American Romanticism

1. Romanticism is shown throughout Rip Van Winkle. One example is the fact that he never attended to his own business. He avoided it by attending to others. The text states, "In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own;." He uses other peoples business to get away from his own. He finds peace in helping out others when his own problems seem to stress him out. It's a way to get away from his own personal reality. When Rip went up into the forest with the old man who had a flagon he awoke to find himself 20 years later. Although he did not intend on this to happen, it took him away from his own reality into the future reality. After that happened to Rip the text states that "...and it is a common wish of all hen-pecked husbands in the neighborhood, when life hangs heavy on their hands, that they might have a quieting draught out of Rip Van Winkle’s flagon."

2. In Thanatopsis the writer is talking about death. Instead of looking at it in a sad way he looks at it in a peaceful, resting way. he states, "About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." It's a way of talking about death in a form that no one else does. It is not a sad depressing thing, but yet a time when you can be at peace. When you die, you have no worries, you have no problems. It is a way out of the reality of life, and for this reason, I see it as romantic.

3. The poem The Ropewalk is a description of different scenes the writer sees from a building. He is observing the different activities of people around. Two stood out the most for me. I imagined the women clasping hands, swinging in a swing, laughing and talking. I also could imagine the woman drawing water from a well on her farm. This is a romantic poem because each scene takes you away from awhile. It lets you put yourself in the other people's shoes who are enjoying their life.

4. My photo is of a sunset resting on a beach. The image is so beautiful and peaceful it just seems to take you away. It lets you put yourself on the beach and enjoy watching the sunset while you relax. Whenever I am going through a tough time I enjoy looking at pictures like this. It helps to calm me and for a couple of minutes, it takes me away from my reality and the problems going on in it.

Analytical Writing

Communication
Victoria Hayes

When you get in touch with someone, in any shape, way or form, you are communicating. There are many different forms of communication, and they increase as the years go on. The oldest, most common form of communication is simply talking to someone face to face. What if you can’t get to that person? What if you live across town, or across state, or even across the world? How do you get in touch with someone who isn’t sitting right there next to you?

Want to find out how your dad in New York is doing? You can write him a letter. All it costs is the price of paper, an envelope, and maybe about 42 cents for a stamp. These days almost everyone knows how to write. The only thing you need to know is the address, although you have to put more then just the street and house number. You must know the street, house number, city, state, and zip code. You want to make sure it is sent exactly to the right house. When it comes to letters, especially the farther away you are, they may take a while to get there.

What would you do if you were having a family emergency and needed to get in touch with someone right away? There is a much faster form of communication: the land line phone. Depending on your plan with your phone company, you can talk to people right down the street from you, across town, or in a different state. It is quite simple to use a land line phone; all you need to know is the ten digits of their phone number. You pick up the phone, push the talk button and dial the number. It is as simple as 1, 2, 3. The only disadvantage? What do you do if you’re running out and about and need to get in touch with someone? Maybe to tell them you’re on the way to their house or to even get directions to their house? Well, this is where cell phones come into mind.

Depending on the type of cell phone you have, it can be more difficult to understand and use. For my generation, it’s just common sense, but for some of our parents, or especially grandparents, who are used to old fashioned telephones, it may be a little harder to understand. They never press the right buttons and never know where to go, or even how to set up their own voicemail. All in all, it is simply like a land line phone on the go. When using a cell phone you can talk to someone without having to be at home. Only with many more features. If you just want to simply get in touch with people while you are gone, then all you have to do is add their number into your phone and click on their name whenever you want to call them. It is a much simpler way to store your numbers instead of keeping a planner or phone directory. My family and I don’t even own a house phone anymore; we all use cell phones. If you want to use other forms of communication with your phone, that’s possible too. Have you ever been in a situation where you need to tell someone something, but for some reason can’t actually talk on the phone? That’s where texting comes in handy.

Texting is by far my favorite form of communication. Your cell phone, like a house phone has numbers on it. On most common cell phones, it’s set up 1-9 3x3 down and across and 0 at the bottom. On these numbers are letters and symbols. For example 1 has symbols, 2 has ABC, 3 has DEF and so forth. So say you want to quickly tell someone something but don’t have the time to call, or maybe you just simply don’t feel like talking, then you can text. You just find the messaging section in you phone and create a new message. You can type in a number, email, or pick a name out of your contact list. Then, you can text them whatever you needed to tell them. The order in which the letters are is the number of times you click on the number. For example, if you want to type a b then you will press the 2 button two times, as fast as possible. The better you are the faster and easier a way of communicating this is.

