Journal #24

I do not have a very set way that I prepare for finals.  I suppose some people have a long list of things they have to do and a set way they study and prepare for the week, but I do not.  I of course study hard core.  You can always tell when final weeks are, though, because all of the girls stop wearing all of their weird make-up stuff and do not put nearly as much effort into what they look like with their clothes, in the morning either.  Now a days the way girls dress down is with leggings and a hoody, so leggings begin popping up a whole lot more through out the school.  People begin to sleep less at night and sleep longer in the morning as to study even more than usually.  For me, I stop making my lunch all together as to be able to sleep longer in the mornings.  I really like sleeping, especially during finals week.  Every night, I will usually lay out which two tests I have the following day.  I get out the study guide and every other test or quiz we have had in that class up to that point.  If it's a project that is a whole different story.  I probably will end up jamming that entire project into that night.  So fat I think I have two projects.  They both seem like they will be pretty simple to complete and have done before the due date.  I myself much prefer projects over tests as a semester final.  I hate having to stress out and study for tests over EVERYTHING I have learned that semester already.  I am an okay test taker, I just prefer projects.  So over all I do not have a set way that I prepare for finals.  I study waaaay more and am probably much more irritable through out that week.  I do not dress up or wear any make up and just focus on school as much as I possible can. 

Walden 13. House Warming

     I was assigned to read number thirteen of WALDEN.  It's title was "House Warming."  What I can gather is that it is about a man and his home.  In the beginning, it is a depiction of a man and his home.  He is gathering fruit and narrates himself and his home month by month.  "Already, by the first of September, I had seen two or three small maples turned scarlet across the pond." In the next paragraph, "The wasps came by thousands to my lodge in October."  Slowly the narrator works himself into the winter months and here he begins to tell us of the hardship himself and his home encounter.  During the winter, a few times he wishes he had something bigger and better, "I sometimes dream of a larger and more populous house."  During the winter, the narrator shares with us how much he appreciates the nature and how fascinated he his.  In the fifteenth paragraph we see what a man he really his, "Every man looks at his wood-pile with a kind of affection.  I love to have mine before my window, and the more chips the better to remind me of my pleasing work."  Towards the end of the chapter, we start to enter deeper into the narrators mind and see how lonely he is living out of town by himself.  Overall, this chapter is about a man and his house. 

     This chapter is allllll about romanticism and transcendentalism.  Nature is one of the biggest characteristics of Romanticism.  Pretty much all this guy is doing is living by himself about two miles out of town and living off the land.  Whenever he has to build something or fix something he recycles or gets it from the forest.  "It is so much pleasanter and wholesome to be warmed by the sun while you can be, than by an artificial fire."  "I picked out its many fireplace bricks as I could find, to save work and waste."  "I did not plaster till it was freezing weather.  I brought over some whiter and cleaner sand for this purpose from the opposite short of the pond in a boat."  Later he befriends fire as a companion, "It was I and Fire that lives there."  Here he finds the beauty in fire and doesn't just expect it to be destructive. Romanticism also hold poetry as the highest expression of the imagination and there are two poems in this chapter.  n this chapter, the narrator also "transcends reason and spirituality"  Our narrator really likes to put out his possibilities and reasoning and to do his best.  

    The entire work is a book called "Walden."  This book is about "By immersing himself in nature, Thoreau hoped to gain a more objective understanding of society through personal introspection. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. As Thoreau made clear in his book, his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, about two miles (3 km) from his family home."  Taken from Wikipedia.  The purpose of "Walden" is to immerse himself in nature to get better in touch with himself.  "Housewarming"  is about the narrator and the struggles of maintaining his house with out the help of normal things.  I think this represents the book very well because of how well it exemplifies romanticism through its nature and poetry and its transcendentalism through the spiritual reasoning.  


Works Cited 
Thoreau, Henry D. "Thoreau's Walden - an Annotated Edition." Thoreau's Walden - an Annotated Edition. N.p., 1854. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. 

Journal #23

I am not self-sufficient.  I don't think I am self-sufficient, at least.  Money wise, I am definitely not self-sufficient.  I have no input whatsoever, I've never had a job, nor do I have time to get a job.  My mother actually will not allow me to get a job because I have too much going on as it is.  I think that's stupid because I don't really like using my parental unit's money.  When it comes to food and making smart decisions and such, I think I am pretty on the ball.  I am a pretty excellent cook if I do say so myself.  The thing is, you need money to buy the ingredients and supplies to create said dishes.  I know what to do with the ingredients, currently I am just unable to attain them.  I am a pretty good decision maker.  When it comes to either doing something fun but stupid or somethings boring but smart, I'll probably go with the smart thing.  I can take care of myself, physically and emotionally, pretty well.  Frankly, I just don't want to.  I hate being home by myself.  HATE.  My house is very large and creepy.  Whenever I am home by myself I always turn all the lights on and the television on some cheery movie to distract myself.  I will probably never live alone; not because I couldn't, but because I really don't want to. Once I begin to attain my own income and have money that I can do what I please with, I am confident in my ability to be frugal and place my money where it is necessary and where it is not.  Once I have money to support myself with, I will be able to cook for myself; not just cook for myself, but create masterpieces for my own enjoyment as to keep myself happy.  I would also be able to keep myself healthy and make smart decisions.  I wouldn't go to bed at 1 in the morning every day and ruin my health I would be smart and self-sufficient.  

"Self-Reliance"

     "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" is a literary criticism by George Kateb.  In the article, Kateb analyses Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "Self-Reliance."  The essay by Emerson, in summary, is of life.  It speaks of how in life you come to a point where you pretty much have a gigantic epiphany and realize you cannot just keep living for yourself, but at the same time you can't just do what society tells you to, either.  You have to find the balance between maintaining your identity, but widening your vision to more than just your own needs.  Kateb has mostly nice things to say about what Emerson wrote.  He agrees with a few things while he also contradicts a few things, as well.  
     "Emerson thinks that every important value, principle, idea (or derivative practice or institution) is permanently indispensable for life, even though any may be at odds with any other."  Here, Kateb analyses what they essay has to say about personality traits.  Emerson's opinion: every little idea, education, lesson, etc. is completely necessary for life, despite the fact certain ideas, lessons, or eduaction may not agree with the another.  He still believes that they are indispensable.  The criticism continues on to call them "forces by whose antagonism we exist."  Kateb explains this that we need to have antagonism and contradictions to learn.  I agree with this.  If we simply had people telling us what was right and wrong and we all agreed with it completely and consistently, what would we learn really?
     "Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not. The same particle does not rise from the valley to the ridge. Its unity is only phenomenal. The persons who make up a nation to-day, next year die, and their experience with them."  This is taken directly from Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance."  I really like this quote a lot.  I completely agree with what it has to say.  What does it have to say, you ask?  It compares this thing we call "society" a wave.  No matter what, the wave will always keep moving, but the actually material and things that make up the wave will continually die off and be replaced.  The people, things, places, ideas, etc. that make up our "wave" right now will eventually die off and be replaced with something possibly very similar or completely different.  "To repeat: we must not expect anything simple when we take up Emerson on self-reliance. The point put in academic language is that democratic individuality is nothing simple. What, then, more explicitly, is self-reliance? What is reliance on oneself, what does it come to?"  This is taken from Kateb's analysis of Emerson's essay.  This can be related to Emerson's analogy of society and a wave.  We are not independent.  We just aren't.  We have all grown up in a world where we are all balled together into one big ball of society.  So what is Self-Reliance?
     "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" by George Kateb overall gives Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance" a good reputation.  "I think that Emerson's answer is yes, after all is said; but he says a lot to make that conclusion uneasy. It turns out, as I hope to suggest later, that though no worldly activity, in Emerson's account, manifests the highest self—reliance, two personal relationships—love and friendship—are intimately bound with it."  In the end we see that self-reliance is pretty simple.  It comes down to the simple things in life.  It's not really a forty page essay or a thirty-five page criticism on that essay.  It's the pure, true, and just plain simple things in life.   



