This Is Just To Say...

I am done
with high school
Our last day
May 13th

in which
another chapter in
our
lives begins

It's been
a great journey
so fun
and so bittersweet

Farewell Blog Entry

Dear Classmates,
Wow, I cannot believe we only have five days of school and AP English class left. We graduate in less than a month. We leave for college in approximately three months. Time has definitely flown by. For the past two years, we all have developed a special AP English bond that our peers outside of AP English could never understand. We have written countless papers, soapstones, data sheets, read many interesting books and have grown tremendously over the past two years. We were all in it together- through the stress, sleepless nights, intense classroom discussions and in-class writings. No matter what lies ahead of us, we are prepared. We can think critically, analyze thoroughly and argue constructively. Never forget the hard work ethic that Ms. Serensky has taught us. Just "Keep Calm and Carry On" through the difficult times that  lay ahead. Good luck next year. I will miss you call!
Sincerely,

Jackie

Top 10 Reasons to Take AP English

10. If you get an A on a major assignment, you get a large smiling sticker on your paper
9. You do not have to ask to leave the room
8. You become a much, much better critical thinker
7. You learn how to constrictively argue with others
6. You will read very interesting, thought-provoking books
5. You can share your thoughts and ideas in a creative manner through the use of your very own AP English Blog
4. If you are lucky enough to have a twin, you can look forward Ms. Serensky strategically seating you where you will always face each other
3. You learn how to write very well which will greatly prepare you for college
2. At the end of each quarter, you will participate in a thrilling, suspenseful multiple choice game which gives you an opportunity to earn extra credit
1. Who doesn't love writing poetry papers and 20 page data sheets? (30 page data sheets if your name is Thomas Donley) 











To Take AP English!!!

An Observation of the AP English Literature Exam

Randle McMurphy, Cecily Cardew and Ashima Ganguli gather together by a crowded window at Chagrin Falls High School. They observe a large room filled with desks organized in long rows. A student occupies each desk. Each student has a pen in hand, and a packet of papers on their desk that they appear to be intensely reading and analyzing.

McMurphy: "Man, what they got going on in there?" (Kesey 188)

Ashima: Looks like some sort of standardized testing. "Only in America" does standardized testing determine a lot about a students' future (Lahiri, 70). 

Cecily Cardew: Wow, these kids look so serious and focused! "Sometimes [students are] so serious that I think [they] cannot be quite well"(Wilde, 21). 

Ashima: Oh, I know what they are doing in there! They must be taking the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition exam! I just remembered reading about it in the New York Times. There was an article about AP testing which takes place the first two weeks in May. I read that each AP test costs $87. "Its so expensive. It doesn't make sense" (Lahiri, 45). 

McMurphy: dang, this looks like a "bunch of chickens at a peckin' party!" (Kesey, 57) Look at them, they won't stop writing! 

Cecily Cardew: If I ever had to take a test this important, I "fear that I should not be able to give...my undivided attention" (Wilde, 34).

McMurphy: Nah," you couldn't pay me to leave this place"(103). I'm sure taking this test would be much easier than a work farm! 

Ashima: McMurphy, I'm pretty sure this is a very difficult test. I "did not know a thing back then [when I was a teenager]" about English (Lahiri 285). That was when I lived in Calcutta, India.

McMurphy: You're wrong. I bet I could do good on this test! "Questions ain't bonebreakers, they ain't sticks and stones" (Kesey, 68). 

Cecily Cardew: Well, on the bright side, looks are the most important thing. Fortunately, I have reached "absolute perfection," Wilde (31)

McMurphy: that is some "tough luck" Cecily! (103). 

Cecily Cardew: Oh and I forgot to mention that  I am "very fond of being looked at" too! (Wilde  31,35)

Ashima: Now, now everyone. Focus. Look over there at that one girl in the corner. No, Cecily, "not so far" (Lahiri 53).  She's right there. "Only in America" are students allowed to wear a t-shirt and sweatpants to school (70). 

Cecily: Wow! "I must enter [this event] in my diary" (Wilde 34). 

McMurphy: (Sarcastically) Wow! I can't believe she is wearing that! "I sure [wouldn't ever] want to go against that damned policy" of a strict dress code! (Kesey 103). 

