Taylor Cole
AP-English
Columbus/Cabez de Vaca
This passage is basically talking about how Columbus discovered America. It goes to show his thoughts during this dangerous exposition. In the beginning it talks about how he went thru lots of struggles while trying to reach the Americas, which I would imagine he would.
He talks about how he first reaches Juana and how it seems to be deserted. He finally has some of the guys that he brought with him go check it out. They come to find out that this is just an island with very few people. As he goes along to visit other islands the people flee because they are in fear of a new comer who doesn’t speak their language.
Parts of Espanola seem to be his favorite because he keeps referring to the beautiful nature. He is very fascinated that it can be so warm in beautiful in the fall. This is his lack of education of course because we all know that different regions have different climates. While he was the there he learned of various types of fruit and plants
He goes on to talk about his bad experience in Paria, he just wants to be known as discovering these islands and because of this he is thrown in jail. He writes letters to his king telling him how poorly he is being treated. I guess great struggle comes along with being the first of your time to discover new land that everybody is going to fight for.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Pima Stories of the Beginning of the World
Taylor Cole
AP-English
8-25-09
Pima Stories of the Beginning of the World
This particular story of the beginning of the world is different. I like it because it isn’t the typical creation story. From the beginning to the end of the story was far from predictable. What I most enjoyed was that it was quite humorous and bit ironic.
The story starts with “the doctor of earth”, which is the head creator, creating the earth by rubbing his sweat together three times. Now usually creation stories don’t begin with the creator being bored one day then suddenly deciding to wipe his sweat and starting a whole universe. Just when it couldn’t get any weirder, the first thing he creates is a bush with ants. This really shows how much Native Americans care for nature because the first thing that most of them grew up thinking was created first was ants.
The doctor eventually decides to create the first person, but this first person was made just to help him create earth. The usual thing in creation stories is for the creator to do everything by themselves, and that is what makes them so special. Well it turns out the creator ends up doing everything by himself. We later come to find out that this first person was more like a guardian or angel like character.
After he finally decides where he wants the sun and moon he makes stars. Now he doesn’t make these stars with anything special, he actually makes them by simply spitting into the sky. It’s ironic because he used the most disgusting action to create one of the world’s most beautiful treasures. Not long after this he decides to create the first man and women. I like how they make this creator’s job just a little hard, because we all know usually creation just comes as an easy natural for the creator. These first couple of creations of the first man and women and yes I said first couple, were not a success. This may come as a surprise because in most stories creation always goes perfect the first time around. After three tries, because of course as the saying goes third time’s a charm, he finally gets it right.
His final contribute to earth is the sun and moon having a baby. This really came as a surprise to me because I never knew a story to make the sun and moon have genders. But low and behold the sun was the male and the moon was a female and they created a child, and he was called the coyote. I of course looked at this whole picture in a deeper aspect. This gave me reason to believe that the reason why the coyote howls at the moon all night and we never know why is because that’s his mother. I compared it to a new born baby at night who cries for its mother until she comes running to its rescue.
To put the icing on the cake for the end of the story, the creator has to argue with his fellow helpers. This also comes to a surprise for me, because after all this hard work of creating the earth he now has to dispute with his helpers, which he created also. Now they must not have heard of the saying I brought you in to this world and I can take you out. Although their argument is of no harm it’s about who is going to be called the older brother. They finally decide that the creator should be called older brother, which is the name he should have been given in the first place no questions asked. The whole situation shows that no good story can end without at least one conflict.
In conclusion, I most enjoyed reading this creation story. It opened my eyes to new horizons and more creative thinking. I have never thought outside the box about creation storied like I did with this one. It was most entertaining and thrilling.
AP-English
8-25-09
Pima Stories of the Beginning of the World
This particular story of the beginning of the world is different. I like it because it isn’t the typical creation story. From the beginning to the end of the story was far from predictable. What I most enjoyed was that it was quite humorous and bit ironic.
The story starts with “the doctor of earth”, which is the head creator, creating the earth by rubbing his sweat together three times. Now usually creation stories don’t begin with the creator being bored one day then suddenly deciding to wipe his sweat and starting a whole universe. Just when it couldn’t get any weirder, the first thing he creates is a bush with ants. This really shows how much Native Americans care for nature because the first thing that most of them grew up thinking was created first was ants.
The doctor eventually decides to create the first person, but this first person was made just to help him create earth. The usual thing in creation stories is for the creator to do everything by themselves, and that is what makes them so special. Well it turns out the creator ends up doing everything by himself. We later come to find out that this first person was more like a guardian or angel like character.
After he finally decides where he wants the sun and moon he makes stars. Now he doesn’t make these stars with anything special, he actually makes them by simply spitting into the sky. It’s ironic because he used the most disgusting action to create one of the world’s most beautiful treasures. Not long after this he decides to create the first man and women. I like how they make this creator’s job just a little hard, because we all know usually creation just comes as an easy natural for the creator. These first couple of creations of the first man and women and yes I said first couple, were not a success. This may come as a surprise because in most stories creation always goes perfect the first time around. After three tries, because of course as the saying goes third time’s a charm, he finally gets it right.
His final contribute to earth is the sun and moon having a baby. This really came as a surprise to me because I never knew a story to make the sun and moon have genders. But low and behold the sun was the male and the moon was a female and they created a child, and he was called the coyote. I of course looked at this whole picture in a deeper aspect. This gave me reason to believe that the reason why the coyote howls at the moon all night and we never know why is because that’s his mother. I compared it to a new born baby at night who cries for its mother until she comes running to its rescue.
