Much Ado About Nothing

So long,farewell,auf weidershein,good bye(from the sound of music).This is it,the end of the road.What a road it has been!In the begaining,i started writing with a lot of mistakes,typeo’s and run on sentences,but over the years,you’ve seen me mature into a more polished writer.I have written about a lot of topics,from censorship and oppression to advertisement and book reviews and book reports.I have learned a lot and I hope you have too.So in the words of Edward R. Murrow “good night,and good luck”.Lastly I just want to say that i will keep writing no matter what.Good bye reader.

So the year is almost over and it’s time to think about what to do with the blogs now.Our teacher monitors our posts very carefully and it is impossible for him to continue to monitor them even after we’ve gone and new 8th graders are here and posting on their own blogs and so on and so forth.My teacher proposed to let us keep our blogs by changing the passwords and giving them to whoever brings in a permission form saying that their prents are ok with their childeren writing in an unmediated forum.I won’t be doing that,my blog will be frozen,the key to unlocking it thrown away(the password).But never fear you and I will always be able to acess it by going to my teachers archives.

Today I am here to tell you about a hurricain in Myanmar also known as Burma.Myanmar is a small country in the east south of China.A Cyclone hit there on May 2 and caused a lot of destruction.The cyclone killed about 100,000 people.The devastation is terrible and caused a lot of devastation.The place it struck was also bad because in Myanmar many people are poor and what they had in their houses(many of wich where destroyed) are gone and now many of them are homeless and destitute and without a way to rebuild their lives.Natural disasters are bad no matter where they strike,but in poor,developing countries,the effects can last much longer

This week i think i shall vary a little from my usual book review.This week I want to talk about a show that my family and I are watching called John Adams. It is all about the life of John,and Abigail Adams and their three childeren.It is an amazing show based off the book 1776.The first episode is about the Boston Massacre and tells the story about how John Adams took the soldiers who fired’s case and prouved them innocent.He did this not because he was a Loyalist, but because he believed in justice and the truth.We  also see him at the continental congress,a hothead not always thinking about what he says.We also see his family life and the trials they’ve gone though,for example when the small pox epidemic was ravaging Boston,Abigail Addams had herself and her children vaccinated when John wasn’t there.This was a risky move,because the vaccine was dangerous and could kill(they gave a “mild form” of the disease,wich was sometimes not so mild).He also goes to France,wich was like a different world to the quaint rustic colonies.There he almost stopped the alliance with France because of his ignorance of French customs and his big mouth(he insulted some important duke).Later, he serves as Vice-President to George Washinton,he kind of acts as a balance between the ever warring Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.Later,he is elected President and make quite an impression.Later,at Peacefield,his family home he has to deal with family problems like:His daughter’s getting married,His son’s a drunk at Harvard and his other son want’s to marry a girl.All his childeren get married and raise a family,but tradgedy strikes when Charles,the youngest son dies of alcohol poisoning.IN his old age tragedy strikes once again when his daughter Abby devellops brest cancer and dies.This latest tragedy ages dramatically his wife who eventually dies.John lives to the ripe old age of 90 and gets to see his son John Quincy become president,resulting in a most memorable line”Anybody who’s ever been President wouldn’t be happy for their son to be President much less congradulate them.”I really like this show because it tells the story of the American Revolution though the eyes of people who where really there with as little romantacism as possible.It also shows the people as real  people,with real flaws.For example,John Adams had a big mouth,George Washington was shy and Thomas Jefferson was kind of a laid back slacker.It shows history in an entertaining way

So in class we are reading Shakespeare and so here’s what we’ve read so far.First we meet Orlando and Oliver,two brothers who are fighting because the youngest(Orlando) is mad because he isn’t being treated very well and wants a better life or the money to go find his fortunes  elsewere.The oldest one is outraged and tries to get his younger brother killed by fixing him up for a fight with the Dukes best wrestler.Orlando actually wins the fight and recieves the prize money and the honor.But when he returns home he is informed that his brother is about to burn down the place where he lives so he runs away to the forest of Arden with his old srevant.Meanwhile we meet Rosalind the daughter of banished Duke Seinor,who was banished by Duke Fredrick the father of Celia,who is cousin and best friend to Rosalind and the reason why Rosalind can stay.When the evil Duke also banishes Rosalind,celia also comes along and they steal the clown Touchstone,change their names to Ganymede(rosalind) and Ailiena(Celia) and go to the forest of arden to find Rosalind’s father and live with him.One last thing,at the wrestling match Rosalind meets orlando and falls in love with him.In the forest,they meet Corin and silvious,two sheperds who they enlist to help celia who is having trouble with the long walk(so is Rosalind but she can’t have help lest she ruin her discuise as a man).We also meet the Duke seinor and his lords who are looking for the lost jaques and we also meet Audry a girl about to marry a lord.

