To New Beginnings...

Sorry to keep you guys waiting! I normally gather all my ideas on Google docs before officially posting them onto my blog! I forgot to do the most important thing...TO ACTUALLY POST IT! But wait no more, I haven't forgot about you guys! 

My English 107 class is slowly coming to an end and this week were to wrap up our blogs. Ironically Awkward's fourth season finale was last week :(, so many chapters closing but on the bright side they announced a fifth and last season! 

So excited for what's to come since it ended with Matty and Jenna as just friends because Matty's got a girlfriend and Jenna is tired of coming up second best. Not like sophomore year, Jenna isn't going to spend the rest of spring break hung up on a Matty. Jenna's finds herself a lovely marine as she strolled down the beach. The second you stop looking for love it finds you. 

While Matty is hanging out with his biological dad and girlfriend Gabby, Matty's bio dad tells him he's got a real keeper for going through all the trouble in helping him find his biological parents when he didn't have the strength to do it on his own, makes him realize Jenna's been the one all along.. Poor Matty, but Lacey's right he had his chance and Jenna deserves to be happy. Breaks my heart!!! I want them to end up together as much as they are bad for eachother they understand eachother. They're eachothers shoulder to lean on! But as for now all we can do is wait! 

AND PLEASE TELL ME YOU WERE JUST AS SHOCKED AS I WAS WITH JAKE AND GABBY!? Like OMG did that really happen. Sloppy seconds are all over this show! And what about bro code!? I can't believe Jake slept with Gabby. She was a virgin! Forget that his best friend's girlfriend!? Need I say more?! Like what! I wanted to jump through my television and strangel her. >:( First she crashes Jenna and Matty's plans to meet Matty's biologival dad for the first time kicking Jenna to the curb. And does this!? Especially because she wasn't someone who sleeps around making this 10x more harder to wrap around our heads! The producers and writers really wanted us to freak. I don't even want to see Matty's reaction next season when he finds out. He's already sad as it is for missing his window of opportunity with Jenna now to have to find out he's been cheated on yet again. 

The whole cast has honestly gone through some pretty impeccable situations. Tamara and Jake were rekindling things while they were being popstars to everyone in Japan. Later to find out it was actually them being laughed at. 

Sadie and Sergio being relationship goals have also had there twists and turns. Although Sadie lost her fortune -- didn't lose her sas! Sergio knew Sadie when she became broke and liked her regardless of the situation. Sadie gets accepted to college and is excited to leave everything she's been through in the last year behind. She doesn't realize that leaving everything behind includes Sergio. Sergio being understanding has faith they'll be okay.

As if not at had happened already in this finale. We find out Jenna is going to be a big sister!!!!! Whoohoo. It's going to be a great season as well sad. I felt like I could relate so much to this show! I've grown attached. I watch my DVDs over and over im surprised they're not scratched yet! I remember sitting watching the first episode and knowing right off the bat it was going to be a joyful ride. It's unlike any other show, it's realistic. I do think now towards the end it's getting a little fictional but witbin it's first season everything was so...well...AWKWARD. Things a teen may encounter.

I plan to continue blogging, I see this as a way to express my emotions and mixed feelings about the show! At least as soon as season five comes out. Eeek.

Yours truly,Future Mrs. Mirchoff,
Jacqueline Villalpando

Campaign Fail

Collaborating and working together can be good or bad. They say never to mix business with pleasure and in this episode they do just that! OH NO....
Jake has always ran for student council at school but now that he's dating Tamara and has her as his girlfriend she feels the need to help him win this year. She decides to make posters and cupcakes for the student body but Jake isn’t really into it, since he’s won previous years and didn’t go all out.

Jake cares about student council because it’s the only thing he has to define him, but he doesn’t perform that because he doesn’t want people to know his level of insecurity. He cares enough to do his job well but like many high school students fears caring too much.

We know how Tamara can be, and Jake being her boyfriend she feels it's her job to make sure her boyfriend Jake wins. With her crafty side she collaborates with her love for glitter pens to make sure he gets the votes he needs. Making sure to tell Ming to get the Asian Mafia on board to make posters and t-shirts for Jake. As they’re making posters at Tamara’s house, Tamara being totally excited about making posters she sees Jake isn’t as excited a she and explains that he needs her in order to win. Jake thinks otherwise and tells her she’s wrong and Tamara is someone who needs to prove a point. She’s doing it when she launches an aggressive, play on words driven campaign against Jake. She tells him that she's running for president too. Because she feels that making posters and bribing is key to winning. Unlike Jake thinking just because he's popular he'll get nominated.

