Mark Twain

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.
-Mark Twain

This quote is interesting to me. I always hear "actions speak louder than words", but I have never heard the additional "but not nearly as often."
I think that this is very true. We live in a society that is full of words, gossip magazines, and many other things that are not even always true. The important part of all the words is the actual action. No matter how many times someone says they will do something or someone else did something, many people will not believe it until they see the action or evidence from the action.

The Loving Story

http://www.lovingfilm.com/Relevance.html

The story of Richard and Mildred Loving has actually been made into a film. Richard is a white man and Mildred was a part black part cherokee woman. The two were in love and wanted to get married, but in their state, that type of mixed marriage was a criminal offense. The couple was even banished from their home.

This reminds me of Nanny Logans parents (Sadie and Bessies grandparents). They were unable to marry because Virginia state law forbade any person with one-eighth black heritage to marry a white person: Nanny's mother was a quarter black. Even though they were in love, they were not allowed to marry just like the Lovings.

The Lovings fought for their right to be together and their case went to the Supreme Court in the Loving v. Virginia case.

Harlem and the Delany's

2305 Seventh Avenue was the address of Bessie's Dentist office. It was on the corner of Seventh Avenue and 135th Street. The former house of James Weldon Johnson was at this intersection. He was one of the most versatile elder statesman of the "New Negro" movement. Close by was Striver's Row, the home of many successful African Americans. Bessie and Sadie were actually friends with many famous African Americans like Johnson and the people who lived on Striver's Row. The sisters would actually join with them in protests. Churches were also close by, in the heart of Harlem, where African Americans would go often.

Madame Walker's beauty salon was also close by, but the Delany sisters were not very into looks so they probably did not spend very much time there. They would rather be helping out with causes. The women may have been a part of the silent protests because they always stood up for what they believed in. The Harlem Hospital on the other hand, Sadie and Bessie tried to avoid the hospital as much as possible. They said that it wouldn't help them. And judging by how long their lives were, they seemed to know what they were doing quite well.

Expressions in Art

Sadie and Bessie showed a lot of emotional intensity in their stories. This picture shows that same intensity. The sails on this ship are white, where as the men pulling the ship are African American. This color change is done on purpose. The sails are white to show that white people were the owners of the ship. The men suffering and pulling the ship forward are African American. Their struggle shows the struggle that the African American people faced while they were on the slave ships in the middle passage. Sadie and Bessie also struggled and saw many other African Americans struggle throughout their life. They have seen and lived it first hand like these men pulling the ship see and live the intense struggle.

Picture from:

http://newsgrist.typepad.com/robertgoldwaterlibrary/exploration/

Having My Say

"No Moment is Ordinary."

Many well known quotes really stand out to me. This quote is one that means a lot to me. Many people dont see that every second and every moment that they are living is important. Nothing that happens in life is truly ordinary. We also never know what God's plan for our life is. We need to live every moment to its fullest and never take anything for granted. That is why this quote stands out to me and means so much. It has taught me for many years to appreciate every single moment and to realize that there is nothing ordinary about my life.

There Was a Child Went Forth

Many parts of the poem "There Was a Child Went Forth" stood out to me.
The part that stood out most was the very first part:

"THERE was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became,
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,
Or for many years or stretching cycles of years."

This part came out to me the most because I felt like I saw my childhood when I was reading it. I remember being little and the first thing that really caught my attention in a day, stayed with me the whole day. My mom always told me that if I saw a butterfly in the morning during summer, I would stay outside all day looking for another butterfly. I relate this to how the object in the poem became a part of the child. Everyday when I was a child I had something from my day become a part of me and make me who I now am as a teenager.

The Wind

The Wind Of all the sounds despatched abroad, There's not a charge to me Like that old measure in the boughs, That phraseless melody The wind does, working like a hand Whose fingers brush the sky, Then quiver down, with tufts of tune Permitted gods and me. When winds go round and round in bands, And thrum upon the door, And birds take places overhead, To bear them orchestra, I crave him grace, of summer boughs, If such an outcast be, He never heard that fleshless chant Rise solemn in the tree, As if some caravan of sound On deserts, in the sky, Had broken rank, Then knit, and passed In seamless company.

-Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson's poems often have many different meanings to them. I believe that this poem is showing Emily's love for the wind. She sees the wind as being very in charge of itself. The wind encompasses everything that is in nature. No matter what thing you are looking at in nature, it is alomst always surrounded by the wind and sky. The birds, trees, and all noises in nature come from and in the wind. I think that this poem shows this because it shows the importance of wind in all of nature.

Transcendentalism...All the Way.

I definitely prefer transcendentalism writings over anti-transcendentalism. In life, I try to look positively. Transcendentalism really helps me to look positively as life in a glass half full sort of way. I try to find the happy in every situation and I have many friends that are really positive. In all lives, people want to be a little dreamy and find the best in every situation. We all have a little fantasy in us and I think that the transcendentalist writings , especially that of Walden, give us good quotes to live by and see the brighter side of things.

Alternate Ending

As I watch the pendulum rise back into the cieling I wonder what has to be up there. How far down, or up for that matter, am I? I try to reach the cieling as the door closes right before I can reach it. Who is watching me? I know that someone or something must be up there. How else would they know exactly when to close the door? I call out for someone, anyone, but there is no response. Just the reverbarating sounds of my voice echoing off of the barren walls. I try to think of someway to get myself out of this lonely cell, but I can find no way. Suddenly, I am grabbed. I look up and there is a man coming down from the cieling. He has a hold on this rotten cloak that they gave me. As I am staring, trying and hoping to be able to make out the face of the man. He starts to drop me. Slowly...slowly..slowly I inch down out of his grip. But he is holding me over the vast, bottomless pit. In a swift second, I make the choice to take my fate into my own hands. I reach up and pull his hand off of me.

Team Poe

I, most definately, am Team Poe. I think that even though the stories that Poe writes are sometimes creepy and can be disturbing they are well written and draw the reader and myself into the story. Poe writes in a way that makes you keep reading and want to find out what happens. He is so interesting and his stories can be interpreted in so many ways, thats why I enjoy to read his stories and I am Team Poe.

Poem Reflection (sorry ms. williams, internet was down.)

In class we read a poem called "Psalm of Life." We read many poems but this one stood out to me the most because it said that we need to live for today and not think about the past or worry about what will happen. Too often today many people forget to just live their life and they begin to think about what they could have changed from the past or what they can do to make things better in the future. If someone wants to make something better, they shouldnt think about it. Instead, they should try to just make it better. The leading pastor at my church says "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today is a gift, thats why they call it the present." I think this goes really well with the poem, Psalm of Life.

Voki: The Tree

Get a Voki now!

McCarthy Hearings

MCCARTHY VIDEO

The video I have above is a video made by a student for a history class. Though this is true, i believe that it is interesting to watch. It shows not only part of the hearings and accusation, it also shows ways in which they were treated and papers and things that would be there to make fun of the Red people or McCarthy.

I think that it is interesting to bring up the point of the "terrorist watch list" after September 11, 2001 and also the people not alllowed on plane flights.

I agree with most of the things that this person says in this video. From the credits, it also seems pretty accurate. I  don't understand the ways in which McCarthy thought that he was bigh enough to accuse people. I also don't understand how people believed him without much evidence or never seeing his list of people that were communists.  People were Blaclisted and their lives were changed forever because of the things McCarthy did.

The Crucible Act One

So far, the play has actually been quite interesting, though the play does seem to be full of needless obsessive actions. What I do not understand is why. Why do they need to worry about these things? Many children get sick. Many people have days where they don't feel the strength to get out of bed. I hope through reading the play more that we can understand the reasoning behind all of the madness that seems to be coming from the mouths of each character, because as of right now, the play has me absolutely bewildered as to the reasonings behind any of it. I realize that once accusations started coming out about witchcraft, people began to take out hatred on their enemies. I just do not understand the reason that the first accusations started.

