The End of Blogging

I am sorry to report that blogging for our class has been... discontinued. This might be my last post, for anyone who actually cares to check their blogs anymore. Here is my last contribution to the blogging community:

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(For those of you who don't understand, those are frowney faces.)

The Climax of the Divine Comedy

Today in class we discussed Dante's vision of God and the Trinity. Dante reaches the last level of paradise, or the Empyreum, where God lives. With the help of the Virgin Mary, he is able to see a vision of God. In the vast reaches of infinity, he sees three circles: the second is a reflection of the first, and the third is a reflection of both. He sees the form of a man in the center of the circles. I thought that this was very interesting, because Cathlics believe that God had no form, yet Dante sees a form of a man. I am pretty sure Dante is catholic. They also believe that God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all the same being, yet he sees three seperate circles, although they are a reflection of each other.
One of our discussions in class was on the action point of climax in the Divine Comedy. Is it the view of Satan, or the vision of God? I personally think that it is the vision. All Satan serves as is a passageway through the bottom of Hell. The entire journey through the Inferno was to just get to the other side of the world, so Dante could get to the goal he is seeking (As stated in Canto I). I think the real goal is to reach God and have his eyes opened.

The INFERNO!!!

In class we have begun to read Dante's Inferno, a story of a man who must travel through Hell in order to get to Heaven, or Paradise. This book gives a very interesting view on Hell, or the Inferno, where there are several levels that are assigned to the varying degrees of sin. We have had several interesting discussions in my period.
Do people in Dante's Inferno have free will? In the varying levels or circles, the people are assigned a task or punishment that they must live for the rest of eternity. If they are trapped repeating the same punishment, such as pushing boulders, should they not eventually have the desire to leave the task? Or are they forced to stay there without a consciousness, simply living the punishment? The text states that it is the Justice of God that drives them to their punishment, turning fear into desire. I think that this means their guilt is what keeps them in Hell.
Another discussion was on what the white flag in the Ante-Inferno represents. I personally think that the Ante-Inferno is an unfair punishment, because people who lived a neutral life, who knew no other way, are forced to chase a white banner while hornets sting them and worms feast on their flesh. This is an overly harsh punishment for doing nothing. Anyways, I believe that the white banner represents hope. Hope for the people to escape their sins and consequences, but they can never reach it. Instead they wail and mourn for eternity.
I think the the Inferno has many interesting ideas and values and is a great center for discussion. We will continue our discussions in class.

Technology and Warfare

The advance of warfare is inextricably (oooh big word!) intertwined (another one) with the advance of technology. Warfare started out with hitting each other with fists, or sitck or something very simple. Long range combat was throwing rocks. Then technology advanced to the stone age, where stone tools were carved and used. This led to stone axes and slings for fighting. Bow and arrows were also invented after they learned to carve wood.
Soon people learned to refine bronze. This led to new weapons and armor. Swords were the biggest weapon advance. Warfare stepped into the new age as technology stepped onto the new age. Warfare became more effective as well. Stabbing someone with a sword is much more effective than beating them to death with a club. Killing became faster, which meant that armies became bigger. Bigger armies meant that society became more focused on warfare. The new focus on warfare pressured scientists and smithies to invent new weapons. Warfare advances technology as well as technology advancing warfare. When iron was discovered, weapons quickly switched over to it because it made better swords and armor.
The biggest advance in warfare was the discovery of gunpowder. The ancient Chinese used it to make rockets and flamethrowers. When it reached the West, the earliest guns were made. As warfare technology progressed over time, the distance from which people fought increased. As guns advanced into muskets, they gained range and accuracy. In the modern era, we have machine guns and snipers that are very accurate. People went from throwing rocks to sniping from a mile away. And the advance of warfare was because of technology.

The Wife of Bath vs. The Pardoner

The Canterbury tales were certainly an interesting read. Of the characters that we read, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner, I thougth the characters were interesting, and kind of vague at the same time. I think that the Canterbury Tales are meant to show a person from all of the social classes, and because of this the characters are kind of stereotipical. The notty girl who goes for older men just to have their money, and the con-artist. But the way the author describes them in such detail makes them much more of an intersting character. Although I thought the Wife of Bath's prologue was way too long and shared unnessecary details (scandalous), I thought it made the character more interesting. Her first three old husbands she marries for money, and didn't really love them. Her fourth was kind of pointless. The fifth however, was the one she loved the most, even though he beat her and made her ear deaf. She didn't marry him for the money, but for his good looks and charm. He was also a lot younger than her.
Her story was really strange. It talked about what women want most, which is control over their husbands. Then, in the end, he is forced to marry an old hag who he doesn't love. She gives him a choice between a willing and loyal wife who won't try to control him (totally goes against her own opinion on what women want) or a beautiful young wife who isn't loyal. He lets her choose, and he gets a loyal young woman. Totally ruins the moral of the story, I think. The Wife of Bath contradicts herself a lot.
The Pardoner is similar to the Wife of Bath in many ways. He decieves to get money, except he earns money by being a con artist. They both contradict themselves; the Pardoner told everyone how he lies and decieves, and at the very end he asks them to buy a pardon anyways.
He preaches that the root of all evil is desire, and he tries to get money himself. He is a total hypocrite. He story had a great moral, however. If you ask me, I think the root of all evil is desire, greed, and selfishness. When the 3 young men kill each other over money, it shows this. Some people might kill their friends to get money, but I wouldn't. I think that is an unrealistic example. But it does show that the root of evil is greed in a very creative way.

The RIght to Choose

Today in class we discussed which parts of our lives are for sale. The wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales says that our lives are for sale. I disagree with this. A lot of the time we do sell our lives to other people. But sometimes we are forced to sell ourselves. Like selling ourselves to school to get an A in biology, or working for someone else each day so our families can have money to eat. However, sometimes other people force us to sell ourselves. Like the slave trade in America or Europe. When settlers discovered African tribes in Africa, they just started shipping them off to their countries and forcing them to do their work. I think that is totally and morally wrong. The Africans did nothing to deserve slavery. Just because other people were more powerful, they forced their will upon the helpless Africans. Slavery is wrong. I think one of the worst things you can do to a person is take away their agency.

Write Now!

I am at the Write Now! Competition at UVU. We have done a lot of writing. Everyone should have gone if you want to become a better writer. They have lots of advice that I never would have thought of myself. I also learned a new style of writing, called creative nonfiction. It is kind of like a personal essay, except you don't make it personal, but more like a story. At the end you usually use a metaphor of some sort that goes along with the story. The teacher read an example of hers. The story isn't very connected at all. It is just dictating your thouhgts about that memory. Often you can use dreams or nightmares as examples (That is what I did). Anyways, I thought that Write Now! was really great. I'll come back if they do it next year.

Peronal Essays

In socratic class we are writing personal essays. They are basically stories about your life. Usually you are supposed to pick a certain aspect of your life and talk about it, like a relationship, a tragedy in your life, or some other problem. For me thinking of an idea was difficult; I don't really have any tragic stories that make up most famous personal essays. But as I looked deep withing myself, I realized I have several stories. The deeper you look into one aspect, the more memories pop into your head. I chose to talk about my brother and I, and all of things we have gone through. There are so many strories I have about that. The only problem is getting them into words. If anyone else is strugglin on an idea, I know how you feel. Just try and focus on a specific aspect or relationship, and don't think too hard. Then the memories and stories will start coming to you. As for writing it down, all I have to say is please use proper grammar. I hate having to correct papers.

Interesting Similarities Between Mormons and Muslims

There are a couple of things that I noticed were really similar between Mormon and Muslim beliefs while doing my Islam project. I'm not trying to be scariligious or anything, but here is what I noticed:

• Both religions started when an ordinary man went to a place to pray. Then they recieved a revelation from God.
• Both received a book that is the basis of their religion and is what makes their religion different.
• Both have a 'word of wisdom' that says not to drink alcohol, or do drugs, etc.
• The Muslims, under the direction of Muhammad, traveled from Mecca to Medinah in the Hajj. The Mormons, under the direction of Brigham Young, traveled across the plains to Utah.
• Both of the religions believe in peace and harmony.

Those are just some interesting things I noticed. Feel free to comment...

Gunpowder vs. Printing Press

What is the most important invention of the Chinese- Gunpowder or the Printing Press? Both are very important to modern society, but I personally believe that the printing press was probably the single most important invention in the history of the world. (Either that or harnessing electricity.) Here are the reasons why:

• Gundpowder was originally used by the Chinese to make rockets and a weapon kind of like a flamethrower that could shoot fiery projectiles up to 30 feet away. At that time, bow and arrows were better anyway, but they evolved into several different things. The biggest was guns. Guns were the new way of warfare, the way that everyone fought. Guns replaced bow and arrows in long distance fighting. Eventually we just got rid of swords, because guns were so much more efficient. It is much easier to kill an enemy from a distance and only have to pull a trigger than beating your enemy to death with a pointy metal-thing. Gunpowder is also used for fireworks, a modern version of entertainment, and for bombs/rockets, something that can take out multiple enemies at once.
• The printing press allowed education to spread to the common people. Before, a book was hand-written and could take a long time to finish, let alone copy it. In order to copy it, you had to write it down again. So only the scholars and rich people could have books, and only the rich could learn to read and write. When the printing press came around, knowledge and learning spread. People could learn how to read easier, and reading meant learning and getting an education. This allowed technology to advance and get people out of the dark ages and into the modern era.
  

Gunpowder is nice, letting us kill each other easier, but all it really did was make warfare better, and all warfare does is cause nations to hate each other. The printing press made everyone smarter and let the world expand technologically. GO PRINTING PRESS!!!!

