Journal #24

How I study for finals: REVIEW! All I do is write out pages and pages of notes, and then review them, try and know all of them. Then I take all that information and put it on flash cards. Then I review those till I know them forward and backward. That is my generic study method for a history class, or for Spanish. For my math and by science finals, I write out all vocab on papers. I study those a ton and then I write out an example of every type of problem I can imagine ever being on the final. Then I practice those until I understand each problem. Practice, practice, practice. That's all I can say about studying for a math or science finals, or anything that has any type of problems. For an English final, a lot of teachers give essay questions, so to practice for them I write a fairly good response for each of them. I get good bullet points and have an idea of where I would elaborate If this was my prompt on the final I would already have a really good idea about what to write about. I also just review grammar  and vocab, but we use that a lot already so I do not have to study those as hard. For my fitness final, there is not point of studying. I have been in this class for three years already, and if I do not know the exercises and video moves by now, I deserve the low grade I get. Studying is a very important key to getting good grades on your finals. It does not matter how good your grades are; if you do not study for finals, you will get a bad grade. As soon as my teachers have updated all of my grades, I will check STI and calculate the percentages I need on each final to get an A for the class.

Journal #23

Write about being self sufficient.

Self Sufficiency means that you can take care of yourself. You are able to provide for yourself without any dependence on another person of object. Most teenagers are the complete opposite of self suffieient. They depend on their parents for money for foos, shopping, and gas. They depend on their friends or teachers for answers in school. I feel like I am fairly self sufficient. Especially now that I have to pay for all parts of my car with my sister. The insurance, registration, and gas.If we do not pay, we do not get to drive. I have to do my own laundry, and clean my room. I have to time manage my own homework, my own time. So many kids just depend on other people or their parents to get through life. I find this super annoying. They are not going to to have their parents to organize their lives through college. They will not always sit by a smart kid in their classes to get help and cheat off of. People need to be able to depend on themselves for everything. They need to be able to find their own jobs, and be able to provide for themselves. People need to be able to feed themselves, whether that cooking their own meals, or having enough money to go out and eat. Self Sufficiency is important because you feel good about yourself. When ever I accomplish something really hard or something really important, I feel super happy. Like when I figure out a really heard math problem, or If I had a really good day at work. People strive to do their best, and for that you have to be self sufficient.Hopefully by the time everyone graduated high school they have a really good idea about what actually being self sufficient means to themselves. To me it means to be able to do things  by myself, for myself, and I feel very accomplished when I do that.

Self-Reliance Critism

After reading Kateb's literary criticism of Ralph Waldo Emerson's vision of self-reliance I could more fully understand Emerson's writing. I felt like reading the essay written by Emerson and then reading a criticism by another author, Kateb, really opens up the meaning of the essay for me. I have my opinions that I formed after reading the essay, and then I read the criticism that gives me another well thought out analysis over what I had just read. When I read "Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, I understood that he was telling us to be grateful for everything you have in your life and not take anything for granted. He wanted everyone to do their best in each thing they put their mind too. In Kateb's analysis he also agrees with Emerson in his ideals but not in the way Emerson comes across with his ideals. "His variety of declarations tempts us to say that he contradicts himself, but even if we resist the temptation, we are still not sure where he finally stands" (Kateb). The author believes that the way Emerson comes across is difficult and elusive. I can understand where Kateb is coming from because Emerson does talk like everything he says should be law. He really believes in everything that he says. I also think that this is not that bad of a character trait for Emerson to have. This is one of the reasons that Emerson is still so respected and well known is because he believed so much in his writings.  Kateb states that according to Emerson he does not necessarily want us to agree with his insights or judgments, or even to go on discussing all his subjects. He only wants us to feel delight with him in the spectacle of contrariety that the world offers and that he tries to capture in his work. His great lesson is that some large part of the interest or fascination in the world comes from the fact that meaning or beauty or truth can be found in conflicting or incompatible ideas, principles, forces, and practices. I had not previously thought of Emerson's writings this way. From what I had interpreted form Emerson's writings, I thought that he was telling that his ideals would be a correct way to live your life by, kind of like Benjamin Franklin's virtues. Kateb shows the other point of view, that Emerson just wants to show us what he thinks for the sole purpose for enlightening us. He wants to inform us of what he believes, but he does not want to force his beliefs upon anyone. I agree with much of what Emerson believes. I think he would have been a really cool, smart guy to meet when he was alive. Although Kateb's literary criticism disagrees with how Emerson portrays his information, I still like Emerson's writings. I think that students many many years in the future will still be reading and discussing  their interpretations of Ralph Waldo Emerson;s writings. 


Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind." In Emerson's Transcendental Etudes. Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 2003. Quoted as "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Updated Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= MCVRWE011&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 11, 2012).

Journal #22

I am not the biggest fan of snow. I think it looks really pretty coming down, and its almost not human to say you do not wish for snow on Christmas Day, but it is very incontinent. The snow gets on the roads and makes it very slippery, and dangerous. My parents will not even allow me to drive when their is a lot of snow on the ground because it is unsafe. Snow also has bad affects on power lines  causing lots of power outages in the winter. And it is winter, so you definitely want the power because it is really cold. I suppose I do not like snow because I do not like winter either. I hate to be cold, and that's all I am during the winter months. I have to drink lots and lots of hot chocolate, and cuddle under a lot of blankets. After I grow up I want to live somewhere warm so I never have to be that cold in winter. This also falls under snow. I do not like walking in snow because it will get in my boot and make my socks cold and wet, and then my feet are super cold. This is a terrible feeling and I do my best to not experience it ever. I do have to admit, snow is really pretty when it falls from the sky. The sun reflects off of it and it sparkles in the daytime. Trees and bushes look really pretty all covered in snow also. The sad thing is that all the flowers and springtime items have to die under the snow. If we could have snow in the summer and it did not melt, I would not be opposed it it. All snow is is little tiny pieces of ice. Snow looks super pretty, but actually is incontinent and kind of gross. Especially when it gets in the roads and turns black and stuff.

Journal #21

I think that this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson has a lot of meaning about how people act. He is trying to portray trying your best no matter what. He says that everyone arrives at a place where they have to use everything they have been given, everything they have learned up to that point. They cannot depend on others for the answer anymore. That person has to just accept that they can only know what they have already learned, and cannot change that fact. This quote actually reminds me a lot of a certain predicament that I am currently involved in. In have a test in my AP Chemistry class today, and I wanted to make sure I studied a lot. So last night I grabbed my folder and my notebook and started to study. I then realized that all of my papers that had anything to do what the subject of the test was about was still my locker. I had placed them all in my binder, and I did not bring that home. I came to the conclusion that I was not going to be able to study for the test and I had to take it solely on the knowledge that I had already acquired. I go to the class next, and I know that I obviously cannot cheat, so all I have to go off of is what I can remember. Emerson was a very smart man, and really understood human nature. He also stated in his quote, "when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance". Emerson means that it is no use being jealous of someone elses work, all it does is make you not want to do your own work. When you are jealous of someones else's work, you are not able to do your own best work. Ralph Waldo Emerson knows that this is a very important thing for each person to understand about themselves.

Journal #20

The life cycle of a human is amazing. From a small seed, he or she will live, uninterrupted, will live over eighty years. Human life is really incredible. From the minute you come out of your mother's belly, to the moment you lay down at the end of your life. You are a baby for about two years. All babies to is cry, eat, and sleep. But this normally disgusting behavior is offset by the cuteness of the baby. With their squished faces, and fat rolls on their arms, you cannot help but love a baby. After the baby stage, you move into the toddler potion of you life. Toddlers learn to walk and talk, and have an insane amount of energy all the time. This stage normally lasts around two years also. Included in this stage is also the terrible two's, when the child acts out and misbehaves a lot. After a toddler you are now school age. From about age 4 to age 10, you attend elementary school and preschool before it. In this life stage you learn how to read, how to write, how to add, and other very important life skills. After age 10 you enter the preteen stage until age 12. Preteens try and act older than they are and really come into their girl and boyhood. Age 13 to age 19 is considered a teenager. Teenagers are notorious for acting out against their parents, behaving badly, and getting in a lot of trouble. Also in this stage, you learn to drive  graduate high school, and enter the world of adulthood: also known as knowledge. From 20 to about 40, you are just a generic adult. You can vote you can drink, you can basically do whatever. After 40 you hit middle age, then after 65 you hit senor citizenship  And then you stay in the life stage until you die. There are so many life stages in the human life, and they are all very different from each other.