Osama is dead!

When I first heard about this I wasn't all that thrilled. I definately wasn't sadden though. As the news of his death became more and mroe popular it began to mean more and more to me. Today in class when we discussed this topic and it brought new thoughts and ideas. This whole event has unified the nation just as it had after 9-11-01. We forgot our differences and focused on the goal at hand. That didn't stay though and we soon began arguing and bickering to ourselves all over again. Hopefully this will help keep that sense of unity, but I highly doubt it will. Our country is fighting over who's republican and who's liberal way too much. I myself even get sucked into heated debates over politics. Politics do nothing but enrage people and distract them from their duty, to serve and run our country. That's what we need more then ever. Instead of everyone critisizing each other we need to be working on ways to better ourselves as a nation. It's either that or everyone in congress is useless to me. Osama being dead may not help all too much to unify our nation, but hopefully it will raise appreciation for our military and the brave men and women in it. Too many people today are against the military when they should really be against war in general. They risk their lives to fulfill their duties, even if they don't personally agree with them. I also hope that with Osama's death there is a new found peace within the families who lost loved ones during terrorist attacks.

N19h7/M4u5 C0mp4r150n y333333

In Maus and Night both authors have their own unique style about them. In Maus the author portrays his story through visuals in the form of a comic book and depicts the Jews and the Germans and cats to help bring a sense of how helpless and small they were compared to the German captors. In Night however, the author takes a more serious note and goes into great detail about his time in Auschwitz. He does this through his powerful use of the English language that really makes this story hit home. Maus and Night are both similar however, in the fact that they tell the story of a survivor. They both tell of hope, love, and sheer will to live.  In Maus this is shown through Vladek's actions and will to save himself and the ones around him. He was almost always hopeful and always showed love and compassion to those he encountered. In Night this is shown by the author himself. He kept himself alive in order to give his father hope. He loved his father and wanted only to make him happy in such times of despair, even if it meant his suffering. Maus and Night were both great books to read. I would completely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. These books really helped me understand exactly how terrible the Holocaust really was. These books shined a whole new light on the Holocaust and compliment each other nicely.

Restrepo Blog Assignment

When the soldiers got into firefights over and over again and just hearing and see the hsots fired realy made me realize how terrifing it is to be in a war. This relates back to when Perry expressed hatred and fear for going on patrol. I realized how boring things are when you're not under fire or out patroling. This relates to all of the complaining in the beginning of the book before they got into any real action. When the soldiers in restrepo killed possibly innocent citizens in order to rid the land of the terrorists it related back to when Perry and comapny shot and allie from charlie company. When the soldiers talked about not wanting to sleep because of the horrible nightmares they had it made the visions that some of the soldiers in Fallen Angels seem more real. When one of the soldiers in restrepo dies on the battle field and most of them break into tears it showed me how close the soldiers were and how truly sad it is to see your fellow comrade and friend die by the enemy. While watching restrepo they made several call ins for hellies and jet airstrikes. This made me realize how important those things are to a war. In restrepo they need them for navigation and airstrikes while in Fallen Angels they needed them to save their skins from the enemy and the harsh jungle. In restrepo the soldiers really showed love for each other. They were like brothers. This helped me understand and see how close Perry and his campany were and how they'd rather stick together and go on more patrols then split up and have less of them. In restrepo the soldiers deminstrate how a firefight isn't something planned but something that you almost go with the flow, for lack of a better phrase. There was no real leader in the firefight, they all worked together to get themselves out of danger and to safety. This is similar to fallen angels in how someone would lead, then they would get into a firefight and then they would all work together to get out of there.In restrepo the soldiers talked about how they were affecting the civilens lives and how they could make it up to them (the cow incident). In fallen angels they talked about how they shot and killed civilens when on patrol.In restrepo a man wrote home and told his family how everything was going well and didn't even mention Restrepo's death. This is much like Fallen Angels in the fact that they decided to lie to their friends and family in order to protect them and the military from lack of volunteers.

Slaughterhouse Five doc

Please list 10 ways you can improve your essay scores

1. read the book                       6. more descriptive
2  more time                             7. better vocab
3. more instructions                   8. more expressive
4. better quotations                   9. better punctuation
5. more interesting book           10. voice


Please write any 15 thoughts about the book Slaughterhouse-5.  For each thought, please refer to a specific part of the book that generated this thought (for instance, “It was funny” receives no credit; “It was funny when he described the Tralfamadorians” receives full credit).

1. It was interesting how the auther told the story

2. It was cool how the auther said he was unstuck in time and how he time traveled through the mind I guess instead of a time machine

3. The idea of one of Trout's books was rather cool the one about Jesus

4. It had the theme of war and bombings which I find rather interesting

5. It was cool how the Tralfamadorians had a zoo made from different species from different planets

6. It was unique how humans were the only species to have "free will"

7.  I thought the "so ti goes" was a nice touch, it got repetitive after awhile though

8. It was kind of wrong and stupid how the tralfamadorians could see past present and future all at once
how can someone even have a thought when every millisecond of their life is played at once

9.  It was unique how the main character wasn't described very much and was actually rather plain

10.  It's a mystery how Montana could tell that Billy as time traveling and no one else noticed

11. it was funny how he was kicked off the radio show

12. it was funny how perverted this book was

13. it was odd how the tralfamadorians would end up just letting themselves destroy the universe

14. it was sad how the horses suffered

15. it's interesting how we never really know when the present is


State 5 possible themes for the book Slaughterhouse-5.
1. death isn't so bad

2.We live on forever

3.we should be more concerned about our present then our death

4. there is still alot we have to learn

5.we may not be the only lifeforms out there


Write a conversation between yourself and Billy Pilgrim in which he tries to teach you a lesson based on his own experiences.  You must explain IN DEPTH at least 3 specific events and details from the book in order to receive full credit.  This conversation should go on as long as it takes to demonstrate YOUR UNDERSTANDING of Billy’s experiences.
EXAMPLE:
Billy: Hello, Mr. Cheng
Mr. Cheng: Hi Billy
Billy: Have you heard about Tralfamadore?
Mr. Cheng: No, what’s that?
Billy: It’s a planet where they... etc.



B hello
J yo
B would you like to learn something new
J sure why not
B have you ever heard of the tralfamadorians
J ahhhh noo??
B well, they're advanced lifeforms who can see 4 demensions instead of 3
J continue....
B
J
B
J
B
J
B
J
B
J

Siddhartha

In Siddhartha, Siddhartha takes on the task of finding enlightenment, or Nirvana. In our small group discussion we discussed what we though Nirvana was or could possibly be. We came to the conclusion that Nirvana was when one found complete fullness and content with life. "Siddhatha listened. He was now listening intently, completely absorbed, quite empty, taking in everything. "He felt that he had now completely learned the art of listening." page 135. Siddhartha finally just relaxed, took everything in, and realized what the world was truly like.

I personally believe that the answer to Siddhartha's success was in front of him the whole time. He was constantly searching and looking for the answer to enlightenment. Siddhatha followed and felt several different teachers in his life. All of which didn't satisfy him. "Siddhartha remained silent with folded arms." "..he looked into the old man's eyes and held him there with his look, hypnotized him, made him mute, conquered his will, commanded him silently to do as he wished." These are but a few of the many times Siddhartha  found dissatisfaction in other "paths" to enlightenment. He went through all sorts of different rituals and life styles when really it's not a lifestyle at all. How I see it, Nirvana is more a state of mind. You can't reach it through physical means, only through your own mind.