Final Reflection

              There are so many different things I can take from this class. I tend to explore things I never have before and this class gave me the perfect opportunity. I was opened to many different ideas, opinions and concepts I would have never known otherwise. I have never realized all the little things that I tend to overlook. This class really made you analize things that go on around me or even things going on around the world. You can really be exposed to the nitty gritty of todays society suck as nature issues, steriotypes, and biases in religion. Being a highschool student, you really only know what happens in the four walls of our class rooms. the people who surround you are offten like you and you don't really get the full picture of whats out there. This class helped me explore the differences between culture, gender, and lifestyles in general. Not only all of that but I have also become a better writer because of this class. I have needed to explain difficult concepts in my own words which can be difficult. I have also learned alot more about famous texts and authors. Even those not so famous have been benifitial. I have had a wonderful experiance in a class like no other. hearing what my teacher and class mates have had to say on what we are disscusing also made it easier to open up and share my own ideas. I may not remember every detail of this class because there is just so much we have done, but will definitely maintain those life skills forever.

Diversity: Gender

Male Privilege Checklist-
         In the begging of this article it talks about how some privileges are invisible. In most cases today and especially for men, they pretty much go unnoticed. it made me think of how back in the day some privileges were very visible. For instance when there was segregation between blacks and whites, the whites privileges were clearly stated, "WHITES ONLY". The list that McIntosh comes up with is really interesting because I have never thought about a lot of the things mentioned on this list before. Yet when they are pointed out to you, you realize how true they really are. It is hard to relate to relate to those about jobs, because although I have a job, I only work with women. At Claire's it is never stated that men cannot work there it is almost that none would hire a man to work there.
        As I was going down the list, mouth wide with astonishment, I read a few that talked about body image and weight differences in men and women. It reminded me of a video that I wached about boys saysing that they like women to be thin yet it bothers them when she avoids eating junk food and doesn't bake all the time. Men dont have to worry about that kind of confliction. Its not quite fair, how men dont worry about apearance and dislike women who spend alot of money on themselves but still expect they woman to look good and wear nice things. How does this add up?

Media Portrayals of Men and Masculinity
          In the media "real men" are portrayed in a very specific way. For the most part this means unrealistic for the adverage guy. The stigma for men to be a certain way can lead to self essteem issues. I have noticed differences between male and female media portrayal. When it comes to advertising a product, they fit the advertisment to fit the intended audiance. For women they advertise a product by basically saying, you will be more beautiful if you buy this. For men the approach seems different, it is more like saying all real tough, hadsome men use this product. Yet obviously the real world doesnt work that way. the media is painting a very unrealistic picture of real life men. This is one of the examples that I thought of when i read the list of different male actors character types.

The Joker



If you have seen Pirates Of The Carabbean you know that Captain Jack Sparrow is portrayed as a very powerful smart and also man. He is a pirate which automatically means he is strong, mean, and very masculin. I have also noticed that he also in unafraid of making a fool of himself and takes nothing too seriously. He is put into horrible situations and still make light of it.

Graduation

Graduation

                This one really scared me. I had a hard time even thinking about what I was reading do to the fact that I am graduation in a couple of weeks and I am scared to death. Everything she said worried me more and more and made me think of completely different things. Such as how she was talking about graduating from the eighth grade. I started remembering graduating from sixth grade and from the 9^th grade. And to look into the future about 20 days and see myself graduating high school is really weird. When she described the dress and the outfits they were wearing I could help taking a mental shopping trip to find what I would wear on the 1^st.  I can picture it now, going through the whole mall and not finding one thing that I either like, fits me or is in my price range, simply horrifying. 

                I have noticed a lot of people at school starting to give up as a result of senioritis. And I can’t count the amount of times I have heard disrespectful kids ask the teacher when in their life they will ever need to know what they are learning. They think it is better to simple learn nothing than learn something that may help them in the future, but that just means that these kids probably don’t have very high expectations for themselves after high school. I thought about this when I read the section where she talks about how the accomplishment of graduating means nothing because to others she is a maid, farmer, handyman, or washerwoman. Her lifestyle is dependent on what others expect from her, not what she expects from herself although she knows she can be successful.

Shocking Story

Narrative response to The Shocking Story

                I think that there are many different interpretations of this story. But I believe them to be exactly as it is told. A young boy does something harmless and is killed for it, not because of what he did exactly but because he is black. Others may think that what Emmett Till did was extremely wrong and inappropriate and he got what he deserved. And some might think that it was all made up and blown out of proportion or that it didn’t happen at all.

