Beauty...

My second choice essay was on beauty. I chose the topic beauty because as an artist and want to be photographer I have no definition of beauty. And I wanted to see how other people defined it. I chose this essay “Definition Essay on Beauty” by Lindsey Fares because she has the same view as me on beauty.

“…beauty can perhaps best be described as connoting youthfulness.” Fares explains what the first Ancient Greeks thought of beauty. But I cannot agree with them. I believe that beauty is not only young but old. There is a certain beauty to behold the weathered and lined skin of someone who has lived a long life. The wisdom that you can see in the eyes of someone who has seen more years than your life doubled is untouchable. It’s not only that they are beautiful because of what time has bestowed on them, but because the way life flows off of them. They have lived. They have experienced things that you may or may not ever experience. And I believe that is beautiful.

“Other Ancient Greeks, particularly the Pythagoreans, conceived of beauty as connoting balanced ratios and proportions.” I also do not believe in this. Sometimes it is the unbalanced part that captures our attention. The fact that one single part stands out above all others. If we are talking about faces, an extraordinary jutting jaw line can be the most beautiful part of a face. If we are talking about nature it might be the big oak tree that stands among tiny green saplings. Or a large deformed rock among small circular pebbles. Beauty doesn’t have to be balanced.

“We have seen that, despite there being a general consensus that beauty exists, definitions of this concept are very different from each other. Perhaps we must conclude with the admission that beauty is one of those indefinable concepts that mankind will wrestle with for millennia to come.” Now, I can finally say that I agree. Beauty comes in all forms. It is undefinable by any one person or thing. You could almost say that what cannot be defined should not exist. Color exists, but try defining the color red to a blind person. It just cannot be done. It is almost like trying to explain what a poem is. Impossible.

That is why the title of Fares’s essay “Definition Essay on Beauty” is false. You cannot write about the definition of beauty if it does not exist. The Webster’s New World Dictionary claims beauty is “The quality of being very pleasing…” . But beauty can be exciting, dangerous, secretive, and mysterious. Name an emotion, and you have named a type of beauty. Look closely, maybe in a different light, a little bit of beauty can be found anywhere.

Read more at: http://free-essay.org/philosophy/definition-essay-on-beauty.html#ixzz3BzAbefj5

Thinking Like a Mountian

For my first choice essay I chose “Thinking Like a Mountain” by Aldo Leopold. I first heard about Aldo Leopold’s essays in Environmental Science. I didn’t get a chance to really explore his essays and decided to take a closer look at this one. Aldo Leopold was said to be before his age. In the majority of his essays he writes about nature and the things that destroy it. In “Thinking like a mountain” he starts out with a very sad, but true story, about killing a wolf as a young adult. How he was trigger happy. He then went on to almost explain the circle of life and how humans have corrupted it. How humans hate wolves because they kill the deer, livestock, and can be dangerous. He wrote that he himself foolishly believed that less wolves would mean more deer which would create a hunter’s paradise. It was not until later in his years that he had looked outside of himself at the bigger picture and saw the true effect. 

The problem with deer is that they eat anything green they can reach. So, Leopold explained how the mountains looked… “Such a mountain looks as if someone had given God a new pruning shear, and forbidden Him all other exercise.” He then goes on to explain how the deer starved to death because their population was too many for the amount of food available in the environment. And how the mountains turned into a desolate place with no greenery and sun bleached bones littering the ground. “I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer.” I just loved this sentence! Nobody ever thinks about it this way.

Another of my favorite passages was this, “The deer strives with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison, the statesman with pen, the most of us with machines, votes, and dollars, but it all comes to the same thing: peace in our time. A measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run. Perhaps this is behind Thoreau’s dictum: In wildness is the salvation of the world. Perhaps this is the hidden meaning in the howl of the wolf, long known among mountains, but seldom perceived among men.” Aldo Leopold has reached deeper than anyone I have heard about. The way he perceived life in and of itself - - from the wolf, the deer, and the mountain - - was just amazing to me. And it makes me think about the actions I take and how it each affects the world around me. Who knew one wolf could make a difference. Or how a pack of wolves can save an entire ecosystem from collapsing. Maybe one person could be the same way.

