Honors summer work

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 2nd Thematic Question

2008-08-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West was written by Dee Brown and publish in 1970. It was the first book that really began to change the way that Americans viewed how the American west came to be. It is about how the Native Americans were massacred so that the white men and women could have the land to themselves and in peace.
The Native Americans tried to retaliate and put up a fight but they were little match for the white men with their guns and large numbers of men. They were given plague ridden blankets and were tricked out of their food and their homes. Try as they might to protect the land that they and their forefathers had raised their families on and lived off of they soon met their end. Very few Native Americans remain today do to the masses that were killed by the white men.
Those that were not directly murdered were starved or sold into slavery. Many died within the first year of settlers landing on the terrain because their systems were not used to the foreign diseases that were being brought over by ship with the many new settlers. It was truly a horrendous occurrence. The time a whole culture and race of people were almost entirely destroyed by another.
After a conflict both parties should apologize and make amends. It does no good to hold hatred in ones heart. To hold hatred in the heart of an entire civilization against another is even worse. After a conflict though one party may have appeared to be victorious it is really not so. Nothing is really ever gained from conflict but many things can be lost.
Those that could dwell upon an event such as this in history and be proud that the white men won are merely savages themselves. There is no trace of decency in such a thought process. No race or culture ever deserves to be entirely demolished because they do not follow the trends of the others around them. The battles that occurred where so many Native American lives were taken were unjustly weighted. The white men acted barbaric in claiming the western territory of the United States.
No one party won the "conflict" between the Native Americans and the white men. An entire race was nearly massacred and ceased to ever exist as it was before. All people lost. They lost a race of humans, of people. No amount of apologies to those remaining could ever make what happened right. This cannot be fixed or changed. The actions of those in years past will forever leave a scar on the present and future.
War does not solve anything. Peaces treaties and compromises that come after wars when both parties are too exhausted to carry on solve problems. War causes more issues than what began them in the first place. Nothing is solved when one race of people tries to ruthlessly kill another. All that results are large body counts and human beings lying dead, scattered across open fields. What occurred between the Native Americans and the white men was not even a war. It was one race taking complete advantage of another and inflicting suffering equal to that of another holocaust. It is taught that the Holocaust was such a terrible occurrence because Hitler tried to persecute an entire race. What the white men did to the Native Americans really was not that different.
The United States can not do anything at this point to reconcile what occurred. It is a wound that runs deep and will be omnipresent as long as the nation is in existence. No one came out of the conflict victorious. The government may believe that cutting checks will help erase the past but this is not so. After the Holocaust checks were issued to many of the Jewish people that underwent some of the torture but managed to survive. Many of those people did not even cash the checks and those that did, did so with bitterness in their hearts. Money can not erase hatred. It took hatred to fuel the annihilation of an innocent culture. Everyone lost and only despair can remain.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Authors Intent

2008-08-27T17:45:00.001-07:00

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West was written by Dee Brown. It is the very true and blunt story of how the American West came to be. It tells the tale of how the United States of America won its western portion by annihilating an entire culture.
Through this book Dee Brown was able to show what life was really like during this time for the average Native American. They were forced to comply with the white mans every wish. They had no choice in the matter because they were by far out numbered and out done in weapons as well.
He wrote this book to accurately depict what life was really like for the Native Americans. Up until this book was published many modern Americans had no idea as to what really occurred and how the west was really won. To say "won" is not even entirely correct, stolen would be a better choice.
It was the first novel to really show Native Americans as a race that was reasonably harmless and defenseless but was almost entirely destroyed regardless. He was able to use firsthand accounts to describe the injustice that was inflicted. Brown detailed why the Native Americans were so attached to the land, how so many died, and why the white men so desperately wanted possession of the land for themselves.
Dee Brown wrote Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee to set the record straight. He corrected all of the common misconceptions that had settled in over time. Very few people remained that could give an accurate account of the happenings and Brown believed that everyone should know what really occurred between the Native Americans and the white men and how the terrain was really gained.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 1st Thematic Question

2008-08-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West is a novel written by Dee Brown. This book tells just how the western portion of America came to be. For many years before the white men stepped foot on their soil the land had been inhabited by Native Americans. There are many stories taught to young children today about how the Native Americans and the white men coexisted and shared land and food peaceably but these tales are completely falsified.
Native Americans had claimed title of the land long before Christopher Columbus went sailing. It was where they and their ancestors and lived and were to be buried. It was where they raised their families before American settlers began to sail over.
The United States of America has come full circle in its failure in the treatment of Native Americans. They killed them in great masses by overpowering them or by bringing over diseases that their immune systems had no tolerance for. The Native Americans would fight in battles with spears and hand made weapons and the white men would storm in with firearms and entirely demolish them. They were no match for such technology.
During some instances with trading the white men could be known to give the Native Americans plague ridden blankets. Blankets that normally would have been burned, were handed casually to them with murderous intentions. They wanted full possession of the land that they were pursuing and would stop at nothing to achieve it, even if it meant wiping out an entire race.
They treated the entire American Indian race as though it was composed entirely of brutish beasts and savages. It was true that they may have been slightly undomesticated and religiously misguided nothing can excuse the way that they were treated. The white men completely dehumanized them and treated them in an almost animal like fashion.
Even today the art of how to handle another culture has not been properly learned by the United States of America. The government continues even today to handle them poorly. The failed treatment of the Native American culture on the behalf of the United States of America has simply come full circle. Many years ago we starved and beat them out of their land. We killed them in huge masses until their population dwindled down to all that remains today.
Today the United States fails in the way that it handles the Native American culture still. As compensation for all of the negative occurrences in the past there are now reservations where they can live within the United States. The majority of these reservations resemble trailer parks and the people within live off of government money. There is a huge rate of alcoholism within these reservations. The United States is only hurting them by enabling them to casually toss aside daily life. If the government were to handle it properly then perhaps the Native Americans would be served with a choice, they can either be incorporated entirely into daily life as an American or perhaps they could set aside a piece of territory for the Native Americans and their other option can be to go live freely on that land as their ancestors once did.
The United States of America failed in its treatment of Native Americans years ago and still continues to today. By first trying to annihilate an entire race and by now enabling them to become productive the nation has brought only harm upon this foreign culture. The United States succeeded in nothing short of destroying the entire Native American culture as it was once known.

Frederick Douglass Thematic Question

2008-08-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in the year 1818 in Maryland. He was a slave for many years. His mother had been African American and a slave her entire life and his father was her master and a white man. He worked as a slave until in his later life he escaped and was freed.
Douglass wrote an autobiography called The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. His book was published in 1845. Even in the 19th century it was still facing controversy. For every white man the reveled in slavery there were at least two African American men that suffered on account of it. Slavery was a terrible thing.
The very idea that something so terrible could occur for so long in the land of the "free" is really sickening. But the slaves had no voice in the matter and the white men and women were fine with the matter at hand and the few that were not knew better than to tackle such a subject. To so much as teach a slave to read was a punishable offense.
Slavery was a long time in the making and it took a large effort to end it. Frederick Douglass was just one of the many men and women that contributed to the movement. Even in the 21st century racism is still present. You will not find it in the great masses that it could be found in during the 19th century but certainly it still exists.
The very idea that someone should be punished because they have a different colored skin pigment is barbaric. It is difficult to even fathom such a heinous crime today in a world where everything is turning liberal. Frederick Douglass was a brave man to stand up against such an evil as he did.
It takes a really awful person to punish a person for skin color so for a nation to punish and entire race for it is just demented. Those that are not feeling the bite of the whip were more than eager for such terrible things to continue occurring because they received a feeling of superiority. A mans wealth could be determined just by looking at the number of slaves that he owned so no wealthy man was going to be willing to fall easily. The thought of paying field hands enough to equal out to the cost of living was simply unbearable.
America was a sick and heavy burdened nation with the weight of slavery within its midst. It was not until it was cleansed of slavery that America could begin to heal. The marks of slavery will always be present within the nation because such hatred leaves scars that even time cannot properly heal.
It really must have been a world filled with hatred for something so terrible to have survived for so long. Douglass' story does go to show that just a few decent hearts in a world full of hatred can make all of the difference. It was due to those who refused to back down that we owe this age of equal opportunity to.

Contemporary Novel

2008-08-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

As my contemporary American novel I chose The Voice at 3:00 A.M. which is a compilation of selected poems written by Charles Simic. He is an American poet and has even had his own type of poetry named after him called the "Simic Poem" because he follows now specific patterns as he writes. He writes about nearly everything and anything that would affect the average American in their daily lives.
His book The Voice at 3:00 A.M. helps to answer the essential question "what/ who is the Quintessential American?" because he writes from the viewpoint of the quintessential American. His poems are generally about how the average American feels about everyday events and experiences. He does not appear to approach many of these topics from a sardonic perspective but from more of a serious viewpoint as though he is really trying to capture the mind of the quintessential American on paper using only a pen as a tool.
His poem subject matters within the book vary between the different occurrences in an Americans life. He has poems about school, childhood, love, lust, religion, factories, toys, friends, lovers, food, libraries, animals, hotels, transportation, mirrors, children that are wiser than their years, etc. There are 177 poems compiled within this book describing the ordinary daily lives of Americans and all of their average encounters. To read a poem within this book could be compared to doing a puzzle. His words are like riddles but he provides you with all of the necessary tools to decode them. He is rather brilliant and his book falls right in sync with our essential questions.

Frederick Douglass Authors Intent

2008-08-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave was published in 1845. It is a powerful novel about the harmful effects of slavery. It explores the daily ins and outs of slaves in America and that of their slaveholders, while telling the story of Fredrick Douglass' life.
Perhaps the most powerful feature about this book is that it was written by Fredrick Douglass himself. It is an autobiography. He, himself had this book published in 1845 and had told his story several times before in front of an audience of white men. He was a slave that was forced to struggle through the better part of his life and he wanted to have his story known.
By publishing this book he was able to convey to America just how terrible slavery was and is. He spoke of it as if it were a disease and was justified in doing so. He did something that many non-fiction books could not he made you feel second hand what it was like to be a black man in America during that time. He even spoke about the way slavery affected the white men and women and how it changed them and could take an innocent woman and make a beast out of her.
His intent was to show how harmful slavery truly is to any culture and how it not only effects the people that are enslaved but the nation as a whole. Everyone knows that slavery was not a good thing but not everyone could portray it or take us to the heart of it like Fredrick Douglass did. He truly accomplished many things in the publishing of such a book. He even withheld certain names so that the few people that had tried to help him would not be shunned.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was a book written with great heart and soul. Its intent to show just what America had become due to slavery was accomplished in full. If someone else had recorded his story for him it would not have been as powerful. This book truly shows that slavery was a terrible ghastly being and that writing comes from the heart and not from the mind.

Ben Franklin Virtues Proj.

2008-07-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Monday- I actually didn't do such a terrible job with this today as I thought I initially would. All in all humility wise I'd give myself a B. There's room for improvement but I didn't make any significant blunders.

Tuesday- I bombed in the land of humility today... Between an online class and an email to a close friend... Well I flunked.

Wednesday- I actually believe I may have done well with this today. I didn't have to work and so I was home all day attempting to catch up on honors history stuff that I fell behind on when I was camping. I was fine with my parents and other than that the only real communication that I had with the world was through an email to a friend and the emails sole intention was to bring the recipient encouragement.

Thursday- Hmmm... Well I went behind my parents back and went to see a movie at midnight and spent the whole night driving around with some friends... I lied about my whereabouts to them and was pretty selfish all in all... Yeah I'd give today an F.

Friday- I spent all day with Emily and her mother. I flunked terribly at this assignment today... They actually had to start keeping track on paper all of the times that I failed. Whoops!

Saturday- Well my mother learned about my midnight excursion and I came clean and confessed. Honesty really is good for the soul and humility ;-) Other than that I worked an 8 hour shift and became part of the working community. It was rough.. But humility wise today I get an A :-)

Sunday- Well I skipped church to sleep in, didn't go to the cookout and singing because I decided to work, and then spent all evening arguing with my two atheist parents about religion. They were instigating but I should know better... F.

A Midwife's Tale- Authors Intent

2008-07-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

The book A Midwife's Tale was constructed by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. It is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Ulrich proves himself to be a fairly craft historian through the writing of this book. The book is entirely about the life of Martha Ballard and the community that she lived in. It is based mainly upon a diary that Martha kept between the years 1785-1812.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was the first person to truly take Martha's thoughts seriously. She was the first one to peer beyond the sex prattle and see all of the historical facts that lied just beyond it. Ulrich is a professor of history at Harvard. Many historians had thumbed through Martha's diary before her but none had taken it seriously.

When Ulrich flipped through Martha's writings she saw much more potential. She gave Martha the credit that no one else had and constructed an entire work around it. She discovered that there was much to learn from these writings. Martha could not have made it very easy on Ulrich as she was a woman of very little emotion and kept her entry's as precise as possible. Through her writings we discover that she was not a woman of great emotion and her many of her entry's become more repetitive and appear more like a log of births and deaths than anything. This is most likely what had turned off so many historians before Ulrich.

Ulrich took the time to decode Martha's misspellings and to look deeper into the lack of emotion to draw some more influential conclusions. She looked at the writings of another man from Martha's time as well and compared some of their recordings and found that many of them matched up in a decent fashion and from this was able to pull even more conclusions. From constructing this book and the research that it took Ulrich learned many things about what the role of women was like during this time period and the community that they all lived in.

By publishing her book she was able to share all that she had learned with many people. Ulrich is able to accurately depict the life of a midwife or any woman during the late 18th and early 19th century. She is able to outline the roles of the average woman and in doing so even the role of the average man. Through this book many things can be learned about the community that Martha lived in and what types of things Martha was expected to do as midwife. This also leads the reader to see the types of medicinal practices that were used during this time period. Ulrich saw many things in Martha's diary that historians that had come before her had missed. By publishing these things in A Midwifes Tale she found herself able to share all of those revelations with any genuinely interested person today.

A Midwife's Tale Part Two

2008-07-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

There are many things needed to make a community successful. Objects such as money, equipment, and laws are all major requirements. Many things can be used to make a community larger and more successful and an all around better place to be, but at the very heart lies the people. A community is nothing without willing and able hands. A community where no one is willing to lend an ear to listen, a hand to help, or a heart to pray, is a place that is unfit to live in. It can be a place that has the most money, several town establishments, a huge schooling system, and many clinics and still be unsuccessful.

Martha Ballard's community held that which we do not always possess today, willing and able hearts and minds. If someone was hurt or in trouble the people would bind together to help them. Resources would be pooled and help would arrive on scene. If a fire were to break out then the neighbors would show up with buckets in hand ready to douse the fire with water. If a family was going hungry there would be neighborly families handing over their extra resources to help feed them.

Today if you were to drive through nearly any city you would find many people homeless and starving. The basic principals that used to be applied in Martha's time no longer seem to hold any value. Many years ago most people would know every family that lived within several miles of them on a personal basis. Today it is considered a rarity to know your next door neighbor that lives but a few feet away.

Martha Ballard and her husband were almost always opening their house up to someone in need. Be it someone that had lost a family member or a child in need of a home or nearly anyone there was almost someone residing in their home. We see several times in the diary "--slept here". Today in big communities many shelters can be found. Is this because people are less willing to open up their houses and allow people to stay? Or is it merely because the community itself has become so dysfunctional in so many areas, that there are simply too many people in need of housing to be able to provide for them all?

Stores during Martha Ballard's time were much more scarce in a small community than they are today. The people learned to rely upon one another. The women did a great deal of trading amongst themselves. Most women had their hand at some small trade and if one woman found herself skilled in the art of growing or collecting herbs and the another found herself skilled in the kitchen than they would trade with one another. Today when something is needed instead of trading with a close neighbor people will take a trip out to Walmart.

Another thing that brought a community closer together back then was that the town events were considered important. Today very few local meetings occur and the ones that do receive very small turnouts. In Martha's time on average each town had a meeting house. Every Sunday nearly every man, woman, and family could be found in the church service. It was found to be an important part of the week that most people would frown upon sleeping through.

Church was not the only thing that brought in full scale community action though. Men from every household would go to town meetings where laws and punishment would be discussed. It was important to them for their communities to be kept together and clean. Back then voting a person as head of one of the town committees was important business. Today many people could not tell you who is in charge of their local communities to contact for something important. Many people would find it necessary to Google it.

Martha Ballard's community had many things that are still present in local communities today. Every place is going to have its bad seeds (in more than one sense) and its rough patches. But Martha Ballard's community also had something that is not present in many communities today. The people that are willing to come together to help make it through the rough times. The people that are willing to hold hands on a Sunday morning and pray for those in need, the people willing to bake something for a family going hungry, and the people willing to reach out a hand to someone and say "I'm here." The relationships within a community have changed drastically since Martha's time and not in a decent manner. Communities today could be considered anything but successful.

A Midwife's Tale Part One

2008-07-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

There is very little evidence in relevance to women's roles in the early 19th century. Much of what we "know" is based merely on assumption or some well educated guesses. This is due to many different circumstances. A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 written by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, is one of the very few remaining articles that may provide us with some insight as to what a woman's role truly was during that era.
Perhaps, the main reason that we do not have an ample amount of evidence left for us to discover today that will describe a woman's role is because it never really existed to begin with. Very few woman found themselves educated and even fewer actually made written accounts that still survive today. Martha Ballard was a midwife and her diary is one of very few accounts that still survive today that can provide us with some insight into how people lived in the 19th century.
Another reason that we have so little evidence remaining of women's roles during that time is that the women were not considered to be of the same importance as men. They were either stay at home moms, midwives, or working in textile production. The big jobs belonged to the men. All of the judges, reverends, and the majority of doctors were all men. Very few things were recorded during the early parts of the 19th century and those that were generally fell into a religious, medical, or lawful category and the women did not technically play very large roles in these fields.
Many people before Ulrich has read Martha's diary and dismissed it as just a bunch of ramblings. They found it to be of very little use. By taking the time to scour through and assess the smaller pieces of the diary Ulrich was able to determine many things about the average daily life of a woman in the 19th century. He was able to make many discoveries and even prove a few historians and their educated guesses wrong.
Women played a much more important role in the early 19th century than many people commonly believe. For instance Martha herself as only a midwife often treated many of the common and sometimes uncommon illnesses in the areas surrounding her home. She not only delivered babies but administered medicine to the sick and occasionally played the role of mortician as well. She often took on the duties known to only doctors today and only on a rare occasion actually consulted with a physician. Many sick people found relief through Martha Ballard, a female resident of Maine in the early 19th century.
The 19th century appears to have been a time of transition. Moving out of an age where men controlled every aspect of life and into an age where the role was shared mutually with women. The women helped to assure that the household was running and were able to take on many of the common local duties. Men seemed to be just learning the true value of women.
Not only were women key to making a household run smoothly and useful in medical practices but they were also essential when it came to local trade as well. They were needed to continue making the economy run in an organized fashion. Women were constantly trading with one another for cooking necessities, blankets, clothing, vegetables etc. If one family seemed to be having a particularly hard time making ends meet than the women would go over to that household and take the looming equipment and such with them and provide them with the necessary help.
By the beginning of the 19th century women's roles had increased drastically and Ulrich's research through Martha's diary and few other accounts help us to see this. Women were a necessity for success and no man could have failed to recognize it during such an era. They were needed in almost every aspect. The very medical foundations, economy, and heart of 19th century would have been missing if the women had not taken on the roles that they did and accomplish tasks daily that many still struggle with today. One can only wish that more women had taken it upon themselves to keep an accurate daily record of their activities. So much still remains to be learned.

at.oow

2008-06-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

I decided to research more about what an at.oow is because I felt as though it would only gain more significance as the book continues. It was really touching that Garvey gave Cole the blanket when it apparently had a great deal of meaning to him and he entrusted it to such a troubled youth. This showed that he has great faith in and hope for Cole.
The idea of an at.oow originated from the Tlingit tribe. An at.oow was a clans most prized possession. It could be any kind of object, story, or song, or even something such as the moon. All of the rights to an object had to be aquired through some sort of ancestor of the tribe.
Cole has a very negative attitude towards everything. It will take quite a bit to turn him around. Fortunately the at.oow that Garvey passed on to him was not destroyed and lost in the fire. I hope that it will continue to gain significance throughout the story.

2008-06-12T03:31:00.000-07:00

The Great Collaboration that Turned 13 Colonies into a Nation

The American Revolution was the movement that freed America from British reign. It was the leadership and qualities possessed by a few good men that won the nation and built it from the ground up. The sources used in constructing this essay were Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis, Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary, and Th.JeffersonMonticello.com .

The American Revolution began in 1775 and did not truly come to an end until 1783 when John Adams took office as the second president of the United States. These were eight very difficult years for anyone living in the 13 colonies. Britain had more money and a much larger army fighting its battles, but America had something that Britain did not, passion. There were many American leaders that stepped in to defend and help form their country that cared for nothing more than their impending freedom. It was through the ambition, collaboration, and determination of these few men that America became what it still is today.

When considering the American Revolution the first man that must be brought up would be John Adams of Massachusetts. He was really the catalyst for the entire revolution. He and his family resided very close to where the British had been invading. He urged the council repeatedly to declare war and bind the colonies together as one to fight. He cared very strongly for his country. “If revolutionary credentials were the major criteria, Adams was virtually unbeatable. His career, indeed his entire life, was made by the American Revolution; and he, in turn, had made American Independence his lifes project.” (Founding Brothers pg. 164). He eventually became president and turned out to be an admirable leader though he had been rather radical to begin with. “Adams was an inherently erratic character who often lacked control over his own emotional impulses.” (Founding Brothers pg. 214.)

John Adams would have never accomplished anything during his lifetime if it had not been for his wife Abigail and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. They helped to keep him grounded and skilled him in the art of dealing with politicians. Franklin himself made both great advances scientifically and for the freedom of his nation. Without Franklin there would have never been a war. He went over to France to try to encourage them to help us with the war. Abigail often provided her husband with advice when it came to political matters. “Adam’s partner in the dance was Abigail, whose political instincts rivaled Madison’s legendary skills and whose knowledge of her husbands emotional makeup surpassed all competitors.” (Founding Brothers)

Perhaps the most memorable man of the time is George Washington and for good reason. He was elected as the first president of the United States and nominated by Adams to be the General of the Army. He was an honest and decent man and kept his soldiers going even while enduring the worst possible living conditions. He marched and fought beside his men and thus led by example. Washington was an extremely modest man that fought only for the good of our country and refused to let the power corrupt him even after being offered the title of “kingship”. He has been considered the father of our country since 1776, which was before we even had a country. The only person that ever came close to taking this title from him was Benjamin Franklin. “The only serious contender for primary was Benjamin Franklin, but just before his death in 1790, Franklin himself acknowledged Washington’s supremacy.” (Founding Brothers)

Washington’s right hand man throughout was Alexander Hamilton. He requested that Hamilton be named second in command of the army and refused to work without him. This caused some trouble for Adams who severely disliked Hamilton. He did not have a distinguished bloodline and so was forever trying to prove himself to the other men and his country. “In part because of his undistinguished origins, Hamilton always seemed compelled to be proving himself.” (Founding Brothers pg. 22). Wherever Hamilton went, drama seemed to follow. When he was not busy making enemies with Adams, he was butting heads with Aaron Burr and this proved to be the death of him. All that can be said for Hamilton was that he was extremely ambitious and did care for his country. “Hamilton tended to regard worldly problems as personal challenges.” (Founding Brothers pg. 22).

Aaron Burr believed Hamilton to be a complete fool. Burr was ambitious and willing to take on and face political challenges. He was gifted with the ability to form and carry out governmental strategies. His bloodline was a lot more pure than Hamilton’s and he was more reserved. “Burr’s overall demeanor seemed subdued, as if the compressed energies of New England were up inside him, waiting for the opportunity to explode.” (Founding Brothers pg. 22). Burr’s political and personal downfall came after killing Hamilton. They had fought for 15 years and finally decided to have a duel to prove superiority at Weehawken. Burr went into the duel determined to show up Hamilton and Hamilton refused to back down because he would look like a fool to all of his superiors and companions. “If Burr went to Weehawken out of frustration, Hamilton went out of a combination of fear and insecurity.” (Founding Brothers pg. 23)

While Hamilton was alive he became fairly close with James Madison. Madison was a very clever man that could talk his way out of virtually anything. It is believed that in the art of speech he ranked similarly to Franklin. He was very difficult to become angry with and could make any man that tried to debate with him on an issue, look like a fool. Madison was a valuable asset to America’s founding.

Madison’s loyalties lied with one man and one man alone; Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson believed that all Americans should have the right to freedom and worked hard to try and achieve that. He was initially, in his earlier years, very close with John and Abigail Adams but turned on them in later years for political interest. Jefferson became the third president of the United States, was the author of the Declaration of Independence, passed the Statute of Religious Freedom in Virginia, and he founded the University of Virginia. He held many leadership positions in his time. He served in the House of Delegates, was the governor of Virginia, chairman of the committee dealing with the government of the western lands, minister to France, Secretary of State, vice-president of the United States (under John Adams), and then the president of the United States. Jefferson did a great deal to serve his country.

All of these men may have had their differences and fought amongst each other, but thankfully their positive attributes outweighed the negative and they became the founders of America. Franklin was a man that possessed great ideas and was always willing to take the risks necessary to see them through. Aaron Burr may have had a real problem with his temper but he had a real passion for his country. Adams may have been a bit radical but it was his radical thoughts that initiated the stand against Britain. Adams listened to Franklin and helped carry out his ideas, kept Hamilton’s ego in check, cooperated with Jefferson, and kept Washington in command, all of which, were key aspects in winning the war against Britain. Madison collaborated well with Jefferson and Hamilton and later became the fourth president of the United States and continued to lead the nation in the right direction. It was Washington’s obvious charisma that kept up the troop’s morale and led them towards the ultimate victory. His modesty worked very well in contrast with Adams personality. Hamilton was ambitious and energetic and worked hard to fight for freedom. Jefferson and Adams may have had their problems but they always cared for one another and Adams is even said to have spoken Jefferson’s name upon his death bed. The men all had their differences in opinion and strategy but in the end it was their collaboration and effort that founded the nation. Without each of their personal ambitions, ideologies, and personality quirks, the British would have conquered what is now a free standing nation.

2008-05-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

August 1st, 1776

My Dearest Debby,

I find myself in the midst of quite a predicament while here in Philadelphia. I cannot wait to come home to you my darling wife but I fear that I may not be able to for a long while now. We are currently attempting to face down a giant that is much larger than ourselves. Unfortunately, The Giant's strengths do not merely end in size. Amount of artillery power and powder are also of their advantage as is money in general. If we stand any chance at all it is in will power alone. Our men fight for their freedom and for their land, possessions, and families .Here The Giant will discover its weakness I believe. We are at an all around advantage with familiarity with the terrain.
I truly believe that we have a long road ahead of us my dear. The end is no where in sight. I do however, have the utmost respect for General Washington and have instilled all of my faith in him that he will see our troops through this time. He is a courageous and modest man and I doubt that there is any other man as well suited for such a position than he.

It is a sad disappointment to me that it has come to this war at all but I would be a fool to deem it unnecessary. Dickinson was a fool himself to resist the motion for as long as he did and a good 400 Boston patriots gave their lives because of it. None of them being professional soldiers but merely citizens of Massachusetts who willingly gave their lives to defend what was already theirs. Do not dwell upon this though my dear for they took with them more than 1,000 British soldiers and 100 of their officers and in this we may rejoice! Dickinson could hold no defense against the war after this. No one in the room wanted to hear about another of his plans for peace. I believe everyone in the room felt it necessary to rise up against such a brutish attack. Many a men found themselves rather embarrassed to be in the same room with such a man that would suggest otherwise. In this manner Dickinson found himself overruled.

During the first of our meetings Mr. John Adams made himself out to be a blathering idiot. He even went so far as to insult the Quakers and their ways. I could not believe the fool and had to choke back a spat of laughter. Dickinson of course appearing much less of an idiot became the voice of reason that was listened to and proposed that we publish a statement, issue a non-importation, non-consumption, non-exportation of British goods act, and prepare a loyal address to His Majesty. All but four of the colonies voted in favor of this. Due to Mr. Adams foolish ways I found myself being in the remaining nine.

I spoke with Mr. Adams the afternoon of his outburst and cautioned him as to his ways. I merely suggested that he had won nothing at all by opposing the motion and suggested that he only made himself new enemies. I advised him to seek out the gentlemen of Virginia because everyone follows their lead. If one does not win Virginia than one will win nothing at all.

Fortunately, the brutish and uncalled for attack on Boston seemed to justify Mr. Adams concerns and we came together to vote once again. This time he remained much more calm and blew the defense out of their wigs. Mr. Dickinson was left without defense. Mr. Adams moved that the Congress might adopt the Massachusetts Militia. This of course brought about much grumbling, all of which ceased when he suggested that it be lead by Colonel Washington. This was a brilliant move and I, myself, felt compelled to act in its favor and stood up in support of it. Washington being the humble man he is blushed and accepted in a meek manner. I recall that he was wearing a black band around his arm that very day in mourning of the lost men of Massachusetts, a very touching sentiment.

So my darling Debby I may be here a while but you may rest assured that it is for good reason that I am away. We would have been complete fools to allow The Giant to come any further without putting up some resistance. We are all at the aid of Massachusetts and we will not abandon course until all of our men lie dead in the fields and there are none left to fight but women and children. The Giant may have money but we have willpower, discipline, and intelligence fighting on our behalf. Do not fret my dear for we will not lose. Continue to pray that God may keep our men and their officers.

All of my love,

Your Humble Husband,

B. Franklin

References: Mr. Viles' classroom speaches, and John Adams on HBO

2008-03-26T03:26:00.000-07:00

Alton S. Tobey

2008-03-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Revolutionary Changes

Contact between Native Americans and Europeans between the founding of Jamestown (1607) and the outbreak of the American Revolution (1776) constituted a continuous cultural revolution for native people. The sources used in the writing of this essay were Native Tech.org, The Earth Shall Weep by James Wilson, Wikipedia.com, Pilgrim Hall.org, Sparknotes. com, Merriam Websters Online Dictionary, and Google Images.

Once the Europeans and the French had set foot upon the Native American soil, life for the natives took a turn for the worst. It would be safe to say that it was a revolutionary time period. Nothing in their lives stayed the same. Their religions began to slowly change, their trade was overtaken, and all out war ensued on more than one occasion. Each side had a different reason for entering the wars. For the Europeans and Frenchmen for the most part they were fighting for ownership, whereas the Native Americans were almost always fighting to maintain their freedoms.

In 1620 the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth. They were not the first settlers to come to the area. No, that title belonged to the settlers of Jamestown who arrived in 1607. The Pilgrims had fled from their homeland for several reason but one of the biggest of the few was religion. They were seeking freedom from the laws of England so that they could practice under their own religions without being persecuted. In 1630 another group of people sailed over from England. These were the Puritans and this movement was called the Great Migration. They had all had the same motives in mind when they had left England. They left solely to practice their religion. Unlike the Pilgrims the Puritans still held out hope to return to England someday. They hoped that the country would mend its evil ways.

By 1630 when the Puritans arrived it would be safe to state that the Native Americans were completely surrounded by a new religion and new ideas. These people soon began to force their ideas upon the natives. The Europeans had brought many diseases over with them from England and the natives were especially susceptible. They began to fall like flys and the remaining few saw it as a sign from heaven that they had not been worshipping properly. However, these Europeans just seemed to continue coming over on boats being replenished by an invisible source. The Native Americans attributed this to their religion and soon some began to consider conversion into Christianity.

By 1650 new establishments were founded. These were called Praying Towns. These were places where Christian Indians could reside. The Native Americans that resided here were often referred to as "Praying Indians". In a Praying Town the natives were forced to renounce their native language, ceremonies, beliefs, traditional dress and customs. In short they were converted into mini Europeans. These were the rules of the Praying Towns: "If any man shall be idle a week, or at most a fortnight, he shall be fined five shillings. If any unmarried man shall lie with a young woman unmarried, he shall be fined five shillings. If any man shall beat his wife, his hands shall be tied behind him, and he shall be carried to the place of justice to be punished severely. Every young man, if not anothers servant, and if unmarried, shall be compelled to set up a wigwam, and plant for himself, and not shift up and down in other wigwams. If any woman shall not have her hair tied up, but hang loose, or be cut as a man's hair, she shall pay five shillings. If any woman shall go with naked breasts, she shall pay two shillings. All men that shall wear long locks, shall pay five shillings. If any shall crack lice between their teeth, they shall pay five shillings." In short it does not seem that Praying Towns were such an awful place to live if you did not mind remaining clothed and keeping lice out of your mouth.

Throughout the entire ordeal between the natives and the Europeans and Frenchmen people were always trading. After the Great Migration the natives were able to trade some with the Puritans. However, for the most part the Puritans saw the native peoples as heathens and unworthy of the ground that they walked on. Perhaps, fur was the most highly traded object. The Pilgrims traded with the Indians more than any other culture. They would trade back and forth for corn and fishing privileges as well.

The worst outcome of trade would have to be seen as the Compulsory Purchase. This took place in Jamestown. The Compulsory Purchase was a system developed under the leadership of John Smith. If the Indians refused to sell their corn then the men of Jamestown would take it by force. This was a reasonably easy task because the Indians used the skill of archery and the Europeans had firearms. At this John Smith wrote "I durst undertake to have corne enough from the Salvages for 300 men, for a few trifles. And if they should be untoward (as it is most certaine they are) thirty or forty good men should be enough to bring them all in." Often times because of this the Native Americans had to go hungry themselves and could not plant for the next year because they did not have enough seed. Thus wrecking trade forever in the eyes of the Native Americans.

There were three major wars between the Europeans and Frenchmen with the Indians. The Pequot War, King Philips War, and the French and Indian War. The Pequot War took place between 1637 and 1638 with the Native Americans versus the Pilgrims. Of course the Pilgrims used their superior pieces of technology to win. Many Pequots were harmed in this time of war. The Pequot people who had survived the war were distributed as slaves. This was the first armed war between the Europeans and the Native Americans in history.

King Philips War was one of the bloodiest wars in history. It ran from 1675-1676. One in ten soldiers on both sides was injured or killed. It took several years for Plymouth and several of the other colonies to recover from the amounts of damage done to their property. Once again the colonists won. Hundreds of the Native people who had fought with Philip were sold into slavery and the women and children were forced to become servants locally. Several of the Native communities had to begin to adapt to the new ways to survive.

The French and Indian War ran from 1754-1763. This war took more lives than the American Revolution. It involved people on three continents including the Caribbean. It was the direct result of a clash between the French and English over colonies and land and other such matters. It is often considered as a war between the British and the French. This war was eventually the end of the French's political and cultural influence in North America. England gained tons of land and tightened its hold on the continent. This was not a good thing for the Native Americans. Though at this point they had just been stuck between the English and French anyway.

According to Merriam Websters Online Dictionary, the term "revolution" means: "a sudden, radical or complete change; a fundamental change in political organization; the overthrow or renunciation of one government and the substitution of another." This was definitely a revolutionary time period for the Native Americans. However, it was not one that worked at all in their favor. It was one that nearly drove their entire culture into extinction. They completely lost who they were as a culture in the midst of it all. They no longer were all united together under one religion, they could no longer trade properly, and several of them had been made into slaves by the English and Frenchmen. It was a complete cultural revolution for all of them and those who survived it did not fair so well in the end. However, without those awful Englishmen what is known as New England would not currently exist today.

-Ashley Nichols

2008-03-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

The Reality of Jamestown vs. the Illusion of Plymouth

The story of Thanksgiving in America is for all intensive purposes a lie. It began as a way to justify what was done to the Native Americans culture. It is crucial for people to know the truth about this piece of history so that some justice is brought to all of those who lost their lives simply because they were not English or Frenchmen. This essay will explain the truth about the Native Americans and how they interacted with the pilgrims and will include the details of Jamestown which was actually a place of settlement before Plymouth. The sources used in the creation of this essay were Top Ten Myths About Thanksgiving posted on the History News Network website, Deconstructing the Myths of the First Thanksgiving posted on the Oyate website, Lectures given in class by Daniel Viles, Google Images, The Earth Shall Weep written by James Wilson, and Merriam Websters Online Dictionary.

Every year Thanksgiving is celebrated as an American holiday. In schools children are taught of the pilgrims and the Indians and of the feast that they shared together including turkey and various other traditional foods. Pictures are passed out to the children, in which the pilgrim men and women are completely covered and dressed in all black. They had arrived on their gigantic boat, the Mayflower. The Mayflower landed on Plymouth rock. These pilgrims wear big buckles and tall hats. The Indians are nearly naked and wear tall hats with feathers stuck into the backs of them and have paint smeared on their faces. These two groups clash and combine together for this one feast. This is the perfect image of Thanksgiving. It is 100% historically accurate, is it not?

Actually, this image that has been so vividly painted for us for hundreds of years, is not even close to correct. The pilgrims were not the first English settlers. They did not solely wear all black or have large obscene buckles. In fact, the Mayflower didn't even land on Plymouth rock! That was a myth that was added on to the story as an extra detail by a 95 year old man named Thomas Faunce. The legend rests entirely within his testimony which he did not even begin to tell until almost a century after the Mayflower had landed. The Mayflower actually landed in Province-town The first Thanksgiving may not have even taken place in Plymouth at all! According to the Berkley Plantation in Virginia, the first Thanksgiving in America was held there. Every year they celebrate this event and try to reenact it as precisely as possible. There legend tells them that 38 English settlers were brought to the plantation in 1619 by means of their ship the Margret.

So how is it that this story came to be so jumbled? Is any of the story accurate and why do we so willingly accept the inaccurate pieces? James Wilson answers all of these questions in his book The Earth Shall Weep. There had actually been English settlers and traders in the area for two years before the Mayflower even landed. During that time the mortality rates for the Native Americans increased drastically. There were two main sites that Englishmen and women settled on. These are known as Jamestown and Plymouth. Jamestown is often overlooked historically today as school children are taught about only Plymouth and the good natured pilgrims. The pilgrims were of a small Protestant sect. under John Calvin. They had fled England to gain independence and the right to practice under their own religion. This is what is often told as the main story today. What is commonly overlooked is the near complete extinction of another race that this move caused.

"Many Native American communities lost 75 per cent or more of their members within just a few weeks, the kind of losses predicted for a nuclear holocaust, and certainly greater than those suffered at Hiroshima." Diseases had been brought over to the Native Americans by the tradesmen and settlers. It entirely annihilated their population. It was a blow that they would never be able to recover from. Even World War One only killed two percent of the British population in four years. Death on this large of a scale would be enough to permanently scar if not destroy any culture. Eventually the Native Americans began to deal with starvation and famine as well. Due to all of the disease the crops were not able to be planted and harvested as had previously been the way. There were very few farm hands that were still willing and able to help.

The Pilgrims new that the land that they were about to settle on was not uninhabited. By 1920 hundreds of tradesmen and English/Frenchmen of different sorts had been to the land. None of the people that had gone out in search of the land were ignorant to the fact that Native Americans were already present in the territory and had a claim on it. The culture that the Englishmen had come from had taught them that land that had not been "tamed" and was not under constant improvement and was wild. So this meant that it was theirs for the taking. In other words, they did not recognize Native Americans as farmers nor did they respect their culture and way of life. Though they did not believe that the land was properly taken they did try to live off of the supplies that seemed to appear from the culture that did not farm. The Englishmen demanded that the Native Americans give them their surpluses of corn so that they could survive. All the while still denying that the culture had any real value whatsoever.

It is told in the Americans traditional version of the Thanksgiving story that the Pilgrims provided the food for their "Indian friends". This is not so. It was actually the Native Americans of the Wampanoag tribe that supplied the food for the event. They brought five deer with them and allowed the Englishmen to join them in the feast. Part of the myth that is currently believed today is that at the feast there was turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pie, and pop-corn. This is also not so. In truth they only had deer, possibly some wild fowl (most likely not turkey), mashed pumpkin, and possibly "nasaump" (dried corn pounded and boiled into a thick porridge). Potatoes did not end up in New England until the 18th century during trade and cranberries were to bitter for the people to eat and they had no sugars at the time to sweeten them with.

