Article "Gone."

This was a cool article. It was interesting how the guy disappeared, with the steps he took to avoid detection, like changing his basic facial features like his hair. I would find it difficult to just drop everything and attempt to disappear without anyone knowing just because of how much I interact with people. This related to Into the Wild in the sense of him just disappearing, going off without telling anyone. With Invisible Man, the narrator struggles with being invisible and wanting to change that and in this situation Evan Ratliff, wanted to become invisible, to disappear within the masses of everyday life. With Gatsby, it was the idea of changing who you used to be into who you want to be. By dropping the older ideas of yourself and recreating a new persona who can do all the things that your old one could not.

IR Blog Post 9 House passes tax deal and sends to Obama

The House of Representatives voted for the $858 Billion tax deal, they voted for it so it is now being sent to Obama to be signed into law. The new bill extends unemployment benfits for 13 months, cut payroll tax by 2% a year, and restore real estate tax to a lower level.
At the moment this does not affect me directly, however it will affect me indirectly through my parents and perhaps other members of my family.

IR Blog Post 8 Poll: Six in ten say they won't consider Palin

This article talks about how even is Rep. of Alaska Sarah Palin made a bid for presidential election next term, that most would not even consider her for the position. It is the largest amount of people who said they would not vote for a candidate. President Obama leads Palin in a hypothetical race with 54 to 39 percent. Personally I agree that I would not vote for her in the next election, however I am sure many others would disagree.
http://www.moms4sarahpalin.blogspot.com/

IR Blog post 7 Sports Cagewriter

This Article talks about the last WEC event WEC 53. In which the lightweight champion Ben Henderson was to defend his title against Anthony Pettis, and Dominic Cruz defended his  bantamweight title against Scott Jorgensen. Ben Henderson lost in spectacular fashion, Pettis used the cage to launch himself in the air and land a head kick that dropped Henderson, though it did not end the fight it led Pettis to win a unanimous decision over Henderson. Dominic Cruz handily won his fight and after the WEC merge into the UFC will fight the winner of the Gray Maynard/Frankie Edgar fight. WHile Pettis will be crowned the Last WEC bantamweight champion and the first UFC bantamweight champion, while Henderson will forever be stuck with the stigma of being the last man to lose a title in the WEC.

Theme #3 Reflection

I thought that I did well on this theme. Though my grade was not bad i felt that the idea behind my poem was misunderstood to be some form of political rant, however this was not the case. It was simply how i felt written onto the page, and it was not speaking of anything related to politics.

It seems as though style would be the area i would need to improve on, however it was also the style that was most misunderstood.

I think that my poem might have just been over analyzed, and that when taken for what it is and not attempting to divulge some deeper meaning, it would be better understood.

IR post 2

This article talks about congress having plans laid out for their lame duck session. A few bills are going to be attempt to be pushed through, the major one however is START(Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.) Because of their takeover of the House the Republicans have met with Obama many more times the usual in order to discuss their ideas for Congress.

Blog Post 1

Cagewriter article on Chael Sonnen failing his drug screening after UFC 117 where he displayed an excellent title fight against reigning Middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva. After punishing Silva for 4 and a half of their 5 round match, Sonnen was caught in a leg triangle, the same submission he has fallen too three times before. He was to be granted an immediate rematch by UFC President Dana White, then it surfaced about his failed drug screening. Sonnen had elevated levels of testosterone, which enhances ones physical performance.

IM Prolouge

It is the main character, attempting to fell less invisible, stealing as much electricity as possible, he stays off the grid, smoking pot(asked for a cigarette and was given a joint)  and listening to Louis Armstrong. He sees his mother mother in many different scenarios.

IM Introduction, Ellison Bio, and UbD Post

Ellison talks about the power literary art provides a writer through writing not the same story told a million different times about the hardships that black people went through post WWII, but a story that compares the  people themselves not through race but through actions. By crafting a character that can go through the trials of the time period and still be a symbol of the changes and the events that they had to go through as a human being.

Ellison talks about his drawing from folk tales he heard whilst working at a barbershop. He was drawing upon the rich culture that so well told stories that many knew were lies but were accepted as truth. Improvisation and word choice were the major players in his writing.

Reflection Theme #1

All I can say is that i did a very shotty job on this theme. I had taken on a prompt that I thought i could handle well, and ended up very close to just crashing a burning. The essay itself was very self fulfilling and had some form of cocky element to it. Though the story I was trying to get across was not one of those stories, I had a difficult time showing that through the paper. Maybe if I had chosen a more manageable prompt I would have done a much better job with getting my thoughts onto paper in a meaningful and interesting way.

Reflection Theme #2

I did very average with this theme. It was the first time I had actually written a resume so I am not really too surprised on the grade I received, but I am glad I did not fail. My organization is a very good area for me to improve in. I have a hard time when there is an extra element besides just writing a regular paper, that can often throw me off my game. For my next theme hopefully I can adapt to whatever the kind of theme I have to write.

The Great Gatsby Final Project

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dfs7zxnh_59cxjmbzck

2.The Great Gatsby depicts the 1920's as a generation obsessed with achieving an ideal lifestyle that varies depending on location, but generally requires excessive wealth, friends, and high social status, a similar "good life" of modern times.

3.Our original idea was to use a zooming presentation to convey images and ideas in a interactive way.

