on My essay writing has improved greatly upon our last essay. The first essay we wrote this year was our Part Time Indian essay. On this first essay, I had a lot of trouble analyzing my evidence and critically thinking. This time, for our American Born Chinese essay, I improved upon my troubles greatly. I spent a lot more time trying to understand the evidence and then analyze it after that.
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on A highlight of this year was the soccer season. We went undefeated and won the chip. We went into the playoffs with high expectations since we had not lost a game that season. We were confident and anxious to start the playoffs. We won the first game easily against City and Country, 5-1. That win propelled us to the finals against are rivals VCS. We would go on to beat them but it was not an easy win. I, Eli Harris scored the game winning goal with the score tied at 1-1. We ended up winning that game 3-1.
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In digital art we have been learning the ways of Photoshop. For my project I tried to find a really cool background picture and work from there. Both the background picture and the picture of me are both from the same place, so I thought they would work well together. There is emphasis in this in the form of filters, there is contrast also in the form of filters, there is harmony because all the different colors and themes work together, there is proportion and scale because of the big mountains and smaller figures around them, and finally there is rhythm and movement in the form of the horse and plane, each of them would be moving if it were to be in motion.
on Name: Eli March 2017
Humanities Africans in NY: Creative Narrative Assignment
It’s a Hard Life
They call me Solomon Peters. I have been living in the New Amsterdam Colony ever since I was young. It is all that I know of. Today, I live on a farm with my wife and kids, I guess you could call me a proprietor It is nothing much but half freedom is better than none. My ancestors were brought from their homeland to do slave work in New Amsterdam. I am not one to brag but my family and I have more money than most slaves. I have started to write a will for when my death occurs. In this will, I have put the directions for where my property when I pass, but that is a story from another time. I am not very fond of the idea of half freedom. I think it is horrible that we slaves are treated as not human. I am predicting that in the future the land of the blacks will no longer be a thing. That half freedom will no longer be a part of us and we will be fully enslaved. I have left my entire estate in the hands of my wife. I trust that she will look after it and keep it going for generations to come. Although I am not complaining about living in The Land of the Blacks, I do believe that sometimes it is a disgrace. The only reason that they do this is so they have a buffer for attacks on New Amsterdam. It just makes us look like objects in place for protection, not real humans but thatś all we are really meant to be anyways.
In the year of 1712 there was a slave revolt. Between 25 and 50 slaves stormed New Amsterdam setting fire to buildings. They killed 9 whites and injured 6 others. In the end the slaves lost. It always seems to be this way in my mind, the slaves always lose. I haven’t known anything else. I was born in the British colonies and raised as a slave. I don’t know how my ancestors felt living totally free in their homeland, away from slavery, away from the Europeans, back in their homeland of Africa. I have not had the pleasure of having that as my reality, but now I must live enslaved for it is all that I know. My ancestors were taken from their home and piled onto a boat, hundreds of them to come over to the Colonies and serve the British. I do hope that my children will grow up and be free. I hope they can smell the sweet smell of freedom that I never got a chance to smell. The Dutch West India Company has not done anything to help us nor will they in the future. The colonists control all of our lives. I do hope that the patriots overcome the loyalist. I believe that there is good in their hearts and therefore will free us. I think they know how it feels to be controlled by someone.
In this assignment, we were supposed to write a creative writing piece from the point of an enslaved African. I learned a lot from it because it really got me into the shows of the enslaved African I was writing from. I think this assignment was a bit of a struggle for me. It was hard to right from their POV not actually knowing what they went through.
on This is my Crucible comperative essay. For this assignment we were supposed to write an essay comparing three different time periods: Colonial, The Red Scare, and current day. We wrote about these three time periods using a theme. My theme was scapegoating/reputation. I have learned from this essay that connecting history to current day better helps me better understand both of the topics. It gives me a different perspective on current events. One thing I have learned about writing is that if your themes fit in very well with your essay then your essay will flow nicely from paragraph to paragraph. Your transition sentences will help this happen. A common mistake that I noticed when I got my essay back was writing conventions. I noticed that although my writing partner and I made a lot of edits, there were still edits to make. One thing I could do is go back and check over it again even after it is peer edited. Another thing that I noticed is that I was having a little trouble connecting my thesis to my last paragraph. In the future I would like to work on always referring back to my thesis in my body paragraphs. Now before I hand in a big assignment I will check with Suzanne to make it even better.
Fear and Hysteria Throughout the World
In life today, for people at the top of the hierarchy, reputation is everything. They will do anything to gain control and a good reputation, even if it means blaming other people for something that they did. This took place during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, later on during the Red Scare in the 1950s, and in life as we know it today. During all of these different time periods people in power have used scapegoating to gain control and a good reputation. They will go through anything if it means that they gain these things. In the end all of these people end up losing their power to the citizens of their very estate. Throughout history, people have used scapegoating in order to keep their reputation good. This happens in time of fear and hysteria when people are often scared to question authority and resist.
