The Schubert Cello Quintet in C Major

Hmm....it's been a long time since I've been here. I'm a junior now, so I guess I don't really need to be doing this anymore, but I feel like sharing today.

So when I went to music camp this summer, I had to learn the viola. We were playing this piece. It's far from the easiest piece to learn viola on, but it was well worth it.

This piece, the Schubert Cello quintet, one of the last pieces written by Schubert, transcends the sublime. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written in the long history of music. Even if you don't listen to classical music, I implore you to make an exception for this cello quintet. You won't be disappointed. Trust me, it's 40 minutes well spent! (Or you could just listen to one movement at a time, that works too, but if you can spare 40 minutes...)I could go on exalting this piece, but it's best that you listen yourself. I hope that I'll get a chance to play this again someday.

(As a side note: If you have seen "The Conspiracy", I haven't, you might recognize part of the second movement.)

For those who are listening to this quintet for the first time, I envy you. So, without further adieu:

(TURN OFF BACKGROUND MUSIC FIRST!)

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First movement-

Part 1:


Part 2:


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Second movement-

Part 1:


Part 2:


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Third movement-



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Fourth movement-

Well that's a wrap.

I know what you're thinking. You expect this post to be a reflection on my tenth grade year. You are also thinking that "Clocktower Violinist must be really bored to be writing on his English blog on the last normal day of school". Either that or you don't think I'm really bored and are wondering what the real reason for my writing of this post is. Or you could be laughing at me now because you were not thinking about one or more of the things I just mentioned. Or you are not laughing and are pointing out that I was again incorrect in the last sentence because you weren't laughing. Or you could have been laughing and were just trying to pretend that you were not laughing since I wouldn't be able to tell. Or you are wondering how long Clocktower Violinist is going to continue trying fruitlessly to predict your every move. Or maybe you are not wondering about that, maybe you are now trying to "prove" your own psychic ability complete with unlimited "retries" if you get proven wrong the first 184,253,642,405 times. Perhaps you are wondering why I picked such a random number, or maybe commenting on the fact that 184,253,642,405 is such a random number. Or you are pondering whether all numbers are or aren't random anyway. And if you haven't before, now you have made note of my failure to predict one or more of your thoughts. Or perhaps not. Perhaps now you are wondering how long I'm going to continue doing this branching off from each sentence with a prediction. Even if you were not wondering that, I'll answer it: I'll stop in two sentences. It is possible that you may have skipped part of this paragraph because you didn't want to read through it all. Oh, that reminds me: IF you have read this paragraph from start to finish so far without skipping around, the scary thing about it is that (unless you know how this works and respond NOW) once you reach this point it's already too late to stop reading.

Technically I don't actually have to write this, with English 2 being over and done with now, but I have to stay at school for the next hour and a half and I have nothing to do. Well...I could go over to the music building and practice violin but I don't really feel like that either. Writing the paragraph above this one took me about thirty minutes...wow, time flies, it seemed like less. Anyways, the reason I'm writing this post is that I don't want my English 2 blog to come to a close with a post about genocide. It just seems like a really non-finishing way to finish so I'll finish with this post, which still has a long way to go I'm sorry to say. If my writing "voice" is sounding any different than in my previous posts it's because of English class being over for the year so I don't have to worry so much about my coherency, though I still like to type in readable english all the time. I never got the chance to do any writing this year on the "Seal and King" story that my brother and I created. Of course our stories about Seal Seal and King Norek have much coherency to put into an acceptable piece of english class writing, but I can always try. I'm rambling now aren't I?

I went on a long tangent, haha. I meant to reflect on my tenth grade year. So if I predicted correctly in sentence two paragraph one, then you were thinking right! I'm glad there was no formal reflection assigned for english class this year, so now that I am reflecting I can use whatever template I want. Or maybe not but we were never given a reflection assignment so perhaps the template would have said "write however you want" anyway. Obviously not, but if anyone was expecting a consise, organized reflection, that's my excuse for not providing. And now that's another fifteen minutes past. Oh shoot, I still have that overdue library book to return that was due nine days ago.

I always start year reflections with "While reflecting on my ____ year", so this time I won't. Sophomore year really wasn't too bad (except for the math test that I just got back today >_<), for me it rarely had the type of stress that freshman year did, though my opinion is definately different from anyone that was taking an AP course. I really think it went by too fast for comfort. I started this year having recently returned from the mainland and a music camp in Indiana. I seems just like an hour ago that I was walking from the cafeteria to the dorms with Mike and Nidhal when the latter suddenly said "Wait! Stop! Mike, close your eyes and hold out your hand." Mike did so and received a napkin. That might not make much sense to you, reader, but it was hilarious I assure you. But guess what, that was nearly eleven months ago. I've gone on another tangent...yay? Anyway, that's how fast the year went by for me...it scares me kind of...it's one of those blink once to change night into day sort of things...and that's another fifteen minutes past, and I still haven't actually started reflecting...maybe I'll not do a reflection, I grow weary of this. I still have twenty or so minutes though so I'll type some more random stuff about this year.

Well, I think my connection to music leads me to spend the next unspecified amount of time talking about this year in symphony orchestra. I think that this year's symph was better than last year's and I don't think that next year or the year after will ever hold a candle to it. Though many of my friends are from symph, I don't think that's the reason. We were just such a close group, and worked together spectacularly as a result, especially at the final concert. I realized there while playing the Beethoven Symphony #5 that it was the last thing we would be playing with all 4/4ths of us present. It's sad, I don't think the symphony will ever achieve the sort of musical quality that we got that night when I'm still at Punahou. I'm out of time to write now, so I'll finish with that thought...it was a great year.

Genocide lecture paragraph

On tuesday, a person who's name I forgot to write down came to talk with students about the genocide in Darfur. I have a poor memory for what he said, but fortunately I took notes. His lecture was titled "Have a Hand in Stopping Genocide".

Genocide is acts with the intent to kill a group based on characteristics. What is happening in Darufr is that the Sudanese government is bombing villages based on their inhabitant's skin color. Then they hire people called "Janjaweed" to loot, kill, or rape any survivors.
The lecturer showed us a book called "A Problem From Hell", America and the age of genocide, by Samantha Power. He said that what has been happening in the past in the aftermath of genocides is that we have always said "never again", but it always happens again. He went on to say that we need to set up a permanent organization to prevent genocide.

The speaker told us that there were bills waiting to be passed by the government on stopping genocide. He gave us a phone number (which I will not write here for security reasons) for us to call to easily contact to our local government on the matter, which I thought was pretty cool. All in all, it was an educative experiance.

The quintessential fruit

Whether as a whole or in slices, one fruit stands above the rest in social status. (Matched only by the banana as the universal slipping agent). The apple is eaten in a multitude of ways. Even its core is given a distinctive shape by illustrators. It is connected, somehow, to teachers and often found in preschools where the children recite verbatim "A is for apple". It can be sliced up for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. For dessert (and breakfast too): add brown sugar and the heat from cooking and you create the delicious baked apple. Whether on a teacher's desk, or depicted in the mouth of a pig during a medieval feast, the apple is an example of quintessentiality.

Poisonwood Bible entry: Exodus

In class we discussed one of the closing chapters of the Poisonwood Bible: Exodus. The chapter is different than the preceding ones in that it spans many years of the Price girl's lives, rather than focusing on one or two months as the other chapters did.
Orleanna, Leah, Rachel, and Adah flee the village (and Nathan) after witnessing the death of Ruth May. Their journey is a tough one and they almost don't make it. The family separates: Rachel flies away with Mr. Axelroot, Leah stays with Anatole, and Orleana and Adah go back to America. The story continues from the viewpoints of the three remaining children, though they are separated. Leah and Anatole raise a family, and Anatole gets arrested twice. Rachel recieves a hotel in the middle of the Congo (called "The Equatorial") and ends up never marrying, and Adah gets an education and becomes a medical researcher (plus loses her limp).

The main idea of this chapter was change. Starting from the change of location, the three remaining Price girls go through some drastic changes.

Another main idea was the idea of forgiveness. Each of the remaining family members feel guilty in some way for Ruth May's death (well Rachel feels the least guilt). However they all try to recover in different ways (though Orleanna seems to have recovered the least).

We also find out that Nathan died while trying another fruitless attempt to promote Christianity in Kilanga. I think "good riddence" however I cannot help but wonder what was going through Nathan's head as he was burned to death. I wonder if he ever received the realization that Christianity or at least his method of teaching it was not going to work in the Congo, or if he was defiant even in death.

PB entry: The log that broke the camel's back

The well known saying is "The straw that broke the camel's back". Why do I say "log"? Well, when you look at the great turning point that is Ruth May's death in Bel and the serpent, it's pretty obvious that it is no mere straw that forces the Price family (sans Nathan), around the corner. Hence the log.

Here's how it happened. Leah talked about how Jesus got voted out as the "tribe religeous figure", however Nathan refuses to give up even though none of the village leaders really likes him. I suppose that it was bound to happen that Tata Kvudundu (or however you spell it) decided to leave snakes by the beds of the Price Family and, you guessed it, killed Ruth May as a result. It could have been anybody, but it was Ruth May that was killed. It was probably part plot device since her death would have had the biggest impact on the rest of the family emotionally, but it also yet again points out Nathan's ignorance. He just couldn't face the facts that he was not welcome in the village and now has suffered a loss. Yet he still suprisingly, and rather shockingly, seems oblivious to the rest of his family's sadness. I was kind of hoping for Nathan to change back to how he was at some point, but it looks like it is not going to happen. Ever.

SAT practice essay #2:

Well, we did another practice essay in class last week. The question was: Do people spend too much time on learning practical skills? So here was my essay, done in 25 minutes.

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Do people spend too much time on learning practical skills? That is a thought provoking question, however if you define “practical” as “useful” then the fact is that there is no such thing as an impractical skill. No matter what it is, any skill that is commonly taught in schools is useful in one way or another.

We go to school to get an education, to learn, that is a given. However, sometimes we may see certain skills that we learn at school as being impractical to our lives in the future. Although this may be true, while you may think of a course such as…say, calculus, as being something that you may never see again, a person aspiring to be a mathematician would use that same skill all the time in their future lives. In school, you are provided with general skills, in the form of courses, which prepare oneself for a multitude of possible fields as well as promote versatility. When you choose a major in college, courses are given to you to conform to your field of study. It is after that that, yes, you may never have to use unnecessary skills again. However that is not to say that no one skill is not frequently used by everyone in society.

It is a fact that different people will find different skills impractical. However there is no taught skill that everyone agrees is unnecessary. If there was one, then it wouldn’t be taught. Wheat we as students are required to decide is what skills are practical to us. Thus since everyone thinks and does differently, there is no skill that is completely impractical. Ergo, if you are trying to cover all possibilities in the teaching of skills, it is impossible to spend too much time on practical, or useful, skills. And you never know when even the most situational skill could save your life someday.

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Ok, I found out that hypotheticallity is not the best way to go on these essays. It's too bad though, I could hypotheticate myself out the window behind me (If there was one). Oh well, that's something I need to work on.

Dvorak American String Quartet

(Before I begin I would like to mention that I reeeeeeeally hate mac keyboards. And the mouse doesn't have a scroll wheel either. I disagree with anyone that says macs are user friendly, seriously.)
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String quartet No.12 (more popularly known as American) was written in 1983 by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. The American string quartet was inspired, as its nickname suggests, by the composer's time in America, where he taught music in New York and spent the summers in Spillville, Iowa. Dvorak once said: "As for my new Symphony, the F major String Quartet and the Quintet (composed here in Spillville) -- I should never have written these works 'just so' if I hadn't seen America."

