The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano

The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano was a sad story because to read about what these people went through was depressing, yet not shocking. We read about stories about this type of behavior a few times a year in history and occasionally in English class. It makes me sad because younger kids than me go days without eating; when they do eat, they eat something that is old, disgusting, and raw. Kids in the 21st century are so spoiled and should be happy and considerate that their parents are even thinking of them and can protect them. It hurts me to know that the parents of these kids, back in Olaudah's time, can do absolutely nothing to protect their kids when they want to so bad. I'm blessed to be born in this time period where kids have the option to work and actually have a shot at a career. All in all, I feel sorry these families and we are just so lucky that we have freedom and justice in America.

A Journey Through Texas

This story was dry because it kept making me daze off every other three sentences. The only part I thought was interesting was when the natives got sick and thought that they had gotten sick because the two men were angry at them, when really they were pretending. It shows how the natives are so catious of one anothers behaviors. They seem to blame things on one anothera and can't capture the fact that some things just come naturally. I liked it when the men said that they were going to pray for them because it shows love and thoughtfulness. Other than that, I didn't enjoy the story and I hope that we read more entertaining stories.

The Iroquois Constitution

Just like the last story, this too was a bit confusing. If I were to relate this story to something I would say that it relates to God's forgiveness, acceptance, and protection. The reason I think so is because we obey the ten commandments while the nations in the story obey the rules of the five nations. And when they do so, they get shelter and an eagle watches over them making sure nothing nor no one comes near them, kinda like what God does to us. He is constantly watching over us, except if we don't follow his rules he is still there for us waiting for us to come back to him. That seems to be the only contrast I can make, but it also seems like the natives' god plays a similar role as to our God.

The Navajo Origin Legend

I did not understand this story that well and resulting from that, I found it to be weird. I know that the colors each represent something more than wind but I can't seem to put my mind to it. The only thing I can seem to elaborate on is " the wind that gave them life, is the wind that comes out of our mouths now that give us life" I'm confused on this sentence but if I were to relate the wind to something, it would be oxygen. If there was no oxygen we wouldn't be able to breathe which would result in death. And this "wind" seems to have created the first man and woman. This is similar to the story of creation, however, God created us through dirt. I don't know how else to elaborate on this story, but this is what I got from the text.

When Grizzlies Walked Upright

To my surprise I actually enjoyed reading this story. I realized that each paragraph had its own moral. One of the first morals I read was to always listen to your parents. I got this from the part when the father tells the daughter to tell the wind to quiet down but not to stick her head up the hole because she would get blown away, and being a rebel that every teen is nowadays, she put her head out the hole. The theme, however, seemed consistent. The theme seemed to be the beginning of creation. When the daughter disobeyed the father, to me, she played the role of Eve, in Genesis. The bear she married was Adam. The reason being was because Adam didn't know better about eating the apple from the tree, and the bear didn't know better about not marrying a human. I also caught another theme in this story, acceptance. As God had accepted Adam and Eve and then was angry with them, the father in the story seemed to play a similar role. The bears represent the serpents because the father told the bears " Get down on your hands and knees. You have wronged me. and from this moment all of you will walk on four feet and never talk again." That part relates to the serpent because God told the serpant he shall never walk again, and surely he never did. These are the observations I made from the story.

The Earth on Turtle's Back

I don't really understand this story, at least the moral behind it. But, if I were to write about what i think the story is about, I would say motherhood. The message that i am getting is that the wife in this story had a dream about a tree. And her husband told her that that tree needed to be removed and no one could remove it until finally it was removed. The wife saw something intriguing, which i think was the beauty of life. She realized how wonderful having a child would be. And the part when she fell in shows that the kids also care for parents by holding them up when they are to weak. The turtle in the story is the child of the woman, and the other animals are the friends. The "friends" couldn't reach earth because their love for the woman wasn't much, however, the turtle, being the child, was able to reach earth, or have a part of it with him when he came up, because the love from the child was deep. And the turtle wanted to do anything for the mother, so much that he make sure that the mother is satisfied and safe. The Muskrat would be the father because when it pawed the back of the turtle and made those imprints, to me, that means the father/muskrat is proud of the son/turtle. It shows the great deep love of a family.

Journal of the First Voyage to America

The message that I got from the reading was to always give thanks, and never think about what you don't have; rather what you do have. I got this message when Christopher Columbus said " It was a great affliction to me to be ignorant of their natures..." This passage just shows me how much Columbus appreciated the land and its customs and traditions. I was absolutely in love and intrigued by Columbus' choice of words such as "This island even exceeds the others in beauty and fertility. Groves of lofty and flourishingg trees are abundant, as also large lakes, surrounded and overhung by the foliage, in a most enchanting manner." His choice of vocabulary makes me feel as if I'm looking at a picture so much that if I were a great artists I would attempt drawing what he saw. I've never had much respect for Columbus because you constantly hear about him in History class that you just get sick of him, and want to learn about the latest fashion trend. I think that was until now that I'm slowly starting to like him more.

heyheyhey(: it's stephanie. i'm sixteeeen and go to st. mary's. im a hundred percent egyptian. i play lacrosse and i love to write music, play my guitar, and sing. whenever i am upset or need alone time i would do something that relates to music. the most important thing about me is that i live to please God and not others. i like to read books i pick out myself rather them being picked out for me. my family and i are really close and they mean the world to me. all in all i'm a fun outgoing person that puts people before herself(: