Comparing and Contrasting

The main idea of the few chapters that we read from Nightjohn was to show how terrible slavery was and to see how the slaves were treated.  One example of how terrible slaves were treated is how a girl named Alice was treated.  Alice was always a happy go lucky girl.  She was picked by the plantation owner to be a breeder.  She did not want to be a breeder but was forced to breed.  The owner tore off her clothes forced her to have sex and whipped her then left her just hanging there as an example.  After that happened she was no longer a happy person, she lost her reason to live.  Then she tried to run away, but did not get far.  When the owner caught her they let the dog tear her to shreds, she did not die although she wanted to.  Another example is Jim.  Jim was an old man that decided to run away.  He did not get very far before they caught him.  He tried to climb up a tree but did not get up in time.  He was just hanging there when the lets the dogs loose.  The tore him apart from the waist down and then just left what was left of him hanging there as an example to other to not run away.

The main thought behind the chapter “Mascot” was to show racism.  One example is that when Malcolm X is talking to his teacher, Mr. Williams, about what he wants to be when he is older.  Malcolm told Mr. Williams that he wanted to be a lawyer and Mr. Williams replied with “Malcolm, one of life’s first needs is for us to be realistic.  Don’t misunderstand me, now.  We all here like you, you know that.  But you’ve got to be realistic about being a nigger. A lawyer-that’s no realistic goal for a nigger. You need to think about something you can be.”  That is just a terrible thing to says to anyone let alone to a child.  Malcolm later said that is Mr. Williams had not said that he would have been a lawyer instead of a civil rights activist.

The Great debaters like the other two stories of hardship and racism.  It is a story of people becoming more than anyone else thought they could be.  In the movie there is a woman that wants to be a lawyer similar to Malcolm X excerpt that she never had anyone tell her that she could not unlike Malcolm X.  She eventually did become a lawyer also.  The people Wiley college team was told that they could not debate the Harvard and that they could not win.  Sarny was also told that she could not read.  In both of these cases they proved everyone wrong by doing the impossible.

The Class System

This week was just another normal week.  In English we read stories about racism just like every other story we read in English.  What did happen is that there was a renaissance rally.  The renaissance rally itself was alright but it got me thinking about the sophomore class.  In this school called Gahanna Lincoln there are four classes of people, freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.  The freshmen are the punching bags of the school, with good reason.  They are usually the most confused and loudest people.  If someone is being annoying it is usually a freshman.  The next levels up from the freshman are the sophomores which I am a member of.  The sophomore class is the worst class in the school.  Half of all of the discipline problems in the whole school are credited to the sophomore class.  The sophomores have numerous drug, pregnancy, and overall attitude problems.  The sophomores think they are more important than they really are.  They also have no pride in the high school at all.  We have anit-pride.  I think the sophomores are trying to take down the school just for the fun of it.  The next level up is the juniors.  In the area pride the juniors are the complete opposite.  They have the most pride in the school.  The juniors are upper classmen and the for the most part act it.  The know what to do and just want to get out like the rest of us.  The top of our class system are the seniors.  Most of them are not here the whole day and the have a sense of regret that they did not do something.  They also want college to start but they are not ready for high school to end.  They are the wisest of the all the classes and will to share it.  Our school is like a large puzzle that is not completely built.  The pieces do not fit together because they pieces are from different puzzles.  Somehow it works.  It is a mystery to all who see it happen and those who make it happen.

Response

http://taylorann-tay.blogspot.com/2010/11/grades.html

The Shower House

This week in English stuff happened.  We watched the video of Twelve Angry Men.  Now I have no lead in for these stories.  I guess this little warm time has reminded me of things I used to do in the summer, in particular camping.  Now in the summer time my family and I go camping.  We used to do it quite a bit but now we only go up to Lake Erie, but in my youth we went all over Ohio camping in various camp grounds.  We do not camp in a tent we have a small popup camper.  In this story we are at the Delaware camp ground.  Not the state.  I think I was about 5 and my father and I were at the shower house.  The shower house was full and there were about 6 showers in the house.  I was showered and waiting for my father to get dressed so we could leave.  Now at the age of 5 I was just learning to read.  So I was board and I was rooting around in the shower bag and I found a stick of deodorant with large letters that I could read.  Now this was no ordinary stick of deodorant, this was a stick of deodorant borrowed from my mother.  So when I got that stick of deodorant I read for all to hear what brand of deodorant my father used.  LADY SPEEDSTICK was what I announced to all that could hear me immediately follow by the laugh of the whole shower house.  Sorry Dad.

                I will give you one more story from my camping adventures.  This one also takes place in the shower house at about 3 years later.  The shower house was again pretty full and my father and I were setting out our shower things.  My father reaches in to the bag and pulls out a bra and pink underwear.  My father turns to me and says, “Are these yours?”

“No, are they yours” I asked.

Then a guy standing next to me says, “Hey guys no need to play stupid.  If that is what you guys are into we will not anyone.”  Then the whole shower house again broke in to laughter.  I am so glad that in both of these situations my father is somewhat humiliated.  Finally I am not the only one that looks like a fool.

A Revolution For All

This was an odd week. In English we are reading Twelve Anger Men and I am the foreman in the play.  I get the chance to read such lines as, no quiet down, take your seats, and there is another call for a vote.  What fun.  Now I did have one lengthy part in which I had a one sided conversation about how much it was rain, and that one time when I was coaching football, it was really muddy.  Needless to say it is not the most exciting part but I like to read it.  It was very cold this week, especially when i walked to school in the morning.  It was so cold than on Monday when I was walking to school my hair was a bit damp I ended up with frosted tips.  I think that we just skipped fall all together.  I was walking my dog in the morning and a snow flake hit me in my eye.  That is the first sign of winter.  The annual snow flake hit in the eye kicks off winter.  I even had to put a sweater on my dog in the mornings when I walked him.  The morning is the only my dog, Simon, because he has a sweater on.  I don’t really get embarrassed but a dog with a sweater that may or may not match mine is far enough for me.  I do enjoy the cold thought; I am a very winter type person.  I have thick skin I guess we will call it.  The winter time is the most beautiful time of year.  I have very fond memories of making snowmen in my front yard and having punk teenaged kids knock it down because it was mental or something.  Going sledding at the large hill at South but falling out of the sled and rolling down the hill.  Speaking of South sledding that reminds me on the only time I got I what you could call a “fight”.  I was maybe in 5^th or 6^th grade and I was sledding at South.  It was me and one of my friends, but we were not alone.  There were a bunch of neighborhood kids around.  Now there were two older kids there, I think in 7^th grade that were hogging the hill and bulling the little kids around.  So I am not going to talk that from anyone especially when they are bulling other people.  My friend and I grabbed our sleds and arm ourselves with snow balls.  We start the “war” with the snowball throw heard around the world.  Snow balls were flying at them not just from us but from the other kids that were getting bullied by them.  They finally gave up and went home.  I was for once and only once a winner.  I had started a revolution against the evil dictatorship that controlled the South hill.  If you go there today on the first snow of the season you will see a gathering of kids.  There will be one in the center giving the annual freedom speech of a boy named George that freed then from an evil ruled and made the hill safe for all. 

Response

http://taylorann-tay.blogspot.com/2010/10/weekend_29.html?showComment=1288652735979_AIe9_BFiAghR37IDsBH5BRElOsWgVY1euuFD0VpHchhiS2FouZLVCwJ_peuEZWpnlg7L3zko8ijyolAC858D8Q0DKkqyd2_uzoyJKQW56Db396RE-ggWk7gao8hYdZtriHevyFUIQMoGDnC8RU5tT6spma1GQkkc06nuxraZpNpcCJ9z_BF7v08LeUr5lW8x1WafP58cr_nRx2zGH9c26yHOmWIz9uXCefex6SodPsnt-l8lJ2eFKy36oJVunc5uxzqQulZ4Ibx9jsLwC9lclq7PcT79wAd72NE0Cu836RnC78iq1S6OrXzcfZUEedMdlxU3OTVxqjlXCtRQCbN6jB5YyVDDR51T_gAqwS7IjzmW58hubfUNu3P35HVRnqsvCIJKUSQdUpC809US__nEIy-dJqNzrsqcgvWFMbFZQni1qw7i6q2tHUCjpt_dGxZnLSPt9NbLkkFNUjWzn1Pw4Ry1mBxpz1TlOaslS9IpzS75jvZpcTmliOGhhkL0Jhp0JEZWBVf8voCiREvenYyPqOAwuogwEExbnkphFgMaXVu8WM9ndInv07ICFoWuRzGcsF3i6C83SLPpqzHx5Sma2wQWcEG9x6-Ivg1EbQLSu6TSBtGyLp6V-Zf0C-icOFo4BToAjLkz-yCf_9F7JGgNLe-5oW3YPyUyC-rmM0J-LvBIPo0Z2DTlOAP51yvdrOzLSBjcjveR2CUiJNGUQGABHCVB3Dffh10WcbiLe3lfs32Wt_eADi3neJE_JBYVR6ic-9k3xudomlsFpUTE6eLbAFG4f-5QZnw3zEtfPBPoLilZPuoVKTkhOBwcOdZnSipWRZ6jy5tRKZ3DbN6U3-xLGE8Sf1oar6mJSw#c6756055428119461776