Cathedral

The story Cathedral has three main characters in it. Robert, who was blind, the narrator and the narrators wife. The wife used to work for the blind man. She used to read to him, but they had a special connection. The husband knew about this special connection, but did not understand it. His wife writes poems only about things that are important to her. She wrote a poem about the day that the narrator touched her face. The narrators wife died and he was coming to visit the narrators wife, because he was in town. The narrator did not want Robert to be in his house. By the end of the story, Robert helped the narrator draw something with his eyes closed. The narrator could finally see things in his perspective.

1. The narrator was not looking forward to the visit of the blind man, because the blind man and his wife had some connection that he did not understand. His wife used to work for the blind man. She would read to him. The narrators wife writes poems of special moments. She wrote a poem about when the blind man touched her face. The narrator did not know why this was so important and did not want the blind man in his house. This shows that the narrator is a jealous type

2. You can tell that the narrators wife just wants to be noticed by a man, because of her suicide attempt. She used to be married to an Air Force Officer. She didn't like that she had to keep moving from place to place and started to feel lonely. So, she attempted to kill herself by swallowing a lot of pills. But, when the blind man touched her face she didn't feel lonely. She felt like she was seen and noticed by him even though he was blind.

3. If your friend has a friend, then you should be nice to his or her friend, it is a sign of respect. That is what is means to receive another's friend. That is how the narrators wife felt when the blind man was coming to visit and her husband didn't want him there. She just wanted everyone to feel comfortable.

4. Yes, I do think Robert saw his wife Beulah. He might not have seen exactly what she looked like, but he saw something. He saw his perspective of her, which in this story is what it means to be seen. To be seen  is what you look like in someone else's eyes.

5. The characters smoke to relieve stress. All of the characters are in a stressful situation. Robert's wife just dies, The narrator doesn't feel comfortable with the blind man being there, and the wife has to deal with her husband being uncomfortable around her old friend. All of these characters smoke to relive their stressful situations.

6. The culture put a lot of time into building their cathedrals. The cathedrals had a lot of art and sophisticated designs. Obviously, the culture really loved God, and they built the Cathedrals for him.

7. The narrator had a hard time describing a cathedral, because he never paid any attention to them. When Robert helped the narrator draw a Cathedral with his eyes closed, he could see it better. I think the narrator could see the Cathedral better with his eyes closed, because he had to think more about it. When your not blind you can see everything, therefore you don't have to think about what it looks like.

what it means not to talk in class

It is actually very important not to talk in class, whether us students like to believe it or not. If you talk during a presentation of a student or a teacher's lecture it is disrespectful. STudents work hard to present in front of a class. Someone might also be nervous to speak in front of a class, and when students talk it might make them even more nervous. Teachers also work hard to speak in front of  class. That is their job. They spend a lot of time preparing for a class. When students talk while a teacher is teaching they can feel disrespected. That is why teachers get so mad when students are talking during their class. Some teachers feel like their time is being wasted. Some teachers think that they are interrupting the students conversation.

In elementary school when we would talk in class, the teacher would call our parents. Whenever my parents got a phone call from the school I would always be in a bunch of trouble. My mom always said that is was being disrespectful and that I should always respect my teachers. We were taught to not talk in class at a young age. My second grade teacher Ms. Spriggs  said that our conversation wait. We could always continue our conversation after class, but during class it has to stop.

I always thought it was okay to talk during class and long as your not loud and purposely trying to be disrespectful. I always thought a little whisper couldn't hurt. Especially, if I was confused about something that was being taught. I would always just ask my neighbor or the person sitting beside me. Every time I got in trouble in class the teacher knew I was not trying to be disrespectful. They always told me that if I had a question I should raise my hand.

Teachers also think that when a student or students are talking in class then he or she is not learning what is being taught. If your talking then there is not a possible way you could be listening to what the teacher is saying at the same time. Unless you are multitasking. But teachers don't want students to multitask. They one students to do one thing and one thing only which is listen to the teacher.

