The Tao Of Love

Let’s start from the beginning. Chapter one of the Tao Te Ching says
“Ever desire less, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.”
After reading the whole text, we can deduce that the Tao Te Ching doesn’t want to teach us anything, it only wants us to be true to ourselves, it works as a path to finding our own truth. When you want to learn, you focus too much on that specific thing. You are so focused on wanting to find the mystery, that you don’t see it. The same happens in love. (I’m talking about the type of passionate love you feel towards another human being.) Sometimes you’re so desperately in love with someone that you don’t see anyone else. You’re stuck in that love, trying to find your way out of it and you forget to look at other people, other possible loves. There’s a popular quotation that says ¨everything is blind to the eyes of love¨. So, basically, if you want to see the mystery, you’re blind. If you’re in love, you’re also blind. The way out of both of these is to not focus on learning, and not focus on loving but to focus simply on not focusing, just letting things happen.
I believe the most important thing you have to keep in mind when you’re in any kind of relationship is to have trust. When you enter a love relationship full of doubts, your partner will also start to lack trust. For example:
A woman is talking on the phone with her boyfriend.
Woman: Hi honey how was your day?
Man: hi, where are you?
Woman: In a restaurant.
Man: Why aren’t you in your house?
Woman: After work, some friends and I decided to go grab a bite, so I’ll be home late, I just wanted you to know just in case you went by my house.
Man: hmmm… with your friends? There’s something that doesn’t fit in.
The woman will sense the lack of trust and the next time, she’ll decide not to tell him where she’s going. After all,
¨He who does not trust enoughwill not be trusted.¨ (chap 23)
It may be hard to trust someone after you have been hurt. One thing I’ve learned is that making love the ONLY thing in your life is a big mistake. Love, especially at this age comes and goes. Breaking up is tough, but it’s even tougher when that your life was based on that relationship. You have to remember there are other things in life and that eventually, you’ll be able to move on.
¨High winds do not last all morning.Heavy rain does not last all day.¨ (chap. 23)
It’s not the last love, you will eventually snap out of it, just like the sun will eventually come out, a new love will eventually appear.
Even though Chapter forty-four is talking about not attaching to material things, it also fit in with love. It says,
¨He who is attached to things will suffer much.¨
In the love perspective, it would be:
¨He who is attached to one love only will suffer much.¨
As I said before, when you make love your number one priority, after it ends, you don’t have anything to rely on, therefore you keep thinking about love and make yourself more miserable.
People say that ¨everything is fair in love and war.¨
The Tao says:
¨A brave and passionate man will kill or be killed.
A brave and calm man will always preserve life.¨ (chap. 73)
When you start to manipulate a love situation, you are taking the risk of killing or being killed. Either way you are basically lying to yourself. If you want to be in a love relationship, it should be an honest one. Why on earth would you want to lie to the person you love? I think people manipulate situations when they’re scared. If you think that in order for a relationship to work you have to manipulate it, then maybe it’s not worth living. Just like chapter ten says,
¨Bearing, yet not possessing¨
Loving someone doesn’t mean taking complete control over his/her life. That would be too greedy. You should give the person you love some space to live and enjoy his/her life, trust him to be truthful and have your own life to live and enjoy.
Even though people say love doesn’t have limits, I think it does. In chapter forty-four it says:
¨ He who knows when to stop, does not find himself in trouble.¨
Love is a process. You can’t expect twelve year olds doing the same things twenty year olds are doing. Love has to be according to age and mature ness. You have to follow the process keeping in mind that what you will do can affect the rest of your life. I think the relationships that don’t work are because the two people in the relationship have different priorities. When you are with someone you should make sure both of you feel the same, both of you want the same and both of you accept the other just the way he/she is.
The Tao Te Ching talks about many aspects of life. It doesn’t teach. It opens the door to the lesson that has always been within us. Just like the Tao, the answer to love will always been inside us. From here derives the saying ¨follow your heart¨. Being true to yourself and following your instinct is the key to living. Love doesn’t have a specific meaning, it leaves a great space for interpretation, just like the Tao. Yet, both are two of the most controversial mysteries that man has ever known.

The Tao Of Go

The game of Go is made up of logic and wisdom. Not like every, game, in Go you can't attack your opponent directly because that will get you in a bad situation in which your opponent will kill you. Just like in the Tao Te Ching, in order to say the waty around, you have to move by the sides. There are many moves which have meanings like "Ko" which means eternal. The game can be applied into our lives, its a kind of methaphor.

Leaders Lead, Humans Dominate (Why Are We Here)

I think what the Tao Te Ching is trying to teach us can be summarized in chapter twenty-three. It says:
“He who follows the Tao
Is one with the Tao.
He who is virtuous
Experiences virtue.
He who loses the way
Is lost.” (p. 25)

These three things, about being one with the Tao, having virtue as a value and following the “way” are all in the introduction. Basically, as I said before, the Tao Te Ching derives from these three things. They come up other times, for example, in Chapter Twenty-One, Virtue and Tao appear again. “The greatest Virtue is to follow Tao and Tao alone.” (p. 23) notice that Virtue is written with a capital “V” therefore, it is seen as a pronoun.
In conclusion, the message that is trying to be sent is that we should start to work WITH earth instead of AGAINST it. (When I say earth I refer to all living things apart from human beings.) We have confused the amount of power we think we have, as said in chapter 10, “Leading yet not dominating, this is the Primal Virtue” a value, we lack and desperately need.

So, why are we here?
To lead, not dominate.

We Use (Where Are We Going)

The first time I heard about the Tao Te Ching was in the drama show we did last year. In one of my scenes I said: “The Tao Te Ching says that in order to move one kilometer you have to give the first step…” I didn’t pay too much attention to the line. I was just worried about memorizing it. When we got the book I remembered about the play and went back to the line. I imagined the book would have similar lessons to the ones in Confucius, I actually found out they both have a very big lesson behind them, a lesson from which other lessons derive. They both talk a lot about virtue. “Te” actually means virtue, but not the meaning of virtue we’re accustomed to. “Te refers to nothing less than the quality of human action that allows the central, creative power of the universe to manifest through it.” (p.10 of introduction) What is so great about the Tao Te Ching is that its intention is to make the reader “live a direct relationship to all these forces” (forces refer to the cosmos forces.) At first I couldn’t understand what this meant. I had heard about this in movies like The Secret and What The Bleep Do We Know but not until I read “Tao Te Ching” did I understand what it meant. Living in “direct relationship” with the cosmos forces simply means to live WITH Earth instead of living IN it. We are using Earth, that’s what takers do. Everything that you use will be over, its like in chapter 3 were it says “If nothing is done, all will be well.” If we didn’t see Earth as material and instead saw it as a living thing, it would remain “un-mortal, un-born” just as described in chapter 7.
The “Tao Te Ching” is like a maze. Each chapter is a key which opens a new door to the Tao, the way. It starts out warning the reader. “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” p.3 The first thing you wonder is what is “the Tao”? It is necessary to read the introduction before starting the book. Here it states that the “Tao” can’t be translated but it’s meaning is “way or path” referring to how humans are in relation to other living things. The path refers to the guidance we need. Coming back to the Tao not being the “eternal Tao”, the path won’t always be the same, the relationship between human beings and other living things is constantly changing. I think it’s actually a cycle. It like what Carlos Fuentes talked about in his story “Quien Invento La Polvora”, we started out learning how to make fire. Then we “evolved” and made all sorts of inventions. This evolution is starting to make everything go backwards and we’ll end up either where we started or no where at all.

Where are we going?
If, our ambition continues, back to the beginning

Learning, Growing, Improving

You don’t realize how much you've learned until you look back and compare your past work with your present one. I have not only improved in conventions such as commas, capitalization in titles or spelling mistakes, I also pay more attention to what to write and especially to what I read. Looking back at my blogs actually made me laugh. I didn’t even have to read the whole text, only by looking at the titles I was amazed at how much I’ve grown. One title was Adam ate the apple, two mistakes there. The title isn’t capitalized and saying the fruit Adam ate was an apple is wrong. In another blog, actually in many of them I started out with a quotation. Now I read back and see how such a small detail as starting out with a quotation can make a blog be so dull. I feel frustrated to look at how bad the blogs were, I know I still have a lot to improve on, probably in a couple of months I’ll look back at the blogs I did these past few weeks and feel they’re bad too. This exercise of looking back at prior blogs was really useful. It’s good to remember how much you’ve learned and how much you can still improve.

