1984 Anticipation Guide

Trevor Olson

English 12

Mrs. Fordahl

December 1, 2014

To assure our country’s freedom, the government should be able to spy on its citizens

            I don’t think that the government should be able to spy on us no matter what. That I think is pushing the lines, I think it is against our freedom to not have any privacy. If the government had planes or surveillance cameras flying around you wouldn’t be able to do anything or say anything without the government knowing. If I seen a surveillance plane camera thing outside my window I would probably be pretty scared. If it was still there when I got outside I would probably try to grab it and snap the thing in half. I don’t know if it is illegal to break it, I’m sure it is, but I would still break it no matter how much trouble I would get into. In like 20 to 30 years it would probably be legal to do and will everybody will never have any privacy. I think the world is going to change a lot in the near future with all of the technology advancements and surveillance. I hope it doesn’t get too out of hand until I’m dead because I already think technology is taking over everything so I can’t imagine it in like a hundred years. Back on the surveillance cameras, I know there are already some for farmers and farming issues and I think that’s okay but they definitely don’t need them flying around and scoping people’s houses out.

Utopian Promise

Trevor Olson

English III

Ms. Fordahl

4/09/2014

Utopian Promise

                The time period for the Utopian era is around the 1600’s. The world is being formed by settlers all over the world. The white people settled in America in around the 1600’s after Lewis and Clark founded the Americas. The New World is where the white settlers came and settled to make homeland in the Americas. They had to become friends with the natives that already lived there. In the video Utopian Promise, they described what it was like for the settlers and the difference between Quakers and Puritans. The difference between the Quakers and Puritans are their religion and that the Quakers are about peace and the Puritans didn’t tolerate anything.

                In the story “The General History of Virginia” it talks about how John Smith, a white European settler came to the Americas to settle and live on the land. When Smith arrived at the Americas there were already Native Americans that lived there. The Native Americans didn’t approve of the white people settling in the Americas. They decided on a compromise which made the Native American teach them to hunt and the white people teach them to plant corn and stuff.

                In the story “Of Plymouth Plantation” it talks about how again the white settlers come to settle in the Americas, and the Natives do not want them there. It talks about the Wampanoag Native Americans and how they live. The story also talks about how the settlers came in during the winter, and how bad of a time it was to come. A lot of the men starved to death because they couldn’t find or get food.

                In the story “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” it talks about how much humans are scared to be condemned to hell. The story also talks about how there was a preacher that just said everyone was going to hell. It also said that God held you in the palm of his hand and that at any moment he could let them go into hell.

                If anyone had different beliefs just like the Salem Witch Trial you would be treated the same in the 1600’s. That is how the trials created the history and setting for the older times. I don’t know much about the Salem witch trials but I know that if you had a different belief then you were considered to be evil and killed. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. I think that the story “The Crucible” is going to be good because you get to see how people were treated cruelly in the early ages. I thought that the stories we read and the video we watched were not too bad, they could have been better.

Exploring Borderlands

Trevor Olson
English III
Ms. Fordahl
2/18/2014

Exploring Borderlands

            This past week we talked about and learned about exploring borderlands. We read a story and watched a PBS video again. The story was written by Gloria Anzaldua. The name of the story was How to Tame a Wild Tongue. In the next paragraphs I am going to talk about the story and how borderlands have to do with the story and video.

            The theme I am going to talk about throughout the story and video is culture. Culture is what helps make borderlands. Borderlands are formed by a strong dividing line of cultures. Each culture has different languages usually, but some have very little to no change in their language.

            In the story How to Tame a Wild Tongue, Gloria Anzaldua describes how the culture is different in the Americas from where she lived before. In the story the girl was treated unequally because of her language. She could speak English, but not much at all, it was very broken. Her parents would always tell her to just keep quiet because they didn’t want to be embarrassed of her broken language. So that’s why there is a culture borderland around the Americas.

            In the video from PBS there were women and men from Spanish speaking countries and they are called Chicanas and Chicanos. The video talked how there were conquistadors, people that were the first too settle in Mexico, and how they were very important to the culture and the language. The men and women talked about how it was nice to come to a land that they weren’t criticized about their language. They also say it wasn’t the easiest to move away from their homeland and to America.

            So in conclusion, in the story How to Tame a Wild Tongue it talks about cultural borderlands because of her native speaking in America and how tough it was growing up. In the video they talk about borderlands and culture change between Mexico and America. So both the story and video have to deal with exploring borderlands.

Native Voices

Trevor Olson
English III
Ms. Fordahl
2/04/14

          In the past couple of weeks we have been talking and learning about native voices and creation stories. We read a couple of stories and watched a PBS video. The stories were written by Scott Momaday and Louise Erdrich. The story names were Way to Rainy Mountain and Saint Marie. In the next paragraphs I’m going to talk about how the native people have relationships with their land they live on or were born and raised on.

            In the story Way to Rainy Mountain, author Momaday describes the land where his grandmother lived and where he grew up as a child. He describes the oral tradition in his tribe and how his elders lived a long time ago. Here is an example of Momaday describing the land, “A single Knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range.” He says in the story that his people are a landmark and gave the land the name Rainy Mountain. This relationship with the land in this story resembles the relationship in the next story Saint Marie.

            In the story Saint Marie, Louise Erdrich describes the land of where she grew up as a child. In my opinion this story was like a yellow woman story. In the story there is a nun that is a trickster in the story that tricks the little girl into believing she is possessed. An example about the land out of the story is “Recently a windbreak was planted before the bar for the purposes of tornado insurance.” In the next paragraph I’m going to talk about how I have a relationship with the land.

            I have a relationship with the land because of my job. My job is to be a beekeeper. I work on a bee farm and you need pollen from the land for the bees to make honey. The honey is extracted from the bees onto hives and then is extracted from the hives into a condenser which cleans and thins the honey, to make it able to sell. So that is why I have a relationship with the land.

            So in the story, Way to Rainy Mountain it talks about the land that Momaday lives on and where he grew up.  In Saint Marie she talks about where she lives and what the people and conditions were like there. In conclusion the stories and I both have relationships with the land.

 

Texting and Driving

Trevor Olson
English lll
Mrs. Fordahl
11-25-13

Today i want to talk to you about texting and driving. 10-15 years ago cell phones were very uncommon. People who had them were generally successful or had worked for a big company. The only thing you could do on the phone was actually talk, no texting. When a person wanted to get a hold of you it was either an email or to call your home phone.
Today, cell phones are very common in this generation. Technology has advanced vry fast in the last couple years.. A cell phone can just about do anything you want it to. Such as calling, emailing, social networking, and of course texting. Communication is a great tool if used correctly. Since the popularity of cell  phones has increased so have vehicle accients. Texting and driving has reached an all time high in America. There are just about as many accidents due to textin and driving as there is to drinking and driving. Some just as deadly. There is more awareness about texting and driving because of this. There are billboards, commercials,and even city and state laws. You can get pulled over in some cities for being seen on your phone in a vehicle.
Having a cell phone is a responsibility just like a having a drivers license is. When you text and drive you put yourself in danger and all of those around you. So think about the next time you need to send a message while driving. Think about how important it really is or if you can wait. Don't text and drive!