Twilight #6

When I was finished with the first book I decided to move on to the second book in the series called New Moon. While I was reading this book, I found out that Jacob Black was a werewolf. After finding this out, I think that these books are very unrealistic, and I don’t really like how many mystical characters there are. It is too much of a mix of Harry Potter and a normal book. Once I finish this book in the series, I do not think I am going to keep on reading the books because they are so unrealistic and there is always a new thing that goes wrong. After reading just one and a half of the books in the four book series, I think the other books would get really repetitive. Also Bella is even more of a whiner in this book than she was in the first one. She also takes a lot of unnecessary risks just to hear Edwards voice, which I think is stupid and I wonder why Stephenie Meyer even puts this in the book because it is so stupid.

Twilight #5

The movie, Twilight, and the book are very different in my opinion because they tweeked alot of the plot for the movie by adding and leaving out some of the plot from the book. For instance, in the book Bella seemed to have a very good relationship with Charlie and made him dinner all the time. In the movie however they didn’t really talk and they always went out for dinner. Although the movie and book had a lot of differences, there was one scene that seemed to be a very good representation of the book. This was when they played baseball in the field. I thought this a good representation because it seemed just how I had pictured it while I was reading the book. If I had to choose between the book and the movie to say which one I liked better I would say it was the book because it went into more details. Also, the acting in the movie was terrible in my opinion.

Twilight #4

After reading Twilight, a scene that continues to stick out to me is the battle scene with the other vampire, James. I liked this part because it was a very intense battle and it made me want to keep reading. This battle was a lot like some battle scenes you see in movies or TV shows, a battle versus good and evil. A TV show that I watch everyday after school which always has one of these intense battles is NCIS because they always have to put a bad guy facing punishment behind bars. Or sometimes, the bad guy gets killed by the good guys for not cooperating, like not putting his gun down or something. Getting killed by the good guys is just like what happened to James when he gets killed by the Cullens for trying to kill Bella.

Twilight #3

Twilight, the book that I am reading, in my opinion can relate to a lot of movies and books because it is a typical love story. It reminds me of the movie the Titanic. I think this because Rose and Jack come from two different worlds, which is just like Edward and Bella. In the book however it isn’t money that is separating them, it is that Edward isn’t human. Also just like Titanic when Jack and Rose were willing to do anything for each other, and Jack died so that Rose could live. That is like Edward and Bella because they are willing to do anything for one another. Bella is willing to give up her normal life so that she can be with Edward forever. Twilight can also very easily relate to Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet because there love is also forbidden.

Twilight #2

In the book, Twilight, Edward, the main Cullen character, always tried to protect Bella even though she is a huge whiner in my opinion and always complains. If I were Edward I would not put up with that. I do not understand why he is even slightly attracted to her. Moving on from that, I really liked how sophisticated the Cullens are even though vampires are some of the most unsophisticated people in the world. I think it is interesting how they try to fit in with the rest of the world. The chapter where they went to go play baseball was very interesting. I thought it was cool that the author would have it in there because even if the Cullens are vampires they still like baseball, which can be known as the American pass time. After reading the chapter about them playing baseball and then watching the part of the movie where they play baseball, I think that it is very interesting about how they portrayed it. Although it was exactly how I imagined it, if I were the makers of the movie, I wouldn't have had them climbing up trees, but just running super super far so they wouldn't have had to use those terrible special effects.

Blog #1 for Twilight

After reading the beginning of the book, the one thing that sticks out to me is how much of a self-centered downer Bella is. First of all, when she gets into town, she can barely squeeze out a 'hi' and a nice smile for her dad. I do not care who you are in the car with and what your history is with them, one must be able to do more than what Bella did, especially because it is her dad who she hadn't seen for a long time and she is going to be living with him for the school year. Second of all, her dad, who is nice enough to pick her up from the airport and let her live at his house for the school year, also surprises her with a car! I feel that Bella should been slapped and have had the car taken away because with her 'enthusiasm', she could have made a person with the highest self-esteem feel bad. Also, she has nice people throwing themselves out to be nice to her, especially the girls dream of Edward Cullen. With the tone of this book, I can just see this self-centered downer not cracking a smile and looking not one bit grateful for all of the things she needs to be grateful for. This may just be me seeing how popular this book is, but it is the one thing that stuck out to me when reading the beginning of the novel, Twilight.

