Fahrenheit 451 Analysis

7. Discuss the complexities of Bradbury's message.  Is he against all forms of censorship?  Do you think a society such as this could ever truly exist?  What aspects of this society does Bradbury appear to detest the  most?  Use specific examples from the text in your argument.

     Bradbury talks about many different aspects of life in the futuristic society of Fahrenheit 451.  Perhaps the most mentioned aspect is that of censorship, as that is behind the plot of the story.  Many of his predictions  for a future society are surprisingly similar to our society today, while not exactly the same.    

     Guy Montag, the main character, is a fireman, someone, who, in this society, starts fires instead of putting them out.  These fires are started to burn books, which are not allowed to be read, or owned by anyone.  It is explained by Montag's captain, Beatty, why books are banned, "You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can't have our minorities upset and stirred...Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo.  Burn it.  White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Burn it." (59)  You can tell that this society is one based around keeping everyone happy and this censorship keeps, or tries to keep everyone happy. However, you can tell in the interviews with Bradbury that he would be against this , if it were to happen in our society.  In the Coda, Bradbury talks about how he is against the censorship of literature, using examples from his own life.  For example, he was put off when a college wouldn't use one of his plays because there were no women parts.  Bradbury says "...it's a mad world and it will get madder if we allow minorities, be they dwarf or giant, orangutang or dolphin...to interfere with aesthetics.  The real world is the the playing ground for each and every group to make or unmake laws. But the tip of the nose of my book or stories or poems is where their rights end and my territorial imperatives begin, run and rule." (178)  Bradbury clearly could care less about anything else people do with the legal system and censoring, as long as it doesn't interfere with his writing.  This would appear to be the part of society which he dislikes the most.  The fact that some people were able to destroy someone else's book solely because they, as an individual were upset, frustrates Bradbury.  Bradbury also seems to detest the lack of intelligence introduced by technology, "The main problem is the idiot TV...The camera never stops and holds still.  So it clicks off your thinking; you can't think when you have things bombarding you like that...We bombard people with sensation.  That substitutes for thinking." (184)

     The future America that Bradbury describes, does seem, to be ever so similar to the society we're living in now.  The use of technology, like the Seashells and televisions that take up entire walls, are similar to our iPods and flat screens.  Ever increasing speed and the deterioration of the schooling system, appear to parallel our society today, scars are made to go faster, and children are learning the very minimum; just enough to pass the tests.  Montag's neighbor, Clarisse McClellan, introduces the reader to the deteriorating school aspect of society, "An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, and more sports, but do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most don't; they just run the answers at you, bing, bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours of film teacher."(29)  Not only do the students appear to learn nothing, but they aren't inquisitive and weren't taught to question the world around them.  This may have been caused by the fact that, according to Captain Beatty, everyone should have the same intelligence level in order for everyone to be happy, so eliminating those that are above intelligence, is beneficial to their society.  On page 60, Beatty explains how society is able to level the playing field and better eliminate these great minds, "You can't rid yourselves of all the bad ducks in just a few years.  The home environment can undo a lot of what you try to do at school.  That's why we've lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we're almost snatching them from the cradle."  From this you can draw similarities to our schooling system; curriculums are stripped to the basics so that no one is "left behind".  It would seem that a society similar to this would be possible, though probably not as extreme.

     Even now, with everyone having to politically correct so that we won't hurt anyone's feelings, and making everyone a winner, even if they didn't work or try at all, we are beginning to head towards the society of Fahrenheit 451.  It is well put by Granger, one of the men who memorize books, how man continues to destroy himself, "...it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the phoenix never had.  We know the damn silly thing we just did.  We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it someday we'll stop making the goddamn funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them.  We pick up a few more people that remember every generation." (163)   If we can stop destroying ourselves, we can create a better society, one that doesn't resemble that of Fahrenheit 451.Bradbury's novel shows a true portrayal of what a society such as ours could turn into if we are not careful; we could soon have firemen similar to those of Guy Montag and Captain Beatty.

TU Tuesday- Local

Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text.


http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Change-is-brewing-at-coffee-business-3591034.php


    Matthew Edge, of Berne, is trying to make a change in New York politics with his "Occupy Democracy Project".  The Occupy Democracy Project "...focuses on campaign finance reform and clean elections".   
The group, originally named The New York Democracy Project, was started at SUNY New Paltz as a collection of students including Edge and his wife, Andrea, to "educate the public about the electoral process and how to achieve fair and balanced elections".  The group wants to break up the big corporations that support politicians and can sway the way they feel on certain topics.  Also, the group wanted to ensure equal public funds for any candidate that wants to run for office to level the playing field and eliminate those corporations entirely.  


   After college, the project was handed almost completely to Edge, as the others' priorities changed.  This caused some temporary tough times for Edge and his wife.  Edge needed a way to finance the project so he decided to start his own coffee business.  He built his own roaster for the beans and buys all of the beans fair trade from poor and developing countries.  The profits from the sales of coffee beans (at $13.00 per pound) go back to the project.  Edge has a range of flavor and roasts, each named with political references such as "...Wake Up Wall Street, Clean Bean Peace Machine, Democracy Joe and...Occupy Your Cup".  These names, and the project were influenced by the Occupy movements, which Edge participated in.  He discovered that many of those people shared his views on politics and even gave "...the extra help he needed to keep The Occupy Democracy Project going".  They helped him so much, the Edge changed the name from the New York Democracy Project to the Occupy Democracy Project.  

