I'm Thankful For...

The classmate that I’m thankful for is Jonathon for a few reasons. 

He's a very good friend for one. Whenever anyone needs help with something, he's more than willing to lend a hand, whether it’s with anything academic related or whether its physical work. He's honestly one the smartest people I know so I can always turn to him when I need help with anything. He's REALLY good at math so any time I need help I usually turn to him and he also helped me out a lot for the time that I took Chinese since he's in year three. He also helps many other people with homework when they need it and he never asks for anything in return.

Jon is also really fun to be around. I have the same lunch period as him and along with two other people, Auggie and Evan, we almost always go out together or stay in and do homework. We have a pretty fun group for lunch and it’s much more fun when all four of us are there instead of any two or three. Jonathon is a pretty funny person and whether it’s during that period or chemistry or after school or whenever, he’s someone people like to hang out with.

People are always talking about how smart Jonathon is and he is an incredibly smart person but I’m thankful for him for so much more than that. I’m thankful for Jon because he’s a really good friend and i doubt that's going to change.

I Celebrate Myself

Okay this blog is called "I Celebrate Myself" and it’s supposed to be about, well, celebrating myself. So let me begin. I celebrate myself in two ways mainly, through what I do and through what I am. I believe that what I do is based on what i am and what I am is based on my surroundings, both physical and social. My social surroundings are pretty clear, it’s the society that we live in. Our society shapes who we are as people through its rules and customs and prejudices and it may affect each of us differently, but it still affects us all. Our social surroundings also include the people that we’re around every day like our friends and family. They affect us just as much as our society does because they tend to be the reason that we break social norms. My physical environment on the other hand includes things in which our reactions are much more important than the thing that we are faced with. It includes the obstacles crossed and the challenges overcome, the problems faced and the prejudices broken. There’s probably a better name for it besides physical environment but I can’t really think of one right now.

 These two parts have helped to develop my personality and my morals and principles, which are the same morals and principles that often result in what I do, the other part of me. Most actions that I take are done because of habit and nothing more. They tend to be things that don’t require a big decision and are things that are done every day. However there’s another type of choice that I still make on a daily bases and those choices actually require thought and consideration, like whether or not I’m going to ignore the homeless man or give him a dollar or whether or not I’m going to help that person with their homework. These are the type of choices that are based on what I am, my personality and my morals. And I Celebrate Myself because I’d like to think that what I do and what I am are things that I will always look back on and be happy with.

Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an innovator in many ways. He was one of the first American authors that tried to write for a living instead of doing it on the side and this was big despite his financial troubles since it set an example for other authors whose true passion was writing and writing alone.  Besides from his lifestyle he was an innovator in his writing; he created a whole different type of short story that didn’t exist or wasn’t prominent beforehand. His stories were Romantic stories, so they protested something that was an issue and often times they tended to be traditional things or things that have always been done a certain way. One example of this is how in The Fall of the House of Usher he’s trying to say that maybe incest isn’t the best way to keep the blood line “pure” and that’s a practice that had been going on for hundreds of years beforehand. Poe showed another method of protest through writing that was peaceful yet entertaining. His stories often required you to just get loose and go with the flow for a little bit and pretend that his story is like a historical account or something. If logic was used in a lot of his stories, the scenarios would be very unlikely and coincidental, but with a little plot work it made sense. His stories also entertained the reader enough that they would really like them and to a person seeking it, it would reveal a much deeper meaning. Poe was an author that had much deeper meanings in his short stories and poems than what it first appears to be and that protested taboo practices in subtle ways. He was an innovator and a man authors still look up to today. Edgar Allan Poe was a writer to be respected. 

What is an American?

     When we think of an American nowadays, a true American, not just a stereotypical one, you think of a person that's hardworking, loyal to their family and their country, and that's earned all that they own in life. This is of course not the case the majority of the time but this is what we like to think of when we think of what an American is. When we want to identify what a group is like, we can look at the two ends of the spectrum and we can look at the average person. We can look at an alcoholic whose sense of loyalty to their family has faded or a slob who is lazy and not hardworking in the least or a snob who has had everything handed to them their entire lives. We can look the perfect American who we might think of as a blond person with blue eyes who is hardworking and patriotic but who also live a wonderful and fairly easy life. Or we can be realistic and look at the average person, which is really the best way to label someone as an American or a member of any other nationality. The average American really is hard working and loyal to somebody. It may not be their family or their spouse but most of us are loyal to someone. The average American has earned what they have in their lives. Their possessions were earned through hours of labor; they weren’t just given to them. The average American is proud to be an American. It is a title that they carry with pride and when they look at the current events of the world, they think “hmm, good thing I’m safe and sound here in America.” The average American feels cared for to some extent. They may not receive aid or work for the government or be connected to the government in that way, but they still feel cared for. We don’t worry about a nation attacking us or taking over our city today because we know our country is more than capable of handling itself. We trust that the government will take care of our basic safeties. The average American is well aware of their basic rights such as the right of speech, of press, of assembly, and of religion, and aren’t afraid to fully utilize those rights. These characteristics are just a few of the true American because, to me, being an American isn’t just about following suit to the template of the ideal American, being an American is doing what you would normally do anyway and just happening to find out that millions upon millions of other people are just like you. That’s what being an American is to me. (I was sick with pneumonia all of last week so that's why this blog entry is so late.)

Modern Day Puritan

 The Puritans were a strict group of people. They were all ruled by a theological form of government and as such everyday aspects of life that we might consider secular were in fact religious. The judicial system of the town was a good example of this since the laws were based on morals and not actual justice like our judicial system today is.

