Blog Reflection..

I really enjoyed the Mark Twain quote blog that we had to do this semester. I love quotes so I enjoyed looking quotes up and just seeing the cool quotes. Plus it was really easy because it was just a reflection of what we thought about that quote. Sometimes I really enjoyed doing the blog because it was interesting to find out more information on the subject that we were talking about that week, but sometimes I didnt like the blogs because it was just one more thing I had to remember to do and it was just a hassle. I definately think that the sophomores should do the blog next year, because it really does show you that the things that we learn in english really do have to do with other things going on in the world. My three favorite books this year were: the scarlet letter
great gatsby
having our say
I didnt like All Quiet On The Western Front, i thought it was really boring and just not my style or type of story that I enjoy reading.

Words to live by!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
— Mark Twain
This quote is a quote I have always liked and have tried to live by. You dont ever want to look back and wish that you had done something that you hadn't. You have to live life to the fullest and do things that you know you want to in your life because you never know when you will be gone. I feel like teenagers have the most oppurtunity to do things because you really do not have a sole responsibilty besides school, mom and dad take care of you. I hope that in my life i strive to do whatever I would like to do, because I never want to look back and say I wish I would have done this or that. "shoot for the moon and land on the stars"

Stephen Crane

"Yes, I have a thousand tongues"

Yes, I have a thousand tongues,
And nine and ninety-nine lie.
Though I strive to use the one,
It will make no melody at my will,
But is dead in my mouth.

I really like this poem because Crane is saying how easy it is now for people to lie, rather than speak the truth. He is saying that once people get caught up in a lie or lies it is hard for them to find the truth and thus their tongue is dead in their mouth. There is still  a little part in everyone that knows the truth and wants to speak it but once we get caught up in lying all the time it is hard for people to go back. The main reason i chose this poem was because I completely agree with it. Humankind hardly tells the truth now and would rather lie than confront the truth.

Civil Rights

http://www.gpc.edu/~heritage/ThomasEricStoryProject.htm
This story is all about how the african americans didnt get treated right and could never truely get ahead no matter what they did. Uncle Holman's dream was to be an Airmen in the Army, he studied and studied for that entrance exam. When they told him that he passed the exam he was ecastic, but there was one small problem, he was African American. They told Uncle Holman that there were no Negro flights, so he could not be an airman no matter how well of a flyer he was. The army would allow him to fight hand to hand combat, but not air combat, if he could not fight his way he would not fight at all. This is the type of story that makes me think about civil rights, and about how all the African Americans wanted to do was provid for their family and attempt to fulfill their dreams. Uncle Holman was in reach of his life long dream, when the dream was torn away from him because of something that he could not change.

Middle Passage

This picture says a lot in very few words. It is a slave in chains and below him says "am i not a man and a brother?" Which are very strong words the slaves on the boats were not treated like men they were treated like animals. They were all packed in with little food and no cleanliness at all. The slaves did not understand why they were treated like this because they knew they were men and brothers and sons and some fathers. The slaves could not ask this question though because they knew that horrible things would be done to them if they did question their owners or masters. I think that this picture says it all how the men on the boats felt on their journey over here.

My Say!

There are a lot of things that i believe could be improved on in this world. I think that everyone here should be treated equally no matter what you look like, how smart you are, or what your skin color is. That will never truly happen in our world but it can always be something that as people we should work on. I absolutely hate when black people are looked down upon or prejudged as bad, or as if they arent going to make it in life, the reason i hate it is because I do have mixed little brothers and if people prejudged them as that I would be mad because thats not how they are. They have goals for their life and are already working towards what they want in life. I just believe that we should not prejudge people, yes if after you know them and think that they are not hardworking then thats your opinion and everyone is entitled to have their opinion, but before you know the person, it is not worth saying something about them that may not be true.

Childhood Memories.

The field-sprouts of Fourth-month and Fifth-month became part of
him,
Winter-grain sprouts and those of the light-yellow corn, and the
esculent roots of the garden,
And the apple-trees cover'd with blossoms and the fruit afterward,
and wood-berries, and the commonest weeds by the road,
This part of the poem i relate to myself in a strange way. I grew up in Nebraska and i was always playing in my grandparents yard surrounded by corn and plants. This part of the poem just makes me think about all those great times at my grandparents house. My grandma had a huge garden and i used to love playing in the garden with my grandma. As ive gotten older ive realized all those times have really become a part of me and the person that i am today. As i would ride my bike down the road surrounded by tress and plants i realized that all that would be what i wanted to surround everyone i love with and hopefully someday my children, because those things in life are really what makes people happy and makes me happy.

Emily Dickinson Poem!

This — is the land — the Sunset washes —

This — is the land — the Sunset washes —
These — are the Banks of the Yellow Sea —
Where it rose — or whither it rushes —
These — are the Western Mystery!

Night after Night
Her purple traffic
Strews the landing with Opal Bales —
Merchantmen — poise upon Horizons —
Dip — and vanish like Orioles!


I see this poem as meaning that some event has happened over and over agian in her life. This event has a mind of its own and takes a lot of action in her life. The event she is talking about in this poem could be numerous things, anything from grief to a man coming into her life again and again but her not knowing forsure how to see him. Grief has definately happened multiple times in her life, friends and family have all passed before her leaving her with few friends and family to be around her. Also since she stays in her house majority of the time, she has vistitors often. This poem could be about a man that comes to visit her a lot but she doesnt know how to approach him so she just avoids him and doesnt tell him how she truely feels. This poem could mean a lot of  different things to her but this is the way that I interpreted this poem.

Is the glass really half full?

