16. World of Magic

16. World of Magic

Magic bowl

Nina Yang

W&C III-F

Ms. Guarino

11/20/2014

    I got a magic bowl when I was very young. The special power of this bowl was that it could clean up itself every time I’ m done with my meal in that bowl. Obviously, the good thing was that I didn’t need to wash that bowl regardless how dirty that bowl was. However, I didn’t even know how to wash a bowl by myself eventually after I got the bowl.

  About ten years after I had got the bowl, the story happened. It was a dark evening; I was sleeping in my bed. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise was coming from my kitchen. It seemed like someone was screaming. When I got there, I saw my bowl was using a knife pointing at a black cape guy. I couldn’t remember that guy’s face. All I remember was that he was covered by darkness. “I have to take him back to shue.” The guy finally broke the silence. “He’s been here for so long, and helped you so much.” “Wait! Shue? Where’s shue?” I was so confused. “It’s time for us to leave.” He kept looking at his watch and said impatiently. “I refused!” My bowl cried out. “I need to help her and stay with her. It’s my responsibility for life to take care of her. ” “You still don’t understand? They would steal your soul out of your body, if you didn’t leave. You have no choice. Now, come with me.” “No matter what happens, I still choose to stay here.” The guy glance at my bowl for one last time and left quietly.

  The story ends here. My life was changed completely after losing the bowl’s magic power. It’s just a normal bowl right now like all the other bowls, but I’m happy it didn’t leave me. Now, I have to wash it every time after finishing my meal. Although I have to learn how to wash a bowl, I would not complain doing it. I know it’s my turn to take care of it.  

9. Structure

9. Structure

Somewhere safe

Nina Yang

W&CIII

11/08/2014

  I crawled under my desk where I had never been to. I sat there and observed for several minutes.

  For me, it seems like a big wood cave where it is safe to hide. It’s much darker than outside. To be honest, I feel relaxed and comfortable to stay down here. I’m right now sitting on the carpet I bought. It’s soft and furry, and it's cozy to sit on it.  The first thing that caught my eyes is the surface of the cave because it’s grainy, and it’s not that smooth than my desk. I feel a little dizzy when I stare at the graininess for a long time. The coarse surface is pricking my hand when I’m touching it. Although it was kind of dark down here, I can still recognize the color of the surface is yellowish brown. Besides, I feel like I’m able to think faster down there because it’s quieter. In addition, I can sniff out the smell of the wood. I was not able to sniff the smell on my desk, but I can smell it inside here. In fact, the stubborn wood smell makes me feel a little upset since I could imagine all the trees that were used to make the desk is crying in front me. The aftertaste of the smell is like begging that: “Stop killing us.” It’s like using the last minute of its life to ask for the survival of itself and other trees.

In class writing

Top: It's green and yellow with some brown freckles on the surface of the apple. There is a short green stem in the  hole in the middle of the surface. The yellow part reflects light.
Middle:  It's red, orange and brown.  The surface of the apple is sags and crests. There is a small circle on the surface of the apple, and it is kind of oxidation since the color is turning brown. There are more yellow freckles than there on top.
Bottom:  Orange, reflect  light . There is a green hole in the bottom with dirt inside.
Smell: It smells like fresh cherry blossom. Kind of cold.
There are many freckles on the surface of the apple. It seems like it's showing of itself to others that "I'm still young and fresh to eat." The sweet smell of it makes people imagine they are eating a sweet juicy candy.

The review of the play

A good play--Galileo Galilei 

Nina Yang

W&C III

Ms. Guarino

11/16/2014

  Have you ever heard that Galileo was a plagiarist? After watching the play Galileo by Bertoit Brecht, I reacquainted a new Galileo who was totally different from what I had learned about him before in my textbook as a great scientist.

