why do people write poetry?

Poetry is a form of art. Poetry is unique. Poetry became popular during and after the American revolutionary war. Poetry during the war was used as an escape or a stress reliever for the soldiers on both sides of the war. It was a way for them to express their feelings about the war, what they miss, or just to put themselves to sleep. As a soldier during that time, they faced harsher weather conditions that today’s soldiers so the winters were really tough of them. Poetry was created to describe the weather. Also the soldiers had to experience the act of killing and fighting over dead soldiers. Soldiers are human like us, they create friendships and became close with the other soldiers because of the amount of time they spent together. Losing the soldiers were harsh times for the living soldiers. They used poetry to describe the experience, which creates a graphic image. Poetry is special, if done correctly one can feel, imagine, smell, or taste what the author wants you to taste. Poetry can be short but it can take one to a whole different world for just a couple of minutes. That is what makes poetry magical.

do we really need to spend so much time studying?

Studying is an action done by every student in the world. Is a human thing to do. We all know what it is and we have so much experience doing it. A lot of us hate it; some of us don’t mind it because they don’t find it as dreadful as other people do. So what’s the difference? What are we doing wrong that others are doing right? Is there even a right way to study? As a student going to a school with a prestigious program I had some trouble finding the “right” way to study. I’ve tried many ways to study, flash cards, friends testing me on vocabs, re-writing notes down for memory purposes. But if you notice, it’s the memorization that we work on. People tend to study hard instead of studying smart. I’ve tried this technique and it really works. By studying smart you save time and stress. My classes are an hour and a half long. Therefore, giving the teachers all the time they need to thoroughly explain the material. If you pay attention in class and take good notes, ask good questions, you wont have to “study”. Maybe review some notes before a test, but really, we don’t study unless you fell asleep in class or missed class. 

what does it mean to be given a right but not the freedom to fully exercise it?

We are now in the twentieth century and slavery has been “eradicated” and the Negros are now known as freed men. However, there is a catch. Remember how in the Declaration of Independence there is an excerpt that says, “we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by certain unalienable rights…liberty life and the pursuit of happiness”? I would like to submit the link to the website containing the excerpt from the Declaration of Independence as exhibit A. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html So yay the black freed men are recognized as men. But wait what? They don’t get to exercise the rights the declaration of independence provides for all men. Clearly they are declared free, however the whites decided that they still have control over them as if they were pets and their manual book is the black codes. As Mr. Hoffman said once in class, “what do you call a place where you sell enslaved black men?...an auction. What do you call a place where you sell free black men?...a court house”. Clearly there hasn’t been a change. Just because you change the name of something doesn’t mean you changed everything. It’s exactly what large corporations do. When they get sued and have to shut down, instead they change the company name. They are still the same company. So why bother? The answer is to not create another war. Just coat it with what people want to hear, make it look like you edited your rough draft to make the final draft, but really all you did was change a couple sentences. The blacks weren’t treated like free men, and faced discrimination. Although they still reserved the right to live, right? The only freedom they had was to live.

Greed, Dedication and evolution

Forever the colored have been oppressed and seen as non-human, since the time of the pharaohs in Egypt. But there was a point in time where the “planets were aligned” and the time was perfect for the voices of the colored to be heard by everyone. The states were separated; there were the union states and the confederate states. There was a time where a war was dedicated to slavery and has always been remembered. It was the bloodiest, most time consuming, and confusing war in American history. Even though the union fought for the end of slavery for their own convenience, it gave excuses for the white and black to unite. From this moment on it gave the blacks leverage to unite using different techniques. The most effective one being religion. Under religion, they were all the same. The emancipation movement started with the first church. Once all blacks were united and understood where they stood and what they needed to do, they started communicating to the people of the union. They made them realize that not only blacks are being deprived of rights but also the whites. Basically following the philosophy of “divide and conquer”. Newspaper articles and books were being published about this. It got to a point where women were taking a stand alongside with the black men. I believe that when one door opens, many others will open too, which is basically what happens here. From blacks’ rights, it evolved into women’s rights. 

history, literature and Chanel

The literal definition of history is "the study of past events, particularly in human affairs." or "the whole series of past events connected with someone or something". Anything can be considered history; those past sentences are history, however society chooses what MAKES history. Which basically means, what or who will stay alive (metaphorically speaking obviously). We keep these people alive in books, movies, stories, toys, etc. that keeps evolving. In both American literature and American history we learn about how it all connects. How history is literature, and how history uses literature to make history. For example, Frederick Douglas, our founding fathers of our country, Abigail Adams all used language in different ways to keep their messages to the world alive forever which we still look at today as examples to help us understand them better. Another example of history would be Gabrielle Chanel. Today we know her as Coco Chanel. She used another strategy to not only make history but started a revolution, by fashion. She like Abigail Adams wanted women to have their independence and to be recognized and respected like men. Coco Chanel, shows through her work by exposing the ankles loosening the waist of dresses and wore pants. She chose the number five as her lucky number which plays an important role in how she is remembered today even after her death. Coco Chanel was soon all over the world; everyone wore and still wears Chanel no 5. She gave all women a freedom, a freedom to self-confidence and self-importance. She always said,” the most courageous act is still to think for Yourself. Aloud.” The reason why I chose Coco Chanel as an example is because she made history by something as powerful as literature. Fashion, because it speaks for itself and dominates.