A Classmate I am Thankful for

Out of all of the blogs that Mr.MaCarthy told his students to write about, this blog has to be the most strangest. Usually for thanksgiving, my previous teachers would let us have discussions or even do free writes about the things that we were thankful for. These discussions usually consisted of people talking about prized objects, activities and people who were not their peers; unless they talked about their friends. In this blog however, I have been assigned to think of a classmate that I am thankful for. Now after contemplating on this subject for a day, I chose to take the road less traveled by and choose someone who is not my friend and someone I barely know; Jonathon Marek. I personally think that Jonathon has an awesome liberal voice that every time you hear it you think, he has to have something intriguing or knowledgeable to say. It kind of makes the class more interesting because I hear a variety of voices other than Mr. MaCarthy. (No offense). So for thanksgiving this year I am thankful for food, family, shelter, all of my friends, and Jonathon for his awesome voice. 

I Celebrate Myself

After watching the movie entitled Into the Wild a biographical film about a man who wanted to escape society to live a life in nature, I concluded that nature is not for me. Some people love being in nature and discovering new things about themselves that one might not find in the everyday life of society.  I on the other hand find my true self in solitude and that can be anywhere but in the middle of the forest.  Don’t get me wrong I love the beauty of nature and the wildlife. I would even go hiking in a forest every once in a while.  It is just a lot easier for me to contemplate my true identity when I’m in a comfortable solitude that I won’t be fearful of or feel entirely alone. For instance, a good solitude place for me would be in the park during the summer. There I can sit on a bench and just think not only about myself but also the environment that I’m surrounded by. This way I can have a moment of peace and I’m not entirely alone because I’m still within the vicinity of fellow park goers. I guess I can’t be a true transcendentalist because I don’t want to give up society and I don’t want to throw away my religion. Although some say that society and religion can plague you, which may be true for some people, but for everyone, those ideas still shape the person that you become rather you accept them into your life or not. In a way I disagree with transcendentalists (people who believe that religion and politics taint the purity of the individual) such as Ralph Emerson and Henry Thoreau simply because not everyone needs to run away to the wild as they stated that people should do, to express their individuality or any other idea of transcendentalism. You can express your inner-self anywhere within the “walls” of society that you find the most comfortable. At least that is what I do because I know that my inner self is made up of the society that I was born into. That all my influences come from the teaching and experiences that has happened right here in society. That is why I celebrate myself because I am harmonious with society, as Emerson would say. 

All About Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is known for his exceeding talent in writing. His talent allowed him to create disturbing yet intriguing stories that gave moral lessons or quaint entertainment for his aberrant imagination. I actually enjoyed reading Poe’s stories, until they started to scare me because of his constant mention of the un-dead and his eerie descriptions. For example, in The Fall of the House of Usher Poe described his visit with a friend who needed his dire help to figure out his mental disorder. It all sounds interesting until you get into the history of the narrator’s friend and the gloomy house he’s living in, you kind of get freaked out. That was the same feeling I had about Poe’s Ligeia a story that really describes the death of Poe’s wife.  I could never understand why his stories were so disturbed until I realized that sometimes a story or any form of writing can reflect the emotions, events, and actions going on around or inside of the writer.   Poe was born on January 19, 1809. From the time he was born to the time he died on October 7, 1849, Edgar experienced quite a bit of grief. Before Poe was five he lost both of his parents and later lost his money, but that was due to his own gambling addictions. For a while, Poe had a decent life, including joining the army for a while (even though he got kicked out for financial issues) and publishing his famous stories. It was when his wife Virginia died of tuberculosis that Poe began to dabble into depression and alcoholism. Poe went through some troubling times throughout his life, and that was most likely the cause of his ominous work. I just wish that Poe’s wife hadn't died when she did or that Poe wouldn't have gone deep into his spiraling depression. Maybe we would have read a few cheerful stories, by Edgar Allan Poe.

Academy of American Poets: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/130

What is an American?

According to Webster dictionary, an American is an inhabitant of the western hemisphere, the United States of America, or a person who is of Indian origins from an Asian ancestry.  In my opinion however, an American is neither of those. People who are inhabitants of America can very well become inhabitants of Europe, Australia, Africa, and any other continent on earth and even in space if humans ever become advanced enough to form continents on other planets. No one is truly from America to be classified as an “American” because every ethnicity either settled the American lands or was forced to live here because of slavery. The “true Americans” is the agriculture. The various plants have grown from the American soil.  They have helped to give shelter, clothing and brought about economic benefits to everyone who has populated the land. However, my opinion of the “true” Americans has changed. Once I read the Letters from an American Farmer by Michel-Crèvecoeur I learned that the “true Americans” are not always classified by the ethnicity of a person, but on how this person comes to America and shows him or herself humble to the ways of American life (laws, ideas, opinions, etc.)  The United States of America is still considered a young country, but a country full of all people alike who came together and established new laws, ideas, and manners. But then again, that same experience of establishment and immigration has probably occurred for every other nation as well. Maybe there is no true way to classify yourself as a part of a nation that you preside in. Maybe the only thing we can truly classify ourselves as, is colorful humans of earth. (Maybe that’s what a “true American” is, 313.9 million colorful humans of earth).

