Thankful for ______________

This Thanksgiving I would to thank everyone who's in my 5th period English class. All of you give such thoughtful opinions during our numerous discussions in that class (even Mr. McCarthy who gives us all those journal prompts and question that let us learn so much about each other. I would like to thank Kyla, Kayla, Calista, Keduse, Spencer, Jennifer, and Jonathon for being great group work partners. I probably would have been lost and confused half the time if it wasn't for them. Jonathon and Jennifer are great group partners and even though we answer the questions so slowly, they still give great answers. I would also like to thank them for only judging me for my writing and not for my craziness..... They give great advice and critique on my writings.
I would like to thank Elli and Spencer for telling me what the questions were whenever I lose my sheet. I would like to thank Amanda, Claire, and Maggie for often helping me refresh my memory on what we had read the previous night. I would like to thank Amanda and Gissel for their food contributions to my stomach. I would like to give a big thank you to Mr. McCarthy for being a great teacher and understanding us. So at last I would like to thank everyone again and I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday shopping if you're going.
PS in case you're going shopping, turkey makes you sleepy.

I Celebrate Myself

To celebrate yourself, is to be happy about who you are, but is it who you actually are or who you're pretending to be? We've probably all heard of the kids who change themselves in order to be more popular or just "fit in with the crowd". Transcendentalists believe that religion and government has ruined and spoiled all of societ and that we can all rise about who we are now. Religion and government has many times set the guidelines for what is accepted and what isn't. I feel like religion should be like the law, even though that isn't great either. In the case of law, a murder case where self-defense was in play is way more understandable then just a homicide for money. For many religions, sins are sins no matter what. Society has taught us all who we can be and can't be. One example of religion and government is the issue of same sex marriage. Religions has it as a sin and the government says it shouldn't be done. We are sort of becoming transcendentalists ourself because we found out that we can overcome this and many other taboos that have been set for us, about 20% of US states has already legalized same sex marriages. 
What do I celebrate myself for?! I'll give you the answer that my mom and many others have said for me. I'm happy about the fact that I'm very acceptant of other people and I can't quickly judge people. I celebrate the fact that I'm able to do so many things and that I've managed to overcome many obstacles. I just celebrate the fact that I can be helping others as well as myself.

Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is a very famous and praised American writer. Poe's writings are often very gothic and dark romanticism. Most of his works are very dark and gloomy. His writings also often revolve around the concept of death, whether it's the actual physical thing, mental aspect, premature death, mourning/sadness, and the afterlife (or sometimes spirits coming back like Madeline in "The Fall of the House of Usher").
In his poem "The Raven", the narrator is mourning the loss of a Lenore. He starts to hear sounds and starts to be really anxious and anticipates something is to happen. He starts to talk to the raven that comes into his house, because everyone talks to the birds that fly into their rooms instead of shooing them out. That one raven manages to get him so worked up and he starts to get less sane with each 'Nevermore'. The poem also takes place in the middle of the night. Poe had set up a very dark, gloomy, and depressing feeling with the setting, the mourning, and the loss of sanity.
In "The Fall of the House of Usher" so many things are put together. There were so many sensory elements, some of them being hyperesthesia, hypochondria, and anxiety. The house was old and cracking. They included the romanticism themes such as going mad and basically exploring the dark side. In the end, Poe gives us another questionable ending with what happened with Roderick, was it him going mad or was it the house in the end? (The house would have given the final blow but did he die from the insanity?). In 'The Raven' you don't exactly know what happened to the narrator. Poe is a very complex writer, he adds in so many elements but he still makes his readers think and analyze and voice their opinions a lot. He gives you endings, but there's always a twist with ending, so basically it's you make up what you think happened... I myself believe that Poe's writings take a very high reading comprehension ability to properly get a minimal understanding of the piece of work that Poe has provided us with.

What Makes an American?

