Final Blog

     There are some blogs that were really fun to write and some that were a struggle.  The opinion blogs along with the alternate ending for "The Pit and the Pendulum" were my favorite.  The Having my Say blog was really fun and easy to write.  Making up and ending for a story is always fun.  I did not enjoy the 1920 blogs that I had to look stuff up for.  The Gatsby music blog was difficult because I had no idea what songs were popular during the 1920s or what songs would fit the book.
     Honestly I think many of the blogs were just a nuisance to write.  I put in good effort for most of them.   I did learn a little from them, but not a lot.  My top three stories of the year are "The Yellow Wallpaper", "The Great Gatsby", and "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge".

Advice for Miss Wolff

     There are many things about class this year that I have very much enjoyed.  I like the class discussions we have about stories.  Most of the books we have read are pretty decent.  English was one of just a few classes that I wanted to be longer rather than shorter.  The ACT prep really helped and was a great break from Literature.  Some of the short stories we read are really difficult to understand until you explain them and to maintain focus reading.  I think that SQ4R should be an option, not a requirement.  I think just reading the story and then taking notes the next day during class would be a much better option.  "The Scarlet Letter" is one of those books that people teach solely because it is regarded as one to read in high school.  I think that all the schools should drop reading that dreadfully boring book.  I think that class should be harder so that it separates the good from the great.  That's one thing about Lutheran in general that irritates me.  It should be harder to get an A in a class.  I don't think that more homework should be assigned, but tests should be harder.  That goes for every class, not just English.

Gatsby Music

     Since The Great Gatsby takes place in the Jazz Age, jazz music would accompany the book well.  "West End Blues" by Louis Armstrong would be a good fit for the dance parties at Gatsby's house.  It is a jazzy song and was one of the top songs of the 20s. "I Wanna Be Loved By You" by Helen Kane would fit the book well.  It would be a good song for Gatsby to sing to Daisy.  "High Society" by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band is a good song to represent the East Egg people like Tom and Daisy.

Mark Twain's Wit

     "A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar".  I think this is one of life's biggest lessons.  I believe that it really means that a man is truthful when he doesn't deny something wrong he has done.  It tells that people need to acknowledge their mistakes in life so that they can move on.  If a man cheats on his wife, the best thing to do is admit it so that he can be set free from it someday.  If he holds it in, and remains a liar, he will feel guilty for the remainder of his life. This quote may have other meanings, but this is what it means to me. 

What's Good?

      What's Good?  Il Volo!  I know that I wrote about them in a previous blog, but nobody can get enough Il Volo.  They are a trio of tenors from Italy.  The youngest one, who is just 17 years old, has the best voice I have ever heard.  I would do dirty things to have his voice (but not too dirty).  They are three of the most talented singers in the world and they are all just teenagers!  I have probably listened to their song Il Mundo 200 times.  I can't get their music out of my head.  I highly encourage you to check the group out and to listen to their songs.  I guarantee that you will be blown away.

Stories of the Quest For Civil Rights

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_fisk.html

     This is the story of W.E.B. Du Bois challenging the white president of Fisk University.  Du Bois returned to the university as an alumnus, and was disgusted with what he saw.  The president wanted to take a donation from a Northern foundation, but had to stress the Jim Crow laws.  Du Bois, unlike Booker T. Washington, did not want people to submit to the Jim Crow laws.  This is exactly what Martin Luther King preached.  He said that an unjust law is no law at all.  Du Bois and King had very similar views.

Walk Through Harlem

      Going on the online tour shows how much Bessie and Sadie knew about Harlem and how much they had done there.  Marcus Garvey's story about his protests reminded me of Bessie and how she would join riots and fight for black rights.  Bessie was not not as famous as Garvey, but she still wanted to have her say, hence the title of the book.  James Weldon Johnson's mother was the first black woman to teach in Florida, just like Sadie was the first black teacher to teach domestic science.

