You've Got The Power

To maintain control, you must have power. Whether it's in the Middle Ages, modern day or during WWII, a leader must be able to have power over his/her people to maintain a sort of balance. If a leader does not have power, everything will dissolve into chaos and people will obviously lose respect for their leader. Though WWII was more than a terrible time, Adolf Hitler is a good example of a leader keeping strong for his country and maintaining control. Even though it was tyranny, Hitler gained respect from bringing Germany out of it's ashes to rebuild the country. King William the Conquerer was also a good example, even though he was a tad bit paranoid with keeping Motte and Bailey Castles everywhere. King William did contribute to England with the Domesday book, and much more. Though King William spread fear, he maintained control through his reign. In a conclusion, even though rulers had to terrify the citizens of their country, they still had power and forces to control and restrain in order to rule. 

Who's Claim Was It?

In the year of 1066, King Edward had died. Although leaving the throne to Harold Godwinston, Earl of Wessex, the new king had competition against his title. The two opposition were King Hadrada of Norway and Duke William of Normandy. My personal opinion is that Duke William of Nomandy had the rightful claim to the throne. Duke William of Normandy insisted that when King Edward had visited Normandy in 1051, he had promised the throne to William. It is said that in 1064, the Duke had captured Harold Godwinston and made him take an oath to promise help William become King. When Harold Godwinstion didn't fall through the plan of helping William, the Duke called him an "oath-breaker", which was a serious statement in the period of time. Even the Pope supported William, and had the approval of the Pope to conquer England. That was exactly what the Duke did in 1066, October.  

The Feudal System

Father Francois, you are my honored guest. Please allow me to explain the feudal system to you before you ask any questions of me. I am but a simple farmer. The feudal system is when the king lends land to a noble and they swear an oath to pass the land over in return for support. The King then becomes the lord over the noble, who becomes a vassal. The vassal can also pass off the land to another person, which would make the vassal a lord, and the other a vassal, the land still belongs to the King though. 

Values and Choices

Everyday, there will aways be a case of bullying, exclusion, peer pressure, etc. Everyone has seen it, and everyone does have a story of their own. I took a while thinking of a time where one of these has affected me, or affected someone I know or I have seen. I didn't want anything too personal, but I wanted something that would fulfill the requirements for a good blogpost, but not very targeting. I have decided to go for something that is like discrimination, but not as intense. One of my classes is a joint class (7th graders and 8th graders). It's one of my favorite classes and I do like the people in it, though it can get annoying some times. What usually happens is that when my friends and I sing, dance around, or do anything crazy, some 8th graders give us this look which makes us feel like we're doing something wrong. It makes me feel like ripping my hair out of my head. Every time it happens, I really wish I would say something, speak out for what I want to do. I would usually say something like: "It's not any of your business, and if you don't like it, you can just leave. There isn't any reason that you should give us that look, so just keep out of our way, and we'll keep out of yours." What makes me stop is the level of intimidation. It makes me feel small when they give the look, and that small amount of fear separates me from being a bystander to an upstander. Now, that I have thought this through, I know what makes me feel smaller. The look that they give us is the type saying, "Are you seriously doing that? It's really weird so stop it." The thoughts that I have in that moment are telling me that I shouldn't say anything, or else they wouldn't like me. I now know that it's stupid to think that way. I don't really care anymore what they think of me. They aren't my friends, and they have no right to judge what goes on between my friends and I. I have decided that I am going to do what ever it takes to keep on doing whatever I want, and I won't do what they want me to be. They aren't me, so who are they to care?


Where have we seen examples of bullying/ostracism/exclusion occurring in texts studied so far this year- factual as well as fictional?

Well, there are a lot of examples, but I'm going to stick with The Hunger Games. I saw two examples of what the characters thought of being excluded. First, with Katniss in the beginning she felt as if Peeta and Haymitch we're budding up and had made up a plan, whereas Katniss had none. This was when Peeta had asked for separated coaching and throughout a little bit of the Games. Nearer to the end of the Hunger Games, Peeta felt as if he wasn't let in on the plan, since Katniss knew what Haymitch was expecting of her to play along with the act of "The Star-Crossed Lovers From District 12". It wasn't an act at all to Peeta, who really did love Katniss, and felt betrayed that she pretended and didn't even tell him. 

The In-Group:

Select one line/phrase/group of sentences that are significant to you. Explain why.

"In most cases where children get picked on, it is because they aren't good at sports, or they read too much, or they wear the wrong clothes, or they are of a different race. But in my class, we all read too much, and didn't know how to play sports. We had also been carefully been brought up to respect each other's races. "

I found this quote compelling, because it makes me ask why. Why would they have a reason to bully other wise? Why did they feel the need to, when they have grown up together and know each other so well? Why did they need to hurt the people they had known for so long? Maybe they felt the need to feel higher than someone, to feel superior. They have this negative sense of dedication to make their flaws invisible while they pick out someone else's who doesn't have a line of defense. Some people just like the position of power and like to manipulate anyone who has a low self-esteem and can't stand up for them-selves. These people are set in the cliche'd direction of popular. Some are okay, while others want to bring down anyone who stands in their way, or just for fun. Being popular and in the position for wanting harm to come to someone is a great beneficial way to make someone's life miserable. Once a popular starts it, it spreads like wild-fire.