Tiger Woods Overcoming Odds

I watched this video of Tiger Woods playing at the 2008 US Open. This shows how he overcomes odds because first of all, in the video, you see tough shot after tough shot that you see him make. Above all of his hard shots that he keeps on making, he has a torn acl tendon. This is huge because winning one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world is one thing, but winning it with a torn acl is another. In order for him to win, he clearly had to overcome the odds. This relates back to my life because in the summer of seventh grade, I broke my glove-hand thumb in a baseball game and continued to play with it for 5 innings. This shows how I overcame the odds like Tiger Woods because my injury, like his, was to a part of the body which was needed to be health in order to play well.

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

Love on Valentine's Day

Today, Valentine's Day is a day of candy, flowers, and of course love filled cards. I read an article titled, Valentine's Day- Not Like it Used to Be!", by Jerry Wilson. The title is fitting, because today's Valentine's Day is really not how it used to be. Valentine's Day first started off as a day in mid-February where men pick women's names from a hat to have a sexual companion for the rest of the year (Wilson). Pope Gelasius later changed this to a day where men and women picked saint's names and it was there job to act like them for the rest of the year (Wilson). Today, like I said before, Valentine's Day is a day of candy, flowers, and cards full of love. The first official Valentine's Day card was sent "in 1425 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time" (Wilson). Valentine's Day has clearly come a long way and today, I feel that it is an unneeded day of temptations. Yes, the Valentine's Day season is great for our struggling economy, but with Valentine's Day come a day of temptations for teenagers. This day adds unneeded pressure for us teenagers to have boy and girl friends. In my opinion, I feel that just as Pope Gelasius changed the day, some one else should change this day again to give it a different meaning.

http://wilstar.com/holidays/valentn.htm

Wilson, Jerry. "Valentine's Day- Not Like it Used to Be!." 17 Mar 2009 .

Causes of the Civil War

I read an article titled, Top Five Causes of the Civil War, written by Martin Kelly. His first cause of the Civil War was the "economic and social differences between the North and the South" (Kelly). This is important because this helped set up the sides of the war because if they were all equal economically and socially, then there wouldn't have been any clear cut borders for the different sides. His second cause of the Civil War was the "states versus federal rights" (Kelly). This is important because this gives the people something to fight about. His third cause of the Civil war was "the fight between slave and non-slave state proponents" (Kelly). This is important because it gives a clear cut two sided war. His fourth cause of the Civil War was the "growth of the abolition movement" (Kelly). With this growth, the south where the pro-slavery people are need to fight back so slaves won't get abolished and the north where the anti-slavery people are need to fight back at the south so the south won't get its way and end the movement. His last cause of Civil War he says in this article was "the election of Abraham Lincoln" (Kelly). This is important because he was anti-slavery, and therefore, a huge advocate for the abolition movement which the south was against. This all relates to my life because I have many black friends and I can not imagine not even knowing them because they were supposedly a 'lesser being'. In my opinion, they are a 'greater being' because after going through so many years of horrible prosecution, blacks everywhere have risen up and now we have a black president of one of the most powerful nations in the world.

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/civilwarmenu/a/cause_civil_war.htm

Kelly, Martin. "Top Five Causes of the Civil War." About.com. About.com. 15 Mar 2009 .

