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I enjoyed this first semester in English class. I think my favorite topic was ‘evil’.  I feel like we had really good discussions about good and bad, and what exactly evil is.  Everyone had something to say about the topic of evil.  Once we started reading and talking about books we were reading, i feel like the class got more distracted more often.  I enjoyed the book A lesson before dying but i know a lot of people didn’t really care for it.  I thought there were some good discussions on that book too, but it was hard to start the conversations.  I think ‘evil’ was easier to talk about because it was very broad, but could be broken down into more narrow topics, but also because we read several articles together so we could help each other get through it.  We got more opinions by discussing immediately after reading rather than talking about a book a day or two after reading it. 

I read the article Mr. Wasserman linked to called “New Remote Control Can Be Operated by Remote” from the Onion.  I thought the title was funny in itself and sounded extremely…lazy.  The article is all about how much of an inconvience it is to pick up your TV remote to change the chanel.  Now theres a remote that controls the television remote, because bending over to get the real remote is just too much of a hassle.  This reminded me of the movie Click.  The main character, who is played by Adam Sandler, was fed up with all the remotes to turn on the TV, fan, toys, garage etc. so he found one that controlled everything.  He fast forwarded through life because he didn’t want to deal with all the inconviences in life.  Getting back to the article…It shows how lazy humans, especially Americans, have become.  Things like this and supersize are the reason America is one of the fatest countries in the world.  having a remote that controls a remote that controls the TV makes me wonder how our parents managed to watch tv!?  there was a time when you actually had to get up and go to the TV to change the chanel or the volume.  Maybe we need no remotes in life to get Americans moving again.  In every magazine you can find articles called “how to get the body you want” or “how to lose 10 lbs”and “healthy diet!”  Obviously the public wants these articles-so then why do we need to regress and be lazy?  Basically, I thought the article was really funny. I love how it makes fun of how lazy people are. 

I read parts from the different slave narratives, but one stood out more than the others.  A True Tale Of Slavery by John S. Jacobs effected me the most.  Students learn about slavery every year, it feels like, so we have some knowledge of what happened to slaves in the 1800’s.  They were whipped and beaten for things their masters felt they did wrong, but also sometimes for no reason at all.  They were treated and considered property.  It wasn’t uncommon to be seperated from their family.  Although I knew this, one paragraph in this book helped me understand how all this feels. Not just what happens, but how it feels. 

“To be a man, and not to be a man–a father without authority–a husband and no protector–is the darkest of fates. Such was the condition of my father, and such is the condition of every slave throughout the United States: he owns nothing, he can claim nothing. His wife is not his: his children are not his; they can be taken from him, and sold at any minute, as far away from each other as the human fleshmonger may see fit to carry them.” http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jjacobs/jjacobs.html

 This quote reminded me of Jim from Huck Finn because he was a father but had absolutely no control over what happened to either of them.  It’s hard to imagine not being able to stand up for a friend without being punished, or protect a family member from pain.  And then to have a wife/husband but not be garaunteed that he/she will be yours forever…any moment may be your last with the ones you love.  Slavery wasn’t only physical torture, but emotional as well, which makes it even worse.

I expect the slave narratives to be about how difficult it was to be a slave.  Based on the titles for some of the people, it seems like they will explain different times of their lives.  One looks like it will be about childhood under slavery and what it was like growing up, but another will be more about going from slavery to freedom.  They all seem different from one another.