Reflection

Blogging was an interesting and new assignment. Im not much of a fan of blogging but it helped reflect on class. I liked the blogs that we got to use pictures from the internet and compare them to class. I tried to put effort into blogs but that didnt always happen. like this one, im on a plane and my computer is about to die....sooooooo blog out.

Music

Makin' Whoopee
This song reminds me of all the cheating in the "Great Gatsby." Tom and Myrtle are off together sometimes, while their spouses sit at home. Eventually Daisy does the same thing to Tom with Gatsby. The song is a lot like that in how it says that the husband is gone and the wife is suspicious.

It Had To Be You

This song is a lot like Gatsby's love for Daisy. She always makes him happy and he is always thinking about her, kind of like the song.

Some of These Days
This song reminds me of the lonliness of Gatsby in the book. He doesn't really have many friends and all that many friends and he doesn't really "attend" his parties. Even at the end when the reader thinks he has friends he ends up with alomost no one at his funeral.

Crane

Stephen Crane - "Think as I think," said a man

"Think as I think," said a man, "Or you are abominably wicked; You are a toad." And after I had thought of it, I said, "I will, then, be a toad." I like this poem because I think it says to be your own person. It says he would rather be a toad than think like the man. I think it is important to be your own person and not only think the way others do. We would all be the same and that would be no fun. Being unique is good and that starts with the way we think.

Mark Twain

"If Christ were here now there is one thing he would not be – a Christian."

I think this quote refers to all the so called "Christians" in the world. It reminds me of another quote by Brennan Manning. "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today. Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips. Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." I think both do a good job of describing how a lot of Christianity has been lacking and that there are a lot of people who say they are Christian but do not show it by actions. There are still a lot of good people in the world who are truly, but there are also a lot of "fakers".

Sit-ins

http://crmvet.org/info/rockhill.htm

This site has a couple stories of sit-ins that happened. They are much like the movements that King organized and the sit in of Rosa Parks on the Alambama buses, metioned on the site, was organized by king. There was also a group in Charlotte that had a sit in at an airport resturaunt that led to the desegregation of the resturaunt. I found one of the stories interesting, it said that Quakers were leading a training course on non-violent protest that black and white students were attending.

Harlem

From looking at the map of Harlem it looks like the dentist office was in a pretty important area. It looks like it was near the house of James Weldon Johnson. It's interesting all the famous people they would meet in that office. I wonder what it would feel like today if someone important like Washington or Du Bois walked into the building of your own practice. It also looks like the office was near the Zion Church, which is pretty historical since it was the first church for African Americans in New York.

Jim Crow laws

I think this picture depicts the jim crow laws. Maybe not, but at least it looks like it. It shows a crow destroying everything, just like how the jim crow laws tried to destory life as they knew it for the african americans.

Having my say.

Soooo bullying really bugs me. It sucks to see kids getting bullied and no one really stands up for them (me included). It's a hard thing to stand up for that, but I think we all need to work on standing up for people getting bullied. I also think everyone at some point is the bully, which we all need to work on too. It would just make the world a better place.

There Was a Child Went Forth

The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping,
The strata of color'd clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint away
solitary by itself, the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
The horizon's edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh
and shore mud,
This part of the poem got my attention because of the description and detail. Some the words he used also interested me. I'm curious what a flying sea-cow is and how he came up with it. I can't figure out if he put it in there for some comedy or some other strange reason. I also can't really figure out what the last part of these lines is saying either. Either way I like his choice of words.

Insect Poem

Death is like the insect
Menacing the tree,
Competent to kill it,
But decoyed may be.

Bait it with the balsam,
Seek it with the saw,
Baffle, if it cost you
Everything you are.

Then, if it have burrowed
Out of reach of skill --
Wring the tree and leave it,
'Tis the vermin's will.

I think this poem is saying that no matter how hard you try you can't stop death. The bug is death and it is trying to kill the tree. The tree can try to avoid, trick, or pospone death but eventually it will lose. People can always try to pospone death, especially with moderen medicine you can stay alive a lot long but eventually death will take you. Then, once death gets you it will just move on to the next person.

Antitranscendental

I prefer the antitranscendental writers. They seem more like realists. The transcendentalists seem like they live in a fairy tale world (like MACkenzie Kusler). The antitranscendentalists see the world how it really is. Nature and people can be bad in a lot of situations and the truth can not be found a lot of the time. There are so many bad people in the world and mother nature can do a lot of destruction but the transcendentalists seem to ignore that. I agree with the realist beliefs of the "anti t's" a lot more.