Raising a Toast to the Class I love Most - Cheers to 11AP!

                                                

Words have always amazed me, the way they can be woven into various pieces of literature with no ease. Poetry, especially, has intrigued me. Its unique nature of decorating words in an intricate order is simply mesmerizing, and this art has always appealed to me. Literature overall has come as a fun subject to me, as I always loved to write. Throughout my childhood, I wrote blogs on random topics, and created fantasy stories with my friends to entertain myself over the dreadful covid era of 2020. Although they never got to the publishing process, they still taught me a lot about narratives, and ignited my passion for writing, allowing me to challenge myself later on. Literature is and has remained a major part of my life, and being a part of this 11AP class, although demanding, helped me shape my writing skills to (almost) perfection, and I’m eternally grateful. 

First, I’d like to acknowledge the people that inspired me throughout my 11AP journey:

 

    I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards my beloved parents who always supported and nurtured me, and for always putting up with my late nights spent doing english homework, grinding away with coffee at my side. I forever owe it to you for the constant support, as well as keeping up with my hectic and chaotic schedule! I’m extremely grateful to my family back in India, as my success would not be possible without them! I love you Aaji and Abba for the weekly Sunday facetime calls, encouraging me to work harder and make them proud. Thank you to my lovely little sister, who always annoyed me when I was working on my laptop, but secretly took my mind off the mind-numbing assignments that took hours. Love you Tanvi, you’re the best! You always keep me on my toes. 

    I cannot begin to express my thanks to my amazing English buddies, who always hopped on a call with me before a stressful deadline no matter the time to finish it. Shoutout to Hemna who extended a great amount of assistance and who always stuck with me on call through the tough times, especially when we had long reading assignments with no clue on how to complete them.

    A special thanks to my best friend, Divya, for teaching me how to write an essay the night before, and for always making me laugh even through the rough patches of the year. Your passion and kindness is so beautiful and admirable, and I wouldn't be the goofy person I am today without you. I’m not sure if I would have made it through this rollercoaster of a year without your constant (and sometimes sarcastic) jokes during passing time. Thank you to the lovely Bismaad, for always answering my questions in bio and rating peoples' blogs with me (which had me crying laughing, might I add). Thank you to Sneha, for always making me laugh after 2nd hour with your dramatic entrances. I cannot leave 11AP without thanking my wonderful table group: Angie, Gayatri, Olivia, and Avee, who never wavered in their support. Angie, for always bringing snacks and keeping us full, and for being the star of light that inspires me to work even harder. Gayatri, for your delightful sketches on my post-it-notes, and for constantly making me laugh in the middle of class. Olivia, for always keeping it real and never disappointing me with your funny jokes. And last but most definitely not least, Avee, for your wonderful and controversial takes that always disrupt class but keep us entertained and hiding our quiet laughs.

    I’m deeply indebted to my wonderful, amazing teacher, Mrs. Valentino, for being the best 11AP teacher I could have ever asked for. Your guidance and kindness has helped fuel my passion for English to its furthest extent, and without your help, I would not have gained the right skills to write various types of essays! And how could I forget your hilarious jokes that always catch me off guard, memories I’ll always cherish. Thank you for always giving us weekly vocab quizzes and essays, since they really helped me build my writing skills, even when it was a surprise essay!!

A special thanks for surprise seminars, as they have given me the courage I needed to speak up when it gets quiet, and voice my opinions. Another major thanks to Blogger, for being the outlet I needed to speak my truth through my bizarre takes every Sunday at 4 pm. 

Next, I would like acknowledge the pieces and authors that taught me important ideas throughout my time at 11AP:

• I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Lynn Nottage, for introducing me to Sweat, and its wonderful sequel, Clyde’s. Sweat highlights some important themes, such as racism and poverty throughout its playing. Representing the story of hopeless factory workers fighting against the threat of industrialization taking over their jobs, shown when Stan says, “No one saw that coming. Right? You could wake up tomorrow and all your jobs are in Mexico, whatever, it’s this NAFTA bullshit”. Sweat encapsulates various themes and illustrates a narrative in a very articulate manner, teaching me the struggles the working class can encounter, and the costs faced by an attempt to enforce capitalism in urban areas. It taught me how to analyze plays, something I struggled with last year coming into 11 AP. Although a challenging piece, it pushed me to read between the lines and highlight the main themes in a narrative. Thank you to Nottage for your sequel, Clyde’s as well! This live action showing introduced me to a completely new narrative that shifted my entire perspective on the incarceration system, and taught me about the religious motifs subtly weaved into it.

• I’d like to acknowledge F. Scott Fitzgerald for his wonderful story, the Great Gatsy, and all the analysis it offered. Fitzgerald portrayed the American Dream perfectly through his depiction of Gatsby and Daisy’s wavering dynamic. He showed a clear contrast between the rich and the poor, and how this wage gap led to disparities shown later in the narrative. This helped open my eyes to the rich and poor dynamic present in the real world today. He exemplifies this same theme through his piece, the Diamond as Big as the Ritz, displaying similar themes of the wage gap.

• Special thanks to David Foster Wallace, for introducing me to This is Water, a piece that exemplified the seemingly boring realities concerning life, and how people should employ a new perspective when viewing life to allow for a better experience. He taught me how to consciously think, something that made me especially aware of my surroundings going forward.

• I’d like to acknowledge the assistance of Horace Miner, for your mind-boggling piece titled, The Nacirema, that introduced the concept of Satire to me, shocking me entirely. This piece includes satire that contrasts American culture with other cultures, and how these strange traditions and rituals are ultimately compared to the same ones here in America. 

• Lastly, I’d like to thank Kingston for your piece, The Woman Warrior. This narrative introduced a perspective through the female gaze, and kept me invested throughout the entirety of the piece. Your contrast between your two cultures really highlighted the struggles you faced growing up, and how identity was always a conflicting matter for you.

Lastly, I’d like to end off my acknowledgements by addressing some of my literary work accomplished in 11AP and how it led to great progress:

    Starting off with the topic of synthesis essays. I was already quite familiar with these types of essays coming into 11AP from APUSH, but I still struggled with connecting my analysis back to my thesis. A large part of my essays were merely summary, so this was a main point of contention I wanted to improve on. My very first essay, Persevering History, talked about the importance of maintaining museums in order to keep their historical significance intact for future generations. Here, I strived to construct a strong and defensible claim, but didn't quite do that, writing, “When securing a new work of art of an artifact for a museum, one must take into consideration several factors…”. However, since it was my first essay, this thesis was not very strong and needed improving. After getting my essay back, I practiced rewriting my claim to make it assertive and clear to the audience I was writing to, ultimately reinforcing my writing skills.  In this first essay, I also had minimal analysis to support my claim, shown when I wrote, “This idea of carefully selecting intriguing artifacts can be extended out to many more museums”. Here, I analyzed the sources and tried to support it with my own reasoning, but came off as vague and unclear. I aimed to fix this by studying the prompt later in class and looking for ways to improve it, working actively to make a difference in my writing. I worked on refining my analysis, asking for feedback and getting criticism from my peers. I did make an effort to earn the sophistication point, shown when I write, “I mean, whatever keeps the boat afloat right?”. Here, I tried to implement my own voice.

    After working and studying prompts, my recent synthesis essay about eminent domain earning a whopping 98%! A 1-4-1 (with a cool blueberry sticker)! By implementing the feedback, I was able to construct a very strong claim, writing, “Although preached as a revolutionary restoration method claiming to foster economic development..” Here, I made a claim that is arguable and establishes room for a counterclaim, which I address later on in my essay. I go on to give great analysis, shown when I write, “This tactic is also utilized towards power, since the government is aware they can easily exploit these groups”. I subtly mentioned a new concept while still connecting it back to my claim and implementing my own style. I avoided my writing from becoming vague or unclear by involving concise and straightforward sentence structure as well. By acknowledging these two essays, I am able to observe the sheer growth and progress I have experienced in this year alone, and how implementing constructive criticism in my writing has really helped me propel myself towards newer heights!

Last, I’d like to acknowledge Maus, which taught me about the art of visual imagery, and how illustrations can depict more than plain words alone. Although an unconventional style of writing, Spilgemans writing really helped me learn about the different ways authors can maneuver narratives while still maintaining strong themes. In one of my blogs, I reviewed Maus’s use of visual images through its panels, singling out one in specific to analyze. I wrote, “The past, although no color, is drawn with faces and images to show the reality of the situation, and to accentuate certain ideas within the comic”. Through this, I was able to demonstrate my learning of Maus, and how Spiegelman is able to convey a contrast between the past and the present of Artie and his dad. I go on to recognize the power dynamic between the Germans and the Jews and how the former had an uncontrollable amount of power over the latter, shown when I said, “This transition between completely black to shaded shows how they were slowly regaining their life back but were still powerless.” This allowed me to display some of my own ideas about the story, and tie them in with his writing, allowing for a better interpretation of Maus.

Overall, my time here in 11AP has been a wonderful one, to say the least. I am eternally grateful to all the people and authors who have helped me learn how to become a strong and skilled writer, and shaped me into the person I am now. Thank you so much, so much love for you <3

Oh, and lastly, thank you to the moon, that watches me fall asleep every night, dreaming of something bigger.

- Literary Genius,

Prisha, signing off!