Journal #4 - Vacation

In the beginning, I went on summer vacation. It was the greatest time of my life. We had so much fun just chilling in our condo. But the trip there, was awful. At first, it was completely fine. Sam and I hooked up a t.v. and played Xbox for a while, my sister and her friend were asleep and my mom was driving. We were all doing just fine. But then, my sister woke up. Then it all went downhill from there. The trip was a hiving "heck" from then after. All she did was yell and scream and complain. Because of that, she made everyone else's life miserable. We made if for about 3 hours before all of this started. Now, it may have just been a coincidence that everything started going bad when my sister woke up. I believe that in every trip, at some point, no matter how good of friends the people are, they will eventually start fighting. I can't imagine how the Pilgrims must have felt when when they traveled by ship to America. They must have gotten sick of some of the people on the ship, but they had no choice. And to make it worse, they were going to another country and the only people there were the people that they were fighting with. To think about it, I didn't have it so bad when I went on vacation. The Pilgrims had it much worse, so I should be thankful that our trip was as good as it was. Also, I knew that I had the option to go home as soon as the trip was over. The Pilgrims didn't have an option to go home. They were stuck with the people they traveled with, so they should have become friends, otherwise, their lives would have been awful. Overall, I love taking long trips and I would love to travel overseas by ship, possibly to England or Germany.

Reading Reflection: Bradford

The Puritans had a very strong basis on religion, and it showed in their writings. The memoir written by William Bradford told of his journey to America. Many people are confused as to who came to America, the Pilgrims or the Puritans. Puritanism is a religion, while being a pilgrim describes a person on a religious journey. Sure, most of the Pilgrims were Puritans as well, but not all of them were. An example of that same situation would be that all Catholics are Christians, but not all Christians are Catholics. Same type of deal (sorta...). On just the first page there was a reference to God. "But it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail" (Bradford 64). The Puritans tended to refer to God a lot in their writing, mostly because God was a huge part of their lives. Another main example was when the Pilgrims were searching for a place to sleep in the cove. They were looking too close to the shore, and found themselves in a little bit of trouble. They claimed that it was by "God's good providence" (Bradford 65) that they were able to be freed. It couldn't have had anything to do with their amazing sailing abilities. The Puritans literally gave God credit for every single little thing that happened, because they believed that since everything that existed was created by God, every interaction was an act of God as well.

"They fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven..." (Bradford 65). As soon as the Pilgrims realized that they had reached a safe place, they immediately gave thanks to God. Enough said. In a passage at the beginning of chapter 11, Bradford told of the people that helped the dying Pilgrims. The people would feed them, cloth and unclothe them and make their beds (Bradford 66). Bradford then said that it was by the power of the Lord that they were not effected by sickness or lameness (Bradford 66). Basically, he said that God protected the people that were protecting them. I find that a little weird, because it almost sounds like Bradford is acknowledging that a person was responsible for doing God's work. Obviously, no man can do God's job for him, but the way it was presented in the reading, Bradford was giving thanks to a man before he gave thanks to God. Hmm...

Bradford showed many characteristics of Puritan writing, just like Rowlandson. Both left a huge stamp on their writing with their faith. I mean, it is categorized as "Puritan writing," it's obviously going to mention God a lot. The writing was really more than just mentioning God a lot though. Through the writing, it was easy to see that the Puritans really believed what they were writing. Bradford wrote about how he believed that God was watching over his people and Rowlandson wrote about how God was watching over her as she was captured. Both heavily relied on God for guidance and safety, which is why both works would definitely be classified as Puritan writing.


Bradford, William. "from Of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 64-66. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Capitivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 84-88. Print.

