Part One
1. Memoir - My Trip to the Boston Red Sox Baseball Game
What I was trying to figure out: I was trying to figure out all the senses that I had at the game. I was also contemplating whether or not that I should add more excitement to my piece; stretch the truth a little bit.
Main Idea: The main idea was going to the baseball game and the experiences I had at it.
Descriptions: What I did in this piece was to try and use action words, participles, and absolutes.
What I Learned: I learned that an essay is much better when you paint a vivid picture with your words.
2. Scarlet Letter Essay
What I was trying to figure out: I was trying to figure out how to use an attention getting device and a thesis statement correctly.
Main Idea: The main idea of this essay was to explain how mankind always has to find a scapegoat in society.
Descriptions: Some new descriptions I used in this piece were the use of taking the exact text from the book and quoting it in my essay.
What I Learned: I learned that thesis statements are not always easy to do, but that using quotes makes your piece more trustable.
3. Crucible Essay
What I was trying to figure out: I was trying to figure out how to make a comparison and contrasting essay.
Main Idea: The main idea was of this essay was to tell how Giles Corey could be compared to a computer.
Descriptions: The descriptions I used in this piece was the brainstorming that I did in comparing a computer to Giles.
What I Learned: I learned that in order to be a writer, there will be some highs and some lows. This essay was not one of my better works. It will go down as a low.
4. Transcendentalist Essay
What I was trying to figure out: I was trying to figure out how to use my own experiences to feel how Emerson and Thoreau felt.
Main Idea: The main idea was to compare your experience in the woods with Emerson and Thoreau's experience in nature.
Descriptions: The new writing work that I learned about was how to write on a fresh mind. I found it easier to write about something after you have spent some time in the breezy outdoors.
What I Learned: I learned that writing is better when you are subtle and complete.
Three Things I Have Learned about Writing from this Class
1. You need an AGD at the beginning of your piece to catch a reader.
2. When you use participles, absolutes, and action words, your piece is better.
3. There need to be transition sentences to get from one paragraph to another.
Part Two
Revisions
1. The revisions that I needed to make in my memoir were to organize my paper better, and learn to use the "paintings" more often in future papers.
2. When looking back at my Scarlet Letter Essay, I realized that I didn't really have a good thesis statement, so I had to change that part.
3. The big mistakes I made in the Crucible Essay were that I talked too much about what my character could be compared to and less about my character. I also did not have a strong ending.
4. The Transcendentalist Essay was probably my best. It could have been made better if I had not used as much sarcasm in my essay, because I think Mrs. Turner took my sarcasm as seriousness.
Part Three
Classmates
1. I thought Hank's blog was good because he had good usage of his quotations. He also used big words that made the writing sound more professional.
2. Chris Gross also had a good blog because of the way he used the five senses to describe things in his story.
3. One thing I learned from David was how to make good use of the AGD's. I thought that was something he did very well.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Transcendentalist Essay
Emerson and Thoreau have often been described as the revolutionaries of transcendentalism. They have been found in many books writing about the beauty of nature and that mankind always needs somewhere to go when he just wants to be alone. I decided to go on a nature walk with my class to discover what Emerson and Thoreau meant by discovering the beauty and peace of nature. What I discovered was actually quite startling; nature can be very dangerous, and is definitely beyond tinkered with by mankind.
Sweat dripped from my hair as I made my way into the mosquito infested woods next to Hanna. As I entered, I noticed blue and red ribbons flowing inside the woods immediately telling me that this place had already lost a little bit of its luster from human hands. As we moved under the damp shade of trees, I could feel the coolness of "The Woods". This feeling of peace and freedom did not last long as I soon heard the obnoxious yelling and screaming of my classmates as they discovered a rope net in the woods, and found it fun to jump onto the rope net and roll around. I tried to move away to discover the deeper peace that lies within the woods, but found this impossible because there were many broken beer bottles and cans littered throughout the underbrush. I also found out that even the actual nature part of these woods were not cracked up like it was supposed to be. Thorny vines covered the woods and scratched the mess out of me even as I tried to avoid them.
As you can see, this is not the transcendentalist way. According to Emerson, "Nature never wears a mean face." According to my experience, this is obviously not true. Nature does have a mean face, and this mean face is called thorny vines. There is no use of thorny vines; they are not edible, and cannot be used for anything. Nature also wears a mean face through the hardships mankind has put it through. We have chopped down trees, poached animals, and even polluted Mother Nature's air. As Thoreau once said, "What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?" As I have learned from walking in the woods, there is no space in which man can separate himself from his fellows, without finding a trace of them being there. There were many broken beer bottles, proving that the woods are not used for peace, but for getting intoxicated. Also, I could still hear the hooting and hollering of my classmates no matter how far into the woods I traveled.
