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ayya (ai-yah)

Posted on April 17, 2017 by melissa0525

In life, people show a variety of different emotions ranging from happiness to sadness. The new word I would like to add to the English language is “ayya”. I use this word on a daily basis (literally) to express my frustration, stress, dissatisfaction, regret, use it as a way of telling someone I am shaking my head, demonstrate the feeling of “why did you do this lol”, or just using it as a synonym for “darn it”.

An example of when using ayya would be appropriate would be:

If you got a bad test score and you don’t want anyone to know the test score, but you need to let out some emotion, you can say ayya.

If you have a teacher that called you out for something that was dumb or something you didn’t do, you can say ayya.

If you don’t agree with someone’s opinion and think why is this person doing this, you can say ayya.

If you are watching a YouTube video that has a person doing stupid life threatening activities, you can say ayya.

If you are talking to someone and don’t know how to reply, you can say ayya.

If you are frustrated with a person near you and want to say something about it but at the same time not, you can say ayya.

If you are stressed and you just need a word to say, you can say ayya.

If you just want to yell a word out, you can say ayya.

All in all, even if you have nothing to say but still want to say something, then you can use ayya. Ayya is a word that the meaning can be changed by putting the stress on a different letter or holding one letter longer than another. If this word is said over and over again, it kind of gets entertaining and will relieve stress and frustration.

Power Cancer Fighter?

Posted on February 13, 2017 by melissa0525

Annually, 12.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer and nearly 7.6 million people die from it. Recently, scientists genetically modified a food poisoning microbe, Salmonella bacteria, to target tumors, making the body’s immune system aggressive towards cancer cells.

Salmonella is a rod shaped microbe that is known for causing many cases of food poisoning in the United States. In 2006, a team of South Korean scientists came up the idea of creating a new cancer fighting agent; however, they were also searching for another vaccine to help fight against Vibro vulnificus, which is another microbes found in infected shellfish. As the researchers noticed that there is a protein in the bacteria’s flagella, they hypothesized that if they modified a harmless version of Salmonella typhimurium, to secrete a protien FlaB, then it can help treat the many cases of cancer. Biologist, Jung-Joon and Joon Haeng Rhee, set out to test the newly modified Salmonella on cancer cells in mice. They injected 20 mice with human cancers and then a few days later, the biologists discovered that the bacteria from the body parts had cleared and the tumors were no where to be seen. This experiment occurred over the course of 120 days and on the 120th day, the tumors in the mice were undetectable in more than half of the mice and the control mice not injected with the modified microbe eventually died. Overall, scientists have found that bacteria usually live on tumorous tissues, so microbes like the genetically modified Salmonella bacteria can easily target these cancerous tissues.

All in all, I think that this experiment is very effective in which the biologist approached it. With the approximate 12.7 million people being diagnosed every year with cancer, this genetically modified microbe would help a significantly large amount of people creating a step forward for bacterial cancer therapies. This scientific discovery would not only impact people nationally, but it will also impact people globally. Cancer occurs all around the world, often killing an individual diagnosed with it; however, with this new FlaB producing bacteria, hopefully these techniques will battle cancer for the good. Although this recently occurred and it is still new to the scientific community, through more and more experimentation with the genetically modified Salmonella and if all goes well, this can be the next big thing for the world.

Article

Dust Bowl

Posted on January 23, 2017 by melissa0525

Farmer and sons walking in the face of a dust storm. Cimarron County, Oklahoma April 1936 by photographer Arthur Rothstein

The above photo can be found here : Dust Bowl Photo 1

“The muffled sound more completely than fog does. The people, lying in their beds, heard the wind stop. They awakened when the rushing wind was gone. They lay quietly and listened deep into the stillness…They knew it would take a long time for the dust to settle out of the air. In the morning the dust hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood. All day the dust sifted down from the sky, and the next day it sifted down. An even blanket covered the earth. It settled on the corn, piled up on the tops of the fence posts, piled up on the wires; it settled on roofs, blanketed the weeds and trees. The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot stinging air and covered their noses from it. And the children came out of the houses, but they did not run or shout as they would have done after a rain” (Steinbeck, 3).

