Bullying- Journal 6

Bullying has a big effect on both the bully and the bullied. Bullying a person can make them feel weak and insecure. It can have a bad effect on a persons self esteem and can basically ruin their lives. When someone is bullied, it can affect them either mentally, physically, or both. For instance, if someone is hit by a bully, that would be considered a physical attack. However, it is also a mental attack because the receiver of the bullying might be afraid to go to school, or possibly be afraid to tell someone about the bullying in fear of future retaliation. Nothing good ever came out of someone being bullied. It only puts the bullied people down and makes their lives miserable. I have heard stories of people being bullied so much, that they thought about committing suicide. Bullying has such an effect on them that they think they would rather die then go another day with a bully pushing them around and calling them names. On the other hand, people who perform the bullying most likely feel better about themselves because of bullying. It makes them feel better because by putting other people down, they believe they are raising themselves up and feeling like the "top dog." Most people who bully others have some sort of issue in their lives. Whether it be a divorce, a lost parent, domestic abuse, or some other case, there is usually always something behind the attacks. The bullies, in return, take their anger and frustration out on innocent people to feel better about themselves and their problems. There will always be innocent children, and their will always be trouble-making children, so the key to bullying is stopping it before it becomes a problem. As soon as the first instance occurs, measures should be taken to prevent anything else from happening. The person who is doing the bullying should then have someone talk to them about their problems, and try to resolve them. I believe that if those measures are taken, then the cycle of bullying will be limited and less of a problem.

Journal #6- Possible repercussions for blaming somebody for something they didn't do.

When someone makes a mistake, it seems that they never want to take the blame for it. There is always someone else who is responsible for the mistake that you made, at least it seems that way in your mind. When you are the person who has made a mistake it is easier to just blame someone else and not feel responsible for it. I think that it is a natural reaction to blame someone else for your mistake, but sometimes if you blame someone else, things could get complicated. For example, sometimes if you blame someone else for something, you could get caught lying. People could get mad at you for blaming them if they find out. They could feel like you just threw them under the bus and they would probably get upset especially if it really wasn't their fault. I know that when people blame me for things that are not my fault, it makes me angry. I do not like getting blamed for things that I am not responsible for. I think that people should just be mature and take the blame for their own mistakes instead of blaming someone else who is actually innocent. Responsibility for one's actions are key when it comes to the "blame game." If everyone would just accept their own mistakes, people would be more willing to forgive them for the mistake that they made. However, if you blame someone for a mistake that you made, people may be less forgiving because they feel like you were trying to trick them into thinking that someone else made your mistake. Another problem that arises when people blame each other for something is a lack of trust. If you blame a mistake on someone else, and the person in charge finds out that you were the one who really made the mistake, they will have little or no trust in you from then on. Trust can be lost in a heartbeat but can take years to build back up. In the case of a workplace, that may be the difference between getting promoted or getting that raise you've been working hard for. It is best to just take responsibility for your own mistakes, as it is the mature thing to do, and helps you learn not to make those same mistakes in the future.

The Crucible- True Colors

So we did this online test in class that shows us what our true colors are in terms of our personalities. My color was orange. Orange people are described as being kind of crazy, but at the same time good workers. I can see how the test gave me this result. My second color was blue. Blue people are described as being very emotional. This result also describes me pretty well, as I can be a bit emotional at times. My third color was green, which in a way contradicts my first two results. Green people are said to be very unemotional and are thought of as the thinkers. I do not understand how one of my results could say that I am very emotional and then the next result would say that I am not emotional. My last color was gold. Gold people are believed to be very organized. I am not an organized person so I guess it makes sense for that one to be last. I think that for the most part these results are pretty accurate, I could probably be considered all of these at times, based on where I am and what is going on around me. In the book, The Crucible, all of the characters in the book have very different personalities. The author shows the characters' true colors throughout the book based on the ways that the characters act and react to their surroundings and situations in the book. One character in the book The Crucible, is John Hale. I would describe John Hale as having a very green personality. Like I said before, People with green personalities are supposed to be unemotional and thinkers. John displays this kind of personality in the book a lot. In the book, John Hale is a very smart man. He is very clever, but he uses his cleverness for bad instead of good (Bloom 80). John's green personality caused him to be more of a thinker so he could think about things before acting which prevented him from making a lot of stupid mistakes. Another character in the book whose personality I want to discuss is Mary. I think that in the book, Mary shows a lot of personality traits of a blue personality. Blue people are suppose to be sort of emotional people. Mary can become emotional in this book. One example of a time when Mary became emotional was when she was ordered around in this book and it made her very mad. At one point in the book, Mary was ordered by John Procter to not go to the court anymore. She was tired of being told what to do, because she was eighteen and therefore an adult. She got very emotional when he tried to order her around and she yelled at Mr. Procter. I would consider Abigail a mixture of a blue personality and a green personality. Blue people are the emotional people and green people are the thinkers. In this book, Abigail is very clever and emotional in this book. She does not want to be blamed for withcraft, so in order to protect herself, she blames all the other women in the town. I think that she kind of freaked out so she did something very harsh to try to protect herself. To me, this seems like a very "blue" thing to do.

