Mattan Masri- Week 16: Animation is not a Genre

 Film awards like the Oscars often have a “best-animated film” category, and this is dumb. It’s like having a “best live-action” award. It’s extremely reductive to group all animated films together and only consider them for that reward. This seems to stem from a very limited view of animation, grouping them all together under the idea that “animation” is a genre of film and all animated films share certain characteristics. The problem is that animation is not a genre, it is a medium.

Even grouping all of animation as one medium is reductive, as there are many different forms of animation, such as traditional 2d animation, 3d animation, and even stop motion. Animation can also encompass any genre, and it’s extremely ignorant to consider them as one, as an example, would you consider something produced by Disney, like, say Frozen to be in any way similar to something like Coraline? Animation is still often regarded as a childish art form, despite studios like Studio Ghibli have proven that animation can tell deep, compelling, and mature stories, so what will it take for animation as a storytelling medium to gain more mainstream recognition on the same level as other films?

Pick a poet- Week 20- Gabriel Winter

     "Birthday"

        By Carl Dennis 

         The poem "Birthday" by Carl Dennis shows us the thought process of a man who is doubting whether or not he is worthy of the life that he has had. The poem describes a man who is looking back on his life and is thinking about all that he has done but is also thinking about what he could have appreciated better and what the true meaning of his life is. 

    He seems to be very focused on the fact that others who did not have the chance to have a life like his would appreciate all that he has more than he does. He first introduces this self doubt when he claims, "I wonder how many of them would have felt more lucky (Dennis 14)." The question that is posed is the introduction to what is to come of this poem which is a monologue of himself thinking to himself about how the little things are the ones that matter and that he has not taken those little things with the respect that they deserve. By writing the poem the author wants us to think about the little things in our own lives and the things that we can show more gratitude that we would not think to before. 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=48967

 

My Graduation Speech - Week 22 - Noah Rubin

Most assignments can be half-*ssed and submitted 5 minutes before the deadline. You might not get the best grade, but most of the time, if you’ve left the assignment til the last minute you’ve accepted your loss and are expecting a mediocre or even bad grade. Sometimes you’ll even submit an assignment late and not lose any sleep over it - like this blog (sorry Mrs. Ho). The Graduation Speech assignment was different though. It didn’t feel like an assignment for Mrs. Ho or Mrs. Joseph or even my parents - it was an assignment for me.

As I stared at the blank paper, I felt scared and worried that whatever I wrote wouldn’t be good enough for my own standards. When the deadline came and went, I got stressed over it and started to really put ideas on the page, but every time I read my work it sounded dumb, cliche, repetitive, and annoying… It was a hard assignment and I’m still not done with it, but I did submit a draft.

I think it’s ok - it definitely needs work, but the fact that I stressed over it caught my attention. Since I’ve gotten into college (not to flex) I’ve been pretty chill about my homework and classes, and when I realized that I cared about this speech I felt refreshed. I’ll definitely be working on this speech over the break and leading up to our big day, but in this blog, I just wanted to write about how it was an assignment that I really cared about and how I needed to get to 250 words for an assignment that didn’t mean nearly as much to me.

Bella Furst | Week 22.5 I'm an Idiot 3.0

 I'm not even bashing myself at this point...

EDIT: Apparently I did do week 13!! I just forgot to save the article :)) So I wrote an extra one... for no reason... I want to rot in silence.

        Believe it or not, the original name of this was "I'm an Idiot", but I actually ended up accidentally deleting this post, so thus the second title! Man, I am so worn out after writing like 6 blog articles today because I procrastinated like hell and didn't do all this sooner. But deleting it after FINALLY thinking of something to write? Icing on the cake.

        I'm honestly extremely ready for this week to be over. I can't wait for it to be Thursday and to have all my made-up work finished and then just be (mostly) done with classes. I was really excited to be done with my blogs and be able to finally get started on my missing Chinese and biology work, but the universe hates me and I cannot have nice things <3 

        I don't even know what to write at this point and I'm just searching for crumbs to talk about. This blog will be dry! But it is the last one that I ever have to write for this class, and even though it's almost 10 pm, I can go do my other homework that's due tonight and fall asleep at peace with myself. 

