Mrs. Ho's AP Lit 2022-2023

          You all are probably going to hear a lot about film from me this year and for the rest of my life. This is my passion, whether it be screenwriting, directing, producing, editing, and everything else that comes along with it. I love it all.            All I want to do is work in film. I love entertainment just like everyone else, but I always had an eye and an underlying interest in storytelling through the big screen. I always say I love tv and film more than an average person. I analyze everything when I watch a movie, the plot, the characters, I learn about the actors, I try to learn as much about the crew, and I watch as much as I can to learn how different scenes in films are actually made. In Shang Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings by the MCU I watched a video of how the scene on the bus was filmed. It was crazy and took forever for them, and I loved everything about it. The technology, the design, the innovation, and the creativity. I will add at the bottom of this blog a l

  Music is a big part of my everyday life. I listen to music quite often whether it is in the car, while I am working on art, or even just walking. My taste in music really just depends on the day and I listen to a very wide range of music too. One of my playlists, which I don't think it would be appropriate to say the title of, has been my main playlist since freshman year. There was one night that I was procrastinating and decided to make a playlist with almost any song that I like. So far, I have continued that trend. Currently, my playlist is at 1,419 songs and a playtime of 79 hours and 32 minutes. I am proud to say the least. I have also recently decided to make smaller playlists for each month with a smaller selection of songs to choose from. It has been very helpful in finding the songs I want to listen to compared to scrolling through over 1000 songs. As I look through my Spotify, it is quite interesting to see how my music is sorted. Each playlist, section, or song no

As a child, I couldn’t stand to see people eating cheesecake. The idea of cheese in a cake simply grossed me out and felt wrong. I'm not gonna lie, it looks really good but I didn't understand how people could enjoy it. Cheese belonged in mac & cheese or bread, not in cake. However, my love for cheesecake grew through the Cheesecake Factory although I still only like specific cheesecakes that don’t really taste like cheese.   When I was younger, I used to love everything oreos, whether it’d be cookies and cream ice cream, oreo cake or simply just plain oreos. One day, I was at the Cheesecake factory with my family and decided it was time to give cheesecake a try. Of course, I got the Oreo Dream Extreme cheesecake and wow, I fell in love. I was amazed at the fact that it didn’t taste like Cheesecake but because of the oreos and the sweetness, it overpowered the taste of cheese which to me, was great.    As time went on, the Oreo Dream Extreme cheesecake became too sweet for

     Recently I watched the film Do Revenge on Netflix. The movie was released very recently on September 16th starring Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke. Other than Camila Mendes, the movie has a cast full of celebrities from many different popular shows and movies: Mendes from Riverdale , Maya Hawke from Stranger Things , Austin Abrams from Euphoria , Ava Capri from Love, Victor , Sophie Turner from Game of Thrones , Sarah Michelle Gellar from the live-action Scooby-Doo , Paris Berelc from a lot of old Disney shows I used to watch, Alisha Boe from 13 Reasons Why , Jonathan Daviss from Outer Banks , and so many other celebrities from hit films, too. The movie follows the story of two girls, Drea, played by Camila Mendes, and Eleanor, played by Maya Hawke, who are seeking revenge on people from their high school who mistreated them. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say that it includes a lot of twists and surprises.      I was first introduced to the movie by a friend who recommended it.

  I have always had a fascination with space. I think the mystery and endlessness of it is scary yet interesting. There is so much to be explored and so much that will never be explored, and humans will likely never see a fraction of our galaxy. Still, we need to keep exploring because you never know. Neptune is my favorite planet in our solar system as I believe that it is the prettiest one. It is the eighth planet in our solar system. It is an ice giant. A day on Neptune is about 16 hours and a Neptunian year is about 165 earth years. Neptune’s atmosphere is mostly made up of molecular hydrogen, atomic helium, and methane. Sadly, it would take about 12 earth years to reach Neptune, and we will likely never see anyone go there in our lifetime. Another thing we will likely never see in our lifetime is another intelligent life, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I think it is obvious that aliens exist. To me, it seems impossible that out of the whole universe, we would be

Recently, my life has been so packed and busy. It has been so difficult to actually sit down and get things done. That being said, it got me thinking. Am I in a rut? Wait what is a rut? A rut is basically when you are stuck in an unproductive cycle. That is where I am at right now. I have been feeling like I have absolutely zero time to get anything done. My life has been busy enough with school, volleyball, and college work, but now for the next two weeks, I am going to be busier than ever because my sister is getting married! Now don't get me wrong, I am so excited. I have been waiting for this for over a year now, but there is definitely a ton of stress that comes with it. Putting all of my school work aside (which is a lot), I still have to write a speech for the wedding, a rap to perform at the wedding with my sisters, get back on a gym schedule, paint my senior parking spot... The list goes on forever.  How do I manage of these responsibilities? Over the past month, I have be

I feel like the second we started this school year, everyone (including myself) started freaking out about college. It’s funny to me that everyone talks about how stressful junior year is and how senior year is super chill, because that has definitely not been my experience. For me, in junior year, college was only a distant thought and my workload was manageable, but now, in senior year, I am so incredibly stressed with school, the SAT, and college applications.  Although I know that I am up to date with my college application work, it always feels like I’m behind because I’ll hear from a friend that they’re ahead of me. It makes me so stressed and I hate it, so I try to not compare myself to others, but it’s hard, ya know? There really is so much that goes into college applications that I didn’t even realize until now and that stresses me out.  On top of the actual work that has to be done in order to apply to college, another thing that’s stressful about the process is deciding whic

  Up until about two weeks ago, I thought I had been handling the growing workload with college prep and school very well. My summer assignments had been completed and I was ready to begin the school year. It seemed to me that Senior Year would entail a lighter school workload so that I could focus more on the ACT, college essays, and completing/submitting monologues, songs, and dances for my college pre-screens. I was wrong. These past two weeks have been some of the most stressful of my life. It seems that no matter how I budget by time or choose which work to complete first I always fall short. After I finish my homework for school I have to take practice ACTs. Then I have to work on college essays (which are way different than normal school essays), after that I have to read multiple plays either for my prescreen college admissions process or for the Theater Production for school. It’s been pretty hard to manage all that along with having a social life.  How does one keep their

  Last week, I was abruptly informed that I was not allowed to attend the extra AP Lang class and must attend a journalism class instead. I was deeply disconcerted and upset, as I would miss presenting my How to Read Literature Like a Professor project (a project I spent many hours on and the first ever art-based project I have been proud of) and miss the knowledge from other classmates’ presentations that I will need for an upcoming test. To make matters worse, I was forced to sit through a tedious lecture on the AP Writing Style, containing concepts any high school student taking a Journalism class should have known for many years. Sensing our Journalism class already knew the information, Mrs. Klein tried to challenge our knowledge by presenting the fact that the AP Writing Style excludes the Oxford Comma. This elicited no response from the exhausted class but evoked a silent rage within me. The Oxford Comma, or serial comma, is a stylistic writing detail applied to lists that h

Ariella Green Week 4: Hypnosis I hope that most of you would agree that the hypnosis show was by far the most enjoyable activity on the entire shabbaton. Island of Adventure is fun and all, but let’s be real, there is almost nothing more funny than seeing our classmates step out of their comfort zones and put on a show for the rest of the school. Following the show, I have been more intrigued with the science behind hypnosis, and I believe most of you would be interested in knowing about hypnotism as well. Firstly, hypnotism is when someone is put into a trance state where their concentration and focus has been heightened. If you are someone who has been hypnotized, you are very relaxed and are open minded. Since you are open minded to the hypnosis therapist, they’re not forcing you to do anything you don’t want to, rather you are heeding their suggestions. Oddly enough, hypnosis is not only used for entertainment purposes, but people use it as a form of therapy to help with their ment

     The Shabbaton this year was a great way for me to relax after the start of our final year in high school. As I'm sure the rest of you are feeling, senior year can be quite a mess with college applications, SATs/ACTs, regular schoolwork, and our other responsibilities like jobs, family roles, and our friendships. However, this past week has been a great relief for me from a lot of my stress.     I am the type of person to overload myself with work, and I've been going head first into everything I need to do since school started. This is starting to wear me out when I get home at 8:00 some nights and still need to cook myself dinner then finish my chores before finally being able to start my school work. I'm becoming adjusted to this routine and I enjoy keeping busy, but it's definitely nice to have breaks like we got last weekend.     Friday was filled with a lot of excitement. Everyone was crowded around the school eager to get on the bus and head to the hotel. I w

All Waters Are Not the Same For as long as I can remember, I’ve claimed that different brands of water have completely different tastes. My friends used to think I was joking, but the quality of my water has always mattered to me. I have tried almost every water in the industry. Supermarket and Trader Joe’s water, Poland Springs, Fiji, Voss, Essentia, Life Water, Zephyrhills, Dasani, Kirkland: you name it, I’ve probably had it. Drinking good water is such an important experience for me, which is why I want to share my bottled water journey with you all! I vividly remember, sometime in elementary school, when my family and I went to Florida for vacation. We went to buy drinks and could not find Poland Springs. I was devastated, to say the least. Voss and Life waters were fine but I wanted a more casual drinking experience with the same exquisite taste. Unknowingly, I pulled out Zephyrhills from the refrigerator shelf. When I drank it in the car, I vowed to stay loyal to Poland Springs.

The poem "The Things" by Donald Hall touches on the idea of sentimental items. I feel like this was such an interesting title for the poem. While the title is very simple, it makes sense and feels complete once you read through the poem. By giving the poem such a vague title, Hall allows the reader to imagine what they want for their sentimental items as he is trying to point out that there are no criteria for what can or cannot be a valuable possession. This is further proved through the content of the peice.  The poem starts by setting the scene as he writes, "When I walk in my house I see pictures." This draws the reader in and makes them feel like they are in the speaker's home. Once Hall sets the scene, he starts to list things that catch his attention. He talks about seemingly random items like a cowbell, a dog's toy, and other goods, but when he describes them, he uses vivid imagery to keep the reader hooked and connected.  By writing about the items

  In the poem “What Happened Was: my mother was pregnant with me”, poet Anna Leahy provides a glimpse into her and her mother’s life experiences. The poem begins upon the realization that Leahy’s mother was pregnant with her while still in college. Her mother struggled with this as she was discouraged from continuing education, yet she persisted. Against all odds, her mother flourished, graduating and becoming a lawyer while simultaneously raising her child. Leahy uses the unconventional rhetorical device of repetition to delve into her life. Every single line of the poem begins with the words “what happened was”. This technique elevates the poem to a higher meaning because it evokes a sense of realism. As if the poet was conversing with the reader, she lists facts in an informal matter. She is blunt, and does not sugarcoat the truth. The reader then understands that these events truly occurred, and can empathize with her and her mother’s experiences. Additionally, phrasing the poem th

  For this week's poem, I chose “A Hundred People Died on First Hill” by Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre. The speaker shows his emotion as someone who has lost a close family member/friend, and dealing with the grief. To him, it seemed that the world forgot this person even existed.  The poem addresses the feeling of the world moving on from something you still care about. It’s about the world stopping for a few minutes, maybe a few hours or a few days but for you, it's something that impacts you forever. After reading the poem, I’m reminded of when people will post on social media of a significant event, and then simply forget about it once the images are gone from the feed. This poem applies to so many people because every person has faced a similar situation. This could relate to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting where it affected so many people. So many people have lost their loved ones, and they’re still dealing with that grief to this day. When the shooting happene

  Ariella Green Week 3: “In the In-Between” by Sierra Demulder The title of this poem is very thought provoking for me because I too can relate to being in that in-between phase. In some relationships or processes, there is that in between phase where it’s not the beginning, but it’s nearing the end. Whether you are waiting to hear test results, a verdict, or a response from someone. In this phase, you have no idea what to do and you are simply waiting for that stage to end in order to move on to the next one. For example, some of you may have already applied to college and are in that phase where you are waiting to hear whether or not you were accepted. Nothing can happen for you until you hear back from the colleges, so you are stuck in this waiting phase, the in-between. In Demulder’s poem, she expressed that deep down, she and her partner had wanted to stay in that in-between stage where nothing bad or detrimental will happen. Before admitting this to herself, Demulder writes twice