Autumn and October

The two poems I chose are "Autumn" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and "October" by William Cullen Bryant.  Both poems signify each other and are based off of the same time period.  I chose them because they are intertwined in how Longfellow's poem talks about the season of autumn and Bryant's poem talks about the end of autumn and the beginning of winter.  The real meaning behind Bryant's poem is the life of an old man who is excited to move on to the next chapter.  It is implied that he is happy when the poem talks about the year "And the year smiles as it draws near its death," and how he knows his end is her, yet he is over joyed by the fact that he lived an excellent life (Bryant).

Both of the poems meanings are related in how they talk about the endings of the seasons and a journey of some sort.  In "Autumn", it signifies the ending of a part of someones life or a change for the better, while in "October" it talks about the ending of someones life and explains why a person should not be afraid of death because it can mean many significant things for an individual.  Since I believe in Christianity, I am going to relate my example towards it, but any religion can be adapted and substituted in.  If you believe in God and accept him as your Lord and Savior and you act to the best of your ability like our Father, you have a good chance of going to Heaven.  According to the bible, Heaven is so much more better than it is here on earth.  It talks about how it is a sin free, stress free, peaceful, and perfect environment where everyone is always happy and no one gets hurt.  To some this would be considered Utopia, while I feel that this is just a gift that we have earned for serving the Lord and widening His kingdom.  The changed referred to in "Autumn", is the change in personality or beliefs that this person did not have before.  This could be considered when someone accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior and changes and gains new beliefs that they did not have before.  When something like this happens it is a beautiful sight as signified in the poem by Henry Longfellow, "Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand," (Longfellow).

It is probably considered that these were two very easy poems, which yes they were, but that they have a very vague meaning behind them.  I like the fact that they do because that means I can adapt and adopt different topics or ideas as what I believe because there isn't any real concrete answers.  Even though these poems were short they had a lot of examples of Romantacism.  In "Autumn" Longfellow uses many descriptive words and different analogies that make the poem more personalized and less professional which is what I kind of see in Romanticism poems.  In "October", Bryant talks about the weather changing from fall to winter and the ups and downs that come from this.  All in all, these poems go very well together and can be intertwined to give a good life lesson to people.


Bryant, William C. "October - Poem by William Cullen Bryant." Famous Poets and Poems - Read and Enjoy Poetry. Web. 12 Dec. 2011


Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "Autumn." Bartleby.com. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Autumn-analyzed

In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Autumn" it talks about autumn (obviously), but it also talks about life and the changes we go through and how they are for the good while also giving a descriptive literal meaning to the poem as well.  The literal meaning to "Autumn" is the change in weather and the change of the color of leaves.  Longfellow talks about the different changes that signify fall or autumn is coming and what that feels like to him.  He starts out his poem with "Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain" which literally means after summer comes fall brought in by storms and crummy weather, but goes on to say "Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand" talking about the beauty these showers bring and the gleaming of the rain twinkling in the sunlight  on the golden yellow leaves (Longfellow lines 1-3).  


Obviously the literal meaning of this poem is far off from the real meaning behind it.  The point Longfellow is trying to get across is about life and the different changes people have.  People change so often just like the seasons do in a year.  They are very distinctive and can be very beautiful and amazing things, but sometimes they can be pretty ugly.  Just like in a season people have different moods different days.  When Longfellow talks about the weather being rainy and then beautiful is just like a mood in someone (Longfellow lines 1-5).  After the nastiness comes a happy mood and the day is great. In the poem he talks about fall and the change in leaves from their green color to their beautiful yellow and red colors before going to brown and the weather getting nasty again.  He is trying to point out that we should take advantage of the good times and not look back on the bad.. That is why he only talks about rain in one or two lines and then goes on for the remainder of the poem to talk about the beauty found in the leaves and the cool breeze while in the sunshine.  He talks about the joy that these things bring to people and the smiles it puts on their faces.


It could also be related to a relationship between two people.  The nasty weather could signify the moments when a relationship is rocky and there are disagreements between the two.  The beautiful fall weather could signify all of the happy moments you share with this person and that sticking with it and working your way through the downs is worth it in the end because the happy moments are so much more important.  You shouldn't dwell on the past and you should trust your significant other.  Anticipating the good to come in something is exciting and brings joy through the downs.  If you truly like someone you can hate them one moment and be completely over it the next.  A healthy relationship is basically two people who are best friends.  You have to be nice to each other and work through things or else you will lose a great friend of yours.  When Longfellow talks about the transition from the rain to the beautiful leaves falling from the trees signifies how much more important the big picture and the end is than the little things in the middle.




Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "Autumn." Bartleby.com. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

Rip and Tom

Irving's story of "The Devil and Tom Walker" is about a man selling his soul to the devil.  There are many examples of Romanticism in this story like when Tom Walker meats the devil (Irving, "Tom" 244).  He also goes to find his wife was hanged by the devil and doesn't care which proves that this story is a made up story or fairy tale because of the fact that if you found your wife was hanged however much you might hate her you cannot just ignore the fact like Tom did (Irving "Tom").  The story "The Devil and Tom Walker" and "Rip Van Winkle" are the same in how both men hate their wives.  In "Rip Van Winkle" Rip was a very generous man and would help anyone that needed it, but never would accomplish his own tasks which got him in trouble with his wife.  He would get in arguments with her and she would yell at him a ton.  The story's are also the same in how both men wander off into the woods and find something mysterious.  Both things that the men find are legends and get them in trouble.

In "The Devil and Tom Walker" Irving is almost sorry for Tom when writing his fate at the end.  He isn't stern and make it sound like he deserved his punishment (which he did), but should be given a second chance as most people are when it comes to mistakes.  It is a good example of how important it is to make the right decision the first time so it doesn't come around to hurt you and you regret it at the end.  Tom was dumbfounded when offered such a large sum of money and didn't analyze what he was doing until it was too late.  When he tried to fix it the devil dragged him off and he was never seen again.  All of his possessions were burnt to a crisp and no one got to enjoy the treasure Tom was given (Irving "Tom" 250).

In "Rip Van Winkle" Rip makes a stupid decision of following and helping the shady character in the woods at night.  He should have minded his own business and slept on a rock with his gun in his hand, but instead he got drunk and slept through the Revolutionary War...yes i said it, the REVOLUTIONARY WAR.  I feel bad for Rip simply because he didn't get to experience this magnificent part of history (Irving "Rip" par. 19-24).  Going off of what I was talking about earlier, this is another example of Romanticism and how these fictional stories are so much more interesting because of the impossible things that happen in them.  I think that what makes these parts so interesting is the human mind and how it makes the person wonder if that could actually happen sometime even though it sound like a stupid thought and a ridiculous assumption.

These stories are a lot alike, but have some differences too.  For instance, in "The Devil and Tom Walker" Tom gets some good out of his deal (Irving "Tom")while in "Rip Van Winkle" Rip sleeps through and misses out in a big chunk of his life (Irving "Rip" 25-68).  There are always the obvious differences, but other that the one stated there aren't a lot of major differences between the two.  I enjoyed both of the stories and would like to read more like these in the future.

Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." Bartleby.com. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

Irving, Washington. "The Devil and Tom Walker." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 240-250. Print.

Fireside Poets

The fireside poets consisted of many different writers of the 1800's.  The most popular of these being Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, William Cullen Bryant, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell ("The Fireside Poets" 210).  These men got their title from the idea that people would sit around the fireplace in their houses to read different stories and poems written by these men (The Fireside Poets" 210).  Thus the name fireside poets came to be.  As the term grew more common more and more poems were written.

This type of poetry, when compared to the Rationalism time period, was a lot more romantic and made up.  Rationalist, also called Deist's, wrote based on logic and facts, while the fireside poets wrote in a more romantic and feelings based style.  The fireside poets wrote about family activities, relationships, love, religion, and more.  The Rationalist wrote about logic and reasoning and things that always made sense.  The fireside poems were a lot more interesting to me because they talked about things that had room for imagination to take control and determine where the story was to go unlike the Rationalistic poems didn't.  The Rationalism time period and writing style was more for educational purposes and the learning of facts and information.  One of the main Rationalist was Benjamin Franklin, who would seem like he was a joking man with a good sense of humor, but we will never know because he didn't write about his feelings.  He was strictly professional and wrote only about boring, dry topics.  The fictional stories are always the interesting ones that tend to be enjoyed the most because there is adventure and imagination.  It makes your brain think and reenact different scenes out in your brain.  Most of these being things that aren't able to happen in real world situations and can only happen on paper.

