Holocaust Thingy [World Studies]

Holocaust: Greek Origin: Sacrifice by Fire.

Nazi Germans murdered six-million Jewish people. Along with them, they slaughtered the disabled, Roma, and Slavics.
The Nazis came into power in Germany early on in 1933. Their leader, Adolf Hitler, was a believer in the Aryan race. He believed the extermination of all those not apart of it was essential to the future of the Aryans. They killed them as part of the "Final Solution" to the "problem" facing the Aryan race. With them out of the world, the only remaing people would be those that they viewed as pure.


To follow through with the "Final Solution", the National Socialist Government established concentration camps where the Jewish and other minorities where sent and endured forced labor. These camps were headed by the SS and police officials. The purpose of the camps was to monitor the population of the minorities. Later established were ghettos. The purpose of the ghettos was to contain the minorities in the process of being taken to the concentration camps.


Between 1941-1944, German authorities deported Jews out of Germany to occupy killing centers. They were also referred to as extermination camps. They were most often killed in large gas-chambers but were also killed by being shot. These camps were made for the intentional killing of more than 2,700,000 Jews. Most of the arrivals at these camps were immediately sent to the gas-chambers. The only exception were the small grooups chosen for a work force, which often met the same fate, eventually.


In the final months of World War II, "Death Marches" took place. These were forced marches to avoid the Allies from liberating the prisoners. So the prisoners were pretty much just running from the people who were trying to help them. Ironic. These marches continued to the end of the war. The very day that the Germans surrendered. Prisoners were liberated, and the lives of the remaining Jews instantly became hopeful.


THE END OF THE HOLOCAUST :]

Tell-Tale Heart

So, Edgar Allen Poe wrote this "great" piece of literature called the Tell-Tale Heart, but honestly I do not see the greatness of it. A psychotic man is very uneasy with his co-workers blue eye. He says it is like that of a vulture. And in the end he results to killing him, only because the eye was open. If it had not been for the eye, and the man's insanity, then it is probable that the blue-eyed man would have lived.

As an activity to analyzing The Tell-Tale Heart we tracked the plot....in detail. What I have noticed about the main character, is that his actions are very uncertain. By that, I mean that the man does things, and acts in such ways, but in the end he is very edgy because of his uncertainty.

For example, when the man decides he commits to killing the blue-eyed-vulture man, he never actually does it until something pushes him to do it, or makes up his mind for him. In this case, the thing that pushed him was the man's eye being open.

The events following this also displayed him being unsure of his actions and doings. When he is chatting with the police officers, he has knowingly stashed the vulture-man's body underneath the hardwood floors on which they are standing. He has already killed him, so there is no turning back, but the man displays guilt for what he has done. In this case, guilt is a form of uncertainty. His uncertainty gets the best of him.

A Taste of Summer

Sparkling in the summer sun, the ripples on the water's surface undulated, reflecting the light and giving off a glare. In an instance the surface was shattered with the bodies of children who willingly flung themselves into the awaiting water. Jumping and flailing their arms about, the neighborhood children were just taking a break from another one of their pick-up games.
"Bottom of the fourth inning; 6-4." Jack clarified.
"I don't want to play anymore." said Quinn.
"I'm hungry, let's go to Nicky's." announced Tina.
Then they set off on the three block journey toward the fast-food restaurant. They crossed streets carelessly and hardly bothered to stay on sidewalks, instead they preferred the street. These were not the most well behaved friends a girl like Lucy could have. Sure she loved them and all, but sometimes they got too crazy.
While Lucy didn't really participate in their foolish actions, part of her enjoyed the danger of it all. Here in their neighborhood, the kids called the shots.
And with them calling the shots, endless summer days were spent with one another. From riding ATVs, to going to the park, to hanging around and passing the time with baseball. The children of the streets were inseperable. That's how it was. Nobody had a curfew, and parents knew each other well.
Back to the block within ten minutes, they pondered about the endless possibilities for the afternoon.
Hopefully they don't get in too much trouble...
to be continued.

Pride in the Name of Love

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One come here to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

(nobody like you...)

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...
--------------------------

Yes, this is U2's Pride in the Name of Love.
The song as a whole is about people who have lost themselves due to love.
The first verse:
The first verse symbolizes people that have different intentions in the name of love. People generally act differently and do different things when they act in the name of love. For example:
One man come here to justify
One man to overthrow.
---
One man has come with peaceful reasoning. Only to prove his point.
One man has come with intentions that are not very peaceful and may even cause some violence.

