The End.

I guess this is it. My last blog post. Wow, this year really did go by quickly. It feels that only yesterday I was making a list of potential blog entries to write about through the course of the year, but this is the last part of "That's So Elliot". So I wanted to wrap up this blog with one final entry.

At first, I hated the idea of a blog project. The assignment was very vague (a recurring theme in this class, no shade, no shade), so I had no idea where to even begin. So my first entries were not that great, but as time went by, I slowly began to love the freedom I was given to write about whatever: reflections on class, really weird extrapolations of a unit, personal pieces, and just random thoughts that I needed to share. I have also had so much fun reading others' blogs that have really great content from a large number of perspectives.

But what really made me love these was the variety of emotion contained within them. Some blogs made me laugh so hard that Eric actually told me to be quiet from his room, some left me thinking for days, some made me cry, and those are only a few of the emotions that these blogs carried. It made me realize how truly writing carries emotion, and the fact that I knew all of the authors further strengthened it. When I read a blog, I imagine the writer talking directly to me, which makes everything so much more personal and emotional then just reading a piece by a faceless author.

In fact, blogs were actually my favorite part of this class, as I was really able to express myself to the world with no filter and as much time as I needed to really phrase my thoughts the way I wanted to. I also learned a lot about my peers by reading their posts through the topics they wrote about and the style in which they wrote. I could even hear their tones as I was reading the blogs, especially Georgia's sassiness (which I greatly admire). Overall, I really enjoyed this project in all its aspects.

And one last thing: gifs. A true staple of this blog is gifs. So I put up my top three gifs from this year that are truly iconic. Btw, it is not pronounced jif, it is gif *cough* Jack *cough*

Mr. Yee spinning after saying Macbeth...no more explanation needed

This is both funny and painful at the same time...Mr. M/Jerry is, in the words of Zach, STRAIGHT UP SAVAGE but you can't help but feel Dr. J's pain as she is knocked to the floor and he head whips back. RIP.

Speaks for itself.

And with that, I leave you with two really nostalgic songs that just make me happy and sad at the same time. Remember to pray for our final exam grades. It was lit, fam.

Goodbye.

The (Only) Annual Blog Awards!

So this year has come to an end, and before I post my final blog (which will go up at 11:59 tonight), I wanted to mention other people's blogs. As much as I have enjoyed the blog project this year, I feel that our class as a whole didn't spend enough time reading each other's blogs and reflecting on them, which is a shame. So much thought and creativity has been put into each and every blog but is largely ignored, and the only thing we get out of it is a letter grade at the end of each quarter. So I decided to go through everyone's blog and post my favorites on here because there are some really amazing posts and entire blogs from this year, marking the...

ONLY ANNUAL BLOG AWARDS!!!!!!

And the categories are:
Funny af - the funniest blog post
WTF! - the strangest blog post
Awww - the most touching blog post
That's deep, man - the most in-depth blog post
Cool - the best blog layout/aesthetic
Blog Post of the Year
Blog of the Year

Disclaimer: These are just some of my personal favorites but there are a lot of other great blogs that I didn't mention so I would strongly encourage all of you to browse through others' blogs! Also keep in mind that each blog post can only win one category.


Funny af
"The Kim Kardashian App is Ruining my Life." -Georgia (Happenings from Hell)
I don't even know where to start with this one...but basically I just couldn't stop laughing while I was reading this post. Georgia's description of the app is just so hilarious and you can just hear her sarcastic tone while reading it. Simply the best thing ever. My favorite line is "well I mean she really became famous after she released that sex tape, but I am still waiting for that to be one of the quests in the game." Iconic. If you haven't read this blog, read it right now. If you have, read it again. You won't be able to get through it without laughing.
Blog Post

WTF!
"FUCK" -Jeannine (40...)
This post literally fits into the title of this category and truly embodies the "wtf" title. It is about the use of the word "fuck"...yea I don't really know what else to say about it.
Blog Post

Awww
"An Ode to the Jerry Mirliani" -Marta (Prose Before Hoes)
I think that we were all shocked when the legend himself Jerry Mirliani announced his retirement. He has always been a vital part of this school's community and he will be dearly missed by everyone next year. I know him, but not on as deep a level as some people, such as Marta, who has taken his AP Music Theory (RIP) class this past year. This blog post tells the story of her and Matthew finding out about his retirement, which really captures the shock that all of us felt.
Blog Post