 The whole concept of theocracy wasn't a bad one in my opinion, i think it could realistically work, just not in the way that the Puritans played it out. They played it out as if the world we live in is perfect and the people in it are flawless. They tried to build a utopia and as history has shown us time and time again, its just about impossible to  build a utopia, as hard as people may try. They might not have tried to build the most perfect setting but they tried to build one where there wasn't forgiveness or mistakes and the law was harshly enforced. What ended up happening was that the people become more lax and lenient and allowed for more and more rules to be bent and broken until they really didn't matter anymore.

 The United States as a whole also kind of tried this. When it first started out, a constitution was written with specific wording to ensure that the voice of the people was heard and that the government was truly run by the citizens. This was a Utopian idea to be honest and it soon became clear why. As time passed, it became prevalent and this wasn't the case and that people were corrupting and manipulating the system so that they gained from it and the general public didn't. This is still going on today and the question of a perfect government system is one that we still don't really have an answer to yet but the gradual withering of a Utopia on paper is the thing that both the United States and Boston have/had in common.

Note to Mr. McCarthy: This is the Post that i accidentally saved as a draft for a week

John Proctor, Hero or Stooge

John Proctor was a one of the most important characters in the play. Although he’s only somewhat complicated, one of the ways that the story could be viewed is through having him be the central character. The central characters are Abigail, Parris, Proctor, and Hale and as such, the story could be viewed in its entirety through their points of view and could make perfect sense. Abigail’s point of view is that she’s in love with Proctor and most of her actions are motivated by this fact. Parris is a paranoid minister that wants to protect his position from the supposed faction collaborating against him. Hale is a minister that wants to use this town as his experimental setting to learn and utilize his skills of uncovering the devil’s work. Proctor is a farmer that has had an affair and is trying to make up for it while maintaining his silent protest of Parris’s ways. Hale and Parris, especially Hale, have journeys that change how they feel from the start of the story to the end yet Proctor doesn't have this type of journey. His journey is one that helps him to find true peace. Since the start of act one, he has been trying his absolute hardest to earn Elizabeth’s forgiveness and has begged her time and time again for it, yet she never gave it to him. She knew that in order for him to truly be at peace, he had to forgive himself first, and she told him that. He thought that he had forgiven himself but he really hadn't, not until the end. He confessed his sin to the whole court and let out all of his secrets. Even when his confession wasn't received kindly, he persisted that he was telling the truth. In the last scene, his pleads with his wife one last time but even then she repeats her message that it isn't her place to forgive him. When he finally does give the “confession” to witchcraft, although everyone else saw it as witchcraft, he knew that it was much more than that. He finally proved to himself that he was a good man by not giving up on his friends, a man that deserved forgiveness for the sin that he so regretted and that allowed him to die a happy man. He may have had to give his life for it, but John Proctor was a hero that died at peace, and just so happened to saw the town in the process.

Arrivals...There goes the Neighborhood

The Native Americans had just about every right to think “there goes the neighborhood” when the Europeans first came. They really did not help them at all. When a person or a group comes to a new place, the point is that eventually both the newcomers and the people that already live there should benefit from it. Only one party may benefit at first but eventually, both parties should get something significant out of it. That wasn't the case here at all. The Europeans came through and actually needed the help of the Natives in a lot of cases. Then they repaid them by killing them off, if not personally then through new diseases like small pox and measles that killed hundreds of thousands.

The Native Americans are a relatively peaceful people. They view nature in a different way than the newcomers and that was a major problem. There are of course exceptions but most of the tribes helped the Europeans in some way in most of the stories that we've read. Now if a group of foreigners came into your land with weapons that you've never seen before, what would you do? Would you offer your help and after their diseases kill most of your tribe and their guns kill even more of the local tribes alongside yours, would you still be courteous to them? After they exploit the land that you treasure so much and care so much for, would you still give them corn to eat? The Native Americans were right to think “there goes the neighborhood” and they certainly can’t be blamed for it.

We’re not the Native Americans in the 1600s and the 1700s however and we often tend to think “there goes the neighborhood” to many situations when it just doesn't apply. For instance, the United States tends to be hostile towards any new group that enters the country. Like when the Irish first came to America after the potato famine in their homeland. They were treated roughly just because they were new and were even blamed for the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. We’re still hostile towards new groups today, the most notable one being the Mexicans. The Mexican American population is increasing significantly and as a result, there are political battles over their right to stay here and for a quick path to citizenship. I believe it’s just part of human nature to oppose anything this drastic but it’s certainly something that we should all work on as human beings.

Me

Hi. My name is Keduse Worku. I'm fourteen, a frackie, and a freshman. I have one older sister and one younger brother. From preschool to fifth grade I went to this Catholic school called St. Thomas of Canterbury. In sixth grade I transferred to Skinner Classical down the street from here and got into Whitney for seventh grade. My favorite sport at Whitney and the only sports team that I’m a part of is cross country. I also intend to join track in the spring. I’ve been running since I joined the seventh and eighth grade cross country team. We won state that first year I started. I’ve had some successes since then and I plan to continue running through college. The cross country team is also really awesome. It’s more like a family than a team to be honest. There really isn’t any tension between anyone one the team and we all like to have fun. Every time I tell someone I like to run they always freak and think I’m a psyco but I really do love it. It’s one of those things that you can’t explain but is understood by all runners. But anyway I like Whitney, it’s a cool school. The people are nice and the teachers are helpful. I really don’t want to be anything besides from a dolphin and I’m proud to be one. That’s the general plot of my life so far.