Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Hello everyone,



We started off the class with donuts, Thank you Micheal, they were very good. (Weems some how ate 4 donuts)

Mrs. Smith was not in the best mood during class due to her freshman class, who drove her crazy with there lazyness. She also advised us to be nothing like them and to turn in good quality work throughout the semester.

We circled our wagons and went over any questions and reviewed over Dante's Inferno

• Sam brought up a great question about how there hasnt been any encounters with the number 6, instead 3 has seemed to replace it. 3 is a holy number and 6 is known to be a common number associated with lucifer. We decided that hell is a mockery of heaven and is trying to copy God.


• lucifer means "light-bearer"

We decided to start readiong from the beginning of Dante's Inferno (nobody seemed to remember what we read on monday)

Every reader read threee trisets (three is prevelant) before it was the next readers turn.



CANTO 1

• Dante is lost in a dark forest in which he is trying to find his way out of


• He comes against three beast ( leopard,lion and a she-wolf)


• He meets Virgil who says he can get him out by taking him though Hell


• Virgil lived on the first level of hell because he lived before christianity

Canto 2

• Virgil diagnoses Dante's problem as cowardice, and tells him the story of the blessed and beautiful lady, Beatrice, who came to Virgil in Limbo, the outermost part of Hell where he inhabits, to urge him to save Dante

• Dante feels new courage spread through his whole being and tells Virgil he is really ready to follow him now

• Some of use were mssing the last three pages ( Again, three is prevelant) of Canto 2, so make sure you go back to the website and try to print those pages off.

Homework:

• Read Cantos 3-5
• National Geographic project

monday Januray 28

In class today, people had the case of the Monday’s. Not much happened over the weekend except for Emily had another car accident, and everyone was tired from the dance. Ms. Smith tried to rid the Mondays out of us, but her jokes were not enough to battle the beginning of the week. Our homework is to think of ideas for our national geographic project. We will be in the computer lab next week so be prepared. We started off class by discussing the blog. Katherine G. said that the greatest sin is refusing the gift of life, Rebecca said addiction is man’s greatest weakness whether it be drugs, food , or personality. Jackie mentioned the seven sins and stated along the lines of if you don’t accept God’s forgiveness for your sins then that is man’s greatest fault. Brooks said to not forgive others, or holding things against people is man’s greatest weakness. We continued through class by taking the rest of Dante’s notes on hell and the following questions came up: Why are interest rates in the 7th level? Are some sins worst then others, in our minds, but in a lower level in Dante’s hell? What are OK wrongs? Ms. Smith made note of the number three and how it is repeatedly used. Ex: 3 lines per stanza, three animals, three women, three names for the devil, and the father, son and holy spirit. When we discussed the back round reading a few questions came up. Tucker brought up the point of is the punishments in hell sever enough or would you get use to it? Brooks wanted to know about the windmill reference to the devil and it about how mechanical he is. Emily wondered about the relationship between Dante and Beatrice, Dante’s first love. Another question that brought up was, would if you only did one of these ‘sins’, it was not a repeated offence, what would happen to you? Why is Dante allowed to go into hell? Dante is allowed to go into hell because god makes it possible. This makes Menos mad, but what we see is that god has power in hell. He was also supposed to tell of what he saw. We have the yellow ribbon assembly tomorrow here is the bell schedule and the notes that we took in class on Dante
Schedule for Tuesday, January 29th
Report to 1st Period Class 7:21 Dismissal from class at 7:25
Assembly 7:30- 8:15
Period 1 8:20 – 9:09
Period 2 9:14 – 10:03
Period 3 10:08 – 10:57
1st Lunch 10:57 – 11:32
Period 4 11:37 – 12:26
Period 4 11:02 – 11:51
2nd Lunch 11:51 – 12:26
Period 5 12:31 – 1:20
Period 6 1:25 – 2:16
Notes on Dante
Levels of hell (top is best, bottom worst): light= reason, no light= no reason
**Numbers= levels of hell, dashes=obstacles**
--The river Acheron. Charon= ferryman
1. Limbo (purgatory). Shades and Virgil reside here. Also unbaptized and those that come before Christ.
-- Minos decides to what level you go.
2. Lustful. Ex. Cleopatra.
3. Gluttonous. Can see past and future but not present. Continually rains.
4. Avaricious and prodigal. Shove wealth against each other.
5. Wrathful and sullen. Lie in black mud creating gurgling sounds. Attack and bite their own bodies.
--River Styx (i.e. Mr. Roboto)
--Wall of Dis. 3 furies at gate, gates open b/c of heaven’s decree, city of tombs, flames in open graves.
6. Heretics. Believers in temporal happiness.
--Phlegethon. River of blood. Minotaur: guard of this circle. Centaurs: shoot arrows at shades who try to come to surface.
The violent.
--Against others.
--Against self, i.e. suicide. Body becomes tree (“wood of suicide”). Harpies tear at trees.
--Against God: blasphemers, sodomites, usurers. Area of burning sand rains flames, stream of flowing blood. Where Dante receives warning of his future.
--Abyss
Fraud. 10 groups called Bolgia.
--Pimps and seducers. Ex. Jason. Lashed with enormous whips.
--Flatterers. Wallow in excrement.
--Simonists. Named after Simon who tried to buy the holy spirit. Upside down in a hole where feet stick out and are engulfed in flames. Known as “perverted Baptism”.
--Soothsayers: Diviners, astrologers and magicians. For ex., Tiresias. Distorted bodies.
--Grafters. Gamblers. Lake with boiling tar.
--Hypocrites. Wear cloaks lined with lead and must walk steadily.
--Thieves. Serpents chase after them.
--Deceivers or fraudulent counselors. Flames burn all around and within each flame is a soul.
--Sowers of scandal and schism. Shades are torn apart only to heal again and be ripped apart another time.
--Forgers. Falsifiers of metals (alchemists), persons (falsifiers) and words (counterfeits). Sinners plagued with different illnesses, for ex. leprosy, thirst.
Treachery. Agiant sheet of ice.
--Caina: Traitor to kin. Frozen in ice with only face above to show pain.
--Antenora: traitors to country, city, or political party.
--Ptolemea: traitors to guests. Sinners frozen with head above eyes, eyes frozen with tears.
--Judecca: Traitors to masters/ lords. Bodies alive on earth, but possessed by demons.
--Cocytus. Separates Lucifer from
--Lucifer (“light bearer”): Body half frozen, wings like a bat that continually flap. 3 faces, each stuffed with a traitor:
1. Red: mocks primal love with hatred (Judas).
2. Yellow: parodies divine power with weakness (Cassius).
3. Black: perverting highest wisdom with ignorance ( Brutus)
To exit hell: must climb down hairy Lucifer to center of earth at which point you will begin climbing back up.

Friday, January 25,2008

Hello Everyone!!.. Today was a short class because of the assembly, and we were pretty busy..

First of all, we started class by writing down our homework for this weekend:

• Commenting on our latest blog: What are the greatest wrongs people can commit? Why? and What punishments/ consequences should fit these wrongs?
• Make sure to print your own copy of Dante's text, if you haven't yet. Which you can find on Ms. Smith's page, and don't forget to read the first nine pages of it. Take notes.
• Also feel free to continue commenting on the blog: Why does a just and good God allow Evil to exist? Their are some great ideas and great feedbacks commented by our fellow classmates on there, and its awesome. Good job guys.
• Start writing your ideas about our NG project and visualize how you will create your own.

If you want to be ahead- develop a clear rationale for your thinking about the Hypothetical situation.

1. How have the texts, songs, videos, etc... affected your thinking? Support and defend your answer.
2. As you create Hypothetical situation, how will you use this background information?
3. Make sure in your Hypothetical situation, that you explain, defend your structure, placement and decisions either in paper format or included in your presentation.

