Happy New Year! Happy New Decade To!

The Young Sister, The Elder Sister,

The 16th poem in, "Songs of Myself" in the book "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman, gives us an incite to the people he has seen around him. It tells us of diffrent people in this world and each and every one of them are unique, a single soul doing what they normally do, now captured in time by the words of Whitman. They are all the main character, yet they are united. Each line tells us of someone new, such as: The pure contralto, the carpenter, the married, the piolet, the mate, the farmer, the lunatic and so much more. These people have nothing to do with each other, yet in there own world they are the normal, and they are all up to something.

The introduction of the book, "Leaves of Grass" shows an american spirit. Most poems read during this time period were by European authors. Showing a revoloution of literature, Americans began to write their own things, inspired by the Culture and colours of the United States of America. Likewise in this poem, Whitman shows these colours. He shows the people that make up the country he lives in. All these people make who he is, and make the USA, " And such as it is to be of these more or less I am, and of these one and all I weave the song of myself."

Words Of Walt Whitman

read poems 1-10 of *Leaves of Grass*

Reading the poems by Walt Whitman were quite inspiring. The inspiration was drawn from each line and each word that was read. Reading it out loud, allowed me to make it personal, and make it come from me, my heart. The poems were ones of deep thought, full of nature, questions, and full of emotion. Reading it out loud, changed the perspective of things. I allowed myself to both speak, and hear the poem. Walt Whitman's style shows one of deep thought, one which does not necessarily say wise things, but does indeed make your mind sit and let your curiosity go wild.

The one poem, out of the ten I read, which I found to stick to me the most was the 6th poem. I decided to listen to it, read out loud, which made it come to life. To think that the entire poem just came from a child holding grass. The title itself, "leaves of grass" rustles the imagination to give pure thought. It is perfect the way the poem begins, "A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is, any more than he." It is astonishing how this one line was able to create such an expansion of thought. One of my favorite lines was, "Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation."

This one poem contains many themes. Life, death, Nature VS Humans, and how this is all connected. Another theme that runs through this poem is about how all men are created equally. How we all have grass underneath our feet in life, and how many of us will one day be buried underneath that grass in death. The last line is also makes your mind think,"All goes onward and outward—nothing collapses;
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier." Is death actually luckier? Or is it just an ending, like in a poem.

A Simple Soul style.

Flauberts style is very descriptive and influences the way the reader thinks. His word choice is very important since he is able to make the character he describes appear ridiculous or powerful. His style is tends to be very technical. Also, this story was originally written in french, so when you translate it into a diffrent language, it is no longer the same idea as before. A language is not just sounds, but ideas. That is one reason why jokes made in spanish do not make sense when translated into english.

strike one

"When I was a teen-ager, I wrote a science-fiction story about Leonardo da Vinci. In it, a young art historian becomes fascinated with Leonardo's otherworldly paintings, with their strange rocky backgrounds, unplaceable landscapes, and enigmatic not-quite-human saints, their single fingers forever pointing strangely upward. To make a long, and rather shamelessly Rod Serlingish, story short, the art historian eventually discovers, in a previously unknown codex, that Leonardo was an alien, that the rocks were the landscape of his native planet, and that the fingers were poinging longingly back home."- From book review by the New Yorker Adam Gopnick
Teachers instructions: Finish Gopniks story

A young historian, around the age of 24 or 25, was always fascinated by the history created by men and women, who would tend to stick out in history. His main fascination surrounded the man called Leonardo Da Vinci. To him, Leonardo Da Vinci was a sort of mystery. The landscapes in his painting were unusual, and unplaceable. All the people in the paintings pointed up to no where, and women with famous smiles stayed forever analysed. This man was a Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. How could one man be so many at once? The young historian knew that there must be an explanation. Later that afternoon the historian went to a private Da Vinci exhibition, the head of the museum would allow him to look at all the pieces he wanted to.

At the end of the exhibition, the historian left with a piece of paper he found in one of the machines that Da Vinci created. For some reason, he had a hunch that this would explain the mystery's of the man, and it did. He found a man who would translate the backwards Italian writing, and began his quest to solve a historic mystery.

After several months, he found that Leonardo was no ordinary man, with other pieces of evidence, he found that Leonardo was no man, but an alien. The rocks in the paintings were the landscape of his native planet, and that the fingers he painted were pointing longingly back home. What was he to do with this evidence now? Leave it to history to decide? No, he is a historian, and he must find the end to this. Were Da Vincis creations simplified versions of more complicated things from his last planet? The alien accomplished more than any normal man would so perhaps his Machines were simplified for the minds of humans. Why did the alien come? The start of embarrassing the twists and turns of history, the historian was setting the world on a scavenge hunt to find a new friend. A new type of creature, smarter than us and perhaps more advanced than us.

NAMES: Used to Identify Someone Or Something

All of our names mean something to us in this world. Weather it actually had some background to it, or it just sounds like a "happy" or "angry" name. But in the end, each and everyone of our names forms part of who we are. It is our identity, and with another name, people would react to us differently and our whole world would change. Lets look at the meaning and feeling of some of the names in:

Oedipa: Her name has more vowels than consonants. By doing some of my google research, I found that not that many people are called by this name, actually I don't think anyone is. Possibly, Random, Made up, Name.

Mucho Mass: Now if we pretended that was Spanish, and translated it into english. Oedipas husbands name would mean," a lot more". Now unlike his wife's name, his name actually has more consonants. Also, Both his first and last name start with the same letter.

The Paranoids: The name speaks for itself. A paranoid Band called the Paranoids.

Metzger- I find this to be a funny name. It sound German, and has a very sharp tone to it. Sound like a know it all.

Dr. Hilarius : That sounds Hilarious. Crazy, gone mad.

Thats all the names I want to analyse for today. Buzy Buzy Buzy Busy.

Guy: I want to rock with you Girl: AHHHHHHHHH!

Okay, So Oedipa goes to find out if she can be a, "sensitive". Nefastis tells her she has to contact the devil, but she can't. So now we know she is NOT a "sensitive". Now thats all fine. Oedipa discovers she has no talent what so ever to be a "sensitive." But what I don't like is the fact that Nefastis tries to pressure her to have ... to do it..., that is have sex. What was he thinking? Did he think she was there because she found him attractive? I think not. I love what Oedipa does next, she runs out of the place screaming. Good for her. But I'm still disappointed she had sex with Metzer. Leave the love for your husband.

