Friday, 3/8, Half-Day Schedule

Due to the School District of Philadelphia half day for Staff Professional Development, SLA will follow the below schedule on Friday, 3/8:

08:15-08:55 B2 Band

09:00-09:40 C2 Band

09:45-10:25 X2/Y2 Band class

10:30-11:10 D2 Band

11:15-11:55 E2 Band

12:00-12:30 Lunch/Dismissal

Friday, 2/9, Half-Day Schedule

Due to the School District of Philadelphia half day for Staff Professional Development, SLA will follow the below schedule on Friday, 2/9:

08:15-08:55 B2 Band

09:00-09:40 C2 Band

09:45-10:25 X2/Y2 Band class

10:30-11:10 D2 Band

11:15-11:55 E2 Band

12:00-12:30 Lunch/Dismissal

Term 2 Conference Half-Days, 2/1 & 2/2

Due to the School District of Philadelphia half days for term 2 report card conferences, SLA will follow the below schedules on Thursday, 2/1, and Friday, 2/2:

Thursday, 2/1

08:15-08:55 C1 Band

09:00-09:40 D1 Band

09:45-10:25 X1/Y1 Band class

10:30-11:10 E1 Band

11:15-11:55 A2 Band

12:00-12:30 Lunch/Dismissal

12:30-03:00 Drop-in Conferences (in teacher classrooms)

Friday, 2/2

08:15-08:55 B2 Band

09:00-09:40 C2 Band

09:45-10:25 X2/Y2 Band class

10:30-11:10 D2 Band

11:15-11:55 E2 Band

12:00-12:30 Lunch/Dismissal

12:30-03:00 Drop-in Conferences (in teacher online classrooms)

Lit log

Lit Log Prompt #1 As a reader, having Bromden as a narrator sometimes makes me sometimes think of how I have perceived moments in my past and how my mental state or personal agenda affected how I could retell situations or in this case narrate.

For Bromden, the fog serves as the thing that affects his perception the most, it is something that only he is affected by, but it is something that he truly believes in because his mind is so deluded by it, for a small period of reading I almost believed it may have been real. After all, Bromden is our only source of narration, we soon find out that Bromden is not all there. After all, certain things start not to make sense when he’s explaining them and how no one else experiences the fog, and even further beyond that, we start to understand where this fog comes from. It stems from his trauma during the war of the fog machines that would be used to cover the battlefield during battle, there would be bombings and you would often have to listen for sounds in order to know where you were going, Bromden was clearly damaged from this but in a way where he would use it as a safety ploy when he gets put in a stressful situation he often resorts to it and is consumed by it, it isn’t until McMurphy pulls him out of it that he himself realizes or perhaps acknowledges that he was blinding himself by allowing the fog to consume him because after this he started to speak for himself, a slight feeling I have is that the fog is also something of a metaphor for the big nurses influence or the fear he has of her, even when he’s pulled out of its effects by McMurphy he still wants to rely on it desperately, going as far to say that maybe it wasn’t the best idea allowing him to take him away from it, feeling safer when under its influence.

For Me, I obviously won’t say I’m as traumatized as Bromden or that I’m even traumatized in the first place, however, I can see similarities in how I handle stressful situations to his “fog”, I know myself to be someone who in stressful situations that if I feel like I can’t handle it I just try to remove myself from it at all costs, obviously I can’t make fog appear or imagine it but I say in a similar way I can understand how his perception has become affected because of his past, I feel like he mentally whether consciously or subconsciously, uses or used the fog to hide both his stress while simultaneously stopping himself from being who he wants to be.

Nika

My artwork i depicts the dayroom from the story “ one flew over the cuckoo’s” nest by ken Kesey and serves as a visual representation for most of the intricate dynamics the characters present in the story through the i use of symbolism and other visual elements such as color, i texture, and style to convey the diversity along with the connection i they all share with the fog and its effect on their mental as well as the broader perspective on life the book offers.

