Last Blog of the Year!! (:

My favorite blog was Affirmations of Life. My least favorite blog was the one about music for the Great Gatsby. I did not enjoy that blog because it was very hard to find songs that matched the Great Gatsby. Most of my blogs I put effort into. There were a few that did not interest me so I did not put in as much effort for these. I thought that using blogs was a good idea for learning. It furthered everything we were doing in class and required that I go into more depth on some of the topics. When writing my blogs I learned even more about what we were focusing on in class at a given time. I enjoyed blogs because most of the time they were on opinions and also the points gave my grade a boost. My top three stories were Having Our Say, All Quiet on the Western Front, and all of the Emily Dickinson poetry.

Advice to the new teacher

One tip I would give the new English teacher is to not have us read books over breaks. Even though we have extra time most people do not end up reading this story. This makes it hard to have good discussion in class. Second, I would tell her to do more projects instead of papers. Projects are a lot more fun and encourage more participation in the class. I understand that papers are necessary but it would be nice if we could switch off on every unit. I would tell her to keep the essay format on tests because the tests helped me to write better essays in brief time periods. Lastly, I would tell her to enjoy her time teaching because Rockford Lutheran is a great school!

The Great Gatsby playlist

The first song I chose is West End Blues by Louis Armstrong. I chose this song because it sounds like a song that would be playing at one of Gatsby's extravagant parties. I looked up a list of top songs from the 1920's and this song was number 1. Gatsby liked to have the best things to impress Daisy, so it would only be fitting that he had the best music at his parties. Also, it is called the "West End" Blues, so it is kind of like West Egg, where Gatsby lived.

The second song I chose is I've Found A New Baby by Ted Lewis and Ethel Walkers. I chose this song because I think it sounds like a song that could be Tom Buchanan's theme song. Even though he was married to Daisy, he was cheating on her. So it is kind of like he found a new baby in Myrtle.

The third song I chose All Alone by Al Jolson, John McCormack, and Paul Whiteman. Just like the last song reminded me of Tom Buchanan, this song reminded me of Gatsby. He was a man who had it all, a big house, money, nice cars, servants. He had everything except for what he wanted, Daisy. Even though he had many lush parties with a lot of guests, he was still all alone. Even surrounded by people, he was alone.

Lastly, I chose Toot Toot Tootsie by Al Jolson. This sounds like a very happy, upbeat song. I could also hear this song playing at one of Gatsby's parties.  This sounds like a song that would bring everybody to the dance floor to dance and have fun with their friends.

Mark Twain Quote

 I really like this quote by Mark Twain. It is simply saying to live life to the fullest and do everything that you have a chance to do. Personally I try to live by this type of quote. I am the kind of person who is scared to try new things. I do force myself to try new and different things even if they seem weird or scary. I think that I will look back and be glad that I did do something even if it did not turn out perfect or how I wanted it to. At the end Mark Twain says "Explore. Dream. Discover." I really like this because it is something good to live by. He is basically saying do different things, have fun, and dream big. I believe that if you do all of these things you will not regret anything as long as you put all of yourself into it. I really enjoy this Mark Twain quote.

Mark Twain - Quotes - Pictures

Connections in Art

 I found this image of art of Harlem. I really like this art because it shows Harlem to be a bright and happy place. The Delaney sisters loved Harlem so I think this also shows their view of Harlem. They thought Harlem was a great place and really did not want to move but they had to when their mother was living with them. I also think this is a good piece of artwork because the African American people seem to be going somewhere such as work. Bessie and Sadie both had jobs in Harlem and working in Harlem made them able to do what they loved, help others who were in need. I think that this portrait of Harlem is very good and shows the Delaney sister's view of Harlem very well.  



Quest for Civil Rights

Rosa Parks Civil Right Movement

Rosa Parks is very famous for not moving out of her seat on a bus when told to do so by a white person who was on the bus. All she did for this movement was to just refuse to move. She was not violent which is why she reminds me of Martin Luther King Jr. He was very against being violent. He even held conferences where he would teach the people who participated in his marches how to ignore people and how to protest in a non-violent way. I think reacting to everyone in a non-violent way is very brave. With all of the things that the white people said I can only imagine how hard it would have been for the protesters to just keep quiet and march. Non-violent movements were very important because they show us today that things can be achieved without using violence. 

What's Good...The Help

Over the past year I have seen many movies but my favorite would definitely be The Help. This movie is hilarious at some points but at the same time it portrays a difficult time period very well. My favorite actress was Abileen. She was hilarious and she made this movie great. She is the reason why I like this movie so much. She took the horrible situation that she was in and made it funny but also showed people today how horribly African Americans were treated in the times of the Jim Crow Laws or the 1960's. This movie was very good and I have seen it several times. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a movie to watch.

