Karen Khvan, Period 2, 11/29/2022

 Goal Setting & Growth

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why

I came into senior year thinking the hardest days were behind me- everyone had raved about the

trials of Junior year, and I had emerged in pretty good condition. I had managed to survive SAT season

and SING season all at once, and I thought that I had seen it all. No one could have prepared me for the

train wreck that is the first semester of senior year. I had heard about the dreaded Common Apps, and yet

it didn’t hit until I was forced to write about the hardest part of my life on paper and pray that some

random stranger thought that I was “strong” enough and let me into their college. College season also

made the environment much more toxic- people are desperate to edge out the competition and prove that

they are better than everyone else. Feeling unsure in oneself has been hard enough throughout these four

years- mixing in the possibility of not getting into a good college and being drowned in debt all because of

self doubts fueled by comparison has taken a heavy toll on mine and many others mental health. Add in

BC calculus and I can confidently say I have never felt more stressed in all my times at tech than I am

now.

Rant aside, it hasn’t been ALL bad. I managed to find a creative outlet through SING (which was

its own set of stress for the past months), and my work directly contributed to SFV winning which was a

pretty cool sense of gratification.

My current goal is to try and eliminate the uncertainty I feel in myself and my abilities. I want to

be proud of the grades that I have achieved, even though they may be lower then some of my friends or

others in the school. In reality, my grades aren’t even bad- they are primarily ranged from A- to A+, with

outliers for Geometry and Chemistry. My grades and SAT score and other stats do not define who I am,

although that may be difficult to believe when we go to a school that promotes academic competition. I

have to allow myself to grow as the person I am now, not side by side to someone else. I refuse to continue

to be swept under the waves of disappointment I feel whenever I hear that my grade point average isn’t as

high as someone else's, and will try to continue to do so when college acceptances start coming in.

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

The battle to achieve this goal is not a light one. Academics is pushed not only in school but also

in my household- like many other students at the school, good grades to my parents are expected and not

really celebrated. I have to remember to be proud of all that I have achieved. I have gone through so many

personal battles since starting high school. I had to learn to adapt to a completely new environment, and

how to mold myself to learning during the Pandemic. I managed to maintain high grades while staying

after school until 5 and beyond both end of last year and beginning of this year.

Similarly, I remind myself that my grade does not reflect my personality in class. I pride myself on

trying to be a good student- I participate, try to engage, and will do my tasks to the best of my ability

despite outside forces. Just because I got a grade I may not be satisfied with does not mean I didn’t try or

was too lazy to continue. I know that I am a good student, and I have to accept that my test scores do not

equal my classroom etiquette.

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

Going to a specialized high school is incredibly challenging in the sense that you feel like you’re

never enough. There will always be someone smarter, someone who is doing more volunteer work,

someone with much better statistics. It is easy to get lost in the rushing thoughts of self pity and

confusion. Therefore, it may seem silly to try and be satisfied with myself when everyone else is constantly

pushing and comparing. I don’t have many connections from other schools- all I know is tech’s

environment.

However, the whole point of having a goal is to follow it and stick to it. I refuse to allow myself to

waste the next couple of months in self doubt, waiting anxiously for college acceptances. I may get

rejected in schools that others will get accepted in, and I have to focus on getting myself in the right

headspace to be alright with that. It won’t be easy and it may not work sometimes- in the end, I recognize

that it is a problem and I believe that that is a start, despite what others may say.

Theodore Fan, Period 7, 11/29/22, Modern Mythology 2023

 My thoughts and feelings about issues of oppression: 

I think there’s a fine line between what people call oppression and coercion. Then again, coercion isn’t such a nice word either. (coercion and oppression are synonyms anyway). “The practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats” - coercion vs “the state of being subject to unjust treatment or control” - oppression. So then are both bad? Not necessarily. In AP government, we learned that for any stable kind of government to exist there has to be some form of coercion. For example, the Articles of Confederation. Big disaster. The federal government might as well not have existed. There were no “United” states of America but just states of America. Might as well just call them separate nations. What’s ironic about it is in fearing a strong central monarchy like what Britain had, it led to America having basically no central government at all. It had no way to collect taxes from the states (except through donations), it had no required military, the list could go on but basically; it was such a bad system that instead of revising it, they completely got rid of it altogether. But is forcibly collecting people's taxes oppression or just necessary coercion? Logically it sounds necessary but I don’t know a single person on earth who says they love getting taxed. I guess you can say the difference between the two words is: is it unjust? Of course the world isn’t so simple but we’ll look at an example of an issue of oppression to try and see my take on it. (for after you read the example below): I think a common issue with a lot of issues of oppression is that one group is being unjustly treated (well duh, but hear me out). But another huge issue is what I personally like to call the moderate paradox. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke about the white moderate and the basic idea of a moderate is a person who doesn’t really care about an issue. He deems them as more detrimental to a cause than a person against their cause. Using my Hijab example, while there are plenty of examples of people protesting on the streets, the truth is the majority of people aren’t protesting or fighting for change. Now this is the paradox part. For society to be stable, there needs to be a certain degree of moderates. If everyone was radical, the world would be chaos. So, we need moderates to keep society stable but they are also what hold society back from change whether it be good or bad. If there is a solution to this paradox, I’d love to hear it. 

