Quintessencial Soft Drink

Its a sweltering day, the sun beats mercilessly down upon the pavement sending heat waves swaying at ground level. The grass looks bent and dry, a sea of wilted flora that stretches on and on. Your sweat slowly rolls down your cheek and lands with an inaudiable splash on your shirt. Your hand makes its move towards the cooler, seeking salvation from this heat. It slowly reaches in and pulls out a red twelve ounce can out. Working together, your hands open the can with a pop and a small sizzle. Anticipation is hard to keep back. Finally, your hands help pour the carbonated sweet syrup down your throat; its cool, crisp, refreshing, and tart taste lingers in you mouth as the sweet nectar cascades down your throat. Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is the quintessencial soft drink not only from its national and international sales proof, but from its taste and blend of carbonation and sweet sugar. Not only does the sugar and caffeine add body to the taste of the drink, but its also there to give you that extra boost of energy during a long day, or keep you awake on those long nights of school work. It is also the perfect combination with another American classic, the Cheeseburger (with fries). Coming in a variety of different flavors now, like lime, vanilla, diet, cherry, and more, Coca-Cola has become more than just the same old thing. For generations to come, surely, Coca-Cola is here to stay.

180 Degrees

In Exodus, we have seen some incredible 180 degree changes in the Price Family's members' thinking, physical characteristics, living conditions, and personal views on life. Adah for one was the most obvious. After 15-16 years of walking like a cripple, she miraculously is able to walk straight after she starts college back in the States and cooperates in a test. It turns out that because everyone expected her to be a cripple because of her problem at birth, she had the mind set that she was crippled for life and her body, subjected to the years of being forced to walk like a cripple, just didn't know how to stand up straight. So in the test she was forced not to walk entirely, which eventually worked. Also, in accordance to Adah's new found strength, she has lost her interesting ways at looking at things, her backwards reading skills, and her abstract way of thinking. She becomes more linear, more on a well define path as I see it. She finds her niche in life, someplace and some mind set that she is satisfied with although she makes some sacrifices regarding her past to get there.

Leah is the next more obvious turn around. Back before stepping foot on Africa and during the Price Family's first year in the Congo, Leah was devout and sought the attention of her Father. She was diligent in her tasks to prove to Father that she was a good daughter in the eyes of him and the Lord (or her father's god). This blind ambition finally ended when she saw with new eyes (with the help of Brother Fowles) what her Father truly was. Through Exodus we see Leah as an independent and defiant young woman. She marries Anatole, lives in deplorable conditions in the Congo, has four children (by the end), and turns semi-pro-communists. Wow. Her view point and guidance comes from the new direction and new perspective on life she has taken on. Instead of becoming a fanatic Christian like Nathan Price was, she becomes questions Christianity and becomes detached from it. To me, it looks like Leah lives for the present. She looks at the present situation she is given and focuses on it. In this sense she becomes more adaptable.

Something else that we discussed about Exodus was the relation of the book to its cover. On the cover of the Poisonwood Bible we see clearly five drawings of cave man like people. There is one copper colored one, and four gold ones arranged in smallest to tallest from left to right, with the copper colored one before the smallest one (although its the biggest person there), almost as though he/she is the leader. I think that for sure the four gold people are Ruth May and the sisters arranged in order of birth from left to right. The copper one though could be either Nathan or Orleanna Price. I am leaning more towards Orleanna but who knows? The symbolism of the cave man people drawing and how its presented is vague. What could it possibly mean? I am not sure.

Evil Deed Live!

Through out most of Bel and the Serpent in the book Poisonwood Bible Adah seems to take a liking to palindromes. Here are some of the palindromes I found in Bel and the Serpent: "Eye on sleep peels no eye!" (343), "Lived a devil!" (360), "Evil deed live" (360, 362), "Eye, level eye!" (360), "Eye did peep did eye." (360). Also, she refers to a palindrome as an example of Ruth May's life when Ruth May dies: "The closing parenthesis, at the end of the palindrome that was Ruth May." (365). With all these Palindromes, there must be something significant about them, what they stand for or represent. Adah's observations and knowledge of the Congolese people and their culture is pretty impressive. Proof of this is in her explanation of the difference between the words Bantu and Muntu in Congo. When she explains to us the basic concept of what those words suggest about the Congolese people's culture and beliefs, we see that they don't believe someone truly dies. This concept is like that of the palindrome, it never truly ends, for you can go forwards and backwards and it will forever be the same sentence. I think that this section of the book focused more on death than any other topic. The chance of starving, the killing of beasts for meat, the death of Ruth May, and the death of a part of Orleanna when Ruth May died.

