3 blog post for Honors Class 5-12

Realizing life:

I don't think that you can't realize life its self, but i think that you can realize whats in life and how you pertain to it and what you can do differently to change. For example when someone has a near experience or hit rock bottom they most often try to make amends and change their life so that they can live better. For me I realized that i had to change my life when i hit rock bottom and finally became a diabetic and had to start insulin so that i could live.

I think the thing that defines us as humans and connects us all is our ability express or not being able to express our love to one another. I don't think that there is just one think that connects us all human. I think that we all have something different and that how we connect.

I agree that birth is handled differently with the father being allowed in the delivery room as where they used to not be allowed. But I think that we make more of a bigger deal about birth having parties and giving out birth announcements. Traditions for every family are always different so in that aspect i think that traditions are the same. Each family has unique differences. I think that community is different now, yes we do help each other but i don't think that we are as tight and wanting to help build homes for families in need and feed a stranger a meal in our home. We stick more to our family and min our own business.

Virtue!

So the virtue I'm going to try this week is patience. I have Patience but not a lot and especially when I'm cooped up in the house with my brothers and sisters.( They are MAJOR pains) This could be a very interesting week to say the least! :)

Monday- I didn't say anything about me trying to be more patient to my family because I knew they would make this a very long week. Today I think I did ok. I listen to my mom and didn't get frustrated with the busy schedule, and when my little sisters didn't help clean our room I didn't say anything and left them alone.

Tuesday- Today my little sisters still didn't clean up all of their stuff off the floor and I just let it be. It drove me crazy on the inside cause when my sides clean I like their side to be clean as well. My little brother Justin on the other hand was on the computer all day and i was trying to blog this and well i kind of yelled at him because he told me I could wait! (how dare he!) so today i had half the patience.

Wednesday- I had no patience today what-so-ever I had a headache and they were being loud so i snapped. but i did go to speedway 95 and saw cars go round and round it was actually pretty fun i was surprised i liked it! Early today my cousin Michele came over and we painted some of the back deck it was hot!!!

Thursday- we did some more stiff washed the deck so it could be painted, i scrubbed our pool it has a rip so we have to clean it so it can be fixed. My little sisters got a Wii so I've been playing it's so fun! especially wii fit!

Friday- I cleaned for my little sister Kathryn's party she's 8! I didn't paint cause it was going to rain and it did! i drove to unity with my dad to get pizza for the party, we had ice cream cake! yummy there were tons of little kids and my 6 year old cousin yelled at me! that was a test of my patience i don't like it when i get yelled at by kids younger than me! i didn't do so well with that it made me mad!

Saturday- I drove all day in Bangor and then i went to Gilford for a surprise birthday party! My mother was telling all the strangers about my attitude so perfect strangers probably felt like they new me! that was embarrassing and annoying! what a challenge this has been!

This week was such a challenge i have awful Patience i knew this before but i really know now i think I did a little better then I expected I think I may have left things out but i did the best that i could if this was a long lasting thing i would truly learn to have patience we can definitely say that. :)

Touching Spirit Bear week 2

In the book Touching Spirit Bear, Cole who beat a kid almost to death is going through the circle of justice. The circle of justice is where you heal yourself and are not punished. Edwin is a big part of helping Cole with this process bringing him supplies showing him ways to help him heal. Edwin is also apart of a Tlingit tribe. Tlingit tribes lived in Southeast Alaska, the tribes are split up into two different colonies the ravens and the eagles, Tlingit Indians believed that ravens and eagles could only marry each other. Tlingit's dived themselves into a system where there were the hierarchy all the way down to peasants. Tlingit Indians also had slaves until the U.S made a law against it. The Tlingit tribes have so many different things about them then the normal Indian we talk about. Usually we hear about how Indians hunted, fished and grew crops on the land that they were on but we never hear what their "laws" are.Tlingit's laws are property laws for example a song, in our society today we inherit thing based on family and if they leave something to us or not. The Tlingit's we given possessions based on their place in the clan. Tlingit tribes are big into family crest and passing something important down to someone you trust Garvey did this by giving Cole his at.oow that was passed down in his family from generation to generation, when Garvey gave the at.oow to Cole he was surprised that someone had faith and trusted him and i think this was one step in helping Cole heal. Edwin and Garvey had both hurt someone in their time, they both told Cole that he would never completely heal until he fixed the wrong that he did to Peter. Cole asked both Edwin and Garvey why they were helping him and going through all the trouble, both men simply stated that they had hurt someone, Cole had dig deeper and start to heal before he understood that they were helping him because they knew what it was like to hurt someone and not be able to fix it, another reason they helped him i thinks is because it helped them to help not only Cole to heal but themselves.


