Hijab protests in Iran:

Now I think it’s been made quite obvious through the media (or at least the media I consume) that you should wear whatever the heck you want to wear. The issue I see with this conflict is that it’s a bunch of men (or well, majority male) telling a bunch of women that they have to wear something. BUT it’s not like you don’t see men wearing turbans and the like right? Well it’s also apparent that women, on average, have significantly longer hair than men. But everyone just wants to make sure that the followers of the religion are faithful. That in itself is a whole issue with who is Muhammad’s successor and how it split the religion into Sunni and Shi’a. I’m not very familiar with the religion but I believe it basically goes: anyone you could theoretically marry you must hide your hair. In the Quran it states they must hide their “charms.” While the Quran part clearly has some issues of its own (how we talked about in class with women being innately evil/dark and stuff) it’s your choice to follow the religion. If it’s in the holy text it must be followed right? I personally don’t think so. I talked about this in my views of death (the Egyptian book of the dead assignment we all had to do) but there was a whole “The Great Awakening” religious revival that happened because religion was kinda dying off in the colonies. They basically made religion a lot more approachable and nice. The old view being you were destined from birth to either go to hell or heaven towards the more merit based system we have today. Now is that very religiously accurate? Was it right to do this? Was it right for King Henry to create his own version of the religion just to satisfy his “needs?” Sorry for the tangent but the point I’m trying to make here is that all of these situations listed are critical moments where the religions basically split from their original path in some way or another and the practitioners of those religions (basically common folk like you and me) choose whatever they believed was right. WHATEVER MADE THEM HAPPY! Even if you do see a woman revealing her hair in public, what has that gotta do with you? Is it your right, your duty, to make everyone follow your beliefs? Then you failed because there’s a large chunk of this world that’s atheist. There’s another chunk of the world that doesn’t even believe in the same god or gods or goddesses as you do. Do what you can? (from Pew Research Center): The Quran states that God will judge each individual by his or her deeds and that heaven awaits those who have lived righteously and hell those who have not. But then what is considered righteous? “Acting in accord with divine or moral law.” - Merriam Webster. My point is the “OR.” Is it very moral to force people to wear something even when they don’t want to? I don’t think it is. (at least, this is my take on things based on the research I’ve done). (IT COULD CHANGE). 

How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

My response:

I’m not the type of person to just start reflecting on actions I’ve done in the past or things I’ve said. Something needs to prompt me to start thinking about it. Whether it be a youtube video or something a friend said. That’s where I start thinking about it and mainly the issue of: do I agree or disagree with that person? I tend to trail off and ramble a lot when thinking as I’m a huge fan of using examples and analogies. This can make me lose my train of thought a lot and make me lose focus on what event prompted the thinking in the first place. When it comes to my beliefs, I like to be aware of pre-placed biases in my head and try to reflect on things unbiasedly. Things like the backfire effect and hindsight bias really irk me though as I hate being proven wrong (not that I hate being proven wrong but more so how I was dumb enough to be wrong in the first place). My beliefs tie in a lot with my assumptions as whenever I’m given something new, I like to analyze it and form assumptions about it which leads to the formation of my beliefs. If my assumptions of things are wrong, then my beliefs will be wrong and I feel stupid. I hate feeling stupid. (who doesn’t though?). When I try to assume things in my thought train but I can’t find an answer, I desperately look for others opinions on those things or if there’s something that I’ve believed in but there’s an authorial position saying I’m wrong, I desperately want to know why and ask about it. My values come heavily from my parents/how I was raised and I think it irks anyone when someone does something that your values would consider wrong. HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY DO THAT?! While I would love to say I’m omnipotent and say everyone has their own values, mind your business or give your opinion and move on, I like to debate with the other person about these kinds of issues. And majority of the time, these debates go nowhere. I don’t like this side of me but I desperately want to understand both points of view in an argument. I tend not to factor experiences in when reflecting on stuff. The main reasons for this is that experiences are super specific to you and not generalized for everyone and if you base things on experience, you often base it on the most recent experience and it can warp your opinion extremely hard. A bad example but: if I get one shot by a character in a video game, I’d say that character would be extremely strong off the memory of the moment alone. But if I go to a statistics website for that game, there could be entirely different numbers and results that show it’s actually not as strong as I thought. 

These aspects that pop up in reflection influence my perception of myself and others basically in that I believe that people are always changing. Striving to grow. It’s crucial to me that I look at something as unbiasedly as I possibly can and try and see where the other person is coming from. I prefer listening to other people rather than me talking to others and I don’t like to leave arguments unfinished. I don’t get passionate about a lot of things because either I’m not invested enough or don’t think I know enough to talk about it but the things I am passionate about, I have very strong beliefs in and would fiercely debate with others. Like that 16 personalities test we took as a class a while back, I’d like to believe we’re all mediators, striving to be the best version of ourselves as possible. 

Sophia Feng Period 7 12/1/22 Modern Mythology 2023

 Sophia Feng

Period 7

12/1/22

Modern Mythology 2023

Socio-political Consciousness

• What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

• How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

As an avid listener to all genres of music, my social media feed usually consists of new albums, dating rumors, and anticipated concert dates. However, these common topics changed when I stumbled upon headlines about “Shakira refusing to perform for the World Cup.”  Although watching soccer is not a part of my usual routine, I always highly anticipated the performances. As days passed, more and more news of other artists such as Dua Lipa and Rod Steward was released stating that they also rejected this year's performance. Traditionally, this is a large honorable stage for artists to expand their careers. But it was not until one of my favorite artists, Jungkook from BTS accepted the offer that I realized the reasons behind each of the rejections.

