Blogging Around

Isana
It Matters: MLK and Obama

In this article Isana talks about how we honor Martin Luther King Jr. yet we seem to forget about this glory when it comes to our current president. His power over the nation and where he stands in the changing of racism in our nation.

I really like your argument here. I like how you take the glorification of our antiracism leaders and compare it to the atrocities that are still going on in this day and age. Obama is a great leader and has been trying very hard to make a difference in our world but it is clear that because of the color of his skin he is being persecuted. I find it so interesting how we, a nation claiming freedom and equality, have such little respect for others. I am not sure where our segregation comes from but I definitely believe education is the way to the end of discrimination. It is true that people may still not like other because of differences but I believe with education we will be able to see that color does not define a person. Nor any other classification that people are assigned. People should be judged on how they act and how they treat others. Obama is a leader in that role and I believe we as a nation will look back and say that it was a step and will will continue to try.

Gennah
Change of Mind: Postmodernism

Gennah uses great structure to talk about how after learning from Mr. Allen's teachings she was able to see the relevance of postmodernism in her life. She discusses how she sees the mediated experience and how it can be uncomfortable at times.

I really like how you took Mr. Allen's teachings and internalized them with your own life. I, too, hadn't realized the world I was living in until we went through this work sheet. I was able to see how we had progressed to this point of pure corporate life. We live in a world where our very culture is owned my the media. We live only by what the companies wants us to live and there is little or no escape. It is an interesting way to see how we have become apart of this world and even though we are owned it doesn't always mean that it's bad. However, when you said " I understand that they're trying to make it convenient so we don't have to travel to those far away lands, but I would actually much rather see the real, true thing in person where it's naturally supposed to be" (Gennah) I totally agree with you. We need to go out and experience the world instead of being stuck behind a computer or television screen and trying to touch and feel the real world. I really like the way you structured this and I agree with your feelings.

Change of Mind: Cubism

The world we live in is a world where ideas thrive. New creation moves us forward into an ever changing world. But sometimes we don't see the world around us as good or beautiful. Sometimes it confuses us and makes us feel uncomfortable. In the age of modern thinking the world was a direct experience of the individual and it is the individual who interprets their opinion.

So, being apart of this world the first time I experienced cubism I was perplexed. It seemed ugly. I couldn't find reason to the shapes, to its chaos. But then everything changed when my eyes looked upon one work of art. I had seen it before but never it's title. I never saw what it may have been trying to tell me to see. It wasn't until that moment in English when my eyes opened with a new sight that I could see the beauty of the work.

Now I know placing this on a blog gives it no justice but power behind this picture has opened my eyes to the world of cubism. This is Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 by Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp was a frenchman alive during the emerging surrealist movement. Growing up in a cultured home he was able to see beauty in new art. Nude Descending a Staircase was his first work that led him to the main stage of modern art. To many, including myself, this cumulation of lines and squiggles may be nothing but to others it radiates with a magnitude that only the sight of it can explain.

My realization came to be when I saw into the fourth dimension of this work. I saw how the art broke the boundary of time. It took away what two dimensions held and with great skill explored time compounded on itself. The main stream movement in France had just been exiting a period of romanticism where art was classical, real, and something one could easily identify and the need for an edgy form was bubbling beneath the surface. Cubism was that burst. It took reality and changed the way we looked at the world. With the invention of film, time became something that could be seen in segments. Time could be placed on top of itself and blended to be one image. Duchamp took this idea and poured out his heart into this canvas. Its beauty is different. Not because of the radiant colors, not because of the intense realism, but because it captured our lives. I didn't see it at first, but now I feel like I have new eyes. I can now appreciate and enjoy the artwork of cubist and many other artists of the modern movement.

Connection: Tenacity and College

I don't remember when it started but I think it was shortly after my brothers went to college that a feeling  of escape was brewing. My household is kind of insane. My parents both being heavily involved in theater are super drama queens and any sort of mild disturbance became a complete fiasco. Lots of yelling and complaining and to much alcohol. But I knew I couldn't do much. I knew that time would allow for my freedom and I needed to stick with it. 

GRIT "The order to keep one's resolve when faced with an unpleasant or painful duty"(apple dictionary). I didn't have it. I had to learn that the desire to flee my house was something I needed to control. My brothers told me of this wild wonderland called college. Their details were rated pg but the freedom that came with living outside of parent rule sounded splendid. However, they weren't happy with where they were. My mother made that clear to me. She made sure I didn't end up at some mediocre school. I'm not the smartest kid. I'm not the best worker. But she shaped me into someone who could push to make it enough. To make it where I would be safe and comfortable. She would say "There are doors open for everyone, but only some can see the windows that lead to real freedom". She taught me the grit. 

When I was younger I was told I was stupid. I was told I would fail and go nowhere. She taught me how to to stand up for myself. That even though I may be smashed down getting back up is the only way out. I've used it ever since. And recently college has been that push. I wanted to get into a good school. A school with a structured genetics program and that could give me the opportunity to do anything. I spent so much time working on getting things done. That work finally paid off. I got into not only Penn State but their specialized science college. 

The work I did for college taught me how to apply Grit and Tenacity. It wasn't until Humans that I learned their terms. I am no self aware of these actions and I will be able to take these skills that I've learned and apply them to the rest of my life. 

Blogging Around

Best of the Week: Philosophy
By Andrew B

In this article Andrew discusses his apprehention to reading Sophie's World. He continues to discuss the nature of the book and how he finds it creepy the way the mysterous character acts with Sophie.

