Wired Magazine Article "Gone"

What surprised me about this article is that so much can be found out about a person through use of the internet. Also the idea that someone would want to escape the world and lose their identity is very interesting to me. Some questions I have are why would someone want to go through all of this? I feel that in today's digital world it isn't easy to disappear. Once you put something on the internet it is their forever. Everything that you might have put somewhere would be hard to keep up with and hard to track. This article relates to into the Wild because its about someone that basically leaves everything behind, and leaves the life they have known and vanishes in the world. This relates to Gatsby because when people try to create a new identity, that normally includes changing names and the name in this article is like the same name that Gatsby had before he changed his identity. This can relate to Invisible Man because the idea of leaving everything you are familiar with, and going into a new place is apparent in this article and invisible man.

Blog Post 3- Mexico Drug Violence Kills 30,000 In Four Years

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/17/mexico-drug-violence-kill_n_798111.html

In Mexico, more than 30,000 people have been killed in drug violence since President Felipe Calderon started a crackdown against drug cartels in 2006. The La Familia cartl in western Mexico has been weakened because there were recent arrests and deaths of some of the gang members. The weakening of this criminal group has promoted some of the members has put false ambitions of the members to help the people of Michoacan. The real motives of these criminals is to terrorize and rob those people.

The questions I have, are why all of a sudden the government is starting to crack down on the drug cartels? and why they didn't do it sooner? Another question I have, is how all of these people are being killed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12012425

The large amounts of people being killed are the people that were involved with the drug cartel, and not necessarily the victims.

Blog post 2-The Man Behind the New ‘Nutcracker’ in Town

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/arts/dance/17ratmansky.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

There is a new version of the Nutcracker for the American Ballet Theater. It will be opening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Wednesday. Many children associate this Ballet with Christmas. The person in charge of this didn't celebrate Christmas as a child but he celebrated New years. They did have presents on that night, but it was a big deal that they didnt celebrate the holiday.This will be the third time that he will be working on the Nutcracker.

Questions I have are why the is being started at this theater now?What kinda of experience does Alexei Ratmansky in the theathers?

I think that the Nutcracker will be a big success this season.

http://entertainment.newsplurk.com/2010/12/man-behind-new-in-town.html

Blog Post 1- ABC Weather Anchor Heidi Jones Suspended For Attempted Rape Lie

Weather women Heidi Jones was suspended from WABC - Tv for filing a false police report. She alleged that she was the victim of an attempted rape. She went to Manhattan's 6th precinct during late November and said that she had been attacked in September by a Hispanic man. She said this happened while she was jogging in Central Park. She made up the story that she was dragged away off her jogging path and he tried to rape her. But then there was a witness near by that scared him off. Her stories didnt go together, but her lawyer says that people shouldnt jump to conclusions.

Questions I have about this article, is why would she make up this rape attack?What would she get out of it?

http://www.fameblab.com/2010/12/17/abc-weather-anchor-heidi-jones-suspended-for-attempted-rape-lie/

Heidi Jones claims that the guy that raped her, had been stalking her for a while.

Theme #3 Reflection

1. How did you do with this Theme? How did you feel about how you thought you did compared to the grade you received? What did you do well?

I did average with this theme. I thought I would have gotten a better grade then what i received. I really liked the ideas I for this poem, but i lost a lot of points for style and imagery. What I did well, was the way that I organized my poem, and using allusions.

2. What are some opportunity areas for you with your writing? (specific to FCA's)

Some opportunity areas for my writing are developing my ideas more and expanding on my thoughts. Being more descriptive, and making my writing more interesting are also some opportunity areas for my writing.

3. What can you improve for next time? (Overall- process, amount of time, etc.)

For next time, I can improve on developing my thoughts, and spend more time brainstorming.

Blog Post 3-Confucius Peace Prize: China To Award Nobel Rival

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/08/confucius-peace-prize-china_n_793610.html

China has created its own peace prize, that is rivaling the Nobel committee. The Nobel Committee is honoring an imprisoned Chinese dissident. China has talked badly about Liu Xiaobo as well as his supporters. Liu is serving a 11 year jail sentence, and is being prevented from attending the ceremony for the Confucius Peace Prize. This award was created and promoted to show peace among China, and to go against the Nobel committee.

Questions that are raised, are why is an imprisoned person being honored by other people? Why was Lui imprisoned in the first place?

I appears that the Confucius Peace prize is supposed to promote the viewpoint of peace throughout China. This article slightly contradicts my opinion because the Chairman of Taiwan's Nationalist party was selected to win the award.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-as-china-confucius-prize,0,653495.story

Vocab words

dissident- a person who opposes official policy, esp that of an authoritarian state.

vilified- to speak or write about in an abusively disparaging manner.

disparaging- regarded or represented as being of little worth

Blog Post 2- Aretha Franklin Has Cancer, Family Confirms

http://www.popeater.com/2010/12/08/aretha-franklin-cancer/

A family friend to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, has announced that she is battling cancer. There are some reports that the cancer she is dealing with is pancreatic cancer, and it is also reported that she has less than a year to live. Those are National Enquirer stories so people should not believe that right away, even though they have correctly reported other celebrity battles with cancer. Aretha Franklin went through with surgery last week that was successful. She has been dealing with a lot things from her personal injury which caused her to cancel tour dates to her battle with cancer.

If there were some complications with Aretha Franklins first visit because of the fall, will that interfere with treating her cancer? Another question that comes to mind is what was the actual surgery that was performed on Aretha? I think that because everything is so public with what is going on, it would be beneficial for others to know exactly what she is going through.

i think that it is very possible that Aretha Franklin has Pancreatic cancer, because it is not very likely for people to just make things up. While it is not a good thing, there are many that support this idea as the truth so far.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpps/news/local_news/aretha-franklin-has-cancer,-fox-2-confirms_10996869

Blog Post 1-World Festival of Black Arts Announces Lineup

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/world-festival-of-black-arts-announces-lineup/?scp=1&sq=Black%20Arts%20&st=cse

Taking place in Senegal, until December 31 is the World Festival of Black Arts. This festival started taking place in 1966 and this year will be the third festival. The theme of this festival is described as African Renaissance. That is defined as "the Africa we want to create for tomorrow." The type of arts that will be present are concerts, films, a book fair, fashion shows, photography, and more. The purpose of this festival is to promote the independence of many of the African Nations.

Something that is not clear in the article is how often the World Festival occurs. My question is why is the World Festival of Black arts so infrequent? This is something that I have never heard about before, and I feel like it would better promote the ideas of growth of the nations if it was held more often. Another question that comes to mind is how is the location chosen? I am wondering if this is a large or small event, because maybe not a lot of people would be able to afford to travel to Senegal for a free event.

The World festival of Black arts seems to also promote and support other cultures. While it is an African event, there are many other nations present, so it seems that everyone is included and that anyone can come no matter where you are from.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/08/third-ever-world-festival_n_793601.html#s201735