortune's wheel frequently makes revolutions in King Lear as people's luck often takes drastic turns for the worse or for the better. I think that this is a really interesting concept to add to one's writing and adds depth in a very poetic way. In King Lear, I think that it really helps to reinforce the revolutions involving medieval and renaissance which is one of the major themes of the story.

Connection: Growing Up

While discussing King Lear in class, we noted that a very important theme in the play was incrementalism. Lear's power being taken away, the evil sisters' power growing, Edmund's power increasing and Gloucester's power decreasing among other things. This got me thinking about how incrementalism appears in other places like music with (de)crescendos, and in life. I thought about growing up. I realized that the gradual increase in responsibilities that you take on as you grow older are perfect examples of incrementalism in real life; playing sports/activities, Going to school, doing homework, doing chores, taking care of siblings, succeeding in school, succeeding in activities, maintaining relationships with friends, family, peers, etc. The list goes on.

I often hear adults say "these are the best times of your life," and this really worries me because it doesn't feel like that one bit. I began to think how overwhelming these resposibilities are and I began to wish that this transition to adulthood went a lot slower. As I continued to think, I started to wish that school was over and that the transition went ten times as fast as it's going now. For me, the shift from child to adult can't go slow enough or fast enough. I guess there's really nothing I can do about this paradoxical situation except try to enjoy it as best I can. That's what I plan on doing.

TED Presentations

In comparison with last year's TED project this year's one was ten times better and I believe that the concept of this project has a lot of potential. Most of the serious issues from last year's presentations were addressed and taken care of. Some of these issues from last year were still problems. Some of these include procrastination, amount of time to work on the project, face-to-face time and technological/presentation issues.

The TED project lasts for over a month. During this time period it is not considered a priority. There are other projects, tests and just plain homework that took up my time for TED. I know that I had begun organizing and formatting our project throughout the month-long period, but I did not add any real content to our presentation until the weekend before the presentations. And I was one of the first to do so. Another issue was the amount of time assigned to work on this project. We were never assigned time to work on the project in social studies class and only once in spanish class. I seroiusly doubt that the other Academy classes were assigned even that much. I think that our face-to-face time with our group members was good, but not as effective as it could have been. In my opinion, I think that it would have been more productive if it occured later during the project. Even though is was supposed to be the half-way mark, no one had started working by that time and some members had yet to watch the video. Lastly, I believe if we took some time out of the day beforehand to rehearse our presentations, technical difficulties and time issues during could have been avoided and the whole ordeal might have run smoother.

Listening to the discussion afterwards, I really liked Leanne's idea of actually discussing, executing and following up on a few of the presenters ideas rather than just presenting them. This also reminded me of the service project were eventually going to do for spanish class. I think that doing something like with the TED videos even further embodies what the Academy is all about.