Causes of Colonization in Africa

I read an article titled, What Caused the Scramble for Africa?, by Alistair Boddy-Evans. This article talks about many causes of the colonization of Africa, but I found two of them particularly interesting. First of all, this article says that a reason for the colonization of Africa was the end of the slave trade. When Europeans heard that there were still slaves being used and traded in inland Africa, they felt the need to go in there and stop it, which naturally led to them just colonizing all of where they were. I can't help but relate this to the US today when we felt that we needed to go into Iraq and stop Saddam Hussein, which is good, but now we are not leaving. This is just like the Europeans who went in with good intentions, but never left. A second reason that stuck out to me was how in the late 1860s, Europeans really separated themselves from Africa militarisictly with the invetion of percussion caps and breach loading rifles (Boddy- Evans). This stuck out to me because it just reenforces a life lesson of just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should. Again, I see this directly in Iraq with the US because just because we can do something over there doesn't mean we should.

http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/a/ScrambleWhy.htm

Boddy-Evans, Alistair. "What Caused the Scramble for Africa?." About.com. About.com. 11 Mar 2009 .

Hunger

I read an article that talks about world hunger and how it and poverty fit so well together. This article says that "in 2005, almost 1.4 billion people lived below the international poverty line, earning less than $1.25 per day" (Hunger Facts). With out the money to buy food, hunger and starving is imminent. Another way this article demonstrates how hunger and poverty go together is when it says that "947 million people in the developing world are undernourished" (Hunger Facts). This shows a direct relationship between poverty, because most all of developing worlds are impoverished, and hunger, because undernourishment causes hunger because they do not have the right nourishment to keep them on their feet and health. This relates to my life because I am living in this world with these people that are constantly hungry. I feel that I have a certain responsibility to attempt to make a difference. To make differences, I have my relatives buy me chickens for Christmas to give to third-world countries. I also donate about 500 grains of rice through freerice.com everyday. I hope that I am not the only one doing stuff like this because this is a problem that I believe can only be fixed with the help of people around the world.

http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-international.html

Thanksgiving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt6pxrPInsU

I watched this video, done by the History Channel, about the origins of Thanksgiving. After watching this video, I think it is interesting how such a commercial holiday started so long ago when people were actually giving thanks. For me, I have never thought of this holiday as a day to give thanks, but as a day to eat amazing food and relax while watching football. I always thought the whole pilgrim idea was just a fun story that we learned in elementary school. Now watching this video, I realize that story was actually true. My favorite holiday now has a new meaning to me. Looking back, I feel that my giving thanks should have been on the top of my list on this holiday. If the pilgrims were giving thanks for having enough food to last them through the winter, I for sure need to be giving thanks for all of our advanced technology and good health. I feel that as dorky as this sounds, this video has changed me because I will now actually think of Thanksgiving as a day to give thanks as opposed to just a day of amazing food and watching football.

Bollywood

I read an article about Bollywood from the BBC. I read about what Bollywood is, where it all started, why it is so big now, why it is so unusual, who the big stars are in Bollywood, what the problems of Bollywood are, and what it's future is. First of all, Bollywood, a mix of Bombay and Hollywood, is India's version of our Hollywood only it makes about twice as many movies as Hollywood. Bollywood began in 1899, first with a shot film, then in the 1930's, it began having talking videos, and now it is a huge movie making center. Bollywood started getting attention in 2002 when Indian films were shown in Britain during a cricket match of India and England. Once the people saw these videos, it became really popular and department stores even started selling Indian clothing. What makes Bollywood different from Hollywood is that their movies all follow a very strict format of singing and dancing. Here in America, we have Brad Pitt, but I learned that in Bollywood, their huge star is Arjun Rampal. As successful as Bollywood sounds, it has trouble breaking even on some movies because piracy is a big problem over there. Also, the younger people are finding the movies to be too predictable because of the same format for every movie. Even with piracy and younger people being turned off, this article says that the future is bright for Bollywood. This article relates to my life because now I want to see one of these movies if they are now going to be a big deal. I also want to see if these movies are as predictable as they sound.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/2003/bollywood/newsid_2683000/2683857.stm

