Pac Div

Pac Div is a rap group from Southern California.  They are starting to get noticed more and more, and still have maintained what made them famous.  In their first to mixtapes they rap about being average.  They grew up, had normal lives, normal neighboorhoods, and where average rappers.  They have a sort of mainstream sound, but unique lyrics, and relatable lyrics to all types of youth.

Jay and Nick

First off, Gatsby is a fake.  It seems like he is just using Nick to get closer to Daisy.  Many of us have done something like this at any point in our lives, so it isn't a huge deal, and it doesn't portray Gatsby as a villain.  Nick seems like he wouldn't be crushed if Gatsby told him he wasn't his best friend in the whole wide world.  Their relationship is real since Gatsby knows what he wants, and Nick has accsess to it, and they seem like friends.  Through Daisy, the two have met, and without her they might not have ever seen eachother.

Winter Peom

Winter time is here.
Christmas day at my moms house
Smell of ham and pies.
Lights cover the tree
Gigts cover the ground like snow
Christmas time is here

Who I'm thankful for

In my 7th period class I am thankful for Clark Shimoda!!  Clark and I struggled through spanish I last year, but this years American Lit class is different.  First of all it isn't painful like last years spanish, and Clark makes endless comments that leave everyone clueless.  He makes call more enjoyable for me, and everyone else. Clark also might have the coolest afro and mustache combination ever.  I have never seen anyone come even close to having a better one.  He is also a jr master scuba diver!!!

I am a plow

If I were to call myself plow I would have to say there are different people pushing me.  If I am a plow, obviously my family and friends would be pushing me along with teacher, coaches etc. but to be a sucsessful plow you need to be able to operate on your own.  In anything that you have to "plow" through in life, you have to push yourself.  In school you need to want to do good, because if you truly don't care, but your parents are pushing the plow, you won't  do good in school.  For example, I play soccer.  Not because other people think I should play, or my parents force me to play, but I love the game.  Whatever you choose to do you need to do it for yourself.  If you are doing something for someone else, you won't be happy, and you won't put the effort you need to put into something. 

Direction the class needs.

I'm not going to lie and say I look forward to going to American Lit everyday.  I don't have a single class that I can't wait to get to, but American Lit is a more enjoyable class, and most students would agree.  There is always loads of trash talking I hear behind teachers backs, and I haven't heard any about Mr Mcarthy.  So if it were a popularity contest...you won.  Now, what teachers care about.  I don't think the class needs direction.  Part of what I like about the class is that it doesn't have a direction.  Obviously we have a curriculum, required reading, and assigned work, but the rest is up in the air.  The students of the class have more of an opprotunity to run disscussions, and contribute to the class, and on certain days we dictate which direction are class goes which is a great thing.

Modern Day Slavery? No such thing

I don't think it's right to compare anything to slavery.  We can say that people are manipulated, and exploited, but we can't compare any of these instances to the actual slave era a couple of hundreds of years ago.  A case where I think groups of people are forced to do something is going to school.  Students are forced into doing things they aren't interested in, and many things they won't ever even think about in their future lives.  Teachers and school officials can say we are rewarding kids with an education, but like I said most of the stuff we learn ends up being useless knowledge.  Don't get me wrong though.  I like school, and I'm sure most kids do like school, but if we had the opprotunity to have a say in what we are tought it would be more enjoyable for everyone.

Blogger: American Literature Blog - Manage Posts

Blogger: American Literature Blog - Manage Posts: "Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem Massachucettes. He was born a puritan, and came from a long long line of puritans. The reason for the w in Nathaniels name was to distance himself from Judge Hathorne. Nathaniel Hawwthorne is related to Hathorne(the judge from the salem witch trials). It is clear to me that he was born into something he wanted no part of, and he disagreed with his families past, and perhaps the puritan religion. You can't blame him for that either. He might have just been a person who came to their senses, and thought that puritanism was just silly, and he wanted to distance himself from all aspects of their life. I think that there are still things in our society today that can relate to puritanism. Something on a personal level for most of the sophmores at Whitney Young would be the sex ed teacher from PE also known as the "abstinance lady." She didn't try to scare us away from sex, but she focused on all of the consequences and showed us some pretty disturbing footage. This makes me think about Puratinism because of all the fear they tried to instill in every day life.

