Anthem- Conflict 12/2/09

The conflict in Any Rands novel Anthem is individualsim. The men and women in this society live in an environment where everyone is expected to be the same, it is illegal to think, act, or speak in different ways than everyone else. Therefore, in this society no one really has their own personality and are not really individuals. Individualsim becomes a conflict in this novel when the author tries to find out his true identity, not as a society, but as an individual. He breaks many laws, but doesnt care and will do whatever he can to explore the feeling of love, to see himself for the first time, to invent something new and benificial, to think differently than all his brothers, and to break away from his societys conservative ways.

Bryde's Whales by Jennifer Holland http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/10/brydes-whales/holland-text

The article "Bryde's Whales" by Jennifer Holland discussed the behaviors and nature of Baleen Whales. The behaviors of these whales I can relate to the world around me and make text to text connections. To begin, Holland says that one of the people she interviewed for this article actually got to swim with these whales, claiming, "Diving with them 'was like being on train tracks in the fog,' Perrine says, 'knowing a high-speed locomotive could appear in an instant,' from any direction, without any warning sound." I can relate this quote to the real world because it reminds me alot of the life of people whom are blind, they cannot see or often suspect what is going to happen next so when someone speaks to them or comes near them it is often without warning and instant. I can make a text to text connection when the author talks about the way the whale catches its prey, "Even against the tremendous drag created by its gaping maw, flicks of the whale's muscular tail power it through the water. Its jaw snaps shut in an explosion of bubbles." I can relate this text to the story of the Lochness monster. In this quote the author might be showing the magestic way the whale catches prey, but I looked at this quote as if it was a story of a sea monster about to destroy a fishermans boat, which is similar to the story of the Lochness monster. Clearly, the article "Bryde's Whales" describes the behaviors of Baleen whales, while also conveying connections to the behaviors of humans and other stories.

Breaking Dawn Blog 10/7/09

I am currently reading Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer, a action-love story about a family of vampires, a pack of werewolfs, and the adventures they face together. I can relate this story to our semesters question of: How do words and actions influence who other become? I can relate this to the story because one of the vampires, Bella, has just had a baby girl, Renesme. Many of the other characters that are close to Renesme call her 'Nessie' for short. This influneces Bellas actions becase she does not like her baby girl to be refered to as a sea monster. Thus everytime someone says this, Bella, being a new vampire, gets very upset. I can personally connect this to my own life, because I have seen many instinces where children are nicknamed and called things they dont like, and therefore they also get very upset.