12/21/11 Mythology

Mythology is the study of or a collection of myths. Myths help people understand how they are supposed to live according to the religion of that myth. They are slowly becoming more and more obsolete, along with other religious aspects. In todays society people think of myths as something you only learn in history class, but many things have been influenced by myths throughout history, they have shaped religion and whole civilizations, like the romans and the Greeks. without myths these civilizations wouldn't have been nearly as memorable or great as they are.

11/22 monkeys paw

The book the monkey's paw is about a family, a man, his wife, and their son. One day an old friend Sergeant Morris comes home form the war, he eats dinner with the family at their house, and as he's about to leave e drops the monkey's paw. Intrigued the family inquires about it and the man tells them the story about it. It grants three wishes to the owner, usually in the most undesirable way however. He warns them and leaves. Later that night the wife wants to see if it actually works so Mr. White, (the husband) holds it up and wishes for two-hundred pounds. Not immediately seeing results, they go back to bed. THe next day their son leaves, and later in the day, a post man comes and notifies them that their son is dead, and he was caught in the machinery. He gives them two hundred pounds. The husband sudden;y realizes his grave mistake. The wife so overcome with grief tells him to wish their son alive again, the man hesitates, but eventually does it. Then that night there is a knock on the door, and the wife goes to the door to open it because she believes it's their son, but she cannot unlock the door. The man yells to not let whatever it is outside in, and as the wife is about to unlock the last bolt on the door, he wishes his last wish which we can assume is that his son was dead again. This is a story about greed and want, and that what we want might not always be the best thing for us in the end.

12/19/11

The occupy Maine protesters do have the right to camp out in the park, but they've gone too far. The camp is giving them a bad reputation, and they need to try to find a different way to protest, its just causing problems. Especially if they aren't protesting very often, I think their purpose is defeated. And knowing that (From the last article) many other protestors are joining, and most don't even know exactly what they're protesting for, I definitely think something has to be done.

12/15/11

The first foreshadowing most noticeable was when the man being hanged saw the driftwood floating down the river before the hanging. We later learn that the wood was probably from a pier where driftwood was lodged form a flood, and that two men devise a plan to burn it down. The fact that we saw the wood hinted that something involving it would happen later. The driftwood could also resemble the story he imagines where he falls from the bridge, floats down the river like the driftwood, and he makes his way home. Another way he foreshadowed the ending was how the narrator didn't explain what exactly happened to the bridge, he almost skipped a part, but we can tell that it was his imagination because it said that he was trying to remember his wife and children one last time before it cut to the two men talking about the pier. The other foreshadowing might have been his watch that seemed to be ticking slower and slower which is how all of this happened in his head before he died.

12/9/11 turbines

The deep ocean wind turbines are a good idea I can't see any problems with it, and it provides us with a safe green energy source. It's a win win situation, where it creates jobs and money, and we get electricity. with enough electricity to power up to 37,000 homes, this would substantially reduce our carbon emission, the only problem that could possibly occur, is that the company makes the only profit from this and there is no local income.

12/7/11

I think that he will either be killed, or escape because he's pretty independent and in the end he will meet back up again with the main character Sidney. Mostly because the movie wouldn't be much longer if he didn't survive, and if there wasn't any evidence he died it wouldn't make a good ending, so we need to figure out what happens to Pran.

12/3/11

I think that the camp in Portland is more of an eyesore than a noble cause anymore. They have been there for too long. The cause is strong, but the camps should go. Especially if they don't even protest that often, the camps are just causing problems. They are attracting crimes, and i don't see that the protesting is solving any problems. Overall, I think the camps might have been a good idea to start with but its getting out of hand.

12/1/11

My favorite winter activity is having a snowball fight and making the forts fro them. This is one of my favorite things to do because the other things is do in the snow include snow-blowing and a few other less exciting activities. So it's mostly because there isn't much better to do, and with all my experience from living in Maine, I am pretty good at building forts, that's why it is my favorite winter activity

exciting 11/29/11

I would choose adventurous, because I end up traveling a lot so I get to try a lot of new things, like foods and have different experiences. New York is the biggest place to try new things that I've been to because there are so many people there from different cultures bringing the food and experiences from where they used to live and it's all crammed into that one city. I also go to michigan yearly so I have an idea of what living in the midwest is like. I also go to Florida yearly to see my other grandmother, and I have an idea of what living in the south is like as well, with all the different places I've been I feel I have a pretty good idea of what each part of the US is like. This is why adventurous would be a good word to describe my life.

11/18/11 culture shock

I think that the article contains very good advice, and that those are good steps or things to follow to help you fit in to or adjust to American culture. I think keeping active is one of the more important things that they could've touche on a little more thoroughly. The second most important part is English if you can speak like Americans, things won't feel as awkward for them and it will be easier to become friends with them.

11/14/11 Penn State

I do think that whatever the law is in Pennsylvania about child sex abuse needs to be changed because it has just been proven ineffective. If the law was effective, this wouldn't have continued for fifteen years. The law needs to be changed so that these things are reported, and reported faster. I think that it should be changed by the end of the year at least, as said in the article because this seems to be a fairly important issue that needs to be adressed. I think that the changes that need to be made are that the eyewitnesses themselves should be responsible for reporting abuse like this.

11/7/11 adapting to america

The biggest aspect in Children of the River that tehy couldn't adapt to was people's beliefs on relationships are different. In Cambodia, the parents decide who the children will marry for them. Also, in America people date each other, but Sundara and her family aren't used to that. Especially Soka doesn't like the idea of dating, she is very traditional and wants to stick to the cambodian ways. So I think that this is the most evident aspect of American culture that Sundara and her family cannot adapt to.

genocide

The word genocide means to exterminate a group of people for their beliefs, cultural group, or race, any way that a group of people can be singled out. This has happened numerous times in history. The most famous example of this would be the holocaust. Another good example would be the KKK and when people in the deep south of the U.S. killed black people because of their race.

11/1/11 The selfish giant

The story The Selfish Giant Is about a giant who goes away for seven years to his friends house, and when he returns, he finds that children have taken to playing in his garden. The giant, as selfish as he is bans the children form playing in the garden and builds a large wall around it to prevent them from getting in. The flowers and trees and grass all stop growing, because they are sad that there are no children playing there. Winter sets in permanently, and it is cold, windy, and snowy all year and the giant is confused as to why it is this way. He is unaware that the reason it is winter all year round and spring never comes is because there are no children playing in his garden. One day, the children sneak into his garden through a little hole in the wall, and sit in the trees and the spring comes back, except for in one corner of the garden where a little boy is too small to get into the tree. The giant realizes that his selfishness was the problem all along and happily runs over and puts the child in the tree and knocks down the wall. After this, the children came and played freely with him in his garden after school daily until he grew old. But the one child in the corner he helped into the tree never showed up again, even when he asked the other kids nobody knew where he lived or anything about him. Finally, on one day under the tree in the corner he found the child. When he came over he found there were wounds on his hands and feet. He asked the child who had hurt him but the child replied "…these are wounds of love" and he said "You let me play one in your garden today you shall come with me to my garden, which is paradise." This child represented Jesus, the wounds on his hands and feet were from being nailed to the cross to save us. Thats why he said they were wounds of love. When the children came back the next day they found the giant dead. The child (Jesus) was talking about heaven so when the giant came to "his garden", heaven he died and the children found him dead next to the tree.

10/28 adjust behavior

One time I had to adjust my behavior was in seventh grade. I had to adjust my working habits to fit the amount of homework I was not used to receiving. I had to spend more time on homework and less playing games in order to get all my work done. People adjust their behavior all the time, sometimes non-consciously to adjust to their situation. It's human nature.

10/26

this article did not change my view on the subject, because, it was sort term thinking, after a few years the project could pay off. Of course, we have no way of knowing that for sure. However, it did help me realize that it will probably cost more than the first article mentioned because they did not have all the facts yet. But overall, my opinion on wether the bill to renovate the center or not has not changed, I still think that it should be renovated.

10/24/11 12 yr. old

I don't know what the youngest legal age to hunt with a firearm is, but if there was one i would say twelve is a good age. to me twelves is when kids start to be more responsible, in this case, the kid should have know not to be fooling around with the safety on his gun. I think that it was partially the parent's fault for not telling him to not to play with the safety. Also it seems like the parent wasn't nearby which also doesn't seem like a good idea. But, as long as the parent is nearby, I think it is fine for kids to hunt with firearms.

10/14 and 17 Grover's Corners versus SP

I think that culture in Grover's corners does influence personal behavior and belief in a similar way to how culture influences people in South Portland today. Things like technology, media, and religion, all have huge influences on people's beliefs and opinions. Technology, for example is always improving and making things more efficient and easier, in Grover's Corners cars were just being introduced, and cars help to decrease travel time so things could get dine faster. Now, we're looking at how to make more fuel efficient cars, and we are making hybrids and electric cars. Media, I think had less of an influence on people when the play took place than it does now, people act, dress, and sometimes even talk like the famous people they see on T.V. or what they see in commercials. Religion is the opposite, it definitely had a bigger influence on people's beliefs and opinions then than it does now. People are busier now than ever before and some just cant find the time for religion. Overall the way culture influences people's beliefs and opinions is practically the same now as it was then.

10/20 season

My favorite season has to be fall. I like fall because two of my favorite holidays, thanksgiving and halloween are during fall. Also, the trees turn and fall off the trees and Maine looks nice in the fall. There is a bit of rain in early fall but that still does not change my opinion that fall is the best and my favorite season

The lottery 10/18/11

The story takes place in a village June 27th, flowers are blooming, and everything is green. The village is relatively small, about 300 people. Some kind traditional or annual lottery is taking place. Mr. Summers is an important individual in the community who is the official of the black box. The whole village gathers around the black box on a stool. Mr. Summers reads the names of the man of each family, and each man comes up and takes a slip of paper out of the box. Once all the slips are drawn, each man of the family opens his slip and finds it is blank, except for one family. After, that family come up to the box, and the slip with the black spot is placed in the box again, with some white slips, enough for each member of the family. Each member of the family, in this case the hutchinson family, draws a slip. One person gets the slip with the black dot on it. That person is stoned to death by the rest of the village, with stones gathered earlier by kids and put in a pile. The village had been repeating this ritual since it started.

