Extra Credit: Darfur Presentation

I really enjoyed the Darfur presentation. The guy used a power point presentation to further illustrate the ongoing problems in Darfur. What I thought was really cool was that he gave us this phone number that was like a hot line for your local governor or house representative and all you had to do is dial the number 1-800-436-6243 and then put in your zip code and you could get directly connected to the governor and tell her to pass the bill that will help stop genocide. Another thing that I thought was cool was that they have a website that grades presidential candidates and other politicians on their participation in stopping genocide. They use the same scale of grading from A+ to an F. I thought that this should have been a required thing to go to because it really enlightened people about the truth and also showed many different ways of helping prevent genocide. They way he shared his information was really cool and the power point had lots of interesting pictures of the things going on in Darfur.

Skateboarding; The Quintessential Boarding Sport

Yes it's skateboarding. The sport that has been revolutionized over the years since 1950ʻs when the first skateboard was manufactured from a mere four by two with roller skates attached to the bottom. So why is skateboarding the most quintessential boarding sport? Well first off its one of the most popular and well-known sport through out the world. Out of all the boarding sports it can be ridden at almost anytime and location. Surfing requires an ocean, good waves, and clear weather. All of these things are out of our control so surfing is not a guarantee activity everyday. Snowboarding requires well, snow! And since we live in a paradise snow is not an option. Skateboarding can be done on the street, garage, of the curb, anyplace where there is concrete, wood, or a hard surface. You can skate in the rain (although chances of injuries or a rusty board are increased) and since we humans spend most of out time on land instead of the ocean, then skateboarding dominates surfing since it can be done anywhere at anytime. Morning skating, noon skating, night skating, you could even skate in dirt (using a different kind of board and wheels). A misconception is that skating idolizes breaking the law when in actuality it tries to express freedom: freeing you of your troubles and focuses you on riding the board and releasing your troubled mind from the problems in the world around you.
Without snow or an ocean, this feeling of freedom can't be reached so with the skateboard it creates a bridge to that place of freedom. That's why skateboarding is the quintessential boarding sport.

Practice SAT writing #2

In this essay we had to talk about the emphasise on practical learning and if there is too much emphasis on it. Take a look...

Practical learning can be a useful tool into living a successful life but do people put too much emphasis on it? Without practical thinking there wouldn't be specialists in certain fields such as medicine or law. Practical learning seems kosher to most people but is it really?

Western society and culture has been influencing young minds that if you live a successful life (materialistically), you will be happy. This puts pressure on students, particularly high school students, that are trying to strive for good grades which take them to college, and then their dream job. The pressure influences the students to learn only what is needed to get to their dream job, without wasting any time on learning other new subjects and ideas. They feel like they have to focus only on practical things that apply to themselves.
Currently I play soccer for a club team but lately my concern for a good college education and job has been discouraging me from playing. Even though I'm only in high school, it feels as if I have to plan out the rest of my life in black and white already and it makes me only want to pick courses that concern with my future. With all this pressure, I know I'm probably not going to ensue this career and make it professionally so why should I bother playing soccer? If Western culture raised us to learn for the sake of learning, school would be more enjoyable for most people and there would be less pressure on worrying about the future.

I think that we have been bestowed with so much pressure upon us to become "successful business men" that it seems like we should only learn the things we need to know, in order to strive towards our goal of "living successfully". If you learn for the sake of learning, you could end up discovering something you enjoy doing and at the same time make a successful living. Instead of concentrating on practical skills, you should focus more on learning as much as you can now on anything, so that later when you do have to decided on your future job, you'll have more of a variety to pick from.

Nanthan: Obsessed Maniac

Psychological Critic

As we read through The Poison Wood Bible, we begin to learn more about Nathan Price and why he became the man he is in the book. By being the psychological critic, I began searching for some answers on why he makes the choice he does in the book along with what he says. You could also consider me to be the Devil’s advocate in this “literature figure eight” because most of the things he says and choices he makes harm people emotionally and mentally.

In the beginning of Judge’s, Orlenna Price gives us a fairly clear history of Nathan’s past along with their marriage and life spent together. Something that had caught my eye was after they had married, Nathan was sent out to war in the Philippines.
In the war, Nathan takes a wound to the head from a shell fragment. He was sent to a hospital and was taken care there but had not learned about what had happened to the rest of his company while he was in the hospital in Corregidor. He learned that after a terrible decision by a commander to have his company move out to Manila in Bataan Peninsula, they were rounded up by gunpoint and were marched to a prison camp. Nobody survived the Death March. Nathan being a very, very religious man, felt guilty and like a coward for not being there with his fellow soldiers and also probably felt like God was punishing him and despised him. “Already Nathan’s obsession with guilt and God’s reproof was infecting me” (199). Orlenna begins to feel as if Nathan cares more about what God thinks of him and that he is constantly watching his every move and Nathan doesn’t want to disappoint God or get punished severely from it. Also, the effects of war had greatly changed the way Nathan lived and began to devote himself more to God. Orlenna notices his behavior and says, “Nathan was changed, I could see, but he only seemed more devout [to his religion]” (197). With Nathan’s obsession of his religion and his guilt towards God, he turns into a monster in the eyes of Orlenna.

Now that I have established the fact that Nathan is an obsessive Christ lover (no offense to anyone that is religious), I can see why some of the choice he makes are from his guilt. For example, “Nathan was made feverish by sex, and trembled afterward praying aloud and blaming me for my wantonness” (198). After Nathan and Orlenna had copulated, his guilt motivates him to pray and blame Orlenna so that God won’t punish him for what he had done.

Also when Orlenna was pregnant with Rachel, Nathan harshly said to her, “Not a one of those men will ever see a son born to carry on his name. And you dare to gloat before Christ himself about your undeserved blessing” (198). This to me was probably one of the weirdest and meanest things for him to say when Orlenna was pregnant. This comes back to his guilt. After not fighting along with his fellow men in war, he feels as if the child she is receiving is an undeserved blessing even though she hadn’t done anything wrong to deserve that kind of abusive statement. Nathan again the tries to blame her in front of God for having a baby (since he is always watching) to not get punished from God.

Nathan is a very deranged person after the war. I personally think that religion is not always the most helpful of things. It causes disputes which turn into wars. I can also create monsters such as Nathan. In summer school, a teacher talked to us about religion and told us that we should pick our religion to fit us. Something that makes sense to us and that can fit with what you perceive on how to love your life. I think that if religion drives people to the point of obsession and paranoia of God punishing us for their sins, then why believe in it?

Genesis Lit Circle

Lexicographer

Copulation: -noun
1) sexual intercourse.
2) a joining together or coupling.

Narrator:
“… poisonous frogs war-painted like skeletons, clutched in copulation,secreting their precious eggs onto dripping leaves” (5).

Contingency: -noun
1)dependence on chance or on the fulfillment of a condition; uncertainty; fortuitousness.
2)a contingent event; a chance, accident, or possibility conditional on something uncertain.
3)something incidental to a thing.

Leah:
“Mother tried to think of every contingency, including hunger and illness” (14).

Bougainvillea: -noun
1) any of several shrubs or vines of the genus Bougainvillea, native to South America, having small flowers with showy, variously colored bracts, and often cultivated in warm regions.

Adah:
“… billowy clouds of scarlet bougainvillea” (32).

Consorting: -verb
1)To keep company; associate.
2)To be in accord or agreement.

Leah:
“Father explained to us that he had gone plumb crazy, consorting with the inhabitants of the land” (38).

hyssop: -noun
1) any of several aromatic herbs belonging to the genus Hyssopus, of the mint family, esp. H. officinalis, native to Europe, having clusters of small blue flowers.
2) An unidentified plant mentioned in the Bible as the source of twigs used for sprinkling in certain Hebraic purificatory rites.

Adah:
“…purge me with hyssop” (56). / “Likely she would run through the fields dressed in sackcloth, hunting hyssop amongst the wild bulls” (56).

Nonchalant: -adjective
1) coolly unconcerned, indifferent, or unexcited; casual.

Adah:
“Leah, on account of her nonchalant dazzling scores on reading comprehension tests, and myself by association, as I am presumed to have the same brain insofar as the intact parts go” (56)

Putative: -adjective
1) thought, assumed, or alleged to be such or to exist.

Adah:
“We listened vaguely to Our Father’s tale of the putative Mercedes truck” (74).



Bemused: -adjective
1) bewildered or confused.
2) lost in thought; preoccupied.

Adah:
“‘That road,’ said our mother, bemused, gesturing with a lazy bent wrist out the window” (74).

disconsolate: -adjective
1) without consolation or solace; hopelessly unhappy; inconsolable.
2) characterized by or causing dejection; cheerless; gloomy.
Synonyms: heartbroken, dejected.
Adah:
“She [Leah] sat ramrod straight as if she were on television, going
for the sixty-four dollar question.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Each one wouldn’t last but two or three miles.’
‘Oh.’ Leach was disconsolate” (75).

CHINESE ROOTS

Over spring break, I got the chance to travel to China with my family, my brother, mom, dad, grandpa, and grandma. We took some interesting pictures while we stayed there. ENJOY!


This is a picture at the GREAT WALL. It was snowing. Everything was coated in snow and it was so foggy and hazy (from pollution) that you could only see things within a 10 foot radius.


Now this picture is very interesting. This is mini Starbucks in the FORBIDDEN CITY (Beijing). Our private guide told us that there were many arguments and political debates on whether to have a Starbucks inside. After it is called the FORBIDDEN CITY.


Nice architectural landscaping.


a little Chinese boy with his mother (cute yea?)


little emperor


Dragon in a Shanghai garden.

Boom Chick-a-Ahhhh!!!!!!!!!

Well, since Mr. Watson posted his cool beat box, flute paying, prodigy, I thought maybe I could put a cool beat boxing guy of my own. This guy reminded me of a friend that I knew a while back. He had nasty frizzy hair and was super funny. He never had a dull moment and was always cracking funny jokes. When I first saw this I thought this was the one of the funniest things I had ever seen. Here you go.