Doing What Is Right And Avoiding What Is Wrong

I'm starting to get the hang of Confucius. I'm overwhelmed by how much lessons there are. I don’t even know what I should write about. I’m going to start to talk about Confucius. This is a character that caught my attention because he’s very similar to Ishmael. He makes it very clear that he won’t help anyone who is not willing to learn, just as Ishmael did. “the master said: "I do not open up the truth to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anxious” From there on he started throwing lesson after lesson, my favorite passage was the following:"Respectfulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes timidity; boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination; straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness.This all has to do with virtue, doing what’s right and avoiding what’s wrong. I had to look most of the words up in the dictionary, anyways, in my words, the quote says:Respectfulness becomes an overwhelming and effortful task when isn’t done right. Carefulness becomes shy, when it isn’t done in a correct way. Boldness, if is not done right, becomes disobedient. Straightforwardness can become rude if it isn’t done correctly. All of these values described are good to have. You should be direct respectful careful and stand up for what you like but you should always do it with virtue. The 8th grade sociales teacher told us: “Liberty doesn’t consist on doing what you want, but on doing what is suppose to be done because that’s what you want. (I think it sounds better in Spanish: la libertad no consiste en hacer lo que se me da la gana, sino en hacer lo que hay que hacer, porque se me da la gana) If you just do things because you want to, you’ll become disobedient. If you say what you think straight forward, you may become rude. Everything has to be done with some rules to follow. I deduce from the chapters we read, that the first rule is to do things with virtue.

Different Answers To The QUESTions

I liked what we had to read for homework. It talks a lot about virtue, how man behaves, and what happens if he behaves in a certain way. Even though I got the message of the story, I didn’t quite the point behind it, I mean, I know what the message is, but I don’t know how I got to it.
We have seen you can either interpret text in a literal way, or in a more analyzed way. This text has to be seen as both, and one depends on the other. If you don’t understand the literal part of the text, you will be lost, and if you don’t analyze to where the characters want to go, you’re missing out of the whole point. I think such complicated texts should be read calmly and slow. Reading 3 chapters in one night was quite heavy. The names were also very confusing and made me have to go back and forth in order to understand (which I didn’t, really).
The good thing about Confucius is that you may not understand part of the story, but you can still get part of the message. For example, I found the whole dialogue about virtue very confusing. On the other hand, there were parts that I did understand and was able to compare to what we have read previously. The event in which Adam and Eve ate the fruit is equal to the following quote: “The Master said, "At first, my way with men was to hear their words, and give them credit for their conduct. Now my way is to hear their words, and look at their conduct.” This is something God would say if he was to talk about how things changed since the fall of men. After Adam and Eve's action, God could only look at what his creation did, he was no longer able to talk to the directly. It’s important to compare in order to have more space to analyze. The more we know, the closer we get to answering the QUESTions.

Obama's Change Convinced The United States

Obama’s triumph is 90% based on his great public speaking skills. While he spoke, he made people trust him, everyone bought his confidence believe the words he said. In the acceptance speech, he made everyone feel part of the triumph by thanking practically every person he ever met. Of course, he also talked about the “change” America needs, which is basically what his whole campaign was based on. Obama proposed change, McCain, him not so much. Obama is different to what the Americans are used to. Americans are sick of Bush and his political strategies, and want to try something new. It’s like when you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for lunch. Sooner or later, you're sick of the sandwich and want to try something else. McCain was also a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Obama, was ham and cheese. Of course the Americans chose the ham and cheese, not only because it was different, it also inspired trust in them and gave them thirst of change, thirst to become better, something that was lost since the 2000 presidential election. Now all that’s left is to see how far Obama and the rest of the Americans are willing to go for that change.

Why Me ?

We've always been taught there is a cause behind every effect. No wonder we get so frustrated when things happen without a particular reason (there's always a reason; we just don't see it sometimes). People have invented things to explain the unexplainable. There is good luck, bad luck, and the popular: Karma. Karma not only explains why things happen, it also encourages people to follow the "right path": don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you. But what happens when you think you are a good person, you have never done wrong, you believe you deserve the best because that's all that you have given and boom! Something really awful happens. It reminds me of the Simpson's episode in which Ned's house (Ned is the ONLY good person in Springfield, besides of course the priest. Marge is also good I guess...) is the only one destroyed by a hurricane. I'm starting to believe they The Simpsons are inspired in bible stories and characters. There have been a lot of episodes which relate to the bible and the characters have some of the traits of the ones in the bible.
Anyways, Ned bursts in anger to see he is the only harmed when the rest of the people are the ones that deserved the worst, just as Job would after those "natural disasters" harm him. The Simpsons are always making fun of karma. Homer, who would deserve the worst there could possibly be, ends up having his way while Ned, who tries to follow God in every possible way, ends up in uncomfortable situations.
I don't believe in karma, or in good or bad luck. I try to see everything as a good. If something bad happens, I actually get curious and try to find out the reason behind it. Sometimes, the reason is clear from the start. Others, it appears days, months and sometimes years later! But that's the fun part of life, taking advantage of great moments and learning from the difficult ones. After all, everything happens for a reason, doesn't it?

Hidden Fallacies

Here are some fallacies:

• Obama: Well, Oliver, first, let me tell you what's in the rescue package for you. Right now, the credit markets are frozen up and what that means, as a practical matter, is that small businesses and some large businesses just can't get loans.
  If they can't get a loan, that means that they can't make payroll. If they can't make payroll, then they may end up having to shut their doors and lay people off.
• Sen. McCain, as recently as March, bragged about the fact that he is a deregulator. On the other hand, two years ago, I said that we've got a sub-prime lending crisis that has to be dealt with.

Here are other fallacies which I was surprised to see:

• The question was: Sen. McCain, in all candor, do you think the economy is going to get worse before it gets better? part of the answer: My friend, I'd like you to see the letter that a group of senators and I wrote warning exactly of this crisis. Sen. Obama's name was not on that letter.
• Obama is also guilty. The question was: How can we trust either of you with our money when both parties got -- got us into this global economic crisis? And part of the answer: When George Bush came into office, our debt -- national debt was around $5 trillion. It's now over $10 trillion.

Wisdom In Job

Job is a mixture of many things, it talks about faith, temptation, fear, anger, many values and feelings humans experience everyday. The chapter I liked the most was 28, in which the translation talked about wisdom, and where to find it. It gave great examples, which made me realize we have alot of wisdom. We know where to get gold, how to molt brass and how to make bread. Such simple things had to be discovered at one point, and I think that as soon as they were discovered, they were considered s0me great invention.

But, where did the wisdom to learn all these things come from? It can't be bought with gold or traded for silver. It isn't made of pearls or coral. "The gold and the crystal cannot equal it". According to the bible, wisdom comes from fearing God and only listening to him. "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." I believe wisdom comes from experience and perseverance. When you need to survive, when you need to make a progress, you keep trying and don't give up until you have achieved your goal. In the way to success you may fall and make mistakes. These mistakes are the ones that help you gain more wisdom, which also helps you gain experience.

God's purpose was to be feared, I believe this is because he thought that is he was feared, he was respected. God manipulated men making them believe they could gain such things as wisdom from fearing and respecting him. This made humans depend on God, follow and respect him, but we acquired wisdom and found out we didn't need to depend on God, therefore, there was no reason to follow or fear him anymore.

Absence Of God

I heard Einstein once said that cold is the absence of hot and evil is the absence of good. If this is so, then Satan is the absence of God. What I don’t understand is, If Satan is the absence of God, why did he appear? I mean, wasn’t Job a man who “feared God, and eschewed evil.”? It’s the same thing that happened with Abraham, there was no reason for God to test him and here, I believe is happening the same.
God has shown to be a double-faced character. He makes people believe he is all-mighty and feared but his actions make us think he is unsure about himself; it’s like if he was the one that feared that humans would forget him. If this did happen, if humans were to forget God, then there would be absence of him and Satan would appear.
I’ve hit a dead end. How could there be absence of God in Job? Is there absence of God in everybody? Am I jumping to conclusions and leaving the text behind? Reading the bible us somewhat difficult, especially because I was born to believe in Christianity and have to leave everything they have told me to believe behind. I guess I have to start looking at God as a character from another story, just as I would look at any other character from any other text… Am I?

More Violence

So, basically, what I've learned so far from the Old Testament is that the strongest one survives. Its funny because I'm starting to read things I didn't know about the bible, things that I was never told. No wonder they hide most of the Old Testament from little kids, if they knew about all the violence that went before Jesus, they would freak out and be really confused (I know I would!).
Sometimes, I get the impression that God just gave up on us and let us kill ourselves, other times, I think he's trying to help, and he ends up making matters worse. I think we have started to look at God and an equal to us, that's why we question him so much. But how can we not question him if all he does is contradict himself? "Thou shall not kill", he's sure following this commandment when he helps David, isn't he? (That was sarcastic). So, he tells people to follow his rules, otherwise they'll turn out worse, and later he tells people to break the commandments he just gave them... Basically, the commandment God is telling people to follow is eye for an eye, violence for violence.

