1st Amendment Rights

So the first amendment gives us the rights to freedom of religion, speech, press, assemble peaceably, and the right to petition the government. This amendment is limited in schools. I agree that it should be limited to schools. I agree because if you voice your religious opinion in school and others don't agree with you then there would be a big argument which would harm the school environment as well as your ability to learn. I do think that school newspapers should be able to report on any issues they want to, just as long as the article is unbiased and doesn't offend anybody. I think this because if the newspaper wishes to report on real news then they should have the right to do so. This is a right whether it is in school or in the media. Although I don't believe that people should voice personal opinions in school I think they should have the right to have those rights. For example if a kid practices Islam then he shouldn't have to dissect a cow heart if he doesn't want to. This doesn't bring unnecessary conflict to the school area, but the kid still has the right to practice his religion. So in conclusion people should have the ability to practice their ideas so long as it does not offend or hurt other students ability to learn.

War Propaganda Remix

When we analyzed war propaganda I analyzed the one with a navy man riding a torpedo. In this poster it is appealing because it looks exciting and fun. The slogan; "The service for fighting men", makes it seem like only tough guys would join the Navy. If I was changing the message of this poster I would first change the color scheme of the poster. I would change it from a light, fun blue to a grey or black dark color scheme. This would make it look like war is not a fun, exciting thing, but a dark, scary one. i would also change the color of the torpedo from gold to black and make it look more menacing looking. The next thing I would change would be that I wouldn't have the guy riding a torpedo, but a torpedo chasing him. Then I would change his facial expression from a laughing, happy expression to a scared, yelling one. These changes would all show that war is not something to be taken lightly. Finally I would change the slogan from "The service for fighting men" to "The Service for No Man." This would represent that no man should have to go to war because there should not be any war. I feel like this poster could really be switched around to support anti-war as well as it did support war.

Johnny Got His Gun Questions

For this assignment we had to say if we agreed or disagreed with various statements. The two statements that I chose to write about are #4 and #9. #4 asks if you believe communication is essential to forming relationships. I agree that it is essential. I don’t know if you can form deep relationships without communication. I’m sure that you could form minor or small relationships without communication, but I think that if you want to form a trustworthy, major relationship you need communication. Communication is essential for forming trust. If you don’t talk to people about a lot of stuff I don’t think you can trust them. Communication is also essential for finding similarities between you and another person. You need to find things you have in common with other people to make friends. Lastly, communication is important for talking about everyday things. I believe that every good relationship has to talk about a lot of things, even if those things aren’t the most important. Talking helps build comfort ability between people. So you need communication to form trust, find similarities, and get comfortable with someone. When you add all those factors together you get a healthy, trustworthy relationship.

            The second question I’m going to write about is #9. This question asks if war is a necessary evil in our world. I agree that it is. I wish it wasn’t, but I have to say that it is. War has been around since the first humans walked the earth. It’s in human nature to want to fight for something you believe in or against something you don’t. The world is a cold, hard place; it’s not all just rainbows and butterflies. If war wasn’t present in our world no country would ever be able to protect itself from another country’s ideas. Also if there was no war no country would ever to be able to take down another evil in this world, such as a dictator or an evil country. Sometimes you have to fight a greater evil with evil I guess.

Podkayne of Mars Pages 42-80

Summary: This section was basically about all the happenings on the ship the Tricorn en route to Earth. The section starts off with Podkayne trying to find money that Clark stole from her. These two cause a lot of trouble between themselves. They are the only two children riding first class, and some of the only martians as well. A problem that Clark and Podkayne run into is the gravity of other planets. Mars has a very low gravitational pull so the captain turns the gravity level in the gym to a more Earth-like number. Also in this section Clark and Podkayne meet some nice ladies. Their names are Mrs. Grew, Mrs. Girdie, and Mrs. Royer. The first two aren't in the section too much, but Mrs. Royer plays a big role. Podkayne does some chores for Mrs. Royer, who despises all martians, in exchange for some allowance. however after Podkayne refuses to rub her back she gossips about the two martian children to the whole ship. So now Podkayne's and Clark's reputation is tainted.
Quote: Mrs Royer: "What can you expect, dreadful people." This shows that Mrs. Royer isn't as nice and gentle as the kids thought she was. This also shows how much resentment Mrs. Royer has toward Martians for no apparent reason. She goes on to tell many people about how uneducated and undisciplined these hooligans are. This is important because it will give Podkayne and Clark a bad reputation among the other passsengers for the remainder of the trip.
Connection: My connection to this section is the movie Titanic. Which is about a passenger ship. This section was pretty boring and was just about the ride on the ship. This reminds me of Titanic because of the interactions between the passengers.

