SSR

 I have been told that ever since I was a little girl I have loved to read books.  My mom tells me that I would see her reading her books and I would ask for one to or I would find her books lying around the house and carry them around everywhere we went.  So one day she took me to rent some picture books and I was I love.  As I got older I would go to the library and get longer harder to read books.

In every English class that I have had there has always been a day that is designated to read books for our own entertainment. Starting ERW this school year I remember wondering what day we were going to designate to read our own books.  A couple weeks went by and Ms. Fletcher never mentioned anything about reading and I remember thinking "well I guess we don’t read our own books in twelfth grade".  But now we get to read every Monday and I look forward to going to third period.  I would say that it is because I know that we are going to be able to read out own books.   

Recently we have started to reread a book series written by Simone Elkeles.  The books are about two teens that come from totally different back grounds ethnicity wise and money wise.  But as time goes on they go from hating each other to falling for each other, and they had to put up with the gossip that started going around at school and at home.  I recommend these books to anyone who likes to read teen romance or teen drama books.

        Fate loves the fearless.” ― James Russell Lowell  

     This quote i find every true. Seniors were at the stage in high school where the fear is overwhelming,  and if you denied that well, you must be the person who holds all the fear in . Fear in all i think about and it definitely changing my fate.Why should  I give up college and go to a trade school  just because i have the huge fear of failing the placement exams. then there the money issue too.  the fear it should take control  on anybody's life including mine . I  know that now, so what if i don't pass those test just mean i have to work hard to rise up and get to the place i want be ,cause Fate loves the FEARLESS.             

                                                              Animal Rights

   Does anyone less find this a hard topic to read and disuse about.  I know for me it hard to hear what they do to these poor animals, though i have to emit that some of these thing that we read in these articles are interseting. I was taking to Ashly about the"A Change of Hart about Animals" articel ( if y'all don't  know Ashly, your life in lonely) and knowing Ashly, she has the mind that thinks so logically about things and she pulled this one part out of the article about the pigs and how humans should spend at less 20 seconds with them; she clearly said " it probably the 20secound before the kill them" well something along those lines . I have no clue what i trying to say. this is a really bad blog . There really no point to this, i just wanted to know if anyone finds this topic hard to think about emotionally.                  

Human Perspective #1

Anthropocentrism. This is a word that changed my entire perspective in life and was something I just learned about a few months ago. Reading my novel for APES this past summer, I was given the opportunity to ponder in awe of the world and its tragedy---the human race. The anthropocentric perspective is the idea that humanity will never be able to understand the view of a species other than its self. All things have to do with our life, our needs, our wants, and our survival. That's just how it is. There's no other way going about it. We will never fully understand the mysteries of other life forms and live out what we are all missing. It'll just be empty. That is humanity.

Yup. It's a tragedy. I was really upset discovering this idea of mine. It, of course, is possibly or even entirely, disagreeable or even stupid, but for some reason it really hits home for me. Everything turns ugly and happiness becomes selfish intent. Its a frozen feeling to realize that humanity is all about humanity. We live our lives for ourselves and for no other cycle. We do not contribute willingly. It is difficult for us to sacrifice and understand the reason and purpose of natural, ignorant, animal instinct.

Anthropocentrism is something we all, as the human race, share. We are trapped. It is the religion and the disbelief.

As for animal rights, humans perceive in the act of perceiving something they are familiar with and want, which includes human emotions. Jeremy Rifkin's article "A Change of Heart about Animals" opens up the human idea that animals are capable of emotions and are "more like us than we had ever imagined." (2) This line brought back all the frustrating thoughts. There is no respect given to anything that we don't know. There is instead fear followed by the power of manipulation. We manipulate to defeat what we fear, don't know and don't understand. Animals have an intimidating advantage of seeing a world we will never be able to see. Yet, with our grand minds, we are able to manipulate and use these beings to try to live out a life to figure something out, to be somewhat fulfilled.

Humanity has surely declined in understanding. Everything isn't literal. That is the language of humanity, and with it, barely anything meaningful suffices. Yet, with a certain depth in understanding, a reflection beyond the spectrum of "self", the purpose of an outside perspective, its wisdom and knowledge above this anthropocentric view, found in animals and organisms other that humans, will allow for a different language. It speaks something that goes beyond our humanity and reaches out to the great unknown. And, most importantly, it is nothing "like us" at all.

Annotating!!!

I had always heard that annotating pieces of literature is an excellent thing to do because it helps you understand the piece in depth, that it gives you a better understanding of what the author is trying to communicate through their work. I’ve always heard that but never really played too much attention to it.  Like the teachers said, it was optional. I wouldn’t get points for doing it nor get points taken off if I didn’t.  Because it wasn’t mandatory I wouldn’t annotate.  Why would I do extra work if I didn’t benefit from it?  What I didn’t realize was that annotating these pieces of literature would actually benefit immensely.