Good Bless Rhetoric

You can be a democrat, and be pro-Obama, or be a republican and vote for McCain. Either way, you have to admit Obama is great in doing Rhetoric speeches. I watched this video twice. The first time, I found myself agreeing with what he was saying, totally convinced that he knew how things had to be done. The second time I watched it, I was amazed at how great Obama is in mixing rhetoric with his words. Obama uses a lot of logos in his arguments. He blames McCain for past actions and accuses him of ignorance. “Its not that John McCain doesn’t care, it’s that he doesn’t get it.” In other words, Obama is trying to convince people he is the one that gets it, the one that knows what’s right for America. He also uses logos when he refers to the actual proposal of the republicans. What republicans offer, according to Obama, is that you are always on your own.
Obama does a very smart thing. He proposes change. He convinces the people that change is what America needs. He argues that after 8 years of the same thing, it would be useless to vote for a person who will keep following Bush’s footsteps. He refers to McCain as the past and himself as the future.
One of the most interesting, rhetoric things he does comes up next. He brings up his family examples and makes people believe he has lived what they are living. As soon as he says he’ll make everyone have a medical insurance, so that there wont be people like his mother, fighting cancer and have a difficult financial time, he has half of the people convinced (including me, I have to say). Obama used Ethos in a great way. He had people convinced he had lived their reality, he made people feel they were understood, their prayers were being heard. He mentioned his heroes were his grandparents and mom, who never had it easy. Most of the Americans too have had to struggle and this made them feel understood, they related to Obama’s story. Obama has people believe he wants to “make it easier to Americans.”
Obama’s speech only goes uphill. He starts using pathos and brings up “moral obligation”, which people get exited and has them even stand up. He starts talking about how he wants “his daughters to have the same opportunities as their sons.” He talks about there being equality to all and improvement in childhood education, topics that are very important for Americans.
After talking about both great and past democratic presidents, accusing McCain for being pro- war in Iraq and saying he’ll restore “the sense of common purpose”, Obama ends his speech using Ethos. He says, “This election has never been about me, it’s about you”. With this, people end up feeling important, as if they were being heard by him, a sensation of times of change, of something different, which is what Americans want, what they desperately need.

God Over Did It

There are many moments in which God's actions seem illogical. Why did God put man in such a hard situation with the tree of the prohibited fruit? Why did he make Abraham believe he was to kill his son? As Sarita said, God is a king of bully, playing with man's emotions.
In chapters 8-15 of the Exodus, we can see how the LORD (again), does things that are unnecessary to give out the message he wants to transmit. He puts Moses in a very harsh situation. God or the LORD used good people to do the things no one wants to do. Why does he punish his messengers? The answer I came up with is that if he asked the people who don't follow him to do such horrible things they would just not do it. God picked out the people who were good and loyal because they wouldn't dare to disobey. We could say God manipulated the naive followers and had them do things he himself didn’t want to do. For example, God told Moses the Pharaoh's heart was to be hardened and gave him all the instructions to what to do when the Pharaoh dared God's power. The LORD already knew what was going to happen but made Moses deal with everything. In a way, the LORD provoked all this just to show how powerful he was. "20: But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go." This is SO contradictory!! Why would God harden the Pharaoh's heart if he sent Moses to set the Hebrews free? This really pisses me off, again we can see how God over did it with his ilogical, unnecessary actions.

God In The Eyes Of The People

God's image changes according to human's actions. There is a point in which God is very angry and feared by human beings. This fear is used to manipulate people and have them do what God desired."17: But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive." I think that at this point in history, the rulers realized that religion was a very powerful thing which controled people's minds. you could say this had an effect in the later power that mixed the church and politics.
In theses chapters of the Exodus, there wasn't anyone who didn't fear God. Extreme situations demand extreme solutions. I belive the message this point of the text is trying to transmit is that due to the lack of respect and the wars between people, God had to become mean, beacuse it was the way he knew to become respected. "Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God"
Was God really mad at his creation, or was he mad at himself? Until now, every action he took had only made things worse. Expelling man from Eden only created jelousy, which lead to violence. Changing people's languages only generated confusement and differences, which lead to more violence. In a way, God pushed human race to become what he feared the most. His own creation turned his back on him, and instead of reversing the damage, he made things worse.

God, Lord God or Lord?

In class, my group agreed that "God" refered to the God that created everything, from light and dark to creatures and humans. This Gods is seen as distant, somewhat mean. "Lord God" refers to the creator of Eden. He is the one that makes rules, the one that explains to man "how to live". After humans eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and expulsed from Eden, appears the "Lord", a compationate friend to us. We can see the difference between the Lord and the Lord God un the following passage: "[1] After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.[2] And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?" After all, The God, the Lord God and the Lord are the same God, but in different points of view. The also describe the different needs of people. At the beginnig, we only needed a creator. As time passed, we started to need a friend, a support, someone who we could talk to, a savior we felt that listened.

Poem

Barely touching, human and divine,
The only connection from heaven to Earth.
God made him, one of a kind,
To rule the world that gave him birth.
About to part, creation and God,
till they meet again, father and son.

Was It Suppose To Be Like This?

The bible, leaves a big space to interprate. As I said in prior blogs, the bible can either be seen in a literal way or as a metaphor. I try to see it metaphorically beause it's hard to believe what the literal cotext tries to say. The tree of the prohibited apple is used as a symbol for tempation. The things that tempt the most are those that we know we shouldn't do. Of course, the point of the whole story is for us to see that we are vunerable to temptation, we don't believe fire burns unless we touch it. Adam and his wife were warned by God and told that the tree was prohibited. Adam's wife was very easy to be convined; tempted. She didn't trust the God that made her and tried to be superior, tried to be a God. Instead of becoming one, she worked her way down. "For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return". At least before she ate the fruit of the prohibited apple, they had eternal life. This shows two things: humans are destined to be tempted, destined to touch fire even though they know it burns, and sometimes when you try to achieve some goal in a way you aren't suppose to, you end up worse than before.
We can also see how guilt plays an important part in our life. When god asked Adam if he had eaten the fruit of knowledge, he blamed his wife. When God asked Eve, she blamed the serpent. We never want to accept guilt beacuse it's a very heavy weight in opur concious. I interpretated this part of the bible as an explanation to why we feel guilt, why we follow temptation and why we have that urge to be superior. After all, the bible says that's how things were suppose to be.

You win some, you loose some.

who: King James
what: wanted to translate the bible to english
when: when he ruled in time of struggle
where: England
why: to unite the english
how: by having a counsul work in the translation.

The "what" was accomplished and very well done, the "why" failed. King James won and lost, but if things wouldn't have been this way, if King James had never wanted to translate the bible, what would things be like? Sometimes, you loose, and sometimes you later realize that lost led to great things.

Translating

Many times, I start watching a movie that has been translated and don't finsh it beacuse it is so poorly done. It's nerve wrecking to see how they only change words from english to spanish and don't look at the context. After reading the small parts of "Gods Secretaris, the Making of the King James Bible, I realized it is not an easy task. You have to be careful to change it from one languaje to the other, without messing around with the context and leaving an open space for the reader/viewer to interprate.
I think when King James wanted to do the transation, he didn't think of how people would have different opinions. I think he believed they would all agree and the issues between protestants and "typical" catholics would be solved. The fact that the translation was so well done, gave people the oportunity to see things how they wanted to and this made the differences grow stronger.
In the end, King James ended up winning and loosing. He made a great transalation possible anbd even though it didn't help with what he wanted, the accomplished part of the goal and helped people , giving them the opportunity to read the transalted bible.

Uniting?

The purpose of the translation of the bible, according to James, was to unite the people of England. Due to the hard political moments of the time, there was a need to find a solution, a way to unite the country and keep it stong. What better way of uniting it than having everyone think the same way? If everyone agreed in rleigion, their faith would be stonger. The king had enough problems with the war and din't need disagreements inside his country.
even thoough James' planned seemed to work, it failed. Why did this happen? People of these tmes had already realized there was more to life than just heaven. There were disagreements between the catholic church some time before the translation of the bible, and this made it difficult for the counsel to translate it.
we may all read the same text but it will influence us personally. Everyone faces different things in life and these are the events that end up influencing the way you interpret something. The bible is a text in which interpretation has a big role. People can either interprate it in a very literal way, believing everything that is said happend and others who see it as a metaphore to apply on in daily life. Even though it didn't unite the English, and seemed like it didn't full-fill his job, the translation of the bible helps us today to understand and interprate it personally.

something different

I apologyze for not writing something that has to do with the text, I try to concentrate but I can't. There's a thought that doesn't leave my head, a thought that doesn't let me concentrate. I've read the beggining of chapter one over and over again and I reas it but can't understand it, as if I was reading what I'm thinking. Anyways I decided to write about that thought that haunts me and tomorrow I'll write a blog for chap. 1 and for the one due next class. It's a risk I had to take, I have to feel that someone is reading this and that someone can understand.
The QUESTions have changed my perspective of life completly. There are times in which I feel I'm waking up, waking up from a dream, facing a reality that was hidden, some kind of reality that someone doesn't want me to see. I realize how everyone I know is a taker, how everything that surrounds us is conquered by force. I get into discussions with people about why we act the way we do, but at the end, I end up not knowing what I'm saying, lost in my own argument. I feel confused but at the same time eager. Eager to understand why I'm thinking the way I do lately, why this course has influenced me so much. I'm really learning something that interests me, something I thought about but didn't know exactly what it was. I feel I'm gaining independence, I'm starting to think by myself, to have my own opinions.
And all of a sudden, its hits me. I'm lost again, confused. Part of me is scared, scared to find out the truth about life, the secrets behind it. I'm scared because I feel that the deeper I get into this, the more I change and now I don't know who I am. I think to myself- I have to wait, read more, learn more, this will help me find myself, but what will happen when the course is over? There is still alot hidden, I know we won't be able to see it all, I guess its an introduction to the secrets of life, secrets that we start discovering as a group, and end up discovering by ourselves.