The second verse:
The first line symbolizes the soldiers who died in love for their countries. The 'barbed wire fence' is referring to those used in trench warfare during World War One.
As I came to learn, the third line symbolizes Roger Casement. He was captured, arrested, and finally executed because he took a significant part in the Easter Uprising.
The fourth and final line symbolizes how Jesus had been betrayed with a kiss. Jesus had been betrayed with a kiss, by Judas.

The Last Verse:
The Last verse is all about Martin Luther King Junior. April 4th 1968 is the specific April 4th discussed in the song. The shots that rang out in Memphis sky were the gunshots that 'took your life and he was free at last'. But they 'could not take your pride'.

As I said before, overall the song is about the many people who have lost themselves due to love.

On the Reservation

Recently, we have been reading Montana 1948 in class. In my opinion its a pretty decent book, it doesn't have a standstill plot and the book isn't that long ;)

Uncle Frank rapes and molests the Indian women, so as a woman living on the reservation, they should fear him. I know I would run from him in terror and clock him in the head with a shovel if he ever got near me.

On the reservation, he is one of the only things we have to fear. He stands out among our people because he is an outsider. But Ollie Young Bear is someone I am just a tad less disgusted with than Frank. Young Bear has adapted a new life from our own, and would just as soon turn himself American as he would bat an eyelash. It disgusts me because he is not proud. He is not proud of what he is. He wishes he was white rather than one of us, we wonder what his parents must think. They could not possibly be proud for what he has become, it is only assumed that they are ashamed. He is like a dog to the white people, he pleases them and becomes more like them. The white people, they like him, they say we should all become like Ollie Young Bear because then we will prosper in life, as they believe that he shall. He is well liked among the white population, but to us, he is nobody special. If anything, he is less than normal.

Propaganda 2011

So propaganda......that is deceptive or distorted information that is systematically spread. Okay so basically it's when you know something is bad or misleading, but you market it in such a positive way that people fail to see the harm in the product.

I think a great example of this in 2011 would be cigarettes. The funny thing about cigarettes is, not only do the marketers know that they are bad for your health, but everyone in society knows. Yet, even though the health hazards are known, smokers continue to buy them.
Before the risks were well-known, many people bought cigarettes. By the time the knowledge of the hazards spread around, many people could not quit. They were addicted and once they got sucked into the world of cigarettes, the propaganda for other cigarette brands was everywhere.

Commercials are propaganda. The average person watches television so many hours a day, seeing hundreds of commercials a week. The strategy of a company is to show the positive perks of a product and either exclude the negative altogether, or put it in size two font on the bottom of the screen where nobody can read it. They emphasize the products good qualities and effects, why you should buy it, and how much better it is than other leading brands, not to mention the cheap price.


We live in a world of propaganda and I believe that we can deal with it. We can just slow down, and not be so quick to assume we're being told the entire story. We should not rely on commercials for our information. And before we actually buy something, we should know *what* we're buying.

Black Boy

Unlike The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby, I actually enjoy reading Black Boy. Maybe it is just hearing it like it is straight from a little kid, or even just that the plot moves faster than the other books we have read, but I do not dread having to read every night. Well, not THAT much.

Richard grows up a lot throughout the book. I mean that both literally and mentality wise. As a six year old kid, though, you probably do not want to experience some of the things that Richard has. Growing up around the time that he did also influenced a lot of what he had witnessed and how his mentality had developed.

He witnessed a lot of events that could be described as having to do with racial tensions, or even straight out racism. At a younger age he was still blind to how society was, but as he grew up he learned.

I also dislike most of his family members. They treat him like crap and insist that they know better than he does. His Grandmother practicaly tells him that he is dead to her because he does not want to take up her religion. His Uncle wakes him up one night and then goes crazy on him and wants to beat him. Aunt Addie beats him at school AND at home. Aunt Jody gets on his case and is just nosy.

No wonder Richard doesn't grow up correctly, his family is screwed up. This is one of the major reasons that Rich has a different life than most kids.

Hungry for Attention

Is he alone?  This is not very specific, but my answer is: no, he is not alone in his cravings for attention. Many people crave it, and throughout the chapter I see that his brother quite enjoys it too. He may not be a prominent figure like Richard, and we can see that his acts are not nearly as extreme, but they are there. When Richard lit the house on fire, what was his brother's response? He went and tattled to their mother. He starves for attention as did Richard only he wanted to be looked at positively whereas Richard didn't care how foolish he looked in attempt to get attention.

He also tells on Richard many other times. When Richard kills the kitten, his brother is there and waiting. He runs off to their parents and tells on him. While Richard is sitting there being scolded, the book eludes to tell us that his brother is sitting off to the side inwardly content with the output of the situation.

