First Johnny got his gun blog!

This essay and the book Johnny got his gun are very similar in the idea that people have toward government. Both in the book and essay, the people feel very separated from the government. They aren’t exercising their right to have a say in government and such because they feel distanced from it. Because of this, when they have an opinion, they don’t express it. Joe said (thought) that he didn’t know why he even got himself into this mess, and that it was none of his business. The government is supposed to be for the people, not to rule over the people, and people aren’t exercising that. People are thinking that they have nothing to do with government. Because of this, when people are forced to fight in the war, they aren’t really fighting for anything. They don’t feel that this is their problem, their mess, etc…

A better blog

Today, my blog will be better than yesterday. I promise. I’m really focusing on my schedule. So far, I’m taking AP Literature, AP Statistics, AP Spanish, anatomy, government and economics, and yearbook. It seems like a really stressful schedule for senior year! Although, I don’t think I’ll get all my first choices anyway, so I’ll probably have to change it all anyway. Also, I’m so worried about the SAT! I haven’t taken it yet, but from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty torturous! On top of that, we all have the AP exam for this class at the end of the year!

A bad blog

Today, I caught up with my good ‘ol friend Stephen Downton! When I was a freshman at Plainfield, he was a senior, and I haven’t talked to him in forever! Now, he lives in Indianapolis and he works at some car repair place. Also, in his spare time, he races cars! And now, I never get to see him! He has a girlfriend, but I forget her name. This is a really random blog, so I’m sorry about this. My manicured nails look absolutely atrocious. I’m really worried about the swine flu! It has already killed 151 people in Mexico! They also found their first case in Indiana! Scary!

Weekend

The Stanley Steamers men are supposed to come, but they're late. They should arrive in about an hour. This weekend, I have history homework, and I should really start reading Johnny Got His Gun. I skipped ballet today by default of not waking up when my alarm went off. I don't really have anything going on this weekend. I think I'm going to Metropolis with my mom, so maybe we'll do somethign exciting. My grandma picked me up from school Friday with my mom, and I haven't seen her since Christmas! My grandma is SO cool! She shops at stores like Abercrombie, Victorias Secret Pink, etc... It's very convinient for her to come over because she always goes in my closet and puts outfits together! Normally, I like to do this myself, but she puts together some really cute outfits, things that I would have never thought would look good together! So, since nothing exciting is going on in my life, I think I'll blog about something I saw on Nickalodeon! It was Earth Day, and they had a bunch of people turn off all the lights in their houses for a minute, and they even got the Chrystler Building in NYC to do it too! It was so cool! I think I'm going to get a special trash can and put it in my house, and put recyclables in it, and then bring it to school and recycle it weekly! I'm excited about it :] The people who take our trash don't recycle, but I'll just do it myself!

Thursday.

Today, I went to ballet. I did my first FULL ballet class in a long time since my knee surgery! Yay! It was very difficult, and my mom worried so much watching class that I thought she was going to go into cardiac arrest. I did half a class Tuesday night, and it was so awful because it was my first class back after a month off. I was so worried that I'd never be the same again that I almost had a break down in class, but I had great friends there to reassure me that I'd be fine. Yay for friends! Now, I'm very very very sore, and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to walk tomorrow, but it was worth it! After class, I iced my knee with a bag of frozen peas, did my math homework, and now I'm doing this. After this, I have some history to do. Whoop.

the last gender blog :[

I believe my gender was established at a very young age. When I was a baby, my room was purple, with lots of educational toys and dolls. Later, in my toddler through 3rd grade years, my room escaladed to pink and purple with little ballerina wallpaper. I was taught to play dolls, and I was enrolled in dance and gymnastics. I was taught that this was fun, so I had lots of fun. By no means am I blaming my parents for my “girliness,” I’m fairly sure I would have found playing dolls and dressing up to be quite enjoyable without their encouragement, but it helped me establish my gender quite early on. I played dolls, my favorite colors were pink and purple, I wore a jumper dress to the Catholic school I went to- I was a girl. When I was 6, I was enrolled in a little league soft ball team, despite my mother’s disdain. I had no problem with playing ball, I just liked playing dolls better. Thoroughly glad with this, my mom took me out of the team after a year. A lot of things have influenced my gender, but I think I would have turned out the way I am anyway due to my personality. I think there are many categories of gender. If you want to classify “girl” as liking the typical “girly” things, then there is very girly, girly, and a little girly. If you want to classify “boy” as liking the typical “boyish” things, then there is very boyish, boyish, and a little boyish. Despite this, gender is much different than sex. A boy can physically be a boy, but have more girly characteristics, and vice versa with a girl. Now, to decide whether they’re really a boy or a girl, I think should be completely up to them. Somewhere, within their own standards, they may cross the line from being a boy to actually being a girl, vice versa, or not. No one else can decide this for them, and no one else should. A new category has been made called, “metro sexual.” This is a category for the boys who have some girly characteristics, but still consider themselves to be boys. This is becoming very popular, and is being commonly used in stores and fashion magazines.