greatest prose of work ever written in english

Honestly, I have no idea what to expect from this piece of writing, what I do know, is that it's a step close to finding and adapting the ansews to the QUESTions. Ishamel, Gilgamesh and the myths have given me a new perspective of life and I hope to understand it more after reading Gods Secretaries.
The passage reads: "They have a ghost presence in our lives, invicible, but constantly heard, enriching the language with the 'civility , learning and eloquence' of their translation, but nowadays, only whispering the sentences in our ears." After reading this I had a sensation that there is something someone's hiding and I'm not sure what it is, I's like the story in Ishmael, about Germans being the only people, the only race in the world and how a boy felt they were hiding something from him but he didn't know what it was.
"The period was held in the grip of an inmense struggle; between the demands for freedom of the individual concience, and the need for order and an imposed inheritance, between monarchy adn democracy; between extremisim and toletation" Thanks to the time and place this translation was made, I belief its content has many wise answers that help us get closer to the real meaning of life.

Cliches

Cliche titles:
As Good As It Gets
At First Sight
A Beautiful Mind
Bless the Child
Changing Lanes

Cliche plot-lines:
opposites attract and end up together
daugther goes to find her long lost father
unexpected pregnancy
poor girl falls inlove with rich boy
twin sisters meet each other many years after they're separated

OWL Purdue

1. Where is my jacket? I wanted to wear it today, and if I can't find it, we're going to be late.
2. Jane wanted to go on the school trip, but her mother said that two hundred dollars was too much for the family budget.
3. As she waited for Rodney to become conscious, Selma was seized with an attack of conscience -- was there anything she could have done to prevent the accident?
4. The map led the intrepid treasure hunters to a lead box of precious stones.
5. Have you seen their coats? They're going to need them; it's cold outside. I last saw the coats over there .
6. After conducting careful research, Shufang had a brilliant ideaideal ; she'd write a paper on Thomas More's concept of the ideaideal society in Utopia.
7. Even though Bob would rather play video games thanthen study, he decided to hit the books and thanthen play some Halo.
8. It's easy to admire a business that puts so much effort into creating its signs and window displays.
9. You're fortunate to have survived the car crash without a scratch; it must have been because you were wearing your seat belt.
10. I would advise you to seek qualified legal advice about how to handle this situation.

Love isn't a desicion, its a feeling.

In Ariadne, we can see how sometimes, the person you love isn't the right person for you and vice versa. There's a quote that says " if we could decide who we loved, it would be much simpler, but less magical." There are times when we hope that the person we love loves us back, but life knows how to make things work and everything happens for a reason.
Things start to change when the person who you love takes advantage. Then, not only do you feel pain, you also feel melancholy. This is what happend to Ariadne- "...Ariadne, on waking and finding herself deserted, abandoned herself to grief."
We can also see some human traits in the following quote: "But Venus took pity on her, and consoled her with the promise that she should have an immortal lover, instead of the mortal one she had lost." We see how the fact that one lover is mortal and the other is inmortal changes the whole situation. "Mortal" is seen as inferior and "inmortal" is the automatic translation of "God". Even though an inmortal is a "better catch" for anybody, she loves Theseus, the mortal and can't love Baccus. After all, you don't chose who you end up loving.

contract

I, ___Laura Duarte___, hereby understand and will abide by the Pre-AP/AP (Print your name)Academy’s expectations, obligations, and admission/drop policy outlined below with respect to my admission status and standing in the Pre-AP/AP Course, _____English________.(Print the name of the Pre-AP/AP Course)Pre-AP/AP Academy Expectations;• Maintain Acceptable GPA,• Motivated and Positive,• Responsible and Dedicated Work Ethic,• Attend Opportunity Day and/or Additional Review Classes, • Complete AP College Board Exam,• Sign Pre-AP/AP Student Contract. Pre-AP/AP Academy Admission/Drop Policy;• First Progress Report with Teacher’s Signed Approval…receive no course credit,• End of First Semester with Teacher’s Signed Approval…receive only partial course credit for grade of 6.0+. No partial credit will be awarded for any grade below 6.0,• Students who Drop Pre-AP/AP Courses or who Do Not take the College Board AP Exam will have the Pre-AP/AP Designation for that course removed from their transcript and they will not receive any grade or GPA enhancement awarded for taking that Pre-AP/AP course.Please note that at any time during the school year if the teacher deems that you are not meeting the expectations above for any or all reasons, then that teacher will require that you sign an additional academic probation contract. Your admission status and/or removal from the above identified Pre-AP Course will then be re-assessed based on your abiding by the academic probation contract signed and agreed to by you and the respective Pre-AP/AP Teacher.Student Signature of Agreement, ______________Laura Duarte_______ Date: ___September_23, 2008_____

Clytie

Myths not only answer the QUESTions, they also answer other doubts the reader might have in his/her mind. They talk about defects and values, which at the end of the road are the ones that make up the QUESTions. Overall, there is a value ( I would say its more of a feeling) that keeps appearing in the myths. This value/feeling is love. We see how it breaks down into smaller "topics", each myth talks about love in a different way. In Clytie, we see what happens when you make love the most important thing in your life. What happened to Clytie is a metaphore to what happens to humans. We become obsessed woth someone and ironically, that person doesn't belong to us. We become plants (of course, metaphorically speaking), and block out other things that give life a meaning.
The problem with love being the only thing in life is that sooner or later, it will be over. You have to have other things to help you stand when love isn't there to catch you. Clytie made love the only thing in her life, and when whe discovered it was never there, she lost what was left of her.
There is a connotative saying in spaish which says: "lo dejo plantado". I believe this myth could have had some sort of influence in this saying. Clytie became a plant waiting for a never coming love and the spanish saying is basically saying the same. Its incredible to see how a myth from a so far away land can influence our daily lives here and now.

Glaucus and Scylla has perfect themes for soap oprahs. Curiosity is one of these themes. If Glaucus wan't curious, he wouldn't have tastes the magic grass. Onthe other hand, this curiosity leads to a drastical change in his life and this leads to an imposible love. He and Scylla are opposites, he is water and she is earth. Even though opposites attract, they can't mix. Even though this love is difficult, it still has a way out. At this point of the story, another possible theme for soap oprah appears. The god Circe is jelous and lets out all her anger against Sylla. Now, the complicated love turns out to be impossible.
Applying it to real life:
this happens very often. We see Circe, a god with a human trait. You could also interprate it as us humas having god traits. Gods are meant to have complete power, this is why Circe is jelous. This also happens to humas. We are very greedy and want everything for ourselves. I think greed was what made us believe we too were gods and had complete power over everything. The truth is, we don't have the power, and we will keep on detroying if we don't start accepting we're humans not gods.

Answering the QUESTions

At this point, I don't even have to think about asking myself the QUESTions, they just immediatly come to my head. I try to answer them throughout my daily life and throughout the myths. I think the myths we are reading describe the concequences that the QUESTions have. We can't change why are we here or how did we get here, but we can change where are we going. the myths tell us what will happen if we're too egocentric and narcissit (like in the narcissus), if we're too greedy (like Midas ) or if we try to escape destiny (like in Oedipus). We can see how all these end up in tragedy. The myths describe but don't tell us how to avoid tragic ends.

Gilgamesh the musical

Actors:
Gilgamesh: Laura Duarte
Enkidu: Daniel Toro
Hunter, Civil: Sara Paredes
Prostitute: Manuela Giraldo
Narrator: Soyun

Play!!

Narrator: In the city of Uruk, libed the mighty king Gilgamesh. He was a very Tirant rules that forced its people to do horrible things.

Gilgamesh: Im the ruler, the ruler, the rule nobody can take my place! Im the mighty the strongest, the big wild ox!

Civil: What will we do? what will we do? please gods bring Enkidu!

Narrator: the gods sent Enkidu to take Gilgamesh's power. He was the mighty animal, ruler of the wild.

Enkidu: RAAAR!! Im the ruler the ruler the ruler, the rules of the sawps.

Hunter: Im the hunter the huner the hunter, im going to get you get you get you, be aware fox, be aware bull be aware ox 'caus here I come!
AAAA!! A wild beast!

Narrator: The hunter told Gilgamesh to send a prostitute to take Enkidus power.