Number 9

#9.  Why do veterans deserve respect?

I think that veterans deserve respect because they have put their lives on the line to protect their country and their fellow citizens.  Veterans, unlike the rest of the populace have had to leave behind their families and homes, not sure if they'll return, or necessarily when.  These men and women have given so much for their country and for the protection of others, that it should be a given for them to receive respect.  The fact that they are brave enough to go into a field like this alone should warrant a deep respect from those who receive the benefits of their job, such as the freedoms we have in our country or the protection from our antagonists in places like the Middle East.  Veterans have seen the worst of humans and watched people they've grown close to die.  Veterans deserve our respect because they've risked their lives to protect ours.

What is Crippling Us?

      Between Gatto and Bradbury, they both tell that society is purely using school as a way to control people.  In Gatto's writing he cites other authors and draws a parallel to the Prussian system of education, "an education  system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life,to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens- all in order to render the populace 'manageable'".    This point is echoed in Fahrenheit 451.  On page 60, Montag's captain, Beatty, is explaining how they manage to keep people in line, keep them from thinking for themselves; " You can't rid yourselves of all the odd ducks in just a few years.  The home environment can undo a lot you try to do at school.  That's why we've lowered the kindergarten age year after year until now we're almost snatching them from the cradle".    
      
     Gatto provides examples from other writers and thinkers who also trace back our system of education to Prussia.  Gatto cites authors such as H.L. Mencken and James Bryant Conant.  One man in particular whom Gatto quotes is Alexander Inglis.  Gatto lists Inglis' six functions of our schooling system; the adjustive or adaptive function, the integrating function, the differentiating function, the selective function, and the   propaedeutic function.   One of the six functions that I found very interesting was the first function, adjusting or adaptive.  In the explanation of the function, Gatto writes, "Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority.  This, of course, precludes critical judgement completely.  It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can't test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things".   
      
     As for Bradbury, he uses the characters of Beatty and Clarisse to explain the society in which Montag is living.  Clarisse gives Montag her view of the schooling system telling him how the students do little learning and rarely ask questions.  Beatty allows for the reader for gain a better insight as to why and how this occurred.  After burning a woman along with her house, Beatty visits Montag and  describes the evolution of society which led to the state is in during the book.  This evolution  is caused mostly by the twentieth century, when everything becomes faster, including books, which were extremely shortened.  This led to a decline in schooling, " School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophies, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored...Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?"  


     Both of these images of society appear to be real, at least to me.  I feel as though Inglis' six functions are an accurate depiction of the public schooling system, especially the adjusting or adaptive function because if you compare the topics that we learn in school to what we could be learning, it is confounding as to why we're stuck in a rut re-learning the same things year after year, which few people use in their lives after graduating anyway.  Just ask any high schooler if their parents can help them with their home work...most likely they can't, and thetas because the topics learned in school have little to no relevance in everyday life.  With Bradbury's argument, you can see the same decline in education now as Captain Beatty  explained to Montag.     Not that school has been shortened, but compared even thirty years ago when my parents went to school, discipline has been relaxed greatly in schools.  Also, the use and mechanics of English have been consistently neglected, especially in the lower levels of education, meaning children have little to no concept of how to correctly put a sentence together, and if they can, they have no idea why, or the parts of a sentence.  For spelling, a heavy reliance on technology such as spell check reduces the need to actually know how to spell words, since if you can sound to out, the computer will probably figure out what you're trying to say, and fix it.  This decline in education and the use of public education to control the masses is setting society up to become similar to that of Fahrenheit 451.

Tried and True

http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/post/17477297690/my-28-most-tried-and-true-writing-prompts

If I were forced to spend my life in a library, a museum, or a zoo, I would pick the library.  First of all, a library always has something to read, especially large libraries.  A zoo, while they're fun for a day or two, never really changes.  There are always the same gorillas and tigers and assorted birds and bears, but libraries are always changing as they receive new books, and while I'm a fast reader, I would probably never be able to read all of the books in a library if they were on an endless supply.  Also, libraries are generally quiet (which I like), but they also can host activities for the community.  Plus, while museums are fun and I love history, they don't update and change as quickly as libraries do, so like the zoo, they become boring once you've seen everything once or twice.  If I really had to choose to spend the rest of my life in one of these three places, I would choose the library in a heartbeat.