Ortiz

The media has taught children that a certain body type, and certain looks were attractive, and certain weren’t. Ortiz talks about how the boys didn’t like her because she was small and underdeveloped; this is because the boys learned that curvier girls were “better” or “more attractive.” Also, she said when she was in college, she was portrayed as “exotic” because of her skin color. This is also a result of the media and music videos that have made these stereotypes, especially for girls. At that time, the media also portrayed that Puerto Rican girls were dirty and not from good families. This is the result of TV shows, music videos, etc…

I support Gay Marriage

I support gay marriage rights because marriage, legally, is a commitment to each other, to love each other, etc... Why can't two people of the same sex make a commitment and love each other? Why shouldn't I support gay marriage? Isn't America supposed to be anti-descriminatory? I personally, don't see the reasons why the can't get married. Some people say that it will break social structure, and that if we keep letting things go then everything will go. I think that's very extreme. I think that the struggle to attain gay rights is like the struggle that African Americans went through. African Americans slowly got rights, state by state, just like Gay marriage. First Vermont legalized gay marriage, then Iowa legalized gay marriage. Hopefully, since since gay people arn't in slavery there won't be a war, but the process is very similar. As to prove that I support gay rights...I'm not sure how I can prove it. Of course, I'm not violent toward gay people, and a lot of my very good friends are gay, but since I'm not gay myself, I don't think I could prove it. I'm in GSA, so I guess one could assume that I support gay marriage. There are somethings, people feel so strongly about that it's impossible for them to see the other side. I think this might be it for me.

Wolfson

Wolfson explains the key elements of marriage as a personal commitment, a social commitment, a governmental commitment, but different than love. You have a personal commitment that you'll stay married, a social commitment that people judge you by who you're married to, and a governmental commitment that gives you benefits. "There is clearly a difference between marriage and marriages, between the institution and the choices and conduct of real couples in their commitment." He is saying that marriage is about the choices you make. The definition of marriage is a commitment of equality and that you'll take care of each other. However, he then goes on to say that marriage is really unequal, and it's about personal choices and not about love. It's about a commitment to each other that both of you make, and you make these between yourselves. I think his definition is logical and sensible, but I think it might be too logical. I think marriage should be more than a series of commitments. Wolfson is thinking very mathematically, which isn't a method that is used often to describe love and marriage. I think you should be able to marry the person you love, make a commitment to each other, and carry it out- there's not much more to it.

Engaging the text #2

I believe she waited to disclose this information because up until that point, most people would assume that Brian and Mickey were homosexual. I believe it helps the reader know themselves whether they believe this violence toward homosexuals is tolerable or not. At first, someone may not feel sorry for Brian and Mickey, but when they find out they’re heterosexual, they might. Also, waiting to disclose that information makes for a very dramatic effect when it does happen. I think the issue of antigay violence is awful in the first place, but it especially shows how awful it has become when people don’t even to bother to check if the person is gay. They automatically beat them up, because they could be a possible, “threat.” Antigay violence is an awful thing, and I think no matter if the violence is happening to gay people, or perceived gay people, the violence should end.

Eustace=transcendentalist

I think Eustace is a transcendentalist because he circles his life around the spiritual and the natural, and not the material. Although at some times Eustace doesn’t seem like a transcendentalist because of his ego or his words, his life is centered around what he believes in- embracing nature, especially spiritually. Although Eustace doesn’t always do what he says he wants to, he has valid excuses, and no one is perfect. Eustace tries as hard as he can to follow his morals and values, which are those of a transcendentalist, and that’s what counts.

Emerson's nature :]

When I read the piece Nature by Emerson, I absolutely loved it, however there were two passages that really stuck out and they are something I can relate to. “The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.” This said to me that there is something in the eyes and mind of a child that sees the worth and the beauty out of everything. As the child grows older, that weakens and people take things like nature for granted. To appreciate the world and see the true beauty, you must keep that “heart of the child” and never let it go. Children have a natural way of seeing the good in everything, and thinking things are truly fascinating, this is something that Emerson (and I) think should be kept. A child might gaze at the sunset every night and think it’s the most beautiful thing he/she has ever seen. However, as this child grows older, he/she learns that the sun will always rise and set, and that there’s nothing new or exciting about it. Even while growing older, you have to appreciate the little things that you take for granted, because those are the truly natural things, with the natural beauty that is often neglected to be noticed.
The second passage that really spoke to me is, “Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity, the heat of his own fire hath sadness in it.” Nature and the spirit are two natural things- no one knows how they got there, and no one can be rid of it completely. The spirit is a natural thing, and it must be kept and not stressed or changed. I believe that everyone was born with a naturally good spirit, however some spirits get corrupted, and bad people come out of the process. The spirit is different for everyone, therefore has different colors of representation. Some people’s spirits are pink, some orange, some green, but they’re natural nonetheless. As for the second part of this passage, I believe it means that you need to keep your god spirit, and not corrupt it yourself with stress or outside influences. Sadness has a large effect on the spirit, but sadness is caused by yourself. You always need to keep a positive attitude so you don’t wallow in your own sadness, because it won’t help anything. Everyone is born with a natural spirit of their own colors and personalities, but only you can stay optimistic and free from evil indulgences, and that is what will keep the natural child-like beauty.

Last American Man 1

I could come up with a number of reasons that Gilbert wrote this book: to tell people her love’s story, to teach people about the mentality needed to live in the wilderness, etc… but I don’t think they’re true. I don’t know why she wrote the book, and I don’t think she quite knows why either. I think she might have written it to come at peace with herself about an unresolved issue in her life. A lot of people write about something simply because they need to get it off their chest, and it helps a lot of people come to a realization about an issue in their life that they wouldn’t be able to understand without having written something. I could also come up with a number of passages in the book, but I think what is written on the back of the book is sufficient. “As she thoughtfully examines Conway and all he embodies, the inconography of American manhood comes alive in all its conflicting elements of inventiveness, charisma, narcissism, and intimacy.” She is precisely writing about the story of his life- trying to realize the truth about this man, and perhaps even if she really loved him or not. Conway’s morals are questionable, but he had a hard foundation of his life style that could be admired by some. I think Conway was trying to come to a consensus with herself of what she really thought about him.