Anyway, below is a video of the 1st movement of the American string quartet. The piece itself is very famous (you people might also recognise it as being in the movie that we watched in class the other day). I'm not so good at describing music so without further adieu:

(TURN OFF THE BACKGROUND MUSIC BEFORE WATCHING)

PB Passage response

"Until that moment I'd always believed I could still go home and pretend the Congo never happened. The misery, the hunt, the ants, the embarrassments of all we saw and endured--those were just stories I would tell someday with a laugh and a toss of my hair, when Africa was faraway and make-believe like the people in history books... ...Never imagined I would be a girl they'd duck their eyes from and whisper about as tragic, for having suffered such a loss." (Kingsolver, 367)

(This whole thing is a spoiler, highlight to read)

It is Rachel that is narrating here. I think that this is a turning point in the book.
First I'll be blunt: Ruth May dies. A snake kills her.
Now I think that we have gone around the corner and will now proceed to spiral towards the end, with this one event completing the changes that we have started to see for all the narrating characters in one fell swoop. Rachel, for one, now realizes that she will no longer be able to believe that the Congo was all a dream. The tragedy of death now marks them for the rest of thier lives. In this quote, and also in Leah's conclusion narration of "Bel and the Serpent", I think that both of their voices have evolved to be more like that of Orleanna. Since Orleanna's narrations are written as if the events of the Congo happened in the past, I think this could mean that this tragedy affected all the Price girls similarily.

(End spoilers, and also end of post)

Poison Mosquitos of the Biblical Kind

...Start of record...

We watched a movie called "Mosquito Coast" (Which oddly enough, doesn't appear to have anything to do with those bloodsucking vampire bugs that we all hate) in English class earlier. While the setting, characters, and other aspects are different from "The Poisonwood Bible", the book and this movie have their parallels. For a brief overview of "Mosquito Coast", go here:
Well, don't unless you want the movie spoiled...

As a first similarity, both medium involve a family moving to an isolated "jungle area" from the comforts of America. The Price family moves to the Belgian Congo while the Fox family moves to the Mosquito coast. The difference is that the Price family moves for religeous reasons while the father of the Fox family shows a distrust of religeon and they moved in order to "start fresh" in life.

I think the biggest parallel is the effects of the fathers (Nathan and Allie) on their respective families. Both of them were the reason that each family moved and both of them show single minded commitment towards the cause that they support. Nathan refuses to waver from his religeous path even if it is at the expense of others, even his family. Allie does likewise with his mindset of rejecting society.

Both of the fathers are asked to turn back by others, and eventually their own families. But both fathers refuse to listen and such a choice makes them pay dearly.

(Highlight for spoilers)

In Allie's case, he dies.

(End spoilers)

...End of record...

Traffic

Traffic. An annoyance to every one of us who traverse the roads on the way to school/work/etc. I for one have to get to school at 7:30 for symphony practice. This means that in order to get there on time, we need to leave the house at around 6:40 or so depending on the traffic. This means that I have to wake up at 6:00 in the morning every day. It no longer bothers me...it's routine. My alarm tone is the Beethoven Quartet #7 1st movement: My favorite quartet and one of my favorite pieces in general. I've listened to that movement so many times now that I have "ritualised" the exact moment when I press the "stop" button.
Anyway, back to the traffic. This week it has been unusual because of other Hawaii school schedules. There is less traffic in the morning since many do not have school. It's really wierd to leave home at the usual time and get to school in just 10 minutes rather that 20, 30, or 40. I can expect the normal traffic routine returning next week however it is nice for the week after spring break to still provide some respite from the rush that is school.
The main idea of this post is to point out how some of the burdens of hardships are lessened with repetition. Some might find annoyance in waking up every morning to an alarm for example, however after many many mornings, it's not so bad.

Lit circle entry: The Judges. Orleanna and Nathan

Well, spring break is coming to a close, and I think I'll try to get ahead (or catch up, if I'm behind) by posting a lit. circle entry for the third chapter of the Poisonwood Bible: The Judges.

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The Judges starts with this narration by Orleanna (the mother):

"LISTEN, LITTLE BEAST. Judge me as you will, but first listen. I am your mother. What happened to us could have happened anywhere, to any mother. I'm not the first woman on earth to have seen her daughters possessed. For time and eternity there have been fathers like Nathan who simply can see no way to have a daughter but to own her like a plot of land. To work her, plow her under, rain down a dreadful poison upon her. Miraculously, it causes these girls to grow. They elongate on the pale slender stalks of their longing, like sunflowers with heavy heads. You can shield them with your body and soul, trying to absorb that awful rain, but they'll still move toward him. Without cease, they'll bend to his light." (Kingsolver, 191)

Even if you didn't know that Orleanna is the first narrator of each chapter (at least so far anyway), even if you don't read the sentences that are colored green above which give her identity away, it is easy to tell that it is Orleanna speaking. I always have the urge to skip over the Orleanna narrations. I am aware that they have some of the most language rich passages in the book, and that they contain foreshadowing and other details that one may want to examine. But they are also depressed brooding which, while are very poetic, make for very tedious reading. However I do read them and take in the detail.

