The Black Spot

The Power of the Void- Band Assignment
I would call the title of the story “The Black Spot”. It gives an insight to the story and it creates tension and questions on people’s minds. This is like the beginning of the suspense and tension as well as the start to the story. “Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot…” this quote from the text is when the Hutchinson family opened up their papers to see if any of them has the black dot on their papers. I taste that everyone of the villagers was curious of who got the black spot; this was the moment when the intensity of the villagers was high. But after the villagers found out that Tessie got the black spot, a release occurred. There was no more suspense or curiosity and it turned into a relief. When I found out the end of the story was not given, questions starts to twirl in my head. Questions to what the ending could be. The mystery paper made me curious but since there was no ending to the story, I predicted that the mystery paper holds the ending. “Do not open until 5p.m and follow the instructions” I did not open the mystery paper at 5 because of the curiosity that makes me open it afterschool. By writing this, I am following the instructions on the mystery paper.

THE BLACK BOX. THE BLACK SPOT. THE BLANK PAPER.

The black box is the key to the ritual/lottery. This ritual or “lottery” is done every year by Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers. They made the papers and placed a black dot, then stuffed them in the black box. Whoever receives the paper with the black spot will receive the consequences.
The black ‘deadly’ spot sits on a paper and the unlucky villager that takes this paper will receive consequences. That unlucky villager happens to be Tessie Hutchinson. As a result of this, the villagers threw stones at her. This was the ritual/lottery that takes place every year as a tradition to this village.
The blank paper shows the other villagers luck of receiving a blank paper instead of the paper with the black spot. I predicted that nothing happens to those villagers and that they are safe.


After reading the ending to the story, there was still some tension and curiosity because the ending still seems mysterious and left unexplained. Instead of having the release of tension and curiosity, the author ends the story unexplained. My predictions were somewhat correct and somewhat wrong. 50-50. I feel the need to re-read parts of the story to get the mood of the story and try predicting something with that. Knowing other information’s about the story would have helped me make better predictions. Leaving voids in the story and exaggerating it makes the story mysterious and readers would ask more questions because of the unexplained voids. No title or author leaves the reader wondering more of what the author did to the story. His or her flavors and writing choices is unknown which gives the readers no information on what the author’s impact on the story. No ending cause a greater tension and curiosity as people are predicting that they would know the whole story. Text clues and foreshadowing gives excellent small voids that add up to the whole void of the story. The mystery paper that contains the ending made the final touches to this whole void assignment.

"A good picture makes us curious and makes us want to know more”

“If we look at the photographers whose work we admire, we see that they’ve found a particular place, theme, or subject, dug deep into it, and carved out something that’s become special. That takes a lot of time and a lot of work; it’s not for everyone. A great photograph really needs to say something about a person or give some insight into their life or how their life is different than yours and mine. A good picture makes us curious and makes us want to know more.” -Steve McCurry,

Steve McCurry is a photographer regignized worldwide from Philadelphia. He kick started his career in photography while working for a newspaper, then moved on to freelancing. Not only is McCurry a freelancing photographer, but a traveler as well. India was the country that touched McCurry’s heart. "If you wait," he realized, "people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view."- Steve McCurry. McCurry’s photos are famous for having connections with the chosen subjects and the people viewing the photos. Through his photos, I could see that McCurry has a passion of capturing the human nature as well as having connections. Human nature like the struggles, pain, joy and more that would appear in his photos. The connection of his subject’s eyes attracts people’s attention to look deep within the surface. A good example of this is the photo of the green-eyed Afghan Girl that stood out from all of his photos, and most likely one of the causes of his great success. What makes this photo so breath taking is the simplicity of the image. There isnt much of an expression on her face, so the viewer's attention is automatically drawn to her eyes.



On the photo:
Steve McCurry shoots such abrupt photos that leave viewers hanging around to dig into the meaning of the photos. When you first look at photo that there’s a young boy, holding a gun that is pointing at him. This would be the surface of this photo but there are lots of hidden things that I have to dig in order to read what’s hidden. The young boy’s face is the first step to find what’s hidden. Tears pouring out of the young boy’s eyes made me feel the need to comfort him and rub his tears away. The tears and the crying, for me, symbolize a lost hope. The gun in his hand captures my eyes and it is the second step towards finding the hidden meaning. This made me think that the young boy is having a hard time and this photo capture the moment when he’s about to give up on life. The gun symbolizes of losing faith. The young boy in this photo symbolize of all human beings (humanity). All these three things, the gun, tears and the young boy add up and equals to the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that all human beings (the young boy) have moments when their eyes would be pouring out with tears and a gun would stand along beside them. This type of moments is when human beings lose hope and faith in their lives and that the gun is the key to end the painful moment. I think McCurry wants people to look at this photo so that when this type of moments comes along, they shouldn’t lose their hope and faith. And that people should continue on their life rather than ending it and having regrets. After all we as human beings have one life to live.