Having My Say

      You want to know something that I hate?  Pop stars these days.  It takes no talent or hard work to be a star now.  Technology can make an anyone sound cool, like the artist T-Pain.  He is 100% auto-tuned, and I think it is unfair that he is so famous.  What happened to real, genuine singing?  Don't get me wrong, I like jamming to the songs on the radio, but it is not beautiful music. Il Volo is the most underrated group I know.  They have three of the best singers I have ever heard in my life.  Sure, they are somewhat famous, but they should be making way more money and be more famous than auto-tuners and lip synchers.  Also, I believe that groups that sound terrible live should not be listened to.  If they can't have a good sound without the help of technology, they don't deserve to make very much money.  I love the group Train on the radio/CD, but they sound like crap live.  Michael Buble, Lifehouse, and Il Volo are amazing live.  If you have not listened to Il Volo, I highly recommend it!  Another thing I don't like: songwriters don't get any credit!  Anyone can sing  songs that are technologically tampered with, but it takes talent to write a song.  I think that artists' fame should be flip-flopped from the way it is right now.  P.S.- Go Il Volo!

Expressions in Art

http://library.thinkquest.org/28172/s.13.jpg 

      This image portrays racism, an element commonly shown in Having Our Say.  Sadie and Bessie were persecuted for being black, and only for being black.  The picture is a black boy scrubbing a white man's shoe.  It symbolizes that whites think they are better than blacks.  During the 20th century, blacks were forced to do the dirty work or go hungry.  Only whites could have the good jobs.  However, a few people, like Sadie and Bessie, worked hard and got decent jobs.  They could have been millionaires with their hard work, but racism did not let them do that.  Bessie was made fun of and taken advantage of during her time in dental school.  Racism was the main issue of Having Our Say.  Bessie joined in on riots to fight it, but Sadie still hated it the same amount.

Connections from Whitman

I can relate to both of the first two stanzas in There Was a Child Went Forth.  When I was a young boy, I received a Pokemon video game.  I spent countless hours wasting away my time with that game, and others in the series.  It became a big part of me for "a cycle of years".  On the weekends I would play the same game (video games, outdoor games, made-up games) for hours, whichever one I decided after waking up.  I also was fixated on a few aspects of nature as a young child.  I would listen to birds sing for hours and wonder how and why they did it.  I used to go mountain biking with my dad at Rock Cut a few times a month.  There are a few spots there that fascinated me and I could not understand why things are the way they are.  Back then it was all a mystery, yet it was wonderful.  

Emily Dickinson's Garden of Poetry-In The Garden

In The Garden has many personifications and shows two sides to nature.  The poem starts out a bird being personified.  The bird eats a worm raw, referring to humans doing things "raw".  The bird is polite to the beetle, showing that humans are nice to some things/people (beetle) and mean to others (worm).  When the bird glances around nervously it shows the anxiety that humans can have.  It also shows how nature can be a scary and dangerous place.  The poem portrays that nature can be both beautiful and dangerous.

Affirmations of Life

     Life is all about having a positive attitude.  Bad things are going to happen no matter what, but how we react to those things is what matters.  Dwelling on the negatives is a big waste of time.  We must take the good out of each and every situation.  Suppose you get in a car accident.  The first reaction would be anger and sadness, but maybe it happened for a reason.  Maybe it happened so that an accident far worse would not happen in the future.  It isn't easy to take the positives out of everything, but everyone should try and hard as they can to.  The way to deal with negative situations is to make the most of the situations.

The Truth about Nature

     I honestly have never had a major connection to nature.  I have enjoyed aspects of nature and felt small connections, but never anything lasting.  When this happens, I try and make it something major, but it just falls out of my mind a while later.  I am not very much into nature.  I am more of a city boy; I'd rather be in the big city rather than taking a walk in the park.  However, I enjoy the occasional visit to nature.  I just don't have the attention span to consistently spend long amounts of time out with nature.  I'm sure that as I grow older, I will begin to appreciate nature more.  I hope that my major connection will come soon.  

Team Edgar

     I am on team Edgar Allen Poe all the way.  His stories are much more entertaining than those of Hawthorne and the symbolism is much easier to understand.  Poe's stories such as The Oval Portrait, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Pit and the Pendulum all portrayed Poe's ladder of suspense beautifully, showed comprehendible symbolism, and were fun to read.  Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, The Minister's Black Veil, and Young Goodman Brown were all tough to understand and boring to read.  I very much dislike anti-transcendental writing, which obviously means I don't like Hawthorne's works.  Also, I honestly believe some of Hawthorne's symbolism has been made up.  I want to know the truth and he doesn't provide it.  I fully understood Poe's writing and I wasn't left wondering what happened.  Poe reigns over Hawthorne in my book.