My first Blogging Portfolio!

Welcome to my first Blogging Portfolio! The first couple months of IB HL English have been hard and challenging, but I am happy to present to you the best outcomes of these tough weeks. Long nights of reading, annotating and finally blogging, have proven themselves to be successful. Here by I'm showing you in 6 different categories my thoughts, ideas and reactions to different matters. Please take a few moments to read my introductions to my posts and comments on my peer’s blogs. I hope you enjoy reading through my posts, and you have some feedback to give me afterwards.

Coverage:
 - Nobody loves me, but my mother

This blog entry relates very well to the text on the North Korean concentration camp that I read about. I made good connections between the article, my own life and the life in 1984. I believe that I expressed my opinion on the subject fairly well, and the subject really interested me and I enjoyed talking about it. Saumya commented on my blog post, and I replied to her comment on her blog, where she discusses the same subject in one of her blog entries. More information on that discussion will be posted below.


Depth:
Do you believe in magic?

This entry of mine is the best one in my opinion since I state a lot of examples and I really go deep in terms of research and personal thoughts. I reference two different books (Harry Potter and Twilight) and I also make a connection to Brecht. I focused on why do we relate/read a certain novel? What makes us read a story and enjoy it?


Interaction:


Lack of Lightening

This post on Saumya’s blog shows well my ability to react to someone else’s ideas. Saumya and I had an interesting discussion on our thoughts about Shin’s life. Anuraag also participated, and we were able to agree with each other in the end. We were able to share our thoughts and some very interesting points came up, that I hadn’t thought of. I respectfully doubted and questioned some of Saumya’s points, so that she could clarify them, and we could discuss a better and more complete conclusion.

Discussion:

Do you believe in magic?

This blog entry of mine ended in a discussion between Monique and I, where we talk about the word choice in different novels etc. At the end we focused on Shakespeare, since he had a very exquisite writing style that not everyone appreciates. We discussed his use of language and also word choice in general. This little interaction really helped me form my ideas in a distinctive way.

Xenoblogging:

Keep it simple

I was the first to comment on her post ‘Simple vs. Complicated’ and my comment started a discussion between us. Her post was very interesting but I was able to point out some aspects that needed to be clarified. I think that we were able to run an intellectual discussion, and it also helped me expanding my own ideas.

Wildcard:

If I had to talk about my greatest passion (besides eating, sleeping and partying – these are things I wouldn’t give up for the world…), it would be travelling. Not to any random place, but to France or Germany. When I visit my friends and family in Germany and France, I feel at home and that is a feeling that is irreplaceable. In Germany, when I walk through the street that I used to live in for eleven years, when I cross the little mailbox that I used to put my letters for my mailing friend in, when I see the church that I used to sing in and celebrate Christmas in, I get an amazing feeling. It’s like getting butterflies in your stomach when you see the person you like – just different.  Memories are something no one can take from you, (here I could add a little reference to 1984 – memories are the only thing the thought police can’t erase) and they make you happy. Sometimes I wish that you could put memories in marmalade glasses, and that you could open them whenever you wanted to, to relive those memories, to go back in time for a while. Paris was probably the best period of my life so far. I spent my best moments there. I had a group of friends – the four blondes- and I loved them so much. We were very much alike and those four years shaped me like no other. (Another little reference to my blog entry about First the Forests Are we human, or are we dancers? where I said that our environments shape us). This might seem like a random ‘wildcard’ post, but if there’s anything I like to talk about, it’s these two places that I will remember forever.