New Blog

Please pick 2 of the 3 articles below to read and answer the questions that follow. The blog will close January 18.
NOTE: Make sure you write your response as a comment on the post you choose, not as a separate post!

14 Reasons Why People are Occupying Wall Street

The link will connect you to an article titled 14 Reasons Why People are Occupying Wall Street from the We Are the 99 Percent website. Look over the article and answer the questions below.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/reasons-people-are-occupying-wall-street

1. What do you know about Occupy Wall Street? Did this article further your understanding of the movement?
2. What kind of impact did the images have on you? Was there one in particular that stuck with you? If so, why?
3. Do you think the length of the people’s stories had anything to do with how effective they were at offering reasons to Occupy? Why or why not?

U.S. Withdraws Troops from Iraq

Below is the link to an article from CNN discussing the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq. After reading it, answer the following questions thoughtfully and thoroughly.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/12/politics/obama-maliki/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

1. Do you think it is possible for the U.S. to build a “’normal relationship’” with Iraq given everything that has happened between the two nations in the past eight years of war? Why or why not?
2. What do Obama and al-Maliki hope will happen to Iraq once the U.S. military is no longer present there? Do you think their visions for Iraq are possible?
3. Do you think it is a good thing that the United States is withdrawing its military presence from Iraq? Why or why not?

Sudbury Terror Suspect Convicted

On Tuesday, December 20, Terek Mehanna of Sudbury was found guilty of several terror-related charges and three charges of lying to authorities. The link below will direct you to an article and video that discuss the courts ruling on the case. After reading/watching, answer the questions below. http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/30037719/detail.html

1. Do you think the prosecution’s argument would have been as effective/successful had it not included references to Al-Qaida and the 9/11 attacks? Why or why not?
2. “They said his translation and distribution of controversial publications was free speech protected by the First Amendment.” Does the First Amendment apply to situations such as this? Is this a valid argument for the defense?
3. Do you agree with the jury’s ruling? Why or why not?

A Commandant's View

I thought it was unfair that he had to do the job of liquidations. Stangl had taken months to get used to doing his job, seeing the naked, poor, grimy bodies of the victims. The way Stangl described what he had done, it did not change much of my opinion of the Nazis. The part that it did change was that I thought they would be a little bit more regretful of what they had done. Also, I thought that he would think that he could have had the chance to try to stop the cruelty of the Nazi's ways, but he said he "no, no, no". He thought that he had NO chance in changing history in a good way. Stangl said "This was the system. Wirth had invented it. It worked. And because it worked, it was irreversible.” This is why he thought he could not change anything to be less cruel, although, I thought Nazi's would regret their decisions more than they do in reality.

In order to detached himself from what he was actually doing during his job, he had thought of good thoughts. This reminds me of when my parents used to tell me to have good thoughts once I woke up from a nightmare. This is the same situation, but 100 times worse. Although this strategy eventually worked for Stangl, it took him months to get used to the liquidations of humans. He had tried to avoid thinking about what he had done at night when he went to bed, by drinking, drinking, and drinking more alcohol. Personally, I think no matter what the strategy, it should not had been used, the brutality of the situation should not have been avoided, instead, acted upon and rebelled against. Although these are my thoughts from my point of view, Stangl just did not want to bare with living and thinking about what he had done and see about so many people that were killed unnecessarily. His tactics worked for him, so in a way, his tactics were good because they were successful.

Based on Stangl's responses, I do not think he regretted what he had done. He states, "'No,' he said slowly, 'I can’t say I ever thought that way.' He paused. 'You see,' he then continued, still speaking with this extreme seriousness and obviously intent on finding a new truth within himself, 'I rarely saw them as individuals. It was always a huge mass. I sometimes stood on the wall and saw them in the tube. But – how can I explain it – they were naked, packed together, running, being driven with whips like...' the sentence trailed off." This was his answer to when he was asked this question: “There were so many children, did they ever make you think of your children, of how you would feel in the position of those parents?” His answer explains that he did not think about the people individually, he did not care for them, because they were in huge masses. If he did not care for the people, then that gives him a reason not to regret what he had done. Also, another quote by Stangl was, “No, I don’t mean to; of course, thoughts came. But I forced them away. I made myself concentrate on work, work and again work.” He said this about when he was asked if he ever thought about what he did, when he went home at night. He also said he drank to clear his mind from it. This shows that he tried not to remember what he had done to so many innocent people, so it makes it harder for him to regret anything. Overall, I think he may have regret what he done a little bit, but majority, no, he did not regret.

Steve Jobs

In my opinion, this speech was very well done. It shows me a new way of thinking about careers that I have never imagined about. What Steve Jobs have said indeed surprised me, and I now know how to think of life: To live with the choices that I make everyday without regretting them, as if I were to die the next day. He has changed my point of view, therefore I find his speech utterly inspiring. Also, the metaphors and similes that Steve had used in his speech were clever. For example, "I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. This was when he got fired from the job that HE started. The way his speech was formed, well put together and inspiring, also the choice of words and metaphors/similes made his speech very well done in my eyes. A quote that really inspired me was "'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ' If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." I am now considering, just from reading his speech, to use this way of thinking towards each day. Overall, I thought his speech had a good choice of words, metaphors/similes, and on top of all, it was inspiring.

I think Steve Jobs is a inspiring, smart, experienced, wise man, even if he did not graduate college. The reason why I say that he is inspiring is because he inspired me to think about life in a better way, so I would not regret what I have done, and love what I am about to do. Like everyone else in the world, I would like to be as happy as possible and do the things I love. He is a smart man, obviously he needs to be in order to create Macintosh/Apple products. Although he did not graduate college, he did what he loved and this made him even smarter. The more a person loves something, the more they are commited they are to it, the more commited, then the more you learn about what you love. Steve was an experienced and wise man because he has gone through a lot in life, he experienced many situations of downfall and uprise. He was adopted, he did not graduate college even though his parents promised his real parents that he would, and he has gone through the phases in life where he does not know what he loves. Being through these experiences strengthened him, and made him a wise man. Wise enough to know how to live his life and inspire others by it.

This speech was effective on the impressions of people who plan to graduate college. This is because Steve Jobs himself was supposed to graduate college, but while taking it, could not find what he loved in life. He could not find the value in going to college everyday learning about things that he did not plan to use or remember in the future. A lot of his parents money was going towards college as well, the more reason to drop out. Therefore, he did, he dropped out and went on a journey to find what he loved in life and take action upon it. Yes, he did trip once in a while on the rough road, but everytime he had tripped, he had got up and tried again. His uprises were successful in the end, and that's what counts. He did his best, and thought about how he was going to get and do what he loved, and he did. This tells people who plan to go to college, that if they are not finding any intrests in it, do not spend your parents money on an expensive college, just go out in the open and adventure. Adventure to find what you love.

Steve Jobs

I think this is a very well written speech and what makes it good, is that it does not just say all the things that people want to hear, but also what people do not want to hear. In the speech, Jobs talks about living everyday to its fullest because you only have one life so you should live it well along with a personal story. In my personal opinion, I believe that Steve Jobs is a very intellectual man, who does not just role with the punches but takes lemons and makes lemonade out of them. He is also the type of person who does not take life for granted and all of these qualities, in my opinion make him seem like a good person. His speech makes me feel this way because he often talks about life experiences and how it was not always easy but to be truly successful, you have to do what you love. Job's speech was effective and appropriate for a graduating college class because at that age, they are all going out to start a career and he is trying to impress on them that they should not just settle on a mediocre job, but to do what they love.

A Commandmant's View

I believe that this story does change my view on the Nazi officials that ran the death camps. I still believe that they should be held accountable for the crimes that they committed but that they were just doing their jobs and as soon as they were just programmed to think of the people as "cargo." In order for Stangl to cope with his horrific job he would also go to bed with a bottle of brandy and drink his problems away. He also tried to create a special place for himself such as gardens, new barracks, new kitchens, barbers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters. This was obviously not a good tactic because he was drinking away his problems and separating himself from what was really going on. I believe that Stangl does regret what he did because later on, during a trip he went on there was a little girl and when they made eye contact he just felt for all of the innocent people that were walking to their deaths, and he was a part of it. Talking about it, I think, also stirred some of his emotions and made him feel guilty, for what he could have prevented.

Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech

 

Personally, I enjoyed the speech given by Steve Jobs because it was formatted to be very conversational. He creates light metaphors by referring to life and its unpredictable courses to a game of connect the dots. Steve Jobs creates humor within his speech by comparing his life, attending a few months of college, to the lives ahead of the students who are currently graduating. The speech overall is made short, entertaining, and detailed to the point.

My opinion of Steve Jobs is that he is an honorable man. I am able to respect the way that he made his living. Although he started out against the odds, he was able to take a simple hobby and transform it into not only a profession, but a revolution of technology. When he referred to his co-workers he had a slight undertone, which leads me to infer he may be somewhat egotistical. Nevertheless, he has a great way of a manipulating words and making comparisons that are relatable, yet contain an easily conceived deeper meaning. From what I know about Steve Jobs he is an admirable man who remains sturdy in his beliefs.

Honestly, I found it somewhat ironic that Stanford University was advocating a speaker at their graduation ceremony, who in fact was a college drop out. However, after having had read the speech I realized where his success derived was insignificant, but the importance was the message he had portrayed within the speech. He talks about three main points in his speech, connecting the dots, love and loss, and death. These the points are merely examples of his overarching topic throughout the speech, which is to maintain your morals high. He concludes his speech by plainly stating "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." This saying is deemed appropriate for the students who are currently graduating because it reminds them that they are still young, they have time to make mistakes, and it's perfectly okay if they do. It encourages the kids to keep their ambitions high, and to avoid getting caught up in the problematic situations which occur naturally in life.

A Commandant's View

After having read the article A Commandant's View by Gitta Sereny, I believe it is appropriate to refer to people who held powerful positions within the Nazi death camps, as inhumane, but not as evil. The Google dictionary definition of inhumane is: without compassion for misery or suffering; cruel. Whereas their definition of evil is: profoundly immoral and malevolent. In the specific case of Stangl, he did not express any sympathy to the people executed during the genocide. However, he did not perform executions with the pure intention of killing and causing pain; he did it merely because it was his job. I assume that the only way Nazis could sit by an execution and remain calm, would be to convince themselves of the same concept. They did it solely because they had to. Stangl's responses do not alter my previous views of Nazi soldiers because previous teachers have given us multiple perspectives to analyze the motivation of the Nazi soldiers.

Franz Stangl was able to detach himself from what he does at the death camps by reminding himself that his occupation is the top priority. He looked at the innocent people being executed, not as individuals, or human beings, but simply as a large overpowering mass. The final tactic that he used was to ignore his problems by consuming large amounts of alcohol. I personally do not believe this was a good tactic in distancing himself from the executions because he is putting himself at risk of liver disease by drinking so heavily, meanwhile, completely disregarding the value of innocent lives by ignoring the issue. On the opposing side, Stangl's tactic is a good one in the sense that it is successful in keeping his mind off of the harm he was causing to others, essentially fulfilling its purpose.

Based on the responses Stangl had, I believe he does regret his previous actions. Everyone has a conscience, and the way Stangl's interviewer portrayed him, it was made very evident that Stangl was experiencing a strong sense of guilt. There is one moment in the article in which I felt the impact of Stangl's actions; Stangl is speaking and commences to describe the victims of the death camp, "'Those big eyes... which looked at me... not knowing that in no time at all they'd all be dead.' He paused. His face was drawn. At this moment he looked old and worn and real." The way that Gitta depicted Franz by saying he looked real, even I as reader of the article was able to sense the realization of remorse and rightful blame within Franz.

There are many things that made this speech magnificent and memorable. First of all, Steve Jobs used his own life stories and experiences, making this speech relatable to the graduates and anyone else who listened. Whenever I heard Steve Jobs’ name, I thought of a wealthy guy who received a great education and graduated from an expensive college. In reality, he was a college drop-out. That story can be a life-changer because it showed how even if someone doesn’t go to college, they can still be successful. I think Steve Jobs was an intelligent man, but in more than one way. Since he dropped out of college, one could assume he wasn’t smart but that was not the case. He started his own companies and was a billionaire. Clearly, he did not need college to be successful but that is not the point. He was very careful with his money and used all of his knowledge wisely. Jobs said in his speech how he started Pixar, which is now the most successful animation company in the world. Even though Jobs is no longer alive, the company lives on and is still successful due to his intelligence when he first started it.

Jobs talked about his life and how he overcame obstacles. I think that is a key point to an effective and appropriate speech for college graduates. They are not quite sure what difficulties and challenges will be thrown at them, but I think hearing from a successful college drop-out can make them more confident in overcoming their obstacles.

Steve Jobs

I think that so many things about this speech make it wonderful. I personally loved that he added life anecdotes about himself in it. It makes all of the college students more relatable to him, even though he is a billionaire. Not only that he told stories about himself, but he chose stories that anybody can achieve and that were moments in his life where he thought were the worst, but ended up getting him to where he was. Too often people think of inventors as mad scientists or incredibly advanced intellectuals when they are just like everybody else, except that they made a choice to do something about it when life gave them lemons.
I think Steve Jobs is an amazing man. I always thought that, but now I can understand why. I understand that he was put in awful positions so many times in his life, but he powered through them and always landed on top. When anybody with a reasonable mind would have given up or broken down, he made the best out of it, and won. When he was talking about how everything that happened to him happened for a reason, I knew that he was an optimistic person. Just that, plus the fact that all of his stories involved him overcoming something made an impression on me. He could have chosen any stories he wanted about how rich he became from the corporation, his first job, or any of his successes, but he chose to talk about his failures and how he turned them around. I think that that shows a lot about his character.
I think that the overall point in his speech was that anybody can do anything. He did not go to college, but he was still the head and creator of a billion dollar company. He was saying that when those kids get out of college, that they should do what they like because they will never accomplish something doing what they hate or settled for. His overall speech encouraged them to go for their dreams no matter what. It was effective because when he related to them, it brought him down to their level of hopes and made them understand that just because you have a few hardships, does not mean that you should ever stop.

A commandant's view

I think that it depends on the person in history that you are specifically looking at that determines whether they were inhuman and evil. There were some people in history like Stangl who felt like they were forced to do this to the targeted population, while there are other people who thoroughly enjoyed making being in a position where they could directly hurt the Jews and other groups. It is hard to pin down specific people who were to blame for the awful death camps because there were just so many people involved. People in power at the death camps were not always the bad guys the way that we look back at them today. Stangl’s responses do change the way that I view the Nazi officers because although I have always been told by history teachers that not all Nazis were in their positions willingly, I felt like I could not fully believe that people who were doing such bad things to an entire population could do it “without thinking.” Hearing Stangl’s individual story about basically tuning the world around him out makes it easier for me to understand how this could have happened with so many people claiming they knew nothing about it.
It was hard for Stangl to cope with the mass murder of so many people at once at first. He said that it took him months to even be able to look a prisoner in the eyes, knowing their fate. After a while he started seeing them only as cargo which made it easier to think of them as inhuman. He forced himself to evade the subject in his thoughts by thinking of other things or just flat out drinking until he forgot. I think that this was a good tactic at first, but that it did not work out in the long run because by the tone of his voice in the article the reader can tell that a lot of damage was done by working there still.
Based on Stangl’s responses I think that he regrets what he did. He got very upset at one point in the interview when the interviewer describes it as, “made no effort to cloak his despair, and his hopeless grief allowed a moment of sympathy.” This shows that even though he made attempts in the past to block out any grief or feeling about what he was doing, that it still came through because he was very guilty about what he had done. Another example of his remorse is when Stangl talks about how seeing the cows at the slaughterhouse years after the war still made him sick because it reminded him of the camps in Poland. It made him so sick in fact, that he could not eat tinned meat.

Let me begin by saying everyone has a choice. On one hand I do not believe it is fair to view people like Stangl as inhuman and evil because he is under the direction of a higher power (Adolf Hitler). On the other hand he chose to follow Hitler and accepted the position as a commandant. He chose to treat innocent people inhumanely and watch them being murdered every day. It was his job to oversee the concentration camp and execute Hitler’s orders. He called the prisoners “cargo” and says he feels grief. I think he only feels grief because he was caught. If he had not followed Hitler he could have been tortured and killed in a concentration camp. So choosing between keeping his own life and killing others’, and getting killed must have been a tough decision. No one can fully understand the emotional impact this had on Stangl and other commandants unless we were to walk in their shoes. Yes, Stangl’s responses changed my view of the Nazi officers because even though what he did was appalling and inhumane, he still had a hard time adjusting to it at first. He also had a difficult time getting the concentration camps off his mind. It showed how some commandants truly regret what they did, some did not regret it at all, and others somewhat regretted it.

Stangl coped with his job at the death camp by drinking. Every night he would drink brandy to get the camps off his mind. I think this is a horrible tactic because he most likely got drunk which would cause different behaviors the next day. He could have made worse decisions than necessary but it worked for him so to him it was a good tactic.

Based on Stangl’s responses I do not think he fully regrets what he did. He calls the prisoners “cargo” and says that was all they were to him. Though he kept referring to the bodies and what they looked like, I think that is just what he remembered. Anyone, whether good or bad, would remember the vivid descriptions of the bodies. I think during this interview he might have made himself sound more regretful and innocent than he actually was.

Whenever I thought of Steve Jobs all I ever thought of was Apple. I knew that he was reason that I know have an iPod.Now after reading this I know that alot more went into his life than what meets the eye. I personally would have never guessed that he would be a college drop out and be so succsessful. Something that makes this speech good is that he uses examples from his own life. It tells these students that they too can be the next founder of a major company. Something bad about this speech is he keeps telling these graduates that dropping out of college was the best. Now maybe these graduates are thinking "Wow, did I just waste four years at college when I could have been using that time becoming the founder of a company?"I do not think that is the type of message Steve Jobs was trying to send.
What makes this speech affective is the inspiration. He keeps on sending the message that they can really do anything. He shared how he was fired from his own coompany only to come back and make something bigger and better. He is telling these kids no matter how many times you fall down, if you get back up big things will come. I think that is something any college graduate can use. Many times in their lives they are going to be shut down but they should keep using his advice.

I do not believe that people in a position of power should be seen as inhumane and evil. They have to make tough, life changing choices that the every day person doesn't. Stangl in this case had to see thousands of people being killed each day, but he said that it was something that he got used to. We can not fully understand what these people go through until we walk in their shoes, then we can judge them. Stangl's responses do change my thoughts on Nazi officers. He obviously regretted what he was saying, he had trouble answering some of the questions because they were so hard to think about. So my opinion changed because now I realize that they are human beings who do regret things.

Stangl detached from what was going on around him by drinking. He decided that drinking every night would take away his worries at work and every night he went to bed with a bottle of brandy. I think this is a bad tactic because he could have drunk too much alcohol one night and might not have been able to make appropriate decisions the next day at work.

I think Stangl regrets what he did. He kept going back over the details of the bodies, how they were naked,bruised,blue and he seemed kind of in shock while he explained it because he kept repeating himself. He also had some trouble answering some questions. If he had felt okay with what he had done then he wouldn't have had a lot of trouble answering the questions.

A Commandant's View

http://www.facinghistory.org/commandants-view

This link will connect you to an interview between journalist Gitta Sereny and Franz Stangl, a former commandant in the Nazi death camps of Sobibor and Treblinka in Poland, who was arrested in Brazil in 1961 and sent to Germany to be tried for the mass murder of 900,000 people during the Holocaust. In the interview, Stangl talks about how he dealt with the "liquidations" of Jews he oversaw and the effects his experiences had on him later in life. After you read the article, consider the following questions and post any thoughts, comments, or questions you might have.

1. After reading this article, do you think it's fair to view people like Stangl - that is, men you held positions of power within the Nazi death camps - as inhuman and evil? Do Stangl's responses change your view of the Nazi officers? If so, why?
2. How did Stangl cope with his job at the death camps? In other words, how did he detach himself from what was going on? Do you think this was a good tactic? Why/why not?
3. Based on Stangl's responses, do you think he regrets what he did? Provide evidence to back up your opinion.

Steve Jobs's Stanford Commencement Speech

As we all know, Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs died this past week. Jobs's accomplishments are massive and many, and it is impossible to imagine the modern world without his technological contributions; how many of you could live without your iPods or MacBooks?

To commemorate his life and achievements, I'm posting the link to the commencement speech he gave to the graduating class of 2005 at Stanford University. You can find both the text and video of the speech here: http://tweentribune.com/content/how-live-you-die

After you read/watch the speech, consider and respond to one or more of the following prompts:

1. In your opinion, what makes this speech good/bad? Provide evidence to support your opinion.
2. After reading/watching this, what is your opinion of Steve Jobs? What about his speech made you think of him that way?
3. What about Jobs's speech made it an effective and appropriate address to students graduating from college? Explain your reasoning.

Summer Reading Assignment Due

Honors English & Civics  2011-2012 Blog Rules

Remember…

Don’t

•   make dismissive statements toward other people's comments. Making people feel embarrassed or defensive is a sure way to shut down the discussion. You can disagree, but do so respectively and with evidence 
•   post your work without editing it.

Do:

•   make connections between comment
•   come up with questions about the books or assignment
•  use evidence such as quotes from books to support your work 
• cite your work appropriately

 

Welcome to the Honors Webpage for English and Civics 2011-2012 HHS

Hello Honors English & Civic students,

Check back frequently to see your honors assignments. Ms. Favulli and I will remind you about your assignments, but as honors students you are responsible for your work. We expect you to take this work seriously and use each assignment as an opportunity to display your knowledge.

Ms. Klotz & Ms. Favulli