Monday, December 12, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Alicia Amlin - Video - "The Tulpa Project"
Okay, just want to say real quick, I'm REALLY proud of the activity in the Security Cam scene (yes, it's very cheap and can always use improvement, but it WORKED!)! I hope everyone enjoys, even if I had to cut out a TON of video in the beginning. It would have been almost an hour long had I not cut out so much!
I do not own the music, but I DO own Jackie!!!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Harrison Bergeron Thesis Statement - Corrected
Single Paragraph Essay
“Harrison Bergeron”
“Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. focuses on equality—physically and mentally—strongly controlled by the government in the year 2081; the beautiful are forced to look ugly, the physically skilled are required to wear weights. With these handicaps making everyone so equal, the world became very different, odd, and average. But the government has no right or reason to push the whole world to be “…equal every which way.” (203) To suppress someone’s natural looks or physical talents is not only wrong to natural human rights, but it is also illegal, and for very good reason: everyone is different. Equality means everyone has equal rights, not that nobody is better than anyone else at one trade or another. Furthermore, competition is a natural necessity that keeps people—and, moreover, the world—moving forward. In fact, Vonnegut points out: “Some things about living still weren’t quite right…April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime.” (203) No matter how equal the government tries to make the world, people will always be flawed in some way, shape, or form, good and bad, and every individual needs these flaws to not only survive, but to thrive creatively and freely as his or her own person.
Word Count: 206
Works Cited
Jr., Kurt Vonnegut. "Harrison Bergeron." Power of Language - Language of power. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 203-209.
“Harrison Bergeron”
“Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. focuses on equality—physically and mentally—strongly controlled by the government in the year 2081; the beautiful are forced to look ugly, the physically skilled are required to wear weights. With these handicaps making everyone so equal, the world became very different, odd, and average. But the government has no right or reason to push the whole world to be “…equal every which way.” (203) To suppress someone’s natural looks or physical talents is not only wrong to natural human rights, but it is also illegal, and for very good reason: everyone is different. Equality means everyone has equal rights, not that nobody is better than anyone else at one trade or another. Furthermore, competition is a natural necessity that keeps people—and, moreover, the world—moving forward. In fact, Vonnegut points out: “Some things about living still weren’t quite right…April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime.” (203) No matter how equal the government tries to make the world, people will always be flawed in some way, shape, or form, good and bad, and every individual needs these flaws to not only survive, but to thrive creatively and freely as his or her own person.
Word Count: 206
Works Cited
Jr., Kurt Vonnegut. "Harrison Bergeron." Power of Language - Language of power. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 203-209.
On Dumpster Diving
Single Paragraph Essay
“On Dumpster Diving”
“On Dumpster Diving,” written by Lans Eighner discusses the process of proper dumpster diving in order for one who is homeless to thrive. Though Eighner describes this odd but very common process in great detail as an instructional piece, he is really showing the more fortunate they take too much for granted. A fortunate or wealthy individual will worry more about what is in or out in the world of trends and less about food, shelter, and other basic needs for survival. Therefore, useful things are soon seen as trash and are quickly discarded without a second thought or a simple “thanks for helping these last few days along.” People even throw away spare change, “…sometimes amounting to many dollars…” (358) all too frequently. This spare change can purchase many essentials, such as milk and eggs, meat, and even an order or two of burgers and fries from the McDonald’s dollar menu, which many homeless individuals would greatly appreciate to simply survive the night. It is because of what is wasted a homeless dumpster diver can survive very comfortably, so long as he or she knows what to look for and how to look for it. Though the fortunate would pity the dumpster diver for having to pick through trash to live, “the diver, after all, has the last laugh.” (363)
Word Count: 220
“On Dumpster Diving”
“On Dumpster Diving,” written by Lans Eighner discusses the process of proper dumpster diving in order for one who is homeless to thrive. Though Eighner describes this odd but very common process in great detail as an instructional piece, he is really showing the more fortunate they take too much for granted. A fortunate or wealthy individual will worry more about what is in or out in the world of trends and less about food, shelter, and other basic needs for survival. Therefore, useful things are soon seen as trash and are quickly discarded without a second thought or a simple “thanks for helping these last few days along.” People even throw away spare change, “…sometimes amounting to many dollars…” (358) all too frequently. This spare change can purchase many essentials, such as milk and eggs, meat, and even an order or two of burgers and fries from the McDonald’s dollar menu, which many homeless individuals would greatly appreciate to simply survive the night. It is because of what is wasted a homeless dumpster diver can survive very comfortably, so long as he or she knows what to look for and how to look for it. Though the fortunate would pity the dumpster diver for having to pick through trash to live, “the diver, after all, has the last laugh.” (363)
