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)