I was thoroughly inspired by this essay “Thinking Like a Mountain”. Aldo Leopold, I am impressed. I encourage everyone to think deeply, to grasp at the meaning of things, to think like a mountain.

If Men Could Menstraute and The Great Lawsuit

“If Men Could Menstrate” was by far my favorite article. It provides a hilarious picture of men stepping into women’s shoes. My favorite part of this article was picturing them boasting and creating slang phrases about the menstrual cycle. When I was reading this article, I noticed that it was making fun of men, their pride and their peculiar ways. I, for one, would not want to be around a man while he was menstruating. This was a very well written article that had me laughing. It also had me thinking “Yeah! Go women!” It completely changed my attitude about menstrual cycles. 

But this has me thinking of the things that women do that are the opposite of what men do. An example: most men want to be big, while most women aim to be small. It would be a strange funny world to see very buff women walking around with their arms slung over the very skinny shoulders of their boyfriends. While the men wore dresses and the women wore classic pants and white tees. Or if men shaved their legs and women didn’t. Ooh those pasty legs!

This article also makes me think of women’s and men’s roles throughout history. I can picture it starting with the cavemen. The men hunted the women gathered. Then as time goes on I guess it goes back and forth between man being more superior than women and reverse throughout history. Sadly, it hasn’t been even in the account of years. But we can see moments where women were not thought of as inferior… It has been changing, however, because Cleopatra was a leader of the most prosperous civilization in Egypt. Then I guess it would be presidents. And now there has been the first women senator. Now there are many women in politics… including one who will likely run again for President.

Talking about the roles of women and men offers a great transition into the next piece of writing, “The Great Lawsuit”. I believe that the most powerful paragraph in this writing was the second to last one. This is where Margret Fuller takes both men and women in our minds and seamlessly joins them together. She turns the ‘written in stone’ roles into something more malleable and pliable. “…we believe that the Divine would ascend into nature to a height unknown in the history of past ages, and nature, thus instructed, would regulate the spheres not only so as to avoid collision, but to bring forth ravishing harmony.” Margret Fuller uses this sentence to show that what is happening is different from what normally happens. It has never been done before, “…to a height unknown in the history of past ages, and nature…” But she believes it will not only not end in war, but “ravishing harmony”. That it will make the human race stronger “the Divine would ascend into nature”. Almost Godly.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

I have always believed that technology is hampering the way we think. The calculator, for instance, has always been my best friend. But it has changed the way my brain thinks about math. Instead of doing long mathematical problems in my head, I go straight for the calculator.

It was surprising when one day in math class our teacher required us to do long division without our calculators. It was even more surprising when many of the students couldn’t remember how to do it. The internet is just one of the technologies that are keeping the human brain from thinking creatively and solving problems, just like the calculator. Phones and texting is another one of those rampant technologies. Texting has changed the way that people interact. As it goes, children are becoming less and less social. They are not learning how to go up to another person and talk to them. And why should they?  If all of their “friends,” all the people they would ever need to talk to, can be reached through their phone.

I do not have a phone and kids act like I am crazy. “Why don’t you have a phone?” And I respond that my parents won’t buy me one and I’m not going to buy one. I have talked to some adults about my phonelessness and they congratulate me. They tell me that my parents are intelligent people. I agree with them.  There are many times when I am glad I don’t have the distraction in my life. Granted there have been incidents were I have been stuck somewhere, without being able to reach my parents. But it’s a learning experience. And I can honestly say I will never be in an accident because I was texting while driving.  Just can’t happen if you don’t own a phone. Nor will I spend hours a day on my phone. I can’t even get in trouble for texting during class.

Technology has kept our brains from thinking hard. From concentrating and remembering. The brain is a muscle. My mom always says “use it or lose it”. I do believe that using Google, and other forms of technology is making our thought processes weaker. But I also believe that there is a way to reverse the effects. Our brains are out of shape, so to speak. And just like doing a sport for the first time, it’s probably going to be hard and seem useless. But eventually, it will all be worth it.

Spending less time on our phones, computers, and other devices, will help make our brains stronger. Because it will force them to work, to think, to take in and hold information. Let us not be “pancake people”, let us be the more intelligent of species.    