TU Tuesday- Commencement Speech

Information Texts:  Literary Non-fiction - Includes the subgenres of exposition, argument, and functional text in the form of personal essays, speeches, opinion pieces, essays about art or literature, biographies, memoirs, journalism, and historical, scientific, technical, or economic accounts (including digital sources) written for a broad audience 


http://speakingfrog.com/?p=516
http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/press/cost04/EducationPays2004.pdf


      In his commencement speech for Carnegie Mellon, Bill Cosby began by asking the graduates why the considered themselves nerds, "I don't know why you want to accept yourselves as being that, because you have continued on where non-nerds stopped." I think that education is an extremely important part of society today.  Not only because there is so much to learn, but because everyday jobs are increasing the qualifications necessary to work in that particular job. "And they quit.  All the non-nerds did that-- they said I'm tired, why do I have to know this?...I think that's very, very brave, considering how many friends you lost," said Cosby on the same subject.  As an American high schooler, I see a lot of my peers (especially in the few regents classes I take) that have the potential to be in advanced classes and perform better in general, but don't because they don't feel like it.   I also must agree that sometimes, the classes you take and how hard you work, or the effort you put in,  affects the friends you have.  I have lost, or become more distant with some people because we've gone on different paths educationally.  


     After talking about his first big show as a comedian, Cosby offered excellent advice to the graduates, "I don't care what you do, when you are good then you bring you out."  I think that this is important.  I tend to second guess my abilities a lot, and it is sometimes hard for me to show these.  I think that because I am a fairly shy and quiet person, particularly around people I am not comfortable with, it makes it even harder for me to show that I am good at something.  Cosby offered some more advice when he said, "But you can't be proud and you can't carry it out unless you are sure of yourself and prepared."  I think that getting an education is the best preparation you can receive in today's society.  Education sets you up to live a better life.  According to College Board's, Education Pays, in 2003 a study comparing average full-time year-round workers with a four year college degree and average full-time year-round workers with a high school diploma showed that those with a four year degree "...earned $49,900, 62 percent more than the $30,800 earned by the...worker with only a high school diploma."  And the numbers continue to increase with the more education you get.  An education can have a huge and lasting impact on your life.  

#34 What I Spend Money On

Being a teenager that doesn't have a job, I don't really have that much money.  However, when I do acquire money, I tend to spend it on the same things.  First, since I like most types of music and am constantly finding new songs and artists that I like, I tend to buy iTunes cards.  Sometimes, if I only have about twenty-five dollars, that is the only thing I buy.  When I have more money I like to shop for clothes.  I go to my favorite stores first, especially if I saw something in the catalog or online that I really liked, if I can't find anything there (which is EXTREMELY rare) I might actually put the money away in the bank.

Love to Know Slideshow

The Gift of Time

Many people often complain there isn't enough time in the day to get everything accomplished. If you were able to add an extra hour to the day, what would you do?

http://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com/Slideshow:Daily_Writing_Prompts~6

If I were able to add an extra hour on to the day, I would spend more time doing things that I enjoy, without missing the much sleep.  I would definitely read more, especially during the school year, when I tend to have little time outside of school and homework.  Also, I would probably spend more time doing things that I need to, but tend to put off, like practicing my clarinet.  In addition I would sleep more on the weekends, since I would have the time to finish homework and projects.  However, even though sometimes an hour can seem like a long time, I feel like I would still want more time added on to the day to do everything that I wanted to do.  

Creative Contest III

Stress claims to bring better tomorrows.

Philosophy

Materialism: Materialism, or historical materialism,  is the idea that reality is only material and that, "There are no Gods or supernatural phenomenon. Ideas, dreams, etc. are all part of material reality".  This theory was introduced by Friedrich Engles, but Karl Marx joined in on the research portion.  Marx's theory stated that people must make anything they need, such as food, and reproduce themselves in ways that get them what they want. "For example, through practical everyday life wage- laborers reproduce themselves physically, i.e. work to earn money in order to buy food, shelter and clothing they need to survive".  I don't really agree with this theory, I think that there are definitely things that are beyond what you can physically see or feel, (or explain) and this theory doesn't explain those things.  I think that if everything is material and nothing is left to mystery, then what is the point of living, when, according to this theory, we are only here to work for what we can't live without and that's it.

http://www.marxmail.org/faq/historical_materialism.htm

TU Tuesday- Classified

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to analyze what the text says explicitly and, then, what that infers about the subject as a whole.


Gorgeous strapless gown with some detail, and side rouching. Fitted through bodice and slight flare below the hips. Not a mermaid gown. Never worn. Size 4. Asking $500. Relocating and don't want to bring it. Located in Delmar.
http://timesunion.kaango.com/ad-wedding-gown-never-worn/20561581

THIS STORY IS FICTIONAL


The Past


The past is always something I struggle with.  I've never really been good at the whole "forgive and forget" saying that some people live by.  Maybe it was the fact that nothing truly bad has-had- ever happened to me, and I just focused in on the other things that I thought were the end of the world and refused to let them go.  Like when Heather Fogs and I wore the same dress to our Junior prom.  I was so upset that it took me until out 10 year reunion to even consider the idea that I really shouldn't be upset at her.  


But this was different.  I'd never had anyone do something to me that hurt me inside so much. For a week straight after what my friends now refer to as "The Incident", I sat in my house and refused to leave or talk to anyone.  I'd cried until I couldn't cry anymore.  My friends were okay with this at first, but after day five, they were starting to get annoyed.  I'm not sure they really understood what he'd meant to me and to lose him so quickly, to lose him because he wanted someone else, a few days of recovery just wasn't going to cut it.


