As we near the end of our journey here, we will close the door on this portion of our lives and open another door to the rest of our lives. While we will move on and embark on our upcoming paths, we will still reflect back on the path that got us to where we will be at the time. When I look back on my Buckley experience I want to remember only the best aspects of this school. I want to remember my first day at Buckley; I want to remember the feeling of accomplishment and happiness I experienced from my fifth grade graduation; I want to remember the profound impact Buckley had on me -- one that drew me back here even after deciding to leave for a year; I want to remember the crazy, yet rewarding college application process; I want to remember the unforgettable senior retreat; I want to remember the sheer triumph I felt when I was accepted to my first choice university in the early decision round; I want to remember the unbreakable and irreplaceable bond I have formed with my extended family -- the Class of 2012.

LET'S RAGE B**CHEZ

Creative Blog

This summer I am traveling! For as long as I can remember I've had something to do for school over the summer (summer reading, summer homework, etc). This year is my FIRST year that I have absolutely nothingggggg that I HAVE to do. I am taking full advantage of this and I've decided to travel.

I will probably start my summer off by taking a girls trip to my home in Napa. After that, I am tagging along with my dad on his work trips to Paris, Florence, and Berlin for a little over a week. I am very excited to go on this trip particularly. I have never been to Germany and I've never been to Florence either so I'm excited to discover these new places! After that, I will be going to St. Tropez and staying with some family friends. After that, there is a 50/50 chance that I could go to Hungary. I've also never been to Hungary so that could be a fun, new experience. After that, I have orientation! So scary! Depending on how ready I feel for college and moving I might go to Barcelona.

I really want to make this summer about discovering new places and doing things I've never done before. The majority of the places I'm going this summer are places I have never been to before. Should be fun!

First year req.

SUMMARY OF GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS*

Credit Hours

Fundamentals

1. Written English (Rhetoric) 6 

2. Mathematical Sciences 3 

3. Information Technology 3

Wellness 2 

Science/Technology (at least 3 hours must be in a natural science) 6 

Perspectives 15 

Cultural Formations 6 

Human Diversity (cocurricular hours) 3

Total Hours 41

ENGL 1301

ENGL 1302 

MATH 1309 Introduction to Calculus for Business and Social Science

CSE 1340 Introduction to Computing Concepts OR EMIS 1307 Information Technology in Business

WELL 1101: Concepts of Wellness. OR WELL 2119 Pilates

PHYS 1301 The Ideas of Modern Physics OR PHYS 1314 The Physical Perspective

ME 1202 and 1102 Introduction to Engineering

PHIL 1300 An Introduction to Practical Reasoning

PHIL 1317 Business Ethics

HIST 2398 American Politics and Culture: FDR to Obama OR HIST 3341 Soviet/Post-Soviet Society and Politics, 1917 to the Present

PSYC 1300 Introduction to Psychology

PSYC 2319 Social Psychology

ECO 1311 Principles: Consumers, Firms, Markets (Microeconomics)

*CF 3306 (HIST 3363). The Holocaust.

Requirements

General Education Requirements Fall 2012

The Perspectives requirement is for one course from each of 5 of the 6 groups listed

-Arts

-Literature

-History/Art History

-Politics/Economics

-Religious/Philosophical Thought

-Behavioral Sciences

The Information Technology requirement is 3 semester hours

The Science/Technology requirement is two lab courses (minimum 6 semester hours),

at least one of which must be from biology, chemistry, geology, physics, or CEE 1331

Reuqirements for a BA in Psychology

Credit Hours

1. Prior to declaring a psychology major, the following 9 hours must be completed, with a combined average of 

     2.000 or better with no individual grade less than a C- :

     PSYC 1300 Introduction to Psychology 

        PSYC 2301 Research Methods in Psychology 

        STAT 2331 Introduction to Statistical Methods or STAT 2301 Statistics for Modern Business Decisions 