The two different styles are definitely different in many ways, but are both important to our nations history.  They are both enjoyed for their different reasons and are liked by different kinds of people.  I personally am enjoying the fireside poets more because I have a huge imagination that can really be put into effect during these poems and stories.  I also think that the fireside poems make you think about the story and the real meaning behind them a lot more.

From a writers standpoint, I feel that the Rationalism poems would have been a lot harder to write because you had to know the information and make it all work out.  Personally, I wouldn't be able to stand myself if I was a Rationalism writer because its too dry and boring.  When we did the section in English over this time period, it was extremely hard for me to continually pay attention.  Now, I like to get into the discussions and understand these poems more.  I think that realizing what the real meaning behind the fireside poems is easy, its just take the effort to try to analyze the poem and figure it out.

"The Fireside Poets." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 210-211. Print.

Journal 20

Autumn by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is about autumn and the pleasant weather and jolly it brings to the peoples of this world.  I dont know if it is just me but whenever the perfect autumn day comes around I never want it to end.  In the poem it talks about golden leaves and the perfect autumn day.  Longfellow uses many descriptive words and characteristics to make you feel like you are in the story.  I feel like I say this a lot, but it is what makes a great writer and a great poem.  When I think of golden leaves, I remember the trees with the yellowish bronze leaves on them and the few leaves that have already fallen to the ground.  I think of football and lots of family bonding.
That was analyzed literally and not for the real meaning behind it.  It talks about peoples emotions and how they react within themselves when they are in the presence of company.  It talks about the emotions people have during autumn and the jolly they have.  As I said earlier, whenever the weather is good outside people are less stressed and in a great mood, but whenever its dark and gloomy out people are depressed, stressed, and constantly tired.  Take winder for instance, after christmas break people hate school and beg for snowdays, but when summer comes around they wish they hadn't had the snowdays.  I know for a fact, that on a day that we have lots of rain and its cold out, I hate school, want to sleep, and am extremely tired and on days when it is warm out and the sun is shining I love life and dont care what happens during the day because I know its going to be a good day.  I always have a smile on my face and nothing can put me down.  I always want to hang out with friends and play basketball or football in the front yard with friends.

Thanatopsis

Thanatopsis wasn't an exciting poem by any means.  It was very depressing and said with nothing happy happening in it anywhere.   The poem talked about death and what happens to the body after you are buried.  I thought that it was confusing from the old English style writing and different words that were used that we don’t normally use in everyday speaking.  After reading the literary criticism though, it all made a lot more sense and I understood it a lot easier.  It helped because it went through the entire poem and analyzed it piece by piece giving descriptions and examples of each part.  These two things helped a lot but what I enjoyed the most was how Bryant wrote in regular English and didn’t use any fancy words like thy, thee, adding –ith to the ends of every other word, etc.  My thoughts on how gloomy and death oriented this poem was make so much sense now.  From reading the online literary reference I learned that “Thanatopsis” translates from Greek to “view of death” in English (Barney and Paddock).  I also noticed that this poem was written in the early to mid 1800’s.  That would explain why all of the written text is in old English instead of something more modern.


To an extent, Bryant was trying to prepare the reader for death.  He talked about what it was like and what happened after death as if he was trying to explain that they should not be scared and that everyone will eventually die.  He looks at the positives to death instead of the negatives which can really change a persons outlook on things.  Bryant says that you can die at any time, if your "life's green spring" or a "gray headed man" (Bryant lines 68-70).  Regardless of how old you are you could die any second.  He tries to convince the readers to believe in what they want because there end could be near.


Reading this poem really made me realize how much we take life for granted.  I am shocked to think that I expect to wake up every morning and don't treat my days as gifts like I should.  I need to pay more attention to what I believe in and how I show that because I am not on the right track.  I need to figure things out and use this poem to help me.  My big problem is how I say I do one thing and act like it, but when people aren't looking I don't always represent that.  And since I believe in God, I believe that he can see me reguardless of where I am and if everyone else in the world can't.  I have always struggled with this and think that many people do.  I would like  to meet someone that hasn't.  I believe that my God will forgive me when I ask for is as long as I promise to try my best to stop doing whatever I'm doing wrong.  This poem has really been an eye opener for me and I am glad I actually read it and didn't skim through it and just get the necessary stuff from it.  I am glad I took the time to analyze it and understand what is going on.


Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. "'Thanatopsis'."Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008.Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.

Bryant, William Cullen. "16. Thanatopsis." Bartleby.com. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.

Journal 19

Nature plays an important role in the cycle of life and death because without nature there would be no point to life, nor would we be able to live.  Nature plays a big role in our everyday lives and we don't even recognize it most of the time.  All of the wood furniture in our house was made out of wood, our metal cars and irons were made out of raw materials found in nature, and our clothing was made out of cotton grown in nature.  Nature and spirituality play a huge role in the cycle of life and death since it itself is a part of nature.  You are born to parents who were born to parents, who were born to parents, and so on.  Every living being is a part of nature including mammals, fish. bugs. etc.  We are born in nature, live in nature, die in nature, and then our bodies go to use in providing helpful nutrients to the soil in nature.

It is very important to have a  spiritual belief throughout your life because if you don't you have nothing to strive for, nothing to live for, no point in continuing on in your life.  This is not what was meant to be if you are like me and believe in the Bible.  If you believe in something you have something to strive for, to be like.  In my instance I strive to do the best I can at everything and be an overall better rounded person.  I work hard to be more like Jesus and God so that I too, hopefully, some day can go to Heaven and spend eternal life with Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.  To me this is my goal and what I live for, but to some it could be something else.  Regardless of what or who you believe in you must believe in something even if you don't know you do, you do because without that you wouldn't have anything to live for and you would be afraid of everything especially death and life after death.

Journal 18-Perfect Autumn Day

To me, a perfect autumn day would be 73 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze here and there hitting me in the face with a cool gust of fresh air.  There would be no rain only a few clouds here and there to break up the sunlight.  The leaves would still be on the trees with their changed colors preparing for their descent to the earth beneath.  The perfect day would be when I grew up and had kids of my own.  It would be one that I didn't have to worry about going to work the next day, didn't have any responsibilities to get accomplished that day, just a day to relax and enjoy with my family.  I can just picture it now, my two boys would be outside throwing the football around running plays and such while my daughter would be playing hopscotch, dolls, doing something girly, or inside with my smokin' wife making snacks and lemonade for all of us.  I can imagine her bringing the  lemonade out to us guys and the sweat beading off of the cup.  The taste grasps your taste buds with a quick punch of sour immediately comforted by the rush of sweet sugar.  The coldness of the glass of lemonade would bring relief to your body and cool you down in a refreshing manner.  A little later I can see her walking out the front door saying it was time to come inside the game was going to begin.  Of course this wouldn't be any old football game, it would be between Alabama Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers.  The Crimson Tide would storm the field in victory as me and my family sat in the living room, with the sun gleaming in through the front windows, watching Alabama stomp all over LSU while eating little wienies wrapped in bacon.  It would be the perfect autumn day getting to bond with my perfect family.

Journal over bonding with nature

I remember one time when I specifically really bonded with nature.  Of course people bond with nature all the time when they take walks in parks or through woods, but they aren't always that amazing and meaningful.  One time when I was with my church on a conference trip here in illinois, we stayed at at cabin like camp in the middle of the woods.  I truely encountered nature and bonded with it during this while we were having "serious" time.  I remember sitting on the ground and looking at the trees, the lake, and the grass.  It really made me realize how awesome our world is and how great nature can be.  I loved that moment and will never forget it.  I figure without nature we wouldnt have any fun in life.  Besides needing it nature has many benefits and fun of it.  I enjoy walking iin neture and feeling the wind in my face, the smells of the trees and pine needles, and feeling the leaves inbetween my toes.  It feels so good and is so much fun.  I have gotten myself so excited about this by thinking about it for this blog I now want to go home and go for a walk.  Seeing nature could entertain me for hours.  That is another reason I enjoy going on vacations and walking on beaches.  Beaches are crazy cool i the fact that if you think every little grain of sand was placed where it was places for a reason.  I also think about all of the fishies in the sea and how much work it would have taken to create them.  It also brings up a good debate between the Creation vs. Evelution debate.  I personally believe that we were created by a Creator and that he made us in his immage.  I also believe that everything was placed for a purpose and he indevidually hand crafted every animal, mammal, fish, or even unicorn in this world.

Journal 16

Some different ways that I could communicate with my group are facebook, twitter, texting, writing letters, calling, and more.  I really think that this project will be pretty easy now since technology is now so advanced.  I plan to be skyping people a ton too.  This is because seeing people visually can help keep each other on topic.  It also is easy to screen share and see what each other is doing.  I have done this before with my friends and all you have to do is go to the little button at the bottom of the screen that says which screen the friend you are Skyping with can see.  You then choose to screen share and they see what your doing.  That means that when I go to the start menu or want to show them a website, they see that.  This will benefit us for when we want to show different articles online that are found or we want to show them a youtube video of a cute little puppy.  Not really that would be off topic and irresponsible of me.  I plan to use facebook to email them back and forth, but make it easy since people get notifications sent to their phones and usually wont check their actual email as often.  That means if I need to get ahold of them for something I can very quickly.  It is also helpful that I have a couple of my members that live very close to me.  That allows for us to go over to each others houses at night and finish things up.  Chris O'Connor and me will be working very hard on this project and want to get a GREAT grade.  When it comes to projects I always want to get my stuff done ahead of time and done correct.  I love hands on things and projects are one of those hands on things.  I am excited to start this project today.

Journal 15

I feel that some of the problems that we will have to overcome are mostly the internet speed.  It will be hard to video chat through this because it lags so much, but typing shouldn't be a problem.  Another problem would be making sure they were continually on track and getting their responsibilities done on time.  This could be a high stress situation and we will have to just relax and trust our group members to get everything done.  We can use many modes of communication and it is a lot easier now that everyone has cellphones and technology is so advanced.  I hope that we will be able to find a time during the school day, say PACE for instance that we can chat through everything for a little.  I plan to text, skype, email, and chat through a social media site with my group members.  Since two thirds of the group will go to this school, it will be a lot more convenient and I will be able to talk to them during lunch and other free times.  I was just informed by you (Captain Langley) that we will be able to access the computers in the library and that will help a ton when it comes down to the end and everything is due.  I hope that I will be assigned responsible partners and be able to get everything accomplished and that through an irresponsible group member my grade doesn't go down.  Google+ will be a very useful mean of communication because it is one of the only social networks allowed during school hours.  I am extremely excited that I am participating in this project and it will be a great learning experience on what its like doing a project with a long distance partner.  This will be great experience for my future and it will be very important since many jobs will require working with someone on the other side of the world on the same project.

Ben Frank's 13 Virtues

Benjamin Franklin's virtues were obviously highly respected and noticed by everyone.  He was one of the wisest men of his time, and didn't boast about it at all.  He was respected by everyone mostly for his good virtues which is significant since this blog is on those virtues.  These virtues were a way to live by and helped you to better yourself if chosen to be followed.  Some of these virtues are Temperance, Silence, Order, etc.  In the instructions we are required to relate these virtues to the philosophies of deism.  This was found from an online source talking about and explaining what Deism actually is in more depth, "Do not accept the belief of most religions that God revealed himself to humanity through the writings of the Bible, the Qur'an or other religious texts." (Robinson)  This means that most Deists don't accept religions involving physical belief, they don't accept religions that say God revealed himself to us through writing the Bible.

Benjamin Franklin's first virtue was, "Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation." (McKay)  This can kind of be related to Deism practices because Deist don't want to allow for the belief in these things and if you drink too much you can lose control of what you are saying and thinking and quite possibly go against your religion until you sober up.  It is the same concept if you don't eat any food, it is a known fact that if you don't eat food you become very weak very quickly and quite possibly could die.  Our bodies require us to eat a significant amount of food a day to stay healthy and get all the nutrients needed for ones self.  If you don't eat enough food you wouldn't be able to spread your religion, which is a main goal of most religions practiced.  Eating too much food and not enough food are opposites and are bad for you either way, yet they still have the same outcome.  If you eat too much junk food, you can become fat and overweight.  when that happens, it is a struggle to get back in shape and most over weight people cannot walk, run, or exert too much energy for long periods of time.  This is mostly because they dont have the will power since it is hard to do.  When this happens it means the religion being practiced by that person cannot be spread in an efficient way and therefore goes against the religion of that person.  That is why we should follow all 13 of Benjamin Franklins virtues, including this one on Temperance, so we can stay healthy and active, and have a happy outlook on our lives.  Ever since I first read these virtues, I have tried to live out my life as closely as possible to them, because I want to live a health, happy life.  I also want to live a long time to see my grandchildrens children, so I want to start healthy young and stay that way throughout my entire liftime.

Robinson, B. A. "Deism: Its History, Beliefs and Practices." ReligiousTolerance.org. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 1999. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.


McKay, Brett and Kate. "Being Virtuous: Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues of Life | The Art of Manliness." The Art of Manliness | Men’s Interests and Lifestyle. The Art of Manliness, 1 June 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. 

Journal 14

If I were Benjamin Franklin's apprentice, I would probably love my job.  Ben Frank was a unique man and always did something exciting (or at least we always hear about the interesting things).  He also invented many useful things that we use to this day.  He was a genius and was remembered for that.  I wouldn't be shocked if I wasn't good enough or efficient enough to be his apprentice simply because he was always busy doing something.  I think that it would be awesome to do all of this stuff.

One morning I woke up and and Ben was standing over my bed.  He told me to get dressed and eat some breakfast.  I was confused because normally he was already doing his daily routine when I got up breaking something or fumbling around playing with some new gadget he had made.  What made this day unique was how Benjamin Franklin changed history.  As it turns out, he had already been up, in fact he hadn't gone to sleep yet since the night before.  I went to bed two past twelve plenty tired.  I suggested to Ben to do the same but know his stubborn attitude he would be up for at least a couple more hours.  Once I had gotten ready, he rushed me out to the old barn in his backyard.  Once he opened the doors I was looking at a metal box, not quite sure what I was looking at.  He said it was a stove.  I didn't quite understand what a stove was until he explained it.  Turns out, it was a pretty cool invention.  It was a way to cook your food at certain temperatures without having to tend it the entire time and you could cook it evenly.  I loved being Ben Franklin's apprentice and it was so much fun.  If i could I would go back in a heartbeat.

Journal 11

For this journal I thought of the aphorism, A penny saved is a penny earned.  This is because saving money is a big deal to me since I have college coming up in my near future.  I want to save lots of money for my future so I can have a great appartment and be able to afford everything in my life.  College will be very expensive and I am worried I wont have enough money saved.

The penny saved is a penny earned aphorism was written by George Herbert and is very widely known to most people.  I like the aphorism because it is easy to depict and understand.  I like thinking that if I were to find a penny on the street and save it, after a long time I could have a significant amount of money and a lot of penny's found.  I also think about how if it were bigger change than pennies I would have even more money.  Although it is pretty self explanatory, A penny saved is a penny earned means if you find money somewhere in your pocket or on the ground, if you save it instead of spending it, you earned it because you chose to save it over spending it.  I typically act this way and are smart about my decisions.  If I choose to save my money, I remember that I can save up to get something that would be useful in my life and more effective instead of a burger from mcdonalds or something.  I think that if I save three dollars that night and do that twenty times, I would have sixty dollars and be able to get a full tank of gas, take someone out to dinner, or even buy a new pair of shoes.  I like being smart about my spendings and do even more when I think about them in this way.  This aphorism has really played a significant role in my life.

