Map Analysis

North America (1778):

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl

We all knew that in 1778 we weren't completely expanded across America, like where we are today. This map shows the 13 original colonies. There are some major differences in this map compared to a map looked at in 2014. First off, Virginia is the biggest colony and takes up some of the area that Pennsylvania would be in today.  This must be why so many men signed the Declaration of Independence from Virginia, because it was the BIGGEST colony. Then if we look at North Carolina and South Carolina, they are both two small slivers of land. This map definitely points out the power that Virginia held over America at that time.

The map “narrates” our history by showing the expanse of Virginia. It is telling us that although other colonies were being created and expanding, Virginia was the biggest and most important at the time. This is super important in our history, because it shows that Virginia was definitely important during expansion. They kept making it bigger and bigger than the other colonies, showing that the ideas behind Virginia’s colony were extremely valued by the people of America.

THE GREAT GATSBY

As we were wrapping up our Great Gatsby unit, we got the chance to watch Baz Luhrmann's version of The Great Gatsby. He made some very important stylistic choices that in the end helped make this movie a classic.

To begin, one of the best choices Luhrmann made for the movie was when he introduced Gatsby. The audience is hearing a lot about the famous Gatsby and they even see his shadow and outline a few times, but they never get to see his face until he has become a real mystery to the audience. Just like in the book we are hearing a lot of rumors about him, but we don't actually get the chance to see him until Nick is walking up the stairs at one of Gatsby's famous parties and we see his ring flash to the audience then we know that Nick is talking to the one and only Gatsby. This gave me, an audience member, a wave of excitement! The minute that Gatsby turns around and raises his glass we know he is one important dude!

Luhrmann made a lot of smart camera angle choices for the movie. When we are getting our first look at Gatsby's big and glorious parties, the camera is moving and switching angles like crazy. I feel like Luhrmann wanted the audience to understand the chaos that ensues at a Gatsby party! He wants us to understand that things are constantly happening everywhere and all the time at these parties. Another camera choice he made was the camera was angled up whenever Gatsby was thinking and hoping about his future with Daisy. The angle made the audience member feel that hope with the way we look up at Gatsby's happy face.

Flowers were a huge part of Fitzgerald's book and Luhrmann made it a point to put many flowers into the movie. There were two points where the flowers played a huge part. The first one was when Gatsby was setting up Nick's house for his reunion with Daisy and then again at the end. Those flowers represented the beginning and ending of Gatsby and Daisy's short-lived relationship.

The Great Gatsby definitely deserves the title of a classic, because it was so intensely thought through. There are many more stylistic choices that Luhrmann made for this film, but I thought these three really hit on some of the major points he was trying to make! Well done Luhrmann, well done!

Social Mobility and the American Dream

As a personal opinion, I do not believe that social mobility is something we have very much of here in the United States of America. We have the opportunity to move up and down the social class ladder, but it doesn't happen very often. Then the question of hard work and money come along, does hard work really influence your financial status. And to this question I would also say no. There are so many families out there that work hard just to have a meal before them at dinner time and there are others that work hard to get the CEO promotion and along with that promotion comes money, where as the satisfaction of hunger does not.

In SOURCE C, the students use a reference from The Great Gatsby, the green light represents something that someone strives for. We all strive for something, some of us just haven't found it yet! One quote from SOURCE C is, "I think this American dream is an interpretation of a white, poor man's dream." This is unfortunately true. The American dream is something people always look forward to, but has anyone ever gotten there? I haven't ever heard of anyone saying, "Oh, I have reached the American dream!" No. It is a goal that we continue to strive for. It is a place we will never reach, but it is one of the best motivators out there. We will always have something to look forward to, that is what the American dream is.

When we say hard work do we mean physically or mentally? Or both? That is up to the interpreter, but in my case I would have to say both. You first need to put your mind to it, whatever it may be, then you must physically go out and conquer your goal. In SOURCE E, a profile was done on women whose fathers were doctors, but they went to gain a PhD in history with the aim of teaching at a public university or college. A PhD, they were surprised when they didn't make as much money as their fathers. They put in an equal amount of hard work though...why is that? It depends on multiple factors, which is why hard work and financial status have nothing to do with each other. Each situation is a different circumstance, so we cannot say that the two are related.

