Journal #10- Persuade

I think that Mr. Langley should postpone the due date of our vocabulary assignment for many reasons. First off, I think that if the vocabulary assignment was postponed it would be better for everyone. It would be better for us as students because we would have more time to complete this assignment and the more time we have to complete it, the better quality the assignment will be. If all the students have enough time to do their homework I think it will make their grades better and if all of the students have good grades then it will make Mr. Langley look like a really good teacher. I think it is a win win situation if the assignment is postponed because it will make everyone happy. Also, as a junior in high school I know that almost all students are already very stressed out because of the amount of homework we receive on a nightly basis and if this assignment would be postponed it might lighten the load of homework on students. I know that for me, my homework for tonight is already going to take up at least an hour of my time and I am sure that Mr. Langley does not want to spend his night grading my homework, so we should just postpone it and make everyone's life a little bit easier. I have a quote I like to live by, and it goes "why do today what you can put off until tomorrow" and I think we should honor the way I live and postpone this vocabulary assignment. Finally, my last reason for why this vocabulary assignment should be postponed is that some students do not have the resources that are necessary for this assignment. Internet access is necessary for almost all of our assignments, and if a student does not have internet at home all of these assignments would be almost impossible. I really hope this assignment is postponed!

Speech to the Second Virginia Convention- Reflection Blog

In the Speech to the Second Virginia Convention, we are reading in a style that is different from the Puritan style we have been looking at recently. The Puritan style is much different from this new style that we see in this speech in many ways, but I think the most obvious way is that in the Puritan writing style, they relate everything to God and religion and in this new style of writing it is more of a logical approach and they have less of a religious view of things. This new writing style is called Rationalism, and this speech is a very good example of how the Rationalism writing style sounds. In the Puritan writing style, they refer to God a lot and they are all very religion based, and contrary to that we have Rationalism which is more of a logical way of thinking. For example, in this speech Patrick Henry says "If we were base enough to desire it, it is now to late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery." (Henry 118). I think that this passage shows the Rational style this speech was written in because he is basically saying, there is no way out of this for us so we should just go to war. I think this is rational because he was being very logical in the way he thinks about things. I think that it makes sense to go ahead and go to war if you already know it is going to happen. Another passage from this speech that really struct me as being a rational way of thinking was

The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field; Why do we stand here idle? (Henry 118).

To me, this passage was very rational sounding for many reasons. What Patrick Henry is trying to say in this part of his speech is that if we stand around and wait any longer, they are going to begin a war with us so we might as well be the ones that start the war because we would have some sort of an advantage over them. I think that this passage reveals the Rationalism writing style used by Patrick Henry because of his logical approach and way of thinking. I like reading in the Puritan writing style better than the Rationalist writing style because I think it is interesting to see how people acted back when religion was the center of everything. Patrick Henry showed us a lot of qualities that go along with the Rationalism writing style in his speech Speech to the Second Virginia Convention. I think that Rationalist writing styles became more and more popular over time because society became less and less religion based. For example, look at where we are today in society as compared to where we were years ago. Things have changed and the writing styles have also changed along with society.

Bibliography

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 114-119. Print.

Journal #9- Rational Approach

Being a girl, I am around emotional people about 90% of the time. I am used to the emotional emotions of girls because I am around it so much, and also because believe it or not I am a girl. I know that if something goes wrong for me, I tend to have a bad habit to freak out and probably be slightly annoying with my emotions. Although girls always seem to be more emotional than boys, I also think that boys at times can be pretty emotional. For example, I have this cousin of mine that is usually a good student and generally does well in school. He is one of those kids that the I am so jealous of that can barely study for a hard test and still get an A. This year he is a freshman at the awesome Pleasant Plains High School, and he decided to take Spanish 1. I have been taking Spanish for 3 years now, so basically you can say I am a professional. Anyways, he is used to getting good grades in class without doing much studying and when he started taking Spanish he was blown away. He was kind of freaking out because he has been able to do good in classes his whole life without much effort, and then Spanish comes along and kind of caught him off guard. He was emotional because he was for the first time in his whole life, struggling to get a good grade. I solved this little problem of his by being rational and awesome. I tutored him and tried to help him better understand how to do his homework and now he is doing better in that class. I think I am pretty amazing for being able to help out my little baby cousin with his Spanish and I solved his emotional problem with my super cool rational thinking skills. This is a great story about a girl and her cousin.

Journal #8- Autumn

Autumn is a lovely time of year. I like autumn because it is football season and because of all of the bonfires that are going on. I like being able to wear a sweatshirt and jeans sitting by a fire playing never have I ever with all my closest pals. I also like autumn because of Halloween. I love Halloween because of all of the haunted houses that are going on and they are so fun to go to! This year I plan on going to many haunted houses with all of my friends. This year will be my first year of not going trick or treating on Halloween night, and after 16 years I think I'm finally ready to move on. Another reason I like autumn is because it is cold, but it is not like snowy and freezing. It is nice weather most of the time and it is perfect weather to watch football in. I love going to football games with my friends, and I also love going to watch my little brother play on his football team. I am really excited for this autumn because of all of the fun things I plan on doing! Although I am really excited for autumn, summer is by far my favorite season of the year. I like summer better than autumn because in the summer, I am worry free and mostly because I do not have to go to school. I hate school a lot, and unfortunately autumn is the season in which school starts. The only reason I do not completely hate autumn is because of homecoming and football games and Halloween and bonfires. For once, I am actually super duper excited for autumn this year. Oh and how could I forget that my all time favorite part of autumn is the pumpkin pie! Thanksgiving is in autumn and I absolutely love pumpkin pie, so therefore I kinda love autumn a little bit.

