Morales

For this benchmark I had to create a 5-paragraph essay on __The Odyssey__. I chose to write mine on the 3 amazing women in the book. In The Odyssey there are many women that transform this book into an incredible, unbelievable, piece of art. Clytemnestra was able to trick her husband and have her new lover, Aegisthus, kill him. Penelope was able to fool the suitors for 3 almost 4 years to give Odysseus time to come home. Athena keeps helping Telemachus and Odysseus more than others and creates miracles for them. Tricking her husband and killing him, fooling suitors for three almost four years, and helping two mortals more than others is what makes these women phenomenal. Clytemnestra was one of the three mind-blowing women, especially since she was able to trick her husband and have her new lover, Aegisthus kill him. “But Atreus’ son Agamemnon…you yourself, even in far-off Ithaca, must of heard how he returned, how Aegisthus hatched the king’s horrendous death.” (Lines 218-220 pg. 113) While Agamemnon is away fighting in the Trojan War, a man named Aegisthus woos Agamemnon’s wife and when Agamemnon returns from the war, Aegisthus kills him. But Agamemnon’s son Orestes takes his vengeance on both Aegisthus and Clytemnestra for killing his father the day that Menelaus returns with all the riches he gathered on his journey to and back from the Trojan War. Killing her husband, being wooed by Aegisthus, and being killed by her own son out of vengeance makes her one heck of a woman. Another astounding woman in The Odyssey would have to be Penelope because she was able to fool the suitors after her for 3 almost 4 years to give her husband time to get home. Antinuous declares, “Her very words, and despite our pride and passion we believed her…wheeling season brought the fourth year on…we caught her in the act—unweaving her gorgeous web.” (Lines 114-122 Pg. 96) Penelope stalls the suitors by saying that she will weave a gorgeous blanket for when Laertes dies and when she’s done she will choose who to pick. She was very cunning doing this since they were fooled completely for almost 4 years until one of Penelope’s women told the suitors of her trickery. Tricking suitors, stalling for the one she yearns for, and using trickery to give Odysseus time to come home is why she is considered an astonishing and cunning woman. The last awe-inspiring woman and goddess from the book is Athena because she continuously helped Telemachus and Odysseus more than other humans and creates miracles for them. Athena pleads, “Father Zeus…not one of the people whom he ruled remembers Odysseus now, that godlike man, and kindly as a father to his children.” (Lines 8-14 Pg. 152) Athena is trying to persuade Zeus and the rest of the gods to have Calypso (who’s currently holding Odysseus captive on her island) let Odysseus free and return home. Athena also helps Telemachus step up his game and become more like a man by influencing him to go look for information on his father. Lastly, Athena helps Odysseus when Poseidon is trying to kill Odysseus with the winds by stopping the winds and making the North Wind beat the breakers flat so that Odysseus can reach the Phaeacians and to safety. That is why Athena is considered an amazing woman and goddess since she convinced Zeus to have Calypso free Odysseus, helped Telemachus grow up, and helped Odysseus survive Poseidon’s attacks. Three remarkable women considered the best in The Odyssey are Clytemnestra, Penelope, and Athena. Clytemnestra, she gets vengeance upon her by her own son after her and her lover kills her husband, Agamemnon, who was just returning from the Trojan War. Penelope, she tricks all the suitors after her to give Odysseus more time to get home. Athena, the goddess assists Telemachus and Odysseus a lot and convinces Zeus and the other gods to have Calypso let Odysseus free. All together, they transform The Odyssey into one jaw-dropping piece of literature.
 * Quarter One Benchmark:**

We had to make a podcast/movie on something in your life that was/is non-fiction and would interest your audience. I did mine on my life at Ashe.
 * Quarter Two Benchmark:**

