Thursday, April 17

Cubism project

Obama and Hillary are so caught up in trying to look better than the other that they are distancing themselves from the real issues and hurting themselves as a result, making McCain look like the only halfway decent candidate even though he is just as psycho as the other two.
This is causing the voters of America to become increasingly frustrated and ready to scream to relieve the stress of trying to separate propaganda from the facts.

Thursday, April 10

The War Inevitable by Patrick Henry

Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! ...
...The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!
I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Henry, Patrick. March 1775. April 2008 <http://www.liberty-page.com/foundingdocs/givemeliberty/main.html>.

By the Student,
This impassioned excerpt of a speech by Patrick Henry is appealing to emotion and reason, two things that if one doesn't get to you, the other will. He says that the war has already begun, but they don't know it yet. If you don't even know you're in a war, then you're probably at a disadvantage and Patrick wants to bring them up to date asap before they become a third-world country that Great Britain can rape of goods and money whenever it wants.
If he'd rather have death over being a slave, then he feels strongly about it and wants everyone else to feel the same. This is totally justifiable and comparable to the fire and brimstone ministers who where trying to get people to see the light for their own good.

By a House Member,
Today we had yet another meeting debating back and forth whether to finally take a stand against Britain. My friend Patrick has been preparing a speech pro-war and over the last week, I have heard it many times and have felt something every time so I was sure today that his speech would leave a lasting impact on anyone who is still against a rebellion.
I was right. He gave the speech so eloquently and I believe that I saw the spark ignite in the souls of many of my esteemed colleagues today (some previously on the other side of the fence!). It is certain, and Patrick agrees with me, that we will finally begin preparing for the inevitable war that has already started without us.
Wish us luck.

The Crisis by Thomas Paine


THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder
the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to
enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER," and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

...
'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose
heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other.

Paine, Thomas. 'The Crisis'. December 1776. April 2008 <http://www.puc.edu/Faculty/Rosemary_Dibben/English11/NewNation/PaineCrisis1.pdf>.

By the Student,
Paine is expressing his view of how Great Britain is cheating the colony of America out of everything and how it is unfair that the colonists must pay such high taxes and be bound to England for goods with jacked up prices. He appeals to the emotions and reason of the audiences in the different parts of his speech, allowing anyone to be able to have a reaction to it, going from farmers to congressmen.
This and Paine's other book are both propaganda in support of a war with Great Britain.

By a Concerned Loyalist,
Thomas Paine is spouting blasphemy about the Queen and England! What's more is that he is quickly gathering followers who seem to share his love of drivel. He says that England providing what he need is terrible and having to pay for it? Unheard of! This man and his ilk are obviously insane and ungrateful...I must warn the queen.

Essential Question,
Revolutionary works such as those by Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry drove the United States to gain freedom from the oppressive rule of Great Britain and therefore also gaining opportunites the for future as a free nation. They appeal to the emotions and logic of the confused and angry citizens. This creates the pressure for an uprising against Britain by the government and by the people. When the United States finally gains freedom, its people gain the ability to control their own destinys. This newfound freedom allows not only unopposed speech, but presents limitless greatness as well, which is what the revolutionary writers were trying to impose on the people. Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and others wrote inspiring pieces to instill a fighting spirit into the colonists so that they may be truly free.

Tuesday, April 1

Half-Hanged Mary

3am
wind seethes in the leaves around
me the tree exude night
birds night birds yell inside
my ears like stabbed hearts my heart
stutters in my fluttering cloth
body I dangle with strength
going out of me the wind seethes
in my body tattering
the words I clench
my fists hold No
talisman or silver disc my lungs
flail as if drowning I call
on you as witness I did
no crime I was born I have borne I
bear I will be born this is
a crime I will not
acknowledge leaves and wind
hold onto me
I will not give in
6am
Sun comes up, huge and blaring,
no longer a simile for God.
Wrong address. I’ve been out there.
Time is relative, let me tell you
I have lived a millennium.
I would like to say my hair turned white
overnight, but it didn’t.
Instead it was my heart:
bleached out like meat in water.
Also, I’m about three inches taller.
This is what happens when you drift in space
listening to the gospel
of the red-hot stars.
Pinpoints of infinity riddle my brain,
a revelation of deafness.
At the end of my rope
I testify to silence.
Don’t say I’m not grateful.
Most will have only one death.
I will have two.
8am
When they came to harvest my corpse
(open your mouth, close your eyes)
cut my body from the rope,
surprise, surprise:
I was still alive.
Tough luck, folks,
I know the law:
you can’t execute me twice
for the same thing. How nice.
I fell to the clover, breathed it in,
and bared my teeth at them
in a filthy grin.
You can imagine how that went over.
Now I only need to look
out at them through my sky-blue eyes.
They see their own ill will
staring then in the forehead
and turn tail
Before, I was not a witch.
But now I am one.
Atwood, Margaret. 1995. April 2008 <http://abeaver.wordpress.com/2006/08/28/half-hanged-mary-poem-by-margret-atwood/>.

By the Student,
This is such a powerful poem as it takes a look at the emotional transformation of an innocent woman who turns bitter and evil after being almost killed by fear-driven citizens. It reminds me a little bit of how Stephen King writes by combining what is happening around her with the stream of throughts playing constantly, which creates a creepy and surreal poem. You're following this woman as she approaches death. What she's feeling, what she's seeing, how much strength she has left...It makes you feel sorry for her, but not quite sympathize since she turns into a bitter witch at the end, which is rather hard to like or sympathize with.

By a Young Girl,
Dear Diary,
It's been a month or two since I've written...I can't remember how long, really. We were greeted with a letter of condolences a week ago saying that Father had been killed in combat. Ironic, isn't it?
This woman gets a second chance at life after being called a witch, while Father dies trying to spread the word of God. Heh.
Maybe she was a witch. Everyone who I have seen hanged has died.
I do not know what killed father, nor do I wish to know. He is up in heaven now and mother may be seeing him soon. She has fallen very ill from grief and there is nothing that anybody can do. I have been taking care of the house, but I need her help. Please, God, do not take away both of my parents and leave me an orphan.
Maybe it would be like having two deaths. Maybe I will become Half-hanged Mary, the bitter girl who came into hatred through no fault of her own.
The funeral was two days ago. There was a closed casket.
God have mercy,
Mary