"McMurphy's Secret Stuff"

Today in our discussion we thoroughly discussed the patients' newfound confidence from McMurphy's presence in the ward. One classmate brought up the point that they believed the patients actually can have confidence without McMurphy, because this confidence is something they all possess. They just all believe McMurphy is the root of this feeling that has been held back for many years. If the patients would just realize this, they would not revert back to their old, timid selves.

For some reason, this made me think of the FANTASTIC 1996 film Space Jam, starring Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. Hopefully everyone has seen this movie, because it is superb. The one specific instance I thought of was when Bugs' basketball team is losing to the monsters, so he passes around a water bottle that says "Michael's Secret Stuff." All the players drank it and immediately feel stronger and more confident, because they believe this drink will make them play like Michael Jordan. But, it was only water in the bottle.

The patients at the ward all behave differently because they think they need "McMurphy's Secret Stuff," or just McMurphy's presence, in the ward. Before I read the remainder of the book and find out the fate of all the characters, I'm hoping that the character's realize that "McMurphy's Secret Stuff" is actually water. Meaning, I hope they all realize their strength and confidence can be present even when McMurphy is not. Even if they do not use it to overthrow the Big Nurse, knowing that confidence can be something found independently will help all the characters in the story drastically improve their lives.

I'm Turning Into Ms. Serensky

Whenever Ms. Serensky tells us that her life reflects events that happened in the book we're reading, I always wonder if that's something that'll happen to me one day.  And this weekend, it finally did.  Kind of.  Last week my mom and I went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on all kinds of delicious snacks.  After realizing that most of our food were things like corn dogs, gyros (jeye-ros, NOT euros. that sounds dumb), mozzarella sticks, and macaroni and cheese bites (which are DELICIOUS) I realized that our food resembled many of the deep fried goodness that is served at Blossom.  So I suggested to my mom that we should have a carnival night.  While everyone else in my house "decorated the house for Christmas" aka sat around our house, I cooked up all of the carnival food.  And my sister and her boyfriend picked up wings or something from Panini's so they could feel like they helped out too. All in all, it was a fantastic night filled with a lot of fried food. A lot.

I'm sure everyone's already realizing the connection. But why didn't I? I guess during the week I was too caught up in my excitement for the carnival that was yet to come to realize that in our reading. And last night I was too consumed with my food-baby to realize the carnival plans in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the patients were discussing.  It wasn't until today, at about 4:15 in the afternoon, that it finally hit me. I shuddered. Creepy.  Carnival night in the book AND carnival night in real life ---> MLILMS (My Life is Like Ms. Serensky's- maybe I should start a website?). How long before every event in books we read become my real life? I'm scared. Really, really scared. I sure hope our next book has a happy ending.

We're the Best!

My sister came home today from Ohio State, and she told me about a paper she had to write for one of her film studies class. At first when she said, "My teacher said it was really well written, I'm a great writer," I immediately ignored her, thinking this was just another one of her pompous comments. However, I realized; she was right. She knows how to write well. However, even though I'm sure she'd disagree, this superior writing ability has little to do with her natural talent, this writing is the product of two grueling years of AP English. I took this thought even further, and with much excitement, I am proud to say, all of us are really, really good writers! We have learned so much and become extremely intelligent, we can write  essays in 40 minutes, can pass AP exams, we can make 20+ page Datasheets, and to us, SOAPSTones are child's play. Not only have we moved forward from our abilities as AP English 11 students, but our writing and English skills have moved far beyond most other seniors. Not to toot all of our horns, but we constantly let our grades on writings or discussions discourage us, but we really shouldn't. Everything we do, whether we receive an A, B, or anything lower, helps us in some way to become better writers and thinkers. I can honestly say that I now look forward to writing in college, without worrying about AP rubric scores or forgetting a title, I will find the enjoyment in writing because I know I will feel like I am actually good at it. Hopefully now I, and anyone else reading this, will take everything in English class with a little less stress. Sure, our grades are important, but no matter what we receive, we learn and grow from it, so the outcome always will be positive. Maybe right now we don't feel like it, but in a year everyone will have the same realization. We are the best.

Missing Ms. Serensky

When teachers tell us that they won't be in class, as students, we instantly feel a sense of excitement and relief. Knowing that the day will be unordinary and usually much easier, everyone LOVES when teachers are absent. However, when Ms. Serensky made the announcement that she would not be in school Monday, I didn't get the giddy feelings that normally comes after such great news. Then I realized, it's not great news. Unlike most classes, AP English is not more enjoyable when the teacher isn't there. What are we going to do at the beginning of class when we don't hear the weird theme song of Bobbie's Blog Banter? I'm nervous I'm going to be looking around the room to a bunch of hysterical twelfth-graders curled in the fetal position, rocking back and forth in their desks, singing the BBB jingle. The truth is, with a substitute teacher in the room, something just feels...off. Especially because we still feel the lingering presence of Ms. Serensky in the room, whether its because of the quote on the board in her handwriting, or her silver water bottle that's still ominously sitting on her desk. Also, substitute's just don't understand. AP English 12 is in a whole other league. Last time we had a sub, instead of letting us start out in-class writing, she had us solving riddles. Normal students would have loved this. Us AP English-ers were ready to chase her out of the room with torches and pitchforks, so we could finally start our writing. Ms. Serensky, hopefully you find this flattering, and not concerning. It just further proves your genius as a teacher. We will all be anxiously waiting to see you on Tuesday! That is, if we make it through tomorrow...