Blog Number 5

"The Box Man" dealt with the difference between choosing to live alone, and being forced to live alone, but I think it also had a great deal to do with choices. The Box Man chose to live a life of solitude, while the lonely women in the story were abandoned. This dichotomy of decision making has a lot to do with our lives today- do we take control of our lives and make decisions, or do we let others make potentially disastrous life changing decisions for us? Every day poses new questions that we all must make decisions on: what do I eat for lunch today? Do I eat lunch today? Should I talk to him/her? However, some decisions are more important than others, such as: what classes should I take this year? What college is right for me? Should I have sex? Many of these questions are superfluous or less important- your mother might pack your lunch for you- but many issues are much too important to leave to your parents. Finding the right college is one of the most important decisions of a teenager's life, and it's not a decision someone can easily make for you. Many decisions throughout life are like this, where we must decide. We can't always fall back on our parents for help, because they won't always be there. Basically, "The Box Man" essay is attempting to tell us to make our own decisions to the best of our ability.

Blog Number Four

The Box Man and the two women in "The Box Man," are very different, but in ways are ironically similar, because all of them are alone. Similarly, today's major political parties, the Republicans, and the Democrats, are ironically similar. No true Republican or Democrat would admit it, but political parties have many things in common: they scower the political landscape for votes, they promise change in elections and dissent later, they preach about "mama bears" and "family values," but then ignore their own familes to achieve political success. Bascially, all politicians, Republican, Democrat, or Independant are hypocrites. The constant need for voter approval often overrides the values in the politician's mind and causes them to act "out of character." You can see this hypocricy clearly displayed with both Republicans and democrats on two seperate occasions. First off, in 2009, when the 2nd Amendment was coming under fire (no pun intended), Republican politicians ranted and raved about the intent of the Founders, and the sanctity of the Constitution, claiming the Constitution should not be changed. Now, as Republicans are coining terms, like anchor babies, and seething over illegal immigration, these same politicians are, once again, ranting and raving about the intent of the Founders, and the Constitution, but this time they are preaching a different story. This time around, they intend to amend their supposedly sacred constitution for the "good of America." The irony is blinding. However, Democrats are not the best at keeping their word either. When President Barack Obama was elected, he promised to pull the troops out of Iraq, and the understanding was the removal would be quick and expedient. Now, over a year and a half later, the last combat troops are being pulled out of Iraq-the withdrawal was not the definition of quick and expedient. This is not the type of thing American voters agree to when they step inside voting booths and cast their vote (if they do at all). Republican or democrat, all politicians are hypocrites.

Blog Number 2: My Non-Fiction Literary History

This is an attempt to list all of the different nonfiction books, magazines and other things I've read throughout the years. Here goes:
-The New York Times
-Huffington Post (News Articles)
-CNN.com
-the Vacaville Reporter
-the Sacramento Bee
-the San Francisco Chronicle
-Times Magazine
-Atlas of World History (and its various sub books on the different time periods of history)
-Eyewitness Books (various throughout my elementary school experience)
-The Tyrants, by Clive Foss (This is an excellent book on tyrants of the 20th century. If anyone wants to borrow my tattered copy, just ask.)
-The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan
-The Landmark Herodotus, The Histories, edited by Robert B. Strassler
-The World Almanac, 2008 edition
-And, last but not least, Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond

This list is incomplete, because it is impossible to list all of the countless hours of shows from the History Channel, History-International, The Science Channel, The Military Channel, and other great networks.

The Peloponnesian War, by Donald Kagan is a wonderful book that I happened to buy on a whim in a used book store in Boston over the summer. Kagan is a world renown historian of Greek history, a teacher of history at Yale, and a classic scholar, but he doesn't write for scholars in this book. He wrote about the first Western world war so that all peoples, no matter your education in the English language, can understand and partake of this wonderful, rich history. There are plenty of maps to reference, so, by the end of reading this book, you obtain a marvelous knowledge of Greek geography, but you also get a feel for the people of ancient Greek societies. You understand the reasons behind the Peloponnesian War besides the Megarid Embargo, and realize it was really the struggle between oligarchy and democracy in the ancient world. It is a great, easy read that anyone interested in Ancient Greek history should read.

Here I Am

Describing yourself is hard, but here I go. I love history, some sciences and a good book. Learning in different, unusual ways is my life, but people think I'm a know-it-all, and arrogant. I would describe myself as merely confident, albiet sometimes overly so. I know I'm a nerd.