L.A.Z.Y

He swore he had lost something. That his present self was lacking in some way, but he didn't know what. His steps were slower, body weaker, mind heavier, and everyday would repeat itself in his memory, eventually becoming a haze in the back of his thoughts. What is this feeling? The responsibilities that were pushing and punching their way to the front for action were subdued, as though he was watching them all struggle in a caged state, their shouts and bellows fading into white noise in the background. He turned his back on them, hesitant at first, but feeling better with each step. Soon he was sprinting, the day was clear and the sun rose with all its glory. The smell of wild flowers and crushed grass settled in his nose and stained his feet. The plain before him stretched out for what seemed like miles past the horizon. Keep going, keep running. Desire spurned him as he raced into the lazy hills around him. Dandelions released their seeds into the air as he past, snowing down upon the land. The wind at his back gently pushed his feet forward, propelling him faster and faster. Where he met a stream he happily dunked right in, cherishing the refreshing feeling as he drifted downstream. As he got out, dripping buckets of water on the muddy banks, he noticed a forest now stood in his way. Further, further, keep going, keep running. The smell of earth and soddened leaves filled his lungs. Sunlight streamed through the cover of leaves at various intervals. He marched on, into the forest, deeper, further. The sun began to set after a while and the forest began to cast long shadows. The bird songs began to fade away as the insects began to chirp instead. The wind became colder, the sky darker, the clouds began to move in. With the brief passing of the sunset, the light was gone. The illusion broke, the trees began to wither, the ground became mud, the wind began to call eerily out into the night. He was scared, alone, misguided, and lost. He struggled to think of something, anything, but his sluggish thoughts leaked out of his ears like snot flowing down his face. His joy was gone, replaced by a sense of hopelessness, despair, and a fading self assurance. You are mine, you are lost, you are hopeless. Cold hands gripped his ankles as he started to sink. He called out for anyone, anything, for a savior as he tried to beat back the cold hands. The mud began to swallow him, slowly sucking his struggling body into its unknown belly. Give up, Give in, Let go. Soon the mud had him by the shoulders. His vision was blurred, his body was spent, and his mind grew numb. Was this it? Was this going to be the product of his existence? Is this all you got. The thought echoed through his blanked out mind and struck something. A tiny spark in a dark room. And the room exploded in light. The feeling swept through his body. He fought once more for his survival. Must you be pitied; must you be hopeless; must you be lost? His arms tore from the mud, grasping roots of some of the trees around him. His legs kicked and pushed at the hands gripping him, and slowly he could feel them weakening. Hand over hand, kick after kick he pulled and pushed himself painfully out of the swallowing mud. Finally the hands released him from their deathly grasps and he pulled himself out of the deep mud surrounding him. It wasn't over yet though as he slugged through the muck around him. Prove yourself to me, Prove yourself to you. After what seemed like miles his feet hit solid ground, the grass began to soften his feet, and the sun began to rise in the east. He entered a grey stoned building, its double doors wide open as other students past by him. The bell rang as he quickly headed toward his testing room. Once seated he picked up his test, wrote his name, and with a sigh and cold feet he began the test that he studied for two days earlier.

SAT: Learning For the Sake of Learning

Heres another practice SAT essay with the topic of whether we put too much stress on learning practical practices and not just learning things for sake of learning.

Sat Essay

In this fast pace world of today, where everything is turned into an efficiency machine, people go through their everyday job just to get through it, to get the pay check, and move on forward in there single minded lives. Who would stop to ever think, "Why is the sky blue?" "What forces were at work to create this universe?" "Where does the universe end?". The world 2.1 high efficiency software doesn't need visionaries; it needs practical people to keep things moving in the same fashion. People indeed put too much emphasis on learning practical skill because of the emphasis the world has on the need of workers and not thinkers, visionaries, and theorists.
Each day is a struggle for most people. A struggle at their job or school where the ones who shine move up on the ladder of success. Most of the people who can help you move up in your life, your teachers and bosses, care mostly about your work and efficiency at getting thinks done, over, moving on. Teachers and bosses can't personally know everyone they teach or oversee, its impossible. So what determines you as a good worker or an outstanding student is you grade, papers, work, and how much information you can cram into you brain. Society today and in the past has been run on the basis of practicality.
In the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, we see how the people in Africa mostly focus their thoughts on the present and the small community around them. IN this place stuck in the past, nobody really cares about thinking of innovative inventions that could make their lives easier. They just go about their daily work. Just like this, working and getting paid has overcome the need of creative thinking. Money puts food on the table not thoughts. This is not particularly a bad thing, but not a good thing either.

Okay, I know I didn't get to finish this essay (which seems to be a bad habit of mine regarding SAT essays) but I think I improved a bit from my last essay (or maybe not depending on how you see it). I don't think that I have made a significant improvement on my writing technique and so I am not that happy about this essay, but then again, I don't think I would ever be happy with an essay that I have only 30 to complete with no references to help my thoughts. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Revenge of the Dead Beasts

In the Poisonwood Bible, a book by Barbara Kingsolver, in the section entitled: Bel and the Serpent, we come to the part where Leah hunts with the rest of the men and gets her first kill (pg. 348). After the big hunt, the village gathers around the pile of meat that was going to be shared about the village people. Instead, what happens is that the entire scene erupts in a violent scrabble for meat. The sacred idea of sharing amongst everyone was lost within the rage and starving bellies.