Bibliography
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal #5- 21st Century Punishment

In the 21st Century, parents use a lot of different techniques for punishing their children. Some ways that parents choose to use to punish their children are discouraged by some people. Some parents use spanking to punish their children. Spanking is very controversial. Some people believe that it is not right to hurt your children by spanking them for punishment. Some people who were spanked all the time as kids think that it is harmless and it is the only way to teach children. There is a fine line between spanking and abuse. I think that parents should not spank their children. There are many other ways that parents can punish their children that are less harsh. In the article, "New Discipline: Take Away Kids' Tech", parents are looking at the negative and positive aspects of taking away technology such as facebook, cell phones, and video games from kids in order to punish them. I think that this can be a very effective form of punishment. My parents never really threaten to take away my cell phone. I think that this is because they do not want to lose contact with me while I am at school or another place. I think that it is sort of a safety net to have my cell phone with me. There are ways for parents to take away texting or calling without taking away the ability to contact their children. If parents use this feature, then taking away cell phones for punishment would be an effective way to punish children, at least for me I think it would be. Same goes for facebook, I think. I go on facebook multiple times a day and whenever I don't have access to my facebook or to my cell phone, I feel out of the loop. I think it is the same way for a lot of other kids in the 21st century, which is why taking away technology such as facebook, texting and making calls on a cell phone, would be a very effective form of punishment.

"New Discipline: Take Away Kids' Tech" Article:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/14/earlyshow/living/parenting/main6865244.shtml

The Crucible

The book "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller was published in the year 1976. It takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials in the year 1692. This is the time period of the Puritans. Puritan writing was very popular during this time and this book uses the same tone as a lot of puritan writing. The book, "The Crucible" uses the same kind of language as Puritan writing. It is kind of hard to understand in some parts of the book, because this language is so different from the modern kind of writing styles that I am used to reading. I think that this book is the same as the other Puritan works that I have read in this class, but in some ways it is also different. The other Puritan stories that I have read including Mary Rowlandson's, "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson" and Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation", have been a bit boring. The writing styles of these two stories were quite dull. There were not a lot of details to spice up the writing, which made them harder to read and understand. Both of these were written in Puritan times and they were both typical Puritan writings. I think that "The Crucible" used a lot of the same language as the other two Puritan works, but I believe that it was way more interesting than the other stories. "The Crucible" was more interesting and I think that that is due to all the dialogue that was in it. "The Crucible" was written in a kind of a drama format, like a play. Therefore, there is a lot of dialogue in it. There was not as much dialogue in the other stories, especially "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson". There was hardly any dialogue in this story, which is what I think made it more boring. The parts of "The Crucible" that were not dialogue were a lot like typical Puritan writing because it had very little details in it. These parts were dull and difficult to read. The book, "The Crucible" showed a lot of beliefs that belonged to the Puritans as well. Religion was referenced a lot in this book, just like in the other Puritan writing. "The Crucible" is about a girl who is very sick. Her father is a minister and he wants to believe that she is just sick, but everyone in the town is saying that it is witchcraft. In this book, the author describes witches as people that the devil controls. They can fly and they make people fall ill. This is why all the towns people are saying that a witch did this to the ministers daughter. Religion and God and the Devil are all mentioned many times throughout this book. This is common with a lot of Puritan writing. The witches in the town are considered demonic, because the Devil is the one who enlists them to do harm onto the people of the town. If someone is accused of being a witch, they are hung. This is because the people were all so afraid of the witches because they are demonic. The language and beliefs shown in this book remind me a lot of Puritan writing and the beliefs shown in Puritan writings.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1996. Print.

