Monday, December 3, 2012

FACTS ABOUT MARK TWAIN







Facts About Mark Twain:
  1.  Mark Twain's real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
  2. Haley's Comet was visible in the sky on the night Mark Twain was born. He predicted that he would die when it returned 75 years later. Clemens died on April 21, 1910, the day after the comet's orbit came closest to the Earth.
  3. Clemens encouraged his younger brother, Henry, to get a job as a steamboat pilot as well. Henry was killed when the boiler on board his boat exploded. Clemens claimed to have seen his brother's death in a dream before it happened, sparking an interest in parapsychology.
  4. To pay off debts accumulated as a result of failed business ventures, Twain toured the world as a lecturer, publishing his experiences in Following the Equator (1897).
  5. The term “mark twain” means it is safe to sail because the water’s depth is two fathoms, or 12 feet.  “Mark one” is six feet, “mark ta-ree” is 18 feet, and “mark four” is 24 feet.
Facts About Mark Twain and Censorship:
  1. “Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.”
  2. The book, first published in 1884 and described by Ernest Hemingway as the basis of "all modern American literature", has been disappearing from US school curricula due to its 217 mentions of the racist term.
  3. So, Mark Twain stays in the news even 100 years after his death. First, with the initial volume of his Autobiography, finally published in the form planned by the author. Second, with the controversy stirred up by a "new" edition of Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in which the offensive racial epithets "injun" and "nigger" are replaced by "Indian" and "slave" respectively.
  4. “Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.”
    Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

Thursday, November 1, 2012

EDGAR ALLAN POE

      
                Edgar Allan Poe was a very famous writer for writing stories dealing with suspence, horror, and mystery. He was called the father of the detective story. At age two, his mother tragically died and the father already had abandoned him. He was adopted into a new family the Allan's. These people were very successful in the tabbacco industy. By age 13 he had started writing poety and wrote alot of it. He was very dedicated to writing at this age. Poe went to college at a university, but went into debt. To try to pay off this debt, he gambled but he went into more debt. At this point he dropped out of the university. He later went to another university, than became a cridict. He was known as the tamahawk man for his harsh cridic ways.  He eventually married his 13 year old cousin secretly, than in 1836 went public about the marrige. He loved her alot, and they lived together. Around age 20 though, she had died of tuberculosis. He later died at age 40 from unknown, mysterious causes.
                 Edgar had a very famous life as a writer. He had joined the military while publishing his first book. While attending the military acadamey, he published his second book. Poe exceded his studies at the acadamy, but was kicked out of the army for poor handling in his duties. During this time, Poe had fought alot with his foster parent, then eventually cut all ties with him. He than later moved to live with his aunt and her daughter. Later in his life, he had joined up with a magazine company. This is where he got his nickname for his harsh ways. He also put some articles into the magazine that introduced his new writing. Because of how he was with the harsh ways, and aggressive behavior, he left the company in 1837. He also had an alcohol at the time, and some say this played a part in his departure of the company in 1837. In 1845 though, he published one of his greatist peices of work called "The Raven". It was considered a great american literaty work, and one of his best. He found himself under attack from one of his own friendly poet writers Longfellow. He claimed that Longfellow had plagarised him.
                
              If the Enlightenment was a movement which started among a tiny elite and slowly spread to make its influence felt throughout society, Romanticism was more widespread both in its origins and influence. No other intellectual/artistic movement has had comparable variety, reach, and staying power since the end of the Middle Ages.
Beginning in Germany and England in the 1770s, by the 1820s it had swept through Europe, conquering at last even its most stubborn foe, the French. It traveled quickly to the Western Hemisphere, and in its musical form has triumphed around the globe, so that from London to Boston to Mexico City to Tokyo to Vladivostok to Oslo, the most popular orchestral music in the world is that of the romantic era. After almost a century of being attacked by the academic and professional world of Western formal concert music, the style has reasserted itself as neoromanticism in the concert halls. When John Williams created the sound of the future in Star Wars, it was the sound of 19th-century Romanticism--still the most popular style for epic film soundtracks.
Beginning in the last decades of the 18th century, it transformed poetry, the novel, drama, painting, sculpture, all forms of concert music (especially opera), and ballet. It was deeply connected with the politics of the time, echoing people's fears, hopes, and aspirations. It was the voice of revolution at the beginning of the 19th century and the voice of the Establishment at the end of it.
This last shift was the result of the triumph of the class which invented, fostered, and adopted as its own the romantic movement: the bourgeoisie. To understand why this should have been so, we need to look more closely at the nature of the style and its origins.

Sources:
1.http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160
2.http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html

Monday, September 10, 2012

MY OWN MYTH

Northern Lights Myth
By: Katie Brock

            Once there was a time when all the animals got along in harmony. One day a mother mountain lion went out to scavenge for food. She came back empty pawed. She explained how it's all vegetarian food. The mother bear said she will find them food to fest upon. she also came back empty pawed. She too said the same thing as the mother mountain lion. Once the mother's figured out that all they will eat is leaves unless they ate each other, the confronted the leader of all animals, the Eagle. The Eagle agreed upon eating each other to survive. All the animals ran, finding where they belong to settle down till their time comes. The mountain lion found an elk roaming, and went off to catch it. Once she caught the elk, she killed it. The sky started to grow dark and a light came out of the elk and into the sky. The mother mountain lion seen a stream of light cross the sky. She than say the spirits of the ancestors from long before them in the stream of light. Looking back down upon the elk, she see's the spirit of the elk run to the stream of light full of their ancestors. Once the elk reached them, the light faded away. The Eagle than emerged from the darkness. The Eagle explained that once their time comes, they too will join their ancestors in the stream of light that flows through the sky. But we must respect the dead in order to join the ones we love or be kept on Eath to live in misery.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

9/6/12

In my myth about the Devils Tower, there are supernatural powers involved. The supernatural powers were when the seven young girls prayed to the rock to grow, and it had. It grew so much that they became what's known as the Pleiades. This myth is sacred to several Native American Plain Tribes such as Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, and Kiowa. The myth is about how seven young girls where playing out in the distance when a bear started to chase them. The seven young girls ran but realized that the bear was catching up. The girls sat down on a rock and prayed for the rock to grow, and the rock did. The bear could not get to the girls, but had shredded the side of Bear Tower and had left several claw marks. The girls where safe, but the tower kept growing, and shoved the girls to the stars. They seven girls became a cluster of stars knows as Pleiades. The myth was shared to the Native Tribes of the plains to show that there is life within all things and objects that do listen. That the ancestors of their tribes are listening and will make sure that some how you will be safe, no matter how large the problem is. The Plain Tribes have kept this myth going on for many years, to tell the story to their sons and daughters about how Devils Tower (Bear Tower) became to be. They tell the myth to keep the myth alive, and to make sure that the tradition of telling this myth stays alive. 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

MY FAVORITE INDIAN LEGEND

This legend happens to be one that has stayed with me for many years. I have known about this legend since I first visited Devil's Tower when i was about 9. This tower is also known as Bear Tower to many tribes. Check it out, you may be surprised as to what you didn't know about this tower. The Legend of Devils Tower

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

RANDOM STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW!

So here is some random things that you should know about me. My favorite person would be my father because he has been there with me for my ups and downs. I am a daddies girl, so what can I say. I just like my dad better than anyone else. My favorite movie would have to be my training movie that I received from my battalion. It reminds me a lot of what I did, and what made me so tough inside. Doesn't show the Drill Sergeants yelling at us, but it is still a good reminder of our discipline. My favorite book would have to be Kissed By An Angel, due to this book is an action packed, love story, and horror all in one. This book will keep you on the edge wondering who killed who, who is in danger, and why are they in danger. The link is down below with the picture of the first book. My favorite song is "Awake and Alive" by Skillet. This song reminds me of a lot of things. That's pretty much why I like it so much. I do not have a favorite poem, because i'm not that much of a poetic person. My favorite quote is "One team, one fight" by D.S. Leakey. I learned this quote while at basic training and it stuck. I believe no fight is a one person fight, that there is a team that will be behind you on whatever you do to support you and have your back. I know I always have so this quote just works for me. My favorite event is the fair here in Le Mars. I love the rides and being able to hang out with friends. Makes my day to see everyone and see familiar faces. Well that's a little about me. 
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/elizabeth-chandler/kissed-by-angel-power-of-love-soulmates. html


ABOUT ME

Hey! My name is Katie and this is my blog Don't Wash Out. Just so than you all know a little about me, I'm a high school senior at the Le Mars Community High School. I"m a proud Bulldog for life!!! Anyways I train horses for a living and do physical training everyday. I love horses and everything to deal with horses. I also love physically conditioning myself. I hate to run, but I do it anyways. I love doing push ups, and sit ups because it's just fun to do on my free time. I'll randomly push out some push ups at places if I feel like I need to work out. Otherwise I also do Intensity. That is a major work out, and I love it. It pushes me to my limits and I feel like that is what I need in order to stay in shape. That's pretty much what I do. I wake up at 4AM and go for a jog. Get home around 6AM, take a shower, and get ready for school. Come to school, go home, than relax till about 9PM. At 9PM, I go for another jog, come home, shower, than go to bed. Than I do it all over. That is my daily schedule. So now you know a little about me. Hope you enjoy my blog!