                I actually find this story very interesting because it just shows the great lengths people would go to discriminate. Not only the men that killed Emmett but the people who know about what happened and didn’t tell and did nothing about it. Or the men who heard the trial in court and didn’t convict the men of murder or kidnapping because the necessary evidence was lacking, even after they admitted to everything.

                I looked at the pictures of Emmett’s funeral online and the images where horrifying. How can anyone deny this was a murder of an innocent boy.  After reading the letters to the editor it really made me wonder what goes through people’s minds.  It’s obvious that people can still be extremely racist after hearing stories like this and can either be totally okay with it or can be like Mrs. W.R Prevost and say it is filthy and dishonest.

Hughes

Narrative response to Hughes

                When I read these poems it just makes me think of how far we have come in the last hundred years. I wanted to relate to something in class but never got the chance to. After Katie talked about how her grandmother was made fun of in school for being brown when she really wasn’t very dark, she became ashamed of her heritage and had low self esteem. I had a relevant story to tell to follow hers but the subject was quickly changed so I will tell you now. My mom is not white at all. Her father is African American and her mother is Hispanic. She looks back at the times these poems are talking about and is more proud than anything to be a woman of color. She sees how things use to be and how instead of being broken down, these people of color stood up for themselves and finally got the respect they deserve.

                Because my mother is married to a white man most people see her as white. Even I didn’t understand for the longest time that she wasn’t white. Father died when I was young so I never really got to see the full aspect of it all. So in her view things are the opposite, she wants to be seen as different because it’s rare and not everyone understands.

Tristan

Tristan

Gottfried von Strassburg

                The first section of Tristan is the prologue. I made many connections to this paragraph. When I read it, it was basically talking about how you have to know one thing in order to know the opposite. If you never experience sorrow than you have never really experienced love because they go hand in hand, at least one time in every one’s life. I connected the song Big Yellow Taxi, it talks about you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. I think many people take advantage of what they have, love is included in that. I also thought of the relationship between good and evil. When I was little and I saw someone do something horrible on the news I would ask my mom why God made such bad people, and she would always tell me it is because it gives everyone a reason to become better people, and that good defeats evil any day. Which brings me to the next section, enduring sorrow for the sake of love.  People do so much for love. Every love story or movie ever made is based around this. People go through hell just to be with someone. Although that person doesn’t seem that different to anyone else, to that person that is all they need to life. Just being with them is enough and nothing can between the two.

I don’t remember what section made me think about this, but I think it talked about how people sometimes hide they way they really feel around the people they love. I have never personally experienced this but I feel like that’s one of the reasons these relationships that seem so perfect at the beginning never work out. People change they way are to impress the other and then when they are far enough into the relationship they start to loosen up and show their true colors.  Then what, they are no longer that person their partner fell in love with. For instance, my manager told her boyfriend 6 years ago that she loved the same football team as he did so they could have something in common, and he really like that about her. She really doesn’t like football that much but now they are married and she always complains to us about having to watch all the games! That ridiculous!

                I really liked this article even though I didn’t really understand the whole last page because It was really random, not to mention I was really tired and it is hard to read anything at that point. I thought it was very interesting and realistic.

To his Coy Mistress

Sidney Rogers 3^rd

To his coy mistress

A poem like this I feel can mean so many different things, and everyone can interpret it differently, but when I think about it in the terms of love I think it is talking about two young lovers that had the whole love at first sight thing. They have the have their whole lives ahead of them and plan to spend every moment together. I think he is describing how every day his love for her grows stronger and if he could he would have met her long before he did.

                I love the thought of meeting a guy who knows the little details about me, for instance not only does he knows that my eyes are green, he knows that they are darker on the outer side and fade to lighter green towards the center, and there are little hits of brown and yellow mixed in. Such as in the way he says  “ An hundred years should I go to praise, thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze.

                Another random connection that I made to the text was this. When you are in love with someone so perfect for you it is hard to settle for anyone less. I have seen this so many times in high school, people share certain experiences with people where they think that they are the one, then when things don’t work out for so many reasons people can have a hard time getting over it. Yet I think in this relationship described they knew from the start it was right and neither where afraid do make a commitment to each other. And although everyday will be a journey and adventure they are willing to go through it together. I just realized, I could be completely just hearing what I want to hear. I guess this is just what I wish for myself. I hope what I have said does relate to the text anyways.

