Journal #36

It is important to be yourself because if you act like someone you are not, you lose yourself.Acting like yourself can be really hard, especially as a teenager. You fell constant pressure to be something you are not, and that can easily change who you are, how you act, and what you believe in. In being yourself, you must find people that will accept the fact that you are who you are and will like you regardless. You need to acct like yourself because it is being true to the individual inside you, and expressing yourself no matter what people say or think. I like to think that I am myself all of the time, but I know that I act different around different people. Which is okay, but it is how much different you act that really says whether or not you are being true to yourself. Being true to yourself can also help you guide yourself in the right direction. If you stick to what you believe in, and gradually as you get older grow and extend on those thoughts, morals, and beliefs, then you can make yourself into a strong person. Being true to yourself makes you strong, which leads to a life of happiness. I think that it is important that we stay true to ourselves in order to keep our heads above water, if you will. By this, I mean that if you lie to yourself and do the things that you inside know you do not believe in, then your just keep getting more and more overwhelmed in the lies you tell yourself, and eventually you are no longer yourself, but a person the people around you that influenced these decisions have made you into. I try to keep to my morals as best as I can, but it is very hard sometimes to do this. I think if you can make it our of high school proud of who you are, then that is yourself, and you should stick to it.

Journal #35

My writing in The Declaration of Independence Reflection blog was very choppy and did not flow very well.I had very short kind of insignificant paragraphs, and they did not really seem as though they made an essay. Although they did not flow, I used very good examples and support for my arguments. My thoughts were well organized and easy to follow. In my discussion post, I had many topics, whereas the reflection blog there was one focused topic to write about. In the discussion post, I had fewer support examples because I was covering more topics than before. In the discussion post, I had more direct quotations than in the discussion post, and in the reflection blog, I used broader examples and talked about them. I kind of talked about a specific section in the Declaration of Independence, and then made a broad overview of that section. In opposition, in the reflection blog I had a quotation from one of Whitman's poems, and then I went on break down the quote. I did a broad break down, and then related it back to the point I was trying to prove. I think my writing has improved a little bit, but these were hard essays to compare. The kinds of writing were very different because int he reflection blog, I was just telling how the Declaration of Independence had examples of the topic. In the discussion post,I was comparing and contrasting Walt Whitman's writing to the characteristics of Realism and Regionalism writing, talking about how Whitman revolutionized American literature, and how Whitman's poems were showing his search for Self that he believed in. Overall the writing is somewhat different, but also a little bit similar. They were kind of the same in my examples and the support to back them. I had a good post when I  wrote my reflection blog and I had very good support and examples. On my previous blogs compared to now I have improved a lot.

Journal #34

My self is something interesting to think about. It is a very deep concept that Whitman describes and uses in his poems. There are different versions of your Self, how you see yourself and how everyone else in the word sees you. I see myself as someone who is very private, and I like to deal issues by myself and not talk about things very much. I am friendly to most I think and I try to do so to everyone, no matter how my feelings towards them are. I think that I do so to everyone and I would hope that others feel I am nice to them. I revolve my world around what is happening now, and occasionally think about the future. To other people I think I may either come across as very shy, or rude. I have a very soft voice and I think people do not hear me sometimes, which makes them think that I am not listening. I think most people think I am friendly to a, and try to be funny, but sometimes people do not understand my humor. The concept that there is also a third self is very interesting. The third self is your spiritual self. I am not entirely certain what this is meaning, but Whitman believed that there was a circle, if you will, that things revolve around. He says that we represent ourselves and we represent our world, they represent us, and we are spiritual, and the spirits are us. This is a very very deep concept that Whitman uses in him poems, which would definitely explain why many people thought he was a little bit crazy. To think that we are the world and spirit, and ourselves is just downright odd. When we stop and think about it, it is true, we are everyone, and everyone is us. It honesty sounds pretty darn crazy if you ask me. I am me, they are we, he is me and we.

Journal #33

To reduce stress I have to do certain things to take my mind of whatever it is that is stressing me out. If I have a lot going, or a big thing to do, I often become stressed. To get myself out of this mind set, I do one of a few different things. One of the main things I do is go to my room and watch a short television show on my laptop. This gets my mind off whatever is stressing me out, and it allows me to clear my mind and come up with new ideas. Another thing I do is to watch a show on television in my living room. This way I do not get to comfortable like I do on my bed, and allows me to be able to get up and keep going. The third thing I like to do is go take a drive somewhere. Turning my music up and being alone makes me fee much less stressed out and makes me calm myself down a little bit. I often go to Walgreens and buy myself something sweet. Treating yourself is a good way to make your mind come back down to earth. I think that when we get going in the week and start getting busy, it is very hard to calm down or slow your pace down, and it easy to get stressed quickly. When we take it step my step and think about the importance of the thing we are doing in the long run, it usually is insignificant to be putting so much pressure and stress on yourself. Although the things I mentioned before are great stress relievers, sometimes we have to just push through the hard and stressful times. You just have to get through it and if you think about it it makes it easy to do so. Just say to yourself that it will be over soon and it is not worth getting worked up about.

Journal #32

Revolutions on the way we think and the ideas we have change every day We are constantly thinking of new ways to view a topic and form an opinion on it. As the world develops, we get more and more new opinions and idea of what is right and wrong. An issue from the past would be the civil rights movement we discussed in a previous journal. It used to not be acceptable to think that African Americans were as equal as white people. As the would changed, and ideas were revolutionized, we slowly but surely started to think that it may not be right to no include people who are humans, just like us, from the rest of the world. Today this is pretty much no longer an issue We have completely regularization an idea, and made it an accepted thing. A current issue that is very similar to the civil rights movement is the issue of gay rights As it is right now, gay people are only allowed to be married in very few states. This is pretty ridiculous considering that as African Americans are human, so are gay people. We have taken their rights away and that is one idea that needs to be changed. The only way that that change will happen is if we keep speaking up and out on what we believe and getting the revolutionary idea out there for other people to consider. To this can be very beneficial to you as well. To change someone's mind, or open their minds to a new idea that they may not have thought about before and now consider something that should be changed. This is what revolutionizing a thought is about, it is about making your voice heard d=so others can think about is, make their decision, and then in turn voice their own opinion. This is how revolution happens and the way to start is is to start with yourself.

Journal #31

Gossip is a very hurtful, but very real thing. Every single person has gossiped or has been talked about. In our world, gossip plays a huge part. Girls are so mean to each other, and it is only each other that really knows how hard it is to be a teenager in today's world. We are constantly picking on each other about anything from looks to boys to economic status. If you think about it though, the media does not help this one bit. For example, Miley Cyrus is labeled bad names about how many men she has been with and how she acts. In reality, yes she dresses a little scandalous, but she has been with one man for several years, while Taylor Swift has had so many boyfriends, but because she dresses cute and  has sweet songs. This is because of gossip. People judge both of these girls on their appearance, and not for who they really are. This is very real with our peers. Girls take one look at each other and in a split second decides what kind of person they are. This can be so hurtful to the person being judged or talked about, more than we may every know. You never know what people are going through, and so when we make the decision to talk about someone or make up a rumor, you could have such an affect on them. Maybe that person is going through a hard time and just needs a friend, but they can not make any because of a rumor someone started, or because of the snap judgments that others make. Girls are not the only ones guilty, however. Boys start rumors too, and hurt both girls and boys with their words or actions. By calling guys names, although they may not show it, it can really hurt them. This is also true with girls. It can almost hurt a girls feelings more when such mean words come from a guy than a girl.

Journal #30

This month, February, is lack history month. In accordance to this, I am going to talk about civil rights. As we all know, America was at one point in time not an equal opportunity place. African American people were at this time not considered the same people as whites. They had to have separate restaurants, bathrooms, water fountains, schools, and anything else you could think of. This time was not one that America should be proud of, but it can actually be compared to something we still have today. In today's world, although African American people are now considered as equal as anyone else, we still do not have that for gay people. These topics can be easily compared, as they are both issues of civil rights, for a modern example. Back to African American civil rights, however, we are now all equals because of people such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman. These people help aid their fellow African American people to keep fighting for their rights to be free and equal, as the Constitution states they have the right to. Martin Luther King Jr. it the most notable person from the civil rights movement. I am sure we have all heard at least the beginning of his I Have a Dream speech, which is very inspiring. It was because of his persistence, refusal to become upset, and inspiration of a peaceful fights that helped the African Americans to not give up until they had their rights. We remember people such as Martin Luther King Jr. in this month because they have done something extraordinary, that does not really ever happen in history before. We should all be inspired to fight for what we believe in and not give up. If they can fight for their freedom and get what they wanted. We can manage to do somewhat of the same thing on a much smaller scale. This month we should all remember the struggle and fight for what you believe in.