I think being an American is all about the spirit. We never know what we are. Most people know who they are but probably a couple hundred generations we were all the same race. There have been many times where people flee from one place to another, where do they technically belong? For babies who were smuggled into a country at birth, they might think they're American the entire time since they grew up here their entire life, but do they belong to that other country where they remember nothing about or do they belong here? If you had changed your citizenship from another country, are you now American or are you still from your origin roots? There are many people who have US citizenship but still say they're from so and so. What about the people who ran away from their countries to escape to the US?

The US was created and found to welcome people of all backgrounds and help people escape prejudice. Being an American is what you feel you are. If you feel that you'd rather be known as an American than something else and you feel that you are worthy enough for a title. To be an American you should also be accepting of others because that is why it was created, so people can have a place to be accepted. You need to love the country and to appreciate the fact that you're here. If you don't even know anything about your roots, then is there even a point to be that? It's like this question, is it something that makes you up more or less important then something that you make up?

John Proctor... Hero or Stooge?

I think there's a lot of questions of how the characters in this play are. John Proctor is a very confusing character. He did have a really good reputation in the town, but when Abigail shows up, that's when everything turns into a different story. 

In the end, John Proctor himself has been accused of witchcraft. He refuses to confess and is sentences to death. He did tell Abigail that it was over between the two of them and ask for Elizabeth's forgiveness. He didn't confess because he didn't want his name to have a bad "name". He also didn't want to teach his kids to lie by having to "accuse" his friends of being witches if he does confess. He doesn't want to leave Elizabeth and his kids but he wanted to do the right thing and be a honest person. 

I consider John Proctor to be a really good person at heart, everyone does make mistakes in their lives but it doesn't mean that they aren't a good person. One of the dictionary definitions for stooge is one that is used by others. If you use this definition, John Proctor can be called stooge. His friends are technically benefiting from him not confessing. They're not going to be accused of being witches! His kids also won't have a bad impression on their name. This is why John Proctor is both good and a stooge, but mostly good.

Arrivals... there goes the neighborhood?

New people arriving has always brought on relationships, whether is friendship, enemies, love, or feuds. When the explorers came to the New World, their relationship with the Natives that were already there was very rocky. Some tribes liked them and others hated them. They were to form alliances with some of them but many of them were ruined. The explorers had pushed so many of the Native Americans off of their land and destroyed many of their lives with their diseases and guns. The explorers had helped them get new supplies such as horses, gunpowder, and crops.
A lot of times it depends on how you choose to look at a subject. For example, if a sibling joins the family, people have different responses. Some are super elated and happy about a new addition to the family while some may think that their lives are now interrupted and take the attention and affection away from them.
When a new neighbor moves in theirs these emotions as well. Your last neighbor could have been your best friend that unfortunately just moved out of the state or someone that you just couldn't wait to get rid of. There is a huge and long list of possibilities of who your new neighbor could possibly be. It could be the old grouchy cat lady who is always yelling at you to stay get off her law or the cute guy from out of town that you're the first to meet. It all depends on perspective.

Introduction

           My name is Bing Liu. I'm currently a freshman at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. I was born in China but I came to the US when I was 5. Whitney Young is actually my 7th school. I had actually been to school in China during 2nd grade. This had shown me a lot about how different China and the United States are.

In China, life for students is basically revolved around their studies. The only extracurricular activities they have time for is additional classes to help improve their studies in order for them to get ranked higher in their classes and music/ lessons. I’m able to a lot of different things because I live in the US. I was on the tennis team and track & field for a few years. I play violin and piano, as well as clarinet. I’ve participated in band, orchestra, and choir. I have also been on my school’s math team and debate team for a while.

In school, I’ve basically always taken advanced level classes until now. Math was one of my strongest subjects and favorite subjects but now it’s been getting harder especially geometry and having to memorize all the new formulas we learn. In all of the classes that we now take, we have to remember a lot of things for tests such as dates and information. Even though we still have a lot of things to do, Chinese kids still have way more and I’m still glad we don’t have as much work as them. Life in China has taught me a lot about who I am and how different lives in these two countries are.