(link to picture) ———> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g5k9AVycvwIxK0U-57AahXpFaLwvy1q_19Axlmq9pcA/edit?usp=sharing

There are 4 main pieces in this depiction with each one digging deeper into the fundamentals of the psych ward. The first is McMurphy i standing with i an empty emotionless i stare by himself with a hammer and bandaids in hand, a shadow in the shape of a cross and faint wings behind him. The cross represents the parallel between mcmurphy and Jesus the book creates with him coming into the ward, creating a following and eventually sacrificing himself for them on the electric table i which is in the shape of a cross. The wings come from his death and him becoming “the one who flew over the cuckoo’s nest”, the hammer and bandaids represent him fixing the “couch” which brings us to the next i piece which is the sofa from i the dayroom. The sofa is something i that all the patients of the ward share and have in common making it a sort of intersection of similarity for all the patients leading me on to recreate it as all of the psych patients as one. The sofa is worn down and covered in rips and tears from side to i side and is covered in bandaids with empty white eyes going across its back. The 3rd piece. To the right of the sofa is the big nurse holding scissors, and a bubble blower with a dense, dark, foggy shadow beneath her. The last piece is behind the sofa and is of patients of the ward stuck inside their own little bubble world. As these four pieces intertwine a form of visual storytelling emerges inviting viewers to contemplate the meaning of the layered dynamics the psych ward and book have to offer.

Reflection i: After completing this artwork there are a handful of things I would change mostly about Mcmurphy. The main one is using the jesus as the parallel for him, while it does align with his story and the character a much better candidate would be “the sun god nika” or “freedom fighter nika” As you may expect nika is a freedom fighter and shares a bit of similarities with mcmurphy such as even as going as far as to almost directly quote him with the line “when you lose your laugh you lose your footing” Another aspect i would change is instead of bubbles holding in the patients in the background I would instead create a light gray haze effect around them to represent the fog with varying intensity.

Post-Apocalyptic Road

My map focuses on the symbol of the road.The symbol that I think the road is giving is a Post-Apocalyptic vibe.I think McCarthy’s intent in making this symbol is to show the reader how much life has changed and how hard it has gotten after the apocalypse.Everything the man and the boy did was based on survival.The road is like a never ending road to problems such as shelter,food,and regular life as they knew it.On page 158 it states “They sat for a long time.They sat on their folded blankets and watched the road in both directions.No wind.Nothing.After a while the boy said there’s not any crows are there?”McCarthy is showing what life has came to.On page 159 it states”Sketched upon the pall of soot downstream the outline of a burnt city like a black paper scrim”.This shows that something drastic has happened that changed the whole planet around.The man and the boy wish that they can have a peaceful life.They are the only ones who didn’t turn to cannibalism even though they see it all around them.It must have been very hard to not turn into a cannibal when you are very hungry and can’t really find any food.I also think McCarthy’s purpose of this post-apocalyptic symbol of the road is to prove that if you stay strong and stick together then you will survive and to not give up. I brought this map together by putting together quotes in order that tie into the road being a post-apocalyptic symbol.I used Canva and I added images that matched the quotes of the book that I chose.