Prostitute: You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals so lets do it like they do on the discovery channel!

Narrator: Enkidu lost his strength and went to Uruk where a couple was getting married. Enkidu arrived.

Enkidu: where is he, the mighty?

Gilgamesh: here i am! who are you?

Enkidu: Im the wild im the wild, i've come to take your power

Gilgamesh: im the ruler get out of Uruk

Narrator: ENkidu and Gilgamesh began to fight and wrestle.

Enkidu: I'm sorry you're the strongest of all. the perfect, the terror, I love you brother lets go together!

(they hug and kiss and take each other by the hand)


THE END!! REMEBER TO BRONG THE PROPS!!

Finishing the web, moving on

“PENELOPE is another of those mythic heroines whose beauties were rather those of character and conduct than of person” The myth says that she married Ulysses, but didn’t spend time with him because he had to go to the Trojan war. Everyday, she would work on a robe and undo what she had done that day. She would always start again the next day. “This is the famous Penelope’s web, which is used as a proverbial expression for anything which is perpetually doing but never done.”
If Penelope finished doing the robe, it would mean time had passed and Ulysses hadn’t returned. She undid what she did that day because it was a guarantee that she would never finish it. The finishing of the robe meant Ulysses hadn’t come back. If she started all over again the next day, it would never be too late for Ulysses to come home.
In a way, she was trying to fool herself by believing there was eternal hope for Ulysses to return. Her finishing the robe was a sign of her having to move on, without her husband. We humans tend to hold on to the things we know and are afraid to move on. We don’t feel capable of living differently because we see different as bad. As Penelope, humans have their own robe to weave and un-weave. There is always something we don’t want to leave behind, either a person a feeling or a thing.
The truth is, you can’t have something that doesn’t belong to you. You may try to kid yourself like Penelope does, but deep inside you know when you are being honest to yourself and when you aren’t. With time, you learn nothing is sure except death. Things come and go, and sometimes we have to leave the things we think are right for us because sometimes, that is the best way to learn.

mythology and real life

After reading some greek mythology, I realized how far the imagination can go. I thought myths were done to explain nature's doings but I couldn't find the why behind some of these stories. Anyways, these myths can relate to our world today. We still use somo of these myths and others have developed and transformed into other stories.
Sme myths, like Pandora's myth are what we long to be. Pandora was a woman made in heaven. Every god contributed to make her perfect. We dream with being like Pandora, thats why they created her myth.
These myths are very similar to Gilgamesh and other stories. They have a hidden lesson and alot of fantasy. They explain events as the gods' will and write alot of metaphores. The people of these times were very truthfull to what they wrote. They believed many of the myths because these were a kind of "rule book" that told them how to live.
I strongly belive people prefer to make sacrifices and believe in insane rules than not belive in anything at all.

Its amazing to see how such an ancient writing can reflect on our world today. Gilgamesh covered themes we are dealing with, like the fear of death, our war against nature, and our struggle against temptation.
The end of Gilgamesh was a little surprising, I don't understand where Enkidu came from, but the message that was sent was interesting. Enkidu ended up being Gilgamesh's servant, I interpret that as a reflexion of us being servants of something or someone.
We are accustomed to having nature at our feet. We think we are conquerors of everything and that same feeling is the one that will have us becoming nature's servants. I think the relationship between humans and nature are dependent on each other. Its like a see-saw. When nature is up humans are down, and when humans are down nature is up, thats how it has always been for takers. Leavers on the other hand have a perfect balance with nature.
I belive life is all about having balance. Not white but not black... I had thought about this for almost everything; love, school, sports, but I had never used this philosophy with nature.
In conclusion, humans are ahead of nature. But we all know things are changing and that we'll end up like Enkidu if we don't do something about it.

Gilgamesh taker, Enkidu leaver

After today’s class, I started to take Gilgamesh more seriously. I started to analyze the message behind the story and came up with this:
I found more definitions to takers and leavers in the story. Let’s say Gilgamesh is a taker and Enkidu is a leaver. A taker according to Gilgamesh believes he/she is two thirds a god, one third a man. On the other hand, leavers would consider themselves as two thirds animal, one third human.
Gilgamesh explains what has been happening, and what will continue happening in our world. I will refer to Enkidu as the leaver and Gilgamesh as the taker. The leaver led the taker to the forest, to cut down the cedar tree. Both did it for different reasons. The taker went to cut the cedar tree because we knew the wild and had to accompany and protect Gilgamesh. The taker went to cut the cedar tree looking for fame. "It is Gilgamesh, who will venture into the forest and cut the Cedar down and win the glory." (p.16)
The people of Uruk can be interpreted as the other species of animals. Only Gilgamesh (only us humans) dared to stand up to Huwawa (interpreted as nature) because he was part god (which is what we takers think). The people of Uruk, (the other animal species) respected that boundary and didn't dare to cross it, they had it very clear- they were just people (as animals and leavers know they are just other species).
Enkidu is the one that suffers the consequences of cutting down the Cedar forest. This made me realize that the leavers are the ones that are suffering the consequences of the takers' actions. We takers are destroying the world with our advances and it is affecting everyone, leavers included. This isn't fair because the leavers haven't done anything wrong, just as it isn't fair for Enkidu to have died.
There are more takers than leavers, and ironically the greatest amount of people had to be the ones destroying the world. Gilgamesh has started to answer the question- Where are we going? Enkidu died. Leavers are dying. Gilgamesh is trying to avoid death; we are avoiding the mistakes that have lead us here. Will Gilgamesh die because of his mistakes? Will we die because of our actions?

avoiding destiny

You can't escape life and death. We know we are alive, and we know we're going to die. Even though this will happen, we are always trying to avoid it. When death does come to us, we freak out because we don't know how to handle it. I think what scares us the most is what happens after death. If we were sure of what happens after we die, it wouldn't be such a mystery, such a scary event. I believe human race created heaven and hell to make death easier. Everyone tries to be good in order to have a place in heaven, and even though hell is described as a horrible place, people prefer to believe they're going to hell than to not know we're they're headed.
I also think that having a loved one face death is harder than if it came to us. When you're dead, you don't suffer, (at least thats what we try to belive), but those who are still alive do, either because they miss the person that left or because they feel they had many things they never said to him/her.
We are very sellfish when it comes to death and only think of how it affects us. if we're going to die, we think of the things we never got to do and how in 50 years we'll be forgoten. When someone close dies, all we think about is how that affects us and how we're going to miss that person.
"Gilgamesh" explains Enkidu's death as a punishment from the gods. Gilgamesh is the one that ends up suffering and in order for his close brother/friend to be remembered, he has a statue built. " Gilgamesh called together the maker of statues, lapidaries, forgers, workers in copper and gold, and commanded that there may be made a statue of him, of Enkidu, the companion, to honor his deeds." (p.47) Gilgamesh talks about how much he misses Enkidu and remembers all the times they spent together. " Together, we killed Huwawa, together, we fought the bellowing bull of heaven and killed the bull, and together, the two of us, sat down to rest." (p.45)We can relate with what Gilgamesh is feeling because he is going through what almost everyone goes through when faced with death. At the end, Gilgamesh goes to find a way to avoid death, which is something many onf us look for but know is impossible to find.

myths explain

Enkidu and Gilgamesh became very close friends. They killed Huwawa and the Bull of heaven. "Two people together prevail against terror." (p.43) Because of their actions, the gods got upset. They decided one of them should die, and Enkidu fell sick.
"Enkidu said: must I now go sit among the dead, in the company of the dead without my brother?
Gilgamesh said: must I now sit outside the door of the house of the dead while Endiku sits in the house of the dead among the shadow companions?" (p.38)
Once again, we can see the story is very accurate for the time it was written in. We see how the Mesopotamians explained sickness and death throughout "the gods' intentions".
The changes between those times and these are very big. We have developed in science and medicine, now we can explain things with facts and not myths. In the early ages, everything needed an explanation, that’s why they created so many gods. Now days, most of the people are monotheistic because they have no need to create so many gods. Even though human knowledge has replaced polytheism, we, humans still feel the need to create at least one god, something to pray to. Something that hasn’t changed is our need to believe we are cared for, and listened to.
I wonder if in a thousand years, some English students will be studying modern novels like we are studying Gilgamesh. At the same time I wonder if they will come up with some explanation, or reason to not believe in a god.