The Art of Love

The Art of Love

There is a connection between love and war. People will use the same tactics in both, yet in slightly different ways. “Love like war is a toss-up”(pg 295) I thought that it was interesting when it talked about love can drive people to do things and can almost control them when it is powerful enough. Love is truly powerful just like weapons. Men in the war will continue to tread on through struggle if they are making their way towards their love. It doesn’t even have to be a woman, men will travel many miles if they know there is even a hamburger waiting for them at the finish line. I realize that there was s story here, but not quite sure what that was. All I know is that all of a sudden he’s on a bed and there’s a naked girl there. I’m pretty sure this man is sleeping and this is a dream, because that doesn’t happen in real life. “Oh look at that! Magically a naked girl appeared in my room, I sure am one lucky man!”

Song of Songs

Sidney Rogers 3rd

Song of Songs

                I would describe this as three things. Confusing, detailed, and what I imagine to be romantic if I were to understand it. I related it to what I was talking about in the Intro. How to describe something that cannot really be seen people use other objects to describe it, as beautiful as a rose in bloom. Yet in this poem, these metaphors made it even more confusing. Such as “My beloved is like a gazelle, like a young stag”. Now if someone said that to me I wouldn’t know whether or not to be flattered or appalled. “Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes as they come up from the washing.” See I imagine a bunch of white feathered emu’s by a water’s edge scrubbing their undies, so romantic. 

What is Love?

Sidney Rogers 3rd

What is Love?

Helen Fisher

                The general argument made by Helen Fisher in her work What is Love? Is that love is a chemical reaction in the brain. More specifically Fisher argues that is has nothing to do with your heart like most people believe and that your brain is in charge of making all of the emotions people feel when they are in love. She writes, “Romantic love is a universal experience deeply embedded is the human brain. (Page 335)In this passage, Fisher is suggesting that men and women’s brains react differently to stimuli, such as men are more visual based and their brain is more active when they are shown a picture of someone they adore, while women are more memory based. Her research shows that this is evolutionary and instinctual. Men chose women based on their physical health and ability to bare young while women were attracted to men who could provide and protect. In conclusion, it is Fisher’s belief that love is strictly connections made in the brain and that it has been proven that emotions create certain activity in the brain.

                In my view, Fisher is right because as much as I want to believe that love comes from the heart or that it is a spiritual experience that people have, I think that it only makes sense that it all is created in the brain. For example, some people say that when you in love your heart starts beating fast because the love is in your heart. But in reality, your brain is more active so it tells your heart to start beating faster so your brain has more blood to function. Therefore, I conclude that it must be true if she had discovered this in such extensive research and has proof of what she is talking about.

Budism and Tao Summary

Sidney Rogers 3^rd

The Buddha’s path to enlightenment

This story is about a monk and his discovery of enlightenment. He is telling a story about his life and the steps he went through to find enlightenment. He describes it as a path because there were somewhat of different phases in this story. He first talks about how when people are subject to something that is usually negative, and they see others going to the same fate they are about to face if they haven’t already, it can be horrifying and humiliating. He uses aging, illness, and death as an example of this.

                He has lived his life in a palace, with servants and workers. He had three homes and never had to leave them because everything was done for him by his servants. His next step is going away from all of that luxury and went forth into homelessness. He went out on his own and discovered the country side and villages. Suddenly three similes appeared to him. He compared how different wood weather it is dry, wet, sappy, or near water would make a fire. He states that when trying to use wet, sappy wood that’s laying in water to make a fire you will feel weariness and disappointment.

                His next step is trying to crush his mind with awareness, clenching his teeth and pressing his tongue against the roof of his mouth is thought to do the trick, but the pain he feels does not invade his mind and does not remain. He receives the same fate when he stops breathing, a lot of paint but does not crush his mind with awareness. His next attempt is to go without food. Yet he is convinced to not go completely without food, but just a hand full a day. He soon becomes very emaciated. He decides to start eating solid food once again due to the fact that any priest or contemplatives feeling pain could not be any greater than this that he feels. By giving up his exertion, five other monks were disgusted in him and left him alone. When other monks heard of this they made a pact not to greet him or help him, but upon his arrival  they could not keep their promise and had good hospitality towards him.

                In the section the elephant simile he talks about how the majesty told him to gather all of the blind together and show them and elephant.  He showed different parts of the elephant to different people and when the majesty asked them what the elephant was, they al described it differently depending on what part of the body they were shown. This is a really good example of how everyone sees things differently and it is hard when you only see one part of a big picture. I can relate to this because of my job. My manager is pretty strict that the store does well and makes a lot of money. She expects a lot out of us girls and we are always trying to do a good job and impress her. My manger bases how will we do on our numbers. No matter how hard we are trying to up sale customers and make the numbers better, the numbers don’t lie. And if the numbers aren’t good, we are terrible employees. I was reminded of this from the elephant situation because she only looks at part of the big picture. And that is the number, and how much money we are making. She doesn’t see how hard we are working and how happy all of our customers are when they leave our store. Another part of his story that I could relate to my life was the part where he is greeted by the five monks, and although they said they would not speak to him, when he was actually there they could not be rude. I am not the type of person to be aggressive and tell people what I really think. If I am mad at someone and they confront me about it I usually act as if nothing is wrong. This had been a problem for me is the past because any hard feelings I have are not resolved. I feel this is what happened in the story. 

Tao Te Ching

                What I got from all of these little poems is that everything is a connection, yin and yang. From one person to another, one emotion to another, and one idea to another. In order to recognize something, you have to know the opposite of it. In order to know the feeling of having something, you need to know the feeling of absence.  I also thought there was a lot of talk about how to much of something can be bad. I liked the part when it says “keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt, keep hoarding gold in your house, and you will be robbed”  I liked this section of over fulfillment because that is so true. You see it in real life all of the time. People get so much of something valuable, money for example, that it eventually becomes meaningless. People love to look like they have a lot even if it leaves them with nothing. I can relate it to a time when I stayed at a gorgeous house. It was huge and expensive. But I also noticed from my stay that they couldn’t afford name brand cereal, any kind of shampoo that wasn’t from Wal-mart or double ply toilet paper.  I think these people really sacrificed every day things, so they could appear to others as being rich and luxurious.

Easters End

Sidney Rogers 3^rd

Easters End

Jared Diamond

                The general point made by Jared Diamond in his work Easers End is that many years ago Easter Island was almost a paradise where people thrived and had a very good society of people and somehow their civilization just vanished. More specifically Diamond argues that this civilization was developed enough to sustain its one life with no outside help because there was no evidence that the islanders had any contact or even knowing of anyone else’s existence, they were completely secluded and had no acts of others could have affected the.  Yet all of a sudden they crashed and burned.  He writes “Are we about to follow their lead?”(Page 426) In this passage, Diamond is suggesting that our society now is somewhat how theirs once was, and because of carelessness they ended up extinct in a way and that if we don’t change out careless ways we can end up with the same fate. In conclusion, it is Diamond’s belief that we have to make sure that we learned from those before us and from their mistakes because is obvious from their giant statues and other things that they had a thriving society, at least for that time, and that because they didn’t think about the things they did and how they effected them, they ended up finishing themselves off and that with the way people are living today, we are doing the same thing.

                In my view, Diamond is right because I have noticed that people are caring less and less about what’s important. For example the things that we need to live, such as nature, animals, water, and other things that we rely on. People take advantage of all of them because they don’t know what it would be like if one day we didn’t have it anymore. In my neighborhood we use to have a bunch of trees that lined the street. They provided a lot of shade in the summer and blocked the street from rain and snow in the winter, but because the leaves from the trees were too messy, everyone chopped them down. No one thought about the fact that now all of our plant is our yards burn up under the hot sun and our grass is never as green. They didn’t think about how snowy our street would be because its rare a snow plow comes down our way, and didn’t think about how much uglier our street looks without them, but hey, the gutters are a little cleaner, that’s all that mattered at the time. This is what I think Diamond was trying to say; people don’t realize a lot of what they do and how it can affect other aspects of their lives. Although some would think that we could never let ourselves get that bad that we end ourselves because our technology is too advanced but I maintain that it is the people that think it can never happen to them that it ends up happening to. Therefore I conclude that It is important for people to use what we have sparingly and take little extra measures to ensure we don’t end up like the people on Easter Island because they were probably thinking the same thing we are that it could never happen to them.

Fable for Tomorrow

Sidney Rogers

3^rd

A Fable for Tomorrow

From Silent Spring

Rachel Carson

                This text talks about a town that use to be a very nice place. Lots of things go on here and everyone is happy. There are animals and farms were prosperous. The story is how this happy place all of a suddenly starts spiraling down. The birds no longer chirp because they are all dead, farmers can no longer raise their animals because they die soon after they are born, there are no bees to pollinate fruit trees and once roadsides lined with vegetation are now lined with dead withered plants. Her main point of telling this short story is to show how this can start happening and there have been cases of it. She says “I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortune I describe.” That being that although these things don’t all happen in one place at one time, they have happened in deferent places all over the world and especially out country. There are places were the animals and plants are so unhealthy they start dying and there are places were fruit and vegetation is harder to grow due to a bad environment. She is also saying that when it is just one aspect we don’t notice because we don’t think it directly affects us, but if we were to live in the town she speaks of I think all of a sudden people would start to change.

Hudson River School

Sidney Rogers

3^rd period

Hudson River School response

                 Before the Hudson River School, most famous painters would paint historic events, or use there painting to tell a story. Every painting would have a different meaning and would portray a different emotion. The Hudson River School changed the way people looked at nature and the art it self. Thomas Cole was one of the first to paint wild life and nature, and because of this, painters who followed in his foot steps where called the Hudson River School. The school wanted to portray a fear free environment, so there was usually no people and no animals. They wanted to expand on what people thought wildlife was and what it looked like. These paintings were unique because they showed dramatic scenes with sunsets, high mountains, flowing waterfalls, and rainstorms.  The purpose of these paintings was to show how nature was beautiful because people were afraid of the wilderness because they had never really experienced it before. The paintings were made so realistically that people didn’t believe that this was what it really looked like when in reality they painted exactly what they saw.

                                                                                            The Oxbow

Thomas Cole (1836)

                                Thomas Cole was the founder of the Hudson River School. When He began his career he did portraits, yet soon realized he was very unsuccessful at it. When we moved to America he realized that he would be better at painting real life scenery, and successful he was. His choice to do this was what started the Hudson River School in the first place. Many people were awed by his art and his ability to portray nature in such a beautiful way.  The Oxbow painting shows a violent rain storm and a peaceful riverside of the Connecticut River all at once. This shows two extremes of wilderness, bliss and chaos, while still remaining beautiful and calm. This portrays nature as being something that can change at anytime, and that you can see and experience so much more from a different perspective.

               

Twilight in the wilderness

Fredrick Edwin Church (1860)

                Along with Thomas Cole, Fredrick Edwin Church and the many other painters of the Hudson River School, their paintings had very much in common. Although all of their paintings are widely different and each portray a very different message and set a different tone, they all seen to include a few of the same things. For example water, sky and earth. Like this one and many of the others, the paintings are dramatic scenes of wide open skies, mountains, trees, waterfalls, rivers or lakes. This picture was meant to capture a wide range of scenery. It captures both detailed wildlife in the foreground yet faded, far away mountains in the background. This picture is also portraying nature as being dramatic yet simple. Fredrick did this by painting a vibrant sky with tons of color and texture, but he didn’t include any people or buildings, just wildlife.

Valley of Yosemite

Albert Bierstadt

                Albert painted many different landscapes during his journey of his westward expansion. One important aspect of his painting, especially this one is the romantics of the glowing lighting. This used to create that sort of scene that amazed people with its beauty. One interesting thing with Bierstadt is that he included animals in his paintings, while most others didn’t. His paintings include the other aspects I mentioned earlier, water, sky and mountains all put together in one dramatic setting at pulls everything together to form a stunning picture of wildlife. The purpose of these paintings were to show people that nature was nothing to be afraid of because so little had experienced it before, and many had the wrong idea about it. Be removing any people or animals from the paintings it creates a more peaceful scene. Yet, Bierstadt was still able to incorporate the deer and still achieve the same goal. That is to make real nature and wildlife look as beautiful as it truly is.

Sources

                http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/20010844

                http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hurs/hd_hurs.htm

                http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/hudson/intro.html

Polemic

Sidney Rogers 3^rd

Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks, By: Edward Abbey

                The general point made by Edward Abbey in his work Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National Parks, is that the people now bring all of their technology and electronics along with them to a place where the whole point is to get away from all of that. More specifically, Abbey suggests that wildlife has become less of a value to people because it has been changed to fit the needs of the tourist. He writes, “The little campgrounds where I used to putter around reading three day old newspapers full of lies and watermelon seeds have not been consolidated into one master campground that looks, during the busy seasons, like a suburban village.” (Page 387) This shows how he is use to the old fashion way of camping where people just do as they please and play things by ear, and where now everyone brings their entire home with them. In this passage, Abbey is suggesting that we need to preserve the national parks and make it so people can’t bring all of their auto mobiles and everything, because not only does it take away from their experience, but it also disturbs the peace the of the other campers.  In conclusion, it is Abbey’s belief that people need to get away from all of their gadgets and do things the right way, because that’s the only way you can get away from your hectic life.

