'Shaving' Reflection

The short story “Shaving” by Leslie Norris, is not about shaving, but rather about a boy maturing into adulthood, although the author utilizes the coming of age tradition of shaving to show that the main character, Barry, is ready and able for this transition. The author intended for a deeper and more significant meaning of the term ‘shaving’, which would allow room for personal interpretation for each and every reader.  The way I interpreted this was that throughout Barry’s Father’s life the ‘hair’ he had been growing symbolized qualities and experiences that shaped his identity. When he is ready to let go, he will shave off these negative factors in his life and let loose. I get this impression from the passage, “He’s down today, feels depressed. He’s a particular man your father. He feels dirty with all that beard on him”. I took this as meaning that he was intolerant of the life that he has now, being sick and depressed, and that he wanted to eliminate these negative attributes and move on.

 Leslie is trying to say that death is inevitable, but the relationships one shares with another are everlasting. Also, throughout the story, the author shows the reader that coming of age isn’t always only at puberty, but physical and emotional change can happen at any time in life.  Coming of age is when one assumes the responsibilities of being an adult. One quote that gave me the impression that the relationship they share is everlasting is, “Barry was filled with unreasoning protective love. He lifted the razor and began to shave”. This showed me that no matter how sick or how upset people are, if you share a close enough bond there will never be a need for a reason as to why you love that person. Also, this shows that when one has this ‘unreasoning protecting love’, they will do anything for the other person even if they are no longer on this earth.

From this exchange and experience with his father it gives Barry a better understanding of his environment. Leslie also shows that ‘coming of age’ doesn’t always have to involve some celebration, but indeed it could be the opposite that one could grow from a tragic event in their life. This connects to Barry because his father is about to die, which is quickening his ‘coming of age’ because it is giving him awareness of the outside world and the realities that come with it. When Barry was done ‘shaving’, his father, the Author, uses the symbolizm “But now the window was full in the beam of the dying sunlight, and Barry stood there, illuminated in its golden warmth for a whole minute, knowing it would soon be gone”, to show that although his sunlight (his father) may be dying his soul isn’t. That he indeed is prospering and maturing from this event. The sun is an everlasting entity, and although it may seem like the sun is lifeless and depressing, when the sun has set it will always be in the heart of people because we, as humans, rely on the radiation of the sun. This connects to Barry because although he may be temporarily depressed about the passing of his father, he has relied on his father and is still reliant even after he’s gone because of the love they shared and the lessons he preached. This quote was a rhetorical question as it left the reader with unanswered questions. The reader doesn’t know if the father died and how Barry continued on with his life.

Seijin no hi- The Japanese Holiday

‘Seijin no hi’ is a Japanese Holiday that is usually around the second week of January. This holiday is almost like a combined birthday party for every person (Male or Female) that turned the age of 20 during that previous year. The purpose of this holiday is to congratulate and encourage all that made it to the age of adulthood. At the local city hall all the people that have recently turned 20 attend and listen to speeches by government official and are given small presents in recognition of their growing in age. After the gathering people usually go in large groups to go drink and party together. Women during this day usually wear a furisode, which is similar dress to a kimono with long sleeves that hang down, while males wear a hakama, which is a traditional dress. Not that many people attend these ceremonies any more but they are not punished for not attending or participating. This is very similar to the American culture because at the age of 21 for Americans, they are legally allowed to drink so in most cases people go out to drink and party. Also this is similar to the american culture or all cultures for say, because it is celebration of maturity, and the transition from childhood to adulthood. 

http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/network/english/newsletter/things_japanese_24.html

Facing obstacles

Unlike school where you learn a lesson then you take a test, life gives you the test first then you learn your lesson. These ‘tests’ as one may call them are the obstacles that people face everyday and overcome in order to better themselves. These hurdles ultimately force change upon a person and have the potential to bring about either success or failure. During our class presentations, I learned the effects of how obstacles can impact who we are, from different perspectives and characters. From learning about Pip’s struggles in Great Expectations, to Mark Zucklerburg’s entrepreneurship, we found that every person has a battle to fight. There will always be different outcomes of these battles, which will shape each person’s unique identity. The way individuals handle their obstacles defines their character, refines skills, morphs their perspective and ultimately creates their identity.

