HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!
TODAY is the 448th Birthday of who many people, including me, think is the best writer to have ever lived, William Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, and became one of the most influential playwrights in the world. He was born in a London suburb called Stratford-Upon-Avon, married Anne Hathaway at age 18, and later had twins named Hamnet and Judith, as well as an older girl named Susanna. Shakespeare moved to London around the turn of the century and became a playwright, one who quickly became the talk of London, even performing for the queen.
Shakespeare wrote thirty seven plays and many sonnets and longer poems, which were collected by his friends after his death in what is referred to as the First Folio. Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23rd, 1616, but his work will most likely live on forever.
The words of The Bard continue to shape our cultures and our worlds today, inspiring us and making us laugh and cry. He was a genius, and I wish him a very happy birthday today.
"Look, he is winding up the watch of his wit
By and by it will strike"
"Et tu, Brute?"
"If music be the food of love, play on"
"Be not afraid of greatness:
Some are born great, some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon 'em"
"A jest's prosperity lies in the ear of him that hears it,
Never in the tongue of him that makes it"
Monday, April 23, 2012
The State of Things
Quick List...
GOOD:
Feeling Energized on Mondays
92 on a Math Test, not to brag or anything...
Service of All the Dead by Colin Dexter
Writing lost scenes for Julius Caesar (ghosts, anyone?)
Understanding Circles in Math Class
Ein Mann Zu Viel, our short but authentic German crime book
Reading Poetry
Drinking hot tea for breakfast on a cold day
Listening to David Copperfield while doing homework
Modern Dance
Wet flowers to take Pictures of
Chorus Concert Coming Up
NOT SO GOOD:
Persistant cold rain
Wind That Keeps You Awake
Rain that interferes with taking pictures
Lots of Homework
Earth Day (It always makes me sad...Why can't every day be earth day? Do we need to commercialize our bad effect on the environment? It's not really helping anyone...)
Worrying about Chelsea vs. Barcelona if Drogba is injured :(
Luckily, there is more good than bad...I should do this more often!
Claire
GOOD:
Feeling Energized on Mondays
92 on a Math Test, not to brag or anything...
Service of All the Dead by Colin Dexter
Writing lost scenes for Julius Caesar (ghosts, anyone?)
Understanding Circles in Math Class
Ein Mann Zu Viel, our short but authentic German crime book
Reading Poetry
Drinking hot tea for breakfast on a cold day
Listening to David Copperfield while doing homework
Modern Dance
Wet flowers to take Pictures of
Chorus Concert Coming Up
NOT SO GOOD:
Persistant cold rain
Wind That Keeps You Awake
Rain that interferes with taking pictures
Lots of Homework
Earth Day (It always makes me sad...Why can't every day be earth day? Do we need to commercialize our bad effect on the environment? It's not really helping anyone...)
Worrying about Chelsea vs. Barcelona if Drogba is injured :(
Luckily, there is more good than bad...I should do this more often!
Claire
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Julius Caesar
The spring term is a new term, and I am happily pushing myself to try new things and continue working hard. On Wednesday, I had a very hard math test on concurrency and similar shapes, and a German "Quest" on past participles and means of transportation. With my dad, I started Julius Caesar, because we really wanted to read a traditional tragedy before the end of the year. Julius Caesar is another Shakespeare play, with large strains of political and military conflict. I love the moodiness already present in the first act, and the complex characters and their relationships with each other.
Also Shakespeare, one of today's projects is writing a first draft of my paper for the play Henry IV Part One. I am excited to get something about that play on paper. Another thing to do today is take some bricks out of the garden. We are preparing to go through and get all the roots out, but first we need to take out some old bricks that had been in the ground from a garden a long time ago.
Going out into the garden now, and hopefully it is warm outside!
Claire
Also Shakespeare, one of today's projects is writing a first draft of my paper for the play Henry IV Part One. I am excited to get something about that play on paper. Another thing to do today is take some bricks out of the garden. We are preparing to go through and get all the roots out, but first we need to take out some old bricks that had been in the ground from a garden a long time ago.
Going out into the garden now, and hopefully it is warm outside!
Claire
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Garden
Garden:
Currently, our yard is a mess of overgrown vines, weeds, and dead branches left over from winter. Ever since we moved to this house, we have wanted to whip our garden into shape. The ideal would be a small flower garden, and maybe even a vegetable garden. The garden is my spring project, and I am determined to make it beautiful. Hopefully I will be posting pictures of it as it moves along.
