As Senior Project approaches, everyone has been waking up to pimples, under eye circles and to coffee. I think the idea of Senior Project is a good one but sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming. When Mrs. Fassbender said we had more time to complete our book annotations I jumped inside like a kangaroo from happiness. I think all of AP English students felt the same way as I did. I guess we are all lucky to have a teacher who understands what we go through. So now that Senior Project is on the edge of finality, we will all look back and laugh about it even though right now laughing is far from our minds. It will all be worth it at end. 

Jose.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the second part of the trilogy. In this part of the story, the spectator follows the actual quest of the chosen team. They must get to the mountain that the ring was made at as this is the only place that the ring can be destroyed at. Of course you shouldn't expect this journey was going to be easy. The team encounter major obstacles like trying to keep themselves together, saving their friends from the hands of this ugly army of creatures, and destroying the towers of Saramon before Saramon destroys them. When I was watching this movie, I must say my favorite part was the personification of nature. I always imagine nature to be alive even its abiotic factors. When I seen the army of trees, I was excited. It reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. (I loved that movie too.) This movie also brought to memory the monologue I performed freshman year of Smeagol. Yes, that's right. 

Jose. 

I never realized how riddles could be an alternate option to tests. The group assigned to present the roles of riddles in Oedipus Rex explained the value riddles had in Ancient Greece. Greeks held education very highly and believed riddles were a quick way of showing your intelligence on the spot. In Oedipus Rex, The Sphinx's riddle was the following:

What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?

When I first seen this riddle, I started to think of all of the animals that could fit this description. I thought of a frog, a bird, a bear but I never in my wildest dreams would of had guess the answer was a human! It never occurred to me the time of days could be describing the stages of life. The morning is referring to the early years of life leading to the evening which is when you need a walking stick to move around. I conducted a deep thought journey and realized all the advantages and disadvantages testing your intelligence with riddles had. Today, in order to show how intelligent you are you must pass certain tests that quizzes you on everything and anything. The Greeks only had to answer one riddle. If you succeed, you showed your intelligence. It was that simple but if you failed, you died. That is a huge disadvantage! Some riddles are for hardcore thinkers though so being asked a riddle does not mean you'll pass any easier than if you were to take a test. If you failed a test today, you will be disappointed but at least you are not killed for saying or writing the wrong answer. I wonder which system is better. 

Should riddles be used instead of tests to evaluate your intelligence like they were used in Ancient Greece?

I'll stick with tests. I don't want to die. 

Jose. 

An important part of Oedipus Rex is the Chorus' role. The Chorus is a group of elders who can make comments and suggestions as the plot of the story unravels. They talked to Oedipus and tried to persuade him to do the things they thought was right. The Chorus has 2 subdivisions. One is called the Strophe and the other is called the Antistrophe. The strophe dances right to left while the antistrophe does the opposite. It moves from left to right. The two group of elders disagree and dispute often. They have 2 different opinions. The group who presented the concept of the chorus did really well. Some members chose to sing a duet with lyrics that conveyed two opinions. The two opinions represented the two subdivisions of the chorus. I can't speak for everyone but after class I had their song stuck in my head. I went to Calculus singing "I do it all the time. Yeah, Yeah." 

Jose. 

Greece is known for producing the most influential people in the world. We have Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, and the list goes on. Recently, I discovered a new name in this list. It's none other that Sophocles, the author of Oedipus Rex. Sophocles was born to a family who lived in a small community named Colonus Hippus in Attica, Greece. It is unclear the exact year of birth but historians have narrowed it down to two choice: 496 B.C or 497 B.C. He was a politician, artist, and a writer who composed many plays. His works include The Theban Plays, Ajax, The Women of Trachus, Philoctetes, and Electra but is most famous for The Theban Plays. The Theban Plays are a collection of three theatrical pieces that follow the fate of the Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus. The first in the trilogy is Oedipus Rex, the second is Oedipus at Colonus, and the third is Antigone. None of the plays were written chronologically. The first play that was written was Antigone, even though its the third part. The themes that Sophocles chose to write about are very universal and show that if we for one second forget the greed we naturally tend to have then we will meet fate's unpleasant finality. 


