Culture Honor and the Civil War

I have a essay due on Wednesday. Anything from chapters 7-9 of my history book, which covers the years up to the Civil War, and the Civil War. I've chosen to do my paper on why the south decided to fight.

You may say the reason for fighting was slavery, and I agree in part, but I think there's a lot more to it than that. Sure, the south wanted to keep its slaves, but I don't think that was the root issue or why most southerners fought.

"Why are you fighting this war?" Union troops asked a captured southern soldier.
"Because you're down here," the soldier replied.

I believe that most southern soldiers fought not to keep their slaves, but out of loyalty, out of cultural honor. Someone challenges you, invades your land and threatens your way of life. If you are a southerner, what do you do?

Fight, obviously.

I'm against slavery. I hope everyone reading this knows that! It's unchristian, unfair and wrong. But if I had been a boy during the time of the Civil War? I would have fought for the Confederacy, no doubt.

It's difficult to explain my feelings, but I think a lot of my southern friends can understand. There's something that runs deep, really deep in southerners; something that makes us fight for our family and friends; something that rears up when someone attacks our character; something that will not stand by and let our land be taken.

Whatever "that" is, I think, was a bigger reason for fighting than slavery. But what is "it"?

That's what I've decided to write my paper on.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Southerners Are...
121. Extremely competitive
122. Naturally rebellious
123. Intensely patriotic
124. Fiercely independent
125. Passionately loyal
126. Steadfastly honorable
127. Impressively good shots
128. Unfailingly polite
129. Proudly territorial
130. Always charming ;)

Strange/Crazy Things I've Done (thanks, Izori!)
131. Ride cross-legged on the top of a pickup truck.
132. Wear two kinds of eyeliner at once
133. Go out in public in my Wacky Tacky Day attire (It was for school, and I decided not to change so I could see all the weird looks it would get me.)
134. Wink at a random guy at the fair (He ran into a prize tent >.> My bad.).
135. Go up to a random guy and ask if he tried to figure girls out.
136. Ask the man who works the counter at the bowling alley if he could please blow up my ball, I thought it was flat.
137. Challenge a friend to a heated debate at a Christmas party
138. Feed the dog in the snow without shoes on
139. Fall off a cliff in the dark
140. Be a boot for Halloween.

Things I Stand For
141. God
142. Freedom
143. The right to speak freely
144. Equality
145. The right to bear arms
146. Justice
147. The right to challenge the government
148. Individuality
149. My country
150. And, of course, southern honor XD

~Kendra

"I'm southern and proud of it. I think all southerners are. I mean, if you're not proud of it, you're not really southern."

Political Satire

"Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” is a beautifully constructed political satire. Swift subtly mocks the ways of society and the politicians of his day. The story at first appears to be a charming tale of a man’s adventures, but when one reads more closely, the delightful mockery of pompous political leaders emerges. The main character of the story, Gulliver, enjoys traveling, and visits the strangest places. On his first voyage, Gulliver lands on the island of Lilliput, which is inhabited by persons of only six inches in height. These little people, despite their diminutive stature, believe that they are the most intelligent and wonderful race to ever walk the earth. Their unusual and unnecessary laws make for interesting situations for Gulliver. On his second journey, Gulliver finds himself on and adventure quite the opposite of his first. His ship runs into a storm, and Gulliver ends up in Brobdingnag, a peninsula populated by giants. Quite unlike the Lilliputians, the giants are a reasonable and good people, skilled in seeing the big picture. After Gulliver leaves Brobdingnag, he voyages to Laputa, where the most unusual people dwell. The Laputans are eccentric and science-obsessed, worrying constantly that the sun will go out and performing disturbing “projects” to aid society. On his last escapade, Gulliver visits the Country of the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos. The Houyhnhnms are rational horses, while the Yahoos are barbaric and disgusting humanoids. Through these four voyages, Jonathan Swift touches on many laughable aspects of his times from hoop-jumping politicians, to close-minded leaders, to the sometimes foolish innovative approaches, to the corrupt nature of humanity."