Diversity is fuelled by the different obstacles each person endures. Since each person faces different struggles in their own lives their individual identities are shaped in distinct ways. In Group 4’s presentation, they discussed how Coy faced struggles at a very young age, and how it impacted her being. Her families’ support alters her perspective on her life and her beliefs and gives her self-confidence and security. This shows that support is essential for a person’s healthy growth as it shows people that they are not alone in their struggles. The most influential positive motivators in life are those who support and love you, as they give you confidence and help you strive and reach your potential. In life, when you over come obstacles, a positive attitude results which can change everything. With that confidence comes the realization that nothing in life is impossible and that life, although sometimes difficult has promise. Humanity as a whole has survived by being a part of a family, a community, a country, the whole world.  We couldn’t live without each other.

Overcoming obstacles can shape an individuals’ identity.  Every experience and how one responds to it can change your mind-set. Recently, in my life, I have been having serious trouble with my tumbling (acrobatic skills). For more than three years now, I have what we call a back-handspring, which at one point was a very easy skill for me. As human nature has it, I was striving for excellence and wanted to be on a higher team, which required more difficult skills that I did not have yet. In trying so hard to attain this new skill, a back tuck, which was required to make my ‘dream team’, I lost the easiest and most basic skills. This act of losing skills that you once had is called a “mental block”. To combat this block I have been working for months to get my confidence back and throw the skills that I have had for years. Overcoming this fear was fairly hard due to the constant reminders from my subconscious telling me that I cannot do it. Having this ‘block’ happen to me certainly changed my perspective on practically everything, because I felt that almost everything I did was incorrect. This also changed my attitude towards the sport as I felt that it wasn’t as much fun as it use to be because I felt that I was an inadequate member of the team.  Today, I have worked very hard to combat these negative thoughts of mine, and I have succeed and now, once again can throw my back-handspring. As soon as I started to combat the negative thoughts, and overcame my obstacle, I realized that I could do anything that I set my mind to, which indeed changed my perspective in a positive way. Now I see my world as successful and positive, because for me the only way to be happy is to be positive. Not only did my teammates encourage me and support me through this journey, so did my mother, which I think was one of the main reasons why I blocked the block. From this experience, I learned that anything is possible as long as one sets a goal and has supporters that are always there for them through thick and thin. 

Society as a whole has a major influence on the perspective of people and how they view themselves and each other. For example in “The Road Not Taken” the author is conflicted on which road he should go down, the reliable and worn path or the dark and less predicable one. The author chooses to take fate into his own hands and takes the road less travelled, because, although it is more treacherous, in the end he believes it will benefit him. This connects to Pip’s life because the easy more predicable path for him would have been to continue his common life, but instead he choose the more difficult, yet more rewarding (or so he thought) path of becoming a gentleman and changing his fate. This proves how choices in life have a direct influence on the paths people take and their future.  The obstacles that result from your choices may make your journey difficult but with family and friends, a great attitude and a good perspective these obstacles can be conquered and your self-confidence and identity will become stronger. One’s identity is continuously morphing, for every day holds new experiences that can build or break someone. How one responds to these experiences will fortify their philosophy on life, either positive or negative.  Respond well and success and strength and self-confidence will result.

This human experience that we call ‘life’, is a treacherous and constant battle that is fought mostly within ourselves. The fight within us is shaping and forming of our reality and identity. Every person’s journey and experiences are different, but in the end we are all connected no matter how different our battles are and how different our being is. No matter how hard we try to be different, we are all interconnected as every drop of water makes a part of all the oceans.

Effective Presentations

The most effective way to present a project or an idea to a group of people is through clarity. This is the most important method of presenting because if a person is not 100% certain about what he/she are talking about then there is no point of trying to make sense to others. If a person has more clarity in what he/she is presenting then it makes the person talk with more ease, and confidence. Another really effective way to present is to use visuals: drawings, pictures, diagrams, and videos ect… Using visuals gets the people your presenting to more engaged, and created a better picture in their mind then descriptions. 