The Ethnics Of Living Jim Crow

There are many books and articles about the Jim Crow laws. The Ethnics Of Living Jim Crow drew the reader in and, as Richard learned about all aspects of the Jim Crow laws, so did the reader. You also felt his anger and fear towards the white man.

It was interesting to me when Richard said that the green bushes and white house’s became a symbol of fear for him. All through middle school and high school you learn about black suffrage; but you can’t necessarily understand.  The examples of what happened to Richard throughout his life and the way the author presented the story really helped me understand the ugly reality of Jim Crow laws.

Knowing that there were topics that were considered “safe to talk about” with white men was an interesting insight into the past. It interested me because I could identify with this concept.  There are certain topics that you can talk about with certain people. And then there are certain topics that you absolutely cannot talk about to certain people. The list, it seemed, that was safe for Richard to talk about was very small compared to the very long list of things about which he could not discuss.

Sometimes when you read these stories, about the Jim Crow laws, you wonder if any of it could be exaggerated. But no, it would seem it was that horrible. I have often thought that there is no way a police officer or high school boy could possibly be that cruel. Or, conversely, that someone could be that brave and strong to survive what people do survive. I have always looked up to and aspired to be like Richard and people like Richard. People who took a beating and worse and still survived and thrived. It makes our relative lives seem easy and wimpy. It always puts things into perspective for me when I read a story like this. They had it so bad and yet they survived. It definitely makes me embarrassed about all the small things I have ever complained about. It also makes me want to become a stronger person.

I understand why we learn about the Jim Crow laws; to understand the past and learn from it. I sometimes think people have too big of egos. That people are rash and greedy. That we can be like two year olds constantly shouting mine, mine, mine. But Richard was nothing like that. Surviving in a time of such intense hatred, seems to me, is the bravest thing you can do.

"Talk of the Town"

Words are powerful. Emotions are powerful. Disasters are devastating. War is devastating. Put them all together and you get one amazing writing piece. Updike thrusts the reader completely into the moment of 9/11. Just like the day it happened. It was unbelievable. Updike gives us a taste of this, "...there persisted the notion that, as on television, this was not quite real; it could be fixed; the technocracy the towers symbolized would find a way to put out the fire and reverse the damage." I really liked this sentence. It shows how real the event was. Like his mind could not wrap itself around the likeness of the towers burning.
 One of the strongest sentences and most visual was: "...within an hour, as my wife and I watched from the Brooklyn building's roof, the south tower dropped from the screen of our viewing; it fell straight down like an elevator, with a tinkling shiver and a groan of concussion distinct across the mile of air." Updike uses a simile here to help the reader visualize the event more clearly. Which makes the reader feel like they were almost there.
What really got me was the last sentence: "The fresh sun shone on the eastward facades, a few boats tentatively moved in the river, the ruins were still sending out smoke, but New York looked glorious." Updike uses "The fresh sun" to represent a new day. That the worst is over and the world keeps turning. He then moves on to use the word "tentatively". Which makes me think of the birds coming back after a storm. And then all of a sudden he uses the word "glorious". It was a new way to look at the dawning day. The twin towers had fell but New York had survived. The days go on, tentatively, slowly, carefully, but surely.

The Overview of the Slightly Simple Anissa Hacker

Wow my summer has been crazy and amazing. I have spent most of my summer in winter. Across the equator in Peru it is winter. So while you guys were sun tanning I got to wear pants, sweatshirts, gloves, and winter hats. But hey, what an experience.

My name is Anissa Hacker and I will be a senior at MHS this coming fall. Recently I have turned into a world traveler and I have to say customs at the airport is annoying. But no matter, I love to travel. Traveling in the summer with my family is one of the things that I wait all year to do. Most people dread sitting in a car with their entire family for days. But I think it brings my family closer together. Yes we fight, I wasn't saying its perfect, but I always have the time of my life. Family is one of my values in life, in fact it has always been my most important value. While I love just chillin' with my family I also love reading, writing, singing loudly and off key to the radio, and running. I am currently working on being the best friend, leader, therapist, and co-coach to any incoming freshman runner as the result of my being a senior. But I love my work. I am so excited to start this next school year and can't wait to be the coolest senior ever.