Monthly Archives: January 2020

(Insert Bob Dylan Here)

Posted on by under Humanities, School

Hello, Internet.

You’ve probably heard of a man (a PIANO man) named Billy Joel. He’s famous for songs such as Uptown Girl, The Longest Time, and the song I want to discuss today: We Didn’t Start The Fire.

There’s a pretty high chance you’ve heard of this song (particularly if you’re a fan of The Office). However, the chance you could sing even one verse of it correctly is significantly lower, because the lyrics are essentially a rapid fire list:

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye" Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye We didn't start the fire It was always burning Since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No we didn't light it But we tried to fight it Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock" Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez We didn't start the fire It was always burning Since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No we didn't light it But we tried to fight it Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai" Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo We didn't start the fire It was always burning Since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No we didn't light it But we tried to fight it Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land" Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion "Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say We didn't start the fire It was always burning Since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No we didn't light it But we tried to fight it Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan "Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

What they’re a list of, exactly, is a series of significant events and people from around the 1930s through the 1980s. Our assignment for this unit was to choose a topic mentioned in the song, from before 1979, and explain its significance.

Now, maybe I should establish exactly what significance is. As per one of the curricular competencies we looked at in this unit – understanding how we make choices about what is worth remembering – we spent a while discussing what it meant for something to be significant. We came down to a set of criteria for significance: something significant should have widespread impact, remain important over time, have a meaningful effect on the people it impacts, and/or be relevant to how we understand the world.

For my topic, I chose another man (a TAMBOURINE man) you’ve probably heard of: Bob Dylan. I really enjoy learning about music history, and I knew that Dylan had written some protest music, but I didn’t know a lot about his life beyond that. I decided to research Dylan and create a CD insert explaining his significance, as well as a podcast which would be the audio content of the “CD”. In order to understand how Dylan and his work met the criteria of being significant, I filled out a chart detailing the different aspects of significance.

So, I started doing research. I listened to Dylan’s music. I read articles. I listened to podcasts. I watched the first couple hours of a documentary. I compiled a research document with all of my notes, and my thesis: Bob Dylan’s songs in the early 1960s acted as a call to action for the youth of America at the time, and touched on themes that are still relevant in American politics now, such as racism, poverty, and war.

However, I found that while Bob Dylan was – and is – certainly well known, and his music describes very significant events, he himself did not make as much of an impact on the world as I expected. Aside from the music he made, I don’t know that Bob Dylan did anything that was really unique at the time – he wrote protest music, and attended protests at which he played said protest music, but other musicians were doing that, but he didn’t consider himself overly political, and after a few years, he tried to remove himself from politics as much as possible.

However, he does hold some significance, at least as a musician, so I used the evidence I had to argue for why.

I started out by hand drawing and writing the CD insert, which I was envisioning looking sort of like a zine. However, I was promptly reminded of the fact that my handwriting is illegible, so I decided to fix the problem as any normal person would: by printing out a typed version of all the words and pasting them over my handwriting.

After that, I wrote and recorded the podcast.

Finally, I did a presentation about everything I had learned, alongside a keynote which refused to stay up on the screen for longer than two seconds.

All of this is where the second core competency for this unit – how I share my own ideas when I write, speak, and represent – came into play. While I normally feel that communicating my ideas, particularly through writing and presenting, is a strong suit of mine, I think that I did a poor job communicating through the format of a CD booklet. I think that if I had had a clearer vision of how exactly I wanted my booklet to appear, and if I had found a different way to change the handwriting to typing, my communication could have been stronger.

While I had a fun time learning about Bob Dylan, I think that I could have done a lot better on this project. My argument wasn’t very strong, and I think it would have been better if I had either broadened it, or chosen a different topic. However, all I can do now is learn from my mistakes.

Toodles.

(Insert Final MPoL Here)

Posted on by under About Me, Humanities, mPols & tPols, School

Hello, Internet.

(After four and a half years, I’ve finally learned how to make gifs work!)

Oh, and of course, hello to those of you who are here in real life. You may recall also having been here  four years ago. I went back to check what my goal was for my original Student Led Conference, but as far as I can tell I didn’t have one. My blog post just ends with this:

Aside from the oddly subject-appropriate Tim Curry gif, that probably wouldn’t fly in this blog post. After all, we are now at Peak MPoL – or, at least, as close as I can get, since this is my last MPoL, and I’d like to leave things off on a positive note.

Not that it would have flown in the last few PoLs either – we’ve been setting goals for a while now, and I’d like to take a look at whether or not I’ve achieved mine.

In my last TPoL, I mostly spoke about how vexed I was about having had to miss school for mono, and then I ended by saying how I should probably start taking care of myself properly.

Since then, I’ve started working more often, continued to play hockey and box and do school and choir, and now I’m also in the midst of attempting to convince universities to accept me. (Maybe I should send them cheesecake?) In fact, this isn’t the only instance where I’ve taken on a lot of responsibility this year. However, I think I have learned something, even if it isn’t exactly what I set out to learn.

So, first of all, let’s talk about cheesecake for a second. I’ve given you all cheesecake today (if you’re here in person) for two reasons: first of all, to create a serotonin response in your brain so you’ll associate my presentation with something positive and thus believe it’s better than it actually is; and second of all, as a smooth segue into my topic for this MPoL. Now, for many years, I’ve refused to eat cheesecake. Somewhere, maybe after trying it as a child, I got the idea that I disliked it. So, I’ve been eating other baked goods, and avoiding cheesecake like the plague.

Recently, however, it occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten cheesecake in so long, I couldn’t recall what it tasted like. I decided that I couldn’t be sure that I didn’t like it unless I tried it again. So I did, and lo and behold, I had a new, cheesy overlord to worship.

How does that relate to my learning, you might ask? Well, there’s a lot of lessons to be learned here: Take risks. Keep an open mind (a growth mindset, perhaps). Remember that things can change. Stay optimistic. Push your boundaries. Reread Green Eggs And Ham every once in a while.

Many of these are things I’ve struggled to do in the past. Some of my recent goals have included trying to push myself more, doing my best learning even when I don’t care about or like the subject we’re discussing, and rolling with the punches. All of these, along with the whole “taking on a lot of responsibility” are things that I experienced during our horror movie project.

Now, I was actually really excited about this project, as I think I actually mentioned in my last presentation. I love horror movies, and also any excuse to try and impress people with how calm and un frightened I am during any sort of horror experience. (The key is being stressed and terrified all the time!) I was interested in being a screenwriter for the movie, which would allow me to work in a medium I felt really comfortable with – writing – as well as, much more importantly, giving me the chance to contribute creatively to the actual plot and message of the movie. I didn’t end up being a screenwriter, but I did get put on the script team.

I don’t want to spend too much time on the minute details of this project, since I just wrote a whole blog post about it, but being on the script team was stressful. While I was initially able to push for the elements I thought should be included in the story, after some very honest critique sessions, and the implementation of some executive decisions that I had to comply with, I watched a lot of my work be thrown out. More frustratingly, I felt that my power to contribute creatively in any way was taken away – I was now just executing other people’s ideas, which is about where I stopped having any sort of excitement or passion for the project. However, I stuck with it, and continued to put in effort despite this – something I’d struggled to do in previous years. I helped rewrite the script, and agreed to play the part of Lynda, a character from our original story who I had been going to act as.

By the time I got through the scriptwriting, I was essentially able to regain my sense of interest in the project. I was still disappointed, but I wanted to enjoy the unit I’d been looking forward to for so long. So, in true cheesecake-trying fashion, I decided that just because I hadn’t enjoyed the project during the scriptwriting process didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it during the filming process. I was still getting to play the role I volunteered for, and I could leave the writing and editing behind me.

When we started filming, we were already on a tight schedule. We did a few, very long, days of filming, realized that we were behind schedule and our footage was unusable, cut down the script as much as possible, extended our timeline, did another few days of filming, and then some more executive decisions happened.

At this point, almost everyone was given new jobs. I was asked to be director alongside my friend Parker. I was excited about the idea, which would give me the creative control I was seeking, but Parker wasn’t interested. So, I took it on alone, while continuing to act, and edit the script as necessary. I don’t think I talked a lot in my blog post about what I actually did as a director, but I immediately annotated the whole script with directions about lighting, shots, set pieces, acting, mood, additional actions or lines of dialogue, and character motivation.