That's deep, man
"Eyebrow Fleekness: an Important Part of Women's Lives Through History" -Georgia (Happenings from Hell)
This blog pretty much marked the start of this year's blog project, with this extremely in depth history of eyebrows that was written after our class's fascination with the woman's eyebrows from Rashomon. I'm 99% sure Georgia did more research for this blog post than I did for my entire history research paper...whatever. Anyways, this blog really did mark the start of something new. Excellent.
Blog Post

Cool
Blogging with Cristalba18 by Cristal
This blog is just very aesthetically pleasing with a panel for each post. Yup.
Blog

Blog Post of the Year
"Perfect is never good enough" -Julia (John the Baptist Says...)
Don't be fooled by the title, this post is actually not soppy or cliché like it may seem to be. This is an astounding blog that not only covers a deep topic, but is written beautifully. I don't want to talk about it too much because the only way to really do it justice is to read it thoroughly. Really amazing.
Blog Post

Blog of the Year
A Blog With A View by Emily
This blog is brilliant. Emily did a really amazing job with this, as all of the posts make the reader deeply ponder all the topics that she brings up. The entire blog brings entirely new perspectives to issues that we discuss in class and deeply analyzes aspects of the curriculum that we spend very little time on. However, none of it is foreign and she does a superb job relating everything back to the core themes of this class. My personal favorite post is "Put Yourself in Someone Else's Shoes", which puts a clever twist on the phrase as she physically puts herself in new places. It also has a great photo journal that accompanies it. I strongly encourage you to check it out.
Blog

lol fml

honestly wtf even was that exam? passage analysis from passages that we haven't read? NOT TODAY SATAN!!! also those images that we had to analyze but the photocopy was so dark and grainy that i spent like 10 minutes figuring out wtf was even happening aka 8% of the exam time????? and write from the second person?? what kind of demonic exam even was that. and that essay...i don't even know what to say. mess.

and then the 2 hour mark was called and i had to just stop...whatever. gtg.

Temporary Home

Throughout the year, the central theme of this class has been "home". It is the activity that we did on the first day and have revisited the idea recently to talk about displacement from home. However, the idea of home has been omnipresent throughout the entire year. From our origin stories unit in which we discussed our original home to Macbeth in which Macbeth's goal was to make the throne his home to the Dystopian unit in which society tried to alter its own home in a failed attempt to better it, home has been the foundation for the entire curriculum.

However, the idea of "home" extends far beyond the confines of literature studied in English class. It is a constantly morphing concept that mixes both the physical and metaphysical aspects of our homes that changes for every person. Some have more than one "home", whether they are refugees forced out of their own homes or people going out into the world to find a new home. Home can also include more emotional aspects such as family, and for many people it includes both.

Soon, our class will be going off to college and beyond. So then what will we consider to be home? Alexandria, where many of us grew up? Wherever we end up living? Where our family lives? I imagine that most of us will have more than one home and won't be limited to a singular place. College will be a home, but Alexandria will also be one. However, we will eventually leave college behind, so will it still be a home? Or just a previous, temporary home? After we leave a place, are the emotional connections to that location strong enough to hold the idea of home to that place? I doubt it, so from my point of view, intermediate stops in life just become temporary homes that last for a short time then fade into our past.

But since every small stop along life will only be home for a limited period of time, do any of us have permanent homes? Throughout life, people are constantly changing and evolving into new personalities, so no one place can ever be a constant home. In that case, the entire human race could be considered a diaspora, as we are always moving further away from our birth "home". We will all move away from where we grew up at one point, whether physically to another city or even emotionally to a new state of being within the same geographical location. Therefore, every place we consider to be "home" is only temporary.

This brings me to one of my all-time favorite songs, "Temporary Home" by Carrie Underwood. Now I'm not at all a fan of country music, but this is actually a really good song. However, it is the lyrics that are really outstanding.

In the song, there are three verses, each of which tells a vignette about a person's temporary home. However, it is the final verse that questions the temporality of life:

Old man, hospital bed
The room is filled with people he loves
And he whispers
"Don't cry for me, I'll see you all someday"
He looks up and says
"I can see God's face"

This is my temporary home, it's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passing through
This was just a stop on the way to where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know
This was my temporary home

In these lyrics, Underwood is stating that life entirely is a temporary home and it is not until after we die that any of us can find our true home. I, however, believe that there is no such thing as a permanent home. Humans are always changing, so there is never a point at which we are completely settled.

Anyways, those are just my thoughts on what home in in the grand scheme of life, and I want to leave you with these two questions: Is life a temporary home? Is there ever such thing as a permanent home?