Reflection with a religious lesson

This weekend we had homecoming. We also had the first annual Dodge Ball Tournament at Rockford Lutheran High School. While at this tournament, competition began to get very intense. It was hard not to get caught up in the intensity and ill-mannered ways that can come along with being very competitive. While there, I tried to leave it all in the hands of God. My team had to overcome many obstacles, including losing badly in our first match. But when we overcame them with the help of God, we were able to win the entire tournament and become Lutheran's first annual Dodge Ball Tournament Champions. We also won free wings and t-shirts that we can wear on Fridays. This all helped me to see that when things are left in the hands of God, good things will come out. No matter how hard it is to overcome or not fall into selfish ways, God will help us through.

third blog post: Squanto.

At Plymouth Rock, Squanto became a friend to the pilgrims. In his own language, he was called Tisquantum. When the pilgrims first arrived, Squanto was living in a nearby village. By now, he had already been agross the ocean three times. At this point, Squanto, from the Patuxet village, was already a world traveler. He first traveled when he was around twenty and his curiosity took him to Captian Weymouth's ship where other natives were being held captive. He was employed at Weymouth's household in Plymouth England for nine years. Weymouth taught him English for he wanted to know all he could about native life in North America.

In 1614, Squanto set sail for North American with Captain John Smith. Squanto left Smith and was temporarily employed by Captain Thomas Hunt, who sold Squanto and twenty other Indians from the Cape Cod area to a Spanish trader who took human cargo to spain. Squanto, luckily ended up at a home of some Spanish Friars who took good care of the New England Native. He was taught the Christian way here.

In two years, Squanto was back on his way to London. He took his second trip across the Atlantic as a guide and intrepreter for John Slaney. This voyage was not very successful so by the end of 1617, Squanto was back to England.

In 1619, Squanto returned to the New World. He visited his original village during this voyage. He discovered that the whole settlement had been wiped out by the plague. He went to live in a nearby indian willage and never returned to the British Isles. It was after this that the pilgrims arrived and Squanto began to be an invaluable intrepreter to them. Samoset the Indian was there the first winter of the pilgrim arrival, and ask Squanto to come with him to an English Settlement because his English was much better.


It is obvious to me that Squanto was a very well rounded man. He had traveled many places but did not get boastful about this. He was very helpful to the Indians and many other people before them.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/453236/thanksgiving_story_of_squanto_the_indian_pg2.html?cat=37

second blog post.

This week in American Literature, we have been discussing and reading through journals. For my journal entry, I will be looking at a innacurate picture of Jamestown.

This picture is supposed to show the settlement at Jamestown. I believe it is innacurate. One reason I say this is because, even though it was a triangle, the fort had circular portions on each corner. This circular parts housed cannons and one of them is thought to be the powder house. They served many purposes and are not shown here. This picture also shows there being two entry ways that look very open to me. The fort at Jamestown was built to keep others out. I do not think that the fort would be kept open in two spots like the picture shows. The fort had to have an opening, but I do not feel as if it would be this open. James town is also now thought to be much bigger than I expected. This picture shows it fairly small with a few large buildings. In diagrams I have seen from excavations, there was much space, and many big and small buildings. I do not feel that this picture is accurate and I also do not understand why it is on a site that when you enter the exhibit, is a History Channel website.

http://jamestown.invioni.com/

its official.

I think that I have finally managed to "follow" everyone on the seemingly never-ending list of class blogs to follow. I wish this was more exciting.



So this week in American Literature, we have been studying origins and stories that were passed down through Native American tribes. I think that this is interesting to see how all of the stories relate in some way, shape, or form. Right now, the stories we are reading all have to deal with creation. Every tribe views nature in a very strong way and that is shown in their stories.

Another thing that I find interesting is that each tribe believes so strongly in one thing that they only heard from someone. I feel that the trust each person has in the stories they hear shows a lot about the tribes. These tribes were very close knit and believed in each other very much. I wonder what America would be like today if everyone believed in each other like the Native Americans did.

thank you pink panther 2.

I would like to buy a haamburga.