I was hesitant to put up the ad for my dress, the "gorgeous strapless gown with some detail, and side rouching", but after a while I couldn't stand to wake up and look at it every morning, just hanging in my closet along with my everyday clothes.  I tried moving it to the garage at one point, but it still reminded me of him; Leo.  I had decided to let go of him, but as soon as I wrote the words "never worn", I lost it.  


It was my idea really, to go.  I just could't stand to be in my house, I just felt as though I was trapped memories that just kept replaying though my mind. Especially the one I wish I'd forget, from the night of "the Incident".  No one was happy when I shared my plans two weeks ago at our monthly girl's night out.  Actually, most of them were angry with me, telling me that I hand't given myself enough time to get over him, but I knew that I had to go.  I was tired of being "Located in Delmar" and wanted to just be done and gone already.  


The next night I finally typed up my listing for the dress; "Relocating and don't want to bring it", I'd rather just leave it in the past with him.

Q= Quesadillas

• 1 lb. ground beef or chicken- The chicken sizzles as it hits the grill after being marinated for a weekend in order to make the perfect spiedies.  Gray smoke circles up through a few thin branches of a nearby tree into the pure blue sky hanging overhead.  A tradition started by the generation before them, the children stand by taking in the perfect scene of a group of old friends talking and laughing as though they were still in their twenties.   Overlooking the calm lake named for a king of England, a cool breeze drifts up the steep incline from the docks to their temporary home.  A long day of playing in the sand and on various playgrounds makes the sunburned faces happy to be able to sit and relax for a while.

• 1 pkg. of taco seasoning- Spiciness brings memories of visiting the grandparents down south, sarcasm and sass being the language of the family.  Heat radiating from everything that moves outside of the air-conditioned house, car, and very building you step into.  For the New Yorkers confusion had set in the minute they looked out their windows and saw less pools than they had in their home state, but a simple explanation of the abundant poisonous snakes and such critters makes them never want to leave the safe haven of air conditioning, just like the locals.  

• 1 sm. can refried beans-  The heat of a summer afternoon picnic under a weeping willow on the front lawn.  Eating only cut up fruit for an early dinner on a worn blanket, where the grass pokes through, tickling your legs.   Silliness leads to laughter from two little girls waiting for their parents to be ready to make the walk around the corner to the dirt hill so that they can play until the mosquitos appear.

• 1/2 lb. Shredded cheese- As the green grass is chopped to the perfect length by the lawn mower, the scent drifts into the house through the open windows and doors.  Children run, barefoot, between lawns, playing tag in the warm sun.  When the heat finally gets to them, a light blue pool invites them to run home and change into colorful bathing suits, pausing only to ask a parent to supervise.  They stay in until their fingers and toes are wrinkled like a raisin or until a call for dinner beckons, leaving with a promise to meet after for an after-dark edition of their afternoon.

• 1 pkg. of tortillas- Flat like the big backyard covered in fresh white snow, large footprints make a path for the smaller ones to follow.  A slippery, icy, sled track leads down the hand made ramp to the middle of the yard, where a myriad of footprints have gathered. It takes no time at all for the little girls and their playmates to uncover the circular trampoline at the edge of the yard, making room so they can jump in their heavy snow boots and land in the white padding to make snow angels.

http://www.cookbooks4sale.com/displayRecipe.php?rid=12413&by=alpha

Famous Poem Starters

An Old Man 

Once upon a midnight dreary,

while I pondered weak and weary

about all the things I'd wished I'd done-

 way back when I could still have fun- 

a man of eighty, knocked upon my door.

He asked of me if I had an answer for 

why no one could help him,

as his days were growing slim.

Seeing that I had no reply,

he screeched of the end growing nigh,

how his wasted days

had gone by in blaze

and  how he wanted nothing less

than to stop and express 

how the longer you let time go,

the fewer things you will know.

After I'd asked the man to leave

I sat, wondering if I should believe

in the old man

or stick to my original plan. 

As I sit here now, looking back on life, I regret

all the great moments that I'd let

slip by for no reason, 

one after another, season after season.

Nursery Rhymes ARE Relevant to Life

Boys and girls, come out to play

Boys and girls, come out to play.
The moon doth shine as bright as day!
Leaves your supper and leave your sleep,
And come with your playfellows into the street.
Come with a whistle,

Come with a call,
Come with a good will, or not at all.

This rhyme (while I don't think it's intended to) makes me think of my extremely busy life, as well as other teenager's busy lives.  Especially the line "leaves your supper and leave your sleep", since I have recently been eating dinner quickly or on the run because of extra-curricular activities or homework.  Also, with my busy schedule there seems to never be time to sleep.   The line "And come with your playfellows into the street" makes me think of walking out to the bus every morning and how other people are doing the same thing at about the same time.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pfa/dreamhouse/nursery/rhymes/goodwill.html

Turn your Inkblot into a Butterfly

Learning

Mistake- An error

 in calculation

or

judgement

caused by poor reasoning

or

 insufficient knowledge.

A little girl,

shy, with a habbit

of keeping to herself.

