I haven't been keeping up with my blog posts (irresponsible, I know) so this post will have to be an combination of interblogging, report on research status, and insight into who I will be interviewing.

Interblogging: I went to check out Ariana's progress (she was my original source for interblogging) and saw that she wrote her interblogging on Zoe's...so now I'm interested in both. Zoe's is so interesting - she's learning about symbolism in order to interpret dreams. It's fascinating to track your dreams in order to gain insight into what you are subconsciously thinking. I'll definitely be following!

Report on research status: My project is cumulative so i am technically always working on it (how's that for dedication!)...but I do need to do some outside research. So far I've started a book called Bradshaw on: The Family, which is a psychology book on how parents can impact their children and how children can successfully break the modes established for them by their family. I think it will be useful for my paper

Insight into who I will be interviewing: I haven't really decided, but I think I'd like to interview Rabbi Krug and get a psychologists perspective on how much of a child's personality/actions can really be attributed to the parents

I had been feeling fairly calm about this project - I have a concept, an appropriate way to incorporate the blog, a few books to research the general idea, a strategy for developing the project. . .everything was coming along. I felt good.

This feeling of serenity was shattered by a quick glance at the frischleads page. "20-25 pages, at least 15 printed sources (non-electronic) and 2 live interviews, 3 audio/visual sources and 5 printed/electronic sources." That's a LOT of sources.(!!) The second option is a little less daunting; "12-15 page paper using at least 7 outside printed sources (not electronic), a live interview, 1 audio/visual source and 3 printed/electronic sources." But even though I would absolutely love to create an art piece as the culmination project, my topic doesn't lend itself well to a painting or drawing...So the 22.5 page paper it is.

Let's do some math here (my other favorite topic.) Throughout the course of this school year, I will read 9 works in AP English (Brave New World, White Noise, Medea, The Odyssey, Cold Mountain, Hamlet, Crime and Punishment, Things Fall Apart, Atonement.) Any/All of those can count towards the 15 non electric sources. East Of Eden (the Tikvah summer reading) makes 10. Non fiction works (studies) will count also - I reserved (without calculating beforehand) exactly 5 books on familial psychology from the public library. This makes a perfect 15, if I find sufficient information in every book. In the event that I don't feel like using a particular book, I can reserve more psychology books or introduce a new novel for analysis. (Elisheva Rosen suggested the book Jacob I have Loved). 

The other sources can't be calculated beforehand. I'll need to decide what type of person I would like to interview and how I can get his/her contact information. I'll need to ask Mrs. Geller for any visual sources and/or any forum to find them. I'll need to scour the web for websites will relevant information.

I'm less concerned about the non-paper sources - we modern teenagers are totally confident in our ability to find things on the internet. But now that I mapped it out, the 15 non-electric sources doesn't intimidate me - I have plenty of viable options. I'm in a good place.

For the 11/8 blog assignment, we were instructed to look up other blogs and see how other people have been faring. It's actually very interesting to see what other people have been doing. Ariana (and Sara Ravid) - love the idea of comparing books and their movie adaptations! I've compared the two in conversation - which is pretty typical - but never would have thought to do so as a senior project idea. I'm excited to see which books/movies you chose to do - I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd, so I would love if you used those. I wonder what you'll have to say...I'll definitely be following you!

As it says on the Frisch leads website, October 26th is the when the topic and goal are due. But thankfully, I seem to have a formulated topic and goal! I've decided to stick with my Tikvah Topic of exploring familial relationships. I intend to do a bit of research on the psychological aspect of relationships but make it more of a literature based project. Mrs. Wiener had the brilliant idea to discuss the family-dynamics in the works we read this year. This blog would be a journal of my analysis of each work.

My original idea was based off of the Tikvah summer reading, East of Eden. There are TONS of relationships to choose from, plenty to discuss. I definitely intend to include it in my project.

I could use either of the summer reading novels.
Family is a key component to White Noise - Jack's three wives and assorted children are crucial to the message of the story. I could definitely use White Noise.
If I wanted to, I could use Brave New World as a contrast to the impact of family. I could discuss why the lack of family figures has stunted certain aspects of development.

I also intend to use Medea, which I already read according to psychoanalytic lens (which is very related to familial relationships.) I would be able to talk about her relationships with her father, brother, and children.

I'm not entirely sure what the upcoming books are about, but the syllabus dictates that we will be reading Cold Mountain, Hamlet, Crime and Punishment, Things Fall Apart, and Atonement. I'm sure that I will find sufficient psychoanalytic criticism and familial influences in those novels. I'll have to play it by ear.

Choosing a topic makes this project feel real. It's not like I'm in denial - I've accepted the project and even started brainstorming. But somehow writing a blog (a public statement!) about choosing a topic makes it seem like the project had officially begun.

Alas. I guess it has begun.

Alright, to business. I have no idea where to begin. My first thought was to use my Tikva topic. Why not? I'd be able to use the same research for both and, therefore, go into greater depth than would have been possible if I had TWO huge topics to research (that's right, it's not just sheer laziness that attracted me to this idea). For Tikva, I currently plan to research the impact of familial relationships on religion. I would focus more on the Jewish aspect in Tikva and the psychological impact for English. But I was slightly disheartened by Mrs. Weiner's speech yesterday. . . I'm fairly certain she does not want us to overlap topics.She does make a fair point about intellectualism (how the Tivka paper must be intellectual and this senior project doesn't have to be). Maybe it would be more interesting to research, oh I don't know, synesthesia. Or I could copy the brilliant FrischLeek-ers and make a satirical blog about my research on, umm. . . school social structure. Yeah that fits. School social structure! It could totally work!

For now I'll just stick to brainstorming. . .

Post #1: The Start of the dreaded Senior Project

I'm going to be comepletely honest here. I was not exactly thrilled to hear about this senior project. Cliche, I know - a senior wanting to get by without doing any work. I'm sure all of us had nearly identical reactions. But who can blame us? We've attended three years of Frisch with the understanding that once we get those acceptance envelopes, we can stop caring and start ignoring assignments, sleeping late, and 'forgetting' to show up to school. Students from other schools were saddled with annoying senior projects that kept them working until they got their diplomas - not Frisch students! We had always been  the lucky ones (notice the past tense?). So as the first year of the revolutionary era where Frisch seniors are expected to actually do something, is it really fair to fault us for our indolence? Blame the system!