Last Blog

Overall blogging this year has not been the worst thing in the world. It wasn't my favorite thing to do but it also wasn't too bad. I did learn a lot just by doing the blogs alone and doing research. I might actually consider writing my own blog just because I like to write about random things. As far as my favorite topic goes, I would have to go with "What's good?". I liked that one the best because I got to write about something I really liked and why I liked it. It is easier to write and to write more about a topic that you want to write about. The topic that disliked the most was The Great Gastby one. It is very difficult to find music from the 20s and relate it to the book. Not my favorite at all. Now to be honest I probably didn't put as much effort into these blogs as i should have. I did kind of slack off on these and wait till the last minute and I wish I hadn't and I apoligize for that. I did enjoy some of them so it wasn't all bad. I did do the minimum on some of the blogs such as the blogs that I didnt know much about or could think of a lot to write about, however there were some that I enjoyed writing about and did my best on. This was a good expierence and I learned to look at others writings and reflect it to mine and like I said I am thinking about making my own blog.

Top three stories:
The Pit and the Pendulum
Self-Reliance
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Miss Wolff

First off I would like to say welcome to Rockford Lutheran, you are going to love it here. There are some things however that could help you for next year. One, the upcoming junior class is quite interesting. There are some very smart kids in that grade but also some kids that are not as smart and may just want to goof around. I guess that could be said for every class but I think, just from what i know about the sophomore class thing year, is that they may try and take advantage of your. Do not let them do that and do not be a push over by any means. That is what everyone wants and I hope that you do not do that. Also I would recommend the graffiti board like Mrs. Williams did because that is sort of a different way of teaching and is interesting to see what other people have to say. Also i recommend that you stick with most of the stories and book except maybe the Scarlet Letter because that is a very boring book. I am assuming it is going to be hard work so work hard and good luck next year.

Mark Twain

"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval" - Mark Twain. Now this quote of Mark Twain's is a very interesting one. It is one that i believe I understand and that I can actually relate to. I think that this quote is saying that it does not matter what other people think, in the end it is your decision. Whatever that decision may be, it is yours. People shouldn't listen to other people to make their choices. What is the fun and point of that? So it is saying that if you like your decision then you will be comfortable. Now this relates to me by I sometimes don't always listen to myself. I sometimes go with the crowd and don't let myself make the decision. I believe that this is a common thing among other people. Some people need to figure out that this is your life and you do not have to listen to anyone else but yourself. If people try to make you do something just don't even worry about it and make your own decision. It's your life and no one can take that away from you no matter what. 

What's good?

One of my all time favorite movies is Anchorman. To be honest is is probably my favorite movie ever or tied for first. I quote that movie pretty much every single day of my life. Most people don't understand me when i quote the movie because no one has seen that movie more than I have. I quote that movie probably everyday in your class you just might not know it. I really enjoy this movie because of how funny it is. Yes Will Ferrel is in it and yes he is hilarious but the other characters are just as funny. The actors the play them are just hilarious and make the movie. I give a bunch of credit to the writers too because everything they say in the movie is so funny and so clever I just don't know how they come up with this stuff. It is not only funny, it has a pretty good plot to it. It will make you laugh your butt off. If you are looking for a great comedy movie, I highly recommend Anchorman.

CRM

http://www.crmvet.org/nars/balt61.htm
The Civil Rights Movement was a big event and time period. I read a story about a girl who helped do multiple sit-ins at various restaurants. Her name was Roslyn Garfeld Lang and she was in college just getting back from studying in Israel. Well she joined this group of college students from many different colleges called the Civic Interst Group (CIG). There were both white and black students that did this and they all would dress up very nice and go into different restaurants and wait to be served. They would stay until they were told that they were not going to be served and that the manager read them the Maryland tresspass law or until the cops came. Some stayed and were arrested. Now this is very similar to the story we read about the sit-in and how violent it got. It doesnt say that it got violent but it does say that people were arrested and spent the night in jail or a short period of time. Very interesting stuff.

Harlem

Harlem was full of great people. It was a place where black people had a chance to show their dream and live. One person that was very talented and had a bright future ahead of her was Florence Mills. She was born to just live on a stage. At age four she apeared in a big play. She then went on to many great things. She could do it all; sing, dance, act, the works. She appeared in many different plays and shows and just sang her heart out when she was on stage as well. Unfortunatly, she died suddenly of appendicitis. It was unexpected and at the height of her fame. Her funeral however was the most spectaculars in Harlem's history. So many people showed up it was crazy. That just shows how much the people cared about her and how much Harlem cared for their community people.

