America the Beautiful

In America the Beautiful, Dinesh D'Souza discusses some interesting ideas. I took American History last semester and remember learning about the idea of exceptionalism. I think it was in relation to the us and the indians back in the day. We thought that our ways were more civilized and therefore better, so we wanted them to become like us and change their ways.
Its interesting because sometimes i find my self thinking in this way about other people and the way they live their lives. i am happy and think that the way i am living is better. I assume that if they change from the way they are living to my ways, then they will be happier, but i fail to understand or grasp the fact that even thought the way they are living is different, it doesn't mean that their way is any worse than mine. It is just simply different. Tolerance is the key here.
I also think it interesting how 9-11 changed a lot of people's thinking. I met and talked to many muslims when i lived in denmark. THey are really good people and are peaceful. In discussing religion with them i came to discover that their religion is based on peace. There are of course some branches that a radical in nature, and decide to take a different approach to things, but there is a distinction, i believe.
I think that everyone just needs to be more respectful and tolerant of each other, but unfortunately that is not the way things usually work out. Instead people judge and start to assume things. The problem is sometimes they are wrong in their assumption, but sometimes that is just how is has to be. You can't always just play defense.

Grammar Post: Grammatical form

sometimes i have issues with is grammatical form in my writing.


Rule: Use similar grammatical form when offering several ideas. This is called parallel construction.

Correct: You should check your spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Incorrect: You should check your spelling, grammar, and punctuating.


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Grammar Post: Negatives and Posatives

I sometimes struggle with my sentence structure when i use negaives.

Rule: To avoid confusion, don't use two negatives to make a positive.
Incorrect: He is not unwilling to help.
Correct: He is willing to help.

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Grammar Post: Active vs. Passive voice

I struggle sometimes training my brain to write in active voice as opposed to passive. i usually talk in passive voice, so that is why it is so difficult.

Rule: Active voice means that the subject is performing the verb.

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Growing up Japanese in a White World: Identity Issues

Growing up Japanese in a White World: Identity Issues
I thought the presentation was going to be boring at first just because I didn’t really know what to expect, but as I listened in I became more and more interested in her story and what she had to go through. I have recently been thinking about diversity at our school and what it must be like for students who are minorities. I think about what It would be like for me to travel to a country like Africa and go to school there being the only white person there. I would definitely feel as if I didn’t fit in. So for some of the people here at our school, I sympathize with what they have to go through. Interesting enough though, Chizu said that even though she was Japanese and grew up here that she liked it more and felt like she fit in here more than in Japan when she went back. I would have thought it would have been the other way around. That she would feel more comfortable in Japan because she is Japanes, but I was wrong. Listening to her explain the challenges that she faced in Japan was interesting to me. She liked the active learning theory and stuggled when she couldn’t raise her hand in class without being disrespectful back in Japan as opposed to the United States where she grew up. I wish she would have kept talking about her experiences and challenges. By the end I was thinking a lot and trying to put myself in her position. It would have been really hard for her to deal with these issues growing up. Overall, I thought the presentation was great. She has a great reading voice.

Teddy Roosevelt impersonation

Randy Milligan as Teddy Roosevelt
I thought that the presentation was fun to listen to. I was very surprised about just how much Randy Milligan knew about Teddy Roosevelt. People were asking him questions about Roosevelt and what he would have done if he wouldn’t have done so and so. He was able to answer without even hardly thinking about it. He was really good at impersonating Roosevelt. He had a strong and loud voice, which captured his audience.
I took a United States History course last semester and loved to learn about the past presidents of the United States. Teddy Roosevelt was one of my favorite presidents to learn about because of his fascination with the outdoors and trying to preserve our precious landscape that so many of us take for granted. I wonder what I would have been like to be a citizen of the United States under Teddy Roosevelt as president of the United States. How many people actually appreciated what he was trying to do for the environment? I wish I could go back to that time and really listen to him speak to the public about his different policies and plans.
Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation. It was probably one of my favorite ones this semester just because Randy was so lively and entertaining. I probably could have just listened to him all day.

The crucible

I got the chance recently to attend 'The Crucible'.I thought it was interesting. I really liked how it had sort of a dark and gloomy feel to it. This is not so with many popular plays today. It was also very intense the whole way through. There was a lot of yelling throughout the entire show. It had everyone one the edge of their seat. Occasionally I would look over at some of the audience memebers just to see the look on their faces. Everyone was completely caught up in the action.
I also thought it was cool how the audience got to sit on the stage. It made one feel that they were right there at the witch trials. The acting was superb. I know a few of the cast members and loved seeing them playing a different character than themselves. I found myself getting sucked in at times and forgetting that I was just watching the play from an outside perspective. Trey Patterson, who played the judge at the witch trial, is one who i know from high school and i think did a fantastic job. I can remember him playing similar roles in other plays that were performed at our high school. He is a phoenominal actor, and it was great to see him in action. I haven’t seen him perform for quite some time now.
Overall, I thought that it couldn’t be done any better. Everything was fantastic and I am really, really glad that I got the chance to go and see the play. I hope that DSC can keep pumping out amazing plays like they have been this year.