Transcendentalism Final

Final Exam - Confidence

Real Beauty 

Since the beginning of time confidence has been something every person has had to deal with. Walden once said "I learned this, at least, by my experiment;  that if one advances confidently to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours"(Walden handout. 32-34). Walden was saying that if someone just has the confidence in ones self then they will be able to accomplish anything they want. In the video dove put on they wanted to see the women's confidence and how they portrait themselves. They acknowledge that most people don't see themselves for all they are and that shows when the women explain their faces to the person sketching them, the pictures are very dull. However when strangers explain the women the picture comes out beautiful and spot on. When the women saw both of the pictures next to each other they were taken back and realized how poorly they see themselves compared to others. Confidence impacts everything at it always has been that way. Both Dove and Walden connect this idea about confidence being everything, and how much better you can be and how much more you can accomplish with confidence in yourself.

"Dove Real Beauty Sketches". Youtube. Dove, Apr. 14, 2013.

Final Exam - Nonconformity

BE YOU

Transcendentalist have always talked about the concept of nonconformity. Nonconformity is stepping out of the box, the what everyone else is doing, and stepping to the beat of your own drum. Walden said exactly that " If a man does not keep peace with his compassions perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured of far away"(Walden handout. 67-68). Let people be them is what Walden is saying, and let yourself be you. People try so hard to be in the norm and fit it that they aren't finding the happiness found when being yourself. This is still a common problem today, people want to "fit in". There is a series of motivational speeches that I found and I shared one of them because he relates it to people that are looked up to. I think that is very important in inspiring people to be who they are, if they can look up to successful people who did their own thing they will be inspired to do the same. The narrator of this video says "When you become the right person you begin to separate yourself from other people you will succeed...you study other people but be by yourself find yourself". Another line I like that he says is "When people that don't like you don't bother you...EJ I don't like that you do this, ' I don't care I'm living for me' ". He is telling people to stop worrying about being what what you think other people want and just be, be you! When you truly have that "i don't care what anyone thinks, I'm happy with myself" feeling you have pushed past conformity and fitting in and can be truly happy. Both Whitman and the video are saying this and connecting the same idea. The video does a goo job of connecting to people this day in age with the same idea Whitman had.

"MOTIVATION-BE THE BEST YOU". Youtube. BodyNBeautyFitness, July 22, 2012.

Final Exam- Nature

Circle Of Life

Nature is one thing that has never, and will never, change. That's the beauty of it. No matter what craziness happens in this world it will always start and end the same way. Whitman says " Or i guess the grass itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation"(Whitman handout. 45-46). It is saying everything starts as a seed, a baby, a grain, and grows. Everything is this world starts as something small and builds. And then it will fall and die because thats the cycle. The cycle does continue though. The video I want to share with you is showing the most spectacular places all over the world and the beauty nature has. Every place that was shown in that video started as something small, and turned into the beauty it has now, but will at some point die or end, but in one way or another carry on. A great example is; when people die they get buried in the ground and with time become part of the soil. With time grass will grow from the soil. A flower will grow in that grass or a tree, the tree that creates oxygen for people now to breath. It's all a cycle that is infinite. Nature is great because it will always be simple. Things are born, live, and die.

"Circle Of Life - Nature". Youtube. Scoot aloo, Jan 15, 2011.

Final Exam - Free Thought

Life is Easy, Its So Easy and Fun

People have always been caught up in the latest and greatest. We as a society have always had a problem with that and always will. It's wasting our lives away. Walden says " Why should we live in such a hurry and waste of life"(Walden handout. 89-90). Why do people always try to be better and try to be faster then the next? They don't realize that they are moving so fast they aren't taking the time to look around at the joy and beauty they are missing. It's a sad yet beautiful theory. Every person since the beginning of time has moved too fast and that is what transcendentalists are saying; look around and slow down. The video I shared a man named Jon Jandai is sharing his story about how he found happiness. He grew up poor with very little, went to a university and was looking at the way people were eating with plastic and throwing it out, and studying to build on the land, and that's not what makes him happy and he left. He went back home and did things the way that makes sense to him. He talks about how people spend so much money on houses that they have to pay off their debt for 30 years, but he can just spend two hours a day stacking bricks on each other and have a house in two months and comparing himself to the man who spends money they have to pay off for years and say "compared to him i have 29 years and ten months of free time". He also talks about how he would save his money for a month to buy a nice pair of pants and then he came to the realization that why spend that time and money on a pair of pants "why do we need to fallow fashion you'll never catch up". In the end of the video he says a few very inspiring things; " i feel free when i think like this...i don't worry about much and doesn't have fear he doesn't need to make himself like anyone else he is number on.. how do we make it easy? we don't know how to make it easy anymore because we complicate everything." This man has overcome transcendentalism and found happiness in himself.

"TEDxDoiSuthep-Jon Jandai". Youtube. TEXDxTALKS, Aug 3, 2011.

Blog 6 Into The Wild

1. Alex has a very strong and very different view on life then most people do. Alex sets out on the journey and leaves everything behind and take off into the wild on the hopes of making it to Alaska. He leaves everything behind, EVERYTHING. He burns his money, gets rid of his ID's, and sets off. Alex says, "rather then money, faith, and fairness, give me truth". Alex got accepted into Harvard law school but he has a different idea for what he wants to do with his life. He wants to have nothing but him self and him self being all he can rely on, and that is exactly what he does. Alex also says he doesn't need anything besides "leafs and berries". I somewhat do agree with his idea of not needing all the money and all the perks of life. But I would not like to or be able to do what he did, I don't think many people would be able to. I think that people these days definitely have a lot more then they need, but on the other hand people really do need more the "leafs and berries". It is nice to have a house to live in, running water, heat, food, clothing, and Alex pretty much leaves all of that behind to be one with nature.

2. There are two arguments about what Alex did; some people say its stupid and foolish, others say he is living his life to the fullest. I think that "living life to the fullest" can be polar opposites in different peoples eyes, and that's why the two opinions of Alex's journey are at two different ends of the spectrum. For Alex, yes he was absolutely living his life to the fullest. All Alex wanted to do was to have experience this self-reliance feeling and make it to Alaska, despite not making it and dying, he died living his life to the fullest just the way he wanted it to be. He wanted to find what he thought was the truth. "rather then money, faith, and fairness, give me truth". He found that truth in the wild. The people who think Alex is being foolish aren't seeing the big picture. they say he'll never make it, he'll be back in no time, etc. But that isn't the point of this expedition for Alex. Alex wants to feel alone and have to figure it out on his own, I think the reason why Alex is searching for this "truth" he's looking for is because he had a lot given to him as a child. He rejects a new car his parents tried to give him, because his works just fine. He doesn't need all the "fluff" in life all the money all the cars all the clothes. He doesn't want it. Alex has a great view on life in the sense of greed. And the people who are saying that hes being stupid are just looking over the deeper meaning of what Alex is doing.

The Affect of Fear

People with power can cross the line when it comes to expressing their authority. And it is easier for people with authority to spite fear into others. Even when someone is saying something you know is not right, if they have power over you, you most likely won't have the courage to stand up for what is right. People don't want to be put down or get hurt in any kinda of way so they just stay silent. It is too easy for the ones with power to put people below them down, because to them, it doesn't mean much. "We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. People with high authority have an easy time taking someone down because they are above them and really don't have much to worry about. They use their power to their advantage. These people put fear into others and that is why people won't speak up. When people are afraid they just want to get out of that scary situation, they don't want to cause harm or trouble, they just want it to be over. And you aren't going to risk whatever it may be, maybe your job, to help someone else out. People with power get entertainment in putting fear into others. Because they can, and they pretty much know  nothing will happen to them.

Blog #4

Friendship is one of the greatest things people can have in life. Friends help each other through the bad times and are their to celebrate the good times. You find out who your real friends are when times get rough and who is their for you. Friends are the family you get to choose, and if you choose them right they can be the one thing you can always count on. I have the best friends and they have been real and been there for me since the beginning. In The Things They Carried in the very first chapter when one of their friends died it showed friendship when they were all stunned by the sight of his dead body.  

Relationships are a big part of life, and the way you interact with others. You relationship with everyone: parents, friends, peers, teachers, bosses, teammates all affect you. You want good relationships with, in my opinion, the people that matter. If someone isn’t kind to you, if its not important to you, you don’t have to be kind back, but that may kick you in the butt later. You should respect everyone. Especially people with higher authority then you. You have to show respect to your teachers, parents, elders, bosses, coaches, whomever it may be. The same goes in the war as shown in The Things They Carried, if you have good relationships with the people in higher class you may get moved up. But the good relationships that the soliders have with each other show when they have each other’s backs. 

Things I Carry

The Things I Carry

   

                            I carry quite a lot of things in my bag I bring to school. I always carry a water bottle with me I have to. I have a bunch of little things in my bag that I use on the daily. I have a few pencils and i always have my headphones, I love listening to music it's easier me to focus on my work if I zone out to music while doing it. I have to have some sort of chap stick in my bag, I love this lip balm that I have in there right now, I always am carrying that with me. I can't stand having chapped lips its one of my pet peeves. I always have my phone on me, I feel like every teenager does, its pretty much always in my hand. Most of the time I have my iPod on me too, I'm practically addicted to listening to music, it makes everything better for me, and helps me get my mind off of things. I like to carry gum. I don't have it all the time but its nice to have because Im always eating food so I need it.  I always carry the book we are reading in lit. right now, The Things They Carry, i read that whenever we have free time. I have a big notebook, that I always carry, its blue and it has five different sections, I use it for all of my classes. My mac, I always have my mac in my bag, I use it in every class.

Paper Bag Speech

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing".

I'm Madison Rasmussen, the one thing I value more then anything is my family, through out the years, especially high school, its become more obvious how fake some people are and my family is one thing that is always there. Most people know that I have a younger brother, Travis he's ten. Travis means the world to me and we had to stick together when our parents got a divorce two years ago, and it has brought us so much closer. I would also say that most people do know that my parents are divorced, all of my friends do at least. The split up in 2012. It was really hard for my little brother, and still is. But one thing no one really knows is that i don't get along with my mom at all. I finally got my self to move out at the end of May, this year. Ever since I've gotten older we haven't had the best relationship, and I get along better with my dad, I really value and look up to my dad. So for now I'm living with my dad full time. It is really hard to have someone who was such a big part of my life growing up, pretty much out of my life now. My dad, Travis, and my Lala and Papa are my family and they are the best. They're always giving me support and unconditional love.