21Loyolit

Since moving to Baltimore and experiencing college in person, Sundays have now become my reset days. With the constant due dates and assignments, it’s very easy to get caught in a cycle where you feel as you don’t have control over your life and surroundings. Since the last iExamen I quit my stressful job and have since then started to work in a new pharmacy with a much more positive and supportive staff.   On Sunday I made sure to slow down and really take my time, as for once during the week there are no responsibilities, especially with a time stamp. I make sure to listen to my body as much as possible whether it is taking a two-hour walk with my dog or making sure I keep myself fed and hydrated. Throughout the week it’s very easy to lose sight of yourself.   Sunday started with me sleeping in as my new job schedule requires me to be up very early in the morning, and I immediately after head to my classes. Around 1pm I took my dog Bealah out for a well-deserved walk, as our...

  I observed this iExamen on Saturday, October 23rd. When I first woke up, it was already 12:30, so I headed over to Boulder to get some lunch for the day and in talking with the cafeteria staff, notably saying thank you once I got some food handed to me, I reflected on the principles of the observation, to say what is kind, true and helpful, and what I realized from the start is that it would be rather easy to figure out if what I'm saying is kind and true, however, when talking about helpful, sometimes it is implicit. In the case of the thank you at the lunch line, it is helpful because it lets them know they are doing a good job and that I appreciate what they are doing. I then hopped into a discord call with some friends and I quickly had to throw away all the insults I was going to hurl at them if they said something dumb, and from that experience, I realized that you can have a much more meaningful conversation if you correct someone rather than insult them, as you can talk a...

  Liam White Dr. Ellis EN 101 October 25, 2021 iExamen 2             I think that it is important that everyone takes time to understand what they are saying. I mean everyone has a million thoughts a day but what amount of those thoughts are worth saying? That is not to say that people’s thoughts are not important but talking to just talk might not be worth it in the long run. That is what this project was for me. It was a reason to think about what I was saying and why. I did not think that it was going to change how I communicated in the day, but I was wrong.             I really took this day to follow the guidelines of the assignment. I found out pretty immediately that more than half the things that I have to say are not useful. Half the time I am just talking to talk. I do not know if this is a bad thing, but I am used to it, so it was kind of quiet to jus...

  My second iExamen had proven to be my most challenging, I was unsure of my self observation abilities at first. But as the iExamen continued I began to adjust to this newfound behavior. Saturday Oct 24th was the first Saturday in a while with no rugby game, and suffering our first loss of the season Friday left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, and not one ounce of me wanted to produce any kind, useful, or true thoughts. But for the sake of others and my desperation to mature, I decided to be better than my thoughts. I'm usually an outgoing kind person, so that wouldn't be the challenging part, the self observation would be my biggest obstacle. As the day goes on I began to inform my roommates about what's going on. I like to offer a little heads up to those around me before I start changing things. The first observation I noticed was that my kind, useful, and true thoughts were hard to express. I generally express myself through humor, sometimes my humor might n...

 I chose Saturday to do my observations. This was a very peaceful day at the beginning of the day. Simply talking to my roommate, a couple of friends, and reading. I also noticed that is being honest and kind, people were extremely nice back, well some people.  I thought that my friends would mainly think that I was acting differently from how I normally acted, and they said they didn't notice a change. I thought there would be a change, mainly because of my habit of jokingly saying that I hate my friends while laughing with them. or my intense use of sarcasm when picking on them a little. The only problem that arose was when a friend that hasn't been so nice in the past asked to talk.  I found it extremely difficult to admit that I did miss them and that I wanted the best for them. And trying to remain kind, after they haven't been the kindest to me. It made me feel almost vulnerable to telling the truth and being kind. Almost out of my element. However, to my surprise, ...

