Friday, January 22, 2010

What I learned in Language Arts Semester 1

In the First semester of language arts, I learned about how people and cultures cooperate. I think that this is the primary objective of my language arts class. Prior to ninth grade I knew a ton of information already, but I think global ed explored it deeper in the recent and recent past.

One of the development skills developed better was listening to The Man in the Well. What this did was it forced me to find deeper meanings inside of things. I thought it was interesting how the writer of the story was showing the listener how people develop from kids to adults is by realizing that the world is not a perfect place. The fact is there are billions of people globally who struggle to survive. In my own personal opinion on the subject is that the places of the world who live like that, they bring it on themselves. The United States is the only country which did not believe that people need to provide for each other to progress... all the others during times of struggle screamed at capitalists for not self sacrificing themselves. My own personal opinion on the subject is relevant because it shows while we were in debate I was paying attention.

Another development skill was writing good paragraphs. At first at the beginning of the year while adjusting to the new language arts class I struggled to produce Fielder's quality work. I have met and exceeded his expectations. Coming out of the worst class in middle school for language arts, I made much more progress all year so far that all of eighth grade. One of the better quality writing pieces I have submitted was I think Paul's letter on the subject of Rwanda. I got a good grade and a very strong introduction comment on it. I originally thought I would do bad because I did not type it, and I did not spend much time at all on it because I was not sure that it was due that day. When I looked at it to turn it in, I did think it was very good. From my letter introduction: The lawlessness down here only has been worse. If I were not manager of one of your finest hotels, I would probably be death, thanks to you. Your hotel now holds 1,200 residents in an island surrounded by an ocean of terror. I saw my neighbors' son hacked to death just outside our hotel who used to come over out house and our children would play. My wife was attacked and beat until she could not walk. We do not struggle for comfort, but we struggle in a world of torture, blood, and power, Many of our guests have relatives outside Rwanda and await departure. It is widely known that by helping others in their time of need, you can help yourself- specifically by publicity. Imagine the possibilities of a good relation with the press. We could be beneficial to each other. I think he gave me the grade because I wrote a really good paper!

One last development skill I want to talk about which combines human interactions and development is debating. I remember in the Rwanda debate, I had to fight for the Rwandan Armed Forces. I think a lot of it was the actuall development individuals put into this assignment, but I also believe that there was blame on everybody was also true. What is so significant about the debate was it demonstrated that each group did do something ( of did not do something) that they could be blamed for. My own group was blamed for mass murderings, so we decided to blame the Interhamwe which the Rwandan Armed Forces was not part of. I was active in the debate, and I think I even had a few chances of angering students by challenging their group to which they could not answer! One of the groups I attacked hardly on was the U.N., and I used their mission statement to my own advantage because they were not living up to it.

One of the most interesting things I learned about human interaction in history was during the Australian unit when we just started to explore historical events as a class. The movie Rabbit Proof Fence was very informing about how the Australian government was trying to "civilize" the aborigine children by taking them away from home to relocation camps. I did not know that the Australian Government did this. What I found interesting was one of their presidents actually apologised to the natives for that.

Another interesting thing in history that I learned in language arts was about South Africa. What I think is so interesting is the fact that much of the population in the country is white an the African people's continent. In other words, a developed society surrounded by tribal peoples. I think the British should have left the Zulus alone because after the Boer Wars and gold was discovered, they forcet them to work in mines. This is similar in a way to what the Spanish were doing in South America and Mexico- force the natives to extract the gold, and ship it back to Spain.

In conclusion, I learned not only about the recent global past, but how to write a good essay about it as well.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Early Colonization

Colonies were primarily set up for the same reason: natural resources.

About 1300AD the Mongols set up a trade route between China, and as far as western Europe. Around the 1400's the Black Death struck the world. Caravans which crossed the desert stopped delivering silks, sugar and spices to Europe. The Europeans thirst for luxury was growing, and they had lost contact with the great Mongol Khans, new dreams of exploration was opened.




It is little known that Columbus actually tried to sail around the world to end up at the court of the great Mongol Khans- the last contact was before the black death, but he discovered a world of nature, almost untouched by empire and war. The discoveries of the Caribbean and its luxurious items from spice to gold made every western country want a piece of this land.The Portuguese and the Spanish lead the exploration, and pretty soon the Cape of good Hope was discovered soon followed by the circumnavigation of the globe and the discovery of the East Indies.


Colonies were set up across the globe with eager colonists to start over, a better place than Europe. On these colonies were plantations- huge massive scale farming that used local natives to operate. These were popular in Indonesia, India, and the American South. Other times for mining operations were also common in Central America and later in South Africa. One natural resource that stood out from material items were slaves.






Slaves are interesting because they were actual people though that was different from all the others was slaves. People being taken by the ruling class of Europe to work for them all over the world on every continent. I think that slaves were used from Africa because the chiefs were helping the Europeans for money, and Africa is primarily grassland and some jungles so it would be hard to hide in. Slaves count as a human resource because it was the division or labor.