Tamara made a bunch of posters nominating herself for president. With her spare time, she also makes buttons. While Jake makes t-shirts telling people to vote for him, and has the football team collaborate in the run for president AND with the help of the Asian Mafia since she never called that off with Ming. He eats an uppercase T cookie that Tamara made and says it taste like defeat, Tamara responds that her fist is too. She doesn’t realize that she’s threatening the one thing he feels defines him, and when she wins it signals the end of their relationship.

Tamara started off wanting to help Jake but ended up making things worse. She thought collaborating ideas together that she had in mind and sharing both their ideas that she felt were interesting that would make Jake open to trying it something new to achieve his goal for president. Collaboration needs leadership and Jake felt like Tamara was taking over.
This week in class we're collaborating ideas in groups and working towards our next essay, I hope this isn't the case for us where we don't agree on something and go against each other, becoming selfish with ideas we may come across! I'm hoping we're all able to work together and help each other to receive a decent grade on our final paper! Wish us luck.
XOXO
Jacqueline V. :)

I Am Jenna.

Where would we be without technology? Honestly, take a few seconds to think about it, Awkward is built around Jenna and her blog! There would be no show if it wasn’t for technology. There would be no blog (Invisible Girl Daily which later turns into I Am Jenna). Jenna uses her blog as a diary in the beginning, since it’s private. Jenna Hamilton used or be Palos Hills High’s “invisible girl” until her accident, which everyone else, even her parents Lacey and Kevin Hamilton, thought was a failed suicide attempt. Jenna is 16 years old, but is wise beyond her years and has an irrelevant optimistic outlook on life and all she wants is to fit in...

The show starts off with Jenna shown walking down the hallway, her arm in an attention-seeking cast, thinking back to how she had always wanted attention and how now she had it. But not in the way she had wanted it. She claims that it all started at summer camp, when she lost her virginity at Camp Pookah to Matty McKibben, the boy of her dreams. Soon after, realizes he is embarrassed to be seen in public with her. Later, when Jenna comes home from camp, her mother Lacey hands her a letter from an anonymous sender.

Jenna goes to her room, writes on her blog ‘The Invisible Girl Daily’ about her worst day ever. Tamara her best friend calls her after seeing her blog status ‘Rubbed Raw and Reeling’ and tells Jenna that boys like Matty Mckibben don’t go after girls like them and to just be glad she didn’t have sex with him. (Whoo hoo! If only you knew T!) Jenna keeps quiet about sleeping with Matty and decides to tell Tamara at a better time ending the phone call at that. After reading the anonymous letter, Jenna goes to the bathroom to take some painkillers to “take her away” since the letter states all the things the anonymous author feels is wrong with her. She chokes on the pills, drops her hair dryer into the bathtub, and falls on the steps to the bathtub. Her parents walk into the bathroom in ruins and think Jenna’s accident was a suicide attempts.

Due to everybody thinking she committed suicide Jenna was assigned a guidance counselor named Valerie Marks. Later that day at lunch, a jock name Jake Rosati was hosting the Wheel Of Pep in preparation for Homecoming. Matty and Sadie were already on one team so all they needed was another girl to play. Jenna decides to volunteer for the game since everyone was staring at her anyways. Jenna went first to spin the wheel of pep and it landed on Sex Exchange, a game in which the team members had to swap clothes with each other and who ever does this the fastest wins. Jenna wins and the entire student body cheers for her. 
The reason Matty and Sadie lost was because Sadie couldn’t fit into Matty’s clothes.

After Jenna finds out, she apologises to Sadie for making her feel bad. Sadie claimed that Jenna spun the wheel to and pick the Sex Exchange Game on purpose. Jenna gets bumped into by Matty, he smiles at her and decides to walk away since the cheerleaders (Sadie and Lissa) were watching. Jake overhears the conversation with Sadie and Jenna and tells Jenna she was brave to do the prep rally. After going home Jenna checks her profile online and sees that she has 21 friends request where originally she only had 11 friends. She also had requests from Jake and Matty. Matty’s request had a note attached to it, saying that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. At that moment Jenna changes her blog name to Invisible Girl Daily; private to I am Jenna; public'.