It just goes to show that many of the characters have the same insatiable hunger for attention. Others, however, are more subtle and do not make it as obvious. Richard, being a young boy, clearly displays his crave for attention. His brother, although young, shows it in a less obvious way. What else can Richard do? Most kids, even from birth can never get enough attention.They show it first when they cry as newborns and the act continues and can even end up as stupid stunts, as it has for Richard.

How being an immigrant shaped my life......

This was the reading I felt defined an American for who they were, not because of of where they or born or how they have adapted to the culture here. This woman carried many traditions with her throughout her life and I feel she should be considered an American.

People come to America from other countries for a better life, and that's why she came. Her family moved because of the start of World War II. So that alone should qualify her. But she goes farther, as she continues to celebrate her heritage while residing here. That's what America is. It's simply a very diverse place where many different races, ethnicties, and cultures clash together and live among one another.

She and her family are Jewish who fled Germany before things got bad for them. Being the committed people that they were, and not giving up their beliefs, they remained Jewish and proud here in America. Just because there was only a minority of Jewish people, did not persuade them to convert.

This is what being an American means. Residing in this country, while holding onto your cultural beliefs to make America a 'melting pot'.

How boring would it be if everybody was Catholic or something? No thoughts beyond that.....No 'what ifs?' as to questioning religion. Not even being totally unaffiliated with religion...

King Still King?

Is Martin Luther King Jr. still influencing our society? Of course, the King is still King. He has made such an impact on our society many years ago, and we still see the effects later on. In my opinion, he and Rosa Parks did it all. They opened the doors for the narrow-minded people. Way back when, when Rosa Parks sat in a white person's seat, they started something so revolutionary, that it stuck with America through the generations. This is....de-segregation. They have started us on a never ending path of un-segregation. This path goes on and on forever, as we hope to stay like this. Here in 2011, I think we can agree that we have done pretty well to stick to the ‘path’.
The King is still the King because he took charge. He took charge the way a leader should. And he is still remembered today because of that. He is also famous for his ‘I have a Dream Speech..’. The King is still King because of his ability to talk to the people. If he was truly a king, the people would feel more connected to him.
Obviously, even in today’s society, we want someone who will listen to us, somebody who understands our lives. As my last statement, just a recap of what I’m talking about…….
The King is still King because what he did is still with us today.

Krik? Krak!

Children of the Sea had to be my favorite reading so far. It was interesting but still defined. As a reader, I thought it was the best example. This is because, by telling a story like this, you go into detail to  the point that you know everything that's going on...or most of it anyways. As opposed to a poem or short passage like some of the other readings, this longer passage told an almost complete story. Another way that this was an effective way of writing, is the fact that the entire story was a series of letters from a man to a woman. I'm pretty sure neither of them ever received any of them, but they keep writing to each other faithfully. I thought it was horribly romantic. The horrible part about this, was the impression it left on the reader at the end. It leaves us to think that the male character dies at sea when the female hears of another shipwreck discovered. That is also where the letters end. But thinking about this, the corrupt government would prefer for the people of their country to believe that they did become shipwrecked in order to try and prevent others from trying to escape the country. The relationship between the father and daughter also somewhat improves. She goes from thinking of him as selfish and mean, to a man who gave everything he had for her. Which is exactly what he had done.

Music Review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEPB7uzKuh4

Okay, so I chose a song called Watercolour by a band named Pendulum. I had never heard of them, or the song.
I went to youtube and typed in unlistened to music. :P Yes, it's silly, but it worked :) And plus I like watercolors :)
When first listening to the song I was doing other things. I was doing homework or whatever. The point is, I was listening, but not analyzing it. So, the song went on and I thought 'Wow, this is a really sucky depressing song.' Can you tell I didn't like it? Well I didn't. I decided to stick with it though solely for the reason that I am said to change my mind so often about stuff that people could not keep up with me. I wanted to prove them wrong. Even if it only was for this silly blog and for this one time.
The next time I listened to it. I was laying in bed and I analyzed it but did not watch the video.
The lyrics seemed to match the morose and depressing mood to it.
Pendulum is probably very emotional. The song is about fear and getting away from where he is at. It can be tough to deal with life at times, but you have to stick with it and get it under control. While watching the video for this...it gets worse. It just brings it together to some up the depressingness. It is drab and gray. Literally, there is a lot of gray and dark blues. Colors can really make a difference. Suddenly there's a beam of light....and from there, it gets better :) the video makes a difference in how you visualize it. So, enjoy :D