Works Cited 

Kateb, George. "Infobase Learning - Login." Infobase Learning - Login. Blooms Literary Reference Online, 2003. Web. 07 Dec. 2012. 
Merson, Ralph W. Self-Reliance. Rep. Ralph Waldo Emerson Texts, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2012. 

Journal #22

I really like snow.  It causes me great joy.  Why do I like snow you ask?  There are many reasons.  One of the reason that I like snow is because of all of the things you can create with it, such as snow men, snowballs, snow angels, etc.  I love getting all of my snow gear our of our basement and navigating my way through all of the dust and such to find my things.  That reminds me I need to get a new pair of boots...I will get on that sometime.  I love going outside with my friends and family and traipsing around in the fluffy white stuff.  Something I really hate about snow is the aftermath it always creates.   I HATE when snow melts and is all brown and gross.  I do not like it one bit.  It causes me great angst.  That is one of the very few downsides that it has.  Another upside it has is of course the snow days it creates.  I LOVE SNOW DAYS.  Why I love snow days:  I can miss school and do not have to worry about making up all the work I missed because everyone else, including the teacher, missed that day (or days), too!  It is simply wonderful.  I also like snow because it always makes make me think of Christmas!  Why do I like Christmas?  My entire family is home at that time!  My two oldest brother's live out of the state so I only see them on Holiday's.  My second oldest brother is attending college and recently got a job so he has crazy crazy hours.  Because of his crazy crazy hours he missed Thanksgiving this year and I haven't seen him since around October 30th.  My oldest brother lives in Texas and I haven't seen him since the beginning of October.  This causes me great angst because they are two of the most important people in my life.  I want them back.  They will both be back for Christmas.  Snow makes me think of Christmas.

Journal #21

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.
To me, this quote is very full of truth.  To word it in a more reasonable way, it is saying you only get out what you put in.  You cannot expect things to just happen for you.  "No kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till."  If you plant a seed, unless you are really lucky, your plant will never come up if you leave it to fend for itself.  A beautiful flower or flush red tomatoes will never be yours to behold.  That is, until you come to that point in your life when you realize that this is your life to live and what you want to happen will not unless you make it happen.  “When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” I believe John M. Richardson, Jr. said this.  I feel like these two phrases of words are similar.  They both speak of how you are going to live life.  You have various options.  You do not have to make anything happen for yourself.  You can sit there and watch other people do it, BUT you don't have to watch people do it either.  In the first quote it talks about how you come to a point in your education where you realize you are just not content to watch people anymore.  You want to make things happen.  Yourself.

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/happen/

Journal #20

The Circle of Life
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [There comes a lion]
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [There comes a lion]
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama [Oh yes, it's a lion]
Ingonyama
Siyo Nqoba [We're going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw' enamabaal [It's a lion and a tiger]
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala (Se-to-kwa!)
Ingonyama nengw' enamabala (Asana)
From the day we arrive on the planet
And, blinking, step into the sun
There's more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There's far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round
It's the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life
[FS:] It's The Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life

This is a popular song from the well known film, "The Lion King."  I believe that this song perfectly illustrates "The Circle of Life."  It speaks of, well sings of I suppose, the beginning steps in life.  "From the day we arrive on the planet" is our immediate first amount of time alive.  This is unique from other passages about "The Circle of Life" because it's not as technical.  It doesn't go from the egg to the baby to the child to adolescent and to teenager to adult and finally elder.  It speaks more of what life is about, it's more in depth about the emotional side of life and it's purpose.  "Through despair and hope, through faith and live, till we find our place" this line is about how life isn't easy.  It's a struggle and always will be.  There is always a purpose and we just have to work and persevere until we find it.  "Till we find our place, on the path unwinding, in the circle, The Circle of Life."


Works Cited 
"The Lion King, Circle Of Life Lyrics | from "Classic Disney"" The Lion King * Circle Of Life Lyrics. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. <http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/classicdisney/circleoflife.htm>. 

Journal #20

Tea to the Tee
A blanket deep blue covers their faces
Anticipation fierce, spreading the night
A long time waited to sink the cases
Wait no longer, they would put up a fight

What would they say and do when in morning
Covered in dew, their beloved tea gone!
Flung in the sea, covered by the splashing
Water to wood, it would rot for their wrong

What kind of evil man can take away
From one of his brothers so easily?
Forcing men into forging their own way
He would only smirk and cackle cruelly

Who do we speak so harshly of you ask?
Your king. The man you give your loyalty
"A different man with different tasks!"
Of course you quickly spout with certainty

What a fool of a man you are! Blinded!
The facts are certain! Without doubt they are
Many women, children, and men grinded
Bit by bit because of your 'sinless' Czar

Now comes the time for men their sins to reap
The pain we have all felt they all shall keep
For better or worse, our country will be
And start with a simple task: dump this tea!

Journal #18

As I pondered the multitude of eyes beaming at me from the magnificent creature I began to wonder.  How does an eye work?  What complex functions take place in order for such a magnificent system to complete its specific jobs?  It had never occurred to me to begin to think about how intricately and diversely an eye has to function.  This lead me to begin to wonder how extremely complicated ophthalmology must be.  I vaguely remember back in fourth grade learning about how an eyeball functioned and later getting the opportunity to dissect a real cows eye, too.  Of course I was only in fourth grade so we only ever scratched the surface of the extremely complex infrastructure that is an eyeball.  There is also the fact that all that occurred over six years ago, as well.  I have forgotten pretty much everything that I learned about eyeballs from enrichment class back in fourth grade by now.  Now that such a beautiful set of white orbs were staring at me I could not help wonder what was it that I learned about the iris, or the cornea?  What exactly did the pupil do?  I was overwhelmed with the astonishingly powerful drive to learn everything I could about such a complex structure.  I wanted to know how such a small little thing could do so much in such little time?  How could these balls of some type of tissue provide so much and none of us really even know how?  Imagine going just a day with out your eyes and having to rely completely on your four other senses?  That is just not something I would want to do.  I was beginning to feel guilty for my lack of appreciation for my eyes. From now on I was going to attempt to understand my eyes so that I could better show my respect for them and all they have done for me in my upcoming future.  All because I had began to pondered the multitude of eyes beaming at me from the magnificent creature.