Who's HOT and who's NOT!

If you have never watched the show before, Awkward is about the specific incidents in our formative years that define us -sometimes for the best and sometimes for the worst. They’ve measured people based on how popular they are, how attractive they are. The show centers around a fifteen-year old Jenna Hamilton, who, like many, feels invisible to her peers and desperately wants to find her place-which is hard to do in a day and age where fitting in means standing out.

Jenna and Owen had sex. And it’s more than sex to her. She’s interested in him and his age as a sophomore has her kind of freaked out. However nothing could have prepared her for the fact that she technically took his virginity without knowing it. Something like that tends to put a downer on a daydream of them possibly working out!

Meanwhile back at school, Tamara was gearing up for Seniors’ bonfire when she found out about secret grading score of hers. Someone had called her Allentown and she didn’t know what it meant until Sadie explained. Sadie said her score must be similar to the zip code of Allentown (484)

Guys at their school have been grading girls they’ve dated and apparently everyone could find out their score in the Phone Book. Tamara wants to see it and so far the guys she’s been asking have been uncooperative. Including Owen.

Tamara decided to hunt for the book with only Jenna acting as her backup. And surprisingly they found the back with ease. Guys had actually put what they called a “Phonebook” in the real Phonebook section at the Library. As they looked through the so called, “Phonebook”, Tamara is Allentown, Jenna was St. Louis. Someone had low scored Jenna and because she knew the handwriting-she knew it was Matty behind her “score”. So she confronted him. She asked why he never said a word about it. Back then, when they were dating, or even now that they’re supposed to be friends. Yet he didn’t get it and that’s why he tried to shake it off as no big deal.

Jenna called him a jerk and due to poor timing - the girl Matty was interested ended up catching the whole exchange. Thus cancelling their date for later that day and basically told him not to try for a second chance with her.

Jenna was furious with Matty and what she needed the most was to hangout with Owen. But she couldn’t do that seeing as he was her secret (since she didn’t want to be ranked as a senior cougar going after a sophomore). Plus when she almost came clean, Tamra made a joke about dating him and being on a one way back to desperate cougar.

Later at the bonfire, Tamara had got some revenge on behalf of the female student body. She set up a “Dudes Database” where the girls can now rate the guys. And sadly Jenna didn’t find out about until after Matty realized he had made a mistake. He made a public apology in front of everyone at the bonfire, tossing the phonebook into the fire and that managed to earn back some brownie points with both Jenna and Gabby. Though he’s not going to like being called a man-whore on the “Dudes Database” and someone else who might take offence at that would be Gabby. She changed her mind about Matty because she thought he had changed. That all ugly past behavior was really in the past. So how is she going to feel once she learns he’s been rated as a whore?

As for Jenna, she broke up with Owen and it wasn’t because of what Tamara said or how people would react. She came to the conclusion that he deserved a real relationship with someone that wasn’t going to be leaving for college in the next couple of months. That’s why she regretted taking his virginity. She was only looking for a little bit of fun and he’s going to need more from someone than that. But now that the database is blowing up - no relationship is safe! This is all the effects that come from how we measure people, statistically.

Since so much went on this episode, I thought, why not post another recap video like I did for last weeks post! It makes everything so much more interesting capturing everything that goes on without missing a single detail versus just reading what went down! 
Plus videos are much more fun.

You're welcome.

Xoxo, Jacqueline Villalpando

Seniors vs. Sophomore Sluts

Oh my god! So much social policing between seniors and sophomores during this years Spirt Week. 

Its Spirit Week at Palos Hills High and the seniors are struggling to stay upbeat. Jenna and Tamara have found formidable rivals in the form of the "Sophomore Sluts" for the Spirt Week title, and, more importantly, for Matty and Jake's attention. 

To make things worse, Jenna watches as new girl Eva swoops in, Mackenzie, and what are known as the sophomore sluts. All of which are hanging all over Matty and Jake in the skimpiest outfits ever. If they wore any less, this would look like soft-core porn on HBO. That aside, as the seniors lose game after game, Jenna tries to use their last chance, powder-puff football, as her comeuppance. Sadly for her though, they get trampled.

