Response to Myself

Blogging has been an experience where I not only have fun through writing, but is a journey of self expression. This was a new experience for me since I had never kept a blog before. I was not sure how I was going to like it. Turns out I really enjoy it. Both writing my own blog and reading what my classmates write is really fun. Also, it is true what they say “practice makes perfect” because I have developed in my writing. I can see some growth in some posts of mine. However, there are some spots where my writing could be better because I was to tired when I posted. I continue to have trouble managing my time. I find myself always rushing in the last minute to write a blog post. Or, I have writer's block and am unable to think of anything else to write. As I continue publishing blog posts, it becomes necessary to develop new habits to replace the old ones. I should make sure that all my posts have more of my true inner thoughts about the topic, a deeper understanding of my peers’ writing through response posts, and more of how my natural, daily life affects my publishing topics.

I always look for articles from others that look either interesting or are a possible “debate starter” because I have the most fun in these two areas. This is also what I look for in the posts by my classmates. Here, we have an example of what I wrote in response to Mercedes’s post about evolution in organisms.  

“ “Evolution is an interesting subject, one that affects us all. Take a look at fossils you can find in almost every museum, and compare them to the knowledge we have of their current descendants.” AHHHHHHH! Yes! And the question that comes up is why was the Brown Beetle naturally selected? What was it about that Brown Beetle that made it more attractive to the opposite gender that allowed it to multiply?! Evolution is one of the most amazing processes on Earth. To think that Darwin was able to piece it all together without the benefit of modern day scientific tools/techniques. I consider him a genius.”

Here I express my amazement about the system of evolution and how Darwin’s genius uncovered it. I was mainly referring to her writing and through that growing in my own perspective. I gave my own thoughts and opinions on the matter and how this can relate to modern day society. My response to this blog was motivated by the fact that surrounding my desk/area, I have bookshelves filled with many many books about anthropology and history. All of these books are on the bookcases today because of my mom, who highly influenced my love of anthropology and history. She and I always have conversations about modern day anthropology and of new discoveries in both anthropology and in archeology. So, while I was looking for a very engaging post by a peer to write my response to, I came across Mercedes’ post about Evolution. I began to read it and started to develop ideas about evolution.

I believe that responding to others blogs is a great way to get to know someone in a more intimate way. You know what they say, “you should write what you know, instead of what you don’t”. What I mean to say is if people take this message to heart, then they will make an impression of themselves expressed through their writing. I take this message to heart because when I publish a post, I want to make my opinion heard loud and clear. Many many people read these blogs, and I don't want anybody to get the wrong impression of my character. Also, another reason why responding to other blogs’ is great is because we could formulate other ideas from other blogs. For instance, my response to Mercedes blog was a topic starter for me. I haven't written any posts about evolution or anthropology since then, however I plan to write some in the future. As well, I also hope that one of my posts will start a chain reaction of ideas and themes. My day will come.

My inspiration mainly comes from what happened in my day or from some random thought about some random thing (i.e. my post about grocery store agricultural system) or an actual topic of importance (i.e. my response to Guns, Germs and Steel). It comes from articles I have read or discussions during dinner or from a school topic. There are endless places that I get inspiration from. My art is another thing that gives me inspiration. I use some of my work as motivators. When I write a response post, I usually am motivated by the article/post I read. I found that it is easier to write a response to an article that seems interesting to you. That's what I do in looking for a post to respond to.

“Wow! this is an amazing short story. Here, its on Constance's blog. Her use of words and description to create an awesome impression in your mind is baffling. She uses words spelled like it was written back then. The words she uses such as "neighbours’" and "colours" gives the piece a sort of special aspect about it. The way she describes the characters in her story is with so much detail and vigor that it leaves you begging for more. I have to say that I was very eager to to see what was going to happen to Tad and whether or not Darasci was going to support his search of the heavenly Eggstone. I highly recommend this to become a book and after that, a full on Motion Picture.” 