Dreams, subconcient images (Gilgamesh IV & V)

Gilgamesh and Endiku set out to look for and defeat Huwawa. Throughout the journey, the differences between both of the characters got notorious. Gilgamesh, turned out to be very religious and loyal to the gods, offering flour and saying- "May the mountain bring a fortunate dream from Shamash" (p.21) Endiku, on the other hand turned out to be very skilled and knew hot to survive in the wild- "Endiku, born in the wilderness, made a shelter." (p.24)
At night, Gilgamesh kept having dreams which woke him up. When he asked Endiku what they meant, he said they were fortunate. These dreams are a tool the author uses to tell the reader what will happen later on.
I started to think about the meaning of dreams. This is a very complicated theme to look at because humans hace very little knowledge about it. The way I see it, dreams are messages from the brains, either reminding you about something, or showing an image that will help you later on. Dreams are like files in a computer. When you sleep, I think, your brain starts putting together those files and that's how dreams are made.
They say you can never have a dream in which you die. Personally, I have dreamed things that put in real life, would end with my life, but I have never died in any dreams. Questions I have in mind are- Why don't you die in dreams? Why do you remeber some dreams and forget others? I decided to keep a "dream journal" in which I record the dreams I remeber and try to find some pattern.

comma exercises

Exercise 1
1. He left the scene of the accident and tried to forget that it had happened.,and tried to forget that it had happened.
2. Oil which is lighter than water,which is lighter than water,rises to the surface.
3.Madame de Stael was an attractive gracious lady.attractive, gracious lady.
4. Nice is a word with many meanings and some of them are contradictory.,and some of them are contradictory.
5. The contractor testified that the house was completed and that the work had been done properly.,and that the work had been done properly.
6. Some people refuse to go to the zoo because of pity for creatures that must live in small cages.,because of pity for creatures that must live in small cages.
7. Taxicabs that are dirty,that are dirty,are illegal in some cities.
8. The closet contained worn clothes old shoes and dirty hats.worn clothes, old shoes, and dirty hats.
9. The uninvited guest wore a dark blue tweed suit.dark, blue, tweed suit.
10. After surviving this ordealAfter surviving this ordeal,the trapper felt relieved.
11. Mark Twain's early novels I believe,I believe,stand the test of time.
12. December 7 1941December 7, 1941,will never be forgotten.
13. The field was safe enough wasn't it?,wasn't it?
14. Write the editor of the Atlantic at 8 Arlington Street, Boston Massachusetts 02116.8 Arlington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02116.
15. He repliedHe replied,"I have no idea what you mean."
16. After a good washing and groomingAfter a good washing and grooming,the pup looked like a new dog.
17. Because of their opposition to institutions that force creatures to live in captivityBecause of their opposition to institutions that force creatures to live in captivity,some people refuse to go to the zoo.
18. Vests which were once popular,which were once popular,have been out of vogue for several years.
19. As a celestial goddessAs a celestial goddess,she regulated the course of the heavenly bodies and controlled the alternating seasons.,and controlled the alternating seasons.
20. I hope that somedaysomeday,he will learn how to be polite.
Exercise 2
1. There was no question that John's painting a huge colorful and ugly murala huge, colorful and ugly mural,, a huge, colorful, and ugly mural, was the worst entry in the art exhibit.
2. Werner von Braun Willy Ley and Edward Teller noted authorities in the field of rocket developmentWerner von Braun, Willy Ley, and Edward Teller noted authorities in the field of rocket development,Werner von Braun, Willy Ley, and Edward Teller, noted authorities in the field of rocket development, have done much to guide the missile program of the United States.
3. Mr. Cready's ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time is I believeI believe,,I believe, amazing.
4. Running around the houseRunning around the house,Running, around the house, the dog was abruptly stopped by a fence.
5. If the opposition should winIf the opposition should win,If, the opposition should win, our candidate would never have any political future.
6. Gracefully lightly and daintilyGracefully, lightly, and daintilyGracefully, lightly, and daintily, the ballerina moved across the stage.
7. Glamour the woman's fashion magazinethe woman's fashion magazine,, the woman's fashion magazine, recently incorporated with Charm another fashion journal., another fashion journal.,another, fashion journal.
8. Joe was born on May 7 1955May 7, 1955May 7, 1955, and his best friend was born exactly two months later on July 7 1955.on July 7, 1955., on July 7, 1955.
9. Mr. and Mrs. Kwon my parents' best friendsmy parents' best friends,, my parents' best friends, sat in front of us at the football game.
10. November 11 1918November 11, 1918November 11, 1918, the armistice ending World War I was signed.
Exercise 3
1. The problems involved in this operation are I thinkI think,, I think,numerous.
2. Celene who does not usually tell anyone what she feels, who does not usually tell anyone what she feels,who does not usually tell anyone what she feels, said she didn't want to go to the dance.
3. To get tickets for some Broadway musicals,To get tickets for some Broadway musicalsTo get tickets, for some Broadway musicals, one has to order three months in advance.
4. Listening to the radioListening, to the radio,Listening to the radio, Jun heard an announcement that Spangler his own dogSpangler, his own dogSpangler, his own dog, was lost.
5. I used to live at 16689 Sutton Avenue Milpitas California,16689 Sutton Avenue, Milpitas, California,16689 Sutton Avenue, Milpitas, California but we have since moved to 1895 Holland Way Dubuque Iowa.1895 Holland Way, Dubuque, Iowa.1895 Holland Way, Dubuque Iowa.
6. The Valley of the MoonThe Valley of the Moon,The Valley, of the Moon, the name of a section in Napa County CaliforniaNapa County, CaliforniaNapa County, California, is the heart of the state's wine producing area.
7. Chris did not see how he could organize write and proofreadorganize, write, and proofreadorganize, write, and proofread, this paper in only two hours.
8. By the pilings of the old pierBy the pilings of the old pier,By the pilings, of the old pier, I found four starfish a clam and a sea anemone.four starfish, a clam, and a sea anemone.four starfish, a clam, and a sea, anemone.
9. YesYes,Y,es, Helen did mention that all three of you were coming for lunch.
10. I believeI believe,I, believe, thereforetherefore,there,fore, that fraternities are good influences on a college campus.
Exercise 4


Using Commas: Exercise 4
Choose the correctly punctuated versions of the phrases or clauses from the drop down lists in order to complete the sentences below.
Click on the check your answers button to check your answers. (For a non-interactive version of this quiz, please visit our printer-friendly version .)
1. The girl with the bright friendly smilebright, friendly smilebright, friendly, smile wore a bright green scarf to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
2. As he read the Chekhov storyAs he read the Chekhov story,As, he read the Chekhov story, he became aware of the Russian's genius.
3. Dauphin Island located off the coast of AlabamaDauphin Island, located off the coast of AlabamaDauphin Island, located off the coast of Alabama,is a favorite spot for fishing.
4. She was as a matter of factShe was, as a matter of factShe was, as a matter of fact,mainly interested in showing off her vocabulary.
5. I often go to the seashoreI often go to the seashore,I often go, to the seashore,and collect rocks there.
6. Before reaching the summitBefore reaching the summit,Before, reaching the summit,the climbers were forced by a storm to turn back.
7. Did you know that James Agee the novelist and poetJames Agee, the novelist and poetJames Agee, the novelist and poet,was also a film critic?
8. Lady Jane Grey was the queen of England from July 10 1553 to July 19 1553.July 10, 1553 to July 19, 1553.July 10, 1553, to July 19, 1553.
9. Joseph registered for English 101 History 204 and Biology 106.English 101, History 204 and Biology 106.English 101, History 204, and Biology 106.
10. After discussing RainAfter discussing Rain,After discussing, Rain, we agreed that Somerset Maugham could really tell a good story.
11. Squaw Valley CaliforniaSquaw Valley, CaliforniaSquaw Valley, California, the scene of the winter Olympics in 1960the scene of the winter Olympics in 1960,the scene of the winter Olympics, in 1960,is a ski resort.
12. Tomorrow I believeTomorrow I believe,Tomorrow, I believe,is the last day to register to vote in the November general election.
13. To perform well on Saturday afternoonTo perform well on Saturday afternoon,To perform well, on Saturday afternoon,the athlete must train every day of the week.
14. Understanding historyUnderstanding history,Understanding, history,increases your understanding of today's world.
15. Meg Fischer my cousinMeg Fischer, my cousinMeg Fischer, my cousin,hopes to graduate from law school in two years.
16. He reads everything: road maps want ads and cereal boxes.road maps, want ads and cereal boxes.road maps, want ads, and cereal boxes.
17. Having cut the rosesHaving cut the roses,Having, cut the roses,she decided to bring them to her friend in the hospital.
Exercise 5
1. We went to Bar HarborWe went to Bar Harbor,We went to, Bar Harbor, but did not take the ferry to Nova Scotia.
2. The ginkgo treeThe ginkgo tree,The ginkgo, tree, whose leaves turn bright yellow in the fallwhose leaves turn bright yellow in the fall,whose leaves, turn bright yellow in the fall,came to this country from Asia.
3. The address for the governor's mansion is 391 West Ferry Road Atlanta Georgia.391 West Ferry Road, Atlanta Georgia.391 West Ferry Road, Atlanta, Georgia.
The villagers enjoyed fairs festivals and good conversation.fairs, festivals and good conversation.fairs, festivals, and good conversation.
5. When the intermission was overWhen the intermission was over,When, the intermission was over, the members of the audience moved back to their seats.
6. Andy took the elevator to the third floortook the elevator to the third floor,took, the elevator to the third floor, rushed into the officerushed into the office,rushed, into the office,and asked to see his father.
7. When he stumbled over your feetWhen he stumbled over your feet,When he stumbled, over your feet, William was clumsyWilliam was clumsy,William, was clumsy, not rude.
8. She listened to her favorite record with close careful attention.close, careful attention.close, careful, attention.
9. Jillian who had worked in the dress shop all summerJillian who had worked in the dress shop all summer,Jillian, who had worked in the dress shop all summer, hoped to work there again during the Christmas holidays.
10. Go to the first traffic light turn leftGo to the first traffic light turn left,Go to the first traffic light, turn left, and then look for a yellow brick building on the north side of the street.
11. Once she has graduatedOnce she has graduated,Once, she has graduated,I do not know where she is going or what she is planning to do.where she is going, or what she is planning to do.where, she is going, or what she is planning to do.
12. " Oh noOh no,O,h no," Max exclaimed, "I think that Dr. Holmes was referring to Eliot the novelist not Eliot the poet.Eliot, the novelist not Eliot the poet.Eliot, the novelist, not Eliot, the poet."
13. BelowBelow,Be,low,the fields stretched out in a hundred shades of green.
14. To understand the purpose of the courseTo understand the purpose of the course,To understand, the purpose of the course,the student needs to read the syllabus.
15. All students are eligible to receive ticketsAll students are eligible to receive tickets,All students, are eligible to receive tickets,but must go to the athletic office to pick them up.
16. Thomas Paine's pamphlet appeared in Philadelphia Pennsylvania on January 9 1776.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 9, 1776.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 9, 1776.
17. You don't want any more hamburgers do you?hamburgers, do you?hamburgers, do, you?

