Week 15: Pick a Poet #4 - Li-Young Lee

          This poem, “Immigrant Blues” starts with the line “People have been trying to kill me since I was born,” as a man is telling his son how dangerous of a place the world is, especially for an immigrant. For a reminder, Lee was born in Indonesia to two Chinese exile parents and later immigrated to America. This poem is quite fitting for Lee’s writing style as he continues his style of inserting a kinda conversation in his poem as well as it fits with his theme of expressing his experiences of being an immigrant. 
      

         Unlike his other poems, the title of this poem “Immigrant Blues” gives a very straightforward hint to what his poem is about. The title hints at the fact that the world is not always open to immigrants, by which they are faced with harsh discrimination and often feel isolated from the rest of society. Additionally, blues is a genre of music with a lot of repetition is then shown in the poem as Lee repeats the immigrant experience in various phrases like “Survival Strategies and the Melancholy of Racial Assimilation,” “Psychological Paradigms of Displaced Persons,” “Loss of the Homeplace and the Defilement of the Beloved,” or “I want to Sing but I Don’t Know Any Songs.” Each of these lines provides insight into the harsh reality of what immigrants often face. 
        

        This poem has multiple shifts in it from a man telling his son to change to fit into society to Lee retelling a conversation with his own son to adapt to society. Additionally, the speaker then has a conversation on the phone with women, by which he is asking about his confusion on flesh and the soul. The different characters in the poem can be related to Lee’s life with the man being his father, the son, his own son, and the women, the women he loves. 
      

         I thought this poem was quite fitting as many of us have learned throughout our highschool years about how Jewish immigrants felt when moving to either America or Israel. After the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel, many Jews had moved to Israel but were uncomfortable with being their trues selves. One key example of this is how Jewish people from Europe did not want to cook European food anymore. Nowadays, many of us have eaten the amazing European dishes our grandparents make, but back then they hid those foods from the rest of the world simply because all they wanted was to get away from their old lives and integrate into Israeli society. In this poem, Lee illustrates this struggle when he writes “Practice until you feel the language inside you.” This is similar to what the Jewish immigrants felt as they had to hide their identity and in every way transform into this new person who fits into society, whether it be with food or language.

Winter Fear - Pick a Poet - Week 15, Noah Rubin

Kay Ryan has always given great insight through his poems, and in the poem, I chose for this week he discusses peoples’ feelings during winter. He questions if it is possible that the earth will stop changing seasons and that he will be stuck in the depressing winter. Where cold and darkness overtake the world and cause depression and sadness. This poem called, “Winter Fear” really made me nervous about moving up North for college. I have never really experienced living in cold weather and it’s hard to imagine.

For context, I’ve spent winter break on the beach for the past 18 years, and I don’t know how I’ll feel when the cold comes to Philadelphia. Shorts and a t-shirt all year round is really nice and easy, so I wonder how I’ll do next year. I hope that I don't dread the winter like Kay Ryan clearly does because that would just make so much of my year miserable. He writes that winter is like a “deep curse” and that we should worry if maybe the season is more than just a season - if maybe it is a new reality that he’ll be stuck in forever. This kind of mentality shows how much he is scared of and dreads the winter. 

When I imagine winter as a Floridian, I think of snowball fights, sledding, and hot chocolate, but I guess my view is through rose-colored glasses, and not based upon reality. I hope that Penn will give me the opportunity to learn to love the winter and all that it offers! Anyone else nervous about winter in college!?

Sienna Tohar - week 15 - Pick-a-Poet

    This week, I’ve chosen to read “Ode to Ugly Things” by Leila Chatti. Its concept is quite simple, yet universal and can often branch into complexities of its own. There lies beauty in everything. For me, it’s an idea that I was taught at a young age, and I feel like because of that, it’s allowed me to be comfortable with having a more positive outlook on life, and that’s what I feel like this poem is all about.

Neither the sentence structure nor the vocabulary is too difficult or complex to understand, and I think it ended up being that way purposefully, as if emphasizing the simplicity in grasping the concept of finding beauty in all things (even those that appear “ugly” to us). And by this, Chatti means even the smallest details, like going back to a memory of “[a] sister, third grade, her braces, each band a yellow figure-eight, her favorite color,” highlighting the beauty of something nostalgic that doesn’t only tell the reader something about this person, but also how much the narrator has observed in her life to come to appreciate the smallest things, remembering them for much more than they simply were. This again is showcased when Chatti describes a beetle’s broken husk “crushed...cracked like a walnut, broken shell,” and “sleek as obsidian just cooled.” Making comparisons through such similes shows how she’s able to relate two completely different things and connect them by their small fascinations. There’s even a hint of irony when relating one thing that’s “crushed” and another that’s “sleek,” and uniting them somehow. 