                In my view, Abbey is right because I love to go camping and like the convenience of campgrounds, but can’t stand those people that completely depend on it. For example, my mom is not exactly a nature person. And would much rather sit in a camper and look out the window, than to actually go out into the woods and get a little dirty. You can look at the window of your house and see a tree, but it’s not until you go outside and explore what you have never seen before that it becomes a vacation. Although Abbey might object that people can still have the same amount of fun with all of their automobiles, I maintain that they are fun to a point, and that there is a time where you need to leave all of that behind and go just a day, or a week without all of that unnecessary equipment. Therefore I conclude that  people need to make a big effort to get in touch with nature and for once walk somewhere, or seep on the ground, or catch your own food, and make your own fire. That national parks are there for us to enjoy, but they are not a place for you to use other amusement devices. It is the wild itself that makes a beautiful picture, and I can't imagine you could see it very well when driving thirty miles an hour past on a four wheeler.

Yes, this is an RV. I probably wouldn't want to leave it either.

Wildlife in American Culture

Wildlife in American Culture                                                                                  Sidney Rogers 3rd


                the genreal point made mu Aldo Leopold in his work Wildlife in American Culture is that there are three values that our culture gets from wildlife. Which are expericance, dependency, and unnecessary destruction, which isn't exactly a value we shoudl get from wildlife. Because of our culture, the idea of wildlife is changing. More specifically, Leopold argues that hunting is one of the man ways that we devalue wildlife. He writes, " For example, we have bad hunters with good guns. Such  a hunter shoots a wood duck. And then tramoles the bejeweled cacass into the mud, lest the fall foul of the law. Such an experiance is not only devoid of cultural value, it is actually damaging to all concerned. It does physical damage to the wood ducks and moral damage to the hunter, and all fellow hunters who condone him. No same person could find anything but minus value in such "sport". ( Page 372) in this passage Leopold is suggesting that hunters use the "go-light" or "one-bullet-one-buck" idea because then it will seem more valuabel to you. there for revaluing wildlife. In conclusion, it is Leopold's belief that the value and connection to wildlife is changing due to the fact that to out American culture, and technology, wildlife is no longer considered a necessity so we take advantage of it.

In my view, Leopold is absolutely right because I personally find many values in wildlife and don't think people should treat it as a game. Because although most wildlife is renweable, witht the rate we destrou it, it will soon have no value to anyone. For example, people in different cultures use wildlife to survive and as a necessity. Now people in out culture have more that thier means, and yet take more than those who acually need it. Although Leopold might object that no one needs to hunt or chop down trees, I maintain that we have plenty of other ways of doing things without destroying wildlife. We kill more than enough animals as it is, just to put into a supermarket, that way people shoudn't have to go kill thier own, especially if it is just for fun. Therefore I conclude that it is very important to realize that we need the wildlife and that we shouldn't play around with such a delicate system because you never know what will happen to it if we don't change.

I don't think they're going to eat all of those. I imagine a starving wolf or fox would of enjoyed them.

Intro and Peach Blossom Summary

Summary                                                       Sidney Rogers 3^rd

                  The two articles we were assigned to read were both very interesting. The first one titled “Introduction to Responses to the Land: Nature, Ecology, and Materialism” was about man-kind and nature. Many different cultures perceive nature differently and what makes nature natural. There have been many questions asked about what nature consists of and what role humans have in nature. Some believe that if anything man-kind is diminishing nature, and others believe that humans play a vital role in nature because we too are part of it and we make what is called nature possible.

                It was said in the passage that different cultures use nature as a sacred place and feel a spiritual connection with natural creations and feel it necessary to be a part of it, or painters and poets can become inspired by just nature. This passage also talks about how in the Bible human kind is seen as separate of nature and that God granted human’s dominance over nature to use as survival. Yet this passage shows examples of how we both help and diminish nature. Such as when we do landscaping or anything else that puts nature to action when it would have otherwise been unable to in a certain environment. But also because the start of the industrial revolution in the eighteenth century, we have evolved so far in technology that are now harming nature, such as global warming, and rain forest depletion.

                The second passage I read was “The Peach Blossom Spring” and it was a story about a man who was  rowing down a river when we noticed we was surrounded by peach trees, he continued on until he found a small cave that lead to a little village. The people welcomed him with food and wine, and he stayed there for a few days. They told him to never tell what he had discovered and as soon as he got back to the city, sure enough he did. Then he tried to return to the village with another man, using the clues he left and was never able to find the place again. I thought that this was a very interesting short story that could have so many different meaning behind it, but I believe that the main point is trust and honesty. And that without those two things you will soon lose whatever good things you had.

Education by Poetry

Sidney Rogers 3^rd

Education by Poetry, By: Robert Frost

                The general argument/ point made by Robert Frost in his work “Education By Poetry “is that life is all about saying things one way and meaning it in another way, and that if you are not educated enough to understand metamorphic language than you will not understand much.

