Monday, October 25, 2010

Journal #17: Nature Bonding

Once upon a time there was a young girl named Amy. She lived in the middle of a small forest with her family and their many pets. One day while she was out taking pictures of the fall foliage, she tripped and hit her head on a rock the was inconveniently placed directly in her path. She was dazed for about five minutes until she sat up and felt the back of her head. Thankfully there was no blood, but she did have one heck of a bump. Shaking it off, she got up and proceeded to head back to her house. She almost tripped again when she came across a squirrel in the middle of the path. Instead of tripping, however, she managed to step on it's tail. It let out a shrill cry of pain, then turned to her angrily shouting "Hey! Watch where you're walking!" Amy jumped back, startled. Satisfied that its message had gotten through, the squirrel scampered off in search of food to store for the upcoming winter. "That was weird. Note to self: have Mom check for possible concussion when I get home." Amy made it home without further incident and proceeded to tell her mom about her possible concussion. Her mom brushed off her concerns, giving her some Tylenol and telling her to finish her homework. Dinnertime came around, which meant that Amy's family ate at the table in the kitchen and their pets hovered around them, just in case any food happened to spill on the floor. Dinner was its usual silent affair, until someone grumbled under the table that no one had fed him anything for a good ten minutes. Amy started laughing until she realised that her parents were looking at her funny. They were used to her randomly laughing though, so they went back to their meals. After dinner, she went back out to the woods where she figured out that she could talk to the animals after having a chat with a raccoon about its friend who always made it braid her hair. Her thought process was something like this: "OMG, I can talk to animals! This is so cool! I'm like Dr. Doolittle except female and not the one played by Eddie Murphy because he's annoying." She stayed out in the woods for a few more hours, chatting with all the little woodland creatures about anything and everything. They all became friends and lived happily ever after. The End.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Journal # 16: My Favorite Place

The Traveling Carnival

As I step out on to the grass of the midway, thousands of sights, sounds, and smells assault my senses. I see an old man tossing a ball at empty milk jars. He knocks them down and hands the prize to his wife next to him, like they were back on their first date all these years later. I smell the food from the food stalls, a salty-sweet combination of popcorn, caramel apples, and countless deep-fried foods on sticks. I hear the laughter of children, the shouts of the carnies coercing customers into their stalls, and the whir of the rides on the grass farther down the track. Above me, lights are strewn between the stalls on either side of the main aisle, creating a sea of twinkling lights that can almost put the stars to shame.
Walking down the midway, everything looks as if it's sparkling, despite the carnival's general shabbiness. Stopping only to buy some cotton candy, I continue down the aisle. I pass by the fortune-teller's booth, laughing at the thought that anyone could head her warnings for the future in such an enchanting atmosphere. All problems seem to disappear here.
To my right a bird trainer releases a dove. I watch as it soars above our heads, it's wings a dazzling white in the glow of the million tiny lights above it. Across from him a magician performs tricks for a group of small children and their parents. The children are enthralled with each new trick, and, though they try to hide it, the adults are dazzled as well.
I watch the whimsy going on all around me and take in the simple, relaxed happiness on all the faces present.
In the distance I hear the delicate chimes of a music box, it's notes the perfect soundtrack to the scene around me. The music grows louder and I am jolted out of my fantasy and back to my room where I hold the music box gently in my hands. As the song finishes I grab my book bag and head outside into the rain. As I walk along the rain falls down on my head, but I'm not there to feel it. The wind blows past, but I can't hear it over the music and laughter of the carnival in my dreams.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Journal # 15: Logic and Reason

Today's topic is to tell where I use logic and reason. First off, let me just say that logic and reason are skippitty-dippity. Seriously though, they're fantastic. More people should use logic and reasoning in their everyday lives. Something tells me that the world would run much more smoothly that way.
Anyway, I use logic and reason pretty much all day every day. A person kind of has to when they go to school and take as many advanced classes as I and a lot of my classmates do.
I remember in elementary school, there were classes called Discovery and Enrichment. Our teachers for both of those classes was Mrs. Henderson. She was awesome, but that's not necessarily important in this blog. Enrichment was just a fun little class that everyone went to sometime during the week. Discovery was the class for the gifted kids that was held once a week or something. Anyway, the point of this little side note is that both classes were focused on logic and deductive reasoning. And they were both totally awesome. Mrs. Henderson used to give us these logic puzzles that no one could figure out, but everyone thought they were fun. I kind of miss that class. Same with Discovery. One time in Discovery, Mrs. Henderson set up a fake crime scene for us to look at. I think the crime was a stolen lunch box or something like that. We got to play detective and find out who took the lunch box. That's probably where my semi-obsession with spies and detectives came from. If only Mrs. Henderson knew what she started that day.
Speaking of spies and detectives, I'm going to switch and talk about ninjas to eat up my remaining word length. Ninjas are cool. They totally pwn pirates. No offense Mr. Langley: it's just a fact of life. I would totally be a ninja if there was actually a way to make that possible. Sadly, I have not discovered one yet.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Thomas Paine's Common Sense Reflection