Orleanna talks about how she was before she met Nathan, how she met him, how Nathan used to be, but most importantly what caused Nathan to become the sort of person that we have seen him as in the past chapters: his guilt. According to Orleanna, Nathan was drafted into World War 2 but because of injuries did not take part in the Bataan Death March: an event that claimed the rest of his regimen's lives. Because of this, he thought that he was a coward in God's eyes and set off on a hard path of redemption. After reading this I have to say that I apologise for some of what I have thought of Nathan in the past. For some, not all. I still think that the path that he chose was not a good one, but I'm not sure that it is entirely his fault that he chose that path. I read "The Things They Carried" last semester for english. It was about the Vietnam war, narrated by a veteran. From that book I could see how war can change a person, make them see things abstractly, differently, in ways that I can not understand. So I think that Nathan's position seems a bit more reasonable than I had thought, though, again, I don't really agree with him (disclaimers, you know).

I feel sorry (more than I already was) that Orleanna is being put in this position. I feel sorry for Nathan's misfortune and drastic personality change, but I'm angry at him for forcing Orleanna to be a spectator to his madness. It wasn't completely clear to me what she was going through when reading the previous chapters, but just by reading that opening paragraph once I can tell how much she has been affected by her husband during their time in the Congo.

Speaking of changes resulting from Nathan, Orleanna's personality took a new turn during Judges. After spending a month in bed, as narrated by Leah, "For one thing, she was now inclined to say whatever was on her mind right in front of God and everybody. Even Father. She didn't speak to him directly; it was more like she was talking straight to God, or the air, or the lizards who'd paused halfway up the walls, and if Father should overhear her, that was his nickle"(Kingsolver, 243),Leah goes on to say how Orleanna had tried to get Mr. Axelroot to fly her and her daughters out of the Congo and then begins to question her father's beliefs. This is an important personality developement for Orleanna and for her daughters because it shows that even though she has been "beat down" by her husband, she can still "stand back up". Perhaps she is trying to break Nathan's shell of ignorance, or perhaps she is just refusing to conform to his influence any longer, but in any case seeing Leah's doubt of her father shows that Orleanna is influencing the daughters as well.

PB entry 4: Main theme- Nathan and control

We are now on the chapter "The Revelation" in the Poisonwood Bible.

From the previous chapter, we have an understanding of the five narrators' personalities (well, we only get a small view of Orleanna). As this chapter unfolds, we see beginnings of character change and development that will no doubt continue through the course of the book, seeing that a major theme in this novel is "change". Anyway, lets take a look at the outsider of this family: Nathan, the only character that isn't narrating.

Nathan is the religiously fanatical father. His one-track mind on religion is a key point in this chapter if not the whole book. One example occurs in Rachel's first entry in this chapter. What happens is that Anataole visits the Price family. During dinner, Anatole says that Tata Ndu feels that Nathan's practices are corrupt.

"Tata Ndu is happy for you to draw the bad-luck people away," he said. "So the village's spirit protectors will not notice them so much. But he worries you are trying to lure too many of the other s into following corrupt ways. He fears a disaster will come if we anger the gods." (Kingsolver, 129)

Nathan, being the one-sided person that he is, is unable to understand how Christianity could be considered corrupt, so he promptly does this:

"He told Anatole he respected and valued his help (meaning: I've had about enough of your lip, Buster Brown) but was disappointed by the villagers' childlike interpretations of Gods's plan (meaning: you are just as big of a dingwit as the rest of them). He said he would work on a sermon that would clearup all the misunderstandings. Then he announced that this conversation had come to an end, and Anatole could consider himself excused from the table and this house." (133)

Nathan shows that he needs control in order to function. In this case he is unable to live with the idea that his practices are being thought of as corrupt. He gets angry when he doesn't have that control and is unable to take an action that contradicts his beliefs with very much self-control, even if it means alienating himself from his family, just as he does following the above incident, when Orleanna tries in her own way to make him understand the circumstances.