PRO-Tip: Don't procrastinate all your work for the night before... or for the night you have a ton to do AND work that was due a week ago. Senioritis really knocked me up this year...

SPRING BREAK PLEASE COME SOONER SO I CAN BREATHE.

Subathon - Josh Rosenblatt Week 22

 I decided to take a look at Twitch this week for the first time in many months and I discovered something interesting.  This guy who goes by “Ludwig” on Twitch and Youtube (I assume that’s his real name too) was doing a subathon.  A subathon on Twitch is a live stream that has a countdown on it.  Everytime someone subscribes to him, the timer goes up by ten seconds and he can’t end the stream until the timer hits zero.  When people subscribe, they pay at least $5 which is split between Ludwig and Twitch.  

When I first noticed this, I clicked on the channel and I just saw the guy passed out asleep in his bed, yet the timer was at 35 hours and people were still subscribing to him.  Oh and he had 43,000 people just watching him sleep.  That’s insane.  I’ve never heard of Ludwig before, but once I saw how crazy he was for doing this, I had to check out some of his content on Youtube.  If anyone is curious, he is a variety streamer with over 2 million subscribers on youtube.  He basically plays a bunch of different games.

Apparently he began this stream last sunday and thought it would last only a few days.  As of today, he’s been going on eight days of non-stop streaming his life.  He plays games on stream, eats meals on stream, works out on stream, and even has showered on stream (clothed of course).  I believe he began at around active 35k subs on twitch and now he is close to 105k.  Since every subscriber increases the countdown by 10 seconds, you might imagine how large that timer is now.  As of this very moment, the timer is at 53 hours and 11 minutes and seems to be only going up.  At this rate, Ludwig will be streaming for the rest of his life.

Bella Furst | Week 22 Last Blog Yay!!

 Last Blog Ever (please)

        You can probably assume I dislike writing these blogs based on the fact I’m last minute uploading a ton of late ones that I didn’t do earlier, so having this be the final blog post I ever have to write for a class (I hope) is so exciting. I am going to miss reading everyone’s stupid thoughts and experiences, and it was really fun to see what a lot of everyone’s lives are like because even though I’ve known you guys for years, I hardly know anything about most of you.

That being said, seeing you all make poor decisions (I suppose myself included…) was really entertaining and even though I think I won’t miss our class, I know I’m probably going to miss you all once we graduate. I’m super bummed that I won’t be back in time for the Senior Bash night thingy this Thursday night because I thought it would be cool to see you all again to vibe and hang out before we graduate in a group setting, but maybe that’s just incentive to have a safely planned grade event post-finishing classes. In any case, I can’t believe we’re finished with high school. Yeah, we still have classes and tests and all that, but we’re really almost done… I’ve known some of you since I was 9 and I’m having a hard time processing that next year’s social events won’t have the familiar faces I’m used to seeing at school-planned events.

Yet at the same time, I’m so excited for the next step in my life! I’ve already made some really incredible friends who’ll be in my class in the fall and though it’ll be really hard, I know I’m ready for the next step in my academic journey. Thank you to all of you for the dreadful (but somehow bearable) years these last couple years. I know I talk major crap about the school, but I feel really lucky that a lot of you guys were in my grade.

What are your plans for next year? :)

Bella Furst | Week 20 "The United States Welcomes You" by Tracy K. Smith

 "The United States Welcomes You" 

by Tracy K. Smith

        I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs that I really enjoy the fact that Smith writes a lot about socio economic issues and modern politics in a lot of her work. This poem, “The United States Welcomes You”, seems to outline the difficulty and interrogative feeling for newly immigrated immigrants to the US. The title explicitly says a welcome, but the poem is harsh and feels very uncomfortable when read from the perspective of a new immigrant. 

The entire poem is laced with questions like “Why and by whose power were you sent?” and “What do you see that you may wish to steal?”, common misconceptions many are forced to experience when first arriving in the US. It seems that the worst is always assumed of those who immigrate here. They’re asked if they have “anything to do [w]ith others [who bring] harm” here, and the tone is very accusatory, as if the only plausible answer for someone moving here is to commit a crime or wreak havoc. 

The ending of the poem seems to be a glimpse at the thoughts of the immigrants themselves, posing the questions “Is this some enigmatic type of test? What if we Fail? How and to whom do we address our appeal?”, in that they feel so heavily interrogated and are afraid to answer “incorrectly” when in actuality they come seeking a newer, better life than the country they had left behind.

