reflection - 8

Personally, I do not actually know very much about the time period when the Declaration of Independence was written. I actually know quite little. I did not take World History like most other students did in freshman year, and I am not in AP History like some other students are this year. In American History class, we are currently learning about the Puritan Era, and have not yet moved onto the Rationalism period. This is the first time I have read the declaration of independence, and it actually came as quite a shock to me. All I knew of the Declaration of Independence was that it was a document that declared America's freedom. So clearly, I did not have an extensive knowledge of what it was, nor do I still. But upon reading the Declaration of Independence, I have a different perspective on it. I know that many people view the Declaration of Independence as a great document and something that people can look back on as a great literary work as well as a neat historical document and something that we can keep in mind as we look at our country today. However, when I was reading the Declaration of Independence, I did not see any of those things. I am sure why I did not see those things was because of my lack of knowledge of the topic, or something like that, but as blindly reading the document, I interpreted it as quite the opposite. Honestly, when I was reading it, instead of seeing what many Americans see, instead I kept getting hung up on all of the propaganda techniques and errors of faulty logic that the writers of this document used. To me, it seemed like an immature way to write a document. I guess the writers could have been all amped up about America when they were writing it, but I still do not think that gave them good reason to slander other countries in the document that founded our country. One of the first propaganda techniques I see in the Declaration of Independence is the use of a glittering generality. In the second paragraph the writer says "all men are created equal" (Jefferson 120). I believe that all men are made in God's image, but to me things get a little trippy when someone says all men are created equal. Especially when the someone saying it calls the King of Great Britain a tyrant a few paragraphs later. In this time, Jefferson, and other men like him who were founding America were killing Indians so that we could own the land. That is such a selfish thing to do and shows that they certainly did not think the Indians were as good as they were, yet they had the audacity to claim that they believe all men were created equal. And the fact that they called the King of Great Britain a tyrant, multiple times in this document, in itself is the propaganda technique of name calling. There are many Propaganda techniques used in this document as well as errors of faulty logic. I do not think that those things cause the document to lose its credibility, but in my book it makes me question the character of the men who wrote it.

Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 120-124. Print.

"Recognizing Propaganda Techniques and Errors of Faulty Logic." Cuesta College. 06 Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Sept. 11

journal - 10

In my opinion, I strongly believe that the vocabulary assignment should be due next class. I am not saying this out of laziness or because I simply do not want to do it, but because I, and many other students in our class, are already quite overwhelmed by the amount of homework that we already have. Personally, I am already so far behind on all of my blogs, and by simply adding a vocabulary assignment on top of it all, makes it even more overwhelming. I have been sick for about a week now, and last week I missed a day of class. I am still behind from missing class, and am really struggling to catch back up on my work. It is not that I am not willing to do it, but so much of it is extremely time consuming, thought provoking, and even difficult to understand, comprehend, and respond to, that it is just too much right now. To be honest, my life is just crumbling in on top of me right now. I feel so far behind on things and I really need time to catch up on all of my school work, cleaning my room, Bible reading, and I need to take time to just relax so that I can get mentally prepared for the week to come. I am physically and mentally exhausted at this point. What I am striving for right now is to make it to the weekend. I could totally use a weekend to catch up on things and to feel prepared for life. The past two weeks I have been out of town, and have therefore not been able to catch up on all of the things that I need to do. As you can see, my life is clearly stressful right now and things are just crazy. A few things that I am trying to do to combat that is memorizing scripture, staying in God's word, and staying in a constant dialogue with God. Those things are very helpful to calm down the things in my life that I have not control of. But with my homework, I cannot help it and I simply have to do it, just like the vocabulary, if you make me turn it in this class.

reflection - 7

how patrick Henry's speech exemplifies the Rationalism writing style

The Speech to the Second Virginia Parliament by Patrick Henry is quite a fired up speech and I can feel the power in Mr. Henry's thoughts as I read this. This writing most definitely reflects the writing of the Rationalism period. It is incredible to see the immense difference between the writing style of the Puritans and the writing style of the Rationalism era. There is a huge difference between the two and they take place so close in time to each other! In the Puritan era, the people fully believed in God and believed that he had a plan for everyone, his hand was completely interfering with the way people lived, they all thought obeying him and his commands and having faith in him was the sure way to salvation. They also never questioned God's authority, or any authority above them, for that matter. They believed that God was with them through everything and that his providence would help them through life if they had faith in Him and were living for Him.