She even manages to bring out the beauty from the “ugliness” of “mold on two-week old pita bread” and its “soft green bloom on the dark back shelf.” Once again, there’s a great sense of attention to detail showing just how carefully she analyzes everything to pick out each thing’s little charming traits. Irony is also present in that the mold on bread is described as a bloom in a dark area, placed somewhere on a back shelf, devoid of light and possibly forgotten (yet, there’s still something beautiful and fascinating about it, allowing and inviting observers to find little joys and excitement throughout their daily lives). 

Chatti goes on to describe the glimmering wetness of blood, “always bright and shining” and the wailing of ambulance sirens along with “its lights spinning.” I found it so interesting, though, that near the end, she describes how there’s even beauty in a situation so heartbreaking, frustrating, and difficult to come to terms with as what she describes as “your husband” (notice how “your” places you, the reader in this image, almost forcing you to find the “beauty” in the anticipated ugliness) with “another woman.” She tells the reader, “see how their faces, for a moment, is something like joy” despite the act of being betrayed by a significant other/spouse who vowed to you. 

To find so much beauty in these “ugly” situations is not easy and requires constant hope, positivity, and even patience, but I think Chatti demonstrated it almost effortlessly, highlighting such small details and what brings out the faint glory in each of them. 

Do you have trouble or enjoy finding beauty in “ugly” or ordinary things? Until next time!

Josh Rosenblatt Week 15 - Jericho Brown "Bullet Points"

 As it is a new semester, I have decided to move away from Sam Sax and his poems about his rather messed up life.  I wanted to find a poem that was much more simple to read and also find an author that had many poems to choose from.  I stumbled upon the poem titled “bullet points” by Jericho Brown and I was excited.  I thought that the poem would be in bullet points which would make it really clear for me as someone who has a hard time with poetry.  The poem was, in fact, not in bullet points yet I read it to understand what the title meant.  I completely misinterpreted the word “bullet”.  

The poem is instead about bullets being pointed at him.  Just from the opening lines, it is clear that this man, who he refers to as himself, is suicidal.  He talks about ending his life.  It is rather violent, he says he won’t shoot himself, or suffocate himself but it is clear that he is not telling the truth.  He says he would end his life, but not in the hands of the police.  This poem was written just this last year during all the protests and it is clear that Jericho is very anti police.  “I promise if you hear Of me dead anywhere near A cop, then that cop killed me.”  He is okay with dying but wants to go out on his own terms and not via police.  I’ve looked at a few other of Jericho’s poems and they don’t all share this same message and I am excited to dive into a different part of his life.

Dana Levine -- Week 15 -- Pick a Poet (Clint Smith) -- “What is Left”

     Through reading many of Smith’s poems this year, I have come to love his style of poetry and his ideas that he presents. He goes so deep into thought, but not in a way that is so confusing that only the poet understands. It leaves just enough room for interpretation, while making the general message of the poem clear.

This week, I chose his poem called “What is Left.” It is a poem full of open-ended questions that really get you thinking. The questions all trigger your sense of awareness and pull you into different perspectives of what could possibly be the reality. The poem begins with questions surrounding nature and leads into some deeper questions as it asks “...is it called disappearing if no one knew you were there…” Although all of the questions in this poem are ones similar to this one, I enjoyed trying to come up with my own answers to them and use the poem as a sort of game to see if I can gather evidence and make a solid argument to prove an answer to this open ended question.

I really enjoy these open-ended questions with no one right answer. While reading this poem, I went deep into thought on what the answers truly could be. One of the statements that stood out to me was “I come from a city that is drowning while being told it is rinsing itself clean.” So many times in life, things don’t turn out to be how they seemed. You find out someone is not the person you thought they were, or a childhood perception is crushed by reality. But I question if this has to be the case. Is there one correct answer, or is perception reality?

Gaya Avidor Week 15 - Pick a Poet Kim Addonizio "Aquarium"

For this month’s Pick a Poet Blog, I chose to write about Kim Addonizio’s poem, “Aquarium”. The element that drew me to be interested in her poems, is that the topics are arbitrary and have no specific pattern. I feel that she always writes exactly what comes to her mind, and how she views her surroundings as having a life of their own. She takes in every observation she makes, and turns it into a piece of writing that may look simple at first glance, but always has a deeper meaning.

The poem, “Aquarium”, talks about fish in their tank. Now, when reading it one time through, you might not understand what is so significant about this poem. But, when going back and rereading it slowly, you come to the understanding that fish lead a short and uninteresting life. You may think to yourself, but what is the point of someone writing about fish? Well, to me it shows how impactful our human lives can be, and that we should be thankful that we are in control of our lives unlike the subjects of this poem. Fish do not have a means of authority over their lives, and this poem reminded me that we all have a say in what goes on around us and how we choose to live our lives. We must remember that it is a blessing and not to let the thoughts or actions of others in our society influence the way you live.

