Can You believe It?

"I cannot entirely be critical of my past; I want to be able to appreciate it. I would hate the feeling of always having to tear down everything I was before in my life."
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
Sophomore year is a quarter of the way through! It seems as though Junior High was a couple months ago. Now we are picking out class rings! When I got my paper for the class ring, I immediately thought of graduation and how far away it seems. It's funny, elementary seemed like yesterday.

I can still remember everything about my kindergarten class. I remember that the teacher's pet iguana was afraid of the color yellow so every day I made sure not to wear that color. I thought my teacher was Cruella de Vil because of her hair color(s). I remember the earthquake in November, our butterfly garden, and the butterflies I got when Mrs. Nelson made me sit next to Miguel, only the coolest kindergartener in school. I remember my best friend, Esther, broke her arm on the swings and I even remember being taught "the right way" to glue paper. I would sometimes kill to go back to those days when all I had to worry about was what colors to wear and what blanket to bring to naptime. (I never did sleep during naptimes though my Barbie blankie was pretty awesome.)

On the other hand, I would not change a thing about were I am now. High school has been the hardest and best time of my entire life. When I left my old school, I left the friends I had had since kindergarten. The friends I have made at Whittier have been awesome and I feel like I have known them since kindergarten. Yes, there was no stress in kindergarten, but all the anxiety I feel on a daily basis in high school is nothing compared to all the fun I have had and the friendships I've made.

At the end of the day, I can smile and remember dressing up as the letter "F" for the school play in elementary but I can also grin about a techno homecoming. I can not complain about anything in my life. Everyone has been through alot in their lives and I am so grateful that I can look back on my life so far and remember the many good and the many not so good times with a smile. I have already learned so much in this life. I still have a hard time grasping the fact that God has so much more to teach me.

You all might not remember as much as I do about your "younger years" (which sounds so weird since we are only in high school) but I hope you can look back on your life and remember with a smile what is was like to be a kid. It is scary to think we only have two and 3/4 years left of being "kids." After that college and then marriage and then a family! Is not that a scary thought? It makes me want to stay in high school forever, but just like I sometimes feel like going back to kindergarten. I hope, however, life after graduation will be even better than high school. I know they say these are our best years, but why do they have to be? I hope every stage in my life will be better than the next. That's been my experience so far!

Cause and Effect on Smoking

Tobacco smoking has long been a habit of people from rituals of Indians in the Americas to habits in societies throughout Western Europe, and among the affluent in southern America. Smoking was long regarded as a sign of elegance and now is merely a bad habit. The effects of using tobacco was later found to have dreadful affects on the human body. It is proven tobacco smoking is a terrible risk to one’s health, so why is almost 42% of “a continuously healthier” America doing it?

As a result of tobacco’s extremely addictive properties, one in ten deaths occur worldwide from the addiction. This issue unquestionably affects not only the health of the smokers but the health of all who inhale the smoke. Second hand smoking is just as dangerous: Secondhand smoke causes about 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year. The effects of smoking a cigarette affect everyone and are proven to cause an extensive list of diseases and other health related issues.

The diseases associated with smoking are not inconsequential issues to be taken lightly. Morbid obesity, heart disease, lung cancer, thyroid disease, emphysema, birth defects, atherosclerosis, stroke, blindness, and loss of taste and smell are just a few of the verified harmful affects smoking can have on a person. Smoking is proven to do more damage than good on a person’s health and not only affects the smoker but the innocent around them.

There are, however, some positive effects attributed to smoking. Smoking is thought to lower Parkinson’s disease risk and Alzheimer’s risk and to stunt and eradicate some forms of tuberculosis. These “positive effects” of smoking certainly do not outnumber the negative effects of smoking tobacco and no studies have proven any of the above stated.

As a result of tobacco company’s advertising, younger and younger people are smoking and causing severe damage to their health. Many states have banned were smoking is allowed and in some cities, smoking is banned completely. Actions like these are great but not great enough. More public awareness of the dangers of smoking needs to spread to combat the often disguised pro-tobacco campaigns. The effects of smoking are most definitely more detrimental to one’s health and are certainly better off being eradicated.

Bartelby the Scrivener as a Reflection of Melville’s Thoughts

Although many believe Bartelby the Scrivener is a satire criticizing transcendentalism, mainly Thoreau, the story is actually Melville’s attempt at showing how society is capable of turning everyone into a character similar to that of Bartelby.