Works Cited:

LaPointe, Thomas. "Rostia Worl." Harriman Expedition Retraced. 7 July 2008 .

Touching Spirit Bear entry 1

In the book Touching Spirit bear there's a boy named Cole. Cole has anger problems beats up a kid and now is on an island trying to change himself for the better. This takes place instead of him being tried as an adult and being put in prison. On the way to the island Edwin tells Cole about spirit bears, how they live in British Colombia but that he would never see them. A spirit bear is actually called a Kermode bear, this bear is related to the American black bear, the difference that the two have is a gene difference that makes them a different color. Kermode bears are apart of many Native American tribes history because the way they look gives them a sense of magic. Edwin is part of the Tlinglit tribe which is Native American and tells Cole about the bear. Native American tribes from what I've learned throughout the years is that they were big in believing that animals had a sense of power and could help them with either their crops or just something that they needed to learn. In this case i think that the spirit bear helped Cole make a change in his life. Kermode bears we find out become a big part in Cole's change, when Edwin is telling Cole about these bears he has a smug attitude and says he'd kill it if it came his way. Cole sees a spirit bear and when he turns to get something to kill it with and turns back around it's gone this angers Cole, anger is the whole reason Cole's on the island. Throughout the book the spirit bear helps change Cole into an angry boy to a boy who understands himself and can now control his anger.


Works Cited:

"Kermode Bear." Wikipedia. 24 June 2008. 30 June 2008 .

Final Essay #2

Over the years there have been many wars fought. Some wars have made progress between us and other countries, but most of the wars fought were over greed. One country, person or group wants one thing and so doesn't the other side so they fight until one person gets what the other side want for example the French and Indian war and Pontiac's Rebellion.

People have always been greedy we see this in the French and Indian war both sided wanted total control of the fur trade neither side could just hand it over to the other side nor could they split the trade in half so they had a war that lasted over seven years fighting who would get the fur trade. The French and Indian war was not necessary for progress at all it was becuse back then people were greedy just like people are now.


The war in Iraq is just like the American Revolution war. Both the British and the Americans wanted the same thing and fought for it out of greed. We are in a war in Iraq right right now fighting over oil, oil compaines are rich now but they're charging even more for it. Oil and gas is a nesscitie for americans and they figure that if we need we'll pay as much as they can charge for it. This war is not making any progress at all between us and the middle east, we are in middle of a war because of greed. Owners of oil companies are greedy and that is why we are in this war.

Final Essay #1 What If ?

Valley Forge was when the patriots had no war tactic, we were dieing from hunger and disease. Soldiers were losing all hope of coming out of the war gaining anything. General Baron Steuben came and taught the patriots war tactic so they could fight. Nathaniel Green came and provided food, shelter,clothing for the soldiers so they could survive, Nathaniel Green also provided weapons for the soldiers so that they could fight. If Green and Steuben hadn't come then the patriots wouldn't have had a chance of gaining anything from the Revolution war. One because they would have kept running because they didn't know how to fight or because they died of hunger or disease

If one change could be made to history Steuben could have never come to teach the soldiers war tactic this is plausible because Steuben could have never gotten involved with the other party therefore he could have never met George Washington. The effect this could have changed in history is Britain would have won more battles because they had better war tactic. If Green hadn't come the soldiers may have died of either hunger or disease. significance of change today is with Steuben coming and teaching our soldiers tactic if her hadn't our army may not be as strong as it is today.

