Outline 

 

• Title: The Legacy of the Virgin Queen 

• Introduction

• • Queen elizabeth’s background

• • Mostly family background

• • Open ideas for body paragraphs

• • Thesis

 

 

 

• Body 1

• •  Love Life and the affects

• • “Virgin queen”

• • Reason for not having kids

• • How staying single led her to a powerful rule

 

• Body 2

• • Seeing herself through a man’s eyes

• • Tactics she used to outshine rivals

• • What this meant for women and standards set

 

• Body 3

• • How she strengthened England

• • Arts flourishing while she ruled

• • How her influence impacts the world today

 

• Closing 

• • How her story was kept told so many years later

 

 

As a junior, the last time I had launch day was my freshman year and I don’t think I was able to fully appreciate it then. I had vague memories of sitting through boring presentations and wanting to go home all day. This year though, after maturing and growing my own views and opinions, I was really intrigued with the presentations and I was excited to see and connect with them. I was really interested in al the topics that were presented and especially after taking sociology, I was aware of a lot of social and cultural issues in society today. I think I was also able to appreciate topics like race and fast fashion after maturing and learning more about how important they are over the years.

Another thing I enjoyed on launch day was being able to present a project myself. For my sociology class, me and a couple other girls created a project about the beauty standards for national history day. It was nice to be able to show all of the hard work we put into our project and get feedback from our peers and teachers. I think I could say that I really got to resonate in the excitement of launch day that I didn’t get to appreciate in previous years. I also enjoyed the launch pad and activities we were able to do because it made school feel a little bit more normal than it has.

A deep fake is a photoshopped video that uses advanced technology to swap someone’s face on another person’s body. The process requires a lot of photos and videos of the person that is being photoshopped on in order to pick up on the face lines and expressions from every angle. Then the features are lined up so that the face fits realistically onto the body.  Deep fakes can be detected the same way we might detect fake news. But simply noticing things like unrealistic hair or skin, unnatural movements, or an unmatched audio may be a clear giveaway.

As deep fakes become more and more popular, it’s become clear that there needs to be more done about detecting them. They aren’t always used for good or humorous purposes and it’s important to recognize when that is the case. Especially with politics, these videos can stir up the media in a heartbeat and cause trouble for a candidate. As for addressing this issue, many companies are already on their way to helping detect a deep fake with more than just what you see. Simply starting with questions like is it believable or is this a reliable source can further help us to be able to detect deep fakes.

One thing I have noticed since starting high school is that the high school expectations and realities depicted in movies and tv shows are almost never accurate. Starting out with peer pressure, the way its portrayed in movies is way more dramatic than what I’ve experienced and I think the views on it have switched up a lot. Never have I been anywhere where I’ve experienced someone forcefully being pressured to drink or do drugs which is almost always what we see in movies. On the other hand I feel like peer pressure is a lot more subtle in things like not trying in school or things like being rude to your parents to be funny.

Another thing we see in movies and tv shows is the carefree lives the kids live in. Most shows have a restaurant or hangout place the kids all go to and never seem like they have any homework. I wish that was a reality but I don’t think any highschool student casually has enough time to do things like that. One thing I do like about the altered reality of high school movies and shows are the moments when I can say “I feel like I’m in a movie right now”. I love the way life has certain moments like that that we’ll probably remember forever.

Over the course of the year I think we have learned a lot in our class and skills that will help us as we continue through high school. One thing I think I can do now that I couldn’t at the beginning of the year is making connections  with symbolism in writing. I think we progressively practiced this skill more and more as we moved through the year. During our poetry unit was when I think it really clicked for me and analyzing writing felt so natural. I was never able to pickup the message the author was trying to get across through analyzing and depicting symbols.

Another thing I’ve learned this year is my discussion skills. When we would analyze topics with our independent books, I became a lot better at making better connections and thinking on my feet. Learning to work with the information I know has helped in discussions as well. At the beginning of the year I think most people held back their ideas but at least for me, I feel like I have a lot more ideas that I can contribute. I think both of these skills will be very useful in my future classes.

Growing up in Louisiana my whole life, I sometimes step back and realize the things I’ve taken for granted and how magical it has been to grow up here. Unlike any other state really, Louisiana has its own style food and the most unique dishes you won’t find anywhere else. I never think about the fact that other kids didn’t grow up on crawfish boils and king-cake. One of my favorite comfort foods is my dads gumbo and my moms crawfish étouffée. Eating beignets in New Orleans was a staple of my childhood and I’m always there to shuck raw oysters for my dad. Thinking about it is add though, the fact that we have grown up with such a rich culture surrounding us and it just normal.