"Orleanna, shut up!" he yelled, grabbing her arm hard and jerking the plate out of her hand. He raised it up over her head and slamed it down hard on the table, cracking it in two." (134)

In regards to Nathan's actions when he feels violated in the slightest way, I think that quote explains itself.

Now, I may be coming across as "anti-Nathan", which is partially true. However the way the book is structured forces the reader to lable Nathan as the scapegoat for distaste. At this point I must remind everyone that we are not able to see the events from Nathan's point of view, so I'm sure we have a high amount of bias against him. After all, look at Adah: If we couldn't read her views of the novel's events, then what would we think of her? And with that thought, this mixed lit. entry is at a close.

PB entry 3: Poisonwood walk-In the voice of Adah Price

So, yesterday we took a step outside our English classroom to do a walk activity. We were to imagine ourselves as one of the characters in the Poisonwood Bible and view the surroundings in their voice. I was assigned to take on the voice of Adah Price. So here is my attempt at portraying her rather interesting voice:
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"I see paths, a field, a building. Indoors. Outdoors. Doors out. Doors in. Building a, field a, paths see I. Light not gloom, sound all strewn, colors un-hewn. Early afternoon. A boy throws, card flies, eight of clubs. Clubs of eight, flies cards, throws boy a. I prefer diamonds.
He throws and blunders. 'Oh my god!' he exclaims. Father wouldn't approve. Approve wouldn't Father? Ha! Our Father found the Congolese beyond his control. Oot elpoep eseht lortnoc ot yrt eh dlouw?

On, tluser tnereffid a gnitcepxe dna revo dna revo gniht emas eht gniod si ytinasni?


There are so many pathways at this school, how does one not get lost? Lost get not one does how? I walk. Ada the slow one. Eno wols eht ada. My left half trailing behind me. Stairs that would be given little thought from my sisters are a challenge for limping Ada. I take the long path around, passing another building, another field.

Under a roof now, there is no one else here. Alone. Light in front and behind. Behind and front in light. Alone. But it's not different. Outside I knew no one. I was ignored, ignored was I. Just as my sisters run ahead and leave me behind. Ada the silent, Ada the slow. Yet I walk on. No klaw I tey. Dragging my left foot like an injured dog. God derujni. Ada sees doG. God sees adA. Ada sees doG."

Commonplace entry: Quality

A couple weeks ago we talked about the subject of quality in English class. So in between posts on the Poisonwood Bible I want to write about my beliefs on quality and related topics such as success and my own belief in excellence. But before I get started, I should explain the two usages of the word "quality".

"Do you have the quality of having quality?":
A bit of confusion eliminated

When we first started to talk about quality in class, I had some confusion over the usage of the word "quality". When you talk about the qualities of...say...a musical performance, you think of the tone, expression, rhythm, intonation, etc. So when we were asked the difficult question of what quality was I thought "A quality is an important aspect, it's really not that complicated!".

But as it turned out that it wasn't that simple and we were actually looking at the other usage of the word "quality". That would be as an adjective: to say "something is/has quality" is different from saying "something has the quality of _______". That second definition is what I will be talking about in the next section. So when I said "excellence is the quality of doing your best" back in "What do I believe in?" I was talking about a different kind of "quality".

What makes something quality?

What makes something quality? I believe that quality is the idea of putting your best effort into something. This makes it similar to excellence in that both are about comparing yourself to no one else but yourself, and about doing the best that you can. However, quality is different from excellence and success because they focus on different parts of the same idea. Quality focuses on the process while both excellence and success focuses on the outcome.