For our Quarter Three Benchmark, we had to write an essay based on Kindred. Back in the Antebellum South, there were slaves that considered themselves or were considered superior and better than other slaves. One example of a slave that was regarded as a superior slave was Alice. Another slave portrayed as a better slave would be Dana. The last slave in __Kindred__ that I would consider being interpreted as a better slave would be Carrie. “White-washed” slaves thought they were better and more intelligent than other slaves. Alice, Rufus’ love and slave, used her position as Rufus’ crush and disobeyed orders because if someone tried to punish her, Rufus would punish them. One example of when Alice used her position to disobey orders is on Pg. 182 “’When Edwards was gone, Alice came out of Carrie’s cabin and began to help me. I felt sweat on my face mingling with silent tears of frustration and anger. My back had already begun to ache dully, and I felt dully ashamed. Slavery was a long slow process of dulling. ‘You stop beatin’ them clothes ‘fore you fall over,’ Alice told me. ‘I’ll do this. You go back to the cookhouse.” Alice took Dana’s job given to her by the Overseer without her getting in trouble since she was Rufus’ crush and if she complained about the Overseer he could be fired. Alice also was someone who influenced and gave advice to slaves showing her superiority. Pg. 219 “’What do you mean?’ I asked ‘Marse Rufe really put the fear of God in you, didn’t he?’ ‘Fear of…What are you talking about?’ ‘You run around fetching and carrying for that woman like you love her. And half a day in the fields was all it took.’ ‘Hell, Alice, leave me alone. I’ve been listening to nonsense all morning. I don’t need yours.’ You don’t want to hear me, get out of here. The way you always sucking’ up to that woman is enough to make anyone sick.’” Alice is a slave that would try to command others and give advice to slaves that just followed orders. That is why I think Alice used her position on the plantation to her advantage. Dana was also someone who used her position to her advantage. Dana, Rufus’ advisor, friend and descendent, was a person who used her position when she was a slave to disobey Rufe, the Overseer, and Tom. An example of Dana disobeying Rufe is on Pg. 164 “’Get up!’ he ordered. He didn’t order me around much, and he’d never done it in that tone. ‘Get up, I said’ I didn’t move. ‘I’ve been too easy on you,’ he said. His voice was suddenly low and ugly. ‘I treated you like you were better than the ordinary niggers. I see I made a mistake’ ‘That’s possible,’ I said. ‘I’m waiting for you to show me I made a mistake.’” Dana resists Rufe’s orders to get up and instead tests his patience and what he will do to get her to listen to him. She continually disobeys Rufe’s orders unless she thinks they are acceptable to her. An example when Dana disobeys a order from Rufe since she thinks its unacceptable to her. Pg. 187 “’What are you going to do, Rufe? Keep us here at gunpoint so you can rob Kevin’ ‘Get back to the house,’ he said. His voice had gone hard. Kevin and I looked at each other, and I spoke softly. ‘I already know all I ever want to find out about being a slave,’ I told him. ‘I’d rather be shot than go back in there.’ ‘I won’t let them keep you,’ Kevin promised. ‘Come on.’ ‘No!’ I glared at him. ’You stay or go as you please. I’m not going back in that house!’” If Kevin hadn’t come Dana would still be stuck there since she wouldn’t leave to go back until she found Kevin and they both went back together. That’s the reasons why I think Dana is another slave that uses her position to ignore order that she doesn’t think are right. Carrie is similar except not in the same way as Alice and Dana. Carrie was someone like Alice and Dana except instead of disobeying orders she was very intelligent and used this to her advantage. She gained the trust of Rufe to have an advantage at times and to make her life on the Weylin Plantation easier. Pg. 216 “There’s no one else I’d trust,’ he said. ‘Carrie’s got her own family now. I’d have to take her out of her cabin away from Nigel and the boys…’” Rufe only had a few people he could trust and since he trusted Carrie, she had an advantage when it came to work since Rufe wouldn’t let her work in the fields. She is someone who also looks ahead to what the consequences could be for doing something. On pg. 242 there is an example of when she looks ahead to what could happen in the future. He managed to shrug. “’Well, anyway, what did she tell you?’ ‘That if I had let Rufe die, everyone would have been sold. More families would have been separated. She has three children now.’ He was silent for several seconds. Then, ‘She might be sold with her children if they’re young. But I doubt that anyone would bother to keep her and her husband together. Someone would buy here and breed her to a new man. It is breeding, you know.’” They said that keeping an educated slave on a plantation wasn’t good but it looks like Carrie was one of the most educated slaves in Kindred. Carrie was a person who was different from everyone especially since she was mute but also since she thought before acting unlike other slaves who acted on impulses. That is all the slaves that could be considered “white-washed” slaves. In the past, there were many kinds of people. Some that was stupid or dumb, others that were smart. There were also slaves that considered themselves higher and smarter than other slaves. Alice would be considered one. Another would be Dana. The last slave that I would think was superior to other slaves is Carrie. These slaves that considered themselves better and more intelligent were referred to as “white-washed” slaves by other slaves.
 * Quarter Three Benchmark:**


