Last Blog of the Year

Last Blog!

     I think blogging was a good experience. It kind of allows you to write about what you feel is important. I enjoyed the Having Your Say blog because we got to write about basically what we wanted to. I didn't enjoy so much during the blogs that we had class specific blogs. I would have enjoyed to blog about more things like the Having Your Say. Also, I did not like the blog where we had to complete the story, I am not a very good creative writer and that just wasn't my cup of tea. That is only my opinion though, I know many people enjoyed writing that blog. I feel like I gave a solid effort on my blogs. There may have been a few that I didn't enjoy and didn't do as well on as a result, but for the majority I took my time while writing them, making sure I knew what I was talking about before writing them. These blogs taught me about other ways to express yourself. They help you get your ideas onto the page in front of you so you can understand yourself better, as cliche as that may sound. I think this blogging is a great idea. 

Miss Wolff

Letter to Miss Wolff

     Some advice that I would give to you would be to have fun with teaching English, because if you love English and show it, kids will be more likely to catch on that enthusiasm and enjoy it too. One thing we did this year that made the class interesting was being able to watch the movies such as The Help to get the feeling for the time of our book and help us understand different characters mind sets as we read. (Maybe finish the movies as well). 

      As far as the research paper goes, definitely do it first semester! It is a big relief when we are finished and don't have to worry about it anymore.

      Another thing that our past teacher did was reviewing for the ACT. We have not reviewed much of what is on the ACT in years because Sophomore year is mostly papers, not grammar. 

      One final piece of advice is to make sure you know how to tell time in the Lutheran way, or Lutheran time. We say things like, "We get out at the 3," instead of "We get out at 12:15." Regardless of whether or not it is easier, most everyone ends up using it, so I would make an effort to join. It will give you a better connection to the kids. 

      Good luck next year! 

Music for The Great Gatsby

To describe Daisy as a character I choose Material Girl by Madonna. In the song she talks about the man with the money always being Mr. Right which is exactly why Daisy picks Tom, for his money, instead of Gatsby, for love. 

Another song that I picked is If I Could Be Like That by 3 Doors Down. This songs talks about wanting to be in someone else's shoes (or having the girl) and that she would be just as happy if it were him instead another guys in those shoes. This Song relates to Gatsby wanting to be in Tom's shoes. He has everything he can possibly get, besides old money, to make Daisy happy and he knows he can make her happy. 

Don't Stop Believing by Journey is another song I though would work in this book. It would work at the end when Gatsby never gives up on Daisy. He always expects her to call even up until he is shot. He never ever gave up on is dream of getting Daisy someday. 

I think that a great overall song for The Great Gatsby, or a theme song would be Lying Eyes by the Eagles. It talks about a girl marrying for money but having an affair because she doesn't love him. It covers the main plot of Daisy's role in the story. 

Mark Twain's Wit

Age

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Mark Twain

    I like this quote because I agree with it so much. When I saw this quote, I immediately thought of my grandpa. He is over 70 and still runs almost everyday and enters a lot of runs around here, most of the time he is the winner only because he is the only one in his age group. But because he doesn't think of his age, it doesn't matter. He can do whatever he puts his mind to, within reason. I hope someday that I will be like that. I will still be doing everything I love, despite my age. I know I may get sad sometime when I'm older that I am getting too old too fast, but then I'm going to try to remember this quote, because it's the truth. Mind over matter and I will do whatever I want, within reason.

What's Good?

HARRY POTTER

 

     This is my favorite series by so far. No other series that I have read can match these. I just love the way that Rowling ties all of the books together. Every single thing in every book had some kind of significance that comes out later. The seventh and last book is really the one that nails everything down. 

     Also, every time that reread the series, it has been 8 times now, I learn something new, or make a connection I never did before. There is just so much packed into them, it's ridiculous. I can never just put them down, once I start I finish that book in a couple of days, usually less. Then, when I do finish it, I run upstairs, grab the next one and start reading that one. I will continue to read them despite the fact that I know what is going to happen.
     They are classic books, and whenever I have kids, I will have them read that series or I'll read it to them if they can't read yet. Anyone who hasn't read them, slash thinks they are dumb, I tell you, don't say that until you have read them, because you wont say that afterward.