In 2010, Qatar was chosen to host the World Cup, and this year, this decision has sparked heavy controversy with regard to human rights. With Qatar being a small country, they lacked the resources to host an extremely large event. Thus, they turned to migrants for labor to create a suitable stadium and hotels for the game. However, this work environment was extremely harsh due to exploitation, danger, and climate. As a result, many workers have passed away due to the building of new infrastructure. In addition, numerous Western countries have also spoken out against Qatar’s LGBTQ policies in fear for visitors’ safety. Qatar, on the other hand, has also released their own statements in regard to the controversies. They have assured viewers that the majority of the deaths were due to outside reasons rather than the new infrastructure. They have also mentioned that LGBTQ viewers would be welcomed and safe in the stadium. However, with Qatar’s reputation for lack of freedom of expression, many critics do not believe their statements. 

With these concerns, my actions as well as many others have been split between supporting human rights, respecting culture, and/or supporting sports and music. Moving forward with the game, football players have demonstrated their stance by wearing clothing that supports LGBTQ such as rainbow armbands. Many football fans have also continued to watch the game despite the controversies. While on the other hand, there are people who decided to completely boycott by not watching the game at all. And similar to the football players and fans, I continued to watch the music performances. As the World Cup is an event where all countries come together to play football, I believe that players and viewers should be able to enjoy their interests as well as express their own beliefs. Through this event, I hope that Qatar’s controversies and concerns are highlighted and addressed to allow migrant workers and LGBTQ fans to feel safer in their environment. 

Sameer Auluck, Period 6, 11/17/22

Sameer Auluck

Period 6

11/17/22

Modern Mythology 2023

Socio-political Consciousness

• What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

We watched a documentary on the Egyptian Book of the Dead in class. The documentary was about how the Book caused a hostile environment in Ancient Egyptian society. It talked about the traditions of death and the afterlife in Egypt. I learned that the book was put at a very high price, one that was out of reach for most of society. Because of the high price, only the high-status priests and nobles were able to purchase the book. The Egyptians believed that death was not the end of one’s life but a transition to an eternal one. The only passage to this eternal life, which was called the Field of Reeds, is through the Book of the Dead. The book was so sought after that it led to fights and death. It was very unfair to the poor since they were not able to obtain the book as easily. I believe that all people, no matter their social status, should have the right to get the Book because death is for everyone. In addition to the book, Egyptians had to be buried in a certain way to reach the afterlife. They had to be mummified and all their organs except the heart was to be removed. But there was still inequality in this regard because the rich had access to pyramid burial sites and the poor would have cheaper/worse burial places. This was another disadvantage that the poor had in their journey to the afterlife. The poor would have worse preserved bodies and would not be provided with the comforts that the rich would get in the afterlife. This inequity in Egyptian society paved the way for aspects of soul and death in other cultures and religions. 

• How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

Treating people differently based on things they cannot control such as social class, gender, or race is very unethical. Treating others the way that you want to be treated is a key thing that I follow in my life. A person is more than just their physical appearance, so you can’t judge a book by its cover. In the example of the Book of the Dead, the rich were able to preserve their bodies without errors and had an unfair advantage to the afterlife. Society should be all equal to a certain extent. They should all be given the same basic rights and necessities such as the Book was at that time. Today, people are discriminated against based on their race, religion, gender, and identity just to name a few. People should realize that in the end we are all human and we should be treated equally. Personally, I think it is important in school to have a moral and ethics class. This way, students are free to share their story and thoughts, while also listening to others and diversifying their thoughts. A big thing I see in my own life is discrimination based on race. Asian Americans were discriminated against during COVID and were attacked and injured by others. There are many isssurs of oppression and discrimination in our society and it needs more attention.

Jake Cobovic, Period 6, 11/28/22

    

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  Atomic Habits & Growth

• At this current point in time, what specific standards have you set  for yourself? 

• How and why did you come to craft these standards? 

• How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving these standards?

• How do you assess yourself?  What adjustments do you make? How often?

  
  

For this school year, I’ve set several standards for myself that I’m trying to aim towards, not just academically, but in all facets of my life. My main goal, though, is academic. I’d like to keep all of my grades this year above 90%. I’ve also set some health goals for myself. I’ve been trying to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night and go to the gym at least 3 times a week.

   

    As for my academic goal, I mainly based this off my fear of midyear reports being sent to colleges. I know it’s unlikely but I’ve had literal nightmares where I get into MIT and have my acceptance rescinded because of my senior year grades. I’m not usually a big believer in dreams being fate but I really do not want that to happen. Wanting to maintain my grades is also for myself though. I’ve worked hard to get my GPA to where it’s at after a rough freshman year and I don’t want to ruin it at the last moments of high school. As a Staten Island Tech student I can never escape worrying about my grades and averages. I set my health goals based on myself not feeling physically great during my junior year. I didn’t get a lot of sleep and as a result felt really tired all the time. I also feel generally out of shape so going to the gym would help me.

    I honestly can’t say I’m doing great on my goals. Getting sick for a week at a time several times over the course of my senior year has really thrown a wrench in pretty much all of my plans I set for myself. In Physics and Calculus I missed a good chunk of the first unif of each class, leading to me getting grades that are not up to the standard I want or expect from myself. I also obviously wasn’t able to go to the gym while I was sick which was extremely disappointing for me as I lost pretty much all of the progress I made in the weeks before I got sick. It’s not all bad though, as getting sick actually helped me on my sleep goal. I spent most of my sick days passing out in bed by 10 PM. It helped me make a habit of falling asleep earlier and it’s actually persisted even when I’m not sick. Even on weekends now I notice I’m falling asleep earlier and waking up more energized.