Coaches of teams say that how you practice is how you will play in the game. Teachers are preparing us for the real world. When we are in class we are learning, but we are also learning to be respectful and no to talk while others are talking. When we get a job and have meetings, we will not be able to hold side conversations. We will not be able to whisper. We will just have to sit there and listen. If we are disrespectful to our boss, we can possibly lose a job. Which can cause other huge problems in life. So practicing to be quiet during class can benefit each and every one of us in the long run. We will not only learn more, but we will also learn how to act in the setting of the work world.

When I was in middle school, our disciplinary actions were a little bit different. If we got in trouble talking in class we would have to write I will not talk in class 200 times. I used to hate this, because I would get hand cramps. I never thought that it would help me learn anything either. I thought it was a stupid punishment. The truth is and I hate to admit it. I did learn from it. Because of that punishment I did not talk in class only because I did not want to write all of that for homework. If we kept talking we would get a demerit sent home to our parents and then it would be a detention. Everybody has their own disciplinary actions for talking in class, but no teacher likes it. Now in my senior year of high school we still get in trouble for talking in class. My homework for tonight was to write a seven hundred and fifty word essay on why it is important to not talk in class. As we get older our punishments get more serious, because it is more important. Our time is coming. Soon this generation will the world and we will not be able to do that if we are uneducated and chitter chatter all the time. If we pay attention in class we will be educated, and if we just focus we will not be talking all the time. If you want to be somebody and you want to go somewhere you better wake up and pay attention. You will get nowhere if talking is your hobby.

Wonder

     The insect I have chosen to wonder about is a butterfly. I wonder if butterflies actually have real lives like humans or do they just fly around. I think that butterflies have their own world and systems. As adult butterflies, they probably have to continuously fly around, while their kids stay in their cocoon. They probably look at humans as dangerous animals. They probably think they run the world, just as us humans do.

     When I was six years old I used to wonder all the time. I was always thinking about something. I was interested to know everything. My process of thinking was to compare everything to myself and how I live. For example, I always wondered if a dogs bark is their own language or when birds chirp are they actually speaking to each other. I actually never found out the answer to that. I still have the same wondering process as when I was six. I would have approached this question the same way. I compare everything to the way I live, because the way I live is the only way I know.

     As most people get older they lose their imagination and stop wondering about things. I think this happens, because we start to get more intelligent. At the age of six or younger we would think of anything and sometimes it wouldn't make sense. As we got older we went to school and were taught many thinks, which made us lose most of our imagination. For example, I no longer believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and unicorns. I don't believe in these things anymore, because I have learned that these things were apart of my imagination and do no exist.

     St. Gregory of Nyssa said, "Concepts create idols, only wonder knows.". I think this means that when we hear something we start to wonder about it and start to practice it and believe it. As i look at this quote it is true to my experiences. In my mind Santa Claus was real until somebody told me he wasn't. I also believed in Santa Claus, because somebody led me to believe it. The truth is our knowledge comes from each other, so who are we to say who is right. Therefore, we should not stop imagining and wondering.

   

My Freedom Experience

     The question is to think of a moment of when you felt free. I think a moment I felt free is when I got my drivers license. I was so scared to take the test, and when I passed I was just ecstatic. I no longer had to depend on people to take me places. Every time I wanted to go somewhere I would always ask my parents or catch a ride with a friend. I hated this. I always had to wait for someone to pick me up, and my mom was always late. Now that I have my license I can go anywhere at anytime I want. Freedom is having a choice. When my parents gave me a car they gave me a choice. I now have a choice to go places alone in my own car and I can still ride with my parents if I choose. Although, my parents still have the power of telling me where I can and cannot go. I still have a little bit of freedom and it feels good. I feel like I'm growing up.

Life And Work

     I read an article from a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace. This speech showed how David viewed life. It was very interesting to read his different views and opinions. Most of the situations he wrote about was something I could relate to. Foster says that the most important realities are the ones that we tend to not see. It is not that we don't want to see reality, it is more that we cannot see reality. We are so used to the way we are living, that we are just not capable of seeing beyond our every day life.

