What is understanding?

Understanding, the way I see it, is knowing how something works and being able to explain it. So to me knowing and understanding is the same thing. If you know something, you understand it and if you understand it, you know it. Things get tricky when you have to know if the stuff you know and understand is true or not because information that is not true is pretty much useless. On that note there are things that you probably shouldn't or don't need to understand. I'm not saying the information should be kept hidden but sometimes things are just not worth the time. Which brings up the question how do you know what is worth your time and effort? surely there are things that would never be used but does that make it unnecessary to learn? And how would you measure the level of understanding in something? unlike video games, life does not show you experience or levels although that would be very cool and i would like to see google glasses or something implement that in their product. But back to the question. How would you measure understanding? at what point would you consider it to be understanding? and if you can't measure it, is it real? is there something as too much understanding? maybe there is. you know when someone knows too much and they get really cocky? maybe that's too much understanding there because no one likes a know it all. why us understanding so subjective? as much as subjectivity is nice, it never gets anything done. it's like being politically correct. it just wastes a lot of people's energy. like i dont understand it.

Last 3rd quarter post?

The most talked about thing online right now is probably net neutrality and the death of Leonard Nimoy. Leonard played Spock on Star Trek and now he's dead and apparently a lot of people are really torn up about it. It's sad but i feel like only missing him because his role in 1 show is kind of pointless? The other thing, net neutrality and i think that net neutrality is really super important because everyone uses the internet and it would be a shame if that internet becomes restricted. It would affect a huge amount of people. First off internet is expensive as is and making it more expensive would suck. That's like my biggest fear as an adult like oh man gotta pay for my own wifi. i don't think i'm ready for that kind of responsibility yet. I don't know i feel like net neutrality that pretty much affects everyone and the only people who support it are the people who will be profiting off of it. Which is great. It's nice to see a group of people working together towards a common goal. It's kind of like in school where you hate someone and you find someone who hates the same person as you and you guy become friends. Because nothing brings two people closer together than the mutual hatred for a third person. True story. Not even just people. Hell even countries do that i mean isn't that pretty much what an alliance is? You hate him? I hate him too! lets be friends? If i had a life motto it would probably be "if you don't have something nice to say come sit with me and we can make fun of everyone together". Hate is good every now and again. It's what really gets people going you know? Screw inspiration. Inspiration is knowing you can rub your achievement into your enemy's face and laugh at them for sucking more than you do and that's great. You know at least you aren't the worst right? If you can't be first, be third because second place is just first place loser. And that is why people with bronze medals are so much happier than people who get silver medals. You get this mentality after you give up that says don't try but also don't suck. Unless you are a vacuum. In that case suck away all the dirt and stuff than vacuums suck up. Life is going to be okay if you're mediocre. Chances are you will never make it big anyways so just settle with it you know. Make do with what you have because that is so much less stress and less stress is good. Schools just teach you that failing is bad and students freak out when they fail but what the schools fail to teach is that failure is okay and it happens to the best of us. What's important is that you don't let it get to your head because heads are important and there will be more opportunities and it's just gonna be okay if you screw up once or twice or maybe 677 times but you know who's counting anyways?

???

So one thing that's been really big lately is 50 Shades of Grey. There are 3 books in the series and also the movie just came out. I hear the movie turned out to be a huge disappointment although the things showing up on tumblr can be pretty funny. Although i haven't read the books or seen the movie, i think i can get a pretty good idea of what they are about. A part of me is really disappointed in the movie but at the same time i'm glad because there created so many jokes about 50 shades of grey and they are all kind of funny. Some of which are completely not okay to put on a school homework blog. On a totally unrelated topic the guy who tool his senior picture with his cat is dead. Remember that? The senior who took a picture with his cat with lasers shooting all over and it became a meme for a while. Yeah he committed suicide. I don't really know the details but he's dead and that's all i know. Well today's also the Oscars and I'm totally not interested but with all the stuff in those goodie bags I would be fine with losing. Seriously. Little statue vs a bag of everything... it's pretty clear bag of stuff wins every time.