 * Quarter Four Benchmark:**

1) What would you change about yourself? What will you do to help you get there? If there is anything I want to change about me is my habit of mocking people on the tennis court. I just can't help but mock people that either annoy me or aren't as good as me and are pushovers. I think I got the habit from Kein, one of my tennis coaches, because he mocks some of the kids and I guess I got it from him. That is what, if anything, I would want to change about myself. To get there I will restrain myself from saying anything to them. Also I will try to avoid Kein but thats basically impossible. Thats what i will do to get to my goal. 2) How do our family relationships shape us? It shapes us because there are family members that can be role models for us. For example, my brother is a marine fighting to protect his country and he's my role model. Because of him I want to make an impact on the world. There are others that can give you advice that can shape you also. My cousin, Marcus, my uncles, Monty and Martin, & my brother, sister & parents, Nick, Jen, Linda and Michael, give me advice when I need it 3) How are you shaped by your environment? I'm shaped by my environment because my whole life I've been around rich kids who are either richer/as rich as I was so I came to become like them. When I first came to philly it was hard to adapt because around me were poor or just didn't have a lot of money. My friends everywhere I lived helped me get used to living in that place. I'm like I am mostly from my tennis coaches because each of them has done something that has shaped me in some way. Cha, Hyacinth & John have taught me discipline. Coach T & Kareem have taught me when to be serious. Chad, Yoda, Dave, Kein & T-bone have taught me when to be funny & when to be serious. 4) House The condominium on South Broad St. I remember when I lived in New Jersey. It was so much quieter than it is her in Philadelphia. Right now my condo is very nice and it is in the perfect spot in the city. My condo is on the 29th floor of the Symphony House. It is in the perfect spot since there are theaters all around it on the street. There is the Merriam Theater, the Kimmel Center, etc. It also has stores all down the street. It has Starbucks, FYI, U-Trecht, Borders, etc. But I still remember where i used to live and the good times I had there. When I lived in the suburbs in Pennington, NJ. On 1 Baker Way, I have so many good and bad memories including the worst night of my life. What happened in February was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. My dog, Duke, died. Duke was like a second father to me since I'd had him since I was 4. Not only that he was the best purebred St. Bernard you could have. He would sing you happy birthday, yeah he would howl whenever you sung happy birthday. Also, he was like my family's guardian since he wouldn't let anyone come into the house from outside the family unless he knew who they were and was able to smell them. I remember he was the nicest St. Bernard you could ever meet. I was devastated when I found out the morning after we brought him to the Pet Hospital since that night we found out his spleen broke open and he had cancer and that he had to be put to sleep since the cancer had spread too far. It was like losing a family member. It felt like the time when my best friend, Austin, who's family was so close to ours, his uncle died except worse. Uncle Chris was like a family member to me too and I was devastated when I heard he had lost his battle against cancer. But I have grown stronger from these important people to me since I always know they will be watching over me and Duke's ashes lie in a chest we keep in my living room. I will always remember them as the first family members that were close to me that I lost. I also remember when I lived in Denville, NJ. There was also good and bad memories I had there. I remember I had my first girlfriend there and was mad when my mom said I was transferring to a private school called the Peck School since she said the public school I was going to was too easy for me. But while I was at Lakeview, the public school i went to, I had so many good times there. I remember I was a really big troublemaker. There was this time when I accidentally shot my art teacher in the back of the head with a rubber band and had to go see the principal, Mr. Banana (Yes his name was really Mr. Banana). But at Peck I also had good times like when we won all our soccer games. Also I made lots of friends there. It was hard when I had to leave Peck and go back to a public school since we couldn't afford another year since my dad's company had to close. But when I transferred Valleyview I saw all the friends I left behind when I transferred to Peck. The only problem was when I asked my friends where Emma, my first girlfriend, they said "I don't think thats such a good idea". I hadn't realized I hurt her that much That is my mimic of the story called House.
 * Journal Entries:**

What people should get from looking at my portfolio is that I'm someone who went through a lot of pain to get where I am right now and that I have an obsession with tennis. I personally thinks my portfolio describes my life so far basically. In English, I consider my strangths to be creating essays and analyzing quotes from texts. My weaknesses are tests and memorizing vocab words since my epilepsy partially affects my memory along with my ADD. What I want to work on improving is my memory and attention span. I revisited old scars that I didn't want to remember while I was creating this portfolio and I also learned a little more about myself since the project made me look over my life so far. The issues I encountered were deciding if I needed to make any improvements to parts or not. I resolved them by asking myself and Ms. Dunn and looking over my notes. The piece I am most proud of is my MacBeth Creative Piece since I put a lot of effort into creating a movie like that. That is a reflection of this year.
 * Reflection:**


 * Me Mag**