Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Journal 23

Being self sufficient is very important in life. Self sufficient means that you do not have to rely on others to do things for you because you can do them yourself. An example of this is a farmer. A farmer works the land, so they can raise their crops. Once they have cultivated the land they can eat the food that they have grown. This means that they do not have to get food from other people. They do not need to depend on someone's crops because they have their own. This is what being self sufficient means. Another example of self sufficiency is the wonderful, talented, and not to mention lovely, Helena. Helena is very crafty. She can make pants out of fleece. This means that she can make her own clothing and does not need to depend on stores. If there was an Apocalypse and everybody was cold because all the clothing stores had shut down, Helena would be alright. The beautiful and enchanting Helena would be okay because she could make her own fleece pants. Her legs would be super warm. Helena is self-sufficient in many other ways. Helena is a fabulous cook. She makes some mean cloud cookies, seven up cake, and pasta dishes. This is why when the apocalypse comes I will search and find my friend Helena. She also knows how to garden. So, I would be happy forever because the most glorious Helena would make me fleece pants and cook things for me with fresh ingredients. It turns out she can also knit. So she can make socks and mittens for me so my small hands do not freeze and fall off.  I will survive because I have a wonderful friend named Helena. Except for the fact that I wrote this blog a few days ago. It is now December 21, 2012. I guess I will not need the majestic Helena's talents that make her self sufficient because I have thus far not encountered any apocalyptic events. Oh, well. I will now focus on making myself self sufficient because you never know when the zombie apocalypse will occur.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Journal 24


Twice a year when Semester Finals begin to roll around many students begin to get very stressed out. Finals often can determine what you will get as a grade for the semester and therefore could effect your future. This is why you cannot just go into a final exam and expect to do well. If you try to wing your finals, things will not turn out good. You could possibly fail the class. This is why the best policy is to study for the semester final. There are many ways that you can do this. When I have my exams I usually start out by looking at the study guide that a teacher gives me. Because I learn visually I go through and write out all the answers to the study guide. Some teachers,however do not give out study guides. When this happens I must take a different approach. I will then go through all of my tests and homework for the semester and look at things that I frequently got wrong and practice them. This is an especially effective way to study for math finals. I practice until I know how to do them. I also review some stuff I know how to do just jog my memory. You do not want to be blindsided by the exam and not know something you should have. This is my way to doing well on the Final exam. I also advise not freaking out about the upcoming tests. You just need to stay calm and take deep breaths. If you do not you may not be able to study as effectively because you are focusing not on the material,but stressing out about the actual test itself. This could even make you get so stressed out that you go in and take the test, and then your mind completely blanks once you go into the test. Then you do not know anything and do awful on your final exam.

Friday, December 14, 2012



"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. (Emerson, "Self-Reliance")". This quote is very inspiring to me! I think it means that everybody gets to a certain point in life when they figure out they just need to be themselves and who they were meant to be. You just have to take what you got and work with it and this will lead to inner peace and happiness. There is no point envying anyone else because you are not them and you cannot change this no matter what you do ever because you will only ever be yourself. Envy is just a huge waste time, and you could be improving yourself with the energy that you use trying to be somebody else. You have to move on and just embrace who you are inside, or you will forever be unhappy.This quote also means that you should also not try to be anyone else because it is pointless and bad to you inner individual, or "suicide" as Emerson refers to it. By not being yourself you will lose all that was unique to you and not even able to be yourself ever again. This would be an undeniable tragedy to the world because there will never ever be anyone exactly like you ever again. This quote also talks about that you can achieve something truly remarkable if you keep working with yourself and improve on both your talents and faults. If you can do this then you will be successful and reap the rewards of all of the hard work that you had to put in to get there.

Journal 20


A wind softly grazed upon the antelopes fur, brushing through the lush grass that the antelope was grazing upon. As the wind swept across he savanna, the antelope caught the scent of something very strange. Warily the antelope lifted up his head to look around for the source of the odor. He breathed in again testing the smell on his palate, and a primal shudder went down his back. He knew this smell. It was the smell of death. His eyes raked the surrounding the grass nervously, but he did not flee. He was hesitant to leave this lush patch of sweet grass that beckoned to his painfully empty stomach, and had not yet been found by the other antelopes. The call of the grass was to strong for the young antelope to resist and foolishly went back to eating the succulent grass after seeing no signs of another animal in the grass. Perhaps the smell had been carried to him from miles away and a predator was nowhere in sight. The antelope bowed his head and broke the stems of the grass with his teeth and relished the cool sweet water that poured into his mouth as he chewed up the grass. He was too focused on his meal that he did not react in time to the sharp snap of a nearby stick. His head flew up; his ears alert. Yet it was too late for the antelope. Yellow eyes were racing toward him, and the antelope was caught in those entrancing strange eyes. The cheetah was only a few feet away from the antelope before he could react once more. The antelope raced away from the cheetah, but his long graceful legs could not compete with the raw strength of the cheetah. The antelope continued to run, but the cheetah had already made its move. The cheetah pounced and landed on the back of the antelope. The antelope fell and the circle of life continued.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Journal 22