Beginning a new activity

starts the anxiety, heightened

by having to let go of an old friend.

Stress building from

so many opinons

it's hard to find her own.

Although things have

always

been decided for her, this one,

"Is up to you."

Under the stress only

known to the mind of a child

in a situation of choosing between

a friend and 

endless, unforseen possiblities

a "rash", rushed decision surfaces

to the dismay of those responsible for her.

A season of practicing

proves to be as boring as they told,

but she tells herself

the comfort of her bubble

makes up for it. 

Two seasons later and

the shy little girl's friend has

moved on, to new games.

The little girl,

now not so shy,

finds her way out of that

restricting bubble,

ready to make new friends.

Cathleen F. Crowley

Cathleen F. Crowley, a "newspaper reporter for 15 years", blogs and writes articles for the Times Union about heath.  Her blog, The Pulse, "reflects the stories I'm working on and the issues I'm researching, but you'll also get a  smattering of the behind-the-scenes joys and frustrations of being a modern day newspaper reporter".  Crowley recently reported (today) on an experiment by Albany Medical College getting put on the top 10 list of "Most Ridiculous Research on Animals of 2011" put out by a California based group called In Defense of Animals (IDA).  The experiment was done on rats to see if "music triggers cravings in drug-addicted animals".  36 unaffected rats listened to "Fur Elise" by Beethoven and "Four" by Miles Davis. The rats preferred the Beethoven piece better, "but they liked silence best of all".  Then, the rats were injected with cocaine and exposed to Davis over a few days.  After, the rats that were addicted to the drugs preferred the Davis music.  This experiment shows "music may evoke drug cravings", however Eric Kleiman from the IDA says that the experiment was "'particularly wasteful'".

http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Drugged-rat-research-hits-a-sour-note-3489770.php#photo-2829359
http://blog.timesunion.com/healthcare/about/

NYT Tuesday

Troubled History Emerges

A land of opportunity and upward mobility 

for everyone who’s willing to work for it —

battling debt.

The widening gulf between the rich and everyone else

hobbling the country’s economic growth?

Broad-based prosperity

has always come from the success 

of a strong and growing 

middle class,

helped build 

the most prosperous economy the world has ever known.

And yet...

Troubled History Emerges

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/us/oikos-university-gunman-lined-up-victims.html?_r=1&ref=us

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/04/us/politics/obama-attacks-house-gop-budget.html?ref=us

If you could choose a different time period to live in, when would it be?

If I could choose a different time period then I would choose the 1920's.  I would choose the 1920's because it seems like a very entertaining and great time to be living in the United States.  The 1920's was when America's economy was at great point.  The 1920's would be post- WWI with the birth of jazz and flappers.  The U.S. was at great place and had become one of the world powers.  So many great things happened in America during the early and mid twenties that it is hard to pick another time period that tops the twenties.  

P=Petta's Restaurant

Petta's Restaurant is located on Duane Avenue (off of 890) in Schenectady (kind of off the beaten track as to location). Petta's is a family owned, traditional Italian restaurant.  In 1951, Felix and Caroline Petta opened their restaurant.  The neighborhood that Petta's is located in used to be a "thriving, working class neighborhood who owed their fortune to General Electric"(http://www.pettasrestaurant.com/), but in the 1990's, the economy of Schenectady fell and the neighborhood began to give off more of an inner city feel.  The current owner, the grandson of Felix, attempted to buy as much land around Petta's to try to help out business so that the environment would feel safer.  Other than the surroundings outside, once you're inside you get the feeling of calm and relaxation.  The staff is very nice and attentive to you.   You can smell the delicious Italian food and can also enjoy the fresh (and addicting), homemade bread while you wait for your food.  The menu offers great Italian choices with lots of pasta and seafood, plus chicken and veal.  The portions are huge and while it can be a little pricey, you get more than your money's worth.  After your dinner you can enjoy fresh Italian deserts that they have sitting in a display case for the entire restaurant's viewing.  I would recommend Petta's because it is a very nice restaurant and you feel like you're at home as soon as you walk in the door.

The Book That Changed My Life

My favorite book is Just Listen by Sarah Dessen.  I really love all of Sarah Dessen's books, but I especially love Just Listen.  All of Dessen's books have very different characters in very different situations.  That's one of the reasons I love her writing, and especially Just Listen.  The main characters are Annabel Green and Owen Armstrong.  Annabel is a teen model who has lots of family issues like her anorexic older sister, Whitney, and a huge secret that she's been keeping from everyone.  Owen has a reputation as the kid who gets into fights.  He had recently been sent to anger management for punching another student in the face.  These two become friends under some odd circumstances, as neither has many friends, Owen because of his anger issues and Annabel because of her huge secret that caused her best friend (and most of the school) to no longer like her.  This book speaks so strongly to me because of the bond that Owen and Annabel form, even though they are extremely different and have different views on almost every aspect of life.  Dessen's characters are so realistic that I feel as though I personally know them.  That is why I love Just Listen and enjoy rereading it (and I normally hate rereading books).