     David Foster Wallace also says that every situation we have is based on ourselves. Meaning in our minds the world revolves around us. But everyone thinks the same thing, then who does the world actually revolve around? Davids idea is actually credible. We always put ourselves first. That is why we have so many disputes and problems in this world. In this essay he shows many examples of situations that show that we only think about ourselves.

     All humans are different. We were all created with different personalities and characteristics. Because of this, we all make different decisions. Some decisions are good and some are bad. I do think that we would make better decisions if we just opened our eyes. We can make better decisions if we actually took the time to think of how others feel and how others are thinking. We can make better decisions if we actually realized that the world does not revolve around us. We have to share the world with other people.

     In parts of the audio of the commencement, people would clap when David Foster Wallace was being ironic and kid of questioning their intelligence. I think the people in the audience did this because they did not realize what they were clapping for. They are just so used to applauding that they didn't even notice that he was insulting them in a way. I think this is indicative to how people don't realized when they are being controlled.

     In the begging of the speech, he started with a story about fish. To sum it all up, the fish didn't notice that they were living in water, because they have never seen anything else. They have never been outside of the water, therefore they didn't know what it was. Us human, can relate to this. Actually, every last one of us can. Many of us don't notice that were being controlled, because most of the time we profit from us. We are just so used to it, that we don't do anything about it. The truth is, if we weren't being controlled then we would be truly free. We would not be punished for the wrong decisions we make, and so many other things we would not be accountable for. We would have no one in power above us. Everyone would have the same amount of power and we would be treated equally.      

 

Albert Camus - "Caligula."

     In the play, Caligula's sister, Drusilla, died and he disappeared. But he was not very sad about it. He had the desire for the impossible. When Caligula entered the stage, he seemed tired, because he had been walking for a long time. He was simply looking for the moon. He was looking for the moon, because it was something he did not have yet. Caligula noticed that when most men die, they are not happy. He doesn't want to be that way, and wishes that everyone will learn to be happy.

     The patricians thought that Caligula was sort of insane. They thought that he was very reliable, but yet uneducated. The patricians followed Caligula around and wanted to know his every move. Scipio saw that he went up to Drusilla's body and stroked it with two fingers. They wanted to know why Caligula disappeared and the figured that it was because the death of his sister. He disappeared, because he needed to find a new desire, but this desire was impossible. I agree with the patricians view of Caligula. I think he is insane. I understand that people mourn over deaths, but Caligula was not mourning. He was just looking for the moon. I think someone that tires themselves out by looking for the moon all day is crazy. But yet I don't think having desires is crazy, you just have to limit them.
    

My Computer

     The assignment was to find an object in my home and describe it, attempting to account for all of its factors.The object I have chosen is my computer. My computer is not a laptop it is a hp desktop computer. The kind that is called an "All in One". It is black and has a 20 inch digital widescreen that is HD. It has an LED backlit display. I really don't know what that means. It has windows 7. It also has a built in Wi-Fi and video chat, also known as webcam. This computer is used for so much. It is not only used by me, but also everybody that lives with me. I mainly use this computer for homework. When I have to type papers, look up information, and etc. I use this computer. I also can use to to search the web. I can use it to get on any website I want. I can go look up colleges or even shop online. I also have skype on this computer. Skype is an app that I downloaded that allows me to to talk to anyone else,who has skype,face to face. My mom also uses this computer. She uses it to sometimes work, but she mainly uses it to shop online. With the internet she can almost go to any store she wants, buy things, and have it shipped to our house. All with the use of this computer. My dad also uses this computer for work, but most of the time he uses it to get on espn to check scores to games. My brother usually uses his laptop, but he still uses this computer for itunes. All of our itunes accounts are on this computer. This computer can be used to reach emails, play games, get on social networks. When I turn the computer off it is just a black screen that I can see myself through. I could use this computer as a mirror. I can use this computer to charge my phone, my ipod, my ipad, and my kindle. I could use this as a charging dock. I can use it as a telephone through skype. I can keep in contact with everyone. I could use this computer as a radio. The sound gets really loud, I could blast the music all through the house. There are so many things I could use this computer for. The purpose of this excersise was to see what it means to be reasonable.
 

