Is There Life on Mars?

It seems that technology has somehow, in a bizarre way, made a peace treaty with me.  Originally, we didn’t like each other, for I would deem this whole “new school” teaching as somewhat pretentious and too ambitious.  However, we recently were introduced to plot bot, a website which aids us in creating screenplays.  For the first time ever, I was satisfied with my computer.  I found the tool to be extremely helpful, the web layout was a nice touch, making it comfortable, and somewhat fun.  Kudos Wasserman, kudos.

Looking at my blogs, this feeling of disappointment overwhelms me. I long to be one of those people who are always on their blogs, typing brilliant thoughts and having magnificently intellectual discussions through the internet. But no, somehow, I am lacking in that area. In fact, I am envious of those people, and I wish that I could always write on my blog. By doing that, I could express every emotion and every thought running through my mind. But instead, I am left with the option of keeping my thoughts to myself. I have had enough! It is now a time for a change…

I will make use of this webpage, for the first time ever.

excited?

yes

audaciousness
perplex
infuse
unto
alas
therefore
erroneous
olympiad
existential
transcendental
anthology
anthropolgie
adoration
modest
exhilaration
ecstatic
prancing
luminous
irridescent

Well, another semester is over, and another one is about to begin. I’m not going to go off into a tangent or anything, instead, I’m going to get right to the point. Though I had a lot of fun in this last semester, there were a lot of components that could we could do without/ improve.

First off, blogs. I loathe blogs. I think that they are absolutely unnecessary while being incredbily forgettable. For example, when I think of someone to tell me to do something online, I see it as being informal and unimportant, thus making me think that this should be on the bottom of my list of things to do. Also, the dates in which certain blogs are due are never clear, and never repeated. Maybe if we were informed in class, we would all get these blogs done.

I respect Mr. Wasserman and his teachings immensely, however I found many of the essay questions to be uncompelling, and almost boring. It may be possible that the vagueness of the questions made it easier for an essay to be interesting/unique; however, some were still quite annoying.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed 213, and can’t wait to continue into 223!

When I first opened the novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain, I was anticipating a novel filled with adventure and humor, and I was almost positive that it would be just as influential/ life changing, as everyone has made it out to be. After reading a few chapters, I realized that I had hoped for too much. I began to struggle with it, and the satires weren’t noticeable at all. And finally, when I had reached the absolutlely preposterous ending, I had enough of it, and almost raced through it to reach the very last word. Finally, I was done, and I was so excited that I wouldn’t have to search for satires, or read anymore of this book, that was heavily realist. I then realized that I was being too close-minded, and not really paying attention to the book as a whole. For example, the whole ending, where all of the uneccessary action occurs, is a satire within itself. Essentially, Twain is making fun of all that romantic “bs” that was popular in Europe. Though I still dislike this book, Twain was actually the epitome of a satirical writer. He truly conveyed how many people at that time were so hypocritical, i.e. Miss Watson may be incredibly prim and proper, but she still uses the “n” word many times. Back to the ending of the story, it is such an obnoxious move for Twain to make the escape of Jim complicated, and intricate. We all know that there could have been a more realistic and easier way to have Jim escape, however, by having this ending, twain is just giving his readers a taste of romanticism, something that is so incredibly annoying because if its pathetic fantastical features. I see Twain’s point, but I’m still an avid fan of Romanticism!

As I read Louis Hughes’ narrative, a feeling, an almost indescribable one, overwhelmed me. I couldn’t even fathom the horrors that many slaves went through. The idea of being taken away from your mother, at 12, only to be sold into an unknown and unfamiliar plantation amazes me. No one should go through that, and no one has the authority or right, to sell anoter human being. Personally, if I were Louis Hughes, I’d probably have a breakdown, I have no mental strength to be parted from my mother for the rest of my life. The worst part, is that it was the norm for a slave to be sold, and it was pratically inevitable/expected. That right there made me upset, for someone to casually decide to sell another human being, for profit. A human should not be treated as an animal, a human should be treated with respect, and should have their natural rights, no matter what.

It took me a while to fully understand the life of a slave while reading the narrative. It’s not that I didn’t get it, it’s just that I didn’t want to believe that such evil existed. I wish that slavery did not exist, and that all things with that, such as racism also did not exist; but just like everything else that was seen as cruel or awful, it was inevitable, and bound to happen. However, the only good thing that came out of slavery, were the narratives, which will hopefully aid in getting rid of ALL slavery, and that history will not repeat itself.