Addonizio goes on to write, “They die on the rug. We find them there, eyes open in surprise.” This line explains the sad and abrupt ending to a fish’s life. We do not want to be taken by surprise in the things that go on in our own lives. So as I previously stated, even though this poem might just sound like a description of someone’s fish tank, things can always be interpreted to have a hidden meaning.

Week 15 - Yakov Wahnich - Pick-A-Poet “400 Days”

As a quick recap, Kevin Coval is a Jewish-American poet from Chicago - a heritage he often feels very connected to as he describes in many of his poems. Today’s poem, called “400 Days,” was written by Coval in 2017, and once again, his heritage shines through his writing. 

In this poem, Coval reflects on the preceding 400 days and what he’s experienced during that time. His writing begins with a lighthearted tone, but gradually shifts to a more serious, somewhat saddening tone as he discusses more serious topics in his last few stanzas. The style of this poem is consistent with many of his other works - the early stanzas are fun and the later stanzas deliver his message about the harsh reality of living in Chicago. 

In “400 Days,” Coval begins by briefly discussing haircuts, his students, restaurants, and parades, all centered in Chicago, of course. In remembering his students of the last 400 days, he reflects upon “a few [students that] have been shot” in the city, but quickly shifts the focus of his poem to new restaurants and parades as previously mentioned. I think he does this to demonstrate how fast life moves now-a-days, and just as his poem brushed over the death of his student, so too does life in a way - or at least life in Chicago. There’s so much to unpack in this poem, so with Mrs. Ho’s approval I might discuss more in another blog post, but one line that really stuck out to me was the last thing Coval mentioned before moving away from the topic of his students. 

He states that one of his students was shot through the lung, but survived, and another student was shot in a parked car while “waiting to see his son who will now wait forever.” This was really powerful for two reasons. One, this line perfectly demonstrates how poetry is about reading between the lines, and rather than Coval blatantly saying that his student died, the reader puts two and two together with the nuance Coval delivers here. In doing so, I think the message of this line is delivered with more significance, almost like it packs a punch for the reader once they realize what Coval is hinting to. Second, and finally, the message Coval is conveying here is about the value of life and the concept that each person is a world of their own. In the news, someone might have read a headline like “Chicago man shot in car…” and dismissed it quickly, like Coval dismisses this topic in his poem. However, readers of this poem are reminded that the person that died was a father, and his son’s life changed forever after that day. Coval’s line here helps remove some of the desensitization society has experienced with death, and that’s why I think this line is so powerful. 

What do you think?

Ariel Magin- Week 15: Pick-A-Poet Dick Allen "The Accompanist"

“The Accompanist” is a surprisingly delightful poem by Dick Allen. I fully expected a convoluted poem judging off the title, as I have been misled in the past by simple titles. The poem, of course, focuses on accompanists which are musicians that perform with singers and accompany them, it’s in the name, with music. The poem highlights the circumstance of many accompanists, under-appreciated and bearing most of the workload. 

The author, Dick Allen, makes it clear from the get-go that the poem is about pianists, expressing his worry for “the man or woman at the piano bench.” As the singers bask in the adulation of the crowd the pianist humbly sits behind, not nearly receiving an equal amount of praise. Dick Allen emphasizes the elegance of pianists, with their fingers gliding across the keys and how they excellently “turn sheet music pages, track the singer’s notes, cover the singer’s flaws.” That line serves well in making the author’s point clear. He admires the pianist in a concert, understanding the burden they carry while not getting the same amount of laudits. 

Accompanists have always “lived in the shadows of reflected fame”, being viewed as almost auxiliary performers, rather than an equal part of an ensemble. However, Dick Allen clearly points out when “the singer’s voice dies ... there are just your last piano notes, not resentful at all, carrying us to the end, into those heartfelt cheers.” 

“The Accompanist” brought to light something that is quite overlooked, and while I understand his sentiments and can somewhat sympathize with them, it’s only natural for the singer/frontman to be the star of the show. I believe the problem is when singers believe the musicians accompanying them, their accompanists, are replaceable and less important. I am personally much more impressed by a spectacular musician than by a spectacular singer. I just feel as if more time and practice goes into perfecting an instrument than a voice, but I could be entirely wrong.

Pick a Poet - Myth by Natasha Tretheway - Zoey Eisenband

        Yet again, a Natasha Tretheway poem has given me chills. I usually have a hard time understanding poems. Most of the time, it just sounds like the author is using a random word generator to come up with sentences and English teachers just try to make meaning out of these random words when really there’s no meaning at all!! Tretheway is one of the few poets that actually make sense to me. This poem is about coping with the sad reality of the death of a loved one. Sometimes it is hard to accept the fact that they are gone. The only place that they still live is in our dreams, but when we wake up, they're gone again. I love how Tretheway juxtaposes the connection between the fact that she was sleeping when this person died and the fact that she now sees the person alive in her dreams. 