This poem is so heartbreakingly relevant, and unfortunately it seems that its relevance will be prominent in our society for a long while. I really love the more humanitarian, introspective poems, as it can often be difficult to understand the injustices felt by many minorities, especially with the US being such a major international power known for having harsh immigration rulings.

Bella Furst | Week 19 Am I… a cat person?

 Yes, I Will Be a Crazy Cat Lady

****Not my own photo, but I love cat cuddle piles and look at these black cat babies!! (Sorry black cats are my favorite hahah)

Yes. Well, if we’re going just based on the blogger title of my article, then the answer is yes. See the thing is, whenever anyone ever asked me “Are you a dog or a cat person?” the answer would just naturally leave me as “Oh, clearly I’m a dog person!” But… I’m not. And it took me living with two obnoxious fur beasts to realize that.

My second month in New Orleans I called Mattan and was telling him about how much I love Nibbler (my brother's adorable black cat), and he responded with “I always knew you were secretly a cat person,” and I was like “What?” But it made so much sense. Dogs always want attention and need time for walks and stuff like that, but with cats it’s so much easier. Yeah, there’s play time, but it’s all on their terms. And it’s easy that way. Especially because they sleep 90% of the day. Also? Cat cuddles are ELITE! I love cat cuddles so much it’s not even funny. I would sacrifice everything for these cats. Yeah, having Nibbler jump on my throat at 2 am is pretty sucky, and she annoys me all the time in class, but she always cuddles with me when I’m stressed or sits in my lap during tests or sleeps at the edge of my bed and lets me cuddle her even though she hates it. And yeah, not all cats are like that, but she is. And I love her, so much. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I love dogs. I love dogs so much. I would get a dog in college if I didn’t think I’d need a service dog in the near future (fun fact: you can’t have a pet dog if you have a service dog!!) because I love them that much. But, cats are just so much easier to take care of and as someone who’s introverted and too depressed to take care of myself most of the time, cats are far easier to take care of than dogs are. I could ramble on about this for hours and hours, but I just really love cats and I’m so happy I got to live with two little nuggets for the past year.

Are you a dog or cat person? 

Bella Furst | Week 18 "The Universe as a Primal Scream" by Tracy K. Smith

 "The Universe as a Primal Scream" by Tracy K. Smith

        Maybe you’re like me and regularly have existential crises, or maybe you don’t. But, it’s difficult

to not feel insignificant in the world at times and often, it seems like there may be more to life than we

can understand. In “The Universe as a Primal Scream” by Tracy K. Smith, what is seemingly a poem

about Smith’s neighbor having two children who scream often implies a far deeper outlook on the scope of the universe.

At “5pm on the nose” the kids “open their mouths and [scream],” is what Smith leads with. It may

seem like the speaker just has some obnoxious neighbors, and she even questions if the mother is proud

of the powerhouse children she produced. But, it quickly shifts in the third stanza and says “[she’s

ready [t]o meet what refuses to let us keep anything [f]or long” which contrasts these seemingly

inconsequential screams from the children nearby. The speaker is questioning why the universe only

gives us temporary indulgences and even refers to the universe as both a “wizard” and a “thief”, for it

gives us greatness, only to take it away. 

Why are the childrens’ screams only seemingly inconsequential, though? I myself struggled to

realize initially why Smith even mentioned the children screaming at all, but the last stanza seems to

make it all make sense. “Our racket seems beside [the universe]” and it doesn’t seem to care much

about what we want. In fact, there’ll always be these “forces” of the universe that we just can’t

understand, and the kids upstairs “[s]crea[m] like the Dawn of Man, as if something [t]hey have no

name for has begun.” There’s a certain mystery to the universe and these kids will scream day after day

never understanding. The speaker will listen to her “stereo on shuffle” never understanding. The

universe will always contain this sense of mystery and unknowingness, a beautiful thing. Where did the

universe come from? Why are there unexplainable forces beyond our control? There’s so much we just

don’t know and will never know. These children screaming is a regular racket in the life of the speaker,

but the universe will never care about that, and the kids will continue to scream as they, too, don’t

understand.