More specifically, Frost argues that if you are not educated in poetry than there is no way you can ever know the use of metaphors. He writes, “I find someone now and then to agree with me that all thinking, except mathematical thinking, is metaphorical, or all thinking except scientific thinking.” (page 49) In this passage, Frost is suggesting that the only way to get close to poetry is to either write it or read it. By writing it, you learn to have ideas and by reading it you become more familiar with the ideas given to you.

In conclusion, it is Frost’s belief that a man that gets close to poetry will know so much more about the world compared to someone who distances themselves from poetry, because good poetry is not written just because, it is written for a purpose, a purpose that truly exists in the world.

                In my view Frost is right and wrong  because I do feel like people who are more interested in poetry tend to be higher educated, but I to have read poetry and don’t feel as if I know more than anyone else. For example, in my creative writing class, we had a whole segment on poetry and I really did learn a lot from it just because it was good practice, but I feel that anyone who read my poems would think of them as just a waste of time.

Although Frost might object that people could even learn from my poetry, I maintain that not even my poetry was extremely meaningful to anyone else, even if it was meaningful to me at the time. Therefore, I conclude that poetry does make you think and that it takes a certain level of education to be able to not only write but read good poetry, I still believe that you won’t automatically have all of live answers afterwards.

Why Literature?

Sidney Rogers 3^rd

Why Literature?  By: Mario Vargas Llosa

               

                The general point made by Mario Vargas Llosa in his work “Why Literature?” is that people are too busy with their lives to care about literature. More specifically, Llosa argues that all over the world women are reading more than men. He writes, “The explanation traditionally given is that middle class women read more because they work fewer hours than men, and so many of them feel that they can justify more easily than man the time that they devote to fantasy and illusion.” (Page 39) In this passage, Llosa is suggesting that what we have learned about ourselves and others comes from good literature. In conclusion, it is Llosa’s belief that a society without literature a society can’t grow or become truly free.

                In my view, Llosa is right because you can really learn a lot about yourself and others. Not only does the content of the literature influence you, but the way you interpret the writing can also tell a lot about you. For example, when I read a book about criminal investigations, not only did I find out a lot about it, I also discovered I was very interested in it. However, someone else would read it just for a good story. Although Llosa might object that some literature causes misunderstandings, I maintain that while literature can cause understandings between people, it can also cause misunderstandings. Therefore, I conclude that although literature may not be as important to some, it is what you get out of it that matters.

Shakespeare in the Bush

Sidney Rogers 3^rd

Shakespeare In The Bush

Laura Bohannan

The general argument made by Laura Bohannan in her work Shakespeare In The Bush is that Hamlet is something that everyone can understand, but may need special interpretations for any specific group of people. Yet this can bring about a different interpretation from its original context. More specifically, Bohannan suggests that the concepts of Shakespeare’s Hamlet are concepts all cutlers experience. Such as their views on death and  the afterlife.  She writes, “My audience looked as confused as I sounded .” (page 31) Shows that not only did she not know how to explain Hamlet, many were confused by the story. In this passage, Bohannan is suggesting that with the right interpretations to a complex writing style such as Hamlet, even people unfamiliar with it can begin to understand. In conclusion, it is Bohannan’s belief that even when trying to make something complex, easy to understand, it can still be misinterpreted.

In my View, Bohannan is wrong because not everyone picks up on the same meaning from a story, especially one as confusing as Hamlet. For example I speak English and have a hard time myself interpreting Shakespeare. Even when given word substitutions, the meaning can sometimes be lost or simply viewed differently. Although Bohannan might object that people can eventually begin to understand, I maintain that being able to pin point the underlying meaning of a story such as this one is a hard skill to acquire and not just anyone can understand it. Therefore, I conclude that it is a little unreasonable to get so frustrated when people who speak a foreign language do not understand something you are trying to explain, when many English speaking people themselves do not fully understand.

Life of a Closed Minded

Sidney Rogers p3

Life of the Closed Minded

            The general point made by Anna Quindlen in her work Life of the closed mind is that many people have been taught to have a closed minded because others have shown us the same. More specifically, Quindlen argues that because of 9/11 people now live in fear which means that the terrorists won. She/he writes, “ Since 9/11 we have become more like them . The essence of the way zealots think about the world is polar: good and evil, holy and profane, them and us.” (page 67) In this passage, Quindlen is suggesting that the main problem of closed mindedness is that America has become a terrible example. In conclusion, it is Quindlen belief that close mindedness is becoming normal in America and young people are the ones most greatly affected by this.