If your not going to the winter dance, your bored and you have nothing else to do... you can start working on your monday hw. Which is to finish Dante background notes, ideas for NG project, canto one. And start looking at compass--> who, what, where and why<-- Plus check out the site that Ms. Smith showed us today- www.wsu.edu/~alake/ Its the site of "Where in hell do you belong". It helps us give a colorful look on what hell looks like and shows different types of hell. There are 9 layers of hell. We wrote down some notes today in class:

1. Limbo-Virtuous Pagans and Unbaptized Babies, Virgil exist
2. Lustfull- Creature name Minos- how ever many tails he curls, thats what stage you go
3. Gluttonous- Dante leaves sinners here and they can see the past and future but never the present
4. Prodigal- People who have extreme wealth and they give their wealth to each other back and forth for eternity
5. Wrathful- Extreme anger, Extreme Sadness, (Rivers of Styx)
6. Heretics- (City of Dis)
7. Violent- Neighbor (Plegethon), Self (Wood of Suicides)
8. Fraudulent- Seducers, Simonists, Diviners, Grafters, Hypocrites and so on
9. Treacherous- Kin (Cain) Lord (Lucifer)

On work days- Planning and talking... use Mikayla and Philip and ask them any questions that you have in mind because they are a great resource and ask Ms. Smith as well because she is semi- good. And like Ms. Smith said in class " The sky is the limit". Think BIG! Go BEYOND!

By the way.. Ms. Smith and Mr. Krause did a fantastic job dancing today!! And the rest of the teachers!

Have a Good Weekend Guys!!

Greatest Wrongs

What are the greatest wrongs people can commit? Why?

What punishments/ consequences should fit these wrongs?

Scribe 1-23-08

Compass information

Hello Class!! Today was a big day in the good old English class but first things first:

HOMEWORK: Print your own copy of the Dante text and bring it to class on Friday. Don't print it in the library or you will owe them your lunch money. Also, Ms. Smith really likes the conversation about why a just and good God allows evil to exist, so keep returning to the page and commenting.

Today was our National Geographic Day. We met Philip and Mikayla (sp?) Tarlow in the computer lab. Lovely people, quite nice. The rest of the time we looked at the learning platform we are going to use with Dante.

It is an interactive website (up and running February 4) that is fun and easy to use. It is all about journeys. Any kind of journey you can think of.

There are two main steps for the process:

1. Create your journey
2. Create a story about your journey

We then got an inside look at the five main pages on the site!

• The Home Page- it's the home page where you can navigate where you want to. There will also be about 25 regular columnists who post 3 times/month about journeys.

• Design Your Journey- this page is about how to construct a journey; it has story board and adopt a story to help you get started.

• Tell Your Story- this page has tools for telling about your journey, such as a link to free images and sounds!

• Idea Lab- this is the "out there" page of the site, you can post your journey, all of the worksheets for designing your journey are on here.

• Gallery Page- it has pictures on it from different stories.

• Story Garden-here is where you can show the progress of your journey if you so choose to post it.

You do not have to post on the gallery or story garden but it is a good idea because there are multiple contests you can enter...

We then divided into groups and came up with possibilities for our own versions of the afterlife that were similar to the Inferno.

Group 1 - physical journey - mountain (get to peak), amusement park, mall, hotel, climates, levels of atmosphere, parking garage

Group 2 - imaginary journey - "Alice in Wonderland"/Through the Looking Glass, a "second life" game, a video game where you choose your adventure or fight enemies depending on how far in hell you are, board game ("Life"), Willy Wonka and his crazy candy factory...

Group 3 - social landscape - interview people from different professions, religions, cultures/countries, ages, social classes

Group 4 - service story - rehab facilities, homeless people (how they got there), psychiatric ward, veteran's clinic

All of these ideas represent a different way to demonstrate the punishment of people in hell or the afterlife, just to keep a clear idea of what this is for....

Last thing: There is going to be a compass uploaded that is the who what when where and why of the project.

