Frustration with immature High Schoolers

So we saw "12th Night" at Marshwood a couple days ago and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards the cast opened the floor up to questions. I was the last question to be taken, and being an actor, I was curious to know the difficulties in performing/ understanding Shakespeare. I asked the question in a detailed way to make the question clear and also detail is just the way I speak. After the question was answered one of the actors commented on the amazing auditorium. I politely agreed, the bell rang, everyone went to lunch. Now here is the punchline: Random people came up to me in the last two days commenting on how people (more than one mind you) were saying "shut up" to their friends about my "lengthy" question. COOOOOMMMMEEEE ONNNNN! What are you...Like two years old? People can be so ignorant at this age. We are watching Shakespeare to learn and explore the English language, rather than making comments such as "I love your dress." Further more, if people are SO concerned about the time restraint, why don't they just go back to class and get lectured at? ANNND why do these people not have compassion for anyone?? What if I wasn't even asking an intelligent question, what if I had really low self esteem, what if I talked for hours and stuttered over every word because I was nervous to speak in front of people? Luckily I am none of those things and my confidence is secure, but I can't even imagine what the "shut up yellers" do to people in those circumstances. It sickens me. Please grow up, take advantage of the amazing opportunities the school has given us, get some compassion and learn how to communicate with people. UGH.

Profile confusions

I just figured out how to change my profile...It never worked before. Yeah!!! I have an identity now!

x-ray vision

My uber intellegent friend at an Air force Acadamy in Colorado, recently posted this picture. He figured out by taking a picture of the scenery behind his computer, he could create the illusion that his computer is transparent. I saw this as very artistic, very creative and very time consuming. To get the exact right picture, he said it took him days. I guess that's what college is all about. The creative projects of endless free time! I can't wait...

Sonnet... Bonnet?

In the past few months we have been reading some lovely (Ha!) sonnets in class by my one and only favorite person, Willy Shakespeare. Nigel decided that we should write some of our own brainy sonnets, bring them in, and read them to the class. So last week our sonnets were due, and I had spent all weekend counting syllables and stressed and unstressed feet while my family walked by me wondering what the heck I was counting with my fingers and talking to myself about. I looked like a loony, but I finished it and it had the 10 syllables a line, with the stressed  and unstressed pattern. I was pretty darn proud of myself for even finishing, so I strutted into class on Monday feeling pretty good. That feeling lasted only until MS read her sonnet to the class. I thought that it was pretty good (I couldn't count fast enough to see if there were 10 syllables in each line, but it doesn't matter). Then Nigel asked her what her rhyming scheme was. WHAT? RHYMING SCHEME? I started to freak out. Apparently the sonnets had the RHYME! Well I definitely did NOT rhyme anything in my sonnet. After that I didn't want to read it at all. In the end Nigel just said that the sonnet could be fixed and turned in on Friday. Yay! I'll just go and rhyme the last words of the lines and turn it back in. But it's not that simple.

I spent 2 hours on the computer trying to find good words that rhyme with undisguised and that fit into the message of the sonnet. It was super hard. That got me thinking. Shakespeare wrote all kinds of sonnets, 154 if I am not mistaken, and I have a nagging feeling that he didn't go online and look at the rhyming dictionary to get his sonnet to fit the whole abab rhyming set-up. This is where I have to give Willy-boy some mad props. I mean 154 sonnets! That is crazy! I had a hard time writing one, and I used a thesaurus and a rhyming dictionary to get mine to even fit the sonnet "rules". Who knows if it even made any sense, but let me tell you there were the right number of syllables, stressed and unstressed pairs, and those words rhymed gosh darn it!

This has to be some sort of Kodak moment... one you will most likely never see again, so appreciate it now... but I think that Shakespeare did a... nice job when writing his sonnets. 

So sorry

Okay, so I have been a little lame in the blogging department lately... college stuff is due this week so my mind has been elsewhere. I am going to try and put in some good shorter blogs this week to make up for it, though, so be ready (but don't set your expectations too high or you WILL be disappointed)

"fool"ish relief

I would also like to agree with the fact that Nigel is "da man" for letting us do this blog instead of a ginormous project. I am so foolishly relieved that we didn't have to do the project. I am going to try to be more of an avid blogger like my friend em who blogs every other millisecond... andI know a I will have many opportunities with this upcoming project, sonnets and such other assignments. I am pumped for that because I truly do like blogging. :)

The Loyal Fool

"I had rather be any kind o'thing than a fool,yet I would not be thee, nuncle;I am a fool, thou art nothing." (I. iv.)

The fool in William Shakespeare's play "King Lear" is the most, kind, noble and wisest character of them all. With all the turmoil and insanity around him, the fool must maintain his loyalty through clever humour to King Lear. The fool has sympathy for his old and quickly fading master. The fool follows King Lear out into the horrid storm, only to meet the need for humour. Beyond the fool's comical service to the king the fool is a voice of reason and helps to make Lear aware of his wrong to his daughters. The fool serves multiple purposes to the King, but I believe that although the fool is comic relief, he secretly labours over Lear's breaking of heart.

The way the fool was portrayed in the movie we saw of "King Lear" was appropriate for the fool's comments. The irony that the fool presented through his clever verse is only something that comes with age and humble sweetness in character. The old man playing the movie's fool had visual aspects, such as his silver beard and wrinkled face, that echoed a wise, respected man.
The fool is a simple character with nothing noble about his status, but serves a regal purpose. Even though Lear is the fool's master you sense a closeness about them and that Lear is willing to listen to the fool's opinions.
Through his comical ways the fool is able to be very blunt about true reality of each conflict. Only through humour can you sugar coat the subjects of divorcing your children and war. Through humour, even today, comic strips and Saturday night live skits give the public access to explore their positions further as things are exaggerated to the extreme.
Humour can be a cushion of comfort or a segway to enlightened thinking and the fool in "King Lear" greatly impacted Lear's views. Loyalty and humble opinion made the fool 's memorable character in the book, but also in my mind as a truly noble, daring and fascinating character.