Angela's Ashes

I have been reading the book Angela’s Ashes. The book at first takes place in America during a time of great poverty. This really hits the family hard so they move back to Ireland. Both Angela and Malachy are from Ireland. Malachy, the father, is from Northern Ireland, so Angela’s family often disapproves of him. This is a memoir about all of the hardships that the family has to go through in Limerick City, Ireland. It has been a very captivating, yet sad book. The family has already lost so much, three children have died and the father is an alcoholic. The experiences that this family goes through are unimaginable. They have to pick coal up off the street just to keep a fire going for the little food that they have.

I would recommend this book because Frank McCourt does an excellent job of describing the characters. He makes you feel that the characters are standing right in front of you and you are experiencing their hardships with them. It keeps you reading the book because you want to see what happens to each of these characters.

It is a very heartbreaking book, but it is also can be uplifting at the same time because you know that he will achieve success. The characters keep you emotionally attached to the book, which constantly motivates you to read it no matter how sad the theme of the book is. I believe Frank McCourt wanted the reader to be able to experience his life and go through the changes with him from childhood to adulthood.

You could compare this book to the interpretative questions for Alexis de Tocqueville’s short story Why Americans are So Restless. Alexis de Tocqueville’s argument claimed that Americans are always wanting more; in this case it was equality. Even though the McCourt family has very little money and belongings, they have the right like everyone else in Ireland to achieve success. The father often spends the dole money on pints of “black stuff,” as Frank McCourt called it as a child.

We can all learn a lesson about life, no matter the hardships that you face and the difficulties you go through, it is possible to achieve success later in life. Frank McCourt proves that everyone has an equal chance to achieve success much like Alexis de Tocqueville’s argument and in the Declaration of Independence.

So far, my experience with the book has been great, I have enjoyed the story line of Frank McCourt’s life even though it has been a struggle. The way his life was when he was a child has made the book very intriguing. 

On Studying

1.) What are some ways school encourages or discourages a person's desire to learn? What makes some objects in school exciting and stimulating and others boring.

2.) Why do human beings seek knowledge?

For some school is a way to express your knowledge and learn more. There are always new subjects to learn about, but sometimes it is hard to encourage people to actually learn the new information. Teachers try to encourage students to get interested with these topics by playing games, or using alternate teaching methods such as field trips. School can be a great place to learn, but sometimes teachers don’t realize that some of these topics can be very boring, especially if they let them. There is a difference when a teacher stands up in front of the class and lectures without any enthusiasm and no pictures to look at, from a teacher who is actively involved with their class. I have classes that there are topics that are hard to learn and the teacher is not actively engaged with their class to make the topics sound more interesting. On the other hand there are teachers who really think about how the class is really going to react with the topic, and they try to get their class actively involved so that they one retain the information and two they find the class more exciting making the process of learning more fun. One thing that occurs in many of my classes is that the teachers don’t sound as if they themselves were interested making the overall atmosphere a less of a learning environment.

Humans are naturally curious and seek knowledge. It is the reason we wake up at six in the morning and go to school everyday. As Gasset states in his short story, On Studying, that there is really no point to go to school because it is just forced upon us. Gasset later states that, “the desire does not exist unless the thing desired existed earlier, in reality or at least in imagination.”  One has to have the desire to learn in order to gain knowledge. We are constantly at competition with one another and knowledge is one way were we can “outdo” one another. It is assumed that the smartest in our world have already achieved the greatest knowledge, but in reality, we are always learning new things. We are constantly learning more and more and retaining it all, but all that knowledge goes away when we die. We have seen many people in our society that are very smart, but the only way their success in gained is how they apply the gained knowledge. It is seen in our everyday lives, the more knowledge that is applied the better the life. Everyone strives to gain knowledge, because it may lead to a successful and good life.

School is something that broadens your mind and helps you gain knowledge about your past, which in turn helps you with the present and future. This is why we go to school, to gain the knowledge we need for our life skills, and hopefully we will be encouraged from our peers to look deeper into subjects that may not always be appealing to us. 

Indiana Government Positions

1. Who are your U.S Senators? 

Evan Bayh (Democrat) and Richard Lugar (Republican) are the U.S Senators and hoth Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar are not up for reelection.