Harlem

There are many people that made Harlem a very famous place for African-American artists to go to. One person taht contributed to this was Duke Ellington. Duke Ellington was a very famous and a very talented person who performed and lived in Harlem. He was a player at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Even though this Club was in Harlem it was for white people only but Ellington was allowed to go there to play even though he was black. Duke Ellington was a very influential person in Harlem using his music.

Another person who contributed to making Harlem famous was Claude McKay who was an excellent writer. He moved to Harlem because he wanted to participate in the writing movements that were happening in Harlem. He did not earn a living as writing but he worked as a porter on a railroad so that he could afford to live. He also wrote a novel that was the first from a writer from Harlem to be on the New York Times Bestseller List. He helped Harlme greatly with his writings.

Having My Say

Something that I feel very strongly about today is abortion. I am very against the idea of abortion. I believe that abortion is murder because a child is living no matter how long it has been in the womb. A child is living even if it may only be a few centimeters big. I believe that a mother should not have the ability to take away their child's life. That is not fair to the child because they never even had a chance to live. Their live can be taken away by their mother just because their mother made a mistake in having a child. In my opinion abortion is a very sad thing. No mother should not want a child. That is absolutely horrible. I believe that God made every child and that God is the giver of life and of death, not a mother. I realize that in some cases mothers are informed that their child may have problems when it is born or the mother may have problems in birth so abortion is an option. I still think this is very wrong. The mother should be willing to risk her life and should want her child even if it has a disability when it is born. I am very against abortion and do not think it should be an option to expecting women. There are other options out there such as adoption that are much better than abortion

Connections to Whitman

 Me at 4years old on the right

I really enjoyed this poem about childhood. This poem talks about how everything the boy saw made part of him. One line that was in the poem said "the cow's calf." This was definitely a line that I could connect to. From the time I was born I have been around my cows. I have been showing cows since I learned to walk and working with my cows is a huge part of my life. I believe that working with my cows and helping on the farm have made me into the person I am today. Showing my cows and working on the farm have given me a work ethic that not many city kids today have. It also has given me an understanding about where my food comes from and I do not take my food for granted because I know how much work farmers put into making food for the world. This is a reason why I very much agree with what Whitman says in this poem about childhood. Cows have made me the person I am today and I would not trade all of the time I put into my cows for anything.

Emily Dickinson Poetry

By: Emily Dickinson

New feet within my garden go,

New fingers stir the sod;

A troubadour upon the elm

Betrays the solitude.

New children play upon the green,

New weary sleep below;

And still the pensive spring returns,

And still the punctual snow!

In my opinion this poem is not talking about just Emily Dickinson's garden but instead the whole world. In the beginning she says "New feet within my garden go" and I think this symbolizes spring because people start working with the Earth in the spring. Also in the second stanza I think she is talking about babies being born in the first ling and then people dying and being buried in the second line. In the last two lines I think she means that no matter what happens the world keeps turning and the seasons keep changing. 

Poem Source

Affirmations of Life

I think that we are faced with many tough situations in our lives. These situations truly test us in different aspects of our lives. I think that these situations are given to us by God so that we can learn to put our trust in Him and Him only. Therefore I believe that in order to look positively at not so good situations we must turn to God. To look positively at a situation I remember that God tells us in the Bible that He will never put us in a situation that we cannot handle without Him. We probably won't be able to handle it on our own is problem that many people face. In troubled times we must turn our focus to God. We need to have faith in Christ that He will help us through the hard times. We also should pray often during the tough times. I believe that any Christian can face any hard times as long as they remember to go to God and not loose their faith.

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Personal Connection To Nature

A time when I had a connection to nature was in Wyoming. My family rode horses to the very top of a mountain and then had a picnic at the top of the mountain. The view from the spot was amazing and I could see so far. It was amazing to just sit and look at everything God had created and how perfect all of it was. I think the truth that I saw in the nature is that everything God creates is beautiful and even if in our eyes something may not seem beautiful to God it is. The connection just made me realize that I should not judge things by looks because in God's eyes everything is beautiful and all that matters in the end is God so I have no place to judge.

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Team Nathaniel

I personally like stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne more than the stories of Poe. Hawthorne's stories have a lot of symbolism as do Poe's. The symbols in Hawthorne's stories are much easier to understand. Also, Poe has a lot of very dark writing where as Hawthorne's stories are not necessarily good but they are not as dark as those of Poe. The only problem I have with Hawthorne's writing is that sometimes he puts in too much detail and that detail makes the story boring. All together I think that Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing is better than the writing of Poe.

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