Author: Daniela V.

PR “ROMEO AND JULIET”

I already knew what Romeo and Juliet was about before reading it and seeing the movie, but still, it made me feel a bunch of emotions. It’s a really hard story to watch because of the complexity of it, how the protagonists just by being born in those families have their destiny sealed. Their parents never imagined that an emotion stronger than resentment would create a fatal destiny. Is a love tragedy that now for decades has been portrayed in a bunch of different media, is a classic that all people should know about.

Talking about the way it was written we can find different sentences and words that we as a more modern audience can find hard to understand and if it’s not portrayed properly in a play or a movie can be confusing, that happened to me while reading the play, for example, in act 1, the part where they start fighting about the rivals biting their thumbs to them if I didn’t saw the movie I wouldn’t understand what those this meant.

Overall, I enjoyed getting to know more about this classic play, romance is one of my favorite genres, and learning about this made the English class more fun.

IRJE #6 My year of rest an relaxation

This spring break I read a book called My year of rest an relaxation by Ottesa Moshfegh, It follows the story of a young woman named the narrator, who decides to embark on a self-imposed hibernation, seeking to escape the pains of existence through an experimental cocktail of prescription drugs. As she endeavors to sleep her troubles away, she reflects on her past, her relationships, and her own sense of identity. Moshfegh’s novel explores themes of alienation, disconnection, and the search for meaning in a world that often feels devoid of purpose. With its dark humor and incisive commentary on contemporary society, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” offers a compelling and unconventional exploration of one woman’s quest for inner peace.

“Sleep felt productive. Something was getting sorted out. I knew in my heart—this was, perhaps, the only thing my heart knew back then—that when I’d slept enough, I’d be okay. I’d be renewed, reborn. I would be a whole new person, every one of my cells regenerated enough times that the old cells were just distant, foggy memories. My past life would be but a dream, and I could start over without regrets, bolstered by the bliss and serenity that I would have accumulated in my year of rest and relaxation.”
― Ottessa Moshfegh, My year of rest and relaxation. 

I picked this quote because it’s true we usually use sleep as a form of escapism of reality, specially in our more vulnerable moments, sometimes we are not even that tired but something inside us says that we should sleep and we will feel better. This a practice the protagonist often uses in the book in the search of felling better.

Personal Response Brave New World & Amusing Ourselves to Death

Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death” both provide insightful analyses on the perils of contemporary information manipulation and cultural apathy. Although Huxley’s apocalyptic vision depicts a world ruled by technology and hedonistic desires, Postman’s criticism is on how mass media affects critical thinking and public conversation. Both pieces draw attention to the possible repercussions of forgoing intellectual curiosity and individual autonomy in favor of convenience and enjoyment, despite their different settings.

In “Brave New World,” Huxley presents a terrifying vision of a society in which consumption and uniformity are king, made possible by cutting-edge technology and the repression of individualism. This dystopian world’s populace has been socialized to value fleeting pleasures over true human connection, at all costs, and to accept superficial pleasures. Similar to this, Postman cautions against the damaging effects of sensationalism in the media and television in “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” contending that our capacity for critical thought has been undermined by the unrelenting pursuit of amusement. These pieces emphasize how crucial it is to maintain vigilance against the dehumanizing impacts of information manipulation and technological innovation. advising readers to actively seek out information and genuine connections in an increasingly distracted and surface-level culture, rather than settling for complacency.

 

IRJE #4

The book I was reading is The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo, is a book that tells the story of a 50s actress with a lot of twists.

“No one is just a victim or a victor. Everyone is somewhere in between. People who go around casting themselves as one or the other are not only kidding themselves, but they’re also painfully unoriginal.”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

I found this quote very true because there is times in life that you can either lost or win so just saying your one or another is dumb.

IRJE #3 The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo

“You can be sorry about something and not regret it,” Evelyn says.”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

In this parts Evelyn talks about the things she had to do to success in the film industry, this quote really stick to me because I found it really real, in life things would happen that makes you feel sad, sorry, angry; but deep down you know they needed to happen so you can be able to be the person you are now, you’ll have to do things that will hurt others, but those thing have to be done so you don’t get hurt, people should learn to put themselves first and accept that somethings are meant to happen even if they hurt.

PR #2 ¨ALL QUIET AT THE WESTERN FRONT¨

All quiet on the western front by Erich Maria Remarque is a novel telling the story of a young soldier named Paul Bäumer who’s part of the Germany army. 