Leah gives us this quote from the scene: "We tried to ignore his strange remarks, but we all did hear him. In some corner of our hearts we all drew back, knowing he was right. The dead beasts in our hands seemed to be cursing and mocking us for having killed them. In the end we all crept home with our meat, feeling hunted ourselves. What was surely the oldest celebration of all, the sharing of plenty, had fallen to ruin in our hands." (p. 354). This quote shows how changes to village life were brought forth due to the changes around them. In the chapters before the hunt, the Congolese people in the village of Kilanga decide to vote on whether Jesus Christ is a savior and should be an official and overall religion for the Congolese people in Kilanga. They used the white man's idea of "Majority rules" and voted that Jesus wasn't so Bangala after all. As the new attachment to the white men's ideas become lodged into all the villagers minds, some of the old ways slowly lose affect on people. Like the belief in sharing things between the entire village instead of just keeping things entirely to yourself, as the Price family did with their supplies from home. This example might lead up to things in the future, changes brought about because of the changes in thinking. Metaphorically, this quote could be compared to the situation going on politically with the independence of the Congo and how the Congolese way of things were falling more and more into the hands of the white man, their ideas and thinking.

Mosquito Coast

In the movie Mosquito Coast, an American Inventor/Father takes a ship from America to a jungle somewhere in the region of Mosquito in South America. He brings his wife and four sons with him. It is not a vacation though, its a permanent residence he is trying to set up. He claims that America has grown corrupt and greedy that pretty soon a nuclear war will happen soon to wipe the U.S.A off the map. His family goes through many hardships during their stay, but he alone remains ignorant of whats happening to his family, pursing his dream with sacrifice to his family's well being. In comparison to the Poisonwood Bible, a book by Barbara Kingsolver, this movie is quite similar in telling a story of a plight of a family and the ignorance of a father trying to forge a new life in a foreign place that has no need of their alien customs and thoughts. The movie is also, in a way, different too though. It is different, in a big way, because of the reasons each of the Fathers have for going to a new exotic, in hospitable (for their families) place to live for a while. The Father in the movie Mosquito Coast wanted to get himself and his family away from the corruption of the U.S. and thought he would help his family by doing this. He was selfish in this thought because he didn't care what his boys or his wife thought about his plan as he pursued his own dream only for himself. Nathan Price from the Poisonwood Bible goes to the Congo because he believes he can enlighten and civilize the natives which would help him cope with his past sin (which isn't really a sin to the rest of us) of being the only person to survive from his platoon in WWII by accident. Also, he doesn't even care, from the start, about whether this experience will help his family or not. In a way though, these two fathers are similar too because of the way they don't care what the family's opinion is on their plan.

The Love and the Loveless

In the book Poisonwood Bible, Leah, Adah, Ruth May, and Rachael are all very different to each other. Also, through the course of time in the Congo, they each start to develop their own sense and understanding of the situation around them and who they are. In The Judges, we see a drastic change in these four characters. I believe that this chapter is the turning point of the book, where perceptions are changed and the past is left behind. The four Price girls from Bethlehem, Georgia have begun down a new road, each with its own unique destination.

Leah
Here's a quote from the book that sums up a lot of what I wanted to say about Leah's changing understanding of things: "I decided right then to stop pretending I knew more than I did. I would be myself, Leah Price, eager to learn all there is to know. Watching my father, I've seen how you can't learn anything when you're trying to look like the smartest person in the room." (229). After realizing her father's ignorance to everything around him, the environment, the language, his own family, and the surrounding community, she begins to move away from her father. As she starts to move away, she questions all of what she used to see and believe in her father, coming up with conclusions based on her own observations and not just blind obedience. It is almost as if she starts learning anew, looking at information given to her from a different view point. Like a new, fresh sheet of paper, waiting for a pencil to write upon its surface. Leah also takes note of what's happening outside of their little village in the Congo around them and starts sinking her teeth into information about the independence. She becomes interested and concerned about what is happening in the Congo.
Also, she begins to see an interest in Anatole. And at the end of The Judges, she says "I love you, Anatole." (311), showing how much she has changed.

Adah
Through out this section of the Poisonwood Bible, Adah, for the most part, stays the same in her perspective of things and her curiosity. It is just at the end of The Judges when she says: "That night marks my life's dark center, the moment when groing up ended and the long downward slope toward death began. The wonder to me now is that I thought myself worth saving." (306). This quote come from when Adah's own mother leaves Adah behind for the sake of Ruth May, who at the time was perfectly capable of running and walking on her own at a fast pace. Adah's once innocent view of the world around her and how everyone viewed her is
changed. She comes to the conclusion that people around her, even those closest to her, will look down upon her just because she is mute and crooked. And even though she might be a genius, nobody will really respect her because she can't talk and she walks funny. In a way, this fact depresses her a little bit. I wonder how this sudden change at the end of The Judges will affect Adah's narration of the story as we read on ward.

Questions from The Revelations

Here's a few questions from my book that I forgot to put down for a while now.

What is the reason for the name of The Revelations for this section of the book?

How can Nathan Price not care about his children's safety of staying in the Congo?

