C'mon children, don't mosey along now

No kvetching please, mommy isn't here to cosset you.

Its time to wash those squalid hands, its time to bake a cake!

Cake, cake, cake, cake, luscious cake!

Now it might seem retrograde

to teach a 5-year-old how to bake,

but I've been called a capricious person.

Impatience is my vice.

Now children don't hold me in a gaze of animosity,

it mars your exquisite face.

Now let's get started with,

a pinch of sugar, a dust of flour, an egg here and there.

Now for the final touch, some tincture 

for a bit of color. Yes a bit of color.

Delectable, sterling, and just excellent.

Yes children you are wonderful.

animosity- feeling of strong dislike

capricious- impulsive

luscious-delicious

sterling- excellent, mint

retrograde-backward

squalid- dirty or rough

tincture- a substance that dries into color

cosset- to coddle like a pet or small child

kvetch- to complain 

mosey- meander 

System of a Down "Chop Suey"

In my opinion the band “System of a Down”, has longed deserved the recognition they are about to receive for its politically active song lyrics. These lyrics include the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, the War on Drugs, Religion and Censorship. The band’s front man Serj Tankian co-founded with Tom Morello the Axis of Justice, an organization for musicians who have banded together with their fight for social justice.

System of a Down was formed in 1994 in Glendale, CA. The band consists of four members; Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian, and John Dolmayan. SOAD has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and has won one. System has diverse roots, with all of the band members having previous bands in which they played for prior to forming, Tankian and Malakian coming from a band called Soil, and the others from other places. All the members have a common love for classic heavy metal such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, KISS, Slayer, and Metallica. Malakian, System’s songwriter, attributes his biggest influence of his lyrics to that of The Beatles and Peter, Paul, and Mary. I can honestly say that I do not believe I have ever heard a band with the likes of System of Down since its creation; With their unique guitar tunings and radical song lyrics, System of a Down has created a class of its own.

Perhaps one of its more controversial songs of all time, Chop Suey, tells the horrors of drug abuse through that of a fictional account of a woman stuck in the cyclic horror of drug abuse. The first two words of the song are “Wake Up”, both a literal wake up for the druggie who needs to wake up from her fix and also it is an initial call for the listeners to wake up and start the fight on Drug Abuse. Daron Malakian said in an interview that the song is truly about how one dies affects the way someone thinks of that person. For instance if someone were to die of drug abuse, like in the song, someone might perchance think they deserved it. This comes into play at the line “I cry when angels deserve to die, the angels being the corrupted humans who will die if they continue along their path. Chop Suey also makes religious references with the lines “Why have you forsaken me?”, and “ Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”. Both are obviously references to Jesus Christ as he hung from his cross. I believe this was put in as a cry from those who are stuck in the cycle of drugs. At some point many of them do not want to continue, but like Jesus they find themselves having to suffer even though it is what they desire least. But unlike Jesus who we left upon the cross, we need to help these drug abusers so they do not have to commend their spirit to the father.

All in all, System of a Down is a radically aware group of men who want to use their talents and widespread publicity to do good. In a world of corruption, System stands out like a beacon of hope for all those who are represented in the words of their lyrics. While System of a Down is currently on hiatus while the members pursue side careers, even there the messages are the same. But one day System shall reform to lead to charge on social tyranny once again, and battle it out for social change.

PIZZA PIE

  This video suggests that consumption of a product is one of the most important things one can do and to do otherwise can end horribly. While death is not truly the end result of disobeying, it suggests heavily that your social life will die if you do not "eat your pizza pie". This does not just pertain to just the pizza pie in of itself, but of all consumer goods like iphones, McDonald's, etc; everything that reminds the viewer of Corporate America. Throughout all commercials of Papa Johns and Pizza Hut, it makes it seem like you are making a mistake if you do not eat the pizza they are advertising. This mistake can lead to becoming ostracized, not in the idea of pizza per-say, but if on does not keep up with the current trends they can become put off to the sides. Unfortunately many Americans judge by what they see and not what they now and they could assume the worst if you are not "eating the pizza pie". This also suggests conformity to a certain extent because while not required to "eat the pizza", it is strongly suggested by the second line "or you will die". No one ever truly has to do anything ever, but the consequences of not doing anything could end poorly. So in the end, the message is, just sit down, shut up, eat your piece of "pizza pie", and conform to the standards.

dramatic monologue

if John rode a horse this is who he'd be

Oh my fair Lenina!

Why must fate be so cruel

and cast us to opposite ends?

Why must you be the little 

strumpet that you are, you little whore?