Religion in Schools

Lately in class we have talked a lot about religion, with the history and founding of Islam and the crusades. Sometimes people bring up seminary in class as well. Mr. Dye had a talk with us about whether or not religion should be in school. I believe that studying religion is necessary for sutying the time period we are learning about. Islam and Chrisitian beliefs go hand in hand with the crusades. I think it is necessary to talk about religion. I also think that people who a really picky about seperation of church and state are really stupid. This country was founded on God. The pilgrims immigrated here so that they could have freedom of religion. When we say the pledge, we pledge allegiance to God and our country. Religion is the foundation of our nation, and now that foundation is crumbling. And without a good foundation, our nation will crumble.

Persuasion

Today in class one of our assignments was to try and convince Mr. Dye not to give us homework by persuading him in our journals. Our class was his only class who managed to do it! =) Anyway, we talked about the three methods of persuasion; logic, emotions, and ethics.

Logos (Logic)
Use practical reasoning and factual persuasive agruments. This is what our class did that other classes didn't do. I said that we already had homework from his class (our blogs and the Islam project) so we shouldn't have to have any more. It was logical reasoning.

Pathos (Emotions)
Several of the people tried to appeal to Mr. Dye's emotions to persuade him. They said that if he gave us homework, it would only make him more miserable because he would have papers to grade and waste his time. Homework would take away from his time with his family was another reason. We made him feel it was emotionally bad for him to give us himework.

Ethos (Ethics)
No one really used ethics to persuade Mr. Dye, but we read a speech by Pope Urban II, which initiated the start of the Crusades. He used a lot of ethical reasons that it was their duty to go and fight the Muslims. Ethics includes religion, right or wrong, politics, and things like that. One of Urban's main reasons was that Islam was a horrible religion and they were destroying Christianity. (Not really true, but...) So he appealed to the people's religious duties, or ethics, to get them to fight.

So anyway, I was glad we didn't have to have homework tonight. Just thought I would show off to everybody.

The Best Books of All!

Recently in Socratic Seminar we talked about how books such as the Qu'ran or the Bible are important and should be respected. They are holy books, even if we don't believe in them.
I want to know what other books are important to all of us. Brisingr, book 3 of the Eragon series, comes out on Friday, Septmember 19. I am really looking forward to it. What other books do you like? After reading this, put a post on saying your favorite book, or answer the quiz to the right.

My new and improved twisted fairy tale!!!

You may have enjoyed my past fairy tale, but this one is 10 times better! I totally changed the story line, so even if you read the lat one you can read this one. This is the 3rd draft, by the way.