The moment I knew I was an American

The moment I considered myself American was when I was seven, and I went to Ireland.  Before that, I considered myself Irish American, but I realized that I wasn't Irish American, but I was American with an Irish background.  When I was there people called my family Americans, and considered us full blooded ameriicans.  It wasn't like they told us we weren't Irish, but I realized that I wasn't.  To call myself Irish I would have to be born and raised there, and I realized, and finally considered myself to be american with an Irish backgroung.

Till Death

People die for lots of reasons, but sometimes those reasons just seem silly to other people.  All types of people are against terrorism because they think it's "wrong", and so do I, but what I also understand is that the terrorists think this is the "right" thing to do.  What it boils down to for me is what is right and what is wrong.  Everybody knows their own morals, their families beliefs, and their religious beliefs, and they live by these definitions of right and wrong.  In my opinion nobody has the power or the knowledge to say what is right and wrong for humanity, so conflicts come from this.  Since their are so many different beliefs people will always get into disagreements that seem stupid to eachother, but it's simply what they were brought up to think thats creating big problems in the world. 

Hero or Stooge

I think John Proctor is both a hero and a stooge.  He did stand up for what he thought was true, and tried to defend the girls which I respect considering the importance of witchcraft during this period.  He went against everyone to stand up for himself and the girls which is respectable.  He is also a stooge.  His affair with Abigail is the main reson I think this.  He admits to an affair, and his wife knows, and he admits he still has feelings for someone he shouldn't be with.  This is definitely worthy of having a title of a stooge. 

God Hates Us

This is sort of scary!  Whats even scarier is that some people beleived in this, and gave their whole lives up to a religion that is depressing.  Beleiving in god is ok, but beleiving he hates you and at all times he has the power to send you to hell for any little thing that doesn't please him seems a bit extreme.  But thats just my opinion.   It would be hard to beleive in something that controls your life.  If someone was always worried about what god will think and will he approve of this they aren't living their own life.  Now I know that some people were forced into thinking it and some people were born into it with no other choice, but how did these beleifs go on!?  It suprises me that so many people would go along with this, just because they are afraid that god will smite them.  If I was living in this time with this religion I'm not saying I would lead a whole revolution, because I'm sure that it is harder to do than to say.  What I would do is question it, and try and get other people to question it.

"God damn that was racist"

  I have a summer michigan house, and every year my faimly goes up there all the time.  One of the nicer things about the area is that everybody is so friendly.  We have never had any problems with anyone up their except for one family.  We had had a few problems with them in the past, but nothing serious.  We were always friendly to them, but they were always stuck up and rude.  At an annual block party they called are family "dirty dirty jews", and some members in my family, and extended family ended up getting prett mad.  Four or five people ended up fighting, at the end of the party.  We still live next to them, but never talk to them, and they continue to talk about us, but we just avoid them.

Introductions

     My name is Eddie.  I am 15 years old and I go to Whitney Young High School.  At school I play soccer, and I played basketball last year.  I was named after  my great grandfather Edmund Horton who was a gold and bronze medalist in the 1942 Winter Olympics, so athletics run in my family.  He was a gold medalist in Ice Hurdles which he still holds the record for since it was later banned, and he won a bronze medal steering the USA'S  4 man bobsled.
     Music is a big interest too.  I used to be the drummer in a Jazz Band ran through my old school for 3 years, but I don't anymore.  Some of My favorite bands and artists are Arctic Monkeys, The Fratellis, Muse, The Strokes, Nas, Mos Def, A Tribe Called Quest and Kanye West.
     I also like to swim.  My family has a house near Saddle Lake in Michigan, and I have been going up there every summer of my life.  I have water skied and wakeboarded for most of my life.
     Most of my family is of Irish descent.  My mom works in the floral business, and my dad is a sound mixer in movies and commercials.  I have been able to meet some of my favorite actors and artists at my dads job like Kanye West, Common on the video shoot of The Corner, and Will Ferrell on the set of Stranger than fiction.