I was really confused by the end of this poem. There is a * at the end of the poem, and after that, the poem repeats backward. I guess this is to prove that the poem works both backward and forwards. I feel like it has to be a symbol of some kind, but I can't think of what it could be. It is almost like the poem rewinds back to the beginning. Maybe this is symbolic of Natasha’s feelings toward a loved one dying. Maybe she wishes she could rewind back to when they were still alive. I’m not sure if this is the correct interpretation, but Mrs. Ho always says that it is right as long as you can explain your answer. 

 

Zach Klein - week 15- pick a poet Mary Oliver

 

   I decided to write my blogs on the same poet as last semester Mary Oliver. Mary’s poems have a deeper meaning to them, whether they talk about nature or lessons we learn in life. The poem I have decided to analyze today is called, “The Journey”. 

    The poem begins by expressing how an individual always listens to other people in society. When someone is in trouble or needs help they always turn to others and the norms in society. As the poem goes on it describes how deep inside someone can fix their own problems without the “bad advice” from other people. The middle of the poem describes how our own self conscious can lead us to becoming successful in life. We don’t have to listen to the criticism and advice from others because what we believe is good enough. We can only improve as people once we step away from society and lead our lives with our own voice. The line that really emphasizes this says, “the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own.” The personification of the stars is used to show the realization we have that our own voices can guide us through life better than anyone else.

This poem contains a useful lesson that I think anyone can relate to. It convinces us to believe in ourselves and our own voices. Our own voices are greater than anybody’s around us. Do you ever struggle to believe in this concept?

Sammy Hodes Week 15 - Pick A Poet #4 Phillip Levine - Blasting From Heaven

     I think that the most beautiful thing about poetry is that you learn something new every time you read a new poem. That new something or another does not always stand out, but if you look really deep, you will eventually find a new thing here and there. For me, what truly stood out in this poem was the theme of unity. 

    This poem is about an African American cook helping a mother of a little girl make sure that her daughter eats. The poem shows how caring the cook is. The narrator says that the cook has "been out here all night trying to help," and that the fate "brought him there to quit the crying." 

    The poem is relatively short but it does pack a punch. The African American cook is in my opinion the blast from heaven. He is in a sense a heaven sent. The little girl in the poem is presumably malnourished and he is trying to do his best to make sure that she eats. 

     Caring is really important. It is always nice to read poems with a nice message. I really enjoyed reading this poem and I would recommend it to anyone who likes poetry. 

Liann Rozenberg Week 15 - Pick a Poet #4: Ari Banias

    After writing about three different poems from the author I picked, I never knew Ari Banias is transgender. The poem I picked, “Double Mastectomy,” by Ari Banias, is about his mastectomy surgery - a procedure to remove all breast tissue from a breast, creating a masculine chest. The struggles that Banias undergoes with going through the surgery are brought up when the poem refers to why he would do such a thing.
The metaphor of this transsexual surgery is closely compared to destroying an ancient house, “The curved banister, the glass knobs… where were these know… some dump?” (Banias). The then questions how he could do that… “[what] could be made of these parts?” (Banias). 
Banias comparing his surgery to destroying an old house is somewhat odd and unusual, but his poem was very accurate in describing his personal experience with the mastectomy. As Banias approaches the room where the surgery is going to happen, he is able to answer his question of why he went through with this surgery. He did this so he could become a man, “[For] the possibility of my body” (Banias). He did this for his own reasons; even though it may be a difficult surgery, this is what would make him feel like a man.
At first, I had a little difficulty trying to interpret this poem and why Banias would choose such a metaphor. I can never fully understand because I am not transgender. However, I did get a cosmetic procedure that I did not need, but my family understood that it was something that made me insecure. So, I am able to understand why Banias would go through a tough procedure and I believe that his poem did an excellent job of explaining just that. It was detailed in a way where it was not too much information, but you could feel what Banias was expressing.

Have you ever wanted to change something about you that made you feel insecure or self-conscious?

Chaya Brenner - Week 15 - Pick a poet: Natasha Trethewey, "White Lies"

  This week for my pick a poet I chose “White Lies”, by Natasha Trethewey. I am, as usual, absolutely entranced by the way Trethewey talks about growing up as a poor black family in the South. It’s such a different experience than any I’ve ever and will ever know. 

The poem’s title is a brilliant play on words. The poem does actually talk about white lies, little ones for that don’t hurt anyone, but it also talks about Trethewey literally lying about being white as a child. She discusses growing up poor and how she lied to white people about the part of town where she lived, and where she got her clothes. And then she goes on to say when a white girl in her class told her, “Now we have three of us in this class.”, she just went along with it. (lines 17-18) Her mother would punish her when she lied by washing out her mouth with soap. 

In the end, she uses my favorite line of the poem, “Believing her, I swallowed suds thinking they'd work from the inside out.” (lines 28-30) I can picture in my head this little girl, mouth full of soap, eyes closed, praying that the suds will purify her of her lies. Trethewey’s descriptions always feel powerful to me and are often easy to picture because of her clear details.