This photograph taken by Arthur Rothstein replicates the description Steinbeck writes in The Grapes of Wrath. During the Dust Bowl period, severe winds blew tons and tons of dirt and dust mainly over the Great Plains. From this, a lot of the land areas and crops were damaged, forcing individuals to move out of the area and go to states like California for job opportunities. In the picture, there’s a man and two children walking through the dust filled land and the littlest child is covering his eyes to avoid any particles from the outside storm. Just as Steinbeck described, the people who walked outside during the Dust bowl did not run or try to avoid the dust, they simply just walked like it was a normal day (besides covering their mouths). The landscape shown in the picture allows us to realize how dusty the air was because we’re not able to see anything in the distance.

California at Last: Four families, three of them related with fifteen children, from the Dust Bowl in Texas in an overnight roadside camp near Calipatria, California. By Dorothea Lange

The above photo can be found here : Dust Bowl Photo 2

“Grampa grunted and fought weakly against awakening, and when he was finally settled he went deeply to sleep again. Pa said, ‘Ma, you an’ Granma set in with Al for a while. We’ll change aroun’ so it’s easier, but you start out that way.’ They got into the cab, and then the rest swarmed up on top of the load, Connie and Rose of Sharon, Pa and Uncle John, Ruthie and Winfield, Tom and the preacher. Noah stood on the ground, looking up at the great load of them sitting on top of the truck” (Steinbeck 113).

The above photograph taken by Dorothea reminded me of how many people let Oklahoma in the Joad’s car. Thirteen people in The Grapes of Wrath squished into one little car,. During this time period, many families could not afford to buy multiple vehicles, thus forcing them to carry 10-15 passengers in one car. Each person in the photograph reminds me of each of the Joads plus Casy. The picture depicts the size of the family in one car and all the necessities and belongings they brought, which shows us how much families struggled to get to California for job opportunities.

Keith Emerson

Posted on January 13, 2017 by melissa0525

Honestly, picking from the numerous artists, singers, and musicians was a challenge. I have never heard of a lot of the people on the list of musicians that died in 2016; however one caught my eye. Immediately, when I scrolled through the list, together i saw two members of a band next two each other. Sadly, both members of the band passed away in 2016. I chose to write about Keith Emerson because unlike the other musicians, he played the keyboard. After listening to Emerson’s different solos and Emerson, Lake, & Palmer (ELP) songs, I have chosen the song, “The Art of Falling Down”. The lyrics are down below:

The Art of Falling Down

From EPL

Falling Down…

Well, you can jump the guns and corners
To save your place
It’ll never hide the guilt that’s on your face
And you can duck and dodge and scramble
And make that sound
It’ll never match the art of falling down

Wishing it away will call them all to stay

Well, you blame the slings and arrows
That curse this fate
And it still won’t shave the cost of coming late
Never a clean escape
Becoming what you hate

And you can justify the cause and nail across to it
But you need to get lost to get you found
And it’s a long drink of faith ’till you believe it
And you come across the art of falling down

Turning it away invites them all to stay

You can light yourself a candle to ease your pain
It’ll never find the song to sing your name
Ain’t it a burning shame
Enough to drive you sane

Chasing it away will call them back to play

You can fly your righteous angels
On a golden chain
But it’s a harder fall than landing on your blade
And you can call it by it’s name and put an end to it
But it’ll never change the art of falling down

Falling Down…

Initially, I chose to listen to the song because of the name of it. The Art of Falling Down. when I heard the first 6 seconds of the song, I immediately loved it. The singer, Greg Lake, sang a chromatic scale going down and it was beautiful almost kind of sounding like a harmonization. Besides the melody and music beats, the lyrics are deep. A few of my favorite lines from this song are “You can light yourself a candle to ease your pain. It’ll never find the song to sing your name” and “You can fly your righteous angels on a golden chain, but it’s a harder fall than landing on your blade, and you can call it by it’s name and put an end to it, but it’ll never change the art of falling down”. Although the lyrics were good, the tune of the keyboard in the background. Emerson carries the tune. His keyboarding skills are a+ and it sounds like he plays each note with care and precision.

