Ron Currie, I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

I really wanted to write about how my favorite work form this year was Othello, since I knew hardly anyone else would choose it and I wanted to feel *original* and special. But that would be such a lie, since I  didn't like Othello that much and even if I did, I would still probably like Everything Matters! way more. Yep. Everything. Matters. I could've chosen the winner of this contest based purely on book covers. Black man strangling surprisingly peaceful woman vs Oscar Wilde looking uncomfortable vs colorful comets of blue and pink converging on a title with an exclamation point! Everything Matters!, clear winner. In addition the the awesome cover, there are several other, legitimate reasons I like this book for much. I've always liked books that are on a grand scale because when you finish them, you are kinda taken aback since you managed to get through an outer space war or the Great Depression or the rise and decline of Voldemort. But I also like books that focus down on the tiny people in all those conflicts and reading the story they have in the mess of everything. Everything Matters! combines both of these things, in a beautiful and memorable way so the novel was "Beautiful and doomed and thus terrible" (Currie). But not terrible, in the sense I did not want to read it, but terrible since I knew that at the end all the characters I had come to know and relate to were going to die. Although some say, "Irony is a luxury the doomed can't afford," Currie wove irony throughout his novel, and although it was often deeply saddening (like in John Sr.'s death), it helped establish his message-- that life is precious, and unfortunately life is limited, as Ms. Serensky often informed us, "Yeah, everyone dies" (Currie). I also really liked the book since it addressed a topic I find particularly fascinating, which is the existence of a Multiverse. Although I'm certainly not sold completely on the concept, I find the notion that "an infinite number of variations of this world exist concurrently, complete with an infinite number of variations of you" at the least, an interesting perspective to consider (Currie). In short, Currie's novel was amazing, I loved it, and I will be thinking about its lessons for a long time.

Worst Moments Ever.

Just kidding! These are the best--good times from start to finish!

10) Finding out we were reading Angela's Ashes last year. It's been one of my favorite books for a while, so I was naturally very excited to get a chance to discuss it in class and learn deeper meaning and all that jazz. I was not disappointed, for "this most goodly book" entertained me for a third time (Shakespeare 4.2.70).

9) Passing the AP Comp Sci exam. I am SO BAD at Computer Science. If someone pointed a gun at my head and told me I to code I would stare at the screen and cry until my assailant killed me out of pure pity. Comp Sci, in short, was "a messy and heartbreaking and overall pointless affair," that I am more than happy to put behind me with the knowledge that in the end, I prevailed (Currie 143).

8) Having a piece of artwork win 3 awards at Scholastics. This was really, REALLY unexpected. I was honestly surprised my ostrich drawing got in the show at all, and for it to be nominated for an American Visions award was so gratifying. I would like to add my drawing was not nominated by "The Ostrich Society wackos" (Currie 238).

7) Mr. Maas learning to say my name properly. Although I will admit, there are numerous variation even within the McGuiness household, Mr. Maas's pronunciation was pretty awful.  As many people have said to me, "There is something in [my] name that inspires absolute confidence," and to have Mr. Maas say to poorly was distressing to both me and my fellow classmates (Wilde 10). He got the hang of it eventually, and the first time he said my name without sounding like it was causing him physical anguish I was very pleased.

6) Reading about arrested development in psych. This lead to an awesome conversation with Alex Kreger and Jeff Marino about the merits of the television show and our favorite moments.  So what if the entirety of my studying for the AP exam is done by watching old episodes of Arrested Development? For I believe, "it's what I know, not how I know, that matters" (Currie). Too bad I don't know anything...

5) First day of high school. I was so intimidated. So tiny. So excited. The day went by in a blur. Actually, all of high school went by in kind of a blur. I really liked high school, and "I confess it is my shame to be so fond" (Shakespeare 1.3.112-113).

4) Getting accepted into Cum Laude. Although sometimes it may seem that "I am bound for life and education" to my schoolwork, it was all worth it when I received the letter that invited em to join the Cum Laude Society (Shakespeare). I am very honored to be inducted with my fellow recipients, and proud that my handwork throughout high school has paid off.

3) Getting into Northwestern. This was my dream school, and as even though I will be going to Ohio State in the fall, I still feel great accomplishment at being admitted. Reading the acceptance email was definitely one of the most thrilling moments this year, as I could "could hardly read [the letter] without crying a little" (Wilde 33).

2) Receiving the grade on my Angela's Ashes paper. This one is double thrilling, since I did the best on this paper than I had on anything else in her class, and it is still one of the best papers I have ever written. But.....I forgot to submit it to turnitin. Minus 12 points! Such elevation! Such despair. The very thought still stings like an open wound. But as a wise voice once told me, life is "Everything, the good and the bad alike," and I have never forgotten to submit to turnitin after that incident (Currie 292).