4.We had a terrible experience, I was quite surprised because I have used the medium before and never have had the problems we had before.

5.Well we were able to recreate an entire project with all our information in less than two days. I learned that technology, when it works, is a godsend, however when it does not, it as if the world itself is set against you.  Next time, I would suggest having some form of secondary project in the wings.

IR Project #1- Digital Story Telling

All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque

http://voicethread.com/?#u204354.b1442424.i7618168

The voice thread was the choice I did for the project. The jist of it was to try to show the theme which were the horrors of war through the presentation, and i thought that using a cartoonish type of web 2.0 tool wouldnt have portrayed what i wanted well enough. I think the talking about Pauls time at home was the most important and his return back to war the second most.

I have never been to fond of voicethread, however for what I wanted to do it was the most appropriate choice. Though I think that I could have done better if I had thought about a different web 2.0 tool. Though I think the voicethread is pretty good, I do not think it did the book justice in how important its message is.

Overall I enjoyed my novel. It was interesting and having read it previously for a different message, it was a interesting change to read it to discern meaning out of the text.  For the next marking period I may chose another war novel, or a novel relating to or during the time period of a war.

Chapter 9 Wrap Up

"The lawn and the drive had been browded with the faces of those who guessed at his corruption-and he had stood on those steps, concealing his incorruptible dream, as he waved them good bye."

This in the context of TGG, is Gatsby talking about the first party of Gatsby's Nick had gone to. It talks about how all the people there had guessed that Gatsby was corrupt in some way. And that even though everyone had been thinking about his being corrupt, he still stood and faced all of them and no one really new what he wanted and he just stood there and waved as if nothing was happening.

In reference to the 1920's, it talks about the corruption that everyone knows is around but everyone is content in just letting it be. Everyone could look at each other even though most everyone had some form of secret that they were keeping and still were able to look each other in the eyes and do something as regular and nonchalant as wave them goodbye.

It applies to my life as people being able to lie to your face and that you guess that they are lying but you do not know what about. It also has to deal with the world that has so many secrets to keep hidden and people are becoming less and less content with it and are asking questions about it which makes it more difficult to keep a calm face. Which ends up leaving the secret keepers a broken mess or dead like in Gatsby's case.

IDR-MP 1 #2

The Western Front of Germany during WWI

Paul and his regiment are seeing and experiencing the horrors of war and the death of friends
Almost all of the main characters have died, Kat is all that Paul has left. Though I'd guess that Kat is going to die, and paul is going to have to return home after losing all the guys he had grown close to and had considered brothers
The horrors of war, and probably the difficulty that Paul will have returning home after fighting and losing so many people close to him

Living the Good Life

Not many people get to live the good life. It entails a lot of things in order for it to be considered good. I think that some of these things would be not having to worry about where your next paycheck is coming, when you would be getting your next meal. People not having to worry about paying taxes would also be a thing to be considered in the good life. Someone who lives the good life probably does not have to worry about any type of real labor, all of their things are taken care by someone who hires them and they get to lay back and hangout all day. Their family lie is also an important factor in the good life in whether they are happy with their relationships to other members of their family and if the people around them are giving off a positive vibe.

IR Book Post

All Quiet on the Western Front

The plot of All Quiet on the Western Front surrounds Paul Baumer, who joins the military shortly after the start of WWI with his friends.
The setting is on the numerous battle fields of the Western Front, during WWI
The characters of the story,(all havent been introduced yet) are, Paul Baumer, Albert Kropp, Haie Westhus, Muller, Stanislaus Katczinsky, and Tjaden.

One of the major themes of the book is the difficulty soldiers have coping with civilian life after dealing with combat situations.

UbD & F. Scott Fitzgerald

The American dream seems to be an important aspect of what we will be studying with the Great Gatsby. How people live their lives and what they do that makes them important to the world around them. Background knowledge that could be useful is from the books we had read last year about the goings on of the south and how it affected the people who lived there and the problems that they encounter while just living normal everyday lives. Learning how to discern details will also be a major part of our studies this year so that when reading novels like The Great Gatsby we can find find the underlying message and adequately analyze the book.

Independent Reading Mp-1

have no chosen a book yet.

HIlls like White Elephants

Well, it was a very interesting short story. Though i really did not get what point it was attempting to get across, or the message. I got the idea of the hills looking like elephants, however the whole rant about how we can have everything but not have anything did not make much sense to me. It seemed as though the couple was probably having some form of rough patch in their relationship and that they might have been going on the train somewhere. Perhaps there was a much deeper problem rooted into their conversation, or maybe that is over analysis. But I do think that they are having problems in their relationship and that the girl does not want to talk about it.

What is your flavor?

The kinds of stories I enjoy reading are often about dystopian societies that have some form of reluctant hero forced to change the course of history. I also enjoy complex cat and mouse stories, where two characters pitted against one another constantly are trying to outdo the other to gain the upper hand in a bad situation. Zombie films and novels are usually at the top of my list when it comes to stories I enjoy. I've always seen the struggle to survive in a world of undead cannibalistic monsters as interesting and enjoyable. Though i do enjoy many zombie stories I am not a fan of when zombie movies do not focus on the actual point which is zombies, where they try to make them more complex than they need to be. If you are going to make a movie about zombies, it had better be about zombies, or its just a bunch of people running around screaming which no person wants to watch for two hours.