Journal #24

Final exams. They are the death of me.  I dread this part of the year as soon as school starts.  As the week gets closer and closer to happening, teachers tell you that you should start studying and preparing.  If you were smart, you would start studying when they said that.  Most people though, like me, wait until the week before.  I always tell myself that I will start preparing, but that never happens. When I do start to study, I go out or have my mom go out and buy things of note cards.  That is the way I study.  Depending on what is going on the note card, I will cut them into different sizes.  If they are just words and their definition, I cut the note card in half and then in half again.  This makes teeny-tiny note cards that do not take up much space.  So many people use whole note cards for definitions that are short, which is just a waste.  If you make the note cards smaller, you have more of them and you do not have to spend more money.  If what I studying is just lists, I will only cut the note card in half that way I do not have to scrunch everything in.  I leave the note card whole if it is a diagram or something that needs a lot of space.  Once my note cards are made, I sit down with them and first do the easy way.  This is starting with the definition or the list and having to say what the word is.  After I have mastered it backwards,I turn it around and see how much information I retained.  Forwards is usually a lot harder for me, but I keep studying them to the point where I can go through the whole stack and know every single card front and back.  The main thing that helps me during finals week is sleep! 

Journal #23

Being self-sufficient is the ability "to supply one's own or its own needs without external assistance" ("Self-sufficient"). Everyone should be self-sufficient, and if they are not, then they should work to become it.  Once you leave your parent's house, they will not be there with you at all times to cook you dinner or fold your clothes.  You have to be able to do these things on your own. I would have to say that I am pretty self-sufficient in certain categories. For example, if I were to have to live on my own, I would know how to cook different foods other than Ramen noodles and mac n cheese.  From a young age, my mom taught my siblings and I how to cook.  At first, we learned the basics like peanut butter and jelly, eggs, mac n cheese, toast, and other noodles.  We took the next step, which was making chef salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and pizza.  Now we are being taught how to cook meatloaf, lasagna, Swiss steak, chicken corn chowder, and many more things!  What I said are only a quarter of the things I have to knowledge of making.  My mom taught us how to cook so that when we have to live on our own, we will not starve.  I love food so being able to make a variety of foods is AMAZING.  Another thing that I would say I am self-sufficient in is cleaning.  My parents make my siblings and I do chores such as, cleaning the toilet, dusting shelves, unloading and reloading the dishwasher, doing laundry, etc.  It is crazy that some people are so dependent on their parents or guardians that they have never cooked themselves a meal or even done chores.  My parents wanted us to grow up knowing how to do all these things so when they were not around to help us, we could be self-sufficient.  I am very glad that I was taught how to be self-sufficient because I know I will be able to keep myself alive when I move out!

"Self-sufficient." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.

Reaction to Kateb's Analysis of "Self-Reliance"

        "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" is a literary criticism by George Kateb, where he analyzes Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "Self-Reliance."  Emerson's essay is all about life and promotes the importance of individuality in choices and decisions.  "To repeat: we must not expect anything simple when we take up Emerson on self-reliance. The point put in academic language is that democratic individuality is nothing simple. What, then, more explicitly, is self-reliance? What is reliance on oneself, what does it come to?" (Kateb).  Kateb lets the readers know that Emerson does not take this subject lightly and that he puts forth a ton of effort.  George Kateb admired Emerson for doing just this and for being an individual.  

"What is involved in Emerson's joyous science is something less like seeing all sides of a disputed issue, and more like admiring all sides in an unstoppable struggle. Emerson is eager to present the struggle" (Kateb).  Kateb tells the readers that Emerson likes to state what he thinks about a struggle.  The struggle here is living your OWN life, not following all of the trends and trying to fit in.  People can change their outward appearance and actions, but they cannot change the person inside of them.  God made us all unique and different, which is what makes the human race so interesting.  Every single person in this world just needs to realize that they are the only ones who can be the person they are.  

"Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not. The same particle does not rise from the valley to the ridge. Its unity is only phenomenal. The persons who make up a nation to-day, next year die, and their experience with them" (Emerson).  This statement really applies to today's world.  Society is always adjusting and moving on just like a wave in the ocean.  It talks about the particles in the wave die off as the wave moves onward, which is totally true.  The trends and fads stay with society until it decides to move on.  Once the shift takes place, the old atmosphere is left behind while the new one is developed.  This cycle just repeats itself and will continue to repeat itself in the future. 

