Rerum Novarum was written by Pope Leo XIII to address the issues of unfair rights to labor workers . But like any good, heartfelt letter their is a true definition behind the subject matter. My group made up of Sebastian, Jemar, and I discussed the ideas as we progressed with our work. We decided the main idea of the passage is that everyone, no matter what they do or who they are, should have equal rights, not only on money wages, but in general. Just because they are not a CEO or some company or because they are an immigrant does not mean they excluded to natural rights.
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Over the past month or two, with the help of my teachers, my class has been observing ways to express our own identity uniquely. We focused on a poem called "Where I'm From" and creating our own version of it. After we completed the poem, we then had to record a performance of it. We also created an artifact based on the poem we wrote. As given the free choice, the artifact could be anything; photograph or video, drawing or sculpture, song or dance. Really anything. So, over the years I have developed a fondness for an app called GarageBand, helping to build on my music making skills. So I reasoned to the decision of creating a song instead of a video like the examples from before. Transcript of PoemI am from the couch
From leather and fabric I am from the grass, slowly dying (Green it glistens with water) I am from the beach the sand whose long gone seashells I remember as if they were my own I am from soda and charades from MLP and TNG I'm from the misunderstood and the geniuses from running and learning I'm from He restoreth my soul with new life and always seeking curiosity on my own I'm from Ossa and Jaén carne asada and inca cola From the pets lost to the toys gained the finger my father cut to keep us warm Under my bed was a monster spilling tears a sift of dark failures to crawl beneath my dreams. I am from those moment -- ran before I budded -- leaf fall from the family tree. Throughout this week we have been reading parts of a short story called "Louisa, Please Come Home". This is difficult story to comprehend because there seems to be multiple conflicts appearing at once, yet I believe the clearest, and hardest, conflict is that Louisa (the main character, a runaway) is trying to go from a luxurious, rich life to a simple, working life. Louisa wants to change her identity, she explains that she has have changed in "every sense" (pg. 8 , P.3) that no one would be able to find her. What I am really saying is that Louisa is trying to attempt to create a new identity so she would be safe from the hardships of her old life, perhaps like her sister, Carol, who is suggested as a bully and doesn't seem to care much about Louisa. Although, by changing her identity Louisa would have left much behind and caused much pain, such as breaking her mother's heart and causing Paul, a friend of the family, to be interrogated as a prime suspect in Louisa's disappearance. But Louisa doesn't seem to understand that her "identity" as Louisa is what caused the "world to spin" and that she kept chaos from happening. Mainly because her family wasn't going frantic and depressed trying to find her, in fact they have been in chaos for three years.
For those who haven't read the story, and would like to, click here. Throughout the week were preparing to write an in-class essay for today. In preparing for this essay, I began to learn how America really was, I learned that the modern day still follows the one American Dream that has always survived. Equality has and is always a problem in the modern and past world, or America. Martin Luther King Jr. is famous for fighting for the rights of colored people and never giving up. But what about other people oppressed or segregated by society. Langston Hughes poem "Let America be America Again" explores the discontentment with America of those who are oppressed for who they are, no matter what race or color. Hughes suggests that they where the ones who built America, yet are treated unfairly because of their class or what they do. The American Dream is not a simple question, it depends on who you are asking. To some it is equality, to some it is being successful, to some it is living in peace, to other it is getting an education, the American Dream had many parts to it. For this week though, I'm just sticking with the idea that the American Dream is equality.
I read a short article about how "A bill to increase spending for veterans' services failed to move forward in the Senate, despite support from 54 Democrats and two Republicans." (click on quote for website) And in class we have been discussing how Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address was about the division of the two factions. Well, I related the two and started wondering Is our country currently as divided as it was before? Well, according to the article from before, we are divided, but not so that we will enter another war. We, as a country, have many differences within ourself and have many different beliefs on many different things. This usually causes division between people, such as people who believe Catholicism is a good force and others who don't. I personally believe it is a good force though, as a Catholic. Religion, equality, politics, the criminal justice system and other law systems are all things that can divide our country much like how it was in the era of Lincoln, and I believe if this issues are not solved peacefully and fairly we may as well have another war. But, division within a country is a very complex and fragile situation, once an opinion is made, it almost never can be changed without proper reasoning. To bring peace, show love, and stay hopeful are the only things an outsider can do to help bring conflict to an end.
First, I would like to point out that I didn't exactly learn this at school, but I did learn something about this at school.
Distractions. Every student is always tempted to be distracted. It is incredible how hard it is for me, and any student, to not be distracted by friends or Internet or Instagram or whatever. Students, themselves, create a state of mind that has a constant reaction to be distracted by inane things. This week we've been learning a lot about Martin Luther King Jr. in Writing class, and more than just the "I Have a Dream" Speech. We have also done many "Save The Last Words", which is a group discussion involving the letters a through d, and sometimes e, and teaches students how to state their opinion respectfully and thoroughly. Well, anyways, during these times, I've noticed how, but I mean really, how easily students are able to get distracted. In one of my groups we usually kept getting distracted about little things, like what my friend was doing on his laptop or how cute my friends pen is. But sometimes, we'd get distracted for reasons that seem like are on topic, but really aren't. Like one of my other groups, me and my friend always began to debar on the small details of our work. "No no no. This explanation doesn't make any sense." or "Wait, why should we put that and not this?" and we would get into huge, exhausting debates about why or how or what. Well, what I'm really trying to point out is that through this whole week I have learned many things, interesting and boring, but what I really think I learned the most is how students respond to the temptation of distractions and how they, or we, handle distractions, which think is a very important lesson for the future. Swipe over the photo to see what did Edison invent that English speakers use everyday and play the video to learn a little about him. I hope you enjoy it.
From the Times "Window of Infinity" article. Click image for link. Photos are a major part in being able to impact peole to change the world. This is one photo that impacts me to actually help the world, which, over a matter of time, can change the world. This photo represents how beatiful the world is and how we should respect every aspect of the world, seeminlgly bad or good. This photo made an impact on me that lead to be wanting to be able to protect our world frrom anything that can harm it. And this does not just include picking up trash or carpooling, this includes being able to help others who live on our world. So, what is my responsibility as a communicator? Well, at my age it might be a bit more difficult to realize, of the top of my head, that this image is more than just our world combined. It might take some explaining and reaserching and maybe even a little persuading, but I would be willing to do all this if it meant being able to change the world for the better. So, my responsibility is to help people understand the power of this images and images alike.
Tests. What student likes tests. I mean some can be fun, but I think tests are made to physiologically breakdown children. They turn almost everyone into a nervous reck, even teachers. But some of the worst tests are finals and, if you go to a Catholic school and are in fifth and eight grade, the ACRE test. Tomorrow we are going to start and finish over 70 questions in about two hours, which is actually not to bad. Tests, for me though, are always a bit difficult. I always seem to zone off and day dream about completely different things. I mean, I look outside the window and at the sky and I start to day dream that I'm flying; sometimes I even add little sound affects. So, a test like ACRE can be hard for someone like me, any test can be hard for someone like me. But, when I really focus and try my best to stay on taks, then I finish tests quickly and more efficient.
Today we had a fishbowl discussion about "what does it mean to be successful?". This topic quickly turned into "does being successful mean 'happiness'?". I was in the fishbowl group, but this new topic kept me silent and thinking almost the whole time. I kept thinking "does being successful mean 'happiness'?". Well, I have to admit that I really don't know. I mean almost no one can ever know. And I knew that, but I kept thinking about the question the whole time and even now. Happiness can mean being successful, but it also can't. But to really answer that question, you have to first know the true definition of "success" and "happiness", which is almost impossible. So, I want to end my week of blogs with a question. Does being successful mean 'happiness'?
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As a student, I believe that a fun, open attitude toward learning new things (and old things) is quite important and coming to school everyday with a joyful, open mind, ready to learn new things, can help me (and any student) learn more effectively.
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