I love the way Trethewey writes with nostalgia that transfers to the reader, even when the exact experience isn’t a shared one, you can find yourself connecting to the feelings. I remember what it was like to lie as a little kid and to feel so awful immediately after. When you’re little you almost want to get caught because you’re terrified of what might happen because of your lies. So I understand why she almost wanted to have her mouth washed out.

How do you feel about telling white lies?

Gabriel Winter - Week 14 - Large Mouth Bass

 Shalom I am Gabriel Winter and today I will be talking about the best fish in the entire world (not eating) the Large Mouth Bass. 

    Large Mouth Bass are a species of freshwater fish that tend to be thought of as a game fish for people who fish for sport. I have a lake in my backyard and all day long during school I fish it and catch them along with peacock bass. I have learned that Large Mouth tend to fight really hard when first hooked and then slowly give in unlike the peacock bass which fights hard until the end. 

    You may be wondering why I love the Large Mouth Bass so much and I will tell you. First off it is just a beautiful looking fish. The colors are unmatched with their green gray look and the patterns that are on them look as though they were painted on. The mouth is large hence the name and make them a great fish to take a picture with after to celebrate your catch. For some reason my heart skips a beat when I realise that I have caught a Large Mouth and not a peacock just out of the sheer respect I have for them. They are just overall the perfect fish with their aggressive tendencys but also not to aggressive to the point where it is a hassle to catch them. They are a great game fish and a fish that everyone in the sport of freshwater fishing has come to love. 

 

Sarah Louis Week 15- Our Days Rae Armantrout Pick A Poet

 Our Days- Rae Armantrout

    This week I read the poem Our Days by the poet Rae Armantrout. This poem happened to be a very short poem separated into two parts. The first part was about a simple day during corona and the fear of people being too close to one another. The second part was about the random nature of fascination. It is interesting because this poem is very simple, yet encompassed two typical days during quarantine: as this poem was actually written in May 2020 during the lockdown period. 

    I was able to relate to this poem because when this pandemic first started my worse fear was interacting with other humans. I would walk by others on the sidewalk and be so nervous that they might be carriers of the coronavirus. It is sad to think that this pandemic has made us fearful of one another and have a lack of comfort when around other human beings. In the poem Rae mentions a salesman coming to her house but mentions that the sales leader "stands too close as he begins his pitch- close enough to spread the virus".

     The second part of the poem was rather familiar as the poet discusses the attraction she has to random objects and "things that make no sense". I connected to this part because I find the tiniest things to be very enticing. For example, the other day I was walking around my neighborhood and found a tiny Blue Jay nest resting in an Elm tree. It was so exciting as I have always noticed one Blue Jay roaming around my backyard this past year but never knew of its origin. When I found this nest I was utterly fascinated by this and it made my day so special. For most people, finding a nest might be deemed unworthy of such excitement, but because I find peculiar items to be interesting I was so happy to have discovered this nest. 

What are unique things in life you deem exciting? 

I HAVE BEEN BETRAYED BY YARD HOUSE!!!!!! Zoey Eisenband week 14

             Have you ever been betrayed so badly that you feel like the entire world is against you? That is how I feel right now. When quarantine ended in the summer and everyone started going back to restaurants again over the Summer, Yard House *temporarily* discontinued some of their menu items: the fried mac and cheese balls, something else that I forgot, and most importantly the S'MORES BROWNIE!!!! 

Now let me give you a little background on the s'mores brownie. Every Friday night, Sarah, Jessica, and have shabbat dinner at Yard House and we ALWAYS get the s'mores brownie for dessert, no matter how full we are. Ever since I heard it was discontinued, I ask them if they brought it back yet. Every time, the answer was always, “not yet.” 

Until today, I lived out my worst nightmare. When I asked my waiter, Jake, if they brought back the s'mores brownie, he informed me that they have been PERMANENTLY DISCONTINUED. Not to be dramatic, but my life is over. Not only is the s'mores brownie permanently discontinued (omg it hurts to even write it) but apparently the entire dessert menu is STORE BOUGHT, meaning its not made in house, UGH!!!!!!!!! I can literally taste the difference. They now have a very similar dessert called the brookie which is basically a grosser version of the s'mores brownie without the smores part. It just tastes so artificial. Like an imposter. 

The bottom line is that Yard house has betrayed me. Oh and if any of you want to write them an email with me to complain about this, you are welcome to!! 

Yakov Wahnich Week 14 - Social Media Speed

Has anyone seen this picture yet?

If you haven’t, I’ll explain. This is a picture of Bernie Sanders attending the Inauguration on Wednesday. The picture quickly blew up on social media and many viral memes have used it since. Bernie went so viral that he even created sweatshirts with this picture printed on them. He released the sweatshirts just yesterday, and they already sold out. Across social media, users have been replicating his mittens, his outfit, and various other aspects of the picture. 

