"His Name is Jimmy"

I happened apon this story and at first didn't really feel like reading a whole story, short or not but as I began I was moved by the authors writing and the message she was sending. The story is narrated by a woman who is recalling her childhood and specifically her relationship with Annette, her familys maid. The narrator describes Annette a like a second mother to her, always there when she need her and wise beyond the times. The setting is not described but it is portrayed as being durring a time of partial racial seggregation. Annette was an African American woman who belived that everyone should be treated equal, no matter what their color, religion, or background. This was a belief that she implanted into the narrators mind forever. And which the narrator has carried with her through life and has passed down to her own children and the children she tought. She reminisces in the story about a time when she was 15 years old and was working at a resturant. She became friends with a boy named Jimmy, she talked of him as if he was just like anyone. So you are taken aback when you read on and the owner of the resturants threatens that unless she stops associating with him, she will lose her job. She couldn't understand this and refused, the next time she was at work Jimmy was gone. He was African American and her associating with him "didn't look good." It really reminded me of how hard it is for people to move forward and accept the idea that everyone was created equally. You see in the innocence of the young girl and wonder, why can't everyone think that way? It seems obviouse to me that the color of your skin does not affect your personality or anything about who you are. If everyone was blind, and there were people with white skin or the people with black skin could you tell who was who? NO! Yet to this day people judge others and treat them differently because of the color of their skin. This was a very touching story about the innocent life of a girl who we can all learn something from, and I would definitely recomend reading it.

http://www.jhedge.com/story/nofic/namejim.htm

Photography in the Beginning

When photography first came out, artists (such as painters) were afraid that their work would be replaced by photography and so they began to learn the "art of photography." In the early days of photography, it was not really an art form but a way of capturing a scene, in a very rigid and lacking artistic values that made them more that simply a record of light and shadow. The original cameras were very large and unmanageable, making them difficult to transport. They also had extremely long shutter speed so the subjects had to remain completely still for quite some time. By the 1860s, shutter speeds had decreased and photographs began to be printed onto cards that could be given to friends and family, or sent to people further away. Photography really took off when it began to be printed on paper beginning the production of magazines such as the National Geographic which vastly influenced americans views on the world around them. Through pictures they were able to view different parts of the world that they would most likely not have the chance to see first hand. There are many uses of photography from art, to magazines, to capturing family memories it plays and integral part in todays society and helped increase the knowledge of the early american society.

Analysis Photograph

Sleep Deprivation

I decided to write about sleep, I know almost everyone I know seems to feel perpetually tired. Multiple studies have been done showing the affects that lack of sleep can cause, especially on teenagers. In an article in a Psychology journal, it was said that lack of sleep in teenagers can result in poorer grades, more car accidents, inability to focus, ADHD, and depression. They even went to far as to say that when tested, areas where teenagers get the most amount of sleep there is a substantially less amount of teen related car accidents and crime. For a long time people believed that as people got older there need for sleep gradually decreased, however, it is now known that in fact, teenagers need more sleep than younger children and adults. In fact, teenagers need about 9.2 hours of sleep wile adults need only 7.5-8 hours a night. Wile this is all very interesting to me, I had to think "yea right," as if I have the time to sleep that much during the week! For that reason people have been trying to push back school start time, because it is believed that something in the brain causes teenagers to want to go to bed, and get up later. And so by starting school later, they will be able to focus more, and get more sleep. I think this is a good idea, but at the same time, if school starts later, than it gets out later, leading to less time for homework. It seems that the problem is not when school starts as much as with sports and the piles of homework we get every day, there is very little time for sleep.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleepteen.html

Homer, a Feminist?

It seems to me that Homer was closer to an early feminist than and old-fashioned sexist. He repeatedly shows thins in his portrayal of the goddesses as well as the Penelope, and other female characters. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, shows immense power over Zeus when she convinces him to turn the tied of the war to favor the Greeks. Even thought she is a woman, her opinion is respected, and her power is not debated. Also, the Greeks goddess Artemis was called the god of the hunt and wild things. This shows that the Greeks did not believe that the only thing women could do was stay at home and have children. Not only was this true among the gods, but among mortals as well.

When one glances at the women of ancient Greece, it would be easy to see why they would say they were portrayed in a very sexist manner. However, if you really read, and understand how Homer portrayed women, you would easily see that this was not the case. When Odysseus writes about the relationship between Penelope and suitors, he shows that no matter how much they want her to marry one of them, they cannot lay a hand on her. She stands her ground against a crowd of men and is shown to be the head of the house, temporarily taking the place of Odysseus. Also, Penelope and the wives of other prominent Greek figures evidently have an influence over the decisions of their husbands. In this, Homer shows that their opinions were valued, and they were not considered to be just property. Throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey, Homer seems to express an early sense of feminism rather than the expected, sexism.

Halloween.."

Because it is starting to feel more and more like fall everyday I decided to write my article about the strange holiday, Halloween. A family in Farmington has built a haunted house in their backyard to raise money to support the soldiers fighting over seas. This year, the sixth annual "Support our Troops Haunted House" goes from the Farmington family's backyard to the Dakota State fair ground where it will be open to the public for the first time on October 10th and 11th. The Beyls currently have two sons serving in Iraq, and their goal is to raise support for all the soldiers through earnings from the haunted house. All money raised will go towards care packages, memorials, cards, and letters. I thought this was I great article because it turns a fun, crazy event into something more. A way to support the people who make it possible to freely express your beliefs.

Aquion, Jeannine."Scarring up some support for the troops this Halloween." Star Tribune.com. September 17, 2008. Star Tribune. October 1, 2008 .