Jose. 

Some classmates and I were assigned to present the character in Oedipus Rex to the class. I was really excited about this presentation. I think it's so fun to step out of your own body and become another person specially if this person lived in a different era. The planning started almost instantaneously and as a group the decision of making this characters be three dimensional to the class was made. 

Oedipus, The King of Thebes.
I played the role of Oedipus. Oedipus is a very complex character. He has so many dimensions. First let's start by the fact he was a baby whose father stapled his ankles and tried to kill him. Oedipus was foretold he was meant to become King of Thebes after committing the murder of his father. The prophecy fulfills and Oedipus find himself as the King of Thebes but like MacBeth, finds he is not happy. 

Jocasta, The Queen of Thebes.
Alexus played the role of a Jocasta. She is the mother of Oedipus but after her husband's death, she marries her own son and has two daughters. I think Jocasta is one of the most funnest characters to act because she has a super dramatic scene of suffering. 

Ismene and Antigone
Ismene and Antigone are the daughters of Oedipus. Oedipus had both girls with his own mother, Jocasta. Antigone is the youngest and Ismene is the oldest. They were played by Princess and Cesia. 

Creon, The Brother-In-Law.
Creon is the brother-in-law of Oedipus and is second in command in the city of Thebes. Creon is Oedipus' advisor. 

Tiresias, The Blind Prophet. 
Tiresias is the blind prophet who unmasks Oedipus darkest secrets and past. Tiresias is the same prophet mentioned in the Odyssey. 

1st Messenger.
The first messenger was played by Alisha. Her role was to announce the death of a dear one. 

2nd Messenger. 
The second messenger was played by Asia. Her role was to announce the death of the queen and the blinding of Oedipus.

Chorus.
The Chorus was a group of elders that are almost the audience. They get to comment on the character's actions and give advise to them. 

I had so much with this presentation. 

Jose.

Before reading Oedipus Rex, you must be familiar with the setting of the story. It has happen once or twice to me that whenever I read a story that involves mythological elements, I find myself being lost. If you are not careful, you could easily believe the setting too was mythological when in reality exists. I usually be in need of a GPS. Luckily for me, there are only four main places Oedipus Rex takes place in. The main setting is south central Ancient Greece. In Greece there is an island named Delos in the Aegean Sea which is birth place to Apollo and Artemis, twin gods. It is in this island that the Oracle which foretells Oedipus' future lies. The next key place is the mountain named Cythaeran. This is the mountain where King Laus sent his son to die alone. The mountain is near the city of Thebes. There is also a mountain named Helicon that is highly favored by the gods. The last key place is named Delphi. Delphi is a shrine that was built for Apollo. It is considered the holiest place in Greece and the center of the world. The shrine is located under the mountain named Parnassus. 

In sum, Oedipus Rex takes place in 3 mountains, 3 cities, 1 island and 1 sea. The plot moves west of Greece and all settings have a relationship to a Greek God. 

P.S The video below is literally me when I read a story and don't know the setting.

Jose.

I became aware of the term Thespians in my freshman year of high school when my interest in the Performing Arts was ignited. In my acting class, we were assigned to read the one person play titled No Child  by Nilaja Sun. The story is about a teacher attempting to inspire over the top urban teenagers who have no interest in the arts what so ever. It's a very comical piece of art and a extremely hard piece to act out. While reading it, Ms. Sun, the drama teacher, states "And from now on we are nothing but thespians" and Xiomara, one of her students responded "Lesbians?". The whole class went nuts! Every one was laughing as if Sandra Bullock, Kevin Hart, Kristen Wiig, and Adam Sandler all became one person named Sanhart Kristsand. Our instructor stopped us and explained to us about that term. 

When I was listening to the group presenting Greek Theater, someone in the class gave the same response and I instantly remembered my experience. I find it funny how people have the same first reaction although Thespis might find it annoying. Thespis, according to Aristotle, is the first actor ever to perform in our world (You know this is legit because it says 'according to Aristotle'. Let's pretend like we are not questioning his credibility for fun.) so in order to honor Thespis, actors are called thespians. This is similar to how Justin Beiber's fans are called believers, Taylor Swift's fans are called swifters, or Lady Gaga's fans are called monsters. It's the same concept of giving credit to the original. The world of acting is flourished from Greece. 

The group also introduced Euripides, the father of melodrama. Melodramas make you believe that chance, the idea of uncertainty, rules our world. I agree. I believe no one can take exact control of what will happen in the future. You can only grab a few things on the way to make sure you are ready for whatever the future has in store. Key characteristics of Melodrama also include the questioning of traditional values and include lots of reversals. 

The presentation also highlighted the key characteristics of Greek tragedies, which were very dominant, Greek dramas, which were submitted to contests and performed on special occasions, and Greek Comedies. They also noted how different Sophocles' characters were to the others during his time.

P.S My favorite part? The ending of their presentation was the best. They acted out some scenes of Oedipus Rex. 

Check out No Child by Nilaja Sun performed by Sun herself. 

Jose. 

The idea of taking things for granted has seemed to enrapture the recognition Greece should have for the essential influences it has establish in our world. Greece has given us so many things that put together build the foundation of our lives. Cesia's group was assigned to demonstrate the reasons why Ancient Greece is relevant today. On presentation day, she day viewed a retrospective commercial in which a group of teens find a book in a heavy technologically-dependent society. Since no one uses books (which I believe our society is close to getting to this point), the teens are amazed at this antique so they open the book and find reasons why Ancient Greece is important. The concept of the commercial is to remind our future leaders of acknowledging where we, as humans, have come from. I'm sure you have heard about the once upon a time humble celebrities who have evolved into narcissistic persons who no longer remember their roots. Well, a few people have forgotten their roots and must be reminded of such things as for the greater good will not be achieved if we go into a unknown direction while choosing not to acknolewdhe the pooling of knowledge in our world. Let's give credit to those who deserve it. Well done Greece. 

In case you missed the commercial, I will review the reasons why Greece is still and will be immortally important. 
 
1. The Food. 
Some of the best food today have originated in Greece like the healthiest yogurt, the delicious Greek salad and some of the wines of the world. 

2. Greek Theater.
Greek theater is very influential in today's entertainment. Companies like Walt Disney and 20st Century Fox have based of movies on great Greek stories ranging Greek tragedies to mythological gods like Hercules. May I remind you this productions help our economy move. Imagine if these iconic movies were never created because the stories based on them were never acknowledge!

3. The Olympics. 
Greece was the first country ever to have marathons and competitions that have inspired the Olympics. The first marathon of the world took place in Greece. This has inspired sports like Track and Field, and Cross Country. SHOUT OUT TO THE RUNNERS! (I had to do it.)

4. DEMOCRACY
"POWER TO THE PEOPLE!" Greece was the first country to have a democratic government system. They believed the people should have say in the decisions of the government. Doesn't that sound familiar? George Washington and the founding fathers loved the idea and incorporated it into the US Constitution and Government. 

5. The Greek Alphabet. 
Come on, we have all seen the College Sororities that have those symbols. Those symbols are letters of the Greek Alphabet. Social groups are named after this letters and a lot of those letters are found in many levels of Math. Yes, like pi and sigma. Did you know that the Greek alphabet inspired the Roman which inspired the English one? 

P.S. Next time you try to create a step dancing routine like I often do, make sure to include some letters of the Greek Alphabet. It adds a certain je ne sais quoi. 

Jose. 

In hopes of gaining background information on Greek culture before reading Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, I was introduced to the gods related to the story. I have always been interested in Greek Mythology. I think the Greeks had an amazing view of life and I considered it to be one of the most creative civilizations in our history. The level imagination they possessed forever leaves me in awe.