Having your say

Something that I feel very strongly about about is that hockey, in general, is not respected as it should be and maybe overlooked by so many people. Now obviously me being a hockey player I love the game of hockey and everything about it. That is not the case for most of America I would say. Most people, when they think of hockey, they just think of fighting and how physical the sport is and that is not what hockey is all about. Yes the physical part of the game is a huge part of the game but there is so much more that people just do not know. It requires so much skill and practice it's ridiculous. All of this is overlooked. These athletes that play in the National Hockey League are just freak athletes. I mean you have to be so good to be the the NHL and some people don't understand that. Also I would like to see hockey get a little more recognition on TV. I watch ESPN every single day and all I see is 55 minutes of basketball, football, and baseball and if I'm lucky, 5 minutes of hockey. And that is in the playoffs. During the regular season there might be 2 minutes of highlights. It's just not right and hockey deserves more recognition. I think it is probably one of the hardest sports to play just because it requires so many skills and everything. I could serioulsy go on and on about this but I am going to stop here. I'll leave you with this Mrs. Williams. Nexy time you see a hockey game on, try and watch 5 minutes and just be amazed at how these amazing athletes are going so fast and playing at such a high pace on ice with a thin layer of steel nailed to their boot. It's pretty amazing stuff and it may change the way you think about hockey.

Expressions in art

Now as you said, Tom Feelings painted a lot of pictures of The Middle Passage and slavery. I believe that the photo shown above shows a little bit about slavery. One it shows the gigantic ocean that lies in front of the ship that so many African-American slaves are on and really, I think, almost over exaggerates to show that riding on these ships was no easy ride at all. It was an awful time for the slaves and you did not want to be on those ships. It also shows just how many slaves were packed onto this ship. This picture in particular only shows the top of the ship and in this case the slaves are working on the deck. But alot of the slaves were down below stuffed together like sardines. Also maybe these slaves are being shipped and transfered to the ship in the background. The life of a slave was something that African-Americans did not like and was not a good life style by any means and i believe that this painting or drawing by Feelings portrays that quite well.

Connections from Whitman

I thought that the poem was very interesting but also kinda of weird in a way. However the part i want to reflect on is the first stanza. It says that the first thing that the child would look at, he would become that. It says it could be for hours or possibly years. Now I feel the same way about the sport that i have grown to love since I was just a little kid. I believe that hockey has become a part of me. It is in my life basically 24/7 during the season and then I still play during the spring and summer just not as much. I watch it on TV even when my beloved Chicago Blackhawks are not on. I just love the game and I love to learn more and more about it even when I'm not playing. I've loved it ever since i was 3 years old. It has become a part of me and is something that I want to stay in my life for the rest of my life.

Emily Dickinson

XXIII. IN THE GARDEN.

A bird came down the walk: He did not know I saw; He bit an angle-worm in halves And ate the fellow, raw. And then he drank a dew From a convenient grass, And then hopped sidewise to the wall To let a beetle pass. He glanced with rapid eyes That hurried all abroad, -- They looked like frightened beads, I thought; He stirred his velvet head Like one in danger; cautious, I offered him a crumb, And he unrolled his feathers And rowed him softer home Than oars divide the ocean, Too silver for a seam, Or butterflies, off banks of noon, Leap, plashless, as they swim. So I'm not sure why but it is not letting me go all the way over to the left so I'm going to do it like this. So in this poem I believe Emily is talking about a moment in time where she actually experienced this in her garden. I can say that I understand the beggining of the poem because she is just talking about what she saw and how she describes the bird and what the bird is doing. But to be honest I have no idea what she is saying in the last two stanzas. Maybe she is saying that once the bird noticed her it was scared at first but then it got more comfortable and ate the bread the bird felt more comfortable and felt like emily was accepting they bird. The bird was happy to eat the food. I could be completely wrong but that is what I think this poem is about.

Affirmations of Life

Okay so since I decided to wait till last few weeks of school to start these blogs I'll talk about how every student is thinking about summer right about now and not school. It's not a mystery because students post things on facebook and twitter every single day about how they can't wait till summer. Now this is something that students all across the country look forward to at this time of year but unfortuately the students grades possibly go down at this point too. Now I have to admit I am one of those students that is all for summer and that's all im thinking about but I'm here to say to all of the students like me to keep going strong. It's only a few more weeks and we can do it! Finish strong and do not slack off! I know it's hard to do but we have to look at the big picture here. Persevere and finish the year off strong so we can make the summer even better!

The truth about nature

Now I have had my share of experiencing nature in my short life. Me and my dad go fishing every year when we are on vacation in Minnesota. I never like to wake up early in the morning for anything in the summer but fishing is something that i will. So last year me and my dad were fishing early in the morning and i reel in a small northern pike. I had hooked it really bad and it was already dying so my dad cut the belly and put the fish in the water as it floated away. The reason he did this was because he saw a bald eagle on a tree branch not too far from where we were fishing. As soon as the fish got far enough away from the boat the eagle looked right at me and my dad almost telling us something like "thank you" and then swooped down off the branch and took the fish from the water and back to his nest across the lake. It was one of the craziest and coolest things I've seen. Now my dad had been talking all about this eagle like all week because he loves talking about that sort of stuff and i got more interested as the week went on too. But when this whole act happened, it completely opened my eyes to nature. Like I can now see how smart these bald eagles are and it was incredible. Everything i wish that had happened, happened in just that little time sequence. that event is a time that i experienced nature and i will never forget.