1) Sending in my acceptance money to Ohio State. Although I was initially kind of reluctant to do this (because of Northwestern and all..), I soon found great comfort and joy in knowing for certain where I am going to college. The whole thing still seems kind of surreal. But I know for certain that "intellectual pleasures await" all of us next year (Wilde 21).

The Poem About the Cat

My favorite poem this year has been Chester by John Koethe. This poem always appealed to me, even when we first received it I was drawn to it, instead of initially feeling oppressed or stressed as many of the other poems did. The poem is not overly complex or complicated. The premise and setting of the poem is very relatable: a quiet morning at breakfast. "We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces," and Koethe's poem cuts through the mundane nature of existence and asks deeper questions about meaning and purpose (Wilde 47). Unfortunately, my grade on this particularly poetry paper was pretty bad. Firstly, I incorrectly identified the speaker as being second-person, and since that's what I talked about mainly, my grade consequently suffered. "O misery" (Shakespeare 3.3.171). However, bad grade aside I still greatly enjoy this poem, and have been induced to research other literature by Koethe. I enjoy his style of writing, without pretensions or overly complex metaphors. Koethe gets to the point and says what he want to in "Chester", without skipping around with a bunch of vague statements and unanswered questions. His poem deals with a prevailing question, which is whether our lives are significant, or "Does Anything I Do Matter?" (Currie 9). I also really like this poem because it features a cat, and for once in the history of my blog will a cat picture be appropriate.

Fave Dayzzz

My prom date.

This is a difficult task, choosing my favorite day from AP English. Sure, there have been some days of AP English that I have absolutely hated. For instance, pretty much every in-class writing falls under this category. Thankfully, Jillian is always there to comfort me in my times of deep despair with her soothing words: "Do not weep, do not weep" (Shakespeare 4.2.123). As for my favorite day in AP English, I cannot say. No one day stands out in my mind as being particularly mind-blowingly awesome, since the AP English experience is really the conglomerated mess of all the good and the bad, and "the difference between positive and negative sensations...become irrelevant" (Currie 222). Certain moments, more than days, have become my favorite memories of AP English. There was the moment during a poetry discussion that I realized that I had grasped the meaning of the poem after all, and was not going to bomb as I had expected; or the time we watched Shutter Island and Leo was revealed to be insane all along; when we switched up seats for fourth quarter and I ended up sitting next to the Most Popular Boy in Class (oh, and Dom, too, I guess...); winning the multiple choice game every quarter, since"I am never wrong"; having Ms. Serensky harass me for my cat pictures (although they are clearly a tribute to Mr. Maas); watching Chase destroy the baby/piñata; and of course, seeing teenage Moushumi in all her glory in The Namesake (Wilde 10). So what becomes of my favorite day in AP English? I'm going to say that it hasn't happened yet.

Emilia and Reggie's Unfortunate Encounter

A young lady is standing in line in a official-looking building. She keeps fidgeting around and drops the handkerchief she was holding. She gasps and bends down to pick it up, but before she reaches it a man in a wheelchair maneuvers right on top of it. She looks at him, about to ask him to watch were he's going, but she stops when sees that the man has no legs and only one arm. She has never seen anyone so pathetic. Strapped to his wheelchair, furthermore, is an assortment of bulky, suspicious objects. The man looked both panicky and maniacal. Nevertheless, she needs the handkerchief back--it belongs to her mistress.

Emilia: [Timidly] Excuse me, sir, I believe your chair rests upon something of mine.

Reggie: [Distractedly] ...What? Oh, um, sorry, here. I'll get it....

Emilia: [Moves to stop him, for fear of him falling out of the wheelchair] Oh, don't--

Reggie: Don't "'Tell me 'don't.''" I got this. [With great effort, he extracts the handkerchief from underneath the wheel.] (42)

Emilia: I thank you.

Reggie: [Pensively] No problem. You know, you seem like a lady who has seen her share of bad days.

Emilia: Well, yes, I suppose. My husband, Iago, has been treating me poorly lately. I believe he suspects me of being adulterous, which I am not. Besides, "'I do think it is their husbands' faults/ If wives do fall'" (4.3.89-90).

Reggie: Yeah... I have plenty of experience in that area. It was an affair with a married woman that brought me to this sorry state. If only I had know that when she said, "I'm going to get real weird with it," it would result in my contracting a flesh-eating bacteria infection. And now my whole world is ruined.

