Smells like Teen Spirit (and stress)

What are you doing right now?! YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING. Seriously. Go study. Go.

He's lying. You need to sleep. Please. Please.

You're still here? Okay, fine. Maybe you're taking a break from studying, so here's the Virdin pep talk (I know you all need one. I've seen your faces of pure fear and exhaustion).

You CAN do this. You really and truly can. The next week is going to be full of moments that aren't fun, like studying all day and skipping time to hang out with friends because your face is buried in piles of notes taller than I am. But if you make studying your priority, you will be be fine, because you've been working hard all semester long to learn this material. So crack down, focus, don't cry, and just do your best. YOU GOT THIS.

We gave you all this speech on Friday (and maybe refreshed it today as well), but here are some studying tips from the masters (aka, adults who have done this before and made lots of mistakes):

• Figure out what kind of studying environment you need. Do you focus better around other people who can help keep you on track? Do you need a silent environment? Is your room the best place to concentrate without distraction? Think about how you are as a learner and make sure you are studying in the best environment for your personal needs.
• Start from the beginning of the semester and prioritize that material...I bet you have a pretty good grip on the latest six weeks but not material from September. 
• EAT HEALTHY FOOD. Seriously, you laugh, and I know this is such a mom thing to say, but you really and truly need to have protein and whole grain carbs. None of this pizza and PopTart business...save that for winter break when you can stuff your face and then take a nap while binge-watching Netflix. 
• Make sure to get up and move and take breaks. I suggest a good dance party...

Extra points if you make the same face as Ross. 

Don't forget that your teachers are also offering tutorials starting Tuesday after school. Each afternoon's tutorials begin at 2:30 and morning tutorials start at 8:15. Come with questions just like normal!

Lastly, if you need some fluff and rainbows in your life right now, here's a couple of sunshine-filled videos guaranteed to make your heart happy. 

• Mr. London's future child
• Inspiration for your next dance party?
• YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT ADOPTION. All the feels...this video made me cry. Thank you Stanton.
• "Why were the early days of history called the Dark Ages?" Scroll down to the bottom for the answer. Joke courtesy of Alma F, our favorite Swede.

Now get out there and crush your exams! Sweet freedom in only five days! YOU CAN DO IT!

Beyonce survived finals, so you can too. 

*Because there were so many knights!

Since Mr. Stanton is MIA

Technically, it's Mr. Stanton's week on the blog, but since he's not here this afternoon, you get a bonus post from Ms. Siddiqui. Yay!

First, I'll start with some pleasant and amusing things to pump you up for the weekend of studying ahead of you (told completely through 30 Rock gifs):

These next few days are going to be a bit of a drag.

But, winter break is ALMOST here!!!

Soon, we will have two weeks to Netflix like there's no tomorrow.

And now for some serious stuff. Here are some studying suggestions (told completely through Arrested Development gifs):

Crying can be cathartic...it's okay if there are tears!

Take breaks! Even if it's to...dance...?

Ask for help when needed...ignorance is NOT bliss.

Your reaction when someone asks you to hang out this weekend.

But, as we mentioned in class today, be sure to take breaks!

The struggle is real, my friends.

Here are some suggestions (told completely through cat gifs):

Get a massage.

Eat something.

Get in some physical exercise. 

Take a nap.

Good luck!

My stress level right now? Well, what's infinity times infinity?

This strikes a little close to home right now, eh? 

God bless you, Humanities
We recognize that we are lucky enough to teach the only class on campus wherein the room will erupt into wild cheering over which essay you get. That is the definition of awesome. We hope that each period felt good about the essay they got and that your writing went off with little to no terror.

We live on tears...

Exam Time!
Tomorrow's blog post will focus solely on exam preparation, but we would be remiss in not saying that it is time for life to take a serious turn towards being absolutely no fun. Which is fine, right? I mean, The Force Awakens doesn't come out until Dec. 18, so it is even possible to find joy until then? I think not.
You should be in full DEFCON 5 lock down mode right now. Your room should look like a WWI bunker with nothing but provisions, textbooks, and notes as far as the eye can see.

How Monster energy drink has Nicholas Cage had? ALL OF THEM. 

Get some sleep, eat some food, and come back tomorrow ready to DOMINATE. 

Your soundtrack for today comes from one of my top 3 albums of the year. I'm not big on ranking my music, but, if you made me, I think this one would come in at #2 for 2015. The album is Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens. Stevens wrote the album to help him process the death of his estranged mother. I know that sounds depressing as all get out. But, it is an album of remarkable beauty and humanity. Here is "Should Have Known Better". 

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead!

A little something to get you fired up for essay writing!!!

(gosh, I hope I'm not the only one that gets fired up by Shakespearean monologues...)

And still I rise...

Okay, so you handled today's quiz. Are you ready for more? We hope so! That's what ol' Henry V is all worked up about in the audio clip above. Keep going back for more... never surrender... yee haw!!!

So, this might be a bit much, but we are trying to get you all stirred up for your exam essay tomorrow. It sounds goofy, but that is how I always approached exam week in high school in college. I thought of it as going into battle. Either that essay/exam was going die, or I was. Kind of a fun way to look at it, eh? 

By the way, I mean no disrespect to people who have actually fought in battle; I know that an essay is nothing like actually getting shot at. IT'S A MENTAL TRICK!

Essay time

Remember that all your essay prompts are on our website. There are eight possible choices. You need to ready for any of them. DO NOT GAMBLE THAT YOU WON'T GET THE ONE YOU DON'T KNOW WELL. This will end with a lot of sadness and possibly a loss of bladder control. Take some time tonight looking over each prompt and either listing important pieces of information for each, or putting together a short outline for each one. Just make sure you're prepared. Failure is for the weak!

Hee hee... Snape dies. 

Today's musical journey through the best of 2015 lands us in the South; Alabama to be exact. Brittany Howard has get to have one of the best voices going right now. She'll just blow you out of your seat. If you seen the recent Apple commercials with the images from space, the song playing during the commercial is from this band as well. Their entire album, Sound and Color, is an absolute must have. 

Here is "Don't Wanna Fight" by Alabama Shakes:

It has begun... MORTAL KOMBAT!

Now, we fight!

ARE... YOU... READY???
Alright, alright, alright. It's time to get funky here at Jasper High School.
What's that you got tomorrow... unit quiz? BOOM!
Day after that... exam essay? BAM!
Next week... seven exams? WHAM!

Let's dance!

Tomorrow's Quiz

Everything you need to dominate is in your possession and online for tomorrow's quiz. All PowerPoints and files have been uploaded and you have all your notes back. Be sure to look at the reading guide online as well. You have three different readings for this unit: Ch. 28 & 29 in your WHAP book and the four sections of reading from your Humanities book. 

We've got tutoring this afternoon and tomorrow morning at 8:15. Come with your questions. 

Exam Essay

Tomorrow during 7th period, we will post the 8 essay prompts for your exam essay. Remember, this is 25% of your total exam grade. You will get one of these prompts as your essay on Thursday. Be sure to look at each one and make sure you are comfortable with answering them. Again, the universe is cruel; if you don't prepare for one, that will be the prompt your class gets. 

GET SOME SLEEP... EAT YOUR VITAMINS... CRUSH YOUR OPPONENTS!

As we continue our tour through some of my musical favorites from the past year, I want to share a fantastic instrumental selection from RATATAT. This is catchy as all get out and not a bad way to blow off a little steam when you're getting a little stressed. This is "Cream on Chrome".

A - always, B - be, C - closing... always be closing!

Preach on, brother...

Get that money!
So, did you enjoy getting out there today and selling your wares? Some of you really have the gift of sales. We were impressed; there are definitely some solid used car salespeople out there in Humanities-land. Some of you... not so much. Well, that's okay. You can work in the Human Resources department.
In addition to honing your business skills, we hope you got a chance to explore more deeply a specific moment in history. Getting a chance to go in depth with a particular topic always gives one a clearer understanding of what really drives history.
On a side note, after hearing several of you perform jingles for us today, we just have to say that you are seriously lacking in the rapping department. We're just sayin'...

I think giftedness and rapping skills don't co-exist naturally. 

It's about that time.

So, we're finally winding down the semester. Relaxing isn't it? 

Here's how it's gonna go:

TUES - CE, wrap up a few things, talk about your exam essay and about Wednesday's quiz

WED -  Unit Quiz 5.1 & 5.2

THURS -  Semester Exam Essay - fun with hand cramps!

FRI -  review for your exam; this will be a more structured review day

MON -  review for your exam

We'll talk preparedness and appropriate stress levels later this week. But, it is definitely time to start getting a little jittery!

I think I'll wrap up our musical semester by sharing some of my favorite songs or albums from this past year. In case you weren't paying attention, 2015 was an exceptional year for music. There was just so much fantastic music out there this year. I hope you took advantage of the bounty. If you have any thoughts on some of your favorites from this past year, please be sure to share with us in the comments section, or let us know in class. 

I think I'll begin with one of my favorite songs of the year that happens to come from an all around amazing album. The album is Fading Frontier from Deerhunter. Here is "Snakeskin". 

I'm too classy to be Communist

Happy Friday! That sun is sure out in full force today.  Hopefully the weather will put you in a cheerful mood for all of the schoolwork that's going to be nagging at you this weekend.  Just two more weeks, friends....you can do it.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't like the game Monopoly. So boring.

Today in class we wrapped up on notes on the different economic responses to the Industrial Revolution.  Here are some things to take away from the lesson:

• In response to the growing economic disparities, many people came up with economic and social theories, such as socialism and communism
• Marxism (as Karl Marx's ideas came to be called) calls for a classless society where traditional pillars of authority, such as government, religion, and patriarchy, are abolished, and all of the means of production are communally shared
• Marx's ideas failed to take root across Europe because governments finally embraced social reform - for example, Germany fashioned itself as a welfare state - where the otherwise conservative government provided welfare (such as state pensions, accident insurance, etc.) for its people

So you've got a busy weekend ahead of you - Manatee Tank needs to be completed and ready to go by Monday.  And you have a quiz over Unit 5A on Wednesday.  

To try to give you a sense of calm, here are some posts from one of my favorite Instagram accounts that will definitely make you lol. Or, at the very least, half-smirk. 

I would follow up on the last one and say I feel the same when I'm singing in my car and someone interrupts me by calling. TBH I've declined a few calls so I could finish singing Adele. Speaking of Adele, I hope you all saw this SNL sketch (and I don't often recommend that anyone watch SNL). 

Looking for a Humanities Experience this weekend? Try one of the following:

• Listen to UTD's Music Nova ensembles performs tonight at 8:00 for free 
• Watch Peter Pan 360 performance 
• Or watch The Book of Mormon at Bass Performance Hall
• Watch a live streaming of The Lady of the Camellias ballet performance at the Angelika in Plano

My last Christmas movie scene from the week is brought to you by A Christmas Story.

And since I missed out on TBT, here's a Flashback Friday image for y'all:

Yeah, seven-year old me knows what's up

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

It's all about the benjamins

How interesting that we should read a CE about Mark Zuckerberg's altruism right before we study the birth of entrepreneurial greed in Europe.

With increased industrialization came a new capitalist spirit as members of middle class sought to take financial risks, resulting in an increase in sophisticated business tools, such as banks, the stock market, and business conglomerates. Many familiar companies that exist today were kick started during this time period. Levi's, Citibank, and Coca-Cola. This was a great time to be in the middle class - there was ample opportunity for social mobility.  All this disposable income meant that you could go shopping, attend the opera, or check out new inventions at the Great Exhibition. 

It is Thursday evening, so we hope that you enjoy your time off from pressing schoolwork to complete. Bored and need things to do?

• Look up gifts for the homebody in your life. 
• What's your dominant emotion?
• Watch this Filipino kid Whip and Nae Nae better than you probably can

Here's a scene from one of my favorite movies as a child, Jingle All the Way.

-Warrior Princess Siddiqui

I eat all the babies

Oh my lanta...did we really just read and discuss an essay that suggested we eat babies to solve poverty? Yes. But, as we mentioned in class today, this is SATIRE. As discussed in class, Swift was trying to use a "modest" proposal to bring to light a few social, economic, and political ills in Ireland, such as:

• English dominion over the Irish
• The plight of the ignorant and destitute poor
• The ignorance and greed of the rich
• Religious discord and persecution

I mean, these are some loaded ideas to express in an essay about freakin' babies.  Babies are so cute and squishy and just want to put their widdle foots in their mouths.  And sometimes it's fun to dress babies up as food, but only for super adorable photo ops, of course (see images below). But that's the point of Swift's satirical message - to use absurdity to address a series of problems that can really be found anywhere in Europe in the 19th century. 

I know babies are cute and all, but what about dressing up cats as food?

Don't forget - if you haven't managed your time wisely, you've got quite a bit on your plate for this evening - a Current Event and all of Chapter 29.  Also, don't forget - Manatee Tank is just days away! Hopefully you've legit been working as a group, and aren't acting like Lester Burnham in American Beauty (fantastic movie btw...Kevin Spacy from House of Cards is in it, and it won like a crap ton of Academy Awards).

I saw this the other day, and totally thought it fit in with what we've been studying lately.

Romanticism v Realism

To continue my trend this week, I give to you a scene from Home Alone, definitely a Christmas classic. KILL ALL THE SPIDERS.

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

P.S. I'm not sure why everything is centered and it's driving me crazy.

First things first, I'm the realest

"I am little concerned with beauty or perfection. I don't care for the great centuries.  All I care about is life, struggle, intensity." - Emile Zola

I feel like we've been discussing quite a few artistic movements lately. Sophomores, remember back in the day when it was just like...the Renaissance? Well, as history progresses at a more rapid rate, the way people choose to express themselves will change as well.  European art has continued to become more daring and innovative from century to century.  We haven't even gotten to the crazy stuff yet.  Today we looked at some examples of Realism, a 19th century movement in painting and literature that was in response to the various political changes and industrialization of Europe.  While the rich just became richer, the poor became poorer.  The growing urban poor began clamoring for political representation and an acknowledgment of their suffering.  In response, artists such as Courbet (pictured below in his smoldering, Flynn Rideresque self-portrait) and Millet and writers such as Dickens and Zola tried to capture the essence of the everyday lives of the poor.

Dat hair doe

People respond to monumental societal change in a variety of ways - something we talked about in class today with the Digital Revolution.  Our increased dependency on computers has introduced a whole host of issues, some relevant, and some just... #firstworldproblems.

Don't forget to read A Modest Proposal for class tomorrow! And lastly, I leave you with a scene from another one of my favorite Christmas movies, Love Actually.

- Warrior Princess Siddiqui

P.S. A quick shout out to our growing base of Ukrainian readers, vitayu! Did you know the third most visited McDonald's in the world is in Kiev?