Exhibition Night: Reflection

Exhibition night went really well for me. I felt as though I did a good job presenting my material, and was happy with myself when it was over. I enjoyed presenting on exhibition because I enjoyed being able to tell people about something they may have known nothing about.

In Humanities I think that Coli and my strength were that we really knew our content. We were able to answer all the questions we were asked, and we were confident and proud of our work. In Physics Colin and my strength was that we were really able to work off of each other. When one of us did not know the answer of a question, the other person was able to quickly and fluidly help the other out. My weakness at exhibition was that I sometimes answered questions a little to thoroughly, I could start going off on a tangent about different topics, and bore my listener.

I did not face many challenges during exhibition night, but it did get a little overwhelming when more than one family came to your table at once. But this was easily taken care of by staying calm and taking questions one at a time.

Next year I think I could improve my presentation by making my stance a little more open. I have a feeling that by not looking welcome, less people came over to talk to me.

Character Bios for "Let Them Eat Cake"

**This draft has been edited**

Marie Thomas

Marie Thomas is nine years old when our story commences. She is from a middle class family made up of a mother, father, and an older sister (which is considered incredibly small in their community in 1785 France). Her unruly brown hair is usually held back from her face with a ribbon or bonnet, and her pale face is spattered with freckles. Some would say she looks wild or feral, but she prefers to describe her spirit as free. Her parents make a living growing vegetables to sell in the market via pushcart. Both she and her sister did not obtain good educations; just picking up things from their parents. Marie's personality is that of a curious girl, who is eager to take part in what is going on around her, some might goes as far as calling her rebellious. She is often stubborn, and won't ever back down from a fight.

Marie uses the majority of her time (when she's not helping around the house or spending time with Jacque) in the town center where she can catch up on all the latest gossip on her rulers, King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Marie is often self conscious about the fact that she shares the name with her shameful queen. Occasionally, she will inform people that her name is Francis or Lisa, just to avoid teasing. Most of the time Marie will agree with whatever harsh comments people have about the queen, but she can't help but to sympathize with her. Marie feels as though she has a certain connection with her name sharing ruler. She understands that Antoinette is treated poorly by her husband, and feels bad when she hears people accusing her of being the reason behind the late production of an heir. Though Marie is sympathetic with the queen on these topics, she can't help but to grow to despise the way her for the way she poorly runs the country.

Maire Antoinette

Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna (Marie Antoinette) was born on November 15th, 1755 in Austria. Lucky for her, she was born into royalty, her mother, Maria Therese being the Empress of Austria. She received an education that revolved around subjects of religion and moral principles. She had a very lavish childhood. In 1763 she was betrothed to Louis XVI, the prince of France and heir to the French throne. This action took place in order to try and keep peace between France and Austria after the Seven Year War. When Marie Antoinette turned fourteen she was sent to France and shortly after her arrival, she was married to Louis. Marie Antoinette's marriage started going downhill from the start; from her and her husband being not able to have a child, to her and King Louis XV's mistress not getting along. Marie's lifestyle changed dramatically when she moved to France. She is forced to become accustomed to the life of a future queen where she is dressed by her peers, eats and sleeps in public, and is no longer allowed to do things by herself.

In 1775 Marie Antoinette and Louis were crowned king and queen after King Louis XV died from smallpox. Marie was only nineteen years old. Her marriage to King Louis XVI is still on the rocks, and so she has her brother come to France to coach them through their struggles. Finally in 1778, Marie Antoinette gave birth to their first child, Marie Therese Charlotte.

Marie Antoinette, being continuously distant from her husband, was absorbed in things such as shopping, gambling, and theater. Many people frowned upon these actions, believing that she wasn't doing her job as Queen. These hobbies also gave her a reputation that consisted of foolishness, carelessness, and cast the image of a "ditz". In reality, Marie Antoinette, though somewhat foolish, is a compassionate and charitable woman. Soon enough though, because of her doubty reputation, her and the rest of the royal family are forced to flee France due to the constant chaos and incredible dislike for them by the citizens of France.