2. Who is your U.S Congressman/woman?

 Dan Burton (republican) is my U.S congressman and is up for reelection this year.

3. Who is your U.S State congressman/woman?

 Jim Buck (republican) is my U.S State congressman.

4. Which of these is up for reelection?

Dan Burton, and Governor Mitch Daniels are up for reelection this year.

5. Who is running for Governor?

Mitch Daniels (Republican) is up for reelection this year and his opponents are Andy Horning (Libertarian) and Jill Long Thompson (Democrat)

Declaration Pre-Writing Blog-Questions Three and Four

We have many rights; these rights include freedom of speech and religion. These rights are not always respected. Since the beginning of time, man has often put down those that either were different or had a different belief or opinion.

            Religion has been a point that rights have been disrespected for a long time for me because I often find myself in places that religion is not minded. It is okay to have different beliefs, but sometimes there are times when you feel mistreated and that the freedom of speech and religion boundary has been crossed.

            Although religion has historically gotten the majority of the attention, I feel there are many instances when my freedom of speech has been disrespected as well. You meet many people with very strong opinions and beliefs that in an effort to get their opinion across they force their idea upon you. It then becomes even more difficult to share your opinions without feeling consequences of our actions and we respond in different ways. In school we can choose to be quiet because we don’t want it to affect our grades. Outside of school we may join an organization that has beliefs that we share.

   It is amazing for a society that is suppressed to be “open minded,” but it is sad to see how close-minded we have actually become.

            It is difficult to get people to recognize that they have been mistreating you because it is not necessarily in the form of physical violence, but in our words and actions. The old saying, “sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is not true. It is human nature to want to have people belong or a group together. In a society that is free and organized we are able to express our beliefs openly and often without the consideration of its impact on the people around us. The person listening does not agree with the belief or opinion they may be mistreated. The mistreatment may be in the form of exclusion fro a group or at school settings it may affect ones grades. If we look at the current political fight we see many politicians mistreating each other in an effort to win votes. For example, the guest politicians that appear on major news programs often have very strong opinions and are very abrupt with their answers. These men are expected to conduct themselves in diplomatic ways, but it is surprising to see these men interrupt each other with their words because they are so strong in their opinion. You can tell by the expressions on their faces that their words can hurt. This doesn’t just happen on T.V, but it also happens in everyday life, and people do it unconsciously. 

Super Size Me

Morgan Spurlock’s movie, Super Size Me, examines the fast food industries attempt to educate the viewer about the effects that fast food can have on your health and life.

Super Size Me was about a man named Morgan who decided to go on a McDonald’s splurge and eat McDonald’s for thirty days to show the side effects of the contents of their food. Morgan had stated that obesity is second most harmful self-imposed death in the world. He had his food super sized only if asked, which was most of the time. He originally weighed 185lbs and gained almost thirty pounds. The side effects from the consumption of this kind of food caused his to become sick, had liver problems, was tired and everyday tasks became more challenging.

In Morgan Spurlock’s movie he showed four young children pictures of well-known historical figures. Only two of these children were able to identify the historical figures. When Morgan presented the pictures of fast food characters, such as Wendy with her red braided pigtails from Wendy’s, each child had successfully identified Wendy and some of the other fast food chain characters that were presented to the children. This showed the power of advertising is on today’s society. McDonald’s and other fast food chains include happy characters that appeal to young children. These characters are recognized all over the world, you see them so many times on T.V it is hard not to miss the catchy tones and smiling characters.

            We, as Americans, have grown up learning about nutrition and it’s impact on our health. We have the responsibility to educate and promote healthy life styles, which may include an examination of the fast food products that are being sold today. Although Morgan understands the typical family doesn’t eat at a fast food restaurant for thirty days in a row, he attempted to show the impact of frequent visits to these fast food restaurants.

            As the former governor of Arkansas once said, “Anything that comes through your car window is food you shouldn’t be eating.” As a gymnast I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. However, in the future on the occasional stop to any fast food restaurant I will be mindful of the foods I select. Perhaps the next time I order a yogurt parfait at McDonald’s I will be sure to examine its contents. 