To put the icing on the cake for the end of the story, the creator has to argue with his fellow helpers. This also comes to a surprise for me, because after all this hard work of creating the earth he now has to dispute with his helpers, which he created also. Now they must not have heard of the saying I brought you in to this world and I can take you out. Although their argument is of no harm it’s about who is going to be called the older brother. They finally decide that the creator should be called older brother, which is the name he should have been given in the first place no questions asked. The whole situation shows that no good story can end without at least one conflict.
In conclusion, I most enjoyed reading this creation story. It opened my eyes to new horizons and more creative thinking. I have never thought outside the box about creation storied like I did with this one. It was most entertaining and thrilling.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Is Google making us stupid?
Taylor Cole
AP-English
08-24-09
Is Google making us stupid?
I personally agree with the point that the writer is trying to get across in this article. The internet has crippled society’s brains. Now that we have resources such as Google and Ask.com we don’t mentally do as much work. With the fast pace of society today we want quick answer quick response. Since this has been taking place for so long, we have barely noticed what is slowly but surely happening right before our eyes.
In the article the author, Nicholas Carr, mentions that our minds are starting to naturally skim thru reading instead of deeply reading passages. I have personally had experiences when I can’t deeply get into the reading that I’m doing so I quickly scan it just to get a vague understanding. Just like Nicholas Carr I too used to be a happily hearted reader, but now I can barely sit thru three paragraphs of deep reading before it loses my undivided attention. In this article there is a media theorist, Marshall McLuhan, who contemplates that our brains are starting to become trained as the net gives information, which in this case he means quick and to the point. Although I agree with this statement I do realize that some articles today like to lead you thru all the details before getting to the point like for instance news reports, magazines, and newspaper reports also.
This new method of easy question easy answer tends to satisfy the needs of the typical American today, especially the typical teen. Us teens in America today do love to use our number one source of communication today which is of course texting! After reading this article I realize that this could be the beginning of the end for our generation. But it’s not just us with this lazy problem, it’s also the adults.
Our minds are “very plastic”, that’s what James Olds, the professional neurologist concludes. What he is trying to say is that our nerve cells can quickly break old routines and build new ones. What seems to be happening is today’s fast pace society has forced our brain cells to form new routines. Our minds have sets routines of having the answer on spot, or quickly scanning until finding answers. We don’t “scuba dive” read as the author put it we just “jet ski”.
Although I do agree with what is going on, as I was reading I had to ask myself could this all be in our minds? Could we all just be set like this because that’s what most main stream society is saying about us. Maybe if we all took the time to read a little more and more each day instead of always taking the easy road out, we can better our circumstances.
People as a whole can’t let computers continue to take over the world. We need to stop always depending on machine to always to our dirty work. Our brains are becoming lazy the more we do this. Focusing on the bigger picture will show us that if we continue down this road it will get us no where far. After all it was the brain of a person that created machine.
In conclusion, websites such as Google are crippling to the human brain, but we can do something to stop that. For example maybe try checking out a library book to help find answers to questions we need answered. I’m not necessarily saying read the whole book because that’s what a glossary is for! We can also slow down the fast brained life by actually having phone conversations instead of texting all the time. American’s spend most of their day communicating anyway so why always do it the lazy way?
AP-English
08-24-09
Is Google making us stupid?
I personally agree with the point that the writer is trying to get across in this article. The internet has crippled society’s brains. Now that we have resources such as Google and Ask.com we don’t mentally do as much work. With the fast pace of society today we want quick answer quick response. Since this has been taking place for so long, we have barely noticed what is slowly but surely happening right before our eyes.
In the article the author, Nicholas Carr, mentions that our minds are starting to naturally skim thru reading instead of deeply reading passages. I have personally had experiences when I can’t deeply get into the reading that I’m doing so I quickly scan it just to get a vague understanding. Just like Nicholas Carr I too used to be a happily hearted reader, but now I can barely sit thru three paragraphs of deep reading before it loses my undivided attention. In this article there is a media theorist, Marshall McLuhan, who contemplates that our brains are starting to become trained as the net gives information, which in this case he means quick and to the point. Although I agree with this statement I do realize that some articles today like to lead you thru all the details before getting to the point like for instance news reports, magazines, and newspaper reports also.
This new method of easy question easy answer tends to satisfy the needs of the typical American today, especially the typical teen. Us teens in America today do love to use our number one source of communication today which is of course texting! After reading this article I realize that this could be the beginning of the end for our generation. But it’s not just us with this lazy problem, it’s also the adults.
Our minds are “very plastic”, that’s what James Olds, the professional neurologist concludes. What he is trying to say is that our nerve cells can quickly break old routines and build new ones. What seems to be happening is today’s fast pace society has forced our brain cells to form new routines. Our minds have sets routines of having the answer on spot, or quickly scanning until finding answers. We don’t “scuba dive” read as the author put it we just “jet ski”.
Although I do agree with what is going on, as I was reading I had to ask myself could this all be in our minds? Could we all just be set like this because that’s what most main stream society is saying about us. Maybe if we all took the time to read a little more and more each day instead of always taking the easy road out, we can better our circumstances.
People as a whole can’t let computers continue to take over the world. We need to stop always depending on machine to always to our dirty work. Our brains are becoming lazy the more we do this. Focusing on the bigger picture will show us that if we continue down this road it will get us no where far. After all it was the brain of a person that created machine.
In conclusion, websites such as Google are crippling to the human brain, but we can do something to stop that. For example maybe try checking out a library book to help find answers to questions we need answered. I’m not necessarily saying read the whole book because that’s what a glossary is for! We can also slow down the fast brained life by actually having phone conversations instead of texting all the time. American’s spend most of their day communicating anyway so why always do it the lazy way?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)