Monday, December 12, 2011

Why Farms In America Are Increasing In Size

For my research paper I researched why farms in America are growing in size. This topic was very interesting. I learned many things while writing this paper.

One interesting fact I learned while writing my reasearch paper was that half of all farmers in America are between the ages of 45 and 65. This was interesting because many of my family members are farmers and the do fall in this age range but I have never noticed this before. Also, I am thinking about going in to a profession that has something to do with agriculture and this fact makes me want to go into the ag field even more because young people are very needed in the ag community.

Another interesting fact I learned was that the Milk Income Loss Contract has a cap on it. This contract means that the government will pay farmers when prices for milk go below a certain price. This amount is capped so bigger farmers cannot make as much money from the government. My family has a small farm and it is nice to know the government is making ways to help the smaller farmers.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Poem Reflection



A poem we read in class during our Romanticism unit was Tide Rises and Tide Falls. This poem was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It talks about a person dying and then life goes on. I like this poem because it uses the circle of life. The circle of life is inevitable and is a key part of nature. One thing I do not like is at the end of the poem life just goes on. I believe that everyone leaves behind a legacy. Some people may have a legacy that is only known to a few people. Others may be known to the world. Nobody is just forgotten after they die. We learned in class that this is how many people of the day also disagreed with the ending of this poem. Other than that aspect I thought it was a very good poem. Longfellow is an excellent author and used techniques such as alliteration and consonance to make the poem better. All together I thought it was a very good poem.

Picture Source

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Connection to Nature- Voki

Ending to Pit & Pendulum



All of the sudden some cawing noise is so loud above my head. Then a feel a bunch of birds! I wonder if this must be just another way of torturing me. All of the sudden I feel as if I am flying! The birds have just saved me! I have now escaped the Spanish Inquistion with the help of a huge flock of birds!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Reflection on the Crucible

Abigail Williams as portrayed in The Crucible movie

The most of the characters in The Crucible seemed very shady in my opinion. This made me very angry because I knew who was actually at fault for the whole mess and witch trials but the blame just getting passed off. Abigail was my least favorite character because she kept ruining other people's good names. Just because she got into trouble doesn't mean she should push the blame off to someone else. Although this really bothers me I think that it happens a lot in today's society. We as the human race and our sinful nature are quick to push the blame onto someone else. So I think The Crucible gives us a good life lesson, to not make other people look bad because we do not want to get into trouble.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Political Climate of the 1950's

 Elia Kazan

HUAC was established in 1937 by a man named Martin Dies. Dies was a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and therefore had their support behind him in these investigations. HUAC was established to investigate un-American and subversive activities. In 1947 HUAC began to investigate people of Hollywood. 41 people were interviewed by HUAC in September 1947 and during the interviews they gave names of people who were supposedly holding left-wing views. People who held left-wing views were said to believe in communism. Elia Kazan was one of the people who gave names. The reason he gave names of people with left wing views was that he was afraid that he would go to prison. If people did not give names they would be added to the blacklist. The blacklist was a list of people with left-wing views and if people were on the blacklist it made it virtually impossible for them to get a job in Hollywood. HUAC was on a "witch-hunt" in the 1950's of the Hollywood community.

Puritan Plain Style


The green leaves of summer
Have turned to red yellow and orange.
To everything there is a beginning and an end.
These leaves represent our lives
They are here one minute and gone the next
Therefore daily we need to do the right thing and love one another. 
This will give us a chance of being with God in Heaven for eternity.