ONE

Last night, my parents went out on a date for their anniversary, and I had to have a babysitter. Normally my parents would take me with them, but they told me that I am a big girl now and I should be able to handle being with a babysitter. I was SO scared. The whole afternoon before the babysitter got there I worried. I worried that the new babysitter would be mean like my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Norris. I worried that I would accidently do something that would make her mad and that she would hate me forever or take away one of my toys. I thought about it so much that eventually I decided that I would just sit the entire night. That way, nothing I said or did would make my new babysitter mad.
When the doorbell rang, I almost screamed. I heard my mom open the door and speak to the babysitter, and I decided to take my position on the couch with my mouth shut. My mom called my name so I could come meet the babysitter, but I quietly stayed where I was. After calling my name about three times with no response, my mom walked into the living room with the babysitter behind her. My mom asked me why I was sitting on the couch and why i wasn't talking, but, as I had vowed, I kept my mouth shut. Eventually she gave up and proceeded to introduce the babysitter. She told me that the babysitter's name was Maddy. I looked at Maddy for a long time. She was old. Her face looked tough and scary, but when I looked her in the eyes, I could tell that she was nice. This woman needs me, I thought. So I opened my mouth.
"I'm Isabelle," I said.

Isabelle Ortiz

Isabelle Ortiz is a small blonde blue eyed 6 year old girl. She is amused by everything she sees and is always discovering new things. Ever since she started kindergarten, she's been getting in trouble for things that she doesn't understand.

What I Learned About the Cultural Revolution

1. It was a struggle of power within the Chinese Communist Party
2. It brought China to the brink of civil war
3. Mao Zedong:
• chairman of the Chinese Communist Party
• started the revolution
• declared it over in 1969
4. Red Guards were youth militia organized under Mao Zedong's instruction in order to overthrow his enemies and gain control
5. Gang of Four:
• consisted of Jiang Qing (Mao Zedong's wife), Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen
• their arrest in 1976 is said to be the true end of the Cultural Revoution
• gained power after Mao Zedong died
6. Intellectuality was considered bad while manual labor was considered ideal
7. Many intellectuals were sent to manual labor camps
8. Traditional arts and ideas were ignored
9. Cultural institutions were criticized
10. Youth were encouraged to question their parents and teachers
11. Millions were persecuted and over 1/2 million were killed
    

Fate AND Free Will

Are our whole lives determined by fate, or do we control everything? Well, both. Our fate is determined by our free will, and our free will is controled by our fate. The fate in our lives determines how we think and why we do things. It determines our personalities. We use free will to determine what we do and where we go. Our fate (personality) doesn't determine the decisions we make, but how we think when we are making decisions. Our free will determines our choices. Fate controls free will because it determines how we make a decision and how we are thinking, which determines the kind of choice we will make. Free will controls fate because the choices we make determine how we will make decisions in the future and influence our personalities. Our fate is constantly changing as we learn from the choices we make with our free will. It's all one LONNNNG cycle.

Oedipus's free will

Oedipus's fate according ro the gods is not very spicific. The Gods did not lay out his life minute by minute. Oedipus had no idea (because the Gods didn't tell him) that he would become the king of Thebes or that he would save the city from the Sphinx, and these events were extremely important in Oedipus's life, but the fate that the God's told Oedipus, when it was fullfilled, had the most impact on Oedipus's life. In fact, it altered his life entirely. But just because the God's didn't relay all of Oedipus's life to him doesn't mean that all of the rest was free will. The only fate that Oedipus knew was his own ruin, and he tried to run from it. If he had known the good parts of his fate, would he have run? probably not. If Oedipus had never tried to run from his fate (or the part that he knew), he wouldn't have run right into it. Oedipus HAD to run from his fate, because that is part of his fate too. Oedipus made many decisions about his life, and all of them led him to his horrible fate. Clearly, these decisions were not free will. The Gods gave Oedipus the most general fate that they could and, with his personality, the rest of it played out as they knew it would. Many would argue that this "playing out" is free will, but Oedipus's personality is given to him and is part of his fate.

mlk

Martin Luther King Jr. is clearly a very important person in history. The man has an entire national holiday named in his memory! But does everybody find him THAT important these days? Many people have decided (though most of them would be way too scared to say anything) that Martin Luther King Jr. is only remembered because he was killed. Martin Luther King Jr. is the most well known civil rights leader to be assassinate, but is he only the most well known because he was shot? NO. MLK Jr. is probably the best natural born leader to live in the 20th century. He used his skill to achieve his goals as well as the goals of others. He led an entire race to better (not complete) equality. He kept his people together and told them to keep holding on as they were brutally beaten and treated horribly. These days, MLK is remembered as a civil rights leader, but he was so much more than that. In a way, Martin Luther King Jr. is the modern equivalent of the Apostle Paul (as he says in his letters from a Birmingham jail) and other religious leaders/messengers of the past. I'm not saying that he had as much of a world altering effect as the Apostle Paul's spreading of the gospel, but he altered his tactics to fit the time period and was extremely successful. MLK day is not just the memory of a famous civil rights leader; it is the memory of a great leader, a great messenger, and a great MAN.

Oedipus Answers

PART 2

1. pg. 963, line 95 and pg. 964, line 143

2. The audience knows that Oedipus is the killer, but he doesn't know.

3. Imagery allows the audience to have a better understanding of the story and to feel more like a part of the story. With imagery, the audience is more interested and entranced by the story.

4. The people continue to come to Oedipus for help, Oedipus is constantly being praised

5. The Chorus is singing about the plague that has come over Thebes.

PART 3

1. pg. 968, line 89
pg. 968, line 98
pg. 969, lines 101-103
pg. 969, line 114

2. Theiresias won't tell Oedipus what he knows about Laios's murder, and the two end up arguing. Eventually Oedipus accuses Creon of being in league with Theiresias and plotting to kill him and become king.

3. pg. 970 lines 176-181
pg. 971 lines 224-227

4. The audience knows that Oedipus is the man who is causing the ruin of Thebes, but he's trying his hardest to find out who it is. The audience knows he is doomed, but he keeps talking about the doom of other people.

5. Theiresias is a blind seer,Theiresias saying that the killer is "right here,"

6. The Chorus is talking about the doom that is coming for Laios's killer and doubt that Oedipus could possibly be the murderer.