Colorful Modern Business Chronology Timeline Infographic

Pool Scene

My art piece depicts my interpretation of the first pool scene when Bromden watches and listens to McMurphy talk to the lifeguard. In this scene, McMurphy is talking to the lifeguard, another patient of the hospital. He explains how the commitment works at the hospital, saying how the patients are here for however long the nurses say they should stay. McMurphy starts to realize he has made a mistake. Instead of being stuck working on the farm for a few months, he could be at the hospital for years. He starts to reflect on what he has done and what his next steps are. First, the colors I used are muted and a bit dreary. This is to show the overall life at the hospital, boring, often monotonous and depressing. Diving deeper, the words outside and inside are used throughout the book in many ways, but one notable usage of the words is to highlight the loneliness and isolation the patients of the ward experience. I decided to put McMurphy as the sole person in the artwork to represent that loneliness and separation that he starts to feel after the excitement of not working on the farm wears off. I added ripples in the water that also show him being completely alone. Another big theme of this book revolves around power struggles. The staff of the hospital, most notably Nurse Ratched, and McMurphy constantly have a back and forth for power over the ward and its patients. In this scene, after the lifeguard tells him about commitment, he realizes how little power he has in the grand scheme of things. I decided to make him relatively small compared to the rest of the picture, especially the pool which appears to go on forever. His size compared to everything that is around him represents that lack of power he feels after realizing that he could be in the ward for the rest of his life if the nurses wanted it to be so. McMurphy is drawn using a pen and many non-uniform squiggly lines. I wanted this to show both the chaos his personality brings to the ward, and, again, the lack of control he feels at this moment. From the bottom of the pool, black swirls and shadows come up towards McMurphy. These represent the regrets that start to form in McMurphy’s mind during this scene. They come up from the bottom of the pool to show how these regrets were once far away but are slowly creeping up to him. McMurphy stares out of the window. The window shows an image of what outside of the hospital might look like, but it also serves as a window into McMurphy’s thinking and headspace. Outside, the countryside is visible as well as a farm with rows of crops. The hills go on forever and represent freedom of the outside world. A farm is also visible, but is very far away. This is to highlight how far away that idea is now, he cannot turn back as he is trapped in the ward. Lastly, Bromden mentions the fog many times throughout the book. It represents the actual brain fog many patients of the ward experience, safety, numbness, as well as the general power that the staff have over the ward. Being in the fog is being obedient and docile. In my art, fog is rolling in from the window. McMurphy watching his freedom behind a glass pane reminds him that if he does what the staff wants he has a higher chance of being able to leave, and thus, the fog rolls in. This itself starts to change his actions as following this scene he starts doing everything the nurses want, showing that he truly does get lost in fog.

Americanah: Amajah , Faith Amber & Hawa

In the first episode of “Turning Pages”, our hosts Amber, Hawa & Faith came together to talk about the themes and symbolic elements in the first 100 pages of the novel ” Americanah” by Nigerian Author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vwIQ2zq27xvOCZJ8msWCn6QdGIXdw_6y/view?usp=sharing

LATE GROUP

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Resized_IMG_20231221_234351_773

Oscar Wow!- Episode One The Brief Recap of The Life of Oscar Wow

This podcast includes Anouk, Milani, Gabby, Jazz, and Indi.

The Brief Recap of Oscar Wow is a podcast focused on the book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, which is about an overweight Domincan boy growing up in New Jersey with a large love for science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love. In this first episode, Milani opens up the conversation to a debate about who we believe could be narrating the book, to which Anouk follows up with the conversation of the order of perspective in the first two readings we have done. The theme of literal and figurative writing looms over our conversation as we try to make sense of the beginning of our book.

https://www.wevideo.com/view/3286981436

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Purple Hues - Ep1 First Impressions

Purple Hues Podcast dives deep into the Literal and Figurative devices that appear in the book “The Color Purple” By Alice Walker. A book about a character named Celie and the events of her life, navigating how to discover the things she desires.

In this first episode, the hosts of Purple Hues share their hottest take along with their first impressions of the book. Analyzing key parts to build up bigger ideas later in the story.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qe9kLsRMckDofdgvWxu1ajgNKKaHivow/view?usp=sharing

Purple Hues Podcast Logo (1)
Purple Hues Podcast Logo (1)

Paradise Podcast: Sunny,Duke,Pablo,Bruno,and Zane

paradise podcast
paradise podcast

In this episode of the Paradise Podcast, we go over certain ideals about the different characters and the fact that one of the main characters can be seen as munilipative and/or pushy about wanting everything done their way. There is some arguing back and forth, so grab your popcorn and enjoy!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-3epOwMsnr8Oak5Dg77E-VdDBYgbG6Zg/view?usp=sharing

1984+ Podcast Episode One

Speakers: Ana Blumberg, Lia Dunkin, Josie Silver, Adrie Young, and Tina Zou.

In the new podcast 1984+, hosts Tina Zou, Adrie Young, Ana Blumberg, Lia Dunakin, and Josie Silver will explore the contents of the classic dystopian novel by George Orwell. Episode one dives into the first seventy pages of the book, and discusses the literal and figurative aspects of the book thus far.

