The Great Gatsby

Sweet Sugar Babe performed by the Paul Biese Trio connects to Gatsby in the way that Daisy was his sweet sugar baby but now she is not. Gatsby still wishes to have Daisy be his sweet sugar baby.
Blue Danube Waltz performed by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra connects to Gatsby in a style of dancing they had. Waltzing was a way they danced in The Great Gatsby and that's hos this song connects to it.
Love Nest performed by Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra shows how everything was like a huge love nest. People were loving each other left and right even if they were married. Married people in the book still had affairs with others making it to be one big intertwined nest of love.

Last Blog of the Year

The topic I liked the best was Expressions in Art, becasue i got to see how slave life was potrayed and the intense vibe it gave off. My least favorite topic was reflections on the crucible, becuase I did not like the crucible very much and it just wasn't what i liked. I do think though that overall I put very good effort into these blogs. There are probably two or three i did minimum work on but overall I would say I did try and put good effort into these. I'd say blogging was a good experience. It was something different I had never done and it was interesting I would say. I also learned more about the slaves art work and how they used it to express the pain they had to bear. Along with the art work I also learned how to dig deeper into things we read and how there are things, out side of the books and stories we read, connected to them. My top three stories we read were The Law of Life, An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, and The Pit and the Pendulem.

Miss Wolff

The advice I have for Miss.Wolff is to keep things fun. This year i felt we had fun in class but we also got work done. Make lessons fun and keep students involved, and have a little activity every once and awhile maybe. Just keep things fun while still being able to get things done is the way to go! I know it's probably hard but it is the way to go for sure! Students want to get involved and have fun just make sure they do it while still getting homework and everything else done. That's the best advice I got.

Mark Twain's Wit

"Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain." I like this quote because I feel you can't say it any better. To get rid of anything you fear the best way is to do whatever it is you fear. Once you have done what you fear than more than likely the fear will be gone. It's a matter of doing what you fear because once you have done it once it won't be as bad when you come across that fear again. Sometimes in life we have to face things that we fear and were going to have to deal with them whether we like it or not. That's why i like this quote because it couldnt be any truer.

What's Good?

I movie that I really liked was The Blindside. I like this movie not only becasue it's based on football and someone who had to work hard to get to where he got, but because it was also based on a true story. Just the fact it's based on a true story just shows you how anything is possible if you set your mind to. Him going from not knowing where he was going to sleep at nice to working hard and  eventually living a dream life is crazy. It also really can show kids on the street that there's something better out there they can do with their life if they set their minds to it. I love this movie.

Stories of the Quest for Civil Rights

http://www.crmvet.org/nars/stor/s_hardy.htm In this link the people, like King, Malcom X, and other everyday blacks, such as the Delany sister, had to presever through their struggles. In this story/link they came together and they did what they could even if it took a long time. The hardships that the people in the story handled, such as going to jail, were very similar to other people in the civil rights movement. King and Malcom X did time in jail but they kept going at it like the people in this story, because they knew there was a good cause behind their doings. Also like the Delany's and all other blacks the people in this story did have confrontations with the klansmen and racists. Their hardships all together were very similar and dificult but they kept pushing forward for an equal America.

Harlem

These websites show a very good amount of similarties to HOS. In HOS Bessie and Sadie were very religous and it was a very impotant aspect in their life. There were many churches as you went through the streets of Harlem, which just shows how important it was not to just Bessie and Sadie but to the people of Harlem too. The churches were also shown as crowded. On the second website i checked on I looked at the boxer Jack (John Arthur) Johnson. He was pretty succesful as Sadie and Bessie were, but he also had his problems of racism from the white community. He perservered and worked hard though and would end up starting up his own supper club. He worked hard to do what he did, as did Bessie and Sadie when they were on their pursuit to get their jobs.

Having Your Say

One thing I think is crazy is the law in Wisconsin where teenagers until your eighteen are allowed to drink alcohol if an adult allows them too. I think this is nonsense and is one of the dumbest laws ever. No matter what I think kids shouldn't start to drink until they are twenty one years of age, because that is what the law originally is. Also, whatever parent lets their teenage kid drink is crazy because it only gives them bad habits, and could cause them to be alcoholics. I think they need to change this law as soon as possible because it makes absolutely no sense in my mind.

Expressions in Art

This picture gets a wide span of what slavery was like on slave ships. Slaves would jump over board as seen in the picture. Also depicted are some of the slaves getting whipped and beaten probably for doing something wrong. Than there is the bottom of the ship where slaves would be thrown together as they had no space to move at all. All around, no matter where the slaves were on the ship they were suffering greatly.

Connections from Whitman

In the beginning, where it talks about how the child will be whatever he looked upon, that is me. Ever since day one the "objects" I always looked at were my parents. I saw them on a daily basis and the way they conducted themselves showed me how to have good manners and to be polite to people. Also, their hard work rubbed off on to me and this is definitely something I became, a hard worker. Being polite, having manners, and being a hard worker is only part of who a became, but this is what I consist of Greatly. I couldn't be more glad to have parents that could lead me in the right direction.

Emily Dickinson's Garden of Poetry

XXXVIII. WITH FLOWERS.

South winds jostle them, Bumblebees come, Hover, hesitate, Drink, and are gone. Butterflies pause On their passage Cashmere; I, softly plucking, Present them here!

The flowers could be her love or something of the sort. The wind could be her thoughts that mess around with and jostle with her love. When the bumblebees could be past lovers that have hesitated to love her and are now gone. This poem shows in my eyes that she had past lovers and mixed emotions about them but none of her lovers stayed around. She has not had luck in the past with her lovers.

Affirmations of Life

Today I did not have much homework.  The homework that I do have to have finished isn't due until later in the week. I'm glad I can take my time on it and do a good job.  Also, the weather was fantastic today. Being about fifty degrees it was a beautiful day. Along with this beautiful day I had tutoring for the ACT. I'm glad that I have the opportunity to have tutoring for the ACT, because the better score I get the more scolarship money I can get. Today was a good day and I wish all days were like this.

The Truth about Nature

As a kid I used to climb trees almost all the time.  Sometimes I would just sit in a tree for an hour or two and just watch the things that happened around me. It always was interesting to me how everything revolves around something else. Birds depend on the warm weather coming out of winter to make spring happen. And in life things always revolve around others, how things are going in your life, and what you do. Yes, it did alter my way of thinking on how what I do will affect so many other people, if I know them or not. I just changed my attitude on life and how i should approach things.  I'm glad nature could help me to change how I felt and though about things.

Team Edgar or Team Nathaniel?

I personally would choose Edgar. His style is more mysterious and eerie which brings a greater interest to me.  Also, since Edgar had so much death and hard times in his life he could greatly relate between what he wrote and his real life.  Yes, Nathaniel does relate his real life to his stories but I feel it is more prominent with Edgar because he uses such strong words and description.  Overall, the creepiness of Edgar's writings are more interesting and appealing to me.