And there is my introductory paragraph for my paper on "Gulliver's Travels"! I'm actually enjoying the book, but I wish we had a little longer to read it. Cliffs Notes are a gift from God, I'm telling you! :)

Schedule for Mulan from now until the last performance:

Friday: 7pm-10pm

Saturday: 2pm-7pm, cast get-together 7pm-until

Sunday: 1:30pm-9:30pm

Monday: 6pm-10pm

Tuesday: 6pm-10pm

Wednesday: 6pm-10pm

Thursday: 8am (school performance :O)-3pm (we have other shows in between)

Friday: OPENING NIGHT!! 6pm-(perform at 7:30pm)-9:30pm, go to Mexican for dinner

Saturday: 1pm-(perform at 2:30pm)-4:30pm, 6pm-(perform at 7:20pm)-9:30pm, go to pizza buffet for dinner

Sunday: 1pm-(perform at 2:30pm)-4:30pm, cast cook-out later

I would totally be looking forward to all this, except for one tiny detail:

AFTER THIS IT'S OVER!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! *SOB SOB SOB SOB SOB SOB SOBBBB*

And that's all I have to say for now. Farewell.

It's possible that I will post later tonight, but only if something REALLY EXCITING happens :D

You

*grins* VICTORY! I think I aced both my Latin and my philosophy exams!! Yay! I studied hard, and I think it paid off. Let's hope :) Now all I have to do is take an exam on my second worst subject: physical science, and my third worst subject: American government. *moan* It's not over yet, that's for sure.

But I'm surprisingly really sad about the end of school. Some people I never thought I'd miss, I'm going to miss. I was just thinking about it in class today, and it was. . .just really sad. I wish I could be more specific, but I don't feel like I can since everyone can read this. I'm just really sad. Because I firmly believed that my class was going to graduate together. We love each other. I thought. But it might just be me. I don't know. I can't tell. I'm probably just a more sentimental person than the rest of them. But anyway, this whole saying-goodbye-maybe-forever thing is really sad. I actually cried last night.

Okay. Enough about my crazy emotions. Let's talk about something else. . .like. . .like. . .

Okay, well, we had to write a paper for literature that was about ourselves. It really helped me to evaluate where I am in life, where I have been, and where I want to go. The paper had to include some of our ancestry, our namesakes (if we had any), and what our name means.

Then, we had to give three stories from when we were ages birth to five years old. This kind of helped us see our "real" selves. Because when you're little, you aren't trying to impress people, you aren't trying to fit in, you're innocent and ignorant. You can see the real you. Sort of the un-cut, un-edited ME.

Then, we had to give three of our character traits, with stories to illustrate them. It was interesting to see the parallels between my three most prominent characteristics and the stories from when I was little. It was weird to see that I haven't really changed all that much. (My three character traits were persistent/persuasive, imaginative, and a logophile [lover of words].)

The next section of the paper, we had to talk about the changes we've experienced this school year. Socially, emotionally, intellectually, etc. This was a real eye-opener for me. I mean, you would think you know yourself pretty well, but when you HAVE to really analyze yourself and put thought into how you've changed, it's interesting to see what you come up with. I've become more open-minded this year, mostly due to the semester in philosophy, I think. (Look back at Berkeley. He thought that maybe we only exist in the mind of God. Wow. What a crazy new idea! Weird!)

And lastly, dreams for the future. My personal dreams are to be a writer, a lawyer, a mom, and possibly a kindergarten teacher. I just really, really, REALLY love little kids. So much. So I think that would be a good profession for me. But I don't know. . .Maybe sometime if I don't know what to post, I'll just post my paper or something. Although I might have to leave our the ancestry because I gotta keep my identity safe, lol! Sorry :D

Writing that paper was surprisingly fun, and just FULL of self-discovery. I really think it's something that everyone should do once in their lifetime, preferably when you're younger-ish, lol! It's a really good way to get to know yourself and see where you are in life. Sorry if I sound really dreamy and all head-in-the-clouds. It's actually a pretty concrete way to look at your life, though.

Well, ttyl! Carpe diem! I am SOOOO tired.

"Daughter of Venice", Among Other Things

Philosophy project: success!!

Debate: not so much success. Both teams were a bit disappointing, and no winner was announced. Oh well. Learning process!

My sister is accusing me of "stealing the love" of our...dog. Yes, our DOG. Lol! The dog is actually mine, but ever since my parents started letting me sleep later, my sister has been feeding the dog. This afternoon when we got home from class, I gave the dog some fresh water, and my sister flipped out, lol! I have to admit, though, that I am a little sad at the prospect of Licky transferring her affections and want to prevent that from happening.

I don't know why I'm using big words. I haven't even been reading any big-word books lately...

I'm actually reading this book called Daughter of Venice. I've read it before though. It's interesting. It's written in first person, present tense (As I sit outside, I dangle my feet in the water...). It takes place in Venice (hence the title, duh) but I'm not sure exactly when. A long time ago sort of. The girls almost never get to leave the house, so it can't be but so contemporary.

It's not one of my favorite books, but I'm liking it more than ever this time around.