Wherever they went they encountered natives, hostile or not, Europeans did not want to trade with them. They wanted to make profit. The great western superpowers built huge navies that sailed the world called Galleons, or Frigates. Colonies depended on large fleets for supplies and for protection against pirates. The first great naval powers were Spain and Portugal, but after the British fleet sank the Spanish Armada against an invasion, and when Portugal lost power, Britain controlled the seas, and as a result they controlled huge chunks of Africa, Asia, Australia, and early on in N. America.



In the aftermath of colonization, when WWII was over, the great resource empires could not afford to control the world for resources. After the British left India, Egypt, Australia, and eventually the rest of the nations gave up their colonies, they set up trading networks to send them exotic goods like sugar, and spices- wait, doesn't that sound like what they were after 500 years ago when Columbus tried to sail to the court of the Great Khan? Only today instead of ruling the colony, they essentially control their economy by regulating resources production.


So I can conclude about colonization not only was resources the objective of colonial Empires, but it is the only reason why hermit Europe opened its doors to the world. For further reading, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is the monument, the doctrine of the individual. No other piece of work, no person has ever been able to fully capture and understand the individual the way Ayn Rand did. She wrote of the movers of the Earth who built things, who progressed, and struggled to do things their way. Atlas Shrugged is about the collapse, and the rebirth of a nation.


Atlas Shrugged is centered around Dagny Taggart, the vice president of Taggart Transcontinental. She struggles to save her company in a world where the individuals value means nothing as the current state of the world decreases with the demand of equality- not the equality of rights, but the equality of property which causes peoples states rising up globally. The government passes legislation denouncing the rights of industry and promotes rights for the morally just. The other industrialists of Copper, Steel, coal, and oil disappear and seem to have let go of the human spirit, or have they?


It is fun to compare our modern world to Atlas Shrugged because with many of the new debated laws and the ideas of politics, America seems much closer than it did fifty years ago. I probably shouldn't say it, but Frankin D. Roosevelt was a very liberal president. He is a classic example of the much older symbols of socialism. Today we can use modern political figures like President Obama in the perspective of not only nationalized healthcare and how he intends to negotiate with terrorists in civilian court, but his politics- pushing his own agenda despite the demands of the general population. Or Al Gore for example. The rotten liar. He has insulted the intelligence of mankind by fooling them that progress actually sets our ecosystem in reverse. For you not familiar, Gore runs the IPCC which in fact, has lied provided false information of human related global warming. Now do not get me wrong, I do not dislike liberals, when I say the word liberal, I only use it to sum up the general ideology in it.


I read that in a survey, Atlas Shrugged was the second most influential book in the world, second only to the Bible. Look it up if you don't believe me. By the way, it is the 37th top book sold on Amazon.com, by the way. Now these statistics seem unreasonable for such a conservative book, but it is highly popular among Liberatarians and Republicans. I love fox news because they can explain what happens in the world like it is, very much like Atlas Shrugged.



Atlas Shrugged has been the greatest book I have ever read. It has transformed my values and , opinions, and my thought process. Sometimes I think that I should be the most hated guy in the world for believing in it. It has contradicted everything I learned in school. In fact, I think people respect the way I think of things and it has strengthened my relationship with my dad. My dad also loves the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Besides that fact, Atlas Shrugged has defined my thought process. I have always thought in this perspective, but it made me realize the motives and the purposes in people.

Friday, November 20, 2009

The Great Debate of Rwanda

The my group, the Rwandan Armed Forces, was one of the most offensive parties and we got the blame on others. Our defence on genocide was always'" Interhamwe". I launched a cruel war on the United Nations criticizing that the U.N. could not live up to its functions by stopping genocide on Earth. We did not attack France because they helped us supply for the military. I did not attack Belgium because everyone else focused on giving Belgium the blame. Many times as I attacked the Red Cross, or the U.N., I attacked their leadership for not encouraging interference, and his cool attitude and detachment on the subject. The Red Cross was attacked because they kept themselves out of it and I felt that they as an organization for the global general health had a responsibility in ther. I did not at all attack the United States because I thought that the U.S. did not have any obligation to go into my country. I attacked RPF and Paul Kagame for provoking the war and killing everybody. He represents a minority group anyway. Hutus are five times greater population and if the majority rule, it would secure peace. So over all this, it was interesting to take the side of this using the other groups point of view and helps you understand each role better.





After the Rwandan debate, I had to side against what I really felt about because I had to side on the dark side. I do not believe that the Rwandan Armed Forces was right or not necessarily anyone, but I attacked other groups to look the best, and when someone blamed us on something we actually did, we just told them we did not have anything to do with genocide, it was all their fault. It looked as if the fault came from Belgium, the United Nations and Romeo, Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front and especially the Interhamwe. I thought that us, The Rwandan Armed Forces was just as guilty as RPF and Paul Kagame. I guess I must be the best debater for repelling all attack on us and destroying others. You might say I would be a good politician. I think you are right. This layout is a great organizational way to learn the material better, with a little more fun.

Friday, November 6, 2009

What Emerson Forgot

Emerson 's argument in The "American Scholar" is not completely true in a form that defines the strength of individuals of a society.



The problem in the world today is people, or society.Each person inside of themselves has an individual. The individual is not a public display, it keeps things holy inside of them, it protects their soul. When that individual has been given up for a public sacrifice, the person dies and becomes a machine. Each society has demanded the sacrifice of man's soul- includes loves dreams talents, to be distributed amongst all for the good of others. When people give up everything they love for the good of others, they kill, murder, sacrifice, suicide, whatever you want to call it. The thinking man knows himself and not anyone else. The strongest individuals will survive the test of a society to live together, to mutually exchange the benefits of other individuals in the world.



The individual explores. I am myself, the individual,(joke). Referring to King Louis XIV of France"I am myself, the state". Many of the things individuals can explore include many subjects of our public school system. As and individual, my interest involves hisory and science. I have always been interested in science and history through my life, but more recently in the past three years have learned about every possible empire and ruler that ever existed! Physics have always interested me, because I want to become an engineer one day. Engineering is something Emerson loves because it is creative, and I express me as an individual by keeping up with my history. History helps me have a better understanding of the world. Not everyone is like the individual though, and that is what is wrong with the world. If everyone thought for themselves, we would be much more advanced and have a crimeless world.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Kitty Kat

One of the most influential living thing in my life that warms my day and makes me feel better is my cat. My cat's name is Felix. He is a Ragdoll that is white with blue eyes, a grey tail, and a grey face. Felix is four years old and weighs 17 pounds and likes to hang around me. I would like to show you my cat's life.



Every morning when I wake up, my cat follows me around and likes to be petted. He typical rolls over on his back and he puts his paws down. When I pet him he starts to purr and when I walk away he looks at me with his big blue eyes. As I head down for breakfast he jumps up on his tree and meows at me to feed him. I never do though because that is my sister's job.



After I have left for school with my dad who goes to work, my cat begs for food from my sister. My cat likes to eat a lot, and since we feed him about half of what we used to, he eats it all in the morning.When Sarah leaves, he usually hangs out in the family room where he can watch our canary. Felix many times has tried to hunt our canary, and we had to move all the furniture away from the cage. I think the cat gets hyper and wants the bird most is when our bird sings.

When my dad returns home for lunch, my cat sometimes visits with him by jumping up on our kitchen table which is low enough for him to jump on. My dad likes Felix a lot, and the cat usually sleeps at my dad's feet every night. When I come home from school, I pet my cat and he takes away the pressures of my school where it sometimes seems like an uphill battle against two thousand students, and probably one hundred and fifty teachers. One day recently, I gave Felix a piece of bologna and he ate it off my hand and licked the grease off.

Right around dinnertime my dog Oscar goes to stalk the cat. He chases Felix around the house and bites off bits of kitty fur. I always think it is funny when animals use their instincts to go and hunt. Just like my dog who hunts the cat, and my cat hunts the bird.Then after an unsuccessful day of hunting, they lay down and take a nap.

Later after I have finished my homework, I go downstairs to discuss politics with my dad and to go and see my cat. My cat is usually on the couch watching FOX News with my dad anyway, so I do not have to look very far for him.

My cat has a big part of my social aspect of my life. He makes me feel good about myself. I think that everyone should have a cat like Felix. To see more ragdoll cats like mine, go to http://catsabout.com/od/breedpictures/ig/Ragdoll-Cat-Photos/.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Hockey Game

I love going to hockey games. Last weekend I went to go see the Plymouth Whalers with my dad to see them play the Spitfires from Windsor, Canada.



Hockey games is the best entertainment in the world. Every time you watch hockey there is the excitement and emotions that are unique to the hockey game. I was focused on watching the left defensemen because that is my position on my own team.



About half an hour before the game started we got there. I have not been to the Whalers in over a year, so I was extremely excited and it was on my mind the whole weekend. We walked around the arena and found our seats. Our seats were in the third row on a corner, and we were the only ones sitting in that row. I liked it because it was private, and it was not crowded at all. After walking down to get our seats, my dad bought pizza for me. Since they have a pizza restaurant outside the rink that was crowded, we bought from a vendor who sold the same kind of pizza around the rink. I had two slices before the game started.



When the first period started, I tried to focus my attention on the left defensemen. The Whalers played very different hockey than midgets do because the whalers skated very fast and had forty second line changes, ( midgets is the age level of hockey I play in). I noticed that the defensemen did mostly the same things that I did on the ice. My dad and I sat on the visitors side, so every time the Canadians scored a goal, everyone cheered. I thought that the Whalers played a very bad game, and I thought they would loose because they were outplayed.



In intermission my dad and I talked about how the Canadians love the English Queen Elizabeth II so much and that even though they are an independent country for about 150 years, they are still culturally part of the crown. Later we bought nachos and Pepsi. The second period was a disaster for the Whalers. They did not score any goals and put forth little effort to challenge their enemies. The only thing that kept me from cheering the Canadians was the fact that they were Canadians.



The third period went by fast for me. I think it was because I was having too much fun with my dad.I watched the whole period. It was very intense and I chewed popcorn very fast. I think the Whalers tried their best in this period, even though they had hardly any shots and it seemed like a lost cause. About one minute before the game ended we left our seats and watched from the entrance and ran out into the parking lot after the last second ended to beat traffic.