dear Rhiannon,

I really like your story,
it just seems to describe the humdrum of schoolday life so well,because the day you chose to describe was not a good day,not a bad day,just a day.It’s those days that make up the majority of the days in our lives.You also have a very distinctive voice in you’re writing,a voice that says things like you think them.I really like the first part,because all of us have those thoughts in our head first thing in the morning.I also like the way you describe lunch because it’s so true’fifteen chairs around a table that’s supposed to have eight”.You did an exellent job of capturing that day.

Lately i have been on a bit of an ancient Greek kick.I am not talking about the classical age of Greece,with Athens and sparta and the panthenon.Rather before that,almost pre-history,around 12000 BC.TheTrojan war happened then and it was bloody,and long and,it’s basically an ancient world war,because most of the known world(Greece,the middle east,and Africa)where involved to some extent.All you need to know about the Trjan war can be summed up like this: It was over a women,Helen,doubly married to Menelaus ,King of Sparta and Paris,prince of Troy.Fighting between the generals(Agamemnon,the leader,and Achilles the best fighter)almost cost the spartans and their allies the war, and guile saved them and won the war(the Trojan war.)That in a nutshell is the trojan war.Now the Odyssey is not about the Trojan war exactly, it’s about the aftermath of the Trojan war and the struggle of Odyseus to get home and his wife,Penelpe to keep her suitor from marrying her.In the olden days if someone was dead,then the eligeable bachelors would compete and win the hand of the widow.Now,the only problem is that Odyseus isn’t dead,but no one knows this.Odyseus is tying to get home but is shipwreacked on the island of Circe,a shape shifter,he then stays with her for a year,then goes to the underworld to consult a sage on how to get home. He then goes on and get’s trapped in a cycolps’s lair,manages to blind him using a stick,he gets to the Lastrygonians who try to eat him and then he eats the sun god’s sheep,ends up in Calypso’s lair for a decade.He finally get’s home.He weeds out and kills all the suitors with Athena’s help.This book has many Feminnist points in it,for example,Penelope keeps things together on the home front using wit,cunning and a lot of luck.Athena prods things along and controls everyhing like a pupeteer would.These powerful women populate the Odyssey .This book is about the far reaching effects of war,as well as Men, Women and their roles in Society and challenging those roles.This book is wonderful,yet a little gorey for my taste, as Bronze age Greeks where just a tad bloodthirsty,so be prepared to be grossed out,but just keep reading,it’s worth it.                                                                                                                                                                                           

Our assignment was to write about something that we really care about.One of the things that really maters to me is good books,and because i have plenty in my repitoire ,each week will feature a different book.This week’s book is THE BOOK THEIF.It is a story of an acordion,some books,world war two,nazi germany and quite a lot of theivery.It is a book about a girl growing up in nazi Germany with her stepparents,the Hubermann’s.It is narrated by death,wich i think symbolises that she was never far from death,and that death was all around her.One of the things death talks about are the colors of the sky when someone dies,and how it looked.Death would focus on the colors,so as to not focus on the people,as the people make his job harder and more complicated.One girl,Liesel Merminger caught his attention though.That was because he had to pick up her dead brother on the train to their new foster family.They bury the boy and Liesel steals a book,”the grave digger’s handbook” and keeps it even though she’s currently illiterate. She moves in with the Hubermann’s and immediatly becomes fond of Hans,her dad and is learning how to live with Rosa,her mom,a short laydy with a high temper.One of Rosa’s defining charateristic’s is her swearing.She calls all girl saumsech’s and boy’s saukerl’s(swear words.)It is so ofter that the one time she didn’t call Liesel that it made her wiorry.Another character we meet is Rudy Steiner,middle of five and obsessed with Jesse Owens,at a time when that was not tolerated in nazi Germany.He has a crush on Liesel and is always asking for a kiss after he does something for her.She refuses every time,but one.Another character we meet is a jew.And a fistfighter.And an author,but i’ll get to that later.His father saved Hans’s  life once during The Great War (world war one)and he promised The son that if he ever needed anything he could come to Hans.So,when the persecution of the Jew’s begain he turned to his only hope.Now,Liesel had nightmares about when her brother died and so Hans who always knew what to say and do helped her read the book she had stolen,and in some way that comforted her and had a soothing effect.So,every night,she would wake up from her nightmares and read witjh Hans and later with the jewish man in the basement.In a lot of ways the two where alike and became the most unlikely pair,but the power of words and of kindness brought them tougether.Because of a simple hug,she inspired him to write a book on the painter over pictures of “Mein Kampf”the book that Hans had sent the directions from his house in and the key as well.The book continues to talk about Liesel’s theiving escapades and of the situation the people where in.The end of the book isn’t so happy but it isn’t a tragedy either it’s that bittersweet that characterizes life and makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time.To me this book shows books,and reading and words at their very best,when they make up life as it really was and is,not a fairy tale but not a tragedy either.As death says,so much good,so much evil,just add water.      