Stories of the Quest for Civil Rights

Another Sit-In

The story I found was very short so I will just type it out.
"As we were sitting in at McClellan's in Nashville, persons pulled Paul from his seat next to me and began hitting him roughly. I turned aside in shock, but was trained to do nothing."

civilrights.historybeat.com/gannett.php?page=110458091 

     This story, though short connects to the other stories we've read. The first to the sit in at Woolworth's were there was much violence taking place. This story also had violence. This violence was an uncommon thing at a sit in. It was expected those who choose to do the sitting in. They, had he said, to do nothing. This was also mentioned by Martin Luther King Jr. in his writing Stride Toward Freedom. He says in this writing how he trains all the people he protests with not to react to violence and not to protest by using violence. He tells how this takes the focus off of the problem at hand. There are numerous testimonies just like this out there that prove how many people followed that to get was should have been theirs in the first place.

Augusta Fells Savage (1882 - 1962)

Augusta Fells Savage (1882 - 1962)

     Savage was an artist who lived in Florida. She started out by making clay figures against her father's wishes. She was so passionate about her art that she went to New York to study art and receive training to become an artist. At one point, she applied for a summer art program, but was denied by the French government because of her race. This was how she was like the sisters because though she was denied there, she was determined. She ended up studying with the sculptor Herman Mac Neil.  She became a portrait sculptor and portrayed W.E.B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass, and many other famous black persons of the time. Another way she was like the sisters was that she strived for education. She knew, just like the sisters, that education was the only way to get ahead in life. In the end, she became a teacher just like the sisters were at one time. She did it to help others use their gifts to get ahead just like her.

The Truth about Nature

The Grand Tetons 

     When I went on a cross country trip last summer, I my family and I stay at a hotel in the Grand Tetons, a national park. We went on many hikes, which took a lot out of us but one stands out. We went on a hike up Signal Mountain to get what was supposed to be the best view of the Tetons. We started out and it was fine, and then it gradually got steeper and steeper and harder and harder. Eventually everyone besides my mom was complaining, but that wasn't even the worst of it. The worst part was the mosquitoes. They were always following you and almost never left. It made the whole trip up almost unbearable. We eventually made it to the top, and it was worth it. It was worth the mosquitoes, the work, the heat, all of it. When i saw the view I remembered how beautiful nature as a whole was, and not to focus on the negatives. So on the way back down, I started to ignore the parts that annoyed me, and focus on a small cool breeze that swept the mosquitoes away, if only for a moment. Or the beautiful flowers and animals that we saw on the way down that I was too pessimistic on the way up to see. The nature taught me to focus on the good things rather than the bad.

Affirmations of Life

My Great Day

     Today I had a great day. I woke up with a full 10 hours of sleep under my belt, which hasn't happened in a while. Then I came into school first hour and Megan and I did the egg drop in Physics. We successfully got on our second wall of the year! We tied for second place on the egg drop, under Hannah Williams and tied to Andrew Wieting and Jimmy Clark. That made my day to start out with. I went through the rest of my day, and collected zero homework. Then Megan, Julie, and I made the band senior night posters and were very productive. I then went to my basketball game against Christian Life and we killed, not to mention I scored 4 points! (Never happens). I then came home and had a brownie and chocolate syrup ice cream thing. It was great. Now I figured I would write this blog about my great day. Really great day. 

Having Your Say

Healthiness 

Something that I feel very strongly about is being healthy. I do not understand when people are unhealthy,  overweight and out of shape. When I sit around for more than 1 day, I feel gross and disgusting and quite honestly like a slob.  Now don't get me wrong, I understand when someone has a condition or medical reason why they cannot exercise, but if there is no reason why you can't then why not? There have been so many studies that show when you take care of yourself by doing things like eating healthy, getting enough sleep, and exercising, you tend to do better in athletics, academics, and really anything that you enjoy doing. You can get more out of life because you are able to focus on what you are doing. Now, I'm not saying that you can't eat sugar or don't deserve a day of doing nothing, but these need to be in moderation. I have a huge sweet tooth, and have the hardest time keeping myself under control, but somehow I do it. In order to keep myself healthy, I will eat a really healthy dinner, packed full of fruits, vitamins, protein, and then allow myself one cookie. Or after a day where I do an extremely long or intense workout, then I'll make myself an ice cream sundae. People have to learn to do everything in moderation and for exercising, to learn to stick with it.    That is another thing it helps, your self-control, self-discipline, and initiative. People have to be willing to start, and be able to get themselves to start. If you  have to hire a dietitian, or a trainer because you couldn't possibly go for a run on your  own, so be it. Just get out there. There is no excuse. And because I could talk about t this until this page runs out, which is probably never, I am going to state one last peeve of mine and be done with it. I absolutely hate it when parents give their children no choice but to become unhealthy. They themselves don't exercise. They don't cook healthy meals. They take their family out to fast food every night. They buy a bunch of snack unhealthy food to leave lying around the house. They don't encourage going outside or outdoor activities. THEY ARE DOOMING THEIR CHILDREN. This upsets me because this kid hasn't know anything else and most of the time doesn't even know the first thing about living healthy and may never find out. That is something that irks me. And just as a disclaimer, notice in this post I say healthy, not skinny, healthy. It doesn't matter to me if someone is big-boned or that is just their body type to be sturdier. As long as they are HEALTHY! Seriously people, and trust me when I say this, your whole life improves when you are healthy and fit.