One must walk the path of

righteousness  in order to fully

see the complexities of love. Oh hy

must love be so cruel? I feel passion

rising inside of my starting at my loins

and ending and the tipps of my ears. Every

part of me aches for you, all I want is

but a peck upon those succulent lips...

No! I must be strong, for you are a strumpet and not worthy. 

Alas! Why must I be so confused.

This Brave New world confound me to the point

of madness. Everywhere I turn all I see is bigotry

idolatry, promiscuousness, and idiocracy. Strumpets!

All the women here are strumpets I say and the men

no better. I have jumped from one kind

of hell to another. no one accepts me.

At the reservation, I stood, touched by God, alone.

Here, in this Brave New World,

I stand, touched by my birth, alone.

I have no one, now that Linda is in her 

self-induced "holiday". Pshht, what idiocracy is

this. This is not right! These pills, I ought to teach them of their addiction 

and cure them of their plague...

Oh so alone am I!

bernard is much to busy with his strumpets to

truly care of how I feel. how horrible

Bernard, I smite thee from those i feel as 

friends for no longer do you treat me as one.

"Sobs" Oh Lenina. If only I could let

you into my world, but you could never understand

my pain. You want me only for my body, I see

the lust within your eyes, you strumpet! My heart aches

for your love, my body aches for yours.

What shall I do?! Oh God I'm so alone...

could I just end it? Never, I must persevere,

But God it's so hard.

I'm so alone.

Common App Essay

Passion drives and motivates you to achieve more, aiding and shaping who you are as a person. I discovered my passion for tennis at a young age, but at the time I did not know the effect it would have for years. At the age of three, my father decided he would begin to educate me about the game of tennis. With a basket of balls and grinning determination, he took me out to the courts, setting me off on a life-long journey that demanded hard work in order to obtain perfection. This continued on for a number of years until my father determined I was old enough to take lessons from a tennis pro, but unfortunately I never really took to the game, and I would just fool around at practice. At thirteen, my coach asked me how committed I was to tennis. This posed a bit of a dilemma, for I really did enjoy the sport, but I had yet to really put all my heart into it, into anything really. I had quit Boy Scouts, swimming, and piano, and I was tired of quitting things I had started. Tennis, I decided, was the sport for me. No more would I throw in the towel when the tough kept on coming; no more would I just quit when things were not easy; I would not give up on tennis. Thus the transformation of a recreational player who had come to the courts at whim became a serve-smashing, forehand-bashing, grinding, grueling player. This is the player that I am today.

            I ran endlessly to put my body in top form and to decrease the necessary time to recover in between points. I performed crunches, Russian-Twists, and leg raises until my abdominal muscles were aflame to strengthen my body. I sweat pools and pools all in the effort to hone myself into the player that I needed to become; the desire for excellence became a necessity. The more I poured myself into the sport, the more I improved, and the more matches I won.

            Today tennis defines who I am; I do little else aside from my schoolwork. After I get home from school, I immediately head over to the tennis courts for hours at a time, working on perfecting my technique, gaining more and more experience, and fueling my drive to become the best tennis player I can be. After this, I go home and rest up before walking to the gym for weight and cardio training, specifically designed to enhance my tennis playing abilities. All of this pays off; I can see the results. I can watch my serves transform from small punches into the box into blistering rockets. My forehand, once a small looping ball, becomes a powerful driving force, vital to my arsenal of shots.

            The passion and drive I have for tennis comes into other aspects of my life. I am equally passionate about learning. I am taking the most difficult schedule I can possibly take my senior year. I am taking AP Spanish because I long to become bilingual. I have friends who are bilingual, and I hear them speaking to their parents in other tongues. I feel a pang of jealousy. I want that. AP Spanish ensures that I am properly setting myself on the course to fluency. I have a perfectionist mentality about my math tests; I loathe letting go of my paper without going over everything twice. And I have a passion for excellence, not only in myself, but also in everything around me. I want to help those around me flourish in the way that I have, so I tutor after school in an effort to do so. Between my passion for excellence in what I do and my work ethic towards what I love, I feel that the only limitation I have for success is how much of myself I am willing to put in. And I put in as much as I possibly can, only stopping when it is clear I am becoming dangerously close to being consumed by what I love. I am willing, however, to walk that fine line between passion and overwhelming obsession if it means that I will meet my goals. 

De Quien?

There is this girl is made in god’s image, perfection

With eyes bright and shine like gold

Whose voice is silver and soprano

Causing my body to become deader than a mackerel.