When I saw Bernie’s picture explode across all social media platforms, it reminded me about the role of social media in society today. I think it’s absolutely crazy how fast information spreads in today’s day and age, and most of that speed can be attributed to social media. Bernie, for instance, had his picture taken around noon on Wednesday. I couldn’t find the actual statistics, but I’m sure that millions of people already saw his picture by Wednesday night. And not even a day later, Bernie’s team launched sweaters with the same picture that went viral only the day before. 

The shift in speed presented by social media, however, isn’t new at all. Back when newspapers were a popular source of information, televised media came along and delivered news significantly faster. Now, the speed of social media has replaced television, but what comes next? Can there be a new form of social media that delivers information even faster than Twitter, Snap, or TikTok?

This totally never happens (Ben and Jerry’s Story) - Noah Rubin, Week 14

Ok so, picture this. You’re up at  11 or 12… or 1… or 2… and you just finished all of your homework for school (that you remembered to do) and now you’re thinking about going to bed. But it’s only *insert time before 3am here* you say, and you wander into the kitchen - like you do late at night. Now you have a few options, you could get a whole meal, healthy snack, junk-food snack, or Ben and Jerry’s AmeriCone Dream… Yeah, it’s a pretty easy choice… What's the flavor that you'd grab in this situation? Just writing this blog is making me want some tbh.

A picture of Brownie Core Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream 

So you reach down into the freezer and take out the pint, but after you scoop 2 scoops out you start to feel guilty - do you really need all of this ice cream? Wouldn’t it be satisfactory to just eat a spoonful? And that’s when you cave and take another scoop and maybe add a chocolate chip cookie to the side of your bowl. 

So now that you have your ice cream, you can’t just sit and eat it alone, in the dark, in silence, so naturally, you would open YouTube and take 15 minutes to eat it and then scrape the bottom of the bowl for another 15 minutes while you watch some more videos.

I’m not saying that this happens to me on a regular basis, but as you can see from this sequence of events - it is highly possible that it could happen… With that being said, I’m writing this blog at 11pm, and I *was* planning on going to bed once I finish, but come on it’s *only* 11 o'clock… 

Update - I didn’t grab ice cream, but I took a raincheck.

 

Dana Levine -- Week 14 -- Doing an Autopsy on a Fish

I'm so sorry in advance for this blog...

    So, it is week 2 of second semester, and I already don’t have any ideas of what to write about. And, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I can’t answer any of the pre-made questions because each of them will lead me into writing a blog post of me rambling with my existential thoughts. So, I am going to give you a brief rundown of my day today instead.

    After school ended, I went fishing for the first time in a while, and it was pretty fun! I used to love fishing with my cousins and my friends in my old neighborhood when I was younger. So, it was a nice flashback of the past. Anyway, I caught a couple fish, and then I decided to dissect one, because why not. **Don’t read on if you get easily triggered by dissections and things along those lines**

    First, I want to preface this by saying that I threw each fish that I caught back into the lake and the one I dissected was long gone and in the freezer already ready to be thawed and cooked, so I did not kill any fish with the sole intention of dissecting it. This plan was completely last minute and Gabe was going to filet and eat the fish. I ended up using the knife to take out the organs and punctured the heart and saw the blood ooze out. We also cut open the stomach and found a baby crab inside, which was insane!!!

    Like I said though, I’m not crazy. I just find anatomy interesting, even if it is from a fish. I tried to decipher each organ with Amy, and we found the liver, the heart, the stomach, and a couple other things. All in all, I would call it a success, as it was a good refresher of some basic anatomy, and we found a crab in the stomach!!!! I mean, that’s a pretty good day if you ask me…

What’s a gross or strange thing you find fascinating??

Sorry about these photos if you're squeamish://

^This is the baby crab we found in the stomach

^These are the organs

Sienna Tohar - week 14 - Does How We Dress Affect How We Think?

To get straight to the point (in my opinion), yes, but the long answer for me is “it depends.” I honestly feel like clothing means something different for everyone. For some, it’s self expression, or a chance to catch up with trends and see what’s in vogue, for others, it’s nothing special at all. 

Growing up, I had phases of going in and out of caring for the way I dressed. I simply saw clothes as fabric to wear every day, but not anything to really get excited about. However, some years ago, that drastically changed. I find myself putting so much care into the way I dress and present myself these days (but in a healthy way). Not only do I feel the way I dress reflects parts of who I am, but it affects my mood (especially the colors I wear!!!). If I’m uncomfortable with the way I’m dressed (this includes small things like hair, makeup, and accessories, too), my day just feels a bit more down (not to be dramatic, but I mean it when I say it affects how I feel haha)!

I’ll admit, because of dress code, I find it more difficult to express myself through my appearance, which is why I find getting ready on the weekends so fun! Although, waking up cold and tired every morning does make it tempting to just put on a comfy hoodie, I always feel better knowing that I put some effort into how I dress, it gives me a better sense of being ready to take on the day (especially while spending everyday at home during the pandemic). 