Science:
I know that my science has been slightly lacking so far this year. I am planning on really exploring science more in the spring. I am interested in environmental science and sociology, but I think I will also be looking into biology more in preparation for next year. Right now, I am making a poster for a competition on energy consumption, and I will write about it more when I am done.
Dance and Chorus:
I am very excited to get back to chorus after the break, and I can't wait for more music there. This term, I am also starting to learn dance, which has always interested me, but I have never had the chance to begin. It is a wonderful opportunity this year, which is all about trying new things.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Pictures
Sometimes I am at a loss for words. Sometimes I simply do not feel like talking. I love photography because it tells the story for you. No need for typing. Here are a couple pictures I feel like posting.
Claire
Friday, March 9, 2012
Project 365
Last fall, I realized that I liked photography. I think it was on a ferry, when I took my camera up to the top deck and realized it was fun to take pictures even if they are not necessary or embarrassing to the subject. I started taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures, even though at the time I had an awful camera and not much knowledge about photography. I started learning, took books from the library, and got a new camera for Christmas, which I absolutely love. Somewhere during that transformation, I realized that I didn't just like photography, I had started to love it.
On the first day of January in the new year, I stumbled across Project 365, which seemed like a wonderful idea. Home schooled kid, needs art, loves photography and would like the commitment. It seemed too good to be true (and it was free). Immediately, I started uploading and taking more photos, and I realized why I loved this thing so much in the first place. Project 365 is not about the one photo that you post every day, it is about the 27-ish awful photos that you took to get to that photo that you posted. Anyone who takes a couple, and sometimes a lot, of pictures per day is bound to get better, even if they don't have lessons or Photoshop to help them.
At first, I tried different effects, and was always messing with my photos to make them better. As I continue, and approach 20% finished, I have almost stopped editing my photos at all. I like their raw quality, and I would rather build a solid platform of knowing composition and lighting than learn fancy effects. Of course, I would love to learn all those Photoshoppy things, and I know I will, but for right now, the 365 days are enough.
I have learned that the 365 community is a tight knight group, and I love it. There is always someone there to say that you are amazing, and there is always a place to put your "Craptastic" photos and hopefully give someone else a laugh. There are people doing the entire project with their worst photos and admitting to it, and others who are professional photographers who manage to take masterpieces every day. I love the balance, and I love that most people on 365, no matter what level of expertise, love to take photos. I have also learned that 365 is what you make of it. When I spend half an hour idly searching photos and commenting, I get comments back. On days when I forget to post, there is no one to make me take a picture but myself.
Now I have found how to balance everything, or so I think. I take time to find new people and help them start their journey much like so many people helped start me. I procrastinate like crazy with the Discussion tab, and I write thoughtful comments instead of just saying "Great!"
Although my pictures may not be incredible, I can guarantee that every single one of them was taken with love. Every time I pick up my camera, I feel happy, and I am glad to know that at 365 I will be surrounded by people just as passionate as me.
Claire
On the first day of January in the new year, I stumbled across Project 365, which seemed like a wonderful idea. Home schooled kid, needs art, loves photography and would like the commitment. It seemed too good to be true (and it was free). Immediately, I started uploading and taking more photos, and I realized why I loved this thing so much in the first place. Project 365 is not about the one photo that you post every day, it is about the 27-ish awful photos that you took to get to that photo that you posted. Anyone who takes a couple, and sometimes a lot, of pictures per day is bound to get better, even if they don't have lessons or Photoshop to help them.
At first, I tried different effects, and was always messing with my photos to make them better. As I continue, and approach 20% finished, I have almost stopped editing my photos at all. I like their raw quality, and I would rather build a solid platform of knowing composition and lighting than learn fancy effects. Of course, I would love to learn all those Photoshoppy things, and I know I will, but for right now, the 365 days are enough.
I have learned that the 365 community is a tight knight group, and I love it. There is always someone there to say that you are amazing, and there is always a place to put your "Craptastic" photos and hopefully give someone else a laugh. There are people doing the entire project with their worst photos and admitting to it, and others who are professional photographers who manage to take masterpieces every day. I love the balance, and I love that most people on 365, no matter what level of expertise, love to take photos. I have also learned that 365 is what you make of it. When I spend half an hour idly searching photos and commenting, I get comments back. On days when I forget to post, there is no one to make me take a picture but myself.