Jay and Nick

Nick Carroway. Who is that? Well, thats the main character of the book we seem to be following. Nick is a very approachable person. He's the person that if you got lost, you would ask him for directions, not the scary guy next to him. Nick is known for this quality because so far, throughout the book we see many characters, who have little knowledge of who Nick is, approach him. Some of these people being Tom and Daisy. Tom and Daisy hardly know Nick, yet they invite them into their home.
Jay? Who is he? I think he was hardly mentioned in this book. Oh, wait. That's Gatsby! The man of the book. We first meet him at the party. And not just the party, but his party. He is the rich man who throws parties every so often.......But,  many people don't see the reason of his tolerance for uninvited guests, since that's what most of them are. He tolerates them because he hopes one day the girl of his dreams will show up. Wait, isn't she already married? Yes, she is, but she knows her husband is cheating on her. She obviously stays with him because she could never give up the luxurious life that she lives. The question is.....Couldn't Gatsby provide better for her? Wouldn't it be worth it. I think yes. :)
Nick is sort of like the middle man here. He is asked to monitor their relationship. He is asked favors from Gatsby. But is Gatsby's friendship a fraud. Is it a faux friendship only supported by the fact that he needs Nick to help him with Daisy? Yes. It is.

winter poem

Glittery,
The snow that falls from the sky,
twinkles and shines.
It twirls in the air,
Flittering about,
It lands nice and softly,
where it slowly begins to melt away,
It melts to water,
And where does it go?
It trickles away into the cracks in the ground,
It is absorbed by the dirt and then dried out by the sun,
The process begins again,
The snowflakes have the same semblance,
but if you look closely you will see,
just how different the flakes are,
There intricate designs,
seem something of a detailed emroiderer,
Seeming to perfect every detail,
but yet, never making any two quite the same.
The beauty of snowflakes,
is a mystery to all,
why do we adore something so cold?
It gives us comfort to be able to love this,
if we feared it,
Where would we be right now?

Thankful for a classmate

First of all, Happy Turkey Day!
I am thankful for many things. My family, friends, house, food, and everything. Among these things are my classmates.
I am thankful for Kennedy. She helps me in this class. She helps me study and is always there to help with questions I don't get and vice versa. She's also my bus buddy :) We ride the 62H together when she's by her dad's. She doesn't live that far and also came to my graduation party. :)

I am thankful for Helen. Helen also helps me in American Lit, but also in Chemistry.
I am thankful for Jiayin.
I am thankful for Ben.
I am thankful for just about everyone in this class, but it would be pretty boring if I listed the names.
The point is, I'm glad to have you guys in my life. This is going to be a class to remember. :)

I am a Plow

If I was a plow, which according to the title of this blog, I am, I would be amaaaazingly colorful. I would be lime green and neon purple. I would have hot pink and baby blue polka dots, and bright yellow stripes. Yes, I like colors. :) I would also be kept shiny and spotless and would have to be washed often due to having to work and often times get covered in mud... I would be a strong plow and also reliable. I wouldn't break down, or decide to not work because I was just to lazy, I would follow through with my commitment. Iwould be a plow to rely on and would always try to be the best that I can be. If you used me on a farm, I would help cultivate your crops. I would be super important for something like this. I could determine you getting the crops you need to sell, or possibly the crops that end up on your dinner table. I would sit there, and when you don't need me anymore because you stopped your farm or whatever, don't hold onto me, send me somewhere where I will be of some use. I would not enjoy spending my days rusting away in your barn with your stupid cows and pigs, and God knows what else. Send me somewhere to continue my life, to help others. To have an exciting life, to make memories. Although it may sound childish, the best part about being a plow would be being painted amaazing colors. :)

A Direction that the class needs.

This has got to be the one and only class that has ever asked me this. And for a question like this I would have to stop and think for awhile. I would consider how the class is moving along, how we spend our time, and think about whether or not the homework is helping us or not. We spend our time doing many things each and every day. We usually start the class with a journal, a crazy topic or line from a book that Mr. McCarthy picks and we write and expand on it, or we continue the story line. Either way, its a good way to get us to work on putting our thoughts into words and practicing our critical thinking. This is definitely a plus. So moving on to homework. Yeah. I hate it, I'm sure you do too, but we have to think, is this really neccessary? I think it depends on the homework assignment. The vocab pages from or books, DEFINITELY. I don't know about you guys but it helps me alot. Scarlet Letter reading, ehhh not so much. I'm a really slow reader so it puts me at a disadvantage but others really like it, this is just , my opinion. We are moving along at a relatively fast pace. We are on our second book of the year and we reflect a lot, we even have a flat out Philosophy class once in awhile. Do you recall: Is it possible for any one person to know everything? That was fun, and caused a big debate. But anyways, a direction the class needs is to continue working hard and doing work in class in order to reduce the homework load. Not just in this class either...

