Blog 17 O.J. Simpson Trial

                The O.J. Simpson trial was definitely the most important event in the past two decades. The trial impacted many different parts of American society. This trial changed everyone’s view of America. It was  a short lived event, but changed all of America.

                The trial separated African Americans and Caucasians even more. With the announcement of the verdict, African Americans celebrated and Caucasians were disappointed. Ever since that moment, whites and blacks haven’t been able to reconnect.  Also all of America doesn’t trust the cops the same. With the O.J. case, it was the cops that were found guilty, not O.J. Because of the cops screw up with the O.J. case, the media now pays special attention to police screw ups.

                Since the trial, society now believes if you have enough money, you can buy your way out of anything. O.J. was able to create the dream team of lawyers because of all the money he had. Society now believes if you are able to get a good enough lawyer, they can get you out of any conviction. This makes society not believe in our justice system anymore because rich people have an advantage. America is about equality, not how much money you have. This causes citizens to question America, because now wealthy people have an advantage over others.

                 

Blog 16 "In Cold Blood"

Truman Capote is the author of “In Cold Blood.” Capote views Holcomb as an “aimless congregation of buildings.” Holcomb uses imagery to describe Holcomb as a dry, boring place. He also writes in a bored tone showing that there is nothing exciting about Holcomb.

                Capote describes all of Holcomb as dry. When there actually is rain the landscape turns from the “thickest dust to the direst mud.” There are no adequate conditions in Holcomb, the landscape is always bad.  Capote also describes many buildings that are no longer open, and serve no purpose anymore. “Another building with an irrelevant sign.” It seems like Holcomb is run down, and there is no life to the city. Capote uses imagery to describe Holcomb as a dry, boring place filled with deserted buildings.

                Capote describes Holcomb in a very boring tone, almost making the reader go to sleep. He describes Holcomb as “Not that there is much to see.” There is no excitement in his voice, and seems to not care about the city. The city just seems to be there, but serves no purpose. Holcomb is an “aimless congregation of buildings.” There is no purpose to Holcomb, it’s just a city full of buildings with no life. Capote uses a boring tone to describe Holcomb as boring.

                Capote makes Holcomb seem like a really boring place with no life. Nothing is going on in Holcomb, and is just filled with deserted buildings that serve no purpose. The whole city is dry symbolizing there is no life, and every activity center has been shut down. Capote never describes any activities that the citizens do, so that implies that the citizens do nothing. Capote uses imagery and tone to describe Holcomb as dry and boring. 

Blog 15 Cowboys

Ehrlich describes cowboys differently than the average stereotypes. Ehrlich describes cowboys as people who are tough on the outside, but compassionate inside. They have to be tough because they job is very hard, but they also have to be very compassionate to the animals, because they care about the animals. If an animal was in danger or hurt, the cowboy would do anything to help the animal. However cowboys have trouble communicating their emotions to women, because cowboys are so busy they barely see women. Ehrlich has a longing tone. She misses being with the cowboys, and really admires them. It helps convey her purpose of describing cowboys as better than the average male.  Because she admires them so much, it makes the audience admire them too.

Blog 14 Secrecy

The internet is definitely a threat to secrecy. The internet is open to millions of people, and if a secret is leaked and posted on the internet, hundreds of people could read the secret within minutes. Information spreads on the internet fast, and if someone finds an interesting secret, he will easily help spread it around; through social websites and blogs. No one can control what is posted on the internet, so it can easily spread secrets.

Blog 13 What Should Be Taught in School

I think the schools should teach students some basic principles of ethics and personal values such as: sharing, respecting other students opinions, being courteous of others around you, respecting your elders, and refraining from using curse words and slang at inappropriate times. I think the school should be able to teach whatever they want; as long as they feel it will be beneficial. Anything a teacher or school feels will be beneficial for the student, should be permitted to be taught at school.

Blog 12 What Constitutes a Great Film

A Great Film will:

• Have many genres within the movie
• Have good acting
• Earned multiple awards
• Can be watched multiple times
• Impacts a generation
• Appeals to many audiences
• Great plot/story

Some examples of great movies are Star Wars, Inception, and the Hangover.

Blog 10 Nobodiness

Nobodiness is when someone feels like a "nobody". Feeling like a nobody occurs when you feel your life is unimportant. When your life hasn't affected the world in any particular way. Not doing anything special to have people remember you. Having no friends with also make you feel like a nobody. Basically someone that has not influenced the world they live in, is a nobody.

Blog 9 Tuesdays With Morrie

Reading Tuesdays With Morrie made me realize how unimportant materialistic things are. When you die you cannot bring any materials with you, so you must have a happy soul to die happy. Having a happy soul comes from good memories with friends. Friends and family are key to a happy life. Have close relationships with your friends and family because they will help you through hard times. Materials can't help you life a good life.