Podkayne of Mars Pages 1-48

Summary:This book is the story of a Masrsian girl named Podkayne and her little brother Clark. Life on Mars is extremely intelligent, Podkayne has an IQ of 145 and Clark that of 160. She states in the first chapter that she has always wanted to go to earth to visit. This is thousands of years in the future where humans no longer inhabit earth, but other parts of the solar system. At first Podkayne's dad refuses to make a voyage to the earth, but he later warms up to the idea and lets Clark and Podkayne travel there with their Uncle Tom. They pack everything up and begin the journey riding First-Class.
Quote: "he has an IQ of 160, opposed to my 145." This shows how intelegent life is on Mars in this set time period. This also shows that time has changed the human race. Both of these are going to play major roles throughout the book. It really helps illustrate what life must be like during that time. Life is so far beyond what it is now that people have inhabited other planets and Earth is more or less a vacation spot now. This quote shows all of these things.
Connection: My connection to this story, and in peticular its idea of humans inhabiting other areas of the galaxy, is Star Wars. In every area in Star Wars you see humans from Hans Solo to Luke Skywalker. In the book humans are inhabiting other areas too. Travel is another connection that can be made to Star Wars. In both stories people travel from planet to planet by giant space ships. So Star Wars and this book defineatly draw some comparisons.

Brians Winter pages 104-End

Summary: In the final section of Brians Winter the weather is now completely different, there is several feet of snow on the ground and it is below 0 dgrees outside. Brian makes some snow shoes out of branches so he can hunt in the deep snow. He hears a gunshot during the night and goes out to check what happened. He can't see anything, but the next day while exploring he realizes that it was actually pine trees snapping in half because all of their sap has frozen solid. Then another day while exploring he notices some strange tracks that look like sleds. He follows them and discovers a hut with native americans living in it. The book then ends before saying what happened to Brian, which kind of upset me.
Quote: " We saw your smoke about two weeks ago, but we figured we'd leave you alone." This is what the Native American says to Brian when he discovers their hut. This shows that Brian hasn't really been alone this whole time and that there were other people living in the woods. This is important because it shows how people survive in these woods every day. I wish that the Native Americans introduced themselves to Brian. It would have made for a much better story.
Connection. My connection to this story is the show Survivor Man. In this show a man travels into some knid of wilderness and has to survive for a week by himself. As the week progresses his survival gets easier and easier, much like Brian. Then he is rescued and goes home. I'm assuming that's what happens to Brian even though the book doesn't say so.

Brian's Winter Pages 53-103

Summary:In this section Brian creates the big bow, which he calls the war bow. He also creates a killing lance which he uses to kill a full grown moose. The weather in this section is also very different. It is now freezing cold and there is a few feet of snow on the ground. This causes Brian to winterize his hut. He also makes a vest out of rabbit skins and a jacket out of moose hide. He kills the moose early in the section and now has meat that he estimates will last him for months. Brian is the most comfortable he has ever been in the wilderness. He has a warm hut with a fire, a lot of meat, warm clothes, and actually seems happy.
Quote: "...grateful for all the good luck he'd had" Pg 95 This really sums up the section becuase Brian's luck is really changing and he is actually enjoying himself. He has all that he needs and wants and can make just about anything he could need. He is also really adjusting to the winter weather and has even made some friends with wolves and a skunk that scares away some bears for Brian. The thing that proves that Brian is getting some good luck is when he is attacked by a moose he shot and he survives with only a concussion.
Connection: My connection to the section is a movie called Into the Wild. Which is about a guy who goes to Alaska to survive in the wilderness. Like Brian he survives mostly on rabbits and fish until he shoots a moose. This is related to Brian because Brian shoots his first big game in this section. In the movie after he shoots the moose he feels really bad and pukes afterhe fails to use any of the meat that he killed an innocent moose for. Brian feels awful because the moose was minding its own business and Brian killed it.