Understanding McCurry’s works; travels, photography and personal life gives me an insight of digging beneath the surface to find the other side of life that hasn’t been noticed or touched. His photography made me connect with that other side of life of people whom I have never noticed. I learned that his photos make people around the world connect with each other and learn to understand of the difference and similarities with people living in different cultures. From learning this, I gained an understanding of how a great photograph tells a story of the people living in different cultures. It’s difficult to find that story as it is hidden beneath the photo. That is what a great photograph should be; digging up the surface to find the hidden meaning/story. A great photograph also attracts people’s curiosity to look for that too. These are some of the factors that makes great photos endure and last for decades.

Jason and The Argonauts

Many heroes from Ancient Greece fits well with the ‘cycle of the hero’ as developed by Joseph Campbell. The aspects of the cycle show the elements of the journey that the heroes embark on. Jason and the Golden Fleece matched the cycle of the hero and these are the evidences;

Birth/Home: Jason was formerly born from a royal family as his dad was the rightful king of Iolcus. His malicious uncle, Pelias stole his father’s throne and claimed himself King. Pelias would have killed Jason when he was a baby but Jason’s mother saved him and sent him to live with Chiron, the Centaur. There Jason learnt to fight and hunt.

Call to Adventure: Jason grew to be a strong and brave man from Chiron care. When he learned of his past, he decided to go up to his uncle, King Pelias and demands back his rightful throne. King Pelias decided that Jason journey to find the Golden Fleece and only then he would give his throne back to Jason. This was the start of the adventure/journey.

Elixir: The elixir of Jason’s journey was the Golden Fleece. He had to find the Golden Fleece in order to retrieve his rightful kingdom. The whole myth and journey was finding the Golden Fleece and this is what kept him alive.

Helpers: After Jason received the challenge, he searched for other heroes to accompany him as he embarks on the journey. Many heroes were ready to risk their lives but Jason had chosen his crew, they were called ‘the Argonauts’. And so they set off in search of the Golden Fleece.

Helpers/ Amulet: In the videos, not only the Argonauts were the helpers but Chiron, the Centaur also contributes to Jason’s journey. Chiron had brought up Jason and teaches him to fight and hunt. As a result Jason relies on Chiron to make his decisions and to encourage him when he gets stuck during the journey. Chiron’s sword was the ‘amulet’ of Jason’s adventure and it was a lesson for Jason to trust himself and not rely on black magic.

Crossing the Threshold: When heroes embark on a journey, there would always be obstacles that stand in their way. The same goes for Jason and the Argonauts, they had to sail the ocean and had to search for the kingdom of King Aeetes. Crossing the ocean is difficult because there would be storms and unpredicted weather. In the videos, it shows that the waves were pulling Jason’s ship to the ocean. Also the clashing rocks from one interpretation of the myth were one of the obstacles.

Tests: Jason and the Argonauts had series of tests that keeps on coming. Not only was sailing the ocean was hard enough but there was many conflicts such as Jason versus himself. Jason didn’t trust and believe in himself instead he trust the potion which was given by the malevolent sorcerer, Medea . As a result, his crew was taken by Medea and was going to put them in the underworld. There was also the fight against the fire breathing bulls and the dragons that guarded the Golden Fleece. Every time the Argonauts faced and deal with these obstacles, they gained knowledge to complete the journey.

Climax/final battle: In the videos, the final battle was against Medea while Jason had to save the Argonauts from going in the underworld. He believed in himself and trust in Chiron’s sword, as a result he won the battle and Medea was perished. And because medea was perished, the Argonauts was saved.

The Return: After Jason defeated Medea and retrieves the Golden Fleece, he and the Argonauts sailed back to Iolcus and take back the rightful throne.