I definately prefer the transcendentalism writing over the anti-trans. It is a lot more fun to read about stories that are uplifting and happy rather than stories that are always looking at the bad side of things. I try to look at the glass is half full rather than half empty and look at life in a positive way rather than trying to find something wrong with eveything. Some of the writers we learned about are that way, they always need something to be wrong, if everything is going right, they must look for something that is wrong. Me and my friend Amy Wieting always try to find the good in the situation and not the bad side of the story. If you go through life looking at it in a bad prespective than it will be bad, if you look at it in a good way it will be good.

New Ending!

The ending to the Pit and The Pendulum was too fast and ended the story too abrubtly. This is my ending to add a little spice. As the firey walls were closing in, there were only two ways to go; down the pit to who knows what or be squished in the firey walls. Right at the last moment I decide to jump down the pit to my destiny. It is not a far jump and i land in a shallow water up to my shins. Once I remain my balance and look around there is little light except for a sun beam coming from somewhere. I look around and I see that there are many other guys that had the same idea as me. But they havent survived, and died one way or another. I am now looking at my death.

Nature.

Nature effects everyone on a day to day basis. When winter begins people get a lot more gloomy and slow moving. During the summer people are more alive and often have more spirit in them. If we lived in a world with no sun and no warmth then we would live in a depressed world. Nature effects us and it can also change our emotions on a day to day basis.

Team Poe

Edgar Allen Poe was a wonderful writer and i enjoy his things a lot more. He is uses a lot of language that gives a totally different effect than what the effect would be if he used normal day to day language. I love how he relates everything to something that happened in his life and that gives a different aspect to his poetry and his stories. If he was to just write about things that he didnt actually expirence than I think that his stories wouldnt be as passionate and meaningful. Poe left an impact on everyday life and literature.

Poem Reflection

I really enjoyed the poem 'A Psalm of Life' that we read this week. I think that poem really gave a lot of meaning and told us the correct way we should see life. We cant just walk through life half-heartedly we need to have some purpose in what we do. To try to live everyday that we live to the fullest with absolutely no regrets. The things we do could leave an impact on the people in the future so we cant just expect other people to leave the impact and not us. If everyone lived each day to its fullest we would have everything going a lot easier.

Week 4: Puritan Plain Style

The puritans were told to live in the world but not become worldly. They believed that they had to follow all the laws to the exact order they were suppossed to, but they saw themselves as very open minded people. They could drink but not get drunk, dance but no sexual dancing. Its as if the world just teased them with some stuff but not all the good stuff that took it to the next level. They did this because at this time they were trying to purify the church and the town. They wanted to make everything perfect and nothing would get in their way of that happening.

Blog 3

A lot of people played a huge role in the colonies staying over here and surviving in America. Chief Massasoit may not be in all the literature books or stories about the colonists but he certainitly played a huge role in America because he helped the colonists survive here. He forged critical personal and political relationships with some of the colonist leaders which led to peace treaties being signed. Because of that the colonists had someone to help them therefore leading them away from their starvation. Massasoit truely helped them and helped them stay in America. A quote he said about the colonists : "whilst i live i will never forget this kindness they have showed me"

crucible act 1!!

I found out that the Crucible play is very crazy and entertaining. The first act is pretty much about a prechers daughter that ends up being witched in the woods with a few other girls. Her father already doesnt have the best reputation in the town so he is hesitant and does not want a single soul to know about what happened to his daughter. Everyone who was involved with what happened in the woods is now being threatened by Abigail that if they tell anyone what truely happened she is going to give a great deal of pain to them. The whole first act is based upon histeria that is happening with Betty's family and friends. When the girls start getting asked who did it they automatically blame the servant girl who participated in that. Of course they would blame Tituba she doesnt have anything to live for according to them. I think that everyone mostly that was introduced in the play so far is very two-faced and wants to blame all their wrong actions on someone else. They dont know how to take responsibilty for the things they do becuase they are deathly afraid of what will happen to them. The histeria at the end of the play was crazy. A bunch of girls blaming someone who they dont like even though she had nothing to do with what happened....It will be very interesting to see if that girl ends up getting punished because of the accusations people put upon her.

week 2: journeys

.... this week we have been reading journals that the english people wrote on their journeys to north america which they called the "new world" and also they had information about while they were exploring the new world trying to find gold and other new goods they could sell and trade. The relationships between the native americans and the english was pretty much all the same in the journals we have read so far. In the beginning when they first arrived the Native Americans thought that the English were invading their land and since the English didnt know how to really survive and find resources the Native Americans took advantage of that and attacked the English. The English tried to build a wall around their homes and the Native Americans just surrounded that area waiting for the right oppurtunity to attack. Then the English had no way of surviving so they decided to make an agreement with the Native Americans for the good the English had and then in return the Native Americans helped them with their food needs and other things. Their relationship evolved into a friendship once they had the terms set. Thats it for this week.....until next :)

First blog!!! Woot woot!

OK so we have been learning about the Native Americans all week. I find it actually somewhat interesting, maybe because im part Native American, who knows it just interest me. The stories we have been reading have been really hard to take notes on, but the myths in them are fun to read. We watched a movie on the story of Devil's Tower made me wonder do they have stories like that for every natural thing in the United States or is it just that particular story because thats where they were at that time? So i decided to do a little research to figure all this out....http://www.angelfire.com/ia2/stories3/coyote.html...
ok so that story is really long but super good. It shows that the Native Americans did have all different kinds of stories and legends for the things that we just assume God made. In this story they decribe how one of the waterfalls was made on the Great River. You would never think of something like that in such a descriptive way as they did. It makes me look at the things I see on a day to day basis in a totally different way now and I think was this here when God created the world or did the Native Americans have their way in this?