Journal #17

As the light blue fuzz feathered through the warm current of air purring from the heating vent, I realized something.  I had left my oven on!  Early this morning, as the pale white frost had yet to melt away off of the prickly green grass, I arose from my bed with one thought in mind.  Food.  I began to fantasize about fluffy yellow eggs with chewy pink ham.  I pictured my delicate egg and ham masterpiece sandwiched artfully between a soft lightly browned bagel.  Bagel's are my favorite thing to eat my savory ham and eggs on.  Here is why:  If you are to put ham and eggs on just toast, a few problems can easily arise.  Such as, the bread gets so very crumbly.  You'll be going in for you first bite to begin a brand-new day and then the toasted brown fluff's off joy begin to crumble all over you!  If you have long luscious locks, like me,  the crumbs become lodged in your hair for the rest of the day!  The possibility of the crumbs getting on your starchy, freshly pressed clothes (or even in them) is possible, too!  If you eat the donut-y globs of joy, the problem is simply impossible!  Your freshly done hair, smelling of aussie hairspray, is safe, and your perfectly matched and organized outfit remains impeccable!  Next, I began to think about my mothers ooey, gooey, and sweet cinnamon rolls.  I could almost smell the savory sent of cinnamon floating up to her room from the kitchen!  Wait....I really could!  That was the unmistakable sent of cinnamon lofting up and entering my nose!  I awkwardly rose out of my bed and proceeded to walk/run to the kitchen as fast as my tired-body could!  I entered the kitchen just as my beautiful mother was leaving the house.  "Honey, the rolls are in the oven! Take them out in three minutes!  Do not forget to turn the oven off before you leave!"  And this is how this earth-shattering problem arose...

Journal #16

Most people tend to stay with the social 'norm' when it come to clothing choice.  Most people wear their Victoria's Secret name brand, their Uggs, or Vera Bradley.  The guys stick to Jordan, Nike, Polo, etc.  It's not that people don't necessarily want to get away from the social 'norm', I think a lot of people just struggle to think for themselves.  There's of course all the people who do indeed want to be just like everyone else and never stray from society's idea of 'okay'.  There are of course a few people who are able to think for themselves and like doing their own thing.  There is a girl who no longer attends here, but when she did it was very evident that she had an extremely strong sense of style and fashion.  Everyday she would show up in something different and completely unlike anything anyone else had on.  Her hair was also always very different as well.  She dyed it differently from anyway anyone else would and would style it in unique ways that other girls had never even considered.  Peoples reaction would always differ from the next.  Some people would think that it was crazy and to weird.  They wouldn't understand why she would ever stray from social normality.  They were the people that can't think outside of the box, who only ever wore or acted like or did what someone else had already deemed was cool.  Then you had other people that had the up most respects for this girl for her ability to think outside of the box.  Some of us don't even recognize that they have this little box and that they never even leave it.  So when someone, like this girl, shows them what it is like to get out of this box, it is very interesting and received well.  She would wear dressed and cardigans and high socks and unique shoes that a lot of us didn't even know existed or would ever be though to put together.   

Journal #15

Okay.  So the prompt for this blog is to describe someone you greatly miss and how you stay in touch.  That list of people is very very long for me.  For example, my friend Cassie in Florida, Morgan at Eastern, my Grandpa Upstairs, then of course my two older brothers.  One lives in Texas and the other attends Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri.  All of these people are extremely important to me and I miss their presence in my every day life.  I can't say that I miss any one of them more than the next, but I get to see some of them less than others.  I saw Taylor last Tuesday when I went and visited Ozark on a college visit, and he has informed me he will be home again in the next few weeks, I probably text him and face time him a few times a week.  I'll call him a lot of the time, too, just because.  My friends Cassie goes to college in Florida and really I only get to see her when she comes home at Christmas.  She's studying to be a missionary so is gone to other countries a lot more than the normal lass.  Morgan began going to Eastern this year and I miss her so very much.  She became one of my best friends during the second semester of last year, then of course she graduated.  I should really stop befriending seniors.  They always leave, sadly.  I've seen her a few times since she left, but it's never enough.  She has a long Christmas break, though.  This is a very good thing.  Out of all of these people, my brother Adam I see the least.  He moved to Texas at the end of the summer.  He'd been in Illinois his entire life; he went to high school and college here and was literally beginning to com-bust because he was so antsy living here.  Initially after he left I didn't notice his absence too much.  Of course I missed him, but once school started I was so busy I didn't have too much time to think about much, any who.  Then, about a month into school I realized I missed my brother and I couldn't go and give him hug just because when I got home, I couldn't just talk to him for a few hours about life, I couldn't get help on my homework.  I called him and talked to him for about 2 hours about life and such and since then I email him probably every other day and call him usually once a week.  

