The Crisis vs. Speech in the Virginia Convention

Thomas Paine, author of the Crisis uses more passion than in the speech in the Virginia convention. Paine uses examples such as parents leaving their children a life of slavery to stir emotion in countrymen, and even though he shares their christian values, he also refuses to allow Britain to "play God" in their situation. A quote he uses on page 176 when talking about the crimes Britain commits, he says "Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a theif breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever," to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? This quote speaks to me, because it shows that Paine will not stand for the oppression and maltreatment Britain threatens.
Patrick Henry, author of the Speech in the Virginia Convention uses very persuasive words in his speech, but i don't believe they can move a countryman as much as Paine's. Henry's outlook on the whole ordeal gave off a realist vibe, and I couldn't really tell who's side he was on through much of his speech to the President. He seemed like he had been wanting war for a long time, and he finally had his chance to get his way. Like on page 204 when he said "Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land." This quote comes off as is Patrick wanted the war to happen, and was waiting for the chance.
Word Count: 309

The "American Dream"

The topic I chose pertaining to the "American Dream" is insecurity. Not outright insecurity, but an insecurity that comes along with a very popular dream: "making it/being successful". I connect these two "dreams" because in being successful, the average "american" sees himself being accepted by society, being a good neighbor, maybe having a wife and two kids. The generic "american dream" vision that everyone has; but no one really wants this, or at least, that's not all they want. If I could have my dream realized, in all honesty, I would have a nice car and be the envy of the neighborhood. I wouldn't do these things because of a penchant for nice, over-the-top luxury items, I would do this because this is what people call "being successful". All I really want in life is to have a home that can accomodate myself and my family comfortably, with working utilities and maybe some extra money that I could spend how I pleased. The honest american dream for most people would be to have everyone around you have a good opinion of you. Too much of america is insecure, and rely on others' opinions to decided how they feel about themselves. I too am guilty of this, as are most people reading this.
(Word count: 212)

Nature Portfolio

Nature Poem

     The calm before the storm lies heavy,

     pregnant with a terror; ready

     the town is in awe, the government screams

     evacuation is the key, it seems

5   a cone of wind so strong and tall

     making big city buildings fall

     houses sent flying and people are scared

     the frightening pit bull of nature's teeth are bared

     there's no way to fight it, and nowhere to hide

10 maybe a basement if you stay inside

     some people say that its like god is whistling

     mother nature's pet wolf, and its fur is bristling

     they may give it names to make it less fierce

     the eye is safe, if the outside you pierce

15 tornadoes are famous for danger and woe

     even in the wizard of oz all you do is watch it go

     mankind has advanced far ahead of most things

     but natural occurrences hold the championship ring

     it'd be most wise if you would be cautious

20 the mere site of these things can make grown men nauseous

     they knock out power cross the us of a

     sending things flying, and darkening your day

     they have an alley dedicated to them

     it crosses whole states on a fast windy whim

25 yet some find it beautiful and drive right at it

     they're called tornado watchers, i call them tornado addicts

     id say you were crazy for driving towards death

     when i saw the warning, to be honest, i left

     tornadoes are a part of nature i do not like

30 and ill never forget seeing one like riding a bike

     

Origin Story

Most people think the Mississippi river was naturally created. In fact, before humans were evolving from bacteria, or being made from ribs, or anything you believe; the land was alive. Yes, the very earth moved and thought and spoke. The Mississippi river used to be the Mississippi Ocean. This is around 2 or 3 hundred thousand years before Adam set foot upon the earth. The Mississippi ocean was like that one guy everyone knows. The one person who perfectly fits the "douchebag " criteria. Its like the Mississippi ocean took a course in douchebaggery and aced it. The Mississippi ocean was larger then the pacific, and larger than the Atlantic. It was the biggest ocean in the area, and it made sure everyone knew it. There were two islands on either side of the ocean. They sent messages in bottles across the Mississippi to talk to each other via messenger dolphins. The islands were name Massachusetts, and Oregon. They were growing tired of the Mississippi's constant smug boasting and bragging, so they made a plan to cut him down a peg.They decided that every day, they would force themselves to grow a little bigger and take a little more of the Mississippi up until he was cut down to size. They continued this plan for 25 years (approximately  9125 days) until the Mississippi realized what was going on. By then, the islands had grown so big that the Mississippi's waters could no longer push them back. They kept taking space up until the Mississippi was the length it is today, and they laughed at it. The gurgling noise that can be heard the whole way down the Mississippi river now is it's boasting that its the longest river in america. Needless to say, the land will be glad when global warming evaporates the Mississippi away so they can stop listening to that. If you're quiet enough, you may hear the land whispering plans right this minute.
Word Count: 326