To read the other character bios for my graphic novel "Let Them Eat Cake" click here.

Story Outline for "Let Them Eat Cake"

**This copy has been edited**

The year is 1778, France is in turmoil, and the dislike for the king and queen is mounting interminably. Louis Xvi is a sissy, who does nothing as a true ruler should, spending his time shunning his country and obsessing over the hunt. His wife is no better; she has recently been framed in a scandalous event involving the former king's mistress, and a very large sum in diamonds.

The personal story of Marie Antoinette is as fascinating. Our story follows Marie Antoinette from the year of the infamous Diamond Necklace Affair, through the French Revolution. Other topics that are focused on in the story are: the storming of Bastille Prison, the flight of the royal family, and the trials and execution of the king and queen.

Marie Antoinette was, in reality, a compassionate woman. Her lavish spending habits were attributed to the neglect she suffered at the hands of her husband. Most of the time during her reign, she was ridiculously bored, and this was another reason for her disparaged habits. As the political blood boils in the veins of her people, she remains oblivious to it, until it finally begins to boil over. This graphic novel is half based on the way important events in the French revolution affected Marie Antoinette, her feelings (or our take on them) on what is happening to her country, the way she deals with its government collapsing and the people taking over.

The other half of our graphic novel is based upon the life of a French citizen at the very same time. Her name is also Marie, and at the start of the novel, she is only nine years old. As her queen ages, so does she, they experience the same events, but are affected differently by them. While the diamond necklace has little effect of Marie, it severely undermines Antoinette’s reputation. As she grows, she is taught to see their queen as a curse upon the nobility, the downfall of the government, and the reason why a revolution is needed. But at the same time, Marie empathizes with her queen. They are both young women, and all women suffer their troubles.

Through all this, Marie takes an active part in all the major events of the revolution. She’s there at the storming of the Bastille, hears about the escape of her king and queen, and witnesses the decapitation of Antoinette.

Through this story she is not alone. As a child, she is accompanied by her friend, Jacque. As she matures, she learns to see Jacque as more than a friend. Through secret lessons where Jacque teaches Marie how to read, their relationship blossoms. As she narrates the happenings in her country, her personal love story entwines itself to make a wonderful portrait of a growing young woman during this critical time.

Persepolis: A Story of Childhood

Throughout Persepolis we are given a view on the Islamic Revolution as well as the Iran-Iraq War through the eyes of ten-year-old Marjane Satrapi, whose story makes the events much more veritable. Within the first few pages of Persepolis, we see our faithful narrator Marji separated from her male friends, and is given a veil which she is told to wear at school. For the first few chapters Marji is naïve about what is going on in her country of Iran; believing that the Shah was, in fact, chosen by God, until one night when her dad explains how the Shah came to power. He explains how the Shah’s father came from a proletarian part of society, and how the British decided to use him as a puppet to control Iran. From this moment on, Marji becomes more and more secular, and begins to protest what Iran’s government is doing in her own way. Shortly after Marji has this conversation with her father, the Shah is exiled, and Iran is run under an Islamic regime. Women are forced to wear veils while in public, universities are closed down and many people Marji knew soon become martyrs, dying because they spoke out against the government. Her friends begin to part ways with her, going with their families to safer territories. Marji tells her parents that they should leave too, but before they even have time to think it over, the U.S. Embassy is shut down because of its occupation by a group of fundamentalist students who took the Embassy employees captive in their own work place. This resulted in an embargo on the airlines so that nobody could leave the country anymore. Soon enough, the Iran-Iraq war is upon Marji and her family. The president of Iraq, Sadam Hussein, had decided to invade their country when he saw that it was at a weakened state due to the destruction by protests against the revolution. Bombs start going off in both countries, making the Middle East a reservoir of destruction.

These events shape Marji in many ways; from the way she handles certain situations, to what she decides is okay for her to do in public, even the way she dresses is effected. Marji becomes very outspoken throughout her teenage years; not caring about using the clandestine black market to buy music, nor does she care about how much trouble she gets in at school. I think if the Islamic Revolution never came to be, she would still be the conservative, studious girl she was when she was younger.

Once Marji gets to Vienna, my prediction:
Marji arrives in Vienna timid, and unsure of how to get through life without the guiding hands of her mom and dad. Because of her strong will and independence, she soon adjusts to life in Austria. But in no way is her new life in Austria decadent. The biggest obstacle she must face her entire time there is her origin. People label her as an Iranian, and because of this she is shunned, taunted, and mistreated. She discovers that most people outside of her own country are completely ignorant to the real story of what happened to Iran. So he decides to educate as many people as she can by illustrating her childhood and releasing it to the public.

You're 16, You're Beautiful, and You're a Voter: A Reflection

Today in class I participated in a socratic seminar that focused on and article entitled "You're 16, You're Beautiful, and You're a Voter", where the author gave her opinion oh why she though the voting age should be lowered from eighteen to sixteen.

After our seminar today, I felt rather accomplished. I felt as though I made my voice heard, voiced my opinion, and put several topics down on the table. I found that by the end of the seminar, I agreed with the author that the voting age should be lowered to sixteen. I believe that the teens that would actually take the time to do such a thing like voting, are the ones who are really concerned about what's going on in our country, and that their opinion is as important as anyone else. At the end of class I was surprised to see that barely half the class agreed with me that the voting age should be lowered. I really thought that more people would be in support of this act.

The one part of the article/seminar that I was particularly passionate about was the fact that the article stated something about lowering the legal alcohol consumption age to sixteen. Several people brought up the point of having a "voucher" that allowed only certain teens to purchase alcohol and only a certain amount, but no one could change my mind on how much I disagreed with this.

The Year of the Youth Vote (Vocab Test)

When one turns the age of eighteen, it is common knowledge that said person has just become a constituent; allowing them to vote on elections as well as on local referendums. Unfortunately, this ability has never been one that many eighteen year olds embrace; that is, until the 2008 presidential election came about. Teens are now using their suffrage to make their voice heard. They now see that they also have the power to control who becomes incombent and takes the power to veto bills, and form coalitions with other countries.

TIME Magazine recently published an article entitled "The Year Of The Youth Vote" that focused on how this year, youth turn out at the polls should sky rocket due to the fact that so many of them are tired of seeing the same two families living in the white house that have been there since they were born. Progressive candidate Barack Obama is a fresh face showing up on the ballot, and has made the most effort to rope in the youth for their vote. Other candidates such as Mike Huckabee and John McCain are trying for the youth vote as well, but are turning out to be to evangelical and conservative for an eighteen years olds taste.


So, will Barack Obama be able to sway the majority of our youth into voting for him? I guess we'll have to wait until November to find out.

A Mock Election- My Thoughts

Recently my class took part in a mock election; the class was divided into six teams, each of which then handed out topics to each member. I was assigned John McCain with the infamous topic: stem cell research.

I found research on the candidate's different views to be easily excess able. It was the actual information on stem cell research that I found most challenging. It was all there, it was just the daunting task of sifting through it. Some sites were worded with so many medical terms, I had a hard time deciphering it, others were easy to read, but didn't have enough information.

Research did prove to be useful though. I learned so much about the controversy over stem cell research that comes from frozen embryos or aborted fetuses. I found that most Republican candidates were against the use of any of the sources I've listed. They don't like the fact that the stem cells would be coming from something that "could have been a child". They say that adult stem cells are just as good; not necessarily true. It's proven that adult stem cells don't work as well when it comes to doing their job of replenishing "sick cells" in the body. So why shouldn't we use the sources we have such as frozen embryos or aborted fetuses? These are otherwise going to be discarded! I believe that if these "dead children" could help cure things such as cancer or diabetes, we should use them to their fullest potential. I guess that mean I disagree with 2/3 of the Republican candidates! Mitt Romney believes that adult stem cells will do, Huckabee thinks that stem cell research should NOT be funded, and John McCain thinks that it's a banner idea, that is as long as it's not an aborted fetus.

I'd be interested to learn more about what the candidates think about stem cells coming from the umbilical cord during birth.