"The Pit and Pendulum" and Romanticism

     The definition of the Romanticism period is to be 'in touch' with one's self.  People went more with their gut feeling and their emotions than with their scientific educations.  They believed that nature was superior to civilization.  The writer personified innocence and imagination in their characters at this time.  "After that, the sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy indeterminate hum.  It conveyed to my soul the idea of revolution..." (Poe 263).  This is a quote from the short story written by Edgar Allen Poe that goes by that name of "The Pit and Pendulum".  This quote speaks of 'voices merging' and a 'dreamy' hum.  It 'conveys' things to the characters 'soul'.  These things all represent the Romanticism period because of it's very laid back and in-touch-with-your-soul way of being told.  This is just one quote from this story that conveys its time period.  "The Pit and Pendulum" emulates the Romanticism period in that it is very innocent, soulful, doesn't speak of science, and represents love and imagination.  
  "He who has never swooned, is not he who finds strange palaces and wildly familiar faces in coals that glow; is not he who beholds floating in midair the sad visions that the many may not view; is not he who ponders over the perfume of some novel flower-is not he whose brain grows bewildered with the meaning of some musical cadence which has never before arrested his attention." (Poe 265).  A prominent characteristic in the Romanticism period is that of imagination.  A lot of writers turned from their scientific and structured ways and found that writing of what could not be was much more their style.  For example Poe speaks of "is not he who beholds floating in midair the sad visions that the many may not view".  Floating in midair is physically impossible due to our little friend called gravity, but during the Romanticism period people began to entertain the simple thought of what-if.  During the Rationalism period, people never thought about what-if.  They only contemplated about their scientific findings and what those could lead to.  Once the Romanticism period came about, people began to wonder and imagine what-if the impossible were possible.  
  One of the characteristics that is very noticeable about "The Pit and Pendulum" is not what is there, but actually what is not.  Something very important about the Romanticism period when it first came about was it' lack of science and religion and, frankly, rules.  People began to think more about getting in touch with their soul and their 'purpose'.  They became much less concerned with reality and making sure what they were doing and writing was emulating God and much more worried about nature, innocence, and the 'higher truth'.  "...that seems to "stand for" a metaphysical situation in an ambiguous way that suggests its "dreamy," "indeterminate" nature. In this story we find the most explicit statement in Poe's fiction of his sense of the blurry line between dream and reality." (May)  This quote explains mainly how Poe is very good at conveying that his character is not really sure where the line of reality and dream falls.  He is in a limbo state where he is very in touch with his soul.  He doesn't put this in religious terms, however, it's more of an inner-self soul, then a God-gave-me-this-and-I-will-praise-him soul.  
    The Romanticism Period was very imaginative, nature-oriented, dreamy, and non-scientific; these characteristics all describe "The Pit and Pendulum" very well.  Edgar Allen Poe gives his character a very dreamy aura.  From his cell, he determines a lot of things, such as that he must orient himself as to attempt to get himself out of where ever he is, but, unlike a character from a possible Rationalist writer, this character uses no scientific method to make these decision or religious back up.  Rather he uses his dreamy and imaginative intuitions.  He uses his gut-feelings.  Does following his gut feelings get him very far?  Not necessarily, but that is irrelevant as of now.  Poe is very imaginative through out the short story and it is emulated through his character in multiple instances.  He is not scientific, speaks never of religion, but of his fuzzy-feelings, imagination, and his soul.

May, Charlie E. "Dreams and Reality in the Story." Infobase Learning - Login. Bloom's Literary Reference, 1991. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp>.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Douglas Fisher, Beverly Ann. Chin, and Jacqueline Jones. Royster. "The Pit and Pendulum." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 120-24. Print.

Journal #14

Once, when I was a measly little Junior at Pleasant Plains High School, I was assigned a worksheet by the name of "sentence study."  The Dread Pirate Langley had assigned it.  You would think the 'Dread Pirate' part of that class would be what would scare me.  Nope.  Something much, much, much worse.  GRAMMAR.  You heard me.  That stuff we learned back in elementary school and middle school?  Yeah, terrifies me.  So I was assigned this worksheet, right?  It had a front and a back and only two questions on it.  Once The Dead Pirate had handed it to me, my hands began to shake from simply having physical contact with such horror.  The words all blurred together and I began to feel dizzy.  Next thing I knew I was passed out on the floor from the shear horror of the whole situation.  I began to dream of weird and unfathomable things...things that had never even occurred to me to be possible!  The paper I had been holding began to have new words appear!  Words like 'noun', 'adjective', 'adverb clause', and 'prepositional phrase'.  The thing with these words, though, was that they didn't stay stationary on the page like most words that I'd ever encountered had, they jumped out at me as if they were alive!  As if they had minds of their own!  Now, at this point in my life, I couldn't help but believe this would be the up-most scariest thing I would ever experience.  Parts of speech that were able to hurdle off the page right at you?  Not okay.  After a few minutes of these mysterious hurdling-words jumping out at me and causing me to pee my pants a few times, I woke up from this terrifying dream.  I let a sigh of relief go as I realized I was finally safe and away from the strange word-creatures.  I was still in The Dread Pirate's classroom, but it appeared class had gone on while I'd passed out on the floor.  It seemed that they were going over some sentence studies on The Dread Pirates high-tech smart board.  There was one sentence on the board that already had so many colors under lining, circling,  and parentheses-ing it I could barely take it.  Then before I could even get my notebook out, these colors began to come together and slowly but surely merged off of the smart board and began to form a gargantuan grammar-yelling blob.  My only though, "I WANT THE HURDLING-WORDS."     

Journal #13

I feel like I gained a lot more than I originally thought that I was going to from this project.  Benjamin Franklin in general fascinates me, and that was before I even knew about his thirteen virtues and his system.  It fascinates quite a lot to think about someone who is able to look at how they are living and what system they are living by and are able to change it and try to make themselves a better person.  Getting in depth was interesting as well and seeing even more how he applied it and how he changed as a person from it.  What I gained group-wise from the project:  I have never been put into this type of situation where my only means of communication was electronic (my owl wasn't available at the time), and that was kind of cool to experience.  The idea of the project to make kids have to communicate with other students on their own is a good idea and something that can be useful for us.  The thing is though, yep there's the BUT you were probably waiting for, I honestly don't think some kids are mature enough for it yet.  That sounds really aloof and demeaning...but seriously.  I felt like a lot of the other students were not able to hold themselves accountable for dead lines with out a teacher explicitly telling them when and how they needed to do it.  WAIT.  My group was actually a really good group, though.  Mostly everyone was really good about getting their own individual stuff in.  I guess I'm ranting about what other groups told me.  Something that could help: make more explicit dead-lines and what is DUE at that time.  I know I was a little confused on exactly what was due with each dead-line.  I also think making more individual assignments in the project would also be beneficial and we would gain a whole lot more.  For example the video called for a lot of communication from the group and I felt like we got very caught up in who is doing what and oh-my-gosh I have to get all of this done by this time and we just threw together what we could to make sure we even turned in a video.  We weren't able to take our time and put forth our absolute best because we were so concerned with making sure we had everything done and turned in.  Now all of this might just be my feelings and I legitimately have nothing against any Farmington people so please don't hunt me down and eat me...Happy Halloween!

Was Benjamin Franklin's System of Virtues a Success? 10/27/12

     Benjamin Franklin was one of the only humans ever that was able to accept that how he was living was not as good as it could be.  He came to the conclusion that he could do better.  After coming to this conclusion, he created his own system of thirteen virtues.  He created this hoping that if he did indeed stick to his system, he would become a better person.  He began recording in a notebook at the end of each day how well he did living each virtue.  The system was designed to be completed in cycles.  According to his autobiography, after his first cycle, he no longer needed to recored in his notebook to hold himself accountable.  He became a good person without thinking about it.  Benjamin Franklin's system of virtues was successful in making Franklin a better person because eventually it became a sub-conscience effort; he was morally upright and he did not even have to think about it.  

     Benjamin Franklin first began to implement his system of virtues into his life by recording his faults in a little notebook.  His immediate findings upon implementing his system was not what he had in mind:  "I was surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined..." (Franklin 88).  He knew that humans were chock full of flaws, but he had no idea how bad the situation really was.  This didn't diminish his yearn to be a better person, though.  He continued in his adventure to be the best possible person he could be.  He kept up with his notebook until he "had the satisfaction of seeing them (faults) diminished." (Franklin 88).  Franklin persevered and kept up with his system.  He wanted to make himself a better person and he proved it's not easy.  It took him at least a year to improve himself, but his autobiography has all the evidence needed to prove that he indeed did.  "...and on those lines I mark'd my faults with a black-lead pencil, which marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge.  After a while I went thro' one course only in a year, and afterward only one in several years, till at length I omitted them entirely..." (Franklin 88).  This quote perfectly summarizes his adventure with his system.  It did indeed take him a pretty long time to get any results, but in the end he "omitted them entirely..." (Franklin 88).  

