The Art of Blogging

I was pretty terrified when I entered Ms.Valentino's class. 11 AP sounded very intimidating to me, and learning that I would have to write a blog every weekend of the school year didn't cheer me up either. But reading the stories of John Smith or even William Bradford made me think that without their "blogs" we wouldn't have had a detailed challenges that they had to face upon entering this new land. Their interpretations of how America was really captured the unique history this country has today.

Indians! The first encounter with these foreign people was immediate for the settlers and they immediately thought of them as savages. Both John Smith and William Bradford wrote about how unorthodox these people were. They also wrote how terrible the land was in America. Both people documented their challenges as they were faced with cruel weather, disease and even starvation (people were forced into cannibalism!). But with these journals they left their legacy on how they overcame these challenges. As William Bradford and the pilgrims learned from the Native Americans, they eventually formed a national holiday which everyone celebrates today: Thanksgiving. Bradford and other Pilgrims left a tremendous impact on American history as they showed how peace and happiness between very different cultures and traditions could actually make both groups prosper. This simple tradition continues today with families celebrating and coming together for one glorious time in the year.

When I read the article about a little girl who started a blog to fight the terrible school lunches that the kids were eating, I thought that anyone could make a difference. But what is more incredible is that one blog or journal every day could really make an impact in the future whether if it was the settlers who colonized America, or the little girl who fought school lunches.

Native Americans in the 21st century

Native Americans, or Indians as some people call them, have always been pictured in my head as people from the movie Pocahontas. But that changed after our English class read short stories from an Indian author, Sherman Alexie. His writing is extremely humorous but at the same time showed how he his proud to be Indian and how  people aren't very different from the people living in the United States.

In the short story, Indian Education, Alexie details his childhood (Yes he went to an actual school!). Living in a HUD house, and having barely any food to eat Alexie had a rough start but soon found a love in learning. Readers saw this intelligence when in second grade, he scored a perfect score on his spelling test designed for junior high students. Even though his teacher set him up to fail Alexie proved that he was not stupid even if he was a Native American. He writes, "Indians, indians, indians." She said it without capitalization. She called me "indian, indian, indian. And i said , Yes. I am Indian. Indian, I am. The reader can see how Alexie is proud to be and Indian and that in a way he exceeded her expectations of what he can do by getting a 100% on the spelling test. Sherman Alexie shows that Indians have the capability of being intelligent also. Also by being a star basketball player, getting his own drivers license, and graduating high school, he removes the stereotype of the Native American that people think today and shows that he is no different. But at the same time Alexie wants to show off his heritage. His stoic look captures his pride in being Native American and shows to many people around the world what he could do what many other people cannot.

In recent times the movie Peter Pan shows a scene with a Native American tribe. After reading Alexie's short stories people will be shocked at how even a popular Disney movie can make these normal everyday people seem like savages.

I can blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!