This event is important today because we need to be the same way as the soldiers that fought in valley forge never giving up during hunger, disease, defeat and death. Without common and learning tactic our army probably wouldn't be as strong as it today. Today would be different because other countries may not fear us as much as they do now because we wouldn't be as strong, we also may not be as emotionally strong and be under someone elses power because we gave up. Know our ancestors fought through death, hunger and disease gives us strenght today to fight through almost anything.

Book Portfolio on Night

In the book Night published in 1960 by Elie Wiesel the book is all about the journey and personal experiences of one person during the Holocaust. The author shows each step that he took place in during the Holocaust from being invaded by the Germans and forming a ghetto to being starved and working, seeing the ones you love die and at last sweet victory of beating Hitler and not dieing. The theme for the book Night is we can learn from our past so we don't repeat our mistakes. The significance of the theme is to show people that if we don't learn from the mistakes from the people before us what can happen.


The Thematic statement for the book Night by Elie Wiesel is to show the people that we can learn from our past mistakes in history and not repeat them, this is shown many times throughout the book. First throughout the book the Germans don't treat the Jews like humans ie. when they give them small rations of food, don't give them very many clothes and stick them in cattle carts like cows. In the beginning of the book the Jews have trust that the Germans aren't going to come for them or even harm them if they do come. The last thing we could learn from and not repeat is loosing faith just like the Jews did during the Holocaust for ie. Elie lost faith in God, why let bad things happen to good people, they lost faith in their family in friends. Elie wondered if his father was slowing him down so if he was dead would he be ahead of the game. This theme relates because when your not treated like human, you loose trust and faith therefore showing that if something like this ever happened again we might live longer knowing we can keep faith.

This theme is important now and has been through time. The Holocaust was a major genocide where about 6 million Jews were killed. The Jews weren't the only ones targeted during the Holocaust, Jehovah's witnesses, homosexuals and gypsies. Elie the author of Night wrote the book so that people would know of the tragic event and learn from the mistakes and not repeat them. America has learned from their mistakes but other countries haven't so they need make mistakes and learn from them. For example Rwanda which is a recent genocide that happened in the 90's is where the Hutu's tribe in Africa tried to take out the Tutsi's. 800,000 deaths happened in 100 days. We're supposed to learn from our mistakes like the holocaust. and yet Rwanda happened only 14years ago. Darfur which only happened in 2003 is massive genocide of women and children Many were kicked out of the country. 200,000 people died in Darfur because of disease, malnutrition and violence. Elie the author of Night wrote about his experiences. America has learned from the mistakes of the Holocaust, but many other countries haven't unfortunately so in order for genocide to stop, other countries must experience it for themselves and learn from their mistakes.



The theme in the book Night is to show that we need to learn from our past so we don't repeat our mistakes. Night by Elie Wiesel is all about the Holocaust the theme in the book is important because it shows that if we don't learn from our past there could be another big genocide within the Jews. The theme is important in history because we can learn from our past and not repeat the same mistake twice having another or multiple genocide's taking out big pieces of the population. Elie Wiesel shows the theme of the book very well, he talks about his own struggles through the Holocaust. For example the Germans not treating the Jews like humans, Among Elie and other Jews were tossed in cattle carts treated like cows and driven miles away for days. People loosing faith in not only God but the people that were around them Elie lost trust that his father was going to make and the rabbi felt like it was the end and they were never going get out. Everyone lost trust going from being oblivious and thinking the Germans weren't going to come and in the end thinking the Germans have every control over them. Elie lost trust in his friends and family when they started talking nonsense about dieing when they were so close to getting out of the concentration camps. It is important once again to understand the theme because if we don't learn from our past then history will keep repeating itself and we will never be able to learn anything.