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is a very important document in our countries history that shouldn't be taken lightly.  Many people just skim over the article and don't worry about what it says.  Its amazing how much people don't care about their freedom.  Now that i have gotten that out of my system I can move on to my next point.  That is to name the other four authors of the Declaration of Independence not including Thomas Jefferson.  They are the one, the only, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, R. R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman.  Of course there were others that were apart of forming the Declaration, but these were the main five that actually wrote it and came up with the proper words to be used in the proper spaces.  Obviously the Declaration of Independence is going to be almost perfect in grammar and writing, but there were a couple problems found.  These were a couple of errors of faulty logic that I found while reading the Declaration of Independence.

In paragraph two of the Declaration, it states "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal (Jefferson 122)."  This is faulty logic simply because saying all men are created equal means that we all are born free and shall be treated fair, but what it actually means is all of this should happen but it doesn't.  I also felt like this was highly opinionated and falsely stated.  Truth is, back when the Declaration of Independence was being written people weren't all equal and we aren't to this day.  Actually we never will, but that's something we are going to have to come to live with.  Back in the 1770's (mainly 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed) there was a lot of racist people and many racist acts still occurred.  The African American population was still mistreated and not treated equally.  Not even all whites were treated equally.  The government was basically looking for a certain age group of people to be apart of the government and help make decisions for the country.  That is why most of the people responsible for the Declaration of Independence were 35ish years old.  The white male that was younger than this average age group was not enjoyed as much by the government and was treated less that the older male figures.  The men that were of this prime age group got special benefits and were able to get away with more things.  Unlike younger white males, black males and females were treated even worse.  Being obviously unfair, the quote at the beginning of this paragraph was put into the Declaration of Independence to bring safety and security to their race, religion, sex, etc.  This must have brought a huge relief to these people and change a ton of peoples lives through careful depicting and editing of the Declaration.  Besides these small things here and there the Declaration of Independence is spotless and adapts to any time period correctly and in an understandable way.  It was written so it can make sense to all age groups and time periods.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a very original man and a famous one for it.  He is responsible for many of the things in our nations history to this day.  He was around and was apart of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, he created a chart or point system to help better himself, and a lot more.  The point system was using his thirteen virtues he wrote and putting them into play.  He would work on one for the first week and put a dot on the day if he needed to work on it some more.  The next week he would add another virtue and do the same process over until he got to thirteen, then he would start over again.

Besides being one of the most famous men in American History, he was a very accomplished writer.  Benjamin Franklin's writing style was more of a factual type and didn't include a lot of religion.  Of course it was an important thing to him, but instead of using examples in context from the bible, he would adapt them to real life stories.  Being a Diest, Franklin's writings were unlike William Bradford's or Mary Rowlandson's in a very big way.  Since Franklin's writings were from a later time period, they didn't rely so heavily on religion because they were fairly secure as a country.  I know it is horrible to say, but when they didn't need help from God, they didn't ask for it, thank Him, or acknowledge Him at all.  William Bradford and Mary Rowlandson were Puritain's and their beliefs relied heavily on God.  They did everything based off of what they thought God had told them to do.  And since they lived their lives for Jesus, their writing styles had a lot to do with religion.  Although there is such a difference between Franklin's writing style and Bradford's or Rowlandson's, there were a few similarities too.  Benjamin Franklin for instance, didn't incorporate religion into his writings, but he did expect people to help him with anything he needed help with because of their good personality and kind hearts.  Franklin lead people through common sense or Rationalism and thought through his decisions possessing and figuring out which way would be the best to teach or lead the people.  Although Franklin did not use religion in his writings doesn't mean he isn't religious, but it is disrespectful to God if he did believe.  It doesnt bother me too much because Franklin is a national figure, but I do wish that I could make him more of my role model if he did believe in religion more.  Basically, in short terms, Benjamin Franklin did everything a good Christian or religious man would do without the religion.  I don't think that he should be disrespected for this, but I do feel that it should be known more to the people and not a give-away.  Don't get me wrong, Benjamin Franklin was a great man and loved most.  "she offered to lodge me until a passage by some other boat occurred (Franklin 107)."  All in all, I respect Benjamin Franklin, and accept everything that happened based on the simple idea that we have no control over what already happened.



Bradford, William. "from of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 15, 62-67. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. "from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104-108. Print.


Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Journal 12

My rules would be pretty down to earth, but some must be crazy because I am a crazy dude.  One rule must be, you cant eat an ice cream cone upside down.  Seriously though, who eats ice cream upside down?  I would probably have national cowboy month and everyone would have to dress in western attire and act like they were from that time period.  The houses would be redecorated and downtown would be decorated as the square and we would have duels.  The power would be turned off and no running water.  Of course I will be the all time ruler and winner of everything and everyone would be jealous of me.  I would have a three legged horse named Tri-pod and he would live in my house with me.  He use to have four legs, but my wife cheated on me for him so I shot them both in the leg.  Her leg was fine and she healed quickly.  When she got better I kicked her out and had her locked up in the manure barn.  My horse had to have his leg amputated and so he lost his original name and on came the new one.  I loved this horse to death and if he ever got hurt I would have that person taken away to be with my now stinky ex wife.  Other rules might be everyone and everything getting branded with a big CY signifying they belonged to me and I owned them.  We would have duels with air soft guns and have fake wars just in case we ever did go to war we would be prepared.  We then decided horses and pistols werent enough so we invented the sub machine gun, tank, and .50 cal sniper rifle.  Poor enemies never had a chance.  They ran away to never be seen again.  We also nuked mars because we found out it was the origin of mosquito's and we were annoyed by this.  That would be just a couple of my rules I would have for everyone besides non-stop partyin and fun.

The Crisis, No. 1

As you can tell by the date on this post, it is late.  I told you in person but just in case you forgot my internet was not working...aka the security software my dad had on my computer blocked your site.  I guess you have pornography or some other inappropriate stuff on it.  Anyways this story was pretty interesting because it talked about war and I love talking about war and fighting...because I am of the male gender and enjoy that kind of stuff.  It is amazing how much war actually interest the male human being.  I feel that this is mostly for the guns, action, and death.  This is off topic, so i will stop, the main point I feel Thomas Paine was trying to get across in The Crisis, No. 1 was the point that certain people get different treatment in situations and everyone should be judged and treated fairly.  It is seen in modern society that many superstars that go to jail, get out on parole a lot faster than the average human.  Even if they have to stay in jail they usually get good quality furniture and basically live out their lives making jail their home.  Another time could be before the civil war, when there was discrimination between whites and blacks.  Many times if one of the white race committed the same crime as that of one of the black race, the black would be punished and beaten and the white just given a warning.

It says in the book, "...why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other (Paine 136)."  This was a real eye opener to me because I didn't really think about how we still discriminate and judge others unfairly to this day.  The rest of the story was pretty boring to me, but I was stopped by this excerpt of a sentence and thought about it.  We try to eliminate any discrimination in the legal courts, but there always is the possibility for some.  No matter what judge is used, they all are human and able to favor one side more than the other.  As people started to realized this we adapted it and add the jury to the court system.  This helped a lot, but again there is always room for human error.

Basically, all Paine wanted was for people to be treated fairly, and for things to be handled in a rational way.  He wanted the country to be ruled by a monarchy and he hated European ideas.  These seem like they would be easy and ideas that are no big deal, but they were not taken lightly.  Back in the days of Paine, people were opposite of these ideas, and it was a difficult battle for Paine.  Besides wanted to better America in a way he thought was right, I feel like he was trying to pick a fight.  He always argued and to me, his ideas changed as the peoples did.  I think he was one of those peoples who just had to argue with someone about something to feel good about themselves.  Those people are kinda interesting to listen to for the first ten minuted and then they get annoying.  I feel like I wouldn't have liked Pain, but in the end he did change America.

Paine, Thomas. "The Crisis, No. 1." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 132-136. Print.