Global responsibility, what does that mean? Do we have a global responsibility? In my opinion, global responsibility is something each country should have, to the other countries in the world. I think the world is a lot more connected than it was a few years ago. For example China and the
United States, we have an economic partnership that is so strong, neither country could continue on with their current way of life if it was broken. We are joined at the hip, and neither can make a move without the other either approving or stopping it. The bond with China is a big road block in the way of the U.S helping in
Darfur.
China gets cheap oil because of the conflict and doesn’t want the conflict to end, so they block us trying to stop the conflict. That is the bad side to being connected, now for the good. If countries are in trouble, or the quality of life isn’t good, then countries will try to help because of their global responsibility to them.Global responsibility can mean as many things as there are people on this planet. What I mean y global responsibility is being compelled by one’s own conscience to improve the quality of life for people that don’t have the same opportunities as we do. For example, most people in the
United States go to college, and learn. If you’re school is being bombed, like in Darfur, you wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn, no matter how bright, intelligent or willing you are. We should each be compelled by our own conscience to stop the bombing and give people an opportunity to learn. Part of having a global responsibility is taking care of us and our own country. If countries that have the means to help go bankrupt trying to help lots of people, nobody will be helped. We should only help as much as we can without damaging ourselves. I say this not to be mean, but as a word of caution for going overboard, especially at a national level. If we really help more than we can sustain, then nobody would be helped. What I mean when I say as much as we are able, is having enough money to take care of the basic needs of our own country, I believe that making sacrifices to help other countries is a thing we could do without damage to ourselves.  One place I think we have an enormous global responsibility to is in Sudan,
Darfur, Sudan to be more precise. Here people are getting killed and removed from their homes and are so afraid, that doing things they normally do, like cooking, farming, or going to school is impossible. The violence is forcing them to flee the deadly daily exchange of hostility between the government (who deploy the janjaweed) and the rebel groups. The civilians have to go to neighboring
Chad or rebel strongholds, where the day to day living is only marginally better. They don’t have enough food or water, they don’t have medical care. They don’t even have security as the violence has been spreading to and over the border with
Chad. Oil is what originally started the conflict back in 2003.The rebel groups wanted some of the revenue from the oil. It also should be affecting us by making us want to help. We should try to imagine that this is happening in our own countries, and see what we would do and try to do that. In conclusion, there is a lot of violence in
Darfur. The people there, and in refugee camps in neighboring
Chad live in despicable conditions. They don’t have the same opportunities as we do. The world is more connected to each other than it used to be. Because we are so connected we really have no choice but to help when other countries are in trouble.

Mr.Mayo and his class,are doing something about darfur.His idea is to try to get students from around the world to leave thoughtful,well thought out comments on a blog in 24 hours.The event will take place on march 6th started at midinght eastern standard time,and will last 24 hours.This is a class project we are working on in english class and adresses the issue of global responsability.To find out more information go to mrmayo.org and click on manyvoicesfordarfur in the sidebar,for instructions and ideas as to what to write follow the link there to the wiki page.I hope you will not miss this exiting opprotunity to make your voice heard on such and important topic.Thanks!