Journal #6 - Blaming Others

Let's be honest. There is one time when blaming others is allowed. That's what siblings are for, right? If I leave a plate on the counter or a candy wrapper on the couch and my mom questions me about it, of course I am going to blame my brother for it. College ruins this scenario, though. Whenever I go to blame my brother for things, I forget that he no longer lives in our house, and I can't use him to cover for me. Stupid college, you're killing my laziness. However, blaming innocent people (that aren't blood related) is not appropriate. It is beyond disrespectful and rude. When it involves serious matters, blaming others can be considered illegal. For instance, blaming another person for a crime that you witnessed could end up with you in jail for lying. There are harsh consequences for blaming others if you are found out. However, I believe the hardest punishments to deal with are those that you give yourself. Blaming others can cause major build up of regret inside one's self because only you know what you have done. This build up of emotion could cause major depression and moral instability. There is no worse feeling than having a regret or an internal feeling of knowing that you have done wrong. It builds up and all you want to do is come clean, but you can't when it has to do with something bad. All in all, blaming others is bad. Simple as that. You shouldn't do it because it is wrong. Even if it is a sibling, it will eventually come back and bite you in the butt. Whether it's if your parents witness you lying, or if you keep blaming them 18 years later when they are gone to college. Then you just look straight dumb, so pick just do what’s right and pick up that candy wrapper or be honest to your friend about her new haircut because their reaction (good or bad) will be ten times better than the pressure you can cause for yourself.

The Crucible:Act Two

According to the test we took in class, every person can be summed up in one out of four color personalities. The characters of The Crucible are no exception. John Proctor, popular in Act Two for his affair with Abigail Williams, is a very strong example of a gold personality. He was a proud man and worked hard to keep himself good in name. He was accused of doing bad things with Abigail and later admitted to them. He told his wife, "I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you're not, you're not, and let you remember it! Let you took sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not (Miller 55)." After all of the wrong that he did, John continued to try to keep his family together. Gold personalities are very power oriented and show leaership, so I think John fits nicely into the category (Lowry Online). The next color of the four personality types is green. Knowing that green describes a clever, research oriented person, I think Reverend Hale suits the color best (Lowry Online). He served as the peace maker for the novel. John and Elizabeth Proctor called upon Hale to help them end their marriage issues. He acted as a judge hearing both sides and making conclusions. He also spent a lot of time in search of the witches. His Christian ways caused him to examine Betty for witchcraft as if she was a science experiment. The reverend was nosy and very interesed into the religious views of the Proctor's, and he encouraged the community to testify in the witchcraft case. The next category is blue, which portrays an emotional, romantic character (Lowry Online). Out of the characters in The Crucible, I would choose Elizabeth Proctor as a blue personality. She stands up for herself against her husband, John. She tries to come off as being tough during their argument, but is really emotional through the entire thing. A similar situation happened when she was being arrested. She tried to be tough through it, but the narrator admits that there were tears in her eyes. Finally, we have a yellow personality. I am picking Abigail Williams for this group becuase she is a free spirit and does what she wants. She's a liar and looked down upon in the religion based society becuase of her wrong actions. Although she knows she is disrespected, Abigail continues to do what she wants.


Lowry, Don. "True Colors." True-colors.com. True Colors International. Web. 11 Sept. 2011.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY. Penguin, 1976. Print.

Journal #4 - 21st Century Punishment

As a preface for this journal entry, I would like to tell my mother, Joansie, to never, ever, ever, ever, ever read what I am about to write. Since it deals with consequencing the children of the 21st Century, Joansie should have nothing to do with it. Plus, I don't need to be giving my own mother ideas to ruin my life. Okay, now that that issue is covered we can begin.

