My Big Question

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZGp-ZZTfyCKm_mgkfWx-KCRCQVBliwPFArFC1AHdSqQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Do you ever have those moments when you have nothing in your head? I feel like I've been getting those moments a lot. It feels like I'm getting less and less creative every day. Is it school, is it my habits, or what? Well, instead of just complaining about it, I think I'm going to read more books again. I'm pretty sure reading ignited some thinking into my brain when I was really into books in the middle of the school year, so I might as well start reading again. That means I'm going to be going to Barnes and Noble's really often. It's better to do something than just do nothing at all and complain about how crappy your life is.

IGNITE TALK

BIG QUESTION: I feel as though I have terrible memory, and it is terribly frustrating when I can't remember something. How can I improve my memory skills for language, music, and basically, every part of my life?

Over the break, I started my research by spending one day doing what I believed to be the best way to improve my memory skills which is repetition. In terms of music and foreign language, I just repeated parts of music sheets I had trouble on, and I repeated words I had difficulty saying for my foreign language.

The next day I started doing research on memory. Surprisingly, I learned that the first step towards better memory skills is a healthy lifestyle. You need to eat healthy, get enough sleep, and drink plenty of water. The nest step towards better memory skills is a term called Mnemonics. It is a memory device to help remember facts or a large amount of information. It can be a song, rhyme, acronym, image, or a phrase to help remember a list of facts in a certain order. I will do more research in the future to determine if these Mnemonics actually work.

Finally, I connected my big question with Fahrenheit 451 in the way that the homeless scholars in the forest were "books". They remembered books from the past by just using their memory. This part amazed me because I could barely remember some lyrics to a song. In the future, I hope I will be able to recite large portions of information.

THE CHASE IS ON

1. The Hound attacked Montag because he killed Beatty. Montag also secretly kept books in his house, and he was becoming different.

2. Montag defended himself by using a flamethrower. He used the flamethrower to kill Beatty and the Mechanical Hound.

3. Montag realized that Beatty wanted to die. Beatty was literally asking Montag to pull the trigger.

4. Montag went to a gas station to wash his face and hands. Afterward, he starts heading towards Faber's house.

5. When Montag crossed the street. he was almost hit by a car. He thought it was a police car, but it ended up being a car full of kids.

F451 Questions

1. In the scene where Mildred and Montag read books together, Montag is more accepting to reading the books than Mildred. Montag tries to understand what is in the books while Mildred just complains the whole time.

2. The bombers help show the characters emotions during a scene. They help depict whether a character is furious, scared, out depressed.

3. Professor Faber is an English professor who was still alive when books were around. He stands by as books and intellectual life decline. Faber later explains what books mean to him, and he helps Montag with his plans.

4. Montag’s reaction to the commercial on the subway is a turning point in his life. How does he react and why?

5. Professor Faber argues that there are three things necessary for books: quality, leisure, and ability to apply information from books. He then explains that the only importance of books is what is written on them.


6. What is the “small green metal object”?
7. What does the White Clown show lead you to believe about television programming in this society?
8. Why does Mrs. Phelps cry when Montag reads “Dover Beach”?
9. What is Montag’s destination at the end of section II? Why?

HIGHER EDUCATION WEEK

     The college fair was amazing. Even though UC San Diego wasn't there, I was still able to learn more about other colleges and universities. The presenters for each school were passionate about their own schools which made the experience better. Since I always focused on my dream school, I never gave other colleges a second look, but I was wrong to do that because colleges and universities like Westmont College and UC Irvine actually piqued my interest. They gave me really great information on their majors and tuition while being extremely passionate about their schools, so I became engulfed in their presentations. I actually got really interested at a UCSB table about geology because the presenter looked like she really loved what she was doing. One day, I hope I'll be able to talk for hours about my major and career like her. In the end, I left the college fair with a lot going on in my head, but I was glad that I took the time to look at other colleges and universities.

WHAT I SEE IN LITERATURE

"And I have known the eyes already, known them all—

The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,

And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,

When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,"

These lines in the poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot help show the theme which is knowing the value of oneself. Throughout the poem, we get a depressing vibe from the author because he makes himself sound so insignificant. He doesn't think highly of himself, and every line talks about how even though his life goes on, he hasn't done anything with it. The author has basically hit rock bottom, and he's describing his experience with it. Because he thinks of himslef as a failure, the whole poem is really depressing and miserable.