    While right now I can’t say my goals for the year are being met, I still have plenty of time to turn things around and am excited to try and do so. Granted I don’t get sick three times in two months again, I think I’ll be able to meet and exceed the standards I’ve set for myself for the rest of the year 

Kylie Kam, Period 2, 11/28/2022

 Literacy & Learning

• Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class.

• Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception

• How is what you’re learning applied to any classes/the world around you?

In our continuing study of myths, I found myself intrigued by the story of Daedalus and his son, Icarus. Despite being imprisoned by King Minos in a labyrinth, Daedalus and Icarus were eventually able to escape. They made wings of wax and feathers, and Daedalus warned Icarus against flying too close to the sun to avoid melting them. In spite of Daedalus’ warning, he became enamored with flying and the freedom that it brings. Inevitably, the heat of the sun melts his wings, causing him to plummet to the ocean and drown. Based on Icarus’ action, it shows that many young people are unaware of what life involves and choose to disregard the words of their elders, many of whom are already familiar with the harsh realities of life. 

On the surface, the story’s message appears to be to tell readers that they should always listen carefully to instructions. However, upon closer examination, it reveals much more. In class we viewed a picture “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” that depicts Icarus drowning at the corner of the picture while life is still happening around him. Icarus is experiencing a tragic accident, but the people around him don’t seem to care much and then carry on as if nothing happened. It shows that people have their own life to live and aren’t concerned about the events in your life. It would still be necessary for people to do their daily tasks, earn money, and have many other tasks to accomplish. Life continues to move on and doesn’t stop because of one tragedy.

The lesson I have learned with Daedalus and Icarus applies to the situations during 2020. There were a number of tragedies occurring simultaneously. There have been millions of deaths caused from the Covid pandemic, natural disasters, human action, and many more. It is sad to hear that so many people are suffering from this, but we are aware that it won’t prevent us from going about our daily lives. For example, students still have to go to school and learn every day, while the parents still have to go to their jobs and earn money. We continue to live our lives despite the tragedies that happen. 

Tara Lago, Period 6, 11/30/22

 Tara Lago, Period 6, 11/30/22, Modern Mythology 2023

Literacy and Learning

After our one lesson about Antigone, I was unsatisfied and dismayed to see that on the syllabus, we were moving on from Antigone’s story to delve deeper into Oedipus Rex, another male tragedy (aren’t there enough already?) I knew there was more to her tragedy than Edith Hamilton’s summary and the one slide of her being “the first rebel feminist.”  So I took it upon myself to analyze Antigone by reading two translated versions of the play. In both, Antigone is front and center, directly challenging Creon from her first breath to her last. Though her obvious feminism dominates the page, she isn’t the only one. 

There’s Ismene, the sister, who according to Edith Hamilton, “disappears.” 

And she’s not wrong. 

When Ismene is mentioned, she is Antigone’s foil. Ismene serves to highlight Antigone’s good qualities–bravery and devotion to her principles—with her negative ones—cowardice and obedience to unfair law. Even at the scene where Ismene confesses to being an accomplice to the crime, Ismene still remains a foil, her change in mindset illustrating her indecision versus Antigone’s decisiveness, rather than character growth. Thus, through this interpretation, the spotlight is on Antigone, poor, courageous Antigone who could have buried her brother, if not for Ismene’s self-internalized misogyny.  

And just like that, Ismene as a sister, as a daughter, and as her own person ceases to exist. Like Jocasta’s story in Oedipus Rex, Ismene’s is deemed irrelevant or simplified in foil terms. 

Yet Ismene is no foil to Antigone, in the ways that count that is. Sure, Ismene is not brave and devout, but it’s because she prioritizes her life and her sister’s life while Antigone prioritizes honor to the point of death. Ismene tells Antigone, “we must be sensible,” since everyone in their immediate family has died tragically. Passionate Antigone responds with harsh words, claiming that she and the dead will hate her for her caution and selfishness. Ismene, in contrast, remains calm and replies, “Then if you must, but rest assured, wild, irrational as you are, my sister, you are truly dear to the ones who love you.” 

“But rest assured.” This phrase was included in Robert Fagles’ translation of the play but not in Fitts’ and Fitzgerald’s translation. And in my opinion, the ambiguity of “rest assured” is crucial. Is Ismene simply emphasizing how dear Antigone is to her? Or is her “rest assured” confirming that Ismene has formulated a plan? 

After reading the scholarly articles “Ismene’s Forced Choice: Sacrifice and Sorority in Sophocles’ Antigone” and “Beyond Antigone: Ismene, Gender, and the Right to Life,” I am convinced it’s the latter question. I believe Ismene did have a plan: the first burial, the burial erroneously credited to Antigone by Creon and many of its subsequent readers. 

By the way the sentry describes it, the first burial is more in the style of Ismene: inconspicuous, anonymous, subtle. Maybe she did this in hopes that it would appease Antigone and keep her safe from making rash decisions. "The deed has been done," she is trying to say. "Honor without death is possible. So live, Antigone. Haven’t we suffered enough?" 

Obviously, her sister disagrees and goes ahead with her burial, a crime committed as “the white round sun whirled in the center of the round sky over us.” She is apprehended and doesn’t deny Creon’s accusations for both burials. Even when Ismene is brought in as a suspect and confesses to the first burial—“I did it, yes”—Antigone rejects it. 

In fact, the argument that plays out in front of Creon is but an extension of the sisters’ first conversation. Ismene has had a change of heart; she’s realized that if she can’t save her sister, then she will join her, if Antigone permits. She tells her, “What do I care for life, cut off from you?” Antigone, at the same time, also has a change of heart. She realizes that her insults from before were petty and careless; now, Antigone wants Ismene to live and responds, “I don’t grudge you, your survival…You are alive, but I belong to Death.” 