For a lot of people, I know that dressing up has nothing to do with their mood or thought process. For them, clothes are simply only clothes and that’s that. Not everyone is that sensitive to how they dress (or they just don’t care as much, which I understand). I think a big part of dressing up doesn’t only have to do with being passionate about it, but also being in the right headspace to have enough motivation for it. When nothing seems worth doing, then dressing in all dark colors might reflect a darker state of mind (or it could just mean that someone really loves and feels comfortable with dark colors! It truly could go either way). 

Also, I feel like when dressed in the right attire, certain outfits can have an effect on how one behaves in an environment. Just think about how one might feel dressed up in formal work wear versus nice evening dinner wear versus night time pajamas. Certain clothes remind you of specific places and situations, you just associate them in your mind, allowing you to place yourself in situations where you’d wear them. It’s not like my personality changes or anything, but the mindset alters a bit. Kind of like how when wearing dance/workout clothes, I get into “active” mode and how that would differ to wearing leisure clothes at home.

     Not only do I think my own clothes affect the way I think, but at times, others’ clothes do, too. For instance, think about how you’d feel at a funeral wearing all black and being surrounded by others wearing all black. Now, think about going to a party or a get together at a beach. They evoke totally different moods and mentalities! 

Over the last few years, I’ve been on a mission of reinventing my closet to be full of colors that I love, which in return, when worn, make me feel happy and motivated! So, they definitely affect the way I think (more positively), but I know that it may not be the same story for everyone. It’s always interesting for me to reflect on older outfits of mine that just didn’t feel “right,” and realize now that it simply was only the colors that felt “off”... Even patterns have a similar effect on me. Strange.

So, does the way you dress affect the way you think? Is it fun to you or do you feel indifferent about it? What are your thoughts on this? Until next time!

Ariel Magin Week 14- COYB!!

COME ON YOU BLUES!!! I fully expect this post to disinterest 99% of the class since it’s about soccer. If you aren’t interested in premier league football (soccer) then here’s your chance to leave. OK now that everyone has left time for me to vent about Chelsea’s abysmal form as of late. 

At the beginning of the season, I was very optimistic about our chances at silverware both domestically and internationally, but now halfway through the premier league season and in the knockout stages of the Champions League, things look rather bleak for Chelsea. We sit at 8th place in the table which is dreadful after spending over 200 million dollars over the summer transfer window. Our 2-0 loss against Leicester just showed the disparities between a team in form and a team out of form. We won against Fulham by only 1 and they had ten men on the pitch after a late first-half red card. I don’t understand why the new signings are struggling as well as other core players. 

Many people are turning on the manager, Frank Lampard, who is a club legend. He is one of Chelsea’s best players of all time, if not the best. He had a great first season as manager last year leading us to finish in 4th place in the league and reach the FA Cup Final, despite the transfer ban. This season with all the new purchases everyone expected us to be title challengers and while mathematically it seems like a slim chance that we’ll challenge for the league title, I still have faith, rather blind faith. I just hope Frank can turn the ship around and lead us on another unbeaten run as we had earlier this season. I hope he doesn’t get sacked as it would be hard to see such a club legend leave that way. Only time will tell, I just hope we regain form in time for our clash with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

The manager Frank Lampard shown below

A New Recruit - Josh Rosenblatt Week 14

 As most of you know by now, sports are back and in full effect here at DKJA.  The soccer team just played its sixth game last night which we lost 3-0 to a team with some very talented players.  It was our second game of the week and most of us could barely even walk after the game.  Myself and the other two defenders, Jake and Aaron, were all hobbling off the field after giving it all we could.  

Usually our season is pretty spread out over a span of three to four months but because of the pandemic, we are playing all 9 of our games in January.  We have 1 week left of the regular season and three games to play, so we’re in for a long week.  

If you’re wondering how I manage to play all these games and be ready for the next ones it’s very simple: StretchZone.  If you recall, I wrote an entire blog post about the benefits of StretchZone last semester, but that was to treat my back which I am happy to say has no pain anymore.  Now I go there after every game so I am not sore for the next one, and it works!  

Today something very interesting happened, I ran into a familiar face.  The one and only Zachary Lev Klein walked in as I was waiting to be stretched.  He went in for a free trial and understood the true powers of StretchZone.  He even booked a few more sessions to stay loose and help him finish out the season.  Now seeing him there caught me off guard, but was not totally shocking after all the unpaid advertising I do for the place at Donna Klein.  I have gotten a new recruit and if you don’t believe me, here’s the proof.

Come to our game Thursday 1/28 where we play at home at 4:00!

Mattan Masri, Week 14- When Do You Die?