The Most Beautiful
The most beautiful thing I've ever seen is an interview of any type of artist who is really passionate about their work. Be it a rapper, singer, guitarist, pianist, painter, author, artist, or sports player. I love seeing the passion that any type of artist puts into their work. My favorite rapper to date is Childish Gambino, and this happened because I saw one of his videos and couldn't stop wanting more. He raps about his life and positive things, and life lessons instead of he "money, drugs, cars, and women" that all other popular rappers dub music. The interview Childish Gambino had with hardknocktv. Interviews in which artists go deep into their soul and share their life story, relating what you hear from them to how they make it are amazing. I was sitting at home and I got a text message from a friend stating that an interview of Childish Gambino had just been released, and I should check it out. I started watching and stared at my laptop transfixed. He admits that he sometimes raps about meaningless things, but that's all a part of hip hop, because before guns and drugs were introduced, hip hop was supposed to be fun. Hip hop was meant to be a goofy, non serious thing, which is why comedian-turned-rapper-turned actor Donald Glover(a.k.a Childish Gambino) felt that it was okay to become a rapper and have silly songs. In his interview, he addresses the racism references in his music of growing up in the south, and many other things that are often ignored. The information given in the interview isn't what made it beautiful, but specifically the video of him recording his music and seeing the feeling behind what he wrote and what he said. Music itself is an amazing feat, and making good music that fan can relate to makes music even more beautiful, so seeing an interview where an artist can let you inside their mind and show you around makes me think those types of interviews are some of the most beautiful things in the world. Most of the time, beauty is defined by what you see, but in this case, I define beauty as how what I saw made me feel.
Word Count:373


Weather Experience
There once was a village called TornTown; where all the houses were mad out of torn pieces of paper thrown onto the ground. "Torn pieces of paper?" one might ask, "it must take a million sheets a house!". Well  under normal circumstances with normal people, you'd be right, but in TornTown, everyone is about the size of half  of your index finger. The tallest man in TornTown, named O'keal Shaneil was only the size of your pinky. Their town was located in a remote valley near the paper mache river, and they were a town full of jolly people.The village chief, Jon Bovi was a wise leader, and he had foretold a flood by hearing one of the humans' talking color boxes. "A food will be heading through the greater tri-state area(which is how the humans referenced TornTown)", repeated the chief. An old woman wearing a dress made of construction paper and a glue stick fainted and a baby started crying. The chief knew what he had to do, because it was his job to keep TornTown calm. He gather twenty of the strongest men in TornTown and they went scavenging for materials to build floodgates. They returned from their trip and brought back 4 pencils, a styrofoam tray, and a ball of yarn. The flood was coming in two moons, so they had to hurry. They stuck all of the pencils into the dirt and glued the styrofoam tray to them. Then they wrapped string around the whole thing to hold together. They finished just before it started to rain, when they heard a terrible sound. "MROEOOWWWWW!!", heard the tiny people from TornTown.They looked up and saw an animal taller than any of their skyscrapers. It had a tail longer than any one of their winding trails, and it was orange and striped. "This may be what the humans call a 'tabby cat'; the most fearsome of all of the manbeasts.", whispered the chief from where they were hiding. One of the warriors did not belong to a family, and he wanted to be brave so he could start one of his own."HYAAAAH", yelled the warrior as he charged at the cat. He threw a toothpick at it and rolled to the side from one of its paws. The cat batted away the toothpick

Song Lyrics

Machine Gun Kelly: Cleveland

Man, I’m so Cleveland it's a god d*mn shame

So East side I’m a god d*mn gang

Said you ain’t heard about my god d*mn name,

Betta ask 'round here, I’m a god d*mn king

Man, I put my work in these god d*mn streets,

Earned my stripes like a god d*mn beast,

tatted up no shirt still got sleeves

and im good from the heights to 116th

muh f**ka this me, Kells

f*ck the fame 

still roll through the blocks where they up the thang

With the same h**s that tatted up my name , I’m still the little white boy outta shaker, mang

i go hard(hard) home (home)go in (go in)dawg

but you don’t wanna test my G, 

Because I got one, two, three, four thousand soldiers in E.S.T

Pow Pow!

