Smashing the Old world

All of these pictures that are in this category really can make connections to Red Scarf Girl. All of these pictures depict people destroying the parts of the world that really represent the Old World and the Four Olds, things like destroying statues or even signs. Like Red Scarf Girl, all of these pictures represent the very violent and offensive part of the Revolution. The picture that I chose shows lots of people watching the destruction of a sign on what seems to be a church. It really creates a good example of what the destruction of the Four Olds looked like. It really shows what Red Scarf Girl, as well as the other pieces of writing, have described many times. Like the time when Ji-Li saw people taking down the signs that represent the Four Olds, many people are there watching, looking at the destruction of what they once wouldn't have thought of destroying. Or how in the document we read about people demonstrating in different cities described people destroying signs, they all have to do with people going with the revolution and destroying the Four Olds. This picture would even make a good picture to show what was happening in both of those writings. Everyone is very excited to bring their revolutionary spirit.

Not only does this picture show how everyone wants to be part of the revolution, but it also shows how people are willing to even take down some things that they once held dear. The building that is being destroyed in the picture seems to be a place that people have once held dear, all for the sake of the revolution. There have been many examples of that in the book too, like how Ji-Li and her family have destroyed and gotten rid of many of their prized possessions just to save them from the Red Guards. Or how the people of Shanghai would never have questioned their department stores and haircut parlors if the Red Guards hadn't brought up the idea first. They wouldn't have had to do this if it wasn't for the revolution, like how this church wouldn't have had to be destroyed if it wasn't for the revolution.

GPA College Blog 2

Today when we looked at our grade point averages, I have to say I wasn't very surprised about the grade point average that I got. I got a 4.0, which is the same grade point average that I got last semester. I was extremely excited however, I always like to see that I'm getting good grades still. After all of my extreme diligence trying to keep these great grades, I would be completely dumbfounded if these grades didn't stay the same. I would expect nothing less from myself.

I don't know at all what colleges I want to attend in the future. I don't even know what I want to do with my future career! But since October, I've decided a few things about what I want to do with my life. I don't want to attend a Pastry Arts culinary school. This decision means that I'm going to have to try even harder to get a great GPA. Seeing that I will most likely follow a career in filmmaking, or just average business, I'm going to need to have a very high GPA, even above a 4.0! Like how I was in October, I still don't know what college I want to attend. So my goal for college success is to find a college that I would like to go to in the future. My brother going to college is really a booster to make me find out more about college and make me keep these grades.

The next step for me is to find what is truly the right career for me. Seeing that I've been enjoying creating films as well as editing them, that might be something that I want to go into. I need to research what is needed to become a professional in the film business, as well as finding out what would be a good backup career for me if film editing doesn't lift off for me. What I need to right now is keep my grade point average at 4.0. Other things that are high priority for me are extra circular activities like community service and school clubs. Other than that, I truly just need to keep up what I have been doing and keep my great grades, as well as doing more than what is necessary.

Internship Talks

There were a couple of things that really struck me today during the Junior's internship talks. One of them is that some of the speakers didn't really want to do the internship that they chose. I've heard that internship is to help you figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life! When handling situations as big as this I usually put a huge amount of work into it. It's not just a school assignment. It's a big part of your up and coming life. Another thing that really stood out for me is that each of the students had a mentor for their internship. I never knew that for the internships we were supposed to have mentor. It really made me think about who would be my mentor and what they would be like. One last thing that struck me is that even though not all of the students picked their internships, they all got something out of them. It really made me excited to be able to do my own internship in a few years.

After listening to the talks, I was able to better know what I wanted to do for my internship. I did get some contradicting information, but I now have a much clearer idea of what I want to do for my 3 weeks of internship. Most of the students who were speaking today told us that we should do something that we're no sure about if we want to do in the future. I was on the fence about doing a game design internship, but now I know it's what I truly want to do. The speakers did tell us to stay away from internships where we would be at the computer the whole day, but I think my idea is different. I would be doing something creative, and not just copying sheets.

The vignette from the speakers that I thought was the best was the one by Taylor, who interned at the Maritime Museum. The reason that I liked this one the most was because of the mystery that it had. At first it sounded as if he was talking in the perspective of a slave, who has gone through being sold and worked. But then, it slowly came to me that he was describing a ship. This vignette may have been told with a few studders, but it had the best story.

Suheir Hammad & Marjane Satrapi on War

Some of Suheir's poems were hard to fully understand. They were very deep thinking, almost so deep and vague it was hard to connect it to anything. Yet, it was so insightful, so wise, that it was a powerful poem. Her poem, "What I Will", talks about how she will not follow the expectations of the repressive goverment. The way how she is so independent makes her quite like Marjane. The way that she says that she will not follow the war drum shows that she will not follow the war obssessed goverment. "I will not dance to that beating!" They both see the stupid nature of the violence which takes over the world today. "Which male child shall die today?" After living through the war, Marjane hated the violence which takes over Islam so much. Like Marjane's mother once said: "You are to much of a free-minded spirit to live in this country."(That may not be the exact quotation, but the idea stays the same.) They're both very smart and free women. "

The part that struck me so hard about the two stories is that both authors have suffered so much poverty. When we first started reading Persepolis, I had a hard time believing that people live like this. I haven't heard Suheir's story in integrity. But the way that she tells her story you can tell that she has been through so much. It's amazing how so many people live in poverty today.

Another part of both the poems by Suheir and Persepolis that struck so much is about how honest they are about the troubles that the authors went through in their countries. Presepolis tells all about Marjane's life and how she has had so much adversity through out it. I think that it must have been a hard experience for her to talk about her whole life story after it has been such a long journey . It's the same case of the poems by Suheir. She tells her stories with such passion, such insight, that it brings up emotions in so many people. How they're able to tell such sad stories in such creative ways is beyond me.

PART II
Suheir Mahammad's poetry in some ways describes a revolution. But it's not the kind of revolution that we usually think of. When we think of a revolution, we think of the kind if thing that just happened in Egypt as well as other countries within the middle east. The people of the country overthrowing the government, or over coming some kind of obstacle that faces the country. It's like the kind of revolution which happened in Persepolis. How they took a kind of government and changed it into a oppressive, almost bully like government. It wasn't what the people wanted, but that's how the revolution went. But in Suheir's poem "Def Poetry", she is really talking about a different kind of revolution. How people changed after the attack on the Twin Towers. How the people of the U.S. turned against the people of Iran, Iraq, and other middle eastern countries. How they blamed the many lives that were lost after that day on a few countries. How any middle-eastern man in an airport could be considered a threat. That act caused a revolution of how people thought.

In the case of what Suheir is saying a revolution is, a revolutionary could be considered one of the men that took down the Twin Towers. They caused a whole new era in the way of how people thought. A revolutionary could also be considered the man who helped bring down a plane that would have killed many people. Having lost so many people, so many heroes like that, could change so many people's opinion. They caused the revolution. The way that Marjane describes revolutionaries is a little bit different, but in all reality they are the same. They caused the revolution. People like Khommeni who brought up a new era.

Suheir's explanation of war really shows both sides of the battles. She cares about her brothers who are in the war. But whenever she something about them, people only want to know what side they are on. They don't care that they are humans. That they might die within the next day. All they care about is that the people who they think did something bad are punished. It's what war does to people. It makes them desperate for revenge against an enemy. Sometimes they don't even know who the enemy truly is. We can see this side of people come out in Persepolis as well. After all of the bombing and shooting and killing in Iran, Marjane and her family just want a revenge of some sort. They're against people like the Shah and the Guardians of the Revolution who make their life worse. It's all part of what wars and revolutions truly do to people.

Marriage in Islam

Marriage in Islam has many requirements, rules, and regulations. Rules can range from how people may not have physical relations before marriage, to that when couples are juding each other, that they may not be in a room with each other. Dating in Islam is usually not allowed with many Muslims. Deep, intimate, relationships are usually not how people usually meet for marriage. When it is actually time for the marriage, there are guidelines for how the event should go.