I agree with you on this Andrew. Starting Sohpie's World was something I thought would be bad because I had heard stories about its awfulness. But upon reading deeper into the book I began to really enjoy it. Most of my studies of philosophy have been more eastern based and I really enjoyed this progression of philosophy from the very roots of the word. Sophie's character has been a strange one especially her interactions with Alberto and the mystical characters that seem to be appearing in her life. I am not sure if I enjoy the book because I move between highs and lows while reading it. All In all this book has provided me with more questions about reality then I had going in.


Best of this Week: Presentation
By Raina P

Raina's blog entry was very powerful. It used distinct language to help bring the reader to visualize how she felt. She altered the fonts to help drive the details down. Her blog discussed the movie Born into Brothels and it's effect on her.

For one, I really like how you formated this blog post. Instead of just reading it, it took me on a journey. When you discussed the way the movie made you feel I felt myself being pulled back to those moments. The way you worded everything just flowed and connected. I felt the same way when you talk about how the documentary made you feel like you were in India and how it made the kids matter. Even if I hadn't seen the movie I think I would still be able to sense the power out of it by the style of your writing and the ideas you bring up.

Get Organized: A tribute to Aristotle

The project that laid before me was to organize me closet. This, well, was not going to be an easy feat. The aftermath of an atomic bomb could be equivalent to the mess that stood behind those doors. I was hesitant at first to actually do this. I thought about just writing the response and not doing anything but, after some reflection, I realized that cleaning the chaos would be for the better.

It took some time to pull myself to start the retrieval. I always seem to clean a mess by making a bigger one. I pulled out the junk that was at the bottom of my closet and and organized it into clothes, garbage, and stuff that needed to leave. This step took some time but was fairly simple and was done with ease.

Then I removed the junk off the shelves. I knew my clothes on hangers were fine where they were so I didn't need to organize them. The amount of stuff that was on top in my closet was much more then I thought. I found a whole bunch of camping and climbing equipment that I thought I had lost. I then again organized between needed things and unnecessary goods. The objects that I wanted to keep I rearranged and put back in groups of likeness. Books with books. Games with games. Climbing and scouting equipment all together.

In the long run it didn't take that much time at all. The clothes, which made up most of the mess, were put into the laundry to be washed later, into the hand-me-down bin (every year my family sends clothes that I can't fit into anymore to family friends children) or they are cut into rags. I cleaned it up and it looks super nice. I even had extra time to organize my hangers.

From this I realized that if you don't think about the work and just do it it goes by faster than if you worry and let is consume your mind.

An Inconvenient Truth: We Are Not Equal

  It has been drilled into us before pre-k. All man has been created equal and is equal amongst each other. But is that really the case? Are we all equal? Because I don't think we are.

   

  As living organisms there is variation from parent to child. New mutations and new genetics. As they said in first grade, "Everyone is unique. Just like a snowflake". Well that got me thinking. If everyone is unique how can we be equal. Yes, like the snowflakes, we are all human but we have differences. No two people learn information the exactly the same way. As studies have shown there is better ways of learning but everyone is unique. People also have different learning speeds and comprehensive abilities. So no two people are equal on an curriculum standpoint. 

  Under the premise of education there also needs to be consideration for the what kind of education the students receive. Some communities don't have good school systems. It is not always their fault but it causes inequality. 

  Communities that are different has vast diversity among the people. How can anyone say that a korean american immigrant is equal to a white suburban child? It just isn't real.

EQUALITY DOES NOT MEAN EQUAL

  I do firmly believe that everyone should have the same rights and opportunities to succeed in the world. That there should be no discrimination due to race, color, creed, sexuality, family history, or genetics. The fact that we need equality is that people are not equal.

   The inconvenient truth of this world is that people aren't equal. Students should stop being taught that everyone is equal because that statement is a big fat lie. Instead, students should learn about others differences. They should be educated about the world and how people range in culture and belief. If people are taught about why people are different they are more willing to stand up and unite for equal opportunity.

Because the world we live in vastly colored and so unbelievably diverse. Even though we are not all equal. We should still uphold the ideas that everyone deserves that chance. 

Connection: Socrates and Test Tube Babies

   For about twenty-five hundred years Socrates has been claimed to be one of the worlds greatest philosophers. Her is the base of all questioning and the real start of the "What is Humanity" movement. His interesting questioning process led him to be renounded for challenging the status quo. His challenging of what is thought to be right and what should be looked deeper at.   Socrates appears in our classes novel Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. He is the bases for the main character, Sophie, to understand how little we know as people and knowing that we know little makes us wise. He is a explorative tool that can open a world to new possibilities by trying to understand what is out there.
   Recently, a huge push in scientific research has brought the attention of genetic engineering into the inner circle of daily science. This new, profound, way of making life is challenging the current views of many ethics. Now, you may be saying "what does socrates have to do with gentic engineering" but the truth is, he has everything to do with it.
   He is the push. The looking forward of new life. Test tube babies are a new creation that can limit disease and perfect humanity. It can accelerate learing and reshape humanity. However, like all things in science, ethics is apart of the decisions. Socrates always challenged what was known. And, at the root of it, that is what science is. There is the continuos test of pushing boundaries and making new limits. Socrates would challenged why create new life? Is there consequences? Does it lose humanity?
   But wouldn't he also ask why not? Wouldn't he try to find the answers for the good in it? He would look to learn about why people want this science. Why people would want better children.
   It may seem like a stretch to compare the insanity of one man twenty-five hundred years ago to a radical new science of current day, but they're both closely intertwined in the nature of what is to become of science in the future.