On YouTube, there were many piano solo recordings. After listening to a few of his solos, I was in awe. He mixes a bit of classical, jazz, rag, and pop almost flawlessly when he plays. No matter how fast he plays, it always sounds clean and precise.

Unfortunately, this past year, he died on March 11th 2016 from self suicide. He shot himself in the head. Emerson also dealt with heart disease and depression associated with alcohol and worrying how he will play in performances and concerts.

Keith Emerson will always be remembered because of his talent and passion to entertain others with his music.

First Semester

Posted on January 5, 2017 by melissa0525

At the end of the fall semester, I felt so relieved that winter break finally arrived, but as break comes to an end, I realize there’s another semester just around the corner. Apart from thinking about the new semester of English III AP, reviewing the fall semester of English III brings back memories.

I found out that I had English III first period the day the juniors got their schedules. To be honest, I dreaded the thought of having English first period for the second time in my high school career. I had immediate flashbacks to freshman year when I had English I first period. English I Pre-AP consisted of the 8 sentence structured essay and memorizing the rules of fix-its. We would go through the rules for fix-its, edit our peers’ papers and look for fix-its, and we would get talks that if we used fix-its that would be one point off our essay.

All in all, having English first period was not at the top of my list; however, after enduring a semester of English III AP, each and every day of first semester, I appreciate having English first. Even though having English first period means that I cannot study throughout the day for the timed writings and book tests, getting the tests over with early in the morning makes up for it because it makes me feel relieved that I won’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day.

The key part of English III being better than English I and II is the discussions we have over each novel we read. I have walked out of the classroom on discussion days in awe when Lindner connects everything in the novel together. Starting with the placement of the three characters during the scaffold scene in the Scarlet Letter to the meaning of colors in The Gatsby with the egg and daisy flower. I am constantly mind blown when the whole novel connects together and makes semi-sense. Honestly during freshman and sophomore years of English I do not really remember why certain events occurred and how it connects with the novel.

Of course this semester I had ups and downs during the fall semester.

Overall, I think I improved with my blog post entries. Initially, I thought I was going to hate writing a blog post every week in fear of thinking that others will judge what I write; however, as more and more blog posts are assigned, I am more comfortable when others read my posts. Now, I like the blog post prompts and writing them; however on certain posts, it takes me hours to write, but once I finish writing one, I feel very accomplished and it makes my night better.

In contrast, I feel like I need to improve my timed writing skills a lot before the AP test in May. Initially, I thought timed writings in English III would be similar to ones we wrote in English II, but once we started discussing rhetorical analysis essays and then argumentation, everything was completely different. There is definitely room for improvement and to improve my timed writing score, I just need to practice more and more and maybe read some sample essays.

The first semester of English III has been a blast. The laid back feel with also getting work done in class made this semester fun. Hopefully next semester will be the same!

Comments

Posted on December 11, 2016 by melissa0525

Payton: In Payton’s blog, she talks about her love of photography and how photography opened her eyes to many different beauties of nature. She explains how her dad’s interest in photography not only brought her closer to photography, but it also developed a strong relationship between her dad. Payton explains how her and her dad travel to many different places and with the camera, they are able to capture the beauty of each different place. Also, the pictures she included in her blog post were great!

Caroline: In Caroline’s blog, she talks about her experience of getting a flu shot with a really nice woman who constantly cracked jokes to make her feel better. Getting flu shots is scary for most people (including me) and it is always nice to have someone by your side to help you get through the 5 seconds of pain. Caroline also explains that despite the fact that the woman was tired from working all day, she still made an effort to comfort her and make her day.