Though I completely understand how awful and brutal slavery was, I don’t actually feel the pain of the slaves. I’m hoping that these narratives will put me into the shoes of a slave, this way, I can grasp the horror of being captured and sold. I really look forward to reading a slave narrative, because not only will it be an eye opening experience, but it also seems as if the narratives are well written, and really capture the daily routine of a slave, as well as the longing to escape.

My friend and I were talking today during our block 1 open, and we both came to a disagreement on Mark Twain. She did put me down at first, telling me that I was making a generalization on American literature, which I guess was true (after all, I do enjoy Thoreau and Hawthorne.) Unfortunately, our arguement didn’t get intellectual or anything, since two of our friends sat at the table with us, telling us about their craving for bagels. Luckily, we did compare British romantic literature (i.e. Oscar Wilde) and “true” American literature (i.e. Mark Twain). Inevitably, I argued for Oscar Wilde, claiming that his work is so witty and brilliant, in addition to being beautiful. Wilde, is a man who was capable of almost anything literary. He had wonderful dramatic work such as “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” and the light-hearted and intelligent “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Personally, I believe that “The Importance of Being Earnest” is the epitome of a witty play, and the satire on British aristocracy is sheer brilliance. After getting this far into my arguement, I noticed that she just didn’t care anymore, and she had no desire to snap back with some “witty” (if you can even call it that) reference in Huck Finn. That to me, made me believe that if she had no passion in her to defend Mark Twain, then what type of author is he? Whenever I enjoy an author, especially one from the British romantic period, I feel compelled and almost obligated to defend them. That is what a truly good author is supposed to be, that is how much of a good book it should be. If Huck Finn is such an amazing American Literature novel, why is it that whenever I criticize it, no one ever comes to its defense? This leads me to another point, does anyone ever truly enjoy this book? Maybe the true and core reason why students enjoy this book, is because it’s almost programmed in their head to like Mark Twain. My friend was the perfect example, she liked Huck Finn, but didn’t explain why she liked him, the only thing she did say was “he’s awesome.” Well, I don’t think that one word comments will get very far without a solid explaination or argument. I wanted to inquire, ask more, I really wanted her to convince to like this book, but she was no help.

To be absolutely honest, when I began reading Huck Finn, I forced myself to like it, I made myself smile, I made myself giggle. I wanted to like it, I really did. But as I read on, I realized that this book was just not for me, it wasn’t anything that I enjoyed, and it certainly isn’t anything I find witty.

I must admit something, and Mr. Wasserman I know you might despise me for this, but I honestly think that the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn isn’t that great of a novel, and it is borderline annoying. Perhaps this novel will get better since I’m done with the play and all, but I still have my doubts. Anyways, I’m having a little trouble finding these satires funny, or even finding them at all. Personally, the only one I found slightly humourous was when Pap was telling Huck that he should quit school, but only because Huck was slowly becoming more educated than him. This eventually led to Huck wanting to go to school, but not because he wanted to learn, but this wanting was out of spite for Pap. That, plus Pap voting are the only satires I sort of smiled at, but other than that, there really aren’t many satires that I find to be “the classic examples of satire.” For example, I actually liked Jonathan Swift’s proposal;after all, it did make me laugh, because it made me incredibly uncomfortable. Isn’t that what a satire supposed to be? Something that makes you incredibly uncomfortable, yet it’s so true that it’s hilarious? I have hopes that Huck Finn will get better, and that these satires will jump out at me more.

I really enjoyed reading Baker’s recommendations for Iraq. I thought it was interesting that Baker recommended getting other nations involved, such as Syria and Iran, which would eventually lead the U.S. troops to “gracefully” keave the Iraq situation. Though I see how this plan could work, I don’t think that it would be incredibly safe for the U.S. to leave Iraq, especially now, since it techincally is in turmoil. The troops are somewhat of a backbone to Iraq, is we leave now, Iraq may collapse. It is an incredibly sad situation, but it is inevitable for something disappointing and sad to result from this. Also, Iraq may become incredibly vulnerable if we leave, the nations surrounding it may come in and take advantage. Overall, I do think that Baker’s recommendations may work for Iraq, and though it is hard to say, it one point, it will be neccessary to leave Iraq, and to finally leave Iraq to become a strong and independetn nation on its own.