Something Interesting

Susan Boyle

I think this video is interesting because everyone first doubted her when she first came on stage, but after her performance they could see how talented she was.

Jimmy Santiago Baca's Poem

My first thought after reading his poem was that it was the truth. The poem makes you think about people and not just immigrants and all the trials they go through, especially when they come to America hoping for a better life. But instead they are met with a system that crushes any hope of that.

I agree with Jessica when she says that when the immigrants come to America or any other country all they can say is things have"changed".

Tone: serious or pessimistic
Mood: realization or inevitability
Devices: similes, metephors
Main idea: pathos

My Mad Dream of An Essay

Remember that time you ate that spicy soup just before you went to bed on the night before the big dance?  Oh, that weird dream you had about the 2016 presidential election.  When you woke up you couldn't quite remember the gory details, but after reading "On Self-Reliance" and "A Sound of Thunder" it's all coming back to you now.

The dream started badly.  You were in line with your family at an airplane waiting to be sent to Florida.  Everywhere you looked there were posters of president-elect Gompers, looking like a crazy goat who could eat a whole shoe.   

Suddenly, there was Ralph Waldo Emerson telling you, "The relations of the soul to the divine spirit are so pure, that it is profane to seek to interpose helps."  You realized that you have something to contribute to the world so you decided to protect.  But it wasn't easy.  First you had to put on a fancy suit and tie and then you had make atime machine to go back in time to the debate so you could convince people to learn about the candidates and the environmental issues no one seems to care about.

But right there in the hotel there was a giant arguement and it started  offendinging  everyone.  People started to fist fight.  You grabbed a microphone from a nearby podium and yelled [something important you have to say].  Everyone stopped and listened, so you kept going.

Emerson's Child

      Emerson's "Self-Reliance" essay held a lot of meaning for me, not because of  what he said ,but how he said it. Instead of just writing his ideas and exactly how we should be self-reliant he wrote it in a unique where we are able to remember his ideas better. Though i wasn't  completely sold by Emerson's ideas I still respect his ideas enough to think about their impact on people who agree with his ideas.
   
       We all know that this years election sparked lots of controversies because of the two presidental candidates and there ideas on how to "better" this country. Emerson would have loved this year's election because these are his ideas at work. People have there own ideas and trying to have their own say without regard of the peoples ideas around them. For example, a couple of friends and one goes for Donald Trump despite their friend or family who may be voting for Hilary Clinton. Its all a matter of deciding for yourself and nobody else. He would also love the idea of Donald Trump, and his ideas. "What pretty oracles nature yields us on this text, in the face and behaviour of children, babes, and brutes!" When Emerson writes this in his essay he says that babies and brutes are unconformed to society and listen to no one, that they're "geniuses". I consider Donald Trump a brute so Emerson might think of him as one of these geniueses because of his ideas that are causing lots commotion.

     The result of this election has caused a lot of outrage and protests and I feel that though that he might not agree with why they are protesting, he likes the idea of the people having their own opinions and expressing them. Most people might have a hard time accepting the fact that Donald Trump is our new president, but Emerson would probably want us to look to Trump as an example. Donald Trump expressed his ideas without regard whether or not a majority of people agreed with him. He has no filter and says rhe wants and he still won the election. " too be great is to be be misunderstood". Emerson would consider trump and great person and probably would have voted if he could have because he agreed with lots of his own ideas.

    I dont feel that Hilary Clinton would have gotten much support from Emerson as Trump because she wasnt using any ideas emerson express. Though he would have liked the idea of her trying to be the first female president in the US. Many people probably told her she couldn't or shouldn't do it but she did it anyway. And after she announced it many people started rallying behind her because ythey agreed with her ideas. All  because of her one decision to run for president.

    Like I said before, I dont completely agree with Emerson's ideas on self-reliance, but i agree with his methods of expressing his ideas. And he would be proud that his ideas are being used today and by someone who he would consider a "genius". though he wrote this essay over 125 years ago it is still making an impact today in our lives.