2. Five courses chosen from the following:

        PSYC 2314 Developmental Psychology 

        PSYC 2319 Social Psychology 

        PSYC 2351 Abnormal Psychology 

        PSYC 3310 Memory and Cognition 

        PSYC 3360 Health Psychology

        PSYC 3370 Personality

        PSYC 4320 Biological Psychology 

3. A total of 12 additional hours at the 3000 level or above

Total Hours 36

Loveless Sex

"Sex without Love" by Sharon Olds says exactly what it means. The title of the poem definitely gives way into the poem and its message. The first line and a half says "How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?" Immediately, the poem questions having sex without love. As the poem progresses, the idea of sex without love becomes more of an idea of detachment. In Donald Hall's "Safe Sex" the title leads the reader to the conception that the poem will be about literal safe sex as is in from babies and diseases. However, the poem actually encourages loveless sex to protect oneself from getting hurt and suffering whereas "Sex without Love" merely questions the subject.

Blog about my blogging

I plan to blog about beauty. I have a true passion and interest in beauty and I would love to do something a little more involved with it rather than just look at pictures, etc. Being able to share these with people would be great! Depending on how this little test run goes, maybe I will continue my blog in college. The beauty I am interested in is very visual so I don't plan on having much text on my blog. Maybe a caption for some photos but I want my viewers/readers to be able to come up with their own take on my photos rather than me implanting an idea or opinion in their minds. The way in which I plan to get word out about my blog is either through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or emailing. As of now I plan to blog on Tuesdays since most blogging traffic falls on Tuesdays and Thursdays according to our guest speaker in class yesterday, Lindsay Jones. I think Tuesdays would be good because I wouldn't have the sadness of the weekend just ending as I would on Monday and Thursdays I would just want the week to be over so I think Tuesdays are close enough to the beginning of the week that I will have fresh ideas and not too far into the week so I won't be worn down.

Safe S-x

Donald Hill's "Safe Sex" looks at casual and loveless sex. The speaker offers several conditions to have sex without, essentially, getting hurt. The tone in the poem is very detached from the speaker's emotions and really only conveys a sense of past betrayal or heartache. The title of the poem also leads the reader to a misconception that the poem is about protected sex from diseases and babies. However, the speaker instead speaks about protecting himself from hurt and being hurt by someone who he is sexually involved with because feelings and emotions inevitably come from this type of involvement unless he and his partner abide by the conditions listed at the beginning. 

Poem v. Photo

Both the poem and the photograph convey a glum and negative tone due to the subject at hand. War is known to not be a positive thing in general. However, the poem and the photograph treat the humans involved in each very differently. The poem refers to soldiers as "cattle"  which is a term widely used to group people into one rather than to acknowledge individuals. The poem also uses the word "shells" to describe where the noise was coming from. Furthermore, the poem does not acknowledge individuality and rather groups people into one category. On the other hand, the photo shows two soldiers. Since there are only two of them we are forced to recognize their faces and their existences thus leading us to acknowledge a sense of individuality.

Camus

"Finally I realized that some of the old people were sucking at the insides of their cheeks and making these weird smacking noises. They were so lost in their thoughts that they weren't even aware of it. I even had the impression that the dead woman lying in front of them didn't mean anything to them." This passage stood out to me because the narrator seems extremely detached from the situation at hand. His mother has recently passed and he is with the friends of his deceased mother. What stood out to me most what the fact that he refers to his mother as "the dead woman" rather than "my mother" or "their lost friend" or something a little bit more personal. Overall, this passage is a perfect example of his emotional detachment while narrating and his focus on the facts and events.

Genesis

Genesis has a completely different style from that of Darwin's writings. Genesis is far more connected to the idea that God created man as opposed to Darwin's text that suggests a creator but does not specify who is this creator. Additionally, Darwin touches upon the idea of natural selection and the fittest survive hence yet are at the top. Furthermore, Genesis again is more religious sounding than the text of Darwin.