Emily: In Emily’s blog, she talks about her many nicknames. This interested me because for the few years I have known her, I never realized how many nicknames she had ranging from Emma LiLi the Pear Pear to the“Girl Who Builds Good Wagons Out of Mud”. The backstories of all her nicknames were unique and interesting to me. She also had two nicknames that rooted from Chinese.When she explained Emma LiLi the Pear Pear, I was amazed that Pear Pear was LiLi in English. Despite the fact that I knew Pear was Li in Chinese, I never realized that Emily’s last name meant the same!

Overall, commenting on my peers’ blogs helped me learn more about an aspect in their life.

The Great Gatsby

Posted on December 4, 2016 by melissa0525

Like many others, initially, I thought The Great Gatsby was a novel about the rich during the Roaring Twenties where people partied every day and drank like crazy; however over the course of the novel, I began to realize that The Great Gatsby had some deeper meaning that rich, drunk people partying. Although I have not completely understood the meaning of The Great Gatsby, I hope that as we discuss more about the novel in class, I can understand the true meaning of it.

From the three different articles, I have learned a wide range of pre Gatsby history.

The first interesting point made by The Denver Post was that “a group of publishing executives created the Council on Books in Wartime in 1942 to distribute cheap paperbacks to soldiers to boost morale.” and one of the novels distributed was The Great Gatsby. From all the soldiers in the military reading Fitzgerald’s novel “to take their mind off the war”, it helped the novel become a success in the future. Ironically, since The Great Gatsby was unsuccessful during that period, it was cheaper to buy so getting these copies of the novel in bulk was cheaper than getting a popular novel; however, since The Great Gatsby was loved by many of the soldiers, the military “propelled [the novel’s] postwar recognition as a great American novel.” It was interesting to learn that the novel had a great impact on the soldiers’ post war plans. According to The Denver Post, many soldiers went “back to college after the war.” Fitzgerald’s novel was not only a good read, but it also inspired soldiers to pursue an education after war.

Sadly, since Fitzgerald died in 1940, he died thinking that he was a failure and could not write a successful novel; however, in reality, his novel was a great success to individuals all around.

In the other two articles, Maureen Corrigan talks about her personal experiences with the novel and how the meaning of the novel changed over time. My first impression of the novel was similar to Corrigan’s. She thought that The Great Gatsby was “not a plot-driven novel and I also thought..it’s another novel about rich people.” In my opinion, some of the events that occur in the novel are interesting and towards the end of the book I thought the book was interesting and was sorta like a drama with all the different affairs and events that occur throughout the novel between the characters. A point that Corrigan made in her article was that “the message [in the novel is] to be the boat against the current, even though failure and death inevitably await you” which is basically “the doomed beauty of trying.” This stood out to me because the interpretation was one that I have not heard of and was accurate to the novel. Her interpretation took many years and she reread The Great Gatsby approximately 50 times, but as time goes on and as you reread the novel, you will come up with a deeper understanding of the authors intentions.

All in all, the articles broadened my mind over the meaning and history of The Great Gatsby.

Good Experiences

Posted on November 20, 2016 by melissa0525

I rarely go to Starbucks, but recently, I walked into the coffee shop not knowing that I would experience the best customer service.
One morning, I arrived at a Starbucks on a busy hectic time of day where coffee lovers and enthusiasts pushed others and waited impatiently for their coffee and the line was abnormally large; however, aside from the grouchy morning coffee lovers, one person stood out to me: the cashier/barista. There were two baristas working, but the one on the far right, Stacey, stood out to me the most even before I talked to her. Her attitude towards each customer felt genuine and sincere. Even though it was approximately 7:30 am and she has probably been working since 5:00 am, her treatment of each individual customer was over the top, positive, and energetic despite the fact it was early in the morning. The best part of standing in line was listening to her jokes.

Once it was my turn to order, she smiled widely and asked, “What can I get for you today?” in a cheerful, yet conversational tone making it feel like it was just a friend talking to me. After I told her my order, turns out both of us like the same drink. Then, we both talked for a while and afterwards she had offered me a water cup. Usually when I go to Starbucks, I would have to ask for a water cup with my order, but this time Stacey offered me one making me smile.