It's about a girl of a wealthy family. Now, in Venice, only one son and one (maybe two) daughters get married off. I don't remember what the other boys do, but the other girls are sent to convents for the rest of their lives (yikes!). The main character, Donata, is the second oldest. Sort of. She has a twin sister, Laura. So, there's a secret possibility that both of them could be married off, since they're both sort of the second daughters. Make sense? Well, Laura is the perfect daughter and future daughter-in-law, while Donata (main character) is more of your typical outcast-girl. So, Donata is fairly certain she will end up in a convent. Because she almost never gets to see the outside world, and once she gets put in a convent, she never will, she disguises herself as a boy and ventures out into Venice. She isn't nearly as ready as she thinks to face the outside world, but she learns a lot and meets some interesting people. She also gains the courage to eventually make a descision that changes her life and her family's life forever.

Haha, yeah...anyway, I have to go now because we're going to take a "family picture" outside the house and send it to my great uncle, who hasn't seen our house yet. So, talk to ya later!

P.S. Oh, I got given "grace" on the paper that I forgot to write and now I have to turn it in tomorrow. Yay! Oh, and that research paper that I've been working on is due a week from today and I don't feel very good about it... I know what I gotta do...

Carpe diem! :)

PCLs

For school, we had to invent a futuristic invention and write a paper on it. I'm actually very pleased with mine...


The invention discussed in this paper is a huge part of today’s society. It has helped in many areas of life, particularly in the architectural, medical and investigative fields. “PCLs”, which stands for Projecting Contact Lenses, are specially engineered contact lenses that allow what the wearer is thinking to be projected onto a wall or screen. They contacts are gravity sensitive, and therefore rotate to project an upright image even when the wearer is lying down. There are two different types of PCLs. The first is implanted in infants’ eyes before they are released from the hospital, and then the second type is implanted when the child reaches ten years old.

PCLs were invented around 2100, but, of course, those first few models were extremely flawed and were not capable of all that today’s PCLs are. The originals were not gravity sensitive, and also did not have the On/Off capability that today’s do. That particular defect made for some very interesting misunderstandings.

Today, type one PCLs will read audio commands and type two PCLs will read the wearer’s thoughts. Each individual has his/her own special thought sequence or audio sequence that will tell the PCLs when to switch functions. A PCL has three different settings: Public Projection, Personal Projection, and, of course, off. The Public Projection allows the wearer to visualize an image, and the contacts will project that internal image onto a wall or projection screen—really any blank surface. Personal Projection creates the internal image on the contact lenses themselves, allowing only the wearer to see the picture. This is helpful for designing anything from clothing to architecture to new hair styles. The Off setting silences the projection, making the wearer see only reality once again.

Now, the reason that there are two different types of PCLs makes sense when one looks at it. The PCLs that are worn from infancy to age ten are audio sensitive. They are just called “audio PCLs”, or “primary PCLs”. The way to make them switch functions is by saying the set “password” out loud. This is because an infant is not able to consciously turn his/her contact lenses on and off, and a child under the age of ten might not have discretion as to when it was appropriate to project an image. Of course, the child could still change settings, but by having to say the command out loud, an adult would obviously be notified and could turn the primary PCLs back off.

When a child reaches age ten, they are considered mature enough to switch to regular PCLs, which are controlled by a designated thought pattern. When one first gets his/her PCLs implanted, they must set the “password” for each setting. Something unusual that wouldn’t be accidentally triggered is best. A three word “password” containing a noun, a verb, and an adjective is recommended. For example, the “password” to activate the setting Public Projection might be “Blue Micro Earn,” the password for Private might be “Elevated Spoon Shoot,” and the password for Off might be “Crazy Thorn Catch.” The same system goes for the primary PCLs as well, the passwords just must be spoken aloud instead of thought.

This technology has been used in countless situations and even saved lives. One use for PCLs is in the architectural community. Architects can now spend less time trying to explain their visions to coworkers and more time making their visions reality. Infants unable to speak can visualize what they need so parents or guardians can help them without the long frustration of trying to figure out what the problem is. Disorders are easier to recognize and at a younger age. If a child is autistic, his/her thought patterns can help to discern that. Also, in multiple circumstances, PCLs have enabled the police to identify a murderer or a thief. The person who had witnessed the crime had only to conjure up an image of the offender and glance at a projection screen. Of course, if someone wanted to frame someone for the crime, that might be possible, as well. At least it would be if it weren’t for the Lie Detection Chip, or LDC implanted in every infant’s brain before they are released from the hospital…