The characters in the videos and the characters in the myth are quite different in some parts and alike in others. The difference was the character “Medea”. In the videos, Medea was shown as the malicious sorcerer that provides as an obstacle to Jason’s journey. In the myth Aphrodite, the goddess, made Medea fell in love with Jason. As a result Medea helped Jason to retrieve the Golden Fleece and in return Jason had to love and honor Medea. I think that Jason was weak in both the videos and the myth. From what I see in the videos, without the Argonauts and Chiron, Jason couldn’t complete the journey. Also it seems like Jason was only the leader of the Argonauts that ask them to do things for him. Although in my opinion that Jason was the weak one, I could see the change after he completed the journey. During the journey, Jason asked Chiron for help and made the wrong decision in to trust the potion, Medea gave him. Jason didn’t believe or trust himself that he could do it without the black magic but after he completes the journey, he learnt to trust in himself that he could do it. There’s many interpretation of the myth Jason and the Argonauts or they’re sometimes called Jason and the Golden Fleece. But which myths interpretations are right? Well people don’t know which one is right since the people who wrote down the myths were told by the storytellers who change the stories to make it more interesting and juicy.

What events in the story of Jason and the Argonauts do you believe to be factual?
There are many events in the story of Jason and the Argonauts that was believed to be factual. The geographical setting of the myths could be real. One of the geographical places like Mt.Pillion from the myth is in Greece. The palace of Iolcus was found in Greece in which Jason went to the King to retrieve his royal throne from his uncle. The caves and islands was real, this adds more evidence that the myth could have possibly occurred. From the myths, one of the obstacles was the rock clashing. It could be possible that it was just the harsh waves with rocks that made Jason and the Argonauts struggled. I think that the storytellers was changing the story to make it juicy, because in the myths, it was told that the rocks crushed boats that passed by. But in real life rocks don’t move yet crushed boats but as I said it could be possible that it was just harsh waves and rocks. In the movies that we watch in humanities, the people in Greece was building the ‘Argo’. The ‘Argo’ was a type of boat that Jason and the Argonauts sailed in search of the Golden Fleece. This means that the boat could have been used to sail. There’s maybe more evidence of this myth to be true, like the Trojan War, Jason and the Argonauts could have actually occurred.

Orphan Boy and Pandora's Paragraph

Curiosity, a main theme from an African and Greek myth, Orphan Boy and Pandora, demonstrating that the result of people’s curiosity often cause changes, sometimes good and bad. In orphan Boy, the old man’s curiosity took control of him and it affect his decision to follow and look when the orphan boy did his magic. As a result of this he lose the orphan boy, his only friend and family. This leads to a change to the world, it receive punishment and the old man was lonely again. Pandora’s curiosity to open the box from Zeus, who seeks vengeance on human and Prometheus by using Pandora, unleash evil on earth. This antecedent changes humanity, now poverty, illness and famine spreads on earth. Although one good thing came out, Hope, humans only salvation. Both of these myths shows bad changes, which made me think "did people back then was warning us the danger curiosity can holds?". It's true that we can't see the results of our action and path that we chose, nor our future.

1st picture-

source:http://artist2.deviantart.com/art/PANDORA-81547029

artist: ?

I chose this picture because of the foreshadowing details. For example the box has green fouling inside it, which is the evil that is kept inside.

3rd picture-

source: http://cyril-helnwein.deviantart.com/art/Pandora-s-Box-71282368

artist- Cyril-Helnwein

I chose this picture because it represents Pandora's curiousity. In the picture, she is bending over and was beginning to open the box. I like how the artist chose the color and the lighting. Although evil was supposed to come out of the box, this was the last one that came out, hope.