SOURCE A focuses on the lives of rich kids. These are the kids that are advancing, because their mom and dad have money to help the advance. I don't think that these kids are understanding how hard work really works. These are the kids that are getting things handed to them. They may be advancing financially, but they aren't getting the chance to work hard on their own. The kids that actually know how to work hard are the ones who have been put in situations where they have had to actually work hard, not the ones who just got it.

Social mobility is something we don't have much of now,but maybe in the near future we may be able to handle. I still and most likely will always believe that hard work and financials aren't always related. This blog was an eye opening one!

Social Class

I've been thinking of this for awhile now. We have always, always, always had social class. I can't think of a time when we didn't have social class. If you can think of a time when social class was not an important factor in anyone's life, please let me know!

We took a "What Social Class Do You Belong In?" quiz on Christian Science Monitor. The quiz asked us 30 questions and based our "social class" off of our answers. My social class was, bourgeois vous, or for those of us who can't read French, it just means upper middle class! I agree that this is the correct social class for me to be placed in. I'm fortunate enough to go on vacations and my family can afford a lot of things, but when it comes to things like paying for college we don't have some long family line or a well known last name that would pay for it. Paying for college is definitely going to be a difficult to pay for!

In class we also got the chance to watch a small excerpt from the documentary People Like Us. This film was ideas about social class from the eyes of those living in that social class. We watched a part of the film about a woman who lived in an old, broken down trailer with her three sons. She worked part time at Burger King, but had to walk 10 miles just to get to work. Her kids are embarrassed to have her show up to a public place or event. They try to avoid her. It's so unfortunate that this is a situation that, not only this woman has to live in, but many families in the United States have to deal with. We like to focus on the positives that are going on here in America and the bad things going on in other countries, because it makes us look better. It makes the citizens of the United States think, "Oh, it's not that bad here, because we have all of these good things going on, and in other countries they are suffering so much." But here in America we don't like focusing on our own problems, and we definitely don't like focusing on good things happening in other countries. Why is that? Shouldn't we want to focus on making America better? Shouldn't we want to applaud other countries for doing great things? It seems very backwards to me. We need to focus on those who live life in lower social classes and help them out! 

Do you ever think there will be a time when we won't have social classes? I can't ever see it happening! But if it did, would it be a good thing?
 

(FEAR OF) WORMS

Worms. This may be a common fear. Yet, maybe not. I can't tell if it's the lack of legs, or maybe it's the way they scrunch up and down to move, or it could possibly be the texture of their skin. I honestly cannot pick out the worst part about them, but whatever it is...it's BAD!

Okay, I might have lied...just a bit. I do like some worms, but only the gummy kind.

My nightmares consist of worms, constantly. Being anywhere that is infested with them. It reminds me of that old T.V. show, Fear Factor. You could not pay me enough money to lay down or stand up in a tank of worms. Never would I ever.

It is way more common for people to have a fear of parastic worms, but I have a fear of all of them. Maggots included. Actually, I don't know what the phobia name would be, but I have a fear of all animals that have less than two legs or more than four. (I only say this because I have seen a three-legged chinchilla at Timberlee...and I LOVE chinchillas!) So, I guess you could include spiders, snakes, and ticks in this category as well. Along with many other insects...oh, like millipedes. YUCK!

Out of all of the insects though worms are my least favorite. There is only one experience that I can recall back to that confirms my fear of worms. Every summer my friends and I would spend it at my friends campground. At of course they sold worms there, like every bait shop would at a campground. We were talking about fears, mine being worms. Immediately my friends grabbed one out of a container, tossing it back and forth, thus causing me to go into a panic attack. They chased me around and some how I unhooked my friends bra with my elbows. I can't tell you how or why. But I did.

WORST. EXPERIENCE. EVER.

I hate worms.

What's your biggest fear?

WIKILEAK RIGHTS!