  In the play, Galileo occasionally found out how to make a telescope, which was already invented by someone else. However, his greed made him tell everyone that he actually invented the telescope. With the telescope, he was able to observe the planets in the space. He then found out that the earth was not the center of the universe. In fact, the sun is the center of the universe. He had some students to teach at that time, but his theory was actually against the church and the Bible. The pope was angry. Meanwhile, his daughter was going to merry with someone she really loves. However, since Galileo didn’t stop his teaching, his daughter’s fiancée left. At last, his daughter became a nun and took care of his father for the rest of his life.

  The ending was pretty peaceful than I expected. It didn’t like a normal ending that tells everyone a result. It was not a satisfactory or a sorrowful ending. It ended quietly without audiences’ expects. Besides, the language that was used in the play was also kind of confused because it was hard to understand. The story was happened more than four hundred years ago, so the language and the words they used were old English. In addition, I was confused by some of the actors since they were acted as multiple characters. Therefore, I couldn’t recognize who’s who in the play. Maybe they could put on the nametag so that the audience can know whom are they playing. The stage was over simplicity. I think they could put something more to show the time period. Maybe something old, and some actor’s costumes were not that fit for them. These things kind of distract audience attention. All in all, the show was good and all the actors were very diligent to the play. They memorized all the lines that were even hard for us to understand, especially the girl who was acting as Galileo. She was disguised as man successfully. Her outfits were perfect. She even used her body language to make herself look more like a man. I was surprised by her acting skill. Last but not least, the lighting was good in the play. The audiences were able to see the important part in the play. It was a useful prop in the play to lead audience attention, but didn’t distract the audiences’ attentions.

  I would definitely recommend others to see the play. The play was well acted, and all of them paid diligence in the play. They were acting by their hearts. Also, we learned much stuff that was out side the textbook. Why don’t you go see it?

Berthold Brecht

Berthold Brecht

Born: February 10th, 1898

Died: August 14th, 1956

Playwright Eugene Berthold Brecht (also known as Bertolt Brecht) was deeply influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Karl Marx. This strange combination of inspiration produced Brecht’s twisted sense of humor as well as the political beliefs within his plays.

Life and Political Views: He was raised in a middle class family in Germany, although he often fabricated stories of an impoverished childhood. As a young man, he was attracted to fellow artists, actors, cabaret musicians, and clowns. As he began to write plays of his own, he discovered that the Theatre was the perfect forum to express social and political criticism.

Brecht developed a style known as “Epic Theatre.” In this medium, actors did not strive to make their characters realistic. Instead, each character represented a different side of an argument. Brecht’s “Epic Theatre” presented multiple viewpoints and then let the audience decide for themselves.

Does this mean Brecht didn’t play favorites? Certainly not. His dramatic works blatantly condemn fascism, but they also endorse communism as an acceptable form of government. His political views developed from his life experiences. Brecht fled Nazi Germany before the onset of World War I. After the war, he willingly moved to Soviet-occupied East Germany and became a proponent of the communist regime.

Brecht’s Major Plays:

His most acclaimed work is Mother Courage and Her Children. Although set in the 1600s, the play is relevant to contemporary society. It is often regarded as one of the finest anti-war plays.

Not surprisingly, Mother Courage and Her Children has frequently been revived in recent years. Many colleges and professional theaters have produced the show, perhaps to express their views on modern day warfare.

His most famous musical collaboration is Three-Penny Opera. The work was adapted from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, a successful 18th century “ballad opera.” Brecht and composer Kurt Weill filled the show with humorous scoundrels, riveting songs (including “Mack the Knife”) and scathing social satire.

The one the play’s most renowned lines is: "Who is the bigger criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?"

Galileo

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernican principle. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy”, the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science”. Galileo’s championing of heliocentric was controversial within his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentric or the Tectonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentric due to the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The Roman Inquisition investigated the matter in 1615, and they concluded that it could only be supported as a possibility, not as an established fact. Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", forced to recant, and spent the rest of his life under house arrest. It was while Galileo was under house arrest that he wrote one of his finest works, Two New Sciences. Here he summarized the work he had done some forty years earlier, on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.