Justin See
Mr. Dye
Socratic Seminar, Period 7-8
9 August 2008
Rumplestiltskin’s Hair Salon
Rumplestiltskin was famous throughout the land of Happilyjoyful for his hair salon. Yes, you heard right. He was a barber. He was a simple Frenchman who came over the sea to make his fortune in the realm of hair cutting. He was tall, and quite skinny, with fingers built to hold scissors. He always had a grin on his face, welcoming in new customers with its joyful radiance. Under his stout nose was one of those nifty French moustaches, and he was always twirling it with his long fingers. His wondrous hair, crafted by his own artistic talent, was always swept back into a small ponytail and greased down with gel. What charmed his customers the most though, was his accent. It was the most beautiful French accent that you had ever heard.
This story started on a bleak, gray morning. It was raining outside, a rare occasion in that part of the land. Gray clouds blanketed the earth, casting a shadow that seemed as though it would forever cover the people of that land. The rain was beyond cats and dogs, but rather horses and cows. The thunder seemed to shake the land to its very core, and the lightning struck viciously again and again. It was not a happy day in Happilyjoyfulland.
Everyone was inside on this bleak morning, including Rumplestiltskin. Rumplestiltskin’s shop sat on a proud little hill overlooking the small village that sprawled out beneath him in a valley. The door was the first thing that caught your attention, as it was painted as yellow as the sun a bright day. Next to it was one of those cool twisting candy cane things that for some reason signifies ‘barber’. Above the door sat a yellow sign with purple letters that said: “Le French Magnifique”. On either side of the door were two closed windows with advertisements and flyers all over them. The roof was made entirely of bright red shingles, and had a small chimney poking out in one corner. The rest of the house was made of brick, matching the roof.
Inside, on a giant purple chair, reading “The Top Ten Hair Styles of the Year”, sat Rump (his nickname). Soft French music played in the background, and the whole shop smelled subtlety of hairspray and gel. Against the wall behind him sat a row of chairs meant for his customers. Each chair had a small table next to it with scissors, razors, gel, and other hair products. In front of each chair was a mirror, with a lavish gold lining. To his side was a waiting room, complete with lush red foreign carpet with purple ling and fancy patterns, and fluffy purple chairs. There was a stack of magazines in one corner, all similar to the one Rump was reading, such as “How to Get Beautiful Hair in Ten Days” or “Why Bother with your Hair Style?” Despite all of the decorations, no one was there. All of the seats were dejectedly empty.
All of the sudden there was a knock on the door. It was a quiet, urgent knock. Rump started at the sudden noise and looked around. Then he sighed, put down his magazine, and stood up to go to the door. It swung open with a slight creak. Standing in the doorway was a teenage girl. She was dripping with rain, and her brown hair lay matted down against her face and shoulders. She wore a simple white dress, with no adornments. Although she was quite attractive, she looked horribly depressed, and her eyebrows met together in a scowl. She marched inside without being invited in. “Humph!” she grumbled, and plopped down into one of the overly padded chairs.
“May I help you, my lady?” Rump said in his wondrous accent. His smile seemed to have no effect on her downcast appearance. She stared at the ground a moment, and then replied:
“I have just been rejected.” Her voice was firm, but her lip quivered as if holding back a sob. “My boyfriend for many months has just left me.”
“Why, that is horrible!” He gasped, putting a hand to his mouth.
“I know it is you idiot! I’m the one who has had to deal with it!” She snapped back, tensing up in her chair.
“Why, how can I help you? There must be a way.” Rumple said. He seemed unaffected by her harsh attitude.
“Do you know why he rejected me?” she said quietly, ignoring his question. “It was because of my hair! Of all things!” she said, voice suddenly rising. “He wants ‘golden locks’, because my ordinary brown hair just isn’t good enough!”
Rumple began to say, “Well madame, I do specialize in that are-“
“Of course you do!” She yelled suddenly, cutting him off. “That is why I have come here!” She sunk back down in the chair, defeated. “I want to change my hair.” She began to fiddle with her hands anxiously. “I want to change it to gold!”
“What?” said Rump, a look of total surprise on his face. “No one has ever done that before! How could you do that to your perfectly good natural hair?”
“Please! I’ll do anything to do it!” she exclaimed. She put her hands together in a begging sort of way. “I must have my love back!” Her eyes were pleading, and hopeful.
Rumple didn’t reply right away. He stood up from his chair and began to pace back and forth on the brown tile floor. The only noise was the soft music in the background and the occasional thunder. Rump appeared to be deep in thought.
The girl patiently waited on her chair, her hands still held together.
“O.K., I’ll do it.” He finally declared, and his tense eyebrows finally loosening. The girl sat up, a subtle look of victory on her face. Her eyes seemed to light up for the first time. “Please take a seat.” He said, waving his arm in the direction of one of the chairs on the wall meant for his customers. The girl immediately stood up with new vigor and scrambled over to the chair. She squirmed in anticipation. But then she hesitated for a moment.
“How… how will you turn my hair to gold?” she inquired, looking at him questioningly.
“Ha! Hair into gold. That is funny. I am afraid ‘golden locks’ is only an expression, my dear.” Her mouth shaped into an ‘o’ as realization dawned on her face.
“So then… what will you do?” She asked, cocking her head to the side. A sudden serious look came upon Rumplestiltskin’s features. His head came up a little higher.
His voice lowering dramatically, and he said: “I will dye your hair blonde.” His said, and lightning flashed as he said it, adding meaning to the statement. Walking off, he said, “I’ll be right back.”
Rump walked to the back of the room, past all of the chairs and mirrors. He stopped at a large wooden door, twisted and warped with knots and lines. It stood over 9 feet tall, towering over the room ominously. In the center of the door sat a red sign, that said in white letters:
TRESPASSERS WILL HAVE THEIR HEADS SHAVEN
He walked right up to the door and gripped its giant golden doorknob, his long fingers twisting around it. He pulled it open on oiled hinges.
For a moment, the room seemed to glow with a heavenly radiance. Then, you could make out that it was, in fact, heaven, but for a hair stylist. Shelf after shelf lined the walls, filled with every hair product imaginable. There was shampoo and conditioner galore, of the highest quality. There was dandruff treatment products and hair thinning oils. There were scissors and razors from size 1 to size 20. An entire shelf was dedicated to brushes and combs of various sizes and shapes, all neatly organized into little blue baskets. On one shelf, neatly folded, were several stacks of those weird hair aprons that they use to keep hair off of your lap. In the very back of the room was perhaps the most amazing accomplishment of any barber. The entire back wall was filled with 4 giant jars, about 15 feet tall and 5 feet wide each. One was labeled BLONDE, one BRUNETTE, one REDHEAD, and one OLD LADY WHITE HAIR. Each jar was filled with hair. The girl sat and gaped at the giant jars. Rump noticed and chuckled to himself.