Here in the United States we are privlaged enough to have freedom of almost everything. When Julian Assange created Wikileaks, he was thinking that the citizens of the United States should have the right to know what their government is doing, right or wrong, in other countries and even here in the United States. Along with Assange comes the other outragious acts that were committed by Chealsea Manning and Edward Snowden.

I completely understand the reasoning behind letting the public know of all crimes and morally wrong doings done by the government, but when releasing this information to the citizens they also released the information all over. Everyone, even our enemies, can read this information. So what does that do for us?

With all of this Wikileaks information getting out, we as a country are able to speak our mind. With this classified information we are able to know what is happening behind closed doors. We can protest and speak our minds and we may be able to persuade the government to change their ways. We are also fortuante enough to have the consitutional right to publsih whatever we wish, including secrets, no matter how terrible and sensitive.

On the other hand, other countries are able to access this information and it could be putting the U.S. in danger. Other countries could use this information to fight against us. That is one scary thought.

Overall, the actions that these folks have taken were wrong, but the ideas behind them are fabulous. We as a country deserve to know what is happening around us and who we are being presented as in other areas of the world. We also deserve the chance to take the giant target away from our backs, and that won't happen if other countires hear what terrible things we have done.

EXCERPTS FROM FULLER, WOLLSTONECRAFT, AND STEINEM: ARE WE EQUAL?

Are we equal? When reading each of these excerpts I kept thinking to myself about those stupid, unfortunately common phrases often said by immature high school boys, "Why aren't you in the kitchen?" or "Go make me a sandwich." I find it quite sad that this is what I first thought of when reading these articles.

Equality is something we strive for and have been striving for, forever. Whether it is gay rights, African American's rights, or women's rights - they are all generally the same. To be completely honest the first two articles I read were extremely difficult to understand. Maybe it's the time period or my lack of a rich vocabulary...or both. Either way I only understood bits and pieces from each excerpt.

The one excerpt that I completely understood and actually laughed at (SURPRISE, SURPRISE!) was If Men Could Menstruate by Gloria Steinem. In this altered universe that she created through her writing everything made sense. She started off by saying something along the lines that if men could menstruate it would become a masculine event. Sadly, this is probably true. I can definatly see a group of guys sitting around bragging about how much Midol they didn't take, because they could stand the pain. I also couldn't help but chuckle about all of these feminine, oops i mean masculine products that would be sold at every Walgreen's across America. The other thing that I found to be completely true, and not so much funny, is the religion portion of this blessed event. When Jesus died on the cross, men would use the "He gave this blood for our sins," speech.

So why isn't this true when women have their monthly gift? Is it because we are lesser? No. Is it because we aren't men? Maybe. I loved the way Steinem ended her essay, so I am going to do the same as she did. Just let this sink in.

"The truth is that, if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on."

THE LOOMING TOWER
AL-QAEDA AND THE ROAD TO 9/11

 First off I would like to point out that this was a phenomenal book. It was a non-fiction story that was filled with history and knowledge of one of the most well known events in our country's past, but what Lawrence Wright did was beyond the broadcast version of this event. This man took his time to perfect this book. He based on more than 500 interviews; including bin Laden's best friend from college to the former White House counter-terrorism chief. This man had information from all different sources, which is something quite different than our average, American take on this event. 

He spends most of his time taking us on a journey, in detail might I tell you, in which he describes the events that shaped Al-Qaeda's and more specifically bin Laden's attitude and feelings towards the United States.

A specific portion I would like to pull from the book is when Wright is writing about how Al-Qaeda began and who affected it. He said that it "depended on a unique conjunction of personalities." Two of those people involved are bin Laden himself and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, the bright thinker behind their morals and ideas, which were that only violence could change the nation.

This book gave me so much more insight into the event of 9/11. Sadly, I'm not one of those people who can just sit down and remember every specific event that happened to every specific person, whose name I don't know, because let me tell you there are a lot of names that I can barely type, much less say.

I really enjoyed this story and I would suggest it to anyone who has any interest in history, 9/11, terrorism, or to those who need a non-fiction book to read for their AP Comp class. Not a bad read.

