Blog Post 15

It was August 25th, 2011, when high school first started. Freshman year was hard for me, as it is for any freshman, as I tried to find my way around the school and become friends with new people. It was a fresh start and a new beginning from that the middle school, childish things. I was fortunate enough to know enough people coming from West Millbrook to Millbrook and knew at least one or two people in every one of my first semester freshman year classes. My sister was also a junior at Millbrook and it was nice to have at least one person in the hall that I was very close to, and even better, was an upperclassman. Looking back now, I realize that freshman year really wasn't all that hard, when it came to work. It was hard in the fact that its completely different than anything I had every experienced in middle school. And to this day, I still believe it is the hardest transition one may make in life, especially because you are only 14 years old at the time.
Sophomore year was basically just a continuation from freshman year for me. Nothing new, nothing different. I continued to have a lot of the same classes with the same people in them from freshman year. My friendships became stronger and I was thoroughly enjoying high school. My sister was a senior at the time, so I was able to walk to the "senior lot" before and after school which made me feel super cool. During this time, I made the decision to follow in my sister's footsteps and sign up to be a part of the IB Programme.
Junior year was, in one word, rough. IB hit me like a brick wall at first with so many deadlines, having to manage 8 classes, and all the work that comes along with being in this programme. I had a total of 2 mental breakdowns, which seems pretty good for the amount of stress I was constantly under. With that said, doing IB was the best decision that I have ever made. I love the family atmosphere it gives you and I can honestly say that I have made friendships that will last a life time and have met people that are truly how I wish to be; giving, caring, funny, thoughtful, and overall amazing people. The relationships I made with teachers made my high school experience even better than it already was. Before we knew it, junior year was over and senior year was here.
Senior year, the final year before another big change, is already coming to an end. I can't get over how fast the end of the year has come, but it's also a very exciting time. My friendships are stronger than ever, but its sadly coming to the point where we are all going in different directions next year, but I know for sure that these friendships will last forever. Even after all the stress, and even tears, that IB has caused me to experience, I do not regret my decision at all and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I couldn't imagine a better high school experience and these four years are something I will cherish forever.

Blog Post 14- Witty Whitman

The first page of Whitman’s notebook displays five different ideas or pieces of information that are all separated with lines in between them. There is also a stamp about mid-way down the page. On the second page, the word “brochure” is written big and clearly on the top of the page. This brochure is to have a dialog between two people, one of which being the “president elect” and is involving lessons. The third page is slightly messy and hard to read, but Whitman has a lot of things crossed out, showing his change in mind over the particular subject. Words that I can pick out include, “religious”, “crash”, and “question”. On the next few pages he goes on to discuss the Queen of England and the Queen of Spain. With this, Whitman is perhaps talking about the effects that religion has on being a leader and having power. Following this is a description of a ship of the World, Humanity, of all Ages, of Promise that he welcomes with joy. Next comes several drawings of men that all look rather similar when it comes to the long beard, bushy eyebrows, and messy hair. The first picture is just a profile of a man’s face, the second is the same but with his hand reaching out, and the third man is in a tall hat. The last drawing is a purse or satchel-type bag. Whitman then draws a sign that reads “The Bohemian. Saturday Press” and writes a poem about Brooklyn. The last page is picture of a skeleton head with a sword through its heart. This is perhaps the man on the last few pages after his heart was broken.  

The first page of Whitman’s notebook is actually a list of different addresses with lines that separate them. Following this is a made up conversation between him and Lincoln, although they never actually met in person. The next section displays Whitman’s views on religion, as he proposed a four-sided version of God, which included Christ and Satan. In Whitman’s wish to show that freedom can be extended, he wrote the poem, “Libertad”. He later added to word “perhaps” to the poem to add hope. Whitman also uses the phrase, “and you”, representing an unanswered thought. This brings in the thoughts of the reader to finish the conversation. At this time, Whitman was facing with a mid-life crisis. The sketches at the back of the notebook were said to most likely not have been drawn by Whitman, but are actually pictures of Whitman. The last poem in his notebook discusses the Battle of Brooklyn with George Washington. What I believed to be a bag of some sort was actually a harp, a symbol for poetry. The skeleton on the last page was said to possible be an allegory of America itself in the transition of life to death. Whitman's ideas displayed throughout his notes, poems, and sketches show how creative he was and his strong ideas about the future. These ideas were about America's leadership and the condition that America was in now. By related to America's depleting success, Whitman was perhaps tying it to his own mid-life crisis by the many allegories he creates.