                In my view, Quindlen is right because young children that grew up after 9/11 were surrounded by a lot of closed minded people and are now starting to show the exact same traits. For example, the way airports have made major changes just because of safety and because people are walking around in absolute fear. Although Quindlen might object that everyone is still affected by closed mindedness even if they aren’t close minded, I maintain that many people don’t realize how it has a major role and how fear that we have developed changes the decisions we make on a daily basis. Therefore, I conclude that it is important for people to understand the dangers of being close-minded and how by being so, we to have become exactly what we are afraid of.

Argumentation In a Culture of Discord

Sidney Rogers p3

Argumentation In a Culture of Discord

The general point made by Frank L. Cioffi in his work Argumentation in a culture of discord is that although most students that write argumentative papers don’t care enough about one specific thing to say it is right or wrong there is a greater meaning to it.

More specifically, Cioffi suggests that the importance of argumentative writing is to engage the reader and make the reader think. He writes, “The idea is not to solve this problem or answer that question.” (page 64) In this passage, Cioffi is suggesting that the paper should offer something new and exciting to the reader. It might not always be to persuade the audience but to help them come up with their own beliefs and ideas. It needs to be original and might even reject.

In conclusion, it is Cioffi belief that by teaching his students these skills it can get them excited about exploring new ideas.

Planning your own argument

In my View, Cioffi is right because I personally know it hard to write a good argument on something I don’t feel particularly strong about.

For example, when writing a paper on legalizing gay marriage, I was interested but had a hard time coming up with new ideas and solutions for it.

Although Cioffi might object that students cant always be taught to get excited about new ideas and being open minded, I maintain that It is much easier to write when you know its for the audiences sake rather than for your own. It regards to who it needs to mean more to and who needs to be able to understand it.

Therefore, I conclude that Cioffi, is correct about how if students learn to understand the skills of argumentative papers they will also be able to understand the purpose and meaning of them as well.

Why Engage in Political Thinking

Sidney Rogers Per 3

Why Engage in Political Thinking

The general point made by Glenn Tinder in his work Why Engage in Political Thinking is that the importance of thinking is to create ideas, because the world we are based around now all started because of ideas. More specifically Tinder argues that if it weren’t for ideas we will still be in the dark because thought is like light. He writes, “The light is which we view Americas racial situation comes from the idea of inequality- an idea we would not process had it not been for thinkers such as Locke , Rousseau, and Marx.” (page 17) In this passage, Tinder is suggesting that thought is not only fragile but it is very important for shaping who we our and what out lives have become. In conclusion, it is Tinder belief that thinking is so important for everyday life and for the world we live in. Not only do you start to understand yourself it can even put you in touch with others.

In my view, Tinder  is right and wrong because although Thinking is very important and everything started with an idea, I don’t believe that critically thinking was the reason for the way everything is today. For example potato chips, those were made by accident, although the person had to think to make them they didn’t really know what they were doing. And look at potato chips now. Although Tinder might object that nothing productive can be done without the process of thinking. I maintain that we have learned a lot from things people have done while they weren’t thinking. Even if it wasn’t a good thing. Therefore, I conclude that Tinder is right about the a lot of the things he said and I have no problem agreeing with his theory. I just think that adding other ideas would make it more accurate.

Read in College

Sidney Rogers

Read in College

Kathleen McCormick

The general point made by Kathleen McCormick in her work A Method For Reading, Writing and Thinking Critically is that there are two ways to think, historically and culturally.

More specifically, McCormick suggests that that they both have a lot to do with each other and closely intertwine with the way we think about thing every day.  She writes, “Critical thinking involves knowledgeable speculation is which you move back and forth between discovering difference and finding points of connection.”  (Page 22) In this passage, McCormick is suggesting that everyone uses these critical thinking tools. In conclusion, it is McCormick belief that that in order to think critically you must not only completely understand by analyzing but you must also look into the past and compare it to the future to get answers.

Planning your own argument

In my view McCormick is right because in order to analyze something I have noticed you have to be able to compare it to something else and learn from past experiences. Just like the historical analyzing she talked about. For example how she talked about girls wearing pants. It doesn’t seem that weird to us now because I grew up in a time where that’s normal, but when we look back one hundred years things have changed a lot. Without looking back into the past we never know who women now wear pants, although McCormick might object that not everyone does this. I maintain that not everyone uses this form of critical thinking on a regular basis. Therefore, I conclude that, even if people do not notice it, they still analyze situations and critically think about a topic multiple times in their life, which I believe requires all that McCormick was talking about.