In other words, Antigone is apologizing to Ismene and taking full blame for both burials. Since the beginning, she has chosen her route, her tragedy, her hubris of being hardheaded. But Ismene deserves better than to share in her tragedy; she deserves to live, and so Antigone convinces Creon that Ismene is innocent. 

Thus, through this alternate interpretation, Ismene and Antigone are complements of each other. Two sisters. Two burials. Two feminists. Two tragedies. One’s tragedy ends on her terms with her noose. The other’s tragedy is ultimately chosen for her and marked by her helplessness to save anyone that matters. As such, it is neither right to say that Antigone was the one rebel feminist nor is it correct to say that Ismene is a symbol of the status quo. 

They are equals through and through, equal in their sacrifice, tragedy, and sisterly love. 

I wish we delved into this play more because ever since our discussion about Persephone and Hades, I dread going to this class. I am tired of our constant discussions on the plight of women, an issue that I have known since I was a child. At the bare minimum, I want discussions about women having autonomy over their bodies! (Is that so hard to ask? Yes it is.) In an ideal world, maybe it wouldn’t be. Besides English class teaching me about how most imagery is a euphemism for sex, I’ve also learned that our imperfect world is reflected in our imperfect storytellers who tell imperfect stories, in Greece and beyond.

My frustration with mythology wasn’t the only reason why I wrote this blog. I was inspired to write because of the k-drama Twenty-Five Twenty-One. The two main female characters—Na Hee-Do and Ko Yurim—are just like Antigone and Ismene. Na Hee-Do, like Antigone, is the “good” character, who is passionate about fencing and wants to succeed at all costs. Ko Yurim, like Ismene, is the “bad” character, who bullies Na Hee-Do because she needs to maintain her position as top fencer. Naturally, I rooted for the underdog Na Hee-Do as she won against Ko Yurim, completely dismissing Ko Yurim’s motives for her meanness. This is exactly what happens to Ismene’s motives, for centuries thereafter. Later on, I realize that Na Hee-Do’s hardheadedness is her hubris; her ambition to get what she wants leads to her losing her best-friend-turned-boyfriend and eventually contact with her fencing network. Later on, I see that Ko Yurim is so adamant about being the top fencer because she needs the fencing money to support her impoverished family. Ko Yurim and Ismene both have more at stake than honor, for Antigone, or fencing prowess, for Na Hee-Do. 

As the show continues, Ko Yurim and Na Hee-Do become the best of friends and fencers, and it’s here that the parallel with Twenty-Five Twenty-One and Antigone ends. If only Ismene and Antigone had reconciled their differences and compromised on a plan. If they did, maybe they would have had the strength to lift their brother’s body and bury him. Maybe then there would be no tragedy but joy that these two sisters, two heroes lived and won. 

Further Reading

Fagles, Robert, translator. Antigone. Penguin Classics, 1984. 

Fitts, Dudley and Robert Fitzgerald, translator. Antigone. Harcourt, Brace,  1939.

Honig, Bonnie. “ISMENE’S FORCED CHOICE: SACRIFICE AND SORORITY IN SOPHOCLES’ ‘ANTIGONE.’” Arethusa, vol. 44, no. 1, 2011, pp. 29–68. JSTOR, http: jstor.org/stable/44578337. 

Rawlinson. Mary C. “BEYOND ANTIGONE: Is ene, Gender, and the Right to Life.” The Returns of Antigone, 2014, academia.edu, https: academia.edu/43126541/BEYOND_ANTIGONE_Ismene_Gender_and_the_Right_to_Life.

Hinson Dong, Period 6, 11/25/22

 Hinson Dong

Period 6

11/25/2022

Modern Mythology Blog 2023

Blog #2

Socio-political Consciousness

    It was during class time where we watched this documentary about the Ancient Egyptian Book

of the Dead. I’ve learned that the ancient Egyptians would have to buy this book at a very high

price point as this book would take months to manually produce. Due to the book being this

expensive to access, only nobles and people at the high status would have been able to buy it.

Not only that, people of different social classes would be treated differently at death depending

on how their body was preserved which I felt was kind of unfair because everyone should have

the equal chance of being preserved or have a safe route to the afterworld. The Book of the

Dead was a scroll that led the dead to a safe route through the dangers of death and safely to

the Land of Reed where they would live peacefully and for eternity. At different social classes,

people would have been buried differently. While some may have a pyramid and will have the

safest route to the after world based on their beliefs, others may be buried next to a pyramid

where they were said to be able to follow nobles or people of higher status. People of lower

status would have really bad preserved bodies while not having the luxury treatment of some on

the higher status.

    I believe that treatment of people based on social class status or differences of people may be

unfair. Of those that may not have that much money or power, they should have the rights to be

treated the same as those of higher power and money. I feel like people should not be treated

based on their status and that they should be treated equally. I believe that no matter how

different someone is from another or no matter what feature they have that may set them apart

from someone, that they would be looked at the same as us and treated the same. I feel like

people should not judge others based on how they are different from others. This goes back to

the documentary where you may see some people having the proper ritual where their body is

preserved really well and a body from the poorer class who has a body that was not treated with

care. Also looking at their perspective of death being scary, where some may not be able to

afford this book of the dead and may not be able to follow through peacefully as a noble may.