Another more common form of communication is instant messaging. Instant messaging sprung off of email. Email providers such as Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, thought of a faster form of communication than simple email. Basically, it is just like email, only instant. You don’t have to wait for the person to check their email read it and respond. You simply add them to your messenger list using their messenger ID, which in most cases is the same as their email ID. Once they are added, all you have to do is click on their name when it says they are online, a box will appear where you can type and send messages back and forth. This is my second favorite form of communication. It’s fast and efficient. Although not very affective if you want someone to know something right away, if they aren’t online, you’re out of luck.

There are millions of forms of communication today, and it seems they are only growing. Now the different forms of communication seem to be coming into one. Now on your cell phone you can access the internet and you can chat with friends on websites such as MySpace or Facebook. You can also text people’s cell phones for free from your email or instant messaging program. Communication is one of the most important aspects in any relationship you have with another human being. Whether it be your parent or relative, a best friend, or a significant other, communicating is what makes the relationship stay strong and alive. These days, you have no excuse for not getting in touch with someone, the options are practically endless!

Puritans & Rationlists

Puritans

1. The Purtians believed that everyone was a born sinner, because of the original sin, Adam and Eve. They also believed that God only saved a few chosen people, and that Jesus didn't die on the cross for everyone. God's grace wasn't earned or denied. It was only given. The few chosen by God have full power to interpret the will of God anyway they like. The rest were all doomed to the pits of hell. Only a few by chance would make it to heaven.


2. The puritans seemed to have more fear in going to hell, then enjoying life and the thought of going to heaven. Every last one of them were thought to be doomed to hell. Only a few were to be chosen into heaven and they were never to know who those few were until their judgement day. So they lived their lives boring, and trying to do right, never knowing if it would pay off in the end.

I feel that the religion is very depressing. It's not the type of religion I would ever base my life on. Why would you want to be involved in a religion that states your doomed to hell regardless? Knowing that your going to hell either way, why even have faith or belief? Why not live your life the way you feel it should be lived if the outcome will be the same in the end?

They revolved their lives around a religion, that seems to me, doesnt revolve around them. it reminds me of a relationship between two people, where one person changes their whole lifestyle and is head over heels with the other person, but that other person could care less about them.

The sermon, Sinners in the hands of an Angry God states that "Natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell, they have deserved the fiery pit and are already sentenced to it and God is dreadfully provoked..." To me that's saying that at any moment you could be dropped into the pits of hell, and you deserve it. But there beleif was that you couldn't gain God's grace, it was just given. So no matter how hard you try to live right, it's already decided whether it will be given to you or not.


3. Total depravity is the conception of the original sin. Because of Adam and Eve everyone is a born sinner. In the Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God he states, "...they have deserved the fiery pit and already sentenced to it." This to me explains how everyone deserves to go to hell because they are all sinners. They are already sentenced to it, because of Adam and Eve.


Rationalist

1. Puritans believe that everything happens because that's the way God has planned it out. Rationalist don't accept this. They feel that everything must be researched and explained. Puritans didn't agree with the way Rationalist questioned God. They didn't find it neccessary to try and figure out exactly why something happened, they felt God had control over the whole universe and did with it what he pleased. Like for example, Hurricane Katrina. Rationalist would do reasearch on the hurricane to see what started it why it landed where it did, and why it made so much damage. A Puritan might say that the people in New Orleans were bad people so God hit them with a hurricane and that's that.

2. Benjamin Franklin felt the need to understand things. So he did experiments to figure out how things work. That right there proves he was a Rationlists. Puritans don't bother with those things,, it just is, because of the will of God. Franklin wanted to further make sense of lightning and electricity. So he did and experiment involving a kite and a key. He wanted to draw the lightning from the clouds. He conducted this experiment to figure out why things were, a question a Puritan would never ask.

3.
1. Optimism- Always look on the bright side; things could be worse.

2. Stress-Deal with in positive ways.

3. Attitude- Have a good attitude towards everything.

4. Listen- When people try to help you out, listen.

5. Calmness- Be calm in stressed situations.

6. Motivation- Always push youself..

7. Honesty- Never lie. be honest with others so they will be honest with you.

8. Advice- Give the best advice when you can and take into mind others advice for you.

9. Pride- Be proud of everything you do.

10. Grateful- Take nothing for granted.

11. Self- esteem- Don't look down on yourself; you have to love you before anyone else can love you.

12. Goals-Set them and reach them.

13. Love- Love for the right reasons.