English III 5/17: "Everything is Everything" by Lauren Hill

Everything is everything

What is meant to be, will be

After winter, must come spring

Change, it comes eventually

(2x)

I wrote these words for everyone

Who struggles in their youth

Who won't accept deception

Instead of what is truth

It seems we lose the game,

Before we even start to play

Who made these rules? We're so confused

Easily led astray

Let me tell ya that

Everything is everything

Everything is everything

After winter, must come spring

Everything is everything

I philosophy

Possibly speak tongues

Beat drum, Abyssinian, street Baptist

Rap this in fine linen

From the beginning

My practice extending across the atlas

I begat this

Flippin' in the ghetto on a dirty mattress

You can't match this rapper / actress

More powerful than two Cleopatras

Bomb graffiti on the tomb of Nefertiti

MCs ain't ready to take it to the Serengeti

My rhymes is heavy like the mind of Sister Betty

L. Boogie spars with stars and constellations

Then came down for a little conversation

Adjacent to the king, fear no human being

Roll with cherubims to Nassau Coliseum

Now hear this mixture

Where hip hop meets scripture

Develop a negative into a positive picture

Now, everything is everything

What is meant to be, will be

After winter, must come spring

Change, it comes eventually

Sometimes it seems

We'll touch that dream

But things come slow or not at all

And the ones on top, won't make it stop

So convinced that they might fall

Let's love ourselves then we can't fail

To make a better situation

Tomorrow, our seeds will grow

All we need is dedication

Let me tell ya that,

Everything is everything

Everything is everything

After winter, must come spring

Everything is everything

Everything is everything

What is meant to be, will be

After winter, must come spring

Change, it comes eventually

Professional COMM 5/17: Wayne Dyer

"When you judge another, you do not define them. You define yourself." -Wayne Dyer

Professional COMM 5/13: Oldest Memory

For today's blog, I would like you to write about your oldest memory.

What is the first thing in your life that you can remember?
When was it (i.e. how old were you and how old are you now)?
Why do you think you remember this? What do you think it says about you as a person that you remember this specific event/thing?

English III 5/13: "I Wrote a Song about the Ocean" by Simon Joyner

I wrote a song about the ocean I wrote a song about my love

I know you can't cage what once ceased movin'

If you wanna touch her once present ashore

Her tears taste just like the ocean

I know I tremble to their touch

She says that life is made of struggles

and the dead just didn't struggle quite enough

I like to lie down on the ocean

and clear the city from my lungs

Sometimes it rains while I'm driftin'

then I'm dried off by the sun

Now some men believe that they are giants

They stomp their feet against the ground

But if they came across a ocean

they wouldn't feel like giants very long

I know my arms are only sails

and my boat is small and made of bone

I can't pretend that I am fearless

as I wait for the wind to come

I like to lie down on the ocean

and clear the city from my lungs

Sometimes it rains while I'm driftin'

and then I'm dried off by the sun

Mhmm

English IV 5/6: Iain Macarthur Art

GO TO THIS WEBSITE AND CHOOSE A PIECE OF ARTWORK TO POST AND WRITE ABOUT: http://iainmacarthur.carbonmade.com/

WORDS OF THE DAY

17. ostracize v. To exclude from public or private favor.

18. palatial adj. Magnificent.

19. paragon n. A model of excellence.

20. Pariah n. A member of a degraded class; a social outcast.

Professional COMM 5/6: Mother Teresa on Peace

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."-Mother Teresa

What is your interpretation of this quote? The world is a pretty violent and ugly place (taken as a whole), is she right about the source of our conflicts? How do you think Mother Teresa would view the war in Iraq? What about the Occupy Wall Street movement? If you were to live your life according to this creed, as she did, what would that be like? What would you do? Perhaps if we could all believe this, we could change the world into what it is supposed to be... a great human family moving towards completion praying for each other's salvation and health.

English III 5/6: "Undertow" by Warpaint

Your brown eyes are my blue skies.They light up the river that the birds fly over.Better not to quench your thirst.Better not to be the first one diving in,though you caught me and you know why they breathe in the deepest part of the water.

What’s the matter? You hurt yourself? Opened your eyes and there was someone else? Now I've got you in the undertow.Now I've got you in the undertow.Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.Nobody ever has to find out what’s in my mind tonight.