Mexican Culture

One thing that Mexico is well known for is its food. My favorite Mexican food is a taco with rice. In a typical day in Mexico, corn, hot peppers, and beans are eaten at almost any meal. Mexicans consume their corn as a cooked or roasted corncob, also known as an elote, a cooked grain of corn, porridge, also known as atole, as a wrapped and steamed dough with filling, also known as a tamal, and my favorite, as a tortilla. Tortillas are the outer shell of tacos and burritos which are very popular in central Mexico. The hot peppers that Mexicans eat are not always hot. They range from the large and sweet chile ancho to the small and extremely hot chile habanero. Durring the day, Mexicans will normally have a light breakfast, a mid-morning tortilla snack, the comida, which is normally from two to four in the afternoon, and lastly their dinner which is normally from around eight to around ten. The food aspect of Mexican culture is very important to me because I eat tacos atleast once a week and beans and rice atleast three times a week. Their food is also important to me because I usually eat a light breakfast.

http://www.mexicanfoodrecipes.org/Mexican-Recipes/index.php

Change

Sonnet: Change You Can But…

Change you can your hair color, not your skin;

Change you can your smile and grin: not your eyes;

Change you can your sex partners, not your kin;

Change you can your sinful life: Be soul-wise!

Change you can your friends and foes, not parents;

Change you can your teacher/guide, not your brain;

Change you can your exam-marks, not talents;

Change you can your habits bad and be sane.

Change you can the environment, not the sun;

Change you can the landscape old, not the soil;

Change you can your temperament and not run;

Change you can your heart and mind: you must toil.

Change you can your ambitions but be brave;

Change you can your life-styles much but behave!

For this blog assignment, I researched a poem about change titled, " Change You Can But..." This poem reflects the many changes that happen in peoples lives all over the world. It talks about all of the changes that induviduals are able to make happen and the ones that come into peoples lives naturally. This relates to my life because over the years many changes have occured. For example, the transfer from middle school to high school influenced my life greatly. Not only did I meet many new frieds, my family also moved into a new neighborhood which was a new experience that I had to adapt to. In all, proved by this poem, change is a universal concept that happens to everyone.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-change-you-can-but/

Hope

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking for stars" (Wilde).

This quote by Oscar Wilde really stuck out to me when I was looking for quotes about hope. This quote stuck out to me because it says that the rich aren't better than the poor, males aren't better that females, and old aren't better than young. When this quote says, "we are ALL in the gutter..." (Wilde), it means that we are all in the same and equal place. Wilde follows that up by saying, "...but some of us are looking for stars" (Wilde), which explains why we are all in different positions in life with more or less things than our neighbors and friends. Overall, this quote is saying that what truly separates all of us and makes us who we are is how we hope and dream. Just after Presidents Day weekend, this quote is perfect because all the presidents are the same as us, but with their hopes and dreams, they have gotten to where they are today.

Religion vs. Spirituality

I read an article by Tejvan Pettinger comparing and contrasting religion to spirituality. This article says that religion focuses more on the past with ancient texts and spirituality focuses more on the present. It also says that religion teaches us to fear God whereas spirituality teaches us to love God. Next, the article says that religion says that God is "high in the heavens", but spirituality tells us that God is all around us. Another point the article makes is that religious people only think that their way will lead to salvation, but on the other hand, spiritual people believe that there can be many different approaches to salvation. Lastly, the article says that religion places more emphasis on outer worship, but spirituality places more emphasis on inner worship. Even with all of these differences, Pettinger argues that "religion can embrace spirituality" and "each religion has produced spiritual seekers of the highest order" (Pettinger). After reading this article, I feel that I am more spiritual than religious because although I read the Bible, I believe that others that don't believe what I believe will find salvation and I believe that God is all around us.

Pettinger, Tejvan. "Religion vs Spirituality." Biography Online. 15 Feb 2009 .

Gender roles

I read "With More Equity, More Sweat" by Washington Post staff writers Richard Morin and Megan Rosenfeld. This article says that having both sexes equal in the work place has made it better for both men and women alike. On the down side to this however, this article says, "this relatively new world have made building successful marriages, raising children and leading satisfying lives ever more difficult". I think that although the equal job opportunities are important for women, I do not see why it should have such a great effect on marriages. This article reminds me of my reading in AP World History because we have learned about many societies; all have a patriarchal based society. I find it interesting how once women and men are considered equals in the work force, building successful marriages becomes more difficult. I know that over time, change happens, so I hope that marriages become stronger as women remain as equals to men.