 Jenna decides to play in their friendly game  of flag football against the sophomore sluts.
"It was game time. It didn't matter if Matty and I were on the outs it was the principle of it, if the sophomore were going to make a play for the senior boys they were going to be intercepted... or tackled or some football thing?" SOCIAL POLICING! Seniors vs Sophomores.

REPLACED!

While Jenna has the blues about loosing Matty, you can kind of see Matty act like Jenna did last season, minus the drugs. He is essentially trying to escape and, as we know, has been doing it through sex, but now he is getting reckless. However, we get a few extra details in his adoption situation to understand why. For one, his parents have yet to talk about the adoption issue, and it is mostly because they aren't aware he knows. 

Foucault claims that disciplinary power is exercised by those more powerful (Sadie) than their subordinates (Lissa) in order to make their subordinates behave in ways in which the ones in power wish them to. Foucault goes on to argue that power structures not only control people's actions directly, but indirectly whereby people become easier to control to the extent that they discipline themselves to act in line with the wishes of the person or organization that controls them.

Sadie tries to convince Lissa to give up her cheer captaincy by quoting the Bible. One way or another, Sadie plans on being cheer captain. She tries using the bible against Lissa, who has thrown away any sense of interest in being Muslim, in order to become cheer captain. She talks about how Judas and Lissa have the same amount of letters; how Jesus would feel about cheer outfits; and really tries to twist poor Lissa's love for Jesus so that she could finally get what she wants. Sadie is policing Lissa into giving her what she wants. It doesn't happen though. 

Tamara Catfishes Jake to keep the tabs on him after their breakup. With Spirit Week in full force, Tamara not only has her duties as president, but now she has taken on the task of cat fishing Jake using a name like "Autumn San Diego" which has to be the fakest name I have ever heard. Yet, Jake seemingly hasn't caught on... YET! But despite how much Tamara gives Jenna advice on moving on from Matty, it seems she is still unable to venture out and maybe find a new guy, or just be single.

Sex, Lies and The Sanctuary...

Back in Season 2, when Jake and Jenna (Janna? Jeke?) dated they were adorable! The majority of the small but expanding fandom of Awkward always thought Jenna and Matty (Jatty? Menna?) were going to end up together though. That will probably happen, but I think it still sucks for Jenna. He was too embarrassed to be with her in public, couldn’t make up his mind and is only realizing that he wants her once she’s with someone else… Gesh. Matty is so cute though. Jake is so nice though! I’m leaning towards Janna. I think. MAYBE. Matty missed his chance and deserves a little bit of pain after what he's put Jenna through.

At the beginning of this episode, it shows Jenna and Jake holding hands. IN PUBLIC! Soon after, it’s revealed that there has been a hidden camera filming EVERYTHING happening at the Sanctuary. For those of you who don’t know, the sanctuary is behind the bleachers at their school, and everyone goes there to, well, hook up. Amongst many other things (drugs, truancy). If any of you remember, Matty and Jenna hooked up there many times during the first season. DILEMMA! As the whole school is going through drama because of the scandals on the tape that may or may not be released into the public, Matty and Jenna are facing problems of their own. Jake knows that Jenna lost her V card to this guy that she used to be in love with, but doesn’t know who. Jake is freaking out all the time about it, admitting his jealousy over a mystery man is a bit insane, but unable to help himself. Jenna feels bad for not telling him who it is, but is afraid that if she tell him he’ll hate her and Matty. Matty oblivious to the fact that he hurt Jenna. Jenna worried about hurting others’ feelings, and is too immature to have the courage of complete honesty, or the wisdom to know when it’s vital.

This week Professor Hanson gave us a reading by Michel Foucault. Discipline and Punishment, Panopticism. Panopticon, a type of institutional building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham. The concept of the design is circular, to allow a single watchman observe all inmates without the inmates knowing if and when they’re being watched. Much similar to this episode, where they’ve placed a hidden camera at the Sanctuary without the students knowing they have been watched.

 

                                   

The potential that Jenna and Matty could appear on the tape exiting the Sanctuary puts both Jenna’s relationship with Jake and Matty’s friendship with Jake in jeopardy, forcing to the surface anxieties that are inevitable when you choose to keep a secret of this magnitude.