As the reader begins reading this speech by Mr. Patrick Henry, you see him set the stage for his speech by setting a tone of what his speech will be like and basically prepares the men for what is to come in his speech by indicating that they will be offended but they should listen to his standpoint because he believes he is raising many good points. In his opening two sentences he states "And in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country" (Henry 112). This statement was certainly a lofty one, at that! The Puritans believed that God was the one who held the truth and He was the truth. For Henry to suggest that debate is the key to finding truth, is an immensely bold move, and frankly a risky statement. For him to boldly make this case is a sudden indication of the difference in the Puritan era and the rationalism era. Henry knows that people will disagree with his claim of debate, so he then says "Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason toward my country, and as an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly things" (Henry 112). The Puritans would commonly keep back their opinions, for they believed it was not their opinions that mattered, but God's. However, Henry is saying that for him to keep back his opinions would be committing treason to his country! This I'm sure is used to get the attention of the people listening to his speech and to get them thinking about it. And then on top of that, he says that it would be disloyal to God for him to keep his opinion to himself. This now makes things interesting, because he is combining reason and religion. The people are not used to this, for Puritans only followed religion, not reason. Henry's speech puts the people in an interesting position. The people had thought always that religion was correct, but Henry's case was so logical and rational that they could not discard what he said, even if they wanted to.

As another act of persuasion Henry at one point, asks, " Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?" (Henry 112). This is a very good persuasion technique, because he basically is asking the people if they should live like dumb people and not question and dig deeper to see what the truth is. He uses rhetorical questions many times throughout his speech. This is another way to show that this is a writing of the Rational era, because he is raising such a point and questioning his authorities, which people never before would have done.

Henry, Patrick. "Speech to the Second Virginia Convention." Comp. Wilhelm, Jeffrey D. Glencoe Literature. AmericanLiterature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 112-113 Print.

journal - 9

a time when someone was emotional and the situation was solved by a rational approach

There are many times in my life that I have witnessed emotional people or people acting emotionally. In fact, I act on emotion quite often, which I know is not always a good thing, but sometimes it can be. Some people are more emotional than others, and some people are more rational than others. I think that in general, girls are usually more emotional than guys are. And as far as it goes for me, I think compared to many other girls, I am more rational than most. Not to say that I do not get emotional, because I do. Most things in a girl's life revolves around emotions. Where as guys on the other hand usually are more rational than girls are. However, I have a friend who is a boy who seems to be more emotional than a majority of guys his age. In this journal, I will call this boy Fred, although that is not his real name.

As I said earlier, Fred is more of an emotional guy than most, and I am more of a rational girl than most, so it turns out that Fred and I are a lot alike. Fred and I have always been able to talk to each other about things and and especially have been able to talk to each other about relationships and girls and guys. Being able to talk to each other about things like that, yet solely remain friends and only friends is a rare thing this day in age. I often seek advice from my friend Fred and Fred often seeks advice from me. We both help each other make good choices and stay on tack, as well as remaining good friends and having fun.

One time Fred was texting me about a girl that he liked. In fact, he thought he loved her. He was fairly certain that this was the girl that he was going to marry. Keep in mind that Fred is in high school. He really liked this girl and wanted my advice as a friend, a sister, and a Christian. Fred was acting very emotional and was very caught up in this girl. I however, saw the situation very realistically and rationally. I told Fred that this was not the girl for him and that if he was seriously planning on marrying her, he should reconsider. And this girl had already played him three times before and there's no way she would stick around for marriage. I also told him that I knew his walk with God was not at a strong point in his life and if he wanted a girl who was a christian and wanted a relationship based on Christ, it is not good to start the relationship when he was away from Christ. He took into consideration all of the things that I said and saw that they were very logical points. This was about three months ago that I told Fred these things, and now he already has himself another girl.

