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.