1. Where is your journey going to be?
2. Why did you choose this place? (this is where you go deeper into the meaning and motives of your setting)
3. Who will your audience be? (obviously the class, if you post it, many more people) (how do you want your audience to feel when they see it? Motivated? More compassionate?)
4. How will you tell your content?

All of these questions get combined for one paragraph about WHAT your story is. Having this complete before we read helps you pull ideas from the Inferno that you can work into your own idea of the afterlife. It can be your opinion or you can make up something that isn't your opinion.

REMEMBER- anything you post for this will be a reflection of you FOR EV ER, so be appropriate, and make sure it is your best work!

The rest of the time we got to absorb and reflect, got our papers back, and got to eat the fantastic donuts, thank you for those.

Don't forget your homework :) you know you love it: Print your own copy of the Dante text and bring it to class on Friday. Don't print it in the library or you will owe them your lunch money. Also, Ms. Smith really likes the conversation about why a just and good God allows evil to exist, so keep returning to the page and commenting.

Over and out.

JANUARY 18, 2008

Scribe January 18, 2008

Today:
Shared our visuals in a nice big circle.

Homework-
BLOG. This is a serious subject that can be very sensitive for some people. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow evil to exist? Please check the blog more then once.. some conversation may spark from your comment. Please answer this question in two ways… personally/religiously and intellectually based on what we have read in class.
Print Dante text from the website.

Next Week:
Monday—NO SCHOOL!!!
Wednesday- Meet in the library computer lab and don’t be late! We are meeting Mikela and Philip from National Geographic. Mr. Booth will also be there that day so make Ms. Smith look good. Don’t be shy around Mikela and Philip, introduce yourself. They will be introducing the platform for our big project. Don’t forget to be patient with technology especially if something goes wrong.
Friday- ASSEMBLY DAY with short classes. NEED DANTE PRINT OUT TODAY! This will be the first day of reading.

Projects:
Weems did a photo story about hell. He defined hell and put pictures to each part of the definition. Comments: Liked how it was outlined. Liked the picture of the angel in hell.

Joe drew a picture of a ying-yang with the balance being a dove on the hell side and a pitchfork on the heaven side. Comments: Liked the dove and pitchfork switch... Most people forget about that part of the ying-yang, it represents Lucifer in Heaven. The dove brings light into hell.

Jackie drew a picture the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. The roots to the tree go down into hell. Hell is shown bruning under Adam and Eve. Comments: Liked the choices bar shown between heaven and hell. Liked how it all blended and connected together, like a ying-yang.

Sue made a photo story representing heaven and hell and things that can make people go to hell, like lust and greed. Comments: Liked the part about the things that make people bad, corruptions. Liked how all cultures and religions were represented. Heaven vs. other afterlives.

Ian made a power point he used song lyrics from songs looked at in class with stories and pictures representing the lyrics. Evolution was also shown. Comments: Liked how pictures related to the text.

Emily H. made a collage showing polar sides, heaven vs. hell, showed qualities of religion. Comments: Liked the college and the polar sides.

Rebecca made a collage with a ying-yang in the center with everything connecting to it. Temptation was represented. Comments: Liked ying-yang, you can’t have good with out bad or light without dark.

Tucker made a photo story about his feelings on human being initially good or bad. He chose bad. Our society leads us to hell. If we all died today everyone would go to hell. Comments: People are not willing to accept corruption. Human is bad because God is not present. Why else would bad things happen?

Brooks made a photo story with a picture from the movie Legend. Comments: Light then dark picture organization. Nature represented as good, things we do represented as bad, an example is 9-11.

Ryan F. made a power point, but sadly it did not work because of Mac vs. Dell computer trouble. Instead he told us about it. It was about journeys that compare and contrast two choices, choices that set you apart. Comments: You control your destiny because you make your own decisions. Its not a mistake you make but a path you take. Like you should dance when no one is watching, do it for yourself.

Dustin drew a picture of a faceless person in the middle being stretched between heaven and hell. Comments: Liked the stretching in both directions. And liked how eyes were only represented in hell.

