Power, what do you think of it?

Power would have to be the ability to rise to the top and be able to accomplish something that has never been accomplished before. But power would also have to mean if you can handle the ability to make decisions on your own and learning from your mistakes. Though it may seem what I am defining would be our everyday lives, well they might as well be. People of all different ages and cultures are able to have power and it can come in many different forms such as being a leader in your school or being the president of a country. However, it does NOT mean that you can boss people around, that’s just what most people call rudeness. You cannot just throw power around or just have it handed to you. The world is here for development and that development, to me, should come in the form of variety,

In the Scramble for Africa game, we had to struggle to fight for the top. We had to try to get as much rolls of the dice as we could so we could get more land of Africa. You have to know what you need and thinking fast is key in the game of life. Also women suffragettes have been waiting a long time before they were able to get their power which came in the form of having a say in their world/community and having the right to vote. As many people know, there is always a struggle in getting what you want, to really succeed. You have to be able to work towards gaining power. In the Great Powers Game, we were just given our country rather than living up to it and earning that country, but I think that we were given the specific country for a reason. I don’t think that you can just climb your way to the top without a struggle or a care in the world.

Going to the top is not what I consider power IF you cannot respect that power. There is no way that you are going to gain respect when you can’t even respect the power you have achieved.

Population Project Recap

What are the three most valuable things you learned from Population Project? Why?

1. How to organize data neatly and clearly. For example, putting together information for my research paper helped me because if I wasn't organized, then I would fall apart and same with the Excel program.
2. I learned that India is one of the leading countries with tuberculosis and that helped me to be cautious in India and to recognize the signs and symptoms otherwise I could develop tuberculosis.
3. Lastly, I learned how to stay calm in hard situations. If I hadn't stayed calm I would have rushed through the project and would have gotten a REALLY bad grade. And staying calm helps you understand your topic better so if you were asked what you did on your project, you will be able to proudly explain.
   

Sameness and Equality

Precise us of language is an important theme in the Giver. Why does Louis Lowry purposefully use the word ‘sameness’ instead of ‘equality’? Explain what the difference is in the meaning of the words. Then using the Giver and Animal Farm, cite the example of how we have seen each word used. Which author uses language more precicely?

Sameness is where everything around you is plain and nothing sparks your feelings or imagination. Everybody looks the same and acts the same. However, equality would have to be where everybody’s rank is the same or everybody is equal in value. I think that Louis Lowry uses the word ‘sameness’ because everybody does not have the same rank. Everybody is in a different level of education, right? Not everybody in the book acts exactly the same. However, everything around them is plain because there are no colors and nobody has any emotions in their world. Animal Farm was trying to use the word ‘equality’ is everybody has the same rank. However, they had the different groups or sections when people did noble work or did the most work. Their saying was “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others”, which I interpreted as, they are the leaders meaning they have a higher rank meaning they are more equal. And then sameness is used in The Giver to represent that everybody can see the same thing and hear the same thing, but they don’t have the same level rank.

The Giver - Becoming an Adult

Becoming an adult is a huge step to take. There are many responsibilities and independence involved with becoming an adult. I think on becomes an adult when someone learns that life is not all fun. You cannot blame everything that happens on your little/older brother/sister, YOU take that responsibility and say, I know I did it wrong. I’ll know better next time. They have to be mature enough to recognize that people mess up and you don’t go yelling and telling someone off whenever you get angry or upset. Also, you don’t want to be asking for money from parents or friends or saying, I just need a little help getting some groceries into my fridge. For example, in The Giver, the leaders of this group, or the parents of the family, have to take responsibility in their job, but also responsibility of their children. They work to get those groceries in and stay in the home they love. Additionally, there are many means to becoming an adult. It means that you have that responsibility that is necessary for becoming an adult and it also means that you are prepared for life .You know that you would be able to support yourself and a family if you wish. Becoming an adult means that you are prepared, ready and all set to go to continue your life and obstacles that come along. In addition to becoming an adult, I don’t really think that there is a specific age that people are no longer useful to the community. For example, in The Giver, the Elders observe the children to let them know and to make sure that they are ready for their assignment. So, those Elders are able to help in that community and some Elders can be Nurturers to help those kids being born. No one should be just considered a waste to a community. Everyone can help in some way, people will find a way to help eventually. All in all, becoming an adult is useful to yourself and your community in which you live in. You are useful in atleast one way even when you are old or even incapable of walking. In short, you can help in some way.