Bucket List

1.)  Visit two European countries- I know a lot of people really want to go to Europe, but I feel like there's so much history there that I could probably spend a couple months in just two countries and not see everything that I wanted to.  While I don't really care which one's I see, I would really like to see Germany and Ireland.

2.)  Spend a day in NYC or another large city without anyone I know-  Kind of random, but I am the type of person that strongly dislikes cities (especially NYC) because of how many people there are.  My friends constantly hear me say that "I hate people".  What I mean is I hate things people do, particularly when they're rude or disrespectful, etc.  Spending a day in the city without my friends would be a HUGE step for me and my "hatred" of people.

3.)  Have a family-  I have always wanted to have a big family.  My favorite movies used to be Yours, Mine, and Ours, The Sound of Music, and Cheaper By the Dozen.  Also, I used to love "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" and "19 Kids and Counting".  When I used to write fictional stories I gave my characters at least four siblings and there was always a pair of twins.  I'm saying I want to have that many kids, but I do want to have two or three.

4.)  Live out west or down south-  Not for forever (because I do like living in NY), but I want to experience living somewhere other than in the northeast.  I really would like to go to see the Great Plains because around here, there's really no where without mountains.  While I am used to the convenience of having everything close because the northeast is more densely populated, I think it would be good for me to live somewhere else in the U.S.A. for a while.

5.)  Go into psychology- I really like learning about how people think and why they think the way they do.  I also really like analyzing things...I know it's weird but I do!  I feel like if I went into psychology (particularly experimental psychology or forensic psychology) that I would be able to do that on a daily basis.

6.)  Teach a class of some kind-  I have always wanted to be a teacher, but recently I've taken more of an interest in psychology, but I'm still interested in teaching.  If I go into psychology, I really would love to be an adjunct faculty member at a college or something, so that I could still teach and be in psychology at the same time.

7.)  Learn another language- Right now, I'm learning Spanish in school, but I think it would be beneficial to learn a language (or the basics of a language) like Chinese (just one dialect) because of how much we as a country rely on them for trade and such.  (I also have this deep, highly unrealistic fear that the Chinese are going to take over the world...so I would like to be prepared)

8.)  Learn to play the guitar or piano-  I really like to sing (I kind of sing all day long in my head...) and I feel like learning to play one of these instruments would allow me to continue singing once I'm out of school.  Also, I just feel like piano and guitar are handy instruments to know how to play.

9.)  See (at least) 10 shows on Broadway-  I absolutely love seeing plays and musicals (not so much being in them).  In eighth grade we took a field trip to go see the Lion King on Broadway and it was AMAZING!  Everything about it was spectacular.  I loved it so much that I can't wait to go and see another one! (Also, it will help with my "hatred" of people in NYC)

10.)  Be at the taping of a show-  I don't have a specific show in mind, but I feel like it would be fun to go to a live taping of a show.  I'm not really sure why, but it just looks like so much fun! I mean most of the people at those shows watch it religiously, but I think it would be fun to go and soak in the energy from everyone else there.

The Language of Song

Song Used: Lo Que Venga Después by Julieta Venegas
Song Lyrics English and Spanish: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/Julieta-Venegas-Lo-que-venga-despues-lyrics.html

It was time for a fresh start.  That was what I decided after the accident.  I just couldn't live like that anymore. Always at parties, I almost never saw my parents.  Or my little sister...how I miss her now.  If only I could go back and change that one night...

It was like any other September night, a little chilly, but not bad if you threw on a sweatshirt.  I had been out with my friends as usual and since we were all drinking that night, we decided that since Rebecca had had the least to drink she should drive.

My mom had called about an hour before we left and asked if I could pick up my sister from her friends house.  It was along the way home so I just asked Rebecca to stop.  All o f us were a little drunk, but no one seemed to care.  That was until we stopped to pick up Molly.  She knew we were drunk and refused to get into the car with us.  We sat there for about ten minutes before I threatened we would leave her there and she got in.

We had only gone for another 5 minutes when we approached what's normally a pretty exerted light on the outskirts if town.  We stopped for the red light, but it literally wasn't turning green and since there was no traffic Rebecca decided to run the light.  As luck would have it at the exact moment a speeding box truck came put of nowhere and rammed into the side of our car.  The next hour was complete chaos, full of sirens and screaming and yelling and phones ringing and ringing and ringing.  I couldn't really understand why my parents were so upset, I was fine and I hadn't even seen Molly since we arrived at the hospital so I just assumed she was okay.  But she wasn't.

I lost my sister that night and now I'm ready to start over.

TU Tuesday-Crime

Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.


