Journal #19- Importance of nature & spirituality

I think that nature is really important in the cycle of life and death because I feel like it is the basis of the cycle of life. I think that nature is like the basis of this cycle because you begin life in a natural way and then you end life in a natural way. I think that spirituality comes into play in sometime between the time you are born and the time you die, and that it can be a really important part of life. When I think of nature, I think of the forests and animals that live there. There is a certain cycle of life that all these animals follow, and that entire cycle is based on how the natural world works. Nature can play a pretty big part in life because it can impact you in many ways. For example, your health is impacted by nature, and it can even impact your mental state. When I think of spirituality, I think of churches and God. I honestly do not think that this can directly impact your physical being, but I think it can be a really important part of your emotional self. I do not really know how spirituality has anything to do with the cycle of life except the fact that many different religions have a view of how that cycle goes. For example, some religions believe in heaven after death, and others believe in reincarnation. I think that nature is much more important to the cycle of life than spirituality is, but I think that spirituality has more of an emotional benefit. I think that spirituality affects the death part more in the cycle of life than it does the living part because of what happens after death. Although it has a greater impact on the death part, I think that it can also impact the life part because many religions have standards or rules for how they expect you to live your life.

Reflection Blog- Fireside Poets

So far, what I have learned about fireside poets is that they were admired by many Americans back in the day. The fireside poets were a group of popular American writers, and they got their name because it was thought that many families would read their poetry by the fire (Wilhelm 210). These poets were famous for creating extremely vivid pictures of the New England countryside in their poems and also for including important events that took place in American their narrative poems (Wilhelm 210). I think that it is really cool that families would all sit around the fire together and tell stories and read poems because that seems like it could be really relaxing. After reading about some of the fireside poets, I noticed that they were very descriptive in their writing. What I mean by they are descriptive is that they make things seem very real and vivid in their writing. William Cullen Bryant was the oldest fireside poet, and he was also the first poet to include American landscape in poems (Wilhelm 210). He wrote all about the nature he encountered as he went hiking, for example, in William Cullen Bryant's To the Fringed Gentian, he uses very descriptive writing when he says "Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, and colored with the heaven's own blue, that openest with the quiet light, succeeds the keen and frosty night" (Wilhelm 211). In this passage, William Cullen Bryant uses many descriptive words that help us as readers picture what he is writing about. This is different from the writers from our previous sections because I think they are much more descriptive in their writing than the writers of the other time periods were. Another example of the descriptive writing style used by Oliver Wendell Holmes in his work Old Ironsides is when he says "Beneath it rung the battle shout, and the burst the cannon roar; - the meteor of the ocean air shall sweep the clouds no more" (Wilhelm 211). I think its really cool that they use so many descriptions in their works because to me that makes reading so much more interesting and enjoyable. Also, the fireside poets are different from the writers of our previous sections in the fact that their poems are not about religion or logic. Most of the writings we have looked at in class are either linked to some form of religion or are logical/scientific, and these writings are neither of those. I do not really know what to call these writings, but to me they do not seem to fit into either of the two categories we have studied this far. I think that it is really cool that families would sit together and recite poems written by these poets because it shows a lot about the content of the poems. It tells us as readers that there was obviously something about these poems that people really liked, and with the fireside poets it was the fact that they could relate to them. The works of the fireside poets represented many values that were important to families back then, such as hard work, respect, and courage (Wilhelm 210).

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., and Douglas Fisher. Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 210-111. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.

Journal #18- The Perfect Autumn Day

I think that on the perfect autumn day, the weather would be amazing. The temperature would be perfect, not to warm and not to cold. It would feel warm outside, but there would still be a cold breeze every now and then. The trees would be changing colors, all different shades of yellow, orange, red, and brown. I would hear the sound of people raking up leaves, and later smell them burning in their yard. On the perfect autumn day, it would feel so good outside. I would go to the park and take a walk. On my walk, I would see many beautiful trees with leaves of all different colors. I would hear the wind blowing through the trees and see leaves fluttering to the ground. I would wear a light jacket because its to cold not to have one, but warm enough not to need a big winter coat. The perfect autumn day would also be perfect weather for a bike ride. I would ride my bike down the side walk and feel the cool breeze blowing against my face and through my hair. I would also hear the sound of leaves crunching under my bike tires as I rode around. I would come home to my mom cooking some delicious food, and the smell of pumpkin pie would fill my house. I would wear my warm boot slippers and eat some delicious food with my family, and then lay down and watch a movie. The perfect autumn day would be a really awesome day because of the excellent weather. I hope that this autumn I can experience the perfect autumn day. I love autumn weather because it is so nice outside and because the trees always look so pretty! I hope that there is the perfect autumn day this autumn. I love the season of autumn!