Now, Jenna is wondering how to get the tape and destroy it before Jake sees. The answer is simple: ASK THE ASIANS! The Asian community knows everything about everyone at school, so obviously they know something about the tape. Jenna asks Ming to get friendly with the cliche of Asian students to see if they know anything about the tape, and the Asian community have open arms for Ming. Becca, the leader of the Asian cliche, agrees to get the tape for Ming. Foucault talks about panoptic, where we view things one way, in this case majority agreeing Asians as being smart, assuming they have the answer to everything just because they’re Asian.

Jenna’s relationship with her mother, Lacey, is even more complicated. Lacey is doing everything she can to try to make things up to Jenna for writing the mean letter. She’s trying to bribe her into loving her again by making all of Jenna’s favorite foods, but Jenna’s not buying it. Is it because Lacey regrets hurting her daughter, or, as Jenna asserts, she’s worried Jenna will tell Kevin, Jenna’s father? It’s probably a bit of both, but Jenna is nowhere near ready to hear Lacey’s apology, and Lacey desperately does not want Kevin to know about the transgression. Lacey has zero idea on how to raise a daughter or how to be a mother, who writes a horrible anonymous letter to their daughter, trying to “help” her?

Lacey wanted to discipline Jenna in writing the letter, as a parent she doesn't want her daughter to be a loser helping her decide to take matters into her own hands. Discipline doesn't always refer to something negative, it's simply consequences and/or rewards for our doings.

Just as Jenna comes to the understanding that she can’t tell her dad because it’s not her secret to spill, Lacey acts like a grown up, deciding that she must come clean to Kevin and face the consequences. For someone as immature as Lacey, it’s a wonderful surprise to see her take responsibility, and it demonstrates that she is determined to be a good mom, setting the example right. Discipline being taken place by Lacey accepting whatever consequence she deserves for her behavior.

The part of the episode that makes my heart swoon every time!!! Jake and Matty are having a discussion about Jenna. Jake is really bummed out, because he thinks that Jenna might still have feelings for this mystery guy (MATTY!!!). Jake talks about how she was in love with this other guy, and pretty much right after he says that, Matty runs over to Jenna and tells her he loves her!!! Filling my heart with joy! This is why I’m on the fence about Team Matty, because HE IS JUST SO CUTE!

Thanks to Ming’s “frisians” (friends-asians, we have found out that Matty and Jenna aren’t on the tape. Leaving Jenna and Matty both relieved. Matty apologized to Jenna for being an asshole. I squealed, AGAIN!!

Jake goes to Jenna’s house and says he doesn’t want to know who the mystery guy is and seems happy with the knowledge that Jenna doesn’t love the other guy anymore. However, the fact that her first sexual experience is with Matty, Jake’s close friend, makes this equation a lot different than if Jenna slept with a stranger. She does owe him the full truth, and soon, because it will come out eventually, and if Jake hearts it from anyone other than Jenna, no matter how painful her telling might be, he will feel even more deeply betrayed. Jenna doesn’t tell him that Matty is the mystery guy….ERG! I wish she would have just told him. He deserves to know. It is his best friend after all but the episode ends with Jake and Jenna kissing, and me squealing uncontrollably!

Tune in Tuesday nights at 7:00p.m. or 10:00p.m. on MTV (depending on your TV provider)

Valerie Marks: Crossing The Line.

What’s going on with the new Jenna!? After Jenna makes the shocking choice to cheat on her near perfect boyfriend Matty Mckibben with Collin (the new guy from her Creative Writing class) causing Jenna to lose her closest friends. A choice that will catapult her and everyone around her onto a new path that no one expected to see. Jenna takes a whole new style as her rebellion prompts her to change her look. Jenna with mascara on. A real big change. A lot less hoodies in the style department for Hamilton.

In her Creative Writing class their teacher Mr. Hart wants the whole class to submit an essay about Heroes and Villains so it can be published in a magazine. Val wants to talk to Mr. Hart by making a signal at the door. She wants to borrow his students to use for her video to submit for a video competition. She talks about the video and describes it as having drama, intrigue, suicide, drugs, depression, friendship, love, alcoholism, and freeze frames.