I sat at my desk doodling on the scrap piece of paper as the teacher drowned on. As I shaded in my beautiful drawing of Allie, I heard a great commotion in the room. My head flew up and I looked around in bemusement trying to figure out what was happening in the class. All of my classmates were running to the windows while the teacher tried to control the new chaos of the classroom. Curious, I disobeyed the teacher's orders and rushed to the windows as well my drawing forgotten. Being too short to see over the heads of my classmates, I stood up on my tiptoes trying to see what was the cause of all of the chaos. I pushed my way into the crowd.I elbowed my way into so I could get through the masses until I reached the window. My mouth opened in surprise and I involuntarily gasped. Outside the barren landscape was becoming a winter wonderland.Ice laced the trees and the ground. The whole world was suddenly filled with glitter as the sun hit the ice. It was so beautiful.Soft snowflakes danced through the air and fell gracefully to the ground.Slowly, but surely a good amount of snow was accumulating on the ground. I put my hand on the glass of the window longing to be outside instead of confined in the classroom. I would have to wait too many hours until I could be outside in the cold snow. I resented not being out there immediately and wanted to relish in the bitingly cold air. My thoughts wondered to the quality of the snow. Would it be wet enough to make a proper snowman or a snowball? My daydreams of snow vanished as the teacher regained control of the class once again. I sat back in my seat and looked out the window, and waited until I could be a part of that wonderful glittering world.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Reaction to Self Reliance



I think that George Kateb is right in his analysis of Emerson's essay "Self Reliance". I agree with Kateb's essay "Self Reliance and the Life of the Mind" in that Emerson stands behinds his ideas with great conviction and that antagonism is essential in society and life.

One issue that I concur on with Kateb and his essay "Self Reliance and the Life of the Mind" is that Emerson stands behind his ideas strongly, and presents them with conviction to his readers. In "Self Reliance and the Life of the Mind" Kateb says, "It is well to emphasize at the start Emerson's difficulty and elusiveness. He is full of assertive sentences that may seem unconditional. Every sentence seems a declaration of faith. He seems to stand behind every utterance with his whole being, and risks his being by the completeness of his candor. His variety of declarations tempts us to say that he contradicts himself, but even if we resist the temptation, we are still not sure where he finally stands."(Kateb 2). This quote means that Emerson says what he wants to say and does so with utter conviction. He is able to write with such conviction because he believes wholly in what he is saying and is being true to himself. He doesn't censor himself and I think this is what makes Emerson's writing so fantastic.By not censoring what he believes in, his writing is very authentic and individual to him.

Another topic that I agree on with Kateb and his essay "Self Reliance and the Life of the Mind" is that antagonism is a very important part of life. Kateb says in his essay "Self Reliance and the Life of the Mind",That antagonists need each other for the sake of their own sanity is shown, Emerson thinks, in the political sphere where parties goad, check, and define each other. But antagonism—not just in politics—is the health of the whole world: its value is perpetual and to be preferred over synthesis or diluted compromise. No position is arbitrary or accidental. The self-reliant thinker will try to disclose, in every case, why a partisan must say what he says and what "insurmountable fact binds him to that side" ("The Conservative," p. 176)." (Kateb 8). This quote essentially means that by someone taking an oppossing stance, someone else can stand behind their issue more firmly because they are being challenged. Once challenged many people become even more attached to their ideas. This system of life gives the full advantage of many different ideas and directions to choose from. This can be seen in the American two party system. The Republicans may come up with a plan and the Democrats may come with a completely different plan. A compromise can be then reached between the two plans to achive the best of both worlds for the country. Antagonism also challenges the intellecual mentally, and that is why Emerson thinks that  antagonism is good for keeping away insanity.

In conclusion, I agree on many points with Kateb and his horrifically long essay entitled "Self Reliance and the Life of the Mind." Emerson is able to stand behind his convictions, and is correct in that antagonism is a good thing for the world as a whole.


Bibliography:
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind." In Emerson's Transcendental Etudes. Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 2003. Quoted as "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Updated Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= MCVRWE011&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 10, 2012).