I had a conference with the actors where I went through these notes, as well as asking them about their own ideas or visions for the characters, and I spoke with the other departments about my visions for various scenes and characters, and the movie as a whole. Although I was frustrated and we were running low on time, I was determined to put my best effort into the movie, and not to dwell too much on the setbacks we had come up against. I wasn’t sure if people would listen to me as a director, especially after the reactions to the initial script were so harsh, and since it’s not a role I would normally occupy, but everyone was very receptive and respectful, and I really liked directing (in fact, it’s something I think I would have enjoyed doing from the beginning – which I can’t change now, but is important to note for future reference.)

When our time for filming was eventually cut off and I left, covered in fake blood and emo clothing, to go to a family dinner, I did have some frustrations about how things had ended up, but I was not as upset as I had been at earlier stages. I was, in part, relieved to be done with what was overall quite a stressful experience, but I also felt that I had done all I could do.

During our MPoL meeting, this project was brought up as an example of something our class didn’t do well on – and, certainly, there were aspects I could have improved on. The first script, evidently. Clarifying the message of the story. Coordinating time, and planning in advance so that everything came out well the first time. However, I put a lot of work into this project, and I truly feel that I did the best that I could, and that a lot of the reasons it didn’t work out were out of my control. My main takeaway, then, was not where I could improve my work, but more about my attitude towards my work; the importance of not giving up or getting so caught up in being upset that you never actually move forwards, the risk and reward of trying out new things, and the fact that just because you don’t enjoy something at one point doesn’t mean that you can never enjoy it.

I would like to keep the same goal as last time – learning to sharpen the saw, and take care of my own needs – because I don’t feel that I’ve markedly improved at it. As my time in high school, and in some ways this phase of  my life, draws to a close, it becomes increasingly important that I am able to take care of myself, especially since I may no longer be able to count on the supports I have now (like seeing my friends and family every day, having a pre-existing knowledge of my school, teachers, and community, and having my own room and space where I have privacy. Additionally, the lead up to o much change is still the cause of a lot of anxiety for me, and I want to lessen that so I can focus on enjoying my last year while also doing well.

My question to those of you who are here is what things you do in your own life to maintain a sense of balance, especially in the face of change or a foreign environment. As you answer, I am going to sit back, eat a piece of cheesecake, and reflect on how good change can sometimes be.

Toodles.

(Insert Lack of Movie Here)

Posted on by under Humanities, School

PHello, Internet.

So, way back in October we started a unit on horror. Things started off well – we went down to Seattle for a few days, where we visited the Museum of Pop Culture, as well as a very fun haunted house. Then, we started planning for our main project for this unit: a class wide horror movie.

We all pitched our best horror movie plots, and then our teachers selected a director, producers, and screenwriter for us, as well as assigning other, less major roles.

The plot we eventually settled on was this: two groups of students, one comprised of more popular, athletic students, and the other of more nerdy, outcast students, sneak into school on the same night to play grad pranks. While there, they start getting killed off one by one. Initially, they blame each other – however, it eventually turns out to be the school janitor, unhinged and angry about students sneaking into the school to make a mess. All but two students die, and those two survive only by breaking their stereotypes and working together.

From there, we wrote up a story treatment and began further developing the characters.

