J.A. Leo Lamay, the author of "The American Dream", first begins to criticize Benjamin Franklin by saying that it is not put together well, structurally. He compares Franklin's autobiography to the famous works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and those of Henry James as well (Lemay). It certainly is true that Franklin did not have the same distinct writing style as these two highly regarded author, but I do not think that Franklin's goal was to write a book with a certain writing style. Instead, he wanted to express his virtues and life experiences. But most people would not read Franklin's autobiography simply for entertainment. Instead, they would most likely want to learn more about the virtues and ideas that Franklin supported.
Lemay also points out that although Franklin does detail his and others economic rises, this is not the only point of the autobiography. I think that Franklin included these small parts about economics and wealth only to contribute to the other ideas that Franklin brings to attention. Instead of acting as if his wealth was a factor that made him more important, Franklin wrote that he appreciated the advantages that his wealth gave him politically, socially, and in general. I think that Franklin was more interested in detailing his virtues than the other successes of his life, and Lemay highlights this in his criticism. Franklin writes of his early poverty several times, but does not dwell on it (Lemay).
Franklin's autobiography is obviously written in the eighteenth century, which Lemay points out. However, Lemay does not criticize Franklin for this. Instead, he says that the biography portrays the first modern world in Western literature. I think Lemay is right to say this, because Franklin's autobiography really is non feudal, nonreligious, and nonaristocratric.
Lemay most critiques the fact that most of the autobiography by Benjamin Franklin is unedited and unrevised. However, I think that while mistakes can be extremely annoying, Franklin's unediting of his autobiography showed that his ideas were all thought out and important to him- things that he thought of and wrote down, not really in order and formatted. However, Lemay also says that Franklin's works are easy to relate to and descriptive.
In his critique, Lemay mostly focuses on the idea of "The American Dream". Lemay basically reinforces the idea that the American Dream is a very important concept, and says that Franklin himself was practically the epitome of this, and was a fair representation of early American citizens (Lemay).
Lemay, J.A. Leo. "Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream". Facts on File. Web.
Oct 14 2010.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Journal #14: Declaration of Creeping
I'm a creep. I'll admit it right now- my friends and I are all creeps. We love creeping, especially on facebook. Because really, why else would we be on facebook so often? My bestfriend Mallorie Lohman and I are probably the biggest creeps of all. When we get together on facebook, there is no stopping us from being total creepers. Mallorie and I have a top list of people that we creep on. This list includes our friends, of course, as well as people we think are weird and people we don't like. We both creeped on our Farmington partners, too. Mallorie discovered that her partner is a very nice ginger who likes to play video games and build rockets, and I found out that my partner is an equally nice young lady you plays in band and has an older sister.
I know that everyone creeps- you can't even deny it. I'm a creep, and so are you. When you look at other people's facebook page, you're a creep. When you befriend random strangers in public, you're a creep. When you stalk someone, you're a creep that's looking at jail time and a restraining order. When you talk to strangers at the grocery store and start exchanging recipes, you're a creep. It may be a little harsh, but it's the true. Everyone creeps.
So...you're a creep, but it's okay. You certainly are not alone. As I am typing this, I myself am creeping on Abby, reading something in her American Literature text book. It's what make the earth go round, honestly. Creeping is okay, as long as it is down properly. There are certain rules to follow:
1. If you creep on someone, don't tell them. Unless you're friends or if you want them to break out the pepper spray. Because even though they probably are creepers too, they'll feel threatened.
2. Keep the creeping to a minimum. You don't need to creep on someone every single day, because that is no longer creeping- it's stalking. And believe it or not, that's illegal.
3. If you find out something about someone while you're secretly creeping, you can't tell them about it. It's too weird. This happens to apply to my best friend Haley and a note she found on the floor of Mr. Bryan's room.