• The marriage should be allowed from both sides of the marriage.


• The groom must give a gift to the bride.


• There should be witnesses at the marriage.


• The marriage should be publicied. Keeping a marriage secret is usually considered shadey.

One other very strict rule within Islamic Religon is that there is NO homosexual relationships. Currently, there is a death penalty for anyone who practices homosexual marriage or relationships. Even though marriage is very sacred in Islam, divorce is allowed. The man at any time in the marriage may say "talaq", or, I divorce you. Usually, women have the same rights to divorce as the man.

There is many rules that regulate how marriage should happen in Islam, and all of these rules show how important marriage is to the religion.

Kazakhstan

My country that I'm reporting on is the country of Kazakhstan. It's a country in western Asia which shares it's borders with Russia at the north, Mongolia at the east, China at the south-east, with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan at the south. The main language spoken is Russian, while 64.4 percent of the population speak Kazakh. Even though Russian is their main language, Muslim is their main religon, with some others practicing the Russian Orthodox. It is a medium size country, with population being around fifteen and a half million. The area of the country is 2,724,900 square kilometers.
In recent news, Kazakhstan has tightened their security in airports ever since the terrorist attack in Moscow, Russia. This involves more CCTV cameras, more measures for searching through bags, and tightening control of arrival areas. After the suicidal bombing, which killed 35, and injured over 150, many other countries are beefing up security measures in their airports.

Street Art

The thing that I noticed the most in the documentary is that the artist's style really matched the message that they were trying to tell. So Space Invader used an 8-bit style to symbolize that we're being invaded by technology. The other artists used stencils and repetition to show that they can make an icon. For our art piece we're going to use the style of Chris Jordan, and we're trying to show the same message as him. We're trying to show that all of this waste is so monumental, that it's eventually going to create something else. We're trying to show this message through a lot of Styrofoam making three elephants.

The thing that really amazed me about these artist's work is that even though there is a lot of risk with what they do, they do it anyway to express their creativity. For them there may not be anything else that they can turn to, or it's the only way that they can think to express their creativity. It's really awesome that they go through so much risk just to express themselves. The other thing that really amazed me about these artists is that they are really a community. Space Invader will work with Banksy, and so on. It's very cool to see that these artists are more organized than other's would think.

These artists choose to go to street art so they can convey their message in a more public way. Shepard Faery used street art so he could convey the message of "OBEY". He wouldn't haven't been able to get it to the public status that it has if it was stuck in an art exhibit. He had to use repetition and using the same stencil to make it seem organized and a like a "thing", so it would catch on. Space Invader had to put his art on the street and all over to make it have an invasion feel. Every artist has a way that they want to show their art, but I think that street artists are the most creative.

Harrison Berguron Political Cartoon

The cartoon I made is an image showing what the constitution used to stand for, and what it became in 2081. It shows how citizens get freedom of religion, press, property, and person. The Diana Moon Glampers wrote the 212th Amendment. She wrote this is the same constitution which was made bring freedom, liberty and justice that our fore fathers strode for. All of this happened in a country which strives for individuality. The message that I was trying to show was that things can go away from their original purpose.

I was also trying to show the irony of what was happening. Diana Moon Glampers was trying to bring peace and enforce what our country stands for. But what happens instead of equality between Americans becomes a tyranny. What people really wanted originally came against them in a terrible way.

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Political Cartoon

A political cartoon is a way that cartoon artists comment on current events, like the way the government works. Political cartoons can range from rants on British Petroleum, to commenting on the choice to keep soldiers in Iraq. It's almost like an editorial, but in a drawn form. They also will contain a certain point of view, or a message that the author wants to send.

It's purpose is to allow authors to express their opinions. It also makes it easy to laugh at maybe stressful or usually scary topics.

The Metamorphosis Blog 3

I think that there are several reasons that the author chose to make Gregor in the form of a giant insect. One of the reasons is that of course, giant insects can be seen as gross and appalling. Kafka knew that by making the protagonist into a generally enjoyable kind of creature, he would really be showing the amount of trouble that the family is going through trying to care for him. It really tested them, to the point where they ended up giving up the idea of trying to care for him, calling him a monster. I think that this really reflects on how Kafka views family life.