Word Count: 220
A Case of Assisted Suicide
Single Paragraph Essay
“A Case of Assisted Suicide”
“A Case of Assisted Suicide,” written by Jack Kevorkian discusses Kevorkian himself assisting a woman who no longer wished to live to commit suicide because of Alzheimer’s disease, using a machine he had designed himself specifically for suicide purposes. Though one usually takes his or her own life in suicide, some may feel that having an official of such a business is much more formal. But is suicide itself really all that wrong? The very bare reason is that the individual wishes to no longer live, whatever the outside reasons may be. Assisted suicide, then, may just be a way to find help from someone who fully understands that individual’s rights and reasons. “The intelligent woman knew what the diagnosis portended, and at that instant decided she would not live to experience the horror of such a death.” (436) However, controversy creates difficulty and confusion, not just for the public, but for the one who wishes to die; when no other options are left, the individual should have the right to take the wheel from there, but why not? Kevorkian’s patient, Janet, did not let anyone stop her; “…any candidate for the Mercitron must have exhausted every potentially beneficial medical intervention, no matter how remotely promising.” (437)
Word Count: 205 words
“A Case of Assisted Suicide”
“A Case of Assisted Suicide,” written by Jack Kevorkian discusses Kevorkian himself assisting a woman who no longer wished to live to commit suicide because of Alzheimer’s disease, using a machine he had designed himself specifically for suicide purposes. Though one usually takes his or her own life in suicide, some may feel that having an official of such a business is much more formal. But is suicide itself really all that wrong? The very bare reason is that the individual wishes to no longer live, whatever the outside reasons may be. Assisted suicide, then, may just be a way to find help from someone who fully understands that individual’s rights and reasons. “The intelligent woman knew what the diagnosis portended, and at that instant decided she would not live to experience the horror of such a death.” (436) However, controversy creates difficulty and confusion, not just for the public, but for the one who wishes to die; when no other options are left, the individual should have the right to take the wheel from there, but why not? Kevorkian’s patient, Janet, did not let anyone stop her; “…any candidate for the Mercitron must have exhausted every potentially beneficial medical intervention, no matter how remotely promising.” (437)
Word Count: 205 words
Harrison Bergeron Thesis
Single Paragraph Essay
“Harrison Bergeron”
“Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. focuses on equality—physically and mentally—strongly controlled by the government in the year 2081; the beautiful are forced to look ugly, the physically skilled are required to wear weights. With these handicaps making everyone so equal, the world became very different, odd, and average. But the government has no right or reason to push the whole world to be “…equal every which way.” (203) To suppress someone’s natural looks or physical talents is not only wrong to natural human rights, but it is also illegal, and for very good reason: everyone is different. If someone is a musical genius, he or she should have every right to compose whatever he or she wants. If someone is an excellent street dancer overflowing with passion for such a hobby, the sky should be the only limit. Equality means that everyone has equal rights, not that no one is better than anyone else at one trade or another. Furthermore, competition is a natural necessity that keeps people—and, moreover, the world—moving forward. In fact, Vonnegut points out: “Some things about living still weren’t quite right…April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime.” (203) No matter how equal the government tries to make the world, people will always be flawed in some way, shape, or form, good and bad, and every individual needs these flaws not only survive, but thrive creatively and freely as his or her own person.
Word Count: 245
Works Cited
Jr., Kurt Vonnegut. "Harrison Bergeron." Power of Language - Language of power. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 203-209.
“Harrison Bergeron”
“Harrison Bergeron,” written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. focuses on equality—physically and mentally—strongly controlled by the government in the year 2081; the beautiful are forced to look ugly, the physically skilled are required to wear weights. With these handicaps making everyone so equal, the world became very different, odd, and average. But the government has no right or reason to push the whole world to be “…equal every which way.” (203) To suppress someone’s natural looks or physical talents is not only wrong to natural human rights, but it is also illegal, and for very good reason: everyone is different. If someone is a musical genius, he or she should have every right to compose whatever he or she wants. If someone is an excellent street dancer overflowing with passion for such a hobby, the sky should be the only limit. Equality means that everyone has equal rights, not that no one is better than anyone else at one trade or another. Furthermore, competition is a natural necessity that keeps people—and, moreover, the world—moving forward. In fact, Vonnegut points out: “Some things about living still weren’t quite right…April, for instance, still drove people crazy by not being springtime.” (203) No matter how equal the government tries to make the world, people will always be flawed in some way, shape, or form, good and bad, and every individual needs these flaws not only survive, but thrive creatively and freely as his or her own person.
Word Count: 245
Works Cited
Jr., Kurt Vonnegut. "Harrison Bergeron." Power of Language - Language of power. Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 203-209.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Zwass and Gipsman - Alicia Amlin
Bruno Zwass was born April 27, 1923 in Breslough, Germany and survived by going deeper and deeper into Poland, staying on the move when necessary in order to keep getting captured. His family wasn’t poor, but it wasn’t rich either, though his parents made sure to send their children to private school to give them the opportunity of the highest education possible, regardless of cost. Zwass mentions that his grandfather was something of a dominant figure in the Jewish community, keeping peace and sorting out quarrels when need be. Zwass explains that he was the black sheep of the family and was frequently punished, often labeled as a disruptive student in class. His father punished by spanking with his hand only; Zwass actually jokes that there weren’t any killings, though I feel as though this could be a subconscious reference to the severity of the Germans’ attacks on the Jews.
Zwass states that he actually began to notice anti-Semitism in 1932 in its earliest stages. Nazis and Communists would clash in the streets on the weekends, and even Jews in the streets were suddenly assaulted without warning. Businesses and office buildings owned by Jews would be covered in graffiti. Zwass and his family did not leave Germany until 1934, a year and a half after the Nazis took over, joining family in a border town in Poland, though it was still considered to be German territory. As the Jews were beginning to be restricted by unjust laws, there were horrifying scenes everywhere on the streets. Germans would force Jewish people in the streets and made to clean the cobblestone or shine the German soldiers’ boots, and they were spit on and laughed at to demean them. If any of the Jews were traditional with long beards, the Germans would cut their beards disrespect and demean them further.
Bruno Zwass seemed to have a more optimistic view on his childhood, though his “wildest ideas” and different thinking may have helped to rescue him when he began to be exposed to anti-Semitism on the early rise and any events as a result. His family eventually had to move deeper into Poland and wound up living with his very optimistic, kind, ever smiling uncle in Tarnuff, who was a very generous man with which he grew a special bond. His uncle may have also given him the emotional strength to survive the holocaust.
“I had the wildest ideas as a child.” “Our world was made to be smaller and smaller.” (when the Jewish restriction laws came into affect)
Fela Gipsman born in Benjing, Poland September 5, 1926. Gipsman has a very contrasting beginning experience during the holocaust. She didn’t notice anti-Semitism as she went to school every day. Her family was very fortunate, capable of sending her to a private kindergarten, and then moving her on to a public school before she wound up in Hebrew school. Her father traveled quite a bit, and she had three brothers. The family owned an olfactory meant for painting. She had no complaints about her simple life, and her family was very closely knit.
During the very first takeover by Hitler in 1939, Gipsman recalls Jews having to wear armbands illustrated with the Star of David to signify that they were Jewish. As it turned out, she did not own an armband, and was therefore taken off the streets by the Germans and brought to an old Polish soldier headquarters where others in a similar bind had to sit on their knees all night before the Germans released them unharmed by morning. However, it was a terrifying experience for Gipsman because no one knew what the Germans would do to them at the time. When the Jewish restriction laws came into action, Gipsman couldn’t go to school anymore, and no one could leave the house; food even became tight despite their financial situation.
In December of 1942, Germans wound up knocking down her door, claiming that they had to have a certain number of girls to bring to the camps. Though her father tried to bribe them to leave her, they took her anyway. Though she started at Blechamme, she was eventually taken to a smaller camp known as Shatslow, where they first took her diamond ring that her parents had given her. The camp consisted only of girls and women, and they all had to work in a factory building barefoot (though they were eventually able to wear wooden shoes). Meals only consisted of either a strange radish-like object or a thin soup with hard bread. Gipsman soon crocheted a pair of slippers for a Czech woman, who gave her sandwiches and information on the war in return. Her parents were even able to send her sandwiches for the first year before being sent to the Ghetto. Despite the sandwiches, the other food made her very sick; none of the women could even have a menstrual cycle because of something in the food that the Germans prepared.
Before liberation, the girls had to dig trenches for the German soldiers to shoot from, army dogs running wild all the while, which kept the girls terrified and unable to stand or even sit up straight. Gipsman and the rest of the women were actually meant to be shipped to Auschwitz six months before the war was to end, but invading Russians had halted it. Gipsman wound up working in the smaller camp for two and a half years before being liberated.
“…we were Jews observing the holidays, not orthodox Jews.” (describing how religious her family was) “…who’s going to come first, the Russians or the Americans?…” (upon being released through the camp gates on day of liberation)
Zwass states that he actually began to notice anti-Semitism in 1932 in its earliest stages. Nazis and Communists would clash in the streets on the weekends, and even Jews in the streets were suddenly assaulted without warning. Businesses and office buildings owned by Jews would be covered in graffiti. Zwass and his family did not leave Germany until 1934, a year and a half after the Nazis took over, joining family in a border town in Poland, though it was still considered to be German territory. As the Jews were beginning to be restricted by unjust laws, there were horrifying scenes everywhere on the streets. Germans would force Jewish people in the streets and made to clean the cobblestone or shine the German soldiers’ boots, and they were spit on and laughed at to demean them. If any of the Jews were traditional with long beards, the Germans would cut their beards disrespect and demean them further.
Bruno Zwass seemed to have a more optimistic view on his childhood, though his “wildest ideas” and different thinking may have helped to rescue him when he began to be exposed to anti-Semitism on the early rise and any events as a result. His family eventually had to move deeper into Poland and wound up living with his very optimistic, kind, ever smiling uncle in Tarnuff, who was a very generous man with which he grew a special bond. His uncle may have also given him the emotional strength to survive the holocaust.
“I had the wildest ideas as a child.” “Our world was made to be smaller and smaller.” (when the Jewish restriction laws came into affect)
Fela Gipsman born in Benjing, Poland September 5, 1926. Gipsman has a very contrasting beginning experience during the holocaust. She didn’t notice anti-Semitism as she went to school every day. Her family was very fortunate, capable of sending her to a private kindergarten, and then moving her on to a public school before she wound up in Hebrew school. Her father traveled quite a bit, and she had three brothers. The family owned an olfactory meant for painting. She had no complaints about her simple life, and her family was very closely knit.
During the very first takeover by Hitler in 1939, Gipsman recalls Jews having to wear armbands illustrated with the Star of David to signify that they were Jewish. As it turned out, she did not own an armband, and was therefore taken off the streets by the Germans and brought to an old Polish soldier headquarters where others in a similar bind had to sit on their knees all night before the Germans released them unharmed by morning. However, it was a terrifying experience for Gipsman because no one knew what the Germans would do to them at the time. When the Jewish restriction laws came into action, Gipsman couldn’t go to school anymore, and no one could leave the house; food even became tight despite their financial situation.
In December of 1942, Germans wound up knocking down her door, claiming that they had to have a certain number of girls to bring to the camps. Though her father tried to bribe them to leave her, they took her anyway. Though she started at Blechamme, she was eventually taken to a smaller camp known as Shatslow, where they first took her diamond ring that her parents had given her. The camp consisted only of girls and women, and they all had to work in a factory building barefoot (though they were eventually able to wear wooden shoes). Meals only consisted of either a strange radish-like object or a thin soup with hard bread. Gipsman soon crocheted a pair of slippers for a Czech woman, who gave her sandwiches and information on the war in return. Her parents were even able to send her sandwiches for the first year before being sent to the Ghetto. Despite the sandwiches, the other food made her very sick; none of the women could even have a menstrual cycle because of something in the food that the Germans prepared.
Before liberation, the girls had to dig trenches for the German soldiers to shoot from, army dogs running wild all the while, which kept the girls terrified and unable to stand or even sit up straight. Gipsman and the rest of the women were actually meant to be shipped to Auschwitz six months before the war was to end, but invading Russians had halted it. Gipsman wound up working in the smaller camp for two and a half years before being liberated.
“…we were Jews observing the holidays, not orthodox Jews.” (describing how religious her family was) “…who’s going to come first, the Russians or the Americans?…” (upon being released through the camp gates on day of liberation)
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