Epitome of the Academy

This activity can be described as all of us going on a puzzle piece scavenger hunt together. Each of us were sent to locate and capture a different puzzle piece of Academy life, and we each contributed to a big picture. It was interesting that each of our puzzle pieces were different, yet served in painting the picture of what Academy life is really like. Through small group discussions, I was able to hear how each individual described their interpretation of what the Academy is. Some chose to observe the life inside the library, others decided to capture the life of people interacting outside. I decided to take the sundial and try to metaphorically relate each part of it to Academy life and the entire school life that we experience here. It’s great that, in essence, each of us really captured how we each identify Academy life, and to each of us, this is our incontestable truth. And while some had different truths, we all still managed to contribute in one way or another. Some of us, whose lives do not fully evolve around the Academy, chose to share their truth in just a distant, observing perspective. Others of us, to which the Academy means more, took it to a more personal level, and gave it more meaning. I like to think that our ideas and truths of the Academy can be represented by different puzzle pieces. While all different in size, shape, etc. we each nevertheless contributed to the big picture, the big puzzle.

Responsibility for Others

Because we live in an imperfect, imbalanced world some of us are more fortunate than some, while others, less. We are not always given a fair chance at life. Some of us are sitting at home in our mansions, getting waited on hand and foot, while others of us are sitting in poverty level housing and doing chores in unlit rooms with leaking roofs over our heads. Of course those are very extreme opposites, but because those opposites do occur in this world, we as human beings should feel responsible towards others who do not share the same privileges in life that we do.
While we are nonetheless all caught up in the midst of taking care of our own families, and ourselves I think we do owe our community, country, and world a favor by helping those less fortunate than our own. Granted, we do have our own financial issues and various other burdens, but we are responsible to others in the sense that we should give what we can. Whether it is a couple hours of community service on weekends, or some extra money to donate to the American Red Cross, every little bit counts. To think that if everyone did this, we would create and live in a more balanced world, and our good habits would be taught and then executed by future generations, allowing for the giving cycle to continue.

"The responsibility of all of us is to do the most with what we have." (Angelina Jolie).

Blog Purposes

I think that there are multi-purposes for this blog website, some of which we may not have realize yet (and will create throughout the course of this semester). The first use that came to my mind was that this could be used as a means of communication within our class. Through this website we can post our works (papers, poems, etc.), in which others could give peer feedback and give us editing opportunities. We can also receive assignments via this website, as well as get clarification on any assignments we may have not understood. As a class we can network and get to know more about one another, everyone’s writing styles, and even pick up on good ideas from one another's work. Most importantly, I think that this blog will assist in being a continuation of English class, outside of English class. Everyone will be able to improve as writers, thinkers, readers, and learners.

My Inspiration