Journal 4- Traveling

I have not traveled very much in my life, really the only place that I've been to that is more than like three hours away from home is Florida. I have been to Florida three times. Twice I have gone with my friends and one time I went with my family. I went twice with my friends. We went with a group of people from my church for a church camp thing. It was at Panama City Beach. The beach was beautiful and we had some very good weather. We went swimming in the ocean every day and it was really fun. The only part that wasn't very fun was the drive over. We took some big buses, and it took us forever to get there. It took us about two days to drive down to Panama City Beach but it was worth it when we got there. The other time that I went to Florida was with my family. We took a plane down to Florida and then did a bunch of fun stuff when we were there. Taking a plane was way faster than driving down to Florida. It only took us a few hours while driving took us two days. I think that paying a little extra for a plane is definitely worth it because it was more comfortable and I do not like sitting for a very long time. Plus driving gets boring and flying is more exciting. The downside to flying is that it takes a lot more preparing. You have to buy tickets for the flight and you have to make sure all your suitcases will be the right size and weight. You have to make sure that you have a car to rent when you get to your destination and you also have to be sure that you are on time for your flight. When you fly, you are on somebody else's schedule. You have to be at the airport on time and you have to do everything by their schedule. When you drive, you have a lot more freedom because you can make stops whenever you want and sometimes that can make the trip more interesting. You can stop at some cool places or just take breaks from the driving whenever you want. So I guess there are the goods and bad sides about any way of traveling, but I prefer flying over driving.

Of Plymouth Plantation- Puritan Writing

The short story "Of Plymouth Plantation" by William Bradford is about the Pilgrims journey to the United States. It describes the voyage down to the US by ship and the struggles that the Pilgrims endured when they arrived here, trying to adjust. They had to try to make a friendship with the Native Americans who were not at first very friendly to the strangers. This story, like the poem "Upon the Burning of our House", by Anne Bradstreet and the short story, "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson", by Mary Rowlandson is a classic piece of Puritan writing. These three writings have a lot of things in common in regards to the style and influences that are used throughout all of them. In all of these writings, the style of the writing is very simple and plain. This was very common in a lot of puritan writing. Not a lot of details were used in their stories, which I think makes them kind of boring. Another very common thing in puritan writing is a religious influence. The puritans were very religious people. They were catholic and they believed that whether we go to Heaven or Hell has already been decided. They believed that some people have been chosen to go to Heaven, while others are damned to Hell. Even though they believed this, they thought that sometimes, even if you were one of the people destined to go to Hell, if you lived a really good christian life, God may change his mind or something and allow you into the pearly gates of Heaven. They also believed that if you were one of the lucky people who God chose to come to Heaven, that you could ruin your chances by sinning and God would not let you in to Heaven. Since religion was so important to the puritans, it makes sense that religion would be a big influence on their writing. For example, in, "Of Plymouth Plantation, by William Bradford, Bradford makes a lot of references to his religion and to God.

Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. (Bradford 65)

"Squanto continued with thwm and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation." (Bradford p. 67). In both of these passages from "Of Plymouth Plantation", the author refers to his religion. In the first one, he is writing about how the Pilgrims thank God for helping them on their journey to America. They praise him for keeping them alive and healthy and for delivering them there. In the second passage, the author says that Squanto was a gift sent from God unto the Pilgrims. He believes that Squanto is a blessing to them because without Squanto to translate, the Pilgrims and Native Americans would have a hard time communicating and therefore, they might not get along very well. In conclusion, Puritans had a very unique writing style and religion influenced their writing very much. I think that William Bradford used these techniques in his writing.


Bibliography
Bradford, William. "Of Plymouth Plantation." Glencoe Literature. Columbus: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 62-67. Print.