What My Happiness Consist Of...?

     The question is, "What does my happiness consist of?" This is a very difficult question, because a lot of things make me happy and it would be hard to put all of that in one essay. In the process of answering this question, I thought of what things make me mad on a day to day basis. Then, I thought of everything that makes me smile. The truth is, my happiness consists of so much, but it always involves other people. For example, it makes me happy to see another person smile, to be loved by others, and also having fun with others. It just makes me feel good to know that I am not here alone. 

     When I see another person smile I automatically want to smile too. Especially when I know I put the smile on that persons face. If I go out of my way to do something special for a person and they smile, then I know I accomplished my goal at making them happy, which in result makes me happy. However, if I go out of my way for someone, and they don't smile, it can be a little upsetting. Smiling is an expression that shows that someone or something made you feel good. Regardless of who made that person smile, it is always good to know that someone is smiling. 

     Everybody wants to be loved. Whether its love from your grandma, your mom, your aunt, or even your boyfriend. It is still some type of affection showing that they care. When my parents are upset at me or yelling at me, it doesn't make me happy at all. It makes me feel more sad. Going through a breakup with a boyfriend can also feel sort of depressing. All of these things hurt, because you know that at one point they loved you, cared about you, or was not upset with you. Being loved is very important in this world. It helps people realize that there are people by their side every step of the way. 

     I think that it is healthy to have fun. If everything you do in life is boring, then your not living, your just existing. Having a good time with friends and family is what i live for and look forward to. Having no friends and no fun at all can be extremely depressing, which is unhealthy. I try to enjoy myself in everything I do, because having fun makes me happy. 

     Overall, people make me happy. If I was all alone in this world, you would never see me smiling and I would probably be depressed. Thank God I have friends and family to change that. Seeing my grandmother smile makes me happy. Someone telling me they love me makes me happy. Enjoying the time I spent with someone makes me happy. Every happiness I have involves someone else. So, to answer the question, my happiness consist of my interaction people. When I say my interaction with people, I mean how much I care for them, how much they care for me, and how we enjoy the time we spend together. 

Introducing Myself

     My name is Dayna, and for safety reasons I will not share my full name. I am a high school student that is seeking to be an architect or an engineer. I know that I am young, but I am an intelligent female. I've had many great teachers who have taught me many lessons. The most important lessons I have been taught is how be respectful and how to speak my mind. I know how to tell people how I feel in a respectful way.

     My family is the most valuable thing in my life. They have done so much for me. Without them, I would not be who I am today. My family has been with me through every obstacle and every bad thing that has happened in my life. Regardless of the situation, they always have my back. My family does many things for me out of love, and because of that I try to make them proud in every way possible.

     I have been Catholic all my life, but I do not discriminate against other religions. People believe in different things, because of what they have been taught. Therefore, we should not hold anything against them. But for myself, I believe that God the Father Almighty is the creator of the Heavens and Earth.
I am not ashamed of my religion. I go to God not only when I need help, but I also go to him to give him thanks.

     I am an African American and very proud of it. Just as I don't discriminate against other religions, I don't discriminate against other cultures. People cannot decide to be born a certain way, only God can. As human beings we cannot change who we are, we just have to accept it. I am very proud of my culture, because I know that we have come a long way. We have very strong people to come out slavery and the big era of blacks being treated unfairly.

     In my life, I just hope to be successful and respected. I hope to have a well paid job, that will support me and my family. I am a very respectful person, so I hope that people will respect me back. I will treat others the way I want to be treated. I feel that if I accomplish these goals and continue with my religious beliefs, then I will make God, myself, and my family proud.