During The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many people accused others of being witches to get the blame of their back. This was very common in this time because of what was going on in Salem, the witch trials. If people got accused they would automatically blame other people. This kept happening and eventually the church would come to a conclusion of whether they were a witch or not. Throughout The Crucible by Arthur miller people use scapegoating in order to maintain their good reputation. When anything bad happens to their name they try to rid of it quickly. When Reverend Parris’s daughter Betty falls ill and won’t wake up, Parris is scared for his reputation. He knows that if he is living with witchcraft, that his name will be blackened and he will lose his good reputation as a reverend. “Go directly home and speak nothing of unnatural causes”, (Miller p.62). The reason that Parris doesn’t want there to be any unnatural causes is because if that is the case, then he won’t be taken seriously as a reverend in Salem. An unnatural cause usually means witchcraft which is one of the worst possible things in their religion. Anything related to witches always has to do with the Devil and therefore it is bad. If Reverend Parris were to calm down and not panic about his reputation, then he would be able to save his daughter. He may have even made his reputation better if he had solved the problem. People would have looked up to him as a good leader. During this time period, a lot of what people did had to do with their reputation. Everything they did in life decided if you went to heaven or hell. Everybody wanted to go to heaven so that is why Parris wanted to keep his good name in Salem. His actions make other people scared to question his authority. Although, even if other people figured this out. They would be scared to question him because of the fear of going to hell. The Crucible was just the start to a long period of scapegoating, fear, and hysteria
During the Red Scare in the mid 20th century, there was a lot of fear and hysteria because of communism. People were accusing everyone. Others were scared for their lives and safety. Nobody knew what to do. “Because of McCarthy’s powerful position and the seriousness of the charges, most reporters assumed he was telling the truth.” ( Fitzgerald p. ) Nobody wanted to question authority especially Joseph McCarthy. If anyone did they would most likely be accused of being a communist because of what he was doing. Since Joseph McCarthy came out with this uproar, he gained a lot of power and good reputation. People believed that he was doing a great deed for the country and the citizens inside of it. He blamed other people in order to gain power. As he gained power more and more people started to follow and believe him. Joseph McCarthy used fear in order to gain power. He scared the people of the country so they would believe him. He did not even need the list to convince people that there were communist among them. In a way it was very smart of him to do this. It helped him gain what most people wanted back then, power. Since Joseph McCarthy was a citizen of the country, he could’ve been accused of being a communist. Another main reason he did this was because he himself did not want to be accused of being a communist himself. His actions made other people scared to question his authority. Although these things have happened in recent history, they are also occurring in life today.
Today, your reputation reflects who you are in the society. This is demonstrated by The current President of The United States. Everything he does, he does it to keep his reputation good. Although people do know that he has a bad reputation, he is just scared to show it. “Unfortunately, once your reputation goes down the drain, your reputational value goes down to zero-fast. It’s binary, as we saw with tiger woods; you’re either worth a lot, or people don’t want you at all.” (Washington Post, 2017). Once your reputation starts to go down, your value also goes down. People do not like to work and be with people that have a bad reputation. You either have a good reputation and people like you or, a bad reputation and people don’t. Donald Trump says the things he says to keep his reputation good. He is scared that he will lose his power if he doesn’t say anything. His actions make other people scared to question his authority. Right now, people are bowing down to him out of fear. If people with political power such as members of his own party were to step up against him, maybe he would change for the better. In all of these parts of history people have used scapegoating, fear, and hysteria to gain power.
Throughout history people have used scapegoating in order to keep a good reputation, even if it means blaming people for something that you did. This has happened during the Salem Witch Trials, the Red Scare, and life as we know it today. In all of these circumstances, there has been a leader who uses scapegoating to keep a good reputation. They had driven fear into the very hearts of the people that are part of their community. This could all come to end if people stood up to corrupt people with authority. But people are scared because of being scapegoated. They are scared that they would be accused if they question bad authority. If enough people stood up, then maybe they could drive that person out of power.
on Figures are mathematically similar…
Two or more figures are similar when they share a scale factor, their corresponding angles are congruent, and they have a true proportion. They also have to have the same general shape so a triangle and a rectangle can’t be similar.
To find a scale factor you have to take two corresponding sides and divide the bigger one by the smaller one. The answer is the scale factor. To find a true proportion you have to take two side lengths from the two or more shapes that correspond to each other and make their measurements into a ratio. Then your cross multiply them and if they each equal the same thing they are similar. Finally to find the if the corresponding angles are congruent you find the corresponding angles and measure them with a protractor.
True or false…
Any two rectangles are similar?
False because their side lengths could possibly not share a true proportion which means they are not always similar. In order for them to be similar their side lengths need to share a true proportion. Also if this is true then that means they do not share a scale factor.
Any two equilateral triangles are similar?
True because in order to be an equilateral triangle you have to have the same length of all of your sides. That means that there is a true proportion and a scale factor. That also means that the corresponding angles are congruent.
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This is an example of one of my good note taking pages in my math notebook. The reason these are good because they are nice and thorough.
This is and example of my bad note taking pages in my math notebook. The reason this is bad is because I did not really spend that much time on it.
on This is one of my research cards from my Colonial research. I am researching government in the Colonial Era. For these note cards we find quotes and then analyse them. The reason this is my best note card is because I analysed this one the most. The reason this is good is because the more you analyse, the more you know about your topic.
Notecards
Colonial interpreter. (2015). [Personal interview by R. M].
“What crimes were committed in different tribes, and what punishments were dealt out because of them?”
“We had what we called blood law, and that was a major component in our law. It was basically an eye for an eye. So if I and several of my clan members were killed by another clan or tribe, we would go and seek retribution and restore the balance in our eyes by killing an equal number of people from that tribe.”
-What were the crimes in different tribes?
-What were the punishments in these tribes?
-The Natives had something called blood law.
-Blood law was a major part of their law.
-If someone got killed in your tribe by another person in another tribe, you could go kill that person.
The concept of blood law is so interesting to me. I am so surprised that this did not end up in everybody killing everybody else. I am guessing that if the English ever heard of this they would be horrified because this is so unlike the English. A major problem in Colonial America was the relationship between the British and the Native Americans. Before the British came over to the new world, they were shown pictures of the Natives. In these pictures they were shown how uncivilized the Natives were. Even though at the time this was a form of motivation, when the British got to the new world they were in for a rude awakening. For the whole 17th century, these to groups of people were fighting and they just could not solve it.
The British ways were so different from the Natives and its so interesting how different they were. They didn’t know it but if they had ever allied they would have been so much stronger. Also the only reason that the British survived is because of John Smith trying to ally with the Natives and he got the colonist some food.
I feel like the Natives were more free going than the colonist. After hearing about this law I realize that they were very unsupervised, but even though they were very unsupervised they also were very organized and had a very complex form of government that was very powerful. Even though this blood law seems very small, its actually very big. It represents a part of who the natives are. Although the one problem with this is that this is the only side of the Natives that the British see. They could have allied with the Natives and seen who they really were. This would of benefited them greatly.
Was John Smith the only colonist to attempt to ally with the Natives? Did the Natives ever attempt to ally with the colonist? Was there a war between the Natives and the Colonist besides when they first got to the new world? Did everyone not want to ally with the Natives or was it a higher decision from the King or something?
Created: 11/02/2016 10:45 AM
on This is an example of one of my Making Thirteen Colonies papers. In social studies we are reading the book called Making Thirteen Colonies. This book is about the voyage and the settlement in the new world at perspective of the British. There is so much information in this book and it is so interesting to read. The reason I think this is my best Making Thirteen Colonies papers is because I believe that I spent the most time thinking about this. The first chapter in this book has so much information so you need to think about it to understand it.
Name: Eli Harris September 2016
Humanities Making Thirteen Colonies
Directions: Finish reading chapter 1 in Making Thirteen Colonies. Answer the following questions below, responding in complete sentences and using textual evidence and analysis. This assignment is due Monday, September 12th. Proofread your work carefully.
1.What is the main idea of this chapter? ,” (Hakim, p. 10).
In the early 1600s change was upon Europe. The Catholic Church had been starting to break down. Was this good for Europe or were they going through a dark age? In the year of 1607 an Italian scientist Galileo Galilei was looking through his brand new telescope when he saw something. It was a comet! Halley’s comet to be exact. At this time religion ruled everything. Nobody knew what to think of this after they saw this comet. Religion had no explanation for what happened. In this time in age everyone was taught and told that Earth was the center of the universe. After everyone saw the Comet a lot of tension rose because of it. After hearing about the comet the Polish Scientist Nicolaus Copernicus came up with the idea that the Earth is actually not the center of the universe and the Sun. Everyone was discouraged after hearing this. Was Nicolaus Copernicus questioning religion and the Pope. Even Galileo Galilei later said that Nicholas Copernicus was right. “Change is troublesome, especially to those in power”, (Hakim, p. 16). If Nicolaus Copernicus was right they everything that everybody thought to be right was wrong. Everything that the Pope said was wrong. If the Pope was wrong than everything had to be wrong people thought. Although at the time this struck conflict, in the long run it opened up opportunity. This event made many people spread because they felt like they wanted to start a new life. If everything they knew was wrong than a new life was the solution. This also opened up the Scientific Era.
2 Identify/Define the following names/terms:
(no textual evidence needed for these)
Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist. He saw the Comet for the first time through his brand new telescope. After seeing the comet, Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus said that the universe does not revolve around Earth, it revolves around the Sun.
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish scientist who lived from 1473-1543. After hearing that Galileo Galilei saw the comet through his telescope he began to think maybe the whole universe doesn’t all revolve around the Earth maybe it revolves around the sun.
In the early 1600s religion ruled everything. If you challenged it you were thought to be evil. Since religion ruled everything that meant the Pope ruled everything on earth because he was God’s representative on earth. After Nicholas Copernicus said that Earth wasn’t the center of the universe and the sun actually was, conflict raised. People thought he was “evil” because he was questioning religion and what the bible said. “Many who watched the bold comet were frightened”, (Hakim p. 15). Even though people thought that the Polish scientist was evil. They did not know what to make of it. They were scared of what their life could become if all of religion which is their whole life was wrong.