Journal #7- Bullying

I think that bullying is a serious problem in both middle schools and high schools everywhere. I have been on both ends of bullying before, and I can honestly say that neither of them is very fun. Being bullied is obviously not fun, but neither is being the bully. When ever I do something to someone to hurt their feelings, I feel really bad about it and sometimes I even get to the point where I can not go to sleep without calling and apologizing to them. I think that everyone is made fun of or laughed at during some point in their life, and sometimes I think people can be a little bit too sensitive about certain things. For example, if someone makes a joke or says something sometimes certain people take it way too seriously and its really annoying. Although I think they take things too seriously, I also think that if you know someone is going to be upset if you say that then you should just keep the comment to yourself. Bullying can cause serious damage to a persons life and can also affect the way they look at themselves. I think that bullies also have a difficult time because there is no way you can be so mean to someone and not feel remorseful about it. I used to be really mean back in middle school and I know that after the fact I would always at least feel a little bit bad about it. Luckily, in high school I developed a soul and I started being nice to people. Sometimes I like bully Abby Ulrich because it is really fun. In seventh grade I nick named her "Smellrich" and it has stuck like glue! I think that me and Abby are really good friends because we both like to bully each other. Its similar to a hate-hate relationship. But it is okay when we bully each other because we both know we are just joking and that is why she is my friend.

The Crucible Act 3- Reflection Blog

I think that so far in The Crucible, the author has revealed a lot of human nature through the characters. I know that for me, if I am being accused of something I will become super defensive and I even may try to shift the blame onto another person. I think that this is an example of human nature because no one wants to be blamed for something that is wrong or causes trouble to others, so if this happens people become defensive and try to shift the blame to someone else. This is exactly what is happening right now in The Crucible, all of the women are being accused of witchcraft and because of it their husbands are becoming extremely defensive against each other. The men are being very hostile with each other and are accusing each other, all in hopes of clearing their names and setting their family free (Miller). Also, I think that for some people it is in their nature to be mean and evil, which I think is displayed in this book by Abigail. I think that Abigail is just evil in nature because she always seems to be involved in the dramatic incidents that take place in this book. People do not like being blamed or accused, especially when what they are being accused of could potentially get them hung. I know that if someone was accusing me of something I did not do, I would probably react in a way similar to the way all of the men acted in this book. I also think that being hung is a really extreme punishment, especially when they have almost no proof except the he said she said that is going around the town. I think that Arthur Miller knows a lot about human nature because of how much of it he has in cooperated it into this play. He not only shows us a great deal about human nature, but he also shows a quite a few different types of personalities and how they can interact and get along with each other. Another example of human nature displayed in this book is something that I think is less common in today's society. It was in people's nature back when this book was written to be very religious, and therefore they were also very strict about God and the Devil. In this book we see many conflicts that deal with people being accused of seeing the Devil and we also see how this kind of problem was addressed. I think that this book is a very good book to read because it is very realistic about how people would react in a certain situation. For example, in this book when people are being accused of witchcraft, they react in a very predictable way and try to shift the blame to someone else (Miller). I think that some books try to hard to capture human nature, and therefore it can sometimes be unrealistic. In The Crucible, we are shown a large amount of human nature as well as shown the many different types of personalities and how they act together.

Bibliography

Miller, Aurthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin Group, 1976. Print

Journal #6- Blaming

It seems like people always have someone or something else to blame when something goes wrong. I know that I always have some sort of an excuse or someone else to blame when I am in the spotlight for being wrong. For example, back when I was in sixth grade I had a research paper to turn in to Mrs. Risdon in class the next day. I finally had it all written, typed, and printed, ready to turn in the next day in class. But unfortunately I ended up forgetting my completed paper at home on the table, and both my parents were at work and could not bring it to me. Mrs. Risdon had been very clear that she was not going to accept late grades, so when class rolled around and I had no paper to turn in, I freaked out. I told Mrs. Ridson that my printer was broken and that my dad was going to fix it tonight and I would bring it in tomorrow. Unknown to me before then, she asked for my dad's cell phone number and told me that she was going to call him to verify that our printer was actually broken. I was freaking out because I lied to her and now I was going to get in trouble with my parents, and my teacher, all because I put the blame on something else. There are many consequences that can come with blaming someone for something they did not do, and some are less severe than others. For example, if I spilled milk all over the floor and then blamed it on my sister, she would have to clean it up instead of me having to do it. But in more extreme cases, like in The Crucible, Elizabeth is being blamed for murder and because of that she might be hung. I try not to blame others for my mistakes and I hope that people will not blame me for theirs.