Censorship

How many of the top 100 banned books have I read?
1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
3 most common reasons for banning books:
1. Sexual Content
2. Profanity
3. Acts of Violence
Why were the books that i've read banned?
Most of the books i have read have been banned for similar reasons such as these:
1. The series presents dangerous ideas and attitudes that are bad for readers.
2. Language, religious and/or social concerns, and death/physical violence.
3. Claims that the books might provoke harmful thoughts or behavior and erode respect for people and property.
What are my thoughts and opinions in censorship?
My personal opinion is that people take reading for enjoyment too seriously. You tend to read what you enjoy, so if you are reading a "horror" book or a "romance" who gets to decide that those books HAVE to affect you and HAVE to make you think badly. You cannot blame books for the thoughts and actions of people. Banning books takes away good reads for people who enjoy reading things that might not exactly be "appropriate." Banning books the choice to read what you want to read.

Mark Twain

1.      Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

2.      In 1857 at age 22, Clemens decided he wanted to be a steamboat pilot. He studied the Mississippi River painstakingly for two years before receiving his license in 1859. He continued to pilot steamboats until 1861, when the civil war broke out.

3.      The pseudonym Mark Twain, meant “two fathoms deep” on the Mississippi, and was called out on the steamboat to indicate the boat was in sufficiently deep water. Clemens first used the name in a publication on February 3, 1863, in a piece he contributed to the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

4.      Twain received a Doctorate in Letters from Oxford University in 1907

5.      Twain was very interested in parapsychology; he foresaw his brother Henry’s death in a vivid and detailed dream (which came to pass) and even predicted the timing of his own death with some accuracy.

   

1.      Twain grew up in Missouri, a slave state. However, when the Civil War broke out, Missouri didn’t join the Confederacy, so Twain and some friends formed a militia to fight on the Confederate side. This lasted until the first battle. When a man was killed, Twain deserted.

2.      Twain was a successful lecturer, generating money and fame via speaking tours throughout the United States and Europe.

3.      When Twain disliked you, you knew it. His essay “Fennimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” does an entertainingly malicious job of taking apart the author of Last of the Mohicans.

4.      Twain made lots of money, but he lost most of it. He was as bad at investing as he was good at writing, and he eventually had to declare bankruptcy.

5.      Ernest Hemingway once said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”

Native American Myth Questions:

1.       Are there any supernatural/immortal powers that are evident in the myth?  If so, please describe.

          - Yes there are super natural powers in this story because the Red Indians believed that spirits were involved with everything about life including animals, weather, people, crops, ect. 

2.       What tribe is this myth from?  What region of the country is this tribe located?

          - The Red Indians of North America, Canada, and the Arctic bits. 

3.       Summarize the myth.

         - This native american myth is based upon the belief that living close to nature and close to spirits is the best thing that you can do. The Red Indians often believed that they had unlimited spiritual world and that they should use it the best way possible. Super natural spirits in this myth are described as being everywhere. They believed that spirits were involved in all aspects of  life including nature, animals, and people. 

4.       Describe the situation in which this myth was shared.  Describe what you see when you see this myth?

       - I believe this myth was passed down through the Red Indian tribe to describe how they stayed close to nature and spirits even when there were "white men" pushing them to become like them. 

Edgar Allan Poe

5 Personal Life:
- His father left the family early in Edgar's life.
- His mother passed away when he was only three. 
- Edgar Allan Poe turned to gambling to make money to cover his living expenses but ended up in debt.
- Edgar was adopted by John Allan (and his wife who couldn't have children), a tobacco merchant of Scottish extraction. 
- Both of Edgar's biological parents were very successful actors of their time. 
5 Professional Life
- Edgar Allan Poe was a short-story writer, poet, critic, and editor.
- Edgar Allan Poe went to the University of Virginia in 1826
- He joined the army under a false identity in 1827-1829 to avoid debt collectors. 
- In 1833 Poe got a job at the Southern Literary Messenger.
- In 1845 His poem "The Raven" appeared in the New York Evening Mirror in January, and was an instant success with both readers and critics.
- 5 Romanticism 
- In May of 1836 he secretly married his first cousin Virginia Clemm.
- On January 30, 1847 his wife Virginia died from long term tuberculosis.
- After Virginia's death Poe's life-long struggle with depression and alcoholism worsened
- Edgar wrote several romantic 'love' poems that seemed to be based upon the life and death of his wife Virginia. 
- Virginia expressed her devotion to her husband in a Valentine poem now in the collection of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and Poe celebrated the joys of married life in his poem “Eulalie.”



Edgar Allan Poe. Image from: http://welcometobaltimorehon.com/images/poe1.jpg
Sources
- http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160
- http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/22/5820/1489992.cw/index.html
- http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php

THE MYTH OF THE SUN;

There are many myths that tell the story of how the sun came to be, the real story goes as told; Once upon a time there was a small child who lived in a small village where it was constantly dark outside. The children of the village were shy, quiet, and lonely because they had to stay in side all the time because it was unsafe in the dark, for you could not see. The small boy however was disobedient and often times ran away into the dark in hope that he'd find other people somewhere who didn't always stay inside. One night the little boy wondered too far into the darkness and couldn't find is way back. the little boy searched for days until he finally circled back to his small village. once back to the village the boy knew he'd have a lot of trouble to face. As the boy opened the door slowly and crept into the house he knocked over a glass and awoke everyone in his house. His mother and father sprung to their feet and rushed to the front door where the commotion was. As soon as his mother saw the small boy she immediately started shrieking at the boy. Not only had he run away for days and woke her out of sleep, he had disobeyed her orders to never run into the darkness. The boys father and mother yelled, and yelled, and yelled to get this lesson through the small boys head. After an hour or so of listening to his parents the boy was ashamed! As he sat there he could feel rage and anger developing deep inside. As some more time past the small child was furious at his parents for not wanting him to be happy. He cold feel the rage roaring inside and his facing beaming red from shame. Finally the boy had had enough. He got up and ran back out of the house. His parents watched the small boy, gleaming red with anger, light the sky with shades of red, orange, and yellow as he ran over the hill to never be seen again. The end.

Native American Mythology

The link shown below is a good site to research Native American Mythology and folk tales. http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/native_american-mythology.php

MY FAVORITE BOOK;

To be truthful I don't have a 'favorite' book, but I do have a favorite book series by the infamous Tucker Max. All of his books have become favorites of mine because they are absolutely hilarious! A majority of the titles are not school appropriate so I'll spare you, but I do fully recommend them for personal reading! if youre looking for a good read and a good laugh, pick up a book by Tucker Max.