Aliyah's AP Blog

    Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is an African American based novel. This fiction story is about a character by the name of Janie Crawford, who finds her individuality through relationships. The relationship were not only within romantic ones, they also contained friendly and family ones. The major characters consisted of: Janie Crawford, Nanny, Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, Pheoby Watson, Nunkie, and Tea Cake. There were many conflicts throughout the novel. Janie had a hard time with her first marriage because she was actually forced into it. Her grandmother, Nanny, felt that marrying Logan Killicks was a great choice for her. Even though Janie did not love Logan, Nanny told her that eventually it may happen. This was a major conflict in the novel. Mostly because this made Janie began to follow someone else's path rather than hers. Another conflict would be Joe treating Janie like a status figure, instead of a wife. When Janie first met Joe, he seemed like...

Nothing really happened much, seeing that I'm stuck in the house. I am very proud of myself for turning in my senior project on time. I love how it cane out. I also found out the out exam will be a prose essay, so I've been looking through the workbook on that. With the test being online and 45 minutes long, I'm trying to prepare myself for the pressure that I'll be put under. Of course if I prepare now, I won't have that problem. Let's just pray everything goes right.

   This week I found out that all the schools in my county are shut down! Honestly, I knew this was going to happen because my friends in Georgia said that their school shut down. I am not that upset about it, I'm just grateful that we still are still graduating on time. We also found out that our AP test are going to be online as well. Of course, there's a good and bad side to this. On another note, I began to look through the book for poetry based free response questions. I did this due to the fact that this is most likely what the test will be on. I also went through the multiple choice quiz on AP Classroom. It was fairly easy since it was more poetry based, but I started to to lose focus towards the middle of the quiz. So that's something I need to work on. Overall, this week was great. Well, besides having to stay in the house.😂😂

While everything being canceled that the Class of 2020 was looking forward to, there is to work that needs to be done. I am honestly not upset about the fact that things are getting postponed/canceled because I am at peace, in a way. To prepare myself for the AP Exam, the one thing that is not getting canceled, I decided to take the first quiz on AP Classroom with no preparations. It may sound stupid, but it gives me a better chance to really scope out my weaknesses. One of them being second guessing myself. This is nothing new to me because test anxiety is real. The three biggest ones were: vocabulary, taking a complex question and breaking it down, and paying attention to word choices when choosing an answer. All of these have some type of strategy I can use, that have been mentioned by my teacher at least once. Hopefully, this workbook that I have recieved will be beneficial.

Today was a struggle. I spent all night trying to plan my essay for the 3rd quarter final. I decided to go to Mr. Rease for extra help during his free block because I was about to have a full blown panic attack. I really appreciated the fact that he took his time out help because he could have just brushed me to side to finish what he had to do. I feel pretty good about my essay, but I really need to the critisim to improve.

Field Trip

    Today we did speed dating with a prompt. Even though I took AP Lang last year, I still struggle with the pressure of interpreting the prompt and planing the essay. I think throughout the process I beat myself up a lot. That adds more stress on me. A part of me did not feel as bad because I was not the only one who did not understand. I did not feel alone. Later on in the class, we asked questions about the whole process. Now, I am going to just practice the tips Mr. Rease gave and go from there!

   In chapter 20, Amir and Farid are on their way to Kabul. Amir experiences his first encounter with the Taliban. Farid tells Amir not to look at their eyes. This kind of paralleled to the Afghan culture with women. Soon after, a beggar walks up. Of course, he asked for money. What he had in exchange was priceless. It turns out he taught at the same school as Amir's mother. He could not remember much, he mentioned the food they shared and what she was afraid of. That was enough for Amir. Finally, they reached the orphanage. They asked for Sohrab, but the man at the door hesistated. When Amir reassured the man, known as Zaman, who he was he let them in. They found out a dark secret about the orphange when looking for Sohrab. Every once in the while, children would be sold. This made Farid unhappy, he nearly killed Zaman. At the end, both Amir and Farid set out, once again, to find Sohrab.

Chapter 19 was a very detailed chapter. It illustrated the true life of Afghanistan while the Taliban had taken over. Amir explains he felt like a tourist because of how much his home land evolved. Farid had mistaken Amir's reason for coming back. All the while, Amir really took in his surroundings. He noticed how Farid's brother lived. While asleep, Amir dreamed of being the killer who killed Hassan. Note that in his dream, he alludes to the man being Hassan by the kneeled man saying "for you a thousand times over." At the end of the chapter, Farid apoligizes for mistaking Amir's motive for coming back to Afghanistan. He agrees to help Amir find Sohrab.

Chapter 10 was a rollercoaster. Amir and Baba are traveling to Pakistan, a character named Karim is the driver. They travel through many cities, in order to reach their destination. One of the Russian soldiers had their eye set on a man's wife. He wanted to have some alone time with her as an exchange for the price of giving the family a ride. The husband responded with saying they paid him enough. Baba ended up interfering with the situation, trying to be the hero. Amir also felt embarrased while on the ride because of his motion sickness. There was conflict between Baba and Karim. Baba tried to kill Karim because of the predicament they were in. Towards the end of the chapter there was a mass of chaos. Kamal's father was crying for his son to come back to life. As a result Kamal killed Karim.