Now there are a few gods that readers of this play must some sort of knowledge of. The gods related to Oedipus Rex are the following:

1. Apollo

Apollo is considered the god of healing music, virginity, and the sun. He is the son of Zeus and is twin of Artemis. The Greeks praised him for helping Greece win the Trojan War by sending deathly infected arrows towards their enemies. In Oedipus Rex, the Oracle found at Delphi belonged to Apollo. It's interesting to think about what could of possibly been the reason why Sophocles chose to include specifically this god out of so many. 

2. Artemis

Now, if I write about Apollo, how could I leave out his twin. I love how the Greeks went one step forward and created relationships between their gods. This makes them more believable. Artemis is the goddess of the moon, hills, and hunting. She was so influential in Greek architecture that one of the seven wonders of the world, The Temple of Artemis located in Ephesus, Turkey, belongs to her. 

3. Pan

Pan is the god of shepherds, flocks, and nature. The Greeks knew him for playing music with pipes made from reeds. 

4. Cadmus

Cadmus is the founder of the city of Thebes, where Oedipus rules after defeating the Sphinx. He is a demigod, like Thor is in the movie The Avengers. Of course, Thor is a Roman god but the idea is the same. A demigod is what the term for the offispring of a god and a human. He rescued his sister after she was abducted by Zeus. His most important contribution? He created the alphabet that started the domino effect for all of the others. 

5. Doris

Doris is the goddess of wisdon, warfare, and intelligence. She created the Dorian race and was killed by Arthus after attempting to kill Oedipus. OOOOOHHH, what could Oedipus possibly done to make a god want to kill him?

6. Athena


Athena is probably the most recognized goddess of Greek Mythology. She is the goddess of wisdom, warfare, intelligence, architechture, and crafts. She lives on Mountain Olympus along with a lot of other gods. Whenever she appears, she is usually represented by owls, olive trees, snakes and war armor. Some people believed the snake in Eden's Garden that tricked Eve was Athena. Could Greek Mythology and the Bible be connected?

7. Bacchus.

Bacchus was the god which all play were meant to exhalt. He is the god of theater, marriage, and joy. He joins Athena in Mountain Onlympus. His depiction is usually of the "fat drunk guy." Bacchus is represented by grapes, cheetahs and their prints, and tigers.

8. Sphinx

Now the Sphinx reminds me a lot of the Griffin in Eurasian Mythology just by the fact both have the body of a lion. In Greek Mythology, the Sphinx is an evil monster that has the head and breast of a woman and the body of a lion. In Oedipus Rex, she stopped all trading with the city of Thebes. Anyone who would encounter the Sphinx would be given a riddle to solve but all who tried to solve it would fail and would be killed. This terrorized everyone until Oedipus solved her riddle and killed her. Now we all know about the Sphinx in front of the Three Great Pyramids of Giza. In Egyptician Mythology, the Sphinx has a good reputation and is a guardian of the pyramids. These are two very distinct views of the same creature. 

9. Sibyl

Sybil is a divine prophetess of the Oracle of Apollo. It's believe that Sibyls give prophecies in the form of riddles and are interpreted by Apollo. 

10. Zeus

Zeus. How could I begin? Let's see, Zeus is the highest and most powerful god in Greek Mythology. He is the father of most gods actually. Some of his siblings are Olympian gods like his brothers; Poseidon, the king of the Sea, and Hades, the god of the Underworld. Zeus is famous for his thunderbolt and affairs. He is such an ironic god because he is suppose to be the god of justice and mercy. What's fair about having affairs? Yea, I can't find the answer either. 



That concludes all of the gods relating to Oedipus. I know it's a lot information to take in but somehow you can't be intrigued by these gods. Could you imagine what it must of been like to live in Greece where people were die hard believers of multiple gods? I think it would be an interesting environment. Having all those gods, means you would have a lot of pleasing to do. On the other side of my deep thoughts, I found myself also thinking if I were a god what would I be the god of? I would like to be Cretavimos, the god of creativity.

P.S What would you be the god of? 

Check out this link for some of the epithets for Greek gods and godesses:

Jose.