I think that this can relate to the modern present time as people may be treated differently based

on differences. I believe that people should be treated the same and not be judged on

differences. I believe that people should have their own beliefs and freedom to do whatever they

believe to do as long as it’s right. But most importantly, they should be treated the same. I feel

like I’ve seen this before where my parents who don’t speak english that fluently may be treated

differently in public places like restaurants whereas they may treat me and my friends differently

and more formally. Thus, I believe that there is an issue with oppression and inequity. There

should be a look at more of our similarities instead of differences where people shouldn’t be

seen based on gender, race, or income but should be seen as another person.

Maria Garipov, Period 7, 10/3/22

 Maria Garipov PD 7 10/3

Socio-political Consciousness -

Big Pharma

There is a huge issue in the sincerity of big pharmaceutical companies. We were all

taught growing up that medication is necessary in the vast majority of the public’s lives, and that

there are companies that make these medications to help us. However in reality, our health is not

the biggest concern of these companies, money is. The pharmaceutical industry stands

unchallenged in its ability to dictate government health policies, and it's shocking and scary to

find out that they are not on our side. The biggest concern with these Big Pharma companies is

shareholders, not patients.

A prime example of this abuse of power is seen with a man named Martin Shkreli.

Shkreli is a manager of hedge fund investigating in health products, and he had bought the rights

to the drug Daraprim in 2015. Daraprim is on the world health organizations model list of

essential weapons for disease, and it is used as a tool in fighting Malaria, and a dangerous

infection caused by HIV. Shkreli had bumped up the price of Daraprim overnight from $13.50 to

$750, which is a 5000% increase. The public was outraged, and rightfully so. There was no

reason for this dramatic price change, except for money. When Shkreli was asked in an

interview if he would have done anything differently, he had said he would have raised the price

higher. He was also seen in front of the U.S. congressional committee, laughing at the questions

being asked and constantly pleading the fifth. It is very clear that Shkreli was unapologetic for

this absurd price change, and that he was simply soulless. It’s not surprising that a little while

later Martin was arrested by the FBI and convicted in front of a federal court for securities fraud.

Even since, the price for Daraprim has never returned to its original $13.50. Although this

horrible experience had harmed many many people, the one positive thing we can get out of this

is the public now understanding more the cynicism of Big Pharma.

Big Pharma can be described as the handful of big pharmaceutical companies that

manufacture the vast majority of drugs. These companies include Novartis, Pfizer, Johnson &

Johnson, Roche, and Sanofi. Most of these companies are making an annual turnover of at least

$40 billion dollars. To maintain their monopoly on certain diseases, big laboratories have been

accused of playing down or hiding the results of their clinical trials, causing very dangerous

situations. For example, the drug Depokine, which is an epilepsy treatment, that is produced by

Sanofi. Depokine is one of the worlds most widely distributed drugs in the last 50 years, and has

become the center of a health scandal in Europe around 2003. It had been found to be very

dangerous for the babies of pregnant women, causing intellectual and motor development

disorders in up to 40% of cases, and deformities in 10%. However, this was nowhere stated on

the packaging, and not known by doctors for 50 years after the drug came out. And this was not

the doing of the company itself seeing its mistake, but by the result of many years of being sued.

It is even more upsetting to find out that the lab had written in 2003 that it had been aware of the

issues since 1970, but thought that the risks were slight so they were never communicated. It is

incredibly messed up that drug companies can get away with things like this, just because they

want to maximize their products. This scandal had ruined the potentially healthy lives of tens of

thousands of children.

There are many more similar cases to the ones covered here, and it seems like there is

nothing we can do to stop them from happening. Big Pharma companies understand their power

over the public, and they choose to abuse it, putting millions of lives at risk just so they can

profit off of our capitalistic society as much as they can. I had even seen this myself, with the

price of my own medication being incredibly high if not for my insurance, which I also

understand is not accessible to everyone in the US. I myself even had no medical insurance for a

year or so of my life, and had been told to just power through any illnesses or injuries, because of

the absurdly high prices of the medical industry. The Big Pharma industry disgusts me and more

people need to be informed on the cynicism of these companies.

Kenny Chui, Period 6, 11/23/22

 Blog on Literacy and Learning

• Reflect on any new information you have learned in English class by considering how that learning influences your critical perception.

A major part of our brief myths presentation was that a lot of culture is made up of allusions or references to myths. We have words like “Narcissist” based on the character Narcissus and “Echo” based on the character Echo from the same story. We have references to heroes such as Herculean strength due to his superhuman strength that allowed him to famously finish the 12 tasks, and Achilles’ heel due to his complete invulnerability except for his heel (and it’s also the name for a body part). The divine and superhuman aspect of mythology is so cool to pop culture that movies like the Marvel franchise(Thor and Eternals), Wonder Woman(DC), Hercules(Disney animation), books like the Percy Jackson series, the God of War games, and the entire Fate series(ex. Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/Zero) among others use the wondrous and awesome characters to build upon their story’s lore with their own deep stories. The integration of mythology into today’s culture revived the popularity of these characters and a lot about them can be learned without even having to read their original myth anymore because of how frequently they show up. Because of all this, I can look for allusions and actually understand it in future texts, games, media, etc. and understand their purpose regardless of the new form of media that they take.

The lesson about Icarus and especially the painting representing his insignificance to daily life really changed my perspective on myths. To people on the outside of the story, do your struggles matter? Your ignorance? Your fall? Icarus was trapped in a Labyrinth with his uncle until he was finally given an opportunity at freedom with Daedalus’s wax wings, but as we all know, he flew too close to the sun that those wings melted till he plunged into the sea. But even as this all occurred, in the painting, people kept farming, shepherds kept shepherding, and so on. In the corner, just like the name of the painting, “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus,” he was just a footnote in their lives. It really is profound that not only is the world going on, but people may be right next to you and not know your story. It helps me frame myths in a different lens as well, that there is a world going on whether or not it mentions or connects to it in the story.