  Kunle Badmus 10/23/21 Dr. Ellis Iexamen 2   This iExamen is a discussion based on my day on Sunday, the 23rd of October. This weekend, I came home to my hometown of Westfield, New Jersey. Sundays in my house are typically all very similar. I was awoken to the smell of food being cooked for breakfast for my entire family and I happily scurried downstairs.  I was greeted by my sister, my brother and my two parents. We spoke and ate breakfast as we typically do, as a family. The way a family speaks and interacts with one another is quite different than how friends or classmates can. With family, there is no filter. You are subconsciously aware that the people around you love you and know you. You know that these people love you unconditionally and want the best for you. I notice that although my siblings and I were raised in the same environment and have generally experienced the same things, we still express ourselves extremely differently. I, for example, talk with m...

  iExamen 2 I began my iExamen 2 on Sunday, October 24. I had the intention of saying only what is kind, useful, and true for the whole day. When I woke up around noon I first greeted my roommate. We’re really close so it was natural for us to talk about our random dreams from the previous night. We laugh a lot since our dreams are so ridiculous. Honestly, every day I attempt to be kind towards people around me because it is important to treat people the way you want to be treated. Especially during the times that we live in when people are constantly spewing hate and judgment at each other. Kindness is the medicine that the world needs in order to heal. I've been taught that moral obligation since I can remember. That form of communication during my self-observation was fairly easy but saying what is useful was something that I needed to learn how to do. During the middle of the day, I received a Facetime call from my friend from back home. She’s currently going through the unavoi...

  The first think that I do every day is take my phone and see the messages that i have. If i’m honest it’s the first time I stop think about if my messages are kind, useful or true. And my communication has changed until i have started thinking about it.   Sometimes I send my friends just an emojis without no sense and that message just make me laugh. Today, I had a misunderstanding with my family and I realized that when I spoke with them it was not a kind communication. When i started to realized I change my mind and I tried to talk kindly and i was trying to have a useful communications because sometimes when you are getting angry with your family, you’re just yelling to each other and the communication doesn’t make sense. Once, I tried to be kind, and also I tried to explain myself better, the conversation was useful and we solved the problem. Also, it’s hard to solve a misunderstanding when you are talking with them with the phone and not in person. When I was with m...

      On October 23rd, I exercised self-observation using the iExamen, during which I communicated under three conditions: kind, useful, and true. This iExamen was slightly more tough than the last one, but mostly in terms of in-person contact. I mention this because I never post hateful remarks, angry words, or even confusing phrases on social media since I know how difficult it is to communicate online without physical tone and body language helping in the message and meaning behind each word typed. When I text my close friends and family, though, I text as if I were speaking since I know they can hear my tone. With my close friends, I would say I am a jokester and like to be sarcastic. Using this iExamen throughout the day made it difficult to be sarcastic, making it challenging to converse normally with my friends, and in turn, I also received several concerns about my well-being. After complimenting my family in the family group chat, my mother asked, "What do y...

  It’s Sunday, October 24th, and the day after a soccer game. We tied, which was not fun, but doing this assignment helped me a lot. Usually, after a tied or lost game, I am not in the best mood. I found that going along with this assignment made me realize how readily and effectively my mood changed. I had heard before that concentrating on what one is grateful for is a good way to maintain a positive outlook. And I realize that that same influence was happening to me upon concentrating on saying kind, useful and truthful statements. My thoughts were channeled about others and their well-being. Doing this did not give room in my head for self remorse. So, by putting in the effort to be positive for others, everything discouraging was forgotten about the game.  I am naturally not a conversation starter nor do I usually give my observation into a conversation as I am usually an observer. This assignment required me to ‘insert’ a comment here and there into a conversation and ...

  This iExam was definitely more challenging than the last one. I would not have thought this one would take so much thought and effort as it did. Making sure that everything I said, in person, texts or online, is kind, useful and true was very trying. I found that it can be very easy to always be saying something with one of these aspects, but involving all three is much more difficult. It took a lot of concentration every time I spoke.  Ever since I was young, I had been taught to be kind. It is now just in my nature to always say things with kindness. This was probably the easiest part of the assignment. Being honest was probably the next easiest part, as I was also taught to not lie. The only times I found myself thinking about not telling the truth was when I was trying to protect someone’s feelings about the way they were acting. Lastly, being useful was probably the part I had to focus on the most. I feel that we often talk just to talk, and most of the things we say ...