Emma made a fold out collage. On the good side there were happy things including Adam and Eve, a baby, all innocent to start. In the middle crossroads. Things we do on the bad side, like stealing money. Comments: Liked the crossroads.

Melinda made a picture book with alternating heaven and hell pictures. Comments: Liked representation of the world having both light and dark and alternating pictures.

Katherine represented heaven and hell with a slide to hell (it is easy to get there) and a ladder to heaven (harder to get there). Comments: Simple picture, but strong meaning.

Sam created a painting of a hand (the devils hand) coming out if earth, open for choices. Comments: Liked how the hand was reaching for heaven, but it couldn’t reach far enough.

Dan C. made a collage. Are humans good or bad? Family is good, society is bad. Comments: Liked the background color of red then purple then blue. Purple is the balance.

Alex F. drew a picture with a path in the middle with God on one side and the devil on the other. Each had one angel wing and one demonic wing representing the good and evil in all of us. Comments: Liked how it was represented that the one who is evil came from God.

Alex B. made a college and on the good side everything was black and white, on the bad side society was represented. Comments: Liked the faceless people. They sway our decisions. Liked the black and white.

Emily L. Made a 3-D picture of heaven earth and hell. Stairs to heaven and hell but it is easier to go down stairs then to go up. Comments: Liked the 3-D. Liked the commentary of the people in the picture.

Cecily represented earth with a people looking deep in though with a kid looking content representing honesty. In heaven religious symbols were represented. Comments: Liked how the child represented honesty.

Well that was all of the projects we got through today.. hopefully there will be the rest to come.
HAVE A GOOD 3 DAY WEEKEND!

Scribe: January 16, 2007

Hello all and sorry for the delay of this scribe, I had difficulties with my google account all yesterday and this morning....

Firstly, we should all congratulate Smith on a phenomenal half marathon run in Phoenix. She placed 221 of 9,000 women and 1100 of 26000! Her time was 1hour and 44minutes. Thanks to Led Z. she was able to push herself to the max for the last mile and a half averaging 7.5 minutes for each mile. If you want to get her Gatorade for a congragulatory gift...don't get passion berry mango, it tastes like "poo" to her...

Ok first off, our papers on Hell are lost, print off an extra copy for tomorrow just in case...

Secondly, make sure that your National Geo. signature is in because she needs them all ASAP...

Thirdly, we turned our second paper in to her. She apologizes for any confusion regarding the whole Updike story...

For homework we must finish reading Milton's excerpt (which begins on pg. 435 of the big purple Literature book) and then after that we must create some sort of visual understanding that pulls in everything togeher (Milton, creation stories, movies, songs, paintings, etc.) It is imperative that everyone relates this to the essential question: Are humans good or evil?!?

Apologies again.
Brooks

Why does a just and good God allow evil to exist?

Why does a just and good God allow evil to exist? Take yourself out of your mental model for this! Remember be respectful, respond more than once, react to one another's’ comments.

Scribe: January 14, 2008

Apologies that this is up so late, there's really no excuse for it.

Monday, Ms. Smith was gone in Phoenix for her half-marathon, and we can't wait to hear how everything went tomorrow in class! So unfortunately Smith wasn't present in class, and Mrs. Ridiski (sp?) was there instead to help us through reading Genesis. It started with some confusion as to the proper way to use "Popcorn" when reading aloud in class, but the disorder was quickly cleared up when Cecily called out "Popcorn: Kyle". Before the reading We checked out the Big Purple Books, and opened to page 416 to read Genesis. The reading covered the biblical version of the Earth's creation by God in seven days. Here's Genesis in a nutshell....

