And in the end...

The End... whenever I see those two words together I think of the very end of Abbey Road by the Beatles... "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." There is some super deep hippy philosophy for you.

Anyways, I'll hop off of that tangent. It's been a ridiculous year in which I've learned a lot from, both in a literal and metaphorical sense. But let's start with the literal.

I) The most difficult essay for me to write was the Synthesis essay; there's something about having to read the prompt, skim through articles, decide a standpoint, come up with a thesis, decide a body paragraph order (not to mention the internal debate on whether to do a concession or not) and THEN start writing and incorporating articles which I find a bit tedious and time consuming. However, by the end of the year I did feel comfortable enough with it to write a successful concession essay on the AP exam.

II) The argumentation analysis essay was probably the easiest for me to write. I've always had a way of thinking which allows me to pull examples from real life in the way which we practiced with H.E.L.P. Also, being a person of strong opinions might have had something todo with the fun I had with this essay.

III) My favorite novel read this year is a tie between In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. The reason why this is so is because both had a lasting effect on me by helping me to form opinions of my own on the subjects. Capote gave me eyes to see the other side of capital punishment, while O'Brien gave me a perspective on the effects of the Vietnam war on people, rather than the political viewpoint I had been fed before. I enjoyed both, and can see myself re-reading both of them.

IV) This one is for Mr. Thomas; don't stop being passionate about your job. It's evident and it sets you apart from the pack. By showing that you actually want to be there through your anecdotes and your awesome philosophical discussions, it makes your students want to be there too. I personally am not a very loud person (duh) but even so, I felt compelled to contribute to socratic seminars. Thanks for a spectacular year, and go Texans!

Again, this year has been insane in a good and a bad way which has changed me for the better (if not the best). Never have I so drastically changed to the point where I look back and do not recognize the person who I was. And so I say, bring it on Senior year!