Jenna and Collin talk about how she doesn’t want to participate in the After School Special. She lies to Valerie saying that she has to help her mom after she sprained her back. Val guesses that it happened during sex. She tries to call her, but Jenna tells her not to because she would be embarrassed. She gets excused from the after school special.

Val tries to figure out what the plot of the special should be, Sadie comes up with a girl who tried to kill herself and fails (Jenna’s rumor in Season one). In the end she dies. Val says it is perfect. It’s called “What Are We Gonna Do About Jenny”

Collin and Jenna are in the parking lot. Tamara, Jake, Ming are all watching. Tamara is worried about her because she could be headed to “Amanda Bynes Ville”. They say they need guidance counselor. They talk to Val about Jenna. She doesn’t know that it’s about Jenna when they’re asking about advice.

On the set for “What are we gonna do about Jenny” A.S.S.

(Sadie playing the character Jenny) Jenny is blogging and Val cuts it because it seems extremely boring. Tamara, Jake, and Ming are shocked as they realize it’s about Jenna. Kyle is the jock Danny and Jake are the bad guys doing drugs with Calvin. Jenny gets mad at her mom and tries to commit suicide by pulling a scarf wrapped around her neck which Val cuts from the special.

Lacey is mad because Jenna lied to Val, and got sent a bunch of balloons including one shaped like a jellyfish. She drives her to school and makes her explain what a backwards jellyfish is during the drive. Jenna arrives. Val tells Lacey that it's a closed set. Sadie tells Jenna what the movies about after Sadie gets cut by her. She gets upset. Jenna is cast as concerned friend #4. Jenny is describing Jenna's life in a mean way and says she wants to kill herself. Jenna changes the scene by saying she's not worried about Jenny. She tells Jenny to go on and live her life which is none of their business(hinting to her ex-friends). Tamara said she made bad choices and Calvin is bad news. Jenny says that they don't even know Calvin and that they get high and have sex instead of having a decent conversation. Jenna and Tamara argue. Jenna leaves and goes outside to the hallways to light up her cigarette. Matty and Devon come back after soccer, and he tries to warn her about Val coming, but she insults him, making him leave. Valerie catches Jenna lighting her cigarette and suspends her.

Val comes to Jenna’s house. She tells her to go away, she apologizes for taking so long to get up to speed she says she can help because she is her friend and her girl. Jenna rudely tells her that Val is just her guidance counselor and has been a sucky one too and slams the door in her face. Jenna then begins to blog about how she let Val cross the line all the time. She gets revenge with Mr. Harts assignment. She writes about one very familiar villain. She opens a new document titled Valerie Marks: Crossing The Line.

Jenna submitted her essay to Mr. Hart, a mean essay for the school literary magazine on Val portraying her as an evil villain. Hart says he can’t publish it because it’s too harsh. Again, this coming from a mean teacher. Hart tells her to think about it again and give her final approval the next time he asks her.

When Jenna gets home, she arrives to Lacey, Val, Sadie and Ally on the couch for her intervention, a brilliant idea by Val, which of course backfired because Jenna believes this is the stupidest idea ever by a bunch of hypocrites. Jenna gets so pissed off she tells Mr. Hart to proceed to print her essay.

After Jenna realizes Collin isn’t a good guy and gets into an argument with him about all the choices she’s made and he responds on how they were all on her. She replies “And being an asshole was all on you”. Jenna tries to stop her story from being published, but it’s too late.

The principal is reading Jenna’s essay in the school's literary magazine and calls Val into his office. Jenna wants to talk to Val but the principal says she is on an “indefinite suspension” after realizing how inappropriate and crazy she has been with the students. He is seen clearing her office implying that her indefinite suspension meant she was fired.

This episode teaches you to revise your work, amend missteps and change the outcome for your writing. Mr. Hart tried to tell Jenna to revise her work, gave her the opportunity to change the outcome of what would happen when her story was published. She acted in the heat of the moment causing her loose her friend as well as making Valerie lose her job, when all Val wanted to do was help her girl J. Jenna's misstep was writing harshly about Val while being upset with her without thinking of the consequences, she badly judged her step when writing her essay. Donald Murray talks about how important it is to look over your work to make sure everything is well written, well structured with enough information and making every bit of sense.