Why Americans Are Restless Blog

 Question Number Three 

Is having a lot of material goods a help or hindrance to happiness? Why are some people able to be happy with little, while others with more are miserable?

Our society is very focused on material possessions. There is not a day when one doesn’t say, “I want that, or I need to have it.” Happiness should be held by someone’s heart, and not with in someone’s hand in a form of a material object. Material objects come and go, but happiness can remain.  People can have all the material objects in the world and never be able to find happiness. This reminds me of the line in the Beatles song that, “money can’t buy love.” We are inundated with ads saying we need this product, or we need that product, but having those things in our homes doesn’t bring the happiness. It only brings the satisfaction of owning something, but owning something and being happy are two different things.

A perfect example of people that have less material possessions, but remain happy is in the Amish town of Shipshewana, Indiana. There are many Mennonites and Amish born people who have lived here for many generations. The Amish live very simple lives. They have no electricity, cannot drive cars, and don’t have phones in their houses. My family travels to Shipshewana often, and I have noticed over the years, that these families could not be happier. As we drive on the roads in Shipshewana there are horse drawn buggies, children riding their bikes, adults and children plowing the fields, and others having fun making their own games with each other. Their faith is based on simplicity and they do not to use modern day appliances. I believe their happiness comes from inside, and not from material possessions. Since the Amish don’t have a lot of material possessions, such as televisions, play stations, and computers, they spend more time with each other, and they find their happiness through family members. Sometimes material possessions get in the way, and family members loose touch, inhibiting communication. It can mean that those with more material possessions fail to communicate with others and especially with family members. The more you have the less appreciative you are to the ones around you. Material possessions get in the way when you loose sight of what is important in life, such as faith and family. That is when a material object can become a hindrance. Not every person that has wealth and success necessarily is unhappy, but they have not let material possessions overtake their lives.

There are those who have lost all of their worldly possessions, such as in hurricane Katrina. They still have the ones in their lives that love them. They can then start over a new life and the material possessions can be replaced. The love would then carry on and the basis of happiness would be family and faith. I believe it is always important that no matter what path you take in life, you always choose the path that keeps family, faith and happiness in perspective.

 

Social Me Blog Question Number Three

It is difficult not to care what others think because of the judgmental society we live in. There is a constant pressure to wear the right clothes, or even act and speak a certain way; therefore it is hard to be your own individual.

            When being a teenager self-image is very important, but it can be influenced by outside forces. Those outside influences often come from the celebrities that many of us look up to. Everyone is supposed to share the same style, and if you don’t than you’re not considered “cool.” You need to be yourself, and not give in to peer pressure. It is hard to hold an image without being put down in the process. It is the worst feeling when you are walking down the hallway and you know people are talking about you. That is when you just have to believe in yourself, and know you like your self the way you are.

The way you act and dress says a lot about your personality. There is a way to control how people see you and your personality. If someone were to walk down the hallway with a disgusted look on their face and slamming lockers shut, one might think that person is very denoted or mean. If someone were to walk down the hallway with a smile on their face, people may think differently. In society, image is everything. You are known by what actions you do and how you complete them. There was a girl I knew in grade school that used to act so nice to all the teachers, but when she was alone, she was not a nice and caring person. This is how her fellow classmates viewed her. She was able to control her image so well that she could hide her true identity. People go through great lengths to control their image in front of people. Everyone is different, and sometimes being different is a good thing.

Since I attend a small school many classmates know particular traits about each other, and it is by that you will be judged. People will know you as the video games person, as the actor, as the singer or maybe even the dancer. Those are the images we categorize with certain people. Based on how they are characterized we assume many characteristics about that person. Sometimes these characteristics can cause you to worry about what others think and it may feel that in order to fit in, you have to change yourself for others. Many people at school know each other as school friends and don’t even know what they are really like outside of school. Everyone gets the chance to be themselves when away from a pressured environment.

We have grown up with ridicule and self-image difficulties, but as we get older we become more confident and more secure with our self-confident. There are times when you feel that you can never let your guard down and be yourself, but if you accept who you are and don’t let others bother you, it’s okay to let your guard down.  

Which is more important- freedom or survival?

Freedom and Survival are equally important; they both predict the outcome of life. Everyone wants freedom, and sometimes to get to freedom, you have to survive. I thought of two books that I have read in the last year, Call Me Ishmael and Into the Wild.

