A Ladder to the Sky: Personal Reflection

            Even though my parents and I never directly conversed the discussion, all along I had considered myself to be living in the middle to upper-middle class region of our country. What clued me in were considering various variables such as being able to live in a more than comfortable house, venturing all over the United States and outside it's boarders, and knowing that my college education is paid for. I found it peculiar that the article made an argument stating that America had moved toward an appearance of "classlessness". I had always thought that America was mainly comprised of middle class citizens, opposed to the harsh gap between rich and poor like some European countries have. However after reading this article, I found that I could almost directly relate to a specific quote as well as more. The quote is, "Parents with money, education, and connections cultivate in their children the habits that the meritocracy rewards." Knowing that my parents were not born millionaires, and that they had to work hard to earn their wealth that they have today, I feel like they have instilled important habits that will allow me to do the same. As the article states, "Today, anyone may have a shot at becoming a United States Supreme Court justice or a C.E.O., and there are more and more self-made billionaires." This is a perfect example that encompasses the type of economy that my generation is living in. It's honestly amazing how we have so many opportunities to succeed under our own making. The important thing to take away from this article is that "there are poor and rich in the United States, of course, the argument goes; but as long as one can become the other, as long as there is something close to equality of opportunity, the differences between them do not add up to class barriers."  

1/2 transcendentalist

"If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing that you are cheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you your due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see that you are never cheated again (Thoreau 4)." This quote from Civil Disobedience expresses the meaning of a philosophical movement that caught fire among writers and citizens in the United States around the 1800s. Transcendentalists protest against the general state of culture and society. Their core belief was in the ultimate divinity of both nature and humans and intense feelings of self-reliance. The real question is whether or not I would follow in the footsteps of these important American writers and “conform” to the transcendentalist movement. Oh the irony!

I would consider myself a half-transcendentalist in the fact that I don’t want to protest everything my government passes and enforces. I feel that society needs rules and regulations in order for it to work smoothly. There is a quote from Self-Reliance by Emerson that comes to mind as a good example of the exact opposite theory that I believe in, “Let us affront and reprimand the smooth mediocrity and squalid contentment of the times, and hurl in the face of custom, and trade, and office, the fact which is the upshot of all history, that there is a great responsible Thinker and Actor working wherever a man works; that a true man belongs to no other time or place, but is center of things (Emerson 4)." I do not think we should hurl in the face of custom, trade, and office. Although that image is extremely graphic, I think these qualities speak to our character more and that is why we should keep them.

I said I consider myself half a transcendentalist because I do love the image of all of nature as being the Divine. I'm not really sure where I got it from, but I have always had an immense respect for the land and nature around me. It often times reminds me of something so pure and untouchable; I think that is also why I was able to connect with the idea of divinity.

In short, I would throw out all ideas of nonconformity with respects to government, but hold fast to the idea that nature is divine.

Personal Declaration of Independence

When in the Course of an older teenager’s life, it becomes necessary to assert dominance over any younger parties who happen to reside under the same roof as us; we must assume total independence to which our newly earned age has granted us.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all teenagers of the eldest variety will be endowed by our Superiors certain unalienable privileges, that among these are a later curfew, laptop superiority, and the pursuit of total dominance. That, to secure these privileges, elders are present among living quarters to validate the teenager’s superiority and to keep the peace among residents. That, whenever any younger resident tries to rise up against the grain of hierarchy, it is the right of the teenager to disown or chastise them, and to reassert total dominance. Age, indeed, will dictate the older sibling’s long establishment of rights that should not be changed for any reason whatsoever. The history of the eldest sibling is a history of repeated undermining and exploitation by those inferior in age. To prove this, let facts be revealed to the modern world.

They have refused to leave the desired elder alone especially when the eldest is most occupied.

They have called together a congregation of minions of equal annoyance to cause havoc in the threshold.

They have acquired the eldest’s assistance to transport them to obscure places at the most inconvenient of times.   

They have obstructed the eldest from using the lavatory when its private and exclusive use is most desired.

For quartering large bodies of friends over an extended period of time:

For exciting domestic insurrection among us:

In every stage of these Oppressions, we have petitioned for righteous status as noble and superior brothers and sisters by birthright and most importantly birth order. We have appealed to their native immaturity and although tied by common kindred relations they have remained deaf to the voice of superiority.

We, therefore, the first born of the household, in General Assembly, appeal to the Supreme Judge of the World, or parents, do solemnly publish and declare that we ought to be free and independent from those lower in the birth order then us. We are absolved from any and all family ties and from all duties encumbered. And in support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of our station in life, we mutually pledge to each other our friendship, our iPods, and our single bedrooms.  

Map Project

Observations:
-California is depicted as its own island with another sea that separates it from the mainland
-Entire map is in a very old form of Spanish language
-Large pieces of land or bodies of water have the same names as they do today
-Multiple rivers within the Florida and Alabama region don’t exist today
-Large animals are drawn on map to show what region they thrive in
-Lots of places are named after pre-existing countries (New Canada, New France, New Mexico)
-Sense of proportions is off, the Great Lakes are pushed much further up into Canada than actually geographically correct.
-Mountain ranges present
-Longitudinal and Latitudinal lines present
-A depiction of an Indian in legend
-Bermuda is geographically incorrect
-No religious markings present