Her beauty makes me feels as if I don’t need any of those other sluts

When she looks at me across space with appeal in her eyes,

Making me feel as if we are perfectly adjusted sexually.

She makes my mind take wild leaps and centrifugal plunges,

Despite the occasionally cat-o-nine-tails every month

I love her; with her I’m thinking the world is free.

O'Neill

            One’s past prevails throughout their entire life, with flashbacks that remind of deed long finished, reminders of what occurred, amongst a multitude of others. There exists no escape from it for many times history repeats itself so in the present one finds themselves confronted with their past. Such is the case with Eugene O’Neill except he does not try the futile gesture of escape but rather accepts it and uses it to his own advantage. In Long Day’s Journey Into Night, O’Neill employs his own past with the whole family in particular the character of Edmund, a reflection of O’Neill himself, and Jamie, who represents O’Neill’s true brother in name and actions.

The character of Edmund Tyrone in O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, reveals himself as a direct parallel to the life of Eugene O’Neill through the use of characterization in an effort to convey the idea that O’Neill’s own past directly influenced the events taking place in the play. The events that take place in the character of Edmund’s life parallel distinct events that took place in the life of O’Neill. The only difference between the play and O’Neill’s actually life reveals itself in the switch of names of two of the brothers. In the play the baby who dies is named Eugene and the youngest one is names Edmund. In O’Neill’s life, the opposite reveals itself as the truth, a switch that obviously had personal motives but unrevealed the reader they remain. (Hinden) The purpose of the personal influences in Long Day’s Journey Into Night lies in the pure fact that the play presents itself as dedicated to O’Neill’s wife as an anniversary present, in attempts to paint a complete portrait of him. (O’Neill) However Edmund is not the only character of the play to have true to life connections, Jamie also has similar connections.

The character of Jamie Tyrone directly reflects a bother that O’Neill had in real life, with a complete and accurate portrayal of him behavior and attitudes with the use of characterization, which also aids in the portrayal of O’Neill’s past influencing the play. In the play, Jamie reveals himself as a drunkard, failure who finds himself the bane of the family because of his actions. (Hinden) Mary and James Tyrone constantly warn Edmund of the poison that Jamie has and the deadliness of it. (Hinden) This reveals itself as a true depiction of the actual Jamie O’Neill with many of his actions reflecting those he actually committed including his direct influence in the death of Edmund O’Neill, for when Jamie O’Neill had the measles he infected the young infant, much like the Jamie Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night. (Hinden) But Edmund and O’Neill alike owe their life to the oldest son of the family, for both brothers, imagined and real also directly influence their own births occurring for without the deaths of the middle child, it seems unlikely the mother would have had another child as all indication point in the biographical information of O’Neill and Mary’s own words in Long Day’s Journey into Night. (Hinden) In Long Day’s Journey Into Night, there exists a scene in which Jamie tells his brother of his intended treachery should he have the opportunity while at the same time saying he loves Edmund more than he hates him. (O’Neill). This even may or may not have occurred in real life, but it shows that undeniable the life of the older brother Jamie, had a huge impact on the Life of Eugene O’Neill and perhaps pushed him in a direction much most successful than that of Jamie.

Eugene O”Neill’s past presents itself as one full of hardship and sorrow but O’Neill grew from this and the events of his past shaped him into the person he reveals to all today. But the truth lies in the fact that the play Long Day’s Journey Into Night reveals itself as a coming to terms with the events of O’Neill’s past, with his brother, with his family, with everyone. Whether this actually occurred, hard to tell, but undeniably is the fact that O’Neill reveals a full image of himself and those closest to him growing up.

Bibliography

Hinden, Michael. "O'Neill and Jamie: a survivor's tale."Comparative Drama Fall 2001 (2001): 435. Gale. 8 Sep. 1921. 

O'Neill, Eugene. Long Days Journey Into Night. New Haven: Yale University Press, New Haven, 1955.

Viva la Vida

Viva la Vida

 

It’s time to go to hell,

Get there before the bell.

Don’t follow me so closely

I get angry, mostly.

 

Dreaming in class ‘bout skunks,

This illness has me in a funk.

It’s such a confusing dream

I don’t get what it means.

 

Speaking with no direction

Including ideas of percfection.

Lunch fills my life with thought

About dirty idea’s I’ve got.

 

The day is over but I stay

In a class full of play.

Speaking of snakes, O MY!

That black mamba can kill a guy

 

I end my day with a call

To the one I see in the halls,

But never get a chance to kiss

                                                             Despite it being my only wish