Emotional problem/Rational Answer- Journal 9

Solving an emotional problem with a rational approach can be kinda hard for me.  I tend to blow things out of proportion by being very irrational and using dramatic examples and stories.  They are usually a lot bigger than normal, but it gets the point across.  One example of when someone was emotional is when they break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend they have had for a couple months because the other cheated on them.  The person tends to be emotional the scale of it just depends on the gender and person it is.  Both are usually emotional because the person who cheated made a mistake and was stupid.  One way to solve this problem is by talking to both of the people and convincing them that it was all just a mistake and they should consider talking to each other, working things out, saying they were sorry, forgiving each other, and getting back together promising it will never happen again.  If this is not possible you can talk to them convincing them to at least be friends since they have already shared so much of their lives with each other.  If this too is unavoidable then you can result to the casual yet serious, "there is someone else out there for you" phrase.  This usually works and helps the person out a lot just hearing it even though they know it.  Hearing it always gets their courage up and make them feel better.  It would be good to intertwine a seriousness about what happened and how to make sure the person is right for you more before officially dating.  This is the perfect way to a great friend to someone and puts a meaning to being there for someone.  I would do it for my best friends like nathan, caleb, ben, connor, josh, etc. in a heartbeat and I hope they would do the same for me if I ever needed it in return.  I cant even imagine how much it would mean to me.

Journal 10

I feel that we should do the vocabulary on Wednesday because we need to get caught up. I have overheard multiple students including myselfstate to you that they need time to get caught up on miscellaneous English assignments. Some of these being blogs, and others being readings you have asked us to read. Either way the more time we have the better. Originally I wanted the English homework assigned on Monday because I wanted to get ahead and not have any stress and feel good for the end of the week. I also have different responsibilities after school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If we do postpone the vocabulary assignment then I can do it tonight and get ahead. When this happens I feel like an accomplished student and ahead. If we do postpone the assignment it gives other people who have limited access to a computer time to find a computer to use. If they have more time to use a computer that means logically more time to do better quality of work and make it neater. This would also give them time so they didn't have to work on it during class, taking away from their time they have to learn from you. Or they might not be able to learn from our in class discussions, making them lose points for not participating, causing their grade to fall. If their grade gets too low they might come ineligible and not be able to play in any sports. Then our sports teams will be let down and we might lose. Based on previous games and performances, our football program needs all of the players possible. With most players in full health we were able to win the previous friday night. Now i have stated everything that I know to help convince you, so it is down to you to choose which way to go. Regardless I plan on doing it tonight, so to me it doesn't matter.

Reflection Blog Over Rationalism and Patrick Henry Speech

At first this reflection blog entry confused me. I didn't completely understand what you were wanting us to write about, but then i was able to put two and two together and figured it out. During the Rationalism time period, many people would talk rationally obviously. This mostly meant be down to earth and posing rational or reasonable questions. They would speak more in a question-like tone to answer questions than to come out with a straight answer. I think that a main reason they did this is because someone realized that if you do that you can trigger the human brain and then the person can answer their own questions. When they are able to do this they feel more accomplished and have a stronger confidence in their own self built up. It also makes them think which is good exercise for the human brain. It helps us feel good all around and not feel lazy. Patrick Henry's speech was a good speech and made sense during the time period simply because he proposed so many questions. Most of these questions were very interesting and brought up some good points and they were all rational and realistic.

Along with stating a lot of different questions, Patrick Henry said something so outrageous and so moving that to this day we still quote him in this speech. The ironic thing about what Patrick Henry said, was that everything else in his speech was rational and reasonable including what I am about to quote, but to most of the government officials what he says about what he wants is crazy talk and out of this world. Patrick Henry says, "Give me liberty or give me death!" This was crazy talk, because most of the people felt free or at least to an extent, but Henry says that he wants complete freedom and liberty in that he wants smaller or none taxes. He also says other things in this speech that are important, but not pertaining to the main point in this reflection blog. I find Patrick Henry's statement a fair statement in the fact that the taxes were fairly high, but not too out of the ball park to threaten your life over it. He was obviously bluffing, and did a great job at it. All in all, it is quite obvious that this played a major role in our everyday lives in America and we should thank Patrick Henry for having the courage to stand up against our government and show that everyone has the freedom of speech and can stick up for what they believe in. Although Patrick Henry's name isn't very common or popular to people, what he said on that day is known by most. Those seven words were what changed America and shaped the country to what it is today. They decided to believe him and were convinced that the people shouldn't have to suffer and try to pay a huge tax, yet they still needed to pay one. This is definitely fair and a great compromise between the two.

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "rationalism." Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 21 September 2011.

Crucible Act IV

During The Crucible: Act IV, most of the time it talked about John Proctor and him admitting to being apart of the witch trials. The book talks about how John thought that God would forgive him more likely if he didn't have material proof with his signature stating that he was apart of them. First things first, I found this interesting and sad that he didn't understand that you don't take anything to heaven with you, meaning that having a sheet of paper with his signature on it, also called PHYSICAL proof, is just the same as saying it. God hears everything and sees everything. Back to what I was saying about John's outlook on life, he felt that admitting to his sins was great and the correct thing to do, but at the same time was afraid that being in association with witch trials meant automatic damnation. He felt that he would not be given the chance to go to heaven. After pondering and weighing out the odds, he decided to choose to admit verbally about the trials, but not in pen on paper. As I said earlier, he felt that if he signed his name he would be rejected into heaven because God takes words more lightly that an official PHYSICAL document. Relating the story of The Crucible and "Sinners in the hands of an angry god" was very easy and quite simple in the fact that they both kinda made sense and played on each other in the overall story or theme of the two. During "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God," Jonathan Edwards basically says that if you do anything that is against the will of God or what God has rules against, you will be sent to hell. He puts in a complicated way, that if you simply break any of Gods rules or do anything different than what Gods says you will be punished with eternal damnation. I feel that when he said this it wasn't 100% what he believed, and more of an exaggeration to scare the people so that they would follow God's word more easily and freely exercising it. It was almost like what John Proctor did, in going around Gods word, in order to follow Gods word. That might be a little confusing, but if you think about it, it will make sense. They were so worried about following the rules of God and so devoted to Him, they forgot to check their own actions and make sure they were following His rules. Both found out when it was too late that they had screwed up. If they would have read their bibles in more depth, they would have realized that God does forgive, and he will accept their forgiveness and give them a second try/chance at everything, they just have to put in more effort at exercising the truth and not their own twist on things. John Proctor needed to realize that a signature on a sheet of paper is no different than a verbal signature or plea. Admitting to something verbally is of the same importance and value as that of a signature on a piece of paper, in Gods eyes.

Edwards, Jonathan. "From Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Autumn.

I love autumn because of a couple reasons. One is because it means closer to winter and that means closer to Christmas, which is something I hope everyone looks forward to. The second biggest reason I love autumn is because it is football season. ROLL TIDE! But besides my love for football I enjoy autumn for the sweatshirts, jeans, and of coarse the bonfires. I love being able to sit around a fire with friends and roast marshmallows. I love being able to just talk to them about anything going on in my life and them being able to help me, but I love most of all playing with fire. I know that when we were younger our parents would always say DONT PLAY WITH FIRE, but we are big kids now and its always a huge temptation. I've always wanted to make a giant torch, and through the help of Joel Harney I was taught the proper way to do so. The trick is to find a very nice branch or stick that is mildly damp and very sturdy. It needs to be roughly a couple inches in diameter and a yard or more long. You then go to your closet and find a couple pairs of old boxers, a couple pairs of old socks (depending on how big you want your torch to be), and finally go to the kitchen a get a lighter. You wrap the boxers around the end of the stick, put your socks over that to hold it sturdy, and then you have a torch. Thats not the final step and I cannot say what it is because that is disclosed information, but I will say that KIDS DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. I am an untrained professional trying this dangerous act at home and dont want anyone else getting injured during the process. If you do decide to go around these guidelines and try this at home, do not attempt inside your house. Your parents will get mad and through large, valuable, heavy, sharp objects at you.

Human Nature- The Crucible Act 3

During freshman year I had the privilege to have Mr. Tadla as my health teacher and I got to learn a lot about human nature. I got to learn that it is normal for people to go into denial and "survival mode." I call it this because during The Crucible most of the characters that were in court and going to go to jail or be hung were in it. This mostly means they will fend for themselves and try to save their lives by blaming others. Abigail did this multiple times along with John Proctor and Reverend Hale. After denying to the jury that they were apart of the witch trials, they realize that evidence puts them there practicing it or apart of the crime in some way. In order to cover their tracks they push the blame off to the other people explaining they were forced to practice it by the others.

