Danny's English Blog

 Response: The film takes a lot more liberties with the story and really adds a lot to my perception of McCandless, whether that is through the setting/music or even added scenes and voice overs from Carine. The movie focuses a lot more on his experiences and emotions as he travels alone than the book is able to do. It makes his story feel more real and makes him a much more sympathetic character. Since the movie is able to make some inferences and be more fictitious about his life it is able to add more scenes and make alternate interpretations of his journey and overall improves it from a storytelling lens. Summary: We watched the second 40 minutes of Into the Wild. Reflection: I really like the movie, the cinematography is really nice and has a lot of swell music.

 Response: I would say that a lot of my friends make me feel understood. My best friend, Beckett, is probably the person that understands me the most. I have known him since around second grade and he is a very caring person that is always there for me when I need to complain. We also share a lot of interests so we are able to talk about whatever to each other and be able to aptly engage. Even when I am really socially drained I will still look forward to hanging out with my friends and playing games with them. Summary: We read chapter 13. Reflection: Chapter 13 really showed us how much McCandless' death affected his family. We also learned a lot about Chris' sister.

 Response: I have a few friends in my first period that I usually talk to. I am pretty tired in that class and am often not up for a lot of talking and stuff. Because I am so tired I often just kind of pass through that class and my friends can tell when I'm in a bad mood. When I'm especially not feeling well some of my friends will walk up to me and ask me how I am, get super sympathetic and ask what they can do to help. Personally I am not a fan of people worrying about me like that and that concern can make me kind of uncomfortable. I usually end up shrugging it off and moving on from the concern. Summary: Vocab Lesson 11 and Chapter 12. Reflection: I found jumping around chapter 12 kinda weird and confusing. I really liked the words in Vocab 11, they were pretty fun to write sentences for.

 Response: From what we have watched of the movie so far it seems to paint his journey as more justified and sympathetic. The music, dialogue and general cinematography all seem a lot more lighthearted and mystical than the book. Showing pretty sunsets, upbeat folk music and the great outdoors romanticizes his journey more than the straightforward descriptions. Since it is a film it is forced to take artistic liberties with the story and use fiction to fill in the cracks left by information gathered in the book. As a medium movies end up idealizing these kinds of things. Summary: We watched some of Into the Wild movie. Reflection: The movie has been pretty interesting so far. I find it fun to compare and contrast what it tells us in the book versus the movie. I also really enjoy the music.

 Response: When I was younger I saw my parents as beyond human and perfect heroes. As I have grown up I have further grown to understand my parents more. Over the years they fell from that image of godhood I had given to them into a more human light. I have come to see them not as some perfect idol that is never wrong but instead as flawed humans just like me. As I grew up I saw other sides of my parents and came to see them as fellows rather than omnipotent, which really changed our family dynamic a lot and has led me to question their authority and knowledge quite a lot as I've aged. Chris probably had a similar experience and because of that started to doubt his parents and actively antagonize their authority. Summary: We read chapter 11 Reflection: I was intrigued to finally reach the chapter that they talked about McCandless' upbringing. We really learned a lot about him and what led him to travel.

 Response: My favorite chapter so far might be chapter 8. It just really stood out to me in its content. That chapter was neat in the storytelling sense, the choice to divert from McCandless' direct story and instead put him in the context of similar situations. This chapter really helped me contextualize more the possible motives for McCandless and all of the other explorers who died. It really lets you peer into everyone's minds and its kind of eerie to see all these (for lack of a better word) suicide trips back to back. I guess I was also curious to hear about a variety of situations. Summary: We took a test on Into the Wild chapters 1-10 Reflection: I think I did pretty good on the test. I knew most of them though there were a few that felt like they didn't have a good answer.

 Response: As a kid and a student there are a lot of expectations on me for what I will do to reach success. My parents highly push for my success but they see it differently from me. They see my success as getting into a good local Georgia college and getting a good stable job that gets me good money then settling down and living happy for the rest of my life. Personally that doesnt sound as appealing to me as it is for them. I have much less strict ideals of what success is and I think that no matter what I end up doing or where I end up going, as long as I am happy then I have succeeded. Summary: We read chapters 9 and 10 and did some assignments on them. Reflection: I found the complete diversion from McCandless a really interesting choice. The way the author uses Ruess as a comparison to McCandless' journey.

 Response: I often choose being on my own rather than relying on others. This happens with school work or studying sometimes. I sometimes just get so unfocused when working with other people and I get really confused so sometimes I will just shut off from my friends and work on it all independently. In general I find working by myself easier because I can just listen to music and zone out while I work. I still value working with others and do reviews together and stuff but sometimes I just need to do my own thing. Summary: We discussed the previous chapters and read chapter 8. Reflection: I thought it was interesting to discuss the different critical thinking questions during class. It was cool to hear other people's perspectives.