Expressions in Art

Education of African American Young People 

This photo is strongly emotional. It is centered on young African Americans receiving an equal education. The Delaney  sisters valued getting an education more than anything else in life, besides maybe family. One of the said that education is the only way that they can better themselves (speaking for African Americans at the time). The Delaney sisters did just that. They went to school all the way through college despite what people might say about them, or do to them during it. This picture says the same thing. Ruby Bridges went to school in a white school in order to get the same education that every other white child was getting because it was a way to better herself. She went to that school despite the fact that adults lined the streets yelling at her, holding signs, and throwing things at her. She looked past all that and realized that this would better her and her race overall and that she had to do it. What they believed in is true, the only way that you can change things is by first receiving the education to do just that.

Connections from Whitman

Whitman's Ideas on Childhood

    In this poem, Whitman shows a lot about how he thinks children are formed into adults. All throughout their childhoods, kids are experiencing different things. Whether it is the nature around them, or the people they see, the children absorb it and it will always be a memory for them. All of those memories and experiences they have, help them to make decisions on how they think about certain things or their viewpoint on other things. They are also affected a lot by their parents in particular. How the parents talk, or treat others is shown to kids and they absorb and as well. Thinking, if they had good parents, to be respectful of people, etc. or, if they had bad parents, that they can treat other people badly. When the child grows up, everything that they saw had a lasting impression on them, and it will shape their character as an adult.

Emily Dickinson's Garden of Poetry

The Purple Clover

There is a flower that bees prefer,

And butterflies desire;

To gain the purple democrat

The humming-birds aspire.

And whatsoever insect pass,

A honey bears away

Proportioned to his several dearth

And her capacity.

Her face is rounder than the moon,

And ruddier than the gown

Of orchis in the pasture,

Or rhododendron worn.

She doth not wait for June;

Before the world is green

Her sturdy little countenance

Against the wind is seen,

Contending with the grass,

Near kinsman to herself,

For privilege of sod and sun,

Sweet litigants for life.

And when the hills are full,

And newer fashions blow,

Doth not retract a single spice

For pang of jealousy.

Her public is the noon,

Her providence the sun,

Her progress by the bee proclaimed

In sovereign, swerveless tune.

The bravest of the host,

Surrendering the last,

Nor even of defeat aware

When cancelled by the frost.

      This poem is literally talking about the The Purple clover. The clover is used as a main source of nectar  for bees and grows among the grass. It is not defeated easily and when it is cut or moved over, it will continually spring back up, much like a dandelion.  In a symbolic way, this poem could be talking about a women, since she refers to the flower as a she. The clover could represent her beauty and then many men find her attractive. She is also very confident in how she looks and will not be put down when other girls come around, trying to out do her. Eventually, as the frost comes, the women will loose her beauty, perhaps because she got old, or maybe it was something more sudden like a scar or a burn. 

Team Edgar or Team Nathaniel?

TEAM EDGAR

     I am on Team Edgar Poe for sure. I have read Poe for multiple years, in different English classes, so this may impact my decision to choose Poe because I may have not read enough Hawthorne works to truly appreciate him. On the other hand, the works that I have read, were not my style. They had too much symbolism and deeper meaning for me. Along with too much symbolism, there was too much description for my liking. I am a reader who likes when things are happening in books, and tends to skip over parts of large description in books that have no effect on the plot. Poe is an author who still did some symbolism, but not as much or maybe it was just easier to understand his symbols. I also enjoy his story more because they are creepier and more different. It is not some thing you see everyday. Poe is just easier to understand and has a scarier form of writing.