Ratna writes

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I first encountered an excerpt from On Self-Respect through a writing prompt in Mrs. Krug's AP English class this year. I immediately fell in love with Didion's tone and style (as evidenced by the praises sung to her in my earlier post about On Keeping a Notebook ). I set out to look for the whole essay, only to find that what I thought was a unique discovery of mine is actually quite a well-known piece! I promised myself to read only one paragraph of the essay per day, in an attempt to make it last as long as possible, but that didn't work for long. I read the whole piece yesterday and was impressed and inspired all over again. By simply defining the essence of real self-respect, Didion makes her case for it. The piece is absolutely brilliant, and so instead of just attaching a link to it, I have pasted the entire text at the end of this post. It is comprised of a mere twelve incredible paragraphs, but if you feel you do not have the time to read it in its entirety, I wo...

I spent last night anxiously rushing through tons of reading material, trying to find something that spoke to me. I picked up 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology because essays are one of my favorite forms of expression. Seeing Didion's name in the table of contents reminded me of another essay by her of which I had read an excerpt ( On Self-Respect ) and absolutely loved, so I started On Keeping a Notebook . Didion's style just makes me smile. It's not even happy; I just love her flow. The point of her essay was a nice one, and one I will keep in mind during my year (as this blog is for others, but I should also keep a private notebook for myself). The essence of her opinion is as follows: "I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not." But more than her points, her phrasing is really appealing to me. I believe there are elements of her diction in some of the prose I write, but...

Ever since we read an abridged version of the essay Nature in eleventh grade, I have been a big fan of Emerson. The experience of going back to read the whole piece was an interesting, and, at times, well, boring one. The Introduction and (very brief) Chapter I are a MUST-READ (here is the full text of the essay: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/emerson/nature-contents.html ). Emerson's statement " our age is retrospective" is an inspiring one, and reminded me strongly of The Fountainhead this time around. I wish I had read the first chapter (Nature) during my time in Banff, as it would have given me an even stronger appreciation from the beautiful lap of nature in which we basked while there. But as Emerson goes on to lay out his philosophy, the reading becomes increasingly convoluted, with smile-worthy gems emerging occasionally (as "the poet finds something ridiculous in his delight, until he is out of the sight of men"). He tri...

Spent in sixteen cities in four countries, this summer has been a marathon. Three days after graduation, the extraordinary Flint Hill Classics Club set out for Italy to see the sights we study -- in Rome , Siena , and Florence . The ten-day trip was full of games of Ghost, rap battles, and loads of learning. Soon after our return, the Gill family headed to Cancún , Mexico. I had the privilege of accompanying the World Bank's country team for Mexico on its ecological explorations of Chetumal and Tulum , including a day spent swimming through a natural channel connecting two lagoons in a mangrove forest in the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve! When we got home, Priya and I hit the books hard as we prepared for this year's National Junior Classical League Convention in Richmond , Kentucky. The Convention was a blast, made extra special since I got to room with my sister, who was enjoying her first Convention as a JCLer as I marked my last, and also because my close frien...

Reading is to be a big part of my year. I plan to start each of the first 154 days with one of Shakespeare's sonnets. The rest of my reading list will all sorts of novels, plays, poems, etc. One source I am using as a guideline of reading material is the Literature syllabus for Yale's amazing Directed Studies program ( http://directedstudies.yale.edu/literature-books ). I welcome any and all reading suggestions! I recently finished Rand's The Fountainhead and am just starting Hawking's A Brief History of Time. (See a complete reading list on the right.)

Locking away memories is a tricky ordeal. You can’t be discriminating. You realize that the crumpled first place ribbon has just as much reason to go as the perfectly preserved “5 days late!” paper. The failures you locked away with the adrenaline of “I’ll be graduating soon!” start to resurface, and you realize that you were as dissatisfied then as you are now, but it was easier then, because at least you had something to be dissatisfied about. Your high school career was a sparkling success, as seen in the thank you cards with allusions to honors and accolades. But no one knows about that now. No one in Cambridge, or even at the internship you’re hoping to get. You’re hoping they’ll figure it out -- you’re bright -- because you made it, right? You’re here, you’re now, you’re this new generation with a moral obligation to save the world, and you will, you will, you’ve always wanted to. Even the words don’t flow well anymore. Maybe you shouldn’t have locked away the list of words to us...