Chorus:

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

You know I put it down for, Cleveland

I rep my state , my hood, my side of town in, Cleveland

King of this sh*t, that’s why I wear my crown in Cleveland

So don’t come around Cleveland,

Bi-Bi-B**ch I'm from Cleveland

tatted it on my arm you know I’m repping, Cleveland

….this where Im from you wanna hate, dont step in Cleveland Laced Up I got to keep on running, Cleveland

Yeah, yeah!

B**ch I’m from Cleveland,

I say b**ch I’m from Cleveland!

O.K.

I done came from a long way

F**k ya'll I love where I stay,

Cleveland is my city put the pedal to the side

You know how we ride

Hate on me? No hate on your momma

Cause she birthed you,

and you aint worth a dolla

Sh*t i should smoke

put kush in my throat

Gettin money lil N**ga 

later on imma holla

DUBO!

Do I know you?

I don’t know! 

Do I know you?

East Side, let’s go!

I Could show you!

West side got tools no pro tunes

I Know a couple n**gas down the way,

East high school Yeah I went down the way, 

Aye

now i been Cleveland ever since then i've been down to stay.

I’ve got a mean swag ta snatch a b**ch.

bankroll, pringles, gotta stack my chips

Oh no, I ain’t play much,

But E.S.T. be the team i play fo

I got love for the niggas that f**k with me,

No love for the niggas that don’t f**k with me,

It don't matter if I’m out of town,

Everywhere I go I let them know im Cleveland bound, 

Chorus:

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

You know I put it down for,

I rep my state, my hood, my side of town in,

King of this sh*t, that’s why I wear my crown in.

So don’t come around Cleavland,

B B**ch i'm from

tatted it on my arm you know I’m repping,

this where I from you wanna hate, go an step it!

Laced UP I got to keep on running,

B**ch I’m from Cleveland,

I say bi-b**ch I’m from Cleveland!

Man its East side right here, did crime right here,

Blood sweat and tears I cried right here,

tatted my city and showed pride right here,

Looking at it like 'this mine right here',

So what you’re talking about?

I can’t ride right here?

Your mother f**kers think im gonna hide right here,

raised in this god d*mn city, no i wasnt born in it, but beleive imma die right here

Cleveland bred , Cleveland fed.

My Cleveland girl give me Cleveland head,

And anybody sayin that Cleveland's dead,

F**k ya'll!

Tell them that’s what Cleveland said.

Cleveland fit, Cleveland hat,

anywhere I go is where Cleveland's at

So when the world ends i think you’ll know where we’ll be at

B**ch right here in Cleveland

Chorus:

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

You know I put it down for,

I rep my state, my hood, my side of town in,

King of this sh*t, that’s why I wear my crown in.

So don’t come around Cleavland,

B B**ch i'm from

tatted it on my arm you know I’m repping,

this where I from you wanna hate, go an step it!

Laced UP I got to keep on running,

Yeah, yeah!

B**ch I’m from Cleveland,

I say b b**ch I’m from Cleveland!

Community Stories

"Wagner Matinee"
The quite, rural life of the prairie conflicts with the rushed, crowded life of the city. Examples of this conflict are mentioned throughout, in the main character's thoughts. The prairie effects the aunt's appearance a lot, mostly because of the grueling work and chores she performed daily on the farm. Her skin was worn and old and "leathery". Its connotation is good, based off good descriptive sentences. The aunt was more affected by her past and current residences. She lived in the city and loved to attend the showings at the music hall frequently, because when they moved to the prairie, she would sing songs and teach Willa piano. When she got to take a break from the rough life of the prairie, she was taken to a show at the local music hall, and burst into tears at the memory. Then, she didn't want to leave because she felt as if the farm was right outside the building.

"The Jilting of Granny Weatherall"
She was deserted by her fiance 60 years prior to this story, and she held a certain superiority over the others. They pretended as if she wasn't there, and in the final paragraph, she was slowly ebbing away; her body dwindling into a nothingness with an abruptness that startled her. In essence, she was jilted from her life. The community has dissolved because everyone has lost respect for her,, and she's beginning to hold contempt for her own family whispering and glancing around her as if she's blind, deaf, and dumb. A dissolving community just unhinges completely, piece by piece with no way to stop it, or mend it. A changing community is still the same community, just in a changed state or form.