Kids of the 21st Century spend all of their time glued to technology. Television, iPods, and the internet are just a few ways that my generation finds to procrastinate on work and to waste time. I have heard of many cases where parents will take away laptops or cell phones as a punishment for their children. I have never had any issue with said punishment because I am a perfect child. (Again, Joansie should never read this.) I receive complaints all the times from friends who get their phones turned off of get their keys taken away. However, if I was given the punishment of no phone or laptop, I would do anything to get them back. It would probably work very well because some kids would go crazy without these pieces of technology. Taking away cars is also a common punishment because then kids are unable to hang out with their friends let alone leave the house.

If I were a parent today, with a 21st Century child, I would use parental controls to punish my kids. I would consider television to be my life. Reality, News, criminal shows, I love them all! If it was a Thursday night, I would be looking forward to watching Jersey Shore all day. Just imagine: I go to sit down on my couch with snacks and turn the TV to channel 160 only to see a parental control pop up! I would be so mad! My mother is a baby of the baby boom generation; therefore, she is to old to understand technology. Thank goodness. (Sorry Joansie)

The Crucible: Act One

As the play opens, Reverend Parris's daughter, Betty, is ill after having fainted in the woods. She was with a group of friends, and the cause of her fainting. The doctor visits the reverend's house and tells him that he believes there are unnatural things, meaning witchcraft and the devil, that caused Betty's illness. As a reverend, Parris is obviously a very religious man, so he is quick to deny the doctor's conclusion.

So far, the narrator and the play have focused largely on Reverend Parris. "He believed he was being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God to his side (Miller 3)," the narrator admits of Parris. The Crucible mentioned the importance of God very early on in the novel. As we know from class, the Puritans lived their lives based on how God would want them to live it. Puritans included many religious references into their writings as well.

One major characteristics that was seen between the Puritans and the Native Americans was trust. At first they didn't get along, but when they began sharing each others' techniques and methids, they were able to form a friendly bond between the sides. In The Crucible the community was unable to have such a friendly bond. When word got around that the Reverend's daughter might have been involved in witchcraft, the church members started getting opinions of their own. Mrs. Ann Putnam, who was described as a haunted woman, claimed, "There are hurtful, gengeful spirits layin' hands on these children (Miller 15)." Disscusions about sex, sin, and the devil were also mentioned as being very large issues during this time. In order to calm the members of his church, Reverend Parris said, "A wide opinion's running in the parish that the Devil may be amoung us, and I would satisfy them that they are wrong (Miller 27)."

In order to find out what really happened to Betty, Parris asks her friends what went on in the forrest. Some lies were told, and the friends put a lot of the blame on Tituba, the family's slave. The young girls proved themselves to be cruel characters in the novel and cannot be trusted.

One quote that really stood out to me in Act One is as follows. "When it is recalled that until the Christian era the underworld was never regarded as a hostile area, that all gods were useful and essentially friendly to man despite occasional lapses; however, the necessity of the Devil may become evident as a weapon, a weapon designed and used time and time again in every age to whip men into a surrender to a particular church or church-state (Miller 33-34)." The Crucible has involved mystery and drama so far, and I am interested to see what Act Two holds. I'm also interested to see how the truth about what happened in the forrest comes about. If witchcraft was truely involved, I can't wait to see how the church members and even the reverend will react.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal #4- Traveling

During the summer of 2010, I traveled to Calgary, Canada to visit my aunt and uncle. I had never been out of the country, and I wasn't really excited about going. I would have much rather spent my time laying out by the pool and attending all the fun parties my friends would be having while I was gone. My expectations were very low for the trip which is why it turned out to be the greatest adventure of my life.

We left for Calgary from an airport in St. Louis, Missouri. The flight was eight hours, and I was lucky enough to be sitting by a stranger, a large, smelly female to be exact. I enjoy traveling, whether it be by train or plane, because you are surrounded by strangers. It makes me wonder where each person is from and what they do. Silly, I know, but the mystery is fascinating. When we finally arrived in Calgary, my aunt and uncle were waiting for us. Calgary, Alberta, Canada is best known for the Calgary Stampede, an internationally known horse stampede, so cowboy hats and boots were commonly seen throughout the town. In fact, the first person I saw when I departed the plane was dressed in full cowboy suit, leather belt, hat, and fur satchel included. I can remember thinking, "I'm from Pleasant Plains. I didn't need to travel to a different country to see cowboys."