I know that everyone creeps- you can't even deny it. I'm a creep, and so are you. When you look at other people's facebook page, you're a creep. When you befriend random strangers in public, you're a creep. When you stalk someone, you're a creep that's looking at jail time and a restraining order. When you talk to strangers at the grocery store and start exchanging recipes, you're a creep. It may be a little harsh, but it's the true. Everyone creeps.
So...you're a creep, but it's okay. You certainly are not alone. As I am typing this, I myself am creeping on Abby, reading something in her American Literature text book. It's what make the earth go round, honestly. Creeping is okay, as long as it is down properly. There are certain rules to follow:
1. If you creep on someone, don't tell them. Unless you're friends or if you want them to break out the pepper spray. Because even though they probably are creepers too, they'll feel threatened.
2. Keep the creeping to a minimum. You don't need to creep on someone every single day, because that is no longer creeping- it's stalking. And believe it or not, that's illegal.
3. If you find out something about someone while you're secretly creeping, you can't tell them about it. It's too weird. This happens to apply to my best friend Haley and a note she found on the floor of Mr. Bryan's room.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Journal #13: Spirit
Our school has a lot of school spirit, especially for football and other major sports like that. This is why "Spirit Day" of homecoming week is my favorite day of the whole entire school year. All of the students and most of the teachers dress up in the school colors of red and blue. Then we all pile into our designated sections of the bleachers- separated into our classes- and yell and each other and shout back and forth and whatnot.
During Spirit Day, there are a lot of fun activities that we get to do. The egg drop, the refrigerator box race, the lip-sync, the balloon stomp, and the toilet paper wrapping are a couple of the activities that the classes do to compete against each other in the games. Most of the time, the seniors get first place for homecoming week, and the freshmen get last place. Usually, that's the way things work. Points are also awarded for the float that each class designs/makes for the parade that kicks off homecoming week, and for the "days" that happen the week before. These year, the days included 80's Day, Cowgirl/Cowboy Day, and Class Color Day, all of which led up to Spirit Day on Friday. Each class was awarded additional points for the percentage of people in their class that showed school spirit and actually participated in the daily theme. I myself only participated in 3 out of 4, but oh well.
Even though I had to miss Spirit Day this year, I still love it. It is seriously the best day of the whole entire year. You get to miss class, spend the afternoon with your friends and classmates, laugh at the ridiculous competitions, and show School Spirit. It is an overall win, to say the least.
Most people love Spirit Day, but not just because you get to leave your afternoon classes. It is also a lot of fun to sit in the bleachers with your friends and classmates and cheer on your class. Our school has so much spirit, mostly for our sports teams, so that makes it even more fun.
During Spirit Day, there are a lot of fun activities that we get to do. The egg drop, the refrigerator box race, the lip-sync, the balloon stomp, and the toilet paper wrapping are a couple of the activities that the classes do to compete against each other in the games. Most of the time, the seniors get first place for homecoming week, and the freshmen get last place. Usually, that's the way things work. Points are also awarded for the float that each class designs/makes for the parade that kicks off homecoming week, and for the "days" that happen the week before. These year, the days included 80's Day, Cowgirl/Cowboy Day, and Class Color Day, all of which led up to Spirit Day on Friday. Each class was awarded additional points for the percentage of people in their class that showed school spirit and actually participated in the daily theme. I myself only participated in 3 out of 4, but oh well.
Even though I had to miss Spirit Day this year, I still love it. It is seriously the best day of the whole entire year. You get to miss class, spend the afternoon with your friends and classmates, laugh at the ridiculous competitions, and show School Spirit. It is an overall win, to say the least.
Most people love Spirit Day, but not just because you get to leave your afternoon classes. It is also a lot of fun to sit in the bleachers with your friends and classmates and cheer on your class. Our school has so much spirit, mostly for our sports teams, so that makes it even more fun.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Journal #12: Partners
I like working with partners, mainly because I like having someone to talk to while I work. But not when it's a person I don't know, because that's just awkward and I do not enjoy that amount of awkwardness. Another thing I like about having partners for projects/homework is that you have another person to share the work load with it.