Another thing living so close to New Orleans and having things like Mardi Gras to celebrate that almost no other state does. I remember always being over the moon with excitement when my parents would tell us we were going to New Orleans for the day, night, or weekend.  Honestly I still get excited, but growing up even though it’s so close, going to New Orleans always felt like such and adventure. For me the most magical times in New Orleans are Christmas and Mardi Gras. I have the best memories of me and my sister shopping for “sister gifts” and stopping at our favorite bakery then having the best sleep in the hotel we were staying at. As for Mardi Gras, its always been so comforting. everyone is so carefree and joyous. Growing up on the Mississippi always made me feel at home and even Baton Rouge as Ive learned recently has it’s own unique and fun culture that most people overlook. I think that growing up in Louisiana has really shaped my personality and my experiences in life.

 

As I’ve read the book, “Run Rebel” I have noticed a lot about the thoughts and emotions the book has expressed. Run Rebel explores the thoughts and feelings of the main character Amber and how she faces troubles in her life. Amber puts on a strong face to her friends and classmates and pretends she is always content but in reality we know she is secretly living a terrible life. With her two friends, David and Tara, Amber doesn’t show much of her true emotions and we can see that when she thinks to herself how she wishes she could tell them whats going on at home but she thinks that she has to act like everything is okay. At home, Amber is a lot more timid and angry at the same time, through dealing with her strung out abusive father and the knowing her sister left. She wants to escape but she doesn’t know how, she is too scared to fight back.

We are able to see the true emotions of Amber while she conceals her feelings to her friends. She is her mothers companion and together they become more powerful throughout the book and eventually Amber’s mother learns to read and write a little English. Through everything, Amber proves time and time again that she is strong and she will make it through. She uses her running as an outlet and when she does run, she feels free and like she can do anything. One of the biggest struggles she faces is her dad not allowing her to compete in the track meets. He holds her back in everything she does in life and the one thing that helps her escape and feel free is also being taken away from her.

For some reason every Sunday i feel the need to be overly productive and I’m always trying to get a million things done. Maybe it’s because I usually don’t get much done on Friday and Saturday, but for some reason Sunday is always a productive day. I usually start by waking up and showering because I never really shower in the mornings but when I do it usually makes me feel really ready for the. Then I usually like to clean my room and do my laundry which helps clear my room. After cleaning things up and getting things organized, I like to start on my homework and any studying that I need to catch up on.

Having this Sunday ritual is really nice and a good way to start my week and helps me prepare for the week usually filled with stress. In a way for me Sundays are the days that feel like the calm before the storm and I try to get as much done as possible so that I don’t end up procrastinating throughout the week. Taking this day to stay calm and prepare for the week ahead makes a huge impact on the way my week goes. Instead of making a todo list also, I like to plan more and think about doing things more like drinking water. Enjoying self care and setting up good intentions can be very powerful in the way that your week can play out and is a great way to get a jumpstart.

While I know the show “The Queen’s Gambit”  is not a movie, I feel like it’s pretty close and is one of my favorite things I’ve ever watched since it came out. The seven episode season follows the life of a young orphan who becomes interested in the game of chess. The thing about this show though, is that the storyline isn’t really about chess at all rather than the intellectual mind of the main character, Beth Harmon. After learning to play the game at nine years old, Beth realized that psychedelics her orphanage would give her daily (the show is based in the 50s/60s), would help in the way she thought about the game. Unlike other girls her age she was incredibly smart and had a brilliant mind especially when playing chess. When Beth was adopted her whole life changed, not for the worst but also not for the best.

The show explores Beth’s career in chess as she goes on to beat grown men in the game at the age of 15, proving everyone wrong and continuing to expand her career. We see her new mother struggle to make ends meet and also struggle through depression and substance abuse. After starting high school Beth  makes her way around the country traveling to chess tournaments and winning prizes of all sorts. We see Beth slowly start to discover who she is through her relationships and experiences with the real world. This show is so well thought out and it amazes me how it’s not a true story but I think that makes it even better. I really loved the way the show examines Beth’s dependence on the psychedelic pills and how she becomes dependent on them as she grows up. I loved this show and I thought that it was so rich with emotion and thought and was 100% worth the watch.

So far reading the book “Say Nothing” I think we have been given a lot of information about the plot and what it meant during this time period. This seemed to be a very detrimental time for Ireland and after watching “What were The Troubles? | Northern Ireland spotlight”, it helped me realize just what was going on at the time. One thing I find very interesting is how the Catholics and protestants were essentially going through same thing in terms of civil rights but there was still so much fighting between them. In the book, with what we have read so far we can defiantly see how physical violence separates the country especially with the IRA.  The constant state of violence shows how the people were so used to seeing things like beatings and murders and how much that divided the country.

In the book, as readers, we become interested in who will survive and how. After watching the video, it made me question who is going to end up alive and if there will be any resolutions. While reading the beginning of the book, we can already see the web of stories and how they link together with the IRA and Jean McConville’s  kidnapping. We are really able to see where a lot of the violence is truly rooted and how some things can really affect how you are viewed during this controversial period. I am interested to see how the Troubles play out into this story considering the fact that we have already seen parts of it.