The Modern Puritan

    The Puritans, according to history and literature, were viewed as a group of American settlers who followed strict laws of their religions so tediously that even the slightest sin meant that you were bound to damnation. They tried to live their lives with such perfections that they overlooked or disapproved anything outside their religious lifestyle and rules. In today’s society the Puritan lifestyle is considered Amish or to some people nonexistent. However, the type of lifestyle that the Puritans lived can be found in any grouping or close organization that fosters an imperial identity of how their members should live, like cults for instance.       Cults, although secret, are formed so that people can follow some religious aspect or ideal.
Cults are similar to the Puritans by how in certain cults, people have to dress a certain way, have their hair a certain way, and even act a certain way to proclaim that they are a member of any cult they are a part of.  The difference, and this goes for all close organizations or groupings, are that even though these people live by this singular ideal, they don’t exert strict laws like the Puritans did. If so, then the leaders of those groups would be considered “The Modern Day Puritans.”

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

            Currently my English class was assigned to read The Crucible, a famous story rewritten into a play by Arthur miller, which later became a movie.  The Crucible was mainly a story about how a young girl’s lust and deceptions lead to anarchy in Salem, a small puritan town in 1692. The puritans basically lived their lives by every word in the bible and believed that even the smallest sin would send them to damnation unless they repented directly after confessing their sins. One of the most deadly sins to the puritans was witchcraft. Anyone caught doing witchcraft or even accused of it was sentence to death by hanging, which was exactly how the young girl known as Abigail Williams, caused a widespread of chaos in Salem after she had a sexual affair with a married man named John Proctor. Abigail worked as a servant in the Proctor household and when the wife learned of the affair she fired Abby. Abby hated John’s wife Elizabeth so much that she drank blood so that Elizabeth could die and Abigail could have John. This lust that Abigail had, changed into these continuous lies that lead to both Elizabeth and John getting arrested for witchcraft. The judges of the town whole-heartedly regarded Abigail’s lies that they hung innocent people for it. The fact these judges hung innocent and well respected people caused the citizens of the town to question the court so much that the judges forced Elizabeth to try and convince her husband to confess to using witchcraft, even though he never did. John was going to confess because he wanted to live but soon realized the motives behind why the judges wanted him to disclose; they wanted to win back the trust of the townsfolk. I thought that John Proctor was a hero for not signing the confession for several reasons. For one, John was noble enough to stand his ground and plead innocence instead of pleasing the judges with a lie. I also thought he was a hero because he did not falsely accuse his friends of witchcraft, which was something that most of the people who were arrested because of Abigail and her friends’ lies, did. John was not always the holiest Christian according to the townsfolk because he rarely attended church and he was an adulterer; although, only a few people knew of his sexual affair. The fact that he set aside his un-Christian attitude to stand up against the Covetousness of the court proved that he was a very honorable and heroic man. “You made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs. …Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!”-John Proctor’s last words to his wife right before he was hanged. 

Arrivals...There Goes the Neighborhood

A few days ago I was reading an excerpt from the Columbus Journal. The Columbus Journal, a rather long and descriptive story of Christopher Columbus’s first journey to the Americas, focused mainly on how amazed Columbus and his men were at the environment, the food, the animals, and most importantly, the Natives who were just as astounded as Christopher and his men were. The purpose of Columbus’s voyage was because Spain wanted to expand their kingdom and their religion, so even through all of the amazement, beauty, and kindness from both the Natives and Columbus’s men, there was still this element of fear. Some Natives (not all) feared Columbus’s arrival because they believed he might enslave them, kill them or affiliate their small governments (assumed from the context of the Journal). There was also fear from the newcomers because they were at a disadvantage; they did not know much about the land nor did they know much about the Natives themselves. The arrival of Columbus and his men slightly changed the way of life for the Indians. For one, Columbus wanted to convert them from their own traditions and religion (if they had one) to those of the Spaniards. Also, Columbus, who was raised in a civilized land, believed that he should help theses Natives become more “civilized” by changing the way they dressed and made profit through the gifts he gave them. The point is Columbus and his men were newcomers to an already established land, like a new neighbor is to an already established block, community, neighborhood, etc. Columbus, rather he knew it or not, changed the Natives way of life and beliefs exactly how a new neighbor would change the perceptions of a person’s views of ethnic groups, customs, and religions. In modern day, this new perception could change the ideas of a neighborhood to be more susceptible to change. But this only about a fifty percent chance of happening in today’s society because people don’t really care much about new neighbors unless the new bothers the old or vice versa. If that’s the case then, there goes the neighborhood.   

All about me

  Hi, my name is Kayla Wade I am a sophomore at Whitney Young.  I find myself to be a very busy person. Most of the time if I’m not hanging out with friends or family, I’m working on school work (if it’s school time) or just working. I am an only child who’s had three dogs, a turtle, and a feisty cat, so I’m very sociable. I love to meet new people or just have random conversations with strangers I’m probably not going to see in my life ever again. I am highly energetic depending on what happened during my day or if I had a good night’s rest. You all don’t know this about me but sleep is my number one priority. I don’t care how much I love to be sociable and friendly, if I only had a few hours rest I am not going be in the best mood. In fact, I might curl up into a corner somewhere and sleep. My favorite color is green and I don’t have a specific artist or song that I prefer more than others because I love to listen to all different types of genres and singers, except country. Now don’t get me wrong I have nothing against country artist, music, or people who are fans of the genre. It’s just that I can’t relate to country music simply because I have lived in Chicago all my life so I’m used to the fast pace lifestyle. I have been on a farm once but never stayed the night. So I have no experience at all with the country life but I do love to travel; especially to Wisconsin Dells and Florida because my family lives in those states. I also love to read various books. My favorite series is the Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare. And yes I did go see the movie, which I personally felt was awesome.