“Ah, yes. This is my greatest life accomplishment.” He looked at the jars adoringly. “Those jars are filled with every piece of hair from every customer I have ever had. But that is not what we need!” He said, and turned to a small case right near the jars. “We need the dye!” Opening the case, he reached inside and pulled out a small golden bottle labeled “Blonde Beauty” in tiny black letters. He held it up a look of awe on his face.
“You are the first customer I have ever used this with.” Rump said, walking out of the room. The giant door closed shut behind him without a sound.
“Oh goody!” She said joyfully. “I’m going to get my Humphrey back.” She gazed into the distance with a lovelike trance.
“Well now,” Rump said, putting his hands on his hips, “Let us begin!”
The girl buttoned on one of the hair aprons, and Rump spun her around to face the mirror. He covered her face and ears with a cloth, so the dye would not affect her skin. He opened the tiny bottle carefully. Hands trembling, he dropped one, two, then three drops into her hair. The girl shivered from the touch. He carefully smeared the dye around, doing each hair individually, like a loving parent cradling his child in his arms. Soon the dye was spread.
Rump then swung her around to a sink on the other side of the room. He pulled out a little bottle of conditioner and placed a glob in her hair. He rubbed it in, then washed out her hair with in the sink. Her hair shone brilliantly after the treatment. He pulled her back to the mirror and sprayed her hair with some more treatment. Swinging her back around to face the mirror, he pulled of the cloth with a flourish.
The girl blinked a few times to get used to the light. She slowly focused, then looked into the mirror. At first, there was no reaction. She just stared blankly at her reflection. Then a smile slowly crept onto her face. It grew and grew, until her grin went almost ear to ear. Then she laughed, a joyful, happy sound.
“Oh, Humphrey shall truly love me again!” She exclaimed. Her voice reduced to a whisper. “My hair is truly golden now.” She pulled on a lock of hair, admiring its new color and brilliance. “How can I ever thank you my dear barber?” She said, looking at him as if he were the greatest person on the planet.
“Oh yes, it is wonderful isn’t it? If only I could add your hair to my jar, it is my greatest accomplishment. Perhaps now more shall follow in your footsteps…” He glanced at the golden bottle, amazed at its power.
“Yes, well, maybe I shall return for a haircut another time? Or for another dye.”
Rump replied in a businesslike voice: “Please remember now, to retain the brilliance and color, apply conditioner every day after you shower. Do this every day for at least one week for full performance. Also, do not dye your hair for at least a month after the original dying.” She stared back at him blankly.
“OK, I suppose so. Now, what do you ask in return for this glorious deed? Do you want my handkerchief, perhaps, or my firstborn son?”
“54.95.” He said plainly, holding out a hand.
“Wait, what?” She blinked, confused.
“The price is 54.95, plus tax.” Rump said again, his hand held out expectantly.
“Why, I don’t have any money! How can I pay you? How can you expect me to pay you?” Her voice rose dangerously. “My boyfriend just broke up with me you know!”
“That is the price for my treatment. Didn’t you read the signs on the way in?” He pointed to the window, where all of the signs were.
“Well, it was raining, and I d-didn’t see them…” she stammered. She looked over at the signs, just to make sure. Sure enough, there it was. ‘Hair treatment: $54.95 plus tax.’ She frowned in frustration. Then she noticed a note on the bottom of the sign:
‘Customer satisfaction guaranteed. Full refund if not satisfied!’ A ridiculous idea suddenly came to her. She turned and faced Rumplestiltskin once more.
“Why, I do believe I am not satisfied!” She said in an accusing tone. Rump looked back at her, taken aback that she would even dare say such a thing.
“Why, this is one of my greatest works! How can you say that? I turned your hair into beautiful golden locks, just as you asked.” He glared back at her questioningly.
“But that is exactly what you did wrong. I asked you to turn my hair into gold. You did not do what I asked!” She shook a finger at him, shaking her head in disappointment. Rump just looked back at her, mouth agape. He closed it up and down, as if to say something. Then he just turned and kicked the bottle of ‘Blonde Beauty’ across the room in anger.
“This is unacceptable! I put my soul into your hair. How can you say that you are not satisfied!” He stomped around the room in frustration.
“Nope. I am not paying.” She said flatly, folding her arms.
“Fine then. If you will not pay, I will make you a deal. Unless you can guess my name, you have to go home to your boyfriend and beg him for money in return for my deed.” He said.
“It’s a deal.” She said, a smile on her face. Rumplestiltskin knew that know one could ever guess his name, no matter how hard they tried. No one had a name like him. But the girl kept smiling, as if she knew she would win.
“Why do you smile! You will never be able to guess my name.” Rump said, a bit upset by her grin.
“Then how do I know that your name is Rumplestilskin!” She yelled, laughing in his face. Any look of happiness fell off of Rump’s face.
“H-how did you know?” He asked quietly.
“You’re wearing your nametag you silly goose!” She kept laughing, holding her hands to her stomach and rocking back and forth in her chair.. He looked down and, sure enough, was a tag that said, “Hi! I’m Rumplestiltskin!” He stood there watching her for a moment, his anger slowly building as she rubbed in her victory with her horrible laughing. Just as tears came to her eyes from laughing so hard, Rump attacked. He grabbed a razor off of the table next to him and lunged at her new perfect golden hair, which he himself had created. He shaved a jagged line, right down the middle, and the hair fell in a little flurry down to the tile floor.
The girl stopped laughing, the tears coming to her eyes now ones of sorrow. It was Rump’s turn to laugh as she ran out the door into the rain, her tears hidden amongst the downpour. Rump laughed, then gathered up the hair on the floor and carried it back to his BLONDE jar.
Hailerillapamadeline ran crying all the way home, in the valley below. She was surprised to find Humphrey standing near the door, waiting for her. He held a box of chocolates tied with a pink bow and a sign that said ‘I’m Sorry.’ He looked at her, smiling. She looked back, smiling as well, her sorrow wiped away by the sight of her loved one. The he looked at her hair and gasped, first in joy at the new color, then in horror as he saw the hideous baldness down the center of her scalp. He dropped the chocolates and ran.
So Hailerillapamadeline did not live happily ever after, despite her new golden locks, and Rumplestiltskin happily continued his hair styling career for the rest of his days.


