I realize this is slightly late but I felt that posting about myself was better done late then never!
My name is Samantha Berry and I will be a senior at McFarland High school this year. My favorite classes have always been English and History. I am totally dreadful at Math and Science; and dread every second that I spend in those classes. I have always wished Math was as easy as learning the Alphabet.
I love traveling and wish that I could do more of it. My dream is to go to London, England and am completely jealous of any one who is going this year for the Olympics. I am a huge fan of the Olympics and I will be watching every second that I can. The Winter Olympics are my favorite, but watching Michael Phelps win 7 more gold medals will make up for the fact that it is the Summer!
Me and my family are very close. Because of this I have always grown up around Baseball. I am usually guilty of knowing far too much about my favorite team, the Milwaukee Brewers. I am also lucky enough to have gone to almost 15 Brewers games a year. I have been able to go to so many Brewers games, over my short 17 year old life, that I think I have been to over 200 games. Because I am such an avid Brewers fan and my Dad is a huge Cardinals fan, I have a huge dislike for the Cubs. I will admit, that the fact the Cubs haven't won a world series in over 100 years, does make me smile when I think about it.
I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with my life; but I am currently thinking about being an elementary school teacher. One thing I have not decided is whether I want to be a Special Education teacher or just your normal everyday elementary school teacher. I know I will be happy with either choice, but things may change. For example, if I still wanted to do what I did 10 years ago I would be studying to become the first super hero in space. I'm not sure how I would achieve this goal, but then again I was 7 and at that age anything is possible!
I hope everyone has a great summer and am looking forward to being in this class!
Friday, July 20, 2012
Total Eclipse
Annie Dillard's Total Eclipse, was an interesting piece of writing. It was not my favorite piece, but it still had a few things that caught my attention. I thought the Dillard's writing of the clown painting, in her hotel, was confusing the first time I read threw it. I could not figure out how it fit into this writing. But then it was mentioned to me by a family member, that maybe Dillard had put the clown into her writing to compare it to the Eclipse. The painting of the clown, at first, looks very normal. It's not until you look closer, that you can realize it's not what it seems. "His hair was bunches of baby carrots. Inset in his white clown makeup, and in his cabbage skull, where his small and laughing human eyes... the crinkle shadows around his eyes were string beans. His eyebrows were parsley. Each of his ears was a broad bean."It's not just any old clown painting, this one's made out of vegetables.
The same thing can be seen with the Eclipse. As the sun starts to disappear, the world and the things around Dillard didn't look as they seem. "The grasses were wrong; they were platinum. Their every detail of stem, head, and blade shone lightness and artificially distinct as an art photographer's platinum print. This color had never been seen on hearth. The hues were metallic; their finish was matte. The hillside was a nineteenth-century tinted photograph from which the tints had faded.... The sky was navy blue." The world, in Dillard's view, had changed it was not; as in the clown painting, compleatly normal.
It is later mentioned in Dillard's writing that there will not be another total eclipse in Yakima, Washington till 2086. I hope that if I can make it to the Eclipse, and my boss can gives me an hour off, that I will be able to witness the Eclipse like her; and maybe even compare it to the crazy clown painting as well.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Talk of the Town
September 11, 2001 is a day that we shall never forget. It's a day that brought Americans closer. It's a day that our children and our children's children will study about in their history classes for years. You can find many stories about the tragedy; from fire fighters, who saved hundreds when the planes hit and the towers collapsed, and other stories from people thousands miles away, who only witnessed the grand towers falling as their local news replayed the tragic scene over and over again.
John Updike and Susan Sontag, both share their own reactions to the 9/11 attacks. The two share radically different views on 9/11. I enjoyed reading both sides of the story; and really loved the vivid descriptions that both authors used to describe what they saw, and how they felt. I will admit that I do find my self agreeing more with Updike's view of 9/11. Updike saw the twin towers fall while he was surrounded by his family, in a tenth-floor apartment in Brooklyn Heights. He continues to explain the sight of the towers falling while he was with his family. 'And then, within an hour, as my wife and I watched from the Brooklyn building's roof, the south tower dropped from the screen of our view, it fell straight down like an elevator, with a tinkling shiver and a groan of concussion distinct across the mile of air. We knew we had just witnessed thousands of deaths; we clung to each other as if we ourselves were falling.' Updike shows the feelings that many Americans felt at the time. The very feelings that can make millions of Amercian's get back up after being pushed down.
Sontag had different views, equally as important, but different. Many would argue that Sontag is a heartless person. That she has no compassion for her own country. I disagree, as I read threw her writings, I realized that she does love this country. What she doesn't love how we are choosing to use our power. I understand how she feels, America, recently it seems, has been run by politicians who only tell us what we want to hear, not what we need. She states 'Our leaders are bent on convincing us that everything is O.K. America is not afraid. Our spirit is unbroken, although this was a day that will live in infamy and America is now at war. But everything is not O.K. And this was not Pearl Harbor. We have a robotic President who assures us that America still stands tall.' I, again, must agree and disagree with this statement. At the time that is what we needed to hear from our leaders. America was in shambles, we were thrust apart from one another. What America needed at that time was to know that we were going to be O.K. But I think the charade that our leaders put on went to long. The war raged on for over 10 years. At the time her writings were published, Sontag's views did not share the same views of many Americans; but as the war raged on, many more might agree with her now.
They both bring into focus the fear that millions of Americans felt; weeks, months and years later. This fear brought America to another war, was the war necessary? That's a question that can and has left many politicians blue in the face as they argue with one another. Did it make us safer and stronger? Yes, I believe the war, at that time, is what kept America strong. Yes, it should have ended sooner; but for those first few years it brought us closer. Closer then America has been since that tragic day of September 11, 2001; a day that we shall never forget.
John Updike and Susan Sontag, both share their own reactions to the 9/11 attacks. The two share radically different views on 9/11. I enjoyed reading both sides of the story; and really loved the vivid descriptions that both authors used to describe what they saw, and how they felt. I will admit that I do find my self agreeing more with Updike's view of 9/11. Updike saw the twin towers fall while he was surrounded by his family, in a tenth-floor apartment in Brooklyn Heights. He continues to explain the sight of the towers falling while he was with his family. 'And then, within an hour, as my wife and I watched from the Brooklyn building's roof, the south tower dropped from the screen of our view, it fell straight down like an elevator, with a tinkling shiver and a groan of concussion distinct across the mile of air. We knew we had just witnessed thousands of deaths; we clung to each other as if we ourselves were falling.' Updike shows the feelings that many Americans felt at the time. The very feelings that can make millions of Amercian's get back up after being pushed down.
Sontag had different views, equally as important, but different. Many would argue that Sontag is a heartless person. That she has no compassion for her own country. I disagree, as I read threw her writings, I realized that she does love this country. What she doesn't love how we are choosing to use our power. I understand how she feels, America, recently it seems, has been run by politicians who only tell us what we want to hear, not what we need. She states 'Our leaders are bent on convincing us that everything is O.K. America is not afraid. Our spirit is unbroken, although this was a day that will live in infamy and America is now at war. But everything is not O.K. And this was not Pearl Harbor. We have a robotic President who assures us that America still stands tall.' I, again, must agree and disagree with this statement. At the time that is what we needed to hear from our leaders. America was in shambles, we were thrust apart from one another. What America needed at that time was to know that we were going to be O.K. But I think the charade that our leaders put on went to long. The war raged on for over 10 years. At the time her writings were published, Sontag's views did not share the same views of many Americans; but as the war raged on, many more might agree with her now.
They both bring into focus the fear that millions of Americans felt; weeks, months and years later. This fear brought America to another war, was the war necessary? That's a question that can and has left many politicians blue in the face as they argue with one another. Did it make us safer and stronger? Yes, I believe the war, at that time, is what kept America strong. Yes, it should have ended sooner; but for those first few years it brought us closer. Closer then America has been since that tragic day of September 11, 2001; a day that we shall never forget.
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