The First Unit: Coming of Age

I am most excited for the 1^st unit, which is Coming of Age. I can predict that this will be my favourite unit because I would really like to learn how things like our environment, and perspective can influence reality. Also I’m really excited for this unit because I have been waiting to read the kite running for quite some time now, for it was recommended to me by my mom, and she usually has really good taste in books. Reading Great Expectations over the summer has really opened my eyes on how ideas and ones environment can really do to ones growth as a person. From this experience I have become aware of the influences in my life, and how I’m trying to better myself from them. 

Words by which I live - Favorite quote

My favorite band Dr. Dog once said, "I found a needle in the hay and I found sunshine at the end of the day". Through the metaphors in this quote it shows that everything is possible, like finding a needle in a haystack, also the sunshine shows how life always gets better.  This quotation plays a role in my life because it shows that there is nothing that I cant do as much as I convince myself that I wont succeed. In my life, I try to believe that any thing I set out do is possible and I can achieve the impossible by believing in myself. I live by this quote for the reason that it shows that as much as I may seem nothing good will ever come your way after a tragedy, but it will. Life will get better as long as people are positive.  

Fault in OUr Stars: Book Group Reflection

After reading the romantic novel “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green, for my summer reading book there was a book group assembled at school. The faculty member supervising our group discussion was Ms. Barr.  She began by asking each student about their general feelings towards the book and how they liked it. After that, she spilt us up into groups of two to analyse important quotes of the book. Then the whole class got into a circle and we discussed the significance and purpose of the book, this discussion was similar to a Socratic seminar. This group of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors led our discussion. The main contributors to this conversation were mainly the upper classmen, the sophomores and freshmen did not participate as much due to their nerves. The conversation flowed quite nicely as the whole group worked off each other’s comments and one person was not dominating the discussion. This worked because we all had a chance to talk, however, some did not take the opportunity.

The topics we focused on were, the realism of this story, as well as love, death, and pain. During this discussion I talked about the parallels, and foreshadowing from the beginning of the book. As well as the parallel that this story had almost an unfinished ending that connected to an “Imperial Affliction”. Also, after people had discussed the main topics of this novel, I connected all the topics together that one can only love after they have experienced pain, and the only way to feel the reality of love is to overcome the obstacles. When people would say that there would never be a person like Augustus, I agreed because his character and actions were unrealistic. Then when people said that they liked Monica, Hazel’s friend, I disagreed because she seemed like an inconsiderate person.

The new perspectives I had from this discussion were that I put myself in Hazel’s position, and tried to feel her pain and see what she thought when Gus died. Then we discussed how in one part of the book Hazel was the healthiest person in the room of Gus, and Isaac, and from her perspective it was a new experience because she was always the sickest in the room. This showed Hazel that she does have things to be grateful for, like not being sicker than she is.

I love this style of summer reading analysis, because it is much more laid back and more enjoyable for the students. This summer reading influenced me to read more than the assigned summer reading, because I realized that reading isn’t a chore but indeed a gift. I really liked being able to choose your own book, but I didn’t like the guidelines for the discussion, as I would rather be able to speak freely about the book and not be restricted to certain themes. These choice in reading and diversity of participants in the discussion, change up the learning atmosphere, by making it more social and the reading more enjoyable. Overall I really liked this experience and I don’t think this structure should be changed.

First Blog Post - About me

Hello my name is Sophia Abi-Saad and this is my blog. One interesting fact about me is that I am the great great great granddaughter of the first appointed president in Lebanon.  The Abi-Saad family has lived and owned Mount Lebanon since 430 AD. My last name in Lebanese means ‘Son of the King’. As an extra curricular school activity I participate in an All-star Cheerleading program, which means we are more competitive and we go to competitions in Florida to compete against the best teams in the eastern sphere of America. My goals for English this year is to try as hard as I can to make my writing more interesting and meaningful. Another goal I have for English is I would like to get an A or an A- for my final grade.