I found this most interesting because I was able to understand the stages through what I learned in health class. The five stages of depression, if i remember right, are Anger, Denial, Acceptance, and then two others that I cannot remember. I enjoyed health because I did learn a lot that I use in life and I realize that from time to time. I am happy that it came useful in life and that it was so soon that it did, even though it was two years ago.

It is human nature to be curious about things too. This was very evident and the whole reason for the witch trials in the first place. If the human mind was so intrigued about new things they would have never had any problems in the first place, but because thats not the case there was. The girls, when they were caught in the woods, were just curious about what witchcraft was and were curious about what went on when they did. They were innocent little girls and never wanted to cause harm, but the others in the community didn't see it that way.

A good example from current times is unfortunately drinking. Many adults try to get away with drinking and driving every day of the week. They go and have fun with their friends and then have to go home. They don't want to harm anyone or get in trouble, but when intoxicated you cannot think clearly and many people learn the hard way. Most people pulled over for DUI are because they are not able to drive normally, drove off of the road, or have cause an accident. The worst part about it is, most of the times it is not just a fender bender, most of the crashes result in fatality of the drunk driver or the innocent person in the other car. Whenever something like this happens it is unfortunate and can really ruin the persons life, along with changing the persons family he or she harmed. If pulled over for DUI, the person is usually charged with multiple years in jail, revoked license, and a hefty fine. It really changes your life and people usually lose their jobs too.

Unfortunatally human nature cannot be changed so we have to adapt and learn to live with it. If everyone was smart about their decisions this world would be a better place and the characters from The Crucible learned this the hard way. I enjoyed reading this book so far and cant wait to finish it and see how the fate of the others turns out.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Blaming Bob

If I blamed someone else for something I did I would not only feel guilty for blaming someone else for something I personally did, but I would feel bad for what they had to go through when they got punished. That could be anything from getting a detention at school to getting their keys to their car taken away for a year. The problems or repercussions to blaming somebody else for something is they could turn me in saying it was my fault and start a fight or we might both get punished.

There would be no reason for us both to get punished, or anyone to get punished if we stay honest and trustworthy. This means we cant lie and we must be nice to each other all the time. I know for a fact that I personally wouldn't be able to blame someone else for something I did. This is because my conscience would haunt me until I appologized to that person and resolve the issue telling whoever was in charge that it was my fault, even if that meant I got punished more and had to go sit in the corner. Yes, I am still worried about being sent to the corner in high school, it is a logical punishment for many people and tends to work. Plus my attention span and personality is that of a third grader. But after I resolved the issue a huge burden would be lifted and I would be able to go on in life being friends with that person and explaining I'm sorry and will never do anything like that to them again. This blog was very eye opening to me and I enjoyed writing it. It helped me learn that even though we are all in high school, that doesnt mean that this doesnt apply to us. When were in high school, the usual reason people will get in trouble is for fights, drugs, cheating, and a couple other things, and when the blame is put on someone else that didnt do anything that isnt fair and you should feel horrible for doing that to someone.

True Colors Test Over the Crucible's Characters

During last class we took the True Colors Test and I got blue. I feel that this shouldn't be the correct color for me and so I looked at the rest of the results. As it turns out in a very close second was gold, which I feel suits me more accurately. So if I was asked what color I was I would probable answer blue and gold, because they were such a close finish. If someone asked me what I thought I was I would answer gold.

If you are someone that has never taken the True Colors Test, then you are probably very confused and wondering what all of the colors mean. If you are Green, you are someone who feels/knows that they are always right and are more of the thinkers and the analyst. You want to find a solution to all of the problems and have to fix them or the idea that an unnoticeable problem went wrong and never fixed. If you are a Gold person, you are the leader of the group. You love to lead people and dictate what they should do next. Along with that, when doing projects in class for school, you always volunteer to be the leader, plan what should and has to be done in what amount of time to get done before the due date. You always are paranoid about this and have to make sure that everything is done correctly and by its due date. You probably tend to do most of the work because you know you are right and must finish it. This is why I feel a Gold/Green person would be perfect for a project. Those are like the dynamic duo of project workers. While taking my test, I don't know why I didn't get orange. Orange people are the artistic ones of the group and tend to want to motivate people to make the right decisions and lead them in the correct path. Along with this they try to council the people about other problems. They are very random and hyper and usually have some form of ADHD. Blue people are the romantic ones and want to help people with relationship problems. They are very comforting and emotional in everything and want to help the other people. This is why I found it weird that I was classified as a Blue. I am a little emotional, but honestly I could care less about their relationships.

John Proctor was very easy to classify in this book, because his color stood out so well to me. John was definitely a Green because he always knew he was right, and when he was wrong he was always paranoid about it. An example of this was after his affair with Abigail (Miller 22). Once the witch trials started, John was paranoid about her telling and their secret getting out, but he knew he must fix the problem about the witch trials and affairs, fully aware that he might have to take a hit to his social status. He would have never wanted this, but he became so overwhelmed with something wrong going on, he felt that he must tell someone the truth about the whole thing. The entire story about John Proctors life made the color test analyzing so obvious and simple.

Kalil, Carolyn. "Carolyn Kalil's Personality Quiz." Follow Your True Colors. Web. 11 Sept. 2011.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Getting My Phone Taken

First off, I think it is stupid when my mom takes my phone away from me, because then I have no contact with my friends. When she takes facebook too, I get really mad. At least I don't get in trouble a lot so I don't lose any privileges very often or even for a long time. When I do get in trouble 80% of the time it is because of my grades being fairly poor (below a b) simply because my mom knows that I want to succeed in school and since im still learning she helps me out. I usually dont make too big of a deal about it because when I do she extends the amount of time and I know that i will get the privilege back within a few days. That is why I have never been grounded for more than like three days. I tend to be a good kid and judge most situations on whats funny, whats too far, and whats going to get me in trouble. Notice how i said can judge, I can judge the situation, but I dont always make the right decision to stop and continue until its too far. A good example of when this happens is when me and my young brother are wresling. I tend to win because im a hundred pounds heavier and three years older, so i will usually take it too far until he gets hurt. I dont try to be mean, I just forget that I need to stop its not fun for him. This is actually why I got my phone taken away recenly. I was arguing with my brother and my mom took our phones. I figure a small punishment is fair and neccessary for a strong bulk man like me. The reason being simply because I awesome. I want to formally apologize to my brother for going Hulk Holgan on you all the time and I will try to be more careful in the future and become the worlds best brother.

The Crucible: Act 1

During The Crucible: Act 1, there were multiple things that didn't make sense to me or were very boring. Unfortunately this happens to me a lot and I need to work on this. Along with there being some boring parts in the book, there were some very interesting ones too. As the story starts out Betty was ill or not feeling well and was laying in bed. Then Mr. Paris is curious and looks into her illness and has some doctors look at her. The more and more they searched, the more and more it looked like it had to do with witchcraft. Normally, now-n-days, people wouldn't really care, but back then it was a huge deal. The Puritans were very strict about everything and had many rules to follow by. A couple of these about witchcraft were significant to the book. The whole goal of the Puritans was to "purify" the church, and it was very difficult with the practice of witchcraft going around. Since most of the people in Salem were strict Puritans, they did not tolerate this. If they were to find out about Betty being involved in witchcraft, the social status of her and her closes relatives would drop drastically and they could quite possibly be kicked out of the community. In order for this to not happen, Mr. Paris worked very hard for only a select few to know the truth and what happened. I think this is very important, because he not only risked his reputation, but the reputation of the entire household in order to save Betty's. This just proves that she must have been something special to him. Once Abigail did fess up to practicing witchcraft with Betty in the woods, Mr. Paris was disappointed, but not furious. This made me think that the story was trying to tell us, that he understood what it was like being a young adult curious about everything comes your way. He must have understood that they were just curious and not trying to be bad or cause any harm. I think that he too tried it once and was able to relate to them. Since the communities that the Puritans would live in were made up of not very many people, everyone would know their neighbor as a family member, and everyone knew everyone. This is why Mr. Paris was so paranoid at first about the whole witchcraft thing. He was afraid word would get around about their family and what Betty did. Luckily the people that knew kept their mouths shut. Another bad thing that came from knowing everyone so closely, was they could get on your nerves very easily and you might want to be mean to them back. An easy was to doing this was passing the blame of something like practicing witchcraft for instance off to them. This is exactly what Abigail did to Tituba in The Crucible: Act 1. In the end, I enjoyed the beginning of the book mostly because it isn't something you read every day. Plus it has a good meaning when you think about it too. I would be interested to learn more about witchcraft, not for me to practice, but for me to have more knowledge about.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