One topic that George Kateb brings up is that Emerson seems to contradict himself at moments.  “It is well to emphasize at the start Emerson's difficulty and elusiveness. He is full of assertive sentences that may seem unconditional. Every sentence seems a declaration of faith. He seems to stand behind every utterance with his whole being, and risks his being by the completeness of his candor. His variety of declarations tempts us to say that he contradicts himself, but even if we resist the temptation, we are still not sure where he finally stands” (Kateb). This is saying that at times Emerson is hard to understand, but he ends up tying it all back together.  Everything he says, whether people believe it or not, Emerson stands behind it.  That is something that I struggle with, and I know numerous other people who share the same struggle.  It is very hard to stand behind a statement if someone does not agree with you.  If someone disagrees with what you say, it makes you think twice and possibly even makes you change what you previously stood behind.  

George Kateb’s analysis of Emerson’s vision of self-reliance was well written and structured.  The transitions between the different topics were efficient allowing the essay to flow well.  The numerous quotes added in as support helped to make it a reliable and established essay.  Kateb backed each opinion with quotes he found from various works either written by or about Emerson.  Combining countless quotes from different pieces of work added a nice touch to the criticism because it was not just Kateb writing the whole time.  We were able to see differing writing styles and opinions from what Kateb included in his work.  

Emerson, Ralph W. "Self-Reliance." Self-Reliance. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

Kateb, George. "Infobase Learning - Login." Infobase Learning - Login. Blooms Literary Reference Online, 2003. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.

Journal #21

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till" (Emerson, Self-Reliance).  

When I first read this quote, I had no idea what I was reading.  I backed up and looked at each part of the sentence.  Wherever there was punctuation, I stopped and made sense of that before moving on.  From this one sentence, I gained more knowledge on what Emerson values.  He values life and going with the flow.  Instead of trying to fit in and imitating the people around you, be yourself.  Being yourself will get you a lot farther in life than if you were to alter your behavior and looks with each new trend.  First off, if you are not afraid to let yourself go, you will have a higher confidence level.  Having confidence in yourself is one of the many keys to being successful. Not only does it affect your confidence, but you will be happy because no one can tell you that you are living YOUR life wrong.  If you were to be part of a new trend, people could tell you that you were wearing the wrong thing or acting wrong.  

The section that stuck out to me the most was , "that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion" (Emerson, Self-Reliance). This is saying that everyone needs to accept who they are as they are.  People can change their outward appearance and actions, but they cannot change the person inside of them.  God made us all unique and different, which is what makes the human race so interesting.  In today's day, fitting in is what people strive for.  Trying to fit in comes with doing things that you would not normally do.  Every single person in this world just needs to realize that they are the only ones who can be the person they are.  

Journal #22

SNOW. I am very ready for it to snow this winter! Last year, we had a mild winter with only one or two snowfalls.  That is odd because we usually have a lot more snow that that.  Where I live, we have a backyard that contains a semi-steep slope.  Behind our backyard, there is one hundred acres of woods.  On one side of the woods, there are two hills.  Well I would not say hills because they are STEEP slopes.  Every winter, my siblings and neighbors and I start out in my backyard sledding.  We also build snowmen, make snow angels, and construct snow forts for snowball fights.  One we get bored of that hill, we trek to the steeper slopes about a half mile away.  It is only a half mile, but when you are wearing full snow gear and carrying sleds behind you it can seem to go on forever.  Going there is not as bad as coming back.  When on our way there, we are full of energy and looking forward to flying down the slope and dodging trees and holes.  It takes about twelve seconds to make it to the bottom of the hill and about ten minutes to walk up it. Every year I ask my dad if he could build a ski lift just so we would not have to walk up the hill.  Of course, he responds with, "Stop being so lazy!" Walking back from sledding is always the toughest because you are so worn out and cannot feel half of your body parts.  Then you just have to think how the exercise you just got and how much fun you had.  As soon as we walk in the garage door, my mom sends down a laundry basket for all of our wet items.  If we leave anything on the floor, we get grounded from going outside, which makes us make sure we pick up EVERYTHING.  To warm up, we get hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies. I love snow. (: