Monday, March 29, 2010

Be Golden

Nature as we all know can be a serene place, but at times it can also be a dirty pollution filled place. Natures first green is gold can be taken in a literal sense and with some self contemplation other meanings can be derived. I not only see nature as trees, flowers, and grass but it is a source of gold to humans because many of our resources come from nature. As I go deeper into analysis of the poem I take away from it that not only things can not stay golden in nature, but also in reference to humans no one can stay young forever. Also the poem could be a reference to how in the human race's on going pursuit for perfection it will eventually lead to our down fall or our modern day Eden sinking to grief.

We all take our own personal meaning away from the poem because we all have had different experiences in life and are all just undeniably different, but the probable official meaning of this poem is very easily seen, but if only we quickly look among the golden trees as they turn green we may find something miraculous as I believe I have.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Good Ole St. Patrick

Today is you guessed it St. Patrick's day and my teacher decided for us to make a blog about. This day really holds no importance in my life and never has except for the fact from time to time you get to flirt with the girls and pinch them. Also I am not Irish I am at the opposite end of the spectrum and my celebration ended last month. Though St. Patrick's Day does deserve some credit because I often remember all of the elementary parties we would have at school with all of the candy, food, and extra recess that you could stomach. I guess holidays hold more value when you are young because with parents as an example and myself you just lose interest in things like these over time. Being the fashion person that I am green is just my color, it never just meshed so this may be one of the other causes in my lack for appreciation of St. Patrick's Day. A funny thing is that I do believe in leprechauns because I am pretty sure I have a few friends who are these Irish figures, or maybe it is because I am fairly tall and I like poking fun at my friends who knows. With even more homage to St. Patrick's Day I have been very lucky throughout my life because as many people on this I am past due to be in the grave so I guess I do have a closer connection to St. Patrick's Day than I ever thought.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Silas Marner

George Elliot's Silas Marner amazed me with its old time story, yet modern theme and chain of events.

One theme of this book is that your fate and destiny will find you under any circumstance because it is just meant to be. The book also teaches not to let an object rule your life because if something happens to it you will no longer have a life and chaos will ensue. The authors style is very easily flowing and it is easy and quick to read except for the old dialogue that goes on from time to time. This book is definitely unique because it focuses on a problem that many people have and that is the worship of money.

Some of the characters in Silas Marner are obviously Silas Marner a linen weaver who just wanted to be left alone because life had dealt him a poor hand. Another character in the story is Godfrey one of Squire Cass's sons and he is the peaceful good hearted son that rarely causes trouble, but his own personal family life is in turmoil. Then there is Dunsey the meddling, cheating, and problem child of the family known for his great debts and even reduces to stealing. He is the most interesting character in the story, but he is also the most disliked character too.

The setting of the story is in a country town with farms every where, horses, and beautiful scenery pretty much any old fashioned country town. I can relate to this setting very well because the town I live in is a medium sized country town with beautiful places and farms scattered randomly. When the author describes how dark it is without a lantern in the story it reminds of when it storms at my home and all power is knocked so nothing at all is seen except blind darkness.

In the plot it tells about Silas Marner and a little bit of his past that includes a wife and a best that betrayed him and caused him to leave his true home. The story tells of Silas being a lonely man and his only company is his loom, but soon he gains a friend and that friend is money. He spends every spare minute he has with his money and it relieves his loneliness. Though somehow something happens to his money and he can find it nowhere so he goes on an accusation spree. This whole time there are other events going on in the story like Dunsey trying to save his neck and cons his brother Godfrey into selling his horse to pay debt, and Godfrey trying to leave his wife and child for another woman so he can start off fresh in life again.

Silas Marner is a great book that I would only recommend to teenagers and up because of some of the ideas that go on with in the text, but it is no sense immoral it just has some older individualistic themes. It is not too long and tells a great story.

Commitment

Being an Olympic athlete takes the ultimate commitment of pretty much giving your life to your craft. Not very many people can obviously do this because there are not that many Olympians and even fewer champions. Less family time, no comfort food, or relaxing Olympians are amazing individuals not only in their given field, but also in making and keeping this commitment.

There are not many things I would be willing to keep such a commitment to, but if I had to guess it would be my children if I ever decided to have any. Often in life parents over look the importance of how fragile children are and how the littlest of things can effect them their whole lives. Take a look at most psychologically insane people most of their anger comes from a small incident in their younger years.

Their lives would not be all milk and honey, but they would be treated to the best of my abilities because I will treat them the way I wanted to be treated as a kid. A great man once said that we have now entered into the years of child worship and that kids hold to much attention in these days, but maybe these things are a sign of bettered relationships between parents and children and things are getting better in our country.

I guess in a sense parents are like Olympians because most give their life to their child which in some cases more troublesome than any sport, and by no means am I ready for children yet but I am in the preparation stage so maybe when I do decide to compete I will take the gold.

Monday, March 8, 2010

iBanned

Who? The on going struggle between teachers and students that has been going on for years because of generation differences caused by technology that teachers can not keep up with.
What? Some school officials think that ipods and other devices like it should be banned because some aspects of the technology can help students cheat.
When? In the past few years with the mass emergence of ipods and other types of world and life changing technologies. Technology is invented so quickly and things are changing so rapidly in this day time, and for that fact alone we have problems like these.
Where? From some of the most prestigious universities to the smallest high school in the nation problems like this have been popping up and a solution needs to be found.
Why? This topic matters because if this situation is not handled the integrity of students may be diminished forever because it will be so easy to cheat. It continues the same fight of teachers saying how technology is corrupting their students, but at the same time trying to incorporate it into class.

I agree with this article half hearted because I do not believe media devices should be used during class, but during down time at school they should be allowed because it would be like a free time for the students. To prevent cheating on test day confiscate devices until everyone is done then give them back, but on a regular class period allow them to do whatever they want because this is the United States of America if you fail its your fault. Technology obviously is our future so everyone needs to embrace and search for positive ways to use it in all aspects of life. This article explains my position best.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Catastophies

The tsunami dealt a devastating blow to the Chilean people many just retired people looking for their little peace of happiness. With homes destroyed, no transportation, no electricity, no food, and little shelter the people are forced into primitive levels of survival. Though not all is bad for these people many foreign nations are giving aid and with internal help these people will be back on their feet in no time.
Global warming is it truth or something false that scientists are wasting their time on? Yes, indeed it is difficult to believe that there is a such thing as global warming when in the past couple of months snow has been falling everywhere and even Florida has gotten a chill or two, but what we are not seeing is the bigger picture and that despite the snow we have had one of the hottest decades in recorded history. So I think only time will tell if either the scientists are correct or if the criticisers will have the last laugh.
Despite having huge walls of concrete built up for protection destruction still reached many homes in the countries of Belgium, Portugal, Spain, and Germany. Patrol men were searching all the waterways and even city streets for bodies and any sign of life at all. The storm delayed many of France's major railways and cancellations continued at Frankfurt airport one Europe's most important hubs.
All of these stories have to do with in a way devastation either if its by flood, earthquake, or global warming. All of these events stir our interest because it is weird with all of the 2012 hype that these catastrophes are taking place. Second, all of these stories are weather related and some have man made influence. Third, people end up in some form or fashion paying with their lives debt to these events, but things like these have occurred over the whole history of Earth. Though what if the stars were aligned just right, the pioneer basketball team started winning games, and Americans started accepting soccer as a real sport these events could be the forefront of the dawning of a new era.

The most important idea to me is the global warming topic. This is the idea that the Earth is getting hotter and hotter and pretty soon will began the mass melting of the polar ice caps, which will result in the flooding of the Earth. This is important to me because so often in anything in life people miss the bigger picture, and yes right now there are no signs of global warming, but what about many years down the road. Yes, indeed science could be wrong they have been before but they do know more research and have more knowledge than most of us do on this subject so we should at least give what they say some thought.