There are some people that can make or break your day and Stacey 100% made my day a positive one. She never lost her energy throughout the morning and she made every customer feel special and the world a happier place by her positivity.

P.S. She spelled my name right too. : )

Elisha Kane

Posted on November 4, 2016 by melissa0525

Elisha Kane, an American explorer, was educated as a physician that was a naval surgeon for the 1850 exploration to the Arctic cold. Elisha and a few other explorers embarked on the First Grinnell Expedition, which was an exploration created to help find the lost members of the Franklin Polar Expedition.

Before his years in the Franklin Polar Expedition, he attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. After an attack of rheumatic fever, “Kane possessed a courage and stamina which helped him to overcome this handicap and which served him well in later years” (Dictionary of Canadian Biography). His perseverance helped him pursue a career in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania rather than pursuing a career in civil engineering. Years after studying medicine and working at hospitals, “on the advice of his father, Kane applied for service in the United States Navy” (Dictionary of Canadian Biography). This sparked his future endeavors of becoming a naval commission officer on July 1, 1843.

In 1850, Kane became a surgeon to the First Grinnell Expedition, searching for Sir John Franklin, who had been missing for approximately 5 years from the Franklin Polar Expedition. The First Grinnell Expedition was basically a fail in reaching their goal of finding the missing men; however, Kane and his crew “found one of Franklin’s camps but no trace of the men” (World Digital Library). After the unsuccessful attempt find Franklin, Kane organized and planned his own expedition to help find the missing men. This expedition was called the Second Grinnell Expedition. During this trip, his “ship became icebound” (Britannica). While Kan was in the Arctic, he published a book over his “detailed observations about pack ice, icebergs, Arctic fish, and wildlife [and] the narrative is followed by a lengthy appendix that includes six documents” (World Digital Library). The six different documents were from different officials and navy leaders showing the instructions of the expedition and reports of the expedition. After a struggling journey, they were finally rescued in Greenland (it is interesting to know that as he sailed the ship to Greenland, he passed a sea that is now known as Kane Basin).

Afterwards, Kan received medals from the congress, societies were created in his honor, a crater on the moon was named for him, a ship was named for him, and the USPS created a postage stamp in his honor (Wikipedia). Unfortunately, Kane did not survive long enough to live through his fame; however, his dead body was brought from Havana, Cuba to New Orleans and carried by a funeral train to Philadelphia, his home town.

Sources:

World Digital Library

Dictionary of Canadian Biography

Britannica

Wikipedia

Coloring

Posted on October 30, 2016 by melissa0525

Hobbies? Other than playing violin, playing piano, and spending wayyyy too long watching YouTube videos, I do not really have any other hobbies; however I love coloring. Coloring? You might be wondering why a sixteen year old junior loves coloring and colors during her free time. Well, all in all, I think of coloring as a stress reliever from the jam packed days in my life. There are probably 56418976543187 different ways to color a picture and the exciting thing is that there are no wrong ways in approaching a picture (except if you color out the lines…please don’t).

Ever since I was able to hold a writing/coloring utensil, I immediately fell in love with coloring and the rest is history. After I got my first coloring book, every day I would color non stop until my hand started hurting. Back in the olden days, coloring was a way to pass time.

As a child, I would color similar pictures to this elephant.

But as I grew older, I started transitioning to coloring things like this.

Whenever I finish a challenging coloring page with thousands of different sections, a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Whether the picture is big or small, coloring helps me get through the tough and stressful times and calms me down. Coloring allows my mind to settle down and be carefree, leading to a more calm state of mind. Coloring not only helps me relieve stress, but it also opens my eyes to different color combinations and allows me to think creatively.

As a child, for Christmas, birthdays, or other occasions, my go to answer for a gift was a coloring book and coloring supplies like the ultimate crayola sets. As my free time diminished throughout the years, so has my time spent coloring; however the effect of coloring greatly helps me through the stressful time of high school.
Altogether, coloring as a hobby help developed my “artistic skills” and nowadays makes me feel like a child again. Coloring books aren’t just for kids.