2. The largest narrative that this map presents is how much of an influence the spanish culture had over America during that time period. This can be shown through the language that this map is written in and the fact that much of the Mexico region is finely detailed with names of regions and rivers. Another obvious narrative that this map presents is that hunting and livestock was a large part of these people’s lives. I noticed that there are large pictures of animals that live in that region all across the main land mass of America. The fact that “New France,” “New Belgium,” and “New Canada” are present on the map makes me believe that Columbus’s spanish crew that came with him to take over, were living with people of other nationalities. “issues of race, class, and gender are increasingly engaged to mark English-Puritan identity as white (Babb 62).” This quote also points out that they had to share the land with these other countries. I had also noticed that some of the map isn’t geographically correct. For example I noticed that Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans is geographically correct, but there are no rivers that match the ones I saw connected to it on the map. This could tell us how much the land has changed since the discovering of America, or it could tell us that this map gives us false information about where these geographic landmarks are. Another portion that isn’t geographically correct is in the midwest region of the map. I found that what I think is the great lakes are actually pushed much further up into Canada than is actually correct. I’m not absolutely sure that these are supposed to be the great lakes, but if they are not then that shows that much of Northern America had yet to be accurately graphed on a map.

Inaugural Words

After reviewing all the speeches, I observed that Lincoln was the only one who referenced God six times during his speech. On the web site it says that Lincoln mainly focused his second inaugural speech about the civil war. God and war are two words that I usually don't associate together in a speech of this nature. It just makes me wonder under what context he used these two words throughout his speech.

Another observation that I made was the almost every speech used the word God at least once or twice which was odd to me. Considering that the very first amendment to the constitution abolishes the right of congress to establish any religion for the nation, every president still makes a religious reference in each speech. I think it shows how deeply humanity is still scared or feels about the war over religion and how it is such a huge part of the world's history.

The final observation I made is fairly obvious, but surprisingly refreshing. Lincoln is one of the few who doesn't use the word government or nation multiple times in his speech. I like the fact that he was focused on other major issues with the country and recognized that other issues could take a back seat for a while. I don't mean to say that none of the other presidents were not in-tune or connected to the people whom they govern, it's just that sometimes the president's agenda can consist largely of what needs to be fixed in the capital.  

My Fear of Hair

It sounds really stupid, but hair absolutely creeps me out. It's not the hair that is still attached to the top of your head that gets me, it's the disgusting loose strands that seem to multiply once you find one on your shirt. It is the feeling of hair against my skin specifically that really gets me. I will not touch loose hair period! And just my luck, I don't know if it is just because I have curly hair, but I shed worse than my fluffy husky. To put it into perspective, by the time I'm done taking a shower in the morning, there is a clump of wet hair the size of a small rodent clogging the drain. I have to make one of my sisters pick it out because all I can think about is the rodent like clump crawling up my arm in a desperate attempt to reattach itself to my head. I won't even take the hair out of my brush, I will literally use it until you can no longer see the bristles. Ever wonder why I don't leave my hair down all that often? I refuse to let my hair get any excuse to dance freely against my skin.

The feeling of hair on my skin may creep me out, but the feeling of it in my mouth is a stone cold horror of mine. Let's be honest, nobody appreciates hair in his or her food to begin with, but getting hair in my mouth became a fear of mine after I watched the terrifying "G" rated movie Hotel for Dogs with my seven year old sister. There is a scene in the movie where the kids are forced to eat these horrifyingly grotesque T.V. dinner prepared by the "evil step-mom" of the film. As the kids were eating, one of them all of a sudden stops eating and carefully places the fork back on the table. He then turns to his sister with a look of utter nausea on his face. With his two fingers he pulls out the biggest and longest chunk of blond hair out from his gaping mouth. The only problem was, none of the kids have blond hair. The camera then pans over to the step-mom putting dishes away in the background and it is then that you remember that she has platinum blond hair. Ever since then, I get an involuntary gag reflex whenever I even think about that stupid movie.

Seriously god forbid I ever find a hair in my mouth. I look like such an idiot when I do find one. First I get the ever-so-appetizing gag reflex, and then I dig around frantically in every crevasse of my mouth with a quivering hand until I find the culprit. By then my stomach is trying to hurl itself outside my body to obliterate any appetite I had left.      

Harry Potter

As nerdy as it sounds, a book that I can really relate to would be Harry Potter. By no means are my parents dead, and I didn't live in a broom closet under the stairs, but it was a book that my dad would read to me every night. We would look forward to finding out what happens to the famous Harry Potter. Even though Harry Potter doesn't have a traditional family, his family of close friends and professors reminded me a lot of my own. I too agree that people don't have to be related to you by blood for you to consider them your family. Plus, the relationship that Harry had with Professor Dumbledore was close to what kind of relationship I had with my dad. I know I could go to him with anything, and he may not always give me the answer straight away, but he let me figure it out for myself.

Another way I could relate to this book was the fact that Harry Potter was nearly the same age as I was when my dad and I first started to read the series. I loved the fact that sometimes Harry would encounter the same problems that I faced in my life. Granted, he could almost always fix his problem with a little bit of magic, but I liked the fact that it humanized him. I like that he wasn't always perfect and got into trouble once in a while. It's strange to think, but I truly "grew up" with Harry. When the final book came out, my heart pained when I finished it because I knew it was truly the end. For seven years I had learned so much about a magical world that sometimes I felt like I was actually there.

The Harry Potter series made an incredable impact on so many young adults lives. Even though Harry lived in a made up world, almost everyone could still relate to the many adventures he went on or problems he faced. The series may be finished, but I will always remember my Dad and I reading those books every night.