Christina Billman // IB Lit. and Lang.

With only one blog left after this one and the motivation of a student with senioritis  on Spring Break, here is my second semester freebie post. Hope everyone's break was fantastic and relaxing!

The moment you’ve all been waiting for… another Tay - Tina Collablog. You’re welcome. Thanks to our loyal followers, you keep us going. #2peat. xoxo, T & C. Some guiding questions we decided to further explore: 1. How would you describe the “ American Dream ?” Ahh yes, the American Dream. I would describe the “American Dream” as the 1920s if I were asked to classify it as a time period. If I were asked in a more general sense, I would say the American Dream is an ideology in the minds of Americans in which they wish for a more prosperous future. In the context of the 1920s and The Great Gatsby , this idea of the American Dream can be seen through the upward social mobility for the American citizens in the book. In the 1920s, America had just got out of WW1, so there was a huge economic boom. This allowed people to work hard and move their status economically or socially if desired. The culture in America revolved around materialistic things because citizens had more...

 Act 5 Scene 1 of  The Tragedy of Macbeth  by William Shakspeare This is an excerpt from The Tragedy of Macbeth  when Lady Macbeth was sleepwalking when the Gentlewoman and Doctor found her. Enjoy my commentary on the famous out damned spot  passage! https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jwcXOBOI1ivWFbHAi27TJrRYp3cffI7B Personal Scoring: A: Knowledge & Understanding of Text 7 - I referenced the context not only of the text as a whole but also where this excerpt was placed within the text and how this was a result of past events and how it foreshadowed/impacted future events in the play. However, I could have potentially chosen better quotes for my analysis since the ones that I chose all had similar topics and were not very diverse. B: Understanding of Literary Features 7 - I referenced 2 literary devices used within the text, each with 3 quotes to back up how they were significant not only to the theme but also to the audience and how they were...

As you read the following blog post, you should know Taylor and Christina grinded out extremely hard together and created a true work of art. Translations: #1:Gregory Samsa woke from uneasy dreams one morning to find himself changed into a giant bug. When observing this translation, I notice the difference in diction of the word, “uneasy” as opposed to in #2 for example when the dreams are described as “troubled” or #4 with the word “agitated”. These differences may seem insignificant at a first glance, but when deeply analyzing them, it changes the way the reader perceives the dreams. After glancing at the other translations, I have discovered that this one in particular has the shortest syntax of all of them. This keeps it short and to the point, with diction that is easy to read and maintains the reader’s attention. Not only is the sentence short, the individual words chosen are short and simple, despite the possibility of using longer, more advanced synonyms. Ho...

  Never Let Me Go  by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005) All four of the covers given use blues and greens in the images to show the somber-like mood that the story gives off. Of the four, three of these show human beings, although one is simply a drawing of organs rather than an actual photograph. The last one is a boat on a body of water, but shows signs of human life. All of the covers but one contain not only the title and author, they also have a quote from a book review as well as a mention of the Man Booker Award that it won, drawing attention to the potential readers in showing that it is worth the read since it won such an award.  Out of the four covers provided, these two stuck out to me the most. I was intrigued with the imagery of the cover on the left from the plot line of Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy visiting the boat, and I loved the second cover due to the display of internal organs due to this being the reason that these students are born and what their meaning ...

The Unbreakable Laws of Storytelling Sarah Kay gives a heartwarming Ted Talk in  If I should have a daughter...  about her becoming a spoken word poet and how it has enabled her to become who she is today.  The central message that Kay discusses in this talk is that storytelling is a way to be able to express one's self and that there are no rules when it comes to writing these stories, they can be whatever the author wants it to be.   The talk begins with the reciting of a spoken word poem written by Sarah Kay herself about what she would tell her daughter if she had one and how this would help her figure out the real world.  She then asks the audience to think of three things that they know to be true, no matter how simple they are.  After she tells the three things she chose, Kay explains how poetry allows for her to understand the things in life that are confusing to her.  As a freshman in high school, Kay started her spoken word...