"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).

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.

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.

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.

Journal # 11: Ethics/Values

Ethics and values are really similar, but they have important differences as well. The way I see it, ethics are what you think is right and values are what you see as important. I've never given much thought to either topic as it pertains to me, and I don't really want to today, so I really don't see how this journal is going to go anywhere in the span of 325 words.

Ethics for me mainly consists of common sense and general hospitality rules in the form of manners. The golden rule applies nicely in a question of ethics. Treat others as you would want to be treated pretty much sums it up. If everyone applied that, the world would probably run a lot smoother. It would also be kind of boring though, too.

As far as values go, I'm not really sure where I stand on that one. I change my mind a lot, so I don't think I can really pin down what's important in my mind at any given time. The one thing that's a constant is the value I place on a good book. I'm kind of old school that way, but I'd have to say that reading is one of life's more important things in my mind.

I don't really know what else to say in this blog. Ethics/Values was a pretty vague and general topic. I don't do well with vague and general, which is kind of surprising due to the size of my imagination.

The person most suited to write this blog would probably be a journalist. They have to deal with questions of ethics and values in almost every story they report on. Same with politicians. Their whole careers are built on their ethics and values. Not that they always follow what they say, but it's still an important aspect of their career.Everyone has to question their ethics and values every once in a while, but those two professions especially.

Journal # 10: Science vs. Religion

Science vs. religion has always seemed like a pointless topic to me. Why does it matter how the world came about, just as long as it did?

There was a character on this TV show that I love (Bones) who was a devout Muslim. The other characters didn't see how he could be a scientist and still be religiously active. He said it was because he believed that Allah created the world and science is just the human way of trying to understand his work. I like how he blends religion and science into one. He does it so neatly that the other characters accept his reasoning and move on without asking any more questions.

Personally, I agree with that character from Bones. Except replacing God for Allah. I don't really see how anyone could argue with that logic except for atheists. If you're religious and you get into that argument, it's like would God or whoever really want you to be fighting? And if you're a scientist, it wouldn't be rational to get into that argument especially since it wouldn't gain anything. It just doesn't make sense to me.

That's really all I have to say on that subject, but I still need a lot more words. If I could have, I would have made this into a detective or spy thriller again, but I couldn't think up a plausible story that would incorporate the theme for today. I doubt I'll be able to use next class's theme in that way either. Such a shame. I could have written something awesome for those. A lot of my dreams involve me being a spy or detective in some shape or form. That fact makes it kind of surprising to realise that I don't necessarily want to be a spy or detective when I grow up. It would be cool, yeah, but I wouldn't actively pursue a career in that field. Maybe my fascination comes from the fact that espionage is such a fun word. It could also be that I read a lot of murder mystery books.

Puritan Exam Project

Synopsis: This presentation explores the values of the early Puritan society in colonial America and the various works that came about because of them.