journal - 8

Each of the four seasons have their perks. In summer, there is no school, and it is hot outside, so it is fun to do things outdoors. In the winter, we get Christmas break and do not have school for a week. Also, in the winter is Christmas, snow, hot chocolate, snow days, and boots. I also like spring because spring is track season. I run track and spend all year preparing for that one time of the year. Spring is also neat because the weather is finally warmer and the air is crisp and everything seems to get a fresh start. Autumn, however, is my favorite season. There are so many things that are great about autumn. One great thing is the weather. It is not too hot and not yet too cold. The weather is perfect for football games and bonfires. Which brings me to another reason that I love autumn: football. I really enjoy football. My brother plays football, so I have grown up watching football and cheering him on. Football is a very common thing in my household and in America. In fact, it is the only sport designed to be played throughout the entire weekend. On Fridays in the autumn, I go to the Pleasant Plains High School football games. On Saturdays I either go to my brother's college football game, or watch it on t.v. And on Sundays, I watch professional football while I either take a nap, do my homework, or just rest. I like football, and all of the things that come with it. That is the main reason why my favorite season is autumn. Also in Autumn, there are bonfires. I love bonfires. The weather is kind of chilly, and perfect for standing around the fire to bond with your friends. Another thing about fall that I really appreciate is the clothes. Fall clothes are my favorite. For me, there are so many cute fall clothing options to choose from. Autumn clothes are fun. There are so many wonderful things about Autumn, and it is definitely my favorite season.

reflection - 6

"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" has many similarities to "The Crucible". Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon, talks of How we are held by the hands of God suspended over the pit of Hell. His entire point to the sermon is that we have no control, God is in control, and that we need to live our lives here on Earth for God. He believes in a direct correlation between our actions and thoughts here on Earth and where we will end up; Heaven or Hell. He states that many of the people in the Church will not be going to Heaven. He is basically calling them fakers. But not just fakers, but more so, lazy. He says that even if people are reading their Bibles and praying every day, they still may not go to Heaven. He does not believe that it has to do with just our actions here on Earth that get us to Heaven, but the motives of our Hearts. He points out that if we are just going through the motions of our faith, we may be surprised to find where we will be spending the rest of eternity. John Proctor also shares some similar views of salvation as Jonathan Edwards does. In the closing section of the book, John Proctor is faced with an extremely tough decision. He must either confess to witchcraft, which is a lie, and his life will be spared, or he must deny whichcraft, which is the truth, and and his life will be spared. John Proctor is a very upright man. He wants to admit to witchcraft, so that he can continue to live, but he knows that if he admits to witchcraft, he is lying. He does not want to have to go back home to his boys as a liar. He knows that he could never raise them to tell the truth if the only reason he was there with them was because he lied to spare his own life. He also knows that if he lies and admits to witchcraft, then he is also condemning his fellow neighbors and friends and then he puts them in the position to either lie or die. John Proctor eventually admits to witchcraft, but shortly after, he changes his mind. He tells them that it is a lie and that he never had anything to do with witchcraft. He told the truth. He told the truth because he, like Jonathan Edwards, believes there is a strong correlation between our actions and our salvation. John Proctor knew that he would already get judged harshly because of the lechery that he commited, and did not want to have another thing to have to be held accountable for in the life to come. He realized that he would rather suffer here in this earthly life tahn have to spend eternity in Hell. Jonathan Edwards and John Proctor hold true to their values, and actually share many similar values about life, death, and eternity.

Edward, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. Print.

journal - 7

Bullying is a serious problem today, and has been in the past. In fact, the headline today on AOL.com was about a boy who committed suicide because he was bullied. I hate that. I do not think things should ever get so bad that a person's only option is suicide. That is absolutely terrible and there is no reason for that to happen. Anyone who bullies people has no excuse to be bullying them, and they deserved to be immediately punished. Also, I believe it is not just the responsibility of the bullies to not bully people, but I believe that bullying is the responsibility of others who witness the bullying and/or who know that bullying is going on. People that know bullying is happening are just as responsible for the bullying as are the people that are actually inflicting the bullying. They have just as much power to stop the bullying as the bully does, therefore is held to the same level of responsibility. I hate bullying. It is one-hundred percent unnecessary. I have witnessed bullying before, right here at Pleasant Plains High School. Bullying is gross and disgusting and I wish more people would report bullying or would at least stand up to the bully and tell them what's up. Bullying can have such a serious effect on the victim of bullying. As I shared earlier, people sometimes kill themselves because of bullies. That is serious. If any bully thinks that bullying is not serious, they are wrong. Bullying can be a life or death matter. There is nothing about that, that is not serious. People can be emotionally scared from bullying for their whole life. As humans, we carry emotional "baggage" with us. We have excellent memories, and do not forget the things in our lives that were extremely painful, embarrassing, degrading, or memorable. We just do not. We think about those things over and over again and want to hold the people accountable who were responsible for the pain that we felt. Emotional things stay with us for our entire lives, and bullying is one of those things that definitely can stay with a person emotionally forever, and can have a drastic outcome on a person and can change a person a lot.