From what I've read of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, I can tell that he really put a lot of thought into his writing. The reader can tell that he is obviously writing in the style of the Rationalism literary period based on the way he goes about presenting his points-of-view. While other political writers of the time often presented their opinions and propaganda as facts, Thomas Paine does not often give into that kind of unsophisticated writing. While you can tell that his writing is fueled by his emotions and opinions, you can also see that he does not let himself get carried away or swept up in his own justified political frustration. As far as I could see, he did not wander off topic either. He sticks to his points and defenses without any unnecessary interruptions. This makes the writing flow a lot better and keeps the reader interested for a longer period of time.
Another thing I noticed while reading this and listening to my classmates' summaries of various sections of the text is how Paine uses religious stories to his advantage. One of my classmates mentioned a story about Sampson in their section of Common Sense. I think that Thomas Paine was very clever in his use of biblical stories. Though his writing would have generally been written for upper-class white males, the use of biblical stories as references ensures that his work could reach a broader audience, if he wanted it to. The other benefit to using the Bible as a reference to make his points is that it gives the reader an example they are likely to be familiar with. Since the main religions of colonial and revolutionary America were forms of Christianity, most of the population was likely to have read or listened to the Bible in church at some point in time. It also probably appealed to the Rationalists that Paine used the Bible more as a reference in his work instead of using it for religious purposes, such as in this passage:


As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by kings. All anti-monarchial parts of scripture have been very smoothly glossed over in monarchial governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their governments yet to form.

The writing style for this work is very to the point, though, at some times, it is easy to see where Paine got worked up and began to rant and ramble. Thankfully, he seems to catch himself before we as the audience lose interest. There are also times when he seems to make fun of and insult the people who willingly follow a monarchial government such as when he says "However, it is needless to spend much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right, if there are any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and lion, and welcome." (Paine).
Though this isn't the kind of thing I usually go for, I enjoyed reading this and seeing how Paine called out the monarchial system of government.


Paine, Thomas. "Thomas Paine's Common Sense - Text Version." Archiving Early America: Primary Source Material from 18th Century America. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. .

Thursday, October 14, 2010

"Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream" reflection

This literary criticism really didn't make that much sense to me. The author starts out by commenting on Franklin's use of satire in his Autobiography, then switches tracks and starts talking about how Franklin "gave us the definitive formulation of the American Dream". The use of excerpts from Franklin's Autobiography and other works (including the well-known story of Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia), while interesting, were not very relevant to the point the author was trying to make.
One thing that I really appreciated was how he really hashed out what exactly the American Dream is. He defined its parts clearly at the beginning of each paragraph and then expounded on his definition with support from Franklin's Autobiography. He gives it as the standard cliche of "the rise from rags to riches", but then he also draws on other sources to show how the American Dream is also different things as well. I hadn't really thought about those before, and I think it will be helpful in the future to have that kind of knowledge of the American Dream. I had heard of the rags to riches theme before, but had never really thought about the other aspects to the American Dream. J. A. Leo Lemay gives the American Dream as the standard rags to riches, the rise from impotence to importance, the idea that an individual can change the world, free will versus determinism, and the idea of hope fro a better tomorrow. This take on the American Dream was really interesting, even though I thought the author didn't pick the best stories from Franklin's Autobiography to relate the American Dream to Franklin's work.
As far as the writing style for this critical analysis goes, I had expected a lot better. At the beginning, his thoughts seem scattered. When he finally does get his thoughts pinned down and starts talking about the subject mentioned in the title, he still seems lacking something. His choice of words can get repetitive, and sub-par at times. He uses the word archetypal a lot during a paragraph to describe the American Dream. I had to look up that word, and when I did, it made even less sense. The entries on Dictionary.com defined it as "1. perfect or typical as a specimen of something 2. being an original model or pattern or a prototype" ("Archetypal..."). I think he could have used a better word to get his point across. This is just one of many examples of the author's poor word choices that I noticed.
In addition to his poor word choices, the author goes off-topic numerous times, bringing up things such as the importance of a happy constitution, Franklin's thirteen Virtues, and other things that he describes as "interesting to me" (Lemay).
All in all, I thought this critical analysis was interesting, even if it was poorly written (in my opinion- others might think this was the most fantastic thing ever). It gave me new insight into the American Dream and gave some interesting excerpts from Franklin's Autobiography that I was not familiar with before reading this article.