The Toll of Traveling

When I travel, I get very excited. I usually tell all my friends and plan what all I want to do weeks before the actual trip. Unfortunately I haven't gone on many big trips or long trips during my life, except for when I went to Jamaica for a mission trip. We, meaning me, my cousin, and my mom went with my dentist down to Jamaica last January. We stayed at a bible camp there up in the mountains and had a spectacular view. We got to spend our afternoons enjoying the scenery and hanging out. During the mornings we got to go out and teach little kids in schools how to brush their teeth and put Fluoride on them. The hardest part about going to Jamaica is not the traveling and the flights, because those are short, but having to get the shots before the trip so we would be safe and healthy during the trip. We also had to drink special water that was purified and clean. This is because the water down in Jamaica does not have Iodine and other chemicals in it to clean it like we have in America, so we don't get sick we drank out of a faucet in the kitchen. Jamaica was a great time and a life changing experience. I learned a lot about kids and how to help God. It was life changing seeing the different economy and what life was like in impoverishment areas in Jamaica. It was really hard seeing the different people walking around spending their days making little money and trying to survive daily. The dentist went and would work on peoples teeth, pulling them if they were rotten and giving out pain killers. If i didn't go to the school, I would go and help organize the people, watch him work, or clean the utensils since there is a special way that has to be done. All in all, I loved doing ministry work in Jamaica and would go back in a heartbeat.

Of Plymouth Plantation-William Bradford

During the discovery of the new world, many people came for many different reasons. Some came for the adventure and for the excitement, while others came to get away from Puritanism. Back in England, many people were being confronted by Puritans to conform to their way and go to the Catholic church. That is why many people called "Pilgrims" came to the new world, they came to start over and search for a new religion. They wanted the freedom to choose for themselves and not be forced to go to the Catholic church.

I am fortunate to have been born in this "new world" just later on when it had been more settled. Once they had enough of a community created, they set a couple rules including: not harming the Native Americans, treating each other fair, helping each other in a time of war, and more. This was the start for a free country. Benefits of having their own freedom, the Pilgrims were able to practice their own religions, do whatever they wanted, and not have to pay any taxes (at least for a while). If I were able to go back to that time, I would have claimed lots of land and tended to it and keeping it until later on in the settling of America. The reason being, I could have sold the land to the government and made lots of money considering I got it for free. All of the things I have said have sounded great and not too bad, but reality was many of the Pilgrims didn't have it easy. They had many encounters with different hardships throughout. While on the boats/ships, many of the settlers to the new world had to deal with sea sickness and starvation (Bradford 15). There were only a select few that didn't get sea sickness and one of these was a man who took advantage of his healthiness and antagonized the others. He would say that he wished to throw their bodies overboard one day and that he would be pleasured to not have them (Bradford 15). As it turns out Karma came back to hurt him, as he became terminally ill soon after all of this and died within a month. The people then got to throw his body over as it was the first to go.

Throughout the story I learned about the different hardships the Pilgrims went through and I learned how much people don't realize about the colonization of the new world. Many people think it was a just a breeze and that being a Pilgrim was great because you didn't have to conform to the practices of the Catholic Church, but really it wasn't that way at all. Many people died during this time and I respect them as soldiers as the essentially died for our country. I feel that we should treat them with respect and we do in a way when we celebrate Thanksgiving. It was first celebrated by the Pilgrims, thanking God for their safe travels and essentially everything, but I think that we should also include thanking the Pilgrims on this day.

Bradford, William. "from of Plymouth Plantation". Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009.

Hostage Situation

One day while walking my dog, Kristen Doley kidnapped me and locked me in her basement. I was there for three or more days with only one meal a day. She would force me to drink the sewage water for hydration. She then took me to a bank that we robbed and stole over thirty six trillion eight hundred and thirty three billion one million one hundred and twenty two thousand six hundred and forty two dollars and seventy six cents. We then ran from the cops and hopped into our private jet and flew to Atlantis. While there we enjoyed life and bought lots of puppies. Why she liked puppies so much I do not know, but whenever they got two years old she took them out to the slaughter house and killed them for dinner. I could not stand this and kept thinking whenever I get out of here I am turning in this horrible person.

One day I met a kid named Daniel "The Dominator" Rayes and we decided to plan and escape route. We found the parts to make a gun and decided to use it. The special thing about this gun is that it shoots water and is awesome. I learned from The Wizard of Oz that witches melt when in contact with water and so we realized our plan just might work. We then chewed out of our handcuff's and wiggled out of the chains. When we got upstairs we caught her by surprise and squirted her with the water gun. She began to scream and steam and finally melted. We didn't want to harm her so we gathered the liquid in a jar and gave it to a science lab. They were able to reconstruct her and she went to jail.

Being a hostage for over a month me and Daniel became very good friends. We even started our own business called Awesome. The hostage situation was life changing, but not in a bad way. Most people are stressed and scared when they are hostages and it is bad, but we actually had a lot of time to bond. This just proves that being a hostage doesn't always have to be a bad thing and if it is good can come from the bad.

Reflection Blog Over Bradstreet and Rowlandson's Work

Mary Rowlandson was very strong in her faith, and never let sin shake the ground she stood on. She went through many hardships during her travels as a slave and was able to cope through them with prayer. The biggest of these being the death of her baby boy. He was only sixish years old and should have had a long healthy life ahead, but the Indians came and ended his life too soon. He didn't die immediately though, he hung on for nine days of pain and starvation. As I quote,"Thus nine days I sat upon my knees, with my babe in my lap, till my flesh was raw again. My child, being even ready to depart this sorrowful world, they bid me carry it out to another wigwam; (I suppose because they would not be troubled with such spectacles;) whither I went with a very heavy heart, and down I sat with the picture of death in my lap. About two hours in the night, my sweet babe, like a lamb, departed this life, on Feb. 18, 1675..." (Rowlandson 83). As you can see he was a fighter, yet the battle was too great for him to conquer. Mary spent most of her younger years though going through hardships like this one, and living on as little as a spoon full of nuts a day. She must have been one of the strongest ladies of her time. Hearing her story made me feel as if my life was a joke and whenever something bad happens to me it is a huge deal to me, but in reality its not that huge of a situation.

In the poem "Upon the Burning of Our House", Anne Bradstreet talks about the fire within her own home. She talks about how nothing was salvaged and nothing remained (Bradstreet 91). If you have ever heard the phrase, "They have nothing, but the clothes on their back," this is exactly what happened to Anne. The fire happened so quickly she didn't have time to save anything. I can relate in a way to this, since my old house burned down around nine years ago. It was a very hard time and we were only able to salvage a few things. I was able to relate to how it felt to her in the story which made it that more realistic for me, and feel like reality.

The two stories have a couple things in common. The first being they were both females, but that isn't of importance. Second, Mary and Anne, both had nothing of their own possession. They basically spent every day in hopes to find food and water, and make enough money to survive. Mary being a slave meant she was give some food on the occasion to keep her alive, but it wasn't a proper and full serving. And when Mary got sold to a new owner the rules and routine would change. She would do a couple side jobs and make a little extra when she could. Anne struggled through, but knew that this wasn't the end of the world. She was able to stay positive through it all. The point being, both of the women had a tragic event take place in their lives, and both of them learned how to make do with what they had and to trust God with it all. They were both very strong Christians, which I feel was the reason they were able to make it through. Most people would have given up, but these ladies put their faith in God and trusted him with the control over their lives. It is just another example of how great God is and the miracles he is able to perform in peoples lives.

 Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009.
Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009.

George the Giraffe-Manners-Journal 2

George the Giraffe was walking home from school once day, when Dave the duck stopped him and invited him over for dinner. George was very hungry and could not decline an offer for free food. He was scared though because George had never been over to a friends for dinner before and was afraid his manners were bad. When he got there he wiped his feet at the door, said thank you for inviting him, and even helped make dinner. He was still paranoid thought that he wasn't showing good manners and wasn't being socially acceptable. George then sat down for dinner and ate a huge meal. He did not talk with his mouth full, he did not chew with his mouth open, he even held his utensils correctly. Once dinner was over George helped Mrs. Duck clean up and did the dishes, while Dave sat around watching the television set. George was confused and wondered if maybe he was being too good and had too much manners.

When he got home, his mom told him to sit down. He was scared and wondered what Dave's mom might have told his mom over the phone while his walk home. When she sat him down she told him that he wasn't in trouble, but needed to work on a few things and that was why they were talking. As it turns out, George worried too much and actually was too good. His mom said to settle down on how much he was helping out with. Mrs. Duck was very thankful for all of the help he gave her, but she said she would have been happier if he would have had fun playing with his friend. As it turns out George learned that manners are good, but most of your good manners are habits and you just have to be yourself. From then on, George went to Dave's house weekly and every time Dave's mom gave a good report and said he was the most well mannered kid she had ever met.

George the Giraffe

George the Giraffe was a small giraffe who spent most of his days in the fields. His parents were the biggest giraffes in all the land and George's father hoped that he might one day be the same. The problem was George didn't have a long neck. He had all the spots, all the looks, even the legs, but he did not have a long neck. One day George's dad was eating and could not reach the leaves towards the bottom of the tree. Since giraffe's can't bend their necks too far, this was a huge problem for the giraffes in Africa. When George was eating his dad saw that he could reach the leaves on the bottom of the tree since his neck was abnormally short. Garry the Giraffe, George's father had a great idea, to make George a legend just like him. He immediately told George and informed all the other Giraffe's. From now on George was to pick all the leaves from the bottom of the tree and store them in baskets that the other Giraffe's could eat. From then on everyone loved George for doing this, except George. He got bored of picking leaves and hanging them in baskets up in the trees for the others. He wanted them to like him for who he was. After that days work George went to talk to his dad, who was not happy with George's decision, but accepted that George didn't like his job.

Everyone went on in life just eating the leaves from the top of the trees, skipping the bottom ones. As the years past, George grew greater and greater becoming the biggest giraffe in all the land. He had the biggest neck and was known for something different than leaf picker. As Garry grew older, he turned over the responsibility as king of the giraffe's land to George who worked hard to be an equally great leader as his father.

Grapes of Wrath- Would I Recommend this Book

No, I would not recommend this book to anyone on the simple account that I did not enjoy it. I am not trying to ruin any intentions someone else might have had to read the book, but for your sake it is not worth it. To me the book was a huge descriptive novel and nothing but that. As I have said before I think the thing that made the book bad for me and no fun to read is the constant describing of what is going on.

There is a line that is crossed when an author goes out of his way to describe what it was like for Ma to sleep with the corps of her husbands mother or what it was like drugging Grampa Joad. Im not saying that it was incorrect doing this and mentioning it in the book, but you don't have to take up a paragraph or a page doing so. All it requires is one sentence and then talking about stubborn old Grampa or about more packing that had to be done. When you spend one paragraph writing about the drugging and another writing about stubborn grampa, thats when excessive description comes into play.

I know that John Steinbeck worked really hard on this book and I'm not trying to crush his little heart. Mostly because I'm pretty sure he will never read this, and second he makes more money each day selling this book than I do in a month. I have a feeling though that someone else thinks the same thing I do. If he would have cut down that book by a hundred pages that would have been a really good novel because it would have been the correct length and it wouldn't have bore the reader like crazy. In the end, although I didn't enjoy it, I am happy and proud to say that I have read this book because I have a feeling it will come in to play sometime later on in life even if that means when my kids are in high school and have to read it.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Grapes of Wrath-Rating and Reason

For Grapes of Wrath, I would give it one star on a scale of five because of how boring the book was. I usually like adventure books, but not this time. This time the author used way too much description and made it hard to even continue reading.

Description is considered a good and helpful attribute to a book, I think that there is a fine line between helpful and beneficial and excessive and overused. Although many people wouldn't agree with me, I feel that the description was taken overboard and used way too much. When you describe things so much that the reader can forget whats actually going on, you know you need to back off. I feel that Steinbeck took what could have been a 200 page book and turned it into a huge novel of 400 pages.

John Steinbeck was and still is a popular writer, but to me this book was not very good. He used his past esperiences of being in the Great Depression and what not to help describe his book which is very helpful, yet it is an easy way to over describe things. He definatally did not find the balance inbetween the two and stuggled with that. I would have enjoyed the book more if there was very little description compared to his page long thoughts about one little thing. If I were him I would have cut back on some of it just in case. This was a prime example of when too much descriptive writing is used some of the readers fail to be impressed and to enjoy the book properly like the author intended. This definatally happened to me when I tried to read this book. I would have to take many breaks to regroup and start reading more about the same thing being repeated and continuing to be described over and over again. In the end I was happy I had read the book, yet I had wished it would have been more exciting.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Fahrenheit 451- Clarisse

Clarisse was a teenage girl that lived down the street from Montag. He met her one night while walking and ever since then had been friends. She would walk with him on his way to work every morning and they would talk about miscellaneous things. Each day it would be something new and they would always wonder new things. One morning Clarisse explained to Montag that she had decided to quit school since it was all brain washing her and it was a waste of time explaining that they just repeated themselves all day everyday taking knowledge away from her, not giving any.

Clarisse was an accomplished girl and had a unique outlook on life. She wasn't a lot to tolerate and she always stayed positive. She would walk in a lot of different places simply wanting to admire nature and her beauty. As her and Montag would walk she would tell him of different stories of her family and how they had come here and what they did. She would explain all about her uncle saying he was the coolest man on earth. She said that he knew a lot about books and had a lot of knowledge that the government would have him killed if they found out. Truth is, they already knew because when Montag asked about Clarisse to Betty he said he had been eyeing her and her family for a while. Saying this, Montag grew scared yet not defeated. He still kept his books and went on in life in his daily routine of getting up, going to work, going to bed, repeat. This book was very interesting to me and I feel that the character Clarisse really took it to a whole different level with her wittyness and kindness. Unfortunatally she was taken out of Montag's life prematurely when a car had hit her while she was walking. This is extremely sad yet good that she was able to move on and be away from this horrible would Montag was in.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 1953. Print.

Fahrenheit 451-Mildred and Betty

Since Mildred and Betty would be considered major characters by many people I decided they deserved a blog analysis too. Since they didn't play a huge role in the book I found that it might be easier to put them on the same blog yet different paragraphs neither pertaining to the other in order to make up my amount of words I had to.

Mildred was the wife of Montag, who called the police and turned him in. She had had enough of his nonsense and just wanted to get back to watching her three walled television set. She was addicted to the thing and kept on begging Montag if they could get the fourth. She would ask him every night and every night he would explain that they just got the third and its extremely expensive. Then she would say something like, "we can go without a few things." After that Montag would have to explain to his persistent yet annoying wife that they already are and that he doesn't plan on getting a fourth television wall anytime soon. Although Montag didn't like the television I found it a clever idea and thought that it would be cool to have one sometime.

Betty was the fire marshal at the fire department where Montag worked. He would continuously harass Montag, who was scared of the Hound saying it tried to attack him the other day. Betty would insist he is imagining things. Betty would also try to brain wash anything Montag had once learned and explain that books are no fun, and are just a waste of time. Betty wasn't the only one that would say this for the entire community thought the same including the government which is why they made books illegal and invented firemen, to start all the fires to burn the books. Towards the beginning of the book I found it interesting that they would use firemen to start fires instead of put them out.

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Ballantine, 1953. Print.