W.A.S.T.E

What does the hieroglyphic mean? What does W.A.S.T.E mean? Chapter 4 does not reveal that much, and we know about just as much as we did when we read chapter 3. We now know that WASTE is not pronounced like a word, instead each individual letter is pronounce separately since it is an acronym, "It's W.A.S.T.E., lad, an acronym, not 'waste,' and we had best not go into it any further." The man saying that they should not go into the subject any further, makes it appear like a secret underworld mystery. The main Character, Oedipa, realises that an old man has a ring with the hieroglyphic on it. She asks about it, and he just shrugs. We also know that the symbol is ,"A post horn the Thurn and Taxis Symbol," and that it was their, "coat of arm" and that "Tacit lies the gold once-knotted horn." I don't know what the author of the book is trying to get to, but at the same time, I don't know what I'm trying to get to with this blog.

Interested In Sophisticated Fun?

Ah Ha! So this is the lost key in the book! Yo Ho! I have found it! The symbol from the front cover. **huzzah*** Okay time to ANNALISE.
Full Quote:
"Interested in sophisticated fun? You, hubby, girl friends. The more the merrier. Get in touch with Kirby, through WASTE only, Box 7391"

Now, Oedipa thought it might be something sexual, "but she somehow doubted it." She then mentions how she dislikes hieroglyphics.

So what does this Hieroglyphic mean? First off: What is a Hieroglyphic?

Hieroglyphic: letters or symbols that are written or imprinted on a surface to represent the sounds or words of a language.

So the symbol on the page (or in the book, on the bathroom wall) has a significant meaning to it. Off course this book can't be taken completely serious, so does it have a significance?

Also does WASTE stand for something? It can't just mean garbage, can it? Interesting, truly interesting. Is this where the real story begins? Does the Secret Mailing system have anything to do with it.

We shall see.

Paranoid

Miles' Song
Too fat to Frug,
That's what you tell me all the time,
When you really try'n' to put me down,
But I'm hip,
So close your big fat lip,
Yeah, baby,
I may be too fat to frug,
But at least I ain't too slim to swim.

Oedipa: "Its lovely, but why do you sing with an English accent when you don't talk that way?"

Miles: It's this group I'm in, the paranoids. We're new yet. Our manager says we should sing like that. We watch English movies a lot, for the accent."

Oedipa: "My husband is a disk jockey, it's only a thousand-watt station, but if you had anything like a tape I could give it to him to plug."

Miles: "In return for what? Do you want what I think you want? This is the Payola Kid here, you know."..... "Oh, You hate me too"

Oedipa: "You ARE paranoid"

Miles: "I have a smooth young body, I thought you older chicks went for that."

My Response

I did not understand the song at first, but after reading it several times, I realised its a little perverted. The conversation between the two people is very interesting. Usually you expect it to be the other way around (Young lady with Elder Man instead of other). What I want to know is why he thought she wanted to go sexual with him. My favorite line in this conversation was , "you ARE paranoid." That line just completes the conversation for me, and its so funny and ironic because his band IS called Paranoid. He should not become famous if he is going to be paranoid. To many stalkers when your famous.

Why Can't I Read?

Today I started reading the book, 'The Crying of Lot 49', and for some reason I could not understand a single word I read. It was as if I were learning a new language, trying to read a book from that language. But maybe its because this book is from another world, which I don't read to much on, the satirical world. Things such as, "three generations of smokers", hanging up on people, booze, and the second world war, confused me so much. The change of topic seemed to be in every single sentence, but the change of topic was so smooth that you did not notice the change until you were halfway through the next sentence.

The name of the character, 'Oedipa' is interesting. I don't think I know that many names that have more vowels than consonants in it. At least not well known names such as, 'Charles', 'Stephanie', 'Bob', 'Michael' etc...Well, I think I will go re read that chapter, and give you a proper view of it. Or you may just have to read a blog about my thoughts on chapter two.

(painting by Pablo Picasso)

After finishing watching one of those violent police shows (which I normally don't watch). It made me think back to what Dawkins said about altruistic, and selfishness. Why are we naturally like this? In the movie the top gangster man had just been captured by police. Turns out that some of the police were involved in all the blood money the top gangster man had. Now the Gangster guy was captured, he was going to be killed, along with other police that had nothing to do with the blood money. Selfishness. The selfishness of the boss policeman (now bad guy in movie) led him to kill off innocent lives. The gangster man, who was first seen as a bad guy, used altruistic, and so did the other leading policeman. They saved each others lives, even though it meant to put one another in danger. The bad guys were all about me.

In part ways, Dawkins theory could be true. It could be all part of our genes, our way of life. But I believe that it is our culture that has lead us to think this way. Movies, media, and books, are a big influence in our lives. Humans might as well be the most selfish and altruistic creatures that stand on this earth. Richard Dawkins says that all creatures are here to fight. We are here to fight for the same sources, such as mates, food, and living space. Reading this makes me think that this could be a reason there is so much a mess in this world. He suggests that this selfishness comes from a small part of our DNA. Is it so? It scares me so. That's all I have on my mind. Good night.

Soup Eating Machine

So we survival machines eat one another.Dawkins suggests that the first specimens ate a kind of "soup". These later on became plants, and some animals. Do we continue to eat the soup? Plants use sun and water for energy. That energy is passed down to animals that eat other animals. When these animals die, the minerals from their bodies is used by plants. So its a cycle. Why is it compared to a soup? Maybe because a soup contains various foods and condiments. Just like our bodies. Our bodies need iron, vitamins, Calcium, water, carbohydrates: Is it a mixture like a soup?

Work That Body

Car; Body

-Engines: Muscles
. - Levers: Bones
. - Hinges: Joints
.- Cords: Tendons

-Electronic Computer: Nerve Cells
-Hundreds of Transistors: Human Brain
-Telephone Cables: Axons

-Store: Memory

- Programer and Program: Father and Son: Genes and Survival machine.

-WC: Digestive System

Groove. Slam. Work it back. Filter that. Robotic Life Track.

Lets see. A car can move (animals can move), a car can release fumes (animals excrete), a car needs gasoline and water to keep going (animals need food and water) and a car needs to be taken care of so it won't get damaged (animals need to take care of themselves so it won't die). So how does this stop us from saying that a car is not alive?

In the book, 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins, it is suggested that, "We are survival machines"(pg21). Its true, all the different species are made differently and are genetically different. Just like a Car is different from a motorcycle, and a motorcycle to a boat. We have animals that go by sea and animals that go by land. That's exactly what Mr. Dawkin shows us, at least that's what I understood, "Different sorts of machines appear very different on the outside and internal organs", just like a car and an airplane.