Darwin

      In Darwin's Origin of Species, chapter 14, he writes "Judging from the past, we may safely infer that not one living species will transmit its unaltered likeness to the distant futurity." Here, Darwin addresses the crucial concept of natural selection which is more commonly known as and referred to as 'survival of the fittest.' Darwin eloquently conveys such an idea that is true throughout life on earth and, more specifically, throughout evolution of nature, animals, and mankind. Furthermore, Darwin justifies his claim that not just one species will last forever without changing at all according to its environment, surroundings, etc. by acknowledging the past. Looking back on human kind, the animal kingdom, and nature, we see numerous accounts of natural selection. This natural selection perfectly explains the reasons for evolution throughout  any species.

Introoooooo

While for the most part conformity is associated with older generations and even the “old world,” resistance to conformity is connected with youth and modern life. Born ?? years ago in Morocco, my grandmother embodies in many ways a person of the old world. In Morocco during the 1930s, my grandmother would have been expected to devote herself to family, adhere to devout Judaism, and uphold strong moral standards. In America during the early 21^st century, many women would not technically be “expected” to do anything. Today in Beverly Hills, she has imported habits of conformity from her earlier life in Morocco and France that include completely lady-like behavior and attire and strict observance of religious practices. But wait just a second there—if she has not adapted to American culture, language, and social norms, then couldn’t we say that she is in fact refusing to dismiss her roots and true identity? So, in essence, isn’t she discreetly rebelling against the “new world” in which she now lives? While on the surface my grandmother appears to conform completely to traditional social and family roles, religious views, and moral standards, she is actually subtly resisting conformity in terms of Americanization, modernization, and secularization.

Conformity Blawg Numba Two

I have just been continuing to think about conformity and pressure in regards to my grandmother. So far, I've just been thinking of what questions to ask her and brainstorming about how exactly I should ask these questions in a way that would not offend her and ask her questions in a way that she would be able to understand. Additionally, I will have to make sure to make the questions simple enough that she can answer and I can thoroughly understand her as well. I say this because she does not speak a word of english. This is even another example of how stuck in her ways because that is the way she was raised.

Conformity

I am not going to focus on pressure but rather the lack thereof. I say this because in my grandmother's circumstances, being raised to go along with society's ways of life was just normal for her. This is why I say that there is a lack of pressure because rather than being forced to do certain things, she was kept from doing certain things. For example, she was never taught to read or write because women were not allowed to so when she was younger. To this day she has still not been taught to read or write because that is how she was raised: thinking that women are not supposed to read or write. Another example of this is that sterotypes that used to be the norm and now would be considered outrageous, she still believes and follows; again, because that is how she was raised. So, my view on the situation is really that we as humans have evolved and become more educated about the world and people.

Body 2 Draft

Conrad’s color symbolism throughout the novella thus forces the reader to think in unconventional ways, just as Marlow and Kurtz do, seeing as they are placed in a setting in which they are unleashed from their conventional selves and their real selves are unveiled. In addition to paralleling the themes of the novella, the reversed symbolism initially confuses the reader, and in fact creates yet another parallel, that instead of paralleling the themes, parallels the plot of the novella: due to the reversal of symbolism, the reader must learn an unfamiliar symbolism system and progressively adjust to this just as Marlow was initially presented with an unfamiliar setting/surrounding and form of his own self and also progressively must adjust to these unfamiliarities. Additionally, the reverse symbolism creates an obstacle for the reader that retards the reader’s understanding of the novella, and thus the reader’s difficulty in comprehension parallels to the hardships and difficulties of Marlow’s journey through the heart of darkness. 