While in Canada, we went white water rafting and hiked on the most beautiful mountains. We traveled up a glacier, and I got to drink water straight from it. We also got to see black bears, elk, mountain goats, and moose within yards of our vehicle. We did things on the trip that I could never have imagined or even dreamed of. Traveling to Canada ended up being the most beautiful adventure that I have ever been on. It's funny how what started as low expectations turned out to be my favorite place on earth.

Of Plymouth Plantation: Response

Two things that are commonly found in Puritan literature are a straight forward writing style and many points of religion. Both are found in William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation. The straight forward writing style was seen in the very beginning. With very little forward or intro into the story, Bradford introduces John Howland and his almost overboard experience. The surplus of details in the novel are also very simple. This makes the story easier to understand and follow. The novel is written almost diary-like in the way that the daily events are being told. New experiences, such as harsh storms, food shortage, and tough encounters with 'barbarians', are commonly discussed in the story. The events that the Puritans endured early on in this country were harsh. Their writings talked openly of the events and gave detailed descriptions of the issues. I was able to learn a lot of new things and even add on to what I already knew thanks the stories that we have been reading.

The story proved that God was of major importance to the Puritans. He was the first one that they honored when they arrived in the new country. "Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element (Bradford 65)." Of Plymouth Plantation also tells the tale of one man who planned on overthrowing many men on the ship. He wanted to get rid of all the diseased men on the ship by throwing them overboard. In the end, the man ended up becoming very ill and being the first to die and to be thrown overboard. The Puritans blamed this entire situation on the man being evil and his death was the way God repaid him. "Thus his curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him (Bradford 15)." Religion has been used in every Puritan writing piece that we have read so far.  The people lived their lives and made decisions depending on how it would be portrayed in God's eyes.

We learn a lot about the harsh relationship between the Puritans and Indians in history class. Pilgrims took over their land and pushed them out. However, Of Plymouth Plantation shows the other side of the relationship. Puritans and Indians created a peace between them, even after the struggles they had. Squanto helped join the two sides and was described as being "a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectations (Bradford 67)." He could speak fairly well English, so he was able to translate between the Puritans and the Indians. He also helped the Puritans become comfortable with life in America. He introduced them to farming and new tools and techniques.

Bradford, William. "Of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 64-67. Print.

Journal #3 - Hostage

I think being held hostage would be the greatest thing in the world! A little vacation from irritating parents and non stop homework. I could be alienated from this crazy outside world, and enjoy a little time to myself! Okay, lets cut the bull. Obviously being held hostage would be a nightmare. A little silence is nice, but I don't know how long I could survive without my "Friends" reruns and not knowing what the Kardashians are doing every minute of every day. I would miss seeing my family, not to mention my warm house and cozy bed. Insignificant daily activities, like sitting at the kitchen table with my family, shopping with my mom, and fishing with my dad would become hazy memories. It would be very upsetting for me not to be able to live life with these and many other activities. Dreams and future plans of college would no longer be in the back of my mind because I would never know when I would be free. My priorities would be drastically changed. Instead of thinking about what I am going to wear to homecoming, I would want to know when I would have my next meal.

I recently watched the interview between Diane Sawyer and Jaycee Duggard, a young girl who was held captive from the age of 11 to 30. Although not always the case, some hostages endure torture and sexual assault. This was sadly the case for Jaycee, and she went into detail of the horrible things that happened to her during the sad time in her life. I was effected strongly by her story. I know now to be more safe and not trust every one. The most important thing that I took away from her story was to be thankful for family and to live in the moment.

I am way to weak to be held captive. I would cry 24/7 and complain about everything. I think the person holding me captive would probably regret it fairly quickly because I would be very annoying.