THE END

Grendel

I thought that this book was really interesting. It provided a new point on Beowulf that I never expected. It puts the monster Grendel in a miserable and pitiful state. He lives with his mom and he's like, 2000 years old! That is torture. And his mom can't even talk. That is eternal torture for you.

It also gives Grendel a background that almost makes you sympathetic for him. He was tortured by humans and is angry at the whole world. He has no life, but lives in a cave until his hunger forces him out. The book vaguely mentions he was cursed to be in that state.

Although the book was cruel, I thought it gave good insight. An interesting read.

Heroes All Alike?

In Socratic class we have studied many literature heroes, such as Achilles, Ajax, Odysseus, and Beowulf. But have you noticed the creepy similarities between all of them?

I will start with Achilles. He is a legendary warrior, big muscles, and half-god. He kills Hector, Troy's mightiest warrior, and many other of Troy's princes. He is really cocky and self-inflated. HE refuses to fight because his leader, Agamemnon, was rude to him and took his woman. Even when he is offered a mound of treasure, he says his honor is too important to go back. He only returns when forced by the gods. Yet even though he is a big jerk, everyone likes him. He survives many wounds through miraculous healing. Yet he dies because he gets shot in the heel by an arrow.

Next is Ajax. He is a giant of a man, kills many warriors, and is big and cocky and thinks he is invincible. There was a contest is between him and Odysseus about who was their best warrior. Odysseus won, and Ajax's honor was so hurt that committed suicide. And yet, everyone looked up to him.

Now is Beowulf. I haven't finished the whole book, but I am almost done. From what I've read,
he has managed to kill three legendary monsters that no one else could kill. Grendel, his mom, and the dragon. Grendel was killing people for twelve years, then all of the sudden Beowulf comes along and is so strong he rips his arm off, and received no damage himself. Then he somehow breathes underwater form a couple hours and kills Grendel's mother. She would have killed him, but his armor managed to save him and somehow found a giant sword that killed her. He was always boasting about how strong and amazing he was. When he fought the dragon, he was so cocky he told everyone to stay back, and he would kill it himself. But he ended up dying, and it was only because of his loyal servant that he managed to kill the dragon. ANd everyone looks up to him as a great hero.

Are you seeing the pattern here? They are all extremely lucky, strong, boastful, have issues with honor, and accomplish amazing deeds through some sort of luck or divine intervention. I think they all are pretty awesome, but they are all big cocky jerks as well. I think it might even be possible that all of the different stories could have descended from one original story that we don't know about. The Odyssey and Beowulf are pretty similar if you think about it...

Rumplestilksen's TRUE story

This is my twisted fairy tale for socratic class. I hope it shows you the story of Rumplestilksen in a different way...