Emilia: "'The world's a huge thing; it is a great price for a small vice'" (4.3.70-71).

Reggie: I guess so... but now I'm gettin' my revenge. Can you keep a secret?

Emilia: I have kept many secrets for my mistress, I trust I can keep yours as well.

Reggie: I believe you. The Fox has a sixth sense about these kind of things. Well... "'I [have] enough C-4 on my chair to blow [this] place to bits'" (109).

Emilia: [Gasps in horror] "'Villainy, villainy, villainy!'" (5.2.188). How could you stand to kill so many innocent people?

Reggie: "'Maybe then they pay more attention to what's goin' on with cripple people'" (109).

Emilia: Please, you do not have to do this. Surely there much be a better way!

Reggie: [Gravely] I wish there was.

[The faint sound of ticking becomes more pronounced. Reggie looks at Emilia almost apologetically.]

Don't Ignore the Narrator

We narrators are so under appreciated. Some would go so far as to not even consider us a character. What fools. Clearly, my pivotal role in Wilde's play is unsurpassed by any of the "real" characters. Does anyone else appear in every single scene? No. Only me. After all, how would one possibly know that Jack was to be speaking "Gravely" and not out of sarcasm when he spoke of being found in a handbag, were it not for my objective narration (14)? Or that the scene in Jack's garden takes place in "July," instead of the dreary winter months, if not for my observation (14)? The bulk of my work goes unnoticed and ignored, but without my seemingly "frivolous" comments, so much of the context of the scene and characters would be lost. Thankfully, Ms. Serensky seems to understand the importance of my role, and selected the reader of the narrator with care. She chose Chase, whose perfect balance of monotone and detachment makes for the perfect narrator. When Chase read my line, "It is to be surmised that they are bills, as ALGERNON, after looking at the envelopes, tears them up," I very nearly passed out from joy. However, things took a turn for the worst when it came time to read Act II. Chase, assuredly confident from his performance from the other day, began taking the narration into his own hands. When my line clearly reads: "Coming over very slowly," Chase decided to mix it up with his own interpretation and read instead, "Coming over quickly" (21). However much this slip-up infuriated me, I cannot deny that other than that Chase's performance of my lines has been wonderful. I hope all hopeful narration-readers follow his example.

An Interview with Othello

Mariel: We have a very special guest here today, Otello from William Shakespeare's play Othello!

Othello: Stop saying Otello it makes you sound pretentious. 

Mariel: I apologize. Othello, I understand you to be a very busy man. Thank you for your time.

Othello: Yes, what with my duties in the Venetian army and my constant surveillance of my wife, Desdemona, "the cunning whore of Venice" (4.2.87-89).

Mariel: You seem to have a very negative opinion of your wife. What caused you to feel this way towards her?

Othello: I know her to be seeing other men... intimately. She has always thought herself to be too good for me, I just know it. She's far younger, richer, more educated... Oh woe is me!

Mariel: Speaking of education, what kind of education did you receive in your homeland? Do you ever study AP English?

Othello: Well, considering I come from North Africa, where the language is predominately Arabic, and I work for the Venetian government, who speak Italian, I have absolutely no experience in the English language. I do not even know how we are speaking to each other. 

Mariel: .... Right. Well, surely you enjoy reading, of course? We read some fascinating books in AP English 11 that I'm sure you would enjoy.

Othello: Oh really, peasant! What kind of books do you speak of?

Mariel: The first book we read was Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, a black woman living in early America. I'm sure you can sympathize to her plight---

Othello: Oh, because I am dark of skin! Granted, I do know the pain "Of being taken by the insolent foe/ And sold to slavery," but that seems to be all  anyone talks about, my Moorish descent! It drives me mad. (1.3.136-137).

Mariel: Again, I apologize. I seem to be offending you quite a bit today....

Othello: "I will chop her all to messes!"(4.1.202).

Mariel: You certainly seem to have a violent side... much like Dick and Perry in Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood.

Othello: This Dick and Perry you speak of... what crime did they commit?

Mariel: They murdered an entire family in quite a brutal fashion.

Othello: Fascinating... did the family wrong them in some way? 

Mariel: No, and I guess that is the most puzzling part of the story--they did not know the family at all, they just killed them. 

Othello: How depressing! Why would you read such a novel?

Mariel: That's a good question. Now that I think about it... ALL of the books we read in AP 11 were depressing in some way. 

Othello: Thank God I didn't take that class. My life is upsetting enough as it is. 

Mariel: True that, Othello. Well, I am very sorry to hear about your wife. I hope everything works out for you two.... But it won't.