 Response: Out of all of the words in lesson 10 I really like perambulate. It is a lot of fun to say and I think it just rolls off the tongue really well. I've never heard this word before so it was neat to learn something new. Mainly I like it because it gives me a really calm and peaceful vibe and reminds me of times I have gone on a nice relaxed walk around my neighborhood. There's not too much to say about it other than I just find the word nice. Summary: We worked on Vocab Lesson 10 Reflection: I don't know what it is but I found the words in Lesson 10 especially hard to pronounce.

 Response: I would say I was kind of on the fence about my performance during the SAT on Wednesday. I usually do pretty good during testing like this but I often struggle with the time limits. The time is a big issue for me mostly during the math section, especially the second half of math. I do not manage my time super well and just cannot see how we were supposed to do so many calculations that quickly. Ideally I would like  to get at least a 1400 but I will just have to see. For colleges I want to go to I'm not really sure. I would say in no particular order I have been considering Georgia Tech, Emory or University of Illinois as they are all good schools and schools that my parents have gone to. Summary: We read chapter 7 and filled out a sheet about it. Reflection: Chapter 7 was a really interesting introspective on Chris McCandless. It was cool to finally meet Wayne Westerberg since we have heard a fair bit about him before.

 Response: Daylight savings time has little to no effect on me. Whether we fall back or spring forward it all means little to me, since it happens when I'm sleeping I don't really adjust for the change save for the fact I have to adjust my alarm. I will say I do notice the change in how dark it is when I walk to my bus stop but mainly it just effects how well I see. Other than that I've never really felt the loss or gain of sleep not have I ever really struggled to adjust to a different time, even jet lag doesn't usually effect me all too bad, I'm tired anyway so what's another lost hour. Summary: Read chapter 6 and did a 3, 2, 1 on it. Reflection: Chapter 6 was pretty good. Ron must have had a really rough time dealing with McCandless death and I feel really bad for him :(

Response: I think when I watched "I Saw the TV Glow" it really changed my perception of my life. It was an extremely profound film about self expression and stagnancy. It was a horror movie in a style I've never seen before and made me really rethink my values and what I am planning to do with my future. It really restructured and even enforced the fears I have for my future. My interpretation of my identity and how it effects me was really impacted and it gave me new vigor to create a better future for myself. Summary: Worked on chapter 5 and questions. Reflection: Chapter 5 really developed my perception of McCandless a lot. He is a lot more sensitive to other peoples opinions about him a lot more than I thought.

 Response: Based off of the first chapter we read I do not think McCandless really understood what he was getting into. He seems smart and fairly aware of the risks, especially since the guy driving him alerted him of such. I think this awareness didn't really translate into actual caution though. He knows the dangers but he doesn't seems to process them as serious threats. I think a lot of it may be some hubris, especially since they said he was raised in a well to do family, went to a really good school and was very athletic. He probably thought he would be fine and that he was above having something severely bad happen to him. Summary: Today we read chapters 2 and 3. Reflection: I found the structure of the book quite odd. The author doesn't go in a linear route and it's quite interesting to read in this structure.

 Response: If I had to choose only a few things to keep I think I would keep my phone (and charger) because it connects me to my friends and the greater world and provides a lot of entertainment for me. I would also keep some of my favorite clothes because my outfits have a lot of history to them and I like dressing this way. Thirdly I would keep some of my cozier blankets and maybe stuffed animals, I really value my comfort and I have quite an attachment to them. Summary: We read chapter 1 Reflection: I think this was a strong start to the book. I am excited to see where it goes.

 Response: I have been involved in musical theatre for 2 years now and I have done multiple shows on both cast and crew. Last year especially rehearsals were every day for multiple hours at a time during and after school. Over time this started to really grate on me and while I never hated anyone or hated being there, sometimes theatre was just too tiring to deal with. While I often didn't have the option to just not show up but sometimes I would find time within a rehearsal to just take some time to myself for a while and recharge my social battery. Summary: We did an introduction to Into The Wild Reflection: I have been meaning to read this book for a while so I'm excited to do more. I think the introduction really helped me understand more about what we are about to be doing.

 Response: I found goad to be the easiest word for me to understand because I have heard it a lot before this and I already knew what it meant. The one I struggled with most was probably today mainly because the spelling of it confused me because it looks like today. The sentences really helped me be able to really think through and fully understand the definition of the word and how it would fit into a normal sentence while the images helped me think critically about the fundamental structure of the word as well. Summary: We worked on our digital vocab work.  Reflection: I found this a pretty fun way to learn our vocabulary. I feel like I learned a lot from these words.