Chapter 9 is probably the most sorrowful yet. In this chapter, Amir recieved gifts from Baba. He had nonchalent attititude towards them, but he did recieve one of the best bycicles out there. The best gift Amir seemed to recieve was a gift Ali and Hassan had got him. It was a rendition of a book he previously had that was tattered and worn. Later on in the chapter, Amir got money from his stack of gifts as well as some of the gifts in the stack. He put them in the shack where Hassan lived. No too long afterwards, a meeting was held in Baba's office. Baba asked if Hassan had stolen the items that once belonged to Amir. Hassan replied with a simple yes. This lie soon ended the life that Amir had lived all of his years of living. We find that Hassan new the while time and told Ali. Ali made the decision to leave. He decided they were going to move to Hazarajat with his cousin. This devestated Baba, knowing he was losing his life long friend. Amir finally had seen the pain he had cause...

   Chapter 8 begans sort of slow. Amir is explaining how his father and two dozens of others traveled to Jalalabad. Amir gets motion sickness and ruins his cousin's dress. Later on in the chapter, the corruption of Amir's secret begins to settle in. Some time has passed after the rape of Hassan that Amir witnessed. He still has yet to tell anyone. On the trip, when everyone else is sleeping, Amir whispers that he watched Hassan get raped. He explained he wished someone heard him so he could feel free. This event helped me to see the vunerable side of Amir. The only reason he feel the way he does it because he is trapped by the truth. If I was there, I would tell Amir it is okay to feel gulity, bur the truth will come out somehow. Another thing that is displayed in this chapter is the continuation of Amir and Hassan's complex relationship. It is said that Hassan tried multiple times to regain the original spark they had, but in anger and fear, Amir responded negatively. Here...

Chapter 6 is by far one of my favorite chapters. Amir discusses what winter break is like in Afghanistan. One of the biggest similarities between the U.S's winter break and Afghaistan's is how excited all the students are when it finally comes. A major difference is how some students stay back to take voluntary winter-courses. I'm assuming it is something like summer school here without the volunteering. Further along in this chapter, Amir discusses the kite flying competitions that would go on. There was a contrast shown between Amir and his father when Baba asked Amir if he was going to win the tournament. This obviously ignites something in Amir to want to win, yet it suggest that the fire was not in him prior to this conversation. Now, we reach the part where we find out why Amir really wants to win. It is not to live up to his father's past accomplishments, but to gain that fatherly attention he longs for. The chapter ends with a meeting being held in Baba's of...

Chapter 4 really interesting me. I made multiple connections with Amir. I made a connection with him when he completed his first story. It reminded me of the times in elementary and middle school where we had to write our own fictional stories. I would be proud when teachers said my writings were outstanding. I was also intrigued at how Baba never called Ali his friend and how it connected to Hassan's and Amir's relationship. The way of living for the character's was introduced as well. I was amazed at how Ali and Hassan have to  care for Baba and Amir. In chapter 5, 

   To introduce the class, we gave presentaions of Afghanistan's background. I found the diffrences in their culture amusing. We began reading The Kite Runner. As of right now I have began to read chapters 2 and 3. So far in chapter 2, close friends Amir and Hassan has been announced. The history of their friendship is being explained as well as the differences between Hassan's houshold and Amir's household. One thing I found interesting was how Sanaubar, Hassan's mother, treated Ali and the reputation she carried. My heart dropped when the soldier made fun of Hassan because of his mother. He never knew his mother since she died 5 days after he was born, so I cannot imagine how he feels when he hears things as such about his mother. I believe it because of how people portrayed Sanaubar, that she treated Ali and Hassan that way. Now in chapter 3, I was introduced to some of Baba's history. Especially, from his childhood. He believes the only sin is theft and every ot...

    Unlike yesterday, I was the audience of my classmates. I enjoyed the recitations that were performed. Overall, I loved the fact that we as a class laughed together and had a great time. I hope we do something like this again soon. We recieved the new novel we will be reading in class, The Kite Runner  by Khaled Hosseini. From the reviews I read, it is going to be a great novel. I cannnot wait until we began reading tomorrow!

I really do not know how to start this blog off. I recited the poem "Equality" by Maya Angelou. In my opinion, I performed horribly. I was upset because I have been preparing for this since last week. Not to mention I recited it at church so that I could get used to it. Even with all of that, I still failed. I was embarrassed because of the fact that I worked hard, yet it seemed like I did everything the night before. Maybe next time I'll do better.

Today's class was centered around the relationship between a mother and her son. It made me think about single mother's relationships with their sons. I find a lot of times single mother's are put down, but they a houses of stength in my eyes. To raise kids alone in a household is a hard task. So applaud them. Overall, today was great!

Absent

Today I noticed a change in how I take notes. Last year, I struggled to take notes that I could understand. Here's what they look like.