Does Leah still hold her father's view of the Africans being savages to be true? Or has she changed her opinion?

What was the importance of Adah's last chapter where she describes Methuselah's death and says at the end: "Only feathers. without the ball of Hope inside. Feathers at last at last and no words at all" (186).

The Things We Carry

I can feel your eyes, a sensation that leaves the fine hairs on the back of my neck bristle and my skin like that of a goose, as I stroll through the floral of this changed atmosphere. I walk alone, the new colors and clothes of fashion surround my plain white dress, the white in this new world of color. Laughter, with its once contagious quality, is all around me, yet the sound of it breaks upon my ears like the waves upon an unbroken cliff; failing to cause the remembrance of happier times to take the expression of my face in its own grasp. You blame me, you watch me, you placed this melancholy veil over me. Or was it I who did that? The sky opens the heavens to my eyes, the sun's warm embrace captures wrinkles of this weary face, yet my heart is heavy with the luggage I brought with me from Africa. Luggage that I could not toss into the sea, that I could forget about as I am welcomed into this tropical paradise.
I could see my children take to this new place, grow and learn and turn into fine young women. Where ever I look, I see other girls, privileged enough to get an education in such a fine example of a school. But they have not shared the pain my daughters have. They have not seen Africa, they were not there with my daughters. I pity them, but yet envy them for their blissful ignorance. Who are they to say they are educated? They talk about last night's homework, the upcoming dance, and complain about school work. They worry about their hair, clothes, make-up, and getting to their classes, passing by me, not noticing, not caring. I pass under shade of palm trees and native floral trees, the sun splashing across my face in random intervals. It could have been different you say, I could have been a different mother. But that is for another time, another place, for it has been done, I cannot change things now. The easy trade winds blow my hair around me in a frantic dance as I walk on, walk on.

This is an experimental Paragraph written by me through the perspective of Orleanna Price. What I am trying to do is see my school through her eyes as if she visited my school and walked around for a while. Hopefully it turned out sounding ok.

Of Anti-communism and Hula Hoops

In Posionwood Bible, The Price Family leaves behind the Americas, the land of democracy and freedom, to go to an undeveloped, "uncivilized", and poor part of Africa on a mission. We hear of some complaints from the Price sisters (especially Rachel) of leaving their home in America. I was kind of interested in what the Price sisters and the Price family was leaving behind in the states. What kind of styles, music, new inventions, and culture were they leaving behind for a year to go to a place stuck 40 years behind the developed countries. Well here's some interesting things I have found out.

Of the style many of the people wore in America back then in the 1950's, it was conservative. It was after World War Two and communism was in the cross-hairs of America. There was a feeling of anti-communism that ran through out most of the American society and religion (I guess Christianity) was seen as some way of expressing anti-communism. This is when they added the words "under God" to the pledge of Allegiance. Men wore grey flannel suits and women wore dresses with pinched in waists and high heels. Frence Fashion designers like Dior and Chanel were popular. Also, cars were the new hot thing to show how cool you were.

Of the music, the fifties were the beginnings of Rock and Roll with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and some others. Along with the beginnings of Rock and Roll, there were other popular artists like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dinah Shore.

In the fifties, some more important happenings was the start of the Civil Rights movement with Rosa Parks and the Bus Boycott. There was the Korean war, 1950 - 1953, that America was getting over. And Disneyland opened in 1955.

Here's a short timeline of other interesting inventions and other thing in the fifties:

1950: First modern credit card introduced, first organ transplant, First "Peanuts" Cartoon Strip.

1951: Color TV Introduced, Super glue invented, Charles Ginsburg invented the first videotape recorder.

1952: Car Seat Belts Introduced, Polio Vaccine Created, Mr. Potato Head patented, Sony, a brand new Japanese company, introduces the first pocket-sized transistor radio.

1953: DNA Discovered, Joseph Stalin Dies, Dow Chemical creates Saran Wrap, TV color broadcasting began

1594: The first nonstick pan produced, First Atomic Submarine Launched, Report Says Cigarettes Cause Cancer

1955: McDonald's Corporation Founded, Warsaw Pact Signed, Optic fiber invented, The first home microwave ovens are manufactured by Tappan

1956: The first computer hard disk used, Los Alamos Laboratory discovers the neutrino, an atomic particle with no electric charge, Suez Crisis, T.V. Remote Control Invented, Velcro Introduced

1957: Dr. Seuss Publishes The Cat in the Hat, Soviet Satellite Sputnik Launches Space Age, Eveready produces "AA" size alkaline batteries

1958: Chinese Leader Mao Zedong Launches the "Great Leap Forward", Hula Hoops Become Popular, Lego Toy Bricks First Introduced, NASA Founded

1959: Castro becomes Dictator of Cuba, The Sound of Music Opens on Broadway, U.S. Quiz Shows Found to be Fixed

Here are the links to the sites I used to get this Information:
http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade50.html

http://history1900s.about.com/library/time/bltime1950.htm

http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/inventions.htm

Lost Communication

Its, Dark
I step into the night life
like you see on t.v.
Dance club
no, wait, picture it smaller
and teenagers
with dress restrictions
school gym
there...

I strain through the strobes
harsh rainbows
a splash of color here
there
in my eye...

The bass
a pounding "boof"
its the vibrations you feel
through the air
the floor
after all we are mostly water

Most of them are receptive
some like kelp in the sea
others a fluidity of motion that
flows ever so beautifully with the beat
and some
who shouldn't be there
though I shouldn't talk
sitting down

Its the beat that moves them
its the words that give contrast
the tunes that add color
yet...
my body is unreceptive
unused to, not knowing
how do I move?
Like this?
yikes
never doing that again

I tried
I wish I knew how
I love the beats
though the word choices could be better
I can feel it
my heart wants to
but sometimes imagination only goes so far
and stops at the dance floor for me
so I exit, get some water,
and listen to my ipod

Out of Blood and War

In the Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, we are told of the story of the Price Family, who has unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your view of things, been planted in the middle Africa, in the Congo, on a mission as a missionary family. The history of the part of Africa they were put to live in is one that is not so pretty, as of all of Africa's history when the Europeans came to colonize. In our present time, the part of the Congo the Price Family stayed is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). The Kwilu River is about 4 degrees south latitude and 18 degrees east longitude and flows southeast ward. Of the little city, Kiwilanga, they stayed in in the book of Genisis, I am not sure where it lays. The city of Leopoldville, the city at which the Price Family first landed at in Africa, is now present day Kinshasa, 4 degrees 18' south latitude and 15 degrees 18' east longitude. Now that we have our frame of reference, place wise, lets continue on to the bloody history of this region.

In 1482, the first Portuguese came to the "Congo" as it was called back then. They were the first Europeans to visit the Congo. A few years later, King João II of Portugal sent the first missionaries into the Congo in the hopes of converting the Africans there to Catholicism. They, like the rest of the European Powers back then, also set up the slave trade in this region under the control of the Kingdom of Kongo, which controlled modern day north Angola and the western parts of the Congo. The Portuguese established ties with the Kingdom of Kongo which eventually was led to its own ruin through civil wars.

From 1870 to 1908, exploration, mainly by Sir Henry Morton Stanley who was employed by The King Leopold II of Belgium, and colonization of the Congo began. King Leopold wanted to create his own colony in the Congo and in 1885, the Congo was acquired formally at the Conference of Berlin. He got his land through the promises of free trade, humanitarian objectives, and philanthropic activities. He called his new land the Congo Free State. Within his new colony, he gave off the image of being the humanitarian, building new roads, railroads, schools, missions, etc..., but in reality, the Congo Free State was a nightmare. He forced the Congolese people into working rubber tree plantations and harvesting ivory. His exploitation of the Africans was mainly caused by his lust to squeeze as much capital his new colony could produce. It led to the enslavement and death of five to ten million native people. His atrocities went unheeded until 1905 when finally the world spoke up against the activities of the Congo Free State.

From 1908 to 1960, the Belgium Government took over the job of governing the Congo, which was then called the Belgium Congo. They continued with economic reforms of the area like the building of railways, ports, roads, mines, plantations, industrial areas, etc..., but there was only slight improvement for the welfare of the Congolese people though, and the government allowed many native people to still be enslaved. The Congolese people still didn't have any political power or have any say in the government they were under. Three big forces controlled the administration of the Congo, and they were the state, the missions, and the industrial and big companies there.

Finally, after the support of neighboring colonies that were gaining independence and the growing resistance of the lack of democracy, Belgium Congo gained its independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960 and was named the Republic of Congo. It was more commonly known as Congo-Léopoldville because its neighbor to the west was also called the Republic of Congo (which was commonly called Congo-Brazzaville because of the same name deal). In 1966, Congo-Léopoldville became the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Information from:
http://caxton.stockton.edu/hod/history and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_republic_of_the_congo

An SAT practice essay

For many of us high school students, the SAT is a pretty big thing for us. Considering a lot of colleges use the SAT to judge whether or not they want you or maybe whether you should get a scholarship, getting a good score on the SAT is something a lot of us strive for. Here's a practice essay our teacher set up for us. The question was whether the media (news, newspapers, etc...) decides what information is important to us and whether it shapes our culture and values by their decisions.

In this modern world where new ideas, news, experiences, and many other things can be shared around the world within a matter of hours, minutes, and seconds, you realize how interconnected we all are to each other, even with people across the world. People with different opinions on things or new products that are coming out on market are expressed and exposed to us through the media. Information from the media tells us what’s new, what’s going on, and most importantly what information is important by not showing us the whole story. I believe that the media does decide what information is important and through this shapes cultures and values.
When I was young, maybe about 8, I remember how poke’mon was all in rage. They had poke'mon cards, backpacks, lunch boxes, stuffed animals, games, comics, a TV show, and everything you can expect from mass marketing. Every day when I was younger I would go home and watch poke'mon and play my poke'mon video game. The first time I heard about poke'mon was through commercials for the game and the TV shows. They had so many commercials for it on the kids channels, like cartoon network and Kids WB. My friends were some of the first people I know that got hooked on poke'mon through these commercials and finally got me to join in the poke'mon frenzy. This example shows how the media determines what is important because when kids or teens see an abundance of a certain commercial for a cool new toy or fashion, they tend to what to try the product from themselves.
Another example is how through the news, the media decides which current events are more important. When the Iraqi war started, I remember seeing almost nothing but news on the Iraqi news on all the major news channels. This in turned made me think about the Iraqi war everyday even when I didn’t really want to. I also remember how the news mostly showed how many U.S. soldiers were lost up to that point.