Melville was frequently being told to abandon his personal style of writing for a more popular method that would be more accepted. Throughout Herman Melville’s career as an author, he was told “People would admit him to their circle and give him bread and employment only if he would abandon his inner purpose” (Oliver 62). The author, just like Bartelby “preferred not to” abandon his style and intern to society’s objective responses shut himself more and more out of the world just as Bartelby chose to do when the world questioned his actions.

The lawyer blames Bartelby’s death on his position previously in a “dead letters” office signifying the unpopular books in Melville’s life. The lawyer states “pardon for those who died despairing; hope for those who died unhoping; good tidings for those who died stifled by unrelieved calamities…Ah Bartelby! Ah humanity” (Melville 42)! The character of Bartelby and Melville himself told the world “ they prefer not to” follow what the world thinks would be a good idea but instead follow their own hearts which in turn led to their demise.

Melville is relating to the world by using a parallel figure of himself in Bartelby that everyone is capable of becoming hopeless and despaired when the world does not allow people to be free and true to themselves.

Reflection of excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's Walden

While reading the excerpt of Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” I was impressed with Thoreau’s thoughts that in order to live life to the fullest, life needs to be lived simply. Thoreau talks of how he moved to the forest to “see if I could learn what [nature] had to teach , and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (376). The transcendentalist author believes man’s society can learn a great deal from the simplicity of nature.

Thoreau believes man can learn much from nature’s unadorned ways which contrast dramatically with man’s complicated civilization. He argues that “An honest man has hardly need to count more than ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity (376)! Thoreau sees no need for the intricate details of life. By giving an example of his journey in the woods in search for a more simplistic, “Spartan” lifestyle, Thoreau is arguing the simple life is the better life.

While reading Where I Lived and What I lived For, I was impressed also with Thoreau’s statement that “ The surface of the earth is soft and impressionable by the feet of men; and so with the paths that the mind travels” (377). Henry David Thoreau believes every aspect of life should be lived fully and void of unnecessary clutter. If a minimalist life is lived, man has lived the “life where the bone is sweetest” (378).

Threads of Stars

Stars are stitched forever in the night sky
Each night by on by

Impossible to extinguish
These brilliant flames shine bright

Never turning a blind eye
To the distressed cry

Of sorrow filled heart
Brilliant memories they impart

To the weeping and broken
They are unfeasible to forget

They dazzle and shine bright
Through the darkness of the sky

They are free of suffering and pain
Only with their ending this they could obtain

Every soul once gone from earth
Shines in the heavens as a new birth

The ebony of the night makes my heart drop
Only if the hopelessness could stop

The stars are now able to give a new light
A new hope in the sorrowful sky they ignite

Hopelessness is the absence of the light
An absence I struggled with all my might

This absence that burned like a hole
Embedded in the pocket of my soul

But now my soul is flooded with memories of love
When I lift my eyes above

For looking up I again see the optimism strong
I dreamed for so long

The pain and sudden qualms
Are healed by the memories of my beloved star

My star once shining beside me on earth
Remain in the sky to girth

In the solemn quietness of night
When my lonely thoughts roam free

Comes the hope that what I miss is in the stars
Shining bright to give me hope

Symbol of Star

Personification (and later metaphor) of the Star

Rhyme Scheme

The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot

This is my favorite poem by my favorite author. Since we have been talking about Thanatopsis, I thought I would post it. It is a bit lengthy but totally worth reading. Copying and pasting made it wack out a little so just ignore those errors.

P.S. A famous singer/songwriter quotes him in his/her song(s). Do you know who it is?

The Hollow
Men
T. S. Eliot (1925)

I
We are the hollow menWe are the stuffed menLeaning togetherHeadpiece filled with straw. Alas!Our dried voices, whenWe whisper togetherAre quiet and meaninglessAs wind in dry grassOr rats' feet over broken glassIn our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossedWith direct eyes, to death's other KingdomRemember us -- if at all -- not as lostViolent souls, but onlyAs the hollow menThe stuffed men.
II
Eyes I dare not meet in dreamsIn death's dream kingdomThese do not appear:There, the eyes areSunlight on a broken columnThere, is a tree swingingAnd voices areIn the wind's singingMore distant and more solemnThan a fading star.
Let me be no nearerIn death's dream kingdomLet me also wearSuch deliberate disguisesRat's coat, crowskin, crossed stavesIn a fieldBehaving as the wind behavesNo nearer --
Not that final meetingIn the twilight kingdom
III
This is the dead landThis is cactus landHere the stone imagesAre raised, here they receiveThe supplication of a dead man's handUnder the twinkle of a fading star.
Is it like thisIn death's other kingdomWaking aloneAt the hour when we areTrembling with tendernessLips that would kissForm prayers to broken stone.
IV
The eyes are not hereThere are no eyes hereIn this valley of dying starsIn this hollow valleyThis broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting placesWe grope togetherAnd avoid speechGathered on this beach of the tumid river
Sightless, unlessThe eyes reappearAs the perpetual starMultifoliate roseOf death's twilight kingdomThe hope onlyOf empty men.
V
Here we go round the prickly pearPrickly pear prickly pearHere we go round the prickly pearAt five o'clock in the morning.
Between the ideaAnd the realityBetween the motionAnd the actFalls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conceptionAnd the creationBetween the emotionAnd the responseFalls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desireAnd the spasmBetween the potencyAnd the existenceBetween the essenceAnd the descentFalls the ShadowFor Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine isLife isFor Thine is the
This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsNot with a bang but a whimper.