  Jacob Sabins Dr. Ellis Understanding Literature October 23 2021 Frankenstein 1st  ½ Blog Post In the first half of Frankenstein, we go through the early life of Victor Frankenstein and his creation of the monster in the book. At first, we open Victor's story with his childhood and of two very close friends. One of them was Henry Clerval, one of Victor's School mates, and Elizabeth Lavenza, Victor's best friend. The way I saw Victor’s and Elizabeth’s relationship play out throughout the first half was that at the beginning, Elizabeth got Victor to see the beauty in the land as she thought of the world as idyllic and scenic. Victor on the other hand, wanted to know why lie beneath the world; what mysteries did it keep and how could he find them. Elizabeth grounded Victor so that he would not stray too far into the mystery, however when she leaves the picture things get uglier as you read. At first, he studies the work of the alchemists but his studies prove to be for naught...

  Kunle Badmus 10/20/21 EN101 Dr. Ellis First Half of Frankstein The first half of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is nothing short of riveting. Shelley begins the fiction writing by throwing the reader into the perspective of the novel’s protagonist and narrator, Victor. Victor is born into a well of family and is their first child. Victor’s parents' story of elopement is quite unconventional. Victor’s father, who was a wealthy man, went in search of an old, close friend of his. His friend had since fallen upon hard times after accumulating an abundance of wealth through his work as a merchant. Victor’s father searched and searched tirelessly in hopes to locate him. When he was finally able to, Victor’s father decided to go to his home to speak with him. It was there that he met the merchant’s daughter holding her father as he passed away from an arduous battle with sickness. Through consoling and caring for his dear friend’s daughter, the two fell in love. Victor’s father provided...

 The First Half of Frankenstein gives the readers an introduction to the narrator, "Victor Frankenstein" and his coming of age story. He discusses his time as a child transitioning to a teenager. He also references some childhood companions, including most importantly his adopted sister, Elizabeth. As the story progresses Elizabeth's role becomes extremely vital to the flow of the story. For one instance, when Victor was about to leave his family in Geneva to attend the University of Ingolstadt, Elizabeth passes scarlet fever to Victor's mother leaving her on her death bed. Frankenstein's mother's dying wish is for Victor and Elizabeth to get married. Frankenstein has a hard time grieving the passing of his mother, 7 months later he sets off for University in hopes of making his mother and his family proud.

 The first half of Frankenstein starts with a young boy interested in Natural Philosophy. Victor was in love with the readings of Philosophy until he reached university. where his love and desire for more knowledge spiraled out of control upon learning about the beauties of Science from a beloved professor. Getting so lost in his work that he forgets to contact family and becomes fascinated by life and death. Then a question comes across Victor Frankenstein's mind, "Can I create life?"  This sent him into a dangerous spiral of experiments he conducted in his apartment. Only going out to rob the graves of those passed for his "most perfect creation." It took him months but he finally managed to create life. Once the animated creature opened its eyes, Victor ran and fainted at the sight of its eyes. While the creature was beautiful its yellow eyes were natural, signaling failure for Victor.  The monster ran out into the night while Victor was fainted, which starte...

First half of Frankenstein It is fascinating to read Victor Frankenstein’s previous life story. I am able to gain a better understanding of who he is because our environment does affect our behavior. When Victor arrived at University he developed a passion for the sciences. In the midst of his studies, he discovers the secret of life. In desperation for a companion, he creates a monster in his apartment. Things don’t go as expected and this monster becomes a reflection of the demons he struggles with. Due to his unfortunate past like losing his mother at a young age, he begins to have intense flashbacks. These fear-induced flashbacks leave him physically sick to the point where he ends up abandoning his new creation. Reading the first half of the original Frankenstein really changed my view on it because I only knew the Halloween horror version of this story. This version taught me the impact of someone's pain can be reproduced some way or another.

  Liam White Dr. Ellis EN 101 October 20, 2021 Sciences             I believe that it is important for everyone to be scientifically minded. This allows for everyone to have a sense of understanding or at least a sense of being able to find out and understand things about life that someone who is not scientifically minded would not understand. I believe that this is the most important takeaway from this section of the writing.             Everyone knows the story of Frankenstein, and everyone has a different interpretation of it, however, one of the most common conceptions is that Victor is a mad scientist. I do not think that this is true. I believe that he is simply a scientist who experienced a loss. I believe that Victor had the same mindset as the guy writing the letters in the beginning. I think that they come off as smart and driven because they are scien...

  Victor immediately turns against the creation he worked so hard for, that he spent all his time trying to cultivate and bring to life, and at first glance of his creation he completely dismisses it to be something evil. I think because of Victor's idyllic childhood and prestige his values of conventional beauty blind him. Which I find really shocking because he is supposed to be a man of science and reason, but because what he created is a bit scary he immediately abandons him? I think the themes in this book are very applicable to abusive relationships that can form between parent and child. Many parents think they want kids without truly knowing what it means, like how Victor became so set on the goal of creating the life he didn't think about what it would actually look like, and much like a narcissistic or neglectful parent, Victor completely disregards the needs of his creation and only fears for his own safety. Meanwhile, the undeserving child, or in this case Frankenst...

Robert Walton, the Captain of a ship write and he is explaining the dangerous story of Victory. Victor was obsessed with the creation of a new creature, he forgot about his family. He doesn’t think about anything else than him, because he wasn’t able to think about the consequences that a monster could have on the other people. When he had already created the monster, he saw him and he decided to leave it there. And his punishment for being selfish is that the monster killed William (he admited it) and then they accused Justine of his death. Also, he would follow him until he asume his responsability because he feel rejected but he took a bad decision again, he promised him to create another female creature but the he realized that was a bad decision but he already promised the monster. Again, he didn’t take a good decision and he didn’t think before do the things. I think Mary Shelley tries to emphasize that we have to think first and then act, we have to think in the consequences t...

  The first half of Frankenstein introduces Victor Frankenstein who is passionate to create a new life and seek beauty in science but after bringing life to his fantasy; he soon realizes he is afraid of what he did. In fear at first sight of the monster he created and the struggles that built up in the process, Victor Frankenstein mentally breaks and the sight of the monster makes him run away from his very own creation. As readers we notice that Frankenstein leaves no room to allow the monster to prove himself worthy of being a good soul, at first sight of his physical appearance, the monsters own creator abandons him. This shows that the monster’s foreshadowing behaviors might relate to this abandonment. Mental instability in Frankenstein also portrays that he might have acted in a rash manner as he leaves no time to judge. The author uses many literary devices of imagery, foreshadowing, and diction to describe Frankenstein’s identity and feelings in these few chapters, as reader...

  Right off the bat I thought it was very interesting that we found out why the story was written and how it was inspired. Initially I would not have thought it was written by a mother on a family vacation. It is even more interesting that its intent was for a friendly writing contest. There was never an intention that this would become one of the most famous stories known.  It was then intriguing to start off with the four letters, giving us some information, understanding and history of the characters. It definitely sets up the story well and makes me want to keep reading to find out the stranger’s story, which we soon learned is Victor Frankenstein.  It was somewhat surprising to see Victor be so fascinated by ideas and thoughts of the universe and the study of philosophy at such a young age. We tend to see children that think so deeply like that turn into either a super smart adult or an insane adult. I definitely saw this as foreshadowing and the type of character he...

       What immediately stuck out to me while reading Frankenstein , was the way depression and trauma over an extended period was illustrated as having an effect on Victor. The ramifications of his poor handling of these experiences are also thoroughly explored and can be identified over the course of the story. Although he seems in a state of relative bliss with his family in his youth, even his earliest and most pleasant years appear to be viewed through a more melancholy lens. This is exasperated by the death of his mother which cause him to, intend of expressing himself to loved ones, become reclusive and hyper focus on his studies and his work. He didn’t do this due to lack of friends since he had his close friendships with Elizabeth and Henry, but instead he did this because he felt he could find more occurrences in his studies that make logical sense. To elaborate on this, it can be noted that from an early age he always possessed an interest in the sci...