Last Blog

I actually enjoyed the blogs more than I thought I would.  I enjoyed voicing my opinion on these diverse topics.  I the blog I enjoyed most was the music of the twenties one.  I love music and just to listen to some of those old songs really exposes the raw talent of the artists back then.  I didn't really have a least favorite blog because none of them were terribly boring and they do not really take that long to do.  I think that I put good effort into my blogs, if I have to voice my opinion, then I make sure that I can back it up with something.  I think that doing these blogs helped me mature my writing style, and I always enjoy researching topics.  I would not say they are my favorite assignment, but they are no where near my least favorite either.  I learned how to write in a way that is both concise and somewhat intelligent by doing these blogs.  I also like that they provide some extra points each week.

Mrs. Wolff

I would imagine that it would be very hard to be a new teacher at Lutheran.  I think that she should keep special events such as Gatsby Day because they are nice rewards for accomplishing things.  In my opinion I would scrap the Scarlet Letter because it was boring to read, and the other stories of the time more than made up for it.  I have enjoyed every book besides the Scarlet Letter so she should keep all of those.  I also like the way the tests are formatted, state your opinion, and then back it up with facts.  I think that these tests more accurately test a student's knowledge.  The amount of papers we do is good because there are not too few, and not too many.  Overall, I would keep everything the same except scrap the Scarlet Letter.

The Great Gatsby

"I Ain't Misbehavin'" - Fats Waller. I chose this to describe when Gatsby sees Daisy.  This song talks about how there is no one to share love with but the other person.  Whenever Gatsby sees Daisy, he is always taken by her, he wants to be with her all the time.  Unfortunately, she is married.
"Blue Skies" - Irving Berlin.  I chose this song to describe the lifestyle of Gatsby.  He lives a life full of parties and fun, well for most people.  This song talks about bluebirds flying in the sky, and they are usually a symbol of happiness.  Gatsby may not be a very happy man, but the people at his parties usually are.
"Rhapsody in Blue" - George Gershwin.  Although this song has no lyrics, I think that it describes the rich people of the perfectly.  This song just gives me an image of sharply dressed people walking down the street.  This describes the Egg portions of New York perfectly.  Even though they have their differences, both the Eggs are very wealthy and this song gives an image of unmatched class.
"Ol' Man River" - Oscar Hammerstein II.  This song matches the end of the book perfectly.  This song talks about hardships and sadness.  The end of the Great Gatsby is very sad because almost everyone that is cared about is killed.  Through the lyrics of this song, an image of the same kind of sadness is felt at the end of the book.

Mark Twain's Wit

"Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen." -Mark Twain I really like this quote because it talks about how nothing is impossible. Many people talk about how is or that cannot happen and that just makes everyone sad or depressed abut that subject. If more people fpbelieved in what they do, then there would be much more accomplished. The word impossible is not a work that I like to use when describing things. I know of a baby boy that was born with brain cancer, the doctors said he had two weeks to live. He is now almost one year old and his body is almost completely ridden of cancer. If anything was impossible, it was for this boy to live, and he is now acting like a normal baby. Even in Biblical times, the fight of David and Goliath, a boy killed a nine foot Philistine warrior. That was a truly "impossible" task especially for a young boy. Impossible is a word that is overused, and not necessarily correct. I think this quote could also help encorage people through tough times.

What's good?

I really like the musical group John Mark McMillan. This is a Christian indie rock band, and they are my favorite band currently. Their music is not really like any other Christian bands, and part of that is because of the lyrics. The lyrics that John Mark writes are so vivid, for example in many songs by Christian bands talk about Christs death in a away that is very soft, in John Mark's songs he talks about how Christ was murdered. That just has always really resonated with me because the songs tell it how it was. John Mark has many amazing songs, and he is, in my opinion, one of the greatest lyracists in the music industry. John Mark McMillan also is the band of my favorite guitarist, James Duke. James Duke is a phenomenal guitarist, and I get much of my inspiration from him. I try to produce a sound similar to his when I play. Overall John Mark McMillan is a great band and I would suggest them to anyone.

Stories of the Quest for Civil Rights

http://www.kansan.com/news/2012/mar/12/civil-rights-activist-focuses-modern-society/

I found this article and was instantly intrigued.  I knew that during the times of racial segregation African Americans could be arrested for harassing or even talking to white people.  I did not know that white people could be arrested for talking to African Americans.  Of course, Zellner was arrested because he was talking with who the racist community would call "Extremists," but I still think that that is ridiculous.  This article showed how racist people were during the Civil Rights Movement, I think it was great the Zellner was willing to be thrown in prison many a time just because he wanted to write a paper on racial problems among other things.  This article shows just how bad things were, in "A Letter from Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. talks about unjust laws, and this article shows some of those and how people needed to break these laws because they hurt everyone.

Harlem

Harlem was a place that was unusually revolutionary.  One reform was in music, in Harlem, genres of music called Blues and Jazz  were formed there.  Famous musicians such as Duke Ellington and James Reese Europe came out of here.  In Harlem, there were music clubs all over, and famous musicians such as Duke Ellington would play at these clubs.  The genre, Blues, was developed out of poetry, the Harlem Renaissance poets often wrote their poems with a beat, and musicians took this idea and made great music out of it.  Blues gave way to a number of music genres, and many of the genres that are popular today were formed out of Blues.  Music was a major part of the Harlem culture.