Many of you may have heard of the fairy tale, Rumplestilksen, where a damsel in distress who is imprisoned by the price, is saved by a magical man who spins straw into gold for her. Not only that, but he asks for her firstborn child as a reward. She gets out of it, however, by guessing his extraordinarily long and ridiculous name. I must tell you, my story readers, that this is completely false. I will tell you it the real way.
Our story begins on a wonderful autumn morning in the woods of Happyjoyfulaughterland. The birds are singing, the trees are flowing in the wind, and blah blah blah. All that stuff. All of the sudden, from the trunk of a knarled tree, a hidden door swung open with a loud creak. A ragged man stepped out of the door. This is the real Rumplestilksen. He has a purple vest on over a white shirt, with brown khaki pants. His hair is long and his beard is untrimmed. He squints at the sudden light, as if he hadn’t been outside for months.
“Ah! Finally! I’m back from summer camp!” Rumplestilksen exlaimed. (Its Rump, for short.) Flinging his arms up in the air, he began to frolic merrily through the woods, relieved to get away from that dreadful prison that someone had managed make into a summer camp. While he was wandering thus, he thought he heard a strange noise. He began walking towards it, and suddenly fell into a hole in the ground, and landed in a giant pile of straw with a big ‘poof!’ He looked around, dazed, at his new surroundings.
He was in a dreary dungeon, made entirely of stone. The only source of light was the hole he had just fallen through. He was in the center of the room, in the straw. In one corner was a staircase with a black chained door at the top. Directly in front of him was a large spinning wheel. On its seat was a crying young girl. He realized that she was the source of the noise that he had heard. She had long, blonde hair that covered her weeping face. She wore a simple brown apron over a white dress. She looked up from her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks. Then a look of hope dawned on her face.
“Oh magic man who has appeared unto me in my time of need! Will you help me?” The girl exclaimed, standing and waving her arms. (She thought that he had appeared by magic, due to his sudden appearance and the cloud of dust.)
“Why, I am not magic. I came here quite by accident. In fact, I just came from a place very similar to this.” Rump said, confused. He looked around once more. “Where am I?”
The look of excitement fell off her face. “So you have not come to help me?” The girl said, bowing her head.
“No. I am just a simple man who has returned home from summer camp.” He replied, grimacing as he said ‘summer camp’.
“Humph. There are no good people to rescue a damsel in distress these days.” The girl complained, sitting back down on her seat with a ‘humph’.
“Why, I suppose I could try to help you.” Rump said slowly. “What do you need done?”
“My dreadful father sold me to the prince because he said I could spin straw into gold! Now I have been thrown into this horrible dungeon until I turn all of that straw,” she said, pointing at the large pile Rump was on, “into gold. I just don’t know what I’ll do. It’s impossible.” The damsel said hopelessly, shrugging her shoulders.
“Hmmm.” Rump mumbled. He stood up and began pacing back and forth. What have you tried so far?” He asked, looking at the girl.
“Everything! I’ve jumped on it, kicked it back and forth, mixed in water with a gold necklace, and even spit and it and yelled ‘turn into gold’! Nothing seems to work.”
“ I know just the thing!” Rump said excitedly. “You see, at my summer camp, we learned about the subatomic structure of elements, so technically, by dividing the straw into single elements, I could change the atomic mass and shift it from one form to the next! All I need is a microscope and some incisors.”
“What?” the girl said, a stained look on her face. “What do they teach at summer camps these days?”
“It didn’t deserve to be called a summer camp.” Rump mumbled. He looked around for tools for his experiment. Fortunately he managed to find a needle in the haystack for some incisors, and there just happened to be a microscope next to a skeleton which was shackled against one of the walls. So he got to work.
He began picking and prodding at the straw to find its elemental composition. Once done, he divided the different parts into piles. Then he removed single atoms from one piled and placed them in the other until it turned to gold. (Remember people, it’s a fairy tale. Magical things happen.) At first, the girl seemed interested, but quickly dozed off watching him prick at the straw. It was hard and tedious work, and he often had wrong cuts or pricked his fingers with the needle. But after hours of subatomic-surgery, he managed to at last change all the straw to gold. When he had finished, the girl was still asleep. He woke her, poking her gently.
“Wha…” she mumbled, looking around. Then she saw Rump in front of her. “Are you done?” she asked, her face lighting up.
“Yes, I managed to change all the straw into gold.” He replied, a proud look on his face. Behind him sat a large pile of shining gold.
“Wonderful! You may go now, I suppose.” she said, shooing him away with her hand.
“What!” Rump yelled angrily. “Don’t I get something in return, like a handkerchief or something?”
“What?! That’s only in fairytales. If I get a cold, I’ll need it for myself.” She said turning up her nose.
“I just spent hours of work for nothing! I must have something in return for giving you a piece of my miserable life!” Rump said, pointing an accusing finger.
“You’re supposed to rescue a damsel in distress, not help her then get paid for it! Besides, I’m in a dungeon, and I have nothing to give to you.” She crossed her arms, finalizing the statement.
Rumplestilksen was not about to be outdone by some stupid dungeon girl he thought for a moment, then got an idea. “Yes there is. The price will obviously want to marry you after you give him all of this gold. I want to have your part of your wealth after you marry him.” This was a perfectly reasonable request, of course. But the young girl was selfish, and wanted to keep all of the gold for herself. Later, she made up the story of ‘firstborn baby’ to cover up the fact that he had mad a fair request.
“No! Absolutely not!” She yelled in reply. “I don’t have to give you anything. You’re the one that volunteered to help me in the first place!” She put extra emphasis on volunteered.
“I will not leave until I get something in return!” Rump screamed back. But then he stopped for a second, and got another idea. “I’ll tell you what. If you can guess my name, I’ll leave. But if you get it wrong after 3 tries, I get what I want.”
“Fine.” She said. “I’ll do it.”
“Well, then, start guessing. You only get three tries.” He said, a look of triumph on his face.
“Why, that’s simple. It’s Rumplestilksen.” She said matter-of-factly. Rump’s jaw dropped.
“How… how did you know?!” He shouted in despair.
“You’re still wearing your tag from summer camp, silly.” He looked down on his shirt, and, sure enough, he was. Rump slapped his head.
“Farewell, then. I won the bet, fair and square.” The damsel said. She glared at him with a glint of victory in her eyes. Poor Rumplestilksen began to walk toward the door, his head bowed in defeat. But just as Rump was walking out the door, he grabbed all of the golden straw and ran. For some reason the guard outside the door did not try to stop him. The girl screamed in rage behind him as he ran away laughing, his fortune secured. Thus Rumplestilksen became rich and happy, and Hailerillapamimaryadeline was trapped in the dungeon forever.