Literary Analysis #2

1. In the book The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy, is told in four points of view Cassie, Evan Walker, Sam, And Ben Parish. This story is set in America after Aliens come to earth and set off stages of extermination, the first one was shutting off the power. The second was a tsunami that covered forty miles inland, and the third wave is disease which probably wiped out 97% of the remaining population. The fourth wave was the silencers, Aliens inhabiting the minds off humans  and killing off the rest of the human population. And the fifth wave is where the aliens use the military to train the remaining children as soldiers and use them to kill off the remaining humans. Cassie is looking for her brother Sam, who is taken by the military, and is dodging the Others. Sam is waiting for Cassie, his sister to come meet him at the base so they can be together again. Evan Walker who is a silencer, who is stalking Cassie through the woods, after he shots her in the leg he decideds he cant kill her so he brings her back to his house. As he helps her get better he realizes that he's falling in love with her and decides to help her get her brother back . Ben Parish, nicknamed zombie and also Cassie's old crush from high school, was sick with the plague when the Others found him and took him back to the base where he was trained with Sam.
2. The theme of the book is bravery for when Cassie goes to find her brother, love for when an alien falls in love with a human, and sacrifice.
3. Based on the authors tone I think that hes the type of person who wakes up late and watches movies like Independence Day, Cowboys and Aliens, and things like that. He uses these movies as inspiration. He also is somewhat against clichés meaning he knows there cant always be a happy ending. So I think in the next book one of the main characters may die.
4.Antagonists: The antagonists of the story are the Others
Cliché: A Character falls in love with in love and is willing to die for them
Comedy: Ben uses humor to break up the amount of tension
Flat Characters: Teacup,a kind of psychotic ten year old, Dumbo a medical officer, and Flintstone a major a-hole.

A Hug is Nearly A Gun Spelled Backwards

Some people might disagree with me on this topic but since its my own thoughts on it I could really care less what other people think. I feel that personal relations aren't as important as patriotism because I as a person have always been patriotic. Patriotism means the love and devotion for their country. Devotion means being loyal to something as your country, as in not just your relatives. I'm not saying that personal relations aren't important but compared to the regard you hold for your country it is a little lower on the scale.
In the past we have already had to chose between our personal relations and our country which was around the American Revolution and afterwards we felt a sense of pride for defending our country. Also patriotism is important because without the want to serve this country how many people would join the military or law enforcement. These people feel a sense of pride working to protect the people and our country and without that I doubt the America we know would exist today. Others might feel that personal relations are more important than patriotism because family is everything to them. I don't necessarily disagree with them family is important ,but the loyalty to our nation is significant and needed.

Literary Analysis

1. In the book "Wonder" by R.J Palacio a boy with a severe facial condition finally attending public school after being homeschooled since birth. This book is told in multiply perspectives by August, the main character, his sister, his sister's boyfriend, and his friend Jack Will. Though August is used to his life with its daily routine he wants to try something new but he isn't ready for difficulty of school life. He deals with bullying, revulsion, and deception but, he also gets new friendships and new experiences.
2.The theme of the story bravery because of him attending public school and knowing what peoples reaction to his face would be.
3.Morning Routine:
Early Bird
Coffee
Occasional Gym
Breakfast: Bagel cream cheese. "Can you pick me up from school today" I said the next morning smearing cream cheese on my bagel."(pg 100)
Not the type of person to get hungover drunk
4. Antagonists "Julian thinks being friends with Auggie is bringing you down, and that for your own good you need to stop hanging out with him so much.
Epiphany:" And all of a sudden this picture flew into my head, this memory, and I knew what Summer had meant by "bleeding scream".
Imagery: "His eyes are an inch below where they should be on his face, almost halfway down his cheeks. they slant downward at an extreme angle, almost like diagonal slits that someone cut into his face, and the left one is noticeably lower than the right.
Sarcasm
Flat Character

A Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift was able to take that ridiculous notion of selling the lower class' babies to the upper class and make it sound like it was a completely  sound idea. My first thought when I read this excerpt was that he was actually serious and I was very outraged and disgusted but then I realized that he did this on purpose. He wanted us to think that he was really serious.

What is your Big Question?

My big question is
Why are there words such as race or racism? Why can't there be just one population of people who look differently but are the same?

Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to my blog. You may be wondering why I call my blog Middle Earth it is because I am a big Lord of the Rings nerd and have always loved middle earth. So if the blog is to become something I care about then I should name it after something I already do.