A reflection on this essay:

The first mistake I made about this essay was not finishing it on time (I have to Remember that I only have 25 min!). Also, I should have stuck with one good example proving my point that the media does determine what is important. I have to admit writing essays and such isn't my strong point. I probably could have gone with a stronger introduction too. I am not sure how, but it kind of seems like my introduction is so...average. There is nothing that sticks out and draws in the reader to this wonderful and enlightening topic. Also, when I use an example, I could use more work on providing a good analyzation of that example and how it relates to what I am trying to prove.

Blogging?!

For me, trying to think of something to write about in my posts is frustrating, almost as if I have A.D.D. (which I am pretty sure I don't have, which kind of sucks because I could get more time on tests and such ;P ). I sometimes have a topic on my mind but then it slowly fades to the back of my mind as I struggle to put what I want to say down in readable thoughts. I guess what I am saying is that for our english class, we should have more of a structured posting. I am not saying though that we should be limited to very specific subjects like, for example: "post your thoughts on this reading from pages 'blah blah blah' to 'blah blah blah' and come up with a thesis on why 'blah blah blah-blah blaaaah balhhhhh'." What I mean is that we should be given a choice on broad subjects like "respond to a current event" or "recall a childhood memory" and stuff like that so it would be easier to think of something to post. I liked our teacher's (Mr.Watson!) idea of having a cycle sheet with objectives to complete by the end of a school week instead of having us do homework on specific days. I think having a "slightly structured post" could work well with this idea.
With blogging I agree with Elise's thoughts on blogging: http://timtimestwo.blogspot.com/2007/02/you-want-to-know-what-i-think-my-take.html
Its interesting to read some of my classmates posts although some of them are just shout outs. It is true, like Elise said, that a lot of us forget the usual standards of "English Class Quality" in these posts and go off in all kinds of random thoughts that don't really help us get closer to answering the essential questions (What kind of world is this, and How should we live in it?). I truly do feel if we utilize this blogging in the right way, we could get our answers to essential questions through comments or posts of others, preferrably those of people not in the same school as us.

I haven't really gotten to address my essential questions at all through any of my posts. So here are a few:
-Where will the future take us?
-Is living for the benefit of you or others?
-What should our strongest beliefs, values, and morals be?
And here are the two essential questions that is this year's english class is trying to cover:
What kind of world is this?
How should I live in it?
About answering these questions, I don't feel a step closer to even want to try to. Through my posting, I have discovered a little through the reflection on Singer's essay and some others, but not enough to answer any of my questions to 100% satisfaction. I am not sure how I should find my answers to these questions. Hopefully in the near future I'll discover more through expressing myself more through this blog.

In Reflecting about my posts, I feel some what satisfied with them. Like I said, I don't get many ideas into this blog so I am sorry if I don't have that much personal thoughts. One of my posts that I like a lot is my Parent pressure one. It was somewhat interesting to write and it got some pretty good commenting back. I guess I should try to write posts like that one more often. The one sentence describing a place or object (mine was a book I was reading while trying to think of something else other than the homework I had to do that night) was pretty fun to write although I admit my writing skills isn't so great. The rest were mildly satisfying, and they were not as easy to write. Right now I am trying to get my "This I believe" Podcast up and running, but I can't seem to get the recording right, like I couldn't get it right with the ipod. Hopefully that post will be up and running soon because it was quite fun writing the essay.

Well if you read all that, congrats, you made it to the end. Go visit my fellow classmates blogs, they probably have more entertaining thoughts than I do. ;P

Simple Pages

You hear the clash of steel upon steel in your head as two knights struggle for the fate of their lives. A Dragon roars in the distance and the men, like many frightened ants sensing a giant's presence, scatter as the dragon releases a massive fireball onto the blood soaked field. The scene becomes another with a flick of your eye, as you now watch two young lovers lost in the tall grass stalks, separated and isolated from the world in that wonderful enticing moment of a first kiss. Words like fine silk upon skin wraps around your senses, plunging you into a world beyond yours. You feel the character, who would seem to be standing right next to you, his words a cascade of ideals and emotions that jerk and pull you at whim. A symphony of colors, sounds, sights, feelings, and emotions play within your head as you read on. Page by page, line by line, word by word, you are drawn into this other world until all you feel of real world is the dread of it ending.

Pursuit of Happiness

This I believe:

I believe in dreams. Whether they are big or small, impossible or plausible, realistic or imaginary, dreams are what keep humans on a forward moving track. They serve as a guiding path in life, they help determine who you are and what you should do in life. Dreams are as precious as your childhood memories. They should never be forgotten. For when they are, you lose sight of who you truly are, who you truly want to be. Some times, they define the purpose for your life. When man first looked up at the night sky, and saw the moon, I could imagine that one person dreamed of landing on the moon. And after many generations, many lifetimes, we did land man on the moon.

A very short paragraph highlighting on of my beliefs

notes:

-Walt Disney?
-imagination
-achievable dreams vs. impossible
-special, makes us different?
-what do dreams do to help move man along
-purpose of dreams
-source?

This I Believe

"This I Believe" is a regular broadcast on N.P.R. that is basically regular people, and some famous people, voicing their beliefs that helped or is helping them become a better person. The topics of faith, love, kindness, hope, and many others are written and voiced out loud in this weekly broadcast. Heres a link to the site: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

The first essay/recording from "This I Believe" that I was drawn to was written and voiced by 16 year old Josh Rittenberg. I was drawn to this one because, for one, it was written by someone the same age as me, and two, it was about his belief in looking forwards to tomorrow. Here's a link to the essay/recording: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5232116
In his essay, Josh talks about overhearing his dad talking to his mom about how their generation didn't leave a bright enough future for future generations so that the future generations can live in peace. The dad goes on about how the world will go to chaos in our (mine and everyone else around 16) lifetime. It was interesting to listen to how Josh proved that our future holds some hope for success and a brighter time for mankind. He uses examples from the past and how eventually, the hard times in the past turned from bad to good. Me, I have always tried to stay optimistic about the future ahead, and how, no matter what, mankind will always move ahead in search of new answers, ideals, and questions. I too believe that you can't always be pessimistic about the future, because no one, absolutely no one, knows for sure what the future has in store for us. Its part of life, and whether those surprises down the road are good or bad, I think that surely we can overcome it or continue onwards.

A second essay I listened to was about how failure is a good thing by Jon Carroll. Heres a link to the site: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6196795. He talks about how Failure helps you learn about what you are doing wrong and teaches you how to correctly do things. He says to us that failure shows how we are stepping out of our comfort zone and expanding our learning by trying something new. I agree with some of what Jon says. I for one don't believe that failure should be experienced often. I believe that success has to be felt more than failure because when anybody fails, its only natural most people would become slightly depressed. And when these failures stack up on a person, it really brings them down, especially if they can't handle it mentally like some people can. Success helps you feel good about yourself and gives you self-confidence that helps you as a person grow.

The third essay I listened to was about the belief of Stepping Out of Fear by Vickie Milazzo. Heres a link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5750397. She talks about how when she was a little girl, she was afraid of doing anything even slightly risky. She talks about how she lost a lot of her confidence in herself from being afraid of stepping out. She only realized her error in taking a safe and easy way in life by acknowledging the fear of being like all the other burned out, low-risk nurses who didn't care to do anything other than what was required of them to do. In the end, she took a risk to create a consulting business for lawyers on medical related subjects. It worked out for her. In the end, she realized what she was missing out on all her life. I should learn from this essay and try to participate more in class and other things. It is relatively easy to say you are going to do something though, than actually doing it. In any case, I should learn how not to hesitate and "just do it."

Peer Pressure? How About Parent Pressure?

When I was planning out my next year's curriculum with my parents, I found myself being pushed to do some classes that I didn't even want to go into for next year. It felt as though someone was force feeding me a horrid new flavor of baby food (lets say "fish guts and bug" mush). Also, at times in our discussion, it felt like I was trying to convince a stone wall to move aside for me. In the end though, I got my parent's permission to do all the classes I wanted to do for next year. I am pretty sure we have all experienced parent pressure before, ranging from the extreme with your parents controlling everything you do, to the mild with your parents just trying to let you know how they feel. I know I have. Besides this incident, my parents have pressured me to do things in the past that I objected to do. Sometimes the things they pressured me to do turned out to be meaningful in experience while others were not as happy and meaningful. Sometimes I learned from or like the things they forced me into, and sometimes I just hated it. One example, is when my dad pressured me to get drum set lessons. At that time in my life (around 7th grade) I thought percussion (band) was moderately boring and a waste of time to practice for. But after my first 3 or so lessons, I started to reanalyze my situation as a percussionist. I started to really listen to music and feel the rhythms and beats. I started to get into playing and listening to the sounds and beats I created. I began to love the drums and from that point on, tried my hardest in becoming not only better as a drum set player, but a percussionist in our school's band and marching band. So as you can see, sometimes parents do know better. As for the times that I hated what they forced me to do...well I think you have some experiences that are similar. Especially if your parents are Japanese or Asian business men and women. The question that encompasses this entire post is: do parents always know whats best for you? My answer is that 75% of the time my parents know what is best for me and 25% they just don't know me enough. These percentages may be different for you, or so you think. Heck maybe even my percentages are off. But I think that most of the times, we should all listen to our parents because they have learned from the mistakes they made over their lifetime, they have lived through many pains, joys, and sadness, and they were also kids like us trying to do their best to fit the shoes their parents gave them. So when, hopefully, I become a parent, I can remember how many times my parents were right about things I should and shouldn't do and teach my kids accordingly.

