Art

This piece shows many different sides to the story that is slavery. In the center, we see these slaves as the normal human beings they were. However, these people are surrounded by the terrible images that made up thier everyday lives. One image is of a slave auction and the terrible, emotional moment of a family being torn apart. Another image is of a slave being whipped, like they were nothing but an animal. This piece is a heartbreaking group of scenes that I am sad to admit was part of my country's history.

There is hope though, portrayed on the other side of this art piece. The family is seemingly reunited and there is punishment for the slave driver. This was not the normal case however, but a dream. I can only hope a few families got this satisfaction at one point during the slave days.

Anti-patriotism

    I live in the United States of America. Soldiers fight for me everyday to live in a country where I can do whatever I feel like doing, and even write my opinion freely in this blog. Looking at other countries I feel we are all very lucky to have this privilidge. So, I don't understand why so many people feel that veterans are just old people, the national anthem is a last minute chance to get your texts out before the game, and patriotic parades are just annual events that block the roads. People hate our government and are completely detached from any sense of nationalism, because it isn't part of thier agenda or doesn't really effect thier daily life.
   I believe the protests at the funeral of fallen soldiers are illegal. What would compell you to go to a funeral and yell at how their life was wrong? About how the way they died was not worth it? How dare they even have the kahones to show up and even think it would make a bit of difference. I think they should go to jail.

Connection to Whitman

from :"There Was a Child Went Forth"

-The early lilacs became part of this child,
And grass and white and red morning-glories, and white and red
clover, and the song of the phoebe-bird,
And the Third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter, and the
mare's foal and the cow's calf,
And the noisy brood of the barnyard or by the mire of the
pond-side,
And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there, and the
beautiful curious liquid,
And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads, all became part
of him.

I connected with this part of the poem because I like how Whitman made nature and all the beautiful things of nature to be connected with this child. Human beings have had a connection with nature for thousands of years and it is what helped us to survive for so long. I like to think that nature has become part of us all, even though the growing trend is to be glued to technology. I hope that as a new generation of human beings, we all can remember to put down the cell phones long enough to get back to our connection with nature.

Emily Dickinson

 I haven't told my garden yet- by Emily Dickinson

I haven't told my garden yet --
Lest that should conquer me.
I haven't quite the strength now
To break it to the Bee --

I will not name it in the street
For shops would stare at me --
That one so shy -- so ignorant
Should have the face to die.

The hillsides must not know it --
Where I have rambled so --
Nor tell the loving forests
The day that I shall go --

Nor lisp it at the table --
Nor heedless by the way
Hint that within the Riddle
One will walk today 

To me, this seems like sarcasm. She is almost mocking her place in the world. 

In class, we read a poem about how death was always coming and was not preventable. We also read her writing 

about how she thought of death as a carriage to eternity. She doesn't know if there is an afterlife, but she knows she

will be dying. It sounds like she is hinting that there is an afterlife in this poem, but not that there is a supreme being.

I agree with her though on the thought that death is a riddle.

transcendentalism

I prefer transcendentalism because I like the connections with nature. When reading the segment from Walden, I felt that I could connect with what was expressed. I agree that humans have a strong connection with nature. I prefer transcendentalism over anti transcendentalism because I like the happiness of it. I like to think that nature is good, because everything in nature needs to occur in order for new processes to start. The truth can be found, even if it hurts or causes problems, it is still the truth. Mother Nature has always been a figure to society and excepted, even when not seen as a deity. I think that people appreciate nature more than they think they do, and that they can connect with transcendentalism if they learn about it.

Aphorisms/Apothegms: short, instructive truths/quotes... I like apothegms and I think that many people find comfort or inspiration from them.

The short sayings of wise and good men are of great value, like the dust of gold, or the sparks of diamonds.
         – John Tillotson