LISTEN HERE: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1weq1Hdr04TA0dW2SdIxY18AmNuovxJnb/view?usp=drive_link

Reading Between the Lines Podcast, Episode 1: By Lily, Fanta, Sofia, and Shahd

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84684456-8D8A-49B5-9E65-34B14EC0B2F5

In the first episode of our podcast “Reading Between the Lines” we will explore the characters, themes, symbols, and storylines emerging in the first few chapters of Yaa Gyasi’s “Homegoing,” focusing on the two families followed by this book, connected by their common matriarch Maame.

https://www.wevideo.com/view/3286382298

The "Why" Tiger, Episode 1: Lara, Rome, Sam, Siraj, Dinah

In this episode, we review the literal and figurative themes and ideas of The White Tiger, a novel by Aravind Adiga. We delve into figurative themes, including but not limited to religion and liberation, and more literal ideas—such as the formatting of the book and Balram’s characterization. The first two chapters were covered in this episode.

Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b2NE12QEjufCviFhSryE3EvQ_EM4dq6Y/view?usp=sharing

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Untitled_Artwork

Dear God, Ep.1

Dear
Dear

In this episode of “Dear God”, our hosts Caleb, Gabi, Miracole, Fatima, and Grace sat down to discuss “The Color Purple”. The main protagonist Celie and her tumultuous life and relationships are at the center of the conversation. The hosts conversed about literary elements, dynamic characters, and complex relationships.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ASgDJM_S5_MP3u-F4FzFjOi43wNbBnh8/view?usp=sharing

The Road Lit Log: Strange Imagery

I choose to track odd, out-of-place imagery throughout The Road. I noticed a few of these scenes while reading, but found many more while searching for similar scenes. The ones I noticed first were when the boy plays his flute on the road (77), and when they eat dinner with fine china in a once-glamorous house (209). These were most obvious because the strangeness of the scene is often pointed out by one of the characters themselves. In the dinner scene, McCarthy writes, “They ate slowly out of bone china bowls, sitting at opposite sides of the table with a single candle burning between them. The pistol lying to hand like another dining implement.” (209) The reference to the pistol highlights the strangeness and contradiction of their situation. They’re dirty, starving, and don’t have an end goal. They’re running from cannibals, narrowly escaping death every day, and they’ve seen horrors that will haunt them forever. And yet they’re sitting on opposite ends of this table, illuminated by candlelight, and eating canned food out of ornate bowls like they’re at a fancy Victorian dinner. One way to interpret this vivid contradiction is an attempt at dark humor by McCarthy, a sort of twisted satirical commentary of their situation and the world they’re living in. In such a serious, desperate book, he reminds us of the ridiculousness and perhaps even futility of their journey to find something better in this barren, abandoned world.

However, a search for similar scenes in the book starts to reveal additional themes and intents. In my artwork, I highlighted seven other scenes like these: when they play checkers in the bunker (148), when the wheel on the cart begins to squeak, despite their efforts to fix it (186), when the boy asks what their “long-term goals” are (160), when the boy plays in the abandoned train (180), when they spot a plastic deer in the yard of an abandoned house (185), when they come across a corpse in overalls, sitting on a porch like “a straw man set out to announce some holiday” (199), and lastly when they see themselves in a mirror and don’t recognize themselves (132). Each of these scenes is incredibly strange and awkward, highlighting the bizarre remnants of the world before. However, these are also small moments of humanity - the little boy playing with his father, the humor of a squeaking wheel in an apocalyptic landscape, and the grief and horror of finding human artifacts and remains in unexpected places. These moments make up an odd, and seemingly random collection of slivers of light and humanity in a gray and desolate world. McCarthy seems to be reminding us that humanity will remain, even in the most horrific and desperate of times. It may show up in odd and uncomfortable ways, but it will remain.

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Here Here podcast ep. 1 - Jackson, Henry, Anthony, Gabe, & Leo

HERE HERE LOGO
HERE HERE LOGO

Welcome all Here Herers! This podcast is one of many deep dives into the lives of the natives in the book “There There”, by Tommy Orange. In this episode, Jackson, Gabe, Henry, Anthony, and Leo Braveman go into our thoughts on the plot of the story, because no, it’s not yet obvious. We also pick apart the first 100 pages, looking for quotes, symbolism, and connections to other books that we may have read in the past. Some of these connections, you would never see coming. They are truly groundbreaking and mind blowing to the average human. The input from Anthony at the end will leave you with chills…So don’t miss it! And of course, come back next time.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A9h-w05oHc7RBCP5zhepc6-5gmrxjXzX/view?usp=sharing