The American Dream

  A lot of people wonder if in today's society the American Dream has slowly died... Well, I'm here to tell you I think it has.  Everything is different from the days when Americans were pilgrims from England; for a while we grew into a country that would do anything to show the world we are here, and America is a great nation... This dream to be an all-powerful nation and to stand by the quote life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness has slowly died to the consumerism the US has learned to go by.  Being an all-powerful nation is all we strive to be now- whether the consequences to everything else are good or bad, we have lost the American Dream to greed and power- only another World War is going to make this turn around- maybe.

Post-Research Paper: Th Bell Jar

  I feel as if my research paper went well, but I was really "iffy" on the due dates for everything pre turning in the actual paper.  Also, while I was writing the paper, I only used three websites to quote from and also, I feel as if I missed out on some key points of Sylvia Plath's arguments in the book/the literary criticisms I needed to use.. Great -____-

Satire Example

  When I looked at this picture of satire, it made me laugh because it was really hypocritical to the group that decided to post this sign that is in CLEAR violation of their own rules.  The sign says, "NO posting of signs on public proterty" and the sign telling people not to post on public proterty is a sign posted on public proterty (posted on a street pole).  The picture uses irony and a little bit of burlesque portraying the stupidity of the people who posted the sign.  Irony, because it is a contradiction in itself.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Reflection

  In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many great aspects to why Twain's readers would love to read this book, but the main reasons why I in particular enjoyed this read is because 1) it gave you such a real sense of what it was like back in the day it was set in, and 2) the witty remarks of the characters and the journey Huck takes with Jim down the river captivates you, and makes you wonder what adventure will lie ahead.  Twain's use of satire in this book is also something that made readers want to read more (especially me), and also gave the book it's "flair".  I for one loved reading this novel, and all in all, it was a great read.

TED Video Analysis

  When I opened up the TED website, I was amazed at the types of videos I could watch- but the one video I chose to watch was one about hallucinations.

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  In this video, Oliver Sacks, a physiologist for people who often experience hallucinations, opens his seminar with a very nervous and almost paranoid look about him.  He fidgets with his papers and hands, and throughout the whole time he is on stage he talks very quickly and abruptly.  This DREW my attention, though... This way he acted made me feel as if there were more mystery about this topic than I was expecting- and there was.  

  He almost foreshadowed his topic by acting in this certain manner that added that extra "UMPH!" to his speech.  His tone was very confident and flippant, and yet very hesitant and choppy- he used dry humor every now and then (meaning he was appealing to your emotions, humor) to draw you out of the intense fascination you find yourself in listening to his seminar.  

  When he gave real life examples of his topic, his patients, it made his argument all the more believable, because he almost MADE us believe that what he said was the truth- because plainly, all they were were hard facts and evidence.  

  In the end of the seminar, he is asked if he has the syndrom he has described that his patients have, and he does. When he confesses to this, it made me believe he really understood the topic he was talking about, because he has had first had experience with it.  

  All in all, this video was very, very interesting to watch, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and he DEFINITELY convinced me hallucinations are not just for crazy people!