• Write about your thoughts regarding any of the fiction or nonfiction covered in class.

My answer above is reflected perfectly in the story of Prometheus and Io that we read for class. It has the story of Io, the story of Prometheus, a reference to Pan and Syrinx, and even Hercules who would be Io’s descendant that eventually free Prometheus. Isn’t it amazing that these stories don’t exist in a vacuum? The world of Greek mythology isn’t contained within individual stories. It isn’t contained in time either, with Prometheus who was chained to the rock ages before Io was born, both knowing each other's stories. They also reference the Nile river, the Caucasus Mountains, and the Ionian sea, places around the Greek Mediterranean. It really is a whole developed world that takes place in mythology, and whether or not it is true, the thousands of allusions to what can be seen all tie it to the observable reality, bringing the myths we love to life.

• How is what you’re learning applied to any other classes/the world around you?

Recently in our SING our script utilized the character Narcissus as a main lead with countless references to his egotistical nature and blatant self confidence(Narcissism is his namesake). Beyond that, there was even a reference to his grisly fate of death upon staring at his reflection for too long as well as his transformation into the Narcissus flower, the daffodil. We had an entire lesson on the link between love, tragedy, and flowers including the story of Narcissus in one lesson, and with that understanding, I was able to better imagine the character and how he should be portrayed in our show.

Temitayo Adewusi Period 7 11/21/22 Modern Mythology 2022

 Literacy & Learning

When I was younger I really enjoyed reading Rick Riordan’s books. So I signed up for the class thinking we’d talk about Percy Jackson and Camp Half-Blood, but I was wrong. What the class actually is, is us reading different texts and being able to analyze and connect them into our own lives. So when we started on fairy tales I was a little confused, and quite frankly didn’t want to read any of them. However, upon further reading I saw that fairy tales are actually kind of cool. First off, fairy tales (in their original state) usually have a deeper meaning. When reading the Cinderella stories we saw the common theme of the princess being kicked out of her hometown, going through trials and tribulations, then meeting the prince and getting married and they live happily ever after blah blah blah. But when asked to view the stories through a different lens (critical theory), we saw the stories in a different light. My group took the story of Lin Lan and related it to Critical Disability Studies. People with disabilities are not seen in the same light as those without them because people will never see them as capable as able bodied people. When they take their medicine or use prosthetics to become somewhat “normal”, they are still treated differently.  In Lin Lan, Beauty used the yellow cow to help her complete the impossible tasks her stepmother gave her. Her mother refuses to accept this and continues to treat her worse. When she discovers that Beauty was using the cow, she kills it and continues to belittle Beauty. In Donkeyskin, Cinderella descended from royalty to the working class. At the end of the story she was able to marry the prince and ultimately go back to her original royal status. That is a marxist criticism. Only those who already have wealth are able to move around to whatever class they want, while the working class is unable to advance in society. Other groups even saw Colonialism and Critical Race theories in the other stories and explained their views to the class. These different lenses definitely altered my perception of not just the Cinderella stories, but of fairy tales themselves. It got me thinking about whether or not ALL fairy tales have a deeper meaning to them that we have to really sit down and look at in order to see.

Now how did these impact me? Well it made me take a look at things through a different lens. In life you need to be very open-minded in order to understand things around you and learn. When meeting new people and interacting with new cultures, it often seems odd. There’s a little voice in the back of your head saying, “This is weird, get away from it.” While instead that voice should be saying, “This isn’t what I’m used to, maybe I should give it a shot.” Being open minded to the world, I believe, is what connects people and allows us to come closer together.

Michael Chen, Period 7, 11/21/22

Michael Chen
Period 7
11/21/2022
Modern Mythology 2023

Socio-political Consciousness
Inequity, oppression, and power are something that will continue until the end of mankind. It is something we must live with and learn to live around because there is no such thing as a world that is free of inequality, oppression, and the hunger for power. Our civilization is just built upon these qualities. Even since the beginning of mankind, these traits can be seen. From the hunter and gathering age to the present day, those who held power are the ones with the most resources. Would they mind sharing the bulk of their resources to help everyone? Most likely not because doing so would make them lose their cozy lifestyle. This is especially apparent during the Gilded Age, where, due to the industrial revolution, many people were able to get rich. These people wouldn’t dare to lose such status, so they would lobby representatives to represent their best interests rather than the general population. As a result, during this period, the three traits can be observed. This is the battle between the rich and the poor, a battle that the poor just couldn’t win. There was nothing the poor could do. If they were to protest, where would they work? It is often that they have to work under the rich and have no choice but to shut their mouth. Even with such power, the rich desire more, often setting up monopolies and creating trusts. The disparity between the classes is just immeasurable.

However, power compared to inequity and oppression just sounds much better to me because the desire for power can swing both ways: for good or for bad. When it is used right, power can do so much to change the world around us. Take a look at all those protests during the fight for equal rights for blacks. The push for certain rights like voting rights, with fierce efforts, was passed, allowing for the snowball effect to take place. This allowed for different laws to be passed as power lands in the people’s hands. When the power lands on the bad, destruction would often occurs. Take a look at the time when Europe took over the newly found continent. The Europeans were able to easily take over the western continent due to their superior technology. They then enslave massive amounts of natives to be used as slaves and often put into a harsh working environment.  
 