Modern Slavery in our World Today.

So this week's topic  is modern slavery. Slavery as we know it in history might not be identical to the forms we see of it today, but the roots of it are there. One of the reasons is the bad economy that we have today. To work a person with minimum wage, I consider it to be slavery. Say you're working a job at McDonald's and your checks haven't come in yet and your pay is delayed two weeks. Those two weeks you are considered to be working for no pay. Which is in turn slavery. You depend upon that pay in order to pay bills, etc. But you don't get the pay and that's when things take a turn for the worse. Back before 1865, when slaves worked on plantations for no pay at all, there life was much, much worse than this. You may have your pay delayed a few weeks, but this is nothing compared to the life African Americans led, who were thought to not even be human, who worked for no pay, who lived in horrid living conditions, who suffered greatly and who were not given the standard citizen rights....So the next time your thinking: Wow, my job sucks and my pays been delayed for three months; think back to these times. You see how far we have come and it makes you think: I can live with it since at least I treated the way I should be, rather than like an animal. I may not have the best, most reliable job, but eventually I will get paid, which is more than can be said for the African American slaves of the 1800s, who suffered through their whole lives and never had a reason to keep going. Whom the white people treated horribly and saw no wrong in it. Think that: Yes, I can manage.

Hawthorne, Salem, Puritans, and how their roots remain.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a Puritan in Salem during the early 1800s. His family was involved with the witch trials and he was ashamed of them so he added the 'w' to his name. He was previously Nathaniel Hathorne. His father died of Yellow Sea Fever when he was only four and his mother thought he should pursue an isolated career. Because of this he loved books and all things related. He graduated from Bowdoin college and his first book was FANSHAWE.....it was unsuccessful though. Years later, he earned enough money from writing to marry a woman named Sophia Peabody and move to the Manse in Concord. He wrote many other books and novels and on May 19th 1864 in New Hampshire, he passed away.

The Puritan Church held the most power over the state. It was the greatest influence and was in-charge. In my opinion, it is ironic how the Puritans had left England to become more free and independent, but they did not give the freedom of religion at all! As we all know [because we have read the Crucible] during this time, the Salem witch trials were going on. This was a major part of their life considering so many met their  death because of vengeful [fake] accusations. But I have also found that there may be another reason for this. Ergot poisoning is in rye bread. Rye bread was eaten because wheat was too expensive. The symptoms of this are: hallucination, choking, violent fits, and itchiness. I personally doubt it to be this, but it could have been the cause.

Salem as whole was expected to be very disciplinary and controlled. The children, as the adults, did chores, attended church, etc. Also, you were not supposed to show emotion, which is TOTALLY crazy. Emotionless. Children learned to read, but everybody was only allowed to own the Bible.

Puritan roots are still in our world today. During the witch trials, hardly anyone questioned the girls that were throwing the accusations around. They believed that children never lied. They believed they were innocent and pure.....It's sad to say that some parents still think that about their children. They are thought of as to never lie, and against another person's word, they are always the truth-tellers, of course I know that children and teenagers are not! I mean, I am one, and I have my perspective. We aren't innocent. I'm sure we've all lied before. Adults just don't see it.

Also, adultery is a big issue. Some states want to repeal the adultery laws that were from old Puritans, but others still have the perspective that it is a sin. In many states their is controversey about whether or not to repeal these laws.

The Moment I knew I was an American

I would make the guess that the moment I realized I was an American was when I as in kindergarden or first grade. And I guess Christopher Columbus was included. So basically at my old elementary school from about kindergarden-5th grade, Christopher Columbus was portrayed as a heroic explorer that founded America and made peace with the Native Americans. And in the illustrations everybody was all smiles. Him, the Native Americans, the pilgrims, etc. We all know pretty much the full story now. Now that we can handle it, they start teaching us little by little how he was a murderer. They build on year after year. Until this year where we read his actual journals or whatever in American Lit. Now we know it all.

So anyways, we talked about it in  kindergarden and that was probably when I realized I was an American. We talked about how he came from Europe to America, except he thought he was in Asia(India). We talked about how he was the reason for us being here today. How he was nothing but good to the Native Americans. How he brought them new food, and corn, etc. We didn't talk about his downsides......such as mass murder, disease, etc. We talked about how he is the founder of this country. How he is the reason we live here and are proud to call ourselves Americans. But if he was the reason we are called Americans I'd rather not be called one because of all his horrible actions. I would not like to be called an American if it is solely because this man 'founded' our country. I want to be called an American because I live in this country, because I respect and am loyal to it.