Journal #24

The best way to prepare for final exams is to not procrastinate! If you procrastinate, then you will get closer and closer to your exams and then you do not have enough time to properly prepare for the tests. If you do not prepare for your tests, then your will most likely not do very well on the tests. The best way to get ready is to make flashcards and to figure out which test you need to get the best grade on, and then study the most for that exam. To figure this out, for take your first quarter grade, multiply it by two, then take your second quarter grade and also multiply it by two. Then, you add them both together. You take this number and subtract it by four hundred and fifty. This equation is used to find out what grade you need to get in order to get an A on the exam. To then get this grade it is essential that you make flashcards for the tests that can use them, such as Spanish and Chemistry. You most likely cannot use flashcards on math tests, but you can do sample problems. These problems can be found on old tests and worksheets you have completed. Also, you could ask your teacher for problems that could be done for practice. All of these steps should help to make you get the best grade possible on your exams. On the weekend before make sure you bring all of the items you may need home to study, and be sure that you get plenty of sleep at night on the week of finals. Most importantly however, is that you eat breakfast. This way your stomach will not be growling during the test, and thinking about food instead of focusing on your tests. Overall, finals do not have to be terrible if you prepare in the correct way and follow the steps I have discussed.

Journal #23

Being self sufficient means that you can function by yourself. You can provide for yourself and do necessary things in order to survive. For example, as a child you depend on your parents for everything. They make you food, get you dressed, buy your things, and even when you are younger, bathe you. This is not being self sufficient. As you get to an age where you can start to do these things by yourself. Although teenagers may think they are self sufficient, they probably are not. When you are in high school, your parents still make your meals and pay for most of your expenses. Even in college, where you feel like such an independent person, you still are not self sufficient. Parents pay for at least some of your college tuition, and when you go home, it is their home, not your own. In my opinion, if you are being self sufficient is when you are completely dependent on you and only you. You have your own house and car that you bought with your own money that you earned. You also pay for your bills, including home, car, and life insurance. These things add up, which is why being self sufficient comes at an older age. Some people may start this earlier than others, but usually it is around the same age for most people. Along with just financial and personal independence, there is also being self sufficient mentally. If you look at yourself to solve problems, and want to handle things yourselves, without consulting people such as your mother and father. This means that you no longer depend on them for important decision making, and always wanting them to solve a problem for you. When you are self sufficient, you may go to others for guidance, but overall you make the decision yourself and no one else can decide for you. Being self sufficient takes time to reach, and does not come easily.

Reaction Blog:Kateb

Kateb’s analysis of Emerson’s “Self- Reliance” provides a more in depth version of the essay. He expands on the points made by Emerson in a new way. Through many quotes and examples, Kateb elaborates and elaborates on the topic of self-reliance.

            “He preaches self-reliance because he thinks that all people already have self-reliant moments and could more successfully become self-reliant if they tried. Self-reliance is thus not a doctrine of superiority to average humanity. Rather it is a doctrine urging the elevation of democracy to its full height, free of the aristocratic, but also free of the demotic (Kateb)”.  I found this quote very interesting. Kateb thinks that Emerson believes that everyone is self confident, and has the potential to be the best person they could possibly be, but they have the choice of whether or not to try to reach this potential. I am not sure whether I think this is true or not. I do believe that everyone has the potential to be the best person he or she can be. However, I am not so certain that everyone can just try really hard in order to be the best they can be. It is all about finding yourself, and the struggle to get to a point in your life in which you can confidently say that you are you, and that is all you will be. When I read “Self-Reliance”, I thought that that is what Emerson intended, not the point that Kateb makes.

“Emerson aims at making his philosophy difficult and elusive. He means to disappoint the expectation that he will supply doctrinal conclusions. His belief in the possibility of truth requires him, he thinks, to commit himself only for a time to a particular value, principle or idea (or to any practice or institution derivative from them), and then to a contrasting one for a time, trying at the same time to withhold a final judgment, a definite assent, whenever possible (Kateb)”. This point, made by Kateb I agree with. While reading Emerson’s essay, many people expected Emerson to have groundbreaking solutions to finding self-reliance. Unfortunately for them, Emerson gives a very factual statement saying that the only way to truly achieve this is to make time in order to figure it out all by themselves. They can do so by using factual, intellectual reasoning in order for them to figure out just who they are and how they can manage to be themselves in their environment. Kateb makes a good point, by doing all of these steps, and after quite some time, these goals of self reliance can finally be reached.

Overall, I agree with some points of Kateb’s analysis, but at the same time I also disagree with some parts also. Emerson’s essay can be taken many ways, and Kateb’s analysis is just one example of the many points of view that can be taken from such an essay as Emersons. All in all, I thought it was a pretty good essay with some decent points. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind." In Emerson's Transcendental Etudes. Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 2003. Quoted as "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Updated Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= MCVRWE011&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 10, 2012). 

Journal #22

The thing I love that most about snow is that it means winter is here. With winter comes hot chocolate, sweaters, and Christmas. As a kid, snow was the most exciting thing in the world. The little crystals of water, drifting down from the sky just made us want to go out and play. Making snowmen, snow angles, and forts should be a part of every kid's childhood. Then when we brought in out red-nosed, frozen bodies,our mothers would wrap us in a blanket and make us hot chocolate. That was the way it was for me anyway. As we grow older, snow becomes more a nuisance than a joyous occasion. In our teen years, snow means the hope of getting out of school and scraping the ice of your car. We lose the essence of the wonder of the little snowflakes falling into our open mouths. Snow is no longer that happy feeling, but more of a feeling of work. Shoveling driveways and sidewalks are now a part of our winter routines. Going around the neighborhood making money, with every shovel filled, more money to spend. We stay indoors more now, wrapping ourselves up and watching a movie, with the hot chocolate we make. In a way the snow is a symbol of growing up. The more independent we are from our mothers and fathers, and the less we seem to rely on them. For them though, the snow, although seeming like a major inconvenience for work and errands,  is really a reminder and sweet memory of the kids that they raised and dealing with the fact that they are older now and do not want to go out and play in the snow.Snow is a memory for all, and the childhoods we have finished. Snow way seem like a bad thing, but if we stop and think about it, we will think of the great memories and events of winters past. We can all remember if we try.

Journal #21

      To me this quote means that every person at some point in their life must accept themselves for who they are. "envy is ignorance" means that being jealous of other people is being ignorant, because you have qualities that make up you. Other people have the qualities that make up them, so they have theirs and you have yours. Being jealous of them just means you are insecure, and Emerson is saying that in order to accept yourself, you cannot be envious and insecure. "imitation is suicide" corresponds with the previous quote because it is saying that if you copy others you are once again insecure and envious, meaning you are not confident in the person you are and want to be other people. "that he must take himself for better, for worse, and his portion." This part means that in order to accept oneself, you must like the best parts of you and your personality, and also accept the worst parts of yourself. All of these parts make up yourself and make you you. "that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till." To me, this last quote means that even though the world is full of amazing things, easy to get, the best things in the world are the ones that we work for and put effort into. This correlates with the rest of the story, because we must work hard for the things we believe in and stand up for what is right. This kind of strength makes us realize what kind of person that we are, and if we truly believe in who we are. When we are confident in who we are, we can accomplish anything we set our mind to. Being confident is the key to being successful in life and it is also one of the hardest things to do.