"Here is New York"
To show that New York isn't your average big city, with the inhabitants flooding the streets and there being one   barbershop every mile or so. New York's many communities are each a neighborhood inside a neighborhood, everyone knowing everyone like an old 50s movie. A traveler there for the summer may see the New York that  they write movies and plays about, but sometimes people get a glimpse of what the real New York is like. The odd person who stays at a run down motel and sees the diversity of neighborhoods has seen the real New York. Problems in New York are problems everywhere. At any given moment, too many people can be brushing their teeth at once and the city's water supply can cut off. People don't have to walk three locks before getting a sandwich, a coffee, dropping off broken shoes, picking up dry cleaning, and getting a shave. That shows how New York is a big city, made up of many cities, all self sufficient. In Chicago, we have similar neighborhoods; like, there is a gas station, a bank, a barbershop, and 9 places to get food within 8 blocks of my house.

Outline

1. As the community's population percentages decrease in Polish Jews and Increase in African Americans, it opened up more opportunities for African Americans to hold positions of power.

2. Michael Scott's Presidency brought recognition to the state of the community's schools.
a. Schools cutting sex ed funding has light shone on it
b. Newspaper facts
c. opinion input

3. The population increase in percentage of African Americans to Polish Jews.
a. History Overview
b. Census overviews
c. Give reasons why

4. Groups bringing change to the NL community.
a. Name some groups
b. Talk about inceptions
c. Say why they're needed.

5. As the community's population percentages decrease in Polish Jews and Increase in African Americans, it opened up more opportunities for African Americans to hold positions of power.

The Crucible Responses

Act 1
Parris seems to care more about money and a house (material things) than his position as a messenger of christ. Parris' neice Abigail is caught/ accused of witchcraft; along with some other girls (his 10 year old daughter etc.). People claim they saw Parris' daughter, Betty flying before she was struck dumb. Abigail's lie was that they were simply dancing and Betty fainted from fright. A neighbor, Mrs. Putnam has had 7 babies and all have died, which is why she sent Tituba to speak too their spirits. Betty wakes and talks about telling the truth and Abigail strikes her. John Proctor( a man wtih whom Abigail's purity has been questioned) appears, and Abigail taunts him. The crowd that has gathered downstairs begins singing, and their praise wakes Betty; screaming.


Act 2
Mary Warren is constantly defying the Proctors, and they are upset at dinner. Mary, Abigail, and the other girls are at the courts sending innocent people to jail when Elizabeth and John start talking about Abigail. When Elizabeth finds out John and Abigail were alone, she loses all faith in John and he gets defensive. Then Mary returns from the courts, and gives Elizabeth a doll. She then talks about all the people they sent to jail, and John is ready to whip her. Then she says that she saved Elizabeth's life in court, because she was about to be accused and john becomes suspicious.(Ooooooooh) He believes Abigail accused Elizabeth because of her fixation on John. Then Hale shows up to question the Proctors. John and Elizabeth haven't been attending church recently, and John claims that its just because they don't like Parris(neither do I). Hale tests them on the 10 commandments, and John (conveniently) forgets adultery. (LOL) Then Elizabeth gets John to tell Hale about the affair with Abigail... Rebecca Nurse gets accused because of a random guy's pigs dying then Cheever and Herrick rush to the Proctors' house. They have a warrant for Elizabeth's arrest and find a doll with a pin stuck in the same place Abigail (was "supposedly") stabbed that evening. Elizabeth gets arrested, and Proctor blows a fuse(rightfully so) and rips the warrant up. The act ends with Mary refusing to tell the courts that she sewed the doll, not Elizabeth. (whoa)


Act 3
Giles points out that Parris is only in it for the land, and I completely agree. Giles says that he has hard evidence to prove that Parris is land-grubbing, and Danforth demands that he show the court his proof. Giles justifiably refuses and they force the list from him. Then the court arrests all 91 of the people who testified for no apparent reason other than the fact that they had an opinion. This act definitely had a strong connection to McCarthyism. Then Giles is arrested ironically enough for not sinning. Because lying is a sin, and he told those people he wouldn't mention them then he's arrested for contempt of the court. Then Abigail shows up with insignificant supporting actresses, and plays Mary Warren perfectly, getting her to falter in telling the truth.