Now I have found how to balance everything, or so I think. I take time to find new people and help them start their journey much like so many people helped start me. I procrastinate like crazy with the Discussion tab, and I write thoughtful comments instead of just saying "Great!"
Although my pictures may not be incredible, I can guarantee that every single one of them was taken with love. Every time I pick up my camera, I feel happy, and I am glad to know that at 365 I will be surrounded by people just as passionate as me.
Claire
Stephen Greenblatt
Last night I went to the local bookstore to hear Stephen Greenblatt, author of Will in the World and editor of the Norton Shakespeare, speak about his latest book. This new bit of genius is called The Swerve, and it is the fascinating tale of a poem that was thought to have been lost, but was unexpectedly found.
First, I think I have mentioned a few hundred times before that I love Shakespeare...I love him as a writer, as a playwright, as a poet, and as a person who uniquely understood the human race. When I read Stephen Greenblatt's stunning biography, called Will in the World, I was blown away by both the writer from London so many years ago, and the writer who made it his mission to discover all he could about someone who is viewed as one of the greatest writers of all time. Greenblatt's prose is academic, but strikingly relatable and easy to read. He weaves a nonfiction story with the ease of a poet, and manages to keep you interested through every chapter and every page. Anyway, Will in the World is an incredible piece of work, and I was so happy to have gotten it as a Christmas present and had the opportunity to read it.
When I heard that Mr. Greenblatt was coming to speak at the bookstore in town, I was incredibly excited. Here was a larger than life character, someone so knowledgable that he was asked to edit one of the most popular Shakespeare editions, and he was coming to talk at our small bookstore. I counted the days, the hours until he came.
Stephen was no stuffy or condescending academic. He was an older gentleman with a slightly scratchy voice and head of thinning hair, but when he spoke, everyone listened. Here was the man who had written many other books, taught classes, and knew so much about history. He was incredibly genuine, nervously shuffling notecards before he started to speak, and stuttering occasionally, but the audience, including me, were under a spell.
Mr. Greenblatt told us the story of an Italian scribe and obsessive book collector, who found in Germany in the early 1400's a piece of poetry that was thought to have been lost. His tale was one of books and scribes, poets and philosophers, and after the brief talk, only about an hour or even less, we felt connected not only to him, but to the Roman poet Lucretius and the German text collector.
At the end, Mr. Greenblatt signed my copy of Will in the World with a warm smile and questions about my life. When I told him it had been my favorite Christmas present, he patted my shoulder and said thank you, leaving me to stagger away, wondering how much of the evening had been real.
First, I think I have mentioned a few hundred times before that I love Shakespeare...I love him as a writer, as a playwright, as a poet, and as a person who uniquely understood the human race. When I read Stephen Greenblatt's stunning biography, called Will in the World, I was blown away by both the writer from London so many years ago, and the writer who made it his mission to discover all he could about someone who is viewed as one of the greatest writers of all time. Greenblatt's prose is academic, but strikingly relatable and easy to read. He weaves a nonfiction story with the ease of a poet, and manages to keep you interested through every chapter and every page. Anyway, Will in the World is an incredible piece of work, and I was so happy to have gotten it as a Christmas present and had the opportunity to read it.
When I heard that Mr. Greenblatt was coming to speak at the bookstore in town, I was incredibly excited. Here was a larger than life character, someone so knowledgable that he was asked to edit one of the most popular Shakespeare editions, and he was coming to talk at our small bookstore. I counted the days, the hours until he came.
Stephen was no stuffy or condescending academic. He was an older gentleman with a slightly scratchy voice and head of thinning hair, but when he spoke, everyone listened. Here was the man who had written many other books, taught classes, and knew so much about history. He was incredibly genuine, nervously shuffling notecards before he started to speak, and stuttering occasionally, but the audience, including me, were under a spell.
Mr. Greenblatt told us the story of an Italian scribe and obsessive book collector, who found in Germany in the early 1400's a piece of poetry that was thought to have been lost. His tale was one of books and scribes, poets and philosophers, and after the brief talk, only about an hour or even less, we felt connected not only to him, but to the Roman poet Lucretius and the German text collector.
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