Writing One

Blood/Conflict Diamonds
“Diamonds are a girls’ best friend.” This saying has reflected the aesthetic side of diamonds for many years. Few people know that there is a much darker side to the diamond business. Even less are aware that these glittery rocks have killed over a million people within the last ten years; Leaving even more disabled or maimed. Being so that this evil mineral is my birth stone; I feel that the people of the United States should know the consequences of their “Bling.”
Diamonds are extremely small pieces of carbon with no great intrinsic value, yet these minerals have become the cause of widespread death, destruction, and misery for almost a decade in the country of Sierra Leone. These “conflict” diamonds are diamonds that originate from areas controlled by militia groups that are opposed to legitimate government, this illegal diamond money is used to fund military action in opposition to said “respectable” governments.
Blood Diamonds are a huge issue in places like Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; many people have been murdered in process of mining these precious stones. Most of these miners have been forcibly taken from their families by rebel groups who need the diamond money to continue their uprisings. They force innocent people to dig or sift through rivers in search of diamonds, and if workers tire or try to rebel, the rebel soldiers would hurt or kill them. It is suspected that more than 4 million people have died mining these diamonds.
In the 1990s, savage fighting took place between the Sierra Leone government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The RUF was one of the rebel militia who tried to take over the country of Sierra Leone. It was started and led by Foday Sankoh.. The rebel group stood for a new type a government, they promised to give the diamond profits to the people of Sierra Leone. After taking over some major diamond mines, the RUF did not keep their promise. Instead, the RUF supported their revolution by selling Blood Diamonds.
The RUF became notorious for their child soldiers. Almost 23,000 children served in the RUF army. The children were in the age range of 7 to 12 years old. To make the kids killers they would force them to kill their parents along with many other horrific acts. They made kiddy soldiers take horrific names like “The Killer” ”Wicked to Women” or “Bloodmaster.” There are accounts of officers rubbing cocaine in the kids’ open cuts in order to make them pumped up and ready to kill. The RUF was notorious for the savage severing off limbs of the victims they did not kill. They cut off the limbs of tens of thousands of Sierra Leoneans; many of the victims were children
Finally, in 1999 the United Nations stepped in. They sent out peace keeping militia and cut off RUF of their ammunition supply. It all ended with a gruesome two week battle that killed an estimated 6000 people. Today, the blood diamond industry seems to have almost fallen apart. The UN set up acts such as the Kimberly Act. When diamonds cross international borders they are put into a tamper proof box, and with a Kimberly Process certificate. The Kimberly Process has been very successful. Over 70 countries are part of the Kimberly Process. It has made it much more difficult for rebel groups to sell diamonds mined under horrendous conditions to be sold internationally. So next time you decide to purchase some bling; make sure it is conflict free.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_diamond
http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html
http://www.amnestyusa.org/amnestynow/diamonds.html

The Transcendentalists/ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nature

The words in this short story flowed like no other literature I have laid eyes on. It gave off a very spiritual feeling. After reading this, I feel that the Transcendentalists were the first hippies. Like the romantics; they had a huge respect for nature. These people accepted the fact that they were not very important. But in the woods they felt connected to this "oversoul" or supposedly god himself. "I became a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of god." They felt that the greatest thing us humans were given was the brain; to understood the power of the brain. The transcendentalists felt a unity with nature. My favorite line was "I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty." I feel this translates into "I love the magnificence of nature."

Self-Reliance

This short story was very different from the previous. This story refers to one's ego and one's accepted place in society and ones place with god."...It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but god will not have his work made manifest by cowards." Ralph seems to despise societyand how it changes what he feels is most important in life. "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members." He sees society holding people back. Making them fear to think outside the box: "Imitation is suicide." Ralph feels that people should accept thier place in life, "accept the place the divine previdence has found for you; the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so.." He knows of the many misunderstood philosophers, and highly respects them for their bravery. As he wisely said, "To be great is to be misunderstood."

Romanticism/ The Devil & Tom Walker

Romanticism focused on imagination, the power of nature, and less than genius people. An improbable adventure was usually the plot of these stories. All of these romanticism stories had dark overtones. Stories like Sleepy Hollow and Tom Walker and the Devil depicted unreal events and crazy adventures all overpowered by nature, and unfortunate events. As wiki wisely stated,"Romanticism emphasized intuition, imagination, and feeling, to a point that has led to some Romantic thinkers being accused of irrationalism."
In the devil and Tom Walker, Washington Irving was painstakingly descriptive of the nature setting around the characters. "The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday, and a retreat for all the owls." descriptions like this radiate an incredible dark presence. The act of speaking with the devil himself is highly unlikely, this shows the imagination aspect of romanticism. There is also a bit of a moral to this story. After the devil does Tom the favor of "removing" his termagant wife, the devil instructs Tom on how to become a wealthy broker. Of course Tom becomes a greedy man (although he always was.) But now Tom has the bankroll to do horrifically. After some time, The devil decided that Tom had had enough money and fame, so the devil scooped him off and rode into the night.
Although I found these stories incredibly boring, I respect the idea of fantasy fiction. In the time period that romanticism came about, Life was dirty and sickly. It's nice to get away from the everyday horrid life. And it is easy to do so with fiction.