"Archetypal Define Archetypal at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. .

Lemay, J.A. Leo. "Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream." In The Renaissance Man in the Eighteenth Century. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1978. Quoted as "Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream." in Bloom, Harold, ed. The American Dream, Bloom's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=1&iPin=BLTTAD005&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 14, 2010).

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Journal #14: Declaration

This journal is a Declaration of Free Writing. I believe that students in an English class, especially an advanced English class, should be able to write about anything they want. It often happens that a topic presented for a journal entry is too constrictive or too vague to be of much use when giving students a topic to write about. Even if we just had free-writing journals ever once in a while, I think it could greatly improve the mindset and writing of the students involved. The teacher might even be surprised at what the students write about.

That's really all I have to say about that subject, so I'm making this also a Declaration of Short Presidents. We recently learned in A.P. U.S. History that part of the reason that George Washington was elected was because he was so much taller than everyone else. Sure he was a great leader and generally well liked, but people also thought he would make an awesome president because he was tall. This is my Declaration of Short Presidents where I speak out for the short men running for president. Like any normal person, I can see the appeal of tall people, but short people should be given a chance too. After all, the Constitution does say that all men were created equal and all that. I'm pretty sure they were really only saying that so it would make them look good (after all- apparently to them, slaves didn't count as men), but the government can still be held accountable for it, as they have been many times before. For that matter, this could also be a Declaration of Fat Presidents. President Taft is pretty much my hero*. He was the only president to get stuck in his bathtub. He is also the answer in any Scholastic bowl question concerning presidents that no one knows. Presidents are pretty much our weakness. Anyway, Taft was awesome and deserves a Declaration just for him.

*not really, I just made that up.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Journal # 13: Spirit

Every time spirit week comes around again I think of this cartoon that I love called Danny Phantom. In one of the episodes it's spirit week at Casper High School (the school in the show) and no one really gets into it except for the English teacher, Mr. Lancer who is really old and uncool. He apparently used to be a cheerleader and still has a lot of school spirit left. So now every time someone says spirit week, I get this image in my head of a balding teacher dancing around with "spirit sparklers". It's pretty funny actually.

It's a pretty well-known fact among my friends that I don't really have much "school" spirit. I just don't see why I should get all excited about a team that never even looks twice at any of the teams that I'm on. Scholastic team and the drama club never get any recognition. And the scholastic team has a much better record than the football team because, let's face it, our football team sucks. So I do have some school spirit, just not for the sports teams. I'm sorry if I don't get worked up like the cheerleaders for a team that makes fun of mine.

This year's spirit week has some really stupid and hard to do themes. Monday was Hat/Jersey Day, Tuesday was Cowboy/Cowgirl day, Wednesday is 80s day, Thursday is Class color day, and Friday is Spirit day. They're all pretty self-explanatory. They might sound easy, but I don't own any clothes that could fall into one of those categories, and I don't live in Springfield, so it's really hard for me to get into town to look for clothes. Then everyone in my class who is dressed up gets this really snarky attitude and asks me why I'm not dressed up. It's really annoying, and I get fed up quickly with having to explain my situation to my classmates who couldn't care less.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Journal #12: Working with a Partner

My feelings about working with a partner vary with my mood of the day and numerous other factors such as the assignment, the person I'm paired with, and the teacher who teaches the class. Normally I really don't like working with a partner because I hate having to plan around another person with whatever project we're supposed to be working on. If it's a really pointless project, I don't mind too much because the project doesn't really matter.

A lot of times I don't like working with a partner because the teachers always put me with the slackers in the class. I don't really know why that is, maybe they think my work ethic would be a good example for them. That's kind of unreasonable because I'm perfectly content to let people fail a project rather than let them get a good grade for the work I did.

If the teacher lets the students of the class pick their own partners, that's usually better. I know they worry about kids feeling left out if they don't get a partner right away, but that's kind of a silly concern. Students can make other students feel left out despite the effort of the teachers to make it otherwise. Some would say it's a valuable learning experience to get paired up with someone you don't like, and that may be true on some levels, but for the most part it isn't. The only thing you really learn is how to deal with annoying people.

I especially don't like working with a partner if my partner isn't right there next to me. It's not that I wouldn't trust them to do their work if I'm not there. It's more a matter of inconvenience and annoyance. It's such a hassle if you have to call them or facebook chat with your partner or something like that. You lose something in the communication that way and your project turns out less than it could have been.