Journal #3 Hostage Situation

I remember a time where my skills were tested to their breaking point. I was just visiting the country of Iraq with the peace corp, and we were bringing supplies to a military base in a heavily populated war zone. Yes, the job was dangerous, but I live on danger. In fact, danger is my middle name. Anyways, we were driving out convoy into the military base with three trucks full of water, dehydrated food and toiletries to bring to the troops. While we were unloading the truck, a group of terrorists ambushed our base. They caught us completely by surprise. Three armed men grabbed the three drivers and shot them, in cold blood. That image has been burned in my mind, even after 15 years. I will never forget the faces of those scared truck drivers. They thought they were just going for a routine delivery, but in the end, they lost their lives. It was right then and there that I decided I was going to save every last person. Since I previously was a Navy Seal, I was trained in combat/hostage situations, and I possessed many skills that I knew I would need to save those innocent people. I decided that I didn't want to blow my cover right away, so I let the terrorists take me and two other people hostage. They put bags over our heads, and threw us in the back of one of the trucks. Luckily, it was the truck with the water. Once we were in the back of the truck, I could feel it moving. I tried to keep a sense of how long we had been in the truck so I could possibly judge how far we were traveling. I then took off one of my shoes, revealing the metal knife I always kept inside the sole of my shoe. Once I was free, I cut open one of the cases of water so my friends and I could drink and regain our strength. My two friends were still in complete shock, so when I cut them free, I had to convince them to stay quiet. We had been moving for what I estimated to be about 3 miles (as it turned out, we had gone about 3.4 miles) and we pulled to a halt. I told the hostages to keep their bags on their heads, and that I would take care of everything. When the man opened the back of the truck, I jumped out at him and struck him. He crumpled to the ground, and I quickly shut the back of the truck and locked it. I did not want my friends to go anywhere. I grabbed the keys off of the terrorist, and ran to the front seat of the truck, evading gunfire. I threw the truck in drive and sped off. I had a slight idea where I was, but I kept driving in one direction until I found a road. I then followed that road back to the military base. All of the soldiers were so relieved to see us, and they didn't even care that their supplies were gone. We were all flown back to the U.S., first class, and the event was never spoken of again.

Reading Reflection: Rowlandson

The Puritans were a group of Protestants who came from England to North America in search of religious freedoms. They obviously had a strong basis on faith, and it showed in their writings. In the first few lines of the Rowlandson memoir, a figure from the bible was mentioned. She referred to a quote that Job said in the bible (Rowlandson 82). Rowlandson also mentions how bitter and tough her journey was, but that God was with her to guide her (Rowlandson 83). She also mentioned that when her child died, God was with her to give her strength (Rowlandson 83). Rowlandson mentioned that she would not use "wicked and harmful" means to end her life. Religious people know that suicide is a sin that cannot ever be forgiven, so that is just another example of religion. Through out Rowlandson's entire story she lost a child and was even sold for almost nothing. Yet somehow, she still seemed to find some good in the whole ordeal through God. Bradstreet takes a similar approach as Rowlandson. In her poem, she tells of how she came to terms with the loss of her house. She said that the fire was God's will to get her to focus less on earthly possessions. God was a huge aspect of Puritan writing.

One aspect of Puritan writing may have included the Native American's hostility. Who could blame them anyways? I'm sure the Indians were not happy at all. First, the Spanish come and explore the new land and decide that they can take whatever they want from the Indians. Of course the Indians aren't going to let the Puritians do whatever they want. The Puritians probably wrote about Native American hostility because they were shocked when they came to the new land. They left their countries in search of religious freedom, but all they found were cranky Indians.

I found it interesting that both authors were women. At the time, you wouldn't picture a woman writing a book or a poem, let alone getting it published. That may have had to do with the fact that they were Puritans. They didn't conform to the typical rules of society, which was part of the reason that they left. I also found it interesting that both stories were based off factual events. Pruitians may have mainly written about events that really happened because they were effected by God. They were kind of like testimonials for how great God is. They wrote about the actual ways that God influenced their lives so that people would hear their stories and feel the same way.

Both women had to overcome some pretty steep obstacles in their lives. Rowlandson was kidnapped (or captured) by indians and Bradstreet lost her home in a fire. That message can translate into what all Puritians were going through. They moved to America to have an easier life, but at first they had some struggles. They were able to translate that through their writing, and both Bradstreet and Rowlandson were able to communicate their troubles.

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning House." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of Capitivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009.

Journal #2 - Hospitality

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a zebra. This was no ordinary zebra. This zebra was the most stylish zebra in all of the land. He wore the newest, trendiest clothes, and had the best hair style around. He wore jewelry and even wore sunglasses in the dark. This zebra was "the man." One day, the zebra went to the mall to pick up his new shoes. These were no ordinary shoes either. These shoes were the newest, coolest shoes on the market, and because the zebra was so stylish, he just had to have them. They were bright pink and green, and all the cool animals in the kingdom had them. Since zebra was a biter, he had to have them.
As soon as the zebra got his new shoes, he never wanted to take them off. He wore them everywhere. He even wore them to bed! The zebra was so excited when he got his new shoes that he wanted to show everyone. He decided to go show his friend lion his new shoes.
When he got to lion's house, he was so excited to show his friend that he didn't think to take off his shoes before running through loin's house. At zebra's house, he could wear his new shoes where ever he wanted to because he thought they were so cool. At lion's house, however, the rules were very different. Lion's mother had just spent the day planting new flowers outside the house, and on his way in, zebra walked right through a big pile of dirt. Zebra didn't notice until after he had done it, but he had tracked mud all through lion's house. He was so embarrassed, and he apologized to lion's mother. He did not mean to cause a mess, but because he didn't think about his household manners, he ended up causing lion's mother a lot of hard work! Zebra learned from his mistake, and he never wore his shoes inside someone else's house ever again.

