Balsy B's Mind

Research and writing 2

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:44:22 -0400

I’ve found one criticism thus far and just annotated very thoroughly. After I write the...

Research and writing 1

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:22:15 -0400

This is frustrating the hell out of me. I’m at the OU library and am completely confused. I...

Reading the work 6

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:37:55 -0400

I am just now getting some of the allegorical aspects of “Anthem”. Light is a major...

Reading the work 5

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:29:10 -0400

Interesting. Ayn Rand had so much disdain for collectivism that she wrote in “Anthem”...

Reading the work 4

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:40:17 -0400

A prevalent motif in the novella which reflects Rand’s disdain for collectivism is the belief...

Reading the work 3

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:29:32 -0400

So I’m one chapter away from finishing “Anthem” and I’m actually surprised...

Reading the work 2

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:50:22 -0400

About 35 pages in, the collectivism Ayn Rand seems to oppose is obvious in the novella. There has...

Reading the work 1

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:46:07 -0400

I am only a few pages in but I have a few observations. The novel, set up in a dystopian setting, is...

I actually picked my book a few weeks ago but just forgot to...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:38:11 -0400

I actually picked my book a few weeks ago but just forgot to blog about it. “Anthem” by Ayn Rand seemed like the perfect choice since it is written by a respected author and contains strong philosophical messages from Rand. This is the first Rand novel I have ever read so I’m not completely sure what to expect. I have not studied Ayn Rand either so hopefully I will learn what her works are all about.

Picking the Work

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:09:52 -0500

My first trip to Barnes & Noble dedicated to finding my book for the research project was not a...

1. My brother is attending Ross School of Business at the...

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 23:46:00 -0400

1. My brother is attending Ross School of Business at the Univversity of Michigan. Ross is one of the best business schools in America and therefore I have to be just as impressive as Daniel so I won’t dissapoint my parents.

Figuartive weight: 30 lbs

2. My mom and dad place the heaviest burdens on me. They both grew up in China and came to America so that my brother and I would have better opportunies than they did; I can’t squander these opportunities. Ethically, they expect me to be the church boy they tried to raise me to be, even though I feel like Walter White breaking bad.

Figurative weight: 100 lbs

3. My phone, wallet, and keys are my necessities. I don’t leave home without these objects. They don’t carry much physical weight but I have become so dependent on them.

Literal weight: 3 lbs
Figurative weight: 30 lbs

4. My iPod, laptop, and iPad (not pictured) have consumed my life. I am dependent on this computer for school and college apps. In fact, this assignment is being completed on the laptop. My iPod saves me from awkward situations in the school hallway and those awkward situations where I’m the only student in the classroom with a teacher. More importantly, it saves me from listening to Beiber on the radio while I’m driving.

Literal weight: 7.5 lbs
Figuartive weight: 30 lbs

5. I carry my backpack because it carries my school stuff, literally. Symbolically, it carries all of my hopes and ambitions for my life and future.

Literal weight: 15 lbs with my stuff in it
Figurative weight: 30 lbs

6. My SAT scores, if printed out, would be too light to precisely measure on a typical scale. However, these scores hold so much figurative weight because these are my first impressions for colleges. If they don’t meet a certain standard, the college won’t even look at the students personally.

Literal weight: negligible
Figurative weight: 60 lbs

7. My grades also form some of the initial impressions on colleges. They burden me because they serve as a constant reminder that I didn’t try as hard as I should have in high school.

Literal weight: negligible
Figurative weight: 60 lbs

8. Ostensibly, this is just an email from my dad who has been living in China for the past year. This has so much weight because email and internet communications are the only practical ways we can share our lives with eachother. Moreover, my dad’s expectations and pressure for me to become a doctor are huge.

Figurative weight: 60 lbs

Total Literal weight: 25.5 lbs

Total Figurative weight: 390 lbs

Anti-War Movie

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:33:53 -0400

Iron Man is an anti-war movie, although not explicitly. The movie centers around Tony Stark, the...

Baldwin's Fav Poem

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:57:21 -0400

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman 1 O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The...

My Moral

Mon, 28 May 2012 13:33:45 -0400

My core moral belief is to do right. My core moral is to choose the right action to take when...

Pictures are criticized for not capturing the true personality...

Mon, 28 May 2012 13:11:00 -0400

Pictures are criticized for not capturing the true personality of a subject but rather just the persona. But, pictures are not intended to portray everything about a suject; pictures are intended to capture moments. Although this picture does not tell everything about me or anyone else in the picture, it does capture a cherishable moment that anyone can look at in the future and relive. This picture was taken with my friend Jimin’s camera so that he would remember America when he left back for Korea. I love this picture, not because it captures everything about me or any of the other subjects. I love this picture because it freezes a single moment that I can look back at in 10 years and remember the memory. Pictures are not worth a thousand words, just a single memory.

Parent Discussion

Sun, 27 May 2012 22:06:52 -0400

Talking with my mom, I realized that the social standings in Chinese high schools were much...

21 Jump Street

Sun, 27 May 2012 18:50:30 -0400

The film 21 Jump Street is a modern day depiction of teenagers and high school. In contrast to Rebel...

Rebel Without a Cause

Sun, 27 May 2012 18:27:41 -0400

Rebel Without a Cause, although quite antiquated, does a good job of portraying the problems of...

High School Stereotypes

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:35:40 -0400

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5djHG3hPu0&feature=youtube_gdata_player Although this clip does...

bloghard: What are Hulks for? Robert Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk,...

Mon, 14 May 2012 19:51:04 -0400

bloghard:

What are Hulks for?

Robert Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk, thought it was a curse. The only thing that came from the Hulk was destruction and evil. He tried to suppress his anger to hide the Hulk. Similarly, there are people who suppress who they truly are; they are “acting themselves.” A person I know did this. He hung out with his friends and played xbox. He played Halo 3 and CoD with them; although he may have wanted to play a different game, Halo Wars, he didn’t speak up. He wasn’t being himself because he didn’t have the strength to. Banner didn’t either—he was afraid of what people thought of the Hulk, and what the Hulk might do to them!

After hiding the Hulk for two years, he had to make a decision: to help mankind, or let alien invaders destroy Earth. He overcame his fear and he stopped “acting himself.” He became the Hulk and fought. He let his secret out: he is always angry. He can be the Hulk all the time! Suppressing his anger is not necessary, he can “be himself” and is himself all the time now. The boy also had to make his decision, either to lay back and superficially play the game, or to let the Hulk out, to quench his inner desire to play Halo Wars and “to be himself.” He chose the latter.

Is it better to go through life pretending, or to be real? Rather than hide your true self, I say to Hulk-smash!

I agree with you, Dillon.

Too often in our society, people hide who they truly are or their true interests because other people are not the same or do not share the same ineterests. In an effort to try to be as uniform as possible, people will conceal their candid personalities. Just like the Hulk, people view their idiosyncrasies negatively and believe that revealing their real identities will push other people away and will make them social pariahs. Ironically, perhaps being candid with their personalities may produce stronger bonds with others who genuinely share the same personalities.