Let tonight pass us by.Do you really want to be the one to fight? And i said “You’re better not to light that fire.It will take you to the darkest part of the weather.

”What’s the matter? You hurt yourself? Opened your eyes and there was someone else? Now I've got you in the undertow.Now I've got you in the undertow.Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.Nobody ever has to find out what’s in my mind tonight.Nobody ever has to find out what’s in my mind tonight.Nobody in my mind. Nobody in my mind.I feel it in my heart tonight.

I laid on the floor, pressing in my eyes.Seeing little lights.These are the decisions that only one could make I wanted to stay home but I went running running running running from the troubles runningrunningrunningrunningrunningrunni­ngrunning

What’s the matter? You hurt yourself?Opened your eyes and there was someone else?Now I've got you in the undertow Now I've got you so why you wanna blame me for your troubles?Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.Nobody ever has to find out what’s in my mind tonight.Nobody ever has to find out what’s in my mind tonight.

WORDS OF THE DAY

17. Plethora- an excess 

18. Repudiate- shun; eschew 

19. Tedium- boredom 

20. Blasphemy- speech which offends religious sentiments

English IV 5/2: Creative Prompts

CLICK HERE AND MAKE A CHOICE OF PROMPT WITHIN 3 MINUTES. THEN... RESPOND AS THAT PROMPT INSTRUCTS YOU, IN YOUR BLOG. REMEMBER TO BE THOROUGH AND FINISH THE PROMPT THROUGH!

WORDS OF THE DAY

13. pedigree n. One's line of ancestors.

14. peevish adj. Petulant. (irritable)

15. perfidy n. Treachery.

16. perspicuous adj. Lucid.

English III 5/2: Arcade Fire "Windowsill"

I Don't wanna hear the noises on TV

I Don't want the salesmen coming after me

I Don't wanna live in my father's house no more

I Don't want it faster, I don't want it free

I Don't wanna show you what they done to me

I Don't wanna live in my father's house no more

I Don't wanna choose black or blue

I Don't wanna see what they done to you

I Don't wanna live in my father's house no more

Because the tide is high

And it's rising still

And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill

I Don't wanna give 'em my name and address

I Don't wanna see what happens next

I Don't wanna live in my father's house no more

I Don't wanna live with my father's debt

You can't forgive what you can't forget

I Don't wanna live in my father's house no more

I Don't wanna fight in a holy war

I Don't want the salesmen knocking at my door

I don't wanna live in America no more

Because the tide is high

And it's rising still

And I don't wanna see it at my windowsill

I don't wanna see it at my windowsill

I don't wanna see it at my windowsill

I don't wanna see it at my windowsill

MTV, what have you done to me?

Save my soul, set me free!

Set me free! What have you done to me?

I can't breathe! I can't see!

World War III, when are you coming for me?

Been kicking up sparks, we set the flames free

The windows are locked now so what'll it be?

A house on fire or a rising sea?

Why is the night so still?

Why did I take the pill?

Because I don't wanna see it at my windowsill

I Don't wanna see it at my windowsill

I Don't wanna see it at my windowsill

I Don't wanna see it at my windowsill

WORDS OF THE DAY

13. Cower- recoil in fear or servility; shrink away from 

14. Absolution- forgiveness; pardon; release 

15. Blatant- obvious 

16. Reprehensible- shameful; very bad

Professional COMM 5/2: Dalai Lama on Peace

"When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighbouring communities, and so on." - Dali Lama

How true. I find this quote to be simple yet enlightening. What if the change the world needs is really just as simple as CHILLING OUT and loving your neighbor? Would you be willing to do it? Or are you so wrapped up in your own apathy and cynicism that you are incapable of caring about anything other than keeping up the web of lies that sustains you in a permenant state of helplessness?

This Dali Lama has a great deal of wisdom to convey to us if we only care enough to listen and follow his advice critically. I feel like the essence of his message (in this quote and in general) is that we should not look for change to come outside of us, but realize that if anything is going to be different it will happen from the inside out. Who else, after all, would be to blame if you wasted this life in trivial pursuits? Let's quit whining, pointing fingers, and wallowing in the expectations of the past. Peace is a decision, not a gift or a deus ex machina.