Later on in the book, on page 24, Mr. Dawkins states, "A survival machine is a vehicle containing not just one gene but many thousands." Than on the last page of the chapter he says,"It is to survival machines themselves, and the sense in which genes may be said to control their behaviour, that we turn the next chapter."

But wait, yes I realise that this is just a comparison, machines can't think, and machines don't have genes. What separates living things from non living things? To try and answer questions like these, biologists use a list of things that living organisms show: Respire, Movement, Nourishment (by themselves), Grow and develop (cars can't grow), Excretion, and Reproduction.
TA DA.

"We Are Born Selfish" (pg three The Selfish Gene)

I am now currently reading a book called, "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. The book was written in 1976 which caused a wave of excitement among biologists and the general public during its time. After reading chapter one and two of "The Selfish Gene" I decided to do some research on Richard Darwin.

Based on the first two chapters, he appears educated in what he is talking about. He is prepared to declare openly what he believes in, and he explains how human nature is selfish, and how our genes effect our personality. He shows us both examples of Selfishness and altruism. I later found that this man is an atheist, which may explain even more why his belief in evolution is very strong. It is also to be found that he seems to believe that religion is a delusion. This makes me wonder : How much of his belief influenced his opinions for the book, "The Selfish Gene." As I can see in the book, he provides evidence to his beliefs, and clarifies what the book is, and what the book isn't.

Culture Shock (Candide Voltaire Chapters XVI-XVIII)

Candide Voltaire is man from Germany. From Westaphilia to be exact, but it does not seem to me that he has been around the world that much. When he is out of his own country, he seems to be in culture shock. Something that I have experienced my whole life. Moving from country to country I always see new customs, new holidays, and new ways of life. I should not be surprised since I have moved plenty of times, yet I still get the same shock value Candide gets when he is picked up and dropped in another place. We can see this shock when he did not expect the woman to have monkeys as lovers. We can see this shock when he is surprised that the kings children are trained to despise gold ans precious stones. We also see this shock, when everyone blames the earthquake on him and on poor old Pangloss. Why do we get culture shock? I suppose its human nature. It has been happening ever since the beginning of man kind. Cause and effect? Right Candide?




I have never lived in the United States, although I am an American. So this video came as both as a shock (as an American) but I found it true, as a globe trotter.

Are you afraid of the world? Are you afraid of Americans?
The following video shows American culture. One of many in this world of confusion.

Killed ( Voltaire, Candide Chapeter XV)

How can anybody be so dumb? Candide just met up with his beloved Cunegondes brother and what happens? He ends up killing him. Well that's a nice way to say, "Hello, great to see you." Off course the killing does not happen immediately, but Cunegonde does not even have a chance to know that her brother was still alive before he was officially killed. Candide killing Cunegondes brother seems to have even come to a surprise to him. They were going to go and both save Cunegonde. But instead Candide opened his big mouth and told Cunegondes bro that he was planning on getting married to her. I suppose that's what sparked up the small fight and than the death of Cunegondes brother. "O God! What have I done! I have killed my old master, my friend and my brother in law!"(Candide Voltaire pg67) yes you have Candide. Now what are you going to do? How are you going to tell Cunegonde? How can anybody be so dumb?

Six Word Memoir Practice

-Why do words change the soul?


-Maybe I care way too much.


-A globe-trotter, trotting too much.


- My mother was right, this is life.


-I can not tell a lie.


- Life is a big old book.


- Student: live for those "ah-ha" moments


-A stranger in strange world.




-Not quite what I was planning.

It Was Amusing Of The Good Woman To Pretend To Be More Unfortunate Then She

When one is suffering, we belive that nobody else has suffered as much as we have. For example, Cunegonde finds it incredible that the old lady says, "You haven't had misfortunes like mine to bear, I assure you." Who could go thourgh a worse experience than Cunegonde? No one! Nobody had two stabs into his or her belly. No one had been as unlucky to see thier own parents being butchered infront of thier own eyes. Nobody had seen thier lover flogged and nobody had gone from rich to poor. Nope, absoloutely nobody had suffered as much as poor Cunegonde. It just was not possible.

But to Cunegonde's surprise, this ugly looking old lady use to be a princess, and a very pretty princess at that to. Striped away from her own country and majestic ways of life. The old lady was captured by pirates, as a young fair lady. Her mother and everyone else who was on the ship with her was also captured. The young fair ladys company is slaughtered, and her virginity (which was being saved for a prince) is also taken from her. She almost died, but what may be worse than death is that she lost everything know to her.

Doesn't this happen in daily life? Talking to a friend on MSN. She told me about another MSN conversation she had with another friend of hers. They were comparing thier lives to one another. She told me her experience in life, and how it was worse than the other girls. But looking at her explanation of what the other girl had gone through, I realised that both of them had been through completely diffrent things, but they were just about equal on what had gone "wrong" in thier lives. We all suffer one way or another in life, but out thier in this world thier is always someone who has things worse or better than us. Sometimes we forget that, and just think of ourselves.

Eros and Pysche Are Watching

The drama of Love and Soul evolves into a comedy full of wonder and we never know what is going to happen. The Love and Soul in Greek Mythology is represented by Eros and Psyche. They themselves are lovers with drama diffused into the stories of their love. These Greek gods now play with the outcome of our love lives and with the love life of Candide and his lover Cunegonde.

As Eros sleeps and Psyche walks down the stairs. The growing curiosity in the soul begins to form in both Candide and Cunegonde about one another. This silent curiosity is played by flirts, they are in love and they are young, like Psyche.

Psyche finally walks up close to get a good view of her husband, Eros, and as she does this candle wax falls from the candelabra she is holding and burns Eros. They stare and she blows out her candle, now she will suffer. In the book of Candide they control the story, and Cunegondes mother finds out about their love and Candide is kicked out, Eros skin burns. As Candide is now left alone on the streets to wonder he finds out from his teacher that Cunegonde is dead; Eros stares in disbelief into the eyes of Psyche, he is now wide awake, and her candle is blown out.

Both Candide and Cunegonde suffer in different ways. Eros heals his wound as he is still shocked at what Psyche did. Psyche must suffer and she does, she is punished for her wrong doing, just like Candide was kicked out of the house he was living in Westphalia.

The earthquake is like Zeus saying, "enough is enough" which allows Candide and Cunegonde to join again. Eros and Psyche begin to move closer to each other. Candide does not know Cunegonde is alive, but at last they see each other. Eros and Pysche begin to flirt. Candide and Cunegonde are in shock, and they begin with small flirtatious talk. Eros and Psyche kiss and Candides and Cunegondes happiness has grown to another level.

Does Eros and Psyche play along with this relationship? Cause and effect? Who knows?

A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea

Why would somebody be so careless and greedy? Why would they take things from others that is not theirs. I write with a confusion, and a wish to understand. In Candide, a Sailor takes money from the unfortunate. Who have just suffered in an earthquake. Off course I understand that the chapter is full of satyr, it was one of the many things I wished to write about. But this is one thing that stuck to my mind. The tragedy of how humans are greedy, and how humans (not trying to generalize) can sometimes just think only about themselves and not others.

Candide's teacher, Pangloss, tells the wretched sailor to not do that, "This will never do, my friend: you are not obeying the universal rule of reason: you have misjudged the occasion." The sailor simply replies, "bloody hell, I am a sailor and was born in Batavia. I have had to trample on the crucifix four times in various trips I've been to Japan. I'm not the man for your Universal reason." Then who is? How can we expect peace and tranquility in this world if all we end up with is carelessness. But unlike the careless in this world, fortunately we have the caring loving people in this world as well. Pangloss is one of those people. His wise words show that he cares, he sees the pain, the anger and the agony.

Change

From the moment Candide is thrown out into the streets for falling in love with Lady Cunegonde change takes place. Not only in his new life, but in his past life. We learn this from his teacher, Pagloss, who we now come to see again, all frail, sick, tired, and in such a mess that we wonder why he was kicked out aswell. In Candides past life he was living in a rich neighborhood. Now he is poor, and does not have enough money to pay for bread. Lady Cunegonde is dead, and things have gone into ruins. Change also shows us how we may react diffrently depending on what our position is.

Time does not move slowly, and neither does change. It can be as slow as the grass grows, or striking fast like lightening.

The Silly Philosopher Is Safe.

War, gullibility, and temptation are all seen in the second chapter of, 'Candide Voltaire'. War is played out to be heroic in movies. Devastating yet heroic. Candide is our hero in this chapter, but much like Billy Pilgrim in 'Slaughter House Five' he is silly, or at least appears silly so far.

Unlike Billy Pilgrim, Candide actually has a good body for war. His teachers call him a 'prodigy.' I don't think there are that many James Bonds, and I certainly do not believe that there are that many prodigies in war. Movies show our modern heros as strong tough guys, who can out witt anyone. They are always for our side, and are always sientificly correct and annalyze things. Meanwhile the real heros today die for our country, many of them end up with wounds, and the smarts does not only come from one person, but from many people.

One may also question how the power to chosse whether or not someone is to live or die is able to be under the thumb of one person. Candide is almost killed for running from the camp. He was first whipped than almost beheaded. But fortunately, for him, a king comes and stops the slaughter.

The silly philosopher is safe.

"It is proved that things cannot be other than they are, fo9r since everything was made for a purpose, it follows that everything is made for a purpose it follows that everything is made for the best purpose."- Voltaire Candide or optimism



Immediately after reading chapter one, in Voltaire Candide, I immediately went back to this line, and thought it might be a good idea for myself to analyze it and see how it concides with real life.



Is it true? Does everything have a true destiny? Is everything made for a purpose? The book gives us some examples: "our noses were made to carry spectacles, so we have spectacles. Legs were clearly intended for breeches, and we wear them . Stones were meant for carving and for building houses, and that is why my lord has the most beautiful house/ and since pigs were made to be eaten, we eat pork all the year round."



Maybe this is also true for people. George Washington had the destiny to become the first president of the United States. Martin Luther King had the destiny to change the history of the views of races in America, and the destiny to die soon after. I believe in totla we are all part of one destiny : the worlds future.

You Are Foolish if You Want the People you love to live Forever.

It is quite true that we should not expect people to live forever. Actually, we should not expect that things in life will last forever, unless it is something like our name (but even that can change). I don't think it is stupid for someone to want something to last forever. Its just human nature ("if they say why? why? tell em that its human nature"). Another thing that is true, is that we can not control everything in life, as was found in English class. In English class our teacher showed us a recording of a radio station of how our mind works. We are not even in control of the way our brain works, and not necessarily of what we will choose in life.
Fun no?

Going Back to Blogs

Indeed this blog has nothing to do with what is done in class, but instead with what we are learning outside of class.

Today I sat here at my computer, finishing my homework, and fooling around on the internet. My boredom began to grow as I realised that today I really did not have an interest in going on the internet to find wild fun facts Ive never known. I finally ended up staring at the screen, looking at my mouse and typing away to the blogger website. I already have a separate blog either than the one I have in class, but I much prefered writing about something that I have already learned in class.

With not a clue what to write about, I skimmed over other peoples blogs and decided to take a look at some of our english teachers tips. As I tried to dissolve the facts in my head a question finally poped up, " What makes a blog such a good blog?" My curiousity grew, "how can I catch the attention of people who read blogs?" again I asked myself another question, "how can I get the people who are interested about the same things as I am to enjoy what they see?" These questions I hope to answer.

I don't want to bore my reader to death (am I already doing that?), and I don't want the reader to just be interested once and never think about my writing again. I want to be able to write something that will stay in the persons mind. Perhaps the best way is to be honest, and is to say what I really believe. Or maybe I should pay more attention in class, and read more of Mr. Tangens tips.


Tangen tips from everyones blogs in general:

"use more vocabulary"
"get more in depth"
"Don't be wordy"
"cite titles correctly"
"I'd like to see paragraphs"
"please proof read this"
"do closer reading"

Some interesting things said by Mr. Tangent

"Shakespeare very well may have read Epictetus. Welcome to the realm of the Great Books! What might you write to contribute?"

Dear Mr. Frost

Dear Mr. Frost

I have just read your quite dashing poem. I must say that I find the way your mind works interesting, but I would also highly recommend you to read my book, "The Handbook of Epictetus." There are many out there in our wild world who have found the book quite interesting and helpful. I truely believe it is the book for you.

Reading your life like poem I believe I must tell you a few things. Whatever path you end up on you must accept it. Accepting what happens in life is far more fun and adventurous than standing at the beginning of two paths trying to plot your way.

I'm quite satisfied with the fact that you choose a path that most people did not take. Since that shows that your personality does not want quite what others have. You are not saying, "that boys hat is outstanding" instead you are saying, "I like my style. I believe in myself, and my hat is outstanding." Bravo Mr.Frost.

But then again, do remember: You can not control what goes on in the path of life. You must go on and see.

Sincerely,

Epictetus.

Trying to Understand

Numbers 6 - 10 for Epictetus
6. What I see is that we should be happy for others when they succeed, but its even better when we are happy when we succeed. We are not going to get anything out of other peoples greatness.

7. Perhaps what Epictetus wanted to tell us in seven is that we should not get caught up in worldly things, because there are far more important things out there.

8. I believe here we are told that if we want life to go the way we plan it, we will live miserably. But if we wait to see what happens, we will live much better.

9. This passage shows us that illness should not change our morals, or the people we love.

10. I find this interesting. I shall translate it as, "when you go through a situation in life, think about how you will react to it"

Hand Book of Epictetus- My thoughts

Handy Dandy Handbook for life.

1. First section of Epitetus handbook shows that we can not control everything in life. We must accept changes. We must accept change and accept the things we can change.

2. Of what I understood. You may want something but you may not always get it. Desire does not lead to your choice

3. Once again did not understand this one so well. But I suppose it means: If you want to do something good and righteous, do it before it is to late.

4. Did not understand.

5. If we don't judge something it becomes nothing. But because of our judgement it becomes something.

So it goes

Billy Pilgrim finally leaves us at the end of the book and we are brought back to the first person we met in this book, Kurt Vonnegut. He tells us about what Billy does after Dresden. He explains some reasons for the story and he tells us about several people who have died in that year. So it goes.
This makes me think of today. During that time Robert Kennedy died, Martin Luther King died and his father died. He starts the chapter with so it goes. He talks about the soldiers of war and that brings me to today. Now there are soldiers of war in the middle eastern world from the USA that have died and this year many famous people have died. So it goes.

Diffrent things at Diffrent times

Chapter 9 was pretty interesting. It showed a continuation of what happened after the plane crash that Billy Pilgrim was in. Rushed to the hospital. He then laid in a bed next to an old man in his 70s. The 70 year old man See's himself more as in his 40s and has a wife that is 22 years old. His wife is a high school drop out and is extremely pretty yet extremely stupid. Her IQ is 103. Having a 22 year old as his wife this old man believes it just makes him look more like superman. I believe it makes him look more dumb and useless. Why is he using her? He barely knows her yet he takes advantage of her stupidity. What I do like about the old man is that he takes care of himself and is constantly curious about history,. But as I what I can see in the book he is an annoying old man who believes everyone should agree with him. For example he believes that weak people should die, yet the doctor's disagree with him and know that every life should be allowed a chance to live. This man believes that to be the "macho man" he has to be with a young girl. It seems that he believes it will make him appear younger. Yet he is old enough to be her father, actually her grandfather. As the people from the Netherlands say, "sjeesj."

The drastic amount of effort Billy's wife puts is almost exaggerated. It is true she is extremely involve with Billy, but with her impatience she loses her life. This scene reminds me of what my mother sometimes says, "It is better to lose one second in your life, than your life in one second." I believe because of her impatience she managed to lose her life in one second. Off course it was out of love, but by her dying this may make Billy suffer more. Although he might just remember what the tralmaphadorians say. Now his wife is dead. So it goes.

Kilgore Trout : " You Think Money Grows On Trees?"

We already know that Billy reads Science Fiction Novels. But what we might not have remembered was the author the writer mentioned in chapter five : Kilgore Trout. That's one of Billys Favorite authors.

We first hear about this man in Chapter five and he is mentioned by Rosewater, Billy's friend in the asylum, he was reading "The Gospel From Outer Space, by Kilgore Trout. Rose Water later says, "Jesus- if Kilgore Trout could only write!" It is then explained that Trout's unpopularity was deserved. His prose was Frightful. Only his ideas were good.

Its strange that Billy would become intrigued by such unpopular books, written by such an unpopular author. Off course everything Billy does is fairly strange, even his time travel. Time Travel may be the reason why he is interested in Trouts books. Trout is a Science Fiction writer and Billy is in a science fiction world.

Unfortunately for him, no one shares his enthusiasm for Trouts books. But fortunately he is able to meet one of his favorite authors in chapter 8. The first words we hear from this man are, "Hell no, You think money grows on Trees?" Billies reaction is much like the reaction of a person who meets a celebrity. "Are-are you KILGORE Trout?" I believe his shock is of one meeting a celebrity you know about but have never met, "The-the writer?"

The unpopular author can not believe this man is a fan of his books. So far it seems like they are off to a good start. They don't live that far from each other either.

"Vunce a veek ve get our pay. Holy s**** no vork next day"

Finally in chapter seven we see the plane crash that Billy Pilgrim was in. The one that was spoken about in earlier chapters but never described. He flies with his wife, Valencia, and with his father in law, Lionel Merble.

I found his father in law a little vulgar and did not appreciate his taste in song choice, even though it may appear funny to him. As the scene goes on and we get closer to the time where Billy is going to be in an airplane crash, I began to wonder, "why is he so calm?" I found it strange that he was not even a tad bit scared. I also wondered, "will his wife survive. Since the writer said they all died but Billy."

After the crash when he is rescued by two German ski instructors I wonder where the address "schlachthof-funf." Billy had a brain surgery and it made me think, "did that change the way he viewed things?"

So many questions and non have been answered yet.

I Disagree With The Class + DC Blog

I Disagree With The Class

In English class, yesterday, we spoke of metaphiction. We said that the character Billy actually might be the writer Kurt Vonnegut, but after reading chapter 5 and chapter 6 thoroughly, I would have to say I disagree. I believe Kurt is a man who went through a similar experience as Billy, but I don't think it is the same man.

I went back to the quote that one of the girls read out in class yesterday to analyse just why the character Billy Pilgrim might represent Kurt Vonnegut, " That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book." I had not yet read chapter 5, and I was just skimming through the book and I think just reading that line might influence the reader to think that this was Kurt saying he was Billy Pilgrim. But unfortunately I believe this is false.

The man who says this indeed is the author but it is not Billy, since just above the quote I have mentioned above it says, "An American near Billy wailed that he had excreted everything but his brains. Moments later he said, "There they go, there they go." He meant his Brains." After this quote the line read out by the girl in class is mentioned. This is why I believe Billy and Kurt are separate men.

If you still believe they are both the same person, there is another area in Chapter six which I believe justifies what I believe. Unless the author is acting as a sub conscious to Billy they must be seperate people. In this chapter there is a line similar to what the girl read in class,"That was I. That was me. The only other city I'd ever seen was Indianapolis, Indiana." Here is where the two different characters of this book enter Dresden. Why do I believe they are completely different people? Because of their different opinions of how Dresden looks like: Billy believes it looks like a "Sunday school picture of Heaven", and the author believes the city looks like "Oz."

The author has done similar things in other chapters where he allows himself to enter into the story. Therefore he allows the story to invent itself, mixing reality and imagination, allowing himself to be part of the story. So I disagree with what was said about them being the same person. Separate minds, seperate sould, placed together at the same place at the same time.

DC Blog: My Review on "ON Behaving Children" blog

I found it interesting and quite true what DC said on his blog. When I was living in switzerland, and sometimes even now, I would talk to little kids. Mainly the little kids on my bus, and I would usually find my self correcting them, or laughing at the cutest things they would say. DC has a way in explaining his blog in words we are able to understand, trys to make us relate and gives examples.

Chapter 5 page 87- 135

This has to be the longest chapter I have read in this book so far. Even though it was long, it was still interesting and I enjoyed reading it. The author continues to jump back and forth in time, explaining different episodes of Billy's life. He explains abduction by aliens and how Billy was placed in a zoo. He describes his first night at the German camp, where he was given a small jacket and met English men. He describes his laugh that was more like a scream which led him to be taken to the "hospital" room. He explains what he thinks of his mother, and tells us about his fat fiancée.

One thing I noticed the author of this book, our narrator, does is give us words or scenes that remind us of other things that he has already told us about. Such as when the two older soldiers in their 40s talk about the younger soldiers and call them children, they mention the "children's crusade" which takes us back to what the wife of Kurt's war Buddy's wife said. Also we are reminded about the Three Musketeers when Billy fiancée is eating a three musketeers chocolate bar. Why? I think the author did this on purpose just like after he mentions death or a killing of somebody or something he always says, "so it goes"...... So it goes.

I am beginning to believe that Billy never met any aliens. This is because when he was inside a mental asylum, that's his fiancée’s father owns, he read many science fiction books, since the man next to his bad was a fan of science fiction, and a lot of what he reads is similar to what he mentions later on about the aliens he encounters. When he is kept in a zoo with a famous young actrice, and he has many aliens watching, it makes me wonder : How do animals feel inside a zoo? If Billy was an animal he seemed to have liked it. One of the aliens asked if he was happy and he just said, "just as happy as I would be on earth" (not exact words but close)

Sex, War, Comedy and even childhood is all explained in the chapter with great detail of the different time periods of his life. Indeed, Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. He has seen his birth and death, and pays random visits to all the events in between.

Watching TV Backwards and Forwards

I love how Kurt, the writer of "Slaughter House Five", describes things so well. I also enjoy how he is able to jump from one part of the story to another with such ease by using the problem his character "Billy" had by becoming unstuck in time.

Here we finally get to meet the aliens. I think its so cool that Billy already knows that they are coming from him, and he is so relaxed. He just sits down and waits for them to come. He drinks and watches TV movies backwards and forwards. He just sits and waits, he does not care if they are going to capture him. The suspense is small but its still there since we begin to wonder, when are they coming? What are they going to do? Why is he so calm? Why dosn't he call the police?

Once again, Kurt takes us to another part of the story, by making Billy unstuck in time. He takes us back to the fronts of World War II where people are being killed and fighting their hearts out, and Billy is the brave hero of our story, capturing and killing all the Nazis. Well, not really actually. Billy, along with other Americans, has just been captured by the Germans. They are inside a train, they are starving and eventually they have to wear dirty old jackets, and be criticised by German soldiers. By now we know weary is dead.

Once again we are taken back to the cold home of Billy. He is in his forties, and captured by aliens. How fun. The aliens speak through an organ that make human noises. They speak with authority and with a way of explaining things that is not human, "earthlings are such great explainers" says one aliens. Id like to know, is that true? I don't think its always true. Some are good, and some aren't. Because of our cultural difference we all understand differently.

What Am I Seeing?

In the third chapter, after Weary and Billy have been ditched, we learn that the two other me have been killed by German soldiers. Eventually,Weary and Billy are made prisoners by the Germans. The Germans take advantage in this and take all the interesting things Weary and Billy have. They take there good boots and make them walk in terrible, used clogs, in the freezing cold temperatures of the Winter in Germany.

Billy is beginning to realise that falling asleep and seeing the future is beginning to cause him trouble. He is beginning to forget how old he is, where he is, and what he is supposed to be doing.
He keeps jumping back in forth in time.

What I enjoyed about this chapter are some of the metaphors such as, "They had teeth like Piano keys." This quote can be found where Billy and other Americans are marching with their hands on there heads, since they have been captured. Even though most Americans are depressed and saddened by the capture, like Weary, Billy keeps smiling and finding things,"Exciting."

Even though Billy sees the future, other people, such as the colonel, are having hallucinations. They are all going through diffrent things mentally. Weary wants to go home and is detesting the pain and blood on his feet.

In the last three chapters we were separated from the writer but by adding himself to this chapter he adds a bit of autobiography and a good story which he tells us in his own words.

Listen: Billy Pilgrin Has Become Unstuck In Time

Reading the second chapter of "Slaughter House Five" was again nothing I suspected it to be. I thought the rest of the book was going to be about the authors life. But then I guess, Like you can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a person by the paragraph that comes out of there mouth.

The second chapter of "Slaughter House Five" took us to someone elses world: another man, and another life. The man's name is Billy. The guys called Billy for business. His father said people would remember him more. Unfortunately this Billy we read about so far is not our exact genius we may expect to find in a war book, but instead is a man who can see different points of his life and has met with aliens from Tralfamadore. So it goes.

We meet Billy after he has "recovered" from a plane crash. He was the only man who survived, and we learn that he is a,"Funny-looking youth-tall and weak" sort of man. At the time that we meet him Billy is 45 years old, and he reminds me a lot of the funny character Mr. Bean.

We go back a few years to see a younger form of Billy. A young man just barely into college, stuck in Germany with crazy Hallucinations, with two man and a fat man called Roland Weary.

Now Roland Weary believed the other two men and himself are the "Three Musketeers." But sadly in reality, these two men just want to leave him and run! This man shows off all the gruesome things he knows and a perverted picture he keeps with himself.

It surprised me that the school would assign us a book with bad words, at least this is the first for school I have ever read with bad words. Off course I found it hilarious when one man asked Billy to get down before he was shot, "Get out of the road, you dumb mother f*****." Bad words were not used very commonly in the 40s, therefore I think it was perfect to add some humour to the chapter. Chapter 2 is a funny chapter, a story told by an old fart.

Let The Old Fart Tell Us About The War

When I read chapter one of "Slaughter House Five." I had already judged the book by its cover and tittle. When I started reading the first paragraph I was convinced that the book was about the glories of war, silly romance, and over exaggerated killings. The first paragraph convinced me of that when they said, "One guy I knew rally was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his."
But I was wrong, in the first chapter I see that I should not judge a book by its cover, or title. I believe he made that title because he wanted to catch peoples attention. It is very interesting how he describes his life. This book is a biography, he is talking to the reader about himself.

This man has already lived most of his life. He was in war, he was a reporter, he was a writer, and now he is still a writer and sits around talking about his fast and calling himself an old fart. I particularly enjoyed the bit where he talks about his friends wife being upset with him. She says," You were just babies"{in the war}. Because of her, I believe she was one of his main influences to write a book against war and his experience in war.
What a book.

Is it Poetic Justice? Or is it Not Poetic Justice?That is the Question.

Twilight Zone: To Serve Man. So Totally Poetic Justice
Video for all you who are curious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WudBfRa0ETw

To serve man. That is the tittle of the book the Alien leaves on our planet in this TV show from 'The Twilight Zone'. The humans have made an unfortunate mistake. They have made an unfortunate interpretation of the tittle which will cost them there lives.

They all believe that the aliens will "serve man," and that's exactly what they will do, but not in the way they hope so. They believed the aliens would help there world, and would be slaves to humans. They would take advantage of all the aliens technology and intelligence, but this was not to be so. Instead the aliens are taking advantage of the stupidity of the humans, and taking them to there planet, "we ask only that you trust us, you simply, trust us."

Indeed, all the humans do believe and trust this alien stranger. They do translate the book but only the tittle, 'to serve man.' But what is the book really about? This book with strange looking letters from an unknown world, and species they just barely met. The man who was suppose to translate the book failed to translate the rest of it, therefore failing to save humanity. But even if he had correctly translated it would they have been saved?

As the man walks into the space ship, we find out that only one, yes one human being, a woman, was smart enough to translate the rest of the book. Running towards the Space ship she announces "its a cook book!" The man tries to escape but its to late. At the end the announcer says that this , "simply stated the evolution of man. The cycle of going from dust, to desert. The metamorphose of being the ruler of a planet, to the ingredient of someones soup."

The poetic justice has clearly been served to the viewer. Humans wanted the aliens to serve them, but instead they are being served to aliens. Humans were once the power of the world, eating animals, but now are weaklings and are being served for dinner.

Let My Train of Thought Go

WARNING: THIS IS A ROUGH DRAFT!!! NOT THE FINAL ESSAY!!!!

Todays amazing blog: Complete your first draft of the persuasive speech for next Wednesday.

Should abortion be legal?

I do not care if you are for abortion or against abortion. The baby does not stop being a human being just because he or she is not born yet. Don't tell me, "oh , but its not even a human yet" you have to be kidding. Just because this baby can't talk yet, or see, or even know what the real world looks like, does not stop it from being a human with feelings. The word Featus comes from the latin word young one or young child. Did you know that some babies are born at five months? Even so abortion is done on women who have been pregnant for five long months.

Even though, some may argue about the situation the mother is in, thats is probably very difficult for the mother, she should stay with the child. People say its a "womans right to abort a child", well what about the childs human rights! If the mother had a choice she should of had safe sex in the first place, like a responsible adult! It should be important that we never use killing of other people as a soloution to what we think is causing trouble. It is not the answer to murder your own child.
A featus is a human, but people kill them because they are not wanted. Then are they only humans if they are wanted? No! Don't use abortion as an excuse when it was the parents who were irresponsible!

If you think about it, abortion has some similarities to racism. In 1857, black people, where not legaly "humans", in the present day babys that are not born are supossedly not legally "humans." Here is a direct quote from a biology text book, "From the time of conception it takes about nine months, or 40 weeks, for a fertilised ovum to become a fully formed baby." I know what you might be thinking, "how does this help her prove her point?" let me tell you. The quote says "fully formed baby", meaning the baby before it is born is not "fully formed" yet, but even though it is not fully grown it is still a baby. So is a child that has not grown into an adult not human? So for you who don't belong to a religion, even science says that they are a baby!

How about if I told you that someone was going to chose if you were going to live or die. You have no choice. You are in your home, you have food and water, you have everything you need to live, and your in peace. But someone was getting ready to tear you apart. You are about to be murdered, and your mother is the murderer. Every single day 115 million children are aborted because there mothers don't want them to come into their lives, they don't want to take the responsibility, its just easier for them to kill.

These children that are being killed are or were the future generation. They were the hope and the potential of bringing something to this world. Maybe one of those babies long gone would have become someone very important in this world, or just important to another person.

Now lets go back to the mothers who are being raped. The percentage of woman being raped in the united states is extremely low. Only 1 percent of woman who have abortions in the united states are "hard case categories," which include only rape and the life of the mother being indanger. Even those woman who are being raped have a choice: keep the baby, or give it to adoption. Killing the baby should not be a choice.

Also how is aborition 'the easy way out'? Most woman end up with problems after aborition such as: problems in the reproductive system, not being able to concive a child once they want one, or developing a higher chance of having breast cancer. After the abortion , life does not go easy on the woman, thier emotions play a big part in the aftermath of an abortion: women regret the abortion, or harm themselves, and because of depression they are at a higher risk of getting addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Now do you remember the movie "Horton heard a who"? Heres what horton had to say "even though you can't see them or here them at all. A person is a person, no matter how small."


"...is it surprising that today we have become so morally blind (for wickedness blinds) that we save the baby whales at great cost, and murder millions of unborn children?" ~ Alice von Hildebrand, The Privilege of Being a Woman, p.24 ~

The Republic of Peace and Equality

Today's blog: Write a poem about your utopia in Terza rima.

You? Top Utopia?

Utopia, do you want to top it?

This wonderful world which is ever so perfect.

You can't defeat it. Now this you gotta admit

Here our Democracy has no defect.

Those bad politicians are sent to the moon.

You want to know what else we do? Soon you will give us respect!

We feed our hunger with a silver spoon,

and also quench our thirst with golden mugs.

We have all we need, so join, and you to will soon.

When you join, we welcome you with free hugs.

You have a great job, the right to be heard,

and the right to protest, Come! Don't be a lazy bug!

Come show off your talent and style to!

You'll love utopia once you come through.

We will keep happy. That's what were meant to do!

What? You want to top Utopia!

Now what a ridiculous thing to do!

Go away now,this is Utopia! So walk to Ethiopia!

by Annamaria

Lets Chat Away

Home work assignment: http://exploringtheboundaries.blogspot.com/2009/08/tonights-assignment.html

Conversation between Bryan and Alex.

Bryan: Hey Alex.
Alex: BRYAN!
Alex: Whats up?
Bryan: Nothing much you?
Alex: Well I just started school, and so far I think the teachers are great. I really like English class we do our homework on blogs.
Bryan: Are you serious? Wait, you already started school?
Alex: Yeah, I started on Tuesday.
Bryan: Wow, that's early. =( I'm laughing at you man. =D
Alex: Well, you probably won't be laughing when I get out of school before you.
Bryan: =(
Alex: So when do you start school?
Bryan: Let me check.
Bryan: September 31st
Alex: WOW! YOU STILL HAVE A MONTH!
Bryan: Dang, I meant August 31st.
Alex: That's more like it. You scared me.
Bryan: Ha ha sorry. Hey, have you watched the news recently?
Alex: No, whats up?
Bryan: A restaurant near where I live was bombed. That's kinda freaky. I feel sad for the dude who felt he had to explode things. I mean what is it going to do? Scare people, and then be forgotten forever? That's real lame, don't they have anything else to do?
Alex: Are you serious? Dude you better watch out for self, you never know when one of these terrorists can go and get you * just like that.
Bryan: I know. Hey your in Colombia right?
Alex: Yeah, but fortunately for me I speak Spanish, unlike you mr so called know it all.
Bryan: Hey! Im proud about my A in last years end of year test, and I proved to you that "you can't have your cake and eat it to." Your Lucky, I'm in the country where Spanish originated yet I don't speak a word of it. What time is it there?
Alex: 3:15, and what ever mr.know it all.
Alex: How about over there?
Bryan: 22:15
Alex: *Thinks about it for a moment.* So its 10: 15 pm?
Bryan: Yeah its 10:15, I think the time difference is pretty cool.
Bryan: Hey, sorry my sister needs the computer since she needs to study for the IB. So I got to go.
Alex: Okay that's alright man. Say hi to your sister from my sister.
Bryan: Its a deal, chat with you tomorrow. I will have something to tell you that will blow you away. Bye. Oh, and remember what Mrs. O'Donnell said "If a person if fully capable of walking why would they want to go around all the time in a wheal chair"
Alex: That was a great quote, especially for the situation Max got himself into. Hey! There is no need to wait tell me now!
______Bryan is Offline___________
Alex: Whatever. Bye.
_____Alex is offline_____

Bloggers They Chat, If you Read They Assume Your Friends.

From the excerpt that Mr.Tangen posted on his blog, I realised how blogs have become so powerful in the way we get our information. In a way its good, we no longer have to walk a block to the library to read up on Martin Luther King, and we no longer have to go to a bookstore to buy a magazine or a newspaper to find out the weekly news. Instead we now receive our information by just a touch of a button. By reading the excerpt by Sarah Boxer ( New York Review of books) I can see that the world of blogging is not just reporting or telling someone straight up facts. Its about being interesting, spreading your ideas, with your view, your mind, your way. =) Often it is found that bloggers enjoy putting smiley faces, or being sarcastic (like that's ever going to happen), and just letting people know about the world as they see it. Its not like a book, its not like a magazine, its a whole world to itself. Which is why explaining the blog world would be so difficult to explain in a book, as Ms. Boxer said she wanted to do. "Bloggers breeze through places, people, texts, and blogs that you might or might not know without providing any helpful identification." The way bloggers write is almost new and the way they write has become part of the Internet age and if you can't keep up "they don't care if they leave you in the dust." Even thought blogging was at first widely unused, the blog world has become international so now we are all reading one another in different languages and in different countries.

In our blog world I also see something else like Ms Boxer explained,"there are bloggers out there who will do practically anything—start rumors, tell lies, pick fights, create fake personas, and post embarrassing videos—to get noticed and linked to." So even though we may use blogs to get our information, they are not always trustworthy. Some readers enjoy that mystery that a rumour of a blog creates about a celebrity, so those blogs with rumours become a big hit, such as with Perez Hilton. The Internet is a free world with mistakes, just like the outside world, filled with a place we may never completely comprehend.

What is a blog? What is a Utopia/ Distopia?

What is a Blog?

In the 10th grade English class we began a discussion about blogs which I found very interesting. The fact is I just began to realise how much I have used the Internet to find news or topics I'm interested about on blogs and on other websites. I have noticed that Newspapers, and even TV shows, have there own blog or have there own Twitter account. With the world of twitter and blogging this summer it was found that news had spread faster over the Internet than it did with newspapers. Reporters on TV called it a new era of news, and we saw it this summer with the death of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Walter Cronkite and with the protests in Iran. I see a blog as a freedom to report an event as you see it, or to explain your thoughts on a particular topic which you may or might not enjoy. Even though the Internet is now such a huge part of our society, I still believe newspapers and magazines are still very important and useful as well, sometimes even more dependable. Now they are needed less and less because now we have something to explain our thoughts, faster, and easier to research on. The Internet, and the blog world.
In class we read an article about how blogs affect the world today. We also read about different types of blogs and I was amazed about how many things people want to talk about, and how they are able to make things interesting, "Blogs grab whatever they want with impunity—news, gossip, pictures, videos." Thats what I want to do in my blog, grab the information and questions I need to answer than make it interesting with my thoughts and ideas.

A Perfect World

Today in English class Mr. Tangen gave us a challenge. A challenge to create a world that is nothing like the world of today. On the first day of school (yesterday)he told us to create our own worlds and when each group showed the results of what they had thought out, it turned out that many were similar to Democracy, Communism, and many of the ideas that politicians have today. We were taught those ideas and principles which we have in our minds. "You are the new generation" our English teacher Mr. Tangen told us "yet when I asked you to create a perfect ideal world (utopia) you throw out the same old ideas from politicians of the past and of today (not in exact words)." I would like to see what our class can come up by the end of the semester, and whether or not it could be a world that would be a Utopia or a Dystopia. Hopefully not a Dystopia.

Utopia: An ideal perfect place, possibly in a social, political, or moral aspects.

Dystopia: A place where the condition of life is extremely bad. (opposite of Utopia)