There is just one last idea I would like to leave you with. The title of this book, "The Looming Tower," is not just a reference to the tragic event of 9/11, but it is also a small section of the Koran that bin Laden quoted when getting the 19 hijackers who were supposedly going to become martyrs to get their minds wrapped around what they were about to do for their nation and for their God. That section was, "Where ever you are, death will find you/even in the looming tower."

IS GOOGLE MAKING US LOOK STUPID?

Oh hey bloggers! I haven't been on here in quite awhile. I know this is two days late. Be disappointed if you must. I am on vacation here in the great state of Colorado. Last week I got to visit my sister in Denver. This week I am in Telluride! Anyways the moral of this little location story is that in Denver I had terrible wifi in my hotel and I couldn't get hooked up online to write this fabulous blog. However, I did get the chance to really get my thoughts wrapped around this article!

I have always heard my mom and dad talk about how fantastic technology is! I guess I am just used to it, being born in this generation and all, but from stories I have heard from them, technology has changed the way we socialize, the way we act, the way we think. This is just the point that Nicholas Carr wants to get across in this article. 

He kept repeating himself in this article about how easily we get distracted when reading now, rather than in the past. Something I found kind of odd when reading this article was how long it was. He was repeating all he said before about how we get distracted and how easy the internet has made it for us to just want to read the short stuff. We want all of our information right there in the introductory paragraph, but here in this seven page article with about a 10 point font, he expects us to read and completely analyze this entire article. Not happening all at once. It took me a couple times to sit down and read this sucker. It was interesting, I will give him that, but long. Way. Too. Long.

This article couldn't be more spot on in the way that it depicts how technology has changed the mind sets of everyone around the world! Scott Karp, a blogger who writes about online media, has admitted that he has stopped reading books altogether. Sadly, this isn't just true for him. Ever since nooks and kindles came out, people can just download their favorite book onto their technological device and read it! Now there are some pros and cons to this. It's really nice that you can just download all of your favorite books and have them with you where ever you go! Also, it's sweet that using the kindles and nooks we could eventually cut back on wasting tree's paper. Unfortunately, with purchasing these devices we lose the fun event of going out and looking all around the bookstores for that special little novel.

Technology has really changed the way we think and the way we live. Whether it is for the better or for the worst, it has changed us. All of us.

THE ETHICS OF A LIVING JIM CROW! 

       Well hey there bloggers! I haven't blogged since last week! My nose has been stuck in the book The Looming Tower. It's a difficult, but amazing read! Anyways, I'm not here to discuss that book. I am here to write all of my thoughts down about our latest article -- The Ethics of a Living Jim Crow. Jeez. This article made me so incredibly angry, I actually had to put the article down to cool off. There were so many things on my mind, and let me tell you, if I wrote it all down I could probably just write a full paper. Oh how I hate racism. And sexism. And all of those ideas that people have against those who are just trying to live their life. We really are the same inside, deep down at the core! 
        For those of you who don't know what the Jim Crow laws are, which you should everyone learns about them, these laws are basically a set of laws that made blacks equal but separated from whites. So, they should have been treated the same, but just with separated facilities and a special treatment. This is absolutely ridiculous. Do you want to know who came up with these laws? Some high end white guys who have never met a black person in their life, but since Lincoln expressed his ideas on the ending of slavery (which did eventually take place), they had to come up with a way to keep blacks away from whites. This would have never worked. The things that these black guys got were the leftovers. Old books. Crappy bathrooms. Standing on the bus when there is no room. They were treated like they were a "lesser" kind of species, which in fact, they weren't. Let me actually get on about talking about this article, because I could go off on how idiotic white people were in the past for decades.
        I started reading this article, which is broken into eight chunks, and after the first chunk I was fascinated. Incredibly pissed, but fascinated. This black man looking back into his past, reliving all of the things that happened to him that were unfair, or things that happened during the Jim Crow law period. The first thing that happened to him was he was hit in the head with a broken milk bottle by some white kid. He cried and waited for his mom coming home from the "white folks kitchen" (Ridiculous. Why can't they just share? The world may never know.) When she arrived home, she didn't console him. She didn't feel bad for him. She was mad. She hit him. Why? Why did black people just take it? Why didn't they stand up for what was right? I mean eventually they did, but this could have happened sooner than it did. This is an injustice and all of these black folks just take it. Ugh that makes me so mad! They should have stood up. Way way way way way sooner than they did. Something I found intriguing about this is that these black people were actually scared to walk through the white people's turf. Which just surprised me a bit considering that now days, NOT BEING STEREOTYPICAL HERE, but people are afraid to walk through the ghetto? And when that word comes to mind don't black people as well? But they do have good reason to be afraid when walking through the white "area", they are targets. And they would stick out like a sore thumb.
       The second Jim Crow incident happened when he was just a teenager. He started a job and asked some guys who were assigned to train him and teach him what to do to actually show him what to do, because they weren't. Then they hit him. Because that makes total sense... GOSH! This is where I had to cool down. Why is it that when we get mad, we result to violence. Right? It seriously makes total sense! NOT!
       Then he witnessed some white guys beating up a black girl. And then he had to agree with him that what they did what right. WHEN IT FREAKING WASN'T! Ugh. Alright guys. This is seriously pissing me off and I am getting frustrated again about stupid, racist, white people. Overall though it was an interesting article, and you should really read it if you wanna get fired up. Alright deuces bloggers.
       Read you later bloggers!