As someone who adores fantastical thought and the mysteries of the universe (I mean, Gravity

Falls is literally my favorite TV show), this poem was just splendid. So many things to ponder about

post reading, and even after processing my own interpretation I’m curious if there’s more depth to this

than my puny teenager brain can understand.

Bella Furst | Week 17 The Origins of the Kazoo Obsession

 

My Supervillain Backstory

The Origins of my Kazoo Obsession

        I think that even those who don’t know me well will remember that I’m quite the kazoo master, and pretty good at it if I say so myself. I have so many phenomenal memories from high school in regards to my kazoo and the cacophonous noises I made with it. But, when exactly did this obsession start?

I’m going to take you back to the summer of 2017… right before high school. It was my birthday and my mom had made a pit-stop at Party City before coming home and filled this rainbow bucket with just absolute random crap (fun fact: this is also what birthed the Peppa Pig addiction, but that’s a story for another day). One of the useless pieces of plastic in the bucket was a purple kazoo. Bonus points if you remember seeing me with this on campus. But, even though this is an origin story, not all stories begin at the beginning. Because I actually laughed at the kazoo in this bucket and ignored it for months. So, what actually happened that made this condensed ball of kazoo chaos?

It was Ms. Oliver. Blame her. I was walking with Sienna, Chaya, and I think 1-2 other people freshman year and we passed the mac, or however you spell it. And outside, we stopped to talk to Ms. Oliver, who mentioned they were giving away kazoos inside. I asked half jokingly if she could get me one and she did. I carried that thing with me EVERYWHERE. I almost got that kazoo taken away on a weekly basis in Schwab’s poor history class. Fast forward to me getting way more comfortable in the high school (cough cough realizing I could get away with being annoying cough) and I carried a kazoo in my backpack, lunch box, purse, in everything. I would play it on the way to get lunch or during class or in the halls on an otherwise perfectly normal and mundane day of school. And soon, the kazoo grew to be my trademark.

When it gets to the extent that teachers and kids you’ve only met in passing know you for it, that’s gotta be a trademark, right? I even ended up buying a kazoo game (Kazoo Crazy i love you) at Target and forcing anyone from my family to my own teachers to play it with me. I’d interrupt Leibowitz’s 3rd period chemistry classes just to hand her a kazoo and then leave. Still not sure why I did that, but I did that. 

To this day, I always have a kazoo handy. I keep one in my bedside drawer, in my bags, just in everything. You never know when you might need a kazoo to break awkward silence or just need a fun conversation starter. So, here’s just a bit of Bella history you never asked for.

Do you have anything that you’re known for? 

Bella Furst | Week 15 “I Don’t Miss It” by Tracy K. Smith

 

"I Don't Miss It" by Tracy K. Smith

     After a breakup, the loneliness that follows is a painful experience that leaves many hollow. In “I Don’t Miss It”, Tracy K. Smith reminisces on an old relationship and the many feelings she felt both before and after the breaking up period. The way it’s told reads like a beautiful novel, with a clear beginning, middle, and sorrowful ending.

Smith begins the poem with the lines “But sometimes I forget where I am, Imagine myself inside that life again”, feeling often that she forgets what time she lives in and remembers a life of memories with her lover. However, readers are quickly shown that this relationship of hers wasn’t indeed so great. She reminds herself that on “Recalcitrant mornings” there is “Sun perhaps, Or more likely colorless light”, showing readers that this was a dull relationship, empty of color and life, furthered by imagery in the following stanzas that allow readers to see into her mind and recognize the boredom she felt.

        She continues on that’d she wait for signs of life from her significant other, waiting on the couch just to hear the keys turn in the door, anticipating their return. Though it’s clearly evident that she’s bored and no longer feeling vibrant feelings of affection towards her significant other, she ends the poem on a note of loneliness and desperation, feeling that it’s “It’s impossible not to want [t]o walk into the next room and let [them] [r]un [their] hands down the sides of [her]legs, Knowing perfectly well what they know.”