Though Thanksgiving is a joyful holiday time to get together for many American families it is simply nothing more than a time of mourning for others. It is a time that represents roughly 500 years of betrayal, much death, and famine. In truth Thanksgiving is really nothing to celebrate. It should be a time of mourning for all of the lives that were lost and a beautiful culture and its traditions. The depictions that still circle today do not do this culture any justice whatsoever with the exception of a few intelligent people such as James Wilson. Many people merely do not care enough to search to find the truth that resides behind the many lies. In a school in Seattle it has actually been banned that Thanksgiving should be celebrated. The local board of education declared that it was "insensitive" to their Native American population. The teachers have been required to teach the true story of Thanksgiving. Many people view it as robbing our culture of tradition but perhaps it is merely righting a wrong that has long be ensued on a culture that is nearly lost.

Pilgrims and Puritans are all too often mixed up in modern society. Neither of the two groups were alike other than that they both fled from England. Though they both left, only one of the two groups actually gave up on England entirely and that was the pilgrims. All along the Puritans held out hope that one day England would change and come to its senses. The Puritans did not even land in Plymouth until nearly a decade after the pilgrims. Some pilgrims came for religious reasons and others because they had heard tales of riches to be made and found but all of the Puritans came simply for religious freedom. The puritans viewed the pilgrims as a people whose actions were driven by a misguided hope for perfection rather than by a real view of the world.

The Pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower believed that their God had created and cleared this land for them. They refused to acknowledge that the Native Americans had any part of it or that they had any rights to the land. In fact some of the pilgrims even tried to convert the Native tribes over to their religion and many did follow. The Native Americans resolve towards the beliefs began to falter as they saw all of the people that they loved begin to slowly die off around them. They began to believe that perhaps they had done something to offend their gods and so perhaps it might be best to take on the religion of these strange Englishmen. Obviously whatever the Englishmen were doing had to be working for them because they just kept coming in by the boat load so perhaps there was more to their religion and belief system after all.

Often the people of Jamestown are left out of the traditional story's and the pilgrims are made out to be something that they are not. Pilgrims did not dress in all black with funny belt buckles and they did not come to the new land simply for religious purposes. Native Americans were not simply half naked people that spoke with trees. Both were very distinct cultures and one nearly drove the other into extinction. Perhaps the pilgrims and tradesmen did not intend to bring the diseases over to the Native tribes but regardless, they did. Then the people of Jamestown and the people of Plymouth all took of the Native Americans corn unfairly claiming that they had "found" it and they dug up Indian graves and stole from them. They terrorized a culture that was different from theirs and because it did not operate identically to their own they decided that it was not worthy of "their" ground. It was a truly awful time period. Yet though this was a time period of nothing more than death and lack of justice it is celebrated yearly in America and the children are brought up believing lies about the entire ordeal. In truth, it was horribly tragic and all America should acknowledge the truth of the matter. It is easy to see why people would want to believe that the forefathers of the country were simply acting upon their faithfulness to their high moral standards and that their cooperation with the Indians brought the nation to what it is today, but this is simply untrue. It is beyond time to recognize the matter for what it truly was. Any culture that bases its traditions around lies and prides itself on the make believes, is no culture at all.

2008-02-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

Living in Cyclical Time vs. Linear Time

Native Americans lived in cyclical time whereas the rest of the world and all of its cultures lived in linear time. When most cultures progressed the Native American cultures continued to run in circles and even viewed themselves from a cyclical viewpoint. The resources used to create this paper were Merriam Webster Online Dictionary and Google Images.

The Native Americans lived in a much different time period than we do today. Even the Europeans that lived during their time did not live in quite the same way. Europeans viewed themselves in much the same way that we do today. We view ourselves in linear time. We are forever progressing and moving forward. Even our main religions are based in linear progressive time. The Native Americans viewed themselves in cyclical time. They were in an on-going circle and their life styles, technology and religion were all based around this view.

According to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, cyclical is defined as "of, relating to, or being a cycle; moving in cycles" and time is defined as "the point or period when something occurs". Linear is defined as "of or relating to a straight line". To live in cyclical time would be to view oneself in the midst of an on-going cycle that will just repeat day to day, week to week, and season to season. To live in linear time would be to view oneself as constantly moving forward towards an inevitable end and taking several stops along the way.

Living in linear time like the Europeans did and as is done today religion is progressive. One of the largest world religions is Christianity. In this religion you have a book called the Bible that is referred to by all that partake in this faith. The Bible begins with the book of Genesis and ends with Revelation. This walks its readers from the creation of the universe to its destruction. Along the way you have the story of the first man and woman, the flood story, and various others. The Bible consists of a total of 66 books.

The Native Americans had a religion that consisted of all of the organisms that lived in their environments with them. They had spiritual connections with certain trees and animals and many items of the sort. They had different ties to specific pieces of land. They had many cultural dances and other such traditions that revolved in their lifestyles with them.

As far as technological advances were concerned the Native Americans had a very different point of view than the Europeans. The Europeans could not get enough of the new technology. They loved the new discoveries and possibilities that were opening up to them daily. The Native Americans on the other hand were more of a content religion. They enjoyed relishing in their already preset ways of gathering food, hunting, dancing, and transportation. Both the Europeans and the Native Americans had all that they needed the difference between the two lied in their expectations and what each cultured wanted and thrived for. While the Europeans moved further in the direction of comfort the Indians were content in keeping peace. This in itself shows a clear distinction between living in cyclical time and living in linear time.

Today it can be observed that each parent wants for their child what they have already accomplished and then some. They want their child to strive for the best and fulfil their potential. The Native Americans were content with the idea of their children simply filling their own shoes. If their child could just live up to what they had accomplished than for the most part they would be okay. Due to the fact that they viewed themselves differently through time and space it is no wonder that they would have a different view on a contentment and what it truly stands for.

It could be observed today and in the European colonies that there were three tenses present in the English language. There is the past, present, and the future. In a Native American culture only the present tense existed. They placed no real value on anything that was to happen or had already happened only what was currently taking place. Most modern civilizations cannot wrap their heads around this idea. In order to do so one would first have to place them-self in cyclical time.

The differences between cyclical time and linear time are so profound that it is hard to fully understand both while living in one. Living in cyclical time entirely changes how a person would view not only them-self but those around them as well. If one was to place them-self within cyclical time it would be seemingly easy to see why the Native Americans felt no real need to integrate and continue to push their society forward and thrive. It is also easy to see why the Native Americans became completely obliterated by disease and the Europeans who brought the diseases. This is a concept that is commonly lost in the translation between the two entirely different concepts of time and space. Linear time vs. cyclical time not only changes a few minor things but entirely re-shapes a culture as a whole.

Ashley Nichols

essay question

2008-02-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

What is the difference between the cyclical time and linear time? How did did living in cyclical time change how the indians viewed themselves and those around them?

2008-01-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

Improvement or Deterioration?

For the last several centuries it has been the trend of Western History to "avoid dogma" and develope a "skeptical faith". "As long as the end justifies the means" is an age old saying. The question that this paper arises is does the end justify the means. The answer to this is no. People have avoided dogma and kept a skeptical faith for many years and we have merely regressed beyond where we started. The sources used for this paper was ReligiousTolerance.org, Merriam Webster, and The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.

The world as a whole has been on a slow path of self destruction for at least the last four centuries, if not since the fall. With each passing year the world seems to fall apart just a little bit more. There are ambitious people that would disagree with this thesis. This is because it is true that we are better off scientifically today than we were a thousand years ago. We have had huge technological and medical advances. But is science really all that matters? Must we continue pushing until every human being alive has developed "a skeptical faith", and has learned to "avoid dogma". Are all of these technological developments, humanists, reformations, and revolutions helping to improve our world or are they simply holding us down?

The reformation that occurred in the 16th century greatly changed the course of history. Up until this time everyone had remained under the rule of the Roman Catholic Church. The government basically consisted of the church hierarchy and instead of taxes people payed a tithe to the church. This was just the natural order of things until Martin Luther came into the picture. He was a monk and then he later became a priest. He believed that the manner in which the church was going about its business was wrong and freely began to speak out against it. Instead of merely leaving the faith he decided to take it upon himself to try to alter some of the age old traditions. He wrote what is known as the 95 Theses. Basically this was a list of 95 things that he believed to be wrong within the Roman Catholic Church. At first many people disregarded him. It was as if he was saying here is a list of 95 things wrong with what I believe in. It could be compared to a modern day scientist with a PHD in bio-science technology publishing a book titled The 95 Things That I Do Wrong Every Day.

It seems as though Luther merely intended for people to clean up the ways of the Catholic Church. But instead of helping clean up this faith that he believed in, all that he managed to accomplish was driving people away from Christianity for good. Today because of him and other such humanists, our world stands divided. According to Religious-Tolerance.org as of the year 2000 Christians made up 33% of the worlds population. There are now a total of 19 major world religions that are divided into a total of 270 religious groups. There are roughly 34,000 Christian groups around the world. Instead of cleaning up one religion, all Martin Luther managed to do was take the first step towards dividing that one into 34,000.

The humanists way of thinking in the 16th century soon lead to the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century. It was called the Age of Enlightenment because many people believed that it was a light shining in the darkness. These very same people soon found that this was not so and that it was truly quite the opposite. People believed that this was a time to expel the ignorance that had once been known and trust in science and equality. The most admired writer of the 18th century was Voltaire. He was feared in part because he used his writing to criticize all that he disagreed with. Voltaires biggest enemy was the church.

This time of enlightenment certainly lead to disruption but not the kind that these humanists had been hoping for. It turned into a time of mass murder during the French Revolution. The people in France found themselves dealing with starvation, terrible taxes (more than a 10% tithe), tons of suffering, and a group of upper-class people that did not care about what was happening and that were exempt from taxes.

The Industrial Revolution began about 1733. The ideas and thought processes that it began would continue on for several centuries. The revolution brought about the coming of factories, cotton-spinning machines, steam engines, sewing machines, steel plows, the reaper, and vulcanized rubber. All of these items ended up being extremely beneficial to the world but they came at a bit of a cost. It changed the way that people viewed themselves and the world around them and not necessarily in a good way.

Before the Industrial Revolution a person could be walking down a side street and meet another person and recognize them as a neighbor, fellow Christian, or just an acquaintance. Due to the Industrial Revolution the same person could be walking down the same side street but recognize the person as homeless, poor, or rich. Everything became about money and marketing titles and schemes. A persons self-value began to rapidly change too. Before the Industrial Revolution people independently made items from their homes and owned private businesses but after the revolution people worked mainly in groups or in factories. For example a man that had owned his own shoe business for twenty years would be pressured into working in a factory where he would only be allowed to stitch one small piece of the shoe together and for just half of the pay. The value of any given persons life began to go down but it was okay because it was in the name of science.

In chapter 29 of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations Landes is able to provide his reader with many things to ponder and many quotable quotes. For example on pg. 514 he states "We should want to know why, all of us, because the why may help us to understand today and anticipate tomorrow." So if we were to know why things have gone so badly in the past and why peoples self-worth and that of those around them have gone down, why so many people have ended up working in factories, and why so many people have died from starvation because of weak government ruling, than maybe we could understand what is occurring now and figure out what may happen in the near future. On pg. 517 Landes talks about the Thais and how they used to spend years on their religious rituals and traditions that were important to their culture but now they cut all of those short. Landes states "As a result, young men spiritualize for a few weeks-- time enough to learn some prayers and rituals and get back to the real, material world. Time, which everyone knows is money, has changed in relative value." Time, money, science, atheism, and technology may have increased in value but everything that used to be held close to people and was considered morally right has flown out the window and our world is suffering because of it.

Perhaps the best point the Landes makes in the entire book is on pg. 518 "Convergence is the watchword of the day, the promise of eventual equality, of the generalization of prosperity, health and happiness. That, at any rate, is what economic theory tells us, assuming mobility of the factors of production. Experience is another matter. The numbers for the small set of advanced industrial countries seem to confirm convergence, but individual countries do not always stay with the pack." This pretty much says it all. People keep striving for equality and perfection but as we have clearly witnessed in the past it is nearly impossible to achieve a world wide convergence of anything. All that we have managed to do is end up with less of a sense of belonging and individuality than what was known centuries ago. People engaged in the enlightenment period looking to gain individuality but in the end they have ended up with less than what they began with.

According to Merriam Webster the definition of revolution is "a sudden, radical, and complete change" or "A fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something." The definition of reformation is "the state of being reformed; the act of reforming." A revolution may mean change but it does not necessarily mean that it is change for the better and reformation may reform something but that does not necessarily mean that the object in question was not better off before it was reformed. There is much less acceptance in the reformed version of the world and a much lower level of tolerance. So what exactly was achieved? Or maybe an easier question to answer would be, what was lost? Perhaps the lesson of the past 600 years is that we should stop trying. Though it has been the trend of Western History to "avoid dogma", "cultivate a skeptical faith", and "listen and watch well", perhaps the world might just be better off if a new trend was started. Something to the effect of cultivating a skeptical science, looking towards dogma (as opposed to avoiding it), and learning to be content with what has already been achieved instead of pushing each other into the dirt to be the first to discover the next ipod touch. Though this is all as likely to occur as complete convergence. So perhaps a happy medium might be best. Maybe we will locate one before some suicidal humanist decides they have had enough and just blows up the earth. Maybe not.

Ashley Nichols

watch this to check out how far equality has really come

2007-12-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

Mental or Physical?

The Industrial Revolution was not a material revolution in any sense of the word. It was a mental revolution that produced some material products and willing consumers. I will support this paper with quotes and pictures from Google , The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: by David S. Landes , Merriam Websters Online Dictionary , Wikipedia.com , Lucidcafe.com , Spartacus Educational.com , and The Great Idea Finder.com. It is important to know that though materialistic items may have come from the Industrial Revolution that the real cause of this revolution and every other for that matter lies within the mentality of the people in that era.

Often the Industrial Revolution is misconceived as merely being a material revolution. In actuality, the revolution truly occurred within the mindsets of the people. The Industrial Revolution introduced many new concepts into the world. These new concepts certainly did bring about new materials and resources but they did not just appear over night. They came about because society as a whole was ready to accept the new ideas and had the technology available to produce new objects and pieces of machinery.

The Industrial Revolution began about 1733. It is difficult to say precisely when the revolution ended because it was an age of enlightenment and the ideas and thought processes would continue on for several decades. Most historians state that it ended when Napoleon Bonaparte died in 1821. The revolution brought about the coming of factories, cotton-spinning machines, steam engines, sewing machines, steel plows, the reaper, and vulcanized rubber. It is because of all of these inventions that the average citizen is able to live in a better manner today.

Factories were considered to be a truly revolutionary concept in the 1700’s. People could make up to 12 times as many products in the same amount of time that it would have taken them to make one from their homes. Despite this, local citizens living in the towns where the new factories were being introduced despised the idea of them. The conditions within the factories were terrible. The areas that the people worked in were poorly ventilated, overcrowded, noisy, filthy, and poorly lighted. The people were right in objecting this “revolutionary” idea. However, before long the local citizens that resided in these towns began to cave in. This happened when James Hargreaves invented a device called the jenny. It could spin dozens of threads at once. Slowly people began to throw their precautions to the wind and they started embracing the idea of these factories in their cities and towns. For the sake of money and “enlightenment” they disregarded their preferences of working from home and the safety that it ensured. They forwent their aseptic needs so that they would not be left in the past century.

In 1768 James Watt found a way to make steam profitable. (pg. 188 The Wealth and Poverty of Nations ). Steam power became the greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution. The invention was soon applied to the factories and the transportation industries and caused the world to take a giant step forward. Though this was also the first step toward the total depletion of our ozone layer, most of the locals did very little to object this new idea. Most people saw this as a step in the right direction and as a tool that would make their daily lives easier. It was deemed acceptable by society and was therefore allowed to be born into the world. In truth, without the acceptance of the people it would have never amounted to anything.

The agricultural industry was completely redefined during the time of the Industrial Revolution. New tools were crafted from metal and replaced the wooden tools. Efficiency increased all around. The daily chores were able to be achieved at twice the previous speeds. Along with this came better insect and pest control, the discovery of new crops, the success of more crops, more breeding of livestock, and horses were used in place of oxen in the fields. Almost all of the agricultural industry quickly embraced these new concepts and made light of them. Their was the occasional traditional farmer that refused to envelope the new pieces of technology into their daily activities. However, there were not enough of these cases to change the rapid spread of technology. Most farmers were ready for a change.

Rubber was an accidental discovery that occurred in 1839. This discovery still lives on today and automobiles could not exist without it. A man named Charles Goodyear tried for years to put rubber to a positive use but discovered that when it was cold it was too hard to be useful and when it was hot it was wet. One day he accidentally mixed it with sulfur over a stove and discovered the perfect combination that made it flexible. It was one of the very first ways to develop elasticity. People initially had no real problems with rubber, it was seemingly harmless. That is until they were asked to drive vehicles that had rubber tires and an explosive material in the tank attached to it (gas).

All of these were truly revolutionary discoveries and inventions. Each and every one of these has impacted the society that is currently accepted today, but not one of them would have stood a chance if it was not for the acceptance of the general public. People have to be ready to accept change before it can occur. People often invent items when they begin to feel as though there is a need for that item in particular to grace society. If you want to kick off a revolution, you must first convince society that there is a need for one.

There is such a thing called the Hierarchy of Needs. This suggests that there are certain items that humans must have to live and that some are more prominent than others. At the bottom of the pyramid of needs lies the basic needs of life, air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, and sleep. Without these no form of life could survive. The next block up from the bottom entails the assurance of safety, including protection, security, order, law, limits, and stability. Without these basic needs no forms of life could survive for very long. The third block includes family, affection, and relationships. Many life forms would find it very hard to survive without the items included in this block. The next block up contains the needs for achievement, status, responsibility, and reputation. Most could live without these items but would prefer to have them. The block at the very top of the pyramid is composed of personal growth and fulfillment. Many forms of life would find it hard to live without these two things but would discover that it is certainly possible.

The Hierarchy of needs certainly shows a great deal of reason. But what could such a pyramid have to do with a time of enlightenment and revolution? The answer to this is, everything. This chart consists of all of the psychological and materialistic needs of people. Often times it can be found that people are willing to give up the top three blocks of the pyramid for fulfillment of the bottom two. People will easily latch on to a revolutionary idea if it means more accessible ways to fulfill their basic life needs. This is precisely what happened with the Industrial Revolution. People were willing to give up their social status and personal achievements and old ways of living if it meant easier means of achieving food, drink, and shelter. Society will never stop trying to find new ways to improve the basic necessities of life and each new way that is discovered could be considered revolutionary.

This is when revolutionary time periods become dangerous. People become more concerned with technology and their needs for personal achievement and the basic needs in life and they skip directly over their needs for affection and family. In times such as that of the Industrial Revolution people may even over look their own personal safety and that of others to achieve what they feel is necessary. However, since the beginning of time people have had ways of achieving all of the basic necessities included on the pyramid. The reason that we see so much growth within technology and disregard of personal safety and affection is due to the items in the top of the pyramid. Men and women start new trends for their own personal growth and fulfillment. Others begin to catch on to the idea when they become convinced that it is something that is needed to meet their basic necessities. A world with too much technology is a world without love and affection.

With a revolutionary time period comes a new way to identify ourselves and those around us. It affects people mentally in every sense of the word. Social relations can either flourish or meet their ultimate downfall. This can be observed throughout the Industrial Revolution. Before the new technological advances were introduced people identified themselves differently with one another. Walking down a side street one might meet a person and recognize them as a friend, neighbor, fellow Christian, or maybe even a lord or a lady. After the revolution struck people often began identifying themselves with others by marketing titles such as homeless, poor, or rich. Revolutionary time periods completely reshape a persons psyche.

When a revolution occurs everything slowly begins to change and reform itself. Many positive material items often come out of the era but with them comes people that view the world in a different manner. The people often identify with each other differently and find that new things are needed to meet their basic needs. If the people of an era are truly content than a revolution can not occur because the citizens will be unwilling to accept new ideas and concepts. Hence, it can be observed that the people of the Industrial Revolution believed that a change was necessary and so one came of the time period. Society will never accept any limit of technology as "enough" and so revolutionary time periods will continue to triumph over contentment until the end of time. Each period of time will be tied to the mentality of the citizens just as much as the last.

Ashley Nichols

2007-12-18T16:26:00.000-08:00

The Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church and the K.K.K.

Ashley Nichols

Ms. Lind and Mr. Viles

Honors 10

1/9, 1/10

Nichols

I. Introduction

A. The KKK in Maine is commonly misconceived as a hate group formed against African Americans. This is not so and this paper will accurately portray the KKK in the 1920’s and 30’s.

B. The Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church and all of Maine in general was greatly impacted by the KKK in the 1920’s.

II. Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church

A. Most people in the town have little or no knowledge of the Ku Klux Klan and their involvement with the church.

1. Interview with Clyde Emery

2. Interview with Wayne Libby

3. Book reference

B. Since the churches construction in 1884 the church has been in use.

1. Has been remodeled once due to a fire in the 1940’s

2. Two memorial windows donated to the church

3. Mrs. Grace Linn

III. The KKK in Maine

A. The KKK in Maine was mostly only present in the 1920’s

1. The KKK in Maine died out almost as quickly as it began

2. Was originally founded in Milo Maine

3. They threatened Maine citizens with burning crosses

B. First Parade of the K.K.K. took place in Milo Maine

1. The first day light parade in N. E. also took place in Milo Maine

2. 9/3/23

3. Maine’s chapter K.K.K. focused its abuse on Catholics.

IV. The KKK and the Church

A. The burning of the cross was actually for the church and not opposed to it.

1. Quotes

2. They burnt it to cleanse and purify their virtues

3. They in no way stood for the desecration of the cross; they merely meant to light it for the world to see

B. They saw themselves as helping to purify Gods work

1. The chapters of the Klan were Christian

2. Refer to themselves as the “Fraternal White Knights”

3. “If you have to ask, you’re not qualified to know.”

V. Conclusion

A. The Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church and all of Maine in general was greatly impacted by the K.K.K. in the 1920’s.

B. summary of information provided

C. concluding strategy

Nichols 2

Ashley Nichols

Ms. Lind and Mr. Viles

Honors 10

12-18-07

The Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church and the KKK

The Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church and all of Maine in general was greatly impacted by the K.K.K. in the 1920’s. The K.K.K. that once resided in Maine in great numbers is often commonly misconceived as a hate group, formed solely against black people. However, this is not so and this paper will accurately portray the K.K.K. in all actuality.

The Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church is in Hartland Maine. It resides on the corner of Commercial Street and is likely to attract the attention of all who stroll past it. The town of Hartland was incorporated in 1820 and it was not until 1884 that the church building was erected. This is still the same present day building that is standing today, with the addition of a full basement, kitchen, and interior. The interior was damaged in the early 1940’s by a rampant fire. The outer structure remains the same now as it was 187 years ago.

Before 1884 the congregation would conjoin every week in either Central Hall or the Academy. Many people would also attend the Baptist church in Hartland that had previously been founded and is also still in working order today. The Grace Linn Memorial Methodist Church was dedicated in memory of Mrs. Grace Linn who had formerly been a citizen of Hartland. Two of the more appealing features of the church would be the two stained glass memorial windows that reside in the building. The front window was donated to the church in memory of Mrs. Etta Barnes and the second is placed over the altar and was donated in memory of the wife of Dr. John Southworth.

The Methodist church was founded by the Ku Klux Klan in Hartland. The K.K.K. did not really begin to cause disruption until the 1920’s but groups existed well before then. Many people that attend this church or that live in the town of Hartland are unaware that the church was founded by this hate group. The local librarian, John Clark, stated that “K.K.K. artifacts have just recently been discovered above the town hall.” He then continued on to say that “we also have a bridge that is still to this day referred to as ‘Nigger Bridge’.” Mr. Clark has several copies of a book in the library entitled 1820 - Hartland Maine – 1970. In the book on page 35 a picture can be found of members of the KKK standing together outside of the church. The caption beneath the image reads, “Hartland’s Chapter K.K.K. about 1920.”

The K.K.K. was for the most part, only present in Maine during the 1920’s. The organization died out almost as quickly as it began. The group began in Milo Maine before spreading to other more remote areas of the state. The different chapters of the K.K.K. grew in vast numbers and before long they were terrorizing Maine citizens. They would threaten the locals with burning crosses. In most areas of the country the Ku Klux Klan was known for terrorizing African Americans but in Maine the focus of the group rested upon Catholics.

The first parade ever of the Ku Klux Klan took place in Milo Maine in 1920. On September 3^rd, 1923 the first ever daylight parade to occur in New England also took place in Milo. Klansmen and women from all over the state joined in the March. Appearances of the K.K.K. are usually well known, very few went unnoticed.

Many people find the Ku Klux Klan and their involvement with the church to be a controversial issue, as are many of the issues that the K.K.K. brings about. Often people assume members of the K.K.K. to be hypocritical. The largest reason for this is because the Klansmen and women claim to be Christians. But wait; are these not the very same people that are supposed to stand for equality? Why are they burning crosses?

To try to understand the reasoning behind this supposed hypocrisy it would be important for one to know that they in no way stood for the desecration of the cross. They saw burning the cross as merely lighting it on fire for the world to see. The cross was first burned in Scotland as a sign of opposition to tyranny and government and to show the peoples obedience to God. The K.K.K. adapted this symbol and proclaimed themselves to be the “Fraternal White Knights”. During the 1920’s the cross became widely known as the blazing spirit of Western Christian Civilization.

On a pro K.K.K. website the following quote was located. “By the fire of Cavalry’s cross we mean to cleanse and purify our virtues by burning out our vices from the fire of His word.” On a purely informational website it was stated that “The Klan says their fiery cross represents Christian ideals. They say they added the fire to signify that ‘Christ is the light of the world.’ As light drives away darkness and gloom so a knowledge of the truth dispels ignorance and superstition.

still have to do my conclusion which im holding off on until I can add in some perspective from my two interviews... I have two of them that I'll be adding in but I cant do them until Christmas vacation week.. other than that most of the stuff is here... except the work sourced and cited and I had some problems telling the difference between them but I'll have Miss. Lind help me with that.

2007-11-18T20:13:00.000-08:00

God vs. Darwin

Since the beginning of time people have questioned how the world came about and how it works. Everyone wants to know the truth and the argument often comes down to science versus faith. But what if the foundation of truth is faith? Before one can truly decide where they stand on this it is important to accurately understand the meanings of these three words; truth, science, and faith. According to Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary, truth is defined as "the property (as of a statement) of being in accordance with fact or reality". Science is defined as "knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method" and faith is defined as a "firm belief in something for which there is no proof."

In many instances science and religion can work together quite well, for example; in the fields of medicine, much of astrology, botany, etc. One of the most common instances where we see a separation between science and religion is when we begin speaking of creation and how the world came to be. For this the vast majority of the world's population divides itself amongst two theories. The first is evolution (Darwin's theory) and the second is the Creation theory (also known as Intelligent Design). The problem is that both of these are simply theories and neither can be proven or disproven. A theory (according to Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary) is "an unproved assumption".

The battle is commonly considered to be faith versus fact. I however, do not believe this to be true. I believe that both take a certain amount of faith, whether you are instilling your faith in a scientist or in an Intelligent Designer is irrelevant. Since neither theory can be proven both must be considered a system of beliefs. Some might argue that evolution cannot be a belief since there is no worship involved, but it is not necessary, just as you need not worship an Intelligent Designer to believe that one created the universe. Since both theories could be considered feasible I would hazard to state that in the instance of the creation of the world, the foundation of truth is faith.

What a person believes changes all of their worldly views. It can affect how they vote in an election, where they stand on world-wide issues, and even how they view history. For example, during the 1600's-1800's the Church underwent some changes that would have a permanent effect on religion all around the world. Up until this time the church had controlled all forms of government and was the center of all aspects of life in Europe. When scientists ("humanists") started to pop up and brought in new theories ("ideas") the Church tried to enforce laws against them. The Church simply did this to protect the lifestyle that they had all come to know as right and to keep a handle on rebellion. We see this with Galileo and Nicholas Copernicas. The general public viewed these matters as attempts made by the Church to keep them from discovering these new concepts.

Many people view this as a time of "enlightenment" and believe that science brought a light into what had formerly been the darkness. Many Christians however, would disagree with this statement and argue that what we had formerly had was a time of light and that these scientific "ideas" were just tiny seeds of darkness that were being planted within society. Unfourtunatly these seeds were only destined to grow larger.

Today America seems to be just the opposite of what Europe was during the "age of enlightenment". In Europe during that era, Catholicism was the main belief system and science had to undergo a major battle to survive from day to day. The tables have now turned. Today science is a system that is widely recognized and Christianity and other such religions must struggle to hold their own. We see this almost everywhere. Perhaps the most frightening place of all is in our public schools.

Most parents realize as they send their young children off to school that they will be subjected to some biased material in their science classes. However, those same parents are rather naive if they believe that it simply stops there. For example, if a parent were to further investigate their child's sophomore honors history class they might find several things alarming. The worst being extremely biased reading material, videos, and class discussions. As an additional example, parents may even find that copy's of Medici Money written by Tim Parks are just randomly passed out and chapters are assigned weekly. Tim Parks is a very biased writer with no fears of incorporating his own speculations and beliefs into his books. His book Medici Money is a sickeningly biased book and is in no way in favor of the Church. Parents may actually be forced to ask themselves "when did our Constitution begin working against our children's rights?"

An online video that discusses much of this and brings up some interesting controversy (though is biased in the favor of "science" and could easily be recommended by a history teacher as well) is called Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/). From this (biased) video one could perhaps see the "science" portion of the argument in a well portrayed manor. One could also draw several conclusions as well as questions from it. In the video the narrator states "The fight culminated in 1987, when the Supreme Court decided that teaching Creationism in public school science classes violated the separation of church and state mandated by the Constitution in the Establishment Clause which prevents the government from promoting or prohibiting any form of religion."

This is an interesting statement. What makes evolution a science as opposed to a belief? Can the Intelligent Design theory not be taught in the same manor? There is a difference between promoting a religion and promoting the education of a theory, that is very much a part of our modern society. Even so, the video later contradicts itself as it discusses a text book that was examined, that not only discusses Darwin's theory but the Intelligent Design theory as well. The book is called Of Pandas and People and the video states "But in the materials God is never mentioned, the designer is called an intelligent cause or an intelligent agent." Thus showing that it is simply a theory and singling out no religion in particular.

Perhaps, the most eye opening statement in the entire video is "Does science education have to be so narrow, so technical, so differential to existing paradigm that we can't even introduce students to what may be the next great theory?" As previously discussed teachers can cross over into a dangerous area if they try to incorporate their own beliefs into the lesson plan laid out by the state. This can cause general discomfort in the classroom for all children, regardless of their beliefs. Our public educators are largely influential people in the eyes of our young and unprotected children.

So is it that "the power and beliefs of the Church contradicted and in some cases censured emerging scientific discoveries." as stated by a 10th grade honors history teacher in an essay question? Or is that the emerging "scientific discoveries" contradicted the power and beliefs of the Church? Even our presidential candidates state whether they believe in evolution or Intelligent Design and it often plays a role in whether or not they are elected and which states they win the electoral votes for. So will our nation (or world for that matter) ever stop fighting over the differences between science and religion and the foundation of truth? It is highly unlikely. That is, unless our Intelligent Designer decides to take a mid afternoon stroll across the Earth and introduce Himself to each person that He passes or unless someone catches an ape magically "adapting" into a man on a video camera and posts it on YouTube (and maybe even Godtube).

Ashley Nichols

2007-10-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Consilience

Consilience is “the linking together of principals from different disciplines especially when forming a comprehensive theory” (Merriam Webster Online). This word comes to mind more often than not, when I begin thinking of the Renaissance. Some might say that perhaps the greatest example of this would be the linking of Martin Luther’s 95 theses, the printing press, and the church. I do not believe this to be so. Martin Luther may have greatly impacted the church but that is where his power ended. I believe that the greatest form of consilience throughout the renaissance was that of Galileo, the printing press, and the church. The combination of these three things created such a large impact that it even affected the ways in which people viewed themselves as humans.

Printing Press

“A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring an image” (Wikipedia.com). It was invented in the 1430’s by a man named Johann Gutenberg. This was revolutionary because for the first time people could mass produce copies of articles and get them out into the public. This was a critical invention for materials such as books, newspapers, flyer's, and the development of scientific journals. This was a critical piece in the spread of literacy and in the decline of Latin. This discovery redefined the term public knowledge.

Galileo

“Galileo Galilei was a Tuscan (Italian) physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, who played a major role in the scientific revolution” (Wikipedia). Through his sketches and looking through his telescope he proved that the sun has sunspots, that Venus and the moon both go through phases and that the Earth revolves on its axis. He drew several pictures of the phases of the moon and he wrote several books about the astronomical laws behind it. He was a devout Roman Catholic but reached a point of great controversy with the church, due to his scientific discoveries. He was a man that helped redefine what it meant to be a human.

Catholic Church

“The Catholic Church is the largest Christian church, representing around half of all Christians, and is the largest organized body of any world religion” (Wikipedia). The Catholic Church was the political head of everything during the renaissance. For the most part what was considered religiously correct would be considered politically correct. It was socially, politically, economically, and religiously accepted. People connected with one another through religion, the head of the government was the pope, and instead of paying regular taxes alone the citizens would pay a 10% tithe to the church.

Galileo's drawings of the moon

These three elements all link together in many different ways. Galileo made great discoveries through his telescope and made sketches of them and wrote several books about them. The printing press came along and allowed Galileo’s drawings and books to be published and mass produced. This invention made his knowledge more accessible to the general public. Galileo’s theories disagreed with certain aspects of the Catholic religion. So in effect, Galileo produced works of art that when mass produced changed the public’s idea's of religion and how they interacted with the church.

This affected the political and economical aspects of people’s lives drastically. Politically speaking, the citizens had been under the rule of the pope and when they began to see that everything did not revolve around the Earth, that they were simply just men on one tiny planet, they started to stray from the church. People that disagree with the teachings of the church, will not allow themselves to be ruled by such a power for very long. Economically speaking, people began to spend their money in other places. People do not want to give their money to a foreign power anymore than they want to be ruled by one.

This piece of consilience had a great impact on people socially and intellectually as well. Socially people began to interact with each other more outside of the church setting. People began to interact with one another in ways that the church would have found outrageous. It became a more accepting society all the way around. New ideas were no longer a forbidden evil. Intellectually people blossomed because of the impact that this had. The people in the hierarchy of the church were no longer the only ones accepted as brilliant. More people began to read and due to the printing press they could gain access to one of Galileo’s books and fill their minds with ideas that would have formerly been considered wicked.

The last and perhaps most important factor that Galileo, the printing press, and the church had a any significant impact on was aesthetics. All of what people believed had been turned upside down. Up until this point in time, everyone had faith in the concept of the sun revolving around the Earth. When it became public knowledge that the Earth was one of many planets and simply revolved around on its own axis and that we were simply one of many it did harm initially to many people’s psych. The church immediately jumped into war with this idea because it states in the Bible that everything revolves around the Earth. For example: Psalm 104:5 “Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved for ever”, Psalm 93:1 “The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved” and 1 Chronicles 16:30 “Let all the earth be moved at His presence: for He hath founded the world immoveable.” This theory would potentially mean hard core evidence proving the Bible wrong. This was majorly devastating and mind boggling during this era. The people believed at this point in time that it may be hypocritical and contradictory to the Bible, the word that they lived by, but they could not ignore foolproof evidence.

The printing press, Galileo, and the church together had a huge impact on the renaissance and even on our world today. It redefined how people saw themselves and even how they viewed others around them. This is one undeniably important piece of consilience. It reshaped what was considered politically and socially acceptable during this era and even affected peoples psych. It boosted the rate of people’s expected intellectual capabilities and influenced how they spent their hard earned cash every week. Overall it affected people’s beliefs and what they chose to be most valuable in life. It revolutionized every aspect of that time period and forever changed the world as they knew it.

Ashley Nichols

2007-10-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

Revolution

The word revolution means a drastic change in the ways that people think and act. A revolution can be caused by many different abstractions. Perhaps, the three largest causative factors are religion, politics, and economy. All of these generally tie into large changes in one way or another. However, I believe the largest of them all to be politics. Whenever you have some large changing factor there is almost always a shift in government or power of some kind.

Take the time period of the renaissance as an example. It was a time of great revolution or change. Up until that time and even during that time the people listened to the words spoken by the church. They were all careful to follow under its rulings. The pope for the most part ruled over everything. He was considered to be a god on earth. People did their best not to sin because the main goal of the era was to simply keep moving through your life and make it to heaven. Not to mention that the ways of the church were wholly accepted by society at that time as well. It would be considered social suicide to go against the grain.

The people of this time period underwent major changes that effected how they viewed daily life and even themselves as human beings. This was all due to politics and alterations that they underwent politically. They had been under the rulings of the church for many years and this was their big breakout. The church began to lose its control as new ideas began to reveal themselves. The three greatest men of that era that encouraged this change were Erasmus, Martin Luther, and John Calvin (in that order). They helped people to see other ways of life and brought the fall of the churches rule. As the political power began to shift ultimate change began to occur.

This was not a one time occurance by any means of the word. Politics has always played a big role in revolutionary time periods. Without political change revolutions could not occur. They would simply be ideas that were never acted upon. For example it was not until Hitlers take down that the Jews could begin to breath easier again. If he had continued to hold such great military power many more could have been persecuted. Even today we see similar examples all around us, such as in Iraq. They were under the rule of the terrible and cruel Saddam. It was not until the Americans invaded and took over and even tour down his statue that they began to see anything revolutionary occurring.

Some might argue that it is economy or religion that bring about revolutions. They would have a valid and arguable point. Economy does play a big role. During the Renaissance they were giving 10% to the church and could not do any banking because it was considered to be a sin (usury) so when this switched over into what we have today it would be considered revolutionary. However this would not have occurred without changes politically. If the church was still in power, than people would still be paying their 10%. The economy generally does under go change as does everything else when revolutionary ideas hit. It is not however, the main causative factor.

As for the religious aspect of revolution, one would perhaps have an even more arguable point. It is very true that what people believe in at the time is a large part of change. Like politics it is almost always present during revolutionary time periods. For example, during the renaissance it was not until people began to see things from outside of a Christian viewpoint that change occurred and people basically worshipped Hitler during WW II. However, unlike politics it can not simply cause a revolution by itself. If the Americans had not lent a hand secret Hitler worshippers may have still been in existance today. It takes a shift in power before vast majorities of people will band together to be different.

A final argument perhaps may be that people will only do what is socially acceptable. That social is the main causative factor of revolution. This is far from being true. It is true that people like to do what others are doing and that people slowly catch on to the spread of an idea. Political still holds its domain over this idea though because something can not be fully socially accepted until it is politically accepted. People did not want to be shunned from their families or churches during the renaissance and therefore refused to be different. During Hitlers rule soldiers did as they were told and followed his orders and it was socially accepted at that time. Though many of them may have had doubts they never really bonded together and brought about any change until Hitlers take down.

Though others can be justified it is easy to see that politics is clearly the most causative factor of revolution. It most likely will continue to be for many years to come. It has reshaped and changed history into what we have today. Revolution brings about ideas and how we react to them, as the general public, will reflect on our current government. Without politics where would we be today? Perhaps still under the complete rule of the church? Would we have banks throughout every state or simply in the back room of stores where money is passed under the table? Personally I feel politics to be a crucially important factor in all cultures and a part of every piece of society.