Morin, Richard and Megan Rosenfeld. "With More Equity, More Sweat." 22 Mar 1998 A1. 11 Feb 2009 .

Roman Culture

In each chapter of my Latin textbook, Cambridge Latin Course Unit 3, there is always a few pages about Roman culture. In our latest chapter, we learned about how we can learn Roman Britain culture through literary and archaeological evidence and inscriptions. Through literary evidence, we have learned about Julius Caesar's attempts to take over the southeast coast of Britain in 55 BC. Through literary evidence, we also learn about Agricola through Tacitus' biography of Agricola, a British govenor and Tacitus' father in law. Though archaeological evidence, we have learned about specific time periods in the empire because of what is inscribed on coins. For instance, if a coin has a picture of a Julius Caesar, it will be from his reign. Pottery can also show us trading routes that were used by the Romans. From the inscriptions on tombstones, we have learned about the Roman possession of Britain.

http://www.cambridgescp.com/page.php?p=clc^top^home

Pope, Stephanie M., Patricia E. Bell, Stan Farrow, Richard M. Popeck, and Anne Shaw. Cambridge Latin Course Unit 3. Fourth Edition. New York: Cambridge, 2002.

Overcoming Fears When Living with Myositis

I read an article about people living with myositis. "Those with a rare chronic illness like myositis not only live with existing fears -- they often find themselves facing new ones" (Hunter). This article talks about common fears found in people with myositis. These common fears are the fear of loss of control, fear of dependency, fear of isolation or abandonment, fear of change in appearance, and fear of stigma. All these fears make them feel unwanted, not needed or useful, and not confident or motivated about anything. If I had any of these fears and the symptoms that come with them, I would see no reason to carry on and would find it hard to keep wanting to live and fight this disease. This article also talks about the ways they cope with the fears. It talks about how all these people need self-esteem boosts, feelings of acceptance, and even just the knowledge of what they are fighting. This annoys me because in this age of free messages via e-mail, I think doctors need to be sending their patients information about this disease. Also, when the doctors send them messages, it gives the patients a sense of belonging and acceptance since they are talking to them. If the patient is not diagnosed with the disease, friends and relatives, in my opinion, need to have some common sense and talk to their friends and family who they think might be struggling with something. I know diseases like this are definately tough, but they can be easily beaten.

Hunter, Angela. "Overcoming Fears When Living with Myositis." 07 May 2007 03 Feb 2009 .

Tornados

I read and watched a couple of video clips about tornados. Tornados interest me because they are one of the main natural disasters that we experience in Minnesota. I learned that tornados can spin up to 300 mph and can cause damage a mile wide and 50 miles long. I learned that tornados cause about 80 deaths and 1,500 injuries a year in the United States. Watching the videos, tornados look so unreal, like something you would see in a movie. I wish I could just sit and watch them but they are very unsafe. Storm chasers study tornados by setting up cameras right were they think the tornado will go. Tornados start in the spring when warm humid air collides with cool dry air. This forms super cells which is where tornados come from. That is just about all scientists know however. They cannot explain why all tornados come in different magnitudes and shapes.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/tornado-profile.html

 

Losing Our Rights Activity for Nectar in a Sieve

This activity was interesting for me to participate in, but it was also interesting for me to watch others during it. It was interesting seeing some of my peers actually thinking about what to give up. Others didn't really care and just played along. I wonder what it would be like to actually have to do something like this and have it really be permanent. I felt it was easier because I knew I wasn't actually changing. I don't know what I would do if this was the real deal. Having to choose between my family and my religion would be tough. In this activity, I ended up with my religion but I know I could never make that choice. My religion is important to me cause it is what I base my life off of. It is my guide lines on how to live. This activity gave me a lot more respect for and insight to the decisions people have had to make over time.