Senior English

Miss Fordahl

Austin Berdal

12/1/14

                For an idea to exist, we must have words to express it. This is very true, many people have lots of ideas but some people don’t know the words to express it. If you cannot express your ideas nobody will know what they are. Inventors are very good at this. They have so many ideas and tell people their new invention. If they don’t have words to describe and tell their ideas to buyers nobody will buy it. Also in school if you have an idea in a class the teacher or your class mates won’t know your idea if you can’t tell them what it is. It may be wrong but it may be rite. But the only way to find out is if you tell them through words. Expressing things through words can be difficult for some people. Some people don’t have the best speaking and communication skills. For them it could be hard to express their ideas. Most people who work for a company as a sales person are very good at speaking to other people. They can tell you everything you need to know about the company’s ideas and future sales. There are ideas everywhere and people talking about them. It’s a very important thing to know how to do. The president for example, when the president is in a dilemma he goes to the first few people that are below him and asks for their advice. They all have their own ideas and opinions but for the president to be able to trust them and know which idea is the best those people must express their ideas through words

Salem Witch trials

               

Ausitn Berdal

Miss Fordahl

English III

4/9/14

 

                During the 1600 everyone was coming to the new world. They heard there was a lot of new stuff to offer. A lot of people wanted to make the voyage and explore the new land. The ones that made it here were lucky. The men, women and children who were the new settlers were mostly puritans and Quakers.  Most puritans belonged to the Church of England. They all believed that what they have received and did was a gift from god. They were very religious and believed they were gods first chosen people. Most of the puritans they settled in the new world left their church left because they wanted to create their own new church and religion. They did this because the Church of England was to controlling and wouldn’t let them chose their faith. The Quakers did the same thing they wanted to leave the Church of England so they could have more freedom in their religion so they moved to the new land and started setting up their own colonies and spreading the word like they were told to do.

 

                 “The General History of Virginia” by John Smith.

                John Smith was 16 and left his family to become a soldier and occasional Private.  He did very well at this job and the Virginia Company had recognized it. Smith was named leader of the Virginia Company in 1608. Almost as soon as he was in charge a lot of conflicts broke out. Due to all of the conflicts Smith failed to colonize New England. It is believed that smith was captured by a tribe of Indians and a 16 year old girl led him to freedom. Her name was Pocahontas. After he escaped he was greeted by several hundred Indians and they admired him for his bravery. Smith died in 1631 in London.

                “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford

                This story talks about new settlers that were trying to leave the Church of England to make their own group of religion that wasn’t a democracy. It talks about how hard it was for them on their voyage. When they finally got to the new land they had a lot of troubles. None of them were prepared for the harsh winters and they had many encounter with the Native American’s.  At first the Indian’s didn’t like the new people but one day an Indian approached the new people and talked to them in fluent English. They made a treaty and began to help each other out. One point in the story it says one night they heard a bunch of noise in the bushes so the leader told several men to fire their muskets and it turned out to be a pack of wolves looking for an easy meal.

William Bradford joined the crusade for religious reform when he was 12. When he was 17 he joined the radical puritans who called for a break against the church. In 1620 he and his wife left behind their 4 year old son to make the voyage to the new world to start a new religious group. During the voyage a lot of disagreements broke out and Bradford became a leader. When they got to the new land Bradford was a strong leader he created a treaty with the Indians that lasted a life time. During his 30 years as governor he kept very well written documents about everything that went on.

                “Sinner in the hands Of an Angry god” by Jonathan Edwards

                This story talks about how the puritans believed they would all hell. It gives a description of hell and eternal damnation.  It talks about god’s wrath on people and how there is no way to escape his wrath. It says that all men are held in the hands of god waiting to be dropped in to the burning pit of hell. A lot of puritans did everything the rite way so they would not be dropped in the pit

Jonathan Edwards was born in Connecticut and enter what is now known Yale university at the age of 12 after he graduated he followed his father and became a puritan minister. When his grandfather died he followed he became the church pastor. Edwards inspired thousands of people in his church but he dismissed the church because he wanted to limit the people. Edwards died in 1758.

                The history of these stories create the Salem witch trials because the people were in a hard time and they believed anything they were told. People said that if you believed god was talking to you and that you did something to make them believe that you were a witch. I did not know much about the witch trials until I read these stories. I thought that they were very interesting and they taught me a lot. The crucible by Arthur miller was different because he talks about the people of the Salem witch trials and how the government black listed them. McCarthyism is the act of prosecuting without having proper evidence. This is what they did to the suspects of the Salem witch trials; nobody had proof of these people doing the thing they were thought to be doing. The government just believed they did this. I believe that the people back then were just crazy. Nobody can be a witch and be tried as one. They just were brainwashed by their own beliefs and did what they thought was rite but was actually completely wrong.

Exploring Borderlands

Exploring Borderlands

In this English unit we have been talking about borderlands and cultures. The theme i chose is Cultures uniting. There are many different native cultures and they are all very different. In the 2 storie we read How to tame a wild tounge and Gloria Anzaldoa description of the culture and the video we watched showed me alot how similar and different they are.
 Gloria Anzaldoa"s point of view was very ineresting. She thougth wehn the europeans came over they crossed the very first borderlands and boundaries. They made a place of first meetingof the two cultures or the contact zone. This casued alot of problems and even war. europeans and natives kept having more and more problems. They never liked eachother. The europeans thought that they were more superior and treated the natives with no respect.
If Europeans and Natives would have worked to gether and helped eachother out htey could have gotten alot farther and less people would have died in battles and conflicts. The natives could have tought the Europeans about the new land and the Europeans could have tought the natives new techniques.

Welfare in America

 

 

Good morning students. My speech is on welfare. I think most American people that use welfare abuse it. If you cannot go out find a job and work for a living I don’t think I should use my money to buy you stuff. I work every day of the summer and every night after school so I can make money for myself and no other people.  Most people who are on welfare sit at home and don’t even try to go out and get a job or help their family. McDonalds Wal-Mart places like that are always hiring and you almost can be guaranteed a job. And if you know that won’t pay the bills you should get another job. You should work harder if it is though. You should do what it takes to pay the bills and help your family. Not give up and go on welfare so other people work for you. I agree some people might really need it. Say if you were disabled and couldn’t physically work you should be on welfare. But if you randomly get migraines or your calf cramps up you shouldn’t be on welfare. If you get a check every month from the government and you are on welfare you cannot have another paying job or any source of income. I know of at least 3 people that supposedly are disabled but seem to walk fine and they work for a farmer. If you are disabled and can climb into a tractor it must not be that bad. To me that’s just using the system. To get on the welfare system all you have to do is fill out paper work. I think they should have people that actually observe you to make sure you need it and how much. My neighbor has had 4 strokes cannot talk, move the right side of his face or walk on his own. He is single and cannot work. He has been turned down for welfare 5 times. That just isn’t rite. But yet you see people on welfare that flat out tell you they cannot work because they were in the war and  have a muscle cramp in their leg so they decided to go on welfare I don’t think this is rite how some people seem to be favored more than others. I am not saying everyone shouldn’t be allowed welfare but they definitely should look into who is able to get it more than they do. So in all honesty I’m not a fan of welfare and some of the people on it.            

Austin Berdal