 

    Everyone has, at some point, heard a story about someone whose heart has stopped, but was quickly resuscitated. When referring to these people we often say “they were brought back to life”, but were they really ever dead in the first place? A person is considered to be clinically dead when their breathing and blood circulation stops while undergoing clinical death, a persons’ organs are damaged by ischemia (lack of oxygen due to stopped or restricted blood flow). Eventually, the body becomes irreparable due to ischemic injuries and cannot be resuscitated, but the rate at which this occurs varies from organ to organ. Limbs, tendons, skin, and bone can last for hours without oxygen before becoming unsalvageable if kept in the right conditions, but the brain undergoes rapid cell death and injury in a matter of minutes, however, some injured cells take long enough to die that a person has time to be resuscitated at which point there is some time to prevent their death while the person is “living.” As long as the organs, especially the brain, are still salvageable, the person can recover, therefore they aren’t truly dead. So you’re not dead when your breathing and heart stops, you’re dead when enough of the cells are dead for your brain to be beyond repair.

    The problem with that definition is that it is entirely dependent on our current level of medicine and technology. As we advance in these fields, we’ll be able to further push the line of when you are considered to be dead. Perhaps many years from now a person can still be brought back as long as they have one still living brain cell, after that, perhaps they’ll only be dead once all their brain matter is completely gone and decayed, farther than that, death may not even be considered a meaningful transition, simply a temporary setback.

Regarding the question of “when does a person actually die”, we can’t truly know yet. Is death purely determined by how advanced our medicine is? Does “dead” really just mean “we don’t have the technology yet”? Is death a concrete, definite state? Are living things even meaningfully distinct from nonliving things when everything is made of the same atoms?

Bella Furst | Week 14 Slicing My Finger Open

If I could punch this food processor blade, I would. No hesitation.

Slicing My Finger Open... Oops

Okay I’ll preface this with an important note: I didn’t need stitches. But I did vomit and pass out. 

    I was trying so hard to think of what to write about for my blog article this week and couldn’t think of anything!! Thankfully a food processor blade cut through a vein on my thumb and spared me from the imminent torture of not knowing what to write your AP lit blog article on.

    I get hurt a lot. Whether you remember me skinning my knees in middle school, almost dying from the flu freshman year, wearing a splint on my wrist for most of 10th grade, or none of that fun jazz, anyone close to me (both in proximity and friendship) can undoubtedly see that I’m, well, an idiot. And this isn’t me belittling myself or thinking I’m “dumb”, but I just make really terrible decisions, like today! 

    The reason this pissed me off so much is that I have never even used the culprit responsible for slicing into my finger. A food processor. Well, just the blade, but not the point. I was literally just pulling the top shelf of the dishwasher out, and I suppose I wasn’t looking (or was blasting early 2000s pop a little too loud), and all of a sudden my finger just felt uncomfortably warm. I looked down and it was just bleeding. A ton. I’ll spare you the photos (because they’re pretty fricking disgusting and make me nauseous), but my finger was just oozing blood for a good 20 minutes and refused to stop. So I figured it was probably important to tell my brother. But he was in a meeting, so I silently suffered and bled through like 4 paper towels until he read my text and came to help clean my wound. 

    Some nail scratches in his forearm and isopropyl alcohol later, my finger was wrapped in a gauze and I cannot even explain to you how horrific it is trying to type with this hotdog thumb. 

    Anyways, don’t be like me. Look before doing… anything. I almost got hit by a car twice in the same day a few weeks ago because I just didn’t look both ways (which is something, mind you, a TODDLER can do). But, I guess I’m still alive to keep pushing through my terrible decisions and lack of personal responsibility. Have you ever had anything similar to this? Or are you not quite as careless as I am?

Gaya Avidor Week 14 - What Do I Miss From My Past?

This week, I decided to take a question from the ones Mrs. Ho listed for us. As I was looking through them, this particular question really stood out to me. Many times I find myself wondering what it would be like if we could go back in time and relive certain moments. Although there would be many memories I would choose to experience once again, it would probably be hard to pick my favorite. So today’s question is: When you look into the past, what do you miss the most?

When I look into my past, I could definitely say that I miss things, such as my previous house. The house I lived in before my current one was the house I was born into. It was the place that I grew up in for the first 11 years of my life. All of my fondest childhood memories were made there, and I often think about possibly buying back that house when I’m older. 

Other things I miss is spending every Sunday with my family like we used to do when I was younger. We had a set routine for every Sunday, which we usually spent going down to Miami or just taking a trip by car for the day. We would end the night by going to the same sushi restaurant each week, and getting ColdStone ice cream right after. These kinds of memories from my past are important to me because they have instilled in me the importance of family time, which is something I look forward to one day sharing with my own family. 

Other things I miss is not having to worry about life and my immediate future. Now, as seniors in high school, we are so pressured to know exactly what next steps we want to take and truthfully, not many of us really know. So, I miss the stress-free, care-free, and simply happy life that I used to live as a child. Don't get me wrong I'm happy also now, but I think sometimes I just want to relive my childhood. But, until someone invents a time machine, I guess we will be left to our imagination.