a different story

vTablet I
In the city of Uruk, lived Gilgamesh,”two thirds a god, one third a man, the king.” The people complained to the gods asking- "is this the shepherd of the people? Is this the wise shepherd, protector of the people?" (p. 3) the gods heard the people’s complains and told the goddess Aruru to make a double for Gilgamesh, this way these two would fight and there would be peace in Uruk. She created Endiku, a hairy wild man. One day a hunter goes and complains to Gilgamesh because Endiku freed all the animals he hunted. Gilgamesh tells him to get a prostitute to conquer him and so he does. Some days later, Endiku leaves the prostitute and goes to find the creatures of the grasslands, but the all run away. The prostitute asks him- "Endiku, now you are beautiful as a god. Why do you seek the company of beasts?" (p.5) this is a reflection of us humans, who believe we are too beautiful, too powerful to pay attention to other creatures.
Tablets II and III
Shamat, the prostitute clothed Endiku, and they went to a shepherd’s camp where they were given food and beer. Endiku didn't understand this human behavior but after drinking and eating, he bathed and dressed, acting like a normal human. Endiku later heard Gilgamesh was to wed and he demanded to be taken to Uruk, to challenge Gilgamesh. Endiku and Gilgamesh fought and wrestled until Eniku said- “You are the strongest of all, the perfect, the terror" (p. 8) they "embraced, kissed and took each other by the hand. (p.8) Gilgamesh's mother adopts Endiku do to the fact that he has no parents. Gilgamesh decides to go on a journey, and kill a beast, enemy to the sun. His task is to kill Huwawa and cut a cedar down. These tablets end with the mother of Gilgamesh praying for his son's life to the gods and Endiku and Gilgamesh departing from the city in search for Huwawa.
Gilgamesh is very different to what we are accustomed to read. We can tell it was written in earlier times do to how it repeats passages and narrates the story. There isn’t much to reflect on. Until now, it seems like a myth, a bed time story but I think later on the message will be discovered.

I'm still a taker

To be honest, the end of the book disappointed me. I was very sad to see that Ishmael dies, I wasn’t expecting it, it all occurred all of a sudden. I feel there were things he still had to teach the narrator and the reader. His mood in the last chapters was very negative and grumpy, I would have liked to see him die in peace.
“I mean only that I’ve finished what I set out to do. As a teacher, I have nothing more to give you. Even so, I would be pleased to have you as a friend.” (Ishmael page. 254)
On the other hand, I think Ishmael felt his mission was done and that everything that wasn’t said is for us to find out. I do have to say that I learned a lot from the book. We are blinded by “mother culture” and believe everything the takers, our civilization tells us.
After finishing the book, I feel prepared to answer the questions that were asked in the firs class. For each questions there are two answers, one for takers and the other one for leavers.

According to takers:

How did we get here?
The world was made for man, not for jellyfish. The gods wanted us to rule and so we evolved and got to being Homo sapiens sapiens.

Where are we going?
We stopped evolving, so we’re going to keep on conquering and ruling.

Why are we here?
We are here to fulfill our destiny of ruling and being the dominant species.

I wish I could answer these questions as a leaver would but I can’t. I have been born in a “taker society” in which all the answers have been whispered in my ear. At first, I felt disappointed, as if I hadn’t learned anything from the book and felt frustrated because I hoped I would be able to answer these questions the way a leaver would. Then, I realized I shouldn’t be disappointed and frustrated because this book opened my eyes to the truth. I can’t expect to start thinking as a leaver this quickly, it’s a process that takes time.
I am relieved I read this book because I too, like the boy in the philosophy paper of the narrator, felt I was being lied to, and didn’t know what they were hiding. the taker society had been fooling around with my brain. manipulating me to believe their side of the story. I can't say I'm a leaver, I'm still a taker, but at least im aware of what I am, and willing to change the perspective of life mother culture has introduced me to.

sentence fragments

Sentence Fragment Exercises—#1

The sentences below appeared in papers written by students. Act as their editor, marking a C if the sentences in the group are all complete and an F if any of the sentences in the group is a fragment. Could you tell these writers why the fragments are incomplete sentences?
__f__ 1. Then I attended Morris Junior High. A junior high that was a bad experience. (depends on the sentence before)
___f_ 2. The scene was filled with beauty. Such as the sun sending its brilliant rays to the earth and the leaves of various shades of red, yellow, and brown moving slowly in the wind. (depends on sentence before)
___c_ 3. He talked for fifty minutes without taking his eyes off his notes. Like other teachers in that department, he did not encourage students' questions.
___f_ 4. Within each group, a wide range of features to choose from. It was difficult to distinguish between them. (missing a verb)
__c__ 5. A few of the less serious fellows would go into a bar for a steak dinner and a few glasses of beer. After this meal, they were ready for anything.
___c_ 6. It can be really embarrassing to be so emotional. Especially when you are on your first date, you feel that you should be in control.
__f__ 7. The magazine has a reputation for a sophisticated, prestigious, and elite group of readers. Although that is a value judgment and in circumstances not a true premise. (depends on sentence before)
___f_ 8. In the seventh grade every young boy goes out for football. To prove to himself and his parents that he is a man. (depends on sentence before)
___f_ 9. She opened the door and let us into her home. Not realizing at the time that we would never enter that door in her home again. (depends on sentence before)
__c__10. As Christmas grows near, I find myself looking back into my childhood days at fun-filled times of snowball fights. To think about this makes me happy.
___f_11. Making up his mind quickly. Jim ordered two dozen red roses for his wife. Hoping she would accept his apology. (this sentence can’t be understood w/out the one after it.)
__f__12. They were all having a good time. Until one of Joe's oldest and best friends had a little too much to drink. (depends on sentence before)
__f__13. Although it only attained a speed of about twelve miles an hour. My old rowboat with its three-horsepower motor seemed like a high-speed job to me. (depends on the next sentence)
__c__14. With my brother standing by my side, I reached for the pot handle. Tilting the pot way too much caused the boiling water to spill.
__f__15. The small, one-story houses are all the same size and style. With no difference except the color. (doesn’t mean anything w/out sentence before)
__f__16. Being a friend of mine like he was when we first joined the soccer team. Together we learned a lot. (dependent on other sentence)

Sentence Fragments: Exercise 2
These paragraphs need proofreading for possible fragments. Use the space below each paragraph for revising.

1. How can a person find patriotism in a local night club? Well, it did not take me too long. About four weeks ago in a little night club in Louisville, Kentucky, a couple of my friends, Rick and Lon, the duo who were providing the entertainment that night for the club.
There is a dependent clause. I would rephrase it and say:
About four weeks ago in a little night club in Louisville, Kentucky, a couple of my friends, Rick and Lon, the duo who were providing the entertainment that night for the club sang the national anthem.
2. For the past twenty years, the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan has been measuring the level of Americans' trust and confidence in their politicians and quasi-political trust and confidence in their political institutions and their leaders. "Political" being all levels of government, and "quasi-political" churches, labor unions, large professional/business associations, educational institutions, and the like. The result is that a very sharp decline has taken place every year since 1964.
"Political" refers all levels of government, and "quasi-political" refers to churches, labor unions, large professional/business associations, educational institutions, and the like.
3. For 200 years Americans believed in better jobs, better homes, a better life for one's children. This confidence no longer exists. Polls now indicate that fewer Americans who feel they are better off today than they were five years ago. A public-opinion analysis group has found that large numbers of Americans, at some times and in some places, see themselves as lower on the ladder. Adding worse living conditions and anticipation of further decline over the next five years.
A public-opinion analysis group has found that large numbers of Americans, at some times and in some places, see themselves as lower on the ladder due to worse living conditions and anticipation of further decline over the next five years.
4. Well, in looking at the picture at the left you see an old lady. She has a very funny look on her face. As if she's lonely and just wants to be left alone. She also looks as if she has seen a lot and experienced lots of things.
She looks lonely as if she just wants to be left alone.