The benefits of a quality mentality are that there is no "failure" except for the failure to have quality. In contrast, with the success mentality failure tends to be something that is a constant fear, and with the excellence mentality failure exists but it is merely a stepping stone on the pathway to success. (If I have confused anyone, success is the final outcome of both excellence and success mentalities, however the two mentalities are different in how they go about reaching success)
With quality, there is no failure because even if you end up with the success or excellence possible outcome of failure, you know that you've given the best you have and that is all that you could possibly do. Something that is quality is not necessarily the best/most/biggest/greatest/etc. Because something that shows those qualities (oh, there's the double meaning again XD) is something that is superior. However, if the superior entity has been created without great and fruitful effort, the best that was possible, it will not show quality.

Something showing quality will logically show excellence, but will something that shows excellence show quality? This will be a topic for a later time.

Poisonwood Bible: Lit. Entry 2: What exactly is poisonwood?

So as my second article on The Poisonwood Bible, I want to find and deliver some information on the wood that made the book's title.

On page 39, Nathan Price (the father) tries to create a demonstrative garden to be, as Leah says, their "first African miracle: an infinite chain of benevolence rising from these small, crackling seed packets." (Kingsolver, 36). Nathan, who is used to American farming techniques but completely ignorant of the differences in the Congo, tries to cultivate the soil with "American techniques" and receives some correction from Mama Tataba, their helper, on the Congolese way to cultivate soil. She warns him about the consequences of pulling a certain small tree out of the ground with bare hands for example:

"'That one, brother, he bite,' she said, pointing her knuckly hand at a small tree he was wresting from his garden plot. White sap oozed from the torn bark. My father wiped his hands on his trousers. 'Poisonwood,' she added flatly, emphasizing the descending syllables as if she were equally tired of all three." (39)

Her advice goes unheeded however and Nathan wakes up with rashes and a swollen eye caused by some contact with the poisonwood. So what is poisonwood anyway?

There is an actual tree called the Poisonwood tree, which is related to the poison oak. Like the Poisonwood tree in the book, the real tree will cause skin irritations upon contact. It is the sap that causes these rashes so if the two poisonwood trees are the same, then the sap is what caused Nathan Price's troubles the morning after trying to pull up the tree. The sap may be contained in any part of the tree, so handling of the tree should be done with extreme caution.

All the information is found at: http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/Poisonwood/poisonwo.htm

This image is from: http://www.samford.edu/schools/artsci/biology/belize/belizeplants.html

It was interesting to find that while I searched for information on this tree, many of the things that came up were on The Poisonwood Bible.

The Poisonwood tree that is pulled up in the book is a symbol of ignorance of the Congolese culture. In the scene that it appears, Nathan Price shows that he doesn't want to listen to Mama Tataba's advice, though she is more familiar on the Congolese culture than he is.

Poisonwood Bible: Lit. Discussions: Job=Engineer

Hello, we have been reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a very dense (information-wise) book, with plenty of descriptive passages and multitudes of metaphors. I think Kingsolver does an excellent job of providing the reader with the information needed to "paint a picture" of the happenings, while not "Ivanhoe'ing" (distorting plot details with too much fancy language). As the engineer of my Lit. eight group, my job is to recognise the physical and/or logical structures that help hold this book together.

But first some background information. The Poisonwood Bible takes place in the Belgian Congo in the year 1959. The main characters are the Price family, from America, who have traveled to the Congo on a Christian mission. The four daughters: Rachael, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May are the primary narrators in the book, each with their own personality and voice. The father is a strict Baptist minister who conforms with the contours of his religion with an (often unnecessary) iron grip, while the mother takes a more moderate view.

Now on to the physical stuff. While in the Congo, the Price family have to live in third world conditions. Therefore one of the main plot ideas for at least the book's first chapter is the change from American to Congolese life.

Malaria is a big cause of death in Africa, and the danger is understood by the villagers and the family. Mosquito nets are used and given to the family upon their arrival, and also the Price family takes pills to prevent the disease. For more information on nets, you can go to "nothingbutnets.net".

Transportation is done on foot, given no access to vehicles, and the paths are made of dirt. The houses in the village are small huts made of mud and thatch. They are only one room large, except the Price's which has more room, and their inhabitants often sleep outside.