Unless you have own of those people who don't work at all. That really irks me something fierce, because I definitely don't want to do all of the work by myself. I think the best thing you can have in a partner for schoolwork is someone that is willing to share the workload evenly and fairly. There are also a few exceptions, like if you are really, really good at something and your partner is unbelievably bad, you should probably be the one to handle that thing. But if that is the case, then your partner should take care of the other smaller aspects of the project so that it is even and much balanced out between the two of you (or more if it's a group project, I guess).
In some classes, like Spanish, I think that partners are pretty much a necessity. Especially for all those in class assignments and oral presentation that Senor Ares enjoys dishing out on a daily basis. Because I, for one, am extremely bad at Spanish. It's a disgrace. And I probably would have failed last year if Alexis hadn't been my partner, because she was good at speaking Spanish. She did the speaking part, and since I am better at the written part, that was I did. It was a fair deal and if I remember correctly, I passed Spanish II with flying colors. But now Senor Ares is shunning me because I refused to take Spanish III.
I like having partners. I think it's fun and you can still have an advantage in getting your work done. But the best thing is when your best friend is your partner, because you can actually talk and have fun while getting your work done. The End.
Unless you have own of those people who don't work at all. That really irks me something fierce, because I definitely don't want to do all of the work by myself. I think the best thing you can have in a partner for schoolwork is someone that is willing to share the workload evenly and fairly. There are also a few exceptions, like if you are really, really good at something and your partner is unbelievably bad, you should probably be the one to handle that thing. But if that is the case, then your partner should take care of the other smaller aspects of the project so that it is even and much balanced out between the two of you (or more if it's a group project, I guess).
In some classes, like Spanish, I think that partners are pretty much a necessity. Especially for all those in class assignments and oral presentation that Senor Ares enjoys dishing out on a daily basis. Because I, for one, am extremely bad at Spanish. It's a disgrace. And I probably would have failed last year if Alexis hadn't been my partner, because she was good at speaking Spanish. She did the speaking part, and since I am better at the written part, that was I did. It was a fair deal and if I remember correctly, I passed Spanish II with flying colors. But now Senor Ares is shunning me because I refused to take Spanish III.
I like having partners. I think it's fun and you can still have an advantage in getting your work done. But the best thing is when your best friend is your partner, because you can actually talk and have fun while getting your work done. The End.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Journal #11: Ethics/Values
Ethics and Values. Wow. That's another really, almost impossibly vague blog topic. So...ethics. Ethics are just defined as a system of moral principles. Pretty much everyone in the world has a system of their own ethics, and pretty much everyone's ethics are at least a little bit diffferent from each other. For instance, there are some people that think that it is perfectly okay to get all up in someones bubble, and other people respect boundaries as part as their own personal ethics. But that's okay, because sometimes you just have to tolerate people and understand that everyone acts differently.
Values are a little harder to describe...my beloved www.dictionary.com says they are 'relatives worths, merits, or importance'. So they are a lot like ethics, and just like ethics, basically everyone has a different set of values going on. It all depends on how you think and behave. Factors like environment, upbringing, and religion also have a big impact on a persons system of ethics and values. But another definition of the word 'values' is 'to regard or esteem highly'. This pertains more to material possessions or people rather than personal beliefs. For instance, a person can value their friends, but that does not have much to do with their 'values'.
Ugh. They're similar but still different, if that makes even a little bit of sense. Like cubic zarconia vs. real diamonds. They look like they are the same thing, but the huge difference comes into play when you look at the cost. There's a big difference between Gordman's and Tiffany's, if you get what I'm saying here.
Okay, back to ethics. If you google the word 'ethics', a bunch of pictures of those old fashioned scales/weighing things come up. That is because ethics is a balance (really clever, because the pictures are of balancing scales...) of good and bad and right and wrong and all that kind of fun stuff. There are a whole bunch of different branches of ethics in philosophy, but they can be really hard to understand, because ethics in general are pretty hard to understand.
Values are a little harder to describe...my beloved www.dictionary.com says they are 'relatives worths, merits, or importance'. So they are a lot like ethics, and just like ethics, basically everyone has a different set of values going on. It all depends on how you think and behave. Factors like environment, upbringing, and religion also have a big impact on a persons system of ethics and values. But another definition of the word 'values' is 'to regard or esteem highly'. This pertains more to material possessions or people rather than personal beliefs. For instance, a person can value their friends, but that does not have much to do with their 'values'.
Ugh. They're similar but still different, if that makes even a little bit of sense. Like cubic zarconia vs. real diamonds. They look like they are the same thing, but the huge difference comes into play when you look at the cost. There's a big difference between Gordman's and Tiffany's, if you get what I'm saying here.
Okay, back to ethics. If you google the word 'ethics', a bunch of pictures of those old fashioned scales/weighing things come up. That is because ethics is a balance (really clever, because the pictures are of balancing scales...) of good and bad and right and wrong and all that kind of fun stuff. There are a whole bunch of different branches of ethics in philosophy, but they can be really hard to understand, because ethics in general are pretty hard to understand.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Journal #10: Science/Religion
I personally think that Religion vs. Science is a very touchy, not to mention extremely vague, subject for anyone to talk about. I do not think that writing a blog about the conflict between science and religion is something I really want to do. Because although I definitely know what side of the argument I am on, I don't think that I should have to talk about it on a blog. Nothing against this wonderful blog, but I just do not want to. So I'll yammer on for 325+ words about religion and science and how I really just think that these touchy topics should be kept separate basically forever and ever. It makes me uncomfortable when people get all worked up about whatever side they believe in and I usually just check out of the conversation if it gets to that point. But I'm kind of trying to avoid people who spend their free time debating such things, so there's a plus.
Whew. This is quite a controversial blog topic. I don't think there's anything wrong with a little good old controversy, but still. I am not a fan of being involved in it...I'm more of a 'sidelines' kind of lady myself. But Science and Religion have pretty much always been against each other, on opposing sides, because they're totally different. It's very much like the Enlightenment (Religious Ideas) vs. The Great Awakening (Rational/Scientific Thinking), Divine Intervention vs. Structured Plans, or Evolution vs. Creation by God.
Even though Science and Religion are supposed to be completely separate, they are often meshed together in debate and whatnot. But really, you can't really take both sides. It is basically just impossible, like believing in Catholicism and Hinduism at the same time. Well, it is not really that extreme, but still. It would be pretty hard to mesh the ideas of Religion and Science into one great little belief all tied together with a ribbon. But some people attempt it, like Tom Cruise. I would really prefer not to go down that road, even though Tom Cruise and I are probably pretty much the same when it comes to height.
Whew. This is quite a controversial blog topic. I don't think there's anything wrong with a little good old controversy, but still. I am not a fan of being involved in it...I'm more of a 'sidelines' kind of lady myself. But Science and Religion have pretty much always been against each other, on opposing sides, because they're totally different. It's very much like the Enlightenment (Religious Ideas) vs. The Great Awakening (Rational/Scientific Thinking), Divine Intervention vs. Structured Plans, or Evolution vs. Creation by God.
Even though Science and Religion are supposed to be completely separate, they are often meshed together in debate and whatnot. But really, you can't really take both sides. It is basically just impossible, like believing in Catholicism and Hinduism at the same time. Well, it is not really that extreme, but still. It would be pretty hard to mesh the ideas of Religion and Science into one great little belief all tied together with a ribbon. But some people attempt it, like Tom Cruise. I would really prefer not to go down that road, even though Tom Cruise and I are probably pretty much the same when it comes to height.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
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