Sentence Fragments: Exercise 3
The following paragraph has no capital letters or periods to mark the beginnings and ends of sentences. Add capitals, periods, commas, and/or other punctuation that may be needed to make the word groups into complete sentences. Your goal is to be sure that there are no fragments.

My brother was always my best friend, especially when I was a child. Since we two were almost alone in the world we lived with our old grandmother in a little house, almost a shack, in the country. Whenever I think of him now I see a solemn, responsible boy, a boy too old for his years who looked out for me no matter what. Once there was a bully John Anson who looked enormous to me though he was probably an average twelve-year-old John had it in for me because he liked Littice Grant, who liked me. Due to this, he decided to beat me up right before her eyes. I was lucky my brother came by, he didn't interfere any he just stood there somehow though his presence gave me confidence. I licked the stuffing out of John Anson. If my brother hadn't been there, I don't think I could have done it.

teaching, not ruling

As long as I can remember, everyone has been talking about global warming, recycling and pollution. All these things concern me, they concern all of us but we have heard it for a long time and are tired of blaming it all on ourselves. Its kind of frustrating to recycle and care for the world when you feel you’re the only one doing it. You feel that your actions are worthless and that you’re sacrificing something and can’t see a change. This is very disappointing and sadly, it will always happen.
I had always thought the way out of this disaster was to start caring. If everyone recycled or just put the garbage in the trash cans, we couldsave the world, but at the same time, I knew it was impossible for EVERYONE to do it. I know I'm not the only one that thinks this way. In fact, this is mother culture’s version of how to solve things and its something we all believe but never do.
There is a conversation between Ishmael and the narrator in which they discuss this topic. The narrator says need something positive to work for.
Ishamel then says- “people need more than to be scolded, more than to be made to feel stupid and guilty. They need more than a vision of doom. They need a vision of the world and of themselves that inspires them.” (pag. 243- 244)
the narrator finished out saying- “Stopping pollution is not inspiring. Sorting your trash is not inspiring. But this… thinking of ourselves in a new way, thinking of the world in a new way...” (pag. 244)
when you think about it, it is inspiring. If humans realized the reason we're here is to teach and not to rule, things would solve quicker. we would learn from our past mistakes and never make themagain and we would keep on evolving and creation would replace destruction.

does man belong to the world or does the world belong to man?

"Right from the beginning, everything that ever lived belonged to the world. That’s how things came to be this way."(pag. 239) this quote basically explains evolution. We have evolved because we have belonged to the world. In present times we never hear this because mother culture has hid it from us, the takers.
The takers believe the world belongs to us and due to this, we have stopped evolving. We are destroying instead of creating. On the other hand, leavers still think we belong to the world, if we follow their steps, we will keep evolving and creation won't stop.
Both takers and leavers have a story. They need something to tell the next generations, and need to believe they come from somewhere. The following is the taker's story:
"The gods made the world for man, but they botched the job, so we had to take matters into our own, more competent hands." (pag. 241)
The leaver's story is this:
the god made man for the world, the same way they made salmon and sparrows and rabbits for the world; this seems to have worked pretty well so far, so we can take it easy and leave the running of the world to the gods" (pag. 241)
we the takers, are always blaming and cursing the gods because we think this is suppose to be our world and they are constantly sending bad things to us. What kind of god would send hurricanes and blizzards to its creation? We decided gods weren't doing a great job and decided to take their place.
On the other hand, leavers understand the world has a process. Tarantula eats praying mantis, praying mantis eats worm, worm eats fruit. In order to be a balance between life and death, we have to go with the flow, be part of the world and not make the world only ours.

Adam ate the apple

(Before I get to analyzing Ishamel’s philosophy of life, I would like to point out a few differences in the characters. At the beginning of the novel, Ishamel asked the narrator why he wasn’t astonished by his findings and the narrator responded we has astonished, but knew how to hide in very well. By the end of chapter 10, we see a change. The narrator is more involved and lets his expressions show. We also see a part of Ishmael we didn’t know before. We is very hurt by the girl’s death and shows his proud side when he rejects the help the narrator is trying to give him.)
"The knowledge of who shall live and who shall die” (pg. 160), belongs, or should belong to the gods. I had heard this before I read the book and I am sure all of us had heard the story of Adam eating the apple. There are more than two sides to every story, and “mother culture” has always told this story the same way. Adam ate the apple because we humans aren’t perfect, and we have come to believe it was alright, because we all make mistakes.
Ishmael, on the other hand, tells the story from a different perspective. He sees it differently, maybe because he isn’t a human. For Ishmael, Adam eating the apple was a point in which human beings started to believe they had the same rights as gods. Even though Adam eating the apple is just a myth, a metaphore, it’s explains human behavior.
We believe we have the right to decide everything, after all, “the world was made for man, and man was made to conquer and rule, and under human rule it was meant to become paradise.” (pg.82) We, as a species in general, still think this is how things are meant to be, and this is the reason why we have become so destructive. We have always gone against nature, and nature has always made attempts against human actions. Since nature didn’t let us do what we wanted with her, we had no other choice than to conquer her.
We believe the world was made for us and take what we want and more than what we need. The past generations have discovered we are doing things wrong but “It’s a problem our children will have to solve, or their children. (pg. 80)
Now, we know we aren’t in paradise. Ishmael later states something different than what he had said before-“His conquest (referring to man) turned out to be more destructive than anticipated.” (pg. 82) We could save the world if we started to face problems now and didn’t leave them to future generations, but why would we do that? The world is ours and we aren’t going to stop conquering it. We’ll move to other planets if we have nothing else to conquer. If we end up destroying everything, there will be nothing to worry about. After all, there is a whole galaxy for man to explore, to conquer.

Are animals inferior?

“There are times when having too much to say can be as dumbfounding as having too little.” (pg.24) the narrator doesn’t know how to approach Ishmael’s story and I am found in the same situation as he is. Many thoughts are running through my mind and I don’t know how to put them in words. I guess I’ll have to start out talking about the author’s intentions before I talk about the characters and the story itself.
I think a book is like a map, or a journey. At the end of the book, you should get a message, this is your destiny. This message should be personal and not necessarily an easy interpretation. The harder it is to find the message, the deeper it is. Daniel Quinn tells a story about a gorilla and a human being but at the same time, shares his philosophy of how our actions as human beings affect the world.
What makes Ishmael so interesting is its uniqueness. The irony behind a gorilla teaching a human leaves a great message. I was stunned when I found out the teacher was a gorilla and I had to ask myself why the author had such a wild animal, an animal we would call Goliath, as such a wise one, with the name of Ishmael. At the beginning, I convinced myself it was a small detail, but as I read further on, I couldn’t stop asking myself- why a gorilla? The conclusion I got to is the following-
Our civilization sees gorillas as one step before us. We think we are the ones who teach animals but can’t accept learning from them. We see flora and fauna as inferior beings and erase the idea that they too have things to teach. The message Quinn is trying to bring is that we, humans are very proud and conceded. Many of us don’t even accept help from other human beings and are convinced we are right and everyone else is wrong. So, if we can’t accept help from other human, how are we going to listen to species we see as inferior?

"B" is for blog

A. What is the difference between a blog and a book?
Blogs difference from books basically because they are all online. The word blog comes from web log and it is used as a journal in which other people can comment on. The author of the article on blogs refer to books as tight and slow while blogs are fast and reckless. Books are also very picky about the copyright while blogs invite you to reply to the entry. Blogs also have links, which act like foot notes, which make you visit many sites. Books, on the other side “ask you to stay between their covers”.

B. How have blogs changes recently?
Blogs are constantly changing, they change with recent events such as sports, natural disasters and wars. There are blogs for politics, science, gossip, videos, pictures among others which change with peoples opinion. recently, blogs are made up of writings people find on line, and are mostly made up of things other people have already said.

C. Why might you read a blog?
Mainly, I would read blogs for diversity. I would use it to get to know different ideas from mine. Blogs can also be used to get advice or answers you might not know.

D. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
It actually depends on what you're looking for. Blogs aren't a reliable source when it comes to facts but may give you diversity when it comes to opinions.

E. If you kept your own blog, what would you title it?
I would title my blog laura duARTe because it represents me and is clear at the same time.