            In the book Into the Wild, Chris McCandless ventures out into the wild to survive, on his own instincts. Chris had a lot of trouble with his family, so he wanted freedom to get away from it all. To Chris, freedom was doing what he loved without material possessions. When Chris was living on the road, he found freedom in nature’s beauty and open road. Chris’ life story went from freedom to survival. When Chris had reached the bus that was left in Alaska, he had relied on his instincts for survival. At the end of the book, I believe surviving was more important to Chris than freedom. He knew that he life was dwindling so he tried to cross the river, but he couldn’t. From there on out in order to survive he couldn’t think about his newfound freedom, he just had to think about keeping himself alive. When Chris died I suspect he realized sometimes survival is more important than freedom, and his freedom was short-lived. The book, Call Me Ishmael, was a very similar story to Chris in that, Ishmael had to survive through some very tough times as well. On his journey to find freedom, Ishmael temporarily relinquished his freedom after being forced to join the army. Though he gave up some of his freedom along the way, eventually, with time, survival and patience his freedom was achieved.

            As I have stated before, survival and freedom go hand in hand. Just like it did with the books I have just mentioned. If you think about it, all the men and women who fight and die for us in war have survived. In order for freedom to be achieved you have to survive. Because of the people who survived and fought through war, where would we be today with out it? Any freedoms that we have should not be taken away, such as voting, education, and the right to own property. Someone somewhere along the lines has made sacrifices for us to enjoy these freedoms. That sacrifice could mean that these people had to survive adverse conditions and adverse situations just to give us what we have today.  We sometimes don’t realize what others, our own citizens, had in taking part in building our society.

            Since we live in a free country, all we have to worry about is how to maintain our freedom and our individual rights. Just like Chris, everyone wants to survive to enjoy the amenities in life. With our freedom and survival skills we can achieve our goals. Many times we wind up saying we don’t have enough freedom, but some freedom has to be given up in order to survive. 

Vincent

Vincent

            After listening to the story of Vincent, you really think about hope, love and care. My dad works with many handicap and disabled kids. Some of the kids he works with have Downs Syndrome, which is similar to the Vincent Syndrome. I have gotten a chance to meet some of them; their minds work so differently than yours and mine, these kids really think outside the box. Not only has my dad worked with children with Downs, but I also have as well. There was a little kid named Josh, he sounded much like Vincent, hard to understand and always off in his own little world, it was always hard to get him to focus. The only way was to talk about his favorite thing, and that was trucks, which he could talk about anytime. I found this very similar to Vincent when he was able to state all the movies his dad named.

            It was surprising to me that Vincent had a job, most disabled people don’t get the opportunity to work. He obviously has been successful throughout his life playing many sports (training for the Special Olympics) and having a job, but amidst the hectic schedule are people who don’t understand him. I can’t imagine going throughout life, with people always having to help me do even the basic things in life, such as brushing my teeth. I tried to put myself in Vincent’s shoes, and I can see the frustration that Vincent went through, which may be why Vincent quit his job. The family said he just sat in his room wasting a way his life. All his brothers and sisters got the freedom to do as they pleased, so having someone tell you what to do like a child could be hard to deal with. Though having something to take care of would help Vincent with the challenges of his life. When the mom got the chickens for Vincent to take care of, it gave Vincent something to hope for, care and love. I think he just realized loving and caring for something is a good thing, and he accepted that. The chickens kind of started his life again for him, because immediately he got involved in some of his old sports again.

            Though this story is about a man with his own syndrome, the Vincent Syndrome, it all comes back to the word love. Love is something that brings people together, and the willingness that Vincent’s parents have towards him is inseparable. I really think that the parents made Vincent’s life worth living; they were the ones that truly understood him. The love and care each one gave to Vincent helped him cope with being “different.” Recently this week, a boy similar to Vincent pasted away, his parents were the kindest people you would ever meet, there were also the most caring. This family has four other boys besides Joseph, the child with Down Syndrome, but they always made him feel special, just like Vincent and his family. I often think about how hard it would be to take care of a child with such special needs, God really had to give you a gift, and this gift was obviously given to Vincent’s family.