2007-10-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

Humanism and the Flat World

Almost every era has its own revolution, one that will bring with it a key that unlocks the door to the following era. During the time period of the Renaissance, the revolutionary concept that took place was the acceptance of Humanism. Even today we have revolutionary ideas that are still randomly reflecting off of our globe. One that appears to have made its way through our atmosphere and is here to stay is globalization. Our world appears to be getting flatter by the second, and if we are not careful we may just tumble our way into orbit. Revolutions occur when people begin opening up their minds and toying with the unknown. They almost always help to further the development of the known society.

The flat world is revolutionizing how we view ourselves in society today. No, the world is not really flat this is just in a metaphorical sense. Technology is supposedly making our world a flatter place because today we can contact our pen pal in Japan just as easily as our next door neighbors. In this “flat world” our middle class jobs are being bumped up a level and the competition with our foreign countries is becoming more intense. Due to this competition and these recent technological developments we will have to put twice as much effort in as our parent’s generation did and certainly more then the generation before them. In short, the flattening of the world is revolutionizing what we find socially acceptable.

Humanism revolutionized how people living during the time period of the Renaissance, viewed themselves and the world around them. Humanism began when humanists started popping up amongst the population. Humanists were people that refused to accept the status quo at the time. This brought chaos, division amongst what had been one body of people, and essentially revolution.

During the Renaissance everyone was grouped together as one large body under the Catholic Church. People lived in fear daily of committing a sin such as usury and not being allowed into Heaven. Humanism brought an end to this fear for many people. They started living for today and not what tomorrow might bring. Many people did decide to stay in the church body, but even that began to divide within its self. Humanism is a huge piece of what caused the church to start to split off into different denominations. The entire world changed with this concept. People no longer viewed themselves and each other as simply people on the journey to Heaven, but as individuals living each day to its fullest.

Humanism had an amazingly large impact on society as it was previously known during the Renaissance. In fact, without it we would not have the current society that we have today. The amount of beliefs and many forms of art simply would not exist. Without Humanism, our world would be more circular as opposed to the pancake that it is rapidly becoming. The revolution of the flat world revolves around technological advances where as the revolution that Humanism has influenced revolves around religious and philosophical life meanings. Change cannot occur until someone dares to be different and think outside of the box. We have more than our fair share of right brain thinkers in America today. Does the flat world have as much in store for us and will the outcome be as positive? We can only hope.

Hero Essay

2007-09-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

Mr. Viles said to post this in the blog so that he could read it.. so well here it is...

Lisa Neal: Superwoman or Teacher?
Everyone should have a hero. We all need someone in our lives that we can look up to and respect. I, myself, have one such hero. In fact, some might even go so far as to call her a superhero. Yes, I know that when we think of a superhero we find ourselves picturing the generic comic book idea of a person that wears funny pants, a cape, and can fly. Though to my knowledge she can not fly, she has been known to wear some pretty funny pants and I bet that if you asked her nicely she would even model a cape for you. My hero, that just happens to be super, is Lisa Neal.
Lisa Neal, from a distance appears to be an ordinary 7th grade teacher that is involved with many extra curricular activities within the district. She has a fairly large family and spends many of her summers on the stage at a local theater. Thus, she appears to be a fairly decent person. However, take the time to meet her and you will soon find that she is anything but an ordinary woman. She excels on every stage that she chooses to set foot on, whether it be at the local theater or in the classroom. I, personally, have seen her perform on both stages and do not believe that there is another person out there that could fulfill either role as well as she does.
Lisa Neal was my 7th grade social studies teacher. No one student could even begin to accurately describe the first impression that this woman will have on you. Perhaps, the most memorable moment in her classroom was when she showed up to school dressed as Ben Franklin. She acted out a small skit and wrapped the entire class into how dangerous it was for these men to be participating in the signing of The Declaration of Independence. Another wonderful trait that she possesses is the ability to have her class hanging on her every word. Up until that year if anyone had asked me “do you believe it to be possible for a teacher to have complete control over a classroom without yelling?” I would have responded with “nope it is not possible”. She makes it possible. Just one disappointed look from her and even the worst of the worst immediately cease all that they are doing. As a teacher, Lisa Neal makes an everlasting impression on all of her students.
I believe that the biggest impression she has ever made on me occurred during my 8th grade year. I began experimenting with things of which children in middle school should never experiment with. As the year progressed, the level of hope amongst my friends, family, and teachers only seemed to drop further and further down the scale. She alone seemed to be the only one still standing that had any hope left. Without this woman I honestly believe that I never would have turned my life back around to the extreme extent that I have. I know for certain that I never would have taken honors classes at the high school. Whatever the situation a student of hers may be in, she will appear by their side with an infinite amount of hope.
At our 8th grade graduation she sang Mariah Carey’s song “Hero”. It could not have been more appropriate. At the end of my 8th grade year she made me promise to email her twice a week until I graduate. Though at the time I thought her to be utterly insane, everyone knows better than to contradict her of all people. By the beginning of 9th grade the emails had already flourished from twice a week to twice a day. To this day her quiet expectations still produce motivation and her lines of non-judgmental communication still remain open 24-7-365. This means more to me and so many others than could ever be stated in a single essay.
Lisa Neal is by far one polychromatic woman. She is a talented thespian and a truly amazing teacher. You will never meet anyone as pliable, veracious, and considerate as her. She prefers to wear her heart on her sleeve and compassion flows from her like water from a creek in the spring. She is a complex woman of many trades but above all she is my hero.
Ashley Nichols

The World is Flat post 6

2007-09-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

I found this to be a truly amazing book. I learned a lot that I had heard rumors about or had seen on the news but had never had any real knowledge of. The flat world has a huge impact on everyone, even me and how I communicate with friends after and during school. According to this book I am pretty much on the right track as far as my future plans go. If I stay on my current path my career choice should be fairly "untouchable". All in all I find the flat world at the present date to be an amazing place and I believe that it will continue to be just as amazing as long as we do not begin to take matters too far.

All in all I found this to be a really informative and useful book. I am a better informed American citizen because of it. Friedman seemed to remain unbiased the entire book and it seems as though he definitely wants people to embrace the flat world. I found it to be rather insulting that he just skipped over all of the American people that had lost their jobs to outsourcing without a care. But other than that it was a decent read.

Everyday I take advantage of the flat world. I enjoy the cell phone service and it is a major way to keep in touch with all of my friends through text messaging. You can accommodate almost all of your needs through a computer. After school and extra-curricular activites, I can come home hop on the computer, look up my assignments, complete them all through Microsoft Office, send an email to my mentor, and then log on to instant messenger to chat with all of my friends that are bound to be doing the same things. During the day if I need to briefly inform my mother of some sort of news I can send her a text message from my phone to hers so that we are both on the same page. Lets face it, the two and half hours that I spend on a bus every day would be simply torturous without my iPod, providing me with access to all of my favorite songs and games at my fingertips.

According to Friedman my future should be fairly "untouchable". He uses the word to describe jobs that can not be shipped overseas to foreign countries for their workers to do at cheaper rates. He says that any "specialized" job can not be shipped over to China for their laborers to do. He says that these are people such as Michael Jordan and J.K. Rowling. While I will most likely never fall into this category I probably will fall into another he describes as being "untouchable". I plan to get my bachelors degree in teaching and go on to get my masters in school counseling so I can be a middle school guidance counselor. Friedman says that "untouchable" careers are also careers that are "localized and anchored. This category includes many, many people. They are untouchable because their jobs must be done in a specific location, either because they involve some specific local knowledge or because they require face-to-face, contact or interaction with a customer, patient, colleague, or audience". Being a middle school level guidance counselor does require face-to-face contact and interaction with all of your students, therefore someone in China or India would have an awfully hard time filling the position.

In short I believe that the flat world is something that we should embrace. Without technological developments we would stay in the same mind state forever and human interaction would never grow. Now it is just as simple to have a best friend in Japan as it is to have one two states away. I would be beside myself without all of my small pieces of technology that I carry around. Sometimes development in this area can be taken too far and you can lose sight of the purpose, but for the most part growing and learning together as a world instead of a country I believe can and will be very beneficial.

The World is Flat post 5

2007-09-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

The question on the minds of most readers from the very beginning of this book is, is the flat world a good thing for America? This is a complex question that we see even Friedman struggle to answer and the answers that he does provide us with are purely speculation. The flat world will have a different impact on each American family. The question that seems to be asked the most is "what will happen to our jobs?" Everyone would like to hear that they will be safe in the future and will always be able to provide for their families. However, due to outsourcing, many of our digital or factory jobs are being sent overseas. Due to their weak economies and huge populations China, India, Europe, and Japan are willing to put in the time and labor for a fraction of the price of American workers.

Friedman tells us that this is a temporary problem. He says that "as the Chinese economy opens up to the world and reforms, the wages of Chinese knowledge workers will rise up to American/world levels." So Friedman believes that overtime these economies will open up and their labor prices will rise to that of ours long before Americas economy could ever possibly come crashing down. He also notes that as Americans we may lose some of our jobs to them now but that it is essential to just keep moving through because it will all change soon enough. This puts the mind of the average American to rest. They have now been reassured that we will all have jobs in the future and that our economy will not be taking a nose dive any time soon.

However, for several family's this does not provide any reassurance at all. Many people have already lost their jobs and been thrown out on the streets with a simple "nice working with you". My dad worked at Dexter Shoe for 20 years and they threw him and everyone else at the factory out so they could ship the company over to China. At this point my dad was 40 and forced to go on to college to simply be able to provide for his family. The state pitched in and in the end it worked out okay. For my grandmother however, things were not quite so great. She had worked at the factory for 36 years and was now too old to go back to college. By the time she could graduate it would be close to time for her to retire. So though Friedman's speculations are enough for most people, for some it is not nearly enough.

The World is Flat post 4

2007-09-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

In The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, Friedman shows us many positive outcomes for flat world but in doing so we stumble upon a select few negative consequences as well. The world seems to have become a much less personal place. A man that Friedman interviewed for his book happened to be a salesman and he stated that his sales were beginning to drop because he can no longer connect as well with his clients. Everything is done digitally even sales so salesmen are beginning to have a lot more trouble relating on a personal level with their clients before making a sales pitch.

Often times a lot of confusion can come with the lack of human interaction. At one point in the book we are told of Friedman's frustration as he tries to get a phone number from a robotic answering system. However I am sure that the managers of the company will not pay much attention to a few peoples frustration levels when it comes down to pay day. It is much cheaper to keep a computer operator working than it is to keep an actual person on the phones all day long. To this Friedman says "because when you take the middle man out of business, when you totally flatten your supply chain, you also take a certain element of humanity out of life."

Technology is improving our world in several ways and making everyday life much easier for all of us. However, I fear that we are beginning to lack when it comes to human interaction. We have gone from person to person interaction, to person to computer, to what is now computer to computer. As technology continues to advance even further I am sure that this is not going to be getting any better anytime soon.

The World is Flat post 3

2007-08-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

In chapter three of The World Is Flat we see Friedman using the word "convergence" a great deal. Friedman uses this word to describe when several major technological developments come together to make the world what he would call a "flatter" place. He lists three major "convergences". The first is when work flow software and hardware came together to create a single machine that could do multiple handy office tasks such as copying, faxing, and scanning. The second is the same technology being offered all around the world so that everyone is on an even playing field. The third and final "convergence" is that of several country's. Places like China and the U.S. that at one point were very much separated now inter-connect without a problem. Friedman is just using this word to mean the coming together of many ideas.

The World is Flat post 2

2007-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

In the second chapter of The World Is Flat we see Friedman clearly depicting how technology is reshaping human interaction personally, inter-nationally, and economically. He does this by taking us through "ten forces" that he believes to have flattened the world. The first is when the Berlin Wall fell and Windows was first introduced to the U.S., the second is when Netscape went public, the third is work flow software, the fourth is uploading, the fifth is outsourcing and explains Y2K, the sixth is off shoring, the seventh is what Friedman refers to as supply-chaining, the eighth is in sourcing, the ninth is in-forming, and finally the tenth is about what Friedman refers to as "steroids".

We see clearly through several examples that Friedman describes for us that technology is reshaping human interaction personally. How we as Americans react with our peers around us has changed drastically in the last 15 years. Having a conversation with someone face to face or over the telephone is rarely necessary anymore due to the invention of email. At the time of its invention it was called SMTP which translates down to simple mail transfer protocol. With email you can send people mail digitally without worrying about postage stamps or how long it will take to ship to the receiving party. Anyone at any time can give their take on a subject now as well through a simple process called blogging. In a blog they can include anything that they would like and then publish it for the world to see. Another example that Friedman provides us with has to do with children's cartoon shows. In the book he informs us about a children's show called Higgly Town Hero's and that several of the actors that do the voices for the characters reside in different states. They do not even have to be in the same 300 hundred mile radius as each other and they can still put a children's show together using audio recording devices over the Internet. Many people have been sharing more than emails through the Internet in recent years though. Friedman states that "file sharing, the peer-to-peer model, allows computer users to share songs, video, and other kinds of files with one another online. Peer-to-peer networks emerged in the public eye with Napster which enabled any two of us to share songs stored on each other's computers. At it's peak Napster was perhaps the most popular Web site ever created. In less than a year, it went from zero to 60 million visitors per month." Later on down the page Friedman goes on to state that "some 330 million tracks were purchased online in 2004 from online stores such as Apple's iTunes, the Associated Press reported on June 22, 2005, but around 5 billion were downloaded for free by people tapping open file sharing networks using freely downloadable file-sharing programs such as eDonkey, BitTorrent, and Kazaa." In fact it was not long before even phone calls could be placed over the Internet through the book we are told about a company named VoIP that lets you make phone calls through the Internet and provides you with unlimited long-distance and local phone calls and the only catch is that you have to buy a small microphone attachment for your computer. Given all of this information we can clearly see that the way that we interact personally with people is changing rapidly due to new technological developments.

How we interact with people inter-nationally is also changing rapidly. Due to recent advances in technology even business meetings are no longer the same they can be held with people in another country without that party being present. Friedman tells about this new development called video-conferencing. He states that "each party to the video-conference sits at a long table facing a wall of flat-panel TV screens and cameras pointed at them. The flat-panel screens display the people at the other site, which could be anywhere in the world. It creates an effect of everyone sitting around a single conference table and is apparently a qualitatively different experience from anything that has been on the market before." Each video conference suite costs about $250,000 but the company's believe that they can make it up in the long run by not having to pay for airplane tickets to have executives flown in from other country's. Even X-rays are not always being examined by doctors here in the U.S. in recent years. Friedman tells us that an X-ray can be taken in Bangor Maine and sent to Bangalore to be read without either of the party's even giving it a second thought.

Economically technology is completely reshaping the world. Before the modern advances in technology India was always at a three percent growth rate but after 1991 they hit a growth rate of 7 percent. Before 1991 they had roughly $1 billion dollars left in currency but as of 2005 when Friedman was writing this book they had hit over $118 billion dollars in currency and there is no doubt that is has only grown from there. Due to the fall of the Berlin Wall alone the European Union expanded from fifteen to twenty-five countries. Due the invention of Microsoft Friedman tells us that "within five years, the number of Internet users jumped from 600,000 to 40 million. At one point, it was doubling every 53 days." This alone raked in a huge amount of money for the company and their stock. Due to the invention of fiber optic cables more than twice the amount of phone calls can process through the same set of wires and at a much lower cost to all party's involved whether it is the consumer or the producer. When the idea of fiber optic cables was first introduced as opposed to the copper ones already in existence Friedman states that "in a period of about five or six years, these telecom companies invested about $1 trillion in wiring the world." Friedman also tells us that just since the year 2000 "sales of sports video games in the United States increased by 34 percent, to $1.2 billion."

Technology is rapidly changing our world as we know it today. It has come with major economic benefits and has knocked down several obstacles that were once considered major communication blockers. It is no problem to buy merchandise from China these days or set up a factory in India but both of these would have been considered very risky moves a mere 15-20 years ago. Even the way we speak to our neighbors has changed today. Rarely do we see anyone getting up and going over to visit with them but merely sending an email with a full update. There is no longer any real need to buy a birthday card either. You can simply log online and find a free e-card that has the same message, dances, and can be delivered in half of the time. But at a certain point will we as humans just be advancing ourselves right out of jobs?

Doctor Faustus

2007-08-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Doctor Faustus is a well known play from which we have the term "Faustian bargain". In the play a man named Faustus makes a pact with the devil. He promises the devil his soul in return for the use of one of the devils servants named Mephostophilis. Mephostophilis is to carry out Faustus' every whim for a time period of 24 years and if he does so then the devil may have his soul. Towards the end however, we see Faustus trying to repent of his sins because his time is up and now he knows that he must pay the consequences.

The term "Faustian bargain" in this book refers to Faustus selling his soul to the devil to have a temporary advantage over the rest of the human race. This was an extremely greedy move and we find that he pays for it in the end. Today we take the term "Faustian bargain" to mean remaking what we know to be true to suit our desires. Though this is slightly less dramatic then the selling of ones soul to the devil it is still done in greed and generally for all of the wrong reasons.

Book Four- The Candle In The Wind

2007-08-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

King Arthur fears disaster from the very beginning of this book. His son Mordred is out to pay him back for a terrible childhood and the jealous Agravaine has his back. They decide to tell the king that Lancelot and Guenever have been having an affair so that he can no longer deny it and will have to banish Lancelot and burn Guenever at the stake. King Arthur tells the two men that they must first prove their accusation and they oblige and set to work at it as soon as the king leaves for his hunting trip the next week. They end up cornering the two lovers in a room together as they are about to get intimate and Lancelot is forced to barricade the door against an army of men and escape. He has to return a week later to save Guenever from being burned at the stake and kills many of the Round Table knights in the process. Two of the knights which were killed during the battle were Gareth and Gaheris and this leads to a need for vengeance in Gawaine who had been on Lancelots side up until that point. In the end Lancelot is banished from the castle and Guenever is accepted back into the court with her good name forever tarnished. King Arthur and Gawaine set out for revenge against Lancelot still though and surround his castle. While King Arthur is after Lancelot, Mordred sets to work back at the castle trying to proclaim himself as the new king. Lancelot eventually delivers a fatal blow to Gawaines head and is forced to return to England to keep Mordred from the throne. The book ends as King Arthur is telling his life story to a young page, Thomas Malory, so that his legend may one day be remembered.

This was by far my most favorite book of them all. It seemed to do a great job of summing everything up. The ending leaves you pondering over many questions that King Arthur poses. Luckily for us we live in a democracy and do not struggle with the concept of might as much as they did back then. We do however, still have problems identifying just when our laws begin to cross over unseen lines and this book will make you see and consider those. All in all King Arthur improved many problems in that civilization and put his best foot forward to get as much fixed as possible.

Book Three- The Ill Made Knight

2007-08-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

In this book we are introduced to two more characters that play a big part in the legend of King Arthur. The first is the young knight Lancelot and the second is Arthurs wife Guenever. Lancelot is King Arthurs best knight and friend but before long sparks are beginning to fly between his friend and his wife. Several times throughout this book Lancelot leaves the court to separate himself from Guenever so as not to betray King Arthur and runs into some wild adventures along the way. However, despite his efforts before long Lancelot and Guenever become lovers while King Arthur is away for a year. We then see the tables turn when one day Lancelot is in another court spending the night and is tricked into sleeping with another woman named Elaine, who becomes pregnant. When Guenever discovers this news she becomes angry even though poor Lancelot is pleading his innocence and states several times that he wants nothing to do with this child. Eventually Guenever drives Lancelot mad and he leaves the court one more time and ends up on a quest for the Holy Grail. While on this quest he learns many things about himself and becomes a very religious man. In the end he even returns to the castle and saves the queen from burning at the stake due to a false accusation. As the book comes to an end we see things quiet down in the court and King Arthur trying his best to ignore any sparks between his wife and Lancelot.

The language in this book was fairly simplistic. The only person in this story whose language I struggled in comprehending was Sir Gawaine as he returns back from his quest for the Holy Grail. He speaks very differently from the rest of the characters in the book and it kind of makes you appreciate that he holds only a small part in the story.

I find the love between Lancelot and Guenever to follow a fairly typical story line. He could have any young and single woman that he liked and yet he chooses to chase after the one that he can not have. We see that a lot especially today although it is not punished as severely as it was then. We see Guenever portrayed as a bit of a seductress in this but in a rather crafty way and at one point it actually drives poor Lancelot into going crazy. We see her hypocrisy rather clearly when she tells Lancelot that she would like him to stay away from her while Elaine makes a visit to the castle in case there is a chance of rekindling the love between the two of them. Not more than a few minutes later however we see her telling him that she will send for him in the night to make sure that he has not left his room to be with Elaine and when she discovers that he has she unleashes her wrath on both of them.

I found this to be the hardest book so far to get through. It was really lengthy and went on for quite some time about the love affair between Lancelot and the queen. White also clearly mentions several times how hard it is becoming for King Arthur to overlook the love that has arisen between his wife and his best friend. My prediction however, is that in the next book we will find that poor King Arthur will be forced to face the facts of the two lovers affair and that it will be one sad moment for all three of them when this occurs.

Book Two- The Queen of Air and Darkness

2007-07-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

The second book in "The Once and Future King" is entitled "The Queen of Air and Darkness". This book is different from the first in several ways. In this book we find that King Pellinore finds the love of his life and gets married. King Arthur continues to learn from Merlyn who seems very troubled because there seems to be something that he can not remember. King Arthur and his crew go to battle against the Gaels and come out victorious and with new plans of starting a proper code for chivalry. Something that was in this chapter that was not a part of the last was Arthurs half sister and her children. She is a neglective mother and throughout the story we see her children pay for it. At the end we find that King Arthur sleeps with his half sister and nine months later she has his son named Mordred.

This book was told fairly differently from the first. The plot in this book seemed to move at a fairly quicker pace than that of the first. In the book "The Sword In the Stone" the entire story was told through one point of view and from the same location. In this story we find that in addition to Arthur we follow his nephews for a time and even King Pellinore and Sir Grummore. I enjoyed this more because it gave a feel for some of the other parts of the world as opposed to just London.

There were a few words in this book that I was not able to understand. Some of these words were dirk, modicum, paynim, spavined, vivandieres, and mountebanks. I was able to locate a few of these in our modern day dictionary but several were not there.

In this book we learn the reason for the books name (The Once and Future King) and we learn why Arthur chooses to name his chivalry code the way that he does. As Merlyn is talking with King Arthur we learn that his tombstone will one day read "Hic jacet Arthurus Rex quandam Rexque futurus. In Latin this means the once and future king. As the king is talking one day with Sir Ector, Kay, and Merlyn we learn that the knights that will join his organization will be referred to as the Knights of the Round Table. They decided on this name because anyone in the organization will be a knight and they will all be seated around a round table. The table could not be a rectangular one because then the group would fight over who should be at the head of the table. So in making a round table Arthur will keep the playing field even amongst all of the knights.

"The Sword In the Stone"

2007-07-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

The first book in "The Once and Future King" is entitled "The Sword In the Stone". This is pretty much a title that tells all for anyone that has ever heard the King Arthur legend. In this book we are brought to a castle that lies close beside the Forest Sauvage. There are two young boys that are being brought up in the castle and they have a tutor named Merlyn, who we find is a wizard that is cursed to live backwards in time. Merlyn appears to favor one of the boys over the other and he is nicknamed the Wart. This is because Merlyn has foreseen that Wart will become king when the current king meets his demise. The Wart encounters many adventures as different species of animals that Merlyn turns him into and learns several lessons that the wizard already knows will become useful when Wart becomes king. Eventually the boys grow up and Merlyn departs and Wart is left to be the squire of the other boy Kay whose destiny is to be a knight. One fateful day while in London Wart unknowingly pulls a sword from a stone (a task that many knights has not been able to accomplish) and is crowned King Arthur.
The language in this book was rather interesting. For the most part it was easy enough to understand but there was a few rocky areas. The worst of these was the poor blubbering porcupine that the Wart stumbles across in one of his many journeys as an animal. Another rather difficult character to understand was King Pellinore who consistently added "what" to the end of every sentence he spoke and would completely confuse himself and anyone listening. The third language piece that I found interesting is in the very beginning of the book in chapter one when Sir Ector and Sir Grummore are talking with one another they begin to speak like British aristocrats as opposed to the medieval knights that they really are.
In the very beginning of the book there was also several words that I could not understand. A few of these words being, villein, wattle and daub, scythes, jesses, and hoved. Several words were in our modern dictionary when I looked them up but many were not.
My favorite parts of this book are when Wart gets turned into the many different animals. Perhaps my favorite of these is when he is turned into the badger. He encounters a porcupine whose reaction is just ridiculous and humorous to the reader and then we learn several things from the badger. He gives us insight into how he feels the humans and animals were made and how man came to be a tyrant over all of the animals. From his meeting with the badger and and the porcupine we can learn that absolute power corrupts. He was not at all hungry until he came across the porcupine and decided to make him beg (and sing) for his life and man was a fairly humble creature in the badgers story until given dominion to rule over all other species.
All in all I find this story quite intriguing. It is quite amazing how historically it is portrayed and how truthful it comes off to be when it is swimming with so much fantasy. We are even provided with insight into how several species of animals and birds view the world and hear how they would speak if they could. It gives a certain twist to the world that leaves me up to my knees in the story with no real need to want to dig myself out.

The World is Flat post 1

2007-07-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

Thomas Friedman is the author of the book entitled The World Is Flat. Friedman claims several times in this book that indeed "the world is flat". It is an eye catching title because our entire lives we have been taught that the world is actually round. Poor Christopher Columbus would be beside himself to hear such news. Friedman has been to many places around the globe and supports his claim with evidence that he has gathered from several foreign areas. When he says that the world is flat what he actually means is that the world has become a much more accessible place due to modern technology. Instead of waiting several days for your hand written letter to be delivered to a piece of your family in China you can send it through email in a matter of seconds, thus making the world, in theory, a flatter place.

Le Morte d'Arthur

2007-07-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

This packet briefly walks its reader through the legend of King Arthur. It explains that it is indeed very likely that Arthur at one point in history actually existed. However, today we do not know exactly how the real King Arthur lived because we have been over come with many great tales of accomplishments that he may have been apart of. With each author that rewrote his story it seemed to distance its self further and further from it's ties with the non-fiction realm. Today we know him as a knight, a king, a man that had his own personal magician and the man that introduced a proper conduct for kinghthood. This packet was highly informative but I fear that it may have spoiled T.H. Whites version of the story for me. Very rarely did I stumble upon a passage while reading this packet, that I could not understand. It described several relevant words to the storys, such as legend, epic, medieval romance, and episodic. All in all it was a very informative packet that I almost enjoyed reading. I only wish that I had not read it before The Once and Future King.