This book talks about the true about the war, how cruel It can be and how there are horrendous experiences that use as an audience wouldn’t never imagined it and will shock us. 

The daily life of a German soldier fighting on the French front, all the unimaginable experiences going for the simplest as flirting with a lady to the cruelest like the lost of a dear friend without filter, without sweetener for the audience, everything write it with the harsh true. 

This book really stuck to me, the way it was written, in old words I found it hard to understand, how the author really felt the sorrows of the wars and how he could portrayed it and use as an audience share the pain with him as we read the novel. 

Is a book I will definitely never forget, that will always help me remember myself the horrors of the war. 

IRJE #2

While reading my book I came across a really emotional and true quote, that really stick with me.
“People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is ‘you’re safe with me’- that’s intimacy.”
― Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
This quote left me thinking because I think its true, relationships and intimacy are more than words, being yourself with the one you love is crucial for things to work.

My love for the beach PW #2

I have always loved the beach, I have live in a port my whole life.

I sometimes miss going to the beach in my hometown, with my friends or family. The beach gives me comfort, I could spend hours just laying there, even at winter I love going to beach in a hoodie.

An activity I really miss is going on yachts or catamarans with my friends, it was my favourite weekend plan, just be there with my friends and jump to the ocean. Where I live there are three islands so the boats park near them, so I used to jump off the boat and swim to the shore of the island, at the island you have to be carefull where do you swim because there are rocks, you can find some red rocks that when wetting them they paint so its really fun to made random doodles on your body. You can go on jet-ski too, I usually never drive them because I am a little scare I’ll messed up, so when I ride one a friend drives for me so I just feel the breeze and I love that.

I never noticed how much I actually loved the beach, specially the one in my hometown until I was far from it.

IRJE #1 It’s not summer without you

In the book I am reading, there is this girl who is crazy in love with a boy she has known all her life, who she has recently broke up with.

I used to believe. I used to think that if I wanted it bad enough, wished hard enough, everything would work out the way it was supposed to. Destiny, like Susannah said. I wished for Conrad on every birthday, every shooting star, every lost eyelash, every penny in a fountain was dedicated to the one I loved. I thought it would always be that way. (p. 6)

I think this quote has a big impact in how she said this, how she realized its not gonna always be that boy.

They shall not grow old

The film I watched was more like a documentary. It was about the First World War. In my point of view there wasn’t a structured sequence or specific storyline to follow.  The film focused on the the British Army and their life style, all their toughs and difficulties thru that point of their life. I had a lot of mixed feelings watching it, I felt disgusted and moved about how could people do that to other people, In what world we live in that could be possible, aren’t we supposed to be a civilized species?

It made me think about our present time problems, how the wars still continue and how much possibility we have that a WW3 could happen again, all the small wars that are happening right now and how most of them are not talked about enough, how innocent lives can change from one day and other.

In my opinion wars should not happen all they do is damage, destroy landscapes and innocent lives.

PW #1 My first weekend in Brookes

I have really enjoyed my time here, at first It was a little different than Mexico, but I’ve already got used to it, my first weekend here I went to downtown with my friends for dinner, we went to a place called milestone, we arrived by bus and that was my first time riding a bus alone without my parents, in downtown we took a lot of pictures, the ride back was a little chaotic because we almost lost the bus and a friend was injured of her foot, so we couldn’t run as fast as we needed. On Saturday it was supposed to be a chill day, go to a mall and just hangout, but we ended up in downtown again and I met with a friend from my hometown that came to study here too, so that was really fun. On Sunday we went to a hike with the school, it was really fun seeing all the nature but a little tiring too, but when we got to the top everything was worth it, the view was beautiful, after we went to Dairy Queen, that wasn’t so sporty of us.

I have had a really fun week I can’t wait to have more.

English: First blog post: introduce yourself!

My name is Daniela Veytia Rochin, I am from Mazatlán, México. This is my first year here at Brookes Westshore, I am an international student from their boarding program. My interests are art and fashion, I like to paint and make a lot of crafting things like bracelets and ceramics, in fashion I really enjoy seeing fashion shows and history of fashion. 

As a reader I enjoy it but it’s not a habit for me yet but I am trying to read at least fifteen minutes everyday but sometimes it’s hard for me because I can get distracted really easily, I like to read about romance and fiction. My favorite book is normal people by Sally Rooney.

As a writer I don’t when it’s for school or subjects I don’t enjoy. When somethings is interesting for me I could ride 100 pages but if I am not interested it can be really hard for me and my creativity.