I know what I have said has flaws in them such as the Europeans were powerful not due to their advanced technology like guns but due to the disease they carry. (The bow was deadlier compared to the gun due to the gun having to reload much slower.) But even with them not knowing, the Europeans were still able to suppress them, showing off their dominance and oppression through enslavement.  My flaws could be patched up by exploring each of the topics I have talked about further because these traits in each event are not that simple. It is just like how I used to think that Columbus was the first person to found the new hemisphere, but when I dig a bit deeper I realize that he was not the first. It was Leif Erikson that first discovered it. The information from where I get my information is just as important from research a bit more into certain topics, because the same information can be written with different intent and light of an event. I need to be cautious about what I read when I choose to dive deeper into a topic such as this one.

Evelyn Chow, Period 6, 11/22/22

 Evelyn Chow, Period 6, 11/22/22

Modern Mythology 2023

• Socio-political Consciousness

• What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

• How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

In a world such as ours, it’s not uncommon to hear about injustice in forms of power in the media; rich kids bribing their way into prestigious colleges, sex scandals involving a person in a higher position of power over the other, or the peculiar circumstances revolving around a promotion of an individual. However, one long lasting issue of our society unfortunately remains to be the treatment of women. Despite making approximately 50% of the population globally, it doesn’t protect them from the impacts of misogyny.

In fact, this is reflected in a lot of Ancient Greek texts that are almost all written by men. For instance, in almost all of the Greek myths we have read so far, they involve a form of sexual harassment or a women engaging in unconsented sexual activities. Somehow, a majority of those myths are always set into motion through Zeus’s inability to restrain himself from forcing himself upon a beautiful, unsuspecting girl. For example, this includes myths of female figures we have covered in class such as: Medusa, Persephone, and Danaë. With the extreme frequency of this trope occurring, I can’t help but speculate that this is most likely a reflection of the Ancient Greek men’s morals, that the men creating these myths are indulging in a sick fantasy of theirs.

Although to many these myths are just fun material to read and pass time with, they fail to recognize the negative consequences of the themes the myths bring forth. These myths perpetuate the image of women as weak and “damsels in distress”, unable to save themselves so they require assistance from a hero to reach their happily ever after. Even powerful women such as Circe finds herself abandoned by two men she gave her heart to. Hera and Athena are also prime examples of this injustice as they were almost always depicted as jealous and vain women who project their insecurities onto mortals. Under modern standards, Hera’s patience to stay with her cheating husband also places a bad image of women as well, which conveys the toxic idea that women should remain loyal to their husbands despite the wrongs he has committed against her. 

Considering how our society has progressed over 2,000 years since the reign of the Ancient Greeks, I want to be able to say that society has placed women in higher standards of respect. Although this is true to an extent, some issues still remain despite the time elapsed. For instance, women can now hold the same positions that men in the past used to and are no longer limited to just the roles of secretaries, telephone operators, or waitresses. Unfortunately, though, the same jobs do not necessarily mean the same wage for many women across the nation. For people who are working the same hours and upholding the same responsibilities, it doesn’t make sense to me how differences in wages can be determined purely based on your sex. 

Of course, there is also the lack of representation of women in certain jobs as well. One notorious example of this is the scandals revolving around the dismissal of Pixar director, Brenda Chapman, in favor of a male director. Although the reason for her leaving was stated to be due to “creative differences”, it is hard to believe considering how vague and absurd the reasoning was. 

I know that wanting women to gain higher statuses to match with their male counterparts in society is a very idealistic idea, but it doesn't excuse the current treatment of women. As a woman myself, I don’t believe that my views are biased, rather I just place a heavier emphasis on these issues. Due to this, I’ve noticed that as I grow older my tolerance has waned—I’ve been irked more often by people who I find displaying misogynistic opinions. In this way, I’ve been able to avoid the people who give me bad vibes. However, I know the root of the problem cannot be merely just avoided by ignoring it, but only through actively fighting the issue at hand. I hope that through the evolution of our country and morals that someday gender inequality can be quelled.

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Oscar Chen Pd 7 11/22/22

 Socio-political Consciousness

• What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

• How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

Injustice has always lingered throughout history, in one form or another. Recently with the development of the age of technology, these injustices have been put on full display. The advent of social media and other new forms of communication makes it trivially easy for everyday people to understand what is happening. One recent development that exemplifies this phenomenon is the incompetent takeover of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk, exposing the volatility of the stock market. 

The story goes that after Musk bought Twitter, one of the first policies he enacted was to allow users to buy verification. This led to “trolls” buying verification on accounts impersonating big corporations, one of these being Eli Lilly and Co. With a single sentence claiming insulin is now free, Eli Lilly stocks dropped heavily. 

It’s not as if people didn’t know about the exploitation of suffering people for the profits of the big pharmaceutical company, but this debacle has taken another step against them. The power they have over the lives of people, especially those who aren’t well off financially, is something that I find unjust and morally corrupt. This is hardly the only way those who have poor financial backgrounds are discriminated against for trying to live their lives. From healthcare to job opportunities to living status, it is more common for people in power to stay in power than for someone to climb the ranks. 

From a young age, my mother would always remind me to think of the people that are worse off than me. And I would, I would try to eat everything on my plate, wear exclusively hand-me-downs, and use everything I was given until it was no longer usable. But growing up and learning about the lavish lifestyles of people with more money than me, I questioned my actions. I came to the conclusion that my actions resembled those at the top. “Hoarding” to only benefit me and my immediate surroundings. Trying to do better, I hope to bring up those below me. Now, I try to do volunteer and non-profit work and donate whenever I have the opportunity.