Thanksgiving + Maggie

     I am thankful for a lot of different people in my life and Maggie Browdy is one of them.
     I've known her for about five(ish) years now; we went to school together in fourth and fifth grade and then again in the WY academic center. I always remember Maggie being so nice and sweet and pleasant and everyone loved to be around her. She still is like that today. She is a good friend and she's a super good listener. I know because I happen to complain a lot but she always listens when most people (including me), would smack the person and walk away. Maggie is also really funny. We always laugh when we are together and she can make me laugh easily. I remember when we were in running club together during Spring (I think) of 8th grade, and we used to make songs together that were totally ridiculous but it was super fun.
     Another great thing about Maggie is how optimistic she is- she's always in a good mood, and she doesn't seem to dwell on the negatives as much as some people do. She can easily make me feel better when I'm upset, and she doesn't get mad easily. (But sometimes she gets uber frustrated because Claire and I are talking about irrelevant things when we are all trying to do groupwork. Its okay though I don't blame her we need better focusing skills.) She's also really smart. She comes up with logical answers to questions and is like s00 good at all the other classes we are in together (aka math and gym). Thats another thing. Maggie is way sportier than me and can actually catch and stuff but she still sits by me and hangs out with me in gym when I'm doing mega horribly in whatever activity Geiger happens to make us do. I'm really glad she's in my gym class and we have a lot of fun in that class together.
     Overall Maggie is just a great person and I am thankful to have someone like her in my life.

Poe

    Edgar Allen Poe was known as a very famous romantic writer in the early/mid 1800s. His writing was mainly poems and short stories, and was thought to be fictional. This may or may not be true; considering what was happening to him in real life throughout his writing career may have affected his works more than we think.

     Two very central themes in many of his stories are death, and how one perceives and deals with it. In his poem The Raven, his lost love Lenore has died, as well as in his story Ligeia. In Fall of the House of Usher, death also occurs. In his real life, his mother and the love of his young life died. His father left him and his siblings to an adoptive family, so not only was he hardened by the deaths in his life, but also the abandonment and dissupport of his adoptive family. 

     In his real life, he also was a struggling alcoholic. He claimed to have always been sober when in the newspapers, but his substance abuse can be easily seen in some of his writings. In both Ligeia and The Raven, the narrator indulges in drug abuse, taking pills or other things to try and black out his emotions. This could have been transpired from his real life easily, considering that he didn't have very much support and seemed to have constantly dark emotions because of the deaths in his life. Maybe the reason that he was so alcoholic in real life wasn't much different than why the characters in his poems and stories do it. 

     Poe's work is obviously very dark and slightly disturbing, and thats how most people viewed him in real life. Though it may or may not be true, his life seems to have greatly influenced most of his writing and seems to draw many parallels within his stories and poems. 

What is an American?

Well. Being American can mean different things to different people. Of course it has the literal definition of one who's nationality is American, or one who lives in America. But it can also mean someone who fights for America's rights, or believes in what America is and what it can become in more time. To me, mostly i just feel like and American is someone who lives in America, is American in nationality, and identifies with the majority of the rest of them out there. A "true" American takes part in things like voting for who should lead the country, or trying to make it a better place to live.
I also believe that an American is someone who takes part in American culture. To some, stereotypically that means "eating hamburgers" and "watching television". But to be honest, I don't consider either of those things American culture; I think American culture is experiencing the mix of cultures that immigrants and people from other countries have brought here. America is such a diverse place in some parts, and experiencing the diversity as it is now- all combined, it becomes its own ultimate culture. America is also one of the most industrialized and advanced countries (besides some in Europe), and that has become part of what it is too. 
The last thing i think plays a part in being American is the generations of people it has raised. America, at least in the parts i know, is (like i stated before), a diverse place, and there are many different types of people here. When i think American, though, i think of a young person finding their way or someone trying to make a living. Then again, sometimes when i think American i think of the epitome of the word "republican"- a relatively old white man with lots of money. It goes both ways, really. 

The Modern Puritan

     Though Puritans are not still existent in modern society, I believe that their beliefs and practices have been passed through the generations to be carried out, possibly in slightly different ways, by people today. 

     One of the main themes that I, at least, got from all these readings we’ve done and my prior knowledge was their policy of wrongdoing being the cause of punishment. You’d think that its only right for someone to be punished when they did wrong, but that was one of the big aspects of being a Puritan. Nowadays, with things as simple as disobeying moral house rules, one can be punished. 