How to Run a Hurdle Race

In the past you might have been told to “take it one hurdle at a time.” In order to do well in a hurdle race, focusing on one hurdle at a time is essential to doing well. In a race, a hurdler must jump over ten hurdles in the quickest time possible. The following might be surprising but the most imperative thing in a race is not the hurdles but rather the space in between them. Yes, jumping over the hurdles efficiently is important but managing your stride in between the hurdles resourcefully is the key to success in a race.

The best way to do well in hurdling is to imagine that there are no hurdles in the race at all! While it is against the rules to plow through the hurdles, focusing on the hurdles as an obstacle you need to get over as quickly as possible to sprint the rest of the race is a key mindset to doing well. Before you begin to do anything, you need to determine your lead leg. You can do this by standing and having someone push you from behind. Whichever leg you put forward to catch yourself with is the leg you will lead with over the hurdles. The goal is to “three step” which means taking three strides in between each hurdle. Doing this makes a hurdler’s jumping and running power much greater. The only way to master the difficult task of three stepping is to practice.

Practicing and perfecting your form takes a bit of time and a lot of effort. When you are practicing, make sure to wear running spikes so you have traction and therefore more power going over the hurdles. Taking it one hurdle at a time not only goes for races but also goes for practice. When you are practicing your form, warm up by first jumping over one hurdle a few times. Once you are warmed up move on to two, then three, and eventually around five. Stretching, conditioning, icing, and sometimes a few ibuprofen are also important to keep your body well enough to run. In the end, all the practice, training, and conditioning will pay off. The feeling of flying over hurdles in a race is more thrilling than any rollercoaster or scary movie!

Tone in The Devil and Tom Walker

In “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Irving explains that greed and selfish ambitions can destroy people through the use of tone. Irving uses the characteristic lighthearted, tones of a classic fireside poet in a humorous manner when he writes “ Such was the end of Tom Walker and his ill-gotten wealth. Let all the groping money brokers lay this story to heart. The truth of it is not to be doubted” (245). In this quotation, Irving is jeering at Tom Walker’s stupidity while also providing his theme concisely. The author does not bother with extravagant diction and instead puts his thoughts out clearly and to the point.
The fireside poet makes his story comprehensible for the younger ones but also shows his appeal to the rest of the family when he writes that “Tom looked in the direction that the stranger pointed, and beheld one of the great trees, fair and flourishing without, but rotten at the core” (239). Irving uses symbolism of the trees to capture the essence of the selfish men’s sacrifices to the devil. Irving’s message that selfish thinking is iniquitous is the same as that of the younger children’s message. The author knew his audiences were families ranging in age and therefore provided something for the entire family by using tone to characterize his story of an egotistical man who took the consequences of his actions.

Best thing since sliced bread

I know all of y'all have googled yoursleves before. So i did it today to see what came up. Turns out, IM NOT THE ONLY FINKE IN THE UNIVERSE! yay me and everyone else named Lauren Finke. Turns out other Lauren Finkes are teachers that graduated cum laude from U of Pittsburgh, All-American Youth Triatholan participants, volleyball players at Tampa Bay, and well thats about it. The real me is actually mentioned twice which really made me happy and a little freaked out at the same time. My advice is that everyone should google themselves. Plus, its great a great place to put in some major procrastinating time for homework you should have done a week ago. Googling yourself shoud be put on your list of a hundred and one things to do before you die. Just so everyone knows, google is most definitely the best thing since easy bake ovens and sliced bread (which by the way I never really understood why sliced bread was so great.) And just in case your wondering, Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented that, and yes, I found that out on google. Okeedokee peoples. I need to finish some homework due a week ago!