My Question: Which states have the death penalty and is there one race that is more affected than another by the death penalty?



http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/AZ-on-pace-to-match-busiest-year-for-executions-3406467.php


http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm


http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf


The article that I read was about Arizona possibly meeting their record high for the number of executions of inmates this year.  Arizona has already executed two inmates this year and if the courts approve five more then it "...would match the 1999 total, the most ever in the state". The two inmates already executed, Robert Henry Moormann and Robert Charles Towery, were executed February 29 and March 8, respectively. The five other inmates up for the death penalty have committed crimes of rape, murder, kidnapping (more than one).  According to the article "...Arizona appears to be bucking a national trend that has seen many states move away from the death penalty."  At deathpenalty.org, there is an updated fact sheet (updated March 12, 2012) all about those executed by the death penalty.  There are two pie charts on race.  The first is entitled "Race of Defendants Executed".  It shows that of all executed, 722 were White (56%), 441 were Black (34%), 98 were Hispanic (8%), and 24 were listed as "Other" and accounted for 2%.  These numbers are based off of the 1285 people executed by the death penalty since 1976. The second pie chart was called "Race of Victims in Death Penalty Cases".  According to the graph 76% were White, 15% were Black, 6% were Hispanic and 3% were "Other".  Across the United States, more than half of the states have the death penalty.  These states are:

Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Indiana Kansas Kentucky

Louisiana Maryland Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon

Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Virginia Washington Wyoming

Creative Contest II

"Please let me hit this one with my hand...and not my head, like last time..."

Image From:
http://www.volleyball-court-central.com/images/stick_figure_with_volleyball.gif

SCRUPLES

9. You find a wallet containing $300. By the address, you can tell that the owner is wealthy. Do you keep the money?


No, because, even though they may be wealthy, they probably worked hard to earn their money and it isn't right to steal from people.  Also, if you returned it and they asked where the money was that was in it you would have to lie, which is wrong, of course.  Also, just because this person lives in a wealthy neighborhood and carries around $300 in their wallet, doesn't necessarily mean they are rich.  They could be going through a though financial time just like many other Americans.

My Blog Idea

Everyone has their favorite or "lucky" piece of clothing, jewelry, or a pair of shoes that they are attached to and will wear until it is not possible to wear any more. Pick your favorite piece of clothing, jewelry, or pair of shoes and tell why it is your favorite.  Don't forget to describe your piece of clothing, jewelry, or pair of shoes.

Example: My favorite pair of jeans is a pair of faded Arizona jeans that I got in fifth grade.  For some reason when I was in elementary school I hated the feeling of jeans, (which is weird, since now I basically wear nothing else) I thought they were too stiff and uncomfortable to wear.  But, in fifth grade I decided I was going to wear jeans so I went to JC Penny and picked out a pair of light washed flare jeans.  After getting used to them I realized I actually loved jeans and I now have probably too many...but I don't really care!  Obviously they're now about 5 years old, and I don't wear them on a regular basis, but sometimes on the weekend if I just want to feel comfortable I whip out my favorite pair of jeans from fifth grade.

Revisions

1. Original Poem

The Heart

When only you changes,
perhaps the heart,
so ferocious will slow
those blazing colors
and surround your desire
for every almost and maybe
and bring a fresh day.

2. Advice

Blayne - I very much liked your poem "Christmas Eve."  Good effort working with form!  Unfortunately, I reserved the May column for the winning poem, and the poem was not a good match for the May column.  I also thought "The Heart" was very successful, with excellent description.  The end was not as strong as the the beginning and middle.  

Mimi Moriarty

3. Revised Poem

The Heart

When only you changes,

perhaps the heart,

so ferocious,

will slow those blazing colors.

Those rainbows of emotion

and enmity,

those symphonies 

of desire and despair. 

Folding again into the 

immaculate diamond.

4. Which is better?

The revised poem is better because, like Moriarty said, the ending wasn't as strong as the beginning and middle, so i tried to determine where the "end" was (which took a very long time) and revised from there, using stronger language to better convey my idea.

O=Eight People to Emulate

1. Oprah Winfrey- Oprah has an amazing career and talk show that was watched by millions of people and I think everybody, whether they like her or not, at least knows who she is. 
2. Shaquille O'Neal- He's super tall (not that I want to be that tall, but it's cool) and also he's good at basketball, something I really have no skill at whatsoever.
3. Olivia Newton-John- A great actress in Grease and other movies she's also a four time Grammy winner.
4. Yoko Ono- She was married to Joh Lennon, what more could you ask for?
5. Michael Oher- His life story is so inspirational (the movie The Blind Side is based on it).  To be able to overcome the challenges he did, it's amazing.
6. Conan O'Brien- He's a late night television host that brings joy and laughter to millions of people! Who wouldn't want to do that?
7. Sandra Day O'Connor- She was the first female U.S. supreme court justice. That alone makes her amazing.
8. Kelly Osbourne- She is the daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, and yet she turned out to be nothing like him (now) and she also is on the show Fashion Police, one of my favorite shows to watch on Friday Nights.

TU Tuesday- Culture

Interpret, analyze, and evaluate culturally diverse narratives, poetry and drama, aesthetically and ethically, by making connections to other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events and situations.  Self-select text to respond and develop innovative perspectives.