        I think this may be one of my favorite poems thus far that Smith has written. Though she has many about current socio political issues, and other small anecdotes of her life, this one feels so raw with emotion and I love how vulnerable it feels to read. The way it’s written as if to show “I don’t miss this looming sense of boredom and loneliness”, but instead shows that “Sometimes, I do miss you after all, even if I don’t miss our relationship itself.” It feels real and I find that so incredibly breathtaking to be able to read. I personally experienced the loss of several toxic friends throughout the years and sometimes I really miss those friends, even if the actual time I spent being friends with them was exhausting and painful. It hit close to home, I suppose, and it was easier to connect with this poem and its breakdown than it had been for me reading other works Smith has written. I feel as though I initially starkly misunderstood poetry as a genre, for the vulnerability poets put into their work is simply magnificent.  

Week 22- Gabriel Winter- Gas Prices

 I am very annoyed by the gas prices recently. I used to go to Wawa and get gas for 1.95$ without a problem week after week. Sure it would fluctuate to anywhere from 1.89$ to 2.50$ but never to over 3 dollars in the past couple of years. I have not read up recently on politics as I have been preoccupied with other things but this usually happens with some type of issue in the government whether its America or some middle eastern countries. 

    This topic is very near and dear to my heart as my Jeep guzzles gas and costs 40 dollars to fill up 1.25 times a week. That happens to not be the case anymore as I get gas for 50 dollars plus now. That adds up over time. I have found it very annoying and have actually stopped driving as much because of the fact that I get a certain amount of money a week and I cannot sped it all on gas. The moral of the story is that gas prices need to be lowered soon. 

https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-gas-prices-hit-3-year-high/35900092

Gabriel Winter- Week 16- Movie Theaters

     I have been thinking lately about how I really miss movie theaters. Movie theaters as you all know were closed for a while during the beginning of Covid 19 and then they reopened. If they reopened then why am i complaining about missing them? Glad you asked that. Movie theaters are not the same any more. Things are different now from the constant mask wearing to the lack of people in the seats. There is just not many reasons to go any more. The movies are not good and the fact that it is covid 19 and we are sitting in a confined area is frightening.

    I miss when we could go into a movie theater at 12:00 PM and come out at 2 and not know what year it was. Going into a movie theater was a different experience that no longer exists. We used to have so much fun and used to go with our grandparents and our family but now we are stuck at home while amazon and apple take over the movie industry by making it accessible from home.

https://www.cinemark.com/theatres/fl-boca-raton/cinemark-palace-20-and-xd

Sienna Tohar -- week 22 -- A Thank You (iGoodbye)

  So, the title is pretty self-explanatory (and kudos if you recognized the iCarly reference :3). Being that this is not only the end of our blogging time, our senior year of classes, and our high school experience at DKJA, I just wanted to take a moment to reflect and thank you guys. 

We’ve had our good and difficult moments throughout these four years, and we’ve been surely challenged in plenty of ways, but hey, we survived and we learned! I’m pretty proud of how much we’ve grown and how we’ve been handling what was supposed to be our special year during the pandemic. 

Thank you for all your insightful comments and views on the world, you’ve introduced me to new topics, perspectives, and ways of thinking. No joke, I feel like blogging also felt like getting to know you guys more in a different way (which is kind of weird but still cool seeing as how I’ve been going to school with some of you for literally over ten years). And even though some weeks I dreaded writing blogs because I was so stressed about other work, didn’t know anything interesting enough to write about, or straight up didn’t feel like doing it, looking back at our class blog, I’m glad I did (not that we had a choice, but I mean this in an appreciative you-know-maybe-this-wasn’t-so-bad-after-all kind of way). I guess that makes this also a thank you to Mrs. Ho for making us do these (and just a great two years of having her in general)! It turns out these are kind of fun, especially now looking back at the finished product! 

And you know what? Even though this was a pretty busy yet uneventful year for us, I for sure learned to appreciate even more all the time spent with my friends and just generally being in an environment with everyone at school altogether. I miss it, and now that things are coming to an end, I’m not sure if I’ll ever get that experience back. I’m going to miss being with my friends outside in the humid weather when we couldn’t eat lunch in our usual lunch break rooms, I’ll miss the sassy but sometimes insightful chats that would happen in the art room, and the laid back feeling in 209 when the lights were off because there was enough natural light and everyone was too tired to function after lunch or seventh period. I’ll miss the smell of the school when you walk in in the morning when the AC air hits you just right, and the relaxed feeling of leaving to go home, slowly walking that long way to the parking lot as the sun hits your back when you don’t have any extra activities after school, and knocking on the door of the teacher’s lounge because you and your friends realized you had some ridiculous question for a teacher that had absolutely nothing to do with whatever you learned in class (just for fun). 