The End

You can do anything you put your mind to!

Lots of people have heard "anything is possible", or "you can do anything if you really work at it", but some don't really accept it. But it is proved by a tiny dog who did big things.
A 8 month year old Cockapoo (a cocker-spaniel poodle mix) was heard barking in his backyard by his owners. They ran outside to see what was going on, and saw two bear cubs in their backyard, with the mother just over the fence. The puppy was barking fearlessly, despite its tiny 15-pound body. The two bear cubs retreated into a tree, and then jumped back over the fence to their awaiting mother. They all ran away from the ferocious dog.
Seriously, if a tiny dog can scare away 3 bears 50 times his size, then you can at least complete your socratic homework. You can do anything you want, if you really try. In fact, I feel like I could go take on Godzilla right now, so I will stop typing. Why don't you all go try something new?

Dreams do come true!!!

The wierdest thing has happened to me this week. I died and came back to life, and all of it was predicted! I'll give you the whole story.
My cousin, Davis (see my blog list) had a dream tuesday night that I was going to die in three days. I was kind of freaked out by that, but luckily he woke up before I died.
Thursday night, my brother Connor had a dream. It was a horrible nightmare. For some reason I woke up in the middle of the night, as if there were some sort of disturbance. Connor suddenly said: "Justin, are you awake?" I responded, "Yah." "OK. Cause I just had a nightmare, and I'm scared." It turns out he had a dream where our family was in this store, and all of the sudden the shop owner pulls out a gun and starts to aim at my littlest brother, Daxton. But I ran and tackled the guy before he could shoot. Unfortunatly, I landed on top of his gun, and I died.
Luckily I didn't really die, but it is kind of weird how dreams really can come true!

A Look into Reading

I am now reading a book called the Tipping point, on my summer reading list for school. It talks about how very small changes can affect very big things. It gives a very good example. There is a type of shoes called Hush Puppies. They were very popular when they first came out, but slowly began to fall out of fashion, like all good shoes in these days. But one year, the sales went from 30,000 sales a year to 430,000 sales. In ONE year! How could such a thing in the ever changing fashion trend happen so quickly? It was all because of one small group of kids who decided to wear Hush Puppies just because no one else would wear them. It was a group of just 10 to 25 kids. No big change. But soon, other kids in the school started to buy them as well, and soon a lot of people were wearing them in their town. A fashion designer decided to put them in a show because people around there were suddenly liking them. Soon other fashion shows had Hush Puppies as well! Now Hush Puppies were the new big shoe, and in one year the sales increased by 400,000.
Next time you see an opportunity to do something good, take it. Help that old little lady cross the street. Maybe it will start a trend of helping old ladies! Maybe the President will happen to be driving by while you are helping the old lady. Then he will want to go help an old lady cross the street. Some paparazzi will probably be stalking the president, so they will get a video of it and show it on TV, or put it on YouTube. Soon everyone will want to help old ladies cross the street! There probably wouldn't be enough old ladies for everyone to help, so all rest homes will be emptied, and everyone can help old ladies! I'm telling you, it could happen.
Remember now, the littlest difference can go a long way. Try to be part of that difference.

Why Bother with Socratic Seminar?

Why bother with dumb, boring things like:

• History? I believe history to be of great importance. It lets us learn of the past and how poeple got to where we are. We can learn learn about our past family as well. Studying the past also helps learn about the future, because history repeats itself sometimes...
• Literature? Some people just think it is confusing, boring olden times writing. It's not. Literature is not only usually interesting, but it teaches a lot of principles. It also helps us learn more history by what the people believed in the time the story was told.
• Language arts? This one is obvious. You don't want to be stupid. Language arts improves your reading, writing, and language skills which applies to pretty much every aspect of your life. So it's important.
• Geography? Let's say your brother moved to Zimbabwe. You want to send him a letter, but you don' know where Zimbabwe is. If you just took last geography class like you were supposed to, maybe you would know! Geography helps us learn more about the world and its features. It also makes travelling a lot more fun.