ahh maa lee aa

Seasons change and so does my hatred and love for my name. I have my bright months and cold months. Spring and summer, a time when the sun hangs in the sky, creating a warm aura that warms the heart. Winter, a cold month, harsh and dangerous in some places. My name also seems like a wide ocean. It would take days and weeks to swim across, just to pronounce and remember my name right.
I have never think about what my name means or where it comes from. Until I was nine when my brain automatically change from a 2nd grade mind to a nine year old mind. Why did my parents named me that? What does it means? questions starts to flow around and around. The questions ran around my brain, thirsty for an answer. I couldn't give the answers they seek because I didn't know it either. My mind was jammed with questions, I thought they would disappear and that I would move on but the curiosity was planted in my brain. I gave up with a sigh and decide to ask my mom. Finally, poof! the questions and curiosity was no longer lying around in my brain. The answer was that my name, Amalia, comes from an Arabic word, 'Amal' meaning generous. Also it comes along with a tiny description that says I like doing good deeds. I begun to like my name :)
Winter comes along carrying the cold and frigid sky that changed the atmosphere. On one normal school day, a boy in one of my classes started calling me 'Malaria'. Amalia, Malaria,, I guess they do rhyme which maybe was the reason he found that name. I don't know the real reasons why he started calling me that, I wish I have the power to read minds, hehe. I don't like being called a disease, would you want to be called a disease? if yes, there is something wrong with you (just kidding but seriously?). The sound of it is like an injured animal, screeching for help. That's what it sounds like when it pass my mind. The point is that now his friends starts calling me 'Malaria' too. I guess my plan now is to ignore it, someday they're going to get bored of it and stop (or not).
Spring overtook winter, changing the chilly atmosphere into the warm feeling that we recognize. This time of the seasons is where it seems that I appreciate my name. My name is quite unique in it's own ways. Outside of my name lies my personalities while deep inside held my true feelings. I like the meaning behind my name but somehow when I searched my name meaning, the website shows me that their meaning and the meaning that my mom told me was different. My name came up lots of times, I found out that I have 12 origins. From Hebrew to Latin, most of them had similar meanings like hardworking and striving. I guess I like these meanings but work? labour? indrustrious? how does that fit me, did my mom wants me to work? puzzled and shocked, I started to think. Hmmm... I think that maybe just maybe my mom did want me to work but not to overwork. But I also think that when my parent's was deciding to name me, they were thinking of the arabic names. Hopes, aspirations and wishes, when I think about that, I feel lucky that my parent's decide to name me, Amalia.

Common Elements in Creation Myths

In the past, people everywhere had the same curiosity that steer them to search for answers. Their curiosity was how the universe, the world and us seemed to exist. That is why they invent 'creation myths'. Earth diving, birth and the gods leaving are some of the themes that were at the center of many creation myths. This was an astonishing results because the distance between these different cultures that had similar themes were far away from each other and back then, travelling was not as easy at it is now. In North America (the native Americans) and the Africans creation myths had the same theme, which was earth diving. This was unusual since these two different cultures had never meet with each other before and yet they had the same theme in their creation myths. They both believed that there was a world above and below and that Earth was in the middle, so how everything came on earth was that the first beings fell down or climb up on Earth that starts it all. A Chinese myth, Phan-Ku and a french Polynesian also called a Tahitian myth, Ta-aroa the creator reveals the next common theme. The theme was called birth. Many creation myths from around the world had this theme as well because of the idea of a start in life, like picture how we, humans, exist. We didn't start the way we were now in fact we start being in our mom's belly then our mom gave birth to us. Phan-Ku and Ta-aroa was born from an egg, grew up and created Earth. The gods leaves was another theme that shows up in some creation myths like Phan-Ku and Tiahuanaco. In these myths, they mentioned how when the world was at last complete, the gods or creators leaves. In Phan-Ku, the reason why he leaves was because he was tired after completing the Earth and rest which cause his death. In Tiahuanaco, there was no explanations of why he left but it did mention that he leaves after he had created everything we could find on Earth. Phan-Ku, a Chinese myth and Tiahuanaco, a South American myth, can you believe that they had the same theme even though the distance between these two countries were far away from each other? it is such an incredible connections between them although they've never met. This concludes that different cultures from around the world have lots of similarity behind their creation myths which means that even far apart people could think alike in relation to their understanding and explanations of how the universe, the world and us exist.

Why I Have Chosen This Quote?

There is millions of journey quotes to pick from, so why did I chose this quote? While looking through the quotes, this one seems to stick out from the rest. For me I think it's unique and yet true. What I like about this quote is that its simple and I like the meaning behind it. Every journey, fiction or non-fiction, has to end at one point but the journey itself is what counts at the end. It means that the main characters or the protagonist gained new experiences and a new level of knowledge at the end of the journey. The journey towards the destination is important as well but to get there with the obstacles and the struggle to do beyond what they're capable of, is what matters most. In the journey, there's always obstacles for the protagonist to stand face to face, to solve them in order to continue on. As they solve them, they gain that new knowledge and experience. This quote also seems like a piece of puzzle that fits perfectly with my book. These are the reasons why I have chosen this quote.