My Favorite Book out of the Three I Chose to Study for the AP Exam and Why

My favorite work of literature out of the three I have chosen to study would have to be  The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. This is because despite the many differences between Gogol and me, I feel like we are similar in the fundamental topic of personal identity. Gogol and I both run into many conflicts regarding our names. During Gogol's adolescence, he resents his parents for choosing such a name that he believes "has nothing to do with who he is" (85). Similarly, many times I have resented my twin and tried to convince myself that being a twin has nothing to do with who I am, but in actuality, it is a major part of who I am. Instead of gathering the courage to accept his name, Gogol later decides to change his name to "Nihkil." Although "Nihkil" adopts more of an American lifestyle, he loses sight of the most important thing in his life: his family. This greatly upsets his mother, Ashima, as, "[Gogol's] independence, [his] need to keep [his] distance from her, is something she will never understand" (166). Similarly, when I used to complain to my mother about how much I hated being a twin and how much I wanted to keep my distance from my twin, she would become upset because she believes that twins are a special, rare blessing. Gogol also "hates wearing a nametag," which is something that I agree with because it bothers me when people don't automatically know that I am Jackie and not Meghan. By the end of the novel, Gogol finally accepts his true identity and the significance of his name when he "starts to read ["The Overcoat"]" (291). Now that I am leaving for college in a few short months, I have accepted my true identity of an identical twin, and rather than getting upset, I can simply laugh it off after Ms. Serensky mistakenly gives me the wrong papers and upon realizing it, blurts out, "Sorry Jackie".

"Top Ten Most Thrilling Academic Moments of My High School Career"

1 Receiving my letter from Bucknell University regarding my acceptance and enrollment for the class of 2015: "In this chloistered wilderness, [I am] free" ( Lahiri, 158)

2. Finishing my first data sheet for the novel Othello: "She knows this is home nevertheless" (Lahiri 280)

3. Constructing a bridge made out of toothpicks and glue in Physics class: "I kept talking about what a fight, what a victory" (Kesey 275)

4. Passing the AP English Language exam: "[Ms. Serensky] was teaching me. I was feeing better than I remembered feeling since I was a kid" ( Kesey, 256)

5. Completing my 27-page research project for Honors English 10: "By the time he got back everybody was feeling cocky as fighting roosters" (Kesey 238)

6. Facing Ms. Serensky in a debate over the book Everything Matters! :"[she] crawls to her like a dog to a whipping" (Kesey, 97)

7. Receiving the Principal's Academic Distinction Award: "You can go on. I am quite ready for more" (Wilde, 31).

8. Winning the award of Tiger of the Semester: "Maturity can always be depended on. Ripeness can be trusted" (Wilde, 26).

9. Getting second place in the third quarter "Multiple Choice Game":  "This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners" ( Wilde, 37)

10. Writing my first AP English 12 blog entry: "It felt strange" (Lahiri, 270)

Elisavietta Ritchie and Ashima Ganguli

My favorite poem from this year is "Sorting Laundry" by Elisavietta Ritchie. Ritchie wrote this poem while debating whether or not to marry her lover.  One of the reasons why she felt skeptical about committing to marraige was the high divorce rate in the United States. She also reflects on the hard times and arguments she endured with her lover when she finds "well-washed dollars.../intact despite agitation" in her pile of laundry (34-36). She also comments on the pillowcase in the laundry and notices that despite the amount of washings, the "Seams still/ [hold their] dreams" (8-9). This implies that Richie feels confident that she and her lover will live a happy life and achieve their dreams together. This poem connects with my favorite book, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri parallels Ashima because of Ashima's ambivalence of living an entirely different life in the United States with her Indian family. She criticizes Americans constantly, and upon her arrival, she is "terrified to raise a child in a country...where life seems so tentative and despair" (6). In addition, she feels very worried that her children "sound just like Americans..in accents they are accustomed not to trust" (65). She even claims that due to the American influence on her children, she has "given birth to vagabonds" (167). However, Ashima endures her sorrow and pain of leaving her beloved country of India because she knows that she could not possibly live her life without her loving husband, just as Ritchie chooses to marry her lover; the two women follow their hearts.