first one

Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach us anything useful? Well that really depends on what you think is not real and what is useful. I think that there are books out there that aren't true but still are able to teach us useful things but it really does depend on the book. There are some books that are completely non fiction with aliens and different planets and all that and as far as usefulness goes it really is all morals and less life skills. On the other hand there are books that take place on Earth but have characters and events that don't exist or won't/haven't happened yet. In those cases they might be able to teach you something useful like skills that you would need in your daily lives. So really it does depend on the actual book itself. Don't pick up a Shakespearean tragedy and expect to be able to fix someone's car engine by the end of the week.

numbah 8 newsy stuff

So one thing thats been on the news lately was the death of a Jordanian pilot named Muath al-Kasaesbeh. He was burned alive by ISIS and the video of his death was released. Jordan and ISIS were in the stages of negotiation when Muath was killed. I think how Jordan reacted was great. Probably the best reaction to terrorism. After the release of the video of Muath being burned alive, they executed 2 terrorists and sent air strikes to destroy IS hideouts. In 3 days Jordan sent out 56 air strikes. The best part is that it is rumored that King Abdullah II will actually be personally leading the air strikes and that is really cool because he is the king of Jordan. The fact that the king himself is fighting against IS really shows how capable he is as a leader and to what extent he is willing to go to fight for his people. Before Abdullah II became king of Jordan, he was Major General of the Jordinian Special Forces so it makes sense. I feel like being a part of the military should be a requirement for all presidents/political leaders because then they will really know what is going on outside of their offices. It's pretty awesome. Like a plot out of some action movie or something.

Umm can i do the thing?

Thoughts of a high school students huh? Alright okay I can do this. This is doable. So what are my thoughts? What are some online safe thoughts that I can type up? Oh I know! For starters personal projects are a really really stupid idea and whoever came up with it clearly has no idea what it's like to be a student these days. And what's even stupider is the fact that personal projects are forced because being forced to do a project makes it so personal. It's great that you're trying to motivate students and hey it might actually help in the long run but it's boring and stupid because if students really cared they would have done it themselves already. Clearly no one gives two shits about personal projects. It's just more work that isn't graded and with all the other projects that are assigned with tests and having to volunteer and joining clubs so you can be "academically well rounded" there just isn't time to do things for fun let alone do things for school that aren't even that important so maybe schools should just stop with the you have to do this and that. It would be a lot more effective if schools actually made people want to learn about things. The standardized testing and pressure to do well is a real turn off. Boring. There's this thing. It's like the peak of performance for students and when a student is pushed beyond that point nothing matters anymore because no matter how hard you try there will just be more work to do and that never really goes away so you start cheating and it all goes downhill from there. Who cares though? Just don't get caught it doesn't matter anymore oh well. You win some you lose some. I blame the education system. Yep. That's it. Thanks a lot America.  Way to ruin the next generation. What else is on my mind? Hmm today is the Super Bowl but I don’t really care. Sports just aren’t my thing. I see no point in running back and forth chasing a ball. Why are professional players even paid that much anyways? Sports really don't contribute anything useful to anyone at all. Why not take some pay cuts and give more money to people who are underpaid? Like soldiers. They could use the extra money and their job isn't the safest so they deserve a little more pay. You know what else is a really cool idea? I think it was the Netherlands but the people pay half the taxes during November or December so they have enough money for Christmas and I think that's a really cool idea because Christmas is awesome and everyone should be able to celebrate it. If they want to. They don’t have to. That would be unconstitutional. Yeah that's pretty much it except why are there so much allergies? This sucks. And what's up with the weather? It has  been really jacked up like one day its warm and sunny and nice and you're like wow it's literally the perfect weather but then it gets cold the next day and you're like WTF so it's weird. Why?

Numbah two

Success and happiness can totally be dependent on the choices and actions of an individual but some things are still very hard to change. For example, if there were multiple universes, the idea that choices and actions can result in happiness and success is very plausible. Each and every decision any person makes is one universe and the choice that they didn’t make would be the other universe and each and every person's choices, all seven billion people and their choices and all the universes would also have to be taken into consideration. The choices of other people who also shape the world would also have to be something that would have to be considered and since one person cannot control everyone else's decisions. It's all about the alternate universes and its awesome because anything is possible in an alternate universe. Even Santa Claus is real because in an alternate universe, Santa is real and in an alternate universe Santa could also be a universe jumping being which makes it possible for there to be a Santa Claus in this universe because he traveled from another and that's pretty cool because Santa equals presents. Also in an alternate universe I could travel from universe to universe and hopefully the other me has thought about visiting me and brings me a present or something from another universe because that would be cool to have. It's like a souvenir from a trip I never really took but did. Also I could kidnap other mes and commit crimes and the alternate universe me could be my fall man. It's a genius idea because I am technically in jail and if I keep robbing stuff and even if my DNA and fingerprints everywhere, how would they possible believe it was me because I am technically in jail and there can only be one of me. Even though that's not true and there are in fact a bunch of me and imagine the crime sprees. It would be so confusing and I could be everywhere at once and since there are so many of me I could divide up the homework and technically do my homework so much faster and it wouldn't be plagiarism or anything because I wrote me a paper and that's technically not stealing. I guess cloning is still a possibility but if clones of yourself were legal, people would probably make a way to track all the clones and differentiate between clones and real people. Which would also lead to a black market for clones which is like human trafficking but you know since they aren't human human would it be clone trafficking? Would they be considered human? Clones would provide a lot of organs and stuff that people on the transplant list would need so would there be organ farms where they grow clones only to kill them and steal their insides to sell to rich shady people who want to cling onto life for a little while longer? Would that be a thing?

9 or 10 take your pick idc

Okay so I saw this video about how this guy used misdirection to his advantage to steal this other guy's stuff and I thought oh hey that was pretty cool because who wouldn't want to be able to do something like that? It pretty much makes him a super hero or villain I guess. He would be the villain version of Batman or Iron Man. Only instead of doing good deeds like saving kittens and stuff he would be out and about stealing people's wallets phones and watches. I think that would be a cool villain and he could fight with heroes that don't have superpowers either so it would be fair. He could like steal things from the superheroes and use it against them and I don’t know I feel like he would die rather quickly as a villain. I like it though. The video was rather intriguing because it shows a skill that can be taught learned and developed which means almost anyone can do it and hey I would totally want to be able to steal people's stuff for fun. It seems like an awesome challenge and a skill worth having for one of those days where you mess up and have to delete a text you sent to someone on accident or get rid of a note or something that you misplaced. Pretty much with the power of misdirection you could become one of the best spies or magicians in the world or a really good pick pocket. You could create a ring of pick pockets that go around stealing things from rich people. And we could even go so far as to become con men or cat burglars and sell the stuff we steal on the black market and make tons of money. And if we are really lucky we could pull of a "crime of the century" or "the perfect crime". But the thing about the perfect crime is that what is a perfect crime if no one is there to witness it? It wouldn't be a perfect crime if people knew though would it? See? That's the problem. Great things are only great if there are people there to see it and a perfect crime would mean no one would ever know. Sad life right? I feel like the life of a high class criminal would suit me quite well. It's a job that is interesting and fast paced but at the same time it is still professional and requires a certain level of skill. Yep. Don't worry if I become an international criminal wanted in at least 3 countries, I'd visit. I think this post is categorized in number ten but it could also be number nine. It is technically ponderings of my brain but it was also something interesting. The catch is I didn't read it. It was a video but technically depending on the frames per second and how long the video is and a frame is a picture and a picture is a thousand words I technically "read" an essay. Pretty impressive right?

Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth

I guess circumstances do determine if we should tell the truth or not. It might not be the most morally right thing to do but then again if it is something that you really have to lie about then morals can probably wait a little bit. You know the best example that could possibly exist for this question would be Gregory House from the TV show House. If you do not know who House is go ahead and watch the Pilot episode. It's okay. I'll wait…. I assume you're done or already know House since you are continuing to read this okay? Well like I said House is the perfect example of how sometimes lying is useful because people are stupid and in certain situations, stupidity can really kill you. Like dead. So House and his team of doctors are diagnostician who figure out and tell people why they are dying (usually after lots of tests and needles). But to keep the show interesting the cases he deals with often stump other doctors or the patients are usually hiding something and House has to use unorthodox methods to figure out why their insides are liquefying and stuff like that. Not only does he lie, he also dabbles in breaking and entering, fights with patients, and guessing the medicine needed and hoping they don't die. Most of the time they don't. Which is great because not everyone is dead. So yes lie if the situation needs it because it might save a life. Because the truth is over rated anyways. Unless you were dying. Then it's probably safe to assume that you should be telling the truth. Other places where telling the truth would be advised would be like court or something or you know when someone is pointing a gun at you asking where you hid the money that you stole from that van you found sitting on the highway at two AM five months ago after a party in San Antonio. But these are just words on a screen. You don’t have to listen to them. It's like the speed limit. You don’t have to follow it unless someone is there to enforce that rule. If you are going to lie you better be freaking good at it though because lying after taking an oath is "against the law" or something like that. Well their loss I guess because unlike the other guy's story, mine had dinosaurs and Neil Patrick Harris so it's pretty safe to say I win that one. So for my fabulous conclusion of this really long commentary I would like to thank all my Tumblr followers and that cake I had because man that was some delicious cake and I don’t think I would be here without the support of all my loving fans and so in the conclusions conclusion I do believe that we hold these truths to be self whoops wrong speech yeah if the situation needs it you have the green light to lie. Feel free to make crap up. No one's stopping you.

Essay

      Poetry, a form of art, helps people share thoughts, feelings, and ideas with others. Using many different techniques, a poet can convey many different things. One of the most common thing all poems have is figurative language. Another way poets share thoughts and feelings is through diction. The way a poet structures their poem also adds meaning to the poem.
      Figurative language can include many things such as similes, metaphors, idioms, personification, as well as many others. An example of figurative language is in the poem "Poetic Bloodline" by GeminiEye. The first 2 lines provided an example of assonance using the words dream, scheme, and seemed. The poem also had examples of repetition and alliteration from repeating the word shit and the alliteration of Billy Blues. Each of those figurative languages help further develop the poem and makes the poem more interesting.
      An author's diction is also an important part of any written piece because the words themselves create the meaning. In the poem "The System", the word choices of the author make him seem more of a cyborg. Since he is talking about a system and comparing society to a machine that dictates how everyone has to conform to the machine's standards. The diction he chooses later in the poem shows the machine breaking down because it's not doing what it's programmed to do. How Prentice Powell, the poet, chose his words affected what the reader connected his poem to.
      How the author decides to set up a poem is very important because it determines how the reader will read it. If the poem is too unorganized, it is not understandable and if it is too organized it would be an essay. The poem "The Quill" is structured to look like a writing quill and the diction of the poem also makes it readable in many different ways. Since there is no right way to read it, the interpretation of the poem is up to the reader.
      Diction, figurative language, and structuring are very important parts of writing. They can all be used to create and manipulate thoughts and ideas to the writers advantage. Using diction, figurative language, and structuring, a writer can better develop their idea so that the readers can connect with and understand it better.

If

The poem is like a guide to how the be a man. It should probably start out with step one don’t write poetry. Step two if you failed to acknowledge step one, you have twenty four hours to kill a bear with you bare hands or your man card will be revoked. Do note that your man card is not an actual card. It is a chromosome and if you are to lose your "man card", badass beard dawning Viking lumberjacks will kick your door down in the middle of the day and rip that Y chromosome right out of your face hole because sneaking around at night is for pansies. All jokes aside, this is in fact a poem about how to be a man. And surprisingly it rhymes too. Do you know how rare it is to see a poem that actually rhymes in high school? Teachers are too into all that deeper meaning crap they forget what makes poetry bearable the rhyming. Right, back to the poem itself. The first stanza is all about do not do this do this instead. It's like one of those commercials. Don’t settle for whatever get Direct TV. The first stanza is also more self reflection/improvement. The second and third stanza is about being persistent and not giving up. The last stanza is about being a down to earth person. I personally like the last one because it's saying be the best you can be but also don't be a dick about it and that is like advice for life because you could be the most powerful person in the world and own everything but what would be the point of having everything if everyone hates you and there's no one to share the world with? The poem could help people to be nicer to each other and all that and is still applicable today if someone had the time to sit down and connect all of what the author is saying with things that modern people could relate to because not many people would sit down and do it themselves. What? Think? I'm not paid to think. I could just get it from Google because let's be honest no one uses Bing. I just don't feel like most men would actually think "I need to be a man, better read this poem". When you think manly you do not think poems. Unless what you consider manly is like a hipster or something. Which is cool too if you're into that kind of stuff. If this were directed towards men, it would be less complicated and more to the point. This feels like it is written for someone else to read and then tell the person it is meant for about it. Just cut the middle man and get straight to the point because everyone knows that guys can't take a hint to save their lives. If this poem were a how to guide or a list like most normal guides are, I would think that it would get more views than it does in poem form. But that's just my two cents.

