Once upon a time, in an eight graders lunch box, there was a beautiful apple princess named Fiona. Her father, King Motts, was the leader of the apple kingdom. Where apples of all shapes and sizes where educated to become apart of a fruit salad. Fiona had a simple life. She was flawlessly beautiful, had a sharp red color, and at the top of her class. Nearing graduation, her farther wanted her to go off and become an Edible Arrangement. However, Fiona did not want this for herself. She was tired of her father making her decisions. She desperately wanted to live out her life as an apple, find love, and rot in piece.
In a far away lunch box, there lives the banana village. They were not as prestigious as the apple kingdom, and had short life spans. A young banana named Ronaldo was doomed from the start. Born with brown spots, he was an outcast and told he would never even make it to the grocery store shelves. Ronaldo was okay with this. He accepted his fate and decided to leave his village and backpack across the lunch table.
A few hours in, Ronaldo was growing tired and frustrated. He began to wonder if this is how he was going to die - cold and alone. Before he knew it, he was wondering upon the apple kingdom. He had often heard myths and rumors about King Motts’ extreme ways of ruling. However, no one in the banana village had ever laid eyes on it! Standing outside the castle was Princess Fiona. They took one look at each other and fell in love. They spent the afternoon together frolicking in yogurt, playing hide and go seeds, and getting to know one another. But from a distance, King Motts was watching. Motts was very unhappy, he did not want his daughter to fall in love, especially with a banana. He knew something had to be done.
Fiona and Ronaldo made secret plans to run away and live out the rest of their lives together. But before they could even finish speaking, soldiers emerge from the bushes and bombard Ronaldo, stabbing his peel. Fiona cried out in agony. She knew her father is behind this attack. She runs back to the castle, burning with vengeance. She finds her father’s hidden dagger, runs back to Ronaldo’s rotting body, and stabs herself. She falls down next to him, whispering, “I love you.” They die together. “Apples and Bananas” begins to play. Fin.
This class has been much more than I expected. Knowing it was a four credit English class, I expected a lot of work. However, I never expected the class to be focused around Shakespeare’s plays. I did not read the syllabus before coming to your first class (sorry) so I was definitely surprised. I contemplated dropping the class but then I thought that if I didn’t push myself to take this class and enrolled in another class that I “liked” then I would never be challenging myself. So I decided to go through with it. I had only read Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet during high school, and to be honest, I didn’t pay attention. I realized this class was the perfect opportunity to learn not only about Shakespeare’s plays, but also about the Elizabethan era.
And just when I convinced myself, you announced the website. Which is the second time I considered dropping your class. I complained on the phone, “But Mom! I don’t want to do HTML!” Needless to say, my mother convinced me to stay in the class and do my best. And I would like to think I’ve done my best. It’s been very difficult reading the plays and sometimes I’ve gone to Spark Notes No Fear Shakespeare (sorry). But words cannot describe how frustrating the website has been for me. I never had any interest in HTML or web design. And loosing my website last week made me cry. But, as much as I hate the website, it has taught me a lot. I’ve learned to be patient, especially when doing HTML and CSS. I know now to always, always, ALWAYS save my work and backup my files. And I can now say that I know the basic to creating a website site, something I would have never done on my own.
Even though the class is not what I have expected, I do not regret my (and my moms) decision. I’ve made good relationships with the people in our class. I like participating in the discussions. And having a period devoted to watching movies is always fun. But most importantly, I enjoy having you as our instructor. Maybe it’s that you both went to New College, but you remind me a lot of my sister. The way you explain and analyze parts of the plays, movies, and comics helps me understand better and think deeper. It has been a surprisingly good first half of the semester. And even though I haven’t given it much thought, I look forwarding to figuring out what I will make of my final project.
Leonardo has a received a one-in-a-lifetime invitation to come to New York and join the prestigious The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! They have recently heard of Leos skills and experience in the war and want him to come join their elite team. They offered him not only a safe home in the sewers but also an unlimited supple of pizza! However his mother, a widow, clings on to her only son. Leo has just returned home from war and she does not want him to go again, especially when his life could end at any time. Nevertheless, she gives in after talking to her servants. They inform her that her young boy is now a young man and he most go protect Gotham City.
I found this panel of the Manga Shakespeare: Much To Ado About Nothing the easiest to make into another comic completely unrelated to the play. My first thought was make it into another love story, but then I thought that was way too easy. Then, I noticed how the facial expressions of the characters looked like they could be in any fight, not just two lovers fighting each other. So I though a mother-son fight would be interesting. It took me a long time to come up with a story line and to be honest, besides making me laugh, I have no idea why I choose TMNT. I use watch TMNT a lot as a child so maybe that sprung my inspiration in this comic. I know it's silly but that's me. I am not very creative so I decided to leave the comic a lone, not changing the color and order of panels. All I did was change the dialogue to fit the story line. I did not intend to make a double standard on gender or age by making Beatrice into a mother. I like to think she is just a very young mother who had her son really young? I doubt myself because I didn't give age or the mother's character much thought.