Article:  http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Observant-survivors-keep-the-faith-after-Holocaust-2725098.php
Poem:   http://www.thehypertexts.com/Yakov%20Azriel%20Poet%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio%20Holocaust%20Poem.htm


"How can one still believe in a merciful God after suffering through the worst genocide in history?" Friday January 27 was Holocaust Remembrance Day and this article is about some of the survivors (mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews) of the Holocaust and their struggle with faith.  The article covers the ideas that these ultra-Orthodox Jews live by and talks about how during the annual celebration of the day they "do not participate. They ignore the two-minute air raid siren that brings the country to a standstill, calling it a foreign ritual unfit for Jews. They shun the somber songs and speeches of official ceremonies and reject the Israeli ethos of a Zionist state rising out the ashes of the Holocaust."  The article also touches upon the fact that the ultra-Orthodox were the "hardest hit" during WWII because they were "Easily identified by their long beards, sidelocks and distinctive black garb, they were targeted first." 


This article relates to the poem Smoke by Yakov Azriel.  The first lines of the poem, "At the Umschlagplatz, the train to Treblinka,/Ready to transport the Jews of Warsaw/ To where people are transported through chimneys/As smoke,/ Waits" shows the terrors that the Jewish people went through during the Holocaust.  This line explains so well why it was so hard for the Jewish and anyone else that survived the Holocaust to keep faith, when people were being violently murdered left and right for no reason.

Valentine's Day

Should schools allow children to celebrate Valentine's Day in the classroom? 

Schools should allow children to celebrate Valentine's Day in the classroom because while the holiday originally began as a religious holiday for the Christian Church, today, especially in American and other western cultures, Valentine's Day is mostly a commercial effort.  Valentine's Day is now more of a cultural holiday than anything else now a days.  Granted, if anyone had ethical or religious reasons to be against the holiday, then those views should be respected. However, most school celebrations of Valentine's Day entail no more than passing out character Valentine's to the entire class and maybe some heart shapped candy.  Overall America has so commercialized the holiday, that there really is no religious meaning left to it, therefore it can be considered appropriate for public schools. 

"Dreams are lined up against the wall"

Against the Wall

Dreams are lined up against the wall,

each and everyone of them.

The big and the small,

all in line together.

Dreams are lined up against the wall.

Waiting for their turn

to inspire, 

urge,

and impress.

Dreams are lined up against the wall,

knowing 

almost absolutely that they 

are doomed to death.

Dreams are lined up against the wall.

One by one, 

they march off

into the abyss of the human mind.

Comic Connection

This comic connects to my life because it really does seem like everyone now is "soft".  People rely on things like prescription and nonprescription drugs to help them do everyday activities like fall asleep and make a cold go away faster.  Also people now use more technology to do things for them, like simple math.  Things like GPS are great, but they inhibit your ability to be able to read a real map, so if for some reason your GPS isn't working or the internet is down you would have to read a map, or just not go anywhere.  Plus, like in the cartoon, some people are just lazy and use things like Segways and electric wheelchairs to move of them.  I have no problem with people using them who actually can't walk, but some people are just too lazy to walk.  But, that's our society for you.



http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine

Hi-five Yourself

A couple months ago, whenever the varsity girls volleyball team went to sectionals, some of us from the  JV and Freshman teams (plus other assorted Guilderland students) went to watch them play at Burnt Hills.  Afterwards, (they lost) some friends and I (plus my mom and sister) went to a near by pizza place to get dinner.  While at dinner, for some reason we started saying Hi-five yourself (not knowing it was on the cough drops) and it just kind of stuck.  We would just sit there and be like, "hi-five yourself...in public!" we thought it was the funniest thing ever for some reason.  The other people in the restaurant must have though we were nuts, because I know my mom and sister did.  About a week or two later we had a post-season sleepover at my house and I just happened to be fighting a cold that week.  I grabbed a cough drop from the bag and opened one.  When I realized they were the pep talk ones I was really excited and as soon as I saw the one I had taken said "Hi-five yourself" I was town for a second, wondering how they could possibly have known about our inside joke.  I showed my friends and we honestly couldn't stop laughing! That cough drop just made the night even better than it was!

TU Tuesday

http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/don’t-play-senate’s-game/17687/

"New Yorkers shouldn't go along with a rigged redistricting process." "They should refuse to play the Senate's game." = repetition- the act of repeating; repeated action, performance, production, etc.

"...rigged redistricting..." = alliteration- the repetition of a sound at the beginning of two or more neighboring words

"...tenuous majority." = oxymoron- a figure of speech the combines two opposing or contradictory ideas 

The article "Don't play Senate's game" by the TU Editorial Board was written in response to Majority Leader Dean Skelos' plan to redistrict existing boundaries to form an entirely new voting district for the Senate.  According to the article, Skelos publicly promised an "independent redistricting process" and the process was "hijacked by a group of senators for the purpose of keeping themselves in power." These strong words help give the reader the assurance that the authors feel very strongly about this subject and that they should too.  The repetition by the authors that New Yorkers should dislike what Skelos is doing and voice their own opinion before it's too late is of the utmost importance to the piece, since it is an opinion article where the author is trying to sway people to think like them.  Also, when the authors use the  oxymoron in the sentence: "And now they're trying to impose a whole new Senate district on New York in order to preserve, if no expand, their tenuous majority." you understand that they really have no power, even though they are the majority.  Without the figurative language, the piece would be dull and boring and no one would probably take the time to read it, but the urgency that comes through (especially through the repetition) makes you want to keep reading.