LAST BLOG POST OF THE YEAR

 Hi there everyone, I decided to create my own post rather than commenting on someone else's for this last post of the year.  I'd like to discuss what her favorite assignments/units of the year were.  In English class my favorite story that we read was Candide. I found it's hilarious plot entertaining and absolutely loved watching the play in class. In  humanities my favorite unit was studying renaissance art. Something about my Italian heritage and just the beauty of the art made that entire unit enjoyable for me to presentation and ultimately studying for the test. Special thanks to Mrs. Quinet and Ms. King to making me a better student during all of those 90minute periods  over the past 9 months.  I'm so glad that I took Humanities/AP English IV as it has better prepared me for college than any average English class would.

Future

When I was in Boston this past weekend I started thinking about the future and all of us going off to different cities and states for college. Boston was an entirely new world - it was completely unlike what I am used to down in good ole' Old Metairie (don't get me wrong, though, I loved the city) When I was there and I was forced to think about my future, I became nervous - one day we'll develop a life different from the life we have now. We'll be different people - ones who have matured and experienced the world around us, we'll know new people and develop new connections, etc. Who knows what the future has in store for us! Right now, we know where we're going to college next year, but what is going to happen when we're there? We might think we have an idea of what is going to happen next, but we truthfully have no clue. We will always remember growing up in Louisiana, but one day we might find ourselves living in California or Florida based on the paths and opportunities we chose to take. Some of us are going to school closer to home and others are going farther so while we might all have differing circumstances and opinions, a real fact we must acknowledge, whether we want to or not, is that we are growing up and we're entering the real world faster than we could've imagined. I can't believe I'm beginning my last week of high school, I can't believe I had my last plate of STM red beans and rice today, I can't believe senior chapel is only 4 days away, I can't believe after 4 years that I'm turning in my last papers and completing my last high school assignments. I remember being a freshman and going to my first senior chapel, waiting for the day that I would finally be able to do that with my class and would finally be able to ring the bell after waiting 13 years. Now that it is here, everything seems so surreal and I wonder where all the time went.

Buddha

I really like the connection that is made in the book between Buddha and Saleem. Buddha searched for his purpose and enlightenment for so long and has difficulty finding these factors. Saleem also knows that he has a larger purpose in life and he can't quite figure out what it is. Finally Buddha acquires this enlightenment that he has been searching for by meditating under a tree and realizing the Four Noble Truths. It also seems that Saleem reached a kind of enlightened state in a sense when his memory is wiped out by the bomb. He is then able to reinvent himself without the ties to his family and past. I found it to be a very interesting religious comparison.

Nuclear Bomb

When we learned about the backdrop of Hinduism behind Midnight's Children, it brought up a vague memory for me. I remembered that a nuclear scientist in the Manhattan Project once quoted "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," a line from some ancient Hindu scripture, when he was asked how he felt about the Trinity project (the first nuclear weapon detonation test in the world) years after the experiment.

So I looked it up, and the scientist happened to be J. Robert Oppenheimer, who said in a TV interview:

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another. 

Besides the brilliant insight into the development of nuclear weapons, I was surprised to find out that the quote was from the story in the Bhagavad Gita that we learned about in Humanities and thought it was cool that I know exactly what he was talking about.

Ultimate Reality

Today in class, we talked about how post-modernists don't believe that there is a specific ultimate truth. According to them, there are multiple realties for each situation. These ideas reminded me of the discussions that we've had in religion about differences between Hinduism and Buddhism. One of the major differences between the two religions is the fact that in Hinduism there a ultimate reality of everything and one essence. In Buddhism, they argue that there is no ultimate reality and that things are constantly changing over time. Buddhists back this up with the three marks of existence. It is a very confusing concept but it reminded me exactly of these conflicting ideas.

Saleem's Ransom Note

I thought the way Rushdie wrote how Saleem composed his note to Commander Sabarmati was incredibly clever. Saleem got the letters for his note from pieces out of newspapers and each sentence he used referenced something political going on. The note was assembled from fragments of relevant history and current events in India and Pakistan, which is literally what Midnight's Children is based on. After Saleem tells us how he gets the letters for the note, he goes on to say how he rearranges history when he glues the note - another very creative move by Rushdie! Because Saleem rearranges history when he tells us his story and India's story, constantly confusing dates and events. Then Saleem tells us how he played "Murder in the Dark" and slips the note inside Commander Sabarmati's uniform. Notice the name of the game...because there is actual murder as a result of Saleem placing the "lethal" note in the Commander's jacket. I really appreciate Rushdie's creativity!

Violation of Privacy

There's definitely something really cool about being able to read someone's mind - who wouldn't want to have this power like Saleem? But thoughts are better left unread. All someone truly has to himself/herself is his/her thoughts - what goes on in our heads cannot be accessed by anyone else unless we put it on paper or we express what we're thinking out loud. Mind reading violates our privacy. I though Saleem abused his powers when he used them to find out what his crush, Evie Burns, was thinking in order to see what he had to do to get her to like him. It is so invasive and unfair. Not to mention, a mind is a terrible thing to read. As much as I would like the ability to read minds and find out what people honestly think about, I might end up regretting it... There are a lot of people out there who have disturbing thoughts, to know the truth about what people think of me, to look inside someone's thoughts and experience their guilty pasts, etc... it is all very uncomfortable to think about.

This is irrelevant, but as I read the part about Saleem not being able to read Shiva's mind, I thought about Edward not being able to read Bella's mind in Twilight lolol