A group of friends have snuck into the school to pull some grad pranks. There’s four of them:Kirk, horror aficionado and known theatre geek, gleefully planning pranks that reference his favourite movies;Marcus, a techie with stage fright, working to make said pranks operate smoothly (and attempting to quell his fears); Barbara, a band geek suffering under high expectations from her parents and acting out for the first time in her life; and Lynda, an anxious loner that others are trying to befriend. Meanwhile, another group of friends is there on the same night also to pull grad prank. This group is a little different. It consists of amiable jock Chet, cheerleader Stacey, and their friends Cory and Bud, both known for partying. While there, the two groups realize that each other have snuck into the school, and start messing with each other, jump scaring each other and terrorizing each other with fake knives/blood/etc that they brought for their pranks. Midway through, Marcus wanders off from his friends and doesn’t come back. Eventually, they go to look for him and find him dead. They assume that the other group has gone too far, and killed him. Meanwhile, Stacy and Bud have also wandered off from their friends and turned up dead in the janitor’s closet, presumably having been making out. Their friends, unaware of Marcus’s death, also assume that the other group has gone too far. The two groups find each other, and are arguing. Lynda, anxious and on the verge of panicking, goes out for some air. Some time passes, and everyone else decides to go look around to see if she has left. They find her dead in the school, and realize that she must have been killed by someone not a part of either group, since they were all in the same room. Terrified, they go back into the room and lock the door. They decide that they aren’t safe and they need to move. The group looks for a way out of the school, and realize they are locked in. Kirk feels confident that he isn’t going to be killed, as his horror movie knowledge will keep him safe, until he makes a fatal mistake. He goes off by himself to find a way out and figures out who the killer is. With his new knowledge, he has to be killed and is murdered before he can warn the others. The remaining group members head toward sounds of screams, and find Kirk’s body. With little to no hope remaining, they head to the wood shop to try and find a tool to use to break out. In the wood shop, the teens find a tool they can use to break a lock, and all they have left to do is head to the door. They start to hear noises and the lights start to flicker. They know the killer is coming. Chet grabs a saw to try and defend himself as they see the shadow of the killer. He tells Barb and Cory to run and he will stay back and protect them. They start to leave, but Cory pauses. He admits his love for Chet, but knows he has no other choice and has to leave. Cory and Barb run away with tears streaming down Cory’s face as Chet is brutally murdered. The remaining two teens escape the school and head to safety, not knowing who the killer is. They are now good friends, who’s stereotypes have been broken down, leaving two natural humans. The janitor is revealed as the killer as he mops up the blood with a wink.

We had a couple of little snits in creating the original character summaries – we found it difficult to agree on small details like whether Bud was an acceptable name. However, we got through it without any major disagreements, so the script team (myself included) set about writing a first draft of the script.

We finished our draft without too much trouble, and a few weeks later, we opened the floor to the non-script writers for critique.

They had a lot of critique. So much, in fact, that we ended up having our entire script, two of our characters, and much of our storyline completely scrapped. We then rewrote the script based on the new story we were given: the day after pulling grad pranks, the students are made to stay after school and clean up their mess as punishment. Instead of cleaning, they decide to pull further pranks on each other, at which point the janitor becomes angry and starts killing them.

Once we’d written and edited our new script, we began preparing for the next stage of our project: filming. We cast actors for all the main characters – I played Lynda, am anxious emo girl who ends up getting pushed down a flight of stairs.


After our first few days of filming, it was clear that things were not going well. We were well behind schedule; we had, like in any project, unforeseen issues to contend with; and we were all incredibly stressed. So, we decided to make a few more changes.

First, we scrapped all the footage we had filmed so far. Second, we cut as much of the script as we could afford. Third, we made some personnel changes: namely, putting a lot of the class in different roles. For my own part, I maintained my role as an actor – but I also became the director.

We extended our timeline as much as we could, and we set off on our second attempt at filming. We made it through more of the movie this time – but still not all of it. When we hit our deadline for filming, we were still missing a few crucial scenes. So, we packed up our supplies, turned out the lights, and I headed home to wash the fake blood out of my hair. (I also showed up to a dinner with my extended family looking a little… mussy.)

After a two week break for Christmas, we were left with a lot of footage that we couldn’t turn into a movie. However, we still wanted to create something to show for our months of hard work. So, our editing team got to work making the footage into a trailer. While it wasn’t what we had originally intended to create, it was still a product showcasing all the time and energy we had put into the project.

So, here it is: the trailer for a movie we will never finish: Dirty Work.

After working on this project for the past few months, I think the thing I really learned was to just keep a positive face and try and find the good in the circumstances given to you. Historically, this is not something I’ve been great at. However, I love horror, and I really didn’t want to spend this whole project being grumpy or upset just because things weren’t going the way I wanted. So, whether it was volunteering to screen test our prop blood by having it poured onto me with a ladle, titling our movie after an old class inside joke, or drinking four cups of coffee onset, I found things to enjoy about our project. That being said, I’m happy that it’s finally done.

Toodles.

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