Journal #1 - How the Zebra got its Stripes

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a zebra and a rabbit. At the time, the zebra was all black, and the rabbit was all white. The zebra was a very arrogant animal, who walked around the plains strutting his black coat in front of all the animals. The zebra thought that he was the best animal in the kingdom, and he let everyone know. The rabbit, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of the zebra. The rabbit was very quiet and shy. He also had a beautiful white coat, but he was much more modest than the zebra. He quietly hopped around and stayed out of everyone's way.
During the summer time, all of the animals in the animal kingdom gathered to have a contest. The contest was to see who had the most beautiful coat of fur in the whole kingdom. There were lions, tigers and bears, oh my! That year, the zebra decided to join the contest because he knew that he had a beautiful coat. The rabbit, even though he had a wonderful snow white coat, decided not to join. He decided to just watch the contest, because he felt that an award would just draw unwanted attention to himself.
When the contest finally came around, all of the animals gathered under the tallest tree in the land. They all lined up in groups, and the judge, the very wise owl, looked each animal up and down. The lions were very majestic, the tigers had beautiful stripes, but the standout of the group was the zebra, with his beautiful black coat. The owl then decided that the zebra was the winner.
As you would expect, the zebra was not a gracious winner. He took his title and gloated in front of all of the animals. He even made a special point to call out the white rabbit.
"Why did you not enter the contest? You think you have a beautiful coat, show it off!"
The rabbit then replied,
"I am just a quiet, humble rabbit, I have no need to be in a contest."
The zebra mocked the rabbit from then on, saying that his white coat was inferior to his coat, and even said it was ugly.
The very wise owl had been observing the events for quite some time, and was not pleased with the zebra. He spoke to the zebra.
"Zebra, you have made a fool of yourself by putting this beautiful rabbit's coat to shame. I am not pleased with your behavior. You will be punished for your actions."
There was a very bright flash of light, and when the lights cleared, the zebra was covered with white stripes.
"What has happened!" Said the zebra. "My beautiful black coat is ruined!"
The owl replied, "You will now be sentenced to live with these white stripes to remind you of the very rabbit you mocked and belittled for all for all of time!"
The zebra was devastated, and he went to quickly apologize to the rabbit, but his stripes remained even when the two animals were the best of friends.
That is how the zebra got its stripes.

Coda

Well, here we are, the final blog. This will be my last blog entry, as I have reached my summer goal of 50+ blogs. I have to say that blogging really wasn't as bad as it was made out to be. I remember last year around this time, looking on Facebook and seeing all of the Juniors rushing statuses about finishing their English blogs, and I really dreaded the thought of having to blog about the books I read. Honestly, writing essay's would have been so much simpler. It would have taken so much less time. But writing an essay for a teacher that you have never had would just be silly. There is no way to know what expectations that teacher has for writing essays, and you'll probably just fail your essays. Blogging was actually an enjoyable experience. Some students would say that they would actually read the books and get the same thing out of them as if they blogged, but lets be honest, that just isn't true. Blogging really made me pick apart the books that I read and get a fuller understanding of the novels. If I didn't blog about the books, I wouldn't know about the thematic importance of DiMaggio in The Old Man and the Sea. I probably would have just thought it was a stupid baseball reference, not a strong symbolic image that was absolutely necessary to the story. Blogging was a way to informally keep track of ideas and notes while reading a story, or after completion of the story. It made sure that I really knew and understood what I was reading, and not just going through the motions of reading a book. Blogging does require technology, but it is absolutely beneficiary to the students. I can confidently say that I really have a strong grasp on the summer English books that I read. I did choose to read 4 books, and because of the blogging required, I know that I have a good grasp on the concepts in each one. Blogging should be used in all English classes for summer work, in my opinion, because it opens up doors for personality in writing while still keeping the learning aspects intact. Blogging was definitely not a waste of my summer, and I know that I really do understand the stories that over these past few months.