My experience may have been an exception, but I have discovered that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are not telling of the same thing that I experienced. There was absolutely no peace throughout the woods no matter where you go. Nature has proved not only to be dangerous, but also to be littered by human pollution.
Sweat dripped from my hair as I made my way into the mosquito infested woods next to Hanna. As I entered, I noticed blue and red ribbons flowing inside the woods immediately telling me that this place had already lost a little bit of its luster from human hands. As we moved under the damp shade of trees, I could feel the coolness of "The Woods". This feeling of peace and freedom did not last long as I soon heard the obnoxious yelling and screaming of my classmates as they discovered a rope net in the woods, and found it fun to jump onto the rope net and roll around. I tried to move away to discover the deeper peace that lies within the woods, but found this impossible because there were many broken beer bottles and cans littered throughout the underbrush. I also found out that even the actual nature part of these woods were not cracked up like it was supposed to be. Thorny vines covered the woods and scratched the mess out of me even as I tried to avoid them.
As you can see, this is not the transcendentalist way. According to Emerson, "Nature never wears a mean face." According to my experience, this is obviously not true. Nature does have a mean face, and this mean face is called thorny vines. There is no use of thorny vines; they are not edible, and cannot be used for anything. Nature also wears a mean face through the hardships mankind has put it through. We have chopped down trees, poached animals, and even polluted Mother Nature's air. As Thoreau once said, "What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?" As I have learned from walking in the woods, there is no space in which man can separate himself from his fellows, without finding a trace of them being there. There were many broken beer bottles, proving that the woods are not used for peace, but for getting intoxicated. Also, I could still hear the hooting and hollering of my classmates no matter how far into the woods I traveled.
My experience may have been an exception, but I have discovered that Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are not telling of the same thing that I experienced. There was absolutely no peace throughout the woods no matter where you go. Nature has proved not only to be dangerous, but also to be littered by human pollution.
Friday, October 12, 2007
The Scarlet Letter Essay by Lewis Sheridan
Scarlet Letter
By: Lewis Sheridan
When you look back into the history of mankind, you always find that there is a person or group of people that are used as a scapegoat to cover up a society's failures or flaws as a whole. Take Nazi Germany for example. Back in the early to mid-1900s, the people of Germany were experiencing an economic meltdown from World War I. They had gotten too far into the war, and now the government was making the people pay for the war debts. A man by the name of Adolf Hitler came along and revived the people, using Jewish people as his scapegoat. Hitler blamed the Jews for all the problems that Germany was experiencing, and soon the people of Germany rallied behind him. Soon Jews were being exterminated left and right. Nowadays, this period of history is known as the Holocaust. The Holocaust is just one example of human nature's problem of choosing a scapegoat in a society. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is that scapegoat. Hester is used as a scapegoat, by her society, because she commitsstay in present tense adultery. Even though many people in the society probably did this act, Hester was singled out of the whole group. Three reasons why human nature usually causes us to choose a scapegoat are jealousy of others, fear of failure, and the fear of judgement.try to word your thesis in a parallel manner. For example jealousy of others, fear of failure, fear of judgement.
Jealousy is a powerful trait of the human mind. People will get jealous over just about anything, the most common being wealth, looks, and possessions. Hester Prynne was more than likely singled because of her youth and her beauty. In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, when Hester is standing on the scaffold, one of the ladies watching comments, "If the young hussy stood up for judgement before us five, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!" This lady is obviously jealous because Hester is a young woman that has received a punishment that the lady does not think is enough. The punishment Hester receives is already bad enough, but this woman wants it to be even harsher. In today's society, people's jealousy makes them choose a scapegoat, such as when the media makes a huge deal about celebrity's that have big problems. These celebrities are always singled out by the media, just for drinking and driving or being addicted to cocaine, while the average Joe, serves his sentence, gets out, then goes on with his life without the whole United States knowing about it. The reason for this is because people are jealous of celebrities, usually because they are young, attractive, and extremely wealthy. As you can see, jealousy is a very powerful trait that will sometimes lead humans to choose a scapegoat in their society.
Another reason why people tend to choose a scapegoat is because they are afraid to admit their own problems. A prime example in the Scarlet Letter is Arthur Dimmesdale. He feels so guilty about what he has done that he will go in the middle of the night and stand on the scaffold to confess his sins, and put himself in Hester's shoes. Granted, he will do this, but he will not dare go to the scaffold in the middle of the day and have the people of the town see him doing this. By standing at night, he is showing his guilt for committing adultery, but he is not admitting his own problems. An example in real life would be the Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. His problem is what we call homosexuality. He would not come out in public and admit that he was gay. In order to cover up his problem, he would stay as far away from the gay situation as possible. Every single issue that came up about homosexuality in Congress was voted down by Larry Craig. So instead of coming out with his problem he kept it a secret, and it ended up costing him his dignity.
