Thankful

I am thankful for many things this year. The biggest one being that this year is better than last year.
We had to write this blog post about someone in our Brit Lit class that we are thankful for, and mine is Kamari because she's really nice and we have two classes together so I can always ask for her help on any assignments. Our class as a whole is very important, though. If any single person was missing the whole dynamic would be messed up. Happy Thanksgiving!

"Then he is dead?"

But is he really dead? Just kidding. But seriously, his actions were not worth the reward. And maybe I'm just saying that because in my opinion second in command is just as good, if not better than king because you have all these benefits, without people always plotting to kill/overthrow you, AND because his "rewards" lasted literally less than a week. And a result of his actions was becoming completely insane. So was loss of sanity and life for him and his wife really worth it? Doesn't seem so great to me. He lost EVERYTHING (friends, loyalty, sanity, health, his wife) for ONE thing which didn't even last him that long. And then he was killed. So yes, he really is dead.

"From the Crown to the Toe, Top-Full of Direst Cruelty"

Was Lady Macbeth filled with evil after reading that letter, or was she always secretly dark on the inside, and it took something like Macbeth being promised the kingdom, to bring it out? Either way, the whole phrasing of that quote was pretty creepy. And also, notice how they didn't say from "head" to the toe, but rather "crown" which has some significance since she's about to hint that she's going to kill the king for his crown.

I feel like she also might be part witch. Because this play so far has been showing that all witches are evil. So by transitive property, since she is so completely filled with evil, she must be a witch. And Macbeth married to a witch is BAD NEWS.

No New Tale to Tell

"Greed is the root of all evil."

I personally don't think it is the ROOT of all evil, but it's very very interconnected. Everything that has anything to do with evil has something to do with greed. In my opinion "evil" is circular, a vicious cycle, and so greed ties into everything. All of the Canterbury Tales have greed in them, but is greed really the root of the stories? Or is it merely related, and plays a big factor into it? The Wife of Bathe's tale wasn't directly about greed, but if you think about it, the knight greedily just took advantage of a woman, and then greedily thought he deserved a beautiful wife instead of an old hag, when really, he deserved to die alone.

Truth

Truth is a very relative thing. How can a person, (or "beast")  REALLY know what the truth is?
It's all about perspective. From Grendel's perspective, humans seem absolutely horrible and mindless, and seeing it from his point of view, I not only completely see where he is coming from, but I totally agree. Reading the story from Beowulf's point of view, a person wouldn't even dream that this terrible beast is acting on something deeper and greater than a person, but society and how screwed up it really is. It just seems like this crazy beast killing people at night.

Real life example: Take two people having an argument. Both are asked to share their side of the story. Their versions are both obviously very different. But they are also both telling the truth. They are both being COMPLETELY honest. How is this possible? How can two completely different stories both be true?

Back to the non-real life example: How can both Beowulf AND Grendel be telling such vastly different stories, yet viewed from their perspectives, both seem plausible, and well.... True?

HIDDEN WORD AND ANSWER = PERSPECTIVE

Modern Day Beowulf

Beowulf, to me, encompasses the Hollywood movie version of the "perfect", very stereotypical star football player. He is strong, loyal, fights for what he believes is right, and does NOT look like monster. He is the "hero" of the football team because he beats Grendel, the "bad guy" on the other team, but does it fairly, and with humbleness and it is quite an exciting "game". Right from the start everyone likes Beowulf and views him as this really great guy, just how if he was one of those jocks in the movies, everyone would know who he is and like him. He really gets through life easy, because everyone views him as this hero-like figure and he thinks of himself the same way. When he wants to mature and move on to a new phase in his life, it's sort of like the football player Beowulf wanting to go to college, and get more mature, fight bigger and better "battles". Also, (as would be depicted in this great Hollywood movie), When Beowulf is older, has grown up, he is still a model of society, and through the years and his various "fights" with different monsters, or in the movie, opposing teams and bosses, his head has deflated a little and he's a little wiser. But he is still forever viewed as the hero.

Me

       I'm not sure what to write. There are a lot of factors that make up "me."

       I love music. Listening to, creating, anything. I've been playing guitar since I was 10 and singing since  forever. When I grow up, I want to be a professional musician, even though all my friends equate this to being a professional hobo. My role models are either Paul McCartney (Self explanatory), Orianthi (dropped out of school at 15 to become the best female guitarist in the world), Carol King (amazing songwriter) or Messi. Even though I probably will never be as brilliant a player. Nor am I left footed.

       Right now, what I do aside from music, is play soccer. Club soccer takes up most of my time since we have practice every day, and it takes 2 hours to get there. Completely worth it though. Since we've lost 2 coaches for school I hope they don't cut the program or only make 2 teams. Although that probably won't happen. Because we all know how much Dr. Kenner values the sports teams, even outside of basketball.

       I'm not always the best student, but when I really enjoy something, I work hard at it. My favorite class is advanced guitar, even though I am only one of three girls, and one of them is going to drop the class. 

       I used to want to be a criminal lawyer who graduated from Harvard, but clearly I've changed a lot since I had that goal. I hope to be a better student this year, and make the most of my junior year. 

Go dolphins!