10/12

My opinion on this statement is: College is very important, so for a relationship to be equally important or more important, I think you should know for sure that this is the person for you, and that it is really worth it to miss college for this person, it's a really tough situation.

10/7/11

I agree with Obama's plan, because it would give people jobs and help the economy, plus our country would be nicer, we'd have nicer facilities and things. Passing the bill would also reduce the number of unemployed people receiving funds from the government, they would actually be payed to do something. So overall, I don't see any downsides to passing thins bill.

10/5

I would vote yes on both of the questions. I have heard of this on the ballot before, some people want to build a casino, others don't want to ruin what we have here in Maine. Both sides have very reasonable valid reasons, but I think that eventually this bill will pass so why not pass it now? It would create jobs, and help the economy, by bringing in more tourists. Thats why I'd vote yes for these two questions.

10/3 Culture in Grover's Corners

One aspect that greatly effects daily life in Grover's Corners is Technology. Cars, or "Auto-mobiles" are just being introduced to the small town and is causing a disturbance among them. They say something like, "A dog used to be able sleep in the middle of Main street all day without moving, but now that's not possible." Having cars around makes transportation faster, and you can get more done. Having a car would effect anyone's life like this. In South Portland, technology has an effect just like it does anywhere else in the U.S. People are spending more and more time using the new developments in technology and has almost become and essential part of our everyday life. That is what a huge impact technology has on these two communities.

9/29

Grovers Corners is a typical old fashioned town, where life goes on the same way every day. Howie delivers the milk and Doc Gibbs talks to everyone about their injuries and if they're telling them the weather today. Everyone knows everyone else.

There are distinct social classes, there are the rich families, the poor families, and the average families.
Most of the kids get married early and stay in Grover's Corners for the rest of their lives. They are mostly republican and Protestant and white. Everyone in the town was "normal"for that time.

9/27 Fireworks

I do think that cities should be able to make their own rules and bans on fireworks. However they should have to have a valid reason. Portland has a valid reason, it's a city, and fireworks can be dangerous, but there aren't that many cities as big as Portland in Maine. So for the most part I think smaller towns should keep them legal unless it causes a serious problem.

9/23

Religion-
My religion influences my beliefs, obviously because I believe in my religion. Also it effects what I do, how I behave and what I should think of certain things, like my opinion. For example, I am Catholic so there are certain things I'm supposed to do and not supposed to do, like go to church, and believe in one god, and the bible. Some things I'm not supposed to do because of my religion, like the ten commandments. I am supposed to do other things like talk about my religion and god a lot to spread the word of God but in more modern times things like this are less practical so the influence of religion on people these days, in my opinion are less changed by their religion.

9/21 time capsule

If I was to make a time capsule for the cornerstone of the new school, I would include; some sort of apple electronic device, maybe a phone, with everyone texting they are also very popular, I would also include a popular magazine with lots of common gossip about movie stars and other people right now. One last thing I would put in there is some clothes to show how we dressed in this time period.

9/19

I think that having single gender classes is an ok idea. I don't believe that it would have that much of an impact on grades, but I guess it would be a nice option for some classes. However a big part of school is socializing with other people your age, that are both genders, and I think that it misses that point. The kids wouldn't have the same experiences interacting with the other gender. But in the end i wouldn't really want this implemented in SPHS.

9/15/11

In my opinion the renovation is a good idea and I also think that the civic center does need to be redone. However, if it is not redone the right way, it will not last long enough for us to make a profit off of it. The price does seem steep to me, but I have never paid to renovate a civic center. I know thats a lot of money and I'm also not sure if we have the money to spend on it. But, like in politics for anything making a substantial difference (like Cumberland making a profit from the renovated civic center) to happen, it takes time, and what people lack with these things is patience.

9/13 American culture

Generally, I thought that the information in this article was pretty accurate. Some of the eating habits, were a little more formal than most people do. One example is to cross your fork and knife on your plate when you're done, and to leave a little food on your plate. I know a lot of people who leave food on their plate but I don't see the knife and fork thing a whole lot. Also when people go over to eat at other people's houses it is nice to bring a small gift, but they were kind of specific with those, like chocolates, wine etc.
Overall, I thought that there was nothing really surprising in this article, and that it was mostly accurate.

My culture 9/9/11

In my culture,  A lot of my time spent outside of school is doing schoolwork. Another big part is having new experiences, traveling, trying new foods. I wear whatever i want not necessarily what the stereotype for a person with my personality would wear. I like to hang out with my friends, and experiment with things and have fun at the same time. The food I eat is whatever my mom makes or we have on hand, i don't eat out a whole lot. That's generally what my culture is like