The last part of human nature that causes us to choose a scapegoat is the fear that people will find out that you have done something wrong and frown down upon you. It is the old get him before he gets me theory. The Scarlet Letter's own Arthur Dimmesdale once again comes up in this example. In the third chapter, while preaching to Hester he says mockingly, "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak!" He is pretending like Hester is horrid for not saying who the father is and is cutting her down while talking to her. He does this so it will sound like the people think he is Godly and great for speaking to her like this. He shot her down before she could do the same to him. Nowadays, people do this all the time, destroy people before those people have a chance to destroy them. Politicians do this all the time, find problems with their opponents to cover up their own problems. This may be the biggest of all the reasons why people choose a scapegoat in society.
Human nature tends to make us choose a scapegoat. People are so jealous of others that they will get rid of them, people are afraid to admit their own problems, and people fear that if they don't get someone else, that person will sneak up and get them. Hitler once used scapegoats, and we all know how that turned out, so there really is no point in picking a scapegoat for society.
By: Lewis Sheridan
When you look back into the history of mankind, you always find that there is a person or group of people that are used as a scapegoat to cover up a society's failures or flaws as a whole. Take Nazi Germany for example. Back in the early to mid-1900s, the people of Germany were experiencing an economic meltdown from World War I. They had gotten too far into the war, and now the government was making the people pay for the war debts. A man by the name of Adolf Hitler came along and revived the people, using Jewish people as his scapegoat. Hitler blamed the Jews for all the problems that Germany was experiencing, and soon the people of Germany rallied behind him. Soon Jews were being exterminated left and right. Nowadays, this period of history is known as the Holocaust. The Holocaust is just one example of human nature's problem of choosing a scapegoat in a society. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is that scapegoat. Hester is used as a scapegoat, by her society, because she commitsstay in present tense adultery. Even though many people in the society probably did this act, Hester was singled out of the whole group. Three reasons why human nature usually causes us to choose a scapegoat are jealousy of others, fear of failure, and the fear of judgement.try to word your thesis in a parallel manner. For example jealousy of others, fear of failure, fear of judgement.
Jealousy is a powerful trait of the human mind. People will get jealous over just about anything, the most common being wealth, looks, and possessions. Hester Prynne was more than likely singled because of her youth and her beauty. In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, when Hester is standing on the scaffold, one of the ladies watching comments, "If the young hussy stood up for judgement before us five, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!" This lady is obviously jealous because Hester is a young woman that has received a punishment that the lady does not think is enough. The punishment Hester receives is already bad enough, but this woman wants it to be even harsher. In today's society, people's jealousy makes them choose a scapegoat, such as when the media makes a huge deal about celebrity's that have big problems. These celebrities are always singled out by the media, just for drinking and driving or being addicted to cocaine, while the average Joe, serves his sentence, gets out, then goes on with his life without the whole United States knowing about it. The reason for this is because people are jealous of celebrities, usually because they are young, attractive, and extremely wealthy. As you can see, jealousy is a very powerful trait that will sometimes lead humans to choose a scapegoat in their society.
Another reason why people tend to choose a scapegoat is because they are afraid to admit their own problems. A prime example in the Scarlet Letter is Arthur Dimmesdale. He feels so guilty about what he has done that he will go in the middle of the night and stand on the scaffold to confess his sins, and put himself in Hester's shoes. Granted, he will do this, but he will not dare go to the scaffold in the middle of the day and have the people of the town see him doing this. By standing at night, he is showing his guilt for committing adultery, but he is not admitting his own problems. An example in real life would be the Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. His problem is what we call homosexuality. He would not come out in public and admit that he was gay. In order to cover up his problem, he would stay as far away from the gay situation as possible. Every single issue that came up about homosexuality in Congress was voted down by Larry Craig. So instead of coming out with his problem he kept it a secret, and it ended up costing him his dignity.
The last part of human nature that causes us to choose a scapegoat is the fear that people will find out that you have done something wrong and frown down upon you. It is the old get him before he gets me theory. The Scarlet Letter's own Arthur Dimmesdale once again comes up in this example. In the third chapter, while preaching to Hester he says mockingly, "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak!" He is pretending like Hester is horrid for not saying who the father is and is cutting her down while talking to her. He does this so it will sound like the people think he is Godly and great for speaking to her like this. He shot her down before she could do the same to him. Nowadays, people do this all the time, destroy people before those people have a chance to destroy them. Politicians do this all the time, find problems with their opponents to cover up their own problems. This may be the biggest of all the reasons why people choose a scapegoat in society.
Human nature tends to make us choose a scapegoat. People are so jealous of others that they will get rid of them, people are afraid to admit their own problems, and people fear that if they don't get someone else, that person will sneak up and get them. Hitler once used scapegoats, and we all know how that turned out, so there really is no point in picking a scapegoat for society.
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