Vocab

-Ideograph: A character or symbol that represents an idea or thing without pronouncing the particular word or words for it. (p.20)
-Brambles: a prickly shrub or bush (p. 20)
-Alighted: to settle or stay after descending (p. 24)
-Hindrance: an impeding, stopping or preventing (p.25)
-immolation: killing or offering as a sacrifice (p.28)
-Conscription: mandatory enrollment of persons for military or naval service; draft (p. 32)
-Salves: a medicinal ointment (p.35)

My Hero

I do not believe in many unreal things such as ghosts, aliens, menehune, etc. That also includes superheroes. However if i had to make up a super hero I'd call him Uberman; superman's older and cooler brother. Not only does uberman have the insane super powers as superman such as flying, x-ray vision, and being bulletproof, he also has other more normal but yet just as valuable characteristics.
These are the characteristics that every human should have even though many humans lack them. He is couragous. He stands up for everyone around him, not just himself. He protects others when they are in need. He foils the plans of bad guys to attack and act superior to those who are weaker than them. They attack others who can not defend themselves so that they can feel more imprtant. Uberman does not look away in times like these. He stands up and fights for what's right.
Another characteristic uberman has is that he is respectful. He doesn't think that he is better than everyone else just because he has super powers. He treats everyone as equals until they have done something evil. He gives people the benefit of the doubt no matter even hardened criminals. Not only does he give respect, but because he does so, he also gets it. People everywhere don't just like him because he could save their life but because he is so respectful of everyone. Not only that but crime is down in every city that he goes to because the criminals respect the fact that even though he is such a nice guy if they break the law he's not Mr. Nice Guy anymore. They no that if they step out of line he will catch them.
Even though I wouldn't mind being able to see through walls, not get shot and fly, I feel that the two main values uberman has are more important. That's because no normal people can see through walls but everyone can be courageous and respectful. Courage isn't just sticking up to bully's, it's being able to pull through in hard times and always fighting for what's right no matter what. I also feel that respect is something that every human should give and also receive. If people were more respectful of eachother there would be a lot less fighting and a lot more getting along. No one can have the super powers uberman has but everyone can exhibit the same qualities as him and make the world a little bit better as a result.

More Woman Warrior Quotes

In the book we are reading "the woman warrior" a young girl is told that her aunt commited suicide because she was impregnated my a man who wasn't her husband. In the story she runs through many situations for why this could have happened. In each situation she imagine's her aunt in a new way and we are supposed to find out what her descriptions of her aunt say about her.
In one situation she imagine's her aunt like this: "It could very well have been that, however that my aunt did not take subtle enjoyment of her friend, but, a wild woman, kept rollicking company. Imagining her free with sex doesn't fit, though. I don't know any woman like that, or men." This shows two things, one, she is very open-minded thinking about how sex was very well apart of her aunt's situation and that she could have been very promiscuous which is what caused this. Not many young teens would jump to this conclusion very quickly especially if they did not know anyone like this. Second, she does not see this as a very valid conclusioin because she doesn't know anyone like this. This shows that she is surrounded by a culture that is very proper and very unforgiving. This also shows that she only thinks things could be possible if she knows of them through her own experience. If something doesn't happen in her culture she doesn't see how it could happen in anyone else's.
In another situation she imagines her aunt like this: "He was not a stranger because the village housed no strangers. She had to have dealings with him other than sex...His demand must have surprised, then terrified her. She obeyed him; she always did as she was told." This shows that she is in a very small village where everyone knows everyone. She again can't see her aunt as being promiscuous and doing this because she wants to. This also shows that woman have to listen to men at all times. She doesn't want to see this situation as all her aunt's fault.
In both situations she doesn't think that woman would go off and have sex with a man that's not their husband just because they wanted to. There has to have been reason she would have done this. She grew up with all woman being and proper and faithful so she can't see any woman be improper or unfaithful.

Family Fable characterization

In my family fable my main character was my dad. In class today we were showed the six methods of characterizations that we can use to learn about a character in a story. The six are appearance, inner thoughts/feelings, environment, what they say, what people say about them, and actions. In this assignement we were assigned to use the six methods to learn about the main character in our story.
-Appearance: About 6 or 7 year olds.
-Inner thoughts/feelings: He feels that what goes around comes around and that if you do good something good will happen to you.
-Environment: He is within walking distance of the store and his school and he does walk there. This shows that he was very comfortable in his neighborhood and that it was safe.
-What they say: He tells the cashier that he gave him more change than he was owed and he also told his dad what had happened. This shows that he is very honest for giving the money back and also wants his father's approval of stuff he does.
-What people say about them: The cashier thankx him for his honesty and his dad told him that he was very proud of him for doing the right thing. This shows that people like his honesty.
-Actions: He returns the extra change when he could have just kept it and even when he found $5 on the side of the street he asked if it was anyone's. This shows that he is honest no matter what, pennies or cash.
Overall from this story and using the six methods we come to realize that he was a very honest kid.

Family Fable

My dad was born in Argentina and lived there till he was 17. Life there was a lot different than it is now days in America which has led my dad to raise me in different ways than he was raised. How ever, there are some things he learned as a young boy in Argentina and still reminds me of them to this day. The biggest value my dad was raised on was honesty. He was raised always to tell the truth even if he would have gotten in trouble because he would get in more trouble for lying than he would for the thing he was lying about. Because this value that was taught to my dad at such a young age, he did something that almost no one else at his age could have done.
One day when my dad was about 6 or 7 he went to the store down the block from his house. All he needed was a loaf of bread so he paid for it in cash. The cashier gave him his change and he walked out of the store bread in hand. While he was walking back to his house he realized that the cashier had given him too much change. Instead of being like most 6 or 7 year olds he decided to go back to the store and return the excess money. The cashier was very thankful for his honesty. He then went home and told his dad what had happened and his dad said that he was very of what he did. The next day while he was walking to school past the store something caught his eye. There was a $5 bill resting against the curb. He picked it up and asked anyone if they had lost it and nobody said the had so he got to keep the money. My dad has always told me this story when he wants me to be honest. He says that what goes around comes around. If you do something good, something good will happen to you. Honesty pays, and in this case it did literally.

the woman warrior

In out english class we just started reading "The Woman Warrior". In the beginning a young girl learns that her father had a sister who was killed because she got pregnant by someone who wasn't her husband. In the girls head she is thinking of many different reasons of why this happened. Here are two ideas:
Her first thought is what adultry means, she says, "adultry is extravagance. Could people who hatch their own chicks and eat the embryos and the heads for delicacies and boil the feet in vinegar for party food, leaving only gravel, eating even the gizzard lining--could such people engender a prodigal aunt?" When this young girl first thinks of adultry she sees it as very unnecessary. She compares it to people eating every single part of a chicken. She's saying that you could do something but when it's that disgusting you don't need to.
Her second thought is that she knew the man who did it to her, and when he asked to have sex with her she had to say yes. "She had to have dealings with him other than sex. Perhaps he worked in an ajoined field, or he sold her the cloth for the dress she sewed and wore. His demand must have surprised, then terrified her. She obeyed him; she always did as she was told." In this quote she sees the aunt through a better light. She thinks that she must have known the man from before and when he asked her she had to say yes because she had to do everything men asked her to do.

Moodle

In our english class we started to use this wiki called moodle. It allows us to talk to the other people in our class and collaborate on all of our work. There are some good and some bad things about moodle but over all it's worth it. What we like about it: We can message eachother in order to give advice very quickly. It's also veryeasy to get help when editing work. What could be better: You can't post something when someone else is posting so at times it can be very slow. What we'd like it to do: Be faster, and help you edit work as if you were using a word proccesor. What we could do creatively with moodle: Compare pieces you've done in previous grades.

Introduction

My name is Michael and I have set up this blog for our english class. We are doing that so that we can post all of our work on the web so that it can be viewed and so it canget feedback from anyone who wants to. In our english class we have one main goal and that is to answer one question that surrounds the whole coures: Who Am I? In all of our works we are trying to answer that a little more each time.

Lost Sister

In class a few days ago we read the poem "Lost Sister" and today we were supposed to write about it. We were supposed to find one quote in the poem and talk about why it was important. We were also supposed to find out what the poem says about who you are.
One quote that I got was at the end of the poem, after the girl has tried to rebel by moving away from china. She says "you find you need china: your one fragile identification, a jade link handcuffed to your wrists. You remember your mother who walked for centuries-and like her you have left no foot print" This shows that she regrets moving away from china because it is the only way she will have an identity and be remembered. This is shown by the walking for centuries without leaving any foot prints. The foot prints represent your mark on the world.
The poem tells us that where we are born has a lot to do with who we are. This poem says that where we are born gives us part of our identity. Without our link to where we come from we wouldn't be the same person.