Two of the most important physical aspects of the surroundings that affect the Price family are the lack of electricity and running water.
Electricity is very important in 1959 American life. Among the consequences of not having electricity is the inability to cook with an electric stove. While this is daily life for the Congolese, it serves as an inconvenience for the Price family. Instead of an electric stove they use a wood stove with a firebox; it is basically just a hole with a fireplace under it. It is an unfamiliar cooking style for the Price family: "Mother has figured out how to make bread "by hook or by crook," she likes to say, but the stove doesn't really have a proper oven. In fact, it looks less like a stove than a machine hammered together out of some other machine."(Kingsolver, 65).
There is no running water in the village so all water needs to be retrieved from the river, which fortunately runs along the village. For safety reasons, the water must be boiled before use. Water is needed not only for drinking, but also for cooking, farming, and bathing. So it is important that the villager's huts run along the riverside.

SAT practice essay reflection

Last class we reflected on the 25 minute essay that we wrote the class before, and now we have to reflect on the reflection...you know, I like to reflect on some stuff but I hate reflecting on reflections...maybe I can impute that standing to my beliefs (See "What do I believe in?") since reflecting once tells me "ok, lets learn from this." while reflecting on reflections just screams at me "hey, you've gone over this already. Stop being obsessive!". But I'm not going to be contumacious about it...Now back on topic...

What do I think of the SAT essay? Well, I don't really like the whole "25 minutes to answer a philosophical question" system. With my writing style it is difficult for me to write a quality essay in 25 minutes. I do try to put lots of effort into those 25 minutes of writing, but to me quality = effort x time (XD math and English). Fortunately the topic was one that I know at least something about (I've been forced to improvise on some previous practice SAT essays).

I think that the most effective strategy is to plan it out in your head before you start writing. Know the basic outline of what you are going to say so you don't have to worry about the "now what?" that often may come up if you just jump into it from the outset. You only have 25 minutes and its really only enough for one shot at writing it. I could compare the SAT essay section to a music audition or performance: You only get one chance to play it, you have to do it right the first time. Before you start playing you focus on how you want your music to sound, just like you should focus on how you want your essay to "sound" before you start writing. And just like with music: if you practice intelligently beforehand, you will get better.

Of course you shouldn't spend too much time before you start writing, after all you only have 25 minutes and we don't want to try fitting 10 pounds of treasure in a 5 pound bag now do we?

You only have a limited time to plan and thus you need to be ready beforehand. I think a good way to do this is to have a list of possible "example examples" going through your head and what values they represent. Another important thing is to read! Books have many helpful examples, and sometimes its easier for you to pull an example out of a book then from personal experience.

I feel sorry for those teachers who have to sit in a conference room and read hours upon hours of the same essay...

SAT practice essay

This was done in 25 minutes in english class:

Question: Does the media determine the most important values in most people?

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Does the media determine the most important values in most people? Yes. Observation is an essential part of learning, and so what people see in the media influences what they learn.

As children, people learn by observation: watching their parents and taking their values after them. At school you have teachers who (presumably) know more than you and teach you by letting you listen and observe their knowledge. Influence through observation is also present in what we call "role models". These could be anyone from a famous person, to your neighbor down the block. The media is considered one of these role models. The media shares the aspect of learning from a more experienced individual (or individuals) with that of a teacher or parent. And just as a bad teacher or parent can be a bad influence on a person, the media can also be a bad influence.

This whole structure of influence works both ways with the media, which is often in contrast with other types of role models. The media is part of society and thus changes to conform to society's new "patterns", which may often have been brought on by the media itself. The idea of "I'll tell you what you wish to hear: is at work here. This pattern of information feeding has the effect of enforcing one's beliefs, making them more favorable to one side ("I totally agree") or the other ("These guys don't know what they are talking about"). Either way, the media strengthens the beliefs of a person by giving them what they, or whoever their audience is, what they wish to hear.

Putting it all together: Observation is an essential component of learning and enforcing values, and through acting as a role model and by catering to one point of view over to strengthen beliefs, the media becomes similar to a role model and thus does influence the important values in people.

What do I believe in? Podcast

I suggest turning off or turning down the clocktower music on the sidebar before listening to the podcast so you can actually hear it!

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Words from: http://awatanabe09clocked.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-do-i-believe-in.html