 

TALK OF THE TOWN!

Today I got the chance to catch up on the essays, and to my surprise this essay was interesting! It may be because I am interested in the Psychology of those involved with the 9/11 attacks, or it may be because
I am an American and I care about what is going on in my country. But whatever it was, this essay was really intriguing!

When I read the first article by John Updike, I realized that everything he said I agreed with! I don't remember the 9/11 attacks personally, I was in Kindergarten, but I do know that all of my teachers were in mourning. There was one specific idea that John Updike wrote about in this essay, and that was that we were "summoned to witness," this idea couldn't be more spot on. No one in there right mind would choose to watch thousands of people be killed by a terrorist attack. It's just sick.

He also talked about how media was involved in this event. He said that the media and government, two things that go hand in hand, tried to convince the rest of all Americans that this could be fixed. That we could somehow bring back the lives of those lost. And sadly that is true of the media and the government, they either make things worse than they are or they try to make them seem like they are better. Nothing is ever just news anymore!

There was one part in his essay where he was talking about how a Florida neighbor of one of the suspects remembers him saying that he didn't like the United States: "He said it was too lax. He said, 'I can go anywhere I want to, and they can't stop me.'" To me that seems just a bit off. I would take the hint and possibly say something to the authorities, especially if they had a weird feeling around this guy.

Then I got the chance to read the next article by Susan Sontag, and I also agreed with everything she said! In her beginning paragraph, she said that this was an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower. Sadly, it seems like America does boast about how "fantastic" we are, when in all reality, we aren't that spectacular.

She also said something about how if anything came from this there must, be a historical awareness that goes on. The famous philosopher George Santayana once said, " Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." And I couldn't agree more with this quote, we can only learn from our mistakes.

I really enjoyed this article and I can't wait to finish up this next essay!

Read you later bloggers!

WELCOME! 

Hello my fellow AP Comp bloggers! Welcome to my site! This blog post was originally due on Friday, June 28th. Sadly, I got all of the information a bit late, so my goal is to catch up! Anyways, this first post is an introductory blog.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy!

This upcoming school year is my final school year at McFarland High. I am really looking forward to this class! After high school I am planning on attending UW Eau Claire and gaining my major in Psychology and my minor in Marine Biology, then moving to somewhere along the coast (not sure what coast) to train, preform rescue and research on marine mammals! While in high school I enjoy being on the varsity swim team and on state with my fellow thespians! This last June, I went to Badger Girls State where I learned a lot about our state government! I loved the experience, and if any of you juniors have the chance to attend Badger Girls State -- DO IT!

Oh! I also love birds...a lot.

Alright. Enough about me! I am pumped to start this blog and I cant wait to read all of the fascinating things that all of you AP Comp bloggers have to say!

Read you later bloggers!