Population Project Layout

This week is your week to work on your Population Project in Humanities Class. What I would like you to do for this week’s feedback is to create a work plan for using your classtime most effectively. Take a few minutes to figure out what you have left to do and then lay out your plan day by day for this week.

I need to:

• Finish my Data Analysis and revise it
• Start Research paper
• Descriptive Writing

Monday- Finish Data Analysis, or atleast get 3/4 done
Tuesday- Start research paper
Wednesday- Finish first draft of research paper
Thursday- Revise research paper- ask Mr. Coyle
Friday- Have research paper totally done

Weekend- Get descriptive writing done

Kids, Parents, Blogs, Feedback

Please analyze the above cartoon and post your ideas to your BLOG. As part of your analysis please address the following questions:

1. What are the main visual elements?
2. What issue is this cartoon about?
3. What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?
4. What evidence in the cartoon supports your opinion on how the cartoonist feels?
5. Why is this cartoon ironic?
6. What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?

1a. The main visual elements would happen to be that they are eating the dinner table and that there’s a mom, dad, and a kid that all look unhappy. The parents have tall, long heads, while the kid has a football head, maybe the kid is adopted.

2a. The issue that this cartoon is about is that maybe parents are getting too lazy with their lifestyles and their kids. The kid took all the time to create the blog and to post what they have done in that day, each day, yet the parent just asks the kid what they did instead of taking the time to look at the kids’ blog. To see the effort that was put into making it. Basically, it looks like the parents just don’t FEEL like it, they would rather just HEAR about it.

3a. The cartoonist’s opinion on this issue would maybe be that his parents were more caring than this when he was young, but now parents have gotten too lazy to bother doing anything. Instead of reading about it on ablog, they would much rather just hear it and make it easier for themselves.

4a. First of all, the phrase really is what made me think that this was so. Asking the kid to just tell them what happened during the day, rather than looking it up. And the fact of the way that the cartoonist created his/her characters. They are large, per say, and they have long, uncaring faces, and just staring at the kid, waiting for him to tell them.

5a. This cartoon is ironic because as we speak, we are reading and creating a post on our own blogs, And this kid has created his own blog and asking his parents to look at it.

6a. The cartoonist could have made the parents sit/lie on a couch, eating their dinner, to show the emphasis of how lazy the parents are. The kid could be sitting, eating over a table, just a little neater than the parents, that way the parents look sloppier and uncaring.

BUT THIS COULD ALSO BE VICE VERSA BECAUSE THE KID COULD BE TOO LAZY TO EVEN BOTHER TRYING TO TELL THE PARENTS WHAT HE DID AT SCHOOL, HE IS TRYING TO GET THEM ON THE INTERNET SO HE DOESN’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT!

Newfangled Contraptions

Using examples from “The Euphio Question” and current events evaluate the statement:

“Do you know what a Luddite is? That’s a person who doesn’t like newfangled contraptions. Contraptions like nuclear submarines armed with Poseidon missiles that have H-bombs in their warheads, and like computers that cheat you out of becoming. Bill Gates says, “Wait till you can see what your computer can become.” But it’s you who should be doing the becoming. What you can become is the miracle you were born to work—not the damn fool computer.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut is right because, even though the people build the computers, there are thousands of people that do not build those computers and just sit around for the computer to do it for them. For example, calculators have taken over this era of math basically. A teacher of mine said that when she was a kid, people used to always use pencil and paper to figure out math problems. However, now, we are not so good at mental math because we expect the calculators to do it for us. As well as that, people also just have another excuse for war when they have those nuclear bombs and “newfangled contraptions” that can destroy anything that gets in their way. People could become something better if they didn’t have the constant worry of what’s going to happen to them next. For example, the Americans in Iraq are using weapons and what-not to help defend themselves and to destroy places in Iraq and vice versa.