Unit one Ben/Me

"SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."
This quote is a very rationalist thing to say. In Ben's day, everyone was going around damning one another. I'm sure the puritans would gossip about one an other's misfortunes. Somehow referring to how the unlucky one deserved it.

My List

• Refrain from letting your body become a common oasis.
• Keep disdainful thoughts to yourself.
• Respect others beliefs, even if you feel they are incorrect.
• Everything in moderation.
• Always stay busy; Often complete a gratifying task.
• Never let your mind go to waste; learn something new every day.
• Listen to challenging music, don't let the booty bumpin' eat at your soul.
• Take everyday as your last, it just might be so.
• Respect Dr. Mausdley, for he is the almighty.
• If you believe in god, then don't be a hypocrite to your so called morals.
• Don't make me poop in your butt. (Don't ask me how.)

My short list would probably be a more suitable religion than most follow. But achieving moral perfection? Such a thing in an unruly universe does not exist. It is all but a matter of opinion. I'm sure that Charles Manson felt that he had achieved moral perfection. Your conscience is nothing but your upbringing.

Rationalists Vs. Puritans

6. Briefly (one good paragraph) describe the differences between the Puritans and the Rationalists. Please be careful not to repeat the same words you have read in this entry. Where in today's society do you see some of the ideas you have read about here represented?

The Rationalists are (to me) the first scientists. They studied the world around them trying to unlock the code of life. "How did this great earth come to be?" That question seemed to fund their inquisitive acts. Bill Franklin took his kite and began the search for what lightning was. I believe that this period of Rationalism is highly important to what we know as science today. What if we the human race had stuck to fearing god all of the time? I highly doubt that I would be typing on this electronic machine. I for one, am glad that at one point in time people actually started thinking "rationally."

Native Vs. Puritan

The puritans were a god fearing people. They used god to damn one another. They were weak minded and weak spirited. They felt that they were in Satan's arms at all times, and there was nothing you could do to change it. If you were a saint, you somehow had the power to interpret the word of god. (Which is contradicting in itself.)
Of course the natives and the puritans were a clash of the titans. The natives were simple, land loving people for the most part. Their god was much more loving than the evil puritans were. If I was a native American I would scalp those cake eaters too. Ha ha.

Unit One; Early American Lit.

ELAALRL3 The student deepens understanding of literary works by relating them to their contemporary context or historical background, as well as to works from other time periods.

This passage is expressing the need to relate written work to history. Not only the obvious history, but to all histories and the feeling that imply.

An Indian Without Reservation

Everyone I tell so - accepts me as Indian
But nobody wants me to be one.
Everyone really rejects me as Indian
The minute I try to be one.
Keep my hair short, dress just like them
Is all I've done throughout life.
The whites all want me to be just like them,
But they forget - this is my life.
Everyone knows that I'm Indian,
But this really seems to upset them
Forgive and forget that I'm Indian
Is the only way that I can live with them.
But I can't, can't you see, for I am what I am,
And what I am, dammit is Indian!
Though I was raised white American,
I've always been, and will always be...Indian.
They adopted me out just so they could change
My original certificate of birth
But try as they might, they can't rearrange
My Heritage, established at birth.
In this country I can be what I want
As long as what I want isn't Indian,
This is something I cannot flaunt
Still to some, "The only good one's a dead one."
Everyone knows that I am Indian,
And this really seems to upset them
Forgive and forget that I am Indian
Is the only way they'll let me live with them.
But I can't, can't you see, for I am what I am,
And what I am, dammit is Indian.
Though I was raised white American,
I've always been, and will always be...Indian
I can be Indian behind closed doors
And can be one amongst my kind
But if I try it amongst whites outdoors,
I'm told I'm not the right kind.
The American society existing today
Can't have me there to remind them
Of atrocities performed in such a way
They would rather just shove behind them.
Yet everyone knows that I am Indian,
And this really seems to upset them
Forgive and forget that I'm Indian?
If I can't be one, I won't live with them.
For I can't, can't you see? For I am what I am,
And what I am, dammit, is Indian.
Though I was raised white American,
I've always been, and will always be...Indian.
I know what I am but by law can't prove it
They claim my record can't be opened now -
That's because at adoption they sealed it
I'm supposed to accept being white now
Some of My People won't accept what I am
Because I'm not from the reservation
But accept that I am because what I am
Is an Indian without reservation!
And everyone knows that I'm Indian,
I don't care that this really upsets them
To forgive and forget that I'm Indian?
I'd much rather live without them.
For I can't, can't you see, for I am what I am,
And what I am, bless it, is Indian.
Though raised by the white American,
I've always been, and will always be:...Indian.
-- Unknown

This poem really reached out to me. I can relate to the "secret" Indian boy. He recognizes that he is not fully excepted by the white American, Yet he doesn't attempt to fit in. He knows who he is; for better or for worse.

GA Preformance Standards

ELAALRL1 The student demonstrates comprehension by identifying evidence (i.e., examples of diction, imagery, point of view, figurative language, symbolism, plot events and main ideas) in a variety of texts representative of different genres (i.e., poetry, prose [short story, novel, essay, editorial, biography], and drama) and using this evidence as the basis for interpretation.

All of these literary terms are extremely important to the simple task of reading comprehension. By understanding what you are looking for, it is easier to find it. Things like figurative language assist the author in creating a metaphor that the reader might relate to; to better understand what is being expressed.