Blog 8 Gullible

Describing a person as gullible is definitely not positive. When people think of gullible they think of someone that is easily deceived. Someone that could be tricked or be persuaded to believe something. How did this word get such a negative connotation though? Isn't a synonym for gullible, trusting? They both have a relatively same meaning. It's just that one is much more positive than the other. A person that is trusting, believes what people say, and that is a good characteristic. However gullible is when someone believes people, so that means they can be easily deceived. It's interesting how some words can mean the same thing, but have a different connotation within a society.

Blog 7 "Guns Germs and Steel" Argument

The book Guns Germs and Steel takes the argument that Europeans were not smarter than any other civilizations. They were just a little luckier. That is why the Europeans were able to dominate over the rest of the world. The author Jared Diamond provides us with examples of tests were they show that undeveloped countries are not less intelligent than developed countries, they have just been unlucky.

Jared Diamond uses examples such as it was a little easier for crops to diffuse throughout Europe because it is the widest continent. (It has the biggest ratio of west to east compared to north to south.) Since it is so wide, the crops could easy diffuse on the same latitude, and areas with the same latitude have very similar climates. That makes it very easy for a crop to diffuse, because it is the same climate. A crop from the Fertile Crescent couldn't survive in cold climate, but could easily survive on climates of the same latitude. Once Europe was had a surplus of food, because of the crops, they were able to spend more time researching other things, other than hunting food all day. This is when "specialists" started coming into play, and different people had different jobs.

Since Europe didn't have to worry about food anymore, they were able to make guns. This made conquering other civilizations very easy. Also since Europeans were around so many domestic animals, they were able to domesticate them for an extra food source, and being around the animals led them to contract diseases, but then become immune to them. That is why when Europeans went to conquer other continents, such as North America, millions of Native Americans were killed by diseases that the Europeans carried. Based on those two things, people can see why Europeans were able to conquer many civilizations, and it is not because Europeans were smarter than the rest of the world.

Blog 6 "Who's Really Happier"

The average person looks at an overweight person in a negative way, but lets really think this through. Most overweight people became overweight because they ate too much fattening food or deserts. Which personally I think is the best food. That means that the overweight people spend most of their life eating the best tasting food, while the skinny people on diets eat salads all day. Now I know that overweight people probably won't live as long as people on diets, but which life is better. Wouldn't be better to have a fun 60 years of eating junk food, other than a miserable 90 years of eating salads. Overweight people don't have to think if they should eat a food or not, they just eat it, while people on diets would have to resist the temptation of eating junk food.

Blog 5 "The Box Man"

"The Box Man" raises some very important questions. Is conformity a bad thing? I personally think it is. If people are constantly acting to seem appealing to someone else, then they aren't acting like themselves. I would hate to see the whole world acting the same, just to please society. People should live how they want to live, and they should stop caring about what other people think. Now I agree that people should still have morals. People shouldn't act really rude and arrogant, just to be different. People should think for themselves, and make decisions based on their person feelings.

High schoolers live by conformity way too much. The majority of high school students are worried about what other students think of them. They try to do anything to make them seem appealing to their peers. They don't act like themselves because they want to be accepted, and they think if they act differently than the majority, they wont be accepted. If students want to get far in life they need to start thinking for themselves.

Blog 4 Babies and Dogs

Babies and Dogs are very similar. They both love attention. Dogs will bark to get attention, and babies will cry. They both like to lay with the parents. Both can't feed themselves. They drool everywhere. They can go to the bathroom where ever they like. They both like to chew on things. They speak a language only they can understand. Also They both get very jealous if they are not getting all the attention.

However they are not completely similar. Dogs have a much shorter life expectancy than babies do. Babies will grow very fast and will learn to walk on two legs. Babies will also learn how to talk. Babies will learn how to feed themselves, and how to use the toilet. A dog's sense of smell is much better than a baby's. 

At first a baby may seem very much like a dog, even though they are different species. However babies will grow and will start acting a lot more evolved than dogs.

Blog 3 Guns Germs and Steel

Guns Germs and Steel was published in 1997 by Jared Diamond. This book greatly describes the last 13,000 years of humans. However the main purpose of this book is to explain, why Eurasian civilizations were able to prosper and conquer many civilizations. Diamond refuses to belief that Eurasians were genetically superior, or more intelligent that any other civilizations. Throughout the book Diamond explains why he believes Eurasians were able to produce technologies faster than any other civilizations. In a very broad explanation, Diamond believes Eurasians were able to prosper because they had "Guns Germs and Steel." This book is very well written and will teach the reader many things about history. This book is a must read.

My Nonfiction Literary History

All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein "Just after having lost her husband, Aunt Anna saw her nineteen-year-old son taken away. The men were lined up, and every tenth one was shot."
This showed me that during the Holocaust, things went from bad to worse, and there was no happiness at all.


Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank "I wander from room to room, climb up and down the stairs and feel like a songbird whose wings have been ripped off and who keeps hurling itself against the bars of its dark cage. 'Let me out, where there's fresh air and laughter!' a voice within me cries."

Universe in a Nutshell. "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."

Introduction

My name is Pierre Archambeau. I'm 16 and am currently attending Vacaville High School as a Junior. I am really committed to school and swimming. I am swimming all the time. I am on the high school team and the city team. I also love to eat.