Signing Off

Sorry in advance for the emotional vomit on this blog post.

Dear Freshman Madie,

I was you. And even today I can remember every emotion that you felt when you left Magellan's safety and came into the unknown. Now I am a senior and I am suddenly in a whirlwind of end of year activities and exams, looking back and wondering where all the time went. I know you imagined yourself as a senior as someone so mature but when you get here you will still feel like the same girl that were every other year. I wish I could write to you and know with confidence that it gets easier but it doesn't. But I can confidently tell you that every challenge has turned you into the person you are today.

The biggest challenge you'll embark on is your decision to join the IB program ((best decision so far)). You will pretend that the workload is overwhelming but you know that had you properly managed your time you would have been fine. Your classes will offer you new insight and perspectives (so TOK) to situations and discussions will always be a highlight.  The papers will seem daunting but standing on the other side, you will know you are beyond prepared for college in the best way. And the whole time will be supported by the best teachers ever, who will (sometimes) understand your need to completely change the subject. But most importantly you will find the most genuine people to surround yourself with. They will easily become your best friends and will even more easily accept you for every weird obsession with Spotify, Twitter, and Chipotle, your stalkers, your emotional issues, and will eno with you at any possible second. At your times of need they will be the ones you call on. (Stud Club, thats you).

Knowing you, I'm sure your biggest worry is what is happening in the future. Did you get into the college you wanted? What are you gonna major in? But small freshman Madie I challenge you to forget about those college applications and stop worrying so much about the future because the things you whole heartedly enjoy are so much more valuable then one small check box on a college application.

Good luck as you move through the rest of high school but don't worry I'm pretty sure it'll turn out alright.

Madie Fleishman
Senior 2015

P.S. Don't forget to thank all of your teachers for being awesome and especially Ms. Genesky for making you do all these blog posts because you actually enjoyed them.

Whitman's Wits

I opened the diaries expecting to find detailed notes and insight into Whitman's mind. Instead I found a bunch of various lines on a page that were at some point meant to be letters. However from the various pages I made a couple observations. First, in spite of his deliberate structure of his poems, his journals contain no structure and often has last minute cancelations or additions. Of the words I could decode I found the reoccurring theme of ships interesting. Ships and the idea of winds pushing them, alludes to a theme of change which in the time of the Civil War did offer insight into what Whitman was dealing with in the times of his publication. Also I noticed the phrase, "Ship of Libertad" and thought it was interesting associating ships and change with liberty. I think the most interesting part of the journals were the sketches on the back pages. My original thought led me to believe that the sketches were they were self portraits with an influence from Abraham Lincoln as seen by the hat in a majority of the sketches. 

But the good news is someone else can actually read Whitman's writing. What stood out to be the most was Whitman's thoughts on religion that I had not noticed before. In the journal Whitman writes, "two religions -  platforms". He goes on to describe the first religious platform as being one of philosophy and reason and the second platform being belief in an "unseen soul". Whitman puts forward a third, from my understanding, that incorporates both platforms. I think this is the most insightful entry in this journal. Knowing background into Whitman's liberal thoughts and lifestyle I think it says a lot that he finds religion to be such an important part of his life. And I tend to agree with his ideas that religion should be more than just a belief in a higher power but an internal discovery (whoa, deep stuff). The Civil War poems were interesting as well but most fascinating was the poem which finished with "and you" as if he was talking directly to Lincoln and pushing him into a class with royalty.