In my English 11 class last year at times it was required to annotate, but usually just the main ideas and vocabulary words, which usually would be words the majority of the class didn’t know its meaning.  Now in ERW annotating is a requirement.  In the packets Ms.Fletch gives us we are asked to go over each short story and find the key points, words we don’t understand, or just things that stand out to us.  We’re asked to give our opinions on certain ideas and declare weather we agree or not.  At first when Ms.Fletch told us we would be required to annotate in depth I was a bit mad. Not like oh my mad but just annoyed that I would have to do extra work, but yet again ERW is not easy class.  Before I choose to enroll in it, I was told it would be a course that would require time and dedication.  Therefore I put my whininess aside and did as I was told.

Now that I’m used to annotate the stories I have grown to like this method.  Like Ms.Flecther said, it really does help us understand the stories in depth and unravel their hidden messages. This method has really help me improved on reading and comprehending the authors’ message; especially right now that we’re in the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos theme.  I have never really been able to depict an article and explain why it’s ethos or logos, but now how we break down every little detail I can see which each paragraph and the whole article is trying to convey.  So even though I thought annotating was going to be a drag, I have come to appreciate it.

A realist's views on Animal's rights.

A whole section committed to Animal's rights and how authors use three ways to persuade us. To be honest, I was enthralled when I heard we were doing this. I love animals and I always like it when classes review controversial subjects. Conversation seems to just flow when people's emotions come into play. And believe me, people get fired up over animals and how we use them. (unfortunately, we haven't had any good fights in third period, but i do have a theory as to why.) But this section did leave me deeply disappointed in the readings. Don't get me wrong, the articles were great and thought provoking! But the absence of a counter viewpoint in the readings left me unsatisfied. Only 4 paragraphs were committed to a view that wasn't pro-animal's rights. everything else was for them. This is probably why there haven't been any good arguments in third period. People haven't had the opportunity to digest counter viewpoints in our readings. Notice i haven't said my views on the matter, but you have to admit that when Mrs. Fletcher (D) says that one author is too liberal for her, the impressionable minds of highschoolers will be a lot more susceptible to liberal ideas with no counter balancing conservative ideas.

Now onto my opinion. Animals should simply not be on equal level with humans in any moral regard. they shouldn't even be close. My first reason is aimed towards Christians or Catholics in the class. The bible says that humans have dominion over all the earth. God gave us the responsibilities to tend to his good earth as a his stewards. Now, of course, good stewards wont be  reckless with the master's property and wouldn't destroy it recklessly. We should utilize it to maximize our well being for us and for future generations. If this means using animals in experiments to heal humans, then so be it, but we shouldn't experiment without a purpose and we shouldn't hurt animals without a positive for humanity. . As the late Joseph Stalin once said, you cant make an omelet without crackin a few eggs (sorry my Chicken aficionados). My second argument is for my atheist comrades (man, my Stalin comment has got me thinking Russian). Lets say that humans are the result of millions of years of evolution. Then our superior fitness (ability to procreate and grow) has allowed us to out compete other species. We have utilized our environmental niche to multiply and pass down our genes. We have even used other animals to increase our fitness. Other species do this (viruses and wasps are a couple that come to mind) without hurting their scruples, so we shouldn't have a problem. Still, people think that since we have "morals" then we have an obligation to help other animals. But that is oposite to their beliefs. Since we are just results of evolution, our emotions and consciences and morals are just natural evolutionary steps. they shouldn't have any right or wrong impacts to  us since they are just created by mother nature.

So in  conclusion, humans are superior to other animals in every moral way and we should experiment with a purpose. Feel free to outright call me dumb and bigoted in the comments below! jk im sensitive.

AF: Winter Blogging

Written by E. Phinizy, and swiped by A. Fletcher :)

It's that time again: Time to take our discussion online.  For this round you need to initiate one discussion and comment on two.  Remember to refer to the texts as sources as well as that which keeps your ideas focused.

Procrastination will not work this time, gang.  You've got to start earlier on your entries.  I cannot envision the alternative as even "basically fine" participation.  There is nothing genuine about a discussion when most of the members arrive with five minutes left.

Also, the rules netiquette apply; so, keep the flamewars and trolling to yourself.


The texts:

• Braithwaite, Victoria. “Hooked on a Myth: Do Fish Feel Pain?” Los Angeles Times 8 Oct. 2006: M5. Print.
   
• Edlund, John R. “Letters to the Editor in Response to ‘A Change of Heart About Animals.’” 2003. Print.

• Edlund, John R. “Three Ways to Persuade.” 2011. Print.
   
• Rifkin, Jeremy. “A Change of Heart About Animals.” Editorial. Los Angeles Times 1 Sept. 2003: B15. Print
   
• Yong, Ed. “Of Primates and Personhood: Will According Rights and ‘Dignity’ to Nonhuman Organisms Halt Research?” Seed. Seed Magazine, 12 Dec. 2008. Web. 24 Jul. 2012.