The other reason that I think that Kafka chose to make Gregor into a giant insect is something that we really talked about in the first blog, about how Gregor could have compared himself to an insect. How he was always working, with no fun or play, and was always working for his parents, exactly like an insect.

I can't quite say for sure why Franz Kafka choose to make a beetle or roach for the giant insect. I would like to say that he did that because those are usually the most disguisting kind of insects around. When we see them, we just want to get away from them and even kill them. As the author, I think he really just wanted to build off of that concept. The Samsa family reacted how we usually do, with apalled faces, and even fainting. That's how they reacted to the "changed" Gregor. I only say "changed" in quotations because really the only thing that changed about him was his actual appearance. We the readers saw that even though he in his mind was thinking the same way. The only reason for the family members to react strangely was his appearance. While there may be several reasons for him to choose to make him into a beetle, I believe that he really did it to show that even though people may look different, they are the same.

Metamorphosis Blog 2

The first way that really benefits his family is a very obvious part of the plot. He provides for them in many ways. Things like advice for his sister, and the main one, helping his parents pay off an unspecified debt. If he wasn't able to do that for his family, they surely would have fallen apart. Even though he does so much to help his family, his dad doesn't appreciate him in the slightest. The way the he tried to get Gregor out of bed on the day of his metamorphosis wasn't quite polite. "...and already his father was knocking on one side door, weakly but with his fist.'Gregor, Gregor.' " His father doesn't quite appreciate what Gregor does for them. We can see throughout the novella that his sister is quite kind. This kind of implies that she recognizes how much he does for her and the family. Even after Gregor had been transformed into a giant, hideous bug, she still recognized that she had to take care of him, and make sure that he didn't starve, and that he was as comfortable as he could be. "... the milk, which otherwise is his favorite drink and which his sister had certainly placed for that reason, ..." She obviously is very close to her brother and she knows what he really likes. She is also so close to her brother that she wants the best for him, no matter what the conditions.

From how we see Gregor and his family interact, as well as having families ourselves, we can think of a couple rules of how a good family should interact.

1. Keep a good, respective relationship with your other family members.
2. Have good boundaries, and respect others'.
3. Help out other family members, do favors and other things like that.
4. Spend time with your family.
5. Know your family members well.

If we were to actually grade Gregor and his family on how well they follow these rules, I would have to give them a grade some where around a C. While some of the family members took the time to get to know each other pretty well, and they do spend time together, the way that Gregor's father treats his son is just completely disrespectful. And through what we can see through the novella, Gregor doesn't think his family will respect his boundaries, and locks his door. We might see later in the book, however, the way the family interacts differently, in a better way.

"The Metamorphosis" Blog One

Before the actual metamorphosis actually took place in the book, there was parts of Gregor's life that would cause him to actually feel that he had been transformed into a worker bug. His life had been transformed into a bug's life. The stereotypical life of a bug includes them being born, and working for their parents and getting them food and other supplies, like a bee bringing honey for the mother bee. This is actually a lot like the life the Gregor has been born into. His parents have an unnamed debt to the Chief of the salesman agency, so Gregor has to work for his parents to pay off their debt. Like a mindless insect, he works day in and day out. Like his Mom said in the book, he doesn't ever go out in the night and socialize, he just sits down and reads the paper, and then rests. His life is based upon working, and doesn't include any kind of fun, just like a worker ant or some other kind of bug.


I think that before the actual metamorphosis, he might have actually wanted something to happen, like the metamorphosis. Some kind of insane thing that would forever change things, and would allow him to just escape his hum-drum life. He knows that he has fallen into a rut of a life, and I think that he really wants to escape that. After wanting to be able to escape this life of his for so long, I think that he kind of started to think of his life like a dream. After thinking of it like a dream, he just became the bug in his own mind, no longer human. It goes to the idea to be careful of what you wish for, because it might just make you into something that, in the big picture, you don't want to be.