(<side note> I was going to cut things out of this but all of it really needs to there. So, I am only going to count half the words in this quote to make it fair, since it is a long quote. Also, this little side note doesn't count for words either. Thanks Mr. Sutherland! As it stands now I have 1000 words not including what I said I was going to take out.>) Here is a long but much needed quote explaining how I get inspiration to write. After reading her blog and writing a response, I quickly ran to my mom asking her to read this story that Constance had made up. It was so good!!!!! Anyway, I was really inspired to write like her; with so much emotion and dignity!!!

  So, again, I need to make sure that all my posts describe my true inner thoughts about the topic, my best understanding of my peers posts, and how I am influenced by others to write. These should be included in my writing goals for the next semester. Some, besides these, include making my themes clearer and understanding and why it is important not procrastinate. I believe that these goals will help succeed in becoming not only a better writer but a better scholar overall.

Of Mice And Men

Of Mice and Men

     John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, depicts a sad reality of the great depression and the toll it had on people. This novella explains a story about two men, one being a careless optimistic child-at-heart-man who is controlled and ruled by, second, a man that has no other interest in life than too make money. The first man is named Lennie Small and the second is George Milton; both of whom are migrant workers. Because of this, they are outcasts of society and are unable to fit in. However, the conflict remains within them selves, which is highly influenced by society. Society makes them self conscious and aware of what people say about you.  Throughout the book, the central theme is the relationship between society and self dignity and how that affects two main migrant workers.  

     Society vs. self and how that can affect two workers is shown in mostly all of pg 11. However, here, we have George fantasizing about a life without Lennie, and Lennie feeling bad about making George’s life miserable. “You can’t keep a job…” (11). This quote shows how society thinks of, specifically, Lennie. As I said before, Lennie is a tender giant, optimistic and unable to see the “evil” in people/things. This can play both a positive and a negative outcome of society’s toll on people. The story goes on to tell that Lennie begins to feel bad and decides to run away off into the hills and live by himself and leave George alone. He is full of unsettled conflicts in him like what is he doing wrong in the first place and what should he do about George? He is much undecided and very not-cautious about his own moves in the game of life.

     Perhaps one of the better examples of the central theme lies in a quote made by Lennie to himself. Here, Lennie runs away back to their (George and him) secret hiding spot. George told him to run there when they might be in trouble. Now, Lennie congratulates himself on remembering to come. “I’d di’n’t forget, you bet, God damn. Hide in the brush an’ wait for George.”(100) Here, You can get a sense that he is scared of how George will react towards Lennie’s killing of Curley’s wife, but reassures him self by saying that he did a good job of remembering to come back here in case of an emergency. He is full of uncertainty because he has always been taken care of by others, like George. Now that he does something right, he needs reassurance of “everything is going to be ok”. The main reason for this unsure state of Lennie is because society has been a motivating and convincing factor that people like Lennie (maybe a low grade form of autism) are incapable of taking care of themselves mentally and physically. This is what I see Lennie has inside him, an urge/dream unable to be answered because society has built a fence around this concept…freedom.    

     One final quote is an overall representative of the main theme. Here, Lennie is still in the hiding spot but is hallucinating Aunt Clara and rabbits coming out of the brush. They speak in his voice too! “Aunt Clara was gone, and from out of Lennie’s head there came a gigantic rabbit. It sat on it’s haunches in front of him, and waggled its ears and crinkled its nose at him. And it spoke in Lennie’s voice too.”(101-102) Lennie begins this hallucinating by feeling guilty about messing up with George. He worries that George will be so angry with him, that he will not want Lennie tending the rabbits. The rabbits represent a dream, a dream that will never come true because of reality and because of him, Lennie.

     In conclusion, I believe that the main theme of this story would be the idea of society affecting your integrity and how that affects the person (in this case Lennie or George) them selves. Dreams unaccomplished would play a big role in supporting this theme. Both Lennie and George have dreams that will never be answered due to society making them lower their dignity and integrity. Society plays a big role because it makes you believe all the crap of ways people should be or act and how differences make you “different” instead unique. So, in conclusion, we are mice among men; living as different, separated people among the “norm”, society’s definition of an individual. 

this is a quote from Meriam's blog:

Furthermore, humans are animals, were not Gods, were not magicians we are hairy beasts that need water and food to live on with enormous brains. So, this leaves me to wonder if  love is an illusion, or an accident. Animals have mates to live on and pass their genes, love has nothing to do with it, so because our brains are able to hold so much information it also came to the conclusion that we can fall in love? Off topic but homophobia isn't natural though it happens to some individuals. I know I'm not making any sense. Let me put it simple?Have humans wired our brains to love or desire the feeling to be loved over time and if so how or why?

I fully agree. like all emotions, love is a complex feeling. It derives from feeling safe or wanted. however, i disagree with hr statement about how animals don't love but just mate because they have too. there are many animals that actually "love" their mate or spouse. many seagulls wont mate with a another after their mate has died. There are many animals that follow this trait. Many elephants do the same and also some chimps, i think as well. So, yes, trying to keep their species alive may be a contributing factor, but the overall motive must lay with love. this is a subconscious motive of course.


Another thing is, how do we define love? Or, more importantly, who are we to define love? Can it even be described? Is it even really there? Well, i know i see love between animals when my dog comes and sees how my mom is doing. She is sick with the flu, we are pretty sure, and everyday, i see our dog come and wag his tall or scrape the air with his paw, tell her in his own way "you'll get better eventually, I just know it" or " how are you feeling?" What is this? LOVE? i cant really say based on i don't have hardly evidence backing me up, but that's love. Also, besides this, each person gives off a chemical that some one else in the world likes. i just the way we do things. We are chemistry sets, each and every one of us. 


So, i conclude by saying that love isn't what some dictionary tells us it is, or how strongly attracted we are to some weird chemical, but really, it is what you think it is. if you think it is a chemical reaction between two people, great, or  some definition created by a congregation of people coming together to write some dictionary, then that's fine. As long as you believe it and make it your own. Love is just one of those things that will always remain a mystery in life, that doesn't really need to be known. Let's leave it a mystery.

Reflections on “Face of a Spider” by David Quammen

     One lesson we can learn from Quammen’s reflections is to respect others’ cultures and unique differences between people. This is an important lesson, for without respect, we can not learn to see the similarities that bind us all together, and we would only see what can divide us. And this brings us to the next lesson, equality. There is no hierarchy between beings, the only hierarchy that is there is one created by us. No one is better or above others. When you have this basic foundation, you can become diverse in culture and more connected through ideas. A truly deep connection between all living things is expands and develops.

     On a more personal level, another lesson we can learn from Mr. Quammen’s reflections is always ask yourself “what are my biases or ideas that I already have in my head about the person or thing in front of me? How did those biases or ideas get in my head?” This leads us to another lesson, which is to be honest with yourself about your own biases, face them and deal with them. Only by acknowledging them can we overcome them. Lastly, Mr. Quammen’s reflections can teach us to learn to walk-our-talk, to be self-critical of what we think and how we behave based on those thoughts.

     Fear is a strong, vibrant, emotion caused by something we are afraid of; the unknown. The less we know about something, the more afraid and scared we become of it. The best way to respond to fear of someone or something different is to face it head on, to be eye-to-eye with it. Only then can we really “see” it. We can learn to respond to people or things in a more empathetic way, by putting ourselves in their shoes and truly trying to see where they’re coming from.

     My family tries to live by a motto that we’ve been adding words to since I was a baby. When someone in the family wants to add a word to the motto, we vote on it. Here is our life motto: To live a live based on Love, Compassion, Empathy, Respect, Reciprocity, Tolerance, Thankfulness, Joy and Validation! Our rule of thumb is that if something is not life-affirming then we don’t do it or say it! I believe that living these words is a great way to respond to people or things that are different, foreign, strange or even scary.