Ain't I a Woman

Alright, so from what I can tell this poem is about racism and feminism. Wow. Okay. Way to be creative. Right so the first stanza is stereotypes on how guys are expected to treat women. Because feminists are totally okay with having the opposite sex telling them what to do. So the next two stanzas are about how she can do everything a guy can do and then asks ain't I a woman. Mixed messages much? Do you want to be treated like a man or a woman because I am not going to help someone over a mud puddle and then ask them to plow a field because if they can plow a field they sure as hell can cross over a puddle by themselves and if they can't cross a little puddle themselves what makes you think they can plow a field. The last stanza was very religious. But technically it was Mary and an angel and not God. And even if it was God then Christ would still have been from a "man" and woman since later on in the Bible and all Jesus refers to God as Father. So unless you go calling your mom father I suggest finding a better argument. It is true that the first woman turned the world upside down, at least it is in the Bible. I just do not see it as an accomplishment as much as the author does. The author thinks that since one woman could turn the world upside down, many women could turn it right side up but I don't know. If one woman screwed up the simple task of do not eat that fruit I wonder what a bunch of women could screw up. For those of you who don't know, God created Adam and afterwards created Eve and they were in the so called Garden of Eden. God then told them they could eat any of the fruit from any of the trees except that one tree. So what do you think they did? Yep they ate the fruit and end up betting banned from the garden. And that sums up the first three chapters of Genesis. So Eve kind of screwed like everyone over with that fruit because that was the birth of Original Sin which is bad if you couldn't figure it out. The author basically said that if one woman could change the world that much a bunch of women could change it even more. The argument would've been way more reassuring if, you know, she used an example that involved a woman changing the world for the better and not oh I don’t know screwing over like all of the people. Just saying. I bet you Adam never took Eve to another garden after that incident. I feel like the author of this poem really needs to figure out where she stands on the topic and should write so readers can understand her because she spent two stanzas saying I can do everything a guy can do and then asking why won't people treat me like a woman? Well maybe it's because you act like a man? I don’t know. And as a reader, I can tell you that if one person of a group could flip the world upside down I am not trusting the same group to flip it right side up because what if they mess up? Again. The world wouldn't be flipped it would be spinning every which way and that does not sound healthy. I think I'm fine with figuring it out myself. You've done enough to help thank you and goodnight.

Social Imagination

I agree with the quote "We all have our social imagination: the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in out deficient society, on the streets where we live, on our schools." The beginning of the quote is true enough. "We all have our social imagination", however, may be technically incorrect because it claims that everyone has a sense of imagination and imagination might be something that not everyone has. Aside from that, the quote is true. Everyone has the ability to view something however they want. Having the ability to imagine what society should and should not be like does not mean that the person is going to be able to change that society that he or she lives in. If the quote is saying that everyone has the ability to imagine the world that they think would be perfect, then the quote is probably true because anyone can imagine something. Most people would want a society that is peaceful where all the bad things like death and destruction do not exist which I think would make a very boring society. Sometimes there is that one person who instead of just imagining the society they want to live in, they actually go out and try to make the real world more like how they saw it in their mind and that is a wonderful thing to do because that person is trying to make their reality just as awesome as how they imagine it. I am kind of glad that not many people try to go out and change things to the way that they think is right because if everyone did that then nothing would be right and it would be chaos. There is probably at least one person who is like "hey chaos that is my kind of society". So I guess yeah sure I agree with the quote. The way it is worded though makes it really strange because nowhere does it actually mention taking an appropriate course of action towards achieving your desired choice of society. All it says is that everyone has the ability to imagine what kind of society they want so perhaps what it is actually trying to say is that a person can dream about a perfect society but will never actually get it. That would actually suck quite a bit unless people develop some sort of virtual reality Matrix or something to throw people's thoughts and desires into a computer generated world and let them live out their lives happy. Hey that was a plot from Supernatural where Dean fights that djinn and it sends him into that alternate universe where his life is the way he wanted and Dean has to wake up before the djinn drains all of his blood and kills him. Right spoiler alert. Well to summarize up my answer to this question that required way less than five hundred words to answer, I do in fact agree with the quote "We all have our social imagination: the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in out deficient society, on the streets where we live, on our schools."

How does the past, present, and future lead us to the truth?

I have considered how the past, present, and future lead us to the truth and what I have concluded is that the past, present and future does not lead us to the truth. What leads us to the truth is question and curiosity. The past, present, and future are merely when the events occur and not how or why it occurs. If there was a lie that nobody questioned, it would still be considered a "truth". I would have an example but it would have to be an example of something only I know and that would be called wrong because it's not what everyone else thinks. The question asks how a period of time shows a fact which is strange because time is just a number. The only way time reveals truths is when it is provoked to do so by oh right curiosity. If it was not for fact checking and skepticism, people would believe anything that anyone with a fancy suit tells them. Seriously, if everyone was that gullible do you realize how often The Onion would be cited? The past is when it happens, the present is questioning why it is the way it is and the future is getting the truth. Classified information and documents aren't just released because the government is too lazy to keep them classified but I don’t know, the government is not doing too great of a job to begin with and it would not surprise me if a couple things slipped through the cracks. You know what else the past, present or future did not reveal? Those celebrity nudes. Then again I do not think that they would be considered truths. More of like a strange invasion of privacy. You know what else does not like the whole time reveals everything thing? Movies. Imagine how terrible that would be. Usually the hero has to fight monsters or something to figure things out. Would you want to watch a movie about well about a character that knows everything? Waiting for time to solve your problems is like opening a book and hoping that it will read itself to you. I'm sorry to say technology hasn't gotten there yet. The best we have so far are talking birthday cards and audio books which lets face it just aren't the same as regular books. Honestly, I was done with this answer like a hundred words ago. This is just me killing words. This is a commentary right? This is how the whole commetary-ing works? Whatever. I didn’t have much to say on this topic anyways. You know the more you question, the more you learn. It's funny because schools are a place for learning that just so happens to hate the questioning of their methods. Same thing with the government. For something created "by the people, for the people", the people seem to be on the short end of the stick. Last time I sat around and waited for time to tell the truth all I got was bored and hungry. Lessons learned: bring snacks and never trust time when it comes to the truth because a good doctor once said "it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."

Oedipus Rex

Oedipus sounds like a real pain in the butt right from the beginning. Why not just shut up about his problems? He's the king. What does he have to really worry about? Oh, wait the whole murder your father sleep with your mother thing seems like something to be worried about but right he DOESN’T KNOW THAT. Pity's not going to make the kids feel better by the way. Okay so like how can this guy not remember killing someone?  I mean like he was a dude who was a king with a bunch of guards and you can't remember him? You know I really feel like Oedipus' solution to everything is to kill them. It might be a lie? Kill them. Think they are plotting against you? Kill them. Dad blocking your way and tried to chop off your head? Kill him. Oh right his "dad" died of old age. That took a long time to put two and two together especially for a king. You killed a person. The king was killed. The king disappeared, you showed up. I would like to think that a 5 year old could put that together and figure out that it was him. He could solve the Sphinx's riddle and save a whole kingdom but can't even put something that simple together.  You know reading these types of books and stuff  are the most frustrating thing in the world. You know everything about the place and people but the characters don’t and it makes them seem so stupid you want to just yell at the characters to quit being so dumb because splitting up and looking for clues will get you killed and then you remember that you are yelling at a book and it makes you feel stupid because hey I just yelled at someone trapped in a dead tree. The person isn't even real. This is a very frustrating play. It's more frustrating than a framed picture of the leaning tower of Pisa to a person with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Oh great now he's torturing old people. What a wonderful person. I should totally feel sorry for him for not being able to change his fate. If you weren't away that was meant to have been completely sarcastic. So he has to leave?? Alright so let's summarize. He goes to some place and sees kids and talks about the plague. Then the messenger comes and delivers the news and he needs to make sure so he asks someone else and when he doesn’t get the answer he wants he threatens to kill the guy. Then he goes to his wife and mom and they talk about it and the messenger and shepherd are brought to him to be questioned and he threatens both of them and he gets his answer and they make him go away? Is that it? Or just a prologue? That was a pretty bad story. I didn't like it. Not enough action. Where's the hero? Every good story needs a hero. 

The Ritz Diamond

Fitzgerald makes fun of youth, wealth, and religion by doing the extreme. Either he hides the idea or he over exaggerates the idea to the point where it sounds impossible. Religion was hidden while youth and wealth were overly exaggerated. Fish was an allusion for Jesus and the twelve people were the apostles. The over exaggeration of the diamond makes the rich kids seem greedy because even though they live on top of a diamond mountain, they still want more money. John and Percy's actions were meant to show how spoiled and pampered rich white kids are. The reason I think they're white is because they Percy owns slaves and during that time period most rich people were white.

Great Gatsby Movie Reflection

The Great Gatsby is a movie about Jay Gatsby, a rich gangster. The story takes place during the 1920s in New York City. In the movie, Gatsby chases after Daisy who was a girl he fell in love with. The Great Gatsby contains Fitzgerald's ideas on the American Dream. Many of the things in The Great Gatsby symbolize things about the American Dream and what it is. An example is the places where the movie takes place. Between West Egg and New York City is the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes represents the evil and corruption in the American Dream. To get to Mew York City or the dream, you have to drive through the Valley of Ashes or become corrupt. In the movie, Daisy represented the American Dream and Gatsby represented the average American. He spent the whole movie chasing after this dream that in the end never cared about him. At the end of the movie, Wilson shot Gatsby after he received a phone call from Nick. He didn't know that it was Nick and thought it was Daisy. Gatsby died thinking that his dream came true. I believe that the message that Fitzgerald was trying to send was that some people romanticize the idea of the American Dream and end up working way too hard to chase something that they will never truly catch and even if they did it was only an illusion or a moment of satisfaction because the American Dream is to have more.

American Dream

I really didn't like the American's Story poem. It was a lot of complaining and used a lot of comparisons between things that aren't facts. If you're gonna write about real problems at least give some real comparisons. The writer had years and information and used a sophisticated language so clearly they're educated and wow this is weird like do I say the writer or Ms Lamphier?... okay back on topic. If you have the money to educate yourself to write this well and happened to have the time to get the education, look up the numbers, and write this, couldn't that time and money have been spent helping these people? And the thing about the government taking things away is a problem. People an barely work for enough for themselves and their families and now they have to work to feed people they don't even know. The American dream isn't happiness. It's the pursuit of happiness. You are not guaranteed happiness but you can chase it until you catch it or die trying. The sooner you realize nobody cares, you learn to work and get things done yourself and maybe that's what people need. Maybe no help should be given so it's do or die.

1920's

It was legendary. There was liquor and parades and food and liquor and lots of people and liquor and did I mention the liquor? It was by far the best party of the week. I can't believe the guys are throwing another one this weekend. Maybe I should throw my own party... but make it huge. It would be awesome. I could invite a couple blocks worth of people and buy some booze from that guy who owns that store on that street. We could gamble, smoke and get drunk. What more could anyone want? Everyone could be invited except for that guy Steve. He's just strange. Last time I invited him to a party, he brought his pet goat and it ate someones hat. It was a nice looking hat too. Well its settled. I'm gonna throw a party and Steve isn't invited.

Paradox

I think the purpose of the paradox in Life of Pi is to show that people have something like multiple personality disorder only it's not a disorder. Martel making Richard Parker a reflection of Pi shows that Pi had another personality different from the religious Pi. Parker represented a wild Pi that would do anything to survive. It helped Martel's purpose because Pi's other personality, Parker, kept him alive and gave him a  reason to live.