     Even though it took Benjamin Franklin a while, and he did not start out as well as he imagined he would, his system of virtues was still very successful in making him an overall better person.  He took time and recorded thirteen things he felt encompassed a good, well rounded individual.  He then proceeded to apply these to his life with the upmost determination.  He even says when he started he was immediately discouraged by finding that he was much worse person than he imagined (page 88).  This was just like a hurdle on a track.  He hoped right on over the hurdle and kept racing towards the finish line until he got to the end and became the best possible person he felt he could be.  

Franklin, Benjamin, Dixon Wecter, Larzer Ziff, and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin

Franklin's Autobiography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959. 81+.

Print.

Journal #12

Hello Blogger.  I have not missed you.  What is the American Dream?  Your definition depends on your point of view in today's world.  My definition of of the modern American Dream is probably going to differ from someone else's.  In my opinion, happiness a lot of times comes from acceptance.  I feel like this applies to me.  I have a lot of friends in this world and for the most part they are what make me happy.  I surround myself with good people who make me a better person just by being themselves and that brings me the up most joy.  The American Dream to me is having friends and family who love you and don't care if you have this or if you have that.  They love you for who you are.  They want you around because they enjoy your personality, not the material objects you have to offer.  A more modern day take on "The American Dream" would be more materialistic.  People a lot of the time find comfort and happiness in what they own and knowing that what they own is better than what someone else owns.  The stereotypical person of today's world would describe "The American Dream" as having a nice comfortable place to live, having friends and family who love you, being in a comfortable financial place in your life, and having a steady job.  Those things are all very important indeed.  I think the financial aspect is put a little higher than other things a lot of the time.  People need to know that they have financial security when they go to sleep.  They like knowing they can provide for their family and have a back up plan if theirs falls through.  I think the "American Dream" has always, and will always, be about having security.  If that security be with your spouse, your children, your friends, your home, or money.  People NEED to feel secure.

Benjamin Franklin and The System of Virtues

     Benjamin Franklin was one of the most influential figures in American history, especially in the Rationalism Period.  He was one of the first people to use logic and actual evidence with his writing.  The Declaration of Independence was not just some words he came up with and, along with a few other people, threw on a paper.  He used actual events and happenings to decide what was good and what was bad for America and logically combined them and artfully wrote them on paper.  Well he did not necessarily write it, but helped to write it.  At one point in his life, he realized he was not the person he wanted to be.  He was able to pinpoint a lot of flaws within his personality.  Once he had these flaws pinpointed he began to create his own system of virtues.  There were thirteen of them:  Temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness. tranquility, chastity, and humility.  These were the thirteen things that he felt encompassed a good person, and he was determined to master all of them.  This exemplified The Rationalism Period through its logic.  Benjamin Franklin saw a problem with himself, and he didn't just pray to God and assume he would fix it and he did not just make the accusation that demons were causing him to have flaws.  Instead he took responsibility and created his own scientific method of improving himself.
     Benjamin Franklin started out being religiously educated as a Presbyterian.  He speaks of a Presbyterian preacher who used to visit him and of this preachers sermons:  "But his discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of ours sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforc'd, their aim seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens"  (Franklin, 82).  This shows us that Franklin was a religious man, but he still found many flaws within the religious system.  He believed that their was a God, but he did not rely on religion to explain everything and dictate his entire life.  He was logical and realized that if he wanted change he needed to make his own change.  "I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent out slipping"  (Franklin, 83).  This quote shows that Benjamin Franklin also realized that wanting change was not enough.  Just to have the interest to be completely virtuous was not enough.  During The Rationalism Period, people began to realize that they can't rely on religion to do everything for them.  They had to be logic and solve things on their own.  Benjamin Franklin's System of Virtues is a great example of this.  Benjamin Franklin realized how he was living was not all that he could be and so he did something about it.  He took matters into his own hands and created a scientific and methodical way of solving the problem.  
     Benjamin Franklin's System of Virtues is a wonderful representation of The Rationalism Period in many ways.  A few words that describe The Rationalism Period are scientific, methodical, and logical.  The System of Virtues can also be easily described in this way.  Benjamin Franklin saw that he was not living in the way he maybe should be and took responsibility.  He didn't try to blame it on God or the Devil or ghosts, he simply took responsibility and tried to change it.  He created a very methodical plan to better himself that included daily examinations of himself and recordings of his actions each day.  He hoped he would be able to publish his findings so that he could share with everyone how he thought was best to improve your life.  Benjamin Franklin took responsibility and made a very logical and scientific way of solving his problems, just as many did in The Rationalism Period.   

Franklin, Benjamin, Dixon Wecter, Larzer Ziff, and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1959. 81+. Print.

Journal #11

If I was to make a society with virtues to live by, I probably would not change much from today's world.  That sounds pretty weird because we have a pretty corrupted society when you think about it, but I do not think that is because of the laws and virtues we have, but because people do not necessarily always follow them.  We have a pretty well-set government and laws in place.  At the core of it all is freedom.  We are one of the few places on this earth that gives out freedom and rights for FREEEEE.  We believe that everyone has a right to their own life and their own decisions.  Most people take advantage of this and live their life to the fullest, then you have other people who just sit back an let their life live itself, that is why our society can sometimes appear lazy and, to be frank, fat.  We all know it's true.  Just ask any of our foreign exchange students.  Especially Andre.  Our cafeteria food pretty much makes him want to curl up in a ball and cry.  We also have a pretty strict law on killing.  Which I can thoroughly appreciate.  I really do not like when people kill each other.  It is unnecessary and get us no where.  It also creates lots of sadness and sadness just is not okay.  It never gets anyone anywhere and just creates more problems when it is not properly dealt with.  Another virtue/belief that our society has that I thoroughly agree with is our education system.  For the most part, education comes first in a child's life.  There are a few exceptions to this, but school is generally a requirement for those between the ages of five and at least sixteen in America.  I think that is an excellent thing to have, but kids do not always appreciate it and put forth their best effort because they do not realize how lucky they are.  So America once again comes off in a very slack-off kind of manner.  