So, to conclude it all to everyone, it’s been a long ride, but we’ve come a long way, so thank you! :,)

Sarah louis week 22- Bye bye DKJA

                                                                BYE 

 So I am going to take Ariel's word for it, but it is crazy that this is the final blog post. Ironically this and a couple recent events are making me a little nostalgic and I am going to miss Donna Klein. Mostly the teachers if I am being honest as they are the BEST part of the school. So in this post I am going to talk about all of my favorite moments at DKJA in HS specifically with the teachers. Starting in 9th grade I had the best time doing creative writing with Ms. Osborne (if anyone remembers her she was such a fun teacher) I was in a creative writing course with just her and Kaela and it was such a funny class as seniors would always sit in on the class since they loved Ms. Osborne. I would say that the 10th grade shabbaton also was a great memory as I did karaoke with Ms. Delbo and Mrs. Joseph and Coby Russo. We sang livin' on a prayer and on that same shabbaton I went on Rip ride Rockit with Jackie, Ashley Asal, and Raquel Berstein. I was scared out of my mind but it was a super fun memory. I am honestly going to miss "getting water" but really going to hang out with Ms. Delbo/ Joseph/ or Noiman (depending on the day) for a couple of minutes while they scream at me to get back to class. I am going to miss poping into Ms. Scheiders office every morning to talk to her for like 20 minutes since I would always get to school 9th and 10th grade at 7:15 in the morning and she was one of the only teachers in the building (I would get there early because my dad would lead praying in the mac). I am going to miss seeing Mrs. Leibowitz and Mrs. Ho banter constantly during 10th grade when I had them at the same time and they knew exactly what was going on in each others class. Also I loved seeing Mrs. Leibowitz and Mr. Bowman fight about which class was better. Personally I am team chemistry since physics is not my vibe.  I will miss lydia screaming at me for talking every day in minyan or teasing me for talking in class. Lastly I am going to miss the overall atmosphere at school. Yes I know I haven't been in over a year, but the truth is those three years in person gave me such incredible memories that I will never forget. DKJA will forever be my home and my teachers will always be my great mentors who I aspire to be like when I grow up. Never thought I would see the day where I was leaving Donna Klein, I will forever be grateful for the 12 years I was there as they were truly the best years of my life.

What were some of your favorite memories at Donna Klein?

THE PENULTIMATE... wait... FINAL BLOG POST- Ariel Magin Week 22

    It is officially the second to last blog post! I could be horribly wrong here, but I'm 90% sure I'm right. As it turns out, this is actually the final blog post. Good thing I fact-checked.  This is a strange one for me as I'm writing this on my brother's computer as mine is dead and I use his charger which he left at school. I never found out what happened to my charger, either way, I'm not taking my Chromebook to college. I'll just give it to my uncle to use an ashtray. Seriously though, I'm going to keep it for its sentimental value which far outweighs its actual value. Speaking of sentimental value, these blogs will be great nostalgia inducers pretty soon. I know that a few months into college I'm going to remember about these and pull it up and hopefully laugh, not break down entirely... pfft come on maaaaaan. 

    While these blog posts were a burden, to speak with complete candor, looking back on them they'll serve as a great reminder of the past year. In my eyes, it will be a better reflection of our senior year, rather than a time capsule specifically meant for the "Covid times." I know that's the intended purpose, but I know I won't view it that way in the future. My 18, 19, possibly 20-year-old self will look back at these blogs and be like "huh... not much has changed," and I'm happy about that. I don't understand it when people change so drastically just because they're entering a new stage of their lives. I'll always be the same person, just in different places with different faces, shoelaces.... uh... something something aces. 

    This final blog is making me start to actually reminisce about the past 4 years. I remember so distinctly still our first all-school tefillah as freshmen and the older kids were chanting "4 more years, 4 more years!" I also remember when we were able to walk down the hallway in whichever direction we pleased. 

    Anyways, I guess this is me signing off. If I could leave you all with a parting thought it would be... I left the cash inside the --.