     Another aspect of Puritanism that has been somewhat passed on to today is their sense of religiousness. Not being religious myself, I don’t have very much knowledge in this particular area, but I do know that there are still some very religious people, and in most religions, one is expected to obey the “laws” of the religion. These laws can differ from federal laws, but  like in Puritan times, they can be viewed as equal in importance to certain people. 

     Overall, because Puritanism wasn’t some highly exotic religion that involved intense practices and what not, its beliefs can be modified slightly (or not at all), and easily passed down to people today, which I believe they have. 

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

Personally, I feel like John wasn't decidedly either, but if i had to choose a side he fell most on, it would be hero. He chose to not confess and be a true Puritan because confessing would be lying, even though it would end up saving him. He could have easily confessed and passed the blame on to someone else, and many people were pressuring him to do it. Instead, he chose the noble path and stayed true. There was no getting out by admitting not not having done the crime, so the only way to get out was, in his case, lying and passing on the blame. But this would have been untrue to not only himself, but all of the other people who were truthfully not admitting to having partaken in witchcraft. With all the pressure on him to confess and the idea that he could once again be with his wife, I feel like the pull to falsely confess would be really strong. And I am almost positive that had it been me in his place, i would have confessed to save my own life. Though I want to be a truthful person, with all the confessions and general falsehood occurring back then i would have been overwhelmed and lied to save myself. So, based on that I feel like John Proctor was more of a hero. The only thing making me doubt his complete heroic-ness was the fact that for a short period of time prior to his hanging, he was considering confessing. He almost did until they asked him who he saw with the Devil, and when they asked him to sign the confession papers, he refused because he didn't want to blacken his name with the lies that were his confession. He says, "Because it is my name! Because i cannot have another in my life! Because i lie and sign myself to lies... I have given you my soul; leave my name!" (I read this on the kindle so I'm not sure what page number it was - 95% on the kindle). Overall, though he almost gave himself up, I feel like he was definitely more of a hero in this situation.

Arrivals: There Goes the Neighborhood

In history, there are multiple records of people moving in on new land thats already been inhabited and shortly after, problems arise. This still occurs in modern America today- judging people before you meet then and assuming that what they bring will corrupt or otherwise bother what you already have. 
One of the earliest records of this is when Columbus and his men settled in America, which was already inhabited by the Indians (Native Americans). Now of course, the Indians were living on the land seemingly long before Columbus settled there, and they were not very happy about what happened when he did. His attitude towards the Indians gave off the impression that he believed they were savage and untameable, though he did try and make them more like him. He tried to convert them to Christianity and get them to adapt to his language and dress and ways of life, which would theoretically change a lot for an Indian. This shows that Columbus came to what he thought was a bad "neighborhood" and tried to change it and make it better based on what he thought. 
As I said before, this still happens in modern society. The idea of judgement before knowing someone and having doubts about what they can do isn't necessarily common but it does exist. For example, like the title says, a group of new people move into an already established neighborhood. In a perfect world they would be accepted and join in and everything would be great. In the real world they may be treated bad because they are new, or they may treat the others in the neighborhood bad and change it. The new arrivals come and, oh, look at that- everything is changing- there goes our old neighborhood. 
This concept of judgement hasn't fixed itself nearly enough over time, as it still exists now. If people gave others a chance before assuming the worst, then maybe the world would be just a little bit more of a better place. 

Me

Hello

I’m Auguste

I’m a freshman at Whitney Young, but i have been attending the school since 7th grade, as an ackie. I had been to three other elementary schools prior to transferring to Whitney, where i plan on staying throughout high school. I really like academics and consider myself decent in most subjects. Sports, on the other hand, I don’t have an affinity for. I can play tennis and run and ski, but thats about it. I like to read and draw and stalk the internet (obviously) in my free time, and i also write quite a lot. I have started four “books” since 5th grade, but i only successfully completed one of them. My favorite book is probably Fablehaven, and my favorite movie is The Breakfast Club. 

I have a brother and sister in 6th grade- they are twins. Most of the time we all get along relatively well, except for when my sister Jordan decides that she is too cool to associate herself with me and Logan, our brother. 

I live with my mother and father and both siblings in a house we built ourselves. It is close to school so i walk to school whenever i can. 

Yay

Thanks for reading.