Propaganda and Errors of Faulty Logic

Propaganda is information of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Most commonly it is found in political campaigns and is used during wars to convince people of what is right and wrong. A common type of propaganda is name-calling. This is one of the more immature types if you ask me. It consists of attaching a negative label to an opponent in order to make them appear less qualified than you or your cause. Examples of name-calling is shown on the third page: "A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a TYRANT is unfit to be ruler of free people" (Jefferson, 124). Jefferson claims the King is a tyrant, which may or may not be true, but either way puts the idea in people's head and sparks an idea. Another type is called glittering generalities. Yes. It is actually called 'glittering generalities'. Sad, I know. Another term used to describe it is 'glad-words'. Basically these are terms like fair and honest and best. They have a pretty empty meaning but are meant to make people feel good and comfortable with whatever person or cause that is using the propaganda. Some example are scattered through out the text. In the second paragraph, Jefferson says "...that all men are created equal..." (Jefferson, 122). This isn't quite a word, but more a phrase. Jefferson is saying what the people want to hear. It doesn't really matter if he believes it or not. He knows that people want freedom, and putting that bluntly will get people on his side. Glad-words come about again on page 124, "In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms" (Jefferson, 124). Here, the author uses happy and 'glad' terms (humbler) to builds himself up and make his side appear much greener, if you will, than his oppositions. On page one some serious propaganda begins to occur. As far as I can tell, it can be classified as card-stacking. Card-stacking is pretty much stacking the odds in your favor. This could either mean stacking up cards in your favor OR stacking up cards AGAINST your opponent. In this case, it is against the opponent. One page one Thomas Jefferson begins to shpeel all of the wrongs the King of England has committed against the colonists. A few examples: "He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodations of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and fomidable to tyrants only", "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither (I love that he just used hither for real.), and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands", and "For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;" (Jefferson, 123). So as you can see, Jefferson pretty thoroughly stacks up the odds against the King. He makes it so that he appears to be the good guy, and the King the bad. This is a method of focusing on the other persons bad so no one looks at your own flaws.
     Jefferson literally lists off all the wrongs the King has committed for about two solid pages.  This is good evidence that Jefferson had few errors of logic, if any.  A type of error of logic can a lot of times be when people argue for the sake of arguing.  They don't have good back up or even reasoning for arguing.  It can also be when people are talking just to evade the actual problem, they just talk to distract.  Here, Jefferson avoids both.  He has a very good cause and really believes in that cause.  He also gives very strong and very extensive back up.  He shows that he is not arguing from ignorance, but is very well informed on the topic. 
  



Work Cited:

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Douglas Fisher, Beverly Ann. Chin, and Jacqueline Jones. Royster. "The Declaration of Independence." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 120-24. Print.

"Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic." Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2012. <http://orderofsaintpatrick.org/marx1/propaganda-tech.htm>.

Journal #10

So.  I think that if you bring Brach's Star Brites Mints, it will just distract the class.  We have enough difficulty as it is attempting to stay on task.  Imagine adding in food to the equation.  Not only  would we have the debate of whose blog convinced you to bring them (because we would have to find out, even if we had to duct tape you to the wall, we would find out one way or another), but you would also have to deal with the wrappers.  Now let me tell you all the problems with the wrappers.  First off, they are LOUD.  You have to open them, and unless you are a skilled candy-wrapper-opener, you are going to make noise.  It's not just one of though, it's ALL of us making noise continuously for like three minutes.  Then you would have those people who wait until the middle and end of class to open there's and make more noise!  So not only are the noise with which the wrapper makes distracting, but also the disposal of the wrapper!  Once you eat the candy with in, you have to throw it away!  People would be getting in and out of their seats the entire time!  That's just annoying!  There would of course be some of those kids who would not even throw them away at all, too!  They, for what ever reason, think that their mother follows them around and just picks up everything for them!  So that would leave clean up for you Mr. Langley!  I'm not even sure which kind of mints these are.  I really really really like the ones they gave us during ISATS.  Those straight up melted in your mouth.  Now if it's the hard mints, yuck.  Those taste decent for about the first half, but then they just leave a bad taste in your mouth.  In summary, I think bringing in mints would be distracting because we would have to spend time figuring out why you brought them and the wrapper's would cause ruckus and such.  DO NOT DO IT.

Journal #9

The Adventures of the Four Narwhal Friends: The Encounter with the Sea God

There once was a narwhal named Autumn.  He also had three friends with the names Winter, Summer, and Spring.  They were the best four friends that anyone could have!  One day they were swimming along in the ocean blue when they came upon a sad sad part of the ocean.  The bright blue color the ocean usually was gone and replaced by a much less vibrant blue that really made everyone much sadder.  Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer were all very curious narwhals and of course had to search out the reason as to why this part of the ocean was much sadder than the rest.  They began to swim deeper and deeper and it only got colder and colder.  Soon,  Summer could not take it anymore and swam back to her happier ocean where it was comfortable in temperature.  She was Summer, after all, cold just wasn't her style.  Spring, Autumn, and Winter continued on.  Eventually Spring gave out as well, and went to find Summer.  That left Autumn and Winter to find the mysterious cause of the sadness.  After a few minutes more they found a boy crying on the ocean floor.  He wasn't wet, or even dead for that matter!  Just sitting there, letting the tears roll down his face.  Autumn and Winter got closer only to discover it was none other than Percy Jackson!  Son of the Sea God!  No wonder he wasn't wet, he was Poseidon's child! Percy Jackson was a celebrity among the narwhals, so Autumn and Winter were simply ecstatic to find the Son of the Sea God!  Upon getting closer to the demi-god, Autumn and Winter noticed his tears were the cause for the sadness!  They were slowly flowing from his face and you could just barely notice that the tears were indeed the reason that was altering the oceans vibrant blue color into a sadder, dull, and less impressive blue.  You could also tell, once you were closer, their was also an aura of sadness surrounding Percy, greater than any other.  Autumn pipped up and asked, "Percy? Why are you crying so?"  At first Percy made no movement or signs that he had heard them.  Finally though, he slowly turned and said in a barely audible voice,

"All the blue ice cream was gone."

TO BE CONTINUED. (If journal topic permits). 

Journal #8

My Mother can be very irrational.  Of course I am her daughter and therefore she does not allow me to do a lot of things that I want to do so I am going to think of her irrationally at times.  There have been instances when she has been truly irrational.  Specifically, this summer was the first summer that I had ever had my license, naturally my social life greatly increased.  Okay, this is about my dad and my mom both being irrational, forgot about him.  Last school year I became really good friends with Morgan Young, so this summer I was at her house like every day.  Once, I ended up spending the night two nights in a row because I had ended up not having a car and just stayed the next Saturday and went to church with them and my parents received me from there.  Then volleyball started in June, and my social life took a temporary dip.  I only went to her house about once a week to swim or eat or something.  Then at the end of June we decided we were going to watch all the Harry Potter movies in one day.  It is possible, it's only about nine-teen hours and forty-eight minutes.  In order to do so, I needed to spend two night in a row at Morgan's house.  By the time we would have finished I would, it would have been past my driving curfew.  My parents decided that it was no longer okay for me to spend two nights in a row.  They never really told me why, come to think of it.  That is my number one biggest pet peeve, decisions with out reasoning.  Well, I had to persuade them with multiple reasons to help them see the light that this was very important.  I would not be able to hang out with these people for about two weeks after that, it would be great fun, and wonderful memories would be made.  In the end, I convinced them with my wonderful reasoning abilities and all was good in the neighborhood.  

Wait. What?

Holy jazzer muffins that was long.

Crucible: Act IV

   "The parochial snobbery of these people was partly responsible for their failure to convert the Indians. Probably they also preferred to take land from heathens rather than from fellow Christians. At any rate, very few Indians were converted, and the Salem folk believed that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve, his home base and the citadel of his final stand. To the best of their knowledge the American forest was the last place on earth that was not paying homage to God" (Act I, 5).  In the "Crucible"  we see that the people in the story are very concerned with the 'Devil's Work' within the town.  This quote exemplifies that the people believed a very strict line existed in society.  On one side was God and the other the Devil.  They believe that their town is where God and goodness are and the forest, were the Indians are, is where the Devil and evil are.  This is much like the sermon we listened to in class "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards.  In the Sermon, the preacher is bombarding his audience with accusations of the life they have been living, reprimanding them all with extremely forceful words.  

   This quote and this sermon are similar to me because they both present very strict views of God and the Devil.  The quote gives us a visual along with words.  It clearly conveys that the towns people believe that their town is where God is.  They strictly believe that they are the good in this situation.  They believe that the forest is where the evil is.  The relate the Indians and the Devil.  This reminds me of the sermon we listened to because the preacher, Jonathan Edwards, also draws a very clear line.  He tells us, well really screams at us, that our life is basically a big fat sin.  He tells us that if we do not change what we are doing we will end up in Hell.  Then he gives a very in depth analysis of what he thinks Hell looks like.  He pretty much tells us we must be perfect or we will be punished.  There has only ever been one perfect human being.  Jesus.  Therefore, he draws a line between humanity and the Son of God.  In relations to the quote, he is showing the way humans are living as the Devils way and perfection as the Godly way.  (This makes me angry, but those reason are for another day.)   

   There is something ironic about "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and how it comes out in "The Crucible."  The Sermon is Jonathan Edwards telling his audience that they are living incorrectly and, unless they want to pay the very fiery consequences, the must change their ways.  Now you have "The Crucible."  A book full of Puritans 'trying' to do the right thing.  They think that witchery has over taken them and they must rid themselves of it and purify in God's name.  In order to do this, mostly everyone ends up lying at some point, relationships are ripped apart, and most importantly various innocent lives are taken.  That, for one, is not very christian-like at all.  In Act IV, Reverend Hale enters.  He looks sorrowful and is asked why.  He responds with "Why, it is simple.  I come to do the Devil's work.  I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves" (Act IV, 131).  A Reverend is being asked to lie.  Definitely not christian-like.  Now in the sermon, the audience is told they must clean up their lives or face the consequences.  In "The Crucible" the people think they are cleaning up their lives to avoid the consequences.  The people haven't necessarily heard this sermon in particular, but we are told that in their church they receive like treatment.  The ironic thing is the people in "The Crucible" are being told that they are living in an evil way and need to turn to God, but in the end they do quite the opposite.  

   There are multiple similarities between "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and "The Crucible."  The biggest one I saw was the distinct line both parties drew between God and the Devil.  The people put the forest, natives, and witchery on the Devil's side, and themselves on God's side.  Jonathan Edwards put how people had been living on the Devil's side and simply perfection on God's side.  They both had very clear ideas of what was right and wrong in their eyes.  Jonathan Edwards pretty much expected us to live as Jesus, or we will end up in Hell in his opinion.  Both parties had very clear ideas in their head, but each lead to a very incorrect conclusion.  The sermon and "The Crucible" were both of incorrect views of what should be happening and what should happen in the future.

    

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

Field, Nancy. "Unit 1." Glencoe Literature American Literature: The Reader's Choice. [S.l.]: Glencoe Mcgraw-Hill Schoo, 2003. 83-85. Print.

Journal #7

Let me start off with saying that bullying is stupid.  Any time a person has an idea in their head that they are better than someone else for whatever reason, that is straight up stupid.  I have never been in a serious bullying situation, nor have I really known anyone who has been, either.  I can, however, talk about what I have learned about in the past in classes and such.  I remember in eighth grade they had a speaker come in and talk about virtual bullies, on Facebook and such.  There had been a girl who had been mean to another girl or stolen her boyfriend or something very minimal and the victims mother felt the need to step in on the situation.  The mother got on Myspace (I know, back in the day) and created a fake account as a high school boy and added the girl who had been bullying her daughter.  She began to slowly build a friendship with the girl, always calling her pretty and continuously complimenting her until the girl began to trust this boy.  After a few months the boy began to throw out digs on the girl, BULLYING her back.  He eventually make her feel so horrible about herself she thought she had no reason to live and committed suicide.  How did this effect the victim?  In this particularly situation, very strongly.  She made herself so vulnerable to this Myspace boy she had never met that his opinions were, in the end, the difference between life and death.  How did this effect the bully?  I would be very angry if this did not virtually ruin the mother who created the fake accounts life.  I don't remember the exact reason she felt the need to step in on her daughters life, but I do remember it was an extremely petty and definitely not worth anyone's life.  Hopefully the mother was effected very highly and learns from her mistakes and others can also learn from it.  

The Crucible: Act III

   How is human nature displayed in "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller?  First, let us brain storm some common characteristics of human nature.  One, we are SELFISH.  I do not care what you say.  Humans are probably the most selfish species ever.  This is not always a bad thing, necessarily.  Some times it is for the preservation of one's self.  Usually, however, we are just more concerned about ourselves as opposed to the rest of the world that continues to revolve no matter what.  Abigail exemplifies the trait of selfishness splendidly.  Not only does she show great signs of selfishness in Act III, but the whole book.  In the beginning when she is being interrogated, she completely throws everyone else under the bus in order to preserve herself.  She doesn't think about anyone else and how her actions could possibly effect them.  Then in Act III when they are in court and Abigail is being questioned, she does not even hesitate to think about anyone else.  She is focused on herself and only herself and the only way to get herself out of any trouble.  She does not care about the truth or the lies, as long as what is being said puts her in a position of power.  
   This blog is going to be contradicting in some ways, I am warning you now.  It will be with good taste, though.  I just went on a little tangent about how selfish humans are.  This is very true.  HOWEVER.  We have shining moment when the opposite is proven.  In my opinion, humans predominantly are focused on themselves and how this or that can benefit them.  PREDOMINANTLY.  Sometimes though,  we are the most caring species ever.  There are some people in this world who are simply incapable of thinking about themselves.  They are only concerned with how they could be helping someone else.  This magnificent trait is shown through John Proctor in Act III.  Just to clarify, I am not saying John Proctor is a perfect little angle.  He is not.  However, he has a shining moment in Act III where he puts himself and something that he cares a whole lot about on the line for someone else.  His wife, Elizabeth is being accused of being a witch.  *sarcasm* Wierd, right?  That does not happen very much in "The Crucible"...  Well, in order to free his wife and reveal Abigail as the little liar that she is, he tells of the affair that the two had (John Proctor and Abigail).  In order to save his wife from most certain death, he ruins his good reputations which is something that is very important to him.  He shows that sometimes it is in human nature to help others at all costs.  
   The last characteristic of human nature that really popped out at me from "The Crucible" was that of social conformity.  In other words, people want to be liked,  they want to be accepted at all costs.  There are some people who do everything in their power to do their own thing and be able to take credit for everything they do, that is not the case in this book.  Witch craft is the things, so everyone goes with it.  We can make a pretty sure guess that none of these people actually experienced anything they are saying they did.  They are lying.  Why may you ask?  In order to fit in!  Duh!  They want to be liked, so when Abigail begins accusing someone of witch craft, they go with it!  It might also be that they don't want to be the next victim,  but also they want to fit in and be apart of something.  Humans want to be liked and accepted, it is in our nature, and pretty much everyone in this book reflects that.  


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

Journal #6

It is very annoying when someone blames you for something you did not do.  I try very hard to always make my accusations as true as possible because it is no fun trying to regain that person's affections for you.  There are many possibly repercussions to giving false accusations.  If I was to accuse my brother, Walker, of stealing all the money out of my piggy bank but really it had been my other brother, Taylor, Walker would most likely be pretty mad at me.  He would feel very wounded.  He would feel wounded because he would think that I did not think our relationship was as strong as it really was.  I would feel very extremely wounded if someone was to falsely accuse me of something.  I would see that they had a false image of me and that they really did not know me at all.  It would be like our friendship was a lie and that I had not really known them at all.  I would also see that they hadn't really known me either, which would hurt because all my efforts to build a relationship with them would all be for a loss it would seem.  Now this all seems a bit extreme, do not take it so extreme.  I just would feel very hurt if this was to happen to me, but I would be able to recover as most people would.  It would be initially my relationship with that person most likely would not be the greatest.  This would also apply to the vice versa situation.  If I was to accuse someone wrongfully they would probably lose trust in me initially as well.  That would probably be the worst repercussion of that situation, losing that relationship with that person for however long.  You could also end up grounded or in jail or just sad and friendless.  There are a lot of possible repercussions that could happen with false accusations, however losing the trust of a friend would be the worst.   

The Crucible: Act II

          There are many different types of personalities.  There are, however, four main types that we are going to focus on in this blog.  They are a helper which is the color blue, a thinker the color green, a planner the color gold, and finally a doer which is the color orange.  Many people could possibly fall in between these categories and be a mix, but you can pretty well fit just about anybody in one of these categories.  Now we're reading "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller.  The characters that I am going to relate to the chart from "The Crucible" are John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Tituba, and Reverend Parris.  
     I believe that John Proctor is doer.  A doer does a lot of spontaneous and rash things.  They do not think their actions all the way through, usually, and tend to be the one everyone is looking at and just thinking to themselves, "Wait...what?"  The biggest piece of evidence I have to show to prove John Proctor as a "doer" is his affair with Abigail Williams.  This is a perfect representation of something a doer would do.  At the time, his wife Elizabeth was very frigid, she even tells us this herself.  She was also very sick and we can assume John was not getting the same amount of attention he usually received from his wife.  You insert a young and fiery new housekeeper and you have a soon very shamed Puritan with no where to turn.  
     Our next character is Abigail Williams.  She would fall somewhere between a planner and a doer.  I would say possibly a planner because whenever confronted about the witch-craft she is very articulate and purposeful with her actions.  She plans and takes control of the situation very quickly to ensure that things go as she wants. She makes sure that the other girls know what is going to happen and the consequences if they do not.  She does not hesitate.  This leads us right into why she might be a doer, as well.  She does not hesitate.  She knows what she wants immediately and so she acts upon it and takes action with out first thinking what could possibly be the repercussions.  Her "doer" side is also reflected in her affair with John Proctor.  She does not hesitate to think she could be potentially breaking up a marriage with her actions, but instead goes for what she wants.  
     Next up, we have a helper.  Tituba, Reverend Parris' slave.  She is supposedly the one who led the witch-craft in the woods with all of the girls.  This is actually very true, however she was not doing it as witch-craft.  She was simply practicing her culture.  She is African-American and originally from Barbados so she has African roots.  Her culture is singing and dancing.  So despite the fact she is being completely manipulated and persecuted and accused of thing she hasn't done, she is still kind and caring.  Poor Betty is lying in bed, Tituba doesn't care about herself and the mess she's in, she goes to care for Betty anyway.  
     Lastly, we have Reverend Parris.  He is the first character we see in this little novella.  He is standing over his sick daughter, Betty's, bed.  We initially feel pretty bad for him.  We think he is at his daughters deathbed, about to mourn for her.  Nope.  He's just THINKING about what this will do for his reputation, having witch-craft evident in his house.  Reverend Parris is slowly, but thoroughly revealed for the sick individual he is through out the book.  He is constantly analyzing situations and thinking what he could do to make them go in his favor.  I have decided he is thinker because he is constantly reading into situations and contemplating how they could come out in his odds.  He is a very selfish thinker, but a thinker no less.    
      Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print. 

Journal #5

A "fair punishment" is very hard to give a concrete definition of.  There are so many variables that could effect a punishment that it's hard to say what is fair and what is not.  In the twenty first century I'd say grounding from electronics is definitely a fair and efficient way of going about it.  The fear of losing ones telephone or computer or car or whatever is very good motivation.  If you threaten a child's social life, they are extremely apt to stay in line.  Now that we have defined WHAT should be taken away, now is the situation of how long.  First it depends on how serious the infraction was.  That also depends on the parent figure and their opinions on what is so called serious and what is not.  A typical parent would consider breaking curfew a serious enough infraction of the rules.  Say your curfew is eleven o'clock and you roll in around eleven thirty.  If the child was to alert the parent of the situation and that they would not be making curfew but were doing there best to make home as fast as possible but still in one piece, I would imagine a parent would be much more forgiving.  Now if the child simply rolls in around eleven twelve with no explanation what so ever, I'd say the punishment would be in a more serious category.  As a parental figure I would either veto their car privileges for the following social outing they had planned, or cell phone privileges for a period of time.  I would, however, be absolutely positive they always had a way of contacting me and making sure they could communicate if necessary.  I would probably take the phone for a few days in order to drive the point home that I am their parent and therefore need to know their were abouts at all times, no matter what their excuse was.  If they aren't going to use their phone for the actual cause, letting me know their were abouts, then they get no phone at all.