Journal #17- Bonding with Nature

I think that I bond the most with nature during the summer time. To me, bonding with nature means being outside and enjoying the weather. I am usually outside almost every day during the summer time because the weather is so nice and warm. In the summer time, I bond with nature in many ways by doing outdoor activities. I go swimming, biking, and sometimes I just go for a short walk at Washington Park. Also, I like going to Wisconsin with my family in the summer because we go and stay in a cabin in the woods and its really fun. I like nature most of the time, but sometimes it makes me so mad because of bugs and what not. I like to go fishing sometimes if that counts as bonding with nature, and I like to go boating and tubing also. In addition to fishing, when it rains a lot and my street floods I bond with not only nature but also the kids in my neighborhood because we do rebellious activities such as riding our bikes through the flood water and having worm fights. Oh and this one time I went hunting with my dad out in the deep woods, which was really boring. The most bonding I have ever done with nature would have to be when I went hiking at Starved Rock with my friend Helena. I saw some really cool trees and an awesome waterfall. I even jumped off the waterfall and swam in a little pool which ended up being really cool. I think that nature is pretty awesome at times and I think that it is really fun being out in nature. I do not interact with nature much in the winter because it is too cold for me outside but sometimes I play in the snow or go sledding.

joURNAL #16

I think that there are many tools we can use to help us communicate with our partners because we have so much technology surrounding us. For example, everyone nowadays has a cell phone of their own or at least has access to one. We could use cell phone to communicate through either text messages or through phone calls. I think that cell phones would be a really easy way to communicate because they are easy to use and usually pretty reliable. Also, we could use other technologies such as social networking sites. There are many social networking sites, but two of the most popular sites are Twitter and Facebook. Most people have either a Twitter or a Facebook so I think either of these might also be an effective way to communicate. I think that this project is going to force us to take advantage of all of the technology around us in order to communicate and get our work done. In addition to cell phones and social networking sties, we also have email address and skype. I do not really like skype, but if it came down to it I would use it. I think using emails would be a really good way of communicating because that way we can share things and chat at the same time. I think that if I had to pick one of these methods for communicating with my group members, I would pick either emailing or text messaging because both of these are really easy ways of sharing information. I do not think that social networking sites would be the best option just because I know that it can become extremely distracting and I do not want to not finish my work because I am getting distracted to much. I think that if my group is okay with it, we will communicate by cell phones or email just because they are simple and easy. This project is going to require us to use a lot of technology and communication skills.

Journal #15

I think that since we are working on a project with other students from different classes and from different schools, we will have to take full advantage of the technology that surrounds us everyday. I think that this project will be a little challenging for all of the students because we are all from different areas and the only way we will be able to communicate is through some form of technology. There are many different ways we can use technology to communicate, such as emails, twitter, facebook, skype, and even through text messaging. Personally, I do not really like this project because of the fact that communicating is going to be hard and sometimes using technology can be really confusing. I think that if my group can establish a way that we could all use to communicate this project will be easy, but if something goes askew we might have some problems. Out of all of the means of communication I said earlier, I think the one that would be best for this project would be either email or through text messaging. I think that these two would be best because facebook and twitter are blocked on our school computers and I think skype is confusing. Also, everyone has a cell phone so it would not be a problem to text message my group members about the project. Emailing would also be a pretty effective way of communicating with the other students because it has a feature that allows chatting, its easy to use, and everyone has one. If I get to pick the way my group communicates, I would probably chose either text messaging or emailing simply for the fact that it would be easy for everyone. I think that this project will allow us to take full advantage of the technology that we use everyday and it will teach us new and better ways to communicate with people from a distance.

Reflection Blog- Franklin's Virtues

So have spent the past few weeks learning a lot about Benjamin Franklin, but we have specifically learned quite a bit about his thirteen virtues. From discussing in class and from reading his autobiography, I learned that Benjamin Franklin was a very knowledgeable and talented man. I learned a lot about his accomplishments and what he did within his life time, but I think that learning about his thirteen virtues was definitely one of the most interesting things we discussed. I found his thirteen virtues to be interesting not because of the actual virtues themselves, but because I thought it was really cool that he would try and perfect himself and that he would dedicate that much of his time into doing so. In this passage from his autobiography, it shows just how much time Benjamin Franklin dedicated to his thirteen virtues:

My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be a master of that, then to proceed to another; and so on, till I should have gone through the thirteen (Franklin 150).

I think that it shows a lot about Benjamin Franklin that he was willing to dedicate that much of his time to perfecting himself. Also, I thought that it was really cool in class when we went over his thirteen virtues. I thought it was really interesting to see what virtues he found important and then also to see how he defined each one. Here, Benjamin Franklin tells the readers about how he chose his thirteen virtues:

...and I included under thirteen names of virtues, all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable; and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning (Franklin 149).

I liked how he picked out virtues that he thought were important, and then defined each one according to what he thought it meant. In my opinion, I think it is pretty much impossible to be absolutely perfect, so I do not think that Benjamin Franklin was one hundred percent with this study. Although I do not think he was perfect, I do believe that by practicing his thirteen virtues as much as he did, that he became a better version of himself.