Our Moral Responsibility?

Just a few questions on The Singer Solution to World Poverty and a few connections and comments on a video entitled "Four Generations." Here's a Link to the video: http://www.thompsonjazz.com/movies/waterbuffalo/flash-hi.htm

After reading Singer's essay, I had mixed feelings of sadness, anger, regret, hope, loss, and skepticism. Here's a couple of questions I had after reading this essay.

-What is our moral responsibility for others who aren't as fortunate?
-Should it be considered a choice or an obligation for those who are more fortunate than others to help people that are less fortunate that they probably don't even know?
-If it is an obligation or moral responsibility for those who are more fortunate than others to help out the less fortunate (by donations, public service, community projects, etc...), where does the responsibility end?
-If it is a choice, can other people (who did help) blame those more fortunate that made a choice not to help the less fortunate for not helping out? Do they have the right to?
-How much responsibility is too much?
-Could we really change and touch the lives of those we help out significantly?

After watching the video (link is up on top, if you didn't watch it and are reading this), I felt good that a family who needed a helping hand got one that was maybe more than they might have ever thought they would get in their life time. It felt...well...satisfying. This video had some connections to Singer's Solution to World Poverty. A connection that I made was that donations from people in the United States were gathered and sent to a less fortunate and desperate family really did help that particular family, in a big way. In Singer's essay, he talks about how our donations could make a difference and would give us moral satisfaction. After watching this video and having the feeling of goodness, but also having a ping of regret for not even participating in this one particular satisfying international project, in me, I do believe Singer was right. Another connection to the video I made with Singer's essay was for how little we could change someones life. In Singer's essay, he talks about how for as little as $200 we could change a sickly 2 year old into a healthy 6 year old. In the video, for as little as $250, we could buy a poor farmer in China a water buffalo to help plow his fields and help out with daily chores for about a 15 year span. It is quite amazing. It makes me wonder what I should or could do, which is probably the whole point of both the video and Singer's essay.

Reflection: Singer's Solution to World Poverty

This is a Reflection on an essay by Peter Singer, here is a link for those who haven't read the Essay before: http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/singermag.html
Singer's Solution to World Poverty is not an old idea in which people, who are fortunate enough to live a comfortable life in modernized countries, should donate the money they spend on excess luxuries to charities around the world that help children who live a miserable life. A big question that he shoves at you in this essay is whether you are living a morally decent life by giving no or little money to charity. In this essay he gives two stories about two people who did different things that would be considered to be indecent or immoral by most people. We have Dora, who sent a homeless kid to an unknown house for 1,000 dollars. Later on, she learns that (or maybe knew all a long) the location was probably a organ transplant facility where they killed street kids for their organs, which sell for a lot on the black market or for some dying old rich guy. In the end though, she decides to save the kid. Next we have Bob with his new treasured car. He parks near the end of a railway siding and goes walking. Along the tracks he sees a runaway train with a kid on the tracks right in the way of it. He is near a train track switch, which would divert the train away from the kid, but then the train would then proceed to crush Bob's new car. So, Bob decides not to throw the switch.
These two stories provide us with a focal point and examples of what most of us would consider immoral. I agree with Singer's point in that these two people's actions were not right. It was interesting to see how he tied in these stories into his essay. He addresses the problem of how Bob wouldn't provide any sacrifices for the life of the kid on the tracks, and the problem of people like Dora who spend their money on luxuries like new TVs or new styles of clothing, and others. One of the observations about society today that I liked from this essay was on second page of the essay, the last full paragraph. He says: "Suppose that there were more owners of priceless vintage cars - Carol, Dave, Emma, Fred and so on, down to Ziggy - all in exactly the same situation as Bob, with their own siding and their own switch, all sacrificing the child in order to preserve their own cherished car. Would that make it all right for Bob to do the same? To answer this question affirmatively is to endorse follow-the-crowd ethics - the kind of ethics that led many Germans to look away when the Nazi atrocities were being committed. We do not excuse them because others were behaving no better."
One idea I don’t agree with him entirely is where he says that every one should give away every penny spent on luxuries. I think that people should afford to have slack and be able to buy things that would not be considered a “necessity.” Why you ask? Well I mean if people were troubled about spending money on luxuries and instead gave everything to charity, it would be a pretty dull world for one. Another reason is that a lot of people try hard in life and work hard to be able to afford some luxuries and not give it all away to charity. If you make it immoral for people to spend money on luxuries then their goals and their hard work become meaning less to those people. Also, think about the effect on trade and commerce. Would there be as fast of a growth in technology, innovation, and modernization if more people started to buy less and less of things like new television sets, computers, DVDs, video games, and others? Although I maybe wrong in saying these things, it was just something I thought about and just wanted to ask and discuss out loud.
Overall this essay was pretty good, reminding me of my duty as someone who was born into moderate luxury. I wonder though, if any community out there would ever try such a solution.