Body Paragraph

Among the themes of Conrad’s novella that involve color symbolism include discovering that people are not who they may think they are, and taking a chance in veering away from one’s potentially repressed truth in order to discover (possibly unwanted) truths. Kurtz’ African mistress and his European intended embody the color symbolism of the two extremes: dark and light. When Marlow first sees the “wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman,” he responds to her natural freedom and beauty in an honest and sensual way, both of which would normally be repressed, but they are not because of this natural being.  Both Marlow and Kurtz unleash their genuine urges in the presence of this woman of dark complexion. She releases and highlights what Freud would call their ids. In his introduction to Psychoanalytic Criticism and Heart of Darkness describes as “the predominantly passional, irrational, unknown, and unconscious part of the psyche.” By moving “along the lighted shore” the woman helps both Marlow and Kurtz discover their once hidden and repressed desires. 

Intro

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, he deliberately and carefully juxtaposes a number of opposites in order to emphasize how different each race, continent, and level of civilization is. However, unlike most authors, Conrad takes the notion of opposites one step further and reverses the color symbolism throughout the novella. In reading the reflection on Marlow’s journey into the heart of darkness – Africa – the reader faces the challenge of understanding Conrad’s reversed color symbolism. The primary element of Conrad’s writing tactic would be how the heart of darkness actually illuminates the characters’ true selves, thus failing to coincide with the conventional notion that darkness symbolizes hidden or repressed ideas. 

Essay topic

I have decided to focus my essay on setting and how Conrad utilizes the setting of Heart of Darkness as a metaphor for the human psyche. More specifically, Conrad uses the jungle as a metaphor for the id. I am going to focus on Kurtz and how the jungle affects him as it brings out his “true” savage self. Additionally, as Marlow goes further and further into the “heart of darkness” he discovers and witnesses the darkness’ affect on people from an outsider’s perspective. From Marlow’s perspective he gets to see things like Kurtz’ madness, cannibalism, etc. all as results of the setting of darkness. I intend to use Murfin’s explanation of psychoanalytic criticism as well as Karl’s interpretation of Conrad’s novella in order to further explore and back up my points. 

Karl

One part of Karl's psychoanalytic criticism of Conrad's Heart of Darkness is when he compares Freud and Conrad to one another through their similar penetration into darkness. Karl then proceeds to explain the correlation between darkness and its parallel, and possibly even a metaphorical interpretation, as he links darkness to the darkness we enter as we sleep. Furthermore, Karl continues to propose that while one sleeps, in fact, their conscience also gets to sleep and thus the subconscience self is released free. In this sleep, they are then "free to pursue secret wishes." One specific statement I find interesting and I agree with is when Karl states "the key word is darkness, the black of the jungle for Conrad is the dark of the sleeping consciousness for Freud." I think this is a wonderful and powerful parallel between Conrad's story and Freud's psychoanalysis.

Murfin's Psychoanalytic Criticism

In Murfin's Psychoanalytical Criticism he explores many aspects of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Among his many ideas include an analysis of dreams and their correlation to language as they are mere unconscious representations of our innermost thoughts that even we may not be aware we have. This goes along with the Freudian concepts of the ego, superego, and the id. Essentially, Marlow completely emobodies the id as he dives into the "heart of darkness." Another interesting point that Murfin makes is that most readers are drawn to stories that do not resemble one's own life because the reader can vicariously live through the characters in the story. Additionally, the reader has the power to interpret each story as he or she wishes and visualize it how he or she believes it is meant to be visualized. I think this is very true among most readers and their processes in reading different stories.

Heart of Darkness - Q 5

In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow refers to the offices of his employers as a "whited sepulchre." Here, the immediate image that comes to mind is that of a tomb as that is another word for sepulchre. Because he characterizes the office of his employer as a tomb, this evokes an image of death. Additionally, the adjective used to describe this sepulchre is "whited." Furthermore, Conrad plays with color symbolism in this passage since the color white usually symbolizes innocence or wisdom; however, here, the color white symbolizes death. The description of the street leading up to the office develops this metaphor because the town is described as deserted and therefore lacks life, just as a tomb which is what he refers to the office as.