Thanksgiving

Well first of all, I am thankful for partial credit because I am doing this blog post late (of course). Next, I am thankful for Amy Nicole Yip! She's so funny and I've loved sitting next to her in English both this year and last year! Amy makes me laugh and I am forever thankful for that! Last, and definitely least, I am thankful for rayt akin! She already knows I love her and it would take hours to type out everything about her that I am thankful for. 

I Celebrate Myself

I celebrate myself. So many things come to mind when I hear those words. They are only three simple words, yet they can be interpreted in so many different ways. The topic "I celebrate myself" encompasses the majority of people who seem self absorbed. When someone is self absorbed at an extreme level it is seen as selfish and rude. Yet, to some extent, most people are self absorbed, in a more minimal way. When you think about it, how we do in school, how good at something we are, and how successful we are are all ways people judge us. These things are the foundations of what make us "good people". Of course these are society's broad standards, but we judge ourselves even more harshly than those around us do. At the end of the day, everyone wants to be accepted by society. Everyone wants to be good enough. In order to meet these expectations we must focus on ourselves and do our best. Not as often as we criticize ourselves do we celebrate ourselves. We all work toward being the best and being accepted but just as quickly as we reach our goals, we set new ones. Society's standards are ever changing and it seems impossible to take the time to celebrate ourselves when necessary.

Poe

As I researched into Edgar Allen Poe's life, I found many strange, sad, yet intriguing things. Poe was abandoned at a very, very young age. Poe was always writing and always found a strong passion in writing. He attended The University of Virginia and dropped out before attaining his degree. It could be said that Poe lived a sorrow life, rather than a life full of happiness. Poe's work in writing reflects his life and his experiences. One of his more famous pieces, The Raven, is known to be very dark in nature. It is a really mysterious piece of writing and gives of an ominous aura. Seeing as Poe's life was primarily filled with ominous events and deaths, his dark style of writing is completely justified. Even with Edgar Allen Poe's amazing works of writing and talent in writing, his life proved to be sad until the very end. He was said to have been extremely confused and wandering in the days before his death. As dark and sorrowful Poe's life was, it was his many life experiences and the horrible things he endured that ultimately contributed to his works of art, such as The Raven and many others.

What is an American?

Being  an “American” means more than just living in the territory of the United States. Being an “American” means taking pride in your country. Where you live or where you come from defies and reflects how you live about your daily life. It defies what traditions you follow and celebrate. A perfect example of the all-American tradition is Thanksgiving. It’s a holiday that originated in the United States and continues to be celebrated in the United States. Traditions like this, that build up over time, ultimately define our nation’s culture itself. Seeing as the United States is under 300 years old, our nation hasn’t had the time to build up such culture as country’s like Egypt and China. When you ask and American, “What are you?”, chances are their answer would be “French” or “Spanish”, or any other country. But why isn’t the common answer “American”? I think the answer to this question is that because the United States is so “young”, generations are used to identifying with a country that is more mature. As well as this, America is seen as a melting pot of races and not a completely culturally unified nation. Ultimately, when one identifies themselves as an “American” it is evident that they take pride in the country.

The Modern Puritan

This week’s blog topic allows us to connect what we have been learning in class all throughout the beginning of this year to modern times and society today. Historically, the puritans were known for being extremely stringent. Children always had to obey adults, and everyone had to obey the bible. The puritans were extremely religious peoples and could be harsh at times if someone failed to follow the religious or political laws.  A common example of this is in The Scarlet Letter, which we are currently reading. Hester committed adultery, a violation of one of the ten commandments, and had to pay for it her entire life. In terms of connecting The Scarlet letter and the puritan ways to today, I guess you could say most religious groups are still “strict” but usually not to the severity of the puritans. For example, catholics are still required to follow the ten commandments and what not, although if the commandments aren’t always respected there is no punishment. Modern civilization has progressed from being so authoritarian and today most people are liberal to some extent. Using the same adultery example in the Scarlet Letter, if someone today were to commit adultery, it would still be seen as immoral and inappropriate, but that person wouldn’t be scrutinized or humiliated. 

John Proctor- Hero or Stooge?

A hero is defined as “ The chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.”.  A stooge is defined as “ a person who serves merely to support or assist others, particularly in doing unpleasant work”. In my eyes, John Proctor is both a hero and a stooge. He showed heroic qualities in his final hours of life as he never ever lied in saying that he was a witch. Although his life could’ve been saved if he had untruthfully “confessed” practicing witch craft, he refused to oblige and died a martyr of some sort. John Proctor didn’t always portray the qualities of a hero, he was unfaithful to his wife, but in the end he sacrificed his life for others, and their lives were potentially saved. John didn’t greedily save his own life and lie about others. He didn’t send innocent people to their death beds, and instead he attempted to end the horrific sequence of arresting, lying, and killing in Salem. In similar ways, John Proctor is a “stooge” as well. Although John to solely survive to “assist” others, he died in order to save others. His death was unnecessary and did not need to happen, but it did happen.

Arrivals, There Goes the Neighborhood

When I heard the title for this blog entry, I obviously thought about the situation between the Native Americans and the Europeans. I thought about how the Europeans thought it was ok to invade the Natives' property in an effort to do things like convert them to their religion and take over them in order to make money. Some of the Europeans sought to help the Natives and simply explore, not to destroy them and their land for their own egotistical reasons. In realizing that, I understood that some Europeans were there to help and some were there for other reasons. After understanding and realizing those things, two questions arose in my mind. At what point is it not ok to "invade" someone's space? At what point does it become too territorial and acquisitive to not allow others to join your community, or to disrespect them? It becomes wrong to invade someone's space, property, or "neighborhood" when the action of going there is brought on by something bad or harmful. Europeans like Christopher Columbus took over the Native People and treated them as if they weren't human beings. And on the contrary, it becomes too territorial to not accept someone when they have the intention of bringing something good, and not bringing upon harmful things. Those two questions can still be asked today and will be relevant in the future as well. The subject of invasion and being territorial has been proved timeless, I guess you could say it's a part of human nature.

ME

First of all, my name is Luci and I'm from Chicago. I was born and raised here and it's one of my favorite cities in the world. I used to play volleyball and I'm not completely positive what clubs and teams I want to join this year. I'm interested in a variety of things, ranging from sciences like biology and chemistry, to law. When I'm older I'd either like to go to law school or medical school  and definitely to Georgetown for undergrad because a lot of my family went there. In terms of high school and Whitney Young, I'm excited for all of my classes this year. I am eager to learn this school year and work hard to get good grades, which carries out to all of my classes. I am primarily excited for English and chemistry this year! Both subjects are interesting, but English is set apart because it is probably the only class this year that I will be able to express myself through my writing and not just work with quantitative facts and scientific/ historic research.  More specifically for this class, since I have an interest in writing, I'd like to improve my skills so that writing becomes more of a habit and everyday skill, than something I feel slightly unnatural doing.  I didn't write much in my english class last year, but it sounds like we'll be writing a lot this year, so I'm really excited for that.