• In the Book of Genesis, the Bible tells the story of the creation of the world. the story tells that God, hovering over an empty, watery void, creates the world by speaking into the void and creates land, animals, light, plants, and the sky, over the period of six days. On the seventh day, God created a being in his "own image" called humankind. The man is created from dust, and the woman from the man's ribs. They are told to live in the Garden of Eden, to enjoy the new earth's wonder, to procreate freely, but not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve then encounters a serpent, who convinces her to eat the fruit. After disobeying God, and eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve immediately feel remorse and shame, and are banished from Eden by God. Eve is punished with painful childbirth and the submission to Adam's authority, and Adam is cursed to work the ground for food.
• Eve then gives birth to Cain and Abel, and when God is more pleased with Abel, Cain kills his brother in outrage, and is banished to the lands East of Eden. Adam and Eve give birth to another son, Seth, and through Seth and Abel, the human race begins to grow.

After the reading, we had some troubles quieting down, but eventually got to working on our homework: reaction paper, due Wednesday, that covers all the stories that we've read, including Genesis, Koran, Updike, and the creation stores. This includes connections between Updike, creation stories, and Genesis. Can't wait 'til tomorrow when Smith's back and the disorder from Monday can be returned to normal.

Hope everyone has a good day sleeping in on PLC Wednesday, (I know I will). Until next time!

Scribe- January 11, 2007

Hello, hope everyone has had a nice weekend and hope Smith did well on her half-marathon.

Homework: Finish stories, reaction paper due Monday about Hell. Remember 1 1/2 pages. double spaced, strong topic sentence statement connecting visuals of movies, art, and songs with personal commentary.

First, Smith collected the National Geographic signed sheets.... If you forgot the sheet turn it in on Monday. Smith has a folder on her desk so you can turn it in to her. Please do this as soon as possible.

For the majority of the class we listened to the songs referencing Hell.
Song #1-- Seven Deadly Sins, by Flogging Molly. Brief overview-- the music video has images of the devil and fire was always in the background. They were on a ship and the water surrounding them was actually fire. Connections/Questions-- what are the 7 deadly sins.
Song #2-- The Devil Went Down to Georgia, by Charlies Daniel Band. Connections/Questions-- Think about the devil trying to steal souls.
Song #3-- Crossroads, by Eric Clapton. Connections/Questions--What are the crossroads where you meet the devil? What are the crossroads in heaven and hell?
Song #4-- Highway to Hell, by AC/DC. The guitarist never stopped moving his head, I can't believe that guy still has any brain funciton.
Song #5--Hells Bells, by AC/DC. For both of the AC/DC songs look over the lyrics, they often describe the qualities of the people who are said to go to hell. Connections/Questions-- What are they saying about the qualities these people have?

For the last fifteen minutes of class we read short stories about creationism.
Story #1-- The Rig Veda and the Brhadaranijka Upanishad. Remember to relate to other creation stories and think about personal beliefs.
Story #2-- Hopi: Spider Woman. Ideas- evil comes from bad magic, symbolic of people--Why, youth and echo? We didn't finish this story so we must finish at home.

Most significant quote from the day and something to think about- "You can't have light without darkness."

Enjoy I hope these help everyone who wasn't there or needs a reminder.

Joe R

Escribano Numero Dos Para El Semestre: Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Hdub for today: Parent permission letter for National Geographic project signed and returned by Friday and a one page reaction paper to the movies, art, and songs presented in class due Monday.

Handouts: Parent Permission form, Song lyrics packet.

Movies to react to:
Legend
Devils Advocate
Bedazzled
South Park: Satan's Sweet 16

Art:
Hell art (link to art shown in class)

Songs:

1. Flogging Molly - Seven Deadly Sins
2. The Devil Went down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
3. Crossroads - Eric Clapton
4. AC/DC - Highway to Hell
5. AC/DC - Hells Bells

Use the movies, art, and songs to help you with your reaction paper.

Today we got through all of the movies and here is some insight on each one that we watched.

Devil's Advocate: A movie about two lawyers, Al Pacino and Keanue Reeves, where Al Pacino ends up being Satan and Keanue Reeves ends up being his son. Satan's goal in this movie was to recieve a "spawn of evil" by making Keanue and his half sister have sex. This movie was a good example of how Satan is manipulative to get what he wants and plays a lot of mind games to get you to stumble. Also, we see in this movie that Satan is not bound by death and is depicted that there isn't a lot of limitations to what he can do.

Legend: Satan lives in the deepest parts of the earth and is out to destroy all that is good and innocent. Unicorns represented all the was good and innocent, so Satan would send out his demons to find them and kill them. In this movie, we see that Satan becomes bound in lust towards a woman and wants her as his bride. It was seen that through time and patience Satan can be beaten. In a way, it is seen that he is weak in a drive for lust just as a man can be. Also, a lot of anger surrounded Satan in this movie because he rarely got what he wanted and was always out to manipulate and control others so that he could satisfy his own carnal desires. In a way, Satan was very much like a human (male) and in the end he said the he was apart of all of us. Could there be a connection between our sinful flesh and the very nature of Satan himself?

Bedazzled: Satan is depicted as a sedcutive woman. Again, a manipulative being only wanting to satisfy her own desires. I thought that this movie was a good example of how the Devil does not always get what she wants and when she doesn't her frustration and anger towards failure knows no bounds. Also, how sometimes we forget that we have free will and can put Satan's plans and schemes into turmoil just by simply saying no. It is shown how Satan will take any chance that she could get to try and control and manipulate our lives. As Brendan Fraser said, "I would do anything to get that girl," Satan was quickly there to respond and tempt Brendan so that in the end she could take hold of his soul. I think that this is a good depiction of the battles that take place in the Christian faith. Truly, as Christians believe, life is a battle for the heart of man. God wants to show us His Love and Grace so that we can get a chance to live happily here on earth and eternally in peace and joy and in His presence forever in the afterlife. Satan, on the other hand, despises God's creation and wants only our destruction and is quick to respond in situations where he can get a chance to take hold of us so that we can't share in eternal life with our Heavenly Father and instead live in eternal damnation, gnashing of teeth, and torture (Hell), when wen die.

South Park: Satan's Sweet 16: I thought this movie was a very good depiction of how our culture views Hell. We see in this episode that it's just like a big party and Satan is the host of the party. Satan is also depicted again to succumb to the desires of human flesh by wanting a party and seeks approval of others. This movie was a good depiction on how culture can put covers over how bad Hell really is, that it's going to be party time and it's not as bad a people set it out to be. This episode also displayed how religion is a joke and that it is incapable of doing anything for you. We saw this in how the priests tried to get into Satan's party to crash it but failed to do so. It is a good example of how most people believe in a Hell and that Satan exists but don't believe that there is God. There can be no shadow without light.

Things to tie together: In each movie, the color red was symbolized as the Devil and the characteristics of manipulation, trickery, empty promises, forcefulness, frustration, and anger could be seen in each movie. These movies were very good at showing what we as culture have defined Satan as and even Hell.

For now, I must sign off and I hope everyone has an awesome rest of the week.

First Blog of the Second Semester. Monday: January 07, 2008

Big Question (?) of Second Semester:
What does literature say about us as human beings? Are humans good or evil? Do you agree or disagree?

Smith thought us a new word today and we tried to help her spell it. (That was the highlight)

Homework for today: Print out expectations and if you want the National Geographic Information.

We got a new seating chart today (and new students), answered class questions (answer will be at the end in black), signed up for donuts and scribes, got told an overview of this semester (will be in pink also at the end) , and we looked at hell art.

Big Question.
National Geographic Project.
Dante/Hell
Dorlan Grey (spelling?)
Brave New World

What do you want to get out of class this semester?
Open discussion with maturity, respect, and adult like matter.
Hand on learning (ex: multi media).
Everyone get into the discussions.
Enjoy literature.
Intrinsic Learning.
FUN.
Teach Smith something.
More movies (Disney was said in the background).
Group projects.
How do you want to grow as a learner? ("Important for college.", Smith said)
Going beyond what is expected.
Thinking on your own.
Lead your own learning. (Maybe with a fishbowl)
Deep learning, no boredom.
Intellectual Conversations.
Make it more learning and not grade.
Intrinsic. INTRINSIC.

HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE.