Sunday, July 7, 2019
I'm about a few days into my AP Lit summer work. I've created a draft of my portfolio website, I've read a few of the readings, and have been recording my thoughts and observations in my commonplace book. For the most part, I've found the readings to be difficult. I've had a tough time understanding some of the main overarching points that the chapters are trying to make, and because of that, it has been leading to a lack of commonplace book "entries." Occasionally, I've been able to make some thoughts or connections from a quote of passage, but typically they've been my opinion on just a quote (not the context of the chapter), or a connection to something fairly unrelated to the passage, such as another book I've read, or a past memory. I know that I don't have the strongest reading comprehension, but I'm planning on proactively attempting to read more closely and try my best to better understand what the author is saying. I think maybe it's the complex vocabulary, sentence structure, and/or topic.
In my commonplace book, I'm recording my thoughts through a few different methods. I'll write down just the random but appropriate thoughts on a passage or chapter in the book, I'll copy a quote down and give my thoughts on it, or I'll write down miscellaneous things I feel are worth writing down, like new vocabulary words or neat observations. The ones above are a few of the quotes I found compelling, as well as some thoughts I had while reading.
I'm not so sure exactly what A.O. Scott is saying. I'm getting snippets of important concepts that he's talking about. In the second chapter, I think he's talking about art and why we like the art we like and goes on to talk about a few examples. One of the most compelling examples he mentioned was the story about Marina Abramović's "The Artist is Present." I decided to look it up and found actual images of her sitting across from visitors. That little "side adventure" from the text while still relating to the assignment was interesting and I hope other parts of the passages get me to research further than just what's written down. The (I guess) interlude between chapters, which was the interview, was interesting. I liked the style change from the other chapters and how it got a little philosophical and hope that happens more in the readings. In the third chapter, I found myself a little more confused, but I think its got something to do with art and our reactions to it and how we take it in? I'm not quite sure, and I hope that I can improve on my comprehension in the next few readings.
I'm a little worried that some of the class readings might be complex to the point where I have similar trouble with understanding the content, but hopefully with practice over the summer, and during the school year. I'll get better at it. I hope I can improve this skill, as well as better synthesizing skills from a text, and how to dig deeper into readings rather than just comprehension. There's still a lot of summer work left to reflect on, and I'm definitely planning on cranking through it with a lot of effort towards understanding it better. Signing off for now, see you soon.
"The human presence is a powerful aspect of a great deal of art..."(63). -A.O. Scott