-Radasaurus. Because I'm a dinosaur. Roar.

You Don't Need To Be Superman To Be A Hero

The definition of  heroic/hero (according to dictionary.com) is "a man of distinguished courage or ability admired by his great deeds and noble qualities". To me, the definition is partially true, however I believe that being a hero does not necessarily mean that you have to have special abilities, like flight, or super strength like Marvel has the world believing (no offence Marvel). To be a hero in my book, you just have to muster enough courage to save people, animals, anything that you believe, even though there are cruel things that will bring you down. You need to be a savior. People will look up to you, but at the same time, you won't let other people get to you at all. You will do whatever it takes to take part in what you believe. This sums it up to being an up-stander. Average people do have dreams of saving the innocent and that can be thrashed by fear, deception and lies. These three meaningful words had wounded and killed millions of people, and not only in the Holocaust. Deception, lies and fear are everywhere; politics, relationships, work, etc. It's happening all around us. Actions are key in being a hero. Your decisions map out everything you do from now and the future, there are no wrong or right decisions though. They just have either a positive or negative impact of path you are leading and if you were a hero, you will have to make the decisions that will not only benefit you, but everyone else who is worth benefiting and everything just matters in the end. I strongly and whole-heatedly believe that Schindler was a true hero, by saving innocent people from horrific death just because of their religion. Many say that Schindler was just a bystander, he didn't have any impact on the Holocaust. Did those people realize that he had a major impact of hundreds of people's lives? He saved 1,100 men, women and children in the period of a few years. I believe that he was an extraordinary man. Though some of his decisions made his life go down into a sinkhole, his humanity was restored completely by standing up for what he wanted and believed was right.     

-R 

Sonia's Victory

Victory: By Sonia Weitz

"I danced with you that time only.

How sad you were, how tired, lonely...

You knew that they would "take" you soon...

So when your bunk-mate played a tune

You whispered: "little one, let us dance,

We may not have another chance."

To grasp this moment...sense the mood;

Your arms around me felt so good...

The ugly barracks disappeared

There was no hunger...and no fear.

Oh what a sight, just you and I,

My lovely father (once big and strong)

And me, a child...condemned to die.

I thought: how long

before the song

must end

There are no tools

to measure love

and only fools

Would fail

to scale

your victory."

Sonia Weitz, would be called lucky. She took 5 concentration camps; Auschwitz, Plaszow, Bergen-Belsen, Venusburg, Mauthausen, and the Warsaw ghetto, while she was still a young girl, and was standing until her passing on June of 2010. She was and always will be a survivor. When she was sent off to Mauthausen, a concentration camp in upper Austria, she sneaked off to see her father, who was sent there when she was in Auschwitz. Before the Nazi's "took" him, she did sneak off to the men side of the camp, and found her father. This poem was about the moment when she found him, and their final moment. Throughout the poem, the theme turned from desperation, to what the poem was really about; VICTORY! The poem itself was talking about how she shared the moment dancing with her father, and how she was truly happy for the first time when she was in the camps. There was one metaphor that I had found was in the second stanza: "The ugly barracks disappeared. There was no hunger... and no fear." It was saying that Sonia was living in the moment, that nothing could take her from her father right then and there. But really, barracks can't disappear out of thin air, and she was very hungry and fearful of when the Nazi's would take him away from her. In the second stanza, there was another quote: "My lovely father (once big and strong)". This shows that even though the camps made him weak and powerless, they could never take away his strength inside and his love for his daughters. Sonia Weitz, at the time, believed that she was destined to die, when she said: "And me, a child... condemned to die." But she didn't! She didn't have hope at the time, but when she danced with her father, she got hope, and thought that everything would be okay. My favorite part out of the whole poem, was at the end: "and only fools would fail to scale your victory. " The poem was about sharing this moment with her father, even though it was breaking the rules. Through her words, it was easy to see that this was something that the Nazi's, or anyone couldn't take away, and will last her forever.   

-R

Well, It Certainly Didn't Rain On Hitler's Parade

Adolf Hitler, you would say, was a very, very lucky man throughout his reign as leader of Nazi Germany. There were various conditions that benefited Hitler to his success from 1918-1933, but the the two that stood out to me were when Germany reached Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and the Reichstag fire in 1933. On the date of June 28th, 1919, the treaty of Versailles (named after the building it was signed at) was signed. Years later, people lost their jobs and needed to spend millions of reichsmarks for just one loaf of bread. The economy faced a crisis and Hitler took this as an advantage. There were so many parts of the treaty that the people of Germany faced and hated with passion. They couldn't live life as they used to, and couldn't do anything